OPI's Lincoln Park At Midnight

Hi lacquer fellows,

Happy Halloween!

Today I'm showing you OPI's Lincoln Park at Midnight, one of my preferred polishes.

I'm usually not a fan of dark currant colored polishes, aside from Chanel's Rouge Noir, but this one is different because it has a gorgeous shimmer that gives it so much more depth than your average vampy lacquer.

Lincoln Park at Midnight has a wonderful formula that I had absolutely no issues with. Thanks OPI :)
I applied 2 coats followed by Sèche Vite. Yes I gave Sèche another chance since it played so well with My Private Jet, and am pleased to announce that there was no shrinkage in sight. Hip hip hurray!

As you can see in the pictures, this polish has almost the exact shade of an eggplant, veggie that I can't get to close to because of my allergies. Never liked them anyway, aside from their color.

I know that many people love this polishe's sister, Lincoln Park After Dark but I don't care for it too much because there are so many similar polishes out there. I way prefer the At Midnight version.

Thanks for reading!

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash.

Bonus pictures for a little Halloween fright :)

Essie's Chubby cheeks

Hi lacquered ladies,

Are you all having a nice Saturday? Mine has been pretty busy; I spent most of my time food shopping, polish hunting and translating a coptic text dated back to the 5th century AD. This text was a bummer but I made it! Hurray!

I still have OPI's gorgeous My Private Jet on and didn't want to remove it so I decided to post a couple of pictures of a beautiful polish I had on the other day: Essie's Chubby Cheeks.

I not only love the color of this polish but it's name as well. Chubby cheeks used to be my nickname as a kid, at least the one my parents used to call me; but I'm sure many of you bore that nickname too!

Colorwise, Chubby Cheeks is a vibrant coral whose shade was hard to capture on camera as is the case with similar colors. It does lean more towards red than orange or pink though.

For full opacity I applied 2 rather thick coats as the formula wasn't as opaque as expected. Nevertheless, there were no application issues and this polish glided on easily without any streaks or bubbles.

I then topped this beauty with Essie's Good To Go topcoat.

Thanks for reading :)

Picture taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash.

OPI's My Private Jet

Happy Friday everybody! Ready for the weekend?

Today I'm wearing the mysterious My Private Jet. Why mysterious? Well because firstly it's very difficult to describe and secondly because apparently there are several versions of this polish. The one I own is the regular version. I've seen pictures of the other version, tho holo one, but wasn't able to get my hands on it. I heard that it was a defective batch but OPI doesn't acknowledge that!

Anyway, here is the regular My Private Jet, which is, in my opinion, just as spectacular as the the holo version some of you lucky girls out there own.

I won't even attempt describing the color of this polish and will let the pictures speak for themselves.

I applied two rather thin coats and topped them off with Sèche Vite. I thought I'd give it another try and I'm glad I did because it didn't make My Private Jet shrink. Hurray!!!

What polish do ou have on your nails today?

Thanks for reading.

 

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash.

OPI's Shim-Merry chic

Hello my dears,

I wasn't able to get my hands on OPI's newly released Warm and Fozzie from the Muppets collection, so I decided to console myself with Shim-Merry chic, a metallic taupe-ish flakie polish that came out a few years ago I think.

This polish is complex to describe and my pictures don't really do it justice. I'd say it's a metallic golden taupe (but not a foil) with multicolored flakes in it. It's simply gorgeous! I didn't care for it much when I purchased it but boy am I happy I didn't get rid of it. I had it on the other day and got so many compliments. A few strangers even came up to me to ask me what polish I was wearing.

I applied 3 thin coats but you could easily get away with 2. For my topcoat I used Sèche Vite, which I shouldn't have because it made the polish shrink. Argghh Sèche, why do we have this love-hate relationship??

What do you think of this beauty? Have you tried it?

Emilie

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash. And yes, that is my shower curtain you can see in the backround :)

OPI's Chop-sticking to my story

Hi there!

Halloween is just a few days away and I'm sure many of you are super excited. We don't celebrate in my country but I have very fond memories of Halloween when I was a kid in Connecticut. I remember being dressed up as a fairy (magic wand and all) and having my biggest toddler's fright when I got spooked by a very realistic Frankenstein disguise one of my neighbours wore!

The closest I'll get to Halloween will probably be this spicy pumpkin shade from OPI's Hong Kong collection: Chop-sticking to my story. My camera doesn't really do this gorgeous color any justice but I'm sure you must be familiar with it already. In real life it's more muted and dusty than in my pictures.

I have to coats of this beauty on. The formula was perfect and I could have gotten away with only one layer had I been more careful.

For my topcoat I used INM's Out the door. I just got it and already love it! Out the door is similar to Sèche Vite, only without the downsides (shrinkage being my pet peeve).

What are your plans for Halloween?

Thanks for reading :)

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash.

Essie's Very Structured

Hi!

