Essie - Mojito Madness

Yesterday, I painted my nails with Essie Mojito Madness. This polish is from a collection that came out in Summer 2012. I just picked it up this past summer.

Mojito Madness is a yellow tone grassy green color. Very beautiful! I love this shade of green. The formula was a little runny, but I had no problem with coverage. This was two coats. 

Because the polish was Mojito Madness. I obviously had to make a Mojito and I watched some episodes of Mad Men.  ;) 

I love Joan's red dress in this Christmas episode from season 4. 

Today, I even importantly visited a very Mad Men-esque home. 

Finally, today I added on some nail art to my nails. Creating a little Halloween look. 

Have a great weekend! Tschüss!

Galaxy Nails

There are a couple of tutorials for Galaxy Nails. I ended up mostly using the one from Nouveau Cheap since she had great step by step photos. I used Catrice I Wear My Sunglasses at Night as my base coat. Then used some random pastel colors to sponge on the galaxy. For my glitter I used NYC White Light Glitter.

Here is an old manicure, photo of Catrice I Wear My Sunglasses at Night. So you can see what I used for the base. Such a pretty color!

Here is my finished product...

My favorite close-ups!

It was relatively easy to do! It only took me about 45 minutes start to finish. Not bad at all! Only problem was I should of waited longer till I applied top coat.

Leopard Print Nails

Hey lovely ladies. Again, I've disappeared. *sigh* The good news is I finally have a new laptop. It's going to be a lot nicer for blogging. I have tons of NOTD photos that I would love to share.

So first up is some nail art I did back in June during a nail challenge. I created leopard print nails. My base was Essie - Over the Knee. The leopard print was with Orly - Liquid Vinyl and a bronze Sally Hansen nail pen.

The technique was actually pretty simple. I used two coats of Essie - Over the Knee. I then used the bronze Sally Hansen nail pen to create the spots. It wasn't overly pigmented so I did a second coat on the spots. The black parts I did with toothpicks. Toothpicks are honestly the best tools for nail art! They are cheap and can be thrown away when you're done. So no extra cleanup.

The hardest part about nail art is waiting extra for it to dry. Otherwise, like me, you will have a few nails smear when you apply top coat. I really thought I waited long enough. Totally sucks, but I'll move on. ;)

  

 So what do you think? Will you try this out!? Honestly, it was pretty easy for me to do and I don't have much experience with nail art. I think it's adorable too.

Catrice - Out of Space Collection

Hello! Today I have to show you the three teals from the Catrice LE Out of Space Collection. I've had these for a bit and I've just now finally worn the three of them.

First up is Houston's Favorite a blue teal with some teal shimmer. Applied nicely in two coats for me. Overall, I was impressed by the color.

The second one I'm going to show you was a little bit of a surprise when I was applying it. Beam Me Scotty! dries matte. A total shock and I really like the look. It's a green teal with bits of small silver glitter and a green glitter. I applied this in two coats. Application was great for a matte.

Here it is glossy. I think this polish most represents space... it looks like a galaxy.

Midnight Express was hard to capture with the camera. It's a blacken teal with bits of teal, blue, and silver micro glitter. This was two coats as well.

Here's the shot again of the ruffian I did with Houston's Favorite and a gold nail pen.

So what do you think? I think this LE would of been better in Fall but I still like the colors a lot and since I'm moving back to the US I won't have a lot of extra cash for the new fall collections so at least I got a few shades earlier.

Fourth of July Manicure

Happy Fourth of July to the American ladies home and abroad! This is my third 4th of July I've spent in Switzerland. I also officially moved to Zurich last year on the 4th. I've never really got to celebrate much year. The first year we grilled out the day before and I wore my flag t-shirt, the 2nd year we were at the Zurifest and watched a bizarre dragon boat firework show, this year I spent the evening alone but ate every usual thing I could. Chicken breast, corn on the cob, blueberry muffins, and coca cola. When I'm done writing this I'm breaking out the watermelon!

Here are the different polishes I used for my manicure.

Color Club - Art of Seduction, MNY 661, Milani - Ruby Jewels, Nivea - White, N.Y.C. White Lights Glitter

First, I used two coats of MNY 661 as the base color. Then I used two coats of N.Y.C White Lights Glitter. I did the glitter gradient with Color Club Art of Seduction. Lots of different coats of glitter for that. I think I had to paint it on at least five times for the gradient.

The flag on my thumb had a base coat of Milani - Ruby Jewels. I used a paint brush to create the rectangle with MNY 661, Sally Hansen nail art pen for the dots, and the Nivea White to make the stripes. Obviously it's not totally accurate, but it's a lot harder than it looks!

I love this shot of the manicure!

You can really see the between coat of N.Y.C. White Lights Glitter in these photos. Which is a lovely color btw. I'm going to need to use it again soon.

 

 Here is the right hand. It's got dented a bit on two nails since the glitter didn't dry to well.

What's your favorite way to celebrate the 4th? Or to celebrate your nation's important holiday? Swiss National Day is August 1st but it's pretty tame compared to American fourth of July.

One Year of Living in Switzerland

Hello ladies! Yesterday was my one year anniversary of moving to Switzerland. Decided to celebrate by painting some Swiss flags on my nails. I'm very surprised by how fast the year went by. I've been having a nice time in Zurich. It's a very fun city and very unique. But I'm starting to get antsy and I'm ready to move back to the USA in the fall.

I used two coats of China Glaze Ruby Deer (From 2010 Holiday Collection). It's a really pigment red jelly/creme finish. So pigmented that please ignore how terrible I painted around the cuticles. I tried cleaning it up with acetone but the red was just spreading out and staining everywhere and that looks terrible too.
The crosses I made with a white Sally Hansen nail art pen. I didn't do too bad with my left hand as you can see. But the right hand was a hot mess compared to this. This is the first time I've done free handed nail art.

And because I share even the crappy nail art job. Here is the result on my right hand. :(

Thanks for taking a look. Hope you liked my first attempt at nail art. Good thing the Swiss flag is easy to manage. Don't expect any American Flags for my 4th of July mani. haha. Have  a nice weekend.