Catrice Candy Shock LE

 Good morning, nail polish fanatics! Today I will still your hunger for colors with the Catrice Candy Shock LE. I didn’t find the pearls anywhere (you know, big thing, pearls on your nails, texture, fun 3D nail art, etc, etc, ugly.), so I can only show you the polishes.

Bring me Peach is a somewhat sheer orange at first. It’s a darker egg yolk color, but then pastel and somewhat color-drained. It’s, as you can guess, not my favorite. It took three coats for opacity, and dried satin-y. No idea if that was the intention.

Play it blue is a pastel light blue. It also dries with a satin finish and needed three coats. It’s cute, and somewhat happy and spring-y, but you can take any other light blue and add a matte topcoat.

Vanilla Love looks like vanilla pudding. I hate pudding of any flavour, but I do like soft yellows. This was patchy and difficult to apply, but that was obvious. I only have 2 yellow cremes that apply good… 3 coats.

I scream Ice Cream is such an old joke a pastel lilac, which has awesome shimmer in the bottle, but that doesn’t transfer on the nail. You can see it in the sun, if you look really closely, and really want to see it. Bummer. 3 coats.

All in all, I think pastel colors aren’t necessarily Catrice’s great strength. I like the blue, but for the rest I am not so amazed by the colors.

How I wore it: KIKO 646 Starry Black

Sand Style, Liquid Sand, Sugar Matte, Texture, and who knows what other names companies will come up with for gritty glitter. First we all hated it, now it’s the coolest thing in the world! Well, I’m not guilt-free, and I also jumped on the gritty matte bandwagon.

I ordered some KIKO polishes with the help of nail polish friend K., and I felt like putting this black with silver glitter one on first. It is called Starry Black and has the number 646.

As the polish is rather monochrome, I decided to pair it with a black and white outfit. I chose white shoes from Dorothy Perkins – we call them Budapester, I don’t know if you call them that as well. They are pretty awesome and as I assumed they won’t be available long, I bought the same pair twice, just in case. This is my first pair, but I think they won’t survive many more seasons.

The pants are from H&M, the blouse is from WE and the cardigan is from H&M too. I really liked the cardigan when I bought it, because of the nice lace inlay over the shoulders, but it somehow got broader, and now it looks a bit out of proportions. I hate it when clothes do that, I feel like I bough crappy quality.

Well. Here’s my interpretation of a jump on the bandwagon. I didn’t really know what to do or how to pose, so this is what came out of this. Thank you B. for making me make a fool of myself, always fun!

The ring I’m wearing is super dangerous btw. It seems like a cute little rabbit, but the material has such sharp edges, I actually cut my finger with those murderous ears.

essence Floral Grunge TE

essence releases TE after TE again, it seems to be a spring-thing. Today I’m showing you the Floral Grunge TE.

It seems more and more that essence focuses on a target group of girls aged 7 to 13. I am not at all interested in the TE’s they put out if I’d only judge by theme. I mean, what’s floral grunge? Dead flowers? The ghost of a rabbit in a flower bed? Grunge music to which hippies dance? A happy emo? The cyber goth movement? I can’t answer any of this, but I am certain that puberty-ridden girls will find something as undefined as this interesting. For a fact I know that I would have, and I am ashamed to admit it. Luckily, growing up is inevitable.

essence Be flowerful. 2 coats. A shiny coral-orange pastel polish. 3 coats. I assume this is part of the “floral”?

essence Black to the roots. Ah, the word joke. So funny. Black (…) polish with silver glitter in there that dries gritty and matte. It has a sticker saying that this is supposed to be textured, but it really isn’t. It looks more like a lab accident (aka the whole jar of silver glitter fell into the matte black nail polish! Oh no! What shall we do! How about we call it texture. No one will notice.). 2 coats.

essence Grunge me Tender (no comment on this name. I mean, really.) is a pale mint shade with some shimmer-adding particles. It dries rather anticlimactic to something between shiny and matte, but definitely not to a suede. It is also amazingly patchy, you can see that even at 3 coats.

essence Lily Bloom, a white polish with a little bit of shine that doesn’t transfer on the nail all too well. Less patchy than the mint, but still not amazing. 3 coats (and no idea what “the pearl” means – a sticker on top of the bottle – this doesn’t look pearly to me).

essence Madly Purpled – now finally, this is a success. Medium dusty purple, dries matte, with shimmer, so it doesn’t look flat. Easy to apply, dries quick, 2 coats. If you pick one from this TE, pick this one.

How I wore it: p2 confidential

Happy Friday everyone! Those of you who celebrate it, Happy Easter, and for the rest: Happy Pascha, happy Holi, happy equal marriage facebook profile pictures.

I will be searching for easter eggs in the snow I’m sure, as the weather here in Austria stays the topic of everyday conversation. It is a surprisingly long winter, and thanks to glasshouses and other great inventions, we can now eat strawberries in the snow. Luckily, inbetween the snowy days every once in a while there’s a day like the day I wore p2 confidential, a Sand Style polish. 

The color of confidential is awesome. It gives an overall look of grey blue, but it sparkles pink, gold and green. The dry time was slightly longer for me than the dry time of the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. The wear time was great - I expected tip wear, but I didn’t have any, even though my nails were long (maybe too long for my taste), and I wore this for two days including typing and regular housework.

I must admit that I find the gritty finish  still unusual. I adore polishes with this glass-like finish, so I had to get used to this matte-but-sparkly finish. Some of the Sand Style polishes look more like an accidential gritty drying glitter. Some of the KIKO Sugar Matte polishes look as if someone just poured sugar into polish. So, it’s an unusual finish one has to give a try before judging.

