My top 5 polishes from 2010! *Tag*

The sweet Annkiins'♥ tagged me - so I'll be sharing my top 5 nail polishes from 2010 with you! :)

I've only been collecting/using polish the fanatic way (LOL) since August so it was easy choosing some I have got this year, but I decided to only choose between those that were released in 2010. It made it easier for me, but it was still hard to exclude some from this list!

First up, #5 on the list ~ Orly's Galaxy Girl!

Orly Galaxy Girl - click HERE to see the original post :)

I chose Galaxy Girl because Orly's Cosmic Collection was a major hit - not only for me, I'm sure ;) Galaxy Girl is my favourite - it's what I be looking for in a vampy duochrome, with it's almost blood-looking base. Even though there are dupes, it's such an unique polish, IMO - the colour in general - unlike most nail polish out there. It's bling in a new, fun way ♥

Let's take a look at #4 ~ NARS - Zulu!

NARS Zulu - click HERE to see the original post :)

I'm super excited my nail polish obsession started this summer, so I could get this gorgeous colour before it goes out of production again! ♥ A dark green jelly, almost black - and a super formula. I was lemming this colour so bad for a month or two before buying it - and I haven't regretted it one bit!

Up next is #3, this pretty ~ Lippmanns Across The Universe!

Lippmann - Across The Universe - click HERE to see the original post :)

I'm not shy of admitting that I am a glitterholic. I can't get enough flashy polishes! Across the Universe, along with Happy Birthday and Lippmanns other beautiful glitters, are so unique and made of amazing quality - it's like wearing diamonds in a jelly base ♥ The colour really speaks for itself, I think, so I'll leave it at that :)

Let's move on to #2 ~ Alessandro Magnetic Nail Polish!

Alessandro Magnetic Nail Polish - Click HERE to see the original post :)

Magnetic polishes are fickle to work with - but it really pays off. I chose to include the Magnetic polish I bought in Germany on this list, because it is one of the most unique polishes in my collection - the effect isn't too widely used in the polish industry, which is a shame IMO! Even though this polish is expensive, it's worth all your greens... It's one of the few polishes I didn't want to remove, even after 3 or 4 days and a chip.

And finally.... *drumroll* My favorite polish from 2010!

♥ OPI Mad As A Hatter! ♥

OPI Mad As A Hatter - click HERE to see the original post :)

Mad As A Hatter is the most wearable funky glitter I've found. It's full of colours, and very sparkly, but it still has that unity, I think it's called - it looks perfect with a dark grey outfit. I chose MAAH as my number 1 for 2010, because it was the first polish I wanted so bad I couldn't stop looking for it, despite the price tag (I bought it on ebay during Fall - and the price was double the original when it was released in Spring). It's also the polish that made me go glitter crazy - and started my lust for Lippmanns polishes along with other more expensive polishes. Even though I have glitters I'll be wearing more - this is a very unique polish that deserves credit for starting the glitter caze (and I don't think I'm the only one who was bitten - take a look at the glitterfied Burlesque collection!)

*phew* There it is, my top 5 picks. :) I've left out some amazing polishes, I think deserve to be mentioned: Catrice's Run Forest Run! + Sold Out Forever, GOSH Gypsy Blue, Chanel Paradoxal, China Glaze Party Hearty, OPI's Absolutely Alice, and the list goes on ♥

I choose to tag YOU! ~ RijaH, Kathain, Solensdanserinde, Ulmiel & Ali's Nail News! Looking forward to see your picks! :)

♥ Vettelicious

Manhattan Collection : 78T + 101V

During my trip to Germany, I found two Manhattan polishes from my wishlist - 78T which is a dark teal-ish blue and 101V which is a dark grey creme. I couldn't decide which to try out first, so I used both!

