Polish this!

China Glaze Gothic Lolita with glitter

2012-03-02T00:47:00.000+02:00

I only got two polishes from China Glaze's collection from this spring. The collection is nice and the colors look pretty and spring-y, but I'm not so keen on wearing cremes, so I only got the ones that I thought I'd like the most. I did my Valentine's Day mani with the first one, Fuchsia Fanatic, and now I have the other one for you.

So I'm talking about Gothic Lolita, two coats here. Sorry that I don't have a swatch of it on it's own, but you can see the color from these pics too, though the subtle shimmer isn't really visible. Well, it's not really visible on nail either... So yeah, I'm not really excited about this one. It's a pretty color, but that about it, nothing special. Infact I thought it was kind of boring so I spiced it up with some glitter. I used Color Club Sugarplum Fairy and Essence It's Purplicious for the gradient. I think there's nothing wrong with Gothic Lolita, it's just that there hasn't been many polishes lately that have surprised or wowed me. It's probably because after one has certain amount of polishes it is hard to get surprised or find polishes that really stand out.

Dots & stripes

2012-02-23T22:21:00.002+02:00

I have only once done a polka dot mani and the one time was for the 31 days challenge, so I really wanted to do a polka dot mani again. It isn't probably the most comfortable look for me, but it's fun to step out from the comfort zone once in a while. So here's what I ended up with:

So I used Snowcrystal Light Taupe and China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint for this one. My dot's aren't by any means perfect, so I really need more practice, but from normal distance this mani looked really fun. I didn't want to do the whole mani with dots only, so I decided to do a accent nail with some stripes. Hope you all like it!

Orly Fowl Play

2012-02-21T00:03:00.000+02:00

Today I have a polish for you that you all have probably seen like zillion times already, but I'm showing it anyhow, because it's just a really pretty one!

My pics aren't really the best here, but anyways this is Orly Fowl Play, three coats. Really pretty one like I said. I think it's a must have for purple lovers like me, eventhough it isn't my favourite purple in the world. Oh, and how I hate Seche for dragging the polish from the tips even though I carefully seal them every time... I should probably just buy another Sally Hansen Insta-Dri because it doesn't do that to me.

Birthday water marble

2012-02-16T22:58:00.000+02:00

It's my 25th birthday today and I wanted to do a special mani to celebrate the day. I haven't done a water marble for a while and I thought it would make a nice birthday mani. I took inspiration from Southern Sister Polish water marble tutorial, though I went for a bit different looking design.

I used OPI DS Extravagance, OPI DS Coronation, Lumene Have Fun and Essence Berlin Story for this one. I don't normally do water marbling with OPI DS polishes, but I thought that since this was a special manicure I could use them. And Extravagance is one of my favourite polishes of all time, so I really wanted to use it.

left hand

right hand

Valentine's Day

2012-02-14T20:10:00.000+02:00

Happy Valentine's Day to all!

China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic (one coat)

A new color combination for me

2012-02-09T22:53:00.000+02:00

Lately I've been very fond of orange polishes and few days ago I wanted to wear some orange again. Then I thought I should combine it with some blue polish, as a little surprise for my boyfriend as I know he really enjoyes this color combination. And then I thought that silver would go really well with these colors, so that's how this manicure was born. Hope you all like it!

So for this one I first used two coats of China Glaze Papaya Punch, then added a coat of Wild and Crazy Shocking Pink and topped that of with some Seche Vite and waited it to dry. Then I painted the blue tips with free hand using Color Club Cold Metal. And after that was a bit dry, I added a stripe of OPI Silver Shatter and then of course added another coat of Seche Vite.

Snow Globe with Glitter in the Air

2012-02-08T22:25:00.000+02:00

Just recently I managed to get some nice polishes from Carli's blogsale and one of them was a long time lemming of mine, Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air. I know that Revlon has a cheaper dupe of this, but it's almost impossible to get Revlon polishes here in Finland if one doesn't want to pay the prizes in e(vil)bay, so when Carli had the original one on sale I knew I had to go for it.

I did wear this already once by itself and liked it a lot like that too, but as I told you before, there was lots of things happening in my life so I didn't have time to take pictures of that mani until it was too late.. But I wanted to wear it again and this time I decided to use a light blue base color and also add another glitter in the mix too. Here's how it turned out:

I used Depend 251 as the base color (it's the only light blue that I have....) and then on top of that I added a bit of China Glaze Snow Globe and then finished it of with Glitter in the Air. I think this turned out quite nicely and the Snow Globe gave this a little twist, though it isn't so visible here in the pic. I don't usually wear anything light blue-ish (that's probably why I only had one light blue polish), but I really enjoyed this manicure.

Zoya Harlow

2012-02-05T23:05:00.001+02:00

Sorry again for not posting for a while. I had all the good intentions to make and time some posts for you for the time that I was working, but then life got in the way. First I got sick, then started the another week of the job and I had again ten hours of work per day and then on top of this all my grandma died, so yeah, there was no time to think about my blog. But now we have a new president, so my job is done and I can now focus on my studies and of course on this blog again.

Today I have one really pretty matte polish for you, I think you've all seen this quite many times, but it deserves even more love.

I'm talking about Zoya Harlow, two coats here. It is truly a nice color and also quite easy to work with. It's a bit thick like mattes usually are, but nothing you can't work with. Really nice polish to slap on when you are in hurry and have no time to wait for a polish to try. Of course as it is a matte polish there's gonna be tip wear really soon, so if you want to avoid that you can try the layering with top coat (first one coat of the matte polish, then a coat of top coat and then when it's dry another coat of the matte polish). This should make it last longer, though I did use it, because I knew I would be changing my manicure soon enough.

Harlow is really pretty as matte, but it's also gorgeous with some top coat on.

I can't really decide which one I like better, it looks so good either way.

a-england Avalon

2012-01-21T23:20:00.000+02:00

I hate to start a blog post with apology, but I'm really sorry that it's been over a week since my last post. I was working with the advance voting for our presidental elections and had to work like ten hours a day for seven days straight. So you can imagine that I was quite tired in the evening. Also I had this one essay that I had to do while working, but luckily my lecturer was kind enough and I was able to move the returning date to yesterday, so with all that I really had no time to do any posts. And the elections will be tomorrow and if none of the candidates receive more than half of the votes there will be a second round and then I have to do another seven days of working. It is very possible that this will happen and this time I'm planning to do some post beforehand and time them for you, so don't worry. But that's all, I just wanted to let you know what the situation was, lol. Let's move on to the polish, shall we..

Today I have one really pretty polish for you that was really a pain in the butt to photograph and it still doesn't look quite like it should, but here it is anyhow.

So this is two coats of a-england Avalon and like I said, it looks too blue here in my pics (or at least it does on my screen). It is more red toned in reality. It is a quite awesome polish as it was really easy to work with and the color is also so pretty. I can't really wait to see what the new collection from a-england will look like!

I also did a little glitter gradient with Avalon as my base and Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope as the glitter:

Zoya Dannii

2012-01-11T23:38:00.000+02:00

I'm gonna keep this quite short and quick, because I really have to go to sleep so that I'm able to do another 10 hours of work tommorrow.. Don't worry, this is only temporary thing and won't last long. Anywho, here's one pretty Zoya polish for you.

This is Zoya Dannii and I have had these pics sitting in my file for quite a long time, so I don't remember how many coats this was. I'm not really sure why I didn't post this sooner, because it really is a beautiful polish. I probably had no real reason, but here it is now anyhow.

And now I really need to get some sleep, see you again soon!

Orly Nite Owl

2012-01-09T00:15:00.002+02:00

Today I have for you the manicure that I went with to Dubai. I wanted to use a neutral color and something that wouldn't look too bad even if it would chip a bit as I knew I would be wearing these nails for a while as there isn't usually time to paint nails when you're on a vacation.. But I of course also wanted to have pretty nails, so I ended up picking Orly Nite Owl for my vacation manicure.

And what a pretty one it is! I have two coats here with base and top coat. Nite Owl is from Orly's fall 2011 collection called Birds of a Feather. All the hype about this collection has gone to Fowl Play and I do love that one too, but I think Nite Owl haven't got the love that it deserves. It is soooo pretty and to me it is also unique, as I don't have anything quite like it.

China Glaze Ring In the Red over Zoya Sooki

2012-01-02T22:09:00.000+02:00

Happy New Year to all my readers! Today I have my Christmas manicure to show you, lol. I know I'm quite late with this, but I had no time to post it when it was relevant and I really want to show it to you, so here it comes.

So this is two coats of China Glaze Ring in the Red over one coat of Zoya Sooki with base and top coat. This mani was surely a Christmassy one with all the sparkle and red color. I really enjoyed wearing it and it did hold on quite nicely as this picture is taken after few days of wearing already. So I really liked this mani, though I couldn't help thinking that I should be wearing my (and everyone else's) favourite Christmas polish, China Glaze Ruby Pumps. On the other hand I did wear that last Christmas so maybe little change is good, and I can wear Ruby Pumps again next Christmas.

Happy New Year's Eve!

2011-12-31T22:36:00.000+02:00

Just a quick post with my New Year's Eve manicure. Last year I wore silver as I had only GOSH Holographic on my nails, so this year I wanted to do something else than silver and I decided to go with black and gold.

I used Essence Berlin Story, Color Club Gingerbread and Milani Gold for this manicure. At least my boyfriend said something like wow, they are very New Year's Eve-ish, so I guess they are appropriate for the occasion. So that's all from me this year! :)

And again, Happy New Year's Eve to all!

My favourite manicures of 2011

2011-12-31T15:57:00.001+02:00

Yesterday I had my picks for the best polishes of 2011 and today I wanted to show you some manicures that I did this year and that I particularly loved. I do have quite many of them, but I hope you all like this little recap of the year 2011. I again included the links to the original posts if you want to take closer look. So here we go, and again, these are in no particular order.

Easter manicure

Galaxies

Purple gradient

Custom Kicks scotch tape mani

Layering with Houston We Have a Purple

Turquoise & Gold water marble

Blue & Silver half moons

Valentine's Day drag marble

Rainbow manicure

Spring-y butterflies

Layering with Too Hot Pink To Hold 'Em

Manicure inspired by Kill Bill

Splatter mani inspired by Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall

Travelling nail polish Manhattan 610K mani

Snowflake manicure

Polka dots

Marimekko Unikko inspired manicure

So there it was, all my favourite manicures of 2011. Which one was your favourite?

