OPI Designer Series - Coronation

Hey guys! I've been really posting a LOT of the OPI Designer Series, I'm sorry for that but I can't stop myself. The Designer Series are my favourite OPI polishes ever and like I said to a fellow nailblogger on Twitter, it's almost like Pokémon: you gotta catch 'em all. I'm not fond of the pinks and reds but the other ones are definitely my kind of thing.

One that is more than my kind of thing is Coronation.


I love silver polishes. People who don't care as much about polish as I (and you!) do will say: 'why do you own six of the same colours?' but to me they are all different. I rarely show them but finally, the day has come to show off a very pretty silver.

Coronation isn't a regular silver polish. It's more of a glitter top coat: the base is transparent and stuffed with silver holographic glitter. The glitters are very dense but I still needed three coats for this one to be opaque. Is that a bad thing? NO! This way you can also use Coronation as a glitter topper over other polish. Win! Another plus: the polish isn't gritty.


The sun wasn't liking me taking pictures so unfortunately I wasn't able to catch the holographic effect that good. I will repost this one in summer, I promise! This week I showed you two pretty holo's: Glamour and Original, both from the Designer Series, but Coronation has a different holo. It isn't that 'rainbowy', it's like the glitters are working individual. It's gorgeous.


Coronation is still available at TransDesign and, I believe, in stores.

By the way, have you heard the news about OPI? Yesterday it was announced OPI was sold to Coty. Now this is for most people not a matter of life and death but it does feels strange that a cruelty free brand is bought by a company that still uses animals for testing. To me anyway.

How do you feel about OPI being sold to Coty and does this affect your liking?

Take care and thanks for visiting!
Michelle

Time for some Spam!

Hey everyone! I haven't got a nail post for you today but I do have something else that I hope people will use. You see, sometimes people leave messages on this blog with a bloglink in their comment. At first I didn't mind that but it started to get really really really terrible with almost every single person posting a link. I don't mind people sharing their blogs (email or twitter) but it gets kind of irritating when a lot of comments say: 'cool post. check my blog on www.myawesomeblog.com'.

After a while this got really annoying and this was my reaction:


Ya rly! Instead of bitching to everyone I changed the settings of the Intense Debate commenting system - every post that contains a link has to be moderated. This helps a little, sometimes a comment goes trough the system but that's okay. I do notice that people don't stop sharing their link and when I saw something like this on other sites I also decided to do this.

You can leave a link in the comment system but I'd also like it if you tell something about yourself or your blog. I like seeing new blogs and other people might find new ones too. Intense Debates probably eats most of the comments but don't worry, I'll accept them so you don't have to comment 200 times. This way I don't have to feel like this again:


Win-win for all!

Thanks for stopping by! :-)
Michelle

OPI Designer Series - Original

Good morning chicas! I could write a whole post about my lemmings but because that doesn't sound that interesting to me I'm only showing you the ones I have been able to get. I'm lemming a lot but mostly it sticks to 'very interesting - if I can get it I'll get it' instead of putting a lot of effort in getting it. Don't get me wrong, I love a good polish hunt but there aren't a lot of polishes around that are really a must-have for me.

The one I'm showing you today was a lemming but not a must-have. I looked on eBay for it but the crazy prices were a little too much for me so I decided to not buy it. Now that was a good choice! OPI DS Original became available on TransDesign - and became a must-have, easy to get, you know what I mean? - and I scored it for $7.25. Ha, no crazy prices for me! :-)


OPI DS Original is a cool lavender polish. In lowlight it looks like lavender infused with some kind of silvery sparkle, very pretty. The picture above is taken in the shade, you can see there's a little bit of holographic action going on but of course not that much as in the sun (ya rly!).


Ahhhh, there is the action. Original has holographic sparkles, a little scattered around and definitely not as dense as my Nfu.Oh's or, another example, China Glaze OMG. Do I mind? Hell no! It's absolutely gorgeous and I am very happy this one belongs to me now.

Like the other DS polishes Original was a little thin, not watery though. I needed three coats to reach a smooth and opaque result, and for the impatient ones (like myself): it dries pretty fast. I'm not wearing a top coat because it already is a very shiny, glossy polish.


