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: 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: 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

Pink Wednesday: OPI Flashbulb Fuchsia

Hello lovelies!

Once again I apologize for not posting; I've had a lot going on. Without further ado, here is today's pretty.

 (Excuse the state of my cuticles.)

OPI Flashbulb Fuchsia is one of the beauties I snatched up while I was in Canada. It is, as the name suggests, a fuchsia shimmer. I'm not sure if it really comes across in the pictures, but this does have a fun, albeit subtle, blue-purple-ish duochrome-esque flash. Neat little feature.

I needed two coats for full opacity; application was smooth and easy.

That's it from me for today! What are you wearing on your tips today?

One more question: would you guys be interested in seeing what brands I have to show you and then vote which ones you'd like to see first?

Pink Wednesday: glitter sandwich!

Hello lovelies! Happy Pink Wednesday!

I've been busy packing and preparing stuff today, because I'm leaving for London tomorrow, which I'm really excited about. I adore London and I'm really looking forward to spending time with the lovely Christina and meeting Adina from aengland. :) Unfortunately this also means I'll not be around for a while, as I come back on the fourth and leave again for Canada on the sixth. Super excited, but no time for blogging. Boo. I've scheduled a few posts, so the blog won't be completely quiet, but I won't be active again until the 18th. Just a heads-up. :)

This Wednesday's mani is another glitter sandwich. For this I started out with one coat of Essence Roy's Red and layered a coat each of China Glaze Bad Kitty and China Glaze Golden Enchantment over it. Then I added two coats of OPI Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em. In person this was much more hot pink than it looks in these pics.

Looking back I think I should have only done one coat of THPTHE, but meh. It's still nice. *shrugs*

Sorry about the shadow on my pinky in that last pic. :(

So, that's it from me for now. See y'all after my vacation! :)

OPI Last Friday Night

Hello lovelies! Happy Saturday!

Today's polish is OPI Last Friday Night. I picked this up back when the Katy Perry collection was finally released in Austria, painted my mom's nails with it once, but never wore it myself. I always loved the polish, but something kept me from wearing it. What a pity, because this is one gorgeous polish!

Isn't that stunning? It reminds me of mermaids and light reflected on water. <3 I used four-ish coats of Last Friday night, because my nails are super stained and sheer polish is not an option. Application was easy, though the polish was a bit on the thick side.

That's it from me. Short and sweet for a change. I hope you all had a wonderful day!

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)!

NOTD: PotC/Mermaid sponging mani

Hello lovelies!

I'm pretty wiped, so it's just a quick post from me tonight.

I went to see Pirates of the Caribbean tonight and got all excited every time Geoffrey Rush was on the screen so naturally I wanted to do a pretty mani for it. I wasn't too  sure what to do, but I've wanted to wear OPI Mermaid's Tears and I also wanted to try sponging. This is what happened.

I wanted to go for a sort of mermaid/sea theme. This was my first attempt at sponging and I think it turned out pretty decent. Not perfect, that's for sure! But I'm fairly pleased with it. Although if I were to do with again I'd probably do it slightly different. Pratice makes perfect, eh? :)

What I used for this:

[Left to right: OPI Mermaid's Tears, p2 jetset, Essence Choose Me!, China Glaze Atlantis.]

• 3 coats of Mermaid's Tears
• jetset sponged over about a third-half of the nail
• Choose Me! sponged over about two thirds of the nail
• Atlantis dabbed onto the tips with the brush

Like I said, first attempt at sponging so it's definitely not perfect. This did teach me a lot about which polishes work in what way for sponging and I think I'll be giving this another shot very soon.

That's it from me for tonight. Going to head to bed soon. Good night, pretties! What do you think about this mani?

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* ;)

Swatches & Review: OPI Panda-monium Pink

Hello lovelies!

I hope you all had a good weekend. <3 The weather hasn't been great lately so I haven't really been able to take good pictures. Which means I'm digging through my backlog of pictures to find something to post.

As you probably remember I already showed you OPI Panda-monium Pink under Essence Mystic Mermaid yesterday, but I figured I should show you the polish on its own as well.

Panda-monium Pink is a cool-toned pastel pink with a hint of purple in it, methinks. It reminds me of ice cream. It's one of the few pinks I quite like, but it's definitely not one of my favourites. I'm kinda meh about it.

This is four coats of Panda-monium Pink and a coat of Seche Vite. This was quite thin and sheer but at the same time streaky and there was a bit of dragging going on. Not too happy with the formula on this.

Overall, it's a nice polish. The colour is okay, application is so-so. Not the worst I've ever used, but definitely not the best either. It does have a funny name though.

NOTD: Essence Mystic Mermaid over OPI Panda-monium Pink

Happy Sunday, lovelies!
Today's post is a random NOTD from a little over a week ago. It's not a mani I particularly liked on me, but I was too busy to do my nails so I wore and hated this for about three days.

For this I used four coats of OPI Panda-monium Pink (I love that name. Pandemonium = one of my fave English words.) and added a coat of Seche Vite. Then I managed to ruin a nail eating pizza, but I was too lazy to redo it so I just added a coat of Essence Mystic Mermaid. I have to say, Mystic Mermaid can be a bit of a lifesaver.

I really liked Panda-monium Pink on its own; one of the few pale pinks I can actually like. But with Mystic Mermaid on top... I don't know. I guess it looks pretty, but I just hated every second of it. I got so many compliments on this mani and was inwardly cringing at every one of them. I tried to like this, I really did, but I just hated with a passion. I mean, you guys know how much I love pastels and that I'm convinced glitter makes everything better. But this? No. Just no. It's not me, you know?

Anyhow. What do you guys think? Did you ever get lots of compliments on a mani that you really hated?

Swatches & Review: OPI The One That Got Away

Hello ladies!

Today I have OPI The One That Got Away from the Katy Perry collection for you. I know, I'm way late in  posting swatches of that collection, but, and I think I mentioned this on Twitter a while back, the Katy Perry collection only became available a few weeks ago here in Austria. It does tend to take collections (especially from US companies) a bit longer to get here (Essie Spring collection, I'm still waiting for you.), but this surprised even me. Thankfully I could get my hands on all the polishes I wanted in the end (the only one I didn't get was the yucky pale pink glitter. Seen it look pretty on others, but on me these kinds of colours look gross.). I'm not sure if I'll end up swatching the others as well, since all of you have probably seen them tons of times by now. Not to mention I have a bunch of other polishes to swatch and post that I think are way more exciting than a months old collection. We'll see.

Anyway, on to the pictures!

The One That Got Away is a gorgeous raspberry colour with loads of crazy sparkly microglitter (Do you see all those awesome colours the glitter flashes in?!). I feel like this looks more muted in these pictures than it actually is. It's dark, but definitely not muted in person. The glitter in this is really dense and applies evenly on the nail.  This is two coats, no base or top coat. As you can see, this dries very smooth and super shiny on its own so top coat isn't necessary. One thing I would say is that the formula on this is thinner than on the other polishes from this collection, but it still glides on effortlessly.

I know, not a very exciting post, but the weather still isn't cooperating so I'm digging through older swatches and posting them. Sorry guys. :|

Happy Wednesday!