How I wore it: China Glaze Bend over backwards (and a gradient)

Do you know how J calls these How I Wore It posts? HIWI. Like Kiwi, if you’re a German speaker, or HIFI, if you’re an English speaker. Both versions sound absolutely ridiculous to my ears, so don’t be surprised if I will use this abbreviation soon.

Dear M sent me Bend over Backwards, one of the polishes from the China Glaze Cirque de Soleil collection. I had no desire to own this color, so I put it in my “to swatch – to go” box. I must admit, I was wrong to put it there. I thought this brick-red would clash with my skin tone, as it would be too orange.

I was wrong about the color, it is more of a auburn/red, with intense shimmer. It is also very flattering on my, I think, and so vivid, it made me happy to wear it. Especially as the day I wore it, it was raining, but it was ice cold and windy too, a very unfortunate combination!

Keep in mind what I just said about the weather and please disregard my stupid facial expression. It was really cold! I so desperately wanted to wear my new Banana Republic woolen pants in this awesome light grey shade, that I just decided to ignore the fact that it rained.

To match the pants I picked a red cardigan from H&M (one of the first items I bought in red, ever), a scarf I bought in China and a plain grey longsleeve from WE underneath. The ankle boots are from some outlet, they have maybe 5 cm heels, and work good with all my long trousers.

I was so smitten by Bend over Backwards, I decided to wear it another day, but differently. I tried a gradient, usingChG Bend over Backwards (as a base and closest to the cuticle), essie braziliant, Zoya Rica and China Glaze 2030.

I think the gradient turned out pretty cool. I was very proud of myself! In effect, it looked a bit as if I was wearing a tequila sunrise on my nails.

And because I felt so fancy wearing this gradient, here you have two super fancy artsy schmancy pictures of it in action. 

Sunday Spam More Glitter!

 

 

Wishing you a fine Sunday from behind my computer. Hope you all have time to relax before the week starts again!

Today I’m showing you some glitter combinations I wore, tried out and swatched.

First up is Jessica Hot Hot Hot (over butter LONDON Trout Pout). I wanted Hot Hot Hot to be a covering glitter, but what you see below is already two coats. It is pretty and all, but I was hoping for something different.

essie a cut above (over Catrice Have a good day) is hands down my favorite pink glitter. What I like about it is the variety of sizes, but the unity in color. And the glitter payoff is wonderful – this is one coat.

H&M has been stepping up their game when it comes to nail polish. I’m wearing Purple Sprinkles (over Chanel Frenzy), which is a mix of purple glitters and holographic bar glitter. It isn’t a very dense glitter, but it works for a “pimp my office manicure” emergency. Plus, if you like purple, you’ll most probably like it anyhow.

Well, unfortunately, after I put on Purple Sprinkles, I somehow got caught somewhere and ripped a piece of skin from my cuticle. It was very painful, and I didn’t dare to change my manicure, so I just added a coat of nails inc soho street. Sorry about the picture, but I so absolutely adored soho street over Chanel Frenzy, I couldn’t pass on showing you this. And in case you were wondering, this is one coat!

Another H&M polish, Confetti Time, which I liked. It’s a mix of pink, blue and gold glitters, in different sizes (over Chanel Malice). Cute, and I can see this to be worn in many combinations.

This is a tricky combination: The base color is nails inc disco lane (total light box fail, trying to photograph the holographic glitter in there!) and I lazily painted on a silver/holographic glitter from SpaRitual called Illumination and butter LONDON Lovely Jubbly (the pink). Not my best combination.

I have a thing for multicolored glitters too, so I adored OPI Rainbow Connection (Nicka K NY138, hands down one of the best greens I own!). Nothing wrong with a little easter manicure, is there?

And the last one for today is China Glaze Marry A Millionaire on the tips (over OPI DS temptation). I totally love this glitter, and I’m so not over bar glitter yet, especially the smaller kind. 

Sunday Spam: flakies or flakes

I never know which word is better for this kind of polish: flakies or flakes? There are small flakes in the polish, yes, but flakies just sounds cuter. Any opinion on that?

