August 31, 2010, 11:13:00 PM

Review: Orly Bonder

A while ago I asked everyone to let me know their base coat recommendations. Nailtek Foundation II and Orly Bonder were the ones that stood out from the crowd. I had the chance to order Bonder so I went at it. I've been using it for some months now so I figured a little review wouldn't hurt!

What Orly says

"This exclusive rubberized bond grips polish to the nail surface for adhesion that lasts. Prevents nail color from peeling, chipping or wearing off for up to two weeks."

let's see about that!

Extending wear, good application, creating a smooth canvas, protecting my nails from peeling and staining, are all things I find really important when it comes to a base coat. And I have to say...

...Orly Bonder scores very well if you takes these criteria into consideration.

Orly claims that manicures will last up to 2 weeks, which I find a bit daring to say. This all depends on your body chemistry, nail polish and top coat you will use, and don't forget about your daily activities. I noticed I can wear manicures around 4 or 5 days when I use Bonder, which is quite impressive, to me. But nowhere 2 weeks! It also applies easy peasy, and it dries pretty fast, allowing me to apply my first layer of nail polish almost immediately.

Is it all that?

Bonder leaves a rubber-y layer on your nail, I guess this helps a lot when it comes to chipping, since it adheres very well. I've heard some people experienced peeling and splitting nails, but I haven't, and I've been using it for a few months now.

But, yes there is a but, preventing stained nails is a huge factor to determine wether I really like a base coat or not. Well, Bonder isn't that good at this. I've noticed that my nails stain horribly when I use nail polish with a lot of red in it, somehow Bonder isn't capable of fighting these devilish red pigments off.

Conclusion

I grew quite fond of my Orly Bonder. I love the way it applies, the rubber cap, the brush, the way it prevents chipping.. But that staining has got to go! So for now, this is definitely one of my favorites, but I'm still on the lookout for that one base coat that will steal my heart forever. I might give Nailtek Foundation II a spin after finishing this one. How do you feel about this base coat?

Orly Bonder costs 7 USD for 18ml (prices may vary depending on where you buy). You can get Orly Bonder from Boozyshop (starting tomorrow) or find a store near you using the Orly Store locator.

August 29, 2010, 4:41:00 PM

Revlon A/W Enamel: Ruby Ribbon

To accompany this Dutch rainy fall-esque weather I've got one of Revlon's shades for fall for you. Revlon is releasing two new shades this fall/winter, called Emerald City and Ruby Ribbon. I'm guessing it's a Dorothy theme? Both shades are intense colored mattes with shimmer. Emerald City is a gorgeous emerald green, unfortunately this one won't be available in the Benelux.

Ruby Ribbon

Ruby Ribbon is a gorgeous ruby red matte with shimmer. It dried a lot darker than I would've guessed by looking at the bottle, but it's absolutely pretty. It's a very classic color, nothing too wild, but it reminds me a lot of the elegance from the 1940s. I would definitely top it off with some pin curls if I knew how to make them!

Application

This is my first Revlon ever and I was quite surprised! Especially mattes can be tough to apply, but not this one. It wasn't too thick or thin, it had the right consistency and it went on without any problems. It did took 3 coats for complete opacity. I can't say much about the wear because I only wore it for two days, but I it survived without getting too much tip wear.
Ruby Ribbon dries more to a satin than a truly matte finish. Personally I enjoy those flat mattes a bit more, but I'm loving this one nonetheless. The drying time isn't as fast as some other mattes I have, but at the same time, this is probably what's making application a piece of cake.

Revlon Autumn/Winter Nail Enamel will be available in September, retail price will be 8,95 EUR. Available at Drogisterij.net.

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your weekend!
- Michèle

The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for review. For more information please read my disclaimer.

August 28, 2010, 4:41:00 PM

Chanel Les Khakis Collection Swatches!

Hi everyone! Today my camera arrived and I literally tore the package to shreds to get it out and to start swatching immediately. I was so excited about having the new Chanel collection, I really wanted to have them swatched and up today! I'm not really sure if I like the pictures that my new camera produces yet, but I guess I still have to get to know the settings and everything. Right now the pictures look a little bit washed out - i think they're a smidge darker, please forgive me for that. Anyway! Onto the good stuff!

