Essie - Going Incognito

I know this polish is old news, but it wasn't until recently I finally ordered it for myself. Going Incognito is part of Essies 2010 Fall Collection, and in my humble opinion it's the most interesting colour of the bunch.

Essie - Going Incognito

If you ask me, one can never have too many green cremes, let alone sea green cremes. I've always been a big fan of polishes in all colours from green to blue and especially the ones in between.

I don't own many polishes from Essie, in fact I only have 4 colours in my collection - all in some shade of green. Besides Going Incognito I have Greenport, Mint Candy Apple and Pretty Edgy. I would have more, if only Essie polishes had a better brush. I can't stand the thin, soft brush that is unbelievably hard to control for someone as shaky as me. It takes me 4 brush strokes to cover my wide nails and more brushstrokes = bigger risk that it'll end up with visible brushstrokes.

I doubt I'll be able to avoid buying Essie polishes in the future - they make some unique shades and I find it especially hard to resist their greens.

Rant aside, Going Incognito is a deep, muted sea green. It's very pigmented and I needed two coats for full coverage. It was relatively easy to apply and all problems I had with this was caused by the annoying brush as mentioned above. And the colour is worth the extra clean-up I'm bound to get with the silly brush ;)

I really wanted to make some nail art based on this colour, but my mind was blank and I had no muse whatsoever. Oh well, it definitely a colour I will be wearing again, and I'll have a good think of a theme until next time ;)

Essie - Going Incognito -natural sunlight

In general, I sincerely apologise for the lack of nail art lately, I'm just having a design-block at the moment I think. I try with almost every manicure, but end up ruining it and do a simple creme instead. Hopefully my muse (and patience) will be back soon :)

What's your opinion on Essie Polishes in general? Which is your favourite shades - and why? And lastly, what do you think of Going Incognito? :)

♥ Vettelicious

Mint Mojito, cupcake and strawberries!

This manicure is inspired by a beautiful green creme I got recently, perfect for spring - Orly's Mint Mojito. I love this colour so much, it's bold for a pastel shade, it's green and it's just... wow. This is as flashy as a glitter! Does that make sense? LOL

I had a few difficulties capturing the true shade of the colour.. It's a bit more bold than my flash would allow.

Here's 2-3 coats of Mint Mojito. It's a bit sheer, but the colour is worth the 2 thick or 3 thin coats it takes.

Orly Mint Mojito w/ topcoat & flash

Mint Mojito is gorgeous on it's own, but I wanted more. I couldn't help myself, I needed something cute on my fingertips!

Orly Mint Mojito.. with strawberries! Picture taken with flash

This picture shows the true colour of Mint Mojito a little bit better;

Strawberry cupcake made with nail polish & steel beads

Besides my basecoat, NailTek II, I used Mint Mojito as base colour - 2-3 coats.

I then added a coat of Seche to speed up drying time, then I painted the cupcake and strawberries using OPI Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!, Essie Pretty Edgy, white Depend polish and finished the cupcake with some steel beads from Ebay in green and pink. 

I gently pushed them into the wet polish, and added a coat of Seche Vite to finish the manicure. I've worn this for three days now, and none of them have fallen off :)

I hope you like it! I think it's pretty cute, even if a bit sloppy, and will def. do something similar when Spring comes!

♥ Vetten

Dappen dish? *Update*

Today I received my very first nail polish bought online - and it wasn't a polish per say. It's Essie's Matte About You - a matte topcoat I've seen featured on a lot of blogs and wanted to try out for myself!I bought it from Ebay, and the seller wrote "dappen dish" under the customs note - I have no idea what that means! But I didn't have to pay custom fee's, so I'm good!

My first online bought nail polish! Definitely not the last!

Yesterday I went into town to buy a few polishes I had been looking at a few days ago. I thought I could live without them, but when I got home I started to regret not buying them, so I figured I might as well get them before they're sold out ;) I bought all of them in H&M, let's take a look...

The first is a mini, called "Grey Sky" - it's very subtle but it is a shimmer. It has a pinkish purple tint to it, an is not a shade I would usually wear - but I have plans for this one..

H&Ms Grey Sky

Here's a picture where you can (hopefully) see the shimmer ~

H&Ms Grey Sky

Up next is one I decided to try immediately after getting home. It's called Mambo and I'm pretty sure it's an older release - it looks nothing like the current lines, or maybe the H&M in my area doesn't carry the particular line (I'm pretty sure you think whatever, right? LOL). There was only one left, so I was thrilled to see it hadn't been sold :)

It's a pretty nothing-too-special dark purple - it's way more warm than the pictures show, though! Here's pictures!

H&Ms Mambo

Me wearing Mambo - excuse the wobbly lines and smudges

I also bought my first glittery polishes from the Hello Kitty Make-up line - I love Hello Kitty so I thought it a great opportunity to try out some bling bling! Their names are pretty basic, Glitter Silver and Glitter Purple. My camera had problems picking up the warm purple again.. It might have something to do with the crappy, clouded sky outside!

H&Ms Hello Kitty Nail Polish - Glitter Silver & Glitter Purple

I decided to try out Glitter Purple on top of Mambo, and here's what it looks like ~

H&Ms Mambo and HK Glitter Purple

Up close so you can see the sparkles!

I like the result, especially considering these are both cheap polishes - I paid 29,95 dkr. for Mambo and 24,95 dkr. for each Glitter. It's a bit too flashy for everyday use (at least for me), but then again it brightens any grey day. It's a combo I'm pretty sure I will use in the future when I'm in the mood for purple! After I was done taking pictures, I looked at my new matte topcoat and thought "hey... that might make the blend a little less bling!" I tried it on one nail and I love it! I hope I have time to do a shot tomorrow to show you :)

***

Update ~ to show with Essie's Matte about you topcoat - on my thumb! Se the difference? I think it looks great! Sadly, the camera focused on the glittery ones, not the matte.. Oh well. Next time I'll do better :)

Thanks for reading!

~ Vettelicious