Pink Wednesday: Zoya Rory

Happy Pink Wednesday! It’s a happy day because it is Wednesday, which means it is actually already Thursday, and we all know Thursday basically is Friday and Friday means weekend! Plus it’s pink. And glitter.

Zoya Rory is a medium pink, it must be a cool toned pink, because my hands look normal (as in opposed to a lobster). It has silver flecks all throughout, giving it a metallic, rather foily look – but not of the shiny foil kind, it has this etheral glow that brushed aluminium surfaces have. Add pink to that, you’ll have Zoya Rory.

I decided that ICING Party Confetti would be perfect to top off this manicure. Party Confetti is a clear base with small pink glitters and larger pink and purple glitters. It is a glitter topcoat, so the glitters aren’t very dense, even though it looks like it in the bottle. I used one coat of (a bit dabbed on) glitter for the pictures below. 

Gelato drips

When I received Jessica Barely Blueberry in the mail, I couldn’t wait to try it. It is such a nice squishy subtle light blue, I was convinced right away! Barely Blueberry is part of Jessica’s Gelato Mio! collection, which was released as their summer 2012 collection.

For this manicure I used two coats of Barely Blueberry. It dried really fast, even though I used thicker coats. After it dried, the polish was still very shiny, so I didn’t use a topcoat. I love this light blue, but after a while I wanted to try something out, so I took Tangerine Dreamz, also from Jessica, and also from the summer collection, and started painting drips on them.

I thought that this design fit the collection best – dripping ice cream! The color of Tangerine Dreamz is a pastel orange creme polish. It isn’t my color, I am also really picky when it comes to oranges (pun intended), but for the drips on the super cute light blue, it worked very well. I topped the whole thing off with a fat layer of Seche Vite and showed everyone, even the people who didn’t ask!

Let me know what you think!

Both products were sent to me by the PR company of Jessica Cosmetics for my honest review. You can purchase Jessica polishes through their website.

Greta and the Fantasy Fire

Just so you can prepare: This is going to be a long post.

First up, another OPI Germany Collection polish: Unfor-Grety-bly blue.

My camera hated this blue. It’s a medium blue with a shimmer finish. I used two coats, it didn’t stain (huuuuge plus!), but it isn’t really my cup of tea.  

So. There I was, wearing a blue that didn’t do anything for me. Logical next step: layer something over - Max Factor Fantasy Fire! 

It’s nice in the lightbox, but the real magic happens in daylight. And this is why this post is so long: I couldn’t show you less pictures. I don’t like the gifs, because I always want to stop the picture from moving, as I want to take in every detail of the holographic polish or the shift from duochromes, so I’m making you scroll through the pictures.

Looks awesome, right???

Sunday Spam – Pinks, Pinks, Pinks!

Sunday! Day of peace and quiet and the Sunday Spam! Leave me a comment and tell me which polish you like best… I’m nosy, I want to know!

Nicole by OPI You’re an angel is a super gorgeous coral glassfleck, which amazes be because of the golden hue. Unfortunately for me, coral makes my hands look weird, but I couldn’t resist this anyhow. Three coats, it it a bit on the sheer side.

Sephora by OPI Miss Bossy Pants is from the Glee Collection – it’s a mini, so I was a bit reluctanct to wear it – SOPI minis really are mini. I liked wearing it, but it is not unique in my stash – think OPI Pompeii Purple for example. 2 coats.

OPI Strawberry Margerita is one of my oldest and dearly beloved-st pinks. It dries super glossy, is vibrant, happy and easy to apply. 2 coats.

OPI Let me entertain you – 3 coats – is a blue based glassfleck pink. As it is a glassfleck, it looks deep and glossy – sparkly in sunlight – but somehow we didn’t totally click. I had to wear it a couple of times to find out, but eventually, I didn’t want to be entertained.

OPI I’m Indi-a Mood for Love is another one of my “old” pinks – it’s from the India Collection, where from I love all the polishes, and it’s a blue based pink creme, which fits me very well. Two coats, and if you don’t have a standard pink creme, get this one. Period.

OPI Houston we have a Purple isn’t purple. I don’t know why it would be names purple… anyhow, this is a jelly (OPI calls them “sorbets”) in a gorgous deep pink (I’d say it’s a lighter raspberry pink). Three coats and look how glossy it is!!