I wore confidential with a blue dress I had made from a pattern from burda (which is a sewing magazine that has patterns for people with different sewing skills, and also they have decoration and DIY tips, it’s a magazine I really enjoy reading), but it is now a bit big, so I wear it with a belt.

I made that belt from left over curtain cloth . Mainly I wanted a belt that I could bind in a big bow tie, or wrap it around twice and have it look a bit like a Kimono-belt. As I didn’t find anything that I liked, I resorted to taking things into my own hands! The scarf is from Nepal, it’s really soft and warm! Shoes are from Camper.

All in all I can’t wait for spring to arrive! I don’t want to be freezing anymore, making pictures for you guys

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!
 

Sunday SPAM: flormar mattes

Recently, B. and I were shopping a bit, and we came across a whole new-to-us line from flormar. The flormar line made quite an impression on us with their super miracle shine polishes, so we were excited to try out these mattes!

flormars have exciting names, such as this one: flormar M03. It’s witty, thoughtful and cheeky, without being improper, don’t you think?
Application-wise, they were all super quick drying. They feel like chalkboard when you touch them, and they are safe to touch after 4-5 minutes (we’re talking two coats here, not one). I applied two coats of each of the polishes.

flormar M03 is a matte (surprise!) charcoal grey. It is so dark it could be mistaken for a washed out black. (I’m so funny today, I don’t know what happened!) Lovely color, especially in matte.

flormar M04 is what I’d call the color of how I want the sea to look like when I go on vacation to the Maledives (I’ve never been, nor am I planning on going anytime soon – that is, unless I win the lottery). It is beautiful. It is also amazing matte, so this polish was a complete winner in my books. The soft color is enhanced by the soft finish, which gives it sort of a cozy hue.

flormar M09 is the opposite of soft. It’s preppy neon pink, extremely bright and an amazing toe nail polish for summer. I would love to be at a beach right now, sip some beach cocktail with a lot of fruit and tiny umbrellas and other stuff that doesn’t belong in a serious person’s drink, and have this nail polish on my toes.

The only  polish that didn’t fully satisfy me was flormar M10. It was a bit thinner than the others, and I think I should have applied a third coat. I don’t like the color all too much, but it’s nice. I think I’d have preferred it if it had some shimmer in it.

In retrospective, flormar M12 wouldn’t have been hurt by a third coat either. I adore the color. It’s such an elegant deep blue (is it prussian blue?), absolutely amazing. I wish I had a dress in that color.

Did you pick up any of these?

How I wore it: OPI Stay The Night

This particular How I Wore It post is made possible by M., who decided that I must try the Liquid Sand polishes from OPI, even though I was very unenthusiastic about them at first. Now I decided that I like the texture, so I am crossing my fingers that the Zoya textured polishes will find their way to me.

I showed you The Impossible here, today I’m following up with Stay the Night.

I used 3 thin coats of Stay the night – I was a bit cautios when applying it and opted for thin coats, to increase the drying time (which is humbug, if you add two more layers, but it’s a psychological thing).

To be honest, this polish was exactly what I felt for with my tiny winter nails. I hate how the cold weather ruins my nails and dries out my hands. Very frustrating!

I decided to match the colors to my outfit, so I picked a black pair of pants (H&M I believe), a red t-shirt (also H&M) and a big black cardigan with a hood from Oysho. The scarf is from FabIndia and the bracelet is from NewOne. 

I love how I never look dumb on pictures.

I wanted to add a picture of Stay the Night from within the lightbox. The polish looks less dry and more saturated inside than outside, in daylight. The glitters shine through in both settings, but the color changes a bit I think.

How would you have paired Stay the Night?

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.

Pink Wednesday: Subtle Stamping

Today I have just a simple manicure for you. I felt like a pure, simple manicure inbetween strong colors, so I opted for Orly Kiss the Bride, which is a very whitened pastel pink creme. I used three coats, as I had some issues with it – it didn’t want to level out properly.

On my ringfinger I applied two coats of ManGlaze Mayo, which is a white matte polish with awesome shimmer. The shimmer is most visible if one applies topcoat, but I wanted to wear it matte. It’s a bit chalky, but worth it!

I decided that this was perfect for some stamping, so I used the sally hansen quick dry nail art many more words to describe this simple nail polish pen in metallic pink and an image from the DRK-A plate. On the ringfinger I used the silver pen. Photographing this was somewhat extremely difficult, as the stamping image reflected the light too much. I have since changed my camera settings on my path to the perfect light settings – I might have to recreate this manicure, because I love how soft and sweet it looks, and then I’ll try making better pics.

Catrice Upper Wild Side LE

Let’s go directly in medias res, shall we? The Catrice Upper Wild Side LE was full of surprises for me.

First I thought, oh no, not another brown, but then this particular brown, Urban Outrider, has such a beautiful golden shimmer within, that I couldn’t help myself but wear it proudly for a day (baby steps!). 2 easy coats.

Hunting Heritage wasn’t that much of a surprise, it’s a medium blue creme. Easy application though and very shiny and smooth even without topcoat. 2 coats.

Wild Wild West-side was a big surprise. It’s a super vibrant orange suede! I don’t like many oranges (…) but this one is so vibrant and happy, I fell in love with it immediately! 2 coats, super quick drying time and no topcoat.

Be Aztec! was another surprise. It’s a medium (olive) green but there is an insane amount of gold shimmer in it. I absolutely adore greens with golden shimmer, so there was nothing not to like. The application also was flawless, so if you only even remotely like green, you should head out to get this!

 

Was there anything you liked?