GOSH Holographic Giveaway on my new blog!

Just a quick reminder for those of you still getting updates on this blog - I've moved to a new host and address;

www.vettelicious.com

Oh... And you definitely don't want to miss the chance at winning GOSH Holographic, would you? ;)

I'm doing a giveaway for GOSH Holographic, so make sure you pop over and enter it! Ends July 10th.

Oh, and if you're still not receiving updates from the new blog, try re-following me (click on settings in the GFC window, unfollow, then follow again). It should do the trick :)

See you there!

- Vetten

New blog & giveaway reminder

Hi guys!

Just a little reminder of my blog transfer - I update my blog on this address, http://vettelicious.com/ 

It appears that some, if not most of you, don't see my new posts on their news-feed/blogroll/blogs-they're-following-list in blogger. I made a test-profile and it works on that one, but if you don't see my new posts you can try un-following and re-follow, it should do the trick :)

Also a reminder of my giveaway which is ending soon - I'm giving a homemade ring away, all you have to do is comment on this post! Open international of course, and the ring design is of your choice :) 

Hope to see you on my new blog addy, if you haven't moved already!

- Vetten

New blog / news feed issues

Hi guys! 

Not sure if you still check this blog out, but I've been having some issues with the follower/feed transfer. It appears that some, if not most of you, don't see my new posts on their news-feed/blogroll/blogs-they're-following-list in blogger. I made a test-profile and it works on that one, but if you don't see my new posts you can try un-following and re-follow, it should do the trick.

If this won't fix it, LMK in the comments! I am thinking of making a new follower gadget if all else fails. I hate to sound desperate, I just don't want to loose you guys in the transfer - I love sharing my passion with you and when you give me some feedback. The community means so much to me!

So, my sincerest apologies for the trouble! I will make a post here every now and then re-direct you to my new blog :) Speaking of this blog, it will not be deleted. I want access to my old posts.

If you go to my new blog today you'll see I made a little contest giving one of my home-made rings to a lucky follower! :) Check it out right here.

♥ Vetten

Vettens blog is moving!

Hi guys!

That's right, my blog has officially moved now! Instead of this blog I will be posting on www.vettelicious.com, and I hope you will check it out and consider following my future nail polish adventures there :)

Don't worry, the main subject will not change - it's still all about my nail adventures ;) The only difference is that I own my own content now and Blogger won't be able to make posts and comments disappear LOL.

For GFC followers: If all is working properly, you should already be following my new blog instead of this. If not, throw me a comment and I'll do my best to make it work! If all else fails, I have set up a GFC follower gadget on the new blog and you should be able to re-follow me.

I hope you'll all continue to follow my adventures and I am planning a give-away as a sorry-for-the-trouble band-aid. See you on www.vettelicious.com! :)

- Vetten

Viva La Nails Water Decal Nail Wraps (review)

It's time for a review!

I was super excited when Viva La Nails sent me an email with the offer of reviewing their new Water Decal Nail Wraps - all I had to do was pay shipping. I've wanted to try full nail decals for a long time, but the price always stopped me. Of course, I caved when offered them for next to nothing and ordered them! :)

I got 8 different designs and I decided I shouldn't try my favourite first as I have no experience in using these. The design I'm showing here is called #09. It features beautiful watercolour-like purple flowers. If it wasn't because I don't have much clothes to match, I would've kept these for a special occassion - they are really pretty. I think a lot of these designs have a tendency to look printed - like you can see grains and white dots upon close inspection, but I found the ones I received were well done. #09 was the only one showing small white specks on macro shots. It is much less noticeable in real life.

Each set comes with 10 nail decals in 3 sizes as far as I could see - 2 small, 6 medium and 2 large. I totally lucked out when they designed these; they match my nail width really well! All I had to do was cut them length-wise.

They cost 2.95£ and there's a lot of cool designs to choose from - I'm particular fond of the sugar-skull theme <3

Let's take a look at the instructions;

Viva La Nails Water Decal Nail Wraps

I recommend taking one of the decal-leftovers (one of the black parts you're not using anyway) to practice with on a nail-wheel or something else that is non-absorbent before using these. Remember, there's only 10 in the package so no place for screw-ups ;)

Not sure what they meant with a quick manicure, I decided to use a basecoat (NailTek II) to be on the safe side. Having tried these, I recommend using a ridgefilling basecoat as the decal itself is thin and will show ridges and other imperfections in your nails. I then proceeded to cut the decals to be 1-2 mm longer than my nails, and started applying them one by one. 

