Peggy Sage's Poussière d'étoile

Hi!

Having a nice autumnal weekend?  The cold Fall weather finally hit us here....and I had nothing better to do than catch a cold! Snif snif caugh caugh!

The polish I'm showing you today is Poussière d'étoile (stardust) by Peggy Sage, a French professional manicure line generally found in French salons. I never get my nails done in salons but was able to get my hands on this gorgeous polish in a beauty supply store near my home.

I'm not crazy about this brand but they do have some great colors, some of which I will swatch one of these days.

Poussière d'étoile is a shimmer + glitter (very few gold glitters) polish in a pearly white/pink duochrome base; in other words, a perfect polish for my speech on Cicero tomorrow. Gosh I hope the fever goes away before that...

I applied 3 coats and my usual Sèche Vite topcoat. Kind of fed up with Sèche Vite right now: too much shrinkage on too many of my polishes, which means that i?m on the hunt for another topcoat, yet again!

All pictures were taken in natural lighting (early PM)

Thanks for reading and have a nice Sunday.

Essie's Case Study + Nfu OH 50

Hello lacquer lovers!

Today I have an Essie polish to show you: Case Study from the Fall 2011 collection.

Case Study is a dark, almost taupe nude. The first time I wore it I wasn't too sure if I liked it. It needed a second chance and now it has all my love!

As it is the case with most Essie polishes, the formula was good. No streaks, bubbles or bald patches in sight. I applied 2 coats in order to get an opaque finish without VNL. 

Here it is alone:

Artificial lighting, no flash.

Artificial lighting, no flash.

Isn't it simply gorgeous?

To spice things up a bit, I added 1 coat of Nfu OH 50 (blue/green flakes in a lilac jelly base) on the second day. 

Wow I really like these flakie polishes! They look so interesting on your nails and offer so many combination possibilities!

Sorry for the numerous pictures: these flakies are hard to capture on camera!

Artificial lighting, no flash.

Artificial lighting, no flash.

Artificial lighting, no flash.

Daylight.

Daylight.

I didn't use my regular Sèche Vite topcoat. Instead, I applied Revlon's Quick Dry Topcoat, which is supposed to dry your polish to a hard finish in 30 seconds. Yeah right! I didn't do what it promised and should not be considered a fast drying topcoat! It took a full hour for my nails to be "sheet mark proof"! Although it doesn't dry very quickly, it at least is very shiny and didn't cause any shrinkage.

Thanks for reading and have a nice day!

Essence's Sure Azure (#74)

Happy Monday everybody!

I hope you all started your week well.

Here's just a quick post on a great Essence polish I got recently: Sure Azure, a beautiful light blue with very discreet silvery-white shimmer. You can't really notice the shimmers in the pictures; you just need to imagine that they are there!

As it is the case with most Essence polishes, Sure Azure could be a one coater if you apply it carefully. The formula was rather on the thick side but it didn't need any thinner. The two coats I put on dried super quickly to a shiny (but not high gloss) finish. No bubbles, streaks or bald patches in sight.

I didn't use a topcoat.

Thanks for reading and have a nice week!

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting, without flash.

Cats!

Hi!

Just a quick post. I thought I'd post a pick of my cats! I love them so much!

From left to right:  Chausette (socks in French), Napoleon (Napou) and Cachemire (cashmou)

Aren't they cute?

Calvin Klein's Indigo blue

Hi!

Here's just a quick post on a great Calvin Klein polish I found recently in a clearance sale. It came in a set with 4 other polishes for a bargain price.

I had never seen CK lacquers before and have to admit I wasn't sure the quality was going to be good. Well I was in for an excellent surprise. These polishes are great. Grab'em if you find any! I mean the colors are gorgeous and the formula was perfection.

Indigo blue is the polish I'm showing you today (I'll swatch the others soon). It's extremely pigmented and you could use only 1 coat, but as usual, I chose to apply 2.

What do you think of this electric blue? I'm in love with it!

Thanks for reading and have a nice Friday.

