31DC2013 Blue

I've been loving all the 31DC2013 mani's on Instagram and although I decided not to do all the days of 31DC2013, because I'm actually going on holiday for a week in September (yippie!!!) and won't be blogging as much during that week, I did want to pick a day here and there to show my favorite polishes and even the occasional nail art, although art might be a little over the top for my creations, lol.

For those of you who don't know: 31DC2013 is a group, created by Chalkboard Nails with a theme for every day of the month of September. If you are not familiar with this group, I'd suggest you go and check it out, it's really fun and the mani's are gorgeous! (If you want to follow me on instagram, my name is darkntwisynails).

Today's theme is blue and I happen to love blue nails :D One of my more recent purchases is China Glaze Man Hunt. This polish is part of the China Glaze on Safari fall 2012 collection.



Man Hunt, Pompeii Purple, Splish Splash

It's a really dusty cobalt blue cream polish. The formula is really nice, it's a little patchy on the first coat, but evens out nicely on the second. Opaque in 2 coats and dries fast enough.
For this mani I decided to add a few dots in the mix, I mean, I just got my dotting tools, might as well use them. For my accent nail, I used China Glaze Splish Splash and OPI Pompeii Purple.

2 coats Man Hunt, 1 coat SV

I absolutely love this mani and think it's perfect for fall. I do need to practice a little more with my dots, but it does add a fun detail.

What's your favorite fall polish?

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Essie The more the Merrier

Today I have a so-called pretty ugly color for you. You either hate it, or you love it! I happen to love it, but my husband says it's a combo between grass, mustard and puke... yep, puke...

Essie The more the Merrier is a bright green polish with a strong yellow undertone. It's a really fresh and clean color and I love it. The formula however, was a little bit hard to deal with. Streaky and patchy and I had a stray hair on my brush that didn't make application any easier.

This is, luckily enough, a salon polish, purchased in the States, so it does self level. It was opaque in 2 - 3 coats and the dry time was ok.

If you are wondering why I specifically mention this is a salon polish: there are 2 types of Essie polishes. A salon one and a drugstore one. They differ in 2 ways: the salon version has 15ml in the bottle and has the name on the bottom of the bottle, the drugstore version has 13.5ml and the name is printed on the cap.

Over here we don't have the salon version, but we do get 2 drugstore versions, so I actually own 3 versions. The brush here is the biggest difference. We get a really wide brush and 2 options for the name. On the cap or printed on the label on the cap.

US salon, NL drugsore, NL drugstore.

I don't like the wide brush, that's why I order my Essie polishes online. Anyway, on to the swatches.

2 coats Merrier, 1 coat SV
Yes, this is my right hand, I had an oopsie! with my left and didn't feel like starting all over...

This color is so bright, it actually matches my post-itt notes, lol.

Which version of Essie polish do you prefer and what's your favorite color?

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Deborah Lippmann Lady sings the Blues

I'm so excited to show this polish! This brand has been on my wishlist for so long and I finally own it! To understand my total excitement about this brand being available in stores over here, you'll have to know I have been lusting after a few Deborah Lippmann polishes for quit some time, but I couldn't justify paying the substantial pricetag these polishes come with and adding the shipping fee to on top of that. I can't tell you how often I placed a couple of them in my shopping cart, only to delete them again because they would double in price due to shipping.

This past Saturday, I had a great afternoon of shopping with my friend Kelly. We indulged in a footlong sub at Subway and a cookie (Who goes to get a sandwich at Subway and doesn't eat a cookie???) and went on a hunt for Chanel Taboo for her, because she loves it almost as much as I do. I really wanted to buy Chanel Malice and was getting a little upset I couldn't find it anywhere. I think it was a Limited Edition and has since been taking out of stores.

Hoping we would find both, we decided to visit a big department store. They usually have a great cosmetics corner, with a good selection of high end brands. When we walked in and I saw this display, I litterally squealed like the girl that I am! THEY NOW HAVE DEBORAH LIPPMANN POLISHES!!!!

The woman behind the register looked at me like I was crazy, but I didn't care! I rushed over to examine every single one of them. I mean, can you blame me? Look at them!!!