Viva La Nails Water Decal Nail Wraps

I found them very easy to apply - you have a long time to place them correctly and smooth out wrinkles and air bubbles. I used my fingertips for this initially, but it was much easier to smooth them out with a q-tip. I worked from the middle of the finger and outwards to the sides.

Once the decals was dry and stuck to my nails, I filed off the excess holding my nail horisontally and my glass file vertically. I made sure there was no "loose" ends where the decal had lifted from the nail. If there was, I found it easy to fix - a warm breath and a firm press would attach it! Lastly, I applied my topcoat, China Glaze Fast Forward, and even though I kind of tried to get the decal to smear, it didn't happen lol. I wanted to test them, remember? :) I ended up having some wrinkles, but they were almost invisible when I applied topcoat. 

Now I think it's time to show you the results! Remember this is like 10 times real size, so any imperfections shown here was honestly invisible in real life ;)

Viva La Nails Water Decal Nail Wraps

And another shot of these;

Viva La Nails Water Decal Nail Wraps

I love the result! ♥ And the best part? I wore these 4 days, and there was only tiny wear on some of the nails when I decided to remove them (I used my regular polish remover). I didn't even use topcoat every day to renew it... Now that's something worth your money! These will probably last twice the time if you'd like; I'm a polish freak so I had to make a new manicure after four days, lol. Maybe they'd last up to 10 days with a new layer of topcoat every now and then? I just might have to put another set to the test! These will be great for travelling.

There's only one thing about these I'm not thrilled with... The fact that you get 10 decals. No extras for screw-ups. Granted, these are hard to screw up, but still... What if the mailman rang the doorbell with nail polish packages while I'm busy placing one of them on my nail? LOL

All in all, I am very satisfied with these. They are easy to use, good quality and above all; they're fun! It's a nice change from plain colours, no unpleasant smell (very convenient for when I have a headache), stamps and nail art - I will never have the patience to paint something this detailed on all my nails. If you're thinking of trying decals, I can definitely recommend these!

What's your opinion on these - yay or nay? :)

♥ Vetten

Orly : Iron Butterfly

I'm thrilled to show you a lemming I got ahold of not too long ago; Orly Iron Butterfly! I believe it was released in 2009, it was part of a collection of three metallic mattes called Metal Chic. It wasn't until April this year I saw it, looking through old Orly collections online to see if there was anything I missed. It was love at first sight. And this polish (and hunt for the same) made me realize once again how madly obsessed I am.

Iron Butterfly

Iron Butterfly is a black-ish base packed with silver shimmer. It's kind of like Suede polishes from OPI, being that it's heavy on shimmer and dries matte. It must have loads of dupes, but I wanted this one... Call me crazy. I'm curious to see how it compares to Manglaze's version, but I don't own theirs.

When I started obsessing about nail polish, I wasn't too keen on Orly bottles. The design just didn't look good to me, lol! They are very practical and so easy to handle, which is the most important part doing your nails anyway ;) And I must admit, having obtained this lemming, I found myself admiring the bottle picture I took. Doesn't it look just ever so slightly magical? The shimmer shines through the matte bottle... ♥

Anyhow, once I fell in love with swatches, this polish was hard to find. I didn't find a single bottle on Ebay or Transdesign, and my heart sank a little. I knew it would turn up on ebay eventually but I wanted it like yesterday, lol. I desperately started to search the internet for small nail polish stores, and I found it in SpiceBeauty UK's webstore.. I believe it was the last bottle, even - I call it meant to be, LOL! ♥

This polish has an amazing formula. Even though it's matte, it's very easy to work with - and if you're good at levelling out layers, one will do the trick. I used two to protect my nails, after all I was going to leave it without topcoat. I used NailTek II basecoat as usual, and it didn't give me any problems :)

 I decided to add an accent finger, I'm really starting to like wearing those! I love the colours I chose, they are a great combination though it does look like a bugger from a long distance LOL. Oh well ;)

I used OPI Stranger Tides & Mermaids Tears, Gosh Yellow Doll and Essence Stamp Me! in white and black. I sealed the owl with Fast Forward, so in real life it's glossy (and the black and white dragged a bit, urgh!) and is a great contrast to the base.

I'm loving mattes/suedes right now, and have a few more on their way to me. I think I'll be wearing mattes a lot this season, it's a nice change from jellies, sparkles and shinies!

Do you like Iron Butterfly, or is it old news? I've only been nail polish obsessed for a year so I have a lot of catching up to do ;) Is there any mattes/suedes I should get before they vanish from shops?

♥ Vetten

Blogger issues..

I'm sorry I've been so quiet lately, but Blogger has been really messed up. I know it's mostly back to normal but they haven't restored my post with Ocean Dip or my comments received after that post :/ I hope they will soon, I don't feel like posting until it's back to normal.

