Wet'n'Wild Blue Wants To Be A Millionaire

Hello lovelies! I hope you're all having a good Sunday! I've spent mine doing absolutely nothing so far. Work was crazy yesterday, I really needed some relaxation. I'm also glad I still have some swatches to post, because work killed my hands and nails. I've got all these cuts and scrapes from opening crates and boxes. :(

Since yesterday was Achtung Baby's birthday and thus the last day of my nail art project, we're back to regular polish posting! Today I've got for you Wet'n'Wild Blue Wants To Be A Millionaire.

This was four coats, no topcoat. It's quite sheer, but buildable. I only wish the holo would have been stronger!

That's it from me for today. Hope you all had a good weekend!

Happy Birthday, Achtung Baby!

Hello lovelies! You're all hopefully having a lovely Saturday while I'm at work! ;) Today's mani is the last in my Achtung Baby series, because today this baby turns 20! Happy Birthday to my favourite album! (I'm totally taking it as a sign that our birthdays are so close to each other :P)

This is the mani that started it all. I wanted to do something special for an Achtung Baby anniversary event in Vienna and figured I could try to do nail art inspired by the artwork of the album. This was by far the most complicated mani of my little project (and not only because all I had to work with were a dotting tool and the brush of a white striper polish that I kept dipping into different polishes and wiping down...).

I'm warning you, there's a bit of a picspam ahead. I really loved how this mani came out; I wish I could have worn it longer!

Not much to say about this one, I guess. As you can see I simply chose one little picture for each nail as my inspiration and tried to fit it on. I picked the ones that seemed to me to be best suited for nail art, since I'd have had a hard time drawing Bono's face with nail polish. :)

And that concludes my 14 days of celebrating Achtung Baby! I do hope you enjoyed it and maybe even gave some of the songs a listen. :)

Products I used:
Essie Little Brown Dress
OPI Stranger Tides
Essence Buddy Bear
MAC Obey Me
Models Own Concrete Mixer
Catrice Snow Motion
China Glaze Seaspray
China Glaze For Audrey
OPI Greenwich Village
China Glaze Liquid Leather
p2 hug me
Barry M crackle polish in black
China Glaze Mom's Chiffon
China Glaze City Siren
MAC Rain Of Flowers
Catrice Bye, Bye Birdie
+ white striper polish, silver glitter striper polish, topcoat and a lot of time (and also probably some other polishes I forgot to write down)

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Love Is Blindness

As promised, here is today's second post, which is also the last song-inspired Achtung Baby manicure. I'm actually a little bummed right now, because I only remembered that I work tomorrow and have to wear nude polish AFTER I was done with the nail art. :( Oh well.

Love Is Blindness

"a little death without mourning"

Love Is Blindness, the last song on the album; it's slow and mournful and leaves me a little breathless. Inspired by Edge's failing marriage love is depicted as almost a weakness, a flaw. It's achingly beautiful and the perfect ending to an album that feels painfully personal and private. (As Bono said in From The Sky Down "We spent most of the 80's throwing rocks at other people, we spent the 90's throwing rocks at ourselves".)

My main inspiration came from the lines "love is clockworks and cold steel, fingers too numb to feel squeeze the handle, blow out the candle, blindness" and "thread is ripping, the knot is slipping". I know I could have done more with this, but I kind of wanted to keep it vague. :)

Products I used:
Catrice Midnight Express
Catrice London Weather Forecast
Catrice Amazonian Gold
China Glaze Liquid Leather
a england Perceval
+ artist brushes, white striper polish and topcoat

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: An Ode To Mr. MacPhisto

Happy Friday, lovelies! I'm sorry I didn't post this yesterday, but it was my birthday and I was kept rather busy. There should be a second post coming up sometime tonight, too. :)

Today's post is a bit different, in that it wasn't inspired by a song on Achtung Baby. Instead I took my inspiration from one of the alter egos Bono adopted on the ZooTV tour: MacPhisto.

