American Apparel - Mouse

Good afternoon dear readers!

How was your weekend? I didn't do anything special but I did wore this polish for the first time ever! I feel a bit dumb because it has been sitting in my Helmer for ages and I almost forgot I had it. Whoops.

This is Mouse by American Apparel, a greyish taupe creme. The formula of this one was much better than her sister, Office (which is also sitting in my Helmer for ages - might have to swatch that one pretty soon!), but the drying time was longer than I'm used to. I'm wearing three coats and the picture is made in daylight. I picked up a pink flower from Essence Nail Jewels just because I like how these shades and pink go together.

That's it for now, have a great day!

Michelle

Ciaté Paintpots Festival Fever Part 2

Hi dear reader!

As promised, the second part of the Ciaté Festival Fever swatches. This part includes my two favourites. Enough with the talking and let's head on to the pictures!

This is Talent Scout, a cool toned darker purple creme. This one is a pretty close one to China Glaze's Grape Pop. I love purple cremes like this! The application was good. I'm wearing two coats in the picture.

Oohhh yes! BLUE! This is Headliner, a dustier medium blue creme. This is a very bright colour and dries, like Access All Areas, satin. I've used top coat in this picture and you see me wearing two coats of this pretty. Like above, the application was good but since this one dries satin it's more easy to see little uneven spots - that's something to remember.

And my all time favourite: Ditch the Heels. This is an amazing bright medium green creme, not that bright to say it's neon, not too soft to call it a pastel. It's in the middle. I'm wearing three coats in the picture and application was goooood. Not runny, not thick, just how I like it! P2's Artful is a close dupe to this one, only a tad darker but not that noticable.

My opinion on the collection? I think that three shades definitly stand out, the other three are nice and pretty but are also very common. The formula of all these polishes is good and I think that Ciaté did a nice job with this collection.

Now, you've seen the whole collection - how do you feel about it?

Michelle

Ciaté Paintpots Festival Fever Part 1

Hi dear reader!

I've never showed you these Ciaté's but because of this great sunny day I decided to take them out! You probably know the cute bow bottles, the one thing I fell for when buying my first Ciaté. Festival Fever is Ciaté's 2010 spring/summer collection.

First up is Ciaté Fun Fair, a nice pink pastel creme. The picture is taken in daylight and it's showing a little more pale than it really is, it's pinker in real life. I'm wearing three coats. This might be the first pink I'd wear more than once! Application was fine though the polish was a little too thin for my taste, it was a little runny.

And then there's Ciaté Access All Areas, a very bright, medium peach coloured creme. Like a neon, it dries satin and it's totally in your face. On the picture I'm wearing three coats. I'm not fond of neon polishes or colours like this so it isn't my thing but I think this is a special one in the collection. I'd even call it a must have if you're mad about these bright peachy colours.

I really like it more glossy. This is Access All Areas with my Nubar Diamont top coat. Application was better than Fun Fair, less runny. If you love this colour you can always check out my giveaway here, open till May 31.

And last for today, Ciaté Main Stage. This is a medium berry creme that applied the best of the three I showed you today. The formula is good. The picture shows you two coats, I do think it'll cover in one coat but I'm a thin coat polisher. ;)

I'll show you the other three tomorrow. Fun Fair and Main Stage aren't that special but they're both nice colours. I'd be very surprised if there weren't any dupes to find for these. What is your take on these three colours? Do they scream spring and summer to you?

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

Diamond Cosmetics - Decadence

Hi dear reader!

I've been receiving a few good packages these last few days and I had so much trouble chosing what to wear! One of my orders was one at Boozyshop, a Dutch webshop where us Dutchies can get the Diamond Cosmetics polishes. I love the DC's I own so there's always room for a little more!

Meet Decadence! Decadence is a very pretty rich brown shade packed with shimmer: it's almost foily. The shade of the brown makes me think of chocolate and the shimmer in it gives it this amazing sparkle. To be honest, most DC shimmers are amazing. They really know how to work it! Application was good but I've never had any troubles with DC polishes. The cap of the bottle is easy to handle and the texture of the polish is smooth, making it easy to apply.

What is your favourite DC polish?
Thanks for visiting!
Michelle

Peacock Nails

Hi dear reader!

I've made this mani a few weeks ago for the nail art contest over at Daph's blog. For my inspiration I used two pictures of a peacock; one with the feather detail and one full. I'm pretty happy with the outcome, especially after working on it with a whole awful lot of polishes.

I can't remember all the polishes I've used but the base colour is OPI's Here Today, Aragon Tomorrow. For the feathers I took out OPI's Over the Taupe. The different tones of green are OPI's Who the Shrek Are You? and Fiercely Fiona, China Glaze's Emerald Sparkle and a nameless Maybelline. The blues I've used are OPI's DS Fantasy, DS Sapphire and What's With the Cattitude and China Glaze's Sexy in the City. I topped it with Chanel's Illusion D'Or.

For the peacock itself I started out with OPI's Fiercely Fiona and create a little depth with Who the Shrek Are You?, China Glaze's Emerald Sparkle and the nameless Maybelline. The blue is, like the feathers, OPI DS Fantasy. The peacock's beak is China Glaze 2030. In the feathers is also a hint of brown: OPI's Over the Taupe and Espresso Your Style! Again, this one is made glittery with Chanels Illusion D'Or and China Glaze's Golden Enchantment. I used a tiny paintbrush when applying the different polishes.

The result:

I'm liking the outcome! This was a first for me, creating the peacock using different shades and I think it worked out pretty well. And of course I'm happy I can show you now haha!

Have a great sunny day!
Michelle