I can't help but think about finding another alternative in the future. I really want a back-up from now on.

I'll be back soon with a post for you. I have a few manicures just waiting to be written/posted :)

♥ Vetten

A big thank you...

I really feel it's about time I write a little thank you :) 

This blog has become such a big part of my life, and it means the world to me that people continue to find time and want to check out what I do. Your comments always make me smile and can save any day ♥ You make me strive to be better, more creative and above all remember to have fun. So thank you from the bottom of my heart... It sounds so cheesy, but I mean it.

I will try to be better at answering comments/questions, but it happens I forget. Don't hesitate to throw (another) email after me, if I don't reply - I always intend to but life gets in the way every now and then.

I've been asked to make a post on what I use for nail/cuticle care, so I will be working on that during the next weeks. If there's anything in particular you'd like to see/know, LMK in the comments, okay? :)

At work today I broke a nail - I cut/filed them shorter 2 days ago, and now one of them is incredibly short. :( I wish it was just a corner that broke, but no, I had to cut it down completely. Urgh... I will wait a week before filing the others shorter; this length looks terrible on me. I'm even thinking of using a fake nail while it grows out, LOL! What do you do when this happen?

Oh, and so this doesn't end up as a picture-less post, let me show you what I received this week... Nfu Oh Fakies, LOL! The bottles are a smidge smaller than Nfu Oh bottles, and the lids are of much cheaper quality. Still, I think they're pretty neat! They smell absolutely terrible so I'm sure they're toxic, and thus I'm not sure what to do with them. I try to be as picky as possible regarding nail polish ingredients, but I am thinking about trying these outdoors one day. I love me some glitter, especially hexagon! ♥ If all else fails, they were cheap enough to use for frankens.

Glitter Polish in Nfu Oh looking bottles

I will have a NOTD up later I hope :) Until then, take care!

♥ Vetten

MAC : Little Girl Type (quite cute) + Nail art

(I'm really glad I took the time to write a few blogposts this past weekend; I've been having a foul headache since Sunday!)

It's time to show a colour from one of the Spring collections I was really excited about; MACs quite cute collection! I've had these since they were released but I'm a bit funny when it comes to trying new nail polish.. I wait until they speak to me, lol. I figure the internet is drowning in swatches when they're released, what's the hurry?

MAC quite cute collection, Spring 2011

I had no choice but to buy them all. I might as well admit that I am totally biased and I absolutely love MACs nail polish bottle design. The matte lid, the shape, size... It's perfection. These are my guilty pleasure, nail polish wise. Danish retail is above 20$ each, but I'd rather pay that than 30$ for a Chanel. The brush is not that great but I can deal with a wonky brush just to gaze at these pretty bottles... Totally biased, yes. lol.

I'm not much of a make-up lover besides nail polish (I rarely wear anything but my eyeliner), so I'm not a huge MAC fan in general. I think their products are expensive, but once hooked on those bottles, I can't resist if the colours looks promising.

I was in the mood for something very pastel and girly, so I reached for Little Girl Type, the pale purple pastel (the one I so cleverly decided to lie down on the picture, lol). I almost decided to pass on this one, being that all pale purples look awful on me, but I had hopes as always ;)

I know a lot of people weren't interested in this collection because it's just cremes, very dupe-able. I haven't found a lavender like Little Girl Type though, all I see is too cold, even China Glazes Agent Lavender (have the bottle to compare), but I've yet to get Light As Air and now I don't want to, going from swatches it's too cold to like my skin tone anyway ;)

I am so, so glad I bought it. If I might say so myself, it looks stunning with my skintone ♥ It's the first pale purple I have loved so much on me! And I'll tell you why... It's very warm, leaning towards pink. I compared it bottlewise with Catrice Lavenderlicious, and the only difference is the tone - Lavenderlicious is cold, and Little Girl Type is warm. It almost look pink on me, LOL!

MAC Little Girl Type, flash

 Now, the formula is a bit thin, I used two medium-thick coats and it could've used another IRL to smooth out ridges and be more light-proof. But I didn't want it chalky, so I left it at two :) Top and base as usual.

Since I'm nudging myself to do something with my nails, I added an accent nail. I was enjoying it IRL, but looking at this picture, my inside is screaming for cleaner lines! :P

I used Essence Stamp Me! in black and white, purple rhinestones and a Catrice purple I cannot remember the name of.

The nail art is inspired by sugar skulls & the day of the dead. I love art featuring these sugary...erh, I mean cute skulls. And I found the theme quite fitting for this part of the quite cute collection :) It won't be the last time skeletons have found their way to my nails!