Nfu OH 60

Hi!

As promised, here is another of my newly purchased Nfu OH polishes, #60.

I layered this gorgeous black jelly based flakie polish over China Glaze's Liquid leather (just a basic black one coater polish) because I didn't feel like applying 3 coats to have an opaque coverage.

The flakes are reddish orange and they shift to green. So gorgeous. I can't stop staring at my nails.

I applied 1 coat of sèche vite to get an ultra glossy finish but I might go matte tomorrow.

What about you, do you like flakie polishes? If yes, which ones?

Thanks for reading!

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting, without flash.

Nfu OH 49 and 50

Hello!

As promised here are a couple of pictures of 2  flakie polishes I layered over OPI's I'm not really a waitress.

These 2 Nfu Oh polishes are stunning! I can't wait to try them over a different colored base.

I used 1 coat of each on my nails then applied a matte topcoat (Essie's Matte about you) for an even better result! I love these flakies and am so glad to finally own a few!

Sorry for the noticeable tip wear...I've had my base polish on for almost a week!

Enjoy!

Nfu Oh #49

Nfu Oh # 50

Got my order in!

Dear lacquer lovers,

I'm sorry I haven't posted in a few days. I've been busy with uni that started on Monday. Wow, I'm really gonna have a ton of work this year! Cross your fingers for me :)

As you noticed in the title of this post, I received my order or Nfu Oh polishes and will start swatching in the next few days. They are all gorgeous and I can't wait to try them all. For the time being I've only tried two flakie polishes that I layered over my existing mani (OPI's I'm not really a waitress) and love them already!

Have a nice evening!

Chocolate kiss from Switzerland :)

OPI's I'm not really a waitress

Hi!

I hope you are all having a nice weekend. Mine's been pretty busy and will be even more tomorrow!

For today's mani I used OPI's I'm not really a waitress, a deep crimson red shimmer polish with burgundy undertones. Such a gorgeous shade.

The formula was great; this could be a one coater if you apply it carefully. I chose to put 2 coats on.

I don't know if this polish stains so I put 2 coats of my basecoat on. My nails are still pretty badly stained by The one that got away so I didn't want the situation to get even worse!

Have a nice evening!

All pictures were taken in artificial lighting, without flash.

Essence's Skyscraper (#02) from the Urban Messages collection

Hello lovelies!

Here is another Essence polish I got the other day. I really like Essence polishes because they are very pigmented, long lasting and inexpensive. 

The one I chose to show you today is Skyscraper, a gorgeous light grey with blue, silver, gold and green micro shimmers. My camera didn't really pick the shimmers up well but believe me they are there!

Have a nice Friday :)

Both pictures were taken in artificial lighting, without flash.

Waiting for my order: my first NfuOh polishes!

Hello again!

I forgot to say that I just ordered my very first NfuOh polishes today. I'm so excited to get them! The order mainly consisted in flakie and holo polishes. I can't wait to get them!!!

You can't find NfuOh polishes where I live and having heard so many good things about them I was really eager to get my hands on of couple of these nice polishes. I hear it's a South Korean brand. Hmmm, my neighbour is from Seoul, I should probably ask her about the brand if she knows about it. 

Anyway, I ordered them on this website a friend told me about:   http://fabuloustreet.com/

I've never orderd from that website before and don't know what to expect. We'll see!

Thanks for reading and have a nice day/evening.

Essence's Nude it + Circus confetti Mattified

Hi!

I've been pretty busy so sorry for the belated post on the mattified version of my nude with glitter mani. But as promised, here it is!

The matte topcoat I used is Essie's Matte about you. It's just the best I've tried.

I prefer the matte version. What about you?

Enjoy!

The picture was taken in artificial lighting, without flash.

Essence's Nude it + Circus confetti

Hello lacquer lovers!

I got a few Essence polishes today and wanted to share my preferred one first: Nude it.