LES KHAKIS DE CHANEL

For VOGUE’S “ FASHION’S NIGHT OUT ”, the fashion event not to be missed, Peter Philips, Global Creative Director of CHANEL Makeup, is celebrating the occasion with the new collection “ Les khakis de Chanel ”.

A new colour harmony of three nail polish shades that can be worn alone or combined : Khaki Vert, Khaki Rose and Khaki Brun. A bold way of wearing nail polish. An ultra sophisticated, urban chic “ camouflage effect ”, for nails that will be getting all the attention.

A little bit about Khaki

To these days, khaki as color brings to mind a brown, even beige, hue. When khaki was adopted for the military, the shade chosen had a clearly darker and more greenish hue. This color was adopted by all the British Empire Armies and the US expeditionary force of World War I, under the name Olive Drab. During the second half of the WWII, American olive drab became distinctly greener, a major departure from the original idea of khaki.

From the first moment I had heard about this collection I knew I would fall for these. Just recently I discovered my love for neutrals, so imagine my excitement about this collection. Neutrals can look so classic and timeless, effortless chic to the max. Well, let's see how I like these brand new Chanels!

Chanel LE VERNIS 267 Khaki Brun

Now this is a special one, Khaki Brun is a murky brown creme with a lot of green to it. I guess this is what they would call "Olive Drab". This color doesn't work that well with my skintone, but I can imagine someone who's a little less pink would rock the Casbah with this color. Application of this one was awesome, 2 coats is all you need. The layers dry very quickly, leaving you with a fantastic smooth and glossy finish. So you could even skip top coat if you'd want.

Chanel LE VERNIS 257 Khaki Rose

Khaki Rose is a really soft and delicate reddish shade of taupe/medium brown. I don't have anything exactly like it and I think I own over 15 taupes.. I absolutely love this shade, since it's so soft and chic looking. Application of Khaki Rose was just as good as Khaki Brun, 2 coats, quickly drying and glossy.

Chanel LE VERNIS 247 Khaki Vert

I think Khaki Vert may be my personal favorite of this collection, it's a bit more cool toned than the other two and cool colors usually look better against my skin. It's a very pretty greyish shade of green, probably one of the few dusty colors I actually like! Just like the other two colors, it almost applied itself.

Conclusion

I love them all. Even if some colors are a bit too warm for my skintone, I still love them. And I'm usually not that big on cremes. I don't know of any exact dupes yet, but time will tell.
My first experience with Chanel nail polish wasn't that great (Nouvelle Vague), but the superb application of Paradoxal showed me Chanel does make awesome nail polish. The texture of these three new polishes reminded me a lot of Paradoxal, they're quite similar if you look at their application, thickness, drying time and gloss. All three are extremely opaque, being nearly one coaters. No cuticle drag, no streaks, just smooth as glass. I can't tell much about the wear yet, since I just got them, but I'll gladly report back. Will you be getting any of these?

Exclusively available in CHANEL Fashion Boutiques starting September 8th 2010, I think the price will be 25 EUR for 13 ml.

The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for review. For more information please read my disclaimer

August 27, 2010, 11:48:00 PM

OPI - Russian Navy Suede

R.I.P. dear camera

Hi guys! It has been a while! This week was filled with all kinds of stuff, leaving no room for the blog, yikes. On top of that my camera died, so I couldn't swatch either.. I still had these pics, thankfully! My new camera should be arriving tomorrow, *fingers crossed*!

OPI Russian Navy

The OPI suedes are nothing new, but they still hold that special place in my heart. These suedes are really my go-to polishes when I don't have much time to do my nails. And Russian Navy is my favorite of the bunch.

Application

This pretty blue shimmery matte polish is practically a one coater, if you apply it carefully. The original version of Russian Navy has a bit of red shimmer as well, too bad the suede hasn't, I would have loved that.
It dries incredibly fast, but not too fast, Russian Navy doesn't get streaky or lumpy.

The wear of these suedes isn't that awesome though. OPI put "don't wear a base coat" on the label but I'd like to advice against that. If you choose the right base coat (like the Nfu Oh Aqua Base of Gosh Fix Base Coat and who knows what other base coats have similar qualities) you definitely can get some extra days of wear out of it, definitely something worth trying!

