Check this beauty out! This is Sephora Brownie, a dark, dark brown creme. It reminds me of espresso.
In low light it looks almost black, but in sunlight it really shows its gorgeous self. Don’t you just want to eat it?

In sunlight and shade:

The formula on this one is the best I’ve ever tried! It’s not too thick, and not to runny. It just goes wherever you want with no problems at all! I didn’t even need to do any cleanup. Two coats is perfection.

So do you like it as much as I?

I wanted something fresh and clean after the dark purple mani, so I thought “hey, I haven’t done a french manicure before”! I have already bought some french tip guides, and figured this was the night to test them.

Please don’t laugh too hard of my lack of french manicure skills. I know this looks really horrible up close.
The white tips got a little thick, and I managed to dent some of them when trying to remove the guides. I was also impatient and put the guides on before the first layer was dry, so the glue tore up the base coat on some nails. Well, newbie files are all about learning, right?!

Here’s the finished result, you have the honor of gazing upon both my left and right hand today!

I don’t think it looks too bad, considering that this is my first try! (At least it looks good in dim light, when I’m moving my hands so that noone can study them closely.)

I used OPI I Pink I Love You and a white creme (I don’t know what brand or name). I started with a coat of Essie Millionails (as always), then a coat of OPI IPILY, then I put the guides on and painted the tips with two coats of the white creme. Then I topped it with a coat of OPI IPILY, and finished with Seche Vite.

Next time I’ll wait longer for the base coat to dry, and I don’t think I’ll put the second coat of pink on top. I also think I could manage with just one coat of white, because I think two coats look really thick. (Especially on my left ring finger, where I had to dab some more white on after a serious denting accident.)

Another lesson learned and a new Newbie File in the archive!

Just a quick post today.

When you’re getting sick of your mani and don’t want to remove it all and start from scratch, why not refresh it with some layering?  Here I’ve used Dior Vernis Pink Socialite over my Deep Purple mani. Pink Socialite is a sheer pink with lots of fine golden glitter, and it looks great over a darker color like this.

Haha, sorry about the fingerprint fest on the lid of the bottle!

Thanks for stopping by!

Hmmm, I think I see a pattern emerging, do you?
I love purple, I just can’t help it, OK!

Gosh Deep Purple stole my heart this fall. I picked it up when I was back home in September, and I loved it so much that I used it the whole week! It’s a deep, dark purple creme, very pretty!

I think I got these pictures rather color accurate. The first one is taken in direct (weak) sunlight, and it shows up just a little bluer than it is in real life. The second is taken indoors with regular lamp light, and it’s quite true to life, it just looks a little lighter in the pic.

Application was a bit iffy, I can’t remember it being so thick when I used it the last time, so I think it has thickened. And I couldn’t be bothered to go upstairs and get my thinner either, so I had to work with the goop. Gosh polishes are usually very easy to work with, so I just chalk this one up to my thinner inabilities.
It’s very pigmented, I only had to use one (albeit thick) coat. Yummy.

Sorry about the purple spam lately, but I can’t promise that this is the last you’ve seen of this color!
Hope you like it just as much as I do.

Thanks for stopping by, have a nice day!

After the last attempt to photograph a purple polish I was a little apprehensive about China Glaze Harmony. This purple metallic from the Romantique Collection seemed just as hard to get on memory card as Coconut Kiss. I didn’t give up, and I think I tried just about every setting my wonderful little camera has. I took over 40 pictures of this, so don’t say I don’t try my hardest!

First pic is with flash, second is without flash. Both are taken indoors. I think these are quite color accurate.

Regarding application, I think I’ve finally cracked the code to these metallics. I used to avoid them because I always ended up with a streaky mess that showed all the flaws of my nails. Metallics will always reveal even the tiniest imperfections, so I used a ridge filler this time. And I guess practice makes perfect, because I had no problems avoiding streaks, I even got away with just a single coat!

Well, now I know that hopefully Romantiques won’t be a problem any more.
How about you, do you like metallics?

That’s all for now, see you soon!

Hey guys, I have actual nail polish pics for you today!