What's your opinion on Little Girl Type - did you buy or pass? Oh, and would you like to see more skulls or should I save them for halloween? ;)

♥ Vetten

Nail art : Dinosaurs

I recently entered a nail art competition with a free-hand design, and although I didn't win I still want to show you my entry, I had a great time making it and that's the important part :)

It might look like a silly theme for an "about you" theme, but I have a hard time describing myself in one design. I figured dinosaurs shows through a few hobbies of mine, and used them as the overall theme :) 

I'm all about dinosaurs; I love the Jurassic Park & Land Before Time movies, always have ♥ I also draw as you might've seen on my blog earlier this year, and drawing dinosaurs is certainly challenging yet still something I love doing when my muse allow me ;)

Dinosaur design

I am really satisfied with this design, especially the colours - I don't like too many colours on my nails at one time, I think it tends to look messy. Maybe I'm just boring, LOL, but this is a design / colour combo that is actually suitable for me to wear at work. I will definitely be using these colours again for nail art - next time I might add a funky colour for contrast, depending on the design. Time will tell :)

I used Gosh Groovy Grey as my base, Essence Stamp me! white & black and of course a detail brush. I finished it with Fast Forward as always. Would you like to see more free-hand designs in the future?


♥ Vetten

Color Club : Wild At Heart + stamp

I thought it was about time I used my stamping plates again :)

Lately I've been far too lazy with my manicures. I want to be better at using my stamps and do free hand designs too, and I have two reasons. 1, I want to be better, and 2, I feel like this blog is a little boring with boring swatches showing my one-colour manicures. So, I hope to improve on this!

I started with Color Club Wild At Heart (I have two of these, this is the less holo version), one coat was enough, then I stamped the bows with a fake konad plate using Rimmel - Rock Republic (great for stamping!). Lastly, I added dots using a dotting tool, failing miserably at keeping them the same size. I really suck at dotting!

Sunlight shot to show the holo-esque sparkles;

Wild At Heart + Rock Republic, sunlight

And a lightbox picture for better looking cuticles, LOL! This thing does wonder for my cuticles on pictures ;)

Wild At Heart + Rock Republic, flash

My topcoat dragged a few of the stamps/dots, but it's less visible IRL. I hope you like it anyways, it was a simple design to get me started on stamping again :)

♥ Vetten

Revlon : Electric + Catrice & Kiko yellow layering

Hey girls :) I'm having a terrible headache today so I found this in my not-sure-to-post-pile of posts, I hope it's better than nothing. Hopefully I can deal with nail polish fumes tomorrow or Sunday and make a more interesting post..

I want to show you a bit of yellow fun I had this past weekend - I try so desperately to make yellow work for me and my skintone, but so far I haven't found many. Anyhow, let's see where my weekend yellow experiment took me!

Revlon - Electric, Catrice - Don't Feed The Birds & Kiko #269

I bought Electric from Revlon on Ebay last week... I can't remember where, but I read that it was a good substitute for Chanels upcoming (it isn't released in DK yet) Mimosa. I love mimosa on every picture I see, even though it takes three coats. It's just that yellow almost never work for me, so even though I wanted to get Mimosa, I figured I should try a close colour to see if I would end up using it. Oh, and getting a cheap polish that's almost a dupe is something I love - saves me money I can use for other polishes!

Here's Revlon Electric;

Revlon - Electric

I believe I used 2 generous coats of Electric for an almost full coverage. I think the formula was pretty decent, if not great for a yellow - but be sure to let the individual coats dry before adding another - as it will bubble otherwise. Next time I'm going to use a fast-drying topcoat in between to try and eliminate this issue. I'll let you know how I get on with it :)

Now, I love the colour, formula and shimmer, but it looks better with my skintone on pictures than in real life. I wish it looked as good as in the pictures :( I would love to wear this colour on its own with confidence!

I decided to add Catrice - Don't Feed The Birds, which is a sheer yellow shimmer. I believe I used two coats, and this is the result:

Revlon - Electric + Catrice - Don't Feed The Birds

Doesn't that look yummy! I have yet to wear this to see if I get used to the colour to my skin, but I will definitely give it another chance. I adore this combo, and it has to work RL for me too! :)

Since I have yet another sheer yellow, I decided to try it on top of the other two. Kiko # 269 is a sheer stark yellow filled with glass flecks. I used one coat on the other polishes.

