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

14 Days Of Achtung Baby: Even Better Than The Real Thing

Happy Monday, lovelies! Today is day two of my Achtung Baby project...

Even Better Than The Real Thing

"my heart is where it's always been, my head is somewhere in between"

Even Better Than The Real Thing is the second song on Achtung Baby and, if you ask me, beats Mysterious Ways in terms of sexiness any day. Or maybe not. It's cheaper, and dirtier than Mysterious Ways, which is exactly why I love it.

My main inspiration for this mani was the fact that the title is something of a pun on the 90's Coca Cola ad proclaiming it "the real thing" (as opposed to Pepsi and the like). I was thinking dirty billboards, grimy, faded neon signs, telling us to buy things we don't really need and can't afford.

Products I used:
Barry M crackle polish in black
p2 drama
Barry M Tangerine
Rimmel Ultra Violet
Rimmel Green Grass
Barry M Cobalt Blue
Eyeko Punk Polish
Dior Rock Coat
+artist brushes and regular topcoat

China Glaze Ick-A-Body

Hello lovelies!

I hope you all made it through the week unscathed and are now enjoying your weekends! :)

I know it's only September, but since Halloween isn't really a big deal here anyway I figured I might as well show this awesome polish now! I picked this up super cheap while I was in Canada and boy, am I glad I did! I knew there was a reason I wanted this polish so much...

China Glaze Ick-A-Body is a ton of orange glitter in a murky, dark green jelly base. Since there's so much glitter in this it does dry gritty and somewhat dull; what you see here is two coats, plus one coat of Seche Vite. It's not perfectly smooth, but not so gritty that it would bother me.

I thought both formula and application were very nice. Not to mention that it's an absolute stunner!

What do you guys think? Do you own this one? Too early to break out the Halloween polishes?

Swatches & Review: Orly It's Not Rocket Science

(Still on vacation, back on the 18th.)

There's an amusing (I hope?) story about this polish. I first heard about it in a video on youtube (it might have been one by MissChievous, but I'm not positive on that) and I thought it was called It's Not Rock, It's Science. I was delighted by that "discovery" because it reminded me of U2's guitarist, The Edge ("The scientist of the band", anyone?). I spent the next few days going HEE HEE HEEEEEEEE :DDD (I'm fairly sure this is also when the U2 nail polish idea was born.) Then I looked for it online and realized it wasn't called that at all. I'm STILL disappointed. :((((

Anyway, on to the pretty. I'll let the pictures do the talking.

*drools* This is one of my favourite green polishes. I love all the polishes from this collection, but unfortunately I only own this one. I can't quite bring myself to pay the ridiculous prices on ebay. Meh. MOVING ON.

Totally in love with this polish. <3

Swatches & Review: Catrice Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy + bonus nail fail

(Just another reminder: I'm still on vacation until the 18th.)

Today's polish is Catrice Easy Peasy, Lemon Squeezy, which is probably best described as a pale lime. I want to call it a neon pastel, but that's crazy. :P Also, please note how spectacularly I failed at spicing up my mani. THIS IS WHY I STICK WITH GLITTER.

This is three fairly thick coats plus topcoat. The formula was thick, but not unmanageable. However, this took forever to dry. Not so great.

Honestly, I'm not impressed with this polish. It's a cool colour, but I'm kinda meh about it. *shrugs*

Swatches & Review: Nubar Indigo Illusion

Hello beauties!

I'm very, very tired today and the heat is really messing with my body so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking today.

This was my first time using Nubar and I am super impressed. I am craving Peacock Feathers, but this one's pretty freaking awesome too. <3

This is two coats of Indigo Illusion, plus topcoat. I hope I managed to capture most of the faces of this polish. The blue was shy, but you can sorta see it in the last pic. I hope. At any rate, this is one of the most gorgeous duo/multichromes I own. Totally love it. <3

Like I said, very tired. So that's it from me for today!

NOTD: She Stylezone 300 + Essence Edward

Happy Saturday, lovelies!

Today I'll be showing you a case of "this polish was a mess so I put some glitter on top" :D

I started out with She Stylezone 300 (ugh. I hate when polishes only have numbers and no names...even if this one makes me want to yell THIS. IS. SPARTA! Um, yes. ANYWAY.) which is an egg yolk yellow creme. It does have that Essie-esque squishy texture, though. Unfortunately this was a complete and utter mess on my nails. The brush was floppy but the bristles would not freaking budge, so it was really hard to create a nice line along my cuticles. After three coats I gave up; there were bald patches all over the place and the polish was already super thick. I like this colour A LOT, but it's not super unique so I don't really see myself putting up with the crappy application again.

