Dare to wear ~ Love Potion

Dare to wear ~ Love Potion

Dark cherry red with multicoloured holographic glitter

Dare to wear! Yup. Sounds like my kind of nail polish. :D

I bought this in a blog sale, and I’m very glad I did, because it definitely lived up to it’s beautiful appearance in the bottle. As you know, this is not always the way it works.

Anyway - I gave two very easily applied coats for the desired opaqueness, and then a very thick layer of Poshé top coat, because the polish dried up with a very gritty finish. It didn’t show that much, but I could certainly feel it.

This is a very, very nice polish and extremely attractive. We like that :D

Unfortunately I dented it shortly after applying it. :/

 

Opacity: 9/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Misa ~ Like it like that

Misa ~ Like it like that

Bright metallic green with just a hint of blue shimmer

I don’t know if I’ve told you before, but I’m definitely a Misa fangirl. I think they make great colours – and they are often one coaters, because the pigmentation is so strong. Today I’m wearing “Like it like that”, a beautiful metallic, bright green. That was actually a one coater – but I gave it two, to see if that enhanced the colour. It didn’t really, so next time I’ll probably just stick with one. I’ll also test to see if this polish can actually work as a stamping polish. We’ll see about that.

The formula was great – it was such an easy polish to apply, it almost spread out over the nail without me doing anything.

So here’s two coats, no top coat:

I wanted a stamp on it, and went for Konad stamping plate M21. I stamped with Essence’s silver stamping polish “Stamp me! Silver”, and topped with Poshé’s top coat. I placed the butterflies randomly on each nail:

I can almost hear you say: “Didn’t she say silver? But those butterflies look golden…?” And you’re right. I did say (and mean) silver, but when I painted on the top coat, the butterflies changed colour from silver to gold! I was amazed that it was even possible.

It looks pretty good in my opinion, but I’m not really a golden kind of girl, so this’ll probably only last until tomorrow. :)

What do you think? Have you ever seen a stamp that changed colour when you added the top coat?

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 8/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Buy again: Yes

Barry M ~ Raspberry

Barry M ~ Raspberry

Deep, raspberry red

and

Nubar ~ White Polka Dot

Clear base with multisized white “dots”

I’ve heard quite a lot about Barry M, so I thought I’d give it a go. I ordered this Raspberry colour along with a few others, and was excited when they showed up. They look just as pretty as I expected them to.

So, about the application: The formula is quite thick, but still very easy to work with. The polish glided right on, and left no streaks or bald spots at all. Nice. And behold! This turned out to be a one coater!! So I’ll definitely try and stamp with this colour as well. <YAY>

Let me show you – one coat, no top coat yet:

But that’s obviously not it. I had another polish to try – Nubar’s “White Polka Dots”. I’ve also got the “Black Polka Dots”, but now that spring might be around the corner soon, I wanted something more bright and happy.

The dots spread easily out on the nail, I didn’t have to push them much around with the brush. It’s weird, because the black dots were so much harder to arrange on the nails. I’m not complaining though – it’s just nice that one of them is easy to work with.

Here’s one coat of the polka dots over the raspberry:

Do you like it? I think it looks great – in all modesty, obviously! :D

Both pictures are taken in the sun by the way! It seems like ages since I saw the sun last, so I was very excited to be able to take some pictures where the polish shows all its colours!

Barry M ~ Raspberry

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Buy again: Yes

Nubar ~ White Polka Dot

Opacity: -/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Buy again: Yes

Color Club ~ Wink, wink, twinkle

Color Club ~ Wink, wink, twinkle

Magenta crème with holographic micro glitter

I was browsing through a box of polishes the other day, and found this little gem amongst a bunch of other Color Clubs. There’s no doubt that this polish has been sitting in my stash of untried polishes for way too long.

It’s from the ‘Starry Temptress’ collection, Summer 2011.

It was a dream to apply. The glitter spreads evenly without much of an effort, and this could easily have been a one coater. I decided to give it two anyway, to see the full potential of this beauty. I was not disappointed. Color Club remains number one on my list of favourite polishes.