Revlon - Electric, Catrice - Don't Feed The Birds & Kiko #269, inside + flash

This sparkly polish deserves a sun shot too;

Revlon - Electric, Catrice - Don't Feed The Birds & Kiko #269 outside, sun

I wore the full mani (Revlon - Electric, Catrice - Don't Feed The Birds & Kiko #269) for 2 days, but I didn't warm up to it. I'm not one to disregard colours for being stark, or a big contrast to my somewhat boring black outfits, but yellow... I guess it's the one colour I'm still not in love with. I can wear orange, pink, blue, green, all kinds of strong colours... But I have yet to make yellow work. Any suggestions? How do you feel about yellow polish? What's your favourite?

♥ Vetten

Ozotic Elytra # 528 - I'm in glitter heaven..

Not too long ago my first nail polish related package from Australia arrived. I am so excited to show you this polish, even though it's been my most expensive single polish since Clarins 230, it is so, so worth the money. 

Ozotic Elytra #528

I think it goes without saying that Ozotic Pro is the brand you lust for if you like duo/multi chromatic polishes. I have wanted to try this brand for a long time, but it wasn't until I discovered Picture Polish, online store (and international shipper!) that I thought it possible ever getting my hands on them. A big thank you to You've Got Nail for showing these and linking to Picture Polish :)

#528 is part of a collection of 3 new shades Ozotic just released, called Elytra. It's an incredible multi-chromatic glitter, flashing in turquoise, blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow...  Trust me when I say that this is a polish worth the pennies!

I used a black basecolour for this manicure, as I doubt #528 is buildable. I don't mind, though, many of my favourite polishes are sheer messes on their own, it's the combination of a kick-ass effect and a calm base that makes them my favourite, I think :) I used two coats of #528.

Onto the pictures! Of course the first thing I did when it arrived was making a ring, so I'll flash that one as well ;)

 

Ozotic Elytra #528

And a few pictures combined of the many faces this polish has...

Ozotic Elytra #528

And the matching ring..

Ozotic Elytra #528

I'm in heaven. This polish doesn't a huge speak, the pictures say more than I could ever express ;) I hope I can get more of these amazing polishes in the near future!

This polish rocked itself on my top-5 polishes. What do you think about it?

♥ Vetten

Catrice : Enter Wonderland

Mandy, a very sweet nailblogger from the Netherlands is my Catrice, Essence and P2 dealer, LOL! She's kindly helped me get quite a few polishes from the new collections, so a big thank you! is in order :) 

Today I have swatches of a relatively new collection from Catrice, called "Enter Wonderland". Me, being a total Catrice fanatic, had to get all of the colours, after all, they're cheap and in general of a very good quality - if you haven't tried Catrice yet, compare the quality to Gosh - only with a much, much better price and brush. The brush is wider than China Glaze but more narrow than OPI.

Catrice - Enter Wonderland

#1 - Forbidden Apple is a dark red with some serious pink, almost berry hints. No matter what light I tried, this wouldn't show up right - it's darker, more berry in real life. It had a great formula, borderline jelly, and I used two coats. No topcoat or basecoat.

Catrice - Forbidden Apple

#2 - Lavenderlicious (love the name! LOL, guess why ;) is a very pale lavender creme. I had a few application issues, it was a little hard to even out. It was also sheer, and so I had to use three coats for optimal coverage. The colour is not flattering for my skintone at all. Quite frankly, this is the worst Catrice polish I've tried - I was disappointed to say the least. I expected a perfect creme. Again, no topcoat or basecoat.

Catrice - Lavenderlicious

#3 - Wonderland Green Card is a green creme that will, if you're a green lover like myself, make you think of Don't Mess With OPI - I haven't compared these yet, but I think they are terribly close. Formula was good and the colour is great, 2 coats. No topcoat or basecoat.

Catrice - Wonderland Green Card

#4 - Miracle Heaven is a frosty shimmer blue. I believe I used three coats for coverage, but this one might be good for layering purposes. It's quite brush-stroke-ish, even more in real life than the pic shows. I added a topcoat on the middle finger to see if I could hide the brush strokes, LOL, you can see how that turned out. While I love the colour, especially on the picture, frosty shimmers just aren't something I wear everyday, so I will have to try different purposes for this one. I have a little voice telling me it'd be amazing with flakies on top, so I will have to try that out!

Catrice - Miracle Heaven

While there is nothing unique in this collection, I am loving Forbidden Apple. I don't own many reds and this one is a nice addition! Lavenderlicious is one of those colours you have to love to be willing to make work, and for me, it's not worth it. Wonderland Greencard had a great formula, but I think it's too close to some of my go-to greens - if you don't own anything like it, it's a great and cheap basic green :) It's not its fault that I horde(spelling?) greens as if my life depends on it, lol. Miracle Heaven is too frosty for me, but I hope it'll be good for stamping or other (maybe flakie) purposes... I must admit that the more I look at this colour, the more I like it. It's that darn flakie voice!

