China Glaze ~ Stone Cold

This was the second of the Hunger Game polishes that arrived in my mailbox.

Behold, two coats without any topcoat:

Oh man was I surprised when I realised this one is a matte! And an awesome, slate grey, silver shimmery matte to boot. As I was going to wear this to a homebrewfestival the same evening I decided to add a glossy topcoat to one finger and HM Matte topcoat to the other 4:

Imho it turned out really well. As this is a matte dry time is extremely fast. Application was also good. However, removal was a major pita. First the charcoal base came off, and dying most of my hand grey, and then I had to do the real heavy work getting rid of the silver glitter. It also seemed to dry really brittle and even though it seemed quite good for wearability, I managed to "crack" the polish on two of my nails, which the turned to chipping from the middle of the nail. Not pretty.

But all in all I'm in love!

IsaDora City Khaki

I was so lucky to win the giveaway hosted by Kia at NailsN'cupcakes earlier this fall, and a lovely package arrived a few days ago. One of the items in it was IsaDora's City khaki. This is a polish I've actually ogled for a while, but as I usually shop online, I rarely remember it when I'm actually IN a store, plus i still haven't really managed to justify the price when there are still so many pretty polishes I need (yes, i need them :-p  who cost a fraction, even with shipping. But now the wait is over:

It's a rather neutral grey-beige with a silver shimmer (pretty well visible in the second picture). Two coats, nice formula. The dry time was absolutely dreadful. Even with Fast forward it dented and nicked half an hour after application :-( But for the colour, I can live with it.

An apologies for indoor lighting. Daylight is getting to be a rare commodity here now, and being at work pretty much means darkness after I get home, fix dinner etc. So sunlit shots will have to be a weekend item until we reach March or so.

Misa ~ Surreal escape

This little bundle of fun dumped into my mailbox last week. Didn't manage to get swatches up before the weekend, but here they are:

Grey matters:

Pale grey with darker shimmer in sort of a speckle pattern. Realy pretty and cool, but man! Sheer, runny, droopy, couple of bubbles plus took forever to dry. This is three coats. Sadly no sun as it was playing peek-a-boo with me and decided to show as I was removing the polish.


Spaced out:

Same dark speckle effect as Grey matters, but the base has a beige-y tint (greige?) and it appears to also have a bit of a blue shimmer. Better consistency and drying time than GM, but I personally prefer the neutral grey.

Beyond infinity:

Dusty bley/grey with a slight shimmer. In a collection with 3 duochromes and 2 funky speckled polishes, this one feels a bit lost, but I still think it's really pretty. Probably not a very unique colour, but I have none like it in my collection.

The great green whatsit:

Slight duochrome flashing from green to blue, with a fine silver glitter. There is a pink/purple flash in the bottle, but sadly it doesn't really show on the nail. Took forever to dry and was impossible to photograph. Ugh, pretty in the bottle but I'm honestly not sure I'm going to bother with using it for a good while.

Shields up:

Exremely sheer. Reminds me of Katy Perry - Not like the movies from OPI, I think I need to do a comparison on these two. Primarily green/pink duochrome, with the same silver glitter as in The great green whatsit. Really pretty.

Phasers on stunning:

Stunning! Metallic green with a rust coloured duochrome. Sadly, the rust colour was almost impossible to capture as I had to keep my nails almost completely flat, but I promise you it's there. The base green is much stronger than the one in Shields up, and it also has the same fine silver glitter as the two other duochromes. I think this one might well be my favourite, with Grey matters and Beyond infinity in the next spots.

All of these were 3 coats, and none were exactly a joy in application. PoS and BI were the least troublesome of the bunch for me, with tGGW taking the lead for horrible formula. Have you tried any of these? Which is your favourite?

Color Club ~ Revvvolution

Yay! I've had a pretty big lemming on this one ever since seeing pictures of it. It's goooooorgeous. So with no further ado:

Nice, mottled grey. Sweet and demure. Yeah right. With sunlight (or any direct light) Prepare for picture overload:

I found it very hard to capture completely, but the second you put some light on it, it gives you a gorgeous, rainbow holo. It's not a llinear holo, but nor is it a regular holo glitter either. It's absolutely lovely, and I've caught myself sitting admiring my nails in all sorts of lights. I think i'm in love.

Do you have any lemmings? Care to share :-)?