Suffice to say, we totally skipped the Chanel and went straight for Deborah Lippmann.
I really couldn't afford buying more polish, but because I've been wanting, no needing, one of those beauties for so long, I gave myself permission to buy one. So, of course, I took two gorgeous polishes home, lol.

And boy, am I glad I did!
Deborah Lippmann Lady sings the Blues is absolutely stunning and well worth the money!

It's a dark, navy blue base with a ton of hexagon and micro silver glitter. The formula is... well... the best I've ever tried when it comes to a glitter polish. Perfect consistency, flows on the nail, no glitter problems and opaque in just 2 thin coats. To top this all of, it dries really fast! I just can't say enough good things about this polish!

2 coats Lady sings the Blues, 1 coat SV

I took a lot of pictures, but they just don't do this beauty justice! The silver glitter, covered with a thin layer of blue gives this polish so much depth. It's a really sophisticated polish and it made me fall in love with Deborah Lippmann. I will definitily be going back for more. (I really wanted Do the Mermaid and Cleopatra in New York too, but 4 polishes at once was a bit much...)

Do you own any Deborah Lippmann polishes and which ones are a definite must have?

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Mani Monday's: Back to School

This weeks theme is Back to School. Lovely theme, but I haven't been back to school for over a decade. Yes, showing my age here, but I still feel like a school girl on the inside sometimes and that's what counts!

After thinking about this theme for a long time I was coming up completely blank. I briefly considered painting my nails in my school colors, but we don't really have school colors here and the logo where I went to school is a blue square with a white F on it... not really inspiring.
So I did the only possible thing: opened Youtube for inspiration :D

I saw a lot of great ideas and designs, but since I'm just not that good at nail art, I had to simplify everyting. I grabbed my dotting tools and, with an idea in mind, got to work.

The polishes I used to create this fun art:

First Timer, Splash of Grenadine, Butler Please, My boyfriend scales walls, Cute as a Button and Rainstorm

The result was nowhere near perfect, drawing lines with a dotting tool is harder than it looks, but I'm happy enough. So, with a bit of help and inspiration from a lot of Youtube nail artists, this is my Back to School nail art!

Before I tell you wat it's supposed to be, I'm wondering if any of you get it right, lol!

What is or was your favorite thing about going back to school?

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Waat Beauty Box August 2013

Yesterday, I received the Waat Beauty Box for the month of August. I was really looking forward to it and was curious to see what was inside. Well... I am not impressed...

The box itself is a really cute blue box with pink fillegree on it. The products are wrapped in tissue paper with a satin ribbon around it. I love the attention to detail with regards to the packing of the box. I just wish Waat would pay more attention to the content...

 

In my box I received the following products:

So...? Shop till u drop
Deodarant/body spray mini
(Waat says this is a full size, but it's 50ml, full size is 75ml)

Elizabeth Grant Biocollasis Complex advanced cellular age defense, pore refining lotion.
Full size

Dove Visible effects body lotion
Mini

Rimmel nail polish in Cranberry Zest
Full size

Estee Lauder make up bag
Supposedly full size, but it's a really small bag

Not bad products, but not one that really catches my eye...
That's a shame, but always a risk when ordering a surprise box. But Waat claims to be a Beauty Box with new and innovating products and, in my opinion, none of these are.

My real issue with this box though,  is that there are different product options that make the value of the box significantly different. Instead of the Dove mini, you could received a Rimmel blush (full size) or an Astor blush (full size).

If this was the only difference, I would have been able to get over it, but no, Waat decided to include another product option. Instead of the mini make up bag, you could have receivde a full size Estee Lauder product, like a lipstick, lipgloss or a face cream . Waat claims the make up bag is a full size, but there is no way this tiny bag has the same value as a full size Estee Lauder product!

These two differences make for a very different box! If you're lucky, you get both full size products, but if you are really "lucky", like me, you get both mini versions.

This is not ok in my book, you can not give out boxes that vary so much in value to people who all have the same subscribtion. It's just not done!

It would have been a lot better if Waat had made sure every box had just one mini for one of the two options, not both. Badly done Waat, badly done...

I have send an email to Waat with this complaint and am eagerly awaiting their response. If this is not satisfactory, I will cancel my subscription.

Did you receive the Waat box?
What do you think about sending out different boxes?

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