NOTD: OPI Ink

Today I’m wearing OPI Ink. It’s a blue polish with duochromatic microglitter in blue and purple, and it’s from the Night Brights collection. I’m sure every one of you either have it in your stash or have heard of it before, as it is quite popular among nail polish lovers.

And still, I’m not in love. I mean, don’t get me wrong, it is a really beautiful color, but I can’t help but think: This is it? This is the favorite polish of a lot of laquerheads, but I don’t love it like “OMG, I want to marry it and have it’s babies!”-love it. Maybe it’s simply because I had too high expectations?

And am I the only one who hates OPI’s ProWide brushes? I just can’t get it close enough to my cuticles to make a tidy gap, and my nails aren’t exactly narrow! I wonder how you people with slender nails manage to use these brushes.

Disregarding the brush, application was OK. I used two coats, and thats quite enough. But the polish acted so strangely when I was painting my left hand. It seemed like the polish didn’t want to attach to the brush, so I had to keep it in the bottle for a long time and kinda wiggle it around a little bit to catch some polish. The bottle is brand new, so it’s not like I was low on polish either. Weird.

Pictures, you guys!
First, sunlight and shade.

And here’s a macro shot that shows the duochrome glitter:

What do you think of Ink? (Heh.)
Do you love it or hate it, or are you indifferent? And what about OPI’s wide brushes? Please leave a comment.

NOTD: China Glaze Strawberry Fields

It felt so good to get rid of the horrible matteified brown, and instead put on something this fun and cute! China Glaze Strawberry Fields is a bright pink choc full of tiny golden glitter that sparkle like crazy! How can anyone not love this color, it’s such a happy one. It’s from the Summer Days collection, but since it’s still 35°C and bright sun every day here in Qatar, I feel that it’s totally right to wear this in November.

Application was good, the polish felt a tiny bit runny, but that’s manageable if you paint carefully. I used three coats, and can still see a hint of visible nail line in certain lights, but it doesn’t bother me.

Here’s how it looks in direct sunlight and shade:

And here are some macro shots, just because I can, and because I think this polish deserves it. Just look at that awesome glitter!

Thanks for reading and commenting.

Golden “Matteharaja”

I figured out that I haven’t been using my Matte About You for a while, and I wanted to see how Golden Maharaja looks matteified. Usually deep, shimmery colors look great with a matte topcoat, but I wasn’t really that impressed with the result of this experiment.

It looks kinda nice when the light hits it, but without sun- or lamplight it just looks like poop. Not exactly my finest moment, but at least it gives me an excuse to change my nail polish tomorrow.

Here’s a pic, taken with flash. (I don’t know what those white spots on my nails are, they appeared after applying the matte topcoat. Any ideas?)

Have a nice day, see ya later!

NOTD: Orly Golden Maharaja

I was inspired by my top yesterday, which is brown with a pattern in different earth tones, so I picked out Orly Golden Maharaja to wear on my nails.

This is a deep brown with golden shimmer from the Orly Gems collection. Each bottle has a little ring on the handle, very cute! The polish is definitely also a “gem” in my book, as I’ve said earlier, I love deep, dark, jewel-y colors. This one looks like dark chocolate, yummy! The fine shimmer adds beautiful depth.

Application is great, no problems here! I used two coats over basecoat, with Seche on top.

And I have to say that taking pics with my new camera is simply a joy! No more battling with a fussy camera that only flashes when it wants to. (I think it has severe PMS.) So here’s some pics for y’all!

Sunlight and shade:

Flash and no flash:

Thanks for reading and commenting!

Nfu-Oh #51, take 2!

Ok, so I was so ashamed of the lousy pics in the last post, they really weren’t representative of the gorgeous Nfu-Oh #51, so today I went out and got a new camera to take some proper pics! Oh, the things I do for you, dear readers! (Because it had nothing at all to do with the flash on my old camera saying bye-bye, oh no!)

This camera (Canon PowerShot A480, thanks for asking) has an awesome macro mode, which made me able to take these pics to show the changing aspects of this polish. Enjoy!

NOTD: Nfu-Oh #51

I first saw this polish on Karianne’s blog this summer, and I was so awestruck! I had to have the beauty that’s Nfu-Oh #51! When I finally got it, I was practically carrying the bottle around wheezing “my precioussss”.

