Artdeco - 246

Today I wore a duochrome nail polish. The polish is from a German brand called Artdeco. It's was sent to me from my best German friend, Tini. We've been sending packages back and forth to each other for two years now! She supplies me with all my favorites from German cosmetics companies. And when I can I send her awesome American beauty products that she can't find. We also chat with each other online and lean on each other for support. Tini is the best. :)

I used three coats to reach opacity. The color of the polish shifts from a light blue to purple to dark blue purple depending on the way you move your hand. 

It's a gorgeous polish. One of my favorite bottle shapes too. :) Thanks again Tini for the great nail polish pick! Tschüss! 

Nails Inc - Devonshire Row

Today my manicure color was a deep lilac orchid color called Devonshire road from Nails Inc. My bottle is a mini. It came in a set with two other miniature lacquers and three matching lip products. Really cute set for summer!

The polish covers the nail very nicely and I used two coats for maximum coverage. 

And my parting gift for you to see. A grumpy Mauer. 

Tschüss

Day 7: 12 Days of Christmas Nails

Today is day 7! The color I picked out was Color Club The Uptown. It is in a royal purple jelly base with flakes that shift from orange, red, to green. I used 4 coats to receive full coverage and didn't use a base color. 

This color will sure to cause you to stare at your nails all day. 

See you again tomorrow. 

Day 23: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

Almost finished! Just two more manicures to go! Today was OPI Day 23: OPI -  Gift Cards for Everyone! from the Ulta Holiday 2012 exclusives.

It's a pretty royal purple that has bits of ice blue micro shimmer placed in it.

Sorry it was a busy day and unfortunately wasn't able to get photos in till after 3pm. Light was not that great.

Day 17: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

Day 17! I need to make this short and sweet as I have a busy day tomorrow.

Today, my color was Zoya Julieanne

Here is the macro.

Until tomorrow.

Day 13: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

 Day 13 and I are still going strong! I unfortunately don't post these right in the morning, but I manage to get it done before I go to bed.

Today the color was Orly - Ingenue. This came out the last holiday season. It's a really pretty sparkly duochrome. The color is usually a purple, but it shifts to a golden and pink color too.

Here you can see the pink and gold the most.

Here is the macro!

Until tomorrow.

Day 9: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

Here we are on Day 9. A nasty cold has taken over my body. I'll just have to keep on going. Can't miss a day!

Out of box number 9 came essence Dopey. From a Snow White LE. It's a pretty lavender color with bits of silver glitter. Very dainty and I love it!

I went to Ikea today with my mom. Gave me an opportunity to check out make-up storage ideas. Found the wider and short Alex. Eventually I'll get this in black and replace my nightstand with it. Finally can have all my make-up in one spot soon.

Day 7: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

One week down! I apologize that the focus is not great on these unfortunately. It was so grey and dreary in Chicago today and even taken these at noon there was not enough light.

I had OPI Sapphire in the Snow and Orly Fowl Play to make my creation. Okay, it wasn't really that hard to create. I used two coats of Sapphire in the Snow and one coat of Fowl Play. I wish I would of used two coats of Fowl Play but at the time I wanted it to be subtle.

OPI Sapphire in the Snow is from a Holiday 2009 collection. I imagine it is really hard to find now. Orly Fowl Play was released for Holiday 2011 and is still available.

Super Macro and Flakies time.

Layla - Ultra Violet

Hello again! Today I have a polish that I picked up over the weekend from Ulta.

It's from the Layla Hologram Effects line. The display was behind the counter and I wasn't really able to explore the colors too much. Plus, I was really only able to afford one anyways. They retail for $15 but I was lucky to be able to use my 20% off promo they were going on.

There are 8 different colors and I picked out the purple one, Ultra Violet. I have a little display card that the sales lady gave to me that explains how to apply it. I've added that picture below. The blue color Ocean Rush is nowhere near as dark as the promo in this flyer unfortunately. They have a base file for about $3. I passed on it since it's basically just a buffer block.

I didn't use a buffer block before applying this since I was out of town. I just placed three coats on my bare nails without a base coat. Then I let it dry and never put top coat on it. Sadly, I had a major break on my one finger at the beginning of the weekend. So my nails look crappy

In the sun you can see it's got a spectacular holo rainbow effect.

For the easy availability in the US of this holographic nail polish it is probably in my opinion the best out there. The bottle contains 10 ML of polish. Which isn't too terrible when you consider some of the better linear holographic polishes are only about 5 ML. Application was really easy and I liked the brush.

