Day 3: 12 Days of Christmas Nails

Good evening again! Today is day 3 of my 12 days of Christmas nails.

Today is Spa Ritual Rhythm of Life. A very pretty green shimmer that has a bit of a teal tint to it. It is a little sheer so I used three coats. 

My photos don't have the best coloring since I wasn't home during daylight times. :( 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 22: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

Getting close to the end! Today was OPI Yodel Me on My Cell and e.l.f. Chic Confetti.

Yodel Me on My Cell is a bright aqua blue with micro shimmer. My favorite from the Swiss collection. Chic Confetti is a multi-glitter.

This is the second e.l.f. glitter I've used this challenge. It stank so badly just like the last one. So crappy.

Day 12: Nail Polish Advent Calendar

12/12/12 :p

Today I have a quick post for you! I opened up box number 12 and inside was this little gem. It's called Skip the Gift Wrap. It's from an OPI Holiday mini set exclusive to Ulta. I picked it up during  an Ulta's Black Friday sale where I paid $7.50 for the set. Otherwise, I probably would of passed on it. Which would of been a shame since this color is so pretty. From my understanding they are now selling the full size versions.

Here is Skip the Gift Wrap in the sun. It's such a pretty jewel tone green.

The shimmer was so pretty. I loved this shade on my fingers kept steeling looks at my nails all day. Don't you love when that happens!

Day 1 - Nail Polish Advent Calendar

My very first day! I went to open the box and found these...

Two lovely polishes. What should I do with these too? I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps as my main color and e.l.f. Blushing Beauty for an accent nail!

I used three coats of Ruby Pumps and two of Blushing Beauty. Both had lovely formulas and brushes. :)

The first day of December also proved to be a great day to pick out our Christmas Tree! Especially since the temperature was 60 F outside. Last year the trees were all frozen! I usually choose a traditional Frasier Fir but this year I fell in love with the Scotch Pines. A little small too, but so cute! I'll share photos of it decorated when I get to it! So far it only has lights.

A Few Shades from OPI Germany Collection

I've been gently buying a few of these here and there when I can get them with a good deal. I've bought 6 colors from the collection so far and haven't paid much more than $3.50 a piece for them. Overall, I really liked the collection. The ones I will show you today are Don't Talk Bach To Me,  Deutsch You Want Me Baby, and Nein! Nein! OK Fine! The other three I bought were  My Very First Knockwurst, Schnapps Out of It!, and Danke-shiny Red. I'm hoping I'll pick up Every Month Is Oktoberfest and German-icure eventually! Maybe Berlin There, Done That... Then I'm done. (That's what we all say and then we buy them all).

My husband is German so I find some of the names hilarious. The first one I will show you is Don't Talk Bach To Me. Pretty much spotted in the collection as the ugly color. Yes it's ugly in the bottle but on the nail not to bad. It's a sort of yellowish-green with a silver micro-shimmer. I used two coats.

The color kind of reminds me of the fruit die Quitte which I think is Quince in English. It has the same sort of color to it. We use the jam to make our Christmas Bratapfeln (baked apples).

Quince Fruit

The next color I'll show you is called Deutsch You Want Me Baby. It's a rusty fall orange that is packed full of metallic shimmer. It looked like it was glowing when I had it on. This was definitely a surprise favorite for me! I used two coats.

 

The last one is Nein! Nein! OK Fine! Which is a dark slate gray, which leans a little green. I used two coats. My photos on this were less than spectacular but I still wanted to share.

Happy American Thanksgiving!

GOSH - Ocean

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I'm going to show you GOSH Ocean today. This is a polish I picked up over the weekend at the Walgreens concept store on State Street. You can read about that experience here.

GOSH Ocean in the bottle looks like a duochrome, but once it's on the nails it is basically a really bright metallic turquoise. Even though the color doesn't shift much on the nails, it's still really pretty.

Application was great! I was really impressed with the formulas consistency. The bottle is really easy to hold in my hand while painting. The brush is thin, which for me is my favorite style.

Overall all I really like the nail polish line from GOSH. I see myself stopping in again sometime this month to pick another color or two out. I'm definitely looking forward to new colors that will reach the display at some point too.

There is definitely a perk about living in a big city. My Sephora actually stocks some of the more limited brands, the Macy's on Michigan has Inglot, and Walgreen on State has GOSH!

See you again soon!

Valentine's Day Mani

I actually put this on last night and so far so good it's sticking to my nails. I used the Cult Nails Base/Top Coat which had been giving me problems in the past with peeling but lately it's been working great!

