Z – Zoya Ziv

To end the year of polishing and the ABC challenge, I've got the most beautiful golden polish for you: Zoya Ziv.

This manicure also sports OPI Red Shatter. I was soooo over and done with crackles, until I tried out this one (my first OPI shatter). Now I'm in love again! It looks so fab over white on my swatchsicles, too! I want to try it on every colour. How about a bright blue next?

On the thumb and the ring finger I sponged Lacquistry Devil's Dandruff, some red glitter from Essence Applause Applause (from the Circus Circus collection) and some Wet'n'Wild Fergie collection No Place Like Home. I also added a tear shaped rhinestone (probably from eBay).

The manicure turned out quite Christmass-y - appropriate for the season, although a bit late :)

This is it, then, my dearest readers! The ABC challenge finally over, I've got new awesome nail challenges and projects in store for the next year. Happy New Year to all of You!!

Y - You're a Cracker

And here comes the second to last post in the ABC challenge!! As you might have noticed, I had to skip the letter X, as I didn't own a polish beginning with that letter. I could have cheated a bit and take any X by Sephora polish, but I take pride in sticking to my principles. If I decide it's the name of the polish that counts, the name it is then!

In this manicure I used Rimmel You're a Cracker* (three coats) and  L'Oreal Fluo Azur* (four coats).

*These polishes were acquired as presents /sponsorship at the reunion of bloggers of Pirkanmaa region*

I was not completely happy with these polishes: They required a coat too many, and I thought the namesake polish would turn out more orange and not so red versus the blue - it was truly completely orange in the bottle. (You didn't think that I or other bloggers would write we love a polish just because we got it for "free"?) The application was good, though, especially with the Rimmel one.

After I added simple stamping from BM312 using Konad white special polish I was happy again. The pics turned out great (according to my own low standards, that is...) and I wore this mani for days.

All is well that ends well! Let's hope for that for the whole challenge :)

Merry Christmas Manicure

This purple and blue manicure was supposed to be only a dress rehearsal, but it turned to my official Christmas manicure. The time I could have decorated my nails I spent decorating cookies. Well, it was fun and a bit artsy anyways - just the things I love in my nail hobby.

 The base colours here are OPI Into the Night and Revlon Parfumerie wild violets.
I have to say I was disappointed with the OPI opacity - it needed four coats. I loved the result, though, and it didn't stain.

I used Mavala white and Nicole by OPI Celebration in Red for the candy cane accent nail.
The inspiration for the mistletoe nail came from the awesome Canadian Nail Fanatic – one of the first blogs I started to follow and which I'll never let go. I used Pueen 15 image plate and Konad stamping polish in white, and then added tiny dots with CiR.

 This manicure is also the first one for a project I decided to start from the beginning of 2014. Want to hear more? Stay tuned!

Happy Holidays to You, my dearest readers!

Thanksgiving Marble

I hope you've all had a fantastic start for the holiday season, whether it's national, religious or all holidays you're celebrating!

This is a mani I wore for thanksgiving. We don't really celebrate that here where I live. But, personally, I have adopted it as the day to be conscious and thankful of all my loved ones, family and friends – and to say aloud how much I love and appreciate them. And I don't need turkey for that, although I tend to show love with cooking :)

The base in this manicure is three coats of Orly Revere. It's pretty, but I'm still looking for the perfect orange shimmer with opacity in max. two coats... Suggestions, anyone?

I added some simple dry needle marbling with autumn shades:
Revlon parfumerie Autumn Spice (the dark brown one)

Orly Reflection (the golden one)

Orly Radiant (the red one)

Don't know if I should say this, but this was one of the manicures that didn't look this good in person. Well, for once it was that way round...

V - VIP

Look who's doing another ABC challenge post! Only five letters left...

Today I'm going with Orly VIP for the letter V.

I have to admit I had difficulties with this one - that is, I almost didn't find a V polish in my stash until I ran through the minis. And there it was, this sweet little bottle of glitter.

The base polishes I used here are Gosh Diva in pinky, middle and thumb and Color Club Miss Bliss in ring and index fingers.

Then I added a sponging of Orly VIP on pinky, index and thumb; striping tape stripes on pinky with VIP; and stamping from Pueen 05 with Kiko mirror 616 onto the middle finger.

I have been loving the textured polish trend lately, so I left the glitter stripes without a top coat. You can really see the texture in this pic - and I liked it! How about you? Do you prefer to feel the polish or are you a smooth operator?

U - Ultra-astral

Oh yes, the ABC challenge continues with the letter U.

 There are surprisingly few U-polishes, at least in my stash. In fact, I found this single one. But no worries, as it is one of my most loved polishes. I mean, neon AND glitter! Greatest nail idea ever!

 To add to all this pink and glitter, I decided to go for hearts as for the decoration. Not too original, maybe, but it made me happy - and I think that's what the nail hobby is all about!

The base colour in all the nails is Color Club Ultra-astral. Pinky and thumb got a whole nail image stamping from Pueen 01, and the ring finger a winged heart from the same plate. Middle finger sports Barry M Croc effect, and index finger bursts with random heart sequins and a black heart from eBay / chinese bazaar.

I don't know if I'm becomig old, but I somehow thought these weren't work appropriate - and removed these before a big meeting. Ok, you have to look the part, but seriously - why are some nail designs work appropriate when others aren't? Why do we even need to think it like this? (Outside of obvious safety/hygiene reasons, that is..)

Gutter Snow

The first layer of snow this winter has landed! Somehow it's horrible and marvellous at the same time... I don't know what made me want to to celebrate it - with a manicure, of course.

