ORLY Cosmic FX - Galaxy Girl

Galaxy Girl

Hi guys! For today I have another stunning piece from the ORLY Cosmic FX collection: Galaxy Girl. Galaxy Girl is a brownish burgundy base filled with those amazing flecks. The flecks in this polish flash a color somewhere between teal and cyan and sometimes a bit of purple too. I love how it's dark with a twist, so it's still 'fun' - if you know what I mean. I'd say it's a pretty unique color, although there is already a dupe available in Mac's Venomous Villains Collection: Formidable! For me this is definitely a great color for Fall.

Application

Just like Space Cadet, I had no problems applying Galaxy Girl. I threw on three coats and it dried pretty quickly. I love how the sizes of the flecks are irregular, but the finish still remains smooth as glass.

I will write about every single polish in this collection soon, I could have made one post about all six of them, but I have more fun when I'm writing about them separately - if that makes any sense. Dd you get any of the ORLY Cosmic FX's? Which one is your favorite?

ORLY polishes from the Cosmix FX collection cost 10 USD each. You can get Galaxy Girl from eBay, TransDesign, Head2ToeBeauty etc.

Superstar Nail Lacquer - Teterboro Teal

Minor Layout change

Hi everyone! As you might have noticed: I changed the header a little bit. I really started to dislike the previous header I had, so I came up with this, hope you guys like it! Anyway, onto the polish!

Superstar Nail Lacquer

A while ago I received these polishes by a, new to me, brand called Superstar Nail Lacquer.

"Superstar colors are aptly named to compliment its moniker. Each color has a title reminiscent of all things fashion and fame. “We wanted attention-grabbing names that people could relate to. Since our company is named Superstar, we chose titles that would make our customers feel like a star. Who wouldn’t feel good about wearing, ‘It Girl Orange’ or Walk The Red Carpet?” said Ariana."

Superstar Nail Lacquer recently released their fall collection, which consists out of two parts: Play in the City and Party in the City. The polish you see here is called Teterboro Teal and belongs to the Party in the City collection. Woohoo, partayy!
I'm really falling for teal lately, to me teal is a truly intriguing color! So, imagine my excitement about this pretty thing. It's an awesome metallic teal that flashes a bit of green depending on the lighting. I love how glowy it can get while strutting around in the sun. Seriously, I can't get enough of polishes like these.

Application

When I'm trying out new brands I'm always very curious to see what their application is like. And wow, this brand does not disappoint. The brush is very easy to handle and the polish just glided on, I used only 2 coats and I experienced no problems whatsoever. I wore this for four days without chips, which is pretty decent I'd say!

Matte tips

You might have seen my glossy tips on a matte polish a while ago? For this mani I decided to use China Glaze's Matte Magic to paint on some matte tips. I'm a sucker for subtle effects like these!

For more information please check the Superstar website. Superstar Nail Lacquers cost: 5 for $45 or $10 each.

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

Misa - What I Like About You! Swatches & Review

What I like about you

Hi guys! Today I have swatches of Misa's latest collection for you. I actually swatched all these polishes twice, I just wasn't happy with the photos, but it was really time to post them..
Misa has made one of my all time favorites "Toxic Seduction" and I'm never disappointed in their formula. For this fall Misa has created six new shades that are all shimmers, unlike previous collections which consisted mostly out of cremes. I absolutely love this theme and the title of the collection instantly reminded me of one my favorite songs by The Romantics, or Poison, ever!
So yeah, this collection is all about romance, let's explore my feelings for these polishes..

Misa - Spinning out of control

Spinning out of control is gorgeous. I own a lot of blueish purples, but this one is something else. It's very dark and glowy, with pink and blue shimmer. This is one hella classy purple.

Misa - It's you!

It's you! is one of my favorites from this collection, I don't have anything like it. It has a very subtle duochrome effect, it changes from a greenish gunmetal to a dark bronze. This is quite a mysterious color, mhmm.

