Monday Blues: ILNP Birefringence (H)

Hello my lovelies! It's Monday. What else can I say? I don't know about you, but for me this day is particularly busy. I do love my job and I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world, so it's all good. But enough about that, let's talk about nail polish. I have a very special one to show you today, one that I've been staring at for over two days. It was a birthday gift from a very special friend of mine. And what a gift it is!

ILNP Birefringence (H) indoors, artificial direct light

KBShimmer Myth You Lots

Hello my lovelies! Sorry for the lack of posts this week but the truth is I just couldn't bring myself to sit down and write one of these. I have plenty of manicures to show you but I guess I'm all worked up about spring being here and all. It's hard for me to focus but I'm gonna try to do it today because I have a spectacular polish to show you. I know I say this often, yet this time I really mean it. Hopefully you will understand me when you look at these pictures.

KBShimmer Myth You Lots indoors, artificial direct light

Pretty Serious Phantom Planet

Hello my lovelies and happy Sunday! It's a beautiful day and I'm about to go out and get some fresh air, but first I wanted to get this post up because the pictures have been waiting patiently in my folders for a while now. I actually have a lot of stuff to show you and it seems that I never have enough time or energy to write the posts anymore. Anyway, the polish I'm showing you today is a gorgeous duochrome from the brand Pretty Serious. 

Pretty Serious Phantom Planet indoors, artificial light

Accessorize Aztec

Hello lovelies and happy Sunday! I really hope you are having fun today because I'm stuck at home studying again. I got a big exam next week so the next few posts will be scheduled ahead so I can focus on that. Today I'm gonna show you another amazing duochrome polish. I have quite a few of these in my collection and it's no surprise. They are all fantastic! 

Accessorize Aztec indoors, artificial light

I picked this beauty up when I was in London last summer and it took me half a year to wear it. I'm such a bad polish enthusiast! I didn't even realize how amazing this is until I did a full manicure with it. It shifts from pink/purple to green and the duochrome is very strong. Another great surprise was the fact that it photographed really well. 

Accessorize Aztec indoors, artificial light

I created a little collage to show you how different this polish can look depending on the way the light hits it. It's certainly not one of those duochromes where the effect is strong in the bottle and then gets lost on the nail. This is so gorgeous!

Accessorize Aztec indoors, artificial direct light

Regarding application, I have to say that this is a sheer polish. I applied 3 coats for these swatches and even though it is not visible in the pictures, there was still a bit of VNL in real life. Other than that, it went on smooth and there were no issues. It seemed to dry quite slow so I covered it with one coat of Seche Vite to accelerate the process. 

Accessorize Aztec indoors, artificial direct light

I think this is the last of the duochromes I had to show you. I really hope that you like this type of polishes as much as I do. The challenge of photographing them is part of the beauty of nail blogging. 

Flormar DC05

Hello lovelies! How is your week going? Just two more days to left from this awful and cold week. It's been freezing over here and my throat is already sore. I wish I could just spend my days in bed. Oh well. Exactly a week ago I was showing you this awesome duochrome by Rimmel and now I have another one from Flormar to talk about. I was almost thinking of doing a "duochrome Thursday" series. Truth is, I have a lot of chameleon polishes in my collection and I like them a lot. And of course this one is no exception. 

Flormar DC05 indoors, artificial light

Last year Flormar released a duochrome collection with a metallic finish. They already had some duochromes in the Miracle Colors line, but those are glass flecks. I waited for this collection to show up at my local counter and when they did, they were a lot more expensive than regular Flormar polishes (2.5 times the regular price). I was totally outraged that they hijacked the prices so much just because they brought out something that people would buy more, so I came home empty handed. But then my sister was kind enough to get me this one for my birthday. 

Flormar DC05 indoors, artificial light

I was never into Chanel Peridot and all of its dupes, but this one is right up my alley. The color shifts from green to a light teal. There is also some gold in there, but it's a lot less than in Peridot. The duochrome effect is very strong in this one and it's one of those jewel type shades that looks so bright and blingy on the nails. 

Flormar DC05 indoors, artificial light

I swatched this on one of those sunny days that are so rare in winter because I knew that the sun pictures would be necessary. It looks a lot more streaky in my pictures than it looks in reality. The streaks are actually pretty unnoticeable in real life. 