OPI Be a Dahlia won’t you? is another blue toned glassfleck pink. The blue/silverish hue is more present in this one than in Let me Entertain you. If you search for a picture of a Dahlia, you’ll find that this is just a tad darker than the flower. 2 coats.

Which one is your favourite?

Your weekly dose of holo: How I wore it: butter LONDON Dodgy Barnett

This Holo Saturday is brought to you by butter LONDON, who kindly sent me the fall/winter collection to review. You can see part of it here, and you’ll have to wait for Trustafarian, as the sun is in hiding!

Dodgy Barnett by butter LONDON is a silver nail polish with a holographic finish. I wouldn’t sell my children for holographic lacquers like my dear friend T., but I like them nonetheless.

For this manicure I used 2 coats of Dodgy Barnett over my regular basecoat, which is also from butter LONDON – I switched recently, afer OPI Nail Envy seemed to stop working for me. I didn’t use any aqua base or other fancy stuff, because I’m lazy and I hate waiting for it to dry.

I also used a topcoat (don’t stone me for that!), because again, I’m lazy and impatient. I didn’t have the feeling that the topcoat dulled the holographic effect. I used nails inc. 45 second caviar topcoat, just so you know.

It wasn’t very sunny when I took these pictures, but I did manage to make some pictures in the sun.

I also managed to make the usual weird pictures, so I hope you enjoy those. I have absolutely no skills when it comes to standing as if I had to pee really badly or leaning back so much I look as if I’d fall. I leave these poses to the fashion bloggers.

I’m wearing: A top from GAP, (the cardigan is from H&M), the shoes are old, the jeans are from KOOKAI. The earrings are from a small shop in Vienna (here), and where I have the ring from is a mystery. It has been with me rather long now!

Well, as an “extra”, here is where I went that day! We had some wine at a Heurigen, walked through the Vienna Woods and enjoyed getting older.

Dodgy Barnett was sent to me for my honest review by the PR team of butter LONDON Germany. Thank you! All other products were bought by me.

Catrice Big City Life LE

Catrice came out with a second edition of the oh-so-famous Big City Life LE, which was released last year around the same time.

This time, Catrice picked 3 cities: Paris, San Francisco and Shanghai. I didn’t buy any of the  make-up palettes, as I’m not one of the palette collectors – small bathroom!

Paris – does this remind you of something? Well, it reminds me of every other sheer pink. I can’t even really advise you to buy this if you still need a color like this, as this required three fat coats, and it isn’t even all that shimmery. The shimmer in the bottle would have made up for the boring color, but it didn’t transfer onto the nail. I’m giving this one a pass!

San Francisco. Now we’re talking! Gorgeous petrol with shimmer that adds depth and transfers onto the nail. Nothing much to add, except for: Grab your bottle while you can! This was one coat (!!).

Shanghai - a streaky gold, but this one is cooler toned than the one from the essence Twilight2 LE (see yesterdays post for that!). I like it, but this particular shade of gold is everything but unique. 2 coats.

Did you buy anything?

essence twilight breaking dawn LE

To be honest, I couldn’t care less about a LE than one that is released because of a movie like Twilight. The only things I like about Twilight is it’s ridiculousness and the fact that if you say the word “twilight” really quickly, it sometimes sounds like “toilet”.

The one undeniable thing is though, that in my eyes, the only good thing about this Twilight **** is, that essence steps up their game and brings us awesome colors. See the last Vampire themed LE here.

A piece of foreverwill be the one least people like, as it is a warm yellow gold that dries streaky. I love colors like this, so it was a winner in my books! 2 coats.

Edward’s Love is a black polish filled with silver glitter particles. So to say the cheap version of Illamasqua Creato (and a tad less awesome). 2 coats.

Alice had a vision – again is a purple polish filled and filled with small glitters, which range from pink to green. It looks very dark in inderect light, but in my lightbox it really shines. If I’d wear purple, I’d love this to bits! 2 coats.

Jacob’s protection is the blue version of Alice had a vision-again. You can see all the awesome glitter in the bottle, but it transfers on the nails just fine too. No issues with this one, definitely a must-have! 2 coats.

Did you like any?