Original is discontinued but you can always check eBay - some sellers don't ask a lot for this one. TransDesign stopped selling Original but maybe other etailers still do.

Enjoy the last bit of your weekend and take care!
Michelle

Eyeko - Indigo Polish

Good afternoon all! I'm glad the weekend started for me and I'm really looking forward to relaxing. Yesterday I already did some relaxing - tanning and swimming - but the weekend is always something different. It has some kind of different vibe? I don't know how to explain.

A while back I ordered polishes from Eyeko and they're all really nice. The one I'm showing you today is the Indigo Polish for Sultry Nails.


Indigo Polish is a dark blue shimmer. I have nothing else to say about it, it's just what it is. There are a lot of blue shimmers in this world and this one is pretty nice but certainly not unique.

I needed two coats to reach opaqueness and applying it was fine. Eyeko polishes are somewhat thicker but because they're well pigmented I can't be bothered that much. Besides, we can always use our best friend the polish thinner!

You can buy Indigo Polish on the Eyeko website for €4.00 but pay attention to the sets they're also selling: it's cheaper and the sets are nice.

I hope you all have a nice weekend and thanks for stopping by! :-)
Michelle

Rescue Beauty Lounge - Scrangie

Hello everyone! Today I am going to show you a polish that is very wanted by a lot of polish fanatics all around. This polish is designed by Scrangie and is released in 2009. Some time after this one being released it sold out it popped up on eBay for ridiculous prizes and I decided this was something I wanted but not needed. When RBL decided to bring back Scrangie I had the opportunity of getting it and now it's mine. Ha!


Scrangie describes this polish as medium blue-based purple with green iridescence and green microshimmer. It's sparkly, duochrome and it has a very pretty glow to it.

I'm not sure about the application. I've applied this a couple of times and it seems to be different every time I try it. It doesn't suck to apply it, not at all, but sometimes it seems the polish is more droopy than it is on other days. Strange? Very! I needed three coats for Scrangie to become opaque which is good and the drying time is normal.


RBL Scrangie is still available on their website for $18.

What's your take on this pretty purple? Would you get it for $18 or is it just too much for you?

Take care and thanks for visiting!
Michelle

OPI Designer Series - Glamour

Hi all! The weather was great yesterday, when I woke up the sun was shining and kept shining the whole day. In fall and winter I appreciate these sunny days much more - not only because it really lights up my mood, the sun is a great source of light for pictures. I think everyone is familiar with the craptastic pictures you make when the lighting is low but thankfully this wasn't the case yesterday. One thing that comes to my mind when the sun is shining is holographic polish. I think most holographic polishes are bland and boring without the sun, the sparkles must be seen and therefore I decided to rock OPI DS Glamour yesterday.


OPI DS Glamour is a medium blue holo. The blue is very intense, even in the shade (like pictured above) it isn't boring at all. The holographic effect is scattered and not as intense as the Nfu.Oh holo's but dude - who can refuse a gorgeous blue polish like this one?


I know, I said not as intense, but Glamour really shows the holo great.

Applying this one was easy, I like my DS polishes because the formula is good: not too thin but certainly not too thick. Very easy to manage. I'm wearing two coats without a top coat. Top coat tends to make the holo a little less vibrant but to be honest, the one time I did apply top coat on Glamour I didn't notice the difference. Drying time is fast.


I was lemming this one for aaaaages. Finally there was an opportunity of getting it and not pay ridiculous amounts of bucks for it and now I can call myself the proud owner of Glamour. It's absolutely in my favourites because why would a sucker for blues like myself not like Glamour?!

What is your favourite holographic polish?
Michelle

My problem is solved! For now..

Hey everyone! How is your weekend so far? Mine mostly was filled with reading, I finally have the last two books from the Millennium trilogy, but I also told you yesterday I needed a new way to store my nail polish. I did have one condition: I did not want to have issues with round bottles - I really dislike those lined up in my Helmer.

After thinking I wanted to buy some shelves where I could put them, more of a temporarily solution. That being said I went to the DIY store near by and bought two of them. Because I have two left hands I very kindly asked my dad to help me and tadaa, there they are: my two new shelves.


Like I said, I saw this as a temporary solution until I find a new closet but I really like it. It makes my room a little bit more colourful and I was looking for something to hang up on that blank wall anyway. I'm keeping these two shelves and maybe add a third because I still have a lot of polishes stashed in the closet.