Glossy Tips

At days with a little bit more time I like to add some glossy elements to make it more interesting. For this manicure I used my current top coat Nubar Diamont.

Thanks so much for stopping by!
- Michèle

August 24, 2010, 9:41:00 PM

Review: Gosh - Fix Base Coat, just as good as Nfu Oh Aqua Base?

Hi guys, maybe you remember my review on Nfu Oh's Aqua Base? Nfu Oh Aqua base is a base coat especially designed to go under hard to apply holographic polishes. I'm really happy with this base coat because it works absolute wonders. When it comes to applying, but also extending the wear majorly.

Some weeks ago I got an email from Marte, she told me about the Gosh Fix Base Coat and how it should have a similar effect! Ironically I've had this base coat for ages, months before I even ordered the Nfu Oh Aqua Base, but I never tried it beneath holographic polishes.

Nfu Oh vs. Gosh

Marte was right, these two base coats are really similar, the have the same structure and almost an identical smell, but do they both work...?

My answer is yes! I tried it with Nfu Oh holos and the notoriously hard to apply Gosh Holographic nail polish and they went on sooo easily. You'll get better coverage, which allows you to use less product for the same end result. Both these both coats work really nicely with matte and suede polishes as well.

Conclusion

So, if it's hard to get your hands on Nfu Oh, or you don't like to order online and have access to this brand, definitely give the Gosh Fix Base Coat a shot! Thank you so much, Marte, for the great tip!

Relatively the price is quite a bit higher than the Aqua Base (9.10 EUR for 18 ml) though. Gosh Fix Base Coat costs 6.95 EUR for a bottle of 7 ml.

Thank you all for stopping by and have an awesome day!
- Michèle

August 22, 2010, 9:16:00 PM

Summary of the survey results!

Hi guys! First, huuuuuge thanks to all of you who took the time and effort to fill in my survey. I appreciate this so much, you have no idea. A blog is nothing without its readers really! The main reason I put up the survey was to get some feedback on blogging, I understand we can't please everyone, and that's not really something I'm after because I do realize this is impossible. But, feedback is always an excellent way to find out how one can improve yourself. I'm also hoping some of you might find this information helpful as well! I'm incredibly thankful for all your input. In return, I promised a little overview, so here it is!

There were 1002 (!!) entries and at that point I had to shut it down, because I had to process some information manually, haha. Most charts really speak for themselves but I'll try to add some of my thoughts here and there.

What's the most important thing when it comes to a blog?

When we're looking at this outcome, we can see that the amount of swatches and reviews are considered quite valuable. It's a lot about the products!

What makes a good review?

When it comes to reviews, pictures tell a lot! I guess pictures will always attract more attention than text, so this confirms what I already suspected. I usually post 1 or 2 pictures with a review, but after seeing this outcome I might add some more from now on!

What makes a good picture?

Color accuracy and good lighting are considered almost equally important. It's definitely something I always try to keep in mind, but it's good to find out about the importance of these things.

What would you like to see more?

Now I was most curious to see the answers to this question. I thought it was so awesome that the majority of you asked for more how-tos because I really really like doing these! If you have how-to requests pleeeease let me know and I'll see what I can do.

The second thing that scored really high was swatches of entire collections, this is something I eventually would LOVE to do, but for now, it can be very hard since I cannot buy them all and I don't blog full time, haha! Definitely something I'll keep in mind though.

What do you expect from the person behind the blog?

I was really curious about this outcome too. I mean, I do the best I can, while staying true to myself, so I was wondering what everyone's answers would be to this question.

Do you want the blogger to respond to your comments?

This is something I struggle so hard with, you have no idea. Ideally I would like to reply to every single comment I get, it really bothers me when I can't. And lately stuff has come up and I just wasn't as present in the comment section as I used to be. I was really relieved to see your opinions on this, however, I do want to try replying more, because I appreciate all your words so much.

What brand(s) do you wish to see more represented?

To my big surprise the responses were all over the place. Someone said "a blog should be about what you want to represent, not what we want to see" and while that's true, there are times when I just don't know what to do next, because there are so many awesome brands and products to choose from, it's overwhelming really!

