Even though I wasn’t wearing shopping appropriate shoes *ouch* I just had to go to H&M after work today.
After I saw the pictures on krex blog (thanks for the link, Michèle!) I knew I had to have Envy Me and Spending Cash With Carl.
I have no idea why I have missed Happy Purple on krex blog, though. A purple lover who overlooks a gorgeous purple nail polish? How could that happen? In the H&M store I luckily finally noticed Happy Purple and picked it up, too.

Aren’t Envy Me and Spending Cash With Carl gorgeous?
If you want to take a closer look at Happy Purple take a look at the delicious bottle picture on krex blog! Yum!

Have you already picked one or more of the new H&M nail polishes up? I also saw the purple Hello Kitty nail polish today. Not the glittery one but the shimmery one with a few glitters but IRL I wasn’t sure if I like it anymore. Maybe I will pick it up the next time.

Thanks for looking! ♥

Hi everyone! I am frustrated. I love the Orly Cosmic FX collection so much but swatching and taking pictures of them was a nightmare. Swatching them wasn’t bad because of the formula but because of the lighting. First we had rainy weather for weeks with no chance for me to get at least one sharp picture and now the daylight disappears too fast. I need a light box stat.. sigh.
Please bear with me that not all pictures are 100% perfect. I will take new pictures when I have a light box. It seems that this little thingy will be mandatory in fall and winter. *sniffs*

But now let’s take a look at one of the collections I am most excited about this fall!

Orly – Galaxy Girl, three coats

Hmm.. actually this is a stunning nail polish.. if only there wouldn’t be my antipathy towards MAC’s Blue Brown pigment or Club eye shadow. I just can’t love them so I am having trouble loving this polish.

Orly – Halley’s Comet, three coats

Gorgeous nail polish but you are right with thinking: wait.. this looks familiar! If you have Zoya’s Charla or OPI’s Catch Me In Your Net you don’t need Halley’s Comet. What makes me prefer Halley’s Comet over Charla and Catch Me In Your Net is the bigger bottle.

Orly – Lunar Eclipse, three coats

Orly – It’s Not Rocket Science, three coats

Another gorgeous nail polish! It’s Not Rocket Science is very close to China Glaze’s Zombie Zest, though. This is such a fun mossy green color which might not appeal to everyone but it’s worth to give it a try.

Orly – Space Cadet, four (!) coats

Orly – Out of this World, three coats

Overall I am in love with this collection so I am even more bummed that my pictures are not as sharp as they usually are.

I hope you enjoyed my swatches and review nonetheless and thanks for looking! ♥

Long, very long time no post – I am so sorry guys! The last weeks have been crazy and the sooner disappearing daylight hasn’t helped either when I am home late. I think it’s time.. time to buy a light box. Do you have recommendations? I am thinking about buying one from the German evilbay soon and I would love to read about your experiences with premade light boxes and their lighting.

Before I can’t stop chatting about light boxes let me show you a nail polish I’ve neglected for way too long: Lancôme’s Indigo Paris from their 2009 (!) Declaring Indigo collection.
This is the first time I am wearing this nail polish. It was sitting since the end of last year or the beginning of this year in my Helmer waiting to be worn – I should feel ashamed because this nail polish is beyond stunning:

Lancôme – Indigo Paris, two coats

Breathtaking, right?
Indigo Paris unfortunately wasn’t cheap – I payed 20 Euros on the German Lancôme website but I think it is worth every cent. The color, the shimmer, the smooth application – I love everything about this nail polish. If you still have the chance to get your hands on this baby I highly recommend to pick it up. It is expensive ($18 in the US I think) but if you love blue nail polishes and don’t mind spending that much for a bottle of nail polish you won’t regret it.

As you surely already have noticed I have developed a love for layering nail polishes. During the week I don’t always have the time to remove my manicure and to apply a new nail polish (even with fast drying top coat: floss is the enemy of in the evening applied manicures!) so I love to apply a coat of a layering nail polish for a new look.
After wearing Indigo Paris for two or three days I wanted to spice it up. Not that Indigo Paris is in the need of beeing spiced up but even nail polish addicts can get bored of a nail polish.
I hope you are seated well because I think how CND’s Sugar Sparkle looks layered over Indigo Paris might blow you away. Doesn’t this layering look like a clear, wintery sky at night? ♥ *le sigh* ♥

Lancôme – Indigo Paris, two coats
CND – Sugar Sparkle, one coat

Which is your favorite shimmery blue nail polish?
Have a great Sunday and thanks for looking! ♥

The minute I’ve received Chanel’s Illusion D’Or in the mail I already thought of nail polishes I could layer it on top of. One of my very first thoughts was China Glaze’s Midnight Mission from their Vintage Vixen collection which I then picked a few days ago.