I might do another post today with my New Year's Eve manicure, but if I don't have time for that:

Happy New Year's Eve to everyone

and I hope to see you all here again next year! :)

My favourite nail polishes of 2011

2011-12-30T23:07:00.002+02:00

So of course I also wanted to do a post with my favourite nails of 2011. This time I tried to stick with polishes that were part of this year's collections or that were released during 2011. I'm also thinking about doing a post about my favourite manicures that I wore during this year, but that's tomorrows business.

I had to struggle a bit to narrow my list down, but in the end I ended up with 14 polishes. I know it would probably make more sense to have top 15 or so, but sometimes I just don't make sense... Lol. Well, the truth is that all these 14 polishes were really my favourites and I couldn't narrow it down more and on the other hand I didn't want to include one more just to get the number right. So without further ado, here's my top 14 polishes of 2011 and these are not in order from one to 14 or anything like that, because I just couldn't rank them that way. I also included the links to my posts about the polishes if you want to take better look.

China Glaze Ahoy! I really love pretty pink polishes and I was quite excited about this one when I first saw the promo pics. And this surely wasn't a disappointment on nail either. It's really pretty one and I will surely wear this many times in coming years too.

Jesse's Girl Glee. I really love the tv show Glee and this polish is also veeery pretty! I know it is a near dupe of many other polishes (Zoya Charla etc.), but I don't have any of those and I think this is a fine alternative, just because it was the easiest one for me to get. Original or not, the color is so pretty!

Misa Genie In This Bottle. As soon as I had the bottle of this in my hands I knew I would love it. It looks amazing in bottle and also on nail, so pretty, like fairy dust on your nails. It really got me thinking that I should get more polishes from this collection, but I still haven't got more, but maybe I really should.

China Glaze Papaya Punch. If someone forced me to choose just one favourite polish of 2011 I just might say it is this one. It is the very first orange polish that I ever got and it was pure love from the minute I painted my nails with it. It's so bright and fun, and it really got me into loving orange polishes.

Depend 218. This is again really pretty pink and I feel very comfortable wearing dark pinks like this. Also I really loved the quality of this polish, mainly because this was a one-coater! It's sometimes hard to find polishes that cover well and this certainly did that job well.

Nicole by OPI One Less Lonely Glitter. Eventhough I don't care about Justin Bieber, I really loved this glitter. It is my one and only Nicole by OPI polish and I was little hesitant of getting it just because of the Bieber thing, but I'm glad I did. It's purple and it's glitter so it is really no surprise that I love it!

China Glaze Trendsetter. This one is probably one of those colors that you either love or hate and I happen to love it. I was little bit unsure if I would like it, but I decided to get it and it really looked so good on nail. Can't wait to wear it again!

Zoya Faye. I only got my first Zoyas this year and it has become one of my favourite brands, though they are still a bit hard to get here in Finland. I really loved everyone's swatches of Faye and decided to get it eventhough I was a bit unsure if I would like it because of the golden shimmer that sometimes doesn't really work with my skintone. But as you can figure I really loved the color and the quality.

China Glaze Skyscraper. I always say that me and blue polishes don't really go well together and still there are some in my top 14, lol. But this is really amazing color and I felt really comfortable wearing it. As you can probably figure out from this list and from my blog that I really love anything glitter, so again it wasn't so big surprise that I loved this one too, blue or not.

Misa Grey Matters. Grey isn't probably one of the most exciting polish colors, but I think Misa really hit a home run with this one. The black shimmer makes this polish so interesting and very unique at least for me. I think I'll be wearing this again very soon...

OPI Grape...Set...Match. My top list wouldn't be complete without a really pretty purple, would it... I really don't like the name of this polish, but at least the color is amazing. It was really a must have for a purple lover like me and I was really glad when I finally managed to get it.

Color Club Sugarplum Fairy. Color Club had a really nice glitter collection for this year's holidays and this one was by far my favourite one. Again, it is glitter and I looove glitters, but it also has hlographic glitter in it, which makes it even more prettier. If Genie In This Bottle was fairy dust on nails this is probably some kind of fairy glitter then, lol.

Models Own Pinky Brown. Like many other nail polish bloggers I was also excited about Models Own Beetlejuice collection. Pinky Brown was the one I thought I would probably like the most and I was right, as it is sooo pretty color and has that nice duochrome effect. It also makes up a bit the fact that I dont own Mac's Bad Fairy, eventhough I know these are anywhere near dupes.

Essence Blue Addicted. Last but not least I have another blue glitter on my list. I thought Essence did nice job with their new colors and this one was quite amazing one. I haven't worn this as a full manicure yet as I only did swatches of it, so I can't wait to do that soon!

So here it was, my top 14 polishes of 2011. What did you all think? Would you pick any of those that I did or which were your favourite polishes of 2011? I have really enjoyed reading other bloggers top list and hope to see even more!

Kiko #278 Violet Orchid Microglitter

2011-12-21T19:00:00.000+02:00

This one is also from the vault, because with the challenge and all that I just haven't had a chance to post it.

This is Kiko number 278 and it's called Violet Orchid Microglitter (or at least the website says so as they don't have names on the bottle). I have three coats here with base and top coat. I really like the quality of Kiko polishes and sure wish they were available here in Finland too. They have so many nice colors and the prize is surely right. It's probably no surprise that I really liked this one too as it is a pretty purple one. It's not very unique, but still it is so nice. I got this one when I was in Rome with my mom in the end of the summer. I wish I had gotten more of Kiko polishes, but as my mom was with me, I didn't want to go crazy with my polish shopping, lol.

China Glaze Midtown Magic & Nfu Oh 60

2011-12-20T19:00:00.000+02:00

I've had these pics sitting on my folder for few months now, but never get to post about these, because of the challenge and all. Now I thought I should really post these, because I did like this combo.

So here I have one generous coat of Nfu Oh number 60 over two coats of China Glaze Midtown Magic. I think those flakies look really good over MM but I think this isn't probably my favourite Nfu Oh polish out there. At least for the prize they come and all. It's pretty and all, but somehow something is missing, at least for me. But like I said, I did like this combo, but maybe it says something that I'm only posting it now...

Midtown Magic is also pretty on its own. Those little shimmer flecks make it more interesting and I quite like the color, even though I was afraid it might be too brown for me. It probably isn't the most interesting polish out there, but it's a pretty one and suits well to a fall collection. It was also pretty nice quality, though a bit on the thick side, but nothing that can't be handeled.

One week of glitters - day seven

2011-12-19T19:00:00.000+02:00

It's the last day of my one week of glitters, hope you all have enjoyed it! I still have one polish left to show you from those that I got from the China Glaze Eye Candy collection.

This one is called Material Girl and I have three coats here. This is probably my favourite from the collection along with Some Like It Haute. I also love the name of this polish! It is really pretty and for sure really girly. I should have been more patient and waited more between the coats, but I was in a bit hurry. Nonetheless I really like this one and will definately wear it again.

So, I hope you enjoyed my week of glitters! Please let me know which one of those polishes that I showed you was your favourite in the comment section. :)

One week of glitters - day six

2011-12-18T19:00:00.000+02:00

It's day six of my one week of glitters and it's time for a glitter by OPI. OPI has done some amazing glitters in the past, but this one is from their recent Muppets inspired collection.

So this is called Rainbow Connection and I have one coat here over two coats of China Glaze Frosty. This is the only glitter polish that I got from this OPI collection, just because when I saw that the glitters weren't very opaque, I wasn't too fond of them. But this one is surely pretty and I think it's best by layered over some other polish. If you'd use only this, you'd have to use several coats and I think it would just be too much glitter and colors on your nails.. But with one or two coats over some other polish, it sure is pretty, like little party on my nails. :)

One week of glitters - day five

2011-12-17T19:00:00.000+02:00

It's day five of my one week of glitters and I have yet another polish from that China Glaze Eye Candy collection for you.

This one is called Blode Bombshell and I have three coats here, no base or top coat. I did enjoy this more than Marry a Millionaire, which I showed you yesterday. Eventhoug gold isn't my favourite color of polish, I thought this was quite pretty one. It was also fairly opaque with three coats and it is also very suitable polish for the holidays.. Though I have to say that if I have to pick between the two gold glitter polishes that I got from this year holiday collections, then Color Club Gingerbread would be my favourite. Maybe it's because of that holographic glitter that I've talked about..

One week of glitters - day four

2011-12-16T19:00:00.000+02:00

It's day four of my one week of glitters and today I have another glitter polish from the China Glaze Holiday 2011 collection for you.

This one is called Marry a Millionaire and I have three coats here. I should have done a fourth one as there is still some bald spots, but I just wasn't feeling like doing another coat. Probably it was because like yesterdays polish this didn't do much for me. I really though I would like this one a lot, but I really didn't. I like the idea of bar glitters, because they are more rare, but somehow those bars weren't so visible on nail and it all looked like somekind of dirty purple mess. So yeah, I really didn't like it. It looks great on bottle though.. Maybe I need to also layer this over some other polish to see if I'd like it more like that..

One week of glitters - day three

2011-12-15T19:00:00.000+02:00

It's day three of my one week of glitters and today I have the last of those four polishes that I got from Color Club's 2011 Holiday collection called Beyond the Mistletoe.

So this is called Jingle Jangle and I have so many coats here that I lost the count and there's still some visible bald spots. Well, it does look nicer from distance, but this surely wasn't my favourite. While I have really loved the other three Color Club glitters that I got from this collection, Jingle Jangle just didn't deliver for me. Maybe I should have tried it over some base color and I would have probably liked it better that way, but this feels a bit flat to me. Maybe it's because there's no holographic glitter in here like in the rest of the polishes in this collection.. Well, it's safe to say that this surely wasn't my favourite and I might try it over some other polish to see if I like it more that way, but if not, I doubt I'd wear it again.

One week of glitters - day two

2011-12-14T19:00:00.000+02:00

So it's day two of the one week of glitters and I have a pretty blue one for you today.

This is Blue Addicted by Essence from their recent additions to the Color & Go line. I have three coats here with no base or top coat. Even though this is a blue polish, I have to say that I really loved this one. It is sooo pretty and the jelly base gives those glitters some nice depth when you use multiple layers. It was for some reason quite hard to get desent photo of this, so this is the only one I got. Sorry about that! But if you have access to Essence polishes, I think this is one you should really consider. After all, these are really great value for their prize!

One week of glitters - day one

2011-12-13T19:00:00.000+02:00

I'm hopefully right now in an airplane on my way to Dubai and I wanted to come up with something nice for you guys to read while I'm gone. I was searching trough my untried stash and noticed that I had quite many glitter that I haven't yet shown you. All of them are also from recent collections or such, so I really wanted to show them to you, so I decided do to this post series of one week of glitters. Glitters are one of my favourite type of polishes, even though the removal is usually just pain in the ass, lol. And I don't know any other type of polishes that would be more suitable for the holidays too...