This polish is supposed to match your skin and it pretty much did mine in the bottle, but it seems a bit more gray on my nails... I thought I had found my perfect nude polish match but I'll have to keep searching! Nevertheless Nude it is a very nice polish. The formula was great and fully opaque in 2 thin coats of lacquer.

At fisrt I thought of leaving my mani simple but then decided to add some sparkle with my preferred multicolored and multi-sized glitter topcoat: Circus confetti (also by Essence). To speed up the drying time I applied my usual Sèche Vite topcoat.

I really like the end result but will surely try adding a matte topcoat tomorrow.

What do you think of this mani?

All three pictures were taken in artificial lighting, without flash.

OPI's The one that got away (#NL K08)

Hi!

I thought I'd share this gorgeous polish I got a while back and have worn several times already but hadn't swatched yet: OPI's The one that got away (Katy Perry collection).

I absolutely adore this polish. It's formula and color are just pure pefection to me. I'd say it's a deep pomegranate foil type lacquer with magenta and very discreet gold shimmers. The shimmers are rather big and almost look like fine glitters. 

Oddly enough, this lacquer reminds me of a pomegranate and plummy version of Chanel's Graphite that I swatched last month.

I applied three coats of color followed by some Sèche Vite to get some extra sparkle but you could get away with 2 and no topcoat; that's how shiny and sparkly it is!

I don't know about you, but I think that Katy Perry's collection was awesome, absolutely awesome! Such a great collaboration. The only one I didn't get was Last Friday Night. 

Do you guys like/have this collection? What do you think of it?

Have a nice Sunday!

Photo 1:   Daylight, late AM.

Photo 2:   Artificial lighting, no flash.

Photo 3:   Daylight, late AM.

Photo 4:   Daylight, late AM.

Essie's Topless and barefoot

Hello all you polish lovers out there!

Yay it's Friday! I don't know about you but I had a great day: work, then some roller skating in the park and finally I went to pick my niece up at kidergarten with my boyfriend. I love picking her up from kindergarten, she's just the cutest little girl I've ever seen and is so sweet and funny. She always notices my polish and prefers when I'm wearing one of my many polka dot manis. Let's just hope she doesn't get too interested in makeup yet. I don't know about you but I believe kids shouldn't be wearing any makeup at all. I'm a teacher as you might know and see young girls (8-13 yrs) with lots of makeup on and it just doesn't look or feel right. I'm a firm believer that childhood is sacred and that kids should be kids. They'll have plenty of time to wear makeup when they are a bit older. 

Sorry for the little excursus, let's get back on track here!

For my NOTD I used Essie's Topless and barefoot, an opaque dusty light pink with nude-ish and very subtle lavendar and magenta undertones. I'm sure you guys already know this polish but I love it's color and felt like sharing it with you even though you can find thousands of swatches of it on the web. The color is very similar to OPI's Bare it in Trafalgar Square that I swatched a while ago.

Topless and Barefoot's formula wasn't great: a bit thick and streaky even after having added some thinner. I had to apply 3 coats to even out the streaks and bald patches and ended up with the polish looking too thick on my nails... I hope it was just my bottle. Anyways, I really like the color here! Once again it's one of those hard to describe lacquers that looks different on everyone.

To help my polish dry and smooth it's surface even more, I used Sèche Vite and didn't notice any shrinkage.

Have a nice Friday!

Photo 1:   Picture taken outdoors (late PM).

Photo 2:   taken indoors in artificial lighting (no flash).

OPI's Samoan Sand

Hi!

This will be a very quick post as I have a terrible migraine and will be off to bed in the next minutes :(

This isn't my NOTD as I'm still wearing Tickle my France-y that I looooove, but a picture of a mani I wore a few days ago. Actually I'll be showing you pics of two manis I wore recently, both for which I used OPI's Samoan sand, a beautiful nude polish.

Samoan sand's formula was very good, only not opaque enough for my taste. I applied 4 coats!!

Enjoy!