In general, this collection is a teeny bit out of place this season IMO - it's far too dark (except Lavenderlicous), and the colours are a bit basic to me. I would have loved to see an orange or funny greenish hue. I hope Catrice is doing a killer collection for Summer. What do you think about this collection?

I have a lot of other new Catrice colours to show you, but alas, I only have two hands so you'll have to be patient on me ;) I promise you that some of them are far more spectacular than these - and if you need proof that Catrice is really worth trying, check out some old swatches I did; Run Forest Run! or Sold Out Forever (which is a great dupe for Chanels much coveted Jade). Catrice is really getting the hang of hidden shimmers, but that's a story for another day. Oh, and I feel like I should mention that the quirks of application on some of these are only annoying compared to other Catrice polishes - like I mentioned previously, it's such a great brand, and I guess I'm acting like a spoiled child right now LOL!

What's your favourite Catrice polish? Is there any of them you would love to own?

♥ Vetten

China Glaze : Papaya Punch

Today I have something really funky to show you. I believe this is the first time - ever - I've worn bright orange nail lacquer. It's quite a big thing for me, can't you tell? :) If you notice my nails are a bit shorter, it's because I filed my nails due to a break. I must admit I love this length! So much easier to handle and paint ♥

Papaya Punch

Island Escape is a new collection from China Glaze for Spring 2011. When the first promo pictures were shown, I was, quite frankly, not excited. I was expecting all polishes to be sheer, and the only positive thing I could find was that I could skip it and focus on other wants. 

That was until I saw the first swatches... I fell in love with Papaya Punch, a bright orange borderline to neon. I must admit that my initial neon craze last year came to an end when I got a pink neon - I was satisfied and went onto other obsessions. I'm getting slightly obsessed with them again, so I allowed myself to invest in a few fun colours for Spring/Summer, and of course, Papaya Punch was the first to be bought :)

I know Papaya Punch is not a neon, but in my world it might as well be. I feel its colour is too bright for a creme, so I shall call it a creme with neon tendencies. It does dry with a gloss, though!

The best thing about Papaya Punch is the coverage. Two medium to thick coats and you're done... China Glaze deserves a huge applause for this ♥

China Glaze Papaya Punch - flash

I'm wearing NailTek II, two coats of Papaya Punch and Fast Forward. This manicure is a total win in my book... I can't stop staring at my nails. I hope it'll be the first of many oranges in my collection! 

I know the general craze is about yellow this year, but if you ask me, it's all about orange. I might as well enjoy it and use the opportunity to buy a few more for Summer mani/pedis ;) What's your opinion on orange - and yellow for that matter?

♥ Vetten

Nfu Oh #62 + China Glaze Visit Me In Prism

Easter has been amazing here, the weather has been warm, sunny and we've had lots of small barbecues, super yummy!

Nfu Oh #62, sunlight

As for most of nail polish fanatics, a sunny day calls for something sparkly in my stash... Since I still have holos I haven't tried yet, I decided to try one; my very first holo from Nfu Oh - #62. It's a nude/champagne holo with a strong pink tone, very warm and flattering if a silver holo like Gosh Holographic makes your fingers go lobstery.

I tried it using two base coats; NailTek II Foundation and Gosh Fix Base Coat... and the difference was enormous. 

Applied on NailTek II, it was a nightmare I've never tried before - bald patches, pulls, you name it. It took me three coats and as few strokes as humanly possible for it to look decent.

On Fix Base Coat, however, it behaved a lot better. Two coats was enough, and I could be a bit sloppier as usual applying them, LOL! Promise me you'll invest in this basecoat or Nfu Oh's Aqua Base Coat if you try these super dense holos - it'll save you layers, trouble and annoyance! I can't emphasize this enough ;)

Here's a few pictures of #62 shining in the sun;

Nfu Oh #62, sunlight

Even though it's amazing, it's kind of dull inside. The nude colour make my nails look invisible, lol. Not so fond of these super-fine-particle-holos for everyday use :/ I spend too much time inside.

I decided to knock it up a notch with another similar holo, China Glaze's much coveted Visit Me In Prism. This polish was a total lemming for me, it's my ultimate favourite from the Kaleidoscope collection. A big plus in these are that their rough particles rocks inside too! :) I used one coat on top of #62. It's a shame I forgot to take pictures outside of this combo, it looks less phony/grainy IRL. My flash is trying to kill it, lol.