Misa - Quirky smile

Quirky smile, what an odd name, is a really nice teal shimmer. I love how glowy this one is, and since teal is one of my favorite colors I'm very happy to have this one.

Misa - Perfect kiss

Perfect Kiss is much much much prettier in real life, but so hard to capture, trust me on this one. Perfect Kiss is a bright fuchsia/magenta with a lot of shimmer, not totally unique though.

Misa - When U say my name

Well now, I was surprised by this one! I'm not big on browns AT ALL but when I tried this one, I fell in love with it almost immediately. It really stole my heart. This is a perfect color for fall, and the warm copper shimmer takes brown to a whole new level.

Misa - Like it like that

Like it like that is a metallic frosty kinda green. It's quite vibrant, which makes it totally awesome. In the bottle it also flashes a bit of blue, but this won't show on your nails. I love this color but I don't like the visible brush strokes that much.

Overall

This is one pretty collection. I really liked the formula on these: they're b3f and all of these were two coaters except It's You and Perfect Kiss - they needed three coats. Misa polishes always apply well for me, they've got exactly the right thickness, not too thick, not too thin. And this collection is no exception. They're easy to apply and control, I don't need much cleanup when I paint my nails with them.
I've worn three of these as a full manicure, and the wear is absolutely perfect. I know wear depends on a lot of things and can be different for everyone, but "It's You" lasted 6 six days without chips or tip wear, call me impressed, I just had to mention it. And who knows how long it could've lasted, I had to take it off so I could swatch all of these.
The first time I wore one of these colors I used Nubar Diamont as a top coat and it just wouldn't dry. Nubar Diamont is acting really strange lately so I decided to give it a shot with some other top coats. Drying time was great when I used OPI RapiDry and China Glaze Fast Forward, so I definitely think it's Nubar to blame!

You can order these at www.misacosmetics.com (by phone) or at etailers like Head2Toe Beauty. Also: SOON available at Boozyshop!

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.

Kiko 300 meets Nfu Oh 52!

flake it up Remember my review on Kiko 300? I actually wore this for quite some time, and on the second day I decided to add a little bit of extra spark! After debating what to do with it (so many polishes, nothing to wear!), I picked out Nfu Oh 52, fabulous flakies in a blurple jelly base. You definitely can wear #52 alone, but it requires about 4 layers to eliminate the evil VNL (visible nail line), so lazy as I am, I went with layering.

Mhmmm cherries...

When I got #52, I expected to get a more purple jelly base, but the more you build it up, the bluer it gets.
Not only do you get duochrome flakies that flash from green, teal to blue, there's also green microglitter serving as the cherry on top. Doesn't that just suck?

I have to admit the flakies got a bit lost in the picture, since the base was already teal-ish blue to begin with, but I think it sure makes a nice mermaid-y manicure. AND I promise hereby to post the Nfu Oh on it's own and layered over several other colors soon!

Got some great layering suggestions? Please share!

Well dear readers, this post has come to an end! I thank you all for stopping by and wish you a great day!
- Michèle

Kiko Cosmetics

Kiko Cosmetics

Hi everyone! Happy 4th of July to a lot of you! Today I'm discussing a nail polish by a brand that until recently was an undiscovered treasure: Kiko. Kiko Cosmetics is originally an Italian brand but you can now find their products in Germany and Spain as well. On our trip to Germany we visited a Kiko store. Little beats the heartbeat skip, color me impressed. The store and products look really sophisticated, almost Mac-like, yup! But... everything is extremely low budget! I stupidly forgot to hold on to the receipt, but we're talking only a few euros per product here.

I only got a nail polish and a baked eye shadow at the time, call me dazed and confused. I'm about to kick myself in the face for not buying more.

