Contest Closed - Catrice Giveaway!

Contest closed. Thanks for entering.
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Hello followers! I've surpassed 50 followers and today I would like to announce that I'm going to do a very small giveaway. Over the summer I showed you a few polishes from Catrice a cosmetic company based in Europe. Catrice has 32 nail polish colors in their core collection and I would like to give one away to you! The best part is you get to pick which color you want! You can see their color range here Catrice.

London's Stormy Weather is my personal favorite. You can see my other swatches and reviews here here here and here.

I will be using a Google form for entries and will pick a winner through random.org.

Here are the rules to enter to win one bottle of Catrice nail polish...

1. You must be a follower through Google Friend Connect. Please make sure you don't follow privately as I can't see if you are truly following me. Enter your Google Friend Connect name in box #1.

2. You will need to enter your email in box #2. It will stay private it's just so that I can contact you if you are a winner.

Eyeko - Rain

I recently wore Eyeko Rain for city nails. It's a pretty baby blue with a light grey tinge. It has a very subtle shimmer that you can't notice in the pictures. I tried to capture it with flash, but it's not very noticeable. It's a pretty color an only needed two coats.

With flash.

Sorry about my cuticles. I kind of been ignoring them. heh.

I recently got tagged for the Sunshine Award from Nailspotting. Thank you!

The rules for this award:

1. Post the image on your blog.
2. Link the blogger who gave it to you.
3. Pass it on to 12 other bloggers.
4. Link those 12 bloggers.
5. Let them know you've tagged them by commenting on their blog.

A lot of people have gotten this. So I'm only going to tag a few, but truly everyone is tagged. I don't want to leave people out. 

Honi
Lil Miss Giggles
Emybloom
Sana's Beauty Spot

Nail Mail!

Today was a great mail day! I got two packages. One was my order from Eyeko and the other was from a swap I did with Squared Nails.

I sent her some Catrice nail polish since they're only sold in Europe and she sent me the China Glaze Awakening Collection. It's a Halloween collection and I was worried that since I moved here I wouldn't be able to get it. So thank you!!

Mummy May I, Zombie Zest, Ick-a-bod-y

She also surprised me with three polishes from the Vintage Vixen Collection. She is too kind!!

First Class Ticket, Goin' My Way, Midnight Mission

From Eyeko I purchased three polishes. I'm really excited to try these out.

Cosmic, Military, Pastel

Anyone else expecting nail mail soon!?

Something Different Sunday's

Happy Sunday everybody! I scheduled this post because I'm currently staying at the hotel for a night out.

Now on to what I wanted to show for something different Sunday. Two weeks ago I went into the city for the day. I popped into H&M. I didn't buy anything but I fell in love with two items. First is a teal satin dress and the other was a creme colored sweater. My favorite clothing item is sweaters, especially cardigans. This is more of a jacket/shrug.

The dress was $50 and the sweater was $30. I plan on hopefully going back and getting the sweater. But as cute as the dress is it's not unique enough for me to buy it at this time.

For the weekend my nails are polished with OPI Color It So Hot Berns from the new Swiss Collection. Here's a sneak peek photo. I love it and it's a nice red.

With flash and nor really color accurate.

And a picture that I took last year of the city that bears the name of this polish Bern, Switzerland.

New Alessandro Mini's

I found these two mini alessandro's in a new display at Manor (Swiss Department Store). The display is called Go Fashion! and had 10 shades trendy for fall. You can see the other colors here at Pinkmelon  For the size they are really expensive at about $7 USD a bottle. However, the two I bought are beautiful cremes with awesome application. The small square bottles are easy to hold and the brush is great for a mini.

First up is Dusty Purple and the name explains it all. It took three coats to cover up the patchiness. It's more gorgeous in person and is the perfect fall color. The polish dries darker then the bottle color. My middle nail is messed up sorry.

alessandro - Dusty Purple

Next up is Green Genie. It's a dusty green that leans teal. This also needed three coats. I loved it the moment I put the first coat on.

alessandro - Green Genie (natural light)

alessandro - Green Genie (flash)

alessandro mini brush

I think they are both very trendy for fall. I'm very happy that I picked them up to add to my collection. Now, while I have you here I have two more things to show. First, I wanted to give a peek of what my nails look like underneath the polish. Second, show you the beautiful red jelly with a slight holo glitter that I am waiting for a sunny day to swatch.