Flormar DC05 in the sun

Do you see how green it looks in the picture above? The color shift is unbelievable! Application is pretty good like with all Flormar shades. The polish was a little runny, but I managed to get it opaque in 2 easy coats. Again, even though it has a metallic finish the brush strokes are not very evident. I did add some top coat to make it more shiny. 

Flormar DC05 in the sun

I haven't really worn this polish, so I can't comment on durability. I'm sure it will get a lot of use in the summer, because this really needs sun to be rightfully admired. I would try some other shades from this collection but none of them really wowed me and not all of them have the strong duochrome effect that this beauty has. 

Rimmel Metal Rush Royal Blue

Hello my lovelies! It's already the 3rd day of 2013. These holidays went by too fast and the thought of going back to class in just a few days is really depressing. I'm trying to stay away from it as much as I can. And what better way to distract myself than talking about polish! The first one I'm showing you this year is the one I wore for New Year's Eve. It's an awesome metallic duochrome! 

Rimmel Metal Rush 60 Royal Blue indoors, artificial light

I found this one on the last day of the year, as I was doing some last minute shopping, and it immediately caught my eye. The color shift in this polish is just spectacular! The name, however, is something I don't really understand. The main colors in this polish are purple and teal. The teal is very green leaning. So there is really no royal blue in this one. 

Rimmel Metal Rush 60 Royal Blue indoors, artificial direct light

I made the collage above to show the color shift better. There's also a sort of gunmetal color that shows up sometimes. It's the only one that has hints of blue in it, but was harder to capture. 

Rimmel Metal Rush 60 Royal Blue indoors, artificial direct light

I was kind of in a hurry because I was getting ready for New Year's, so I swatched it on a nail wheel first to see how many coats it would need. It was very sheer and didn't even seem opaque in 3 coats, so I decided to layer it over black. What you see in the pictures are 2 coats of Royal Blue over one coat of China Glaze Liquid Leather as underwear. I did like the fact that it applied smoothly and the brush strokes weren't very obvious. There were some bubbles and even though Seche Vite took care of them, some were still visible if you looked closely. 

Rimmel Metal Rush 60 Royal Blue indoors, artificial direct light

The biggest problem with this polish was drying time. It was fine almost an hour after I painted it, and then later when I was doing my makeup I noticed that 2 nails were smudged. I have no idea how or when that happened, but it sure was frustrating to go to the New Year's party with smudged nails. It also seemed to chip very quickly. All in all, I have a love-hate relationship with this polish. It looks really great, but the quality is not the best. I would say that for the price of Rimmel polishes, it is still a good deal. It's great to wear on a night out or some other special occasion. 

Flormar U16

Hello my lovelies! Just a quick second post today to show you another Flormar beauty. Even though this is not a holiday polish, I think it works well with the season because it's so sparkly, and it also works for those who don't like wearing crazy colors on their nails. It is still quite bright and beautiful though.

Flormar Miracle Colors U16 indoors, artificial light

U16 is one of those polishes where the duochrome is actually stronger in photos than in real life. I have only found that with some of the Flormar Miracle Colors polishes. That definitely works in my advantage because I can take great photos and amaze you with these beauties. But they are seriously pretty in real life too! 

Flormar Miracle Colors U16 indoors, artificial light

The polish has a glass fleck finish and the color shifts from magenta to light purple. The purple was more evident in my pictures. In real life, it looks more magenta, so the above picture can give you an idea of how it looks most of the time. The little flecks are very very sparkly. It can look like you have glitter on your nails, but without the hassle of removing it. 

Flormar Miracle Colors U16 indoors, artificial direct light

See those tiny flecks? Really magical! The polish is a bit sheer, so I did 3 coats and there was still a tiny bit of visible nail line. Nothing too evident though. It goes on smooth and dries fast, so the 3 coats don't feel like a big effort. I also added some Seche Vite on top to make it dry faster and look extra glossy. 

Flormar Miracle Colors U16 indoors, artificial direct light

Even though this is not a color I would normally wear on my nails, I really enjoyed it. The color shift and the sparkle of this polish make it a must to everyone who has access to Flormar polishes. Plus with the low price it has, you can never go wrong. Another winner from this brand! 