Manhattan Collection 78T and 101V on the right

They are one-coaters, but the polish is thin, so I used two coats to cover nail ridges (small as they may be, showing does annoy me like visible nail line). 78T is a gorgeous teal creme which is definitely leaning towards blue, and 101V is the most amazing dark grey creme I have in my collection. In fact, it's my favourite grey now ♥

Manhattan Polish is a little more expensive than other German drugstore brands, I think I paid about 3€ for 8 ml. It's way cheaper than GOSH, and I'd say the quality is def. worth the price. I'd buy a spare 101V or two if I had the chance :)

Manhattan 101V (bottle) and 78T

Manhattan 78T (bottle) and 101V

If I don't have time to post my New Years Eve manicure until Jan 2nd, I want to wish you all a wonderful evening and a happy new year! May it bring as much nail polish goodness as 2010 did :)

♥ Vettelicious

Nars Holiday 2010 : Pokerface

I was very tempted to buy Pokerface from NARS, but before I decided to buy it (aka - could afford it!) from HQ Hair, it was sold out. I searched through the evil bay and I snatched this beauty for less than what it costs on the official NARS website! I love a good deal :)

Pokerface is a purple creme with shimmer. Shimmerwise, this is how I like it - not as subtle as most are, but certainly not frosty ♥

I used two coats and it covers wonderfully. I had a few problems with my base coat (not wating until it dried properly), so any bubbles isn't the polish' fault. I've topped it off with Seche Vite top coat.

NARS - Pokerface

NARS - Pokerface

While I'm not a fan of Lady Gaga, I am a fan of this beautiful polish ♥ I wish I had more purple shirts, skirts and jewellery!

♥ Vettelicious

P2 Crackle Polish : Silver Blast

Today I want to show you a crackle polish - I'm looking so much forward to China Glaze's versions, lots of different colours = win ♥ When I was in Germany I found a silver crackle polish, called "Silver Blast" and I had to pick it up. It cost less than 2 €, that's cheap!

P2 Crackling top coat - Silver Blast - second from the left

I decided to try it on top on Essence "Must Have" - you can see it here:

Essence "Must Have - second from the left

Here's the result!

Essence "Must Have" and P2 Silver Blast

Essence "Must Have" and P2 Silver Blast

I used one coat of Must Have, but I should've used two - there's bald spots, they became very obvious by the flash : / I love the colour though.

The P2 crackle I wouldn't recommend unless you like thick and droopy polish. Plus it cracked in an annoying way so I had to go back and cover the biggest baldest patches. 

♥ Vettelicious

Hypno Toad is Hypnotoad

Yep, Hypnotoad is awesome :) Been watching too much Futurama!

~ Vettelicious

Merry Christmas! + Matryoshka inspired nails

Merry Christmas, everyone! ♥ 

Hope you had a wonderful evening/morning, spending time with your loved ones.

I was celebrating with my fiancé Jesper, my mom, dad and brother. We had a wonderful evening and there was so much food and so many presents! Nothing nail polish related, so I won't get into details ;)

I wanted to make a special nail design for the special occasion, and I have been thinking long and hard about what I should do. It wasn't until the 23rd Dec I finally decided on a design - I took a look through my Christmas decorations and decided to do a manicure inspired my some of my favourite decoration: Matryoshka (aka Babushka) Santa dolls!

Christmas manicure inspired by Matryoshka dolls

Christmas manicure inspired by Matryoshka dolls

Christmas manicure inspired by Matryoshka dolls

♥ Vettelicious

MAC - Peppermint Patti

Yay, one of my lemmings arrived! I've wanted this since I saw it on Neglenymfernes blog a long time ago.. A few months ago I decided it was time to let the hunt begin. I've been stalking ebay for 3 months waiting for a good deal, and finally!

It started out as an auction with a really sweet seller, but when I wanted to make a bid I couldn't because of the bidding settings. She hadn't checked to see if they allowed international bidding even though I asked in advance. The auction ended with only one bidder and I was gutted, as it ended way cheaper than I would've paid lol. So I wrote the seller and said that I was sorry I couldn't bid but that it was okay, and told her if the buyer never paid I would love a second chance.

