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

GOT Polish: Purple

I did my golden oldies purple manicure to honor the greatest purple polish on the surface of earth: Zoya Aurora! 

It's special for me, because bought this on a trip to Chicago - where I landed a day late being at first stranded to the Netherlands, and had a room booked in a 12-bed dorm at a hostel.... Oh, those sleepless nights... But it paid off when I could haul both Storm and Aurora released in the same collection!

You may disagree, but I just love the holo glitter on this, the application, the opacity.... all of it!

The base in this manicure is two coats of Astor Pop Color 141.
Over it I used China Glaze Crackle Luminous Lavender - plus some tape and Zoya Aurora - the awesomest purple polish there is..

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish: Textured Chevron

This Golden Oldies Thursday aka GOT Polish manicure features something old, something new, nothing borrowed but a lot of blue. And it's published on Saturday...oops...

 Today's oldies are from Orly Magnetic FX collection from 2012.

Actually I didn't ever realize these were magnetic polishes - I bought them from clearance in NYC as I had to rush to cathc a train to Baltimore, and they didn't have any tags or magnets on. Sadly, they had stayed in the untrieds since.

The base colours in this manicure were Orly Force Field (the purple one) and Opposites Attract (the blue one).

As a brand, I feel that Orly is underrated. They've released some trustworthy baseline polishes and some really extraordinary collections like the Mineral effects (Stone Cold and its mates) or the Birds of a Feather (featuring Fowl Play). Someone just said in facebook their bottles are ugly, but at least the handle enables a very good grip.

Chevron print was done with Kiko 454 (the purple one) and 457 (the blue one). These are their textured Sugar Mat polishes, which I bought this year in a set on sale. If you like texture, you will love these!

I begun to do the chevron with ordinary craft tape, but that didn't really work out after the first stripe.
I mean where was I supposed to put more tape? Maybe I should invest in some real striping tape...

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish: Sweet Heart

When these were new, I scored nearly all of the Golden Rose Jolly Jewels polishes from a local beauty store. I went through a lot to gather them all, and up to this date, I haven't even used the all. Shame on me! But they are pretty on the bottle, too!

This one was a perfect match for a Valentine's day manicure - and for a Color Club oldie!

I started with two coats of Color Club Wing Fling, and then painted on two (relatively easy) coats of Golden Rose Jolly Jewels 108. I just loved the bling and the jelliness - in fact everything about this polish!

Above is Wing Fling on its own. It's one of my old favourites, and I like the whole collection - but just why are these so sheer!! Just why!?! Otherwise I would use these all the time!

To make the sweetness even sweeter, I added a heart on my ring finger and some stripes on the middle finger with Sally Hansen Complete I Pink I Can, using sticker label and striping tape.

Don't forget to see what the other GOT polish participants are up to on this sweet holiday!

An InLinkz Link-up

GOT Polish: Rays of Light

This is my most fitting manicure ever to post for the GOT (golden oldies thursday) polish challenge, where the theme today is 'stripes'.

 

 I had the base polish in my untrieds for a year or so before using it for this manicure – and then I forgot all about the manicure and the pics, so that all the material you're seeing here ha been lying in the vault for a year or so. Definitely an oldie!!

The base is two coats of Essence Crazy Good Times Candyction – an awesome jelly-ish brightest red with glass flecks. Why on earth did I let this polish stay untried for so long?!?

 

I then sponged on some random spots with Primark unnamed neon yellow polish (stinky as heck!), did a cris cross pattern with striping tape, and topped them off with Finger Paints Winter Sky. I used a coat of SecheVite to smooth out the surface.

It may not be the prettiest manicure I've ever done, but it's definitely one of the most... hmm... original? Interesting? Personal?

An InLinkz Link-up

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!

S – Steel My Heart & Soul

The ABC Challenge continues here, welcome all old and new followers, casual readers and everyone in particular! I hope you're all having as happy summer as I am!

 My S polishes come from Catrice - they're from the new Brushed Metal Effect polish range. I got them all, but they were only three, so it's ok :)

In this manicure I used Catrice Steel My Soul (the lighter one) and Steel My Heart (the darker one).