Kiko - 300 - Pearly Malachite Green

According to the label the polish doesn't have a name, but the website tells me it's called "Pearly Malachite Green". It's not really green though, I'd think I'd best describe it as a slight duochrome-y tealish blue with a turquoise shimmer. If you look closely you can even see tiny pieces of glitter dispersed throughout the polish. It is a bit frosty, but not to the point where it's bothering me. Application was a piece of cake, 3 thin layers and you're ready to rock this awesome color.
Kiko Nail Polish does not contain aggressive ingredients such as Toluene, Camphor, DBP, Formaldehyde or Styrene Acrylate. And everything by Kiko is cruelty free!

Kiko - Colour Sphere Eyeshadow To illustrate how pretty their products are I decided to show you this Colour Sphere Eyeshadow. This is a baked eyeshadow, you can use it either dry or wet. The pigmentation is really good and they have quite a color selection. Oh why didn't I buy more?! Click on the quick swatch on the left to see the bigger version.

What are your thoughts on this brand?

Visit www.kikocosmetics.com

China Glaze - Watermelon Rind

Summer Days Hi guys! I know this isn't the most recently released polish out there, but I think Watermelon Rind is so stunning I needed to post it. China Glaze's Watermelon Rind belongs to the Summer Days collection that came out in 2009. Ever since I laid eyes on swatches of this gorgeous thing I knew I had to have it. As you might have noticed I don't post a lot of China Glaze, simply because I was disappointed in some of their polishes. But I can wholeheartedly say, that this one didn't! Formula This glass flecked polish has a jelly texture, it needs 3 coats for perfect coverage and that's not half bad for a jelly. And It applied really well. Normally I wouldn't think teal would make such a perfect color for summer, but this one looks kinda... juicy. And fresh. It's perfect. What's your favorite polish this summer?

China Glaze - DV8

I'm really on a holo streak, can you tell? Haha. There's just something about spring setting in that makes me happy and gets me in the mood for rainbows. I often get caught by people staring at me when I'm moving my fingers around in a coincidentally sunbeam. They must think I'm pretty deranged. Not that I'm not ;-D.

When we were visiting the China Glaze wholesale last week, I was able to get my mitts on this pretty thing, and for a really small price too. I've always been a bit reluctant when it comes to China Glaze because their formula is really inconsistent, at least that's my experience so far. I absolutely adore their colors, so to be honest I'm really bummed out about this. I was really curious to see how and if I'd like this polish!

DV8 belongs to the OMG collection, consisting out of 12 dense holographics in a wide color range. I'd already bought LOL a while ago, and as much as I loved the color, I couldn't get over the bad formula.

Luckily DV8 really managed to surprise me: opaque in 2 coats, no cuticle drag, everything was just A-OK. The color is really pretty too, a nice medium teal without being bland.

What do you think about the OMG collection?

Models Own - Peacock Green

Hi dear reader! Today I'm showing you something I'm really excited about: Peacock Green by Models Own. Trust me when I say these pictures don't do any justice to the color, depth and overall beauty of it! This is what it looks like when green meets blue, and they click ;-). It's super glowy and it almost looks like a duochrome. I stole this one from my mom's helmer, and I can't believe I didn't order this one myself. The formula is nice, it's a 3 coater though, but application was really smooth.

I also found out Models Own is hosting a contest where you can win 12 of their most wanted colors. And if you don't win you'll get a 30% discount on your next order :-). You only have to fill out a survey. Sounds pretty nice huh? So if you're into this brand please check it out. This contest ends the 29th of March, so you'll have 1 day left! So we're at the end of this post again, thanks for stopping by and enjoy your sunday!

P2 - Dangerous

Hi guys! How are you doing today? Hope everyone is well!

Today I chose to wear something by P2 again, this is a great brand, very nice formula with a very small price tag.
Right now you're looking at the color Dangerous. Dangerous is a gorgeous teal creme, I applied 2 coats and I just can't get over how amazing this formula is.

Again, if you're ever happen to be in Germany, please check this brand out! This was it for today, thanks for looking and take care!

Misa - Toxic Seduction

Today I'm wearing a nail polish you've probably already seen this week, well , you visit Dutch nail blogs that is ;-). Meet 'Toxic Seduction' by Misa. I wondered if I even should be making this post, but then I thought, you can never see enough of this beauty. It's definitely in my top 5 of nail polish!