The shelves are hanged up in the centre of the wall so the polishes are easy to reach and I can still stash my other stuff, like my TV and small cabinet underneath them.


I can hear you think: Oh, Michelle, you're crazy, what about dusting everything?! I've thought about that. I don't mind taking the polishes off once in a while and clean the shelves. I also clean my Helmer once a week so does it really make a difference? I don't think so!

Now I just need a good closet, I want deep drawers and plenty of space for everything I need to stash in there such as my nail polishes and nail art stuff. Suzanne told me to look at the Ikea closet "Alex" and it looks pretty good so I'm planning a trip there.

How do you stash your polishes? Any tips?
Michelle

Want to play a game?

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a good start of the weekend. I cleaned my room from top to bottom and I realized I really need to find another way to store my polishes. I don't want a second Helmer because I have issues with round bottles (yeah.. kind of OCD-ish) so I was thinking of shelves. I'm going to pick some up in an hour or so and hopefully it works out. I might post the results later!

You might have noticed that I'm posting less these past weeks and that's because I've worked a lot. I really like working but sometimes I really crave for 'me-time' and finally, yesterday I had. I decided to create some nail art that I haven't done in quite a while, freehand with my striper brush.


Of course you see right away what my inspiration was! - If not, you've been living under a rock. ;-) I'm not really a Saw fan, I liked the first film but after the second I felt it became boring. I don't know which one is or will be in theatres now, probably part 34, but this one is inspired on the first film.

I've used a striper brush for all the designs and the base colour is H&M Love at First Sight.


Pinky: Jigsaw puzzle
The outline is done with Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You and I've coloured the centre piece of the puzzle with Orly Poison Apple.

Ring: Spiral
The spiral is inspired by the cheeks from the puppet. I've started from the centre of the nail, using Orly Poison Apple, and swirled around the point I started the spiral.

Middle: The Puppet
First I created the outline with Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You, as well as his hair, nose and eyes. I did some shading with Orly Mirror Mirror and coloured the eyes, lips and cheeks with Orly Poison Apple. Last thing is to create the pupils with the Diamond Cosmetics.

Ring: Saw
I used China Glaze Millennium for the saw. I just made a thick stripe on my nail and added the saw teeth. After that I used Orly Poison Apple to tip the saw teeth and the small puddle of blood.

Voila, topped it off with China Glaze Fast Forward and done. I haven't done my thumb because this was a little experiment and I must say, this design was pretty easy to create. Especially the saw and spiral are easy to make though you need a steady hand. Made a mistake? You can always do a little touch up when you've finished the design.

Have a great weekend and take care!
Michelle

Barry M - Coral

Morning guys! Today I want to show you another polish from the Barry M gift set. There were a lot of questions about which ones were limited edtions and I've asked Barry M but I haven't got a reply yet so this one continues to be a mystery, at least for now.


Like the pink I tried first, the coral creme is also a bright one. Application wise I liked the pink polish better, this one flooded my cuticles because it was very thin. First coat was very sheer and I was pretty afraid I was going to end up with visible nail lines but after applying three coats it was opaque.

I like this shade. A few months back I couldn't see myself wearing these shades but I'm starting to enjoy them very much. I'm glad this one was in the package!


I also did a little Konad but you can see this more as a little experimenting. I'm not sure if I like the tips but the design is nice. I used H&M Love at First Sight as my stamping polish and Konad Imageplate M60 for the design.

How do you feel about corals? Yay or nay?
Take care!
Michelle

Barry M Gift Set

Good evening everyone! A few days ago before I went to bed I noticed an email popping up that informed me that there was a new product available: the Barry M gift set. Now maybe I'm the only one but when I see the words 'limited' and 'edition' my heart starts racing and even more when I see the price is very reasonable. Of course I couldn't let this one go!


This Gift Set contains 4 shades of pretty nail polishes. They're all limited edtions. Two of the shades are exclusive to the set but I haven't figured out which two so if you can enlighten me, please do. The names aren't spectacular and even a little bit.. Lame. Why? They're all called "Limited Edition 029" with the addition of A, B, C and D. Now how's that for naming a polish! :o)

The colours are nice. It contains a bright medium pink creme, a coral creme, a medium blue creme and a burgundy shimmer.