Anywho, while I'm enjoying the sun, you all can see some glitters for each day of the week. Well, I know it's Tuesday today, so my glitter week will start today and run till Monday. It's a bit silly to do this in that way, but I had to post my last challenge mani yesterday, so today is the start of the glitter week. Hope you all enjoy it, 'cause it starts now!

So the one week of glitters starts with one really amazing glitter by China Glaze called Some Like It Haute. This is from their Eye Candy Collection for Holiday 2011. I have three coats here, with base and top coat. I really love this one, it's a nice color and the holographic glitters really make it even better. As I've said before, I'm quite easy to please with holographic glitter, lol. I quite like the name of this polish too, I think it's cute. This was a bit thick and had the tendency to create some lumps and bald spots, so I think you should really wait in between those coats to avoid that. Other than that, I think this is a really pretty one and quite unique too..

Also, keep in mind that I won't be here to answer to your comments, but I hope you still leave some comments, because I will answer them when I get back and it's always nice to have some lovely comments! :)

Day 31: Re-create your favourite challenge

2011-12-12T19:00:00.000+02:00

So it's finally the end of the challenge for me! Today's task was a bit vague for me, but then I decided to done day 10 task of gradient nails with different twist. I've been seeing some great ombre manis lately and at least Sannu at SanNails and Deniz at Emerald Sparkled did some ombre nails for the day 10 of the challenge. So I wanted to also give it a try and desided to do a purple ombre, mainly because I have many purple polishes in my stash and I thought it would be most easy to find purples that would match for the mani. Well, even though I have so many purples it wasn't easy to find those perfect polishes for the ombre mani.. Anywho, here's my take on it:

Beginning from my pinky I used Nubar Toga Purple, OPI Pamplona Purple, Zoya Perrie and Orly Lollipop, each polish is two coats, no base or top coat. I think this is really a fun look and easy way to make more interesting mani than just the regular one with one color. Though you need to have quite many polishes in your stash to achieve that ombre look, at least I struggled a bit in finding the right polishes and when I was done with the mani, I thought I should have done even better job choosing those colors...

But that's it! The challenge is now over, just in time before I need to leave for my vacation. I had really great time with this and I also tried some things I think I might have not tried if there wasn't this challenge. So I have to say that I'm really glad I did this. I also have enjoyed very much seeing other bloggers do this challenge too. So if you're doing it or maybe just starting it, please let me know in the comments! :) I hope that you didn't get too bored because it took me quite long to finish this.. Now I just have to figure out how to paint my nails without someone telling me what to do, lol.

Day 30: Inspired by a tutorial

2011-12-11T23:33:00.001+02:00

So today's task of the challenge was to do nails inspired by a tutorial. I've seen many great tutorials lately and there's some that I still really want to try, but after I saw this snowflake tutorial by Jane at Nailside I was quite certain that I should try to use that as my inspiration. I wanted to use this Jane's tutorial mainly because well, it's the snowflake season right now as it has been snowing for two days straight here and also because her tutorial was very simple and looked easy to do. And sure enough it was very easy to follow, I'm just in need for proper tools like nail art brushes and such. Maybe I'll get those after the Christmas as a present for myself or something, because it is quite hard to do any nail art without the proper tools. Anywho, here's my tutorial inspired mani.

So I did a gradient base for this mani by using Color Club Cold Metal, Lumene Natural Code Flirty and China Glaze Frosty. I painted those snowflakes with white nail art liner and then added some China Glaze Snow Globe on top. I quite liked this look and sure enough it was very appropriate for the weather here now. I really enjoy snow but I also can't wait to get to Dubai and see the sun, because, well, there ain't much sun here for at least couple months.

Oh and if you're not familiar with Jane's blog, you should really check it out! She does amazing manis and also has many helpful tutorials!

Day 29: Inspired by the supernatural

2011-12-11T00:56:00.001+02:00

I was a bit unsure what to do for today's task of the challenge. I think there are many ways (again) to understand the concept of supernatural, but the first thing that came to my mind were ghosts and after thinking about some different ideas, I just decided to stick with my first thought and so here are some ghost nails for you.

I know, these look a bit funny, but I wanted them to be that way.. lol. When I finished this manicure and asked my boyfriend if it looked like ghosts, his response was that well, at least you can say they are something supernatural... I'm not really sure what to think about that. lol. Anywho, I used Mavala White and e.l.f. Black for this very simple and funny manicure. I hope at least someone thinks they look like ghosts.. :D

Days 25, 26 & 27

2011-12-09T23:42:00.001+02:00

So as I've said before: I'm super busy right now, mainly because on Thusday I'm hopefully going to be somewhere warm for the next eight days and to be able to do that I have to do all the school work before Monday to get everything done.. But I think it's going to be work out great, I just had to cheat a bit with the challenge and combine some of those remaining tasks, because after I come back from the vacation I'm going straight to my parents house to spend the Chritmas there and I don't want to leave any of those challenge tasks after Christmas.

So I did these nails first for the day 25 inpired by fashion but when I was finished I thought that they would also suit for the task of day 26 inspired by a pattern. After that I also thought that well, this might go as artwork too and then I remembered that Zara at Never Unpolished also combined these three days with her mani that had also this flowery kind of pattern. So as Zara said and I also agree, fashion is also art, so here's my mani for these three themes.

I used a Finnish design called Unikko (poppy) by Marimekko as my inspiration for this mani. This is probably one of the designs every Finn knows and you can find it everywhere. You can find dresses, shoes, towels, sheets and curtains, just to name few, with this design here. And with million different colors too. You name it and the chances are that it's done with Unikko design. Unikko made it's way to some Sex and the City episodes too and also Manolo Blahnik has used the design in some shoes. Unikko was originally designed in 1964 so it's quite old and I guess it has inspired many other flower designs too.

Doo at Doo Polishing did Unikko inspired nails for quite long time ago and I've always thought after that that I want to give it a try too.

I think these looked really pretty and fun, though maybe I shouldn't have done the flowers so regularly. Well, I tried to avoid that, but when I finished they looked quite regular still. Anywho, I quite enjoyed this look and I'm thinking about doing it with some different colors.

Now I really hope that I have time to do decent manis for the last three task and finish this challenge with honour. I'd also like to do at least one Christmas mani before the vacation, but I'm not sure if I have enough time. But I hope so! And, if you really wanna know, this vacation I'm talking about, I'm going to Dubai with my boyfriend. Lol, I wanted to save that to the end! :) I can't wait, I hope it's going to be sunny and at least somewhat warm. Have any of you been there? I'm always interested in tips of what to do and where to go if you have any (though I have planned already some..). Also, of course, if you have good tips where you can buy nice polishes in Dubai, please let me know, because those tips are always welcome!

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe & Cold Metal

2011-12-07T22:59:00.001+02:00

Today I have two pretty Color Clubs for you, both are from recent collections. I wanted to see how these two would work together, and I think it is a pretty combo, but perhaps I need to wear Beyond the Mistletoe by itself soon too.

So this is one coat(!) of Cold Metal with two coats of Beyond the Mistletoe on top and of course some top coat to make it smooth. Beyond the Mistletoe is really pretty and suitable for the Holidays, but then again I'm generally quite easy to please with holographic glitter... And like I said, I really thought these two worked nicely together too.

Here's a pic of Cold Metal by itself:

I have to say that I really liked this one too. This is actually the only polish that I got from Color Clubs Foiled collection (so far), because it was the only one that seemed unique. At least I don't have any blues like this in my stash and it's also very nice quality: easy to handle, opaque with just one coat and deeply colored for a foil. Then again, I only have just few blue polishes, so I'm not really one to say... But for my surprise, I quite liked this and I thought it even looked good on me.

Day 28: Inspired by a flag

2011-12-06T23:55:00.001+02:00

I'm gonna skip few days of the challenge for now so that I can post my flag inspired nails today, when it's still our Independence Day here in Finland. I'm gonna do those nails too that now get skipped, but today I want to show you my flag inspired nails, because of course I used Finland's flag as my inspiration. Ok, it's technically almost the next day already, but still.

Last year I did these gradient white/blue nails with an accent nail of the Finnish flag. This year I wanted to of course use the colors of the flag, but this time I just kept it really simple. Either way, I think this is reconisable as inspired by our flag. I used Mavala White and Golden Rose number 162 for this mani.

So,

Hyvää itsenäisyyspäivää! as we would say in Finnish. :)

Day 24: Inspired by a book

2011-12-06T15:07:00.001+02:00

I had a bit of struggle with todays task, because first of all I couldn't deside which book to choose. Originally I wanted to do one of the books by Ilkka Remes, who is my favourite Finnish author (he writes thrillers and it's my yearly Christmas present to get his latest novel). I have all his books, but all the book covers were too much for me, because I had limited time to use. So I searched my bookshelf for awhile, but then I remembered this funny book by Andy Riley called The Book of Bunny Suicides: Little Fluffy Rabbits Who Just Don't Want to Live Any More. It's this black comedy cartoon book and has really nice and bright orange cover.

So of course I had my mind set about painting some bunnies in orange background and I did try that but it didn't work as well as I wanted, so I had to remove that manicure and start over again. By then I just didn't have much time to left to do this mani, as I was supposed to do another zillion things, so I just desided to paint my nails with the same orange and settle with that. So today's inspiration mani isn't the most innovative one, but at least it's a nice bright orange, lol.

Also, I had to take this picture with artificial light so it isn't perfect, but you get the idea, right? I used Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up for this. It's quite sheer one, so I painted it over white, but I still had to use three coats of it. So it's probably not the best orange out there, but it's a nice color and was really close to the color of the book cover.

And if you're wondering why my copy of this book is in German, it's because I got this book from Germany when I was visiting Berlin in 2005 (if I remember correctly). And I bought it just because it didn't cost much and was quite funny.

Catherine Arley #806

2011-12-03T22:06:00.001+02:00

Today I have the last holo polish to show you from those that I photographed the one day that the sun was shining briefly. After that there hasn't been any sun (can you believe it!), so considering that it was so nice that I got at least some of my waiting holo polishes swatched. Anyhow, here's a pretty orange one:

This is Catherine Arley number 806 and I have two coats here, no base or top coat. This was again like all the other Arley's very easy to apply. I think the color is really nice, there's not many orange holos out there. The holo effect is quite weak, but it's there and it's pretty!