A LOT of people requested easy to get/drugstore polishes. Since my visitors mostly come from the US, Brazil and Europe this is almost impossible to do. In contrast, a lot of people asked for unique, unknown brands as well. Another big group of people requested cheaper brands, while others requested more swatches from high end brands.
I got a lot of requests on doing more China Glaze, Zoya and Orly, and I did see that coming since I never really covered these before (without reason really!), but I'm really looking forward to post more about these in the future. Other than that, I guess I will just keep posting whatever pop ups in my head, but if you're in dire need of something you can always let me know :-).

Before I forget, there is one thing I can't or won't do and that's showing brands like Rimmel, Sally Hansen, Maybelline/Colorama, L'Oreal and Essie... A lot of you would love to see these brands covered, especially since they're so easily available, but since they're not cruelty free (or owned by not cruelty free companies), I just can't do it.

Please list your top five of favorite nail polish bloggers

Now, this question wasn't about who's the most popular, even though it might look that way, but I was really curious to see what blogs everyone likes to read, especially since every blog has its own style and set of cool features. I left myself out of the end result, but I want to thank everyone that wrote such sweet words about me! I couldn't believe it!

In total there was a grand total of 248 blogs being mentioned, how awesome is that. I found out about quite some new blogs too!
So anyway, here's the top 10 that I gathered. Maybe the results would've been completely different if this was asked on another blog, but I think it's a pretty cool list :-D. If you haven't heard of one of these blogs, make sure to check them out, because they're wicked cool!

votesblog
353Scrangie
287All Lacquered Up
130Vampy Varnish
077Polish Hoarder Disorder
073The Nailphile
059The Lacquer Files
056Little Music Boxes / Nihrida
046Dr. Frankenpolish
044The Daily Nail
036All You Desire

Conclusion

Conclusion is I'm veeeery thankful for all your input and I enjoyed reading all of your messages you left me in the survey. There were some really sweet, interesting, hilarious and random notes, VERY NICE :D. For me, it's so nice to have this overview and I hope there will be some interesting or helpful things in it for others as well, who knows!

August 19, 2010, 3:48:00 PM

Alessandro Go Magic!Twist

Remember those L'Oreal Star Magnet polishes? If I'm correct those are long gone and discontinued, but they still hold a special place in many nail polish fanatic's hearts. European brand Allesandro now hits the market with a similar concept.

Like the L'Oreal Star Magnets, The Allesandro Go Magic!Twist is a nail polish with a metallic finish that comes with a magnet. After you you applied your nail polish you take the magnet and hold if for 10-15 seconds over the still wet polish and a super fun effect is created. How cool is that!



The Allesandro Go Magic!Twist come in four shades:

  • Bombastic Brown
  • Blue Chip
  • Wild Purple
  • Queensberry

Alessandro Magic Twist Set costs € 15.95, available from October 2010


I'm pretty sure we'll struggle a bit to get our hands on these, I don't know which countries sell this brand but I've seen them mainly in Germany and Austria, and a smaller selection in The Netherlands. If you know more countries that sell this brand, please let me know!

Source: PinkMelon

How To: Feed your Nails

Hi guys! A lot of people ask about how to keep nails long and strong and I decided to do a little write up on the matter. There are many many products claiming obscene nail growth and strength but you can make a difference just by looking at your lifestyle.

When I had my last nail break I tried a product by Herome: Nail Growth Explosion. I went as far as measuring the nails, applying it daily on the sad short nail. After 2 weeks I checked, and all nails gained the same amount of length! So it did absolutely nothing. Maybe it's because my nails are strong and already growing fast as it is, but most products like these have little to no effect on me.

A lot of people forget that a good diet is essential for overall (nail) health. A lot comes from within really. Biotin-rich foods can be really helpful if you want your nails to be in good shape.

Biotin

Biotin or vitamin H is part of the B-vitamin complex, and helps you metabolize fats and carbohydrates and is essential for healthy growth. The best food sources of Biotin are liver, egg yolk, yeast, nuts and beans. You can also take Biotin supplements, but be sure to do some research on this first, as it caused my skin to break out! On this note, just minutes ago Dermelect announced on Twitter they're working on an alternative for Biotin with less side effects, definitely interesting!
Foods rich in sulphur minerals like apples, cucumbers, grapes, garlic, asparagus and onions have a positive effect on your nails as well.