I decided to try the colour I dislike to most to wear first and of course that is the pink. I never thought I'd say this about pinks but just like the Eyeko Punk Polish I have to admit: these pinks are too darn awesome. They're not sweet and girly, they're hot!

Application was good! The formula is on the thin side but definitely not unmanageable, I kind of liked it. I'm wearing two coats and the finish is very glossy, really liking that. I hope this one doesn't start to thicken up like my other Barry M polishes did, it's always kind of a let down when this happens but I'm praying and let's all pray with me!


The stripes are made with the medium blue polish from this gift set and with my friend the striper brush. I like the combination of pink and blue.

I bought my gift set at Alice and Jo's Havesentials for €12,50. Not a bad price eh? The gift set is also available on the Barry M site for £9.99. Not only do I think this gift set is nice to receive as a gift, it's also fun to buy it for yourself.

What do you think of gift sets like these?
Michelle

Dexter

Hey guys! Well, a lot of you guessed it correctly: I was talking about Dexter yesterday. In season one the "Ice Truck Killer" dismembers the body and paints the nails. He also leaves clues for Dexter like a dismembered Barbie doll in his fridge, also with painted nails.


The colours I've used: my pinky is Ciaté Ditch the Heels with Orly Poison Apple, my ring finger is Barry M Limited Edition Coral, I'm wearing OPI Pamplona Purple on my middle finger and OPI Who the Shrek Are You? on my pointer finger.


See the resemblance? ;-)

Take care!
Michelle

Guess the TV show

Hey everyone! Nothing special really, except I saw someone talking about one of my favourite TV shows and I decided to do a little something with it.


Can you guess which TV show?
Michelle

China Glaze and Konad

Hey guys! I have a green from China Glaze and it is absolutely gorgeous, everyone should own it and seriously I'm not joking! The gorgeous green I'm talking about is Gussied Up Green from the Rodeo Diva collection that was launched for fall 2008. This one is still available at most etailers. The point of my saying this is that when you're in the need of a dark green shimmer you should get this one because really it's too good not to buy.


Gussied Up Green is a gooooooooorgeous (sorry for using that word too much, it does fit the polish so I'm gonna use it this whole post) blackened green shimmer. When it hits the sunlight, as you can see above, the shimmer is so pretty (and gorgeous!).


I did some Konad over it, using 2030 and a Bundle Monster Plate (BM21) for the pattern. Now as I've mentioned before, 2030 is my kind of gold and I love it dearly. I really need to get myself a new bottle because mine is almost empty and I can't imagine ending up without a bottle of 2030.

2030 is part of the Khrome Collection and like all other polishes of this collection, 2030 is great for stamping. If you're looking for a decent stamping polish that isn't from Konad these are the best.


In case you're wondering why I'm all that cheery and happy, I'm receiving a package from the H&M today and I'm about to wet myself because the shoes I've ordered are amazing. This however doesn't affect my liking of Gussied Up Green, it's gorgeous. Really, it is!

What's your opinion of Gussied Up Green and the Khromes as stamping polishes?
Michelle

Barry M Instant Nail Effects, part two

Good evening everyone! I hope everyone is doing fine - I am, I'm really hoping for the weekend to kick in and I'm secretly excited for the 'storm' tomorrow and Friday. I'm the kind of person that really enjoys stormy weather, the sound of rain and the wind blowing really hard - I'll go outside trying to 'lean' against the wind. But enough of my strange characteristics and let's go on with my blogpost.

I'm showing you the Barry M Instant Nail Effects, and yes, you've seen this one earlier but I did a combination that I think is really awesome.


First I wanted to use China Glaze Millennium as my base colour but I couldn't find it anywhere so I decided to go for the gold. According to Michèle gold really rocked, and yes, it does!

The base colour I've used is China Glaze 2030, the greatest gold polish I've ever seen. This gold is cool so my skin doesn't look like I've been with my hands in boiling hot water for 10 minutes. I used two coats for 2030 because I always think the first coat looks a little bit, I don't know, streaky? Showing every little flaw on your nails? I guess both these things. It really doesn't matter though, this one dries fast and having your nails painted with gold is just totally awesome.