Day 23: Inspired by a movie

2011-12-01T21:05:00.001+02:00

If the inspired by a song task was easy for me and I instantly knew what I wanted to do, today's task wasn't definately easy. There's quite many movies I like or love and it was hard to deside which move I wanted to use as my inspiration. Finally I decided to go with one of my all time favourite movies, Kill Bill, because I thought that it would at least be easy to use as inspiration.

I used Wild and Crazy Twilight as my base color and Essence Berlin Story for the black parts. I really liked the color of Twilight, but it is a bit hard to apply evenly (like most of the yellows) and it took four coats to be even somewhat ok, but you could still see the nail line.

So as you all probably figured I took the inspiration from the character Beatrix Kiddo's suit and also from the colorscheme of the dvd. I thought this mani was quite badass and quite in your face type of thing, but also quite bright and fun.

Oh and just to be clear, this is just one movie I like. My all time favourite movies include also films like Big Fish, Love Actually and PS. I love You just to mention few. So I love some of those girly movies too, but sometimes its just nice to relax and watch some movie where the heads will roll. But most of the time, if it's my choice, I would pick something little bit romantic and funny.

Teeez! Smooth

2011-11-30T23:05:00.001+02:00

I have the last one of those three Teeez! holographic polishes for you today. And it's really pretty, just like the other ones were too, so without further ado here it is.

So this is two coats of Teeez! Smooth, no base or top coat. The quality was again spot on. This is very effortless to apply and of course soooo pretty. My only wish is that there were more Teeez! holographic polishes for me to hunt down, lol. I'm so glad that I now have these three pretties in my collection (a big thank yet again to Reile!), and I can't wait to wear them as full manicures as for now I just had to rush them on and of to get some pictures when the sun was shining.

I'm just now working to get my movie inspired nails done, so that I'll have them ready for you tomorrow. See you then!

Day 22: Inspired by a song

2011-11-29T23:22:00.001+02:00

Today's task of the challenge was to do a mani that is inspired by a song. I've known for a while what I wanted to do, because this was a perfect task to combine my favourite music and a manicure, that I've been wanting to do for a long time. You see, one of my favourite bands is Coldplay and I quite liked the song and the video Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall, so I did a mani that is mainly representing the colorful aspect of the video as my song inspired mani. And here it is:

I did this splatter mani using China Glaze Pelican Grey as my base color and then I splattered China Glaze Sneaker Head, Wild and Crazy Twilight, Wet n Wild Sunny Side Up and Golden Rose #162. And of course I took inspiration from the tutorial of the splatter mani queen Jen at The PolishAholic. I had to two this mani twice even though I had this great tutorial, just because the first time I used too much color and I didn't like the finished look. The second time I reduced the amount of polishes and then I quite enjoyed this look and it was also quite fast to do (if you don't count my first try).

Here's the video of Every Teardrop Is a Waterfall if you are interested and haven't seen it yet (which is probably impossible):

Christmas manicure number one

2011-11-28T22:33:00.001+02:00

I can't believe how fast the year has gone and it's almost Christmas already. Well, there's almost a month still left before that, but I know that that time will just fly by and before I notice it's already Christmas and I haven't done any christmass-y manis. Also, I'm going to a little vacation just before Christmas, so that will too limit my chances to do some christmass-y manis. So this year I decided try to start little bit earlier and today I have my first Christmas manicure to show you. This one is very, very simple, but I really wanted to combine two polishes from recent collections.

So this is three coats of OPI Designer... De Better! and then I just painted three coats of Color Club Gingerbread to the tips. That last pic is very blurry, I know, but I wanted to include it to show you how those glitters of Gingerbread sparkle. I really liked this combo and I think it's quite festive too, so it's perfect for the holidays. I haven't yet worn Gingerbread as a full mani and now I think I really should do that soon, it's so pretty!

But I did wear Designer... De Better! (hate that name...) for several days as a full mani and I really loved it. It's really fun polish as it looks quite like regular silver foil from distance but when you look closer you see that it has lots of more color than just silver. And the quality was also really good, very easy to work with and after few days there was only just slightly some tip wear showing. Here's some pics of Designer... De Better! on its own.

See you all tomorrow when I'll have those inspired by a song nails for you!

Day 21: Inspired by a color - Teeez! Outta Control & Catherine Arley #673

2011-11-27T23:40:00.001+02:00

So it's yet again another day of the challenge and today was about being inspired by a color. I found that task to be little vague, because it doesn't really say much anything as all the other tasks are more specific. I was little unsure what to do for todays mani, but then I just decided to be inspired by my favourite nail polish color, purple. And to be more specific, holographic purple. So I have two wonderful holo purple polishes for you today!

So the first one is of course one of the recently received Teeez! holographics called Outta Control. I have three coats here, no base or top coat. This certainly is a color to be inspired if you ask me! Soooo pretty, love it!

And the second one is Catherine Arley number 673 and I have two coats here, no base or top coat. This one is a bit lighter than that Teeez! one, but I love them both dearly. I just love purple nail polish and I especially love holographic polishes, so I think I can never have too many purple holographics!

Day 20: Water Marbled

2011-11-26T22:39:00.001+02:00

I know that many people participating in this challenge were a bit afreaid of todays task water marbling, but I have to say that I quite like it. It's not sor sure something that I would do every day or even every week as it takes so much time and effort and is quite messy, but once in while I do enjoy doing some water marbled nails.

I was quite pleased with the quality of the Barielle A Bouquet For Ava that I showed you yesterday and so I thought it would work well with water marbling. I also wanted to use gold and I chose China Glaze Passion for it and for third color I chose China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, which I also used for my base color for this water marbling. Last but not least I topped the finished water marbling with e.l.f. Golden Goddess.

I really loved this color combination and I think the final mani looks really great. Even my boyfriend liked it very much and he even said that this is one of my best manis so far.

So now I'm done with the patterns part of the challenge and the last tasks are the inspiration ones. Can't wait!

Barielle A Bouquet For Ava & Essie Luxeffects Shine of the Times

2011-11-26T00:31:00.001+02:00

I just recently made a order from transdesign.com and there was still room in my order for one polish after I chose all the ones that I wanted that time. I noticed that they have Barielles polishes available and since I haven't tried that brand before, I wanted to try it. I probably would have ordered Elle's Spell, but it was out of stock so I pondered a bit and finally decided to order a polish called A Bouquet For Ava. That same order also contained one of those new Luxeffects polishes by Essie, so when they arrived I decided to pair those two.

I think they made a really awesome combo! This is two coats of Barielle A Bouquet For Ava with one coat of Essie Shine of the Times. And yes, flakies! I think this Essie one is a good alternative for some of those flakie toppers that are so popular but a bit to hard to find sometimes, like GOSH Rainbow, Nubar 2010 or Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. I have two of those (GOSH and Nubar) but I still had to have this, because I really like the effect and don't like to feel like I can't use those polishes because they will run out. So now that I have three alternatives I can probably allow myself to use them more often. Maybe I just have to do a comparison between those three to deside which one I like best or if they have any differences.

Besides loving the Essie one I also loved that Barielle polish. If I would have been more careful I'd have gotten off with just one coat. But it was really no hassle to do another coat, since this one dried incredibly fast. When painting the first coat the nails that I did first were almost completely dry just when I finished the last ones. And I think I'm quite quick with painting my nails. It was though a bit thick but nothing that one couldn't handle. The color is also nice, though I don't normally wear color like this, with those flakies on top I felt really comfortable.

For some reason I really had no great pictures of A Bouquet For Ava alone, all were blurry or something. Here's one that was even a bit decent:

Tomorrow I'll have another challenge mani for you, it's water marble day and I used this Barielle polish for that mani too. So see you tomorrow!

Teeez! Cool

2011-11-23T19:49:00.001+02:00

I have one of those amazing Teeez! holographic polishes, that I just recently got, to show you today. It's been quite cloudy and grey here lately (even with bit of snow too) and there haven't been literally any sun expect just for a brief moment just the other day. I should have probably gone outside to enjoy the sun like normal people would, but no, I stayed inside and tried to photograph as many holo polishes as I could before the sun was gone... lol indeed. Well that was quite fun too and at least now I have these photos to share you.

So this is called Cool and I have three coats here, no base or top coat. It's probably no surprise that I love this one! Eventhough you all know that I'm not particularly into blue polishes, I can't resist pretty holo ones in any color. I also have to say that I quite like the design of these Teeez! bottles, eventhough they have round caps which are sometimes a bit hard to work with. But they are really pretty with all those flowers and silver caps and all that, don't you think? So I'm really glad to have this one as part of my holo collection.. You can't really have too much holos in my opinion.

Day 19: Galaxies

2011-11-22T16:05:00.001+02:00

Sorry that I'm a bit late with this post as I promised that I would have posted this yesterday, but I had so many things that needed to be done, so I only have time to do this now. Hope you don't mind..

So I have another challenge mani for you and today's task was probably one of my favourites (at least so far) because I've been wanting to do a galaxy/space/cosmic or what ever mani for so long. I've seen quite many takes so far of this mani and they all look different, but at the same time, they all look extermely cool. I think there are so many great colors and shapes and all that in space, that the possibilites are endles when you do a mani inspired by it. So this is my first galaxy mani, but I think I might do this again soon and use some other colors. This time though I wanted to get this kind of foggy look and I think I managed quite well..

...or what do you think?

I think people are definately right when they say that these glaxy manis aren't so hard to do. As I said before, there is so much going on in outer space, that I think you can't really go wrong with colors or anything like that, so if you're a bit hesitant to try something like this, I say just go for it! It really is quite easy.

Here's all the polishes I used (btw I used quite many, I think you can get the look with less colors too)

Top row from left to right: Eyeko Cosmic polish, GOSH Holographic, Orly Space Cadet, Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl and Golden Rose 164.

And bottom row from left to right: Essence Out of My Mind, China Glaze Pure Elegance, Art Deco White nail art liner, China Glaze Snow Globe and Color Club Starry Temptress topcoat.

Essence Be Optimistic!

2011-11-20T15:27:00.000+02:00

Tomorrow I'll be showing you those galaxy nails of the challenge, but here I have just a quick post of a really nice fall color. It has been snowing a bit here lately and though it's been still to warm for the snow to stay on ground, I want to post this before it's truly a winter time, cause like I said, I think this is a perfect color for fall.

So this is Be Optimistic by Essence and I have two coats here with base and top coat. This is quite well pigmented, so well that it might be possible to get away with just one coat, but I did two to be sure. I think this is a really pretty one, lovely color and very glossy. I just wish that Essence polishes were sold in Finland too, they are usually quite nice quality-wise, they have many great colors and the prize is right for sure. So if you have access to Essence polishes, I think this is something you should pick up if you like orange nails even just a bit.