I'm not claiming to be a nutritional know-it-all, but I've read more than once that nails and hair are often a reflection of our overall health. According to Ezinearticles, these are some ways to listen to what your nails are telling you:

symptom

cause

brittle, concave, ridged, white half moonsiron / protein / calcium deficiency
separation of the nail bednervousness / hyper thyroid
bluish discolorationrespiratory difficulties
yellowish discolorationbronchial difficulties (or a sucky base coat ;-) )
pale nail bedsanemia
peeling nailsvitamin A deficiency, dehydration of nails caused by wrong products
poor nail growthzinc deficiency
thin, brittle nailsvegetable quality oils deficiency
washboard
ridges
consumption extremes in diet (especially meats and refined foods)

So, if you're having some nail problems, it might be a good idea to look into this before spending $$$ on treatments that might not even work! Hope this was helpful..

With love,
Michèle

Ezinearticles and the book "Nutrition for Dummies"

August 15, 2010, 8:29:00 PM

Nail polish blog survey!

Hi guys! For a while now I've been wondering what other people find important when it comes to reading a blog. I thought it would be fun to do a little survey to find out what you guys think!
I'd really really really appreciate it if you would be so kind to fill out the form below. Of course I will report back with the outcome!

All entries to this survey will published anonymously and are only visible to me!



I have closed the survey! I got an AMAZING response from you guys, 1000 entries in only a few days, THANKS SO MUCH. I'll need some time to process all the information, but I will be back with a report, seriously, it means a lot to me! Thank you!!

Questions were:

  • What's the most important thing when it comes to a blog?
  • What makes a good review?
  • What makes a good picture?
  • What would you like to see more?
  • What do you expect from the person behind the blog?
  • Do you want the blogger to respond to your comments?
  • What brand(s) do you wish to see more represented?
  • Please list your top five of favorite nail polish bloggers

Kiko Giveaway

Kiko Cosmetics

Hi guys! During our vacation (that isn't over yet, woohoo!!) we made another trip to Germany. And Germany means: Kiko cosmetics! I absolutely adore this brand, so much quality for so little money. And since a lot of you were bummed out this brand is only available in limited countries I couldn't leave the store without picking up some polishes for you guys!

The polishes I got:


The rules

  • You have to be a follower of my blog (I will check)
  • Leave me a comment with your email address
  • Optional: You can earn one extra chance to win by reposting this on Twitter or your blog - include a link to your tweet or blogpost
  • It doesn't matter where you live, this contest is open internationally.
  • You can enter till the 31th of august, 11:59pm - CET.
  • I will use www.random.org to decide the winner

Good luck!
- Love, Michèle

August 13, 2010, 8:31:00 AM

Nox Twilight Beauty - Crush

Crush

Maybe you remember my post on Disco Darling by Nox Twilight Beauty? Today I'm showing you Crush. Crush is a perfect pink neon, kapoww!
Until recently neons didn't do much for me, but I'm really starting to digg them. They're fun, create an instant tan, and they sure attract a lot of conversation.

Application

Like a lot neons this one dries semi matte, so in order for you to get that high gloss I'd recommend using top coat. I'm really impressed by the quality of the polishes within this line, they're really easy to handle and the colors are quite cool! Crush needed 3 coats for complete opacity, not bad at all, after all, it is a neon!
Of course I still think the names could've been more Twilight-y, but I won't get into that every time.

You can order these at www.twilightbeauty.com for $6.99 each (for 17ml/0.58oz woohoo!) or the entire collection for $65 (12 shades!). If you don't live in The States you can check their UK distributor www.simplebeauty.co.uk to see if they ship to your country!

The products in this post were provided to me by Nox Twilight Beauty for consideration - for more information please read my disclaimer

August 12, 2010, 11:05:00 AM

Don't toss it, thin it!

Just a quick little tip

Every now and then I read about how people throw away their polish because it's gone bad, thick, goopy, solid or stringy. Of course we always like a good excuse to go out and buy some new colors, but in terms of sustainability it's better not to. So if you can, never throw out your nail polish.

What happens is that nail polish actually thickens up over time. This is caused by the evaporation of certain ingrediente. Some people add nail polish remover or even acetone to thin their polish, but that's a no go. When you're adding acetone you're actually breaking down your polish instead of thinning it. Adding thinner on the other hand, actually restores the previously existing and now missing element in your polish, making it a whole again. How spiritual does that sound! - Please forgive me for my corniness.