When it became apparent that this mani was not turning out so well I figured I'd add some glitter and see if it would save my nails. I chose Essence Edward, which I've been wanting to try for a while now. Edward is teeny tiny silver holo glitter, slightly larger turquoise glitter and large square turquoise glitter in a clear base. It looks really green with the yellow, but in the bottle it's definitely more turquoise/aqua. I love this glitter. <3 It is a little tricky to place the square pieces of glitter, but not too bad.

Surprisingly I ended up liking this mani. I'm still wearing it and not sick of it yet. I love when I turn horrible manis into something pretty by accident. :)

Do you ever end up turning a fail mani into something you like by accident?

NOTD: Paris Memories 250 over OPI Stranger Tides

Happy Monday, lovelies!

I have been trying (and failing) to catch up with all your blogs. Being away for a week means a lot of beautiful nails to dig through! :D Anyway, today's post is a short one as I'm still completely wiped and feeling lazy. I hope you enjoy it nonetheless. <3

(I apologize for my cuticles. And my weirdly coloured hands. I'm not sure what's going on there.)

Two coats of Stranger Tides, one coat of 250 (which was a bit of a pain to apply because of the glitter strips) and a coat of Seche Vite.

Can I just say that I'm in love with this mani? Paris Memories 250 is one of the most gorgeous glitters I own. <3

Hope you're all well and having a good day (if that's possible on a Monday)!

Swatches & Review: Catrice Welcome To The Jungle

Happy Friday, lovelies!

Today's post is my last scheduled post. I hope I'll be able to put something up tomorrow, but I'll have a post for you by Sunday at the latest. :)

This is the second polish I bought from the recent Catrice Papagena collection and definitely my favourite.

Welcome To The Jungle is a gorgeous mossy olive green with lots of teeny tiny green, gold and copper microglitter suspended throughout. I highly recommend enlarging those pictures so you can see the beautiful sparkles in there. Remember when I reviewed Amazonian Gold and said it wasn't really a frost and not really a foil? This one's the same in that it's not really a frost, but it's not really a pearl either. I love it, whatever it is. This one is definitely unique to my collection; I own absolutely nothing like this.

I used two coats for these pictures and oh my god, application was a dream. Seriously, one of the most pleasant polishes to apply ever. <3 I want to buy ten backups for the awesome application alone.

I'm totally loving this polish. Amazing application, stunning colour and super cheap. What more can a polish addict ask for?

Have a lovely Friday, pretties! Hopefully I'll see you tomorrow!

Swatches & Review: MNY 761

Hello lovelies!

This is the week's first scheduled post that I won't be able to overlook. As you know, I am in Vienna right now and probably won't have time to be online very much. I hope this posts correctly.

Today's polish is MNY 761. MNY is a brand owned by Maybelline, I think. It bothers me that their polishes only have numbers and no names, but there's some proper gems to be found!

761 is emerald green microglitter suspended in an olive green jelly base. The overall effect is more emerald than I'd hoped, but the olive does show. I do think this is a pretty unique polish.

I found the polish to be a little on the thin side, but it was easy to manage and I reached full opacity in two coats. The only downside is that there was some major dragging going on. But as the polish so thin you can sort of push it back down and have it even itself out, if that makes sense.

Overall, I'm really pleased with this polish. What do you guys think?

Swatches & Review: China Glaze Chiaroscuro

Happy Sunday, lacquered lovelies!

Today I have for you China Glaze Chiaroscuro, which is a nude-ish, peachy, slightly frosty shimmer. Oh yay, everything I usually hate thrown into a single polish! Right? WRONG. It is awesome, ladies. Trust me. I saw this on another blog - I'm not sure who posted it, if it was you, please let me know and I'll link to your post! - and I just knew I had to have it.

First two pictures were taken inside, the other two in sunlight.

Let me say this straight away: These pictures do not do the polish justice. Chiaroscuro is a warm, peachy, golden shimmer. It's slightly frosty, but not too much. Now, none of this sounds very interesting, does it? However, this has the most awesome green duochrome. It is stunning. Also, this seems like a bit of a chameleon to me; here it looks mostly peach, but in low light it looks almost mauve-y.

I think this is as close as I'll ever get to wearing nude polish.

Formula was okay on this. It's a little bit thin and runny and I did need three coats to get it opaque (You could still see VNL at certain angles, but not enough to bother me). Then again, I think this is actually intended to be worn sheer. It did take quite a qhile to dry, even with Seche Vite on top.