Models Own Beetlejuice Collection

2011-11-18T22:09:00.001+02:00

So today I have the new exciting collection from Models Own called Beetlejuice for you. I was really excited about this collection, because the colors looked very interesting. First I wasn't sure if I'd get the whole collection or just couple colors, but when I saw that they had the deal with all the Beetlejuice collection and the base/top coat, I just decided to jump and get them all. The colors are so complex, that they all need more pics than just one to show you what they are all about, so this post is going to be very very picture heavy and long. So consider yourselves warned, cause here we go.

So here's the whole collection from left to right: Pinky Brown, Golden Green, Purple Blue, Emerald Black and Aqua Violet.

I used three coats of each color, except Emerald black, which is two coats. Application was easy with them all and I really had no problems with them. All the pics are without base or top coat, and taken in natural light (one is in direct sunlight).

This is Pinky Brown, which I was probably most excited about when I saw the first bottle pics of this collection. I didn't have the change of getting Mac Bad Fairy or have access to those Accessorize polishes that had the same type of color, so I thought Pinky Brown could make up for it. I know those two polishes were more pinkier than this, but I still like this one alot. And I really love that color shift, because it really is there on nail too and not just in the bottle or something like that.

Golden Green is the one I thought I might not like because as you know I don't really like green polishes and from the pics I saw this seemed to have a frost finish. But on nail I did like it, it isn't my favourite one or anything like that, but I do like it. And as you can probably figure, I don't own colors like this, so I think this is a good addition to my collection.

Purple Blue has the same kind of glass fleck finish that Pinky Brown has and these two are right up my alley, so they were the ones I really wanted to have. And this is purple so of course I like it. I saw The PolishAholic's comparison post of the Beetlejuice collection where she compared Purple Blue with Orly Galaxy Girl. They definately aren't dupes but I think they look like that they are from the same family and as I didn't get Galaxy Girl, I'm glad I have this. And judging from those pics I prefer Purple Blue too.

Emerald Black was one of those that I was little hesitant of getting as I don't usually like to wear black polishes or polishes that look like black, but this is really pretty one! I really liked this one on my nails and can't wait to wear it as full manicure. By the way this is bit more green than it looks in my pics, my camera just didn't want to work right with this one.

Aqua Violet has really nice purple color shift and I just love how it looks when the duochrome comes alive. I'm also not a big blue polish fan, but the color shift makes it more special.

I have to say that I just love this collection and I'm glad that I got the whole thing and didn't left some colors out. Eventhough all the colors aren't my usual favourites, I think they work really well as collection. I ordered these from Models Own website so they are available there if you are interested.

Day 18: Half Moons - OPI DS Coronation

2011-11-17T17:19:00.000+02:00

It's yet again another day of the challenge and today's task was half moons. I have to admit that I have never tried a half moon manicure before. I really don't know why because I love the look, but somehow I just haven't done it before. Well, better late than never, right? I wanted to use blue for this because I rarely wear blue polish and now I just felt like it. And I though silver would be a good pair for it, so here's my first half moon mani ever:

So this is two coats of OPI DS Coronation with one coat of China Glaze Midnight Mission. I think these two really suited well together and I'm definately going to do half moon manis in the future too. The whole half moon look is so nice and you can use different color combinations to get different results and feeling.

Here's couple pics of DS Coronation by itself. I took these like million years ago, but just haven't posted them for some reason. Don't really know why, because the polish is a pretty one:

Three coats here, no base or top coat.

I'm super excited of the next task which is galaxies. Can't wait to try to do some space nails!

Look what I got!

2011-11-14T22:32:00.000+02:00

Few months ago I did a post asking if I had any readers who had access to Teeez! polishes, especially those three holographic ones. At that time no one responded, but two weeks ago I got a comment by Reile from the Netherlands saying that she could get me those polishes. So you can imagine that I was really excited and send her email right away. Long story short now I have those three pretties in my hand! But one thing I'm even more excited about than those polishes is the fact how amazing people fellow polish lovers can be. So Reile, I know I said it before, but huge thanks yet again for getting me those polishes! And besides getting me the three Teeez! holo ones, she also included one extra polish, which was sooo amazing thing to do in the first place, but the fact that it was Catrice Big City LE collection polish called Berlin made it even zillion times more special. I just loooove Berlin, it's probably my favourite city in the world, so of course this polish will have a special place in my polish collector's heart! So here are my new babies:

From left to right: Smooth, Outta Control, Cool and Berlin.

As many others I was also very interested in Models Own new collection called Beetlejuice, and after some thinking I decided to get the whole collection:

From left to right: Pinky Brown, Golden Green, Purple Blue, Emerald Black and Aqua Violet.

Can't wait to try all these pretties!

Day 17: Glitter - Color Club Sugarplum Fairy

2011-11-13T21:42:00.000+02:00

Today's task of the challenge was glitter and I've been really wanting to try at least one of the new Color Club holiday glitters that I ordered recently, so this was a perfect task for that. I decided to go with Sugarplum Fairy, because it looks so awesome in the bottle.

And this surely wasn't disappointing on nail either! I have here three coats of Sugarplum Fairy over beauty uk Metallic Lilac, so this isn't the most opaque glitter in the world, but on the other hand it can be build up easily and you can avoid bald spots by using a base color that matches the polish as I did. If you looove all glittery and sparkly polishes, I think this is really a must have! The removal is a bit pain as with all glitters, but nothing that one couldn't handle.

Day 16: Tribal Print - OPI Warm & Fozzie

2011-11-12T21:41:00.000+02:00

I'm back with another day of the challenge. This was probably the one task that I wast most afraid of and it's probably because of that I procrastinated and didn't want to do this mani, but when I was wearing OPI Warm & Fozzie from the Muppets collection I decided that it would make great base for this tribal mani and then I just had to take the nail art brush and start painting. I haven't really done many free hand nail art, so considering that, I think I managed to do a mani that fulfills the task.

So I just used Warm & Fozzie as base color and then painted the tribal print with e.l.f. Black using nail art brush. I took inspiration from this site which is just found wiht google picture search. I'm glad this day of the challenge is now over and the next ones are all pretty much those that I'm most excited about.

Here's a pic of Warm & Fozzie by itself:

Giveaway winners!

2011-11-08T11:40:00.000+02:00

I know I promised you that I would tell you the giveaway winners yesterday, but there were so many entries and I'm quite busy with my studies, so with all the other things it took this long to go trough and verify all the entries. So I'm sorry about that, but I'm glad to tell you that now I have randomly selected (using random.org) both winners. I randomly draw two numbers between 1 and 457 and they were 356 and 94. And the winners with those numbers were SuperHotFemale and Deborah. So congrats to you both!

(Picture is from here)

The great thing was that you both hoped for different prizes, so you both are getting what you wished for! I will email you two just shortly and please, remember to answer within next 48 hours.

I also want to thank everyone that participated in my giveaway! Some of you left really nice comments and I also got some request that I'm planning on doing as soon as possible. So thanks again to all and this was so much fun (again) that I should really do another giveaway shortly, but for now that's all. :)

Giveaway is closed!

2011-11-06T21:37:00.000+02:00

Giveaway is closed and I will announce the winners tomorrow.

My Facebook giveaway ended more than week ago but I seem to have a problem getting the winner(s) to email me. I don't know what it is, maybe people don't notice my updates in Facebook page or something because I have already drawn two different winners because the previous ones haven't answered me in time (more than 48 hours). This is getting quite ridicilous, but I randomly drew yet another winner and this time it is Zoey Dahling, so Zoey, if you read this, please check Polish This facebook page for more information!

Giveaway reminder

2011-11-05T23:04:00.000+02:00

You have less than 24 hours to participate in my giveaway so don't forget! Here's one of the two prizes that you can win:

Click the picture to learn more!

Day 15: Delicate print - Depend 251

2011-11-01T23:56:00.002+02:00

So it's again another day of the challenge and this time the task was delicate print nails. I'm not usually good with prints or anything like that and somehow I found this task a bit challenging. Well, that's the point of the challenge, right? Anywho, I decided to try some konading, thought I'm not very comfortable with it or anywhere near as good as some and I have only few plates, so there is not much of choice. But anyhow, here's my delicate print nails.

I chose the easy way out and did only one image from one plate to each nail and tried to even place it the same way. I know it can be a bit boring, but I quite like simple designs. I used Depend number 251 (two coats) and Konad white stamping polish for this mani. Hope it's delicate enough, lol. Well, tomorrows task is probably the hardest one, still don't know what to do with it.. So tune in to see if I come up with anything good.. :)

Here's some pics of the Depend polish by itself:

Nubar Reclaim

2011-10-31T00:30:00.000+02:00

Just a quick post outside the challenge. I have already done those delicate print challenge nails, but I will post them tomorrow. Today I have one really amazingly pretty polish for you, that I think you've all seen quite many times, but it deserves all the attention.

Yeah, I'm talking about Nubar Reclaim, awesome green holo that even I love and you all know I'm not usually a big fan of green polishes. Reclaim has really nice linear holo effect and it was opaque with just two coats, so if you ask me, I think this is a perfect green holo. And if you're a holo lover like me, you should get this from somewhere, this is really a must-have polish.

Giveaway reminder

2011-10-27T10:42:00.000+03:00

You have time until tomorrow to enter my Facebook giveaway, so don't forget to go to Polish This Facebook page and enter! Here's the prices you can win:

Also remember to enter the giveaway here in this blog, click here to learn more. That one will end on November 6th.

Day 14: Flowers

2011-10-27T00:48:00.001+03:00

It's another day of the challenge and today the task is flower nails. I have just few Konad plates and some of them do have flower desings but instead of Konad I decided to try some freehand nail art, though I had to keep it quite simple because of my lack of freehand skills. But here's the mani anyway:

And here are the polishes that I used:

From left to right: Orly Bonder, Glitter Gal Black 3d/Holo, Color Club Ultra-Astral, Mavala White, L.A. Colors Art Deco nail art liner white, China Glaze Bad Kitty and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri.

I couldn't get proper picture of that Glitter Gal polish just because there hasn't really been any sun for couple of weeks or so. But I promise to wear it again sometime when there is some sunlight and take some pics, because the holo effect looks really amazing at least in the bottle.

I hope you all liked today's challenge mani, day after tomorrow's task is tribal print and I have no idea how I'm going to do that...

Day 13: Animal Print - Misa Grey Matters

2011-10-25T00:43:00.000+03:00

It's day 13 and time for animal print nails, but first I want to remind you to participate in my giveaway and also my Facebook giveaway.

