St Patricks Day

Hi Everyone,

I often find motivation for my manicures from certain times of year. When you have a ridiculously large collection of nail polish (as I willingly admit I do!) it actually gets really hard to pick what to wear next, as the choice can overwhelm you. So my mani for tomorrow is inspired by St Patrick's day:

The first pic is more colour accurate - the second one I just took under direct light to show the detail.

For this I used two coats of Essie Going Incognito, then stamped with China Glaze Metallic Muse with my Bundle Monster plates. A St Patrick's Day mani isn't complete without a bit of Emerald Sparkle (by China Glaze), so I put two coats of this on my ring finger and stamped again with Metallic Muse. I topped it all off with one coat of Seche Vite.

Overall this didn't actually turn out as well as I'd hoped. I had so many ideas, and once this one went on it just didn't really seem as creative as how I had thought of it in my head...if that makes any sense whatsoever. Anyway, its certainly enough to put me in the Irish spirit for tomorrow, and hey, its green, so it works for me :)

I would also like to mention that today is my best friend B's birthday. Happy birthday!!! We have been friends for forever, and she is the most wonderful, supportive, amazing person, and I'm so lucky to know her and have her friendship! She is also very supportive of my nail polish 'habit' and was my very first follower on this blog. So here's to another amazing year, and we'll bring it in in style on Friday!

MCB

Dior Nirvana

Hi Guys,

Today I have a stunner for you from Dior. I was just walking around the shops the other day and this one caught my eye and had to be mine! I hadn't heard much about this new collection, and when I googled it there wasn't much info out there about it. But its in Aus stores now, so if you can, hunt it down and make it yours!

Ok, this is Nirvana:

An amazing teal which morphs from more blue based to more green based depending on the light. It applied like an absolute dream - this is two coats plus some Revlon top coat (I didn't have my beloved Seche Vite with me at the time). I love, love, LOVE the Dior brush for application - some of you with smaller nail beds might find it a bit unwieldy, but for me it is perfection. Its huge and kind of curved at the end, and the above pics are with no clean up whatsoever - the brush makes it easy for me to get it really neat first time.

So what do you think of Nirvana? I'm so in love I bought a back up. And I'm eyeing off some of the other colours I saw too. Pity Dior is $35 here...

MCB

Essie Sew Psyched

Continuing with my use of palate cleansing cremes, here is another polish I thought I would never buy, but ended up loving. Its not everyone's cup of tea, but I have grown to love Sew Psyched. It looks quite different in different lighting, and has this amazing hidden shimmer that only reveals itself either in the sun or in certain low light situations.

Here are the pics:

This is two coats with Seche Vite top coat. Sew Psyched is a murky khaki green with a hidden silver shimmer. In the shade it pulls a little more blue, but in the sun it is unashamedly snot green :) Its reputed to be a dupe for the more expensive Rescue Beauty Lounge Diddy Mow, but I don't have that one to compare it to. Me likey.

MCB

Isadora Combat Khaki

I don't know about you guys, but a year ago I would not have gone near these dirty, murky, dusty, combat kinds of colours. I didn't understand why you would put a 'gross' colour on your nails when you could go for a bright pink, blue or purple lovely...

But all that has changed. And the new me cannot get enough of these new muted, faded and downright delicious colours.

On my recent European trip I undertook some major haulage, and one brand that I am glad I invested in is Isadora. I don't think you can get these in Australia or the US (someone correct me if I'm wrong) but they're readily available in Europe (I picked mine up in Salzburg, Austria).

Here is Combat Khaki:

A lovely soft green. This is two coats with Seche Vite top coat, but if you were careful you could get away with one coat. It applied beautifully.

Just another chapter in the story of my love affair with greens!

MCB

Orly 'Tis the Season Holiday Collection 2010 - Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

Orly has released six colours for their Holiday Collection this year, but I only picked up one. The others are nice, but just didn't really catch my eye.

Meet Me Under The Mistletoe is a sheer-ish forest green base packed with foily glitter that shimmers predominantly green and gold. In the bottle it looks like there is blue or turquoise element to this polish, but it doesn't really translate onto the nail.

Because there is so much glitter suspended in this polish, the base itself is rather sheer. I only did two (thick) coats for these swatches, but I think I may have been better off with three for full coverage. I topped it all off with a coat of Seche Vite.

Being a green lover, I really like this colour. Its not my absolute favourite green in my collection, but I think it will be getting some more wear in December as the festivities begin!

MCB

2 Polishes from Essie Winter 2010

I have been known to squeal with excitement, despite being old enough to know better. And that's exactly what happened when I received my new Essie polishes last week. I only got 2 from the Winter 2010 collection - Smokin' Hot and Going Incognito.

First up, Smokin' Hot in the sun, then in the shade:

This is a delicious dark purple grey creme. I applied 2 coats and topped it off with Seche Vite. I like this one - glad I picked it up.

Next up, Going Incognito in the sun then in the shade:

Luscious emerald/forest green. This is 2 coats topped with SV. I LOVE this colour - creamy green goodness in a bottle. I am a big fan of greens, and this one ticks all the boxes for me. I'm pretty sure that if you don't have this, you need to drop everything you're doing, including reading my blog, and go out and find it right now.

I did a comparison of Smokin' Hot with Models Own Purple Grey:

Although they're similar, the Essie is a cooler, more smokey colour than the Model's Own. The Model's Own has more red to it and is slightly warmer.

I also compared Smokin' Hot with OPI's Jade is the New Black:

As you can see, the Essie is a lot richer and deeper, whereas the OPI has a lighter, more dusty and more muted look.

Well that's it for another post...what do you think of these colours from Essie's Winter 2010 collection?

MCB