Pretty & Polished - Blood Clot or my take on Halloween!

Here in The Netherlands, Halloween is not very big business...some children will go and try to "scare" some shop holders in the street, but it is nothing big.
I had the sudden urge to wear something bloody on my finger tips so I reached to a friend from last year: Pretty & Polished Blood Clot. I stalked it for weeks because it was sold out every time...and when I finaly purchased it..Halloween was over!
I love this polish, it sounds gruesome "Bloot Clot" but it looks quite charming I would say!
It is a syrupy cherry red (or blood red if you prefer) with two sizes of shiny hex glitters. There is some fishing acquired for the big hexes and with that you tend to add a blob of syrup on the nail as well. This gives it that extra clotted appearence.

This was three layers and some extra blobs:

Pretty&Polished - Blood Clot

I tried my hardest to get it photographed right...it just wouldn't. The polish is so shiny that it messed with the focus of the camera. The colour of the third and the fifth shot is the closest to the truth, it has just a hint more brown in it (more blood, less cherry). Do NOT look at my cuticles they are horrid...and it isn't even winter yet!

Happy Halloween!!!

China Glaze - Strike Up A Cosmo topped with OPI - Movin Out and OPI - Glitter Bit Of Music

A few days ago I was fiddling around with China Glaze Strike Up A Cosmo, just to get it a bit less grainy and harsh. The colour is very nice, the structure is a bit too flaky and rough for me (perhaps, in hind side I should add a bit of thinner as well). The solution I came up with was to put OPI Movin Out on top of two layers of SUAC. And to top it all off I used OPI Glitter Bit Of Music to get back a bit of the golden sparkle SUAC has. The result is a much smoother polish with loads of sparkle (red in low light en golden in day light) and a bit of the duochrome goodness of Movin Out!

This is what the cocktail looks like:

China Glaze - Strike Up A Cosmo, OPI - Movin Out, OPI - Glitter Bit Of Music

Photo taken outside.

Halogen light.

A bit of a blurry pic to get out the red sparkle!

The combination is delicate but good, I think. SUAC looks a bit more warm (good thing with my skintone) and much smoother then without Movin Out.

China Glaze - Igniting Love (Cirque Du Soleil Collection: Worlds Away Collection winter 2012)

Ahhh, today it is the 26th of October.....the day I got married, some X years ago!
I needed to do something cheesy ;-)
China Glaze Igniting Love fits the bill perfectly, it is a hot red creme that stands out and makes my nails very happy.
This were two very smooth and easy coats of Igniting Love, you can see a tiny, tiny bit of nail line if you stare at it very hard....nothing dramatic really.

China Glaze - Igniting Love

wink, wink to my "huspup" >ieuw; hate that word<

There is one "but" in this story though: it stains like crazy when you try to remove it! I had red rims around my nails for days....very Halloween appropriate you could say!

Orly - Ancient Jade (Precious Collection, Spring 2011)

I am very particular with greens, I do not like harsh grass green and I do not like a green with too much blue in it (even mint green is tricky with me).... Orly's Ancient Jade has nothing of the above! It is soft but not pastel and it is neither too blue nor too harsh!

The formula was perfect; nice and creamy and it covers in two coats.

Orly - Ancient Jade

In diffused light.

Outside.

"artistic impression" >hihi<

It is an older polish (spring 2011) but I recently found it on the internet...and I could not resist!
Fancy Fushia and Sapphire Silk are two other polishes from this collection I most certainly am going to wear and show you soon.

OPI - Underneath The Mistletoe, Holiday 2013 Mariah Carey Collection

Since it is nearly Christmas (.....) I'll be showing you Underneath The Mistletoe from the OPI Holiday Collection featuring >again< Mariah Carey.
Why Mariah again, I wonder? She's not the only celeb with nails....and I do not find her that interesting to be excited about two collections with her face on the displays....>sorry<
And thus, the Holiday Collection is not very exciting nor spectacular in my eyes. There are loads of reds of which I find Underneath The Mistletoe the most interesting.
It is a cranberry jam coloured jelly with silver micro glitter, which most of the time colours red and magenta due to the base colour.