I'm not really a big fan of animal print in anything, so I have never done animal print nails. I was first thinking of doing something different and trying to find some cool animal print (like some frog or lizard with cool colors) but then I decided that I should really try to do the 'traditional' leopard print manicure, because I wouldn't probably try it ever if not now with this challenge. So I checked out Pampered & Polished leopard print mani tutorial and tried to do one myself.

And here it is.. I think I managed to catch the look even though this is not nearly perfect or as neat as I've seen other people do. But this was my first try and I'm really not good with free hand nail art either, so keeping that in mind I think I did pretty good. At least it looked kind of cool from distance, lol. However, I don't see myself wearing this look very often, I guess animal prints aren't just my thing.

The base color for this manicure was Misa Grey Matters from their Surreal Escape Winter 2011 collection and the black is e.l.f. Black and for the dots I used Color Club Ultra-Astral. I knew I needed to have Grey Matters as soon as I saw Scrangie's swatch of it. And she was soooo right, it looks so cool, like bird eggs, just like she said.

Day 12: Stripes

2011-10-20T23:28:00.000+03:00

It's time for another challenge manicure and this time it's a stripes mani. I wanted to do a scotch tape mani once again, so I did quite wide stripes and I also wanted to do something sweet and girly, so here it is:

So I used Misa As Pink As You Please and China Glaze Frosty (two coats each) and then of course topped it off with top coat. This didn't turn out like I had in mind, but I thought that the outcome wasn't so bad either. It reminds me a bit of ballerinas or something girly like that.

Day 11: Polka Dots

2011-10-18T21:45:00.000+03:00

It's day 11 of the challenge and so it's time for some patterns, and today that means polka dots. I've never done polka dot nails before, can you believe that? It's just because I'm not very fond of that pattern or how it looks on me, because believe me, I've seen many great polka dot manis, but somehow it's just not the look for me. Anyway, I think this is part of the reason why I wanted to this challenge in the beginning, I think it's agreat way to challenge my self to doing something that I wouldn't normally do. So without further ado, here's my polka dot mani:

Once again I decided to use some purple polishes, just because I thought they might make me more comfortable with this look. I think my mani turned out to be okay and the colors worked nicely together. I also wanted to add little something, so I did one nail with purple rhinestones. My base color for this mani was P2 Gracious and I did the dots with OPI Pamplona Purple using a dotting tool.

Btw, remember to participate in my giveaways here on blog and Facebook.

It's giveaway time!

2011-10-14T23:55:00.004+03:00

Yesterday I started my Facebook giveaway (click here to Polish This Facebook page to learn more or see yesterdays blog post), but today it's time for giveaway here in my blog too. I really enjoyed my previous giveaway, I thought it was quite fun to do, but it's been a while now since I had that, so I figured it was time for a new one just to thank all my old and new readers. I hope you all like it!

This time there will be two winners. I just want to quickly remind you that I'm still doing my studies at university, so I'm constantly on student budget, so these prizes won't be so huge that some blog have. But I've bought everyhting with my own money and everything is new and unused. So, let's see the prizes, right?

Prize 1 has two Catherine Arley polishes (667, 677), GOSH Bright Passion, Eveline Happy Colors #600, 10 fimo canes and a cuticle oil (pomegranate).

Prize 2 has two Kleancolor Chunky Holo polishes (Teal, Candy), two China Glaze polishes (Skate Night, Black Mesh crackle polish), 10 fimo canes and a cuticle oil (orange).

You get one entry by participating to the giveaway, but you can also get extra entries too. Those extra entries are voluntary and you can do only one or both or none. I also added question about your home country to the end of the form just because I'd like to know where my readers come from, but answering that doesn't give any extra entries or isn't in any way mandatory. Also there's a comment box at the end if youd like to say something, but again that's not mandatory or doesn't give any entries.

So here are the rules:

1. You must be a public follower via Google Friend Connect, new followers are of course welcome. Let me know your GFC name and your e-mail, so I can easily contact the winner. (1 entry)

For extra entries:

2. You can post about this giveaway or put it in your giveaway page or sidebar. You can use one of those pictures too. Please provide a link. (3 entries)

3. Add me to your blogroll or if I'm already there, please provide a link. (1 entry)

First winner drawn will get the prize they've marked as the one they would rather win and the second winner drawn will get the one that's left.

The giveaway is open internationally! To participate just fill the form below.

~~This giveaway will end on 6th November 2011 9PM (EEST).~~

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED!

<p>&amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Loading...&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;lt;/p&amp;amp;amp;gt;</p>

Facebook giveaway!

2011-10-13T22:15:00.001+03:00

I thought it was time to do a little Facebook giveaway to thank you all who follow Polish this! at Facebook. One lucky winner will win some nail art and care products:

2 cuticle oils (strawberry and kiwi), 10 fimo canes, 2 manicure sticks, set of half pearls and 3 nail sticker sheets.

The giveaway is open to all everywhere, all you need to do is like Polish This facebook page and then comment below my post (at Facebook) about the giveaway with your all-time favourite polish for fall. Just log on to Polish This facebook page for further instructions and all the details. Just to be clear, this giveaway is in Facebook, so if you want to participate, go to Facebook and comment there.

Good luck to all with the giveaway! And don't worry if you don't use Facebook nor want to, I'm going to do a little giveaway here in the blog too and that will probably start tomorrow or so. :)

Day 10: Gradient

2011-10-13T00:33:00.001+03:00

So I'm at day ten of the 31 Day Challenge and it's time for gradient nails. I really like to do gradient nails, it's quite easy and the look is usually quite cool, so I was excited about today's challenge.

I wanted to do a purple gradient mani just because I haven't done one before and also just because I happen to loooove purple polishes. I think it turned out nicely, I really enjoy this look so much that I'm still wearing it after two days, which is quite long for me as I tend to change my manicure very often, and I don't want to take it off.

I used four purple polishes for this and of course one glitter polish and topped it of with one coat of quick dryer. Those purple polishes were: Wild and Crazy Pinky Promise, China Glaze Señorita Bonita, GOSH Gasoline and Sinful Colors Daddy's Girl, the glitter polish is Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope.

Essence Thelma & OPI Mad as a Hatter

2011-10-11T21:13:00.000+03:00

I love OPI Mad as a Hatter and I know many of you do to. I've worn it over light purple but never over darker purple polish, so a while ago I thought it really was time to do that.

So here I have two coats of MaaH over one of Essence twin polishes called Thelma. I knew this combination would work and I wasn't wrong. This was really a nice look. But sometimes I worry about using MaaH as I don't want to use it too much and get the bottle empty. I should have probably gotten a back-up of this, but I'm glad that I at least have this one.

And if you're wondering, my nails look longer because I took these pictures some time ago when I still had longer nails..

Here's Thelma by herself (two coats):

Day 9: Rainbow

2011-10-10T23:55:00.000+03:00

It's day nine of the challenge and time for some rainbow nails. I got my inspiration for these nails from Polish Freshie's post about pastel stripe sponge mani. She posted this mani last spring and ever since I've been wanting to do my own version of it and, well, it really suited for today's theme.

This mani was very easy to do and I think it looks really great. I just sponged each nail twice over the base color (Essence Found My Love) and then added some glitter and top coat. It's quite many layers of nail polish but those sponged layers aren't very thick so it dried up nicely too. I have to say that my cuticles and fingers in general are looking very dry, sorry about that. It was the moving and all, I haven't had time to take care of them, but I promise to try to do better now on, lol.

Here are the polishes that I used:

(From left to right) Essence Found My Love, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint, Misa As Pink as you Please, Golden Rose 164, China Glaze Papaya Punch and Color Club Starry Temptress

Orly Bubbly Bombshell

2011-10-09T23:06:00.001+03:00

Tomorrow I will show you my rainbow nails for the 31 Day Challenge, but today I have a glitter bomb to show you. I know I'm a bit late with this, as it is from summer collection (and I just yesterday talked about fall/winter polishes), but I took these pics some time ago and now I thought I should really share them already. Better later than never, right?

This is Orly Bubbly Bombshell and I have three coats here. I'm quite a glitter junkie and as soon as I saw the first pictures of this I knew I had to have it. I'm not really sure why I didn't post this earlier because I really liked it. It's glitter and it's purple (or deep fuchsia) so it's probably no surprise that I like it, I think it's also nice that it has two different sizes of glitter in it, it makes the polish more interesting. The removal wasn't too bad either, of course it's quite hard as this is a glitter polish, but it wasn't impossible.

Zoya Crystal

2011-10-08T21:28:00.000+03:00

I have one Zoya polish for you today, that I think you've all seen quite many times already, but it is so pretty that it deserves all the attention.

So this is Crystal and as you all probably know by now, I'm not usually very fond of blue polishes, but somehow I really liked this one. Maybe it's because it's not really strickly blue as it has a lot of gold foil glitter. Crystal was part of Zoya's winter 2010 collection and it surely is a perfect color for winter. I know many are bummed out because the summer has ended and now it's fall and cold and all that and soon it's already winter, but I quite like all seasons and what's better way to get ready for fall or winter than trying out polishes that fit the season. Though I'm a bit bummed out too, because this inevitably means that I will have less and less light to take photographs and there will be so little sunlight. But then again, there are so many nice fall/winter/holiday collections on their way too..

Day 8: Metallic - a-england Merlin

2011-10-07T13:32:00.000+03:00

I'm alive... lol. I'm really sorry that I've been silent for quite long time. As I told you before, I was moving to a new apartement, but it got delayed a bit as there was some repairs that needed to be done in this new place. So we had to delay the moving, but I had already packed everything (all my polishes too) and so we had to also live with all those boxes for a week. So it was a bit stressful, but now we have been here at the new apartement for couple days already and have managed to get all the things to their right places, so it's all good now.. And I finally have a Helmer too, so now my nail polish collection feels really organized! As a result I can finally continue with the 31 day challenge, so it's day eight and time for metallic nails.

So this is three coats of Merlin by a-england, no base or top coat. I ordered this (as well as Tristam and Lady of the Lake) when a-england had their free shipping campaing, and I'm really glad I did. I know this polish isn't particularly unique, but I really like the quality of a-england polishes and the names and the bottle desing are also nice. These are a bit expensive for my taste (student budget), but I really wanted to try these polishes. Can't really say anything about the removal as I only swatched this and removed it when it was still wet, but I can imagine that there is a need for foil method removal here.