Different brands

I'm not sure if it really matters what brand thinner you use, I've tried several and liked them all. The brands I used are OPI, Mavala and as pictured: Seche & P2. I really like the P2 thinner because it's highly concentrated and really cheap. It does suck to have to travel all the way to Germany to get your hands on it though. If you're ever buying or ordering nail polish at a (r)etailer, have a look around, because a lot of stores do sell thinner!

With love, Michèle

August 11, 2010, 10:11:00 AM

Color Club - Revvvolution

My Private Chainmail Revvvolution

Bon Giorno! Hope everyone is doing well! Just like the last holo I posted, this one was bought to fill a void left by some other tauntingly HTF polish. Yep, you've guessed that right! OPI My Private Jet original. I own two different kinds of My Private Jet, but neither of them come even close to the real thing: the hottest black holo evar!? There are some alternatives out there: Diamond Cosmetics' Chainmail Charm and another one you see here: Color Club's Revvvolution.

High hopes

Ok. I'll say it. I actually was a bit disappointed when I wore this for the first time. I don't know, the holographic effect was less pronounced then I had expected. It is pretty gorgeous nonetheless. So if you're not expecting MPJ, it would definitely work!

Application

The more Color Club polishes I try, the more I'm stunned by their application. Everything just goes on so easy, a delight to work with. Revvvolution is pretty opaque, so I only needed 2 layers. And did you know it does a pretty good job at stamping as well?

Thanks for stopping by and see you soon!
- Michèle

August 10, 2010, 9:00:00 PM

Review: Entity Cuticle Oil

Cuticle oil

Even though I'm happily married to Mister L. Flutter, I like to try out other products as well. NailXL was extremely kind to offer me this cuticle oil by Entity, so I went ahead and tested it for a couple of weeks, all on its own.

For me, one of the biggest disadvantages of using cuticle oils, is the mess they can create. Since this oil comes with a pipette, it's real easy to use! The oil also absorbs fairly quick, another major plus. The scent is quite pleasant, even though I think it smells like a mixture of acrylic powder, avocado and apricots. I think it reminds me a little bit of beauty parlors, which is a good thing!

Unlike the last cuticle oil I tried, this one isn't filled with crappy, cheap, mineral oil. The ingredients are actually pretty decent, score!

Ingredients

Carthamus Tinctorius (Safflower) Seed Oil, Persea Gratissima (Avocado) Oil, Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis (Sweet Almond) Oil, Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract, Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria) Flower Extract, Cannabis Sativa Seed Oil, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil, Prunus Armeniaca (Apricot) Kernel Oil, Fragrance (Parfum), Linalool, Citral, Citronellol, Limonene, Violet 2 (CI 60725), Red 17 (CI 26100), Green 6 (CI 61565). Miscellaneous: T ocopherol, Propylparaben

Oil or balms

I've used this everyday and maybe it's just me, but I think oils just aren't right for my hands. It wasn't bad at all, but creams and balms seem to moisturize my cuticles better. Somehow, my cuticles always end up a bit dryer than I'd like after using cuticle oil for a while.
But, if you're someone that prefers oils over anything, I'd totally recommend snatching this one up, because it was one of the better cuticle oils I've tried so far!

You can order Entity Cuticle oil for 8.50 EUR (15ml) at NailXL. NailXL also carries an impressive range of Nfu Oh, CND, Konad and other products, so make sure to take a peek!

The product in this post was provided to me by NailXL for consideration - for more information please read my disclaimer

August 9, 2010, 10:00:00 AM

China Glaze - 2Nite

Favorite

Hi everyone! You all know how I like to celebrate summer with a good holo, and this one fits the bill! There has always been one perfect blue holo that kept popping up in my dreams, but that dear OPI DS Glamour wasn't that easy to get. So I bought a lot of blue holographics to see if they could fill that void.

Now, I own several holographics from China Glaze's OMG collection, but 2NITE is definitely my favorite! It doesn't look that much like DS Glamour but hey, I absolutely love this gorgeous shade of almost periwinkle blue. It's so delicate and looks good against many skin tones.