Pink Wednesday: How I wore it: KIKO 397 Aureus Pomegranate

Welcome to an exptended version of Pink Wednesday, namely the Pink Wednesday How I wore it special.

My friend M. asked me to send her the KIKO duochromes, and while we don’t have KIKO in Vienna, I still managed to buy half of the store in Paris, where I also found some of the KIKO duochromes (lucky M., no?!). KIKO 397, “Aureus Pomegranate”, seemed to pretty to pass up on, so I decided to buy it for myself as well.

While the polish applies easily and dries quickly, it doesn’t seem to be a real duochrome – it’s more of a mauve leaning purplish pink with intense golden shimmer.

I wore this when E and I made a week-end trip to St.Malo – great little city. We spent an evening sitting at the beach, drinking wine and wondering why we already have boyfriends, as we should’ve put our energy into snatching one of the young men wealthy enough to own a house with a beach front. In turn, our boyfriends wondered how they deserve to girls so materialistic. Well, in effect, we asked the big questions of life at the beach in St. Malo.

I had already been in St. Malo for a language exchange course with school when I was younger, and the one thing I remembered most vividly was the swimming pool that consisted of only three walls and was built into the beach. Because of the strong tides, the swimming pool fills with fresh water every 7ish hours. (see the swimming pool there in the pic?) 

During my school exchange, I actually sat on top of the diving platform chatting away with my friend, and we both totally overlooked the fact that the tide was coming. By the time we decided to go back (aka walk along the wall towards the beach), the waves were swashing over the swimming pool walls, making this a difficult and wet way back.

Now on to the formalities! I’m wearing an oversized t-shirt from GAP, mini denim skirt from Uniqlo, earrings my mum gave me and sunglasses my aunt gave me. The shoes are chappals from Mumbai, which I buy in bulk whenever I’m there. They are by far my favourite summer shoes!

Another close up of Aureus Pomegranate (sounds like the wise old skunk/beaver/mole from some cartoon TV show, right?!) with the obligatory french Evian bottle.

….and the idiotic amusement picture just for you!

Piano Nails

Sometimes, but just sometimes, I feel the need to try something weird.

I had these stamping plates for sometime now, the MASH plates, and on one of them is this piano-print. So the other day, I wanted to wear Orly Au Champagne (the white), and it refused to behave, so I had dents in the nails of my ringfinger and my pointer.

I wasn’t ready to paint them in Au Champagne again, so I blindly grabbed into my “to swatch” box, and out came OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! Ok, fine!.  I will talk about the name of this polish in a later post. I actually cringed when I just wrote that.

And because the color combinaton fitted, I picked up my MASH plate #44, and stamped this piano design over it, alternating in black and white (I used wet’n'wild black and white creme for the stamping design).

I think the design would work much better if I had a straight nail shape and not an oval/rounded one, but it was fun for a day. What do you think?

How I wore it: NARS Amchoor

Just in case you didn’t realise, I’m a big fan of India as a country for vacations, hanging out with friends, etc (I don’t want to say that I am a big fan of India in its entirety, because there are many more problems in this country than I could possibly quickly make a list of – if you’re interested, I suggest you read the weekly magazine tehelka.com and other quality newspapers). To cut my ramblings short, when NARS came out with the Thakoon collection and all the polishes were named after spices I was tantalized – NARS polishes aren’t sold in Austria, and I was sad.

But then, when I stormed the Sephora in Paris, I realized that people don’t have the same feelings towards yellow cremes as I do, and NARS Amchoor was readily available. After disputing with my conscience – the price! – the polish heart won and I happily added Amchoor to my birthday gift basket so I didn’t have to pay for it. Clever, huh?

The cupcakes I’m holding are from Berko, 23, rue Rambuteau, 75004 Paris. I would like to repeat my disbelieve of Cupcakes and Beauty Bloggers originating from the same birth mother, but hey, what to do – cliché is who cliché does!

Anyhow. NARS Amchoor (dried mango powder) is a medium yellow creme. I thought that all yellow cremes would apply horrific, but as I was forearmed, the application wasn’t all too bad. I ended up using only two coats, which I consider very little with regard to yellow cremes. Please excuse my face. It didn’t feel like taking pictures that day obviously.

I wore this with 7/8 length pants from Muji, a blazer from H&M, a regular white t-shirt from I don’t know where and my awesome yellow shoes!!!