Photo 1:   Samoan sand in natural lighting (mid PM) and with shiny top coat (Sèche Vite)

Photo 2:   Samoan sand in artificial lighting (no flash) and with shiny top coat (Sèche Vite)

Photo 3:   Samoan sand (+ OPI's Hopelessly in love on ring finger) in artificial lighting (no flash) and with matte topcoat (Essies' Matte about you)

I really like the mani shown in the last picture and call it my reverse mani: on my left hand I wore Samoan Sand on all but my ring finger, on which I applied Hopelessly in love, and on my right hand I did the contrary, i.e I wore Hopelessly in love on all fingers but my ring finger, which was sporting Samoan Sand. On day 1 I left this many shiny (no photos, sorry!) and decided to feshen it up on day 2 with a matte topcoat. 

Both polishes look pretty much identical in the pictures, but believe me it was noticeable in real life.

OPI's Tickle my France-Y (# NL F16)

Hello polish lovers!

I hope your week started out well. Mine did :)

For my NOTD I wanted something nude-ish with a bit more color. I looked through my collection and hesitated between a few polishes and finally made up my mind for Tickle my Francey, a soft rosewood pink with mauve and fleshy undertones.

I really like this polish. It has the perfect formula which means it isn't too thin or thick, doesn't streak or make any bubbles and dries quickly to an opaque finish. I used three coats because I really dislike VNL but am sure you could get away with two coats.

For my topcoat I used Sèche Vite and am happy to say that there was absolutely no shrinkage! Yay!

Thanks for reading and have a nice Tuesday!

All three pictures were taken in natural daylight (early PM).

OPI's Skull and Glossbones + Spark de triomphe

Hi!

I hope you are all doing well and having a nice Saturday. It was really hot where I live today and tomorrow it's supposed to be even hotter and sunnier! Yay! Summer is not over!

For my NOTD I wanted something clean with a dash of glitter and sparkle. I chose OPI's Skull and glossbones for my base, a beautiful light gray creme from the Pirates collection. The formula is great, no streaks or bubbles and the 2 coats I applied dried quickly to an opaque finish without any VNL.

I absolutely adore this color and collection. In my opinion, it's one of OPI's nicest collections. Didn't use to be so much of a pastel fan but these are just the nicest: not too girly, a bit dusty and murky. Just perfect!

For the extra sparkle on my ring fingers, I used 2 coats of Spark de Triomphe, a gold/silver glitter polish. This color looks different on everyone. It can seem more gold or silver depending on your skintone. On me I'd say it's a perfect electrum color. I love electrum which is a natural alloy of gold and silver that the Ancient Egyptiens used profusely. Many temple and palace doors were used covered in plates of this alloy. Temple furniture, ritual vases and royal insignia were also often made of electrum.

I'm not a huge fan of gold or silver polishes which are often too yellow, copper or gray,  so this is a good alternative because it's a perfect mix of both.

I used a  topcoat (Sèche Vite) but not on my ring fingers. 

About Sèche vite (pronounced Sesh Veet. Trust me, I'm Swiss and French is my everyday language!!!), I noticed it caused some polishes to shrink, just like China Glaze's Fast Forward topcoat. None of that happened with today's mani. 

Shrinkage really annoys me. I mean you take your time to paint your nails neatly and then everything gets ruined by the shrinkage. ARRGGGHHHHH!

I'm thinking about making and posting a list of polishes that shrink with Sèche Vite. Might be usefull for all of us polish lovers!

Have a nice weekend!

Picture taken in artificial lighting.

Night sky mani

Hello lovelies!

Sorry I haven't been posting so much these days. I got carried away by work but am glad to be back!

For my NOTD I tried to create a night sky effect by layering 2 China Glaze polishes: First mate (a navy creme from the 2011 Anchors away coll) and the infamous Fairy dust (very fine silver holo glitter in a gel base).

I used 2 coats of First mate and only 1 of Fairy dust because I didn't want a star overload. Less is more, no?!

I'm pretty happy with the result. What do you think of my mani?

All 4 pictures were taken in articial lighting, the last one with flash.