Zoya Aria & Kleancolor Chunky Holo Fuchsia

2011-09-19T00:13:00.000+03:00

I'm back from Rome, well, I've been home for couple days already, but I managed to catch a flu and haven't been feeling very well. Yeah, it's quite something to go to a place where it's 30 degrees celcius (86 F) from 12 degrees and catch a flu.. Oh well, I think I'm slowly getting better, so it's fine. Also, I've been quite busy for these past couple of days because we're moving to a new appartment on Saturday, so I've just been trying to pack our stuff and so on. So I might not post so often until we get to settle in and so on, just mainly because I have all my nail polishes packed already. But don't worry, I have some nail pics in storage and today I'm showing a layered look with my last posts Zoya Aria and Kleancolor Chunky Holo Fuchsia.

So this is two coats of Chunky Holo Fuchsia layered over Aria. It was quite hard to get the Chunky Holo to show in these pics, I think it was more visible in real life. I think this was a nice combo, though Aria looked really good by her self too.

Zoya Aria

2011-09-14T19:59:00.000+03:00

I have another Zoya for you today, as I can't get enough of them, lol.

This is Zoya Aria and I have three coats here. I have to say that I really like this one too as I have liked all the Zoyas that I've tried so far. It is again really nice quality, the polish just glides on so easily and the color is also really pretty. And the polish also reminds me of the tv show Pretty Little Liars because of the name of course (one of the characters is called Aria), so that's always fun , because I really love the show, though I'm not sure if this would be a color that Aria would wear...

Day 7: Black and White - Explosion

2011-09-13T19:47:00.000+03:00

It's day seven of the challenge and I had to wear black and white nails, which I don't normally do, ever. I had to think quite long how I would use these two colors and I finally decided to try a simplified explosion desing inspired by Jane from Nailside. Well, my explosion isn't really nothing like Jane's but at least it's black and white..

I did this mani with just two colors as it was the challenge. I used Mavala White and Essence Berlin Story as the black. I wasn't really pleased with the outcome, I think it was also partly because I'm not really comfortable about wearing white polish.. And then as you can see my top coat caused also some bubblying, so this mani wasn't so great success.

Zoya Faye

2011-09-12T19:31:00.000+03:00

Just while ago I ordered some more Zoya polishes, well, just because I needed to have some more. I probably shouldn't have ever got any Zoyas because now I just want more... Oh well, I have one beauty to show you today.

So this is Zoya Faye and I have three coats here. I have seen so many pics of this polish, as have probably all of you too, and I always thought it looked really pretty and I wanted to have it but at the same time I had some doubts about it. I think it was because of the golden shimmer, usually polishes with golden shimmer don't work so well with my skintone, but with this one my doubts were not necessary as this is really pretty and it worked just fine with my skintone and all. So it's another keeper from Zoya, what a surprise... I might need to get even more, lol..

Day 6: Violet - OPI Grape...Set...Match

2011-09-11T19:16:00.002+03:00

I'm back with the challenge today and it's already day six and it's time for violet nails. Well, I know violet is technically more like bluish purple but I just decided to go with more red toned one.

This is OPI Grape...Set...Match and it's from OPI Glam Slam! England collection. As soon as I saw first pics of this polish (quite long time ago) I knew I had to have this. As you know already I'm a great purple lover and this polish looked soooo pretty and amazing, so of course I needed it. And I think it really is worth having even if you're not so big purple lover as I am.

Btw, when you're reading this I am (hopefully) in Rome with my mom having a little vacation. It's just for few days, I'll be back home on Wednesday and I have timed some posts for you.

Maybelline MNY #557

2011-09-10T19:55:00.002+03:00

I don't have a challenge mani for you today, instead I'm just doing this quick post of a mani that I wore and photographed before summer, lol. These pics have just been waiting for to be posted and I thought I should really do this now or otherwise I might not never post these.

So this is Maybelline MNY number 557 and I have to say that this is one of those polishes that looks good in bottle but not so good on nail. Well, it's not ugly or anything like that, it just a bit boring and quite sheer too. If I can remember right this was three coats so maybe with a fourth one it would have been more opaque but I just thought that this polish isn't worth of four coats. All and all it's nice but nothing special.

Day 5: Blue - China Glaze Skyscraper

2011-09-09T20:33:00.019+03:00

Today is the fifth day of the challenge and it's a blue day.

So for today I chose China Glaze Skyscraper from this falls collection. I don't have or wear many blue polishes but I really loved this one, but then again it's glitter and I love everything glitter. I've seen some swatches of this polish where it looks much more lighter blue, but at least mine is more darker, just like it looks like here in the pics. But it really is sooo pretty, I wasn't at first sure if I should get this one but I'm really glad I did.

Day 4: Green - Milani Hi-Tech and Kleancolor Chunky Holo Clover

2011-09-08T22:31:00.000+03:00

What a monster title, right? It day four of the challenge and time for some green nails. But before that I want to apologize for not posting for over a week. I was without internet connection and I didn't know that beforehand as I would have timed some posts.. So sorry about that, now I want to get on with the challenge and some other manis too. But let's see those green nails now, shall we.

Hope you aren't bored of layering yet, as I did some again. This is two coats of Milani Hi-Tech with two coats of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Clover on top. The Chunky holo isn't very visible over Hi-Tech, though in some angles or lighting you can see some chunky particles. I did enjoyed this combination nevertheless.

Day 3: Yellow - China Glaze Trendsetter

2011-08-29T23:16:00.000+03:00

It's day three of the challenge and it's time for yellow. This time I have a polish from this fall's collection.

This is China Glaze Trendsetter and I have two coats here. I was little confused if I should put this under yellow or maybe green or something, because the color isn't strickly yellow to me, but anyways.. Well, I think the best description would be mustard yellow green, lol. Anywho, the color is one of those ugly pretties and I was quite sure I wouldn't like it very much. But I have to say I really liked this one, it's really unique color and the gold shimmer makes it even more interesting.

I also added some Nubar 2010 over Trendsetter to make it even more sparkly. I know the last pic is a bit blurry, but it shows the flakies so nicely.

Day 2: Orange - Zoya Tanzy and Kleancolor Chunky Holo Poppy

2011-08-26T18:49:00.000+03:00

It's day 2 of the challenge, so it's time for orange. I don't have many orange polishes, so I'm showing you the ones that I haven't yet shown. And I have quite many pics, uups.

This is Zoya Tanzy and I have two coats here. With two coats you could still see some VNL, but I didn't want to do a third one as I knew that I would layer another polish over this. Also, the nail line wasn't so noticeable. I've been wanting to get some more orange polishes as I have so few and I'm really starting to like the color. I though this one was a one to have and I was right, as it is soooo pretty!

I also wanted to try a chunky holo by Kleancolor and I thought the color Poppy would suit nicely over Tanzy, so here it is:

So this is two coats of Kleancolor Chunky Holo Poppy over Tanzy. I think the mani looked really juicy, like some kind of yummy orange candy or something. If the Kleancolor polish didn't smell so bad I might have accidently tasted my nails, lol.

Day 1: Red - Zoya Sooki

2011-08-24T21:23:00.001+03:00

So it's the first day of the challenge and when I noticed that red was the first color to wear, I immediately knew which polish I would show you. Well, I'm cheating a bit, I took this pictures way before I knew about this challenge, but I've just waited for the right time to post this, and I think this is it.

This is of course Zoya Sooki and even though it is spelled differently than Sookie in True Blood, I had to have this. I'm a True Blood fan and I'm not really embarrassed to say it out loud, I just love that show. And I've been saying that there really should be a True Blood nail polish collection, so I just had to this polish with the name spelled wrong and all. At least it is red as is should be imo.

I guess I should talk something about the polish itself too, lol. This was really a nice quality as Zoyas tend to be, I have two coats here. Easy application, the polish glided on my nails so easily. True reds aren't usually in my alley but I really liked this one. And there has been a Sooki(e) sized hole in my collection, so this fits in perfectly.

I'm gonna leave you with a pic of Sookie (Anna Paquin), just because I want to, lol.

Picture from here.

31 Day Challenge

2011-08-23T23:23:00.000+03:00

Just moments ago I stumbled across this 31 Day Challenge at Wacky Laki and I immediately thought it sounded really fun and I wanted to also to give it a try. I'm not really planning to follow this challenge every day, my plan is to go at my own pace, just like Anutka at Wacky Laki is doing too. So don't be surprised if you see also posts that aren't part of the challenge.

Here is the challenge and the rules:

RULES:

Reblog this post if you’re gonna accept this challenge
One post per day
If you miss one, pick it up the next day
Post a picture of each mani
It would be nice if you listed/linked to what polishes you used
For the inspiration prompts, SHOW US YOUR INSPIRATION/SHARE LINKS
BE CREATIVE
TRY NEW THINGS
HAVE FUN!!!

NOTE: don’t want a new look every day? Go at your own pace! The big goal is to get through all 31 manicures… and notice how your skills grow!

Let me know if you are planning to do this too!

Catherine Arley #675

2011-08-23T00:11:00.000+03:00

I still have some Catherine Arley polishes left to show you, so here's another holo beauty.

This one is number 675 and (again) I have just two coats here. This is more subtle color and the holo effect isn't very strong either, but it is there. And as you, I'm sure, already know, I love all my holo polishes, so this is no exception.

Besides this polish, I also wanted to talk to just a little about other stuff. As you've probably noticed, my blogging hasn't been very regular during summer. The reason is that I was working quite a bit and also because my work tasks, I couldn't really wear nail polish. But now I'm back home having some leisure time before my studies at university start again, so I'm going to be blogging more regularly from now on. I just wanted to let you guys now.. I know summer is busy time for many of us and there's usually better things to do, than sit inside and read/write blog posts. I hope you all had really great summer though and I'm looking forward on getting back in the saddle.

Lumene Magical Moment

2011-08-19T17:46:00.001+03:00

Today I have another polish from a Finnish brand called Lumene for you.

This is called Magical Moment (Hetken lumo) and I have three coats here. This one was quite sheer and I think I could have needed fourth coat to make it look even better, but other than that this was really a nice surprise. I think most of Lumene's polishes are quite traditional colors and honestly quite boring, but this isn't boring to me. It looks almost like it could be a polish by Zoya or China Glaze, so thumbs up for that.

Teeez holographic polishes?

2011-08-11T22:29:00.000+03:00

Just a quick post to ask if I have any readers who have access to Teeez holographic polishes (Outta Control, Cool, Smooth)? I would very much like to have these polishes, so if you have access to them and want to help me out, please e-mail me (polishthis[at]gmail[dot]com) or comment here to this post, so we can arrange a swap or something like that..

Catherine Arley #666

2011-08-10T20:50:00.000+03:00

I'm not still done with Catherine Arley holo polishes, so here's another one for you.