Anyhow, this Sunday I am showing you combinations of flak(i)e polishes. I hope you like them! Let me know your favorite. I’ll tell you mine at the end!

nails inc it girl over Nubar Geisha Blaze. One of the subtler combinations, as the flak(i)es don’t become mutinous and take over the base color. Flak(i)e color: blue.

Fingerpaints flecked over OPI Suzi loves Cowboys (so do I, since I started watching Justifiiiiieed. Howdy dear Mr. Olyphant, whom I don’t understand, but enjoy tremendously to look at!). Flak(i)e color: green to blue.

The famous Nfu-Oh 51 over OPI Suzi&the 7 Düsseldorfs.  Absolutely gorgeous in the bottle, and the bottle itself too, but somehow not my style. Still pretty to look at – it looks different every time. Flak(i)e color: orange to green to blue.

essie shine of the times over Nubar Iris Dust over OPI The color of Minnie. I don’t know if the layering of a duochrome under a flak(i)e polish enhanced the flak(i)e effect, but I think so because THIS IS GORGEOUS! And the flak(i)es are so dense! flak(i)e color: orange to gold to green.

Fingerpaints flashy over the brown creme from the YSL duo 07 (the other is a stunning pistachio that I used here).  flak(i)e color: orange to green.

My favorite is, by far, essie shine of the times. Maybe it’s the combination with Nubar Iris Dust? I don’t know, but this was such a stunning manicure!

spotted!

Due to my need to look respectable, knowledgeable and presentable at work, I go head over heels absurdly crazy on the weekend when I can wear whatever on my nails, because I will only get the weird looks from my friends. Hence, the only logical conclusion is to wear all the neon colors I can think of at once, right?

I started off with two coats of wet’n'wild white creme and then randomly brushed on different colors. I can tell you, it looked very artistic and grown up. I’m now going to name all the polishes I used, so enjoy…Cult Nails Deal with it, China Glaze In the limelight, China Glaze Pool Party, NOPI Lemon-Lime Twist, Milani Hi-Tech, essie funky limelight, Color Club Jingle Jangle, Claires Sandart, and Illamasqua Stance.

Yeah, and then I used OPI Spotted over this. This was fun, but due to the fact that I used so many layers of polish, it didn’t dry very well and later that day I bumped into something and I took this off the day after. But still, every once in a while, I enjoy wearing crazy stuff!

Sunday Spam: Flakes!

This sunday SPAM is dedicated to flakes, or flakies. I never know which one is right. Anyhow, flakes in polishes that make the nail polishes look etherial and awesome and iridescent. I love looking at them (but to be honest, I don’t like wearing them all too much)!

Mohda Mix Balada – multicolored flakes in a sheer base. Very very awesome, and I prefer them over pink and red (as opposed to black)! The base color is barry M shocking pink.

Even though this is not a duochrome/color shifting flake polish, I think it fits best here: essie As Gold As It Gets. It’s a topcoat, clear base, packed with golden specks or flakes. I used one coat over bb Couture Lazy Bum, which is a brown with shimmer (I’ll show you the base color on it’s own some other time).

Nfu Oh is the brand that started the flake hype. They produce a range of differently colored flakes in slightly tinted bases. This particular one is number 50, blue flakes in a purple base. I used one coat over funky fingers Queen Cupcake. 

Nails Inc. it girl is a very simple and easy to match flake polish; it consists of blue flakes in a sheer base. I layered one coat over Nubar Geisha Blaze (a blue-toned pink).

Nfu Oh (again! told you they know the stuff) 49 over OPI I’m Indi-a Mood for Love. The picture below shows the manicure mattified – flakes mattified look pretty awesome too, I think.

New in: different dimensions

Look at that – I got asked to review some nail polishes for you by Missy, owner and creator of DIFFERENT Dimension. You can find DIFFERENT Dimension on Facebook and of course on etsy.