I was thinking of getting gold Minx, I bet I'd feel totally awesome walking around with those shiny gold nails. Unfortunately I'm not going to do that now due to my cleaning job but whenever I have the opportunity of taking them I'm so going to!

I bought this one at Alice & Jo's Havesentials for €5,10 (about $6,70). Alice & Jo's also offers other colours of crackle polish by the brand Mia Secret. Barry M Instant Nail Effects can also be purchased from the official Barry M site.

Take care guys, thanks for visiting!
Michelle

Ciaté - Twilight

Hey guys! Ciaté has to be one of my favourite brands. Not only am I always happy with the formula, I also like the different shades of polish they offer and of course, how can I not mention it, their super cute bottles. Some people say they are expensive and I know 13.5 ml for £9.00 isn't a bargain but the price isn't bad for what Ciaté gives you. Besides, it's always fun to spoil yourself, right? :-)

I've also got myself the Ciaté Speed Coat for testing and so far I'm happy with it so I'll let you know how it all works out. For now I want to show you one of their newer shades.


Ciaté Twilight is released for fall/winter 2010. They didn't create a whole new collection for us, besides Twilight they've also released Fade to Greige, but the two shades are both very nice so you won't hear me complain!

Twilight is a black creme filled with golden flecks and really small multicoloured shimmer. The golden flecks are more pronounced in the bottle but are also very visible on your nail. The multicoloured shimmer is very subtle and is shown best in sunlight.


I needed two coats for Twilight to be opaque. What I also really liked is that the flecks aren't gritty so your nail surface feels smooth and you won't need a really thick top coat to top it off. Speaking of top coat, I'm not wearing any in my swatches and the polish doesn't look dull.

Drying time was good and so was the application. I really like the Ciaté brushes, they're not too long or short and are really easy to use.


Here I've mattified Twilight with the Catrice Matt top coat. I think it looks awesome! The small flecks look like they're on fire and that makes a really nice contrast with the matte black. Overall you can say I'm definitely not disappointed with this one!

How do you feel about the new Ciaté shades?
Michelle

OPI Designer Series - Magic

Good afternoon everyone! Today I want to show you one of the two new Designer Shades from OPI. They brought out these two for fall and even though they're not the most unique shades around, they sure are pretty. I was in doubt to buy Magic because I thought I had similar shades in my stash but in the end I'm happy I got it, it's a nice addition.


Magic is a sparkly darker blue with a strong purple tone in it. At first I thought it looked a bit like OPI INK but this one is way more sparkly, glittery and has a stronger hint of blue. What I love about this one is that it also flashes purple on the nail. I had serious issues with capturing this but it really is there and it just shifts constantly from blue to purple. Application was good and I'm wearing three coats. Drying time was also fast.


I think Magic is very close to Orly's Lunar Eclipse. I'm not sure about that but I will compare these for myself once, curiosity always wins it from my wallet!

How do you feel about Magic? And what about the other one, Radiance? I might have to get that one too, it looks gorgeous on swatches. I'm such a sucker for silver sparkly stuff.

Thanks for stopping by!
Michelle

Flower Power!

Good morning to all! I hope everyone's doing fine. A while back I posted a flower manicure, actually I posted a few, but this one was made with the stickers I got from Karrie and now I have another sticker version for you. I don't know why but I'm really into flowers lately and because I haven't got a lot of time nail art stickers are my new best friends.


First I painted my nails with Color Club Who Are You Wearing. Once that was dry I started to apply stripes with my striper brush and two Ciaté Polishes: Main Stage and Talent Scout. I only used Talent Scout for two stripes, giving it kind of a twist. The stickers are provided to me by Sparkly Nails.

Sparkly Nails is a British web shop that offers a lot of nail art products. These stickers I got look really nice but there's one thing to remember when applying these: they are thin. That means they fold over easy and with easy I mean EASY. I ruined three flowers before I finally thought of picking my gemstone stick, so I could apply the stickers with that. Ha, success! If you don't have a stick like that you can also use a toothpick but remember, even when you're using this you still have to be very gentle with them.