So this one is number 666 and I have (again) two coats here. So at least I can say that the quality of these polishes is really consistent, all colors have been fine with just two coats, some were even fine with only one. This color is also really pretty, just like all the other ones were. I think I can never have too many holo polishes, lol. What can I say, they are just so pretty, especially in summer when the sun is shining brightly.

H&M Lolita comparison

2011-08-08T23:16:00.000+03:00

I have just a quick comparison for you today. My last post was H&M Lolita and well, I noticed I had at least two colors that were quite alike, so I compared them to you.

So I have H&M Lolita on my index and pinky nail and Zoya Perrie on middle and Jesse's Girl Spring Break on my ring finger nail. All three looked quite alike in bottles, but Spring Break is clearly more blue toned on nail. Perrie and Lolita are almost dupes but Perrie is a tad darker. I think there's no reason to own both Lolita and Perrie, and well, I would probably invest to Perrie as Zoya's quality is better than H&M's. But then again, Zoyas are quite diffucult to get at some places (like here in Finland) so Lolita is a nice alternative if you're looking one. The color isn't particularly unique and I think almost every brand has probably atleast one color that is close to all these too.

H&M Lolita

2011-07-23T19:38:00.001+03:00

I told you before how confusing I think H&M nail polishes sometimes are. They have these different shaped bottles and all and I just don't get it. Well, once when I was eyeing H&M nail polish stand I noticed this one bottle that was different from all the others. There was only one bottle of this oddly shaped bottle there and then there was also many bottles of the same color but different shape of bottle. Confusing, right? But what was more confusing is that the bottle that I found was bigger (had more nail polish in it) than the others but it was also cheaper. Well, of course I had to buy it then, lol.

So this is called Lolita and I have two coats here, no base or top coat. It's a quite nice color, nothing unique and well, I have quite many that are in the same hue, but I just had to buy it, you know. The quality was quite nice too, though this one was a bit runny, but nothing major. I don't really like the shape of the bottle, or at least the cap is a little difficult to work with, but again, this one was cheaper that the others, so of course I had to be economical and buy this one. Well, I could have been even more economical and left the shop without any polish...

Maybelline MNY #673

2011-07-22T19:25:00.001+03:00

I have a not-so-summery mani for you today for a change. Recently (well, about month and a half ago, but time goes so fast in summer) I spotted Maybelline MNY stand in a Finnish store. Before this I hadn't never seen this MNY brand sold in Finland, so of course I had to pick up some polishes to try. I choosed two and today I have have the first one to show you.

This is #673 and I have three coats here, no base or top coat. Normally I don't like to wear plain black polishes but I wanted to try this one because as you can see it's not just plain black. And well, I really like it! It looks so cool with all those silver particles (I can't decide what to call them). Even thoguh it's summer and all I really wanted to wear this as a full mani and not just for a little while (for these pictures). So the first try with this Maybelline line was a success. I'm always glad when new brands or lines show up here, because as you can probably imagine, Finland isn't really a nail polish wonderland. There seems to be more and more nail polish at different stores nowadays, but it always nice to see even more.

Catherine Arley #677

2011-07-20T22:24:00.000+03:00

I have another Catherine Arley polish for you today, just because they are so pretty and what's really a better time to wear them than summertime with sunshine..

This one is number 677 and I have two coats here (again, it was almost good to go with just one coat). I don't have much to say about this that I haven't already said about the other Catherine Arley polishes. I really love the quality (and also the price) of these polishes and this is yet another pretty color. Looking at this just makes me want to buy all the rest of these holographic polishes that I don't (yet) own. And that wouldn't be so smart, would it? Who needs so many holographic polishes? I do! Well, maybe I don't need them, but I still want them, oh well...

Catherine Arley #668

2011-07-07T23:48:00.000+03:00

Summer is probably the best time to wear holo polishes, right? So I have another holo polish for you today.

This is Catherine Arley polish number 668 and I have two coats here with base and top coat. All but the last picture are taken under sunlight. I have to say that I really love this CA polish too like all the others I have shown you. This is quite a fun one, because it's almost like some regular nude or just a neutral color when there's no sunlight, but in sun it really comes alive. So I'd say this one is a office friendly holo. And I even got some compliments from strangers wearing this. Well, maybe that's an everyday thing for some of you that people compliment your nail polish, but I think Finnish people are more hesitant to say things like that to strangers, so I think I'm not the only one loving this polish.

a-england Tristam

2011-06-30T22:45:00.000+03:00

Today I have one lovely holographic polish for you.. Yes, I also had to order some (two) a-england polishes when I found out that they had free postage campaign going on. (If you hurry, you can still order some of their polishes from their website with free postage, the offer is valid till first of July.)

This is Tristam and I have two coats here, no base or top coat. This isn't strong linear holo like I know some want their holo polishes to be, but still I just adore this. It's really really pretty and it was almost good with only one coat, so the quality is quite amazing. Also I don't have any darker blue holos and though I don't normally wear blue polishes, I do love this one and will definately wear it again. It's bit like a blue night sky with starlight glimmer, just like they at a-england describe it at their website. And also, I have to mention too, that the delivery was insanely quick, I had this something like two days after I made the order. I also ordered Lady of the Lake and it wasn't in the first delivery, but when I emailed them about that, I got the answer really quickly and they sent the other polish to me really quickly too.

Jesse's Girl Purple Glitter

2011-06-26T23:00:00.000+03:00

Today I have the last one of Jesse's Girl polishes that I own to show you. This one is also from the older line and I think it's not even available anymore on their website, though there is still some other polishes from the old line available. Well, I'm showing it to you anyways..

This is probably my least favourite from those Jesse's Girl polishes that I have, mainly because it is so sheer. I have four coats here and there is still visible nail line and the color isn't deep or anything. It looks nice in the bottle, but on nail it's quite disappointing. It was also quite thick, so it has probably been sitting on their stock quite awhile or something. Oh well, at least I really liked all those other polishes that I got from Jesse's Girl and they had really nice quality too.

Catherine Arley #800

2011-06-20T21:50:00.000+03:00

I have another Catherine Arley polish for you today:

This is number 800, I have two coats here, though it was almost perfect with just one coat. I did two just in case. So, the quality is really good opaque-wise, but as you can see, this doesn't have very strong holo effect. I think it's still really pretty and the color is nice. I don't own any true reds that are holos in any ways, so this is nice addition to my collection. Some day I would definately want to own a red polish that has linear holo effect. But as I said, I love this the way it is.

H&M Blue Wave

2011-06-18T23:01:00.000+03:00

Few days ago I was doing some shopping and when I stoped at H&M of course I also had to check their nail polish rack. And I couldn't resist but buying one polish.

So this is Blue Wave and I have four quite thick coats here. So yeah, it's really sheer. And it also wasn't so pretty as I though it would be. You can see different colored tiny glitters in the bottle, but they don't really show up on nail. I think this could really look nice (again) layered with some other polish. Maybe then the glitters could be seen better.

Top 10 Award

2011-06-17T23:27:00.002+03:00

I just got this Top 10 Award from Karine from Nailderella!

So a big thank to Karine, it was really sweet to nominate me. :)

The Top 10 award rules:
1. Thank the person who tagged you and link to their blog.
2. Put the Top 10 Award logo on your blog.
3. List your top 10 cosmetics.
4. Choose 10 bloggers to tag, link to their blogs, and let them know.

Here are my top 10 cosmetics in no particular order!
1. Lily Lolo Mineral Foundation - In the Buff (in summer)
2. Max Factor False Lasf Effect mascara
3. Make Up Store Cover All Mix Concealer
4. Lumene Arctic Glow Mineral Blush - Winter Rose
5. Lumene Translucent Mineral Loose Powder
6. Lush Dark Angels Cleanser
7. Clinique Mild Clarifying Lotion
8. L'Oréal Paris Studio Secrets Resurfacing Primer
9. Colosé eyeshadows (especially Creme Marron)
10. NAIL POLISH

Yeah, I just couldn't name couple of nail polishes as I really can't say which are my ultimate favourites. Some days I like different ones that some other days and there are so many gorgeous polishes, that I just couldn't do it. So instead I just put down nail polishes (meaning all of them) and listed some of my other favourite cosmetics.

And here are my top 10 bloggers in no particular order!
1. Jane from Nailside
2. Doo from Doo polishing
3. Ritterbraten from Das Experiment
4. Stephanie from Imperfectly Painted
5. Ivana from Ivana Thinks Pink
6. AmyGrace from The Polished Perfectionist
7. Deborah from Love. Varnish, chocolate and more...
8. Salla from Playing with Polish
9. Kirsten from Glitta Gloves
10. Bruno from Acetone and Old Lacquer

Answers to some questions

2011-06-16T22:00:00.002+03:00

Like many other bloggers I also use Google Analytics and one night I used it to gather some questions or such that were used when entering my blog. I wanted to do a post that answers to some of these, because I thought it would be fun, so here it is. There were also a lot of comparison questions that I'm saving mostly to some other post, but here's the first part.

"Nail polish that looks like broken glass"

I'd say that Color Club Covered in Diamonds look definately like broken glass. Here I have it over Misa As Pink As You Please (first pic) and Color Club Jewel of a Girl (second pic).

"Does water marbling work with OPI"

Well, here's a water marling mani done solely with OPI polishes, so it works, but I can't guarantee that every single OPI works for this purpose. I think you just have to test and try to be sure if a polish works or not. I think it's not a brand thing, some polishes from a certain brand work and some don't.

"Is silver polish in for New Years Eve"

I sported this mani with GOSH Rainbow last New Years Eve and well, I might wear this polish for the next one coming too, because I don't think there's anything more appropriate for New Years than this one. I know there's like six months till the next New Years Eve, but it's always good to think ahead, right? lol

"Jesse's Girl Glee nail polish dupe"

Well, this is Jesse's Girl Glee and it's one of those polishes that are really close to the (original) Zoya Charla. I believe that OPI Catch Me in Your Net is also really close to Zoya Charla and there are some others too.. I don't have any but this so I can't compare them to you, but this is a really pretty polish and I'm glad I own one that is even somewhat similar. Sorry about the very very dry hands I have here in this pic, it was winter and it had been ~~really~~ freezing cold for a while, so this is what happens to my hands when it's seriously cold.

"Where is Manhattan 610K"

Remember the travelling nail polish? Here's my post about it if you don't. Well, I had to do some searching to find it. From me it went to Polish Drop and from there it went to Kamila. After that it made it's way back again to USA to Nailventuress blog and her blog was quiet for a while after that but now she's just gathering the entries of those who want to have this polish visit them. So if you want it, I suggest that you take a look at her post, here.