Wrap Up Your Christmas

Merry Christmas!!! So typical of me, that I get to do my first proper Christmas manicure on the Christmas day... But I did it!!

This wrapping paper design isn't mine. I saw it in a blog a few days ago, and I have a vague memory about the blogger writing she saw the design on Pinterest. Anyhow, I'm loving it!
Edit: I think the blog was the always inspiring Smashley Sparkles, and the design there is her own. And I'm loving it, too!

The base is China Glaze Ruby Pumps (which I wore on its own on the Christmas eve). The gift wrap designs are all from BM322, stamped with Konad black special polish. The bows from m59 were stamped with Barry M gold foil, and the ribbons hand painted with the same polish.

I'm hoping you are all still at peace with both your family and your stomach on the second day of the festivities. I surely am! We've had a wonderful weather here (ooo I had some hard times trying to take these pics in the evening sun..), and the dinner we cooked together with my hubby was just perfect. After all the Christmas delices, we're going to dine in the Chinese restaurant today...

PS. What can you give to a girl with more than 200 bottles of nail polish? More nail polish!!!!! Thank you, J&J!!! <3

Finished products - November

A bit late it comes, but here's the first "finished products" post of my quest for less clutter in my bathroom. (see the original post here) I'm feeling it for you, if you aren't too keen on these cosmetics posts. I promise to post nails soon... very soon.

In November I finished two products. That's not much, but that's something, eh? One of the products was a conditioner from TiGi. Gorgeous scent and did its job just fine. What more can you ask for?

The other one was a body moisturizer from Joik, an Estonian company. I liked it, but it smelled so strongly of my good friend T - coconut, fruit, vanilla - that I felt really odd wearing it. Plus it  went really runny by time.

Ok, ok... I give up... Here's some nails to you all  - just to wish you a happy Christmas season with your loved ones wherever you are. Oh, and the green blurp is supposed to be a Christmas tree...

D – Dorian Gray

The D-polish comes from one of my favourite brands, A England.

A England Dorian Gray was one of the two polishes I simply needed to have from the Gothic Beauties collection. This one I picked up for the unique colour, but the other one was a must have for it's name - Jane Eyre. Ok, I like the polish, too, but the book Jane Eyre means a lot to me. I'll tell you more some other time (like when presenting the polish, for example), but now I just have to blurt out how the book with al its levels and nuances has influenced my view on the world more than probably any other cultural object. Go read it, if you haven't already!

But let's get to todays polish, shall we? Dorian Gray is a beautiful, shimmery pewter gray on its own. It applied like a dream and was almost a one coater.

I added some sponging to the tips with Essence Nail Art toppers in You're a Gold Mine and Mystic Mermaid.

Lastly, I did some stamping with Barry M Gold foil effect and Essence Nail Art Twins Romeo, using the BM plate 314.

I really like the combination of pewter and gold here. And I regret not using my regular silver staming polish, Gosh silver, instead of Romeo. I'd love to see more of that silver stamping.

C - Colorblind

This third post in the ABC-series is dedicated to Dandy Nails, and Sandy's great creation Colorblind.

I began with two coats of Nicole by OPI Celebration in Red - a great festive colour.

Speaking of coats with these kinds of glitters is a bit evasive, so let's say I added a generous dabbing of Dandy Nails Colorblind.

 I loved the result so much, that I wanted it to last for days...

 ...so of course I had to try it sandwiched with one thin coat of Flormar U14.

And then I had to try matifying it...

And then I had to try a black/clear water marble on the ring finger...

And then, having at least 7 coats of polish on my nails, I had to reach for the remover. End of story.

PS: I've added a new board to my Pinterest. I hope you'll enjoy my pins!!

B – Be Brave!

This manicure – the day 2 of the ABC challenge – was the first time I tried the DIY glue peel off base coat for glitter manicures. I brushed on one coat of glue (Scotch Hobby- och skollim), let it dry and then proceeded to polish.

I'm wearing one coat of Manhattan lotus effect 61V, with four coats (!) of Orly Be Brave! Stamping was made with Konad black and BM plate 322.

 This mani really, I mean REALLY sparkled IRL. Here's an unfocused pic to show you all the holo goodness. Sorry for any nausea this might cause..

 Removing the glue basecoat by peeling was easy with this mani, but my later experiments were al disastrous. As you might know, I'm sporting gel nails, and it's extremely difficult to peel only the glue, not the gel. Ouch. But I'm going to make it work one day, and reveal you the trick when I find it.

There might be people, who would call this manicure names, and those names would not be "classy", "stylish", "adult" or "work appropriate". 

I'd say to those people: "Be Brave!!". Obviously I don't want anyone to go running around insulting other people on purpose, wearing the wrong nail polish in the wrong funeral, or ignoring other people's values. But in most cases nails polish is just nail polish. Believe me, I've gotten my share of odd looks, like when I wore neon pink nails with black zebra print and glitter to an important work meeting. But neither the polish I wore nor the looks made me anything I wasn't before. So be brave, girls and boys, and wear whatever you want!

A - All About You

Now I've extended my collection once more (see previous post), I'm finally ready to take this challenge.