Not bad! Orly Bonder is my base coat and I'm lucky to not experience much staining.

Please pray for sunny days in Zurich.

I went shopping...

No nail pictures today. I had an impromptu trip downtown today and by the time I got home it was too dark for pictures. I had a very enjoyable time. It's really easy to get around Zurich so I was just hopping on and off trams all over the place.

My main goal was to find a display of the essence's new trend collection. I really wanted to get Absolutely Stylish which is a grown with green glitter mixed in it. I found it along with two more polish from alessandro.

alessandro - Dusty Purple, essence - Absolutely Stylish, alessandro - Green Genie

The color is a little off. Sorry, but you will see the true color on my nails soon. I also made a stop to Lush. A store that I never went to when I lived in the states, but now living here has become my favorite store! Over a week ago I purchased Lemony Flutter a really nice cuticle cream that has been really helping with my dry cuticles. And today I bought a massage bar called Wiccy Magic Muscles. It's meant to help soothe sore muscles and has a nice aromatherapy scent. Needless to say my body is super sore and I've been waking up super achy.

Wiccy Magic Muscles Bar

The final thing I did out today was going to the Art Museum. They have free entries on Wednesday and you also get an audio guide. It's a great deal if you ask me! I really enjoy walking around museums and sitting on the benches looking at the paintings. Hope everyone had a nice day too. I'm off to finish my nails.

Models Own - Green Grass

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! I went to the Zurich Zoo on Sunday. You can check out the pictures on the bottom. Sunday I wore Green Grass from Models Own. The formula is a bit watery and I needed three coats. It's a pretty simple green with a creme finish that is slightly jelly.

Isn't it pretty!? I'm going to try this on my toes soon. Might try it with a water marble in the future too.

I also added polka dots with American Apparel Hunter. Check it out...

Now some pictures from the Zoo!

Owl's are my favorite!

This is a Shoebill. My favorite odd thing at the zoo.

Look at her trying to reach over the trench for leaves.

I was able to get really close to the Rhino.

Taking an afternoon nap. ^.^

My favorite thing that we saw at the zoo was the baby hippos! OMG so cute! The one in the water would wiggle his ears every time he surfaced. And the other one made really cute sounds munching on grass!

A question for you all. I only go to the zoo every once in awhile.. Does your zoo allow smoking? The three zoos I've been to in the states Chicago, Milwaukee, and San Diego I don't remember anyone smoking there so I assume they were smoke free. Well the Zurich zoo isn't. People are smoking everywhere and it really bothered me. Considering the zoo is sold as a family outing it sucks to have the cigarette smoke in your face all the time. It can't be that great for the animals either. Does your local zoo allow smoking on grounds?

Models Own - Pink Explosion

Hello gals! It's Friday!

Yesterday I painted my nails with Models Own Pink Explosion. It's a neon pink with gold glitter! It's amazing and I love this color! I don't care that it's the middle of September but this color had to be on my nails and it was so worth it.

I used three coats. I should of used a white base underneath, but I didn't. You can see vnl in somewhat in the photos, but in real life I hardly notice. Application was okay. It was gooey similar to the consistency of Models Own Orangeade but not as bad to apply.

Models Own - Turkish Delights & Magenta Divine

Well, I have been MIA for awhile. Obviously, I had some things to keep myself busy. Monday I changed my polish finally. I went with something fall like. I chose Models Own Turkish Delights. I really loved this color and it was an unexpected choice in my Models Own order. It's a very pretty vibrant dark magenta creme. I started with two coats but yesterday after I noticed a patch or two I added another coat.

 

 I didn't want to change my manicure today, so I added one coat of Models Own Magenta Divine. Magenta Divine is a magenta glitter in a clear base.