How can I describe this? It’s a blue-green-purple-pink duochrome with flakes that sparkle in every color of the rainbow! The base is a sheer jelly, but it’s quite possible to build it on it’s own. Or you could layer it over another color if you prefer that. I’ve used four coats for this, and I think it looks like water with glowing embers under the surface (that is, embers that turn green once in a while). I think it’s best to have some top coat over this, as it’s a little bit bumpy when it dries.

Sadly, it’s kinda hard to photograph, and I found that it looks most true to life when photographed under lamp light without flash. (Which reminds me, I really need to make a light box.) So no different lightings today, all are taken indoors without flash. (Please click to embiggen!)

And the bottle is a work of art in itself!

Thanks for stopping by, have a nice day!

My “First Aid Kit”

Hi guys, I’m back! Parents and in-laws left tonight, and we’ve had a great week together. Not much time for blogging, though, but now I have plenty of time to play with my polishes again.

No NOTD today (my nails are nearly nude, just a coat of Essie Millionails), but instead I wanted to share some pics of what I call my “first aid” kit.

Since I started this nail polish thing, I’ve found that I now have the need to carry around some tools that earlier were unfamiliar to a necessarily short-nailed nurse like me. Hand creme, emery boards, cuticle oil etcetera have recently found their way into my huge handbag, and I soon discovered that it would be much more practical to keep these items gathered rather than having them tumbling around freely with my cell phone, sunglasses, keys and such.

This week I finally got around to buying a small make-up bag and some new goodies to put in it (along with some oldies, hehe). Now I’m totally prepared for almost any nail-related happening when I’m out and about.

I bought this make up bag at Boots (which I love, by the way).

The contents!

1. Advil, just in case. Hehe.
2. Lancôme Juicy Tubes (Péche & Lychée).
3. OPI Avoplex cuticle oil.
4. Emery boards.
5. Trind glass file.
6. Rose cuticle oil (bought it because the bottle was so cute and it smells like roses, desperately impractical on the run, though).
7. OPI Avojuice mini lotions (Coconut Melon & Cran & Berry).

Do you too have kits like these, or maybe you have other cool and useful stuff in your handbags?

The Aftermath

I just want to thank all you wonderful girls for tips and comments on my “disaster” in the last post. You are awesome!

I never got around to buying press-on nails, and I don’t have time to fiddle with my nails right now anyway. My parents and parents-in-law are here this week, so nails are not first priority! So I decided to quit being such a whiny crybaby about my nails, and went for the “don’t cut your nails, wait for it to grow out and file the others a little bit to match”-line.

If you can bear looking at nubbies for a while, I guess I can, too.
Here’s the result:

Not quite even, but I’ll try to match them as the middle one grows out. (In case anyone is wondering, I’m wearing China Glaze Cowgirl Up!) Sorry about the crap quality of this pic, but my camera decided that flash is a big no-no.

Again a big THANK YOU to everyone who gave good advice!

Noooooo! (Darth Vader style.)

So today I was preparing the bedrooms for our parents’ arrival, and while battling with a stubborn pillow case, my middle finger nail broke off. It’s  broken all the way down, and I really REALLY don’t feel like filing down all the other nails to match it, since I’ve just grown my nails to a decent length.

What do you guys think I should do? I’m considering buying some press-on nails to wear on my middle finger until it grows out. Or do you think I should just chop them all off and sport super SUPER short nubbies for the next two months?

This is what we’re talking about here:

I’m a sad panda. Boo.

NOTD: OPI Malaga Wine

I know I’m on a no-buy, but I still picked up this polish from the OPI store here in Doha, and I’m so happy about it! OPI Malaga Wine is a deep, wine-red jelly-like polish, and I have no others like it.

As I said, it’s a red jelly, but the color changes from inside to outside. Indoors, it’s deep wine-red, almost burgundy, but outdoors it’s brighter and redder (if that’s a word). I love the color and finish, it’s ridicilously shiny! In the shade pic you can even see the reflection of the neighbour’s house on my nails.

Application is so good! I used four coats for this, and even if you see some visible nail line in these photos, I can’t see it IRL unless I’m holding my hand up against the light. You can also see how the color changes according to the light.

Sunlight and shade:

With and without flash:

Thanks for stopping by, have a nice day!