I guess this is going to require some explanation... The red on black are (hopefully) obviously supposed to represent the devil horns. ("Real devils don't wear horns", anyone?). Then on my left hand you've got the telephone (index), because it wouldn't be MacPhisto without the phonecalls to heads of state (I'm sorry, we're closed for lunch!), a pizza slice (middle), because even Bono has to eat sometimes ("I'd like to order ten thousand pizzas for Detroit!") and a taxi sign (ring), because during the Sydney show that made it on the DVD he calls a taxi to "take him home".

Obviously, this is for the obsessed. :D I hope you still enjoyed it, even if you're not a huge U2 dork like me!

Products I used:

a england Holy Grail

China Glaze Liquid Leather

BB Couture for Men Hades

BB Couture for Men Eros

Catrice Marilyn & Me (which you can't see, because it was sheer and I covered it up...)

a england Perceval

+ artist brushes, white striper polish and topcoat

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Acrobat

Hello lovelies! Happy Wednesday :) Again, not a pink one, but I'm so excited about this post! This mani turned out so much better than I anticipated - it might just be my favourite so far!

Acrobat

"in dreams begin responsibilities"

Acrobat... I don't really know how to even describe this song. It includes some of my favourite lyrics and is definitely one of my favourite U2 songs, and not just for the Yeats reference! I can really only recommend that you listen to it. (I keep saying that, I know, but it's SUCH a good album!)

For this I took my inspiration from my favourite line in the song: "You can dream, so dream out loud, and don't let the bastards grind you down." I'm surprised how much I ended up liking the result, I literally just made it up as I went!

What do you guys think? Also, tomorrow will be a "special" mani, because it's my birthday. :)

Products I used:
Kiko 265
Rimmel Disco Ball
China Glaze Polar Ice
+ white striper polish, she stylezone nail crystals and topcoat

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

Hello lovelies! Happy Tuesday! I'm going to jump straight into day ten (!!!) of my Achtung Baby nail art...

Ultraviolet (Light My Way)

"when I was all messed up and I had opera in my head, your love was a lightbulb hanging over my bed"

Ultraviolet, the song that rings in the last three of the album, which are something of a holy trinity in my mind. Ultraviolet, Acrobat and Love Is Blindness just belong together. They're arguably the heaviest songs on the album. Ultraviolet especially always struck a chord with me, the lyrics, the melody, the way it makes you jump and dance and sing your heart out when it's played live.

I figured I'd keep it nice and simple for this one. I didn't really want to use a lot of colour, because the song does paint a rather desolate picture, so this is what I came up with. I did freehand all of this, so it's not as neat as could be.

Products I used:
OPI Planks A Lot
China Glaze Liquid Leather
Rimmel Ultra Violet (how could I not?!)
Paris Memories #253 (at least that's what I think...)
Catrice London Weather Forecast
+ artist brushes, white striper polish and topcoat

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World

Happy Monday, lovelies! Another late post today...

Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World

"sunrise like a nosebleed"

Tryin' To Throw Your Arms Around The World, quite possibly my favourite song on Achtung Baby, simply because it's so horribly underrated. Stuck between Mysterious Ways, which is a well-loved tune by most fans, and the last three songs, which are something of a holy trinity, I guess this song just gets overlooked. A shame, because it's bloody brilliant.

"6 o'clock in the morning, you're the last to hear the warning, you've been trying to throw your arms around the world." Haven't we all had nights that ended at six in the morning, going home as the first people go to work, all fuzzy brain and lights blurring in front of our eyes. To me this song is an ode to every spectacular hangover, every night spent looking for something you can't find at the bottom of a glass, every watery sunrise that makes you wince.

Products I used:
China Glaze Liquid Leather
MAC Obey Me
Models Own Concrete Mixer
Illamasqua Hectic
Essie Chinchilly
p2 gigantic
American Apparel Neon Red
Essence Forget Me Not
Dior Rock Coat

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Mysterious Ways

As promised/threatened the second post of today...

Mysterious Ways

"take a walk with your sister the moon"

Mysterious Ways, my least favourite song on the album and one of my least favourite songs in general. No wonder this mani turned out terrible. I only somewhat like the song when it's played live, and even then...