The formula is good yet a bit on the gluey side (but very workable), this was two coats:

OPI - Underneath The Mistletoe

My camera had a "slight" difficulty to focus on this baby......so the pics are not too clear....
It's a very Holiday season appropriate polish, sparkley but not in your face! And happy to know it does not stain when being removed.

Kiko Quick Dry - 818 topped with Cirque - Au

What to wear to a formal event?
Well, something neutral with a festive touch...I choose Kiko Quick Dry nr. 818 topped off with Cirque Au.
The 818 looks a little lighter in the bottle then on the nail, which was a pitty because the complete look was a bit sombre this way. But all in all I liked the result good enough :-)

This was two easy coats of the 818 and one thin coat of Au (and that even gave almost too much gold leaf...it's loaded with the stuff!).

Kiko Quick Dry - 818 and Cirque - Au

Gold leaf top coat is always a nice conversation starter, so the combo worked like a charm ;-)

Essie - Where's My Chauffeur? (Leading Lady Collection winter 2012) with Hits Hefesto

Today again, one from the archieves.....it's Essie Where's My Chauffeur? with Hits Hefesto to make it holotastic!
I like this kind of turquoise very much, it's not very unique as a colour but it is very flattering and happy.
I love it combined with gold (like OPI Man With The Golden Gun or Cirque Au), holo, and glitter (would China Glaze Golden Enchantment work with it as well...?).

I forgot how many layers this was or how it applied....and I didn't take any notes.

But the result is quite mesmerizing:

Essie - Where's My Chauffeur? and Hits - Hefesto

In diffused light.

In sun light.

In halogen light.

Does it say "winter" or "spring" to you? I think it says a little bit of both really.

OPI - Honey Rider Liquid Sand of The Bond Girls Collection, summer 2013

Somehow these pictures were forgotten along the way.....they were waiting to be posted for a long time already!
So today is the day for Honey Rider.
It is a neutral light golden Liquid Sand by OPI (a mix of golden and silvery particles), not too blingy and not too yellow. I usually do not like golden foils but the texture gives it that little umph it needs and makes it less in your face and more wearable.
The formula was very nice and it was perfectly even and opaque in one/two coats.

Here it is, finally....

OPI Liquid Sand - Honey Rider - The Bond Girls Collection

As you can see it is a very wearable colour, it would look lovely on the beach and it would even be Christmas appropriate I think! So: very good investment ;-)

Essie - Masquerade Belle from the Going Incognito 2010 winter collection

I needed something chic, classic and elegant.....Essie Masquerade Belle gave me just that!
It is a lovely dark wine red jelly that gives you a beautiful dark red nail in 2 coats.
It is perfect I think; the jelly give it that nice squishyness and shine. The colour is not too red, not too brown and definately not too blue based.

And then to think that it was kind of forgotten in the back of my Essie drawer (shame on me)!

Essie - Masquerade Belle

The wear time was excellent as well (I used Essie Good to Go as top coat), I wore it 5 days without any major chipping! These dark jellies are awesome but in the winter collections of this year there are none that I know of :-(
Perhaps I should check out the back of my polish drawers?!

Kiko Sugar Mat - nr 637 turqoise

The Kiko Sugar Mat 637 is a polish from my holiday haul. Unfortunately they do not sell Kiko in The Netherlands....
637 Is a lovely vibrant deep turquoise, very appropriate for spring and summer.
It is a completely matte polish, no sparkles and no glitters what so ever. These pics are taken on the second day of wearing this polish so there is slight tip wear but nothing serious.

Kiko Sugar Mat - 637

This is the first "liquid sand" I used which is completely matte....and I like it! I'm just wondering if the consistency of the Kiko Sugar Mat is the same as the China Glaze Texture ones....? They look all so irregular and lumpy on blog pics.
I should try out the other two I bought from this collection soon... >ugh< so many polishes so little time ;-)