Guess what? The winner didn't pay (and I really wonder why! It was cheap, even shipping was cheap, and the colour... who doesn't want this pretty? :0 I'll probably never know LOL). It arrived within a few days even being so close to Christmas, so I decided to try it out instead of my Christmas polishes! Can you blame me? ;)

I'm wearing three coats as this polish is really thin (thankfully, it was easy to work with even so), one coat of Seche Vite and a holo stamped lollipop & sparkle on my middle finger. It's subtle, but it added a little bit of bling ;)

MAC Peppermint Patti - flash

MAC Peppermint Patti - no flash

MAC Peppermint Patti - flash

Close-up

The holo used it China Glaze OMG. 

Does it live up to my expectations? Yup, I'd say so! I had imagined it was a bit more turqouise and darker - but I love it even though it's a pale green ♥ I can't wear many of those as solid cremes!

♥ Vettelicious

Magnetic polish = awsomeness!

Today I want to show you what I've been wearing during the weekend. I haven't had the energy to edit the pictures until today as I've been sick, but I bet most people is pretty busy this close to Christmas anyway :)

The polish in question is an Alessandro Go magic! Twist magnetic nail polish. If it has a name, I fail 'cause I can't find it on the bottle or in the box! I bought it in Germany, paid around 15-16 €, and was excited to find out if it was worth it.

It was.

It's tricky to play with magnetic polishes, but once you get the hang of it and adjust the magnet, it gets easier and it only takes one coat for you to be satisfied. Some of my nails are wearing two, as first layer got messed up, but I can't remember which. All of them is layered with one coat of Seche Vite to give a smooth surface and that wonderful glossyness ♥

Alessandro Go Magic! Twist magnetic nail polish

Alessandro Go Magic! Twist magnetic nail polish

Alessandro Go Magic! Twist magnetic nail polish

This is one of the most amazing magnetic polishes I've seen - the magnetic stripes are glittering with the most beautiful warm colours as well as the dark blue. I love it - I could wear it the rest of my life!

♥ Vettelicious

Glittering stripes - a blue/purple manicure

I was experimenting... LOL.

I started out trying a new purple from Germany - when I got home I realised I have way too few warm purples.This is on my list for next year! :)

Essence - Break Through

This is one coat of Essence Break Through. As you can see, one coat isn't enough, but I didn't want more coats when I had plans for lots of layering. I think another coat would cover up any bald spots nicely.

It's funny; when I bought the polish, I didn't see the shimmer - but it's visible when you use the flash and on the nail as well. Very subtle, but it adds a little sparkle. It was a nice surprise :)

I ended up finding Gosh, Kiko and Catrice polishes I thought would look lovely together with this and I started doing layer upon layer...

This is the result. If you want the name of one or more of the glitters, LMK and I'll try to remember which I used :)

Glitter upon glitter upon... you get the picture.

~ Vettelicious

French manicure the real.. I mean teal way!

I felt like teal nails today (as I do quite often), so I decided to pull out one of my new polishes from Germany. I've seen P2's Dangerous on other blogs and loved it each time, so when i found it in Germany I snapped up two bottles. You can't beat the price of 1.55 €! ♥

I used my nailtek basecoat, 2 coats of Dangerous. It looked plain, so I went to grab a glitter - and decided that Choose Me! from Essence would be a pretty decent match. I then applied CM on the tips and added 1 coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out.

Dangerous doesn't quite like the flash so it looks washed out compared to real life. It'll have to do for today though ;)

P2 Dangerous + Essence Choose Me!

P2 Dangerous + Essence Choose Me!

I also want to show you my frog ring again - me and mom visited a jeweller who inserted an amazing stone in the crown ♥ The stone is called a star sapphire - when light hits it, it will reveal a star that will move around when you move the stone. It looks amazing! 

Star Sapphire ♥

And last, a picture of my ring and matching manicure!

"Is it dry yet?" the frog seems to ask

♥ Vettelicious

Jelly lemming acquired ~ Lippmann Rehab

Today I want to show you an amazing blue jelly - Rehab, an old discontinued polish from Lippmann.

I was browsing through Ebay one day, looking after the colours on my wantlist that aren't easily obtainable. I've been searching for Rehab many times before, but never found a single auction. Until this day.