That's it from me for today; I managed to hurt my shoulder/back yesterday so I'll just do some more relaxing.

Swatches & Review: BB Couture Vampy Varnish

Hello lovelies!

Today I have for you my first ever BB Couture polish, which I am super excited about. BB Couture (along with Zoya, Color Club, Butter London, China Glaze (yes, you read that right) and a whole bunch of others) is one of those brands I would never have heard of if I hadn't started reading nail blogs. Unfortunately, it is also one of those brands that doesn't ship internationally and that wasn't available through any of my usual etailers, either.

Luckily for us international polish fanatics, the lovely Kim from overallbeauty.com does ship worldwide. Before I even get to the polish, I just want to say that my experience with Overall Beauty was such a pleasant one. When I placed my order something went wrong and I was charged the wrong amount for shipping, so Kim emailed me and asked me if I was willing to place my order again, which I would have done anyway, but then she offered me a free polish of my choice as compensation. How awesome is that?! Kim has just been such a sweetheart and I love that there are still online etailers that actually care about their customers. :)

My package arrived a couple of days ago and I was so excited as I tore into it. Vampy Varnish was the first polish I put on and OH MY GOD, GUYS I think - dare I say it - this might have turned into my favourite green polish of all time (and to think I wouldn't have originally gotten this!).

Cannot. Stop. Posting. Pictures. So. Pretty. *spazzes*

Ahem. Vampy Varnish is a dark, dark forest green jelly (is it a jelly? The glitter kinda takes away the squishy texture, so I'm not entirely sure.) with loads of super sparkly glitter thrown in. I'm not sure if it's only gold glitter that flashes green because of the polish or if there's actual green glitter in there. Either way, all that sparkly goodness is just delicious.

This reminds me of sunlight falling through the treetops in a forest in summer. However, when I said this to my dad he was all NO WAY. This is what my dad has to say about this colour (translated by yours truly): "This is a Jaguar painted in British Racing Green standing in the shade under a tree with little patches of sunlight falling on the surface." I'm not sure what to make of this, but I think it means he likes it.

I used three thin coats for full opacity and, as all that gorgeous glitter makes it dry semi-gritty and dull, I slapped on a generous coat of Seche Vite to make it all smooth and shiny. Application was a breeze. I love the BB Couture brush. It's slightly thicker/broader than the Essie brushes, but nowhere near OPI-thick. They're perfect. And the fan out so well, so it's super easy to get a nice line along the cuticles! The only thing I would say is that it's best to wait for a minute between coats, otherwise you'll end up with some abysmal cuticle dragging. Just something to be aware of.

As I say, I think this might be my favourite green polish of all time. It's definitely in the top three. What I love most about this is that it is a vampy shade, but it's not. At least not in the traditional sense. You know, vampy makes me think blackened plum, burgundy, deep red, that kind of thing. This is different and awesome and I love how, in the shade, this looks almost black but not quite. You can always tell that it's not quite black. And then when the sunlight hits it.... Mmmmm sparkly and beautiful and I actually tripped down the stairs the first time I saw it outside.

Wow. I do believe this is my most rambly post to date. What can I say, I hear this is what love does to you. :D

Do you have Vampy Varnish as well? What's your favourite green polish?

Swatches & Review: OPI Pirates Of The Caribean: On Stranger Tides Collection

Good morning, lovelies!

Today I have for you the OPI Pirates Of The Caribean: On Stranger Tides collection. I know you're probably sick of seeing swatches of these already, but I was so, so excited for this collection and when my polishes arrived they did not disappoint.

I've loved PotC from the get-go and it's no secret that I effing adore pastels. Especially if they're of the murky, weird kind. <3 I bought the whole collection mostly for the sake of well, having it, since I wanted to get five of the six shades anyway. Which brings us to the fun part...

There's a total of six polishes in the collection (and the silver shatter, which I did not get); I used three thin coats for all of them, but you should be good to go with two medium coats. Pictures are 1. indoors (in the shade) and 2. outdoors (in direct sunlight).

Also, I apologize for my cuticles looking more ragged with every picture. They're being bitchy these days. :( (And why are my hands so red lately? Me no like.)

Sparrow Me The Drama (heh. I'm such a sucker for bad puns.) is a dusty pink creme. It's like someone put a splash of grey in a boring pastel pink and made it awesome. (That's pretty much how all of these look to me. Like your average pastels with a splash of grey. Love.) This was the one I didn't want to get judging from promo pics and swatches on other blogs. I got it because I wanted to have the complete collection and because the name made me giggle. I didn't expect to like this, but I do. I'm not crazy about it, but I like how it looks on me and that's it not your regular pink pastel. Also, application was amazingly smooth.