So Cult Nails released a new collection this month called Let's Get Nekkid! Unfortunately, this is not the time for me to be buying new nail polish. Huge sad face. :( I especially have my eye on Toxic Seaweed which has flakes in it. So while I was whining about not being able to buy Toxic Seaweed I realized I do still have another flake from Cult Nails.

It's Iconic, a really pretty deep berry with golden shimmer and red flakes. A classic from their inaugural collection back in February 2011.

I should of warned that my nails are pretty short at the moment. I usually have really bad peeling problems in winter. So I have been needing to keep them cut back short. The only blessing I have is long nail beds!

In this photo there is a bit of a surprise color appearance in the bottle! The red flakes shift to a lime green too.

Here is a time when my nails were much longer. I wore this in March of last year. Took it while waiting at an intersection near my apartment in Zurich. I was on my way to the Geneva Car Show. Which btw is overrated and crowded.

And here I am at Lake Geneva...

Happy New Year

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! Wanted to show you what I had on my nails for the last two days.

I started off by using China Glaze Blue Year's Eve. It's from the Winter 2011 Let It Snow collection. I happened to pick this up at Sally's on clearance! It's a lovely and pretty sapphire blue shimmer. I used 3 coats.

 

I ended up getting Blue Year's Eve because I was looking for a sapphire blue to go with the copper glitter I bought from Forever 21.  The brand is Love & Beauty and it's a copper glitter with hex. I think it looks great topped over blue!

I hope everyone has a great year! This year I'm going to do project 365 this year. Well, actually 366 since it's a leap year. So I will be taking a photo each day and uploading it on my Flickr. Here is my first one.

1/336 Reflective Chimpanzee

Let's Take A Peak At Catrice Fall 2011

Hello everyone! I thought I would share some bottle pictures of some of the new polishes Catrice has to offer for fall 2011. I also have a notd for one of them.

Below are some of the colors that will be on the core displays this fall.

Rusty But Sexy --- Goldfinger --- Captain Sparrow's Boat

It's Rambo No. 5 --- After Eight --- I'm A Star

Sing Hey, Dirty-Lilah

Marilyn & Me

Blues Brother Vol. II

ASHley

Today, I also happened to come across the limited edition Bohemia collection. I ended snatching up all four shades.

Be Indiglow! --- Bring Me Terra Copper! --- Looking Sunkissed --- Yes, You Tan

Here is my notd with Be Indiglow! It applied really nicely and could of easily been an one coater. I used two coats since I had one bald patch. It's a very smokey blue with a black base to it.

I also have some quick bottle comparisons and a brush comparison.

The brush on the left is from the LE collection it's wider and more rounded. The brush on the right is the typical Catrice brush.

Here is a shot of the rusty oranges. They look pretty similar but the one on the left has more of a pearl finish and the right has gold shimmer.

Bring Me Terra Copper vs Rusty But Sexy

This is a comparison of the new color I'm a Star vs. a past LE called Welcome to the Jungle. Welcome to the Jungle is a bit darker.

Catrice - I'm a Star vs Welcome to the Jungle

Essence - Wear Your Little Tutu / Water Marble

So at the moment the LE for essence is Ballerina Backstage. The polishes didn't really wow me too much, but I used to take ballet classes for 12+ years, so I wanted to pick something up. I chose the baby pink called Wear Your Little Tutu. Figured maybe I could find a nicer baby pink, then what I have in my stash.

Unfortunately, Wear Your Little Tutu is like most baby pinks and it needed four coats. It did dry nicely and I didn't have dents so it's worth keeping! I like that the color tone leans a bit salmon in color. There is also a little bit of pink shimmer, but it's hard to notice.

Two days later I was craving a water marble. I haven't tried one for almost a year.  I made a tutorial last August on how to do one if you're interested. This time instead of tape I used Vaseline on my fingers. I prefer the tape. The Vaseline was very messy and removing the extra polish with q-tips was a pain.

I used Wear Your Little Tutu as the base color and I watermarbled with the colors shown below.

OPI - Flower to Flower, Essence - Andy,  You're A Star, China Glaze - Strawberry Fields

I water marbled really fast this time around. It took me about 30 minutes start to finish.

I really like this color combination. Especially in this shot.

And the shot of the right hand never as good as the left. Doesn't help that my nails are shorter, I suppose.

What do you think? Have you tried a water marble manicure? Going to try it anytime soon?