19.95$ BIN. Including a basecoat, topcoat and red lacquer, all from Lippmann. Was I quick to hit the BIN button? Oh yeah ♥ Shipping was really cheap too, even from Canada - it was meant to be a steal I guess! It honestly felt like winning the lottery - it doesn't take more than a polish to save my day ;)

This wouldn't be a proper post without a picture of the pretty, would it? Of course not. So I applied 4 coats of sheer jelly heaven so I could share it with you ~

- Notice the name on the bottle. This was before the lovely Lippmann polishes were called Deborah Lippmann. I believe it was released around Fall 2007.

Deborah Lippmann - Rehab ♥

One lemming killed, 10.000 to go. LOL

♥ Vettelicious

Back from Germany = suitcase full of polish goodies + NOTD

I spent the weekend in Bremen with my mom and dad, visiting my brother who lives there. It was a really fun and busy weekend! I'll spare you for the family part and tell you about the nail goodies I came home with ;)

I spent a LOT of time in all kinds of stores, looking through some of my favourite cheap brands like Catrice, Essence, P2 and decided to check out a few more expensive brands as well. I'm of the opinion that just because it's cheap it isn't crap, and vice versa - expensive, high-street stuff doesn't have to be amazing. And from experience I love the brand Catrice - great brush, cute bottles (if only the lids were a bit more firm they' be perfect), amazing colours, quick drying time, great opacity and... you get the point. ;) I was truly in nail polish heaven.

To my excitement I found one of the new colours Catrice decided to include in their main line (and I grabbed the last bottle in the store, it was meant to be I'm sure!) - a beautiful dark green called Run Forest Run! Not only do I love the colour but also the name. Last night I had an hour to spare, so I decided to pamper my nails with a new manicure and give them an extra thorough cleaning with Orly Cutique (which I use before every manicure for stain removing and cuticle-management LOL).

Catrice - Run Forest Run!

I love dark green in almost all shades - this one is one of my favorites now! It's up there on my fav list with Zulu ♥

I used two coats, but one thick would do the job I think - it has the most wonderful formula as Catrice cremes tends to have.

As for comparison, I don't have a match for it - it's darker than OPI's Jade is the new Black but lighter than Orly - Enchanted Forest (at least in the bottle. Haven't tried this one yet). It's very much a creme and darker than my pictures show - I used the flash.

I also bought a silver ring at the christmas market in Bremen, and decided I'd take a picture of it. I'll be making a design eventually inspired by it ♥ Frogs reminds me of my granddad and a happy childhood ♥♥♥

~ Vettelicious

NOTD : Kitty 'n' dots

Today'll just be a quick post; wanted to show my manicure for the day :)

Hello Kitty stamp is from a no-name brand plate from Ebay

I used 2 coats of OPI Feelin' Hot hot hot!, used a french tip white polish for the dots, a black stampy polish from Essence and a no-name plate from Ebay for the kitty stamp. The black stampy polish was a gift from my German friend; it works amazing with stamps (I've had a hard time using the kitty plate previously).

Felin' Hot hot hot! might be a tad too yellow for my skintone, but I kind of like the look ofyellowed pink... It reminds me of the 80's, 90's and Barbie dolls :)

~ Vettelicious

INK by Dennis Knudsen #12 Petrol

I was checking out sales during the last Open by Night in the town I live in a week ago. Open by Night is a night where shops stay open until 11 or so, usually having a lot of special offers and sales. This time it was a bit "meh", nothing too exciting was on sale, so I decided to splurge on a nail polish I've had a secret crush on in Matas. I have previously purchased a polish from H&M called Moody Model, as I thought they were identical - but I decided I couldn't live without "the real deal" - the one I initially fell for.

The polish is called #12 Petrol and is a limited edition polish of the INK collection by Dennis Knudsen. I'm no make-up brand whore, in fact I use very little make-up besides nail polish and eyeliner. I haven't tried any products from the DK range, but I liked the design (it's simple, black and white - it's like a danish, small brand version of Illamasqua and NARS).

