Ninja Polish Alexandrite, Eye Candy and Zultanite

 

Hope you all enjoy your (long) weekend! Today I have some Ninja Polish polishes to show you which I have been trying out over various colors other than black.

First up is Alexandrite. Its a fine glittery duochrome nail polish that can be worn alone if you’re willing to waste this beauty on layers, or it can be worn over other colors. The duochrome effect is very strong and evident on this one. It sparkles turquoise to purple, sometimes a bit pink, gold and blue too. I used one coat over MAC Peppermint Patti.

I tried Alexandrite over various other colors, but I like it the best over mint. I also thought it looked cool over a vivid medium blue, such as essence shopping @ portobello road.

With Eye Candy, I had some difficulties finding a good base color. It is a very colorful tiny glitter mix consisting of blue, purple, green, gold/orange, and most probably other colors, but that’s primarily what I see. Unexpectedly, I liked this best over purple (p2 cool plum)….

… and blue (p2 wintry blue). 

 

 I’m a big fan of polishes with a gold-greenish color, so Zultanite looked the most fun to me from the beginning on. It has this unusual color shift from copper to olive but an intense golden glow (it is never, ever, brown.) I love colors like this! I decided to layer it over a similar base color – obviously the color shift is stronger if layered over black, but I think everything looks so alike if layered over black! – but it looks the most “natural” over Revlon Spanish Moss.

 

Did you find any other layering combinations you could share? I’m always interested!

essence – new show your feet polishes

Hi there! You know what the best is about today? Tomorrow. Fridays. Full of hope and expectation what the weekend may bring. (lots of sleep in my case…!)

Anyhow, essence released new “toe nail polish”. I have zero idea what the difference to “finger nail polish” may be, but what shall I say, it is a marketing trick. So I decided to exercise some civil restistance and show them on my fingers, not toes.

The gladiator (they are all named after certain shoe types, cute I think) is a lime green creme, very vivid and a color I really like. I used two coats, the application was ok.

The peeptoe is a very vivid almost neon coral. 2 coats again, application ok.

The pump is a chalky barbie pink. The application was a bit streaky but ok to handle. 2 coats.

The stiletto is a shimmery medium purple, it has a blue shine which is more apparent in the bottle than on the nail. I don’t like this color at all. Application was ok, 2 coats.

The wedge looks like a very vivid medium blue creme, but there is just a hint of shimmer in there, so it looks more glossy. I don’t wear blues like this on my nails, but I like the color itself. 2 coats, it was a bit difficult to control while applying it.

All in all this collection has really nice colors, but nothing breathtaking. I assure you my nails felt fine after wearing this polish, so it’s safe to say it isn’t toe nail polish only!

How I wore it: Dior Bronze Libertine

Today I have a special polish for you: Dior Bronze Libertine.

It is pretty old, and when someone offered it on a fleamarket, I was all, like, awesome, this belongs to me.  Anyhow, now I have it, and even though some of you might think that it looks brown, and in that case I shouldn’t like it, I can tell you that is olive green!!, and I love it.

It was my go-to winter polish, next to fiery red/orange like China Glaze Bend over Backwards. Because it is rather old, it turned a bit goopy, nothing nail polish remover couldn’t fix. Hah! You actually read my text? Nail polish remover is death to nail polish, by name and idea already. Never, I repeat, never use nail polish remover. There’s a thing called nail polish thinner, which thins nail polish. See, they make it easy for us anyways, so don’t hate those lovely product naming people, they give their best (like you’d put a cat in a microwave).

I was wearing this with my lovely wollen WE-pullover, I really wore it a lot this winter! The pants are part of a pants-jacket-skirt assembly, you know, one of these grown-up things to have. They are wool too, awesomely soft, and from St. Emile. My mum got that for me when I started my job, so I’d look the part!

The blouse is from Esprit and the boots are from Asos. Basically I’m showing you all the items I wore regularly this winter, if you substitute this blouse for any blouse.  I didn’t realize someone was passing by when I took these pics. I hope this person and the dog don’t mind.

How I wore it: Illamasqua Hemlock

Just a heads up: Not only are my Giveaways still in the running, but there is another one over at Macs in the City. Giveaway Heaven, huh?

There are a couple of polishes that I really, really want, for example Illamasqua Boo and Illamasqua Hiss. Illamasqua Hemlock was one of them, until M. sent it to me. I’m so happy that it is even better in reality than in my imagination!

This is, I think, 2 coats of Hemlock by itself.

The color is absolutely unique, it’s a very subtle elegant beige/nude polish, but what makes it so exceptional is the intense (lime) green shimmer. I don’t know how Illamasqua did it, but Hemlock reflects both subtle elegance and toxic edgyness to me. Pretty cool, to sum it up.

I decided to pair Hemlock with my favorite dress of all times, a simple black Uniqlo dress (thank you again J.!), tights with dots from H&M (ripped to shreds after one day, will never buy them again!) and a creme white blazer-ish jacket from Zara.