Now I am already wearing this layering since Sunday and I don’t want to remove it because it is so pretty.
Let’s take a look at why I can’t stop staring at my nails:

China Glaze – Midnight Mission, two coats
Chanel – Illusion’Dor, one coat

Sigh.. do I need a backup of Illusion D’Or?

But now let’s take a look at my embarrassing huge nail polish haul.

From the left to the right:
Zoya: Edyta, Julieanne, Cheryl, Carrie Ann, Kym, Kelly, Shawn
Orly: Lollipop, Cotton Candy, Bon Bon, Pixy Stix
Nubar: Fiery Red, 2010 (twice)
+ A nail polish which prefers to remain anonymous

If nail polishes could talk:

Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Today I’d like to show you the layering NOTD which I had to postpone due to the Chanel Paradoxal mail and dupe emergency: How CND’s Jade Sparkle looks over a purple nail polish.

One of my current favorite purple nail polishes is Zoya’s Mimi and after wearing it for a day or two I wanted to spice it up. Just a few days earlier I got three more Sparkle Effects in the mail with an order and because I love the contrast between purple and green I just had to pick Jade Sparkle and I am glad I did. The shimmery purple base paired with green/jade sparkles.. loves it!

Zoya – Mimi, three coats
CND – Jade Sparkle, one coat

For the next picture I picked a white background whichs reflections bring out the jade sparkles even more. Aren’t they gorgeous?

Now I can’t wait to get my hands on the new Teal Sparkle CND Sparkle Effect which should be available soon.

Which is your favorite layering combination with Jade Sparkle or any other Sparkle Effect?
Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Hi everyone!

It surely isn’t wrong to say that Chanel’s Paradoxal (509) nail polish from their Fall 2010 collection will be yet another hyped nail polish. Because Paradoxal is a really pretty color I would even dare to say that the hype is justified.

Chanel made beautiful nail polishes in the last time: Particulière, Nouvelle Vague and of course Jade (where I am still not over the fact that Jade wasn’t available in Germany).
However what bugs me is that not only nail polish loving customers are looking forward to the next big Chanel nail polish – no, also ebay sellers love them. And what they love the most is to buy them before the regular nail polish lover can and sell them on ebay for prices which are not only too high but also despicable.

With the help of a great fellow nail polish lover I was able to get my hands on a bottle of Paradoxal for me and my dear friend Susanne and when the envelope arrived it made my day! Paradoxal is gorgeous. It is a stunning color between gray and purple and the purple shimmer is the icing on the cake. But is it really unique?

Almost.
With Models Own’s Purple Grey there is a great alternative available and if you add a layer of a transparent nail polish with purple shimmer you will have a great and almost perfect dupe.

First let’s take a look at how Paradoxal compares to Purple Grey on its own:

Not bad, right? I don’t know where my camera picked up the darker color of Paradoxal in contrast to Purple Grey but IRL they are closer than the camera makes them appear. Paradoxal’s base color is a tad darker but not as much as the camera shows us. So if you are looking for a non-shimmery version of Paradoxal I recommend to pick up Purple Grey.

Because there are great layering nail polishes available like for example the CND effect nail polishes you also can create an even better dupe.
Unfortunately I don’t own CND’s Violet Shimmer – which I think would be one of the best layering options over Purple Grey – but if you love sparkles more than shimmer CND’s Amethyst Sparkle is a great alternative:

The only downside of Purple Grey is that it contains Toluene but besides this it is a great and cheaper creme alternative to Chanel’s Paradoxal.

I hope you found this post helpful and thanks for looking!

Today I wanted to post pictures of my Zoya’s Mimi layered with CND’s Amethyst Sparkle manicure but this is an emergency.
With the lovely help of Brittni (thank you so so much!) I got my paws on Chanel‘s next big hyped nail polish Paradoxal (509) today, yay! Paradoxal is as gorgeous as I hoped it would be and I am glad that I could get my hands on it. After a few minutes I thought.. wait.. doesn’t it look familiar? And then I remembered: ModelsOwn – Purple Grey.

Now there is a bummer: Purple Grey is a creme and doesn’t contain the purple shimmer but with the help of a layering nail polish it should be possible to create an almost perfect Paradoxal dupe.

Because it was already too dark outside when I came home and unwrapped the package (love the Chanel wrapping paper!) I only could take mediocre pictures but I will do daylight comparison pictures and swatches on my nails as soon as possible!

But now let’s take a look at why Paradoxal isn’t unique at all:

Crazy close, right? And a close-up:

Paradoxal could be the tiniest tad warmer than Purple Grey but I am not sure if you could see this difference on the nails.
I don’t have many layering nail polishes (yet) and the only shimmery purple layering nail polish I own is CND’s Amethyst Sparkle but I with a shimmer effect like CND’s Violet Shimmer over ModelsOwn’s Purple Grey you should get a great dupe of Paradoxal if you don’t want to spend that much $ or if Paradoxal is always sold out like Particulière.

