Polishes I love that don't love me back!

Today's post is a little differrent than my normal post. I usually post about polish I really like and show you nice looking pictures. It's not unusual for me not to like the formula, drytime or finish of the polish, but this post is all about those polishes that I absolutely love in the bottle and that have a perfectly fine formula, but once I have them on my nails... brrr.... they make me look like I've been dead for at least 3 years!

I think every polish lover has come across polishes like this and we polish freaks tend to get very good at staying away from those colors. But still, every now and then I can't help myself and I just have to have a polish, because it's just so so pretty in the bottle. The fact that my skintone is screaming "Don't do it! Don't do it!!!" at me is completely irrelevant, it ends up in my little stash anyway.

Today I'm showing you a few of these polishes. I just had to have them and I love them, but they just don't love me back. Get ready for some pictures that make me look like I'm auditioning for The Walking Dead!

OPI Mod about you. I love love love this polish! I have worn this, even though it does nothing for me. I want to make it work, but I'm afraid I have to give up. It's just too cute and sweet for me.

Essie Lilacism. This is a cult favorite and I understand why. It's so calm, understated and sophisticated. But on me, it's horrible! (and that's an understatement...)

Essie Lapiz of Luxury. Gorgeous blue cream that I lusted after for a long time before finally bying it. You can imaging my dissapointment when I painted this on my nails and I looked like dead walking. Luckily, this polish works really well as an undie for one of my favorite glitters, Smurf Dance.

China Glaze Lemon Fizz. This is a gorgeous pale yellow cream with a not so gorgeous formula. It's streaky, patchy, goopy and it needs 3 coats to even out, but I love the color! This is one of those polishes that really don't like me, but I don't care, I still wear this in summer, just because I love it and it makes me happy.

And finally, I saved the best of the worst for last: China Glaze Fast Track. This is such a gorgeous polish! A light neutral beige with golden glitter, what's not to love? But on me... on boy... This is probably the ugliest color ever made for my skintone! I wish I could pull this one off, but I just can't. I can't even say anything nice about it, it's just a horrible color for me.

I'm sure I will be purchasing more, I can't seem to help myself, but for now, that's it! If  you are lucky enough that these polishes do work for you, I'm extremely jealous!

Did you ever buy a color knowing it wouldn't suit your skintone, but you bought it anyway?

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Favorite polishes 2013

I can't believe it's the last day of 2013 today. I wanted to post my favorite polishes for this year somewhere in December, but I didn't expect it to be the very last day... this month just got away from me.

I added quite a few polishes to my stash this year, but I also gave a lot away. I enjoyed so many polishes, but I did manage to pick my top 10 for this year ( I could have picked 50 easily, but I kept it at 10 otherwise this post would have been endless...).

These are in no particular order, I love them all!

OPI My favorite Ornament. I only bought this polish in December, but I wore it 4 times that month and I'm in love! I added this to my shopping cart because I had room for 1 more and I wanted a glittery golden polish for the holidays and this looked nice. When it arrived I fell in love! It's just so gorgeous! Stay tuned for tomorrows post for a full review of this polish.

Essie Butler Please. I just can't get enough of this gorgeous blue and this is the only polish in my stash that I own a back up of.

China Glaze Surfin' for Boys. I wore this polish so much during the summer, it even beats Flip Flop Fantasy in my book! The shimmer in this polish is what makes it stunning.

Deborah Lippmann Lady sings the Blues. I chose this polish, but I love them all. 2013 was the year Deborah Lippmann finally became available in store here and I took full advantage! Her glitter polishes are fenomenal!

Dollish Polish 1,2 Freddy's coming for you! The Dollish Polish Halloween collection was fantastic! I love them all! I think this might be my favorite, but I haven't worn them all, so this might change.

Chanel Taboo. My first high end polish and I was sold. The formula is perfect, it didn't chip and the color... oh, the color... Big winner for me!

China Glaze Pelican Grey. Such a simple, sophisticated polish. Perfect for those times you want something subdued, but the slight shimmer makes it absolutely beautifull. My bottle is half empty allready.

OPI Ink Suede. I love the suede finish and I wish OPI would bring these back.

OPI Solitaire. I'm not the biggest fan of the textured trend, but I do love this one and I have to admit, because they dry so fast, I do reach for them a lot on those days I don't have a lot of time to paint my nails. And come on... I couldn't do a favorites of 2013 without including a liquid sand!

Dior Minuit. Just look at it... the color, the bottle, the formula... I love everything about it!

That's it for this year, all my favorite polishes in one post.
Have a great New Years and I wish you lot's of health, love, happiness and of course polish for 2014!

X

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Powder Perfect Goodies!