I hate this mani and I don't like the song and I was trying to be inspired by the fact that the video for the song was shot in Morocco, but no such luck. Ah, well. At least the polishes I used were amazing!

Products I used:
A England Perceval, Holy Grail & Avalon

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: The Fly

Hello lovelies! I didn't manage to get up a post yesterday, so you'll get two for the price of one today!

The Fly

"we shine like a burning star, we're falling from the sky tonight"

The Fly, with its unmistakeable guitar and distorded voice. This song has some of the best and most poetical of U2's lyrics, hidden behind an electronic, rocking sound. There really isn't much to say other than: listen to it.

I took my inspiration for this not only from the song, but also Bono's alter ego the Fly. "Every artist is a cannibal, every poet is a thief, all kill their inspiration and sing about their grief" is probably the most significant line in the whole song for me, so that did influence me a lot.

Products I used:
China Glaze Liquid Leather
A England Perceval
A England Merlin
+ tape and topcoat

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: So Cruel

Hello lovelies! Happy Friday! :)

So Cruel

"I'm only hanging on to watch you go down"

So Cruel, one of the most twisted and complex songs in U2's repertoire. I think this is the first truly dark song on the album. It's wrong in all the right ways, poetic and messed up and a painfully honest portrayal of a twisted love. One of my very favourite songs and I definitely recommend listening to it.

My main inspiration here came from the lines "her skin pale like god's only dove", "heaven, heaven, fingers in the mire", "oh love, like a screaming flower, love dying every hour" and "the night is bleeding like a cut". I was running out of time when I did this mani and I'd originally planned it a bit differently, but considering I only had about fifteen minutes for this I think it turned out okay.

Products I used:
Top Shop Sketch
China Glaze Westside Warrior
p2 lust
Catrice London Weather Forecast
China Glaze Liquid Leather
China Glaze City Siren
Essie Case Study
Top Shop Listen To Me
+ artist brushes, white striper polish and top coat

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses

Hello lovelies! Apologies for how late I'm posting this. I hope you guys aren't tired of this series yet...

Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses

"you're an accident waiting to happen"

Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses, the song that means nothing and everything whenever I listen to it. I honestly don't know what this song signifies for me. It's beautiful, though, and I can only recommend giving it a listen to hear for yourself.

This one gave me the most trouble so far inspiration-wise. In the end I decided to take my inspiration from the lines "you're a piece of glass left there on the beach", "the hunter will sin for your ivory skin" and "who's gonna drown in your blue sea?". I quite like the end result: simple, but meaningful. :)

Products I used:
BB Couture for Men Hades
Essie Sand Tropez
China Glaze Sea Spray
China Glaze Golden Enchantment
Essence Time For Romance
Essence Matt Topcoat
+ artist brushes and white striper polish

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Until The End Of The World

Happy Wednesday, lovelies! Sorry, it's not a pink one this time around. This will hopefully go up while I'm at work (with a bloody boring manicure at that, boo!).

Until The End Of The World

"in my dream I was drowning my sorrows, but my sorrows they learned to swim"

Until The End Of The World, the first (U2) song I was ever truly obsessed with. There's absolutely no way to put into words the things this song makes me feel. It always makes me think of the T.S. Eliot line "this is the way the world ends".

My main inspiration for this mani came from the lines "we ate the food, we drank the wine / everybody having a good time / except you / you were talking about the end of the world" and "I took the money / I spiked your drink / you miss too much these days if you stop to think".

Let me tell you, so much went wrong here. Polish was too sheer or too dark or didn't dry or dried too quickly. And despite all of that, I think this is my favourite mani so far. It's a little ambiguous, I suppose, but so is the song and I think just spelling it out would be boring. Anyway, what do you guys think? :)

Products I used:
China Glaze Liquid Leather
Models Own Grace Green
MAC Immortal Gold
a england Merlin
Catrice Marilyn & Me
Essence Make It Golden
OPI Midnight In Moscow
Essie Sand Tropez
Illamasqua Kink
Dior Rock Coat (this has been my best friend for these manis!)
Essence Matt Top Coat
+ artist brushes, Nubar quick dry drops and regular top coat