Dance Legend Enamel Glass - 1052 & 1054

Whoop whoop, back to square nails! They're not perfectly shaped yet, but I do like them so far. The next two colors from my Dance Legend package are from their Enamel Glass collection, a selection of glossy, kind of sheer polishes inspired by coloured glass. I like the idea and the dark red one looks pretty cool, but as you can see I had some trouble with the application. 1052* looks nice with two coats, but I couldn't get an even finish with 1054*. I'm wearing no base or top coat for the pictures. I think these could be cute for some watercolor/stamping nail art, but I didn't try that yet. 

Yay für die neue/alte Nagelform! Sie sind noch ein wenig schief, aber das kommt noch besser. Heute habe ich zwei Lacke aus der Dance Legend Enamel Glass Kollektion. Die Lacke sind halb durchsichtig, inspiriert von bunten Gläsern. Die Idee finde ich zwar toll, aber leider hatte ich Probleme beim Auftragen. 1052* gefällt mir gut und war auch deckend mit zwei Schichten, bei 1054* habe ich das nicht hinbekommen. Die Fotos sind ohne Base und Top Coat. Vielleicht sind sie eher was für Nail Art, das muss ich aber noch probieren. 

*PR Sample

p2 Winter... who cares?! - I don't care!

I love today's polish just as much as the blue one (No matter!) from the p2 Winter...who cares?! collection and again I'm sorry if you can't get these anymore. The red one is called I don't care! and I used two coats with one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. Adorable, right?

KBShimmer - Holly Back Girl (Winter Collection 2014)

Remember how I fell in love with KBShimmer - Holly Back Girl and tried to recreate it? Well I think I came pretty close with my DIY project but still I felt the urge to buy the original. And I'm not disappointed, it's a very beautiful Winter/Christmas polish in my opinion. Holly Back Girl has everything: a fancy name, Christmas glitter mixed into a snowy base and enough pigments to cover the nail with two coats. It did need a bit of careful application, but still, two coats were enough. I also bought another polish from the KBShimmer Winter Collection 2014 (while I'm at it...) and I love it just as much. I'm probably going to post it in the next few days, but first I'm enjoying this beauty! I bought mine at Harlow & Co but you can get this from various shops online.

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Review

Sally Hansen sent me seven colors of their new Miracle Gel* range and today I have my review ready for you. You've probably already seen the disaster on my Instagram, so you will know that I can only show you six of the colors. They come with the Miracle Gel top coat which in combination with the nail polish is supposed to make your manicure last for up to 14 days. We all know this never happens and these are no exceptions. Nonetheless and even if personally I don't bother wearing the same nail polish for more than 3 days, I wanted to try these colors a bit more thoroughly than I normally would. 

* PR Sample

I chose to use the color that's least likely to bore me after a day or two, which is the classic called Red Eye. It's a beautiful brilliant red and I really enjoyed wearing it for five full days. You're supposed to apply two coats without a base coat and then add one coat of the Miracle Gel top coat over it. The next day and in bright daylight I noticed that the top coat was unusually streaky and didn't look very appealing. My current top coat from Sally Hansen, Insta-Dri, gives a more perfect finish in my opinion. Have a look at the sunlight picture from Day 3 below to see what I'm talking about. Another thing about the top coat: the nail polish stained the top coat brush which is quite annoying. I wiped it off on a piece of paper before dipping it back into the bottle. That's one way of wasting top coat! After three days I started to notice some tip wear, which was more apparent on my middle and pointer finger from my right hand. All of the pictures show my left hand for practical reasons. On the fifth day I decided to remove the manicure. There was quite some tip wear but no visible chipped parts. 

I tried another color called Pink Tank for three full days and I didn't see a big difference to Red Eye. There might have been a bit more tip wear on Day 3. I didn't wear the other colors yet, but I swatched them on one nail each. I used three coats each, because I felt like they weren't as opaque as Red Eye and Pink Tank. But you might get away with two careful coats, if your nails are very smooth. 

My conclusion:

+ 5 days without chipping

+ nice choice of colors

-  don't last up to 14 days

-  streaky top coat

-  bleeding colors

-  rather expensive (sold together with the top coat for €17.95)

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel - Red Eye: Day 2

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel - Red Eye: Day 3

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel - Red Eye: Day 5

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel - Pink Tank: Day 3

3 coats each, from left to right:

Pretty Piggy - Pinky Promise - Bare Dare - Birthday Suit

Sally Hansen DE on Facebook

Sally Hansen DE on Instagram

Essie - Leading Lady (Winter/Holiday 2012)

Before continuing with nail art, I wanted to show you my pretty base for last week's #LLAfterDark challenge. Sadly one of my nails chipped right after I did this design and I decided to file them all short for now. But to maintain a bit of consistency for the blog, I decided to post the remaining pictures with long nails, before continuing with the new designs. So you have probably seen this one before, but I think it's pretty enough to show up more than once! It's Essie - Leading Lady, one of the polishes from the Winter/Holiday collection 2012. I only own the mini bottle of this beauty, but I was happy to see that it still has a nice formula after two years. I used two coats and one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri on top. 

