My summer holidays choices: Essence - "Forever Mine" and Kiko - n. 343

Hey, look, I'm here again :D
Busy life after summer vacation, I barely had the time to check my favourite sites, emails, and so...

Plus, this post isn't really the best for various reasons, so sorry for that :^|

I paired two colours in one post because I don't have enough pictures of them... Or rather, I have them, but these two colours fall precisely in that family of the un-picturable shades :D

First is "Forever Mine" by Essence (from their LE Denim Wanted): I tried to take pics of it in EVERY light, but none of them came out near the reality, because this blue is so saturated that made my camera crazy.
This is the best shot:

This blue isn't like this: it's more vivid, dark, and with a touch of... green in it, or maybe not, I really can't describe this colour.
If you have this with you, take it, put it near the monitor and tell me what's the difference, because I can't specify it, I just know that there's a difference! :D

My consolation is seeing I'm not the only one who couldn't capture it, if you google it you'll see so many variations, and it's always the same polish!


Next polish, wasn't less hard to picture, at least here you can see it well enough: Kiko n. 343:

During my trip back home, I noticed this is the EXACT match shade of our highway roadsigns :D


A green with a touch of blue, VERY glossy, very saturated too.
Bah, nothing exciting, I know, but I'll post soon about something a little more interesting, I just hope I'll have time (and strenght!) to make posts these evenings :>


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Unicorn Pee's blood relative :D

Ok, sometimes chance events happen suddenly...
Oh, what a waste of words :D

Let's start from the beginning: few days ago I was browsing some Twitter accounts, because I was trying to figure out how it all works (hey, I have an account too ;> ), and I stumbled accross some tweets from The Swatchaholic, saying she found a Clarins n. 230's cousin.

It's from BeYu, a brand I've almost never heard about before that moment. It's from Germany and here in Italy (and maybe all accross Europe) is sold in Douglas perfumeries, where I never go for nailpolish rides, because of its prices.

Since The Swatchaholic said she found it in Douglas stores, I decided to hit one and, hey, I spotted a lonely bottle of n. 209, which became mine after giving Douglas €6,95 (* agh! *).

Oh well, further details after some pics :D
This polish's got even a name: "Brilliant Shiraz".

(daylight)

Indeed we can call it an almost-Clarins 230, don't you think?

Wine red jelly base full of duochromatic shimmer, from garnet red to purple, running through an entire rainbow ♥

(full sun)

Colous shifting is really noticeable; I doubt I will ever observe the one offered by Clarins' 230, but seems like in n. 230 it's way more prominent, so I really can't imagine how beautiful could be n. 230...

Note that Clarins' 230 has a cool purple base, while BeYu n. 209, as said, has a burgundy-wine red base.
As I wrote many times, I'm not a red nails girl, so I'm thinking about wearing it layered it, I can't wait to try some combination :>

Here's a colour shift in daylight, look at those hues!

And here you have it in the sun! Gold, green, teal, blue, purple... *___*

It works in shade too!

Bottle is tiny (reminds me of Zoya's ones, they're so similar, but this is like half of Zoya's), 8ml for a price of (here in Italy, abroad is cheaper) €6,95: a robbery, but it's the closest thing to n. 230 that I've ever seen, so I gave up :P

WARNING: seems like BeYu made different versions of this baby (as usual: beautiful thing are never easy to achieve...): a right one, with INCI 31 written on the back, and a duller one, with INCI 24 on the label.

I don't know any more, as I read this fact from The Swatchaholic, and didn't see any pictures of the dull version...
But if you are in Europe, and have access to this brand, please remember to check this element on the bottle!

(INCI 31, the right batch)

Unfortunately I didn't have time to swatch it or (better) wear it by now, so I had to wait until I'll return home after my vacation, maybe in the meantime somebody else will blog about it as well!


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle + Ozotic Pro - Elytra n. 528

Hi again :>

This is the something else I layered over "Emerald Sparkle", I chose one of the best in my stash: Elytra n. 528!

Please note that my camera isn't the best, plus glitters are painful to photograph, especially these Elytra, later I'll explain why :>

(full sun)

Multichrome glittah party *________________*

(full sun)

Daylight:

Unfortunately, it looks like glitters are too spare on the nails, but you see that because pictures show you just the sparkling ones; to the naked eye, you can see the glitters of "Emerald Sparkle" under the ones of n. 528 melted together, like this:

(blurred photo, but shows well deepness of colours!)

Even if blurred, pic above is the best representation of the overall effect. Stunning, don't you find?

Daylight again:

What about it in shade? Perfection, I see every colour in low light!

Too many pictures, I know, but I hope they helped you noticing the awesomeness of n. 528 when layered, and you don't have to apply it necessarily over a black base :>
These are two coats of n. 528 over three coats of "Emerald Sparkle".