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an indie make-up brand and fell in love! Powder Perfect is an Australian brand, created bij Jacinta. They create handmade cosmetics from luxury ingredients. Their products include organic lipstick, cuticle balm and nail polish. Of course I was all over the nailpolish, but due to the harsh shipping conditions on nail polish, Powder Perfect doesn't ship polish internationally.

I had my hart set on a polish, so I contacted Jacinta and as she was more than happy to help me out. She let me know she was willing to ship polish to me, but only at my own risk, which I think is fair enough. So I placed my order.

I have to say, the shipping costs were extremely reasonable and I was stunned at how fast it arrived at my doorstep. I placed on order on a Monday and I received my package 8 days later, just 8 days from Australia to Europe! Now that's impressive!

I opened my package immediately and pulled out all these goodies:

2 Cuticle balms, 2 nailpolishes and 2 lipsticks. I absolutely love the packaging. Simple but playfull. I especially think it's funny that I ordered 2 cuticle balms, Raspberry and Orange and that my raspberry is actually in the orange packaging and Orange is in the pink packaging.

The lipsticks are organic and vegan and they are extremely creamy. I love how they feel on my lips, rich and soft and I think they actually hydrate my lips. These lipsticks are nicely pigmented, but a little on the sheer side for me since my lips are quite dark. I apply just one good layer when I go to work and add  a couple of layers to intesify the color for my evening look.

Dark Paradise and Fireside

Dark Paradise is a magenta lipstick with a purple undertone, perfect for pale skinned people like myself.

Fireside is a brick red lipstick. It reminds me of fall leaves and I think it's the perfect fall color. I have been wearing this non stop since I got it, I just can't get enough!

The cuticle balms are called Cute-icle balms for a reason. Just look at them, aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen? They come in silver tins, with a cute colored sticker. I have 2 scents and I really like them both. I can't stop sniffing my hands when I've applied them. They feel rich and buttery and do a good job at keeping my cuticles nice and soft.

Raspberry and Orange

And now for the, in my book, main attraction: the nailpolish! I have just one for you today, Downworlder (the other one and the raspberry cuticle balm are for a friend of mine, so unfortunately I have to part with those...).

Downworlder is part of the Shadowhunter collection and is a blue jelly base filled with blue, teal and silver glitters and hex holo glitter. The hex holo glitter makes it look like you're under water, so gorgeous! The formula is spot on. No need to fish for glitter, they come out easily and distribute evenly on the nail. This polish is opaque in just 2 coats and dries really fast. It does dry a little on the dull side, as most glitters tend to do, but that is easily fixed with a shiny top coat.

Just look at that gorgeousness! I wish the sun would come out, because it's so much more stunning in real life, but I just can't get it to show up in my pictures because of the dreary weather...

The brush is very nice to work with, it looked a little shorter than the average brush, but it didn't give me any problems, it made glitter application very easy. Overall, I'm very impressed and am allready thinking about my next order. Powder Perfect has some really nice Halloween polishes that I'm dying to get my hands on, I would definitely recommend checking out the Etsy store, website or Facebookpage.

Are you familiar with this brand and what is your favorite "undiscovered" indie brand?

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Penélope Luz Lucky Fairy

When I first saw this polish, it immediately reminded me of Ireland. Not only because it's a green polish, but also because of its name. I know Ireland is usually associated with Leprechauns and not so much fairy's, but still, it screamed Ireland to me.

Ever since I lived there for a couple of years, I have a weak spot for everything Irish and this polish is no exception. Penélope Luz Lucky Fairy is a crap ton of glitter in a murky green base. There are different sized green, gold and even some black hex glitters. I also see the occasional black square and a bit of holo micro glitter in there. Who wouldn't love that?

You could get this polish opaque on its own in 2 thick or 3 thin coats, but because it's so packed with glitter, I like it better layered over an opaque base. For this mani, I layered Lucky Fairy over 2 coats of Color Club Rebel Debutante, a forest green polish, but it's also stunning over black.

Rebel Debutante

I don't really like Rebel on it's own, it dries to a rubbery matte finish and it's streaky as hell, but as a base, it works fine. The formula for Fairy is the complete opposite, it's briljant! Easy to apply, dries fast and no need to fish for glitter, they come out willingly.

 

This is just 1 coat of Lucky Fairy, just look at the amount of glitter on my nails! I absolutely love this polish! It's stunning and I can't get enough. The finish is really smooth for a glitter, I only needed 1 coat of HK Girl to smooth this out.

Penélope Luz is a Brazilian indie brand, started by a nail blogger in August 2012. I own just a few of this brand, but every single one of them is perfect. I would definitely recommend checking out Penélope Luz! They are available on Color4Nails and will set you back about $ 8.50 a bottle.

Did you know this brand and what is your favorite indie brand?

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China Glaze Vermillion

Red... Red nails... Red lips... Red everything!