Nfu Oh #62 + Visit Me In Prism, indoors, flash

I'd better show the ring I made as well;

I love the combo!! Visit Me In Prism is quite sheer on its own I believe, so this huge bottle of Nfu Oh serves well as base, lol! Don't feel sorry for #62, it'll get the love it deserves on days I need something neutral for a day outside ;)

♥ Vetten

Swatch Party #1: Untried Gosh Lacquers

Gosh polishes were on sale recently - buy one get one free! I, of course, had to take advantage of the offer LOL. I realised I have so many Gosh polishes that I haven't even tried - most of them from previous sales. So, I decided to pull out a few and swatch!

From left to right: Lavender Love (LE), Flamingo, Pink Lady(DC) & Yellow Doll (LE).

Let's start with Lavender Love, a new colour released for Spring 2011. How this got onto the regular sales display already, I have no idea (neither did the sales staff), but I'm thrilled it did! It's a gorgeous periwinkle blue / purple - in my pictures it's way too blue, but it's impossible to picture correctly.

I used 1-1½ coat - that's right, it's a one coater if you're careful while applying (and undoubtedly if you have shorter nails)! Way to go, Gosh, the world needs more one coaters! This is the second colour I try from this collection, and both have been one coat, gorgeous looking wonders!

Gosh LE Lavender Love

Up next is Flamingo, a gorgeous soft pink. It's been a part of the regular collection for quite some time but it wasn't until this sale I decided to get it. I was afraid it would be very sheer, but I was so wrong! I want to say it's a jelly, because it really feels like one - but at the same time it's nearly opaque in two coats, so maybe it's a jelly creme? Regardless, I love it! It fits my skintone perfectly, and it feels like wearing jelly on your nails. A very pleasant surprise!

Wearing two coats in this picture. I couldn't really capture the jellyness, but trust me... It's worth a try if you want pink without the heavy feel most pink gives you!

Gosh Flamingo

Next is a dark reddish pink with purple shimmer - Pink Lady. I got this a while ago in a sale, I'm pretty sure it was reduced because it is discontinued. Let me be honest, I didn't think I would like this shade at all, because it has a red undertone and it's a dark pink... But I was wrong. I love it! It looks so incredible in the sun and once again, perfect formula. 

I used two coats and it was a dream to apply (in my opinion, shimmers are hard to find with a decent formula compared to cremes - or maybe I've just had bad luck).

Gosh Pink Lady

Now, this one deserves a picture taken outside as well! See how it becomes almost coral? If I ever find an extra bottle of this, I will be a happy camper!

Gosh Pink Lady - outside, direct sun

Last is my little problem child.. LOL! I guess not all could be perfect ;) Yellow doll was part of the 2010 Fall collection, 3 pastels that I'd rather believe is best suited for Spring. Yellow doll looks like a cool/cold yellow in the bottle, but my warmer looking fingers makes it look like a warm pastel yellow. It took me 3 coats to cover up my nail line to the fact that I would wear it, but it was still visible in some kinds of light. 

At least it's not a chalky, thick pastel ;) It is, however, a yellow creme I could see myself wearing - it doesn't turn my fingers into lobstery coloured monsters, lol. Yellow is just not a colour I wear that much.

Gosh - LE Yellow Doll

That's all I have for you today... What do you think about the lacquers? Which is your favourite of the four I've showed you?

Most important of all: would you like posts like this in the future? Granted, it's not going to be swatches of the newest collections - first of all, I can't compete (nor do I want) with all the amazing lacquerheads out there showing us the newest trends, I don't get my hands on them until they've been out for a while anyway, LOL!, and second of all, I don't buy complete collections unless they all appeal to me (which is rare with collections consisting of 6 or more). It would be random untrieds from my stash instead, some still available, some not. Let me know in the comments! :)

I admit I had quite a lot of fun with these, especially with two of them being much better than I thought! Trying colours for fun will help me use them in the future ;)

♥ Vetten

Easter Drawing

Unfortunately I don't have any Easter nails to show you... The weather has been amazing and I've been slacking big time, LOL! Nfu Oh #40 is holding up great, no chips yet, so I don't really see the need in changing it before I get tired of it.

Anyhow, instead of posting an old swatch today, I figured it wouldn't hurt to show what I've spent a few hours on - a drawing! It's nail polish inspired, lol!

Easter Drawing 2011

I guess this is how I picture all nail fanatics out there, LOL! I hope I'm not the only one with a tendency to gaze at my nails ;) It's far from perfect, but it was fun to practise drawing hands. I wish I could show you the colours in real life, they are much better blended. Oh well.. I hope it isn't an eyesore on your daily blog-checking-routine ;)

Have a great weekend!