I hope you found this emergency post helpful and thanks for looking!

Hi everyone!

I know, I know. Beeing tired of taupe cremes? Crazy talk!
But seriously. So many brands are releasing taupe/brown-gray/greige/indefinable nail polishes that at some point you could get a bit overwhelmed or even bored by them.
With Ingrid from their Vintage Vixen Fall 2010 collection China Glaze brought a breath of fresh air into the taupe hype with adding a bit of shimmer to the nail polish.

I am not tired of taupe cremes yet and I must admit: the more the merrier but after a few days of wearing American Apparel’s Mouse I got bored and wanted to remove it. Right in time an order with three CND Effects nail polishes arrived so I decided – inspired by Ingrid – to layer them on top of Mouse before I would remove it.

Let’s take a closer look at how CND’s Gold Sparkle, Jade Sparkle and Sugar Sparkle look over Mouse.

Edit alert! I added pictures of Crimson Sparkle and Amethyst Sparkle.

American Apparel – Mouse, two coats
CND effects – Gold Sparkle, one coat

American Apparel – Mouse, two coats
CND effects – Jade Sparkle, one coat

American Apparel – Mouse, two coats
CND effects – Sugar Sparkle, one coat

American Apparel – Mouse, two coats
CND effects – Crimson Sparkle, one coat

American Apparel – Mouse, two coats
CND effects – Amethyst Sparkle, one coat

Sigh.. I can’t get enough of the Sparkle Effects!
Do you have a favorite CND Effects or an other favorite layering nail polish?

Thanks for looking and have a great Sunday!

One of my (many) makeup weaknesses are cheek products. I just love an can’t get enough of them!
With their In The Groove collection MAC has released some great cheek products and so of course I had to make a haul.
Stereo Rose swatches? No. Of course not because when I looked online it was already sold out and I didn’t even tried it at the Counter and Store. With this hype, the ridiculously limited stock and a fulltime job I had no chance to get a Stereo Rose by myself. Well done MAC! Oh how I love your “Oh we can only ship a handful of stock to our Counters and Stores because we want to appear as exclusive as possible”. Well your distribution policy exclusively sucks.

Why does MAC then even bother to send informations about upcoming collection to magazines which then often publish the recommendations weeks after the launch or why does MAC send out newsletters a day or two after the launch when the most hyped products are already gone? Sadism?

Enough with the rant. I love MAC’s products. I really do. I am just slowly getting tired of the stress with their limited editions. But now let’s take a look at the two cheek products from In The Groove I hauled: Band Of Roses and By Candlelight.

In direct sunlight

*sigh* So much prettiness!

Luckily I was able to get my hands on a Stereo Rose and a backup with the help of a very dear friend (I have to have backups of my favorite MSFs.. help!) and I will post swatches of Stereo Rose and Petticoat (from Sheer Minerals) soon.
Comfort didn’t interest me much because I only use one bronzing powder: Refined Golden.

Thinking about what happened with Stereo Rose still makes me sad/mad. MAC repromotes one of his most famous or even THE most famous product ever and they didn’t even produce enough stock for a fourth of the potential customers. I don’t have to understand this. And when I hear that someone ripped the last Stereo Rose out of a persons hands and smashed it on the floor after she was told that this is not ok because the lucky customer was there first…
The ridiculously limited amount is no excuse for this shady behaviour but I wish MAC would have had made enough stock to prevent situations like this and to prevent that hundreds of customers now are disappointed.
And when I see how many Stereo Rose are now on ebay.. grrr! I don know.. I couldn’t do this. Buying more of a hyped product before other customers can just to sell them on ebay and make a fast buck. How shady is this?
Fortunately I believe in karma.

I tanned a (tiny) bit so the swatches are now made on a supposably NC16,5 instead of a NC15 skin haha!

Thanks for looking and have a great week!

Hi everyone!

Long time no KOTD! Polish Hoarder from polishhoarderdisorder.blogspot.com wrote in a comment that she misses my KOTDs and I missed them too. I was really stressed lately so I had no time to play with my Konad stuff but today I couldn’t wait any longer and had to do a Konadicure again!

This Konadicure is dedicated to Guillaume who helped me to get my hands on Outta Bounds!

China Glaze – Outta Bounds, two coats
Konad m64 with China Glaze – L8R G8R
Konad m40 with China Glaze – 2030

In sunshine

This will be the first Konadicure which I will wear to work so I am kinda nervous!

Thanks for looking and have a great weekend! *melts*