Here it is, two coats, one coat of Color Club top coat:

The colour is just me, and I think it fits my skin tone perfectly! The glitter is subtle enough to not take over the manicure completely, which is great when the colour looks so good. I love this colour so much that I didn’t want to take it off again – and I can assure you that doesn’t happen very often!

What do you think?

Opacity: 10/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 10/10
Value for money: 10/10
Overall: 10/10
Buy again: Yes

Frankenpolish ~ Galaxia

Frankenpolish ~ Galaxia

Shimmery black with glitter

Here’s the last franken I got from sweet Alice Snow. It has taken me a while to actually try this one out, because I don’t usually wear black polish. I love dark colours, but it’s very seldom I go totally black.

Little did I know that Alice had already thought of that. This black is special, because she added silver and glitters so that this polish doesn’t show up jet black. It’s a shimmery crème, that could easily be a one coater. There’s glitter in it, yes, but only a few of them do actually show up on the nails, which suits me fine in this case. The polish applies easily, and drying time is a bit on the slow side.

Here are two coats, no top coat:

Notice that this picture is actually taken in the sunshine!! It’s the first time I’ve seen the sun for ages, and I can see that starting up a nail polish blog in the autumn and winter, where the sun doesn’t show up much, wasn’t the best idea I have ever had. I’m looking forward to many more pictures of my nails in the sun!!

I stamped on this black beauty. I used a stamping plate named T06 and Essence’s “Stamp me! Silver” stamping polish.

I chose a cross, because I aimed for the dark, gothic look.

Do you think I succeeded?

Color Club ~ Jingle Jangle

Color Club ~ Jingle Jangle

Blue and lavender glitter in a clear base

Jingle Jangle is from the “Under The Mistletoe” Collection from Holiday 2011, a series of six, of which I own two (this one and ‘Holiday Spendor’ - the green one). I’ll get to that particular polish later.

So – ‘Jingle Jangle’ has a clear base, but it actually covers pretty well because it’s so well packed with the glitter. The formula is great: The glitter glides straight on without any problems whatsoever. I used three coats, but I think I could have gotten away with two.

Here’s the three coats, with one coat of Sally Hansen Diamond shine top coat:

It does dry up with a gritty finish, though. One layer of top coat is not going to be enough if you’re after a smooth surface.

It’s quite nice. I really like the glitter, but I’m not really sure about the colour. Like some other things in life, I think it might need a bit of darkness to get the desired wow-effect ;) 

The polish started chipping after less than 12 hours!  I'm very disappointed - Color Club usually make better polishes than that.

Opacity: 6/10
Colour, prettiness: 4/10
Durability: 2/10
Value for money: 4/10
Overall: 4/10
Buy again: No

Orly ~ Entourage

Orly (mini bottle) ~ Entourage

Burgundy jelly base with silver, pink and burgundy glitter

When I first saw this polish I almost didn’t believe my eyes. I absolutely love dark red polishes and you should all know by now that I’m a glitter addict – and this polish is the two combined into one beautiful polish.

I only found it as a mini bottle though, which is a shame, but I can’t actually remember having used up any other polishes but top coats and base coats recently so I guess I’ll survive. :D

The formula was okay, but I could feel that I had to be somewhat careful not to pull all the glitter down the nail as I painted it on. It had a tendency to do that both on the first coat, and also on the second. It definitely needed two coats for desired opacity.

No top coat yet:

I stamped on it and I used a design from a big plate marked “K”, and chose a dragon. I used Konad’s white stamping polish for the design.

I used “Out the door super fast drying top coat”, but I certainly won’t be using that over stamping again. The formula is very thin, and it pulls on the design even when using as few brush strokes as possible.

But I do love this mani. It’s SO me!! ♥

 

Opacity: 8/10
Colour, prettiness: 10/10
Durability: 9/10
Value for money: 9/10
Overall: 9/10
Buy again: Yes

Sally Hansen ~ Laser

Sally Hansen ~ Laser
Very shimmery duochrome,  shifting from blue to purple


Sally Hansen make some pretty polishes. Too bad we can only buy the boring ones here in Denmark. And thank god for blog sales, so we can get our hands on the pretty ones after all.