INK by Dennis Knudsen - #12 Petrol

It's a very dark teal colour, or as you would refer to it, petrol. This colour in all it's shades is one of my favourite nail polish colours - I can't get enough of it. It's that perfect dark shade of blue with a hint of green ♥

Price wise, the bottle compares to Illamasqua - but is more expensive per ml. 

8 ml INK costs the equivalent of  14,75 €,

15 ml Illmasqua costs 15,30 €

It doesn't take too many brain cells to figure out which is cheaper. For what it's worth, INK is 3-Free and free of perfumes and parabens (which means a lot to me. I try to steer clear of polishes not 3-Free, though some containing toluene slips through my net).

Is INK worth the price? I had to try it to find out!

I used my regular basecoat, NailTek II and applied two coats of Petrol. It has a wonderful formula, was very easy to control and second layer smoothed it out perfectly. It had an average to good drying time, and there was no bubbles. It has a consistency somewhat similar to jellies - it's liquid, super shiny but at the same time very covering. Kind of like the base of Lippmanns Across the Universe - it looks like a jelly but applies like a creme. I LOVE jellies and jelly-cremes ♥ And a jelly-creme that only needs two coats is a winner in my book. It does stain, so be sure to use a good base and apply it as neatly as possible. My cuticles sure wish I knew this beforehand, LOL.

I compared Petrol to Moody Model, and they are not a match. If you'd like to see this compared to other teals, LMK and I'll do a comparison!

I decided to spice it up with a little stamping and dotting, for this I used my fav blue holo - DV8 from China Glaze's OMG collection.Topped it off with one coat of Seche Vite to protect the stamps.

DV8 ~ CG's OMG collection

I forgot to take pics before stamping, d'oh! I hope it gives you a good idea of Petrol anyway - if you like teal colours and don't mind the price, Petrol is amazing. I would spend the money again if I had to, and have been thinking about getting a spare bottle eventually.

INK - Petrol + CG - DV8 + Konad stamp and dotting tool

INK - Petrol + CG - DV8 + Konad stamp and dotting tool

INK - Petrol + CG - DV8 + Konad stamp and dotting tool

I can't say if all INK polishes are as great as I found this, but I'm curious to find out - if only my wallet allowed me! Have you tried some?

~ Vettelicious

Going in circles

I'm sorry I haven't been posting a lot lately, but there's been a few things in my life keeping me away from doing that much nail polishing! Besides, my pharmacy mani wasn't chipping so I decided to wait until I had the proper time to do a new mani :)

I'm shopping presents for the family early this year as I'm out of town next weekend and before you know it, it's Christmas! I have to time it with my migraines as well; I want to take my time picking out the right presents and I can't do that with a hefty migraine. Plus, there's almost no line in the shops yet! Big bonus.

Yesterday/today I was wearing a circly mani, using some of the amazing things I got in a pony/nail polish trade with a good friend from Germany.  It's no secret that I love all the nail polish stuff they sell in Germany, including brands as Essense, Catrice, P2, Kiko... You name it. And they're extremely cheap as well! In Denmark we pay what's equivalent of 8,05 € for 8 ml Gosh nail polish, in Germany you can get a bottle of 10 ml Catrice for the price of 2,50-3,00 €! And Catrice is at least as good quality, plus they release new limited editions constantly.. It's like polish heaven!

Anyway, I received a HUGE package full of wonderful polishes, and today I'll be showing you one of them. I might be doing a post with the entire haul, but not for the moment (I've been showing/bragging a lot lately and I should use the time for new manis instead LOL).

I used Catrice - Lost In Mud as base colour and Illamasqua - Muse as stamping polish. For the print I used an Essence Stamp plate, featuring my favourite random pattern aside from dots: circles! It's a quick, easy pattern to use and looks like you've spent a lot of time on your nails IMO. One of the best patterns out there is you're not so keen on flowers!

As always, I topped it off with Seche Vite :)

Catrice - Lost In Mud + Illamasqua - Muse + Essence Stamp plate

Catrice - Lost In Mud + Illamasqua - Muse + Essence Stamp plate

I managed to make a more random pattern on my right hand, but I can't hold my SLR with left hand, so you're seeing leftie instead, as always ;)

Right now I'm sporting a new manicure, pics as soon as I have time. 'Till then, enjoy your weekend!