♥ Vetten

Nfu Oh #40

I caved and bought a few more flakies from Nfu Oh. When I think about it, most of the manicures I wear for more than a few days have been flakies, and it's no surprise it's one of my favourite effects, is it? :)

One of the ones that made it into my online cart was #40. It's a clear based flakie, and it's definitely meant for layering.

I used NailTek II, one coat WnW Black Creme, one coat #40 and Fast Forward topcoat. It's a painless, yet amazing manicure, lol. Nfu Oh is definitely my go-to's when I need something simple that still looks like a million.

One of the things I love about Nfu Oh's flakies is that not two are alike. This one might look similar to #52 (which I swatched here), but trust me; these are very different. While #52 is in a blue jelly base with shimmer, #40 is flakies only - and the result on the same basecolour is pretty obvious, isn't it? They are very different!

Once again, I decided to skip the bottle picture, because this colour is not much on its own (while the bottle itself is gorgeous, I've shown it so many times I don't think I need to again LOL).

Enjoy the pics of this beauty! :)

Nfu Oh #40

Nfu Oh #40

If I had to choose between #40 and #52, I think I'd go for this one. The clear base means it can be used on every colour of the rainbow, and the flakies look much more crisp and clear in this one as well. That said, I wouldn't give up on #52 - it's got a little more *pow* in it, shimmer and all ♥ Who am I kidding, I can't choose between these, LOL!

Which is your favourite? Do you own either of them?


♥ Vetten

Gosh : Groovy Grey (meet my new love!)

Today I'll be showing one of my latest purchases! 

I've been eagerly waiting for Gosh to get a Spring/Summer display up, and last week my nearest drugstore had the new laqcuers in! They don't have a display, though, which I find a bit odd, they were tucked in with the regular display. It is incredibly hard to find anything about this collection, so I don't have much to tell about it. I found a picture on Google and I assume it's a stock photo, but if you took it, LMK so I can credit you or remove as you please

Image found on Google

The new collection consists of four shades:

# Neon Baby

# Lavender Love

# Misty Mauve

# Groovy Grey

I recently bought Lavender Love which I'll be showing in a swatch party post in a few days ( swatching is fun, though editing takes time, lol), and Groovy Grey - while the two pinks looked sweet and fresh, as of now I don't feel the need to buy them (these are approx. 12$ each!). Maybe next time they are BOGO! :)

So, today is all about Groovy Grey. This is, to me, the star of the collection - as soon as I saw it, I thought about buying a back-up, LOL. It's a greige kind of colour - and I know you will immediately think of a certain dupe when seeing it, so stay tuned for a comparison!

I used my basecoat, NailTek II, and - make sure you see this - ONE average to thick coat of Groovy Grey - yes, it's a one-coater! Light will shine through your tip at this stage, so if you want it completely opaque, no light what-so-ever to shine through, two coats are needed, but I rarely build to that opaque level. I don't flash my nails directly on top of bright lamps, LOL! As long as my nail line isn't visible, I'm happy.

I decided to take two pictures and combine, since this polish can look warm and cold, depending on the light. In real life, it's closest to the picture on the left, but it was very hard to photograph IMO.

Gosh Groovy Grey - flash (left) & shade (right)

Isn't it beautiful? This is, without doubt, a perfect neutral colour ♥ I can see myself wearing this a lot! It'll be perfect for when I need a break from fancy, bright colours and darks ♥

Now, if you made it this far without thinking of Lippmann - Waking Up In Vegas, huge applause, LOL! I decided to do a comparison since I bet a few of you are interested.. Or so I hope, anyway ;) I also included another favourite of mine, H&M's Happy Grey. This one contains shimmer, so it's not a dupe, but colourwise, I was interested in seeing them side by side.

The three lacquers side by side..

Lippmann Vegas, Gosh Groovy Grey, H&M Happy Grey

And swatches on my nailwheel:

Lippmann Vegas, Gosh Groovy Grey, H&M Happy Grey

Close, yet so different! I think the small differences make a huge difference comparing to one's skin tone. Don't mind the stripes in the nails, it's the lightbox + flash that created them. As much as I love Lippmann's, I think Groovy Grey won me over for Spring.. It feels a little less thick/heavy on the nails, so to say, and the colour is a bit warmer too. Happy Grey is a pearl in my collection as well, since the shimmer is incredibly cute. All in all I'm a huge fan of these :)

What do you think about Gosh's new collection? Do you own either of the above mentioned greige polishes? If you own similar colours, let me know as well since I want more of these neutrals! :D

♥ Vetten