[OPI] Visions of Sugarplum

Another awesome dark shade – iridescent purple with small flakies.

Love the formula. So easy to apply and chip-resistant. Dried quickly, too. This is two coats with Essie Good to Go top coat, since shown below is the actual mani.

[Chanel] Clair-Obscur

This is a vanish from the Les Vernis Facettes collection, which must be an older one, since it has been discontinued for a long time. All shades of Les Vernis Facettes are iridescent if not even duochrome; Clair-Obscur shifts between lilac and yellow/gold (although the yellow part is quite hidden). Notice the mattified appearance of the outer square cap as well as of the bottle.

Three coats; Clair-Obscur also has a pearl finish. It’s a lovely shade and quite extraordinary.

[Zoya] Reece

Reece is a shimmery pink with a gold-green iridescent finish. It’s lovely!

Three coats.

I’ve been enjoying the loveliest summer day so far, after it had been cloudy for ages, with sometimes heavy rainfalls. Temperature climbed to approx. 29° C today. There is a temporary installation in the Lake Binnenalster for ten days, an oversized styrofoam sculpture of a bathing woman, which I tried to take a photo of but she’s actually on the other side of the lake; so this is actually not very good as you just see her from behind. I will go over there on Thursday or Friday to catch a glimpse of her face!

Notice the two Mundsberg Towers in the background…

On the left, it’s the Kunsthalle (Gallery of Art).

I also went over to American Apparel for the first time because I had noticed a woman wearing one of their stretch dresses, and that’s why I got myself a “pillowcase” jersey dress in bright turquoise, and I’m going to put on Mimosa again, my personal favourite of the year.

[Essie] Spring Collection 2011

Ha ha, this is pretty late! I’ve been having those for a while and showed a swatch of Sand Tropez already, and it still reminds me of a baby version of Chanel Particulière.

Coat Azure, Topless and Barefoot, French Affair, Nice Is Nice (all from the Mini Cube), Kisses & Bises, Sand Tropez (which I bought separately).

Coat Azure. Blue with silvery shimmer and my favourite of this collection. Not really accurate, due to bad lighting; I took this photo in June.

Topless and Barefoot. A pink nude; this one doesn’t go well with my skintone.

French Affair combines pink with a hint of lilac.

Nice Is Nice… it took me a while to figure out that this refers to the town Nice. A beautiful lilac.

Kisses & Bises; I’ve got the perfect bag for this shade! It’s “Polly Pistol” by George Gina & Lucy (GGL), the colour is called “space suit”.

Kisses & Bises is actually a sheer pearly base with an iridescent pink shimmer. It’s ideal for layering but here it is on its own.

[Chanel] Péridot

It’s a shame that Europe is so late regarding the release of Illusions d’ombre de Chanel, their Fall Collection 2011. The moment I saw Péridot on other blogs, I craved for it, and when it turned up on eBay yesterday for a reasonable price, I could no longer resist. I assume that the seller made a mistake because the moment I had bought the item, she increased the “Buy it now” price but anyway, I had already grabbed a bargain for a genuine polish. Dispatch was quick and I got Péridot today, ready to be swatched.

Two coats. This is unique; I love greens in general, but Péridot is more a gold-green, not truly duochrome but slightly iridescent… and metallic. Or rather, as mentioned in this article (for those of you who read German), it’s just like an inside out toad (I guess the author acutally means upside down?). Anyway, Péridot meets my expectations and taste.

That’s it for today; I will have some more work to do with regard to my thesis, that’s why I am going to take a short break for about one week.

[Nfu Oh] 51 layered over Chanel Vendetta

Yesterday was a dark and rainy day, and in the evening I was in the mood for trying Nfu Oh 51. I had seen loads of swatches of this lately but was not sure about how its flakies overkill would look on me. On the other hand, I was eager to give it a try, and I chose Vendetta as a base…

… since Nfu Oh 51 comes with a sheer purple base.

This is what I got.

Depending on the sunlight, the shimmer of the flakies looks different.

I’m totally convinced by opal flakes now and need to get some other shades by Nfu Oh!

[Zoya] Charla

Charla is part of last year’s Sparkle Collection. In the first place, I ordered it because the name is similar to mine (Carla), and I also have a passion for glittery, unique stuff. In the bottle, I recognise golden, blue/turquoise and silver glitter particles.

On the nails, it’s gorgeous! Like a mermaid’s scales.Two coats. No wonder that, with all those glitters, the finish is slightly iridescent.

I’ve heard that OPI Catch Me In Your Net, Orly Halley’s Comet and essence Choose Me! are possible dupes for Charla, but I haven’t tried any of those yet.

[Franken] More Swatches: The Hungry Asian

I’ve got some more swatches of Kae’s (The Hungry Asian blog) awesome franken creations. For part 1, please see here.

The contents of my second order (in the left corner is one of the Serena Williams OPI sets, which I received, too… nearly freaked out completely ).

Second Chance, Layer Me and Zugar (a franken done by Kae’s husband; he should be very proud of it ).

Another Charity Set with three minis, this time including Watermelon (middle). The others are Strawberry and Cookies & Cream.

Second Chance is a berry base with green and fuchsia microglitter. Two coats. (All swatches are without base or top coat.)

Layer Me (described by Kae as “fuchsia, merlot and green superfine glitter in a pale blue base”). On the photo, it’s two coats on its own. However, this one obviously loves to be layered and thus I’m going to try it over Barry M Cyan Blue.

Zugar was a huge surprise! It’s actually iridescent, if not even duochrome. It changes between blue-teal and gold. This ist great! I’ve been wearing it twice already.

Here’s Strawberry, a bright red with black glitter. No wonder that it’s a best-seller; this is extraordinary.

Last one is Watermelon, which is pink with green glitter. The ideal summer polish. Yummy, isn’t it?

Again, Kae did a great job and I’m looking forward to her next franken creations and blog sale.

[essence] miracle shine

“Nail Art Magnetics” edition. It’s somewhat iridescent between silver and pale pink.

With Magic Wand on the ring finger (a pale metallic pink); I did not use the magnet with this since I thought the colours are beautiful on their own and so far, I never managed to make the magnetic effect look nicely…

[essence] Catwalk Pink

“Show your feet” toe lacquer collection. Catwalk pink is an iridescent berry pink…

… which, of course, works well on fingernails too. This is two coats. I love this shade.