This polish looks very promising. The blue in the bottle is stunning, and shifts beautifully to purple when you twist and turn the bottle a bit. It’s so shiny and shimmering. I believe all the shimmer comes from tiny, tiny glass flecks. 

The formula was a bit on the thin side, but not so much that it was  annoyingly  runny. I think I could have gotten away with two coats, but I gave it three anyway, to see this polish’s full potential. And I was definitely not disappointed – it’s just as pretty on the nails as it is in the bottle. Here it is – three coats, no top coat:

I tried to photograph it from both the purple and the blue angle, but even though the sun was actually out for once, I didn’t manage to catch the purple side, no matter how much I twisted and turned my fingers. I could easily see it, I just couldn’t photograph it. So you’ll have to take my word for it, and just look at the blue side of it. :)

I decided to add a bit of bling. I used Kleancolor’s “Twinkly Love”, which is a pinkish clear base with various coloured  holographic hearts. I fished up two hearts for each nail, and pushed them into the desired position. Then I added a thick layer of Seche Vite top coat, and the mani was done:

I really like it. It shiny, shimmering and fun. What do you think?
(I actually got to photograph the purple side of it here!!)

Opacity: 7/10
Colour, prettiness: 9/10
Durability: 8/10
Value for money: 8/10
Overall: 8/10
Buy again: Yes

Seche Vite question

Hi girls,

I always wear top coat over my manicures. It makes them shinier, gives the manis more depth and makes them last longer. My favourite top coat is Poshé, and that’s also the one I use the most. The second one in line is Seche Vite. I usually use that after stamping on my nails, after having put on a crackle polish, and when I generally feel like it.

There is one thing about Seche Vite that annoys me a lot. And I do mean a lot!

It seems forever impossible to get to use all of the product!

Look at this picture. The brush doesn’t even touch the bottom of the bottle when it’s shut!

This picture shows how little of the top coat the brush reaches when the bottle is just unscrewed.

I mean – that’s ridiculous. One of the great things about Seche Vite’s top coat is that it’s so thick that it’s possible to get a big dollop of product on the brush and then spread it over the nail. But with a little less than half left in the bottle, I find it almost impossible to get a dollop of product on the brush, even when I tilt it. I keep dipping and dipping and dipping the brush, with a result that isn’t as pretty as it could have been. And that is annoying!

Is it just me, or how do you girls get to use the entire bottle of Seche Vite? 

February Nail Mail

Here are the polishes that I enrolled in my stash during February.

First some Barry M polishes, that I just couldn't live without: 

Lilac foil, Lavender and Hologram

Lilac foil should be just as perfect for stamping as their silver and gold foil polishes. We'll see about that. 

Vivid Purple, Bright Purple, Shocking Pink and Racing Green

I bought the following in a blog sale: 

China Glaze: Techno Teal and Blue Hawaiian. Orly: Royal Velvet

Dare to Wear: Love Potion and Dancing Shoes.
Cácee BFF: Lucy. Finger Paints: Vintage Violet

Sally Hansen: Insta-Dri: Blazing Blue and Rapid Red.
Teflon Tuff: Wink, and X-treme Wear: Disco Ball

I was also so very lucky to win the first prize in Caitt's Giveaway. Here's what I won: 

OPI: Pearl of Wisdom, I'm not really a waitress and The Color to Watch

And she even threw an extra prize in, which wasn't mentioned at all: 

BYS: Voodoo Violet

Thanks, Caitt, I can't tell how excited I was to find this extra gem in the box!!

I bought these myself:

Sinful Colors: Sugar sugar, Pearl Harbor and L.A.Colors: Voodoo

L.A.Girls Rock Star: Punk, Overdose and Groupie

Jordana: Purple Glam and Cosmic

That's it for February. I have said to myself that I won't be buying polishes in March, but I have ordered some polishes in February that hasn't arrived yet, so there will be a March Nail Mail post whether I keep that promise to myself or not. :D 

We'll see how it goes. Perhaps I stumble over a polish that is too hard to live without! ;)