It's known as the ABC-challenge, originally run and done by so many talented bloggers I'm not able to even name them all here. But the idea is simple: on the first day you post a polish with a name beginning with the letter A, on the second one that begins with the letter B, and so on. I think you got the idea..

My first polish, the A, is Sinful Colors All About You.  It's a mix of the finest gold and a bit bigger copper glitters in a clear base. It looks gorgeus on the bottle, and I think I've used it once until now. Shame on me....

The base here is one coat (!) of Essence Colour&go Nude it! This is definitely my new go-to nude polish! I'll run to buy a reserve bottle..

I taped my nails with some regular magic tape, and applied three coats of Sinful Colors All About You to all fingers except the ring fingers. That one got a coat of Barry M Croc Effect (which took me ages to master...). A coat of Seche Vite to all, and I was ready to go. And off I went - sorry about the tipwear...

I won't be posting daily, but I'll try to get to the end of the alphabet sometime in January. There will surely be some non-challenge posts I'll just have to publish, but otherwise you know what to expect.

Happy Haul-y Days

Wondered where I've been? Hauling nail polish in the US, of course. This is just a quick post to show you what I got.

 See any favourites there? Some of the new Zoyas, Sinful Colors Cinderella, Milani Hot Pink glitter which I've been lemming for ages, Essie Navigate Her... And the most important discovery does not even show in this pic. Wait and see!

What I didn't get was the Color Club Halo Hues collection. But I'm not too sad. First, the trip was an aewsome experience and I got so many other things I hadn't even dreamt about. And second, I'm still allowed to shop the Halo Hues online (am I?).

No H8!

Lately I've seen a lot of posts against bullying in the nail blog world and a bunch of beautiful no hate manicures, and I had to add mine.

 Actually I really felt the urge to do this manicure and post it after reading Veronicas post at her blog "Gorgeois". 

She shares her story of being bullied in a way that is very touching, extremely mature plus totally brave. I really admire her for that, and I relate to her post more than I would actually want to.

 Basically, her idea (and mine) is that you don't win hate by creating more hate. You can choose to act against bullying if you have the resources, you can choose to concentrate on the good things in your life, you can let people know they're making a mistake or acting thoughtlessly (as we all do from time to time), but fostering hate does not get you anywhere.

Alright, end of rant and onto the polish...
The base polishes I used for this "Love, no H8" manicure were Essence Show your feet Purple Magic and China Glaze Señorita Bonita.

On the pinky I stamped a partial image from BM209 with Gosh Silver. On the ring finger of my right hand there's the No H8 logo with the polishes mentioned in this post together with Mavala Black, and left hand has a flower sort of thingy. Middle finger boasts Lacquistry Lilacquistry.

And the pointer is coated with the lovely Nfu'Oh 50, plus a black heart stud. I felt the heart stud was really appropriate - to exclamate love in all its richness and variety of forms, to leave behind any hate cycles that could entagle us all.

No Buy!!!!

You heard me. I'm on a no buy!! (Not on nail polish, if that was your first thought..)

The whole lot in Oct 2012

I will be moving (again) from a country to another in May(ish). I've lived there before and have most of my things waiting for me there. Which is a blessing, but also causes some problems.

Shampoos

One look at my bathroom was enough to tell me something has to change. I've been a hoarder as long as I can remember, but/and imagining all the cosmetics I've got here, stuffed in the same bathroom with all the things I've got there made my brains melt.

Conditioners

Just look at all the hair products I found..

Hair treatments

 And this is excluding sample pouches... And do I have lots of them...

Hair styling products

 These pics are all from the end of October 2012.

Face masks

As I do love me some organizing, I organized all the products in groups, counted them, made an excel spreadheet and took the pics you can see here.

Eye treatments

My goal is to use up all or nearly all of the various beauty products I've got here, to have a fresh start with the stash I've already got waiting in the other country AND obviously not have to pack and transport too many bottles, jars, tins, cans and so on.

Body treatments (the second from left is argan oil, in case you were wondering..)

Obviously I won't be getting rid of everything. I'll never be able to use up that great big bottle of sunscreen in my life, and I'm most propably throwing it away 'cause it'll go stale.

Other body products

Also I need some products regularly - like the eye makeup remover I always use (that's why there are three tubes of it). So I'll never run out of some produts, and might get to buy some more in certain product groups. 

Face cleansers

 But basically, I would be happy if all the products I'll move would fit into a one normal cosmetics bag. And we're quite far from it now...

Face creams

 The idea here is a bit similar as in this Finnish cosmetics blog - thanks, Virve, for being my inspiration!

Body wash products

I'll exclude all make up and nail things, concentrating only on the hair/body/face treatment type of products. Maybe, just maybe after this project it's the make up's turn...

Serums

At the end of each month I'll write a post about the finished products so far, and maybe write a small review of some product if there's one that I really liked/disliked. And in April I'll post some kind of a picture spam again to share the results of this project.

Feet products

Don't be afraid, this blog will not evolve into a cosmetics blog. This is just a project I needed to start, and thought, "Mmm, maybe I'm not the only person in the world with these "problems". (Which you usually aren't - as there are over 7 billion of us..)

Hand products

Feel free to join in the project, if you feel like it! Just drop me a note at talonted.blog@gmail.com, and maybe we could be doing the next post together... Let the fight against clutter begin!!