~ Vettelicious

Pharmacy haul..? LOL

Yep, I found nail polish at our local pharmacy. It would make sense if they sold special polishes for allergics, as they do with cremes and what not, but these were cheap and from a brand I've never heard about (I was actually amazed they even had a name!). It's called Casuelle. If you live in Denmark, like sheer glitter nail polishes best for layering, check out your local Apothek (danish for pharmacy)! I ended up getting a black, teal and transparent holo glitter.

I decided to try them out yesterday, and I started with the black one. As they are very sheer they won't build up opaque, so I used Wet'n'Wild Black creme as base. I was a little disappointed in this black glitter, as it's beautiful in the bottle, but once applied on the nail looks grainy - there's lot of glitter, but it just doesn't shine through. Only in direct light did it show some sparkles, and only after I applied a topcoat.

Casuelle black glitter - no, it's not dust. It's sparkles, lol!

I decided it wasn't sparkly enough for the weekend, so I tried out the teal one on top of it. This is one amazing combo, if you ask me! The glitter is smaller than your average cheap glitter which can look a bit... cheap, and applies real nice and smooth with one coat. It's a sheer teal base too, so it would be awsome for other layering experiments.

Casuelle glitter WIN!

This combo is amazing... The teal coloured glitter is something I don't see every day (and anything that is not your average polish colours in Denmark is neat, lol!)

Now, this would've usually been enough to satisfy my glitter needs, but a quick glance in my nail polish cabinet made me lust for more, lol! So I tried the mini OPI glitter (which I doubt is genuine OPI, btw) I showed you in an earlier post.

It smells so bad. I can't believe OPI would release stuff like that. Seriously, it stinks like PVC or something like that. I was getting dizzy before finishing my 10 nails lol. Other than that, it was great - the glitter applied randomly without too much fuzz.

I had a hard time capturing the big hex glitters properly, but you get the idea with this picture, I think. Half of the glitters didn't show up at all, so it looks like it applied terribly, but trust me - they're there. I gave up taking a proper picture when the sun disappeared. The combo of all these make me think Deborah Lippmann Glitter ♥ Like a teal - blue version of Across the Universe, which is more of a green and blue combo.

What do you think?

I might try to take a better picture tomorrow.. It looks amazing in RL <3

~ Vettelicious

NOTD - jelly grading!

Last night I tried my new Jelly from Butter LONDON - Stroppy. It's a very thin purple jelly with loads of sparkle in it. I saw a jelly mani done by the very talented All Laquered Up using Stroppy and a teal base, and they were a perfect combo, so I decided to dig through my stash and find a teal I hadn't tried so I could do that as well :) I ended up using Ms Jagger Green from pieces, which looks great on its own as well. While this mani is nothing new or something you haven't seen before, I figured I'd still post it, as I am wearing it for a few busy days and won't/didn't have time to blog. I suggest you look up All Laquered Ups wonderful result, as it is a lot better than mine LOL!

I used one coat of NailTek II Basecoat, 2 Coats Jagger Green, 4 coats of Stroppy - each starting a bit closer to the tip. Lastly, I applied Seche Vite. While I love the combination, I'm going to try a lighter green next time - and thinner coats of Stroppy. I'm a little disappointed that the line of each new layer is darker, and I think it might have something to do with how much I applied. Not to mention the wonky lines... But I was too impatient to pull it off any better. I had tried another tricky mani before this which didn't turn out well. 

The sparkle is also not as visible as I would've wanted, which I think can be managed with a lighter base colour. I also didn't wrap the tips that well... but it's hard to do with a jelly!

Anyway, here's the pictures of the result,

flash

flash

natural sunlight

flash

Another time it might be better if I don't try a tricky manicure after I fail the first tricky mani - it's too frustrating and I end up with a result that isn't as great as it could've been. The only consolation I have is that very few notice my nails so if people see them, they see it from a distance and they don't care enough to ask, LOL. ♥

~ Vettelicious