I seem to gravitate towards reds and vampies these days, so Orly Star Spangled is right up my alley. It has red glitter in a red jelly base. Sounds familiar, you say? Exactly, it’s a dupe for China Glaze Ruby Pumps, as far as I’m concerned. The only difference, if I have to nitpick, is that the glitter in Star Spangled is finer and not as irregular as Ruby Pumps’. If any of you fellow non-Americans have trouble getting China Glaze, this one is a more than adequate replacement for Ruby Pumps.

Application is flawless, I used three coats to get a really deep and sparkly color. It dries a little matte and bumpy on it’s own, so use a topcoat if you want a lot of shine and smoothness.

Take a look!
Here it is in sunlight and shade:

So what do you think of Orly’s version of the red glitter polish? Good enough to eat or just meh?
Thanks for stopping by, have a nice day!

Ok, I’m just going to be honest and say that I cannot for the life of me get an even remotely good pic of China Glaze Coconut Kiss, so I’ll admit defeat and simply refer you to Nailgal for pics of this. My camera refuses to show this one as anything but blue, and it’s not even similar to what it looks like in real life.

Coconut Kiss is a beautiful purple shimmer, and it’s been said it’s a near dupe of Nubar Pasadena Purple, which became infamous when Ginnifer Goodwin wore it in “He’s just not that into you”.
I was quite surprised when I applied this, because in the bottle it looks like a very pigmented metallic, but it’s actually quite sheer. The first coat was very watery, but three coats make it bottle color. I would call this a jelly-based shimmer.

Well, to avoid this being a totally disastrous and picture-less post, here’s a pic of my cat Gizmo looking fluffy as usual. I can’t wait for Christmas, when I’ll finally see him again!
(Besides, cat pics always make everything better.)

Sorry about the lack of polish pics, I hope the next polish won’t be as hard to photograph! If anyone has any tips on how to get good pics of purple, please let me know.

China Glaze Skate Night is a red-leaning purple from the Retro Diva collection. As the other divas it has fine shimmer and a deep, glowing color. I was a little disappointed as I thought it was a dupe for OPI Kinky In Helsinki, but I found out KIH has a blue flash that this one doesn’t. It’s also similar to China Glaze Cowgirl Up, but CU is also more on the blue/purple side. Still, I don’t think Skate Night is very unique in my collection, even though it is a beautiful color.

Application is good, a little runny at times, but quite ok. I used two coats, and that’s plenty.

Let’s see how it looks, shall we?
First pic is direct sunlight, second is shade.

Do you like it? What are your favorites from the Retro Diva Collection?

When I saw swatches of China Glaze QT, I just knew that I had to have it. It’s a gorgeous purple-pink (punk?) with fine holographic shimmer. The holo effect is much finer than the Kaleidoscope collection or OPI DS. It looks almost creme-like until the light hits it, then the holographic glitter really sparkles! I love this polish, I’ve been wearing it for four days straight!

Application was good, I had no problems with this. I used two coats, but one coat is almost opaque on it’s own. I used a ridge filler base coat, because this metallic formula shows every bump and ridge on the nails. I think it looks a little matte without topcoat, so if you really want it shiny, use a topcoat.

In these pictures you can really see the difference when the sunlight hits it.
Sunlight and shade.

Aaaand some macro goodness:

Don’t you just love holos? I know I do!
Have a nice day!

I picked up Gosh Golden Brown at Vita when I was in Norway for our fall break. I love Vita, it’s a chain of health and beauty shops, and I always go there when I’m home.

Golden Brown truly lives up to it’s name, it’s both golden and brown. It has fine shimmer, almost foil-like. Application is divine, it goes on like butter. I used three coats.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t fit me at all! It’s way to yellow, and it makes my nails look nicotine-stained.
I tried wearing it for a day to see if it grew on my, but no luck. This is too bad, it looked so good in the bottle. I should have picked it’s “cousin”, Golden Bronze instead.

Here’s how it looks in sunlight and shade.

What do you think? Do any of you think you can pull off Golden Brown?

Have a nice day!