Essie - Leading Lady on short, square nails

The Lacquer Legion After Dark: Vampire Nails

It's been a while since I've participated in The Lacquer Legion monthly challenge! This month's subject is After Dark and since I love everything Halloween related, I couldn't resist joining in. To make it a bit easier for me, I got my inspiration from a great nail artist: Christina from Starfish on the Beach. She did this beautifully creepy vampire teeth design for Halloween 2013 and I decided to recreate it on my current manicure, which is Essie - Leading Lady. I used black nail polish and white acrylic paint for the design and added one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri on top. You can find all of the other designs of this challenge with the hashtag #LLAfterDark.

My previous designs for The Lacquer Legion:

#LLGlam

#LLAdoration

#LLReinvention

exurbe cosmetics - Seductive (Francoise Nielly) - Fall/Winter 2014/15

I received the new Fall/Winter collection from exurbe cosmetics called Seductive*, which was inspired by the artist Francoise Nielly. There are five polishes altogether and I swatched all of them for this post. I was mainly curious about two of the colors (Diva & Dark Obsession) since the other three didn't seem too exciting. Both of them are nice, but not as special as expected. Exurbe cosmetics is a Swiss brand available in a few selected stores and online (shipping to Switzerland and Liechtenstein) for CHF 21 per 11ml. You can become a member by using my invitation link (not a paid link).

*PR Sample

exurbe cosmetics - Armed Amazon

I used two coats for this bronze. The tips are still a tiny bit showing through, but overall this had a nice formula. 

exurbe cosmetics - Dark Obsession

Again two coats for an opaque result. It's a dark green with a bit of shimmer. Sadly most of the exciting purple shimmer from the bottle doesn't appear on the nails. 

exurbe cosmetics - Diva

While with the first coat this one looked almost raspberry pink, the second coat turned it into a brownish red with golden shimmer. If I had to pick a favorite of this collection, this would be my choice. 

exurbe cosmetics - Love Scene

This is really not my color, so I might be a bit biased. I used two coats, but the formula was too thick and left my nails with a streaky finish. That's why I applied one coat of top coat for these pictures. 

exurbe cosmetics - Maneater

Same problem here, this is not a favorite. I used two coats of this sheer orange and the tips are still showing through. Although it almost looks like it in the pictures it's not actually neon orange. 

OPI - Skyfall

Another holiday souvenir 

Two coats of OPI - Skyfall, one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

Coca-Cola by OPI: Icons of Happiness

I received three samples of the OPI collaboration with Coca-Cola and I will show you all of them in today's post. The Coca-Cola by OPI - Icons of Happiness collection will be available from the end of June 2014 until October, including 9 bottles for CHF 23.90 each and a mini set with all bottles for CHF 49.90. For more information you can visit the OPI Swiss Facebook page. I was really excited about this collection since I just love the idea of colors inspired by drinks. I'm a big fan of Vanilla Coke, so I'm probably gonna buy You're So Vain-illa for myself, just because. I got the classic red inspired by - well - the classic coke called Coca-Cola Red, then the black with dark red glitters which was inspired by Coke Zero and is called Today I Accomplished Zero (love the name!) plus the duochrome green inspired by Sprite which is called Green On The Runway. I really didn't get the reference to Sprite though, but it's a lovely color. I used two coats of each polish and no top coat except for Today I Accomplished Zero, to even out the glitter surface. As usual these are of good quality and dried fast.

Coca-Cola Red

Classic red - always in style, always perfect.

two coats, no top coat

Green on the Runway

This uncut-lime green makes a real fashion statement.

two coats, no top coat

Today I Accomplished Zero

Dramatic black with effervescent red sparkle is a total must-do. 

two coats, 1 coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss

Essie - Bordeaux

I have been wearing a beautiful dark red by Essie for the last few days and I love this color a lot! It's called Bordeaux and I used two coats this time. It might look a bit more opaque with three coats but I didn't feel like adding another one and I'm happy with how it looks with just two coats. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

Essie - Chubby Cheeks

It doesn't happen too often that I wear a simple color without any nail art at all, even if I really enjoy plain nails. I have been growing my nails the last few weeks and I might try a bit of a different shape as well. The almond shape is quite difficult to create so I'm not sure I will wear them like this for a long time, but we'll see! I thought a plain pretty color would be the perfect start since I'm not completely used to wearing long nails yet. I chose Essie - Chubby Cheeks, a beautiful red which Essie describes as a creamy bright red-orange sunset. I used two coats and one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss on top.