W7 Metallic Mercury

Hello beautiful readers! How are you enjoying your Sunday? I'm studying again, so no surprise there. I finally managed to swatch the last of my W7 Metallic Planets polishes. Considering I got them in March, it took me quite some time. But better late than never, right? You can check out the other posts here: Metallic Neptune, Metallic Jupiter and Metallic Venus. Finally, today I'm showing you Metallic Mercury!

W7 Metallic Mercury indoors, artificial light

It's not a surprise that I left this one at the end, since this is the most fall appropriate of all and it deserved to be worn in November. I actually wasn't expecting much of a duochrome effect from it, but I was very surprised because there was plenty of duochrome and it even showed up in the pictures. 

W7 Metallic Mercury indoors, artificial light

Mercury has more of a glass fleck effect, similar to Jupiter, where a really dark sheer base is filled with flecks that range from purple to copper and gold tones. I would even dare to say that it looks better in my photos than in reality. It's usually the other way around with this kind of polishes, but somehow the colors all came out to play in my pictures. 

W7 Metallic Mercury indoors, artificial direct light

I wasn't too pleased with the formula however, because the base is really sheer and I had some bald spots that required a 3rd coat to even out. If you are new to the brand I must warn you that W7 polishes contain toluene and smell terribly! It did dry very fast though, but I spotted a few bubbles on the nail. Nothing a good coat of Seche Vite can't solve. 

W7 Metallic Mercury indoors, artificial direct light

So what do you think of this lovely? I think that W7 polishes are a bargain and for such a low price, you can never go wrong.

Monday Blues: Flormar U08

Hello my lovelies! Oh Monday, how I dreaded you! This week is gonna be so long and crazy and of course today is the worst day of the week. I just hope it goes by fast and painless. To brighten your Monday I have a blue beauty as always. This time it's something that I had a lot of trouble photographing and the end result still doesn't show its true beauty. But what can I say. I really did my best. Oh and if you are wondering why my nails were so long in yesterday's post, it's because the pictures were from a few weeks ago. I'm currently sporting shorter ones. 

Flormar U08 indoors, artificial light

Flormar U08 from the Miracle Colors line is a gorgeous glass flecked duochrome. It has a darker base and the flecks can look either blue or purple depending on the lighting. This effect is very visible in real life but my camera doesn't want to see the purple and it makes it always look blue. I tried it with my sister's camera as well and it did the same thing. Apparently the better the camera, the less friendly it is to the purple. Of course my phone camera did a good job but I wasn't going to include low resolution pictures on the blog. I posted one on Instagram and if you like you can see it here.

Flormar U08 indoors, artificial light

So of course I included a ton of pictures in this post, attempting to show you the gorgeousness of this polish. You can see some of the purple in the image above and in the one below. 

Flormar U08 indoors, artificial light

The formula of this polish is not that great, so it does require 3 coats. It's kinda sheer and thin, which together with the stiff brush make for a streaky application. The third coat is needed to even it out. I also noticed a lot of shrinking with Seche Vite, which you can see at the tips of my nails in the pictures. 

Flormar U08 indoors, artificial light

I hope you don't mind that I included one more picture besides the 5 I usually post. This polish is just too beautiful! And it's so perfect for fall because it's dark and it literally glows from within! 

Flormar U08 indoors, artificial direct light

I do hope you enjoyed this post and make sure to stop by these ladies to see their Monday Blues: 

Gosia from Life in Color

Marisa from Polish Obsession

Joanna from The Treasure Chest 

Have a great week! 

Monday Blues: Kiko 398

Hello my lovelies! Another Monday, another blue. This time I'm showing you a gorgeous limited edition Kiko polish. This is actually my first Kiko and I was very excited to try out this brand because I've heard so many good things about it. Needless to say that it didn't disappoint! 

Kiko 398 indoors, artificial light

Kiko polishes usually have numbers on the bottle and the name is only listed on the website. This one is no longer available since it was a limited edition, but I did a bit of googling and it seems that it's called Infinite Indigo. The duochrome in this one is not that strong and although I did my best to capture the purple that shows up in certain angles, it just wouldn't come out properly. You can catch a glimpse of the duochrome effect in the following pictures. 

