Hot, Hotta, Hot Fuchsia! - Sally Hansen Ultra HD polish in Byte

Hello my very dear fiends!

Darn, it is so hot outside I am close to melting...what a heat wave!
So I decided to go with the flow and put something equally hot on my nails. I am already sort of worn out on all my neon shades, so I wanted something shiny, glittery, something that is sporting this cool, dewy wet look on my nails. First thought that popped into my mind was OPI's Wing It!, as it does sport this cool metallic foil look, but then again, the strawberry pink color somehow didn't have enough OOOOMMMPH! for me to be called hot. So what to wear? My final pick now was Sally Hansens Byte, yet another one from the Ultra HD Collection. It is a beautiful bright fuchsia pink color, leaning towards purple, as it is glass flecked with purple and blue micro glitter. Summer love I say! Good thing for me, this one was not as sheer as DVD, so 3 coats gave me enough coverage for the color to really shine. So here come the pics, enjoy!



Sally Hansen Ultra HD in Byte
sunlight














indoors, natural light





indoors, sunlight


bottle pic


indoors, artificial light







So what do you guys think of this polish? Do you also think this is hotter than OPI's Wing It!? Or would you have chosen y totally different polish? Hope to read from you guys soon again!

Oh Duochrome, how I love thee... - Sally Hansen Ultra HD polish in DVD

Hello Everybody!

I am still a bit tired ;-) Yesterday we watched the England vs Germany soccer game with a couple of friends and the celebration afterwards actually was going on way past midnight. So I got up late today and I am feeling a bit headach-y, hah, I wonder why? *evilgrin*

But since this is not a soccer but a polish blog, let's talk about the really important things, shall we? ;-)
Today I just had to try out a new Sally Hansen Ultra HD polish that I just got last week. The shade I got is DVD, an absolutely gorgeous icy blue frost shade with a light pink-purple duochrome effect. LOOOOOOOOOOve! The only downside was, the polish is really sheer, it took me 4 coats to get it to be sort of opaque. weird, because I thought the HD serious were supposed to be quite color intense. Whatever.
Still, this shade is so gorgeous I just can't stop raving about it, The finish reminds me of the OPI Suedes when you add topcoat. I really dig this frosted look. The pink/purple duochrome effect is fairly sutle, but adds to the icy look. I will definitely use this polish for some layering experiments, can't wait to try this over dark blue or an intense pink polish.
But I know what you guys are waiting for...here comes the picture evidence!


Sally Hansen Ultra HD in DVD
sunlight











indoors, with flash


indoors, artificial light












yup, still more pics to come...

















Overall I have to say that this is definitely a must have, since it is truly unique for a regular drugstore polish. It does sort of remind me of RBL Scrangie polish, but I wouldn't say it is a dupe. I will go ahead and get a few more of the Ultra HD polishes. So stay tuned for more!

Little 80ies Flashback - Milani HD Neons in Pink Rocks and Fresh Teal

Hello and Welcome!

Today I am taking you guys on a little time warp trip with 2 beautiful neon polishes from Milani. I know, the 80ies are definitely over by now, but hey, neons are definitely a must have for me when we are talking summer, so it is sun, sand and neons for me :-)
I got those two polishes way back in march, when they were released together with the Milani Holographic polishes, but youcan still find them at drugstores, Milani's website or cherrycouture. Back in march the weather was still meh and I wasn't really too motived to try those polishes. But now with some nice weather, hey, I needed to get these babies out and swatched asap. So here we go :-)

Both polishes, Pink Rocks and Fresh Teal, appy really easily, but the first coat is waaaaaay sheer. I needed three coats until I got them opaque enough for me, which works without problems as the formula is on the thin side, so no gloopy thick coats here. The polish dries like most neons really quick (which is a nice plus) and has a semi matte finish, meaning matte but with a subdued shine. Like it! So you can either play up the shine with a topcoat, or go totally matte with a matting topcoat, like Essie's Matte about you, your choice ladies ;-)
All the polishes come in a colored bottle, so you can't actually see the polish until you open it. Weird. Fortunately, the polish turned out to be pretty color true to the bottle color, but still weird.
Overall, these babies are not quite as bright and in your face as for example China Glazes Poolside Collection, they are (if you could even say that about a neon) a little subdued. Still bright and fresh, but not jumping in your face.

So on to the picture evidence!


Milani HD Neon in Pink Rocks
sunlight


artificial light, flash


indoors


indoors, artificial light




Milani HD Neon in Fresh Teal
sunlight


artificial light, flash


indoors


indoors, artificial light




I definitely need to get some more beauties from this collection, I am thinking of Totally 80ies, a smiley bright yellow and Rad Purple, name says it all....
Hope you guys liked this!