I'll stop wasting words now since you've probably already read it :-). Take care and till next time!

Tealishious!

Ik snap waarom Nfu Oh haar nagellak geen namen geeft. Deze nagellak is veel te cool om zich druk te maken om onbelangrijke kleine details zoals namen!

English: I totally understand why Nfu Oh doesn't name their polishes. This polish is to cool to be bothered with silly little details like names!



Ongelooflijk perfecte donkere groen blauwe lak. Als ik haar naast Misa Toxic Seduction houd is het haast exact dezelfde kleur maar op mijn nagels zie ik toch ook een duidelijke blauwe ondertoon die de Misa niet heeft. Ik zou dit een teal noemen terwijl Toxic Seduction voor mij wel echt een groen is.

English: Incredible perfect green blue polish. When I hold it next to Misa Toxic seduction it's almost the exact same colour but on my nails there is a distinct blue undetone that the Misa lacks. I would call this a teal while Toxic Seduction is a definite green.



Ik heb wat nieuws geprobeerd de afgelopen week. Ik heb op een avond alle swatches gelakt en gefotografeerd voor de hele week zodat ik de rest van de week de lak kon dragen die ik wilde zonder me zorgen te maken over mijn dagelijkse posts. Deze lak heb ik zes! dagen gedragen (een nieuw record voor mij!) en ze heeft me geen moment verveeld! Dat verklaard ook gelijk de gebruikssporen op de foto want ik heb voor de foto geen nieuw laagje topcoat aangebracht. Ik heb een paar krasjes en minimale slijtage aan de tips maar dat is alles. Ik ben erg onder de indruk!

Ik geloof dat dit nieuwe systeem me wel bevalt. Zoals je ziet is mijn huid er veel beter aan toe nu.

English: I've been trying something new the past week. I did all the swatches and photos for the whole week in one night so I could wear whatever polish I liked for the rest of the week without having to worry about my daily posts. I've worn this polish for six! days (a new record for me!) and she didn't bore me once! This also explains the wear and tear in the pic because I didn't re-apply a fresh coat of topcoat for this picture. There are only a few scratches and minimal tipwear but that's it. I'm very impressed!

I think I like this new system. As you can see my skin is a lot calmer now.

The next part is a heads-up for my Dutch readers about a Diamond Cosmetics and Essie sale Dutch webshop.

See you tomorrow!

Voor mijn Nederlandse lezers is het volgende nieuws wel interessant: www.boozyshop.nl heeft een uitverkoop!
Je krijgt 10% korting op de Holliday en Autumn collectie van Diamond Cosmetics! De Holiday Collection bestaat uit de volgende kleuren: Blue Diamonds (blauw holografisch), Diamond's Diamonds (wit holografisch), Ruby's & Diamonds (Rode holo!) en Amethyst &Diamonds (Paarse holo!) waarvan je op verschillende blogs wel swatches kan vinden. Hoe tof kan een Holiday collectie zijn?!



En ook 10% korting op de Diamonds Cosmetics Autumn Collection waarin pareltjes zitten als Plum Pie In The Sky (prachtige blauw-paars of blurple!) en Never-So-Evergreen (donkergroene shimmer)! De andere kleuren zijn Angelic, The Naughty Intern (lol, die naam!), Sweet as Sugar en So Berry Sweet. Helaas geen foto's maar je moet ze echt even checken op Scrangie of Nailgal.

En zelfs 50% korting op Essie Smoothies, de hand- en bodylotions van Essie in de geuren Pomegranate and Mango, Blueberry and Banana, Pear and Fig en een geurloze variant.



En Boozyshop krijgt aankomende week ook de Essie Spring Collection 2010 binnen.


