Musical Month: Big Big World

And the Musical Month continues with Niina's oldie but goldie: Emilia's Big Big World.
Congratulations to all of you, who received an instant earworm! :) I did!

I decided to go for a freehanded city landscape, because the music video is clearly filmed in New York – which is my favourite city EVER!!!
And, on some nails I decided to sponge on galaxy nails. World IS big, even bigger than NYC...

 The base in all the nails is Delush Polish Tonight's the Night. First coat was a disappointment, second coat a 'hmmm' – and the third coat pure awesomeness!! It really paid off to go through the first two!

Galaxy nails were made with Orly Opposites Attract, Revlon Parfumerie Autumn Spice, Kleancolor Holo Blue and random white polish.

Last but not least, go and see Janina's nails from the same theme!!

Musical Month: Ingrid

The musical month continues with the new song Niina chose for us.
Today's inspiration is Johanna Kurkela's beautiful song called 'Ingrid'

The lyrics (of the chorus – no way I'm translating the whole song!!) in English would be something around these lines:
""Today I'm cheerful, look at me -
doing my work with a smile on my lips.
And you're so blind to see
how I'm exhausted down till fingertips.""

I wanted to illustrate the dark and the light side we all have in us – and I definitely wanted to add a dash of hope in the form of wheat stalks. I believe we all have the seed for good in us, which we can foster and let grow to something beautiful – and also nourishing for others – with the right people  and love around us. The album cover was also clearly shot on a field, so maybe that's where the crop idea came from...

The base colours were picked from my oldies – as I have already packed my fave new polishes and shipped them to Spain where we are going to move shortly. The dark polish is Essence Urban Messages Nightline (it's definitely more blue IRL than in these pics), and the light peach is Nicole by OPI Persuasive Peach. They both needed four coats Now I remember, why I didn't pack them...

I picked the colours, and the idea for sponging, from the cover art of the album, which I really appreciate in so many ways. That's exactly the kind of landscape I watch from my desk at home, ever changing with the turn of the seasons, and I love it!

For the dark stamping, I mixed Konad's shimmery blue and Mundo de Unhas black stamping polishes. The bronze stamping polish is Kiko mirror 629.

The wheat stalk image came from Born pretty plate BP-L007, and the swirly image from BM-314. The latter is one of my most trusted stamping templates. It seems to save every manicure heading for disaster..  I actually have to stop myself to putting it on every other mani I make. Do you have those images, which just simply call your name every day?

But enough about me! The other girls have made awesome nails, too! Go and see at least Janina's art at her blog "Never grow up"!

Musical Month: Ungettable

My newer favourite in the Musical Month challenge (see more about the challenge in the previous post) is, ironically, an old song from the Finnish Band Naryan. Or well, not an old old, but from their album published in 2013. Maybe I'm so old already, that two years ago is practically 'now' for me.. :D

The song is called 'Ungettable' and I simply love the atmosphere, rolling guitars and beautiful violins in the song – and the band's way of visualising their art.

It might be deep, it might be dark – but somehow it's still hopeful and purging!
You can read and see more about Naryan on their website, and hear the song 'Ungettable'in Youtube.

The base in most of the nails is OPI Skull & Glossbones, and on the ring finger GAP Starry Night. I have to say I was a bit disappointed on the Starry Night: it took four coats to be passably opaque, and still I felt the glitters got a bit buried in the base..

The stamping is from BP-L015 With Essence Dark grey Stampy polish. Thumb and pinky got some simple marbling with saran wrap – and the pinky a tribute to the band logo with striping tape.

The other girls have been listening to these same songs, and striving to find inspiration in them. I think the results are really pretty! See Janina's awesome work in her blog 'Never grow up'!!

 Let's see, what we are going to make up of Niina's songs...
<3

Musical Month: You Learn

Nail art community is a wonderful thing – and dangerous in a way! How many times you have emptied your wallet because of a fellow nail maniac? How many times you have jumped onboard a crazy challenge without knowing where it might take you? And how many times have you enjoyed the ride immensely?

 Well, the latter two are what I did just recently. With a few Finnish nail artists we decided to go for a music related challenge this month. Basically, everyone picks two songs – an oldie and a new favorite – to inspire the nail art of others, all weekend. And this weekend is mine! :)

My "oldie" is Alanis Morissette's You Learn from the album Jagged Little Pill. It might just be THE comfort&motivation song for the girls in my generation. I still drive around with the CD in my car, and pop it in when I need uplift and want to sing my lungs out like no one's listening (and I make sure no one is..)

 I took my inspiration partly from the song itself, and partly from the album cover:

 And, of course, I made a holo version. Holo all the things!!! :D

I used Color Club Harp On It as a base, and sponged on other holo pretties: Girly Bits Too Hot for Pants, A England Tristam and A England Saint George.

I chose to stamp from the plate BP-71, with A England Saint George.

You live you learn
You love you learn
You cry you learn
You lose you learn
You bleed you learn
You scream you learn

 You grieve you learn
You choke you learn
You laugh you learn
You choose you learn
You pray you learn
You ask you learn
You live you learn

These wise lyrics were written by 20 year old Alanis Morissette. Now there's a benchmark :)

My new musical favorite coming up tomorrow! Meanwhile, check out the other girls' nail art!

Links coming soon!

Free as a (Pink) Bird

Here's a happy manicure I did to honor the migratory birds, that are forming huge flocks, already preparing for their trip to south. They gather around their friends and family, feed as much as they can, and seem to plan their journey in an enthusiastic manner. How does that sound familiar to an academic seasonal worker? :D

In the middle and ring fingers, and on the thumbnail I'm wearing Wild and Mild Diamond - Queens
(as you might know, I'm a sucker to everything NYC-related. So I had to buy the whole New York themed collection from this brand, although I don't especially like the brand, the polishes are a nightmare to store plus the bottlecaps don't align...)
Pinky and index figers have two coats of Color Club Wild Orchid.

