Barry M - Raspberry

Barry M Raspberry is a shiny magenta pink. Pretty color, but I had a terrible time applying it. The brush bristles are really long and not firm. Making it really difficult to round the brush around my cuticles. I was swearing to myself while applying this polish. Even though I cleaned up before taking pictures this manicure still looks really messy. So I apologize. Along with being hard to apply my camera was having a terrible time trying to capture the color. When I was editing a lot of the look red instead of magenta.

Something Different Sunday: Late Christmas Photos

For those who celebrate Christmas I hope you had a nice two days. I had a great Christmas this year. I celebrated on the 24th and had a goose for dinner. This was the first time I've ever had goose. It was okay, but it don't wow me. I much prefer Turkey as it has more white meat.


The Christmas tree!

 

Stockings hung against the wall. Hopefully, one day I will have a lovely wood mantel fireplace. :)

I painted the windows too!

Table set for dinner. Those plates from the COOP. I was saving stickers up and placing them on the discount card for the last month and a half. The two sets totaled $27 not to shabby for Switzerland.

Then I started to open presents that my parent's thoughtfully sent to me.

A Japanese friend who I went to college sent me a traditional bamboo ornament called a Kadomatsu to set up for New Year's. Now to think of something traditionally Swiss to send her. :)

China Glaze- Mrs.Claus & Mistletoe Kisses

These two colors are from the recent holiday collection called Tis' The Season from China Glaze.

Mrs. Claus is a light red sheer packed with silver glitter. The silver glitter will turn the same color as the base once you put a few coats on. I used four coats for this.

Mistletoe Kisses are a sheer medium green with fine bits of silver glitter. A very unique color that takes three coats to build up. I like the color, but the shade of green doesn't really scream Christmas to me. It's a bit of a minty color. However, it does sort of remind me of the Grasshopper cocktails my grandma would always make after Christmas dinner. So the color has grown on me more now.

OPI - Holiday Glow

Holiday Glow is from OPI's 2009 Holiday Wishes collection. I picked this up at a clearance display at a Boston Store salon in June. I think I paid $4.25 for it. I'm hoping secretly that they have the Burlesque glitters on the clearance display when I visit the US in January.

It's a purple based brown which has gold glitter immersed throughout. The formula is pretty thin. Two coats look okay but you really need three to cover the patches. I used three and I still noticed after looking at the pictures that my pinky was still a bit patchy.

China Glaze - Jolly Holly & Party Hearty

China Glaze Jolly Holly is from the Tis' the Season collection. It's a nice green with a very small amount of gold shimmer. I used two coats. I like the color but I'm not head over heels for it. There's definitely other similar greens.

With flash.

China Glaze Party Hearty is the stand out of the collection! This is a glitterpalooza. Big red hex glitter, medium green hex glitter, and small silver square and round glitter. It is the perfect topcoat for silver, white, red, and green polish. I put three coats of Party Hearty over Jolly Holly.

Something Different Sunday - Christmas in Zurich

Greetings! I thought that this Sunday I would show you all some pictures of Christmas trees and lights in Zürich. The city does have a nice charm in the winter. Once I get over the cold I enjoy Zürich just as much in winter as summer.

Inside the Zürich Hauptbahnhof aka main train station is the Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market). It's nice and you can find the typical Christmas stuff, but it's no where near as big or nice as the one's in Germany. However, there is a very large tree there which Swarovski has put tons of crystal ornaments on it.

Outside on the streets a lot of stores have lights on their buildings. Also down the Bahnofstrasse there are strings of LED lights hanging. It looks really neat at night.

Manor is a department store.  Often hunt for LE Essence collections here and buy Alessandro polishes here.

We haven't had nearly as much snow as the rest of Europe but there is a little bit on the ground.

alessandro - Streetwear

I've been a bit m.i.a. lately. Sorry about that. The last few manicures I've worn weren't able to be photographed. So I've run out of pictures to post. Today I have a new polish to show you. I absolutely love it and when I saw it out on display I snatched it up. Thought about the price for .001 seconds and said to heck with it. The mini bottles from Alessandro are extremely expensive when you consider you get 5ml for $7. But they come out with some rocking colors and the formula is buttery smooth.

Streetwear is a dusty purple. It kind of reminds me of a lighter and prettier version of Chanel Paradoxal. Two coats covered fine, but I added a third for good measure. The color has a lighter purple shimmer that kind of makes the polish look like a space galaxy on milky and iridescent.

I also picked up two polishes from the MNY winter line. I've tried the blue one. I say that they are best used for layering as they are pretty sheer. I need to experiment with them first.

There was also a very glittery product twinkling in the light at the MNY display. It's a limited edition glitter mascara. You need a few coats to get enough on your lashes, but it's really awesome and sticks well enough that I didn't have glitter all over my eyes later.

Essie - Pink Parka & Bermuda Shorts

Excuse me while I hop on a plane back to America and buy every single Essie neon on the market. I think I'm obsessed with them. It's the middle of December and I don't want to change my polish to any of the holiday ones I have. These two colors just pop perfectly.

First up is Pink Parka a neon pink. Surprisingly, this was released as a Fall collection in 2009. It's a light pink neon and I loved it so much. It took three coats which are very good for a neon. My pictures are pretty close to color accuracy. Somehow I'm very lucky and my camera actually captures neons.

Bermuda Shorts is a neon purple that covers nicely in three coats. It's from the Neon Shorts Collection of Summer 2009. It's insanely beautiful and I've been wearing it for three days straight now.

So... Neons yay or nay? I use to be very nay but there two beauties have pushed me over the edge. I hope to see some more awesome neons this coming summer.

essence - colour & go (Absolutely Stylish, Underwater, What Do U Think?)

Essence makes really nice little bottles of polish. They are called colour & go and come in many stylish colors.They are also fairly inexpensive depending on where you live. In the US they are 99 cents. I believe they 1.50 euros in Europe and here is Switzerland they are 3 francs.

Absolutely Stylish is a lovely brown with little bits of green flakes. It's a nice two coat polish.

With Flash

Underwater is a medium blue shimmer. It's very icy and reminds me of winter. This is version 1 of underwater. There is a newer version 2 out nowadays. It's a dark blue with really small blue glitter flakes. I personally like the older version of Underwater better.

What Do U Think? Is an orange coral creme. It reminds me of orange sherbet ice cream. I love this color but  know that it's a color you have to grow to like. It looks really cute on toes too.

Have you ever tried a essence colour & go polish? I really like the brushes they are pretty nice for a budget nail polish. essence also releases pretty trendy colors so hardly any of the colors are boring.

Catrice - Run Forest Run! & Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!

These two colors are new release tot he Catrice display. Run Forest Run! Is a nice medium green creme that applies nicely in two coats. Sorry my photos are not focused that great for this one. I'm not sure what happened. Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! is a nice midnight blue. It looks like a creme, but there is some lighter small flake glitter hiding. It's hardly noticeable in any light which is really a shame. It's still a nice two coat dark blue.

Run Forest Run!

Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!

With Flash

Very hard to see glitter bits.