Met deze collectie gaat Essie weer terug naar haar roots na een paar zeer geslaagde uitstapjes naar meer edgy kleuren. Essie is nu eenmaal het merk van de zachtroze sheers en dat doen ze erg goed! Ik hoop alleen wel dat we in de toekomst nog meer spannende kleuren van ze kunnen verwachten want hoeveel zachtroze kan een mens verdragen?
Hoewel, k bedenk me nu dat ik volgens mij niet eens een zachtroze in mijn collectie heb dus misschien ga ik hier toch wat van oppikken!

En nu heb ik honger! Ik ga een smoothie maken. Tot morgen!

Happy New Year!

Ik was al een paar dagen aan het denken over wat ik met mijn nagels zou doen voor oud en nieuw. Glitter? Konad? Uiteindelijk is het een normale simpele maar wel erg mooie lak geworden.
Diamond Cosmetics Don't Teal My Heart Away. Diamond Cosmetics is in Nederland te koop bij Boozyshop.

English: I've been thinking about what I would do with my nails for New Years Eve for a couple of days. Glitter? Konad? Eventually I went with this normal, simple but very pretty polish. Diamond Cosmetics Don't Teal My Heart Away.

Dit zijn twee laagjes met base- en topcoat en de foto's zijn genomen na twee dagen dragen.
DTMHA is zo'n typische goedkope nagellak. In het begin lakt hij redelijk goed maar tegen de tijd dat je aan het tweede laagje toe bent begint het dik en stroperig te worden waardoor het erg moeilijk wordt om gelijkmatig te lakken. Sommige Essence lakjes hebben die eigenschap ook. De oplossing is heel erg simpel: nagellakverdunner.

Verdunner kan van iedere streperige, dikke en moeilijke lak een fantastische lak maken! Flink wat druppels toevoegen, goed schudden en dan even laten staan zodat de luchtbelletjes weer verdwijnen. Gebruik alsjeblieft GEEN nagellakremover om je nagellak te verdunnen. Remover is gemaakt om nagellak op te lossen en zal uiteindelijk de kleur afbreken en je nagellak onbruikbaar maken terwijl in verdunner dezelfde oplosmiddelen zitten die ook al in de nagellak zelf zitten om hem vloeibaar te maken. Met verdunner hoef je nooit meer een nagellak weg te gooien.
Mijn nagellakverdunner komt van NailDesignEuroDiscount maar er zijn meer online shops die het verkopen. In de winkel ben ik het hier nog nooit tegengekomen helaas.

Is verdunner kopen je teveel moeite dan is rechts in mijn profiel mijn emailadres te vinden.->
Stuur me even een berichtje, dan neem ik met liefde de lakjes van je over die je anders zou verpesten door er remover aan toe te voegen! ;)

English: This is two coats with base- and topcoat and the pics were taken after wearing it for two days. DTMHA is one of those typical cheap polishes. At first they apply fairly well but when you get around to the second coat it starts to get thick and goopy which makes it very difficult to get an even application. Some Essence polishes have the same problem. The sollution is very simple: nail polish thinner.

Thinner can make any streaky thick and difficult polish apply like a dream! Add a good amount of drops, shake well and let it sit for a while so the air bubbles can dissapear. Please do NOT use remover to thin your polishes. Remover is designed to dissolve nail polish and it will degrade the pigments and and make your polish unusable while thinner is made from the same solvents that are used in polishes to make them liquid. With thinner you will never have to throw away another polish.

Is buying thinner to much of a hassle for you than you can find my email address under my profile on the right. -> Please send me a message, I would love to take the polishes off your hands you were going to ruin anyway by using remover to thin them! ;)

En nee dames, het is ook niet slecht om nagellak te schudden! Sterker nog, het is erg goed voor je nagellak. Na verloop van tijd gaat iedere nagellak zich scheiden. Pigmenten zakken naar de bodem en oplosmiddelen drijven naar boven en verdampen uiteindelijk zelfs als de dop er goed op zit. Door te schudden meng je alle bestandsdelen van de nagellak waardoor je nagellak langer mee gaat en de kleur goed behouden blijft dus alsjeblieft: schud je nagellak!
Als je het daarna een minuutje of 10 laat staan zijn al die luchtbelletjes weer verdwenen.