Stamping I made with with Kiko Mirror 618 and Essence dark grey stamping polish (a LE some time ago), both images from plate BPL-025

You will be seeing some Born Pretty stamping plates in the blog in the near future. And, hear this: all the products were purchased by me, with my own hard earnd money, from my own free will. Just so that you know. :)

A side note, though: I'm just a little bit bewildered by the discussion on bloggers selling their ethics and gravitating towards money and marketing. Maybe some bloggers do that, maybe some don't even if people think that -- and maybe there are many of us to whom this is not even an issue. I've never accepted any collaboration nor even products for review. I'm a bit confused with all the statements and disclosures and policies I possibly should be explicating, when the only thing I want to write about is the polish and stuff (bought by me) I play with and which brings me so much joy. So please bear with me and the occasionally missing commercial details - and feel free to ask if there's a question related to this bothering you!

Top 10 Polishes TODAY --Well, Almost..

I have seen a few top ten polishes -posts around lately, and loved them all. The breaking point for me was the one made by the wonderful Sigi at ZigiZtyle. Blame her for this super-long post!

What I ended up doing, though, was not top 10. It's top 9 pairs of polish.

Why?!!? Why on earth nine pairs? Have a guess:
A) Because I simply couldn't narrow it down to 10.
B) Because I'm a freak like that.
C) Because this is my blog and I do whatever I want! Muahahahahaaa :D

(Hint: All of the above are correct)

Though I could have maybe chosen only ten: a hugely helpful thought was to pick the favourite polishes TODAY. Not during your lifetime. Not this season. Not in the future. Only today, just now. It's all that matters.
I'm urging you to try the same with your obsession (stamps, designer shoes... whatever tickles your fancy)!

But, when I picked the polish from my stash, they started forming pairs. "I want this or this from China Glaze" ... "Why not both?" So, pairs it was. And I just naturally picked nine, and didn't want to search for one more pair.

So here we go:

First up: China Glaze Red-y To Rave and UV Meant to Be.
I could have chosen the whole summer collection, but these two babies were the essentials. So unique, such versatile, much application, wow!

Second: Zoya Wednesday and Storm
I just recently bought Wednesday from another polish lover, and I cherish it! It's just so smooth and summery! The holo effect in the black beauty called Storm maybe does not need explanations..  I could watch it for hours (and sometimes do).

Delush Polish Love Me Lights Out and Polish Me Silly Pinky Swear You're a *
I had to show you the backside of Pinky Swear, because that's where all the glitters went to.. I wanted you to know, that it has stars, various hexes and all kinds of stuff – and it also turns white when temperatures change, so that the glitters really pop! What more can you ask. Lights out would be the chic older sister of this hot mess.

Lacquistry Silver Holo Shredded and Formula X for Sephora Maniacal – the two bestest glitter toppers in the world (today). I own several polishes from the Sephora matte glitter series, but it was not hard to pick my favourite. The shade is just so unique!

And just look at the holy holo in the Lacquistry one (sunlight pic)! Jenna seriously is the glitter queen!

Color Club Hot Like Lava and Foil Me Once
These are my go-to polishes in so many ways: stamping, lack of inspiration, toenail crisis.. you name it! We've been through a lot together (and it shows!)

A England Tristam and Saint George
The beautiful brand made by Adina was my first indie crush. She has published a lot of amazing polishes since, but these oldies are still the goldies for me!

Attitude Eastern Promise and Manhattan Lotus Effect 51K
Despite the second being nameless, just another number in the row, these babies are pure perfection. One buttery smooth coat, and your base is ready - with or without shimmer. I also have a soft spot for magenta cremes.. But you maybe guessed that already..

Nails inc. Baker Street and Essence Circus Circus Applause Applause Red Creme
Oh my, the perfect red and blue polishes were hard to find. But here they are.
I just hope I had bought two of those Essence ones. Or three. If I ever find a dupe for the red creme, I've surely learned my lesson: Buy three, and make sure it has a less annoying name.

And finally, the two odd guys:

Flormar Satin Matte GS11 Canary and OPI Conga-Line Coral
The first is the bestest yellow polish in my stash (and has beautiful shimmer), and the second one is my all-time long lasting polish love, from which everything started. No listing could be done without giving credit to her!

And a bonus for all of you who reached this far: an exclusive peek behind the scenes: My highly professional photo studio (ie. a styrofoam cooler box lid... which I suspend between my knees... while sitting on our doorstep... wearing a tracksuit...)!! Yes, I thought you would be impressed..
:D

Coral Nails (Not Including Coral Polish)

The other night I asked the Hubby THE QUESTION!

(No, it's not 'Will you marry me'  It's: 'How should I paint my nails')
:D

 And he answered: 'Paint corals!'
I have absolutely no idea, where that came from. We have never seen corals. We are not planning a diving holiday. We haven't even watched a documentary with corals on it.
But corals he said, and corals it was.

I painted a base with two coats of Zoya Wednesday, and sponged on a slight gradient using Wednesday, Sinful Colors Cinderella and a random white polish.

The stamping was made with Mundo de Unhas 13 which is a Reddish orange stamping polish, and DRK-A plate.

To top it all, I chose from my untrieds the Liquid Sky Lacquer Great White. You see one coat over Wednesday in the index finger - and some dabs on the other nails. Just watch the gorgeous shimmer!! The Great White fits in perfectly to the theme! ... This coral reef isn't safe anymore.... Watch out you little fish.... Duunn dun... dunnn dun...