Kiko 398 indoors, natural light

Of course the sun wouldn't cooperate very well either for these pictures. The formula of this polish was not spectacularly good, but still pretty manageable. It's on the thin side and the first coat went on kinda patchy. I experienced a bit of dragging, but the second coat made it opaque and took care of the bald spots. I applied some Seche Vite on top to make it dry faster and make the brush strokes disappear. 

Kiko 398 indoors, artificial light

This beauty can definitely be worn by itself. It's perfect for fall because it's a jewel type color that can liven up a neutral toned outfit. However, I couldn't resist and did some stamping over it. I chose a design from plate CH16 and stamped it with China Glaze Liquid Leather. I really like the look of this because it brings that extra something without covering the base color too much. 

I hope you like it too! Please take a moment to check out the other Monday Blues by these lovely ladies: 

Gosia from Life in Color!

Marisa from Polish Obsession
Joanna from The Treasure Chest

Have a great week! 

Girly Girl Nail Art Challenge Day 4: Inspired by the Runway

Hello my lovelies! Today I'm continuing with the Girly Girl challenge and the theme is "Inspired by the Runway". I have to say that I'm not very interested in fashion and I'm not into fashion trends. I usually wear what I like and how I like. But I do follow nail trends and something that has been really big on the runway lately are the half moon nails. So I decided to do some half moons with a twist for today's theme. 

These might seem like regular half moon nails at first, but the moons are actually duochrome! I used Essence Where Is The Party? from the Colour & Go line, which has a very strong duochrome effect. Let's take a look at this polish by itself. 

Essence Colour & Go 43 Where Is The Party? indoors, artificial light, no top coat

Where Is The Party? is one of those awesome duochromes that doesn't really need a lot of moving around to get the color to change. The different colors just show up naturally. You can see there's a purple color and a dark silver in the first picture. There's also a green color in there somewhere and I managed to capture it in the following picture.

Essence Colour & Go 43 Where Is The Party? indoors, artificial direct light, with top coat

Pretty spectacular, right? The formula is not too bad either. I did 2 coats for these photos and it turned out pretty opaque. It photographs more streaky than it is in real life. You can see in the first photo that the streaks are more evident without top coat, but the top coat partially take care of that. I had a few bubbles on my nails though after applying it, and I'm not sure where they came from. The durability of this polish is not that good. This manicure started chipping on the second day of wear. I'm pretty sure it's the Essence's fault since it was the base. 

Essence Colour & Go 43 Where Is The Party? indoors, artificial light, with top coat

I used some round stickers as guides to mask the moons and painted China Glaze Grape Pop on the rest of the nail. It was the first time I used these kind of stickers and I definitely need practice with them. The one on my middle finger was placed a bit too low, but I guess it's not that bad since that nail is also bigger than the other ones. 

I really enjoyed this manicure and I can't wait to try it again with different color combos. Here are the links to the other blogs participating in this challenge: 

W7 Metallic Venus

Hello my lovelies and happy Sunday! I hope you are doing well and you are getting great weather where you are. We are finally done with the rain for a few days and enjoying some sun. I still have 2 polishes left to swatch out of the ones I picked from the W7 Metallic Planets collection. So today it's Venus' turn! 

W7 Metallic Venus indoors, artificial light

Of course it was raining when I put this on so no sun pictures. It seems like it's a curse with these polishes. I always have to photograph them in artificial light. I will tell you from the start that this one surprised me, in a good way, of course! 

Metallic Venus is a purple duochrome. It has a purple/magenta base and shifts all the way to blue/teal. I would say that the duochrome is really strong in this one. You can see multiple colors on the nail at the same time. Unlike the others in this collection (that are more chunky shimmers), this is kind of an oil slick finish (similar to GOSH Purple Heart). I have a few macro shots that show the tealish shimmer up close. 

In the application department, this is more sheer compared to the others in this collection. This means that you might need 3 coats. I only did 2 because I was in a hurry. Other than that, it applies smoothly thanks to the flat brush and the toluene it contains (remember that it does stink). It dries to a shiny finish but not very fast. I managed to bump two of my nails trying to get dressed.

I only had this on for one day because of the nasty bumps I had in it, so I can't comment on durability. I really loved it and can't wait to wear it again. It's one of those duochromes that gets noticed even from a distance. 

I still have one polish to try out from this collection. Overall I'm very happy with the ones I have. They are great duochromes and are a real bargain when it comes to the price.