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Monday, February 13, 2012

Summer, where art thou?

Does someone else feel like winter has been dragging on forever? Time to banish the gloom with some bright polish!
I was visiting the market with my mum and came across a brand I've never heard of before. It's called Paris Memories. The stall I got it from mostly sold flakies and glitter so I picked up two bottles. One of which I used in today's manicure.



So that's the new one on the left. As you can see, there's a lot going on in this polish. There are: big round glitters in the colours green/orange, small round glitters in the colours green/orange and small round glitters in the colour purple. It looks like it's in some kind of sheer lilac base, but that's not visible once applied on the nails.
On the right is China Glaze Lighthouse.



































I didn't have a lot of time to come up with something more original than layering. But it looks really good, especially when the weather is overcast outside.



I was actually a bit disappointed with Lighthouse at first. The first two coats were super sheer and I almost gave up weren't it for the third coat. Somehow it magically transformed into a beautiful golden yellow, with good coverage.
The polish from Paris Memories (which doesn't seem to have a name or number) applies really well. The formula isn't too thick but also not runny. The flakies on the nails were the result of one coat. Not bad for a polish that cost me €1,50.

A while ago, I entered a giveaway on A Girl And Her Polish. She was giving away Revlon Whimsical and I thought I would give it a go. Yesterday she mailed me - I won! Aaaaaaah! I can't even believe it, because I never win anything. Can't wait 'till I have it!

xox,
Maria.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Raspberries

Hi!

School starts tomorrow and I needed a bright mani to cheer me up. This was a perfect opportunity to try out China Glaze Strawberry Fields.



On the right is Carnival Lights, if you were wondering :). It's very similar to OPI Teenage Dream, except that the colour is slightly darker.



Strawberry Fields reminds me more of raspberries, to be honest... It's a rich dark pink colour with golden shimmers. It applies in two coats and dries quickly. I used Carnival Lights on my ring finger and a special stamping polish from Konad on my thumb. Here's a close-up. 




xox,
Maria.

P.S. The picture of the raspberries is a stock photo I got from here.

Thursday, February 2, 2012

Big Haul + mani

Hi!

I went crazy yesterday and went on a China Glaze shopping spree. Need to pay for college this month? Nah, we'll just forget about that. :) Now I'm happy and my wishlist got shorter by eight polishes!



These are a great addition to my collection! And look at that - we finally have snow here in the Netherlands! I couldn't be more excited. So, from left to right: Snow Globe, Strawberry Fields, Carnival Lights, Flying Dragon, Marry A Millionaire, Lorelei's Tiara, Lighthouse, Shooting Stars.
I'm anxious to try them all out so here's a mani where I tried to put in as many polishes as possible!




This is Flying Dragon as base, with Shooting Stars on top of it and the line is Lighthouse. I'm also trying out something new with the lay-out of my posts to make them look more appealing - let me know what you think!
Flying Dragon is a fuchsia/purple with very small blue and purple glitters in it. They are however not visible in this mani, because of the coat of Shooting Stars. Shooting stars is basically hologlitter in a clear base. It has two sizes of glitter: small and very big. You can see a couple of them in the small circle in the picture above.
Then finally there's Lighthouse. Lighthouse is a bright yellow that consists of yellow shimmer. It's quite sheer, which I didn't expect. I have yet to try it out as a base colour so I'll let you know how it applies.



It reminds me a little bit of the Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes magic shop... Yes, that was another Harry Potter reference ;).

xox,
Maria.