I'm a sucker for these cute sticker sheets, I never come across these in stores. They seem to have a better quality than the ones I normally get, even though they're harder to apply. I haven't topped these with a top coat and they stayed on for two days. You might think that's not long but I've worked with them (cleaning job) so actually I was pretty surprised, they did survived while my hands were in the water for two days. Right now these stickers are available for £1.80 per sheet, or £4.50 for three sheets. Sparkly Nails ships worldwide.

Have a nice weekend and take care!
Michelle

The products in this post are provided for consideration.
For more information please read my disclaimer.

CND Colour and Sparkle!

Good morning everyone! A few days ago I received some more CND colours and effects (yep.. definitely some kind of temporary obsession) and today I want to show you a combination that I like very much.


First I applied one of the CND Colours. This one is Eclectic Purple, not that special but very pretty. It's a medium purple creme that applied very smooth and was opaque in two coats. I don't know why I don't see a lot of things about these CND colours because the ones I own apply great! They're pigmented, smooth and sooo easy to work with.


After Eclectic Purple dried I applied the effect. I picked Raspberry Sparkle! Just like the other sparkles, Raspberry Sparkle contains fine, dense reddish pink glitters. Sometimes it looks a little like it's shifting towards gold. Absolutely awesome!


I can't wait to layer this one over a dark green like OPI Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. Maybe I should do some kind of layer inspiration post when I got the time. If you want to order some CND effects but don't know which one, you definitely should have a look here at the Edge of Sanity.

Want to know where you can buy the CND effects? They have a handy shop locater on their site. The CND polishes are also available on Trans Design.

Well, what do you think? I love the effects and I'm smacking myself in the face for not getting Sugar Sparkle. I can't find it now and I WANT IT. >:]

Enjoy your day and thanks for visiting!
Michelle

3 Giveaway Winners!

First, the winner of my Nfu.Oh #51 giveaway..


Necessary Nails, also known as Katherine!

The winners of the Eyeko giveaway, starting with the winner of set 1!


Sylvia from Nailart Creations!

And last, but certainly not least, the winner of Eyeko's second set.


L., otherwise known around here as RandomLanda!

Whoopee! Congratulations to all and thanks everyone who joined. Winners, please email me your address so I can send you your prize as soon as possible! :-)

Take care everyone and have a nice day!
Michelle

Catrice Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! & Matt Top Coat

Hi all! A little more than one week ago I posted about new Catrice products that will be available in November and today I want to show you two additions of their nail assortment. Catrice releases three new colours and also brings out a top coat to mattify your polish - very exciting because I love matte and I needed a new one so this one came right on time!


This is Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!, an instant favourite for me. It's a deep dark blue creme with light blue glitter. The glitters aren't super noticeable, they do jump out when the sun shines, but in other light it's very subtle. I also feel that the blue is somewhat dusty, it's not that in your face blue.

Application was fine, the formula was a little thicker than I'm used to when it comes to Catrice polishes but it didn't bother me. Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! is well pigmented, I needed two coats and it was all opaque (and even!). The polish dries quickly but I do think it needs a top coat, it got a little dull after it dried. I feel that Catrice has brought another fab polish to their line and the price, €2.49, makes it too good not to buy it.


Of course I had to try the new Matt top coat over this one. It works good! The brush did pick up colour so when you're done using you should clean the brush but man, for a price of €1.99 with this result I couldn't care less about cleaning brushes. I did a little comparison for you:


I've compared the Catrice Matt top coat with the one I used before, China Glaze Matte Magic. As you can see Matte Magic leaves me with white flecks on my nails. All my matte top coats did that after a certain point, even when I clean everything after using, so I will have to wait out and see if the Catrice does that but so far it has behaved itself.

Catrice Matt and China Glaze Matte Magic give the same result, there's no need for us Dutchies (and Europeans) to buy the more expensive polishes now! Comparing the prizes is kind of ridiculous: Catrice gives you 12ml for €1.99 and China Glaze gives you 9.6ml for ± €4.50 to €7.00 (note: when ordered in the US and web shop prizes. I haven't included shipping costs.) Soooo, if the Catrice keeps me happy for the upcoming months I'll definitely repurchase it because now I'm fully satisfied with it.

So, what's your take on the new Catrice polishes? Happy with this addition?
Michelle

The products in this post are provided for consideration.
For more information please read my disclaimer.