Planks A Lot is a dusty purple creme. The first picture makes this look way too blue; the actual colour is much closer to the second picture. I like this, but not as much as I thought I would. It kinda reminds me of Milka purple though. :D This was a little on the thin side, but application was still a breeze.

Mermaid's Tears is a milky, dusty jade creme. This is such a beautiful colour. It really makes me thinks of mermaids and the name is super sweet too. I'm absolutely in love. (What a surprise.) With this one there was a little bit of streakiness and dragging, but as you can see at three thin coats this leveled out nicely.

Stranger Tides, the namesake of the collection, is a greyed out avocado creme. Is it avocado? Maybe more pistachio. Honestly, I have no clue what to call this colour, but it's amazing. It reminds me of moss at the bottom of a rock pool and waves crashing against a cliffside and the rough sea. This is my favourite of the collection, hands down. Application was a breeze.

Skull & Glossbones is a... Again, no clue what to call this colour. It's a grey, off-white, putty sort of colour. The name fits, because it does look a lot like glossy bones. I'm absolutely in love with this one as well. Maybe not the most unique colour, but I think it's awesome. Application was surprisingly smooth and easy.

 Steady As She Rose is a very pale pink creme that, at least on me, has a distinct lavender undertone. I hadn't seen the trailer for the movie yet when I first saw the promo pics and the first swatches of this, so I didn't realize this was probably supposed to be a pun on the "steady as she goes" thing. What this made me think of - still makes me think of - is that scene in Greek mythology where Aphrodite rises from the sea. Honestly, I much prefer my interpretation. :) This was a tiny bit streaky, but leveled out nicely. This is the only polish I photographed with topcoat, because I wore this for my full mani.

In conclusion, I am much impressed by this collection. These all applied beautifully, which surprised me a lot considering they're pastels. If you're into these kinds of colours I'd definitely consider picking them up even if you dislike the movies.

I know a lot of people don't think this fits with the theme of pirates, but I think OPI did an awesome job forgoing the obvious choice of colours and choosing the more muted ones. I think this ties in nicely with the sea/mystical/mythical theme of the movie.

I do have one complaint... Why is none of the polishes named after Barbossa??????? *sad face* ;)

NOTD: Glitter Accent Nail

Hello lovelies!

Today's post should probably be titled FOTD (FAIL Of The Day). I saw the lovely Kirsten from Glitta Gloves do a glitter accent nail and I loved it so much I wanted to replicate the look. Except that I failed rather spectacularly.

I don't know whether the polishes, my unsteady hands, the lack of sleep or my headache are to blame. Possibly all.

For this I did all my nails with China Glaze Light As Air, which needed three coats and was pretty thick and draggy but at the same time runny and hard to control. Drying time was abysmal on this. Looking at my nails now, over six hours after application, they're a bumpy, dentable mess. Do any of you have that same problem with Light As Air?

Anyway, I applied a coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dry and then used Essence Troy (a purple, blue and silver glitter) on my ring finger. I wanted some more colour in there so I applied a thin coat of Models Own Emerald City (emerald green glitter) which was too dense for my liking. So I applied another coat of Troy. Then I added topcoat to make it smooth.

I don't know. I think what makes me dislike this mani is that a) I loved Kirsten's mani sooo much and am super disappointed in myself that I couldn't make it work. And b) Light As Air was just such a frustrating mess. :/

Ugh. I really want to get rid of this mani, but I'm so tired and not in the mood to remove it. Blargh.

What do you guys think? Terrible fail or just not as good as I'd wanted it to be?

NOTD: Catrice Sold Out Forever - Swatches & Review

Hello lovelies!

The weather hasn't really allowed me to take pictures lately, so here's one that I took a while ago and forgot to post: Catrice Sold Out Forever.

(Whyyyy do these types of colours never photograph properly?!) Sold Out Forever is a minty, spring-y kind of pastel green creme with shimmer. The shimmer doesn't really show up here, but it's very visible in person. The colour is hard to describe since it's somewhere between the many mint greens and the few spring greens in my collection. I don't have anything quite like this. Especially with the shimmer. So pretty!

This needed three coats for opacity and was on the thin side, but application was smooth and easy. All in all, a very nice polish!

I'll be driving to Germany tomorrow to haul some products (p2 polishes, here I come!!!) so you may expect some goodies to be up soon. Here's to hoping the sun comes out and lets me take some pictures! *crosses fingers*