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle

Hi there!
I hope you all are spending a great summer time :>

Since we're in mid summer, I decided to wear a Christmas shade :D
What can I do, nothing can beat the summer sun and this nailpolish calls for light! :>
But first pic is in daylight:

"Emerald Sparkle" is made simply of silver glitter in a dark emerald green jelly base (not green glitter, as I read many times all around...).
Ahh, those of you who owns this gem already know its power, so I won't babbling useless facts about it, but these are the times I just wish I could get a better camera, but whatever, I still had to wait...

Next pic I don't like it at all, it doesn't show how beautiful is this colour :^(

These were three coats, because brush is long and slim, so it's easy to leave some balder spots, but it dries quickly, no complaints about it :> (oh well, maybe it would be better having a flatter brush...)

I leaved it without top coat, because I wanted to layer something else over it, but as you might have noticed, it needs it to SHINE like the sun and to obtain a perfectly smooth surface; moreover, top coat deepens and enhance the jelly base.


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

China Glaze - Flying Dragon + Vipera Jumpy n. 154

Hello!
Told you I wanted to layer something else over "Flying Dragon" :>
Well, some time ago I made my first swap with Sabbatha ( ♥ :D ), and she sent me two lovely little bottles... of red nailpolish.

I'm not a red nails girl, but I have to admit that those bottles contain precious shades - I'll show you it later -, so I always wanted to use them.
The darkest one I already somewhat used here :>

This time I completely layered the lighter one over my previous mani and this is the result:

(daylight)

Eh, I liked it :D

Awesomeness of this red is shown next, but you've already noticed on nails above the subtle duochrome glitters this shade contains, right?

(shade/full sun)

In reality, this shade is mostly a carmine red (so, a pinkish red) jelly with duochrome fine glitters, and when layered over a dark colour it gives it a pink touch.
You can see it's pretty well pigmented, I applied just one coat (plus top coat) and it definitely changed the purple underneath!
Moreover, don't my nails look like made of tinfoil? Super smooth and super reflective!

(in the sun)

Beautiful in the sun too :> Very very sparkly, but it's a sparkly vampy mani.
It twinkles in shade too ♥

(shade)

Under an artificial light, which is warmer, it looks a true red glitter, so it's a little Christmas-y, but oh well, who cares, I'll wear it only out of Christmas-time :D

Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

China Glaze - Flying Dragon

A break from all the blues I wore last weeks :D

This is the famous "Flying Dragon" by China Glaze, a shade as beautiful as tricky is its application:

(direct sun)

These are two coats with some touch-ups here ad there to cover balder areas, but its formula, based on neon pigments, makes this nailpolish a little bastard :D

It dries the very next second the brush leaves your nail surface, so you have to apply this faster than light, but in a homogeneous way, otherwise any error will be visible.
It was the second time I wore this shade, and I didn't remember it was that tricky, for me at least.

Being a neon shade (but it's dark!), it dries quickly and matte, like this:

Top coat brings out all the blue and pink glitters, but since they are almost non-sparkly (strange thing!), they aren't visible more far than from a close look...
In my opinion, it needs two coats of top coat in order to obtain a perfectly smooth and shiny surface, because with just one coat nails are a little rough:

(daylight)

But I'm planning to layer something else over it, so I decided not to weigh nails down :>


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Ever skittles - n. 53, n. 59, n. 60, n. 62

Hi all!
This time, a manicure a little different from my usual ones...

When I swatched three of these polishes, I liked them so much that I decided not to remove the swatches, but to add the remaining ones and wear all of them together :D
Result? Here it is:

- thumb: n. 53, the greenest of the quartet;

- index: n. 60;

- middle: n. 59;

- ring: n. 62;

- pinkie: n. 62 + a coat of L.A. Girl - Flare "Dark Purple".

Ever didn't make a darkest blue, so I had to create one, and I thought about adding a little touch of purple to n. 62 :>

(in the sun)

Aren't they pretty?
Look at those pink-purple reflects, glassflecks (if they're so :D) are really the best ♥_♥

(in shade)

If I don't get wrong, I applied:

- four coats for the first three colours;

- three coats of n. 62;

- two coats of n. 62 and one coat of "Dark Purple" for the pinkie.

Applying all these colours wasn't painful, they all dry quickly, despite the several coats used.

Next pic tries to capture the pink flash; to the naked eye is much more visible, but it was difficult to catch it...

I think now you get the idea.
Removal has been easy, but n. 53 and 59 left nails stained: I canceled residual colour by scrubbing hard a q-tip dipped in remover.

Did you like them? :>


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

piCture pOlish blog fest giveaway!