The jacket is alright, I never understood peoples’ obsession with Zara stuff. I never found something there that was of good quality, and most of their stuff is cut in a way that doesn’t correspond with my body shape. Nevertheless, in some weak moment I decided I need a jacket like this, and as it was on sale, not much was lost. I haven’t worn it much, I must admit. What do you think? Any ideas on how to wear it?

Last, but not least, this is a gradient I made with Hemlock as a base, and a corresponding green polish (totally forgot which one).

essence guerilla gardening TE

Hi everyone! Hope you’re having fun with the giveaways. You can still enter a few!

Anyhow, I thought, why not take a break and show you something else today. This essence LE came out recently, it is asomewhat spring-y mix of colors and pink and green flocking powder that I chose not to show you – I have tried blue flocking powder and found that quite something else, and to be honest, it’s enough of an experience for now.

Floral Glam is a tomato red creme. It has just the slightest bit of a jelly consistency, but it covers completely in two coats. It’s a red essence does well, so if you have one, you won’t need another.

I’m the moss is a fir-tree green creme. It’s pretty solid, except for the name. 2 coats.

Mission Flower is your rather standard pink creme. It had just the teensiest hint of a blue shimmer in the bottle, but it looks rather plain once applied. 2 coats. 

Plant the Planet is my favorite color, but the application wasn’t good. I needed three coats and a somewhat loose hand in applying it and more or less hoping that if I just put on enough polish, the bald spots would dissappear. In effect it worked, but there are so many other great lime/chartreuse/light green cremes out there, that you’d easily find an alternative. 

Anything that you liked from this TE?

How I wore it: Jessica Lime Cooler and Cique XX

So, for Easter, my mum bought me a hat. I always wanted a hat, but I didn’t know what style to pick, or which color. So my mum said, let’s go, we can walk to the next village (we don’t celebrate easter in Vienna), and we can buy you a hat. So we went.

We walked through the still wintry landscape, but it was sunny and soon we needed a lime cooler. Luckily, Jessica was around and she had some ready.

We loved the happy fresh green of lime cooler, so we had two. Coats weren’t necessary anymore, it was getting nice and warm.

Between the two villages, we saw a Cirque. It had all kinds of animals, but they spoke English only, so we just blew them two kisses XX and went along our way.

In no time we reached the hat maker. My mum said, try this one!, and if fit. So now I am the proud owner of a handmade blue fedora, and I look pretty Don Draper.

See what I mean? 

 

Nails: Jessica Lime Cooler & Cirque XX
Make-up: none.
Jeans: WE, T-shirt: GAP, Cardigan: Montego, shoes: asos, scarf: Esprit, hat: Hutmacherei Leithner, Bad Aussee

How I Wore it: Zoya Tracie

Do you also sometimes want something to work really badly and then it doesn’t? I have it on a regular basis. Firstly, I was really looking forward to wearing Zoya Tracie. I love the soft green color, and the fact that it is not another light green creme.

I also wanted to wear an accent nail. Figuring it would fit together nicely with Zoya Tracie, I chose color club Holiday Splendor as an accent.

In effect, I didn’t like Tracie on me, and it looked awkward with Holiday Splendor as an accent nail, mostly because Holiday Splendor leans more towards turquoise.

Also, a third thing that didn’t work that day, was my hair. I had just blow-dried it, and it does this tiger-mane thing, that I hate.  I like it better when it stops looking as if I just put my hand in a socket.

Basically, the only thing that worked for me that day, was my outfit. I really liked it – I tried wearing a necklace over my blouse for the first time, and I think it looks fun. The necklace is a gift from my mum, it comes with a corresponing bracelet, but I think that’s a bit much to wear at once. The pullover is from GAP, the blouse is from de bijenkorf, the jeans are from WE.

What do you think, should I give Zoya Tracie a second try, or just call it a day? And should I have paired this outfit with some polish that would fit the necklace better? I think so…

Sunday Spam: Catrice new blues and greens

For this sunday, I have some of the new(er) Catrice polishes to show you. I saw some on other blogs, but some of the colors look rather different on me. I wonder if that is because of my skintone, or if there’s a difference in some of the colors, but I doubt the latter. It’s not my lightbox settings, I swatched other polishes, and they match! Well, onto the polish, before you loose interest.

Overall information: I used two coats for each of the polishes. The new Catrice bottles have “Catrice” written on top of the bottle, in 3D lettering, so you can easily scratch yourself. Also, the bottle cap has pretty rough edges, so there’s even more chance of scratches. The new brush is, to be diplomatic, unfortunate, as well as the formula. Either the polish was too thick or it decided to take a vacation under my cuticles. All in all I wasn’t impressed.

Catrice Denim Moore is a periwinkle blue with intense silver shimmer – in the bottle. The shimmer doesn’t translate intensly on the nail, but only slightly.

Catrice Mint Me Up was the weirdest color change for me. In the bottle it looks softer and more minty, but on me it dries quite a bit darker. Check out Oooh Shinies swatches for Mint me Up. This was my favorite by color, especially because of the awesome golden shimmer.

 

Catrice Petrolpolitan is a very dark teal with blue microglitter. I’m not too fond of the color itself, also this was the only one that really needed 3 coats for opacity.

