Rockabilly Half Moons

THIS is the manicure I had planned well ahead, and which was fatal to the previous Zoya Faye one. See my a-friend-having-a-formal-dinner-party -mani. Pics are from the day after, so sorry about the tipwear..

 I believe I've done something quite similar in the past, but we don't mind. This was just perfect with my vintage 50's canary yellow tulle evening gown and red lips. I had a great time, partly because of all the charming people I met, and partly because I got to wear my A-lined fake fur coat - or maybe it was just the right combination of the two. The party was very formal but had a warm atmosphere, which was a perfect combo, too.

This red is my favourite red "Revlon Red" by -surprise surprise- Revlon. The base colour on the ring finger is Color Club Almond Nude. I think it was too pink for this design, but an easy and opaque polish otherwise. Let's not throw that to the sale basket yet...

The half moon design was made using reinforcement stickers, leopard dots with Art de Lautrec 15 (a random old polish) and the black outlines with Sally Hansen Nail art pen. The result could have been better, but it could've been worse, too. Next time I'll try to get better pics, at least...

Starring: Zoya Faye

This is a definite in-between mani. You know those days, when you want to do your nails but you have something special coming up in a few days where you have your manicure planned? The days when you know the manicure you create will live for maximum 24 hours? When you're afraid you'll like the mani too much and it'll ruin your outfit planned ahead if you don't remove it? You don't?!? Well, Ive got some to share...

 

This mani is based on four coats of Zoya Faye. Yeah, four coats... Imagine me just wanting to throw together something quick, and having to paint four coats to achieve any cover-up at all. Luckily the awesome golden shimmer was more than worth it all!

To decorate, I added some sponging with faye mixed with an age old Rimmel dark plum polish. Finally I slapped on some stickers (maybe originally a present?). And that was it, for the next 24 hours.

 Just see the shimmer in this next pic!

Cleanup after the sponging was a breeze. Might be because of my new favourite nail polish remover with ingredients listing looking like this: Dimethyl Ketone, Aqua, Glycerin, Tocophery Acetate, Parfum, Cl 19140. That's some good stuff, made in Turkey!

I've read somewhere, that Zoya Faye is one of those polishes any serious nail addict must own. I agree. It's definitely unique. Next time I'll use it for layering, though...

Fruity Butterflies

Early this summer I was switching country once again, and was about to miss the Essence fruity trend edition. Why was that collection so important? See for yourself:

 Fine glitter sandwiches in a bottle! I was devastated and ran to my cosmetics store every week before I moved away to ask if the collection had arrived - but it never hadn't. :( And the ladies in the store were getting super annoyed...

But help was near. I suggested a swap to lovely Renée from You Nailed it, having found some older essence polishes from her wishlist. Here's one more reason to love blogging and the nail polish community:

 All the Fruity polishes (minus the scented topcoat which I didn't want), a bonus polish (a pale blue, starry beauty) and a nail polish ring!! Squeee! That one is so pretty!! I'll have to ask, what polishes Renée used.. Go and see her blog here, she is awesome!! You can also buy these handmade rings in her blog shop and choose any of her over 300 polishes for your ring! Maybe some of your favourite glitters? Or a water marble...?

I made a manicure using all the glittered polishes in this LE. - I had to get my hands on them (or them on my hands). Their names were not written on the bottles, which is odd. But they are: Very Berry (index), One Kiwi a Day (middle and pinky) and Mashed Berries (ring finger).

I stamped on the butterfly image from DRK-A -plate with Konad white special polish. I was about to add something more, maybe some dots on the butterflies, but time just flew... Well, these are not bad as they are, either.

That is enough of pastels for a while. Now I need some COLOUR!! Where did I put all my neon polishes again...

Matte Metal

Guess which band has ruled my internal and external playlists (i.e. both in my head and in my music devices) for a month or so...

First a frantic replay of their black album to ensure that I know all the lyrics by heart. Then the unbelieveable concert experience. And lastly the songs spinning in my head ever since. I've never had this bad musical fixation before!

These nails were just a quick second take of my concert nails. Maybe they're not the greatest nail art there is, but they were fun to wear! (And yes, that is my thigh in the stockings I wore that night. Sorry about that, but it was just too easy photo background...)

The base is two coats of Essence Vampire's love Hunt me If You Can. I matted the base with Essence Soft Touch topcoat and added the infamous 'M' and 'A' with a (bad) nail art pen. A few silver studs attached with the said matte top coat, and I was ready to rock!

Oh, and if you didn't guess, the band is the metal giant and pioneer Metallica. This was absolutely the best show I myself or my friends have ever seen from them. I was glad to see the whole band in their senses, at their best and enjoying themselves. I doubt anyone of them reads this blog, but just in case I'd like to say: thank you! And thank you to all my wonderful followers who read this, whether you play in a band or not.. :) You rule!!

Yellow and Blue

Another cutesy-daisy -mani for you, this time in yellow and blue.

Accent finger was painted with four coats of Essence Urban Messages Wall of Fame, the others with Essence 50's girls You're a Heartbreaker. The dots and the bow were painted (or rather, dotted) with a dotting tool.

 Both took three coats for perfection, but application was easy with both of these. And the layers dried fast.

 I wore this when we moved house last time (a month ago - I'm a bit behind here..), so some tipwear is included in the pics. Hope you don't mind, but like the colour combo as much as I did! And see the shimmer in both of the polishes?