I've had this polish waiting for quite a long time. Mainly because it's clearly a layering polish, but I couldn't decide which colour and tone I should layer it on. It could look fab over darker colours (the iridescent glitter!!), but then the black glitter wouldn't show. And if i choose something in between, what colour should it be...?  Does this ever happen to you? I really wish I had a personal manicure design assistant at home...

 Then it struck me! I'll layer it over an ombre!!

As the base I made an ombre from grey to black. The polishes used were (from pinky to thumb)
OPI I Vant to be A-lone Star
Essence Twins Romeo
A England Dorian Gray
Essence 50's girls You're a Heartbreaker
Essence Circus Circus My Sparkling Acrobat black creme

Each nail then got a warm winter coat of Lacquistry Gutter Snow. And what a beauty it is!! Just look at the iridescent tiny glitter over any of these base colours! Jenna, the creator of this and other fab Lacquistry polishes can really be proud of herself!

The black hexes took some fishing, but otherwise the application was a breeze. And all it took to even out was a single coat of Sehe Vite.

We Have a Winner!!

Remember the giveaway I had?

We have a winner - And she is:

Katariina

Congratulations!!
She has been sent the prize, and hopefully she has already received it and is now messing around with these topper goodies..

Thank you for all my followers, old and new, for sharing your polish shopping tips and other thoughts with me in this giveaway! I can't tell you how much the interaction with you means to me!

Here's a pic of a mani I wore recently to keep your interest up :) I used a Manhattan polish, Mavala white polish sponged on the tips and stamped on the barbed wire from a BM plate.
There is more to come - in the nail art front as well as the interaction front...

T - Take the Stage

In case you were wondering, I AM still alive AND the ABC challenge continues!
This is my feeble attempt on the mosaic mani you've probably seen in so many nail blogs.

The base is two coats of OPI Take the Stage. I would have used three coats for full opacity on its own, but under some mosaic I settled for two.

Second I added random brushstrokes with OPI Tease-y Does It and Alessandro Virgin Temptation, and lastly the stamping with Konad black and BM208.

I have been doing loads of gorgeous and fun nails, for myself as well as for people I know. Some days I've almost felt like a happy nail pro - and some days I've wanted to stay as far as I can from all nail related things. I never imagined there would be a day I didn't want to spend with my precious little bottles...

Anyways, I'm live and blogging again, and with a huge stash of photos to share with you. So stay tuned!

Event Nails in Gold, Silver and Black

First and foremost I'll have you know, that you still have almost two days leave your entry in my 100 FOLLOWERS GIVEAWAY ! Get on and win some awesome top coats!

And then to some more nail fun! Recently (or, ahem, a month ago) we had a reunion of local nail enthusiasts at Pirkanmaa region, Finland,  where I live at least for the summer. We had raffles, voted for the prettiest nails, got to know each other, ate well and generally had a BLAST!

This is how the table looked before we really got off...

...and this is how it was post- goodie bags and polish exchange.. :D This chaos spells out F-U-N to me!

 Here are the nails I did for the event. I was one of the prettiest nails prize winners, by the way... The base is Barry M Gold foil - except on the accent fingers I used Black Bird, Seppälä by Tiia Vanhatapio.

You can't really see it in the pics, but I did a sponging over gold with Mercury, Seppälä by Tiia Vanhatapio, which is a silver foil polish. But on the nail it just disappeared.. The stamping is done  with Konad black and BM-309.

Accent nails have some Orly Sashay My Way and gold glitter from Essence Circus Circus My Sparkling Acrobat. The silvery glitter is Lacquistry I Wear My Jewelry on my Nails, with some random rhinestones from eBay.

In the next post I'll tell you in some more detail about all the goodies we got..

Magnetic Comparison and a Maritime Manicure

Just a reminder, that you still have the chance to enter my 100 followers giveaway, If you haven't already done so.

And then some nail photo spam to cool down your summer and/or brighten up your day, wherever you are.

I recently realized I own "a few" untried magnetic polishes in blue/teal. I decided to get rid of any guilt feelings the untried polishes can give by trying them all on at once.  And, OK, I thought that this comparison might be helpful to some of you, too...

In these pics I wear:
Kiko Magnetic 705 in pinky and pointer
Yes Love 8 in ring finger and thumb
Flormar Magnetic twist MG03 in middle finger

 In addition, I used a Flormar magnet (the curved one - my favourite!!) and a coat of SecheVite.

Personally, I liked the Kiko polish the most. The colour is really vivid, and the magnetic effect came out great - note I was using another brand magnet. Yes Love had a great colour and coverage, but the magnetic effect didn't turn out very good. I think I'll have to let both the Flormar and Yes Love go...In addition, I used a flormar magnet (the curved one - my favourite!!) and a coat of SecheVite.

I wouldn't act myself if I didn't give this comparison a chance to evolve into a manicure - I'm just not a swatcher girl.. (I'm so grateful, that so many are!!)

 I stamped on the different magnetic polishes some sea horses from m27 with Konad white, and dabbed on some Color Club Snowflake. My thumb shows a coat of Snowflake over two coats of Yes Love Magnetic polish without the magnetic effect.

Overall, I'm quite happy with the undewater feeling these nails have! And I just have to share a quote:

I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade
He'd let us in, knows where we've been
In his octopus' garden in the shade

I'd ask my friends to come and see
An octopus' garden with me
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade.

We would be warm below the storm
In our little hideaway beneath the waves
Resting our head on the sea bed
In an octopus' garden near a cave

We would sing and dance around
Because we know we can't be found
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden in the shade

We would shout and swim about
The coral that lies beneath the waves
Oh what joy for every girl and boy
Knowing they're happy and they're safe

We would be so happy you and me
No one there to tell us what to do
I'd like to be under the sea
In an octopus' garden with you.

 Try to get that out of your heads..