I had troubles deciding which one of the polishes I liked best. The selection Missy sent me is very diverse, making it even harder! Let’s just start, I’d say. Let me know your favourites – drop me a comment!

that is so fetch! is a mix of purple and blue glitters – you can find all shapes of glitters in there, squares, circles, hexagons,… they come in so many different sizes too! You all know that I’m not big on purple, but I can actually seeing myself wearing this fun mix of glitters. I used one coat only (over IsaDora Persian Princess) – coverage was great, the glitters stayed flat on the nail, all perfect.

I lovelovelove how there are some iridiscent glitters in this mix, lightening the polish below.

 

Close-up for the macro-shot lovers among you:

Well – that was quite a start, right? The next polish I picked is …more. The heart glitters were calling out to me!

What I loved is that it isn’t only heart glitters in this polish, but also small pink and small red glitters and a whole bunch of iridiscent glitters!

I usually layer glitters over corresponding base colors, and end up not liking it, so I decided to layer …more over essie where’s my chauffeur?. I had no problems with the heart glitters – of course I had to dig around a bit, but let’s be honest, that’s always the case with larger glitters, they’re just a bit too heavy I guess.

Close-up!

Last for this post is Sparkles like Edward.

I like the name of the polish, although if one finds the name of the polish funny, one has to admit that one has at least heard about twilight, which is a bit embarrasing…. Well, at least if you’re like me and didn’t get the hype for either movie or book. I won’t get into details here, but let me just say I adored Kristen Stewards acting skills. She should be called the lady of the thousand faces.

Sparkles like Edward (over deborah lippmann believe) is a milky white polish with a pink flash and of course, massive amounts of small round glitters. They come in all colors – yellow/gold, pink, purple and blue. I used two coats to get the jelly sandwich look, but over a base color you’ll be fine with one coat too. I picked a base color to save polish as my bottle is a mini!

Which one did you like best? Do you know different dimension? Have you tried any of their polishes?

 

 

 

The Prize of very cranberry

It has been to long since I showed you a Nubar polish, so today I have one for you!

I started this manicure with two coats of essie very cranberry. It is one of these essie shades that I can’t decide on – do I like it or does it bore the cranberries out of me? The shade itself is very close to the color of a cranberry, maybe a bit lighter. The intense silver shimmer that is visible in the bottle merely transfers to the nail as a silver hue.

Over this, I decided to layer Nubar Prize. Prize is a jelly red polish, similar in color to very cranberry. I tried before to wear it on its own, but it never really looks opaque, because it is too sheer. Instead, I wore one coat over the essie polish, and that looks much better. Prize is not only a red jelly as you can see, but also it is packed with holographic glitters – small round ones and bigger hexagonal ones. They shimmer so beautifully different, depending on how the light hits them, and add great sparkle to this manicure.

Do you like very cranberry? And what about Prize, holographic glitter in a red jelly base – yay or nay?

How I wore it: essie Head Mistress

I have a bit of an unanswered love relationship with essie: I usually want the colors to work on me, but either the color turns out to be flat out boring or dupable, or the quality turns me off. Somehow, essie and I have had a bit of a dry spell in the past.

Luckily for me, I received essie Head Mistress in the mail a few weeks ago – well, it wasn’t love at first sight, but since we’re somewhat of an old couple sleeping in seperate bed rooms, it wasn’t expected, really. I decided to wear Head Mistress (2 coats) for work (you know, red and all, easy, etc.) and I enjoyed wearing it surprisingly much! So much actually, that I decided to keep it – I had already planned to let it sleep in the other bedroom, but we’re friends turned lovers, so it’s got to stay.

Well. I had the genius idea to stamp over it – less genius was my choice of stamping polish. I tried Catrice Wild Wild Westside from the Upper Wild Side LE - it works, but not too good over red. I’ll call this the mother of all subtle stamping.

And this is How I Wore It – I wasn’t wearing jeans to work, in case you wondered, but I went to meet friends later, so I quickly changed. The jeans are from WE, which is my favourite store to buy jeans. They always fit!