Catrice Goldbusters over Petrolpolitan – Goldbusters is a sheer polish filled with golden glitter specks. It’s pretty, if you want to “pimp” your polish – the silver pendant would be Orly Twilight.

Catrice Purple Reign – now that’s a real purple, not one of those aubergine or plums that call themselves purple. It’s packed with blue glitter, which makes the polish dry not completely smooth. You all know how I stand towards purple, so this one wasn’t for me.

Catrice Squeeze me is a bit difficult to describe. I’d say it’s a very dark iron-blue color, with quite some shimmer in it, that I didn’t think would be visible that nicely on the nail.

Last a little bit of an “extra”: I found this polish from a recent Catrice LE called “Neo-Geisha”. It is called Planet Tokyo and it is a frog-creme nail polish. The cap, formula and brush are “old”, so the application was a bit better. I don’t really like this kind of green, but for the green lovers out there, this might be of interest!

How I wore it: Dance Legend new prism 10

Do you have any idea how excited I was when J sent me a message saying a package from Russia arrived? I knew it had to be a PR package from El Corazon or Dance Legend. And it was from Dance Legend! I received a couple of beautiful polishes, but the one that excited me the most was (and this comes a surprise for me too!) this amazing purple holographic polish.
In case you were wondering, this is a picture heavy post….

Dance Legend polishes have numbers, this one is number 10 from the New Prism Collection. The bottles are rather big and hold 15 ml. Dance Legend is working on opening an online store, so keep up with their facebook page! The holos will be around 13 USD.

I wore this purple alone for a day, no topcoat, and then I decided to add dots with the green holographic polish from Dance Legend (number 13 I think? I don’t remember).

Dance Legend polishes have different caps for the various collections. Some caps are rubberized, some aren’t. The brush has thick bristles, that form a somewhat V-shape in the front. Imagine a Dior brush but then more V-shaped. It works really good for applying the polish.  

The holographic effect of the polishes is AMAZING. Most of my holographic polishes look just like regular polishes in the lightbox (thank you, indirect light!). These don’t. You can clearly see the rainbow in the picture above – even though it’s much fainter than in direct light.

This happens if you make a picture with flash. I feel the need to write: “Bam!”.

I wanted to add green dots, so this is what it looked like in the lightbox:

And because they are holographic polishes, they look 5027347824390123123745832894890x better in direct light. So I there’s the obligatory flash picture!

Somehow this amazingly awesome purple made me feel like purple all over, so I chose to embrace purple and wear all the purple clothing I own. That is, a t-shirt and a cardigan.

The cardigan is from H&M, the t-shirt was a gift from my brother and is from Uniqlo. The jeans are from WE, boots from Oysho (maybe I should clean them…).

In terms of formula, I was positively surprised by the Dance Legend holographics. The purple lasted two full days without topcoat without tipwear, then I was too excited to try out the other ones and decided to take it off.

In terms of Make-Up, I stuck to my beloved Inglot – I tried out a mascara from Illamasqua in blue, that I bought during their sale. The color is barely visible, and the amazing volume-enhancing effect that it promised is not visible either. First verdict: not impressed. The necklace is my tribute to Austrian hunting culture. My motto: if you don’t like with something, take it with humor.

Sunday Spam: Pure Ice polishes

Pure Ice is a brand we don’t have in Austria (all of Europe I think, but correct me if I’m wrong!), and mostly the colors didn’t tickle my fancy and I wasn’t too interested. Until M sent me some “velvet” colors, which made me take out all the Pure Ice polishes I had collected from swaps, and take a second look.

Pure Ice Affair to Remember (1 coat over Jessica Flirtation) is a sheer pink polish packed with light reflecking particles. I can’t say if they are some sort of glitter or shimmer or glassfleck particles. The main color reflection is pink, but there’s a hint of blue in them as well. If you like your nails sparkly, but you dread glitter removal, this is your thing. I personally don’t like this type of topcoat all too much.

Pure Ice  Grunge: this is one of the “velvet” colors. In the bottle the nail polish looks like a purple with intense silver shimmer, but on the nails it dries to a soft looking purple with a silver hue that only matte polishes manage to have. Beautiful, even though purple!, and it dries in a heartbeat.

Pure Ice Vegas Strip (over Finger Pains 15 Minutes of Fame) is the green version of Affaire to remember (see above). Color-wise I prefer the green version, it looks very healthy and vivid. It shimmers mostly green but also golden depending on the light.

Pure Ice Vintage Glam is a yellow creme polish. As to be expected of yellows, this one had a horrible patchy formula, and even after three coats I didn’t manage to get this to look nice. Also the color is rather unfortunate: do you know those wallpapers from the 70′s, the brown/orange/yellow ones, mostly with flowers? Well, it’s that kind of yellow.

Pure Ice Stunning is absolutely what the name suggests. I adore this kind of pink,  matte, silver hue, vibrant pink. I don’t really have to tell you how much I like it, I’ll just mention in passing, that I have 4 shades just a tad different that look the same to the untrained eye. Love!