~ CLOSED ~

Hello :>

As you might have realized, I was chosen by the piCture pOlish Girls to set up a giveaway for my readers!
They chose 15 blogs among the 60 which took part in the piCture pOlish blog fest, so you have virtually other 14 opportunities to win three shades of your choice from the piCture pOlish core lines!

Please note that Ozotic colours are excluded from this giveaway!


Regarding the giveaway, I don't have rules: you don't have to follow me, you don't have to tweet about it, you don't have to post about this giveaway on your blog (if you have one), you don't have to necessarily like someone on Facebook, etc., etc., etc.
In these lands, everyone has the same opportunities :>
Simply, leave me a name and a functioning e-mail address and that's it!

Giveaway will end september 10th 2011 and it's open to everywhere in the world.
I will draw the winner the sunday after giveaway closure.
Enjoy and cross your fingers!


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Comparison: Essence "Style Me Holo" vs Essence "Blue Ray"

Hi again :>
In my last post I supposed Cosnova (the company behind Essence and Catrice) recycles formula, because "Style Me Holo" and Catrice's "Houston's Favorite" appeared very similar in the bottle (and on nail too), but in the end it wasn't so.

On the contrary, while I was putting the new bottles in my Helmer, I discovered a slightly resemblance between those two shades, both from Essence: "Style Me Holo" and "Blue Ray".

Well, probably Cosnova recycles formula of its nailpolishes from an Essence collection to another one, instead that from Essence to Catrice :D

(in the sun)

Oh well, pretty identical... I HATE buying dupes.

In daylight:

Ok, if you look closely (and if our PC monitors have similar settings, lol), you can see that "Style Me Holo" is a taaaaaaaaad greyer/greener than "Blue Ray", but that's more evident in the next pics:

With one coat, you can notice that base colours aren't the same, and "Blue Ray" is actually... blue.
"Style Me Holo" seems to have a dark green/grey base.

With two coats, nailpolishes are completely opaque, and difference is less noticeable, almost non-existent.
I guess the duochrome pigments used are the same, while the base colour is not.

Infact, when angled, polishes change colour to the same purple, just a liiiittle different purple because of the bases:

If you have one, you can skip the other. I bought both and whatever...
"Style Me Holo" has a flat brush, while "Blue Ray" has the classical rounded one.
Meh, hope this post will be useful to someone :D


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Addicted to cool tones

Did you ever notice I preferably wear blues, purples, greens et similia?
No? :D

Well, this is my latest weeks' haul (bottles weren't purchased all at one time...):

1) Kiko n. 333 "Viola Brillante" ("bright purple"), is this maybe the italian version of China Glaze's "Grape Pop"? RBL's "Mismas"? I don't know, but it's really bright, yet dark, to sum up: love ♥

2) Essence "Style Me Holo": holo wtf, as usual with Essence (the more they call "holo" a polish, the least it is so), but... look at the picture! From the Nails In Style LE collection.
Later I'll show you a swatch, together with...

3) Catrice "Houston's Favorite", from the Out Of Space collection.

4) Essence (again?) "I'm A Marine Girl", from the 50's Girls Reloaded LE collection, just arrived in Italy!
Bottles of this LE are all of 15ml!

5) Deborah n. 36, a long time lemming (I made me a present): maybe it's not so evident from the pics, but it's super beautiful: eggplant purple with not-so-sparkly fine teal shimmer.

6) Essence (are you tired of it?) "Hello Holo": don't know what to do with it, but I liked it in the bottle, I'll surely find a way to use it, for example, like this (*) :D

7) Rimmel "Green With Envy": finally Rimmel brought us in Italy those colours, I had to search for them in Bruxelles to find the shades I fell in love with! (even if there wasn't "Blue Me Away", a HUGE lemming of mine...)
For my italian readers, I found the (little) stand in an Oviesse, located in a IperCoop.
The brilliance of that shade! Looks like metallic jade molten and bottled ♥

(in the sun)

If someone out there is interested in any colour in particular, I can swatch it without problems, by now I give you a comparison between "Style Me Holo" and "Houston's Favorite", because they look so similar (maybe Cosnova recycles formulas?), but they aren't, in the end.

They're both in the same type of colour and finish, duochrome from dark blue-green to pink/purple, but "Style Me Holo" has a much more pronounced effect, while "Houston's Favorite" is darker, a little (just a little) more pigmented and less duochrom-y.

Some details (lol, I like to take pics of bottles):

And here's the comparison:

Two coats each.
"Houston's Favorite" gets just a bluer tone when angled, but "Style Me Holo" actually changes colour to a purple, so if you're looking for a subtle effect, get Catrice, otherwise the Essence one is amazing.

The addiction continues...


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)



(*) two coats of Essence - "Can't Cheat On Me" + two coats of Essence "Hello Holo"