Dat was een lang verhaal maar het is het waard! Laat het een goed voornemen zijn om in 2010 verdunner te kopen om je nagellak te behouden en het jezelf een stuk makkelijker te maken.
Ik wens jullie een geweldig, gelukkig, gezond en gelakt nieuw jaar!


English: And no ladies, shaking your polish is not bad! In fact it's good for your polishes. As time goes by polish separates. Pigments sink to the bottom and solvents float to the top where they will evaporate even when the cap is on. By shaking your polish you will mix all these components which will make your polish last longer and keep the colour accurate so please: shake your polish! When you leave it for about ten minutes afterwards all the air bubbles caused by shaking will have disappeared.

That was a long post but it's worth it! Let it be a New Years resolution for 2010 to buy a nail polish thinner to save your polishes and to make your life a lot less complicated. I wish you a wonderful, happy, healthy and polished New Year!

Dirty Sexy Dangerous Money

Wat ben ik blij dat ik deze heb kunnen vinden voor hij overal uitverkocht is!
English: I'm so happy I found this one before it was sold out everywhere!

Misa Dirty Sexy Money is een lichte 'dusty' teal / turquoise uit de Living On The Fast Lane Collectie. Dekkend in twee laagjes en geweldige applicatie. Ik voorzie een mooie toekomst voor mij en Misa!

Op mijn ringvinger heb ik P2 Dangerous. Kan je geloven dat dit juweeltje maar €1,55 kost bij de DM-Drogeriemarkt in Duitsland?! De kwaliteit van deze lak is bijzonder goed en ze hebben erg goede kleuren. Dangerous is een donkere teal, dekkend in twee laagjes.
Hij is donkerder dan Diamond Cosmetics Don't Teal My Heart Away maar lang niet zo donker als Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal dus als je op zoek bent naar een dupe moet je nog even verder zoeken. Sorry. :(

English: Misa Dirty Sexy Money is a light dusty teal / turquoise from the Living On The Fast Lane Collection. Opaque in two coats and wonderful application. I foresee a beautiful future between me and Misa!

On my ringfinger I'm wearing P2 Dangerous. Can you believe this gem retails for only €1,55 at the DM-Drogeriemarkt in Germany?! The quality of this polish is excelent and they have a very good colour selection. Dangerous is a dark teal and opaque in two coats. It's darker than Diamond Cosmetics Don't Teal My Heart Away but nowhere near as dark as Rescue Beauty Lounge Teal so if you are looking for a dupe, this isn't it. Sorry. :(


Offtopic:

Ik heb zaterdag een playdate met een aantal dames uit het nagellaktopic op FOK! en van de nailboard van MakeUpAlley. Heb er enorm veel zin in! We beginnen 's middags, gaan samen eten en zien dan wel hoe laat het wordt. Morgen ga ik een enorme pan bolognesesaus maken voor het avondeten. Fles rode wijn, brood en salades en dan zijn we er helemaal klaar voor!
Nu nog bedenken wat ik met mijn nagels ga doen...

En nog meer nieuws: er staat vandaag een gast post van mij over handverzorging op The Nail Farm, de blog van mijn vriendin Thess. Neem een kijkje en volg haar blog want ze heeft belachelijk goede nail-art skills en heel veel kennis over nagels!

English: I have a play date this Saturday with a couple of ladies from the nail polish topic on FOK! and from the nailboard on MakeUpAlley. I'm really looking forward to it! We're starting in the afternoon, will be having dinner together and then we'll see what time we are done. Tomorrow I'm making a huge pan of bolognese sauce for the dinner. Bottle of red whine, bread and salads and we are set!
Now I just have to figure out what to do with my nails...

And more news: there will be a guest post of mine about hand care on The Nail Farm, a blog owned by my friend Thess. Check it out and follow her blog because she has crazy mad nail-art skills and a lot of knowledge about nails!