How I wore it: China Glaze Let’s groove

I thought I had already shown you my last post from this winter, but I was wrong. There is one more snow-ridden post to go!

Despite being not super-fond of purple, there are some I like. Let’s groove from China Glaze is one of those purples I like. It applies super easily, and it is so shiny but deep at the same time, who could resist?

To add some fun to this rather dark manicure, I decided to wear bright lipstick. This is actually a combination of a very thin layer of OCC Pageant (the only OCC lip tar I own – so far!) and NARS Satin Pencil in Lodhi. The eyeliner is from Inglot (the dark purple liquid one).

My pullover is from Nice Connection (super nice and warm!), the blouse is from WE and the pants are from Benetton. Shoes from asos. See, I feel comfortable wearing the same things over and over again, if only I change my nail polish!

Looking at these pictures I realize that my hair has grown a lot since winter. Time to go and get it cut short again!

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: Jessica Sterling Queen / Nadia

This is the one of the last posts I have “left over” from this winter – considering that it is super cold here at the moment, it fits.

Right when I saw Vampy Varnish’s swatches of the spring/summer collection “It’s a girl thing” from Jessica, I knew I had to have some. I think the double names are quite a fun idea. The polish I’m showing you today is named after Jessica‘s friend Nadia. For everyone else, this polish is called Sterling Queen.

Nadia/Sterling Queen is a grey shimmer polish. It is right inbetween three colors – grey, silver, blue. I have nothing like it in my collection and fell for it right away. The application was good, no issues to report. I used two coats for full coverage. The polish dries almost streak-less.  All in all the polish may not look like much on the press release or in the bottle, but I have a thing for polishes like this one (and generally I like gray and in-between colors!). It is the one I liked the most from this collection.

I wore this whole thing with a minty shirt from GAP, a blue pullover from GAP and blue pants from Benetton. The necklace is from Pieces I think, and the shoes are from Asos. Man, am I happy it stopped snowing, now that I look at these pics again!! Thanks to the lovely PR-lady from Jessica, who sent me this polish to try.

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: China Glaze Love’s a beach

Get ready for some eye-searing uber-neonity! Today I am showing you one of the polishes I absolutely adore, but can’t look at too long: China Glaze Love’s a Beach.

What you see here (do look away every couple of seconds, for your retina’s sake), is a super pink neon shimmer polish.

It applies well, is neon, is pink, has shimmer. What more do I want? A matching lipstick. Oh, wait, I have one: Bobby Brown Neon Pink.

I also have sunglasses, just so you know.  And a matching ring with neon pink and neon yellow glass stones (from Pieces or something like it). Check out how that pink pops in the shadow! Amazing!

And of course, I have pink Converse, and this slightly big pink cashmere pullover (from Nice Connection, well, whatever, I didn’t choose their brand name). 

The pants are, as most of mine seem to be, from WE. So, either  I make a lot of advertising for WE, or I keep on wearing the same pants. You can pick

And last, but definitely not least, here’s a piece of very useful information for those of you that like stamping! The essence polishes of their color changing line are amazing for stamping. Thank you M. for telling me, I tried them all: they all stamp amazingly. And they do slightly change their color if you add topcoat! (all of the 4 available polishes stamped over Love’s a Beach, no topcoat added).

Sunday Spam: OPI pink & red

Well, I hope you’re enjoying your sunday! Meanwhile I am working on emptying my swatch folders, so I’m showing you a couple of pink and red OPI/NOPI/SOPI polishes today.

OPI I’m all ears, from the Minnie Mouse Collection (LOVE Minnie and Mickey!) over Jessica Strawberry Fields. I had no patience to apply multiple coats of this beautiful but sheer raspberry red glassfleck. Beautiful, but not unique, I think.

NOPI Great Minds Pink Alike, a coral Creme with glassfleck-y shimmer. Love the idea, and that it covers perfectly in 2 coats, but the coral looks stripper-y on me.

OPI Aphrodite’s pink Nightie is really old (in polish years). It is part of the Greek Isles (?) collection from 2004. It is frosty and pink, and no-one likes colors like this anymore, but I love it. I am weird sometimes and it has been on more than one occasion, that people told me that my taste was interesting. 2 coats.

OPI Charged up Cherry is extremely difficult to capture. My lightbox, skintone and the fact that this is almost neon, do not do it any good. It looks washed out in my pictures – somehow unsatisfying. I will try to show you in an How I wore it post soon. 2 coats.

OPI If you moust, you moust – I love this flawless pink, and the application is great. Perfect bubblegum pink – the only downside is that it doesn’t really suit me. I was really sad when I realized that! I kept it anyway. 2 coats.

OPI Pompeii Purple is one of those pinks I wear over and over. It dries just the slightest bit streaky, and needs three coats, but it glows! It has this blue shimmer over a very vibrant pink, but it’s not too much and doesn’t look too girly. One of my favorite summer pinks!

OPI Schnapps out of it. I don’t know if you  have heard this before, but I hate hate hate medium brown nailpolish (and clothes). This one has a somewhat orange-pink tint, but it’s definitely mostly brown. The silver shimmer can’t safe it for me. Good thing is that the application is easy and it needs 2 coats. Nevertheless, in my eyes, horrible color. Also, it is pretty useless to tell someone to snap out of something when drinking schnapps. I tried and failed.

OPI The color of Minnie. This is a wonderful, wonderful strawberry red, with intense silver shimmer, application is a dream, and it just looks amazing. Eternal love. 2 coats.

How I wore it: Cult Nails Charming

I recently decided to plan a week of wearing only Cult Nails polishes – I just felt like it, because I have quite many, but I have somehow neglected them in the past.

One of the polishes I wanted to wear was Charming, which was part of the Fairy Tale Collection. It’s a medium purple, very glossy and soft. I used three coats, because I still don’t like it if nail polish isn’t opaque. I have tried to wear soft shades and jellies at two coats and sheers and what have you, but I just.don’t.like.it.

I had quite some application issues with other Cult Nails polishes (which is mainly the reason I gave up on wearing them), but Charming worked well. I had not complaints!

The Cult Nails polishes usually shrink terribly on me. It’s not the topcoat (I used their own, and various others), because it doesn’t make any difference which one I use. I found that very unfortunate, because for so many other bloggers, Cult Nails polishes eem to work so well. Charming didn’t shrink too much, so I have hope. Maybe as the polish brand comes from Florida, the polishes work better in sunny weather?

I decided to embrace the purple. You know that is difficult for me, so please be proud! I chose shoes from Voltan, which are super cool and a bit old-fashioned. I think they are pretty awesome, but I can imagine my taste is not for everyone.

The pants are those wollen pants from Banana Republic, which add a couple of kilos, yes, but they are also amazingly comfortable and warm. If I have the choice between loosing a bit of my behind to cold or adding a couple of kilos by keeping me warm, I will choose to wear these pants again. Warmth before beauty!

The blue cardigan is from Montego. I have been wearing it a lot, it is soft and easy to iron, plus it’s navy, which fits so many other clothes of mine. The coolest part of this outfit is definitely the blouse, which has a crooked line of buttons and a high collar that offers you various ways of wearing it. I like it best open. The blouse is from Cora Kemperman, I think this may have been my first piece from her.

To top it all off, I’m wearing dark purple eyeliner from Inglot. The rest of the make-up is invisible thanks to the blinding sunlight… I can’t wait for the sun to be a bit less prude and come out to play a bit more often. I miss my Vitamin D.

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.