 

Hailey from lilmissgiggles tagged me in a Random Things About Me. So....

1. I grew up in a village with 2,000 people and graduated from High School with 30 classmates.

2. I went to Australia in 2007. I loved it there.

3. I paused college to move to Zurich. I had three yours finished and still need two more before I can teach elementary school.

4. I'm a picky eating. I don't allow my food to touch either.

5. I have over 300 bottles of nail polish now.

6. We bought tickets to The Cat Empire concert today. They are my favorite band and I learned about them on my trip to Australia.

7. I really miss Diet Coke. They only have Coca Cola Light here and it's really gross.

8. My dream vacation is to go to Moscow and St. Petersberg.

9.  I'm very quiet and shy. It holds me back.

10. Despite that I have a lot of guts. I go out of my way to be gutsy.

China Glaze - C-C-Courage

This is a pretty purple with a silver shimmer/fine glitter to it. I like it and it was on my wishlist since China Glaze released the Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns Collection in late fall 2009. So I'm glad I finally got to use it for a manicure!

I used two coats of C-C-Courage and two coats of OPI RapiDry. This polish was gritty before I put on the RapiDry. After RapiDry it looked like my whole manicure bubbled. It's the first time I used RapiDry for my top coat usually I use Orly Sec N Dry so I thought the RapiDry caused the bubbling. But before I posted this I looked at a few other people's swatches and it seems to look about the same. They all look slightly bumpy. So maybe it wasn't my top coat. Argh... I'm going to have to mess around with this one again later.

My verdict is that even with the bumpiness I love it. It's a unique type of purple and I don't have many things similar.

This is going to be my last post of the week.

If you want to see something new. I added a google doc. Of all my polishes under the tab up top called My Polish.

See you all Sunday or Monday!

Eyeko - Saucy

I made a small order from Eyeko a cosmetics company based in England. I bought three polishes Rain, Saucy, and Chi Chi. I wanted more, but I've spent too much money lately so I only chose three. I'll get more later I'm sure. Especially since they offer free shipping on any order in Europe.

Rain, Saucy, Chi Chi

Aren't the labels adorable! I think that's a unique way to label your products. Along with the descriptions on them. Rain - for city nails, Saucy - for naught nails, and Chi Chi - for girlie nails.

The first one I used was Saucy. A lovely red hot creme. Get this... I only used one coat! You have to be careful, but this polish can definitely be one coat. It's hard to tell in the picture, but it is also very shiny! I just love this red. I own a lot of red polish, but nothing like this!

I got my Eyeko polish ordered on Monday and today I got a care package from Dana and Kayla who are friends from college. Thanks girls!

They sent me some stuff that I'm missing deeply from home. A coloring book that plays Wipe Out when open!, coloring pencils, and window markers (which I've already used).A package of gummy bears, Reese's, and vanilla extract (something that I can't find in Switzerland!). Best part of all! They sent me nail polish. The OPI Swiss Mini's and OPI What's With the Cattitude? I have that one already back home, but they sent it as my something blue! Isn't that sweet.They also sent me China Glaze C-C-Courage which I now have on as my NOTD. So check out tomorrow for a post on that.

Polka Dots

I'm taking a break from the Models Own postings to show you all a polka dot manicure that I wore a week and a half ago. The last time I did polka dot nails was when I was in middle school. Old Navy had those nail polish bottles with a regular brush and a pen tip on top. Mine were all neons and are still in my old nail polish stash box, but they are all dried out.

My base color was OPI Koala Bear-y from the 2007 Australia collection. It's a pretty pink creme that applies really nicely. I used two coats.

For the dots I used OPI No Spain No Gain from the Fall 2009 España collection.

I used a tool from essence. That is used for putting on glitter bits for nail art. With its rounded tip it works well for polka dots too. You kinds find similar instruments on ebay or you can use a toothpick. I took a sheet of aluminum foil and then placed a few dabs of No Spain No Gain. Dipped my tool into the little pool and then dotted it on my nail. I did a really horrible pattern but next time I will do much better.

