Sally Hansen Guilty Pleasures Winter 2014

Sally Hansen sent me their new Guilty Pleasures* collection for Winter 2014 and today I have the swatches ready for you. This collection is already in stores since the beginning of November and each bottle is sold for € 8.99.  There are six colors in total of which I especially like three. 

There's 24K Dipped, a light bronze which doesn't get me too excited. Then there is Diamond Jubilee which I loved at first, but then I was a bit disappointed because I couldn't get complete opacity with two coats. I hoped for the glitter to be more chunky and the base to be more opaque. Next is Glitter Bomb a golden glitter base with rose glitter and I really need to ask: Do you like this combination? If yes, please explain me why? In my opinion those two colors clash violently! 

The next three colors are my favorites of the collection. There is Luxe Tux a black base with silver glitter which didn't disappoint at all. Then there's Rule of Plum a deep purple with pink and blue shimmer which is lovely as well. And then there's Scarlett Letter, a dark strawberry red with golden shimmer which is just perfect for Holiday season. 

The formula was lovely on all of these, except maybe for the missing opacity of Diamond Jubilee. All of the pictures show two coats without a base or top coat. 

*PR Sample

Sally Hansen - 24K Dipped

Sally Hansen - Diamond Jubilee

Sally Hansen - Glitter Bomb

Sally Hansen - Luxe Tux

Sally Hansen - Rule of Plum

Sally Hansen - Scarlett Letter

Sally Hansen DE on Facebook

Sally Hansen DE on Instagram

Holy Glitter Sandwich! / KB Shimmer Holly Back Girl inspired DIY

So I fell in love with KB Shimmer - Holly Back Girl after seeing these beautiful nails by Lindsey from Wondrously Polished. Since I'm a bit short of money at the moment (always?) I decided to recreate this beautiful polish with what I already have at home. At first I thought it might be a good idea to combine China Glaze - Party Hearty (God, I love that polish!) with Essie - Marshmallow, but there was too much golden glitter involved. So I used green and red glitter from my stash which I bought on Ebay way back. I got a bit too excited and made a whole bottle of this... Turns out my glitter bleeds and I ruined half of my Marshmallow by turning it into a dirty grey. But: I managed to get it on my nails once and I loved wearing it a lot, so there's that. :) I'm pretty sure I'm gonna buy the original though, it's just too perfect not to have for Christmas. As always there's one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri on top. 

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 - Urban Jungle

Two coats of Essie - Urban Jungle plus one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

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. 

Essie Dress To Kilt (Fall 2014) - The Perfect Cover Up

1 coat of Essie - The Perfect Cover Up from the Dress To Kilt Fall collection

China Glaze Glitter Gradient: Midnight Mission, Cheers To You, Tinsel Town

Since I don't have a lot of time to do my nails lately, this is a design from a few weeks ago already. I guess I felt a bit Christmassy and I chose three of my favorites from China Glaze. As my base color I used Midnight Mission with two coats. Then I dabbed on a bit of Cheers To You and Tinsel Town on top with a sponge. Because matte glitter is awesome, I added Essie - Matte About You after my regular top coat. I love my Cheers To You memories, it's one of those bottles that made me fall in love with nail polish. (You need proof? My first blog post ever and there it is!) It's three years old but still as good as new. Cheers to China Glaze for that! 

Essie - Find me an Oasis (US)

I finally treated myself to Essie - Find me an Oasis and I'm really happy with it! It's the US version since I ordered them online, but I actually like this version better. Lackaffen did a lovely comparison between Find me an Oasis US and Europe. I used two very generous coats and the formula isn't great in my opinion, but the color is just adorable. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

Plaid Nails / MoYou London Hipster Collection #05

It's time for some more plaid nails! I'm really happy with my MoYou London Hipster plate #05 and I could wear plaid nails for the rest of my life really. I decided to use H&M - Get A Rose 4 Me as my base color. It's just perfect for autumn! Then I did the stamping with Essie - Angora Cardi. Since the plate doesn't have simple lines, I free-handed them with a nail art brush and OPI - Skyfall. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

MoYou London Kaleidoscope #04 feat. Essie - Fiji

I found the perfect color match: Essie - Fiji and H&M - Get A Rose 4 Me. I'm pretty sure the last one isn't available in stores anymore, but they might have a new one these days. I combined those two with my new MoYou London Kaleidoscope plate #04 which I think is really adorable. I used three coats of Fiji and then stamped with Get A Rose 4 Me. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

Cut Out & Striped Nail Art

I've always been a bit reluctant to do cut out nail art since it either didn't look too good with stained nails or I didn't like the visible half moon of my natural nails. I decided to try again and kind of find a way around it by covering those two parts of the nail. What I love about this design that you can start to add striping tape onto the bare nails, which means you don't have to wait around for the base color to dry. So that's what I did, using my self-made striping tape kit and the 2 mm size tape. For the colors I chose Wet'n'Wild - Black Creme, KIKO - #389 Mint Milk & #295 Cerulean Blue and Essie - Peach Daiquiri. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. I especially love the pinkie, middle and thumb nails and this is definitely something I keep on my list of designs to do again.