Application

Some OMG holos cause me problems with application but since I'm using the Nfu Oh Aqua Base, I've said good bye to the cuticle drag altogether! I applied 2 coats, no top coat, and it actually stayed on quite well. Holographics from this collection are quite flat and dull in regular lighting though, but it's sure worth it if you catch some accidental beams of sun light..

August 8, 2010, 10:00:00 AM

Back soon!

Vacayay!

Hi guys! If you're reading this, I already took off! I'm away for vacation for about a week, and I'm going with Michelle from TheLacquerFiles and Daphne from Nailswatches. How cool is that?! Things have been kinda hectic lately, so I was really flaking on replying to comments and emails.. I really really suck sometimes. I do read every word that comes in and I can't express how much I appreciate all of you! Hopefully I'll be more refreshed and energetic when I get back.

I did my hardest best to come up with some posts while I am gone, so I hope you'll enjoy them. I also have some pretty awesome stuff to show you when I'm back, so stay tuned. Be safe and see you soon!

August 3, 2010, 11:37:00 PM

Zoya Remove +, - the $$$?

Hi guys! Just a quick little post today, guess being a night owl all the time is finally catching up on me, because I'm quite tired! I do have lotsa cool stuff for you in the next couple of weeks, so hang in there!

Glycerin

Maybe you remember my post about Zoya Remove +? I friggin love the stuff, but it's expensive and not easy to get if you're outside the US. I was browsing the Nailboard at MUA a while ago and I read that you could mimic Remove + by adding glycerin to your straight up acetone. I kinda forgot about it until I ran into some glycerin at my local drugstore.

Mix it up

The mixture should be 2 capsful to 16oz (appr. 450ml) of acetone, but 1 cap could be different depending on your bottle, so I just fiddled around with it until I got it right. And yes, it does remind me of Zoya Remove +. It doesn't smell as nice, but it does the job seemingly similar!

Let's have a look at the following:

ingredients Zoya Remove +

2-Propanone (Acetone), Water (Aqua), Glycerine, Fragrance, D and C Violet #2


So, basically, Zoya Remove + is acetone, water , glycerine, some fancy scent and a bit of color. Not that impressive! So, if you can get your hands on some pure acetone and glycerin, I'd say give it a shot, you might like it! I know I'll be using this mixture for my clean up for sure.

I got my bottle of 100ml glycerin for 2.64EUR, and it goes a long way too.

Have you tried this? What are your thoughts?

August 2, 2010, 4:16:00 PM

Nox Twilight Beauty - Disco Darling

Nox Twilight Nail Polish

Nox Twilight nail polish is the newest edition of products from Twilight Beauty. Inspired by the powerful Cullen coven, this line of professional quality nail polish prominently features the enduring Cullen crest on the center of each bottle.


Hi guys! Today I'll be showing you a nail polish from a brand new line by Nox: Twilight Beauty. How pretty are these bottles? You may or may not like Twilight, but even if you don't, don't exit on me yet, these are really worth a look! Nox - Twilight Beauty released 12 colors, and today I'm showing you Disco Darling.

Sparkle sparkle

How pretty is that? Sparkly as Edward himself! I really love the holographic glitter in this one, it's quite dense and noticeable in almost every light. Yep, definitely one of, if not the, prettiest silver polishes I own! I'm sorry for the huge close up below, eek! But it does show how pretty the sparklies are.

Application

Application was fine, this polish is made out of glitter in a clear base, but after 3 coats you're good to go.
It does dry a little bit gritty though, but after 2 thin layers of Nubar Diamont everything was as smooth as glass..

I've got some other colors from this Nox Twilight Beauty collection too and these are far from boring. And those bottles! Just too cute. The only thing that could have been better, are the names. Names like Sugar Plum, Sangria, Poseidon and Citrus for example, don't really make me think, 'hey, Twilight!' Other than that I think these are really awesome and I can't wait to show you more!

You can order these at www.twilightbeauty.com for $6.99 each (for 17ml/0.58oz woohoo!) or the entire collection for $65 (12 shades!). If you don't live in The States you can check their UK distributor www.simplebeauty.co.uk to see if they ship to your country!

The products in this post were provided to me by Nox Twilight Beauty for consideration - for more information please read my disclaimer