Another gem from OPI's HongKong Collection - OPI Meet me on the Star Ferry

Hello my dears!

I know I am seriously backlogged with my swatching activities, but I was thinking, if I am swatching my newest polishes now, the backlog will be even worse. So I am catching up bit by bit and hey, there is nothing wrong with some "retro" polishes, right?
So today I am staying within OPI's HongKong Collection, presenting you the second polish I got. To be honest, I knew this polish would be too warm for my skintone, but I really had to have it just because of the name. Gosh I am weird sometimes *crazy*
So, Meet me on the Star Ferry is a dusty mauve shimmer packed with tons of gold micro glitter. It really doesn't look like that much just judging by the bottle, but once it's on the nails and the sunlight hits it, wow, love!!! So, for anybody who can wear warmer colors I seriously recommend this! The Formula was no fuss, first coat a bit streaky but it evened out nicely after the second.
Anything else?
Yup, pictures! :-)


OPI Meet me on the Star Ferry
sunlight


artificial light, flash


indoors, artificial light






So, for tomorrow I prepared something wham! bam! in your face!
All I say is: It's neon time!
So take care and have a wonderful day!

Woohoo I am back - Getting back on bloggin track with OPI's Jade is the new black

Hello my fiends, I am finally back on track...

So it has been quite a while since my last post. I have been dealing with some major changes in my life and figuring out how to fit another Helmer in my bedroom was not one of them :-)
Now things have gotten a whee bit calmer and I would love to get back to bloggin' and painting my nails. I can't promise that I will be posting on a regular basis now, but I swear I will try to do so at least once a week. Baby steps to start off again so to speak *winkwink*

So here I have a beauty I intended to post about ages ago, I am sure you have seen about a trillion swatches of it by now, but nevertheless here are mine, hehe

I am refering to OPI's Hong Kong Collection (which is still readily available I think). I picked out 2 colors, Meet me on Star Ferry (a beautiful dusty mauve color with golden micro sparkles) and Jade is the new black (muted jade with cool/blue undertone)


So, if there still are any of you out there reading this, here we go, my swatches of Jade is the new black, pictures please!



OPI Jade is the new black
sunlight





artificial light with flash


natural light, indoors


artificial light, inddors



I can't rave enough about this color. I am sure you have read plenty of reviews about Jade is the new black already, but what does it make really stand out is the fact, that there is no polish out there, that is even close in color, so this is definitely unique. I can't wait for fall, as I think this beautiful green jade jewel will be worn plenty of times then!

Beauty Insider Set from Sephora - Sephora by OPI's Personal Shopper, Dear Diary and I'm with Brad

Long time no see my dear fiends!

I am terribly sorry for my absence. Jobwise, things have been pretty rough ever since that iclandic volcano started erupting and I keep getting stuck in places I haven't planned on. So in the past three weeks I actually spent only 5 days at home in total :-(
So, in case the volcano doesn't stop its crazy activity anytime soon, I need to fly out and blow it up....just kidding of course ;-)


But enough volcano talk...

Today I wanted to show you guys a beautiful set of three nail polishes that I got with Sephora's Beauty Insider Rewards program. The set features 3 beautiful polishes from their permanent range, Personal Shopper (bright stunning red), Dear Diary (soft romantic pink) and I'm with Brad ( a "love the name!" dark vampy red shimmer)
There is not much to add in terms of the formula, it is perfect as usual and along with MAC this must be my favorite polish formula :-)
So let's move on to the graphic evidence, shall we?



Sephora By OPI's Beauty Insider Rewards Set


Close Up of the colors



Personal Shopper



In direct light



Flash



Indoors



Another direct light shot



Artificial Light



So if you are out on the prowl for a beautiful, classic red creme polish, look no further!



Dear Diary



Flash



Indoors



Artificial Light



Dear Diary is a nice, nude looking pale pink creme polish, perfect for the "model hand" nude look, or I can even imagine it as base for sheer nail polishes if you just use one coat of it. Need to try that *note*



I'm with Brad (seriously, I love that name hehe)



Indoors



Flash



Artificial Light



This polish is a true stunner! It features an almost black base, which leans a tad bit towards a very dark brown and a very, very dark red burgundy shimmer, one coat is enough to achieve the color in the bottle, how nice is that? It does remind me somewhat of OPI's Midnight in Moscow, which has a little darker red shimmer in it though, here is a comparison pic:

top: Midnight in Moscow
bottom: SOPI I'm with Brad





So that's it for now, hope I won't get stuck somewhere again anytime soon...