You might have read yesterday's post about my suspicious Essie polishes that I thought might be fake. Kittytokaren reassured me they were authentic so I decided to start posting pictures of them.

Let's start with Very Structured, a gorgeous rusty reddish brown with mauve undertones from Essie's Fall 2011 collection.

The formula wasn't great; rather thick and goopy but nothing catastrophic. I applied 2 coats that were too thick for my taste due to the consistency of this polish.
Then I used an Essie topcoat I hadn't tried yet: Good to go. I didn't like this topcaot at all and thought that it didn't keep it's promises... It is supposed to dry polish quickly and leave nails super shiny. It didn't. Not only was the drying time much longer than the other topcoats I use, but the shine effect was minimal. It didn't smooth the polish either and you can see the brush strokes (you might not notice them in the pictures but believe me, they are there).
I've only had this combo on since yesterday and my nails are already showing tip wear... Sigh.

It's a shame because I really like the color... I'll have to try again using a different topcoat and see if the result is better.

Have you tried this beauty yet, or any of the other polishes from Essie's Fall or Winter collections?

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb) without flash.

Next up: more polishes from Essie's Fall and Winter collections, or something else....we'll see!

Chocolate kiss from Switzerland!

Fake Essie polishes?

Dear readers,

I recently ordered Essie's new winter polishes on my "trusty" etailers website and found several irregularities when I compared the bottles to original Essie products I ordered...

• The labels are written in black (just like the old formula bottles), not in blue (like the new formula bottles) and look different.
• The content of the ordered bottles is of 13.5ml instead of the regular 15ml...
• On some of the ordered bottles it is written that the equivalent of the 13.5ml is 0.46 fluid ounces, and other bottles I ordered it is written that the 15ml are equivalent to 0.5 fluid ounces...!
• There is no phone number to call in case of questions/comments on the bottles I ordered, whereas on the original bottles purchased in a salon in NYC there is always a phone number.

Ladies, can you please check your bottles of the winter 2011 collection and let me know if you see these differences as well?

I was really upset when I noticed this and hope that these differences are only due to the fact that the labels were changed since Essie was bought by L'Oréal...

China Glaze's Ruby pumps

Well hello my dears!

How are you all doing? Having a nice Saturday I hope.

I woke up this morning with the intense desire to paint my nails with Ruby pumps, a gorgeous deep red glitter polish I've had for a while but hadn't tried yet...shame on me!

I'm pretty sure you all know this one already, but I felt like sharing how beautiful it is anyhow.

Two coats covered my nails completely but I felt like adding a third to add more depth and glitter gorgeousness. For my topcoat I used China Glaze's Fast Forward, my new topcoatbestfriend :)

This will surely be a bummer to remove but I'll do the trusty foil trick.

Thanks for reading and have a nice Sunday!

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting (natural light lightbulb)

OPI's Cuckoo For This Color

Hello lacquer lovers!

As a good Swiss, I had to show you at least one of the polishes from OPI's Swiss collection (Autumn/Winter 2010). I chose Cuckoo For This Color, a beautiful shimmery dark teal-ish turquoise. My camera didn't capture the shade of this polish too well so I guess you are going to have to use your imagination a bit here!

I must say, it bears it's name very well: I'm already cuckoo for this color!

The formula was fine, just a little streaky and each layer took a while to dry... To have an extra smooth finish, I applied 3 coats.

Since I'm kind of breaking up with Sèche Vite (too much shrinkage; too thick even when I use thinner etc.), I used China Glaze's Fast Forward topcoat instead to speed up the drying time. I much prefer it to Sèche Vite because it doesn't cause any shrinkage, at least not with the polishes I've tried it with so far. It even has a nice smell (well let's agree here, no polishes actually have a nice odor whilst they are wet, but Fast Forward's smell is much better than Sèche Vite's). It doesn't dry lacqer quite as swiftly as Sèche Vite, but the end result is the same because it also smoothes all the little imperfections you can get with certain polishes.

Do you like/own this Swiss beauty?

Thanks for reading!

Kiss from freezing cold Geneva.

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting.

"Secret admirer" where have you been all my life?

Well hello there!

My sweet boyfriend came home today with a little present for me: 5 Sinful Colors polishes! Isn't that adorable? I immediately started squealing with joy and had to try one of his picks ASAP.

The first I chose to wear is Sinful Colors' Secret Admirer: a black polish supercharged with micro fine pewter glitter. Wow, I love this polish; it's pure perfection in a bottle!

I usually never get this enthusiastic about polish but this one is different, believe me! I wish I had met it earlier, especially during my goth phase when I used to dye my blonde hair black (over 15 years ago!), phase during which my friends called me Mortitia (laughs !).

The fomula was great. Only 2 coats were needed. It dried super fast to a glossy finish but I still added a fast dry topcoat (Revlon's Fast Dry topcoat) because I wanted to make it last longer.

My pictures don't really do this polish justice so I'll try to take better ones soon.

Have you ever tried this little wonder?

