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: 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: One

Hello lovelies! How are you all doing? I hope the weather isn't getting you down! Personally, I love the cold, but all I want to do is eat and sleep these days... I'm really a squirrel haha! Anyway. On to day three of Achtung Baby nail art...

One

"we're one, but we're not the same"

One... The song that was the "pivot point of Achtung Baby" as the band recently called it in the documentary From The Sky Down. I've heard people say that it doesn't fit with the rest of the album, that it's in a completely different vein than all the other songs, but it really isn't. At a time when U2 was very close to calling it a day, disconnected and unable to find any common ground, they wrote a song about unity. Now that? That is irony at its finest.

It's not my favourite song on the album, not by a long shot, but here's the thing: we all feel alone sometimes. We're not the same, and we aren't always capable of understanding what others go through. But we are one, and we do get to carry each other.

I could go on about how I totally mucked up the entire nail art here, but really? I kinda dig it. It's imperfect and a little messed up and I think it suits the song perfectly. It's about being one, not being whole.

Products I used:
Illamasqua Load
China Glaze Liquid Leather
China Glaze City Siren
+eyeliner brush (don't ask) and topcoat

Hope your week has been good so far! :)

Illamasqua Scarab

Hello lovelies!

First of all, my apologies for the lack of posting, but I had a job interview last Thursday (and got the job - yay!) and I've been rather busy with work and other things in my life lately. I hope I'll be able to post more often from now on!

Today's post is dedicated to Christina, who asked me to post pictures of this polish ages ago, because she wore it on the flight back from London. <3

Illamasqua Scarab is a gorgeous deep red shimmer. It's really hard to describe the colour, to be honest. It has that vampy, lit-from-within quality, and while it's definitely red I'm almost tempted to say it has some green to it. See for yourself:

(sorry about the crappy clean-up job.)

This is two easy coats plus topcoat, but essentially this is a one coater so if you're patient and take your time you probably won't need the second coat. I found that drying time was a bit on the long side on this one, but not abysmally so. It wore quite well, too. It reminds me a little of China Glaze Heart Of Africa, but to me Scarab is a little more...exotic.

I really love this polish! It's such an elegant, yet sexy and mysterious colour, and I love how it looks with my pale skin, though I can see this looking absolutely gorgeous with a darker complexion as well.

What do you think? Do you own any Illamasqua polishes? Which is your favourite?

Friday Favourites: Essie Up's

Hello lovelies!

As you can see in the title of this post, I'll be posting one of my favourite products every Friday. These will include current flings and long-time lovers alike. :)

Today I have for you one of my favourite red polishes: Essie Up's.

This is three coats of Up's and a coat of Seche Vite on top (on the third-ish day of wear, hence the scratches and semi-dull surface....I'm not really making the best case for this polish here, am I?). Excuse the not-so-great pic; took this really quickly on my way out. (Also, yes, my skin is actually that pale.)

As you can see, Up's is a rich, blue-toned red jelly. I'm not much of a red person, to be honest, and the reds I do like are usually shimmers or glitters, but every once in a while I'll crave a rich red polish. This is one of the very few reds I have and the only one I wear regularly. (Jellies own my soul, even when they're a pain to apply.)

I love to wear this with Illamasqua lipstick in Box. Makes for a pretty awesome retro, diva/pin-up-esque makeup!

Happy Friday, everyone!

Comparison: Illamasqua Radium vs Pieces Kryptonite

Good morning!

Today I've got a comparison for you. I only compared these two because as I was swatching Radium I was trying to think of other polishes in that colour and Kryptonite was the only one in my stash that came even remotely close. You'll see why you can't actually compare these in a second. (Also, Pieces is a brand available at a local clothing store. I know it's also available in Germany, but beyond that I have no idea where you can get it.)

From index to pinkie this is: Illamasqua Radium, Pieces Kryptonite, Illamasqua Radium, Pieces Kryptonite. (Do ignore the dent on my index finger.)

As you can see, Kryptonite is more yellow-toned than Radium and, while Radium is a shimmery creme bordering on frost, Kryptonite is a jelly. At first I was thrilled that it's a jelly, because I adore jellies. I'm willing to slap on that extra coat just for the squishy finish. However, this one takes a lot of coats to become opaque. I can't remember how many I used for this exactly (my notes are somewhat vague and irritated) but I think it was about 5, perhaps more. Honestly, the first three coats looked more yellow than green, not to mention gross and like I'd painted my nails with yellow highlighter. The consistency of the polish was also very...strange? I don't know; I've never used a polish with that sort of consistency before - it's sort of jelly-like. Almost like it's not actually liquid, but rather creamy? Like I said, strange.

Strange consistency aside, application was smooth and easy. Still, 5+ coats vs 2 coats? Even for a jelly, even for a jelly in such an unusual colour, that's a lot.

I don't want to say I prefer Radium, but I do have to say that I'll wear it more often simply because it doesn't take as long to apply as Kryptonite. (You can also read my review of Radium here.)

Have a lovely Tuesday, everyone!

NOTD: Illamasqua Radium - Swatches & Review

Happy Saturday, lovelies!

This is the second of the Illamasqua nail varnishes from the Toxic Nature collection I have; Radium. (I might pick the other three up at some point. They're really pretty.)

Radium is an acidic, shimmery lime green. If the light hits it right, the shimmer flashes turquoise. So pretty!

This was opaque in two coats and barely brushstroke-y at all. The formula was perfect and application was smooth. This does make my hands look a little red, but that's really not going to keep me from wearing it. This is such a crazy-bright, in-your-face colour that I'm sure I'll be loving this summer. Actually, I'll be loving this no matter the season. Lime green is one of my favourite colours. There are way to few nail polishes/eyeshadows/eyeliners in lime green out there. (This does remind me of a MAC eyeshadow from last year; might just need to combine those two.)

Hope you're all having a good weekend so far!

NOTD: Illamasqua Stagnate - Swatches & Review

Hello pretties :)

Today I've got Illamasqua nail varnish in Stagnate for you. This was recently released with their Toxic Nature collection and is one of the two shades I bought.

This wouldn't photograph colour accurately; I'd say in person it's somewhere between those two pictures. The best way I can think of to describe this is purple chocolate. It reminds me of the homemade chocolate pudding my grandma used to make when I was little. She'd put half a pear on top and decorate it with raisins and almonds to make it look like a little mouse. (Also, am I the only one who thinks of Sherlock Holmes when reading the name? "My mind rebels at stagnation", anyone? No?)

But yeah, aside from making me nostalgic and all warm and fuzzy inside, this is a really great polish. I'd call it a creme, but it has a sort of squishy, jelly kind of finish, which I just adore. The formula on this - as I've come to expect from Illamasqua - was perfect. Application was a dream and it was opaque in two coats.

I hope everybody has a lovely Friday!