By now you probably know I love red nails. Nothing beats a classy red nail polish. Don't get me wrong, I love all colors on my nails and I'm a huge fan of switching it up, but whenever I have a special occasion, a romantic date, or something like that, I always opt for a red nail.

Last night I painted my nails and I instantly felt... well... sexy! So today I added a subtle silver and gray smokey eye, gray dress, gray ankle boots with stiletto heels and MAC Ruby Woo on my lips. Good to go!

Making me feel this way is quite the accomplisment for just one little polish. Sexy, confident, secure and feminine... Who wouldn't want that? Which polish does all this you ask? Well, China Glaze Vermillion of course!

It's not even a special polish, just a true red cream, but there is just something about it... I can't put my finger on it, but I always feel really good when I wear this polish. The formula is perfect, it flows on the nail, is opaque in 2 thin coats and dries fast and shiny. I LOVE LOVE LOVE this little gem.

2 coats Vermillion, 1 coat SV

This is an older polish, it should still be available in webshops but I doubt you'll be able to find it in stores. I'm not sure when this came out originally, I stumbled across it one day when browsing the internet and I fell in love.

If any of you can tell me when this came out, please do!
Do you own this polish and what is your favorite red polish?

I might have to start thinking about fabricating some kind of light box, because I'm losing my picture taking light due to the fall weather... Anybody got some good tips on how to make one?

X

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Essence The boy next door

I have a really  nice budget polish for you today. I actually have quit a few polishes of this brand, but for some reason, I never grab them. Especially  not since they changed the bottle. But Essence The boy next door is absolutely wonderfull! I can't take my eyes of this shimmery deep cobalt blue.

The minute I walked in the store and saw this polish, I knew I had to have it! I love blue nails and this color is stunning. The formula was perfect, it flowed on the nail, almost opaque in 1 coat, but better with 2 and it dried really fast. The only problem I have with this polish (and the reason why I don't use Essence polishes as much), is the new bottle shape... it just doesn't feel stable when I dip my brush and wipe off the excess. I am always afraid to tip the bottle over. I prefer the old, less attractive bottles and wish they would come back. The brush itself is fairly wide, a little to wide for my taste, but not so wide I cover my nails and cuticles in one go.

All this is just a minor hassle, especially when you get color like this. I absolutely love this polish and really want to put it back on my nails now I see the swatches again.

2 coats The boy next door

Do you own any Essence polishes?
What do you think of the new bottles?

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Mani Monday's: Stripes

Another Monday has arrived and that means it's time for another Mani Monday. This weeks theme is Stripes.

Well, if you've read my earlier attempts to create stripes on my nails (click here for my epic big fat failure), you know I don't have the best track record when it comes to this particular art type...
In fact, I've had such a hard time with striping tape, I actually considered skipping this weeks theme, but that would feel like cheating. Especially since I allready skipped last weeks theme. Of course not because I've never had a French mani on my nails, let alone a Fancy French, so I have no clue how to do a French mani, but because I was on holiday! (hence the very limited posting of the last week or so)

After a lot of sighing and trying to figure out how to get stripes on my nails without tape, I gave up and got out my striping tape. This time it gave me only a mild headache so I'm happy. The result is... well... wobbly is the best way to describe it, but hey, you can definitely tell I have stripes on my nails and that was the whole idea!

I decided to use two untried polishes in my stash that, in my opinion, go great together. I started with 1 coat of China Glaze Phat Santa.

A bright red crelly, that leans a little more to the cream side. I really didn't expect it to be so opaque, but look at this:

Not bad for just one coat, right? This polish is great to work with, a little thin, so be carefull not to flood your cuticles, but really opaque and it dries really fast.

I then began my battle with the sticky striping tape. To start of with, I of course couldn't find the start of my tape... Half an hour later I finally found it and cut of the pieces. Placing them on my nails was actually really easy after that! When I was happy with my (simple) design, I added the second layer of polish, China Glaze Naughty and Nice, a really deep, dark, vampy bloodred crelly polish. It was also a little on the thin side, but I think that's what you get with a jelly or crelly... I don't know how opaque this polish is on its own, as I've never used it on it's own, but I used just 1 coat for this mani, because I had a fairly opaque base color underneath.

The beautiful twosome, Naughty looks black in the bottle, but trust me, it's not! It really is gorgeous and perfect for fall/winter.

This time I let the polish dry completely before taking off the tape and I think this works a lot better than leaving my polish a little wet. But my striping tape mani is never complete with a little (or big) mistake, so of course I bumped my pinky before I could take some swatch pictures... I really didn't feel like doing the whole thing again, so I opted to ignore my sowewhat ugly pinky. I hope you will too.

Have you ever used striping tape? What is the best way to use it and how do I get straight, sharp lines?

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