Something Different Sunday's

Welcome to Something Different Sunday's. I love blogging about my nails, but I also want to share other things in my life because I do have other hobbies. Almost every Sunday I'm going to talk about something that has nothing to do with nail polish. Many of you know that I recently moved to Switzerland so there is quite a lot to talk about in that area.

Today, I want to show off a little project that I started about a week before I left for Switzerland. FYI, don't ever take on a project like this before you move somewhere because it was hectic and a lot of work.

This is my project. A wicker desk that I've had in my possession for about 9 years. When I first got it my mom and I talked about refinishing it, but 9 years later it still sat in my room dull and dusty as ever.

Desk Chair Before

Desk Front Before

Desk Back Before

Maybe a month before I left I decided that I wanted to refinish my wicker desk. I sorted of started it. I washed it and sanded and chipped some paint away. Seriously the process was going nowhere and it was taking forever.

That's when I decided to pull out the big guns and actually strip the paint off. When I started this I was nervous to use stripper because of the wicker. It is a paper type wicker that is over 50 years old. That is why I started the sanding only process. Till I realized that there were like 10 layers of paint on it. In the past it had been gold, green, a creme yellow and white. The stripper I used was the aerosol version of CitriStrip. Which worked really well! The smell/fumes weren't too bad, but remember to still wear gloves and a mask.

After I stripped it, I had to wash the desk again and I let it dry for two days. Then I did more sanding, paint chipping, and I also used compressed air. After that I was finally ready to paint.

I used spray paint because when you're working with wicker there is a lot of little spaces and spray paint can get into those spots really easily. My first mistake with this project was not using a primer. With any painting project, please use a primer. The paint will just soak into wicker and wood if you don't use a primer. I learned that the hard way. So I immediately went to Home Depot for some primer. I used two coats of Rust-Oleum Ultra Cover 2x White Primer. I would recommend this primer it worked really well.

Once the primer was dry I moved on to the final step. I used Krylon Indoor/Outdoor Spray Paint in White Gloss. Funny story I started to use the flat version and it looked silly, so I had to return all my unused cans. Then I tired semi-gloss and I still didn't like it; again, I had to return the cans. So finally I went and bought the  gloss version. The gloss gave it the extra shine it needed and made it look really fresh. I think I used three coats, but I really lost track after the first coat of primer. haha. What matters is that I finally finished this project the night before my flight.

Well, here is the finished project. The pictures are not fantastic, I took them 30 minutes before I left for the airport. But the end result of my project was awesome. I love that my desk has a fresh coat of paint and I can't wait to use next year sometime.

Desk Chair After

Desk Front After

Desk Back After

 Thanks for joining my Something Different Sunday. Except that it is now Monday here. I started this over four hours ago. Whoops. Well, it's still Sunday in some places. :) More nail polish post coming this later this week.

A Layering Project

After my layering failed yesterday, which btw I had to soak off at 2am because it was peeling off like taffy. I decided that today I was going to do some layering but in a different way. The results were amazingly gorgeous!

I used Models Own Blue Sparkle, H&M Blue (Summer 2010 Mini's), and Models Own Bluebelle. To start this manicure off I used two coats of H&M Blue.

Next, I put one coat of Models Own Bluebelle over the H&M. Looks pretty, but it's still generic.

The final layer gives this manicure the wow factor. I carefully put on one coat of Models Own Blue Sparkle. What a lovely hexagon glitter!I'm kicking myself now for not getting the silver one. Swap anyone? haha

Ta-dah! I now have an extremely glitzy manicure. Which was a perfect complement to the little red dress I wore tonight to my secretive date. Chris surprised me with tickets to a Police Marching Band Festival. It was awesome with marching bands from all over the world and we also had great seats! The stadium in Zurich is really close to where we live. Only took us six minutes on the tram to get there. Talk about convenient. I'll add a picture tomorrow since I haven't had time to unload the pictures yet.

Concert Pictures

10 more followers, people. ;)