Thanks for reading!

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting. 

National Feral Cat Day: Teal tips for kitties

Hello again,

You might have read Scrangie's post about this, but tomorrow is National Feral Cat Day. If you haven't read her post, you can read it here

Quoting Scrangie:

"The Teal Cat Project is asking people to wear teal nails to show their support. For more information on how to help or to find an event near you, please visit The Teal Cat Project (also on Twitter and Facebook) and Alley Cat Allies."

So please wear teal on your tips to support this important cause.

To support this cause I did this special teal moon mani using Dior's Nirvana as a base and China Glaze's For Audrey for the dots.

Thanks for reading!

Emilie

Essie's Geranium and a taste of Switzerland

Well hi there!

How have you all been doing?

I'm sick as a dog with an infection of the upper respiratory system: bronchitis and laryngitis! Isn't that fun! A lot of people were sick and I guess I got contaminated by somebody in the tramway...I remember a charming lady coughing her lungs out last week... 

Anyway, I need to rest and do some inhalations etc. This is the second time I'm sick since work/uni started after my summer break and I'm fed up of being stuck at home. Haven't been able to get out of my home since Tuesday, the day I fainted at Uni and my teacher actually had to carry me down 3 flights of stairs! Very Victorian heh? Pass me my smelling salts will you please :)

Anyway, I'm rambling on so let's get back to today's matter: Essie's Geranium, a vibrant almost shocking red creme/jelly polish.

As much as I dislike geraniums as flowers, I love the color of this polish. You see gerniums everywhere in Switzerland. It's almost like a national flower. In the mountains everyone has them on their terraces and window ledges. You can see them everywhere in the Swiss german part of the country too, from houses to gardens, passing by official buildings and cemeteries. Geranium overdose if you get my point!

This polish needed 4 coats in order to be opaque and you can still notice the nail line. You all might know I'm a bit anal about VNL. Wish this polish were more opaque because I really dislike having to apply 4 coats. Next time I'll layer geranium over an opaque skintone polish to avoid the 4 coats. Otherwise the formula was fine. I doesn't dry very quickly but at least it isn't thick and goopy.

I then applied 1 coat of China Glaze's Fast forward topcoat, but it was taking forever to dry so I added a layer of Sèche Vite, which I shouldn't have done because it obviously made my polish shrink...

I'm getting fed up of Sèche Vite and need to find a remplacement. Any suggestions? I mean I really like the fact that it dries and smoothes polish almost instantly, but I cannot stand the shrinkage.

What about you, have you ever tried geranium?

Photo 1:   Natural lighting (shade, midday)

Photo 2:  A typical chalet in Grimentz (photo credit: http://static.panoramio.com/photos/original/23320033.jpg)

Photo 3:   Natural lighting (shade, midday)

Photo 4:  Photo credit: http://a34.idata.over-blog.com/2/09/75/92/F11458J.jpg

Photo 5:   Artificial lighting, no flash.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Swiss Kiss! (nothing to do with the French version, just a peck on the cheek!)

Giveaways to get new followers? This is ridiculous!

This is just going to be a quick little post.

I don't know about you, but I'm kind of shocked that bloggers do giveaways just to get new followers! What is this??!! So you have to give presents to get followers???

What's next, handing out cash and paying people to follow you blog??!!

Come on ladies, quit the hypocrisy!

Revlon's Minted + China Glaze's Hey Sailor polka dots

Hi!

Just a quick post using 2 of my favourite polishes.

I felt like doing a very simple polka dot design over Revlon's Minted.  Unfortunately I didn't wait long enough for the polka dots to dry before applying my topcoat (Sèche Vite) as you can notice on my thumb... I'll do better next time :)

Enjoy!

Picture taken in artificial lighting.

Nfu Oh 62

Hi lacquer lovers,

Today I lovely pink holo (prismatic) polish to show you: Nfu Oh's # 62.

I got this one a while back but wasn't able to wear it earlier due to it's high incompatibility with every basecoat I have...

I tried all of mine and nothing, absolutely nothing worked, resulting in a very hectic streaky lumpy bald patch polish mess! I even attempted layering it over another polish and had disastrous results...

Apparently you are supposed to use a special basecoat with these (i.e. Aqua basecoat), fact that I was unaware of when I ordered my Nfu Oh bottles.

This is ridiculous! You should be able to wear any polish with any basecoat! Oh utopia!

Anyway, I found a solution: no basecoat at all. I applied 3 coats here and had absolutely no issues or problems with the awkward formula. No topcoat either, I was afraid of spoiling the holo effect.

So for all of you who are having trouble with Nfu Oh holos, don't wear a basecoat and your problem will be solved!

Have a nice day!

Photo 1:  Artificial lighting, no flash.

Photo 2:  Artificial lighting, no flash.

Photo 3:  Artificial lighting, no flash.

Photo 4:  Artificial lighting, no flash.

Photo 5:  Daylight (cloudy day, mid PM)