Not in direct sunlight at all.

Here it is partially in the sun. The one issue of no base and top coat was that the tip wear was a monster of a problem. So be warned about that. I'm planning to go back to the Walgreen on State Street to get the GOSH Aqua Fix base coat that is supposed to be really helpful for Holo polishes.

So what do you think? Will you be heading over to your local Ulta to pick some of these up? Do you already have some? I will maybe eventually go back for the black and silver one. Overall, I was pretty impressed with the quality and I don't mind paying $15 for that.

Cult Nails - Let Me Fly

I really did let myself fly over the weekend. By finally cutting off around 7-8 inches of my hair. I've had it really long for about three years now. It was definitely time to say goodbye since I was dealing with terrible tangles and breakage. I was having glob conditioner in my hair and then comb through it with my tangle teezer just to manage it.

I went in with the intent of only cutting it just above my shoulders but next thing I know I'm agreeing to chop it into a short and edgy bob.

Here is the aftermath on the salon floor...

And here is the fantastic aftermath on my hair!

Short and sleek! Now on to my weekend manicure which was Cult Nails - Let Me Fly. A beautiful dark and dusty turquoise shade with flecks of silver shimmer.

My hairdresser and the sales lady at Ulta both complimented the color and asked what it was. Way to go Maria for creating a noticeable nail polish color!

I also gave my parent's next door neighbor girls manicures too, while I was visiting. The oldest girl picked Let Me Fly as her base color and then Cult Nails - Vicious as her polka dots.

The younger one picked Vicious as her base and the Let Me Fly for her polka dots and then on her other fingers, she had Cult Nails - Awakening as the base with a coat of Cult Nails Hypnotize Me.

Thanks for reading. :)

I'm Back with Zoya Julieanne on top of the Üetliberg

Hello fellow nail polish lovers. As you may have noticed I've been on an extended break from blogging. I'm now moved into my little apartment in Chicago. It was a bumpy ride moving back to the USA.

Finding an apartment in Chicago in the right neighborhood was difficult! So I spent two days looking at apartment after apartment before finding the one I am in now. I moved in Halloween weekend and so far I've been settling in to my life here. Getting used to living in a big city is the main one. This is nothing like my hometown and nothing like Zürich!

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So on to the nail polish. I'm going to show you some pictures of Zoya Julieanne. It's an old NOTD I had way back in August when my mom was visiting me in Zurich. I used two coats and it covered really well.

As you can see Julieanne is a dark purple. It has a glass flecked finish that's really gorgeous. This photo was actually taken up on top of the Üetliberg mountain in Zurich. It's a 20 minute train ride from Zurich main station. It has really lovely views of the city and I recommend going if you're ever in the area. I'm actually at the top of the lookout tower they built.

Here are some close ups of the glass flecks! The color shifts a bit too.

So here is the tower on the Üetliberg. It's pretty easy to climb and the view is even better up there!

This is the main area of Zurich. By the lake are most of the main tourist attractions. Most of the stuff around it is where the locals are going about their day-to-day business.

Further down the lake there are a lot of cute villages. There are also farms and vineyards mixed in around. It's really pretty and peaceful down the lake in the little villages.

This picture shows how long and vast the lake is. It stretches even further down to the left. I've even taken a train to the end of the lake to the city Rapperswil which is actually in a different Canton so it's pretty far away!

And no trip is complete without meeting a friendly local cat while out. This guy walked down the path from the top to where the train was. He was so affectionate and let me give him some ear scratches. 

Milani - Hi-Res

This was something that I picked up back in January when I was in the US. Wasn't even going in to get this one. I went to four different CVS stores that day trying to find the one-coat glitters. No luck there, but I did come out with some of the colors from the 3D Holographics collection that came out ages ago.

Hi-Res is a purple shade. The interesting thing about the collection is that the polishes have these awesome silver flakes in them that catch the sunlight very nicely. This is what makes the Milani 3D Holographic Collection unique in my opinion; by no means are they full on holos but the finish in the shade is still very nice.


Here's the a picture I took of my manicure inside out of the direct sunlight. Not too shabby right!? I love the little flecks.

Of course it looks spectacular in the sun! Thankfully it was very sunny the two days I wore this and I marveled at it in the sun a lot.

This has fulfilled my need for a decent holo effect. I really can't be bothered to hunt down or pay way too much money for the old China Glaze holos. Of course the China Glaze are way better holos, then the Milani ones but Milani is way more accessible and cheaper in the US.