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..)

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..

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!

N - Navigate Her

My N polish of the ABC Challenge – Essie Navigate Her – is one I considered buying a million times: from an airport in Sweden, from a supermarket in Finland, from a beauty supply in Spain... You name it. 

And for once I'm happy I didn't buy it when I had it right under my nose. In all of the above this polish would have set me back for something like 15 euros. But on my latest trip to the US this beauty was waiting for me on the shelf of one innocent beauty supply for $3,50. 3,50!!! Seriously!!! That's like 2,70 euros, which is more than 5 times cheaper than here in Europe.

Ok, this is a first world problem, but sometimes the world is so unfair!! (It feels less unfair when I think of my free university degree and health insurance, though...)

I started out this manicure with two coats of Essie Navigate Her. Then I added a gradient sponging with Essie Absolutely Shore & AS mixed with white.

Finally, I added some stamping with Barry M Gold Foil.

All other patterns are from DRK-A, except the lightning bolts in the ring finger from BM305.

I loved this manicure, because it combined soft hues and sponging with bold patterns. Yet the result was somehow classy. One of my bestest friends once claimed, that you can't go wrong with reds, you can get a fun and sexy mani with blues, but green just looks odd on nails. Well, it doesn't!!

K - Khaki Perry

I did have some difficulties in finding a polish starting with K in my stash. But finally I came across Khaki Perry by Catrice. It's a beautiful and quite unique polish, but unfortunately sheer.

Here I used it over two coats of OPI Here Today... Aragon Tomorrow. HT...AT was one of my oldest untired polishes, bought from a sale in a Boston nail salon in November 2011 (oops.. that's a long time ago...). I bought a great big load of OPI polishes there, and this was the last one left untied. Phew!

This one was an odd polish. It looked like a regular creme, but on the nail it was more like forest green particles in a clear base. The pic above is one coat. Maybe it was because of the age of the polish? I believe it's from the 2009 Spain collection.

 One coat of Catrice Khaki Perry was sufficient over this underwear. The polish was still a bit brushstroke-y, but I thought more coats would not change it.

I left the pointer without Khaki Perry, and coated HT..AT with a coat of Wild&Mild Gold Shower instead. I really loved this effect! The green and iridescent glitters in the Gold Shower really stood out over the dark green base. Note to self: use more glitters on dark base colours!

For the other nails I added some fenix themed stamping with Barry M gold foil and BM 314.

I was on the fence with this mani. I think I've had enough of all the murky, dark, wintery colours. Springtime and brights it is to cheer me up!!!

F – Fowl Play

I've got a confession to make.

I searched for this specific polish and I paid a full price for it in November 2011. And I used it for the first time for about a week ago. I'm embarassed. So many new awesome polishes came my way, and the moment just never was right for this beauty. Does this ever happen to you? Anyhow, my F polish is gorgeous!

I began with two coats of Revlon Not So Blueberry, which has a funny and quite strong blueberry scent - but I liked it!

 Then I added a coat of Orly Fowl Play to each nail, except the ring finger. Instead, I did a two-tone stamping with Konad Purple and Barry M Gold Foil. And the pattern is from DRK-A.

Note to self: I'm still missing a good bronze/copper stamping polish. Any ideas?

See how the flakies make this polish alive?

I seriously wonder, what took me this long to use this polis. I promise I won't forget it again!
PS: Are you into memes? Would you like to see more polish related memes?

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

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.

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.