Essie ~ Power clutch

Well, another virginity lost. My first ever Essie polish. Haven't gotten around to buying many of those yet as I tend to be caught up with all the loud, blingy, awesome (and very cheap) China Glaze and Color Club. Hopefully I'll get around to Essie a lot more in the future.

The pictures are blurry, but it's honestly the best I got. May have something to do with having to rush as the sun was setting really fast. Dark grey with a slight hint of green. Two coats, great application but a slightly long drying time. Great office-polish (well, Sio, with a name like that, what did you really expect huh??) And as I'll be wearing it tomorrow for a meeting with my boss where salary is one of the topics, here's to hopeing for a little help for the Power clutch. :-D

What do you generally think about Essie polishes? Any I really should try?

My first konad

I got a package in the mail today. I had ordered 3 konad stamping plates and a stamp. I didn't bother with scraper or polishes as I read around that people suggest using a plastic card as the scraper will scratch the plates, plus I already have oodles of polish and I'm sure some of them will work for stamping.

So here goes:

The base is OPI Skull and glossbones, the thumb is Milani Black magic and the rest of the fingers are China Glaze Liquid leather. The thumb really is a lot lighter than the rest (hence the reason for it being only on one finger :-p ) I used the m36 plate, and I don't think it was too shabby for a first ever attempt. Now I just gotta nick some more acetone, some isopropanol and borrow a pair of tweezers from work :-D

OPI ~ Skull and glossbones

This is the other polish I got from the Pirates collection. Neutral, grey creme:

I am sorry OPI. I hear a lot of people rave about your polishes, but I just can't see it. This is two coats, and if I hold my nails up to the light it's a streaky mess with a couple of bald spots to boot. I feared the worst when I did the first coat, but thought number two would make it better. Well, it did make it better but it didn't make it good. If I were to wear this polish on it's own I'd probably have to add a third coat, and for a plain creme? Sorry, not good enough when I can wallow in other brands who have better formulas and lower prices. As I'm just using it as a base for my first attempts to konad (stay tuned ;-) ) it will stay, but unless I get an amazing konad I do fear that this one will end up in the swap/give away pile.

Am I the only one that feels this about OPI at the moment?

China Glaze ~ Metro collection, Downtown

And today i returned home from work to find the rest of the Metro collection waiting for me. YAY! So with no further ado, I give you: Downtown. (The first half, Uptown, can be found here)

Trendsetter:

Dark, dusty mustard-yellow with a bit of green thrown in. Fascinating colour. There is also a very pretty gold shimmer that keeps it from looking too drab. This is two coats, no topcoat.

Westside Warrior:

Army green creme. Dar army green with a hint of brown to it. I really really like this one. Two coats, no topcoat and still so shiny!! It's not a colour I'd call pretty, but it's a very cool one. Now where is my camo gear and war-paint?

Concrete Catwalk:

Dark grey creme, kinda denim-like with a slight blue-ish tint. Very opaque, could almost have made it with one coat, but ended up with two anyway. Not a very exciting colour, but one that will probably end up as a favourite whenever I need something that's conventional and nice, but still with a bit of a kick to it.

Loft-y Ambitions:

Oh boy! Dark wine red, with a tiny bit of silver shimmer, more noticeable in the bottle than on the nail. There really is only one word for this one, Sexy! Again, two coats. Only sad thing was that this beauty is shy. She did NOT wish to have her picture taken.

Skyscraper:

Dark blue jelly base packed with silver glitter. Sadly the sun is now completely gone, but I'm sure it'd sparkle  more than Edward Cullen.This is three coats, drying time was pretty good, and even though it's a bit gritty without a topcoat, it's a far cry from the worst I've seen.

Midtown Magic:

Dark purple/brown-ish base with some gold/copper flakes/shimmer. I know, a lot of slashes here, but this colour really isn't very easy to explain. Again two coats. It looks a lot more shimmery in the bottle, on the nail  it's more flakey. I'm not sure how unique this one is for those who've had this addiction longer than me, but I definately don't have anything like it in my stash :-)

So, these were thick, and slightly goopy, but not impossible to work with. Couple of really beautiful colours, couple of very nice "office wear". i think my least favourite is Trendsetter. Which I find kinda sad as I love the fact they turn out colours like these, but they just aren't my personal cup of tea. My two absolute faves must be Loft-y Ambitions and Midtown Magic. Which are your fave picks?