 I decided to add some stamping with an Essence stamping plate using SMH and Konad white.
I had so much fun creating the owl desing on my middle finger.

The owl  beak is Revlon Sandstorm, definitely one of my oldest polishes, by the way. It's one I bought in a second had shop when I was just a teen, and was still looking for my own style among used clother with my friend L. I think of those times fondly, and at the same time I'm happy I've moved forward :)  The cris-cross tape and sponging on my ring finger was just a whim, but I liked it.

I felt weird having the accent nail on my middle finger. Perhaps, because I'm used to getting only negative attention with it. Hee hee.

 Or whoo-hoo, as we owls say...

R - Rock-it

My R polish is a long time lemming of mine: Orly Rock-it.

Actually, I find polish shopping - as well as many other things and events - much more fun and rewarding, when you don't get it the instant you want it. One thing is, you really have the time to get to be sure you want it. Other thing is the fulfillment, the "wow, I finally got there" feeling. And the third thing is all the enjoyment you get beforehand, the daydreams and plans you make. (Yes I do daydream of polish, among other things. don't you?)

 Anyways, I started today's mani with two coats of Orly Rock-it on both hands. I have to admit I was a bit disappointed when the beautiful, rusty duochrome didn't show up on the nail. Hm.

Then I went for a tape manicure: the left hand was coated with OPI Swimsuit...nailed it! and the tapes removed.

On the right hand, I decided to leave the tapes, after noticing they were actually pretty. I just cut them to go along with the shape of my nail and the polish line near the cuticle.

I topped everything off with japanese pa -nail polish A44, a baby blue sheer polish, with holo microglitter and silver stars. I intended to fish out only the stars, but then tried out applying the polish on a whole nail and fell in love.

 So it ended well, and all was well.

P - Pink-A-Boo

The ABC Challenge is still going strong... Well, maybe not strong (it's been a while since my latest post), but going anyway.

 My P polish is a sweet one with a sweet name from Essie: Pink-A-Boo. A beautiful glass flecked baby pink polish, I knew I'd have to get from the moment I first saw it. How perfect would it be, if it just wasn't this sheer!! (and this pic is with underwear!!)

 This is a mani I wore to the Cosmobelleza beauty event under the gaze of hundreds of beauty enthusiasts – so it had to be perfect. And I was really quite happy with it.

My manicure is two coats of Essie Pink-A-Boo with underwear, which is two coats of Sally Hansen Complete Peachy Keen. I also did two accent fingers, left pinky and right pointer with two coats of Essie She's Picture Perfect.

Next I freehanded a camo using the polish brush and dotting tool for final touches, with NYX Girls Perfect Gray and Catrice Lucky in Lilac.

Left pinky was matified with BeYu Mat Top Coat, and I glued on a silver stud. Left pointer got some striping tape and a sponging of Milani Purple Gleam. Right pinky was coated with a generous dabbing of Yes Love D11, a 75 cent polish from a chinese bazaar. Right pointer got stamping with Gosh Silver and DRK-A -plate. And, at the end, all nails except the matified one got a good coat of Seche Vite.

And here are all the polishes. Phew!! I've never used this many tags in a single post before!

Tri Polish Challenge - Gilding the Lily

And here, ladies and gentleman, we have the last Tri Polish Challenge post with April's colours: pink, orange and turquoise:

The pinky and pointer got three coats of ChG Turned up Turquoise spiced up with some saran wrap and Barry M Gold Foil.

Ring finger was done kind of vice versa with two coats of Gold first, and then a saran wrap technique with Sinful Colors Cream Pink. Isn't it odd how difficult it is to tell afterwards, which colour was put on first and which was saran wrapped? At least for me, that is...

The middle finger was the officially decorated one in this manicure, with two coats of Cream Pink and stripes in Gold foil and ChG Papaya Punch made using striping tape.

I kept the thumb simple with two coats of Cream Pink. (What do you mean 'was I busy'?!? I have been packing all our things up for a removal, but I've arranged myself plenty of time to do my nails and kept everything strictly under control... cough cough... as if...)

I noticed some other bloggers too have decided to combine gold with the challenge polishes today. Let's see them and many other talented participants!