The t-shirt is also from WE. It’s made from Chiffon in the front and has all these little dove shapes on. I hate doves (flying rats, really), but I pretend those are other birds.

The cardigan is from UNIQLO, the ring is from Disneyland and the shoes are from Monsoon. The lipstick I’m wearing is from Inglot. If you’re interested to know which number, leave me a comment, and I’ll check!

Here is was waiting for J to get the camera settings ready. I would’ve looked a bit nicer if I knew my pic was being taken!

essie Head Mistress was sent to me by the PR team of  L’óreal Austria for free to review. All other products were bought by me or received in a swap.

How I wore it: The yellow to orange gradient

 

Happy Friday everyone!

If you follow me on instagram (@goodlacknail) or if you read my blog regularly, you will be well aware that I spent my summer in the city of love and the smell of urine, Paris! Honestly, I was amazed by the fact that people, mostly men though, pee almost everywhere, anytime. Apparently that’s a prejudice of the Parisians that I was utterly unaware of, so if you ever visit Paris, make sure you find a stench-free corner to nibble on your macaroons!

I made my friend E. take pictures of me wearing nail polish. It was a tiring process, but mostly because I am a totally untalented model! I usually just looked the wrong way, or down or just plain stupid and unattractive. So what I present to you over the next few weeks are the fruits of E’s hard work!

I’m wearing a gradient manicure here. The yellow is KIKO 355, a medium yellow creme, and the orange is essie braziliant, one of the few essies I own, but absolutely adore.

This is my knee. It is a bit more photogenic than the rest of me.

La Grande Arche! We couldn’t go up, that part was closed.

If you’re wondering what I’m doing there,  I’m trying to have La grande Arche on my head. It is much more funny in German, because the word “Arche” sounds like the equivalent of the English word ass, whereas I would be trying to have an ass on my heat. This is btw not my vacation humor, this is my alltime humor. I just mostly don’t share that, because it makes people doubt my intelligence (and, whith reason, if I might add). 

The gradient itself was easy to make. KIKO 355 applies flawlessly and covers in two coats. Essie braziliant is a very well pigmented orange shimmer and hence it is easy to make a gradient with the two of them.

Here you can see how awesome my nailpolish fits to my shoes! The shoes are a Paris Sale purchase – I got them from Gallerie Lafayette – and I absolutely adore them!

Clearly there is also a fountain, and I love fountains! La Defense (that’s the area called in which you find La Grande Arche) is a newer area of Paris, and you can take the Metro to get there or the faster train called RER. It is worth a visit, because it offers a welcome change to Paris’ busy streets, plus it is a very green area, which I enjoyed quite a bit!

On this picture you can’t see my nail polish but I wanted to include it because I look so awesome. Actually, I’m wearing the same blouse just now, it was one of the best purchases this summer. It’s from H&M and it was only 9,99€! The Cardigan is from GAP, also acquired during the sale. It is from brushed wool, which sound super fancy. The pants are grey jeans from Kookai and the bag if from Freitag. Freitag bags are pretty much the only bags I like.

Again, my more photogenic knee in the pedestrian zone between (mostly) L’Arc de Triomphe and La Grande Arche. It’s a fun place to be at lunch, because all the working people walk around suited up between the big skyscrapers. It is also a pretty windy place, so if you visit, wear pants!

And last,  a horrible picture for you to start you into the weekend with a big laugh.

Is it genius?

Essie and I, we have our differences. I don’t really know why, but I only own a handful of their colors. Most of them don’t strike me as worth the money, and also, most of them don’t seem like the most original colors to me. I would say I have about 10 polishes from essie, which is very little, considered my vast amount of polishes from other brands (Oh boy, I hope my mother never reads this!).  Well, either way, I had this bottle of It’s Genius standing around in my box labelled “I’m unsure”, so I decided to give it a spin.

I must say that the color of It’s Genius is very nice. It’s a light aubergine/plum color with intense gold shimmer. I used two coats for full coverage. Also, I find the color to be very elegant. So my stash count of essies went from 10 to 11.

 

What do you think about essie polishes?