The Nail Nerd

I had been lemming this for soo long, after I had given up on ever finding Chanel Jade anyway.
Thanks to the lovely Ange-Marie over at Scandalously Polished I own this beauty, thank you so much girl! Also got a bunch of other polishes in the swap with her, which I'll show you at a later point. Anyway here's Dream Catcher!

Claire's Dream Catcher

This is a perfect spring colour, it's green, colourful but soft and easy to wear at the same time. I LOVE IT and I already want to wear it again! The picture is showing it to be slightly paler than it really is, but it was the best picture I got of it. Application was good, this is three coats and the formula was really nice to work with. Can definitely see myself breaking my rule with this one, not wearing a polish for a second time before I've gone through all my untrieds.

On my way home from work yesterday I stopped by H&M and I found this beauty, and I just had to have it! It the most perfect mint green I own, it's one tone lighter than in the picture. Lighter than Claire's Dream Catcher and definitely more green than Essie Mint Candy Apple and Eyeko Vintage. It's just lovely!

This gorgeous mint green seem to be a part of the Isadora spring collection, I normally don't buy Isadora cause I think their colours are boring, normally a bunch of reds and pinks, and you get very little polish for the money, 6ml for roughly $11, but I couldn't pass this one up! Definitely a must have for me, especially after being a little dissapointed in all the blue toned mint "greens". This is three thin coats and the application was interesting. First coat was streaky but it got better and smoother with more coats, what was interesting though is their brush. It says Wide Brush on the bottle and they weren't kidding! Imagine OPI's Pro Wide Brush and add 50% to that. It's wide, kind of long and thick and full! I could easily cover a whole nail in one stroak but the way the brush was shaped made it a little hard to get a nice curve around the cuticles. I also ended up fanning the brush a bit too much sometimes and got polish outside of the nail. Took a little clean up after I was done, but maybe with practice I'll learn to use their brush. Overall I'm happy with the polish, and the colour was a nice surprise for an Isadora!

Oh this is a beauty! I've been lemming Dirty Sexy Money by Misa so I'm thrilled about owning this Models Own polish as it is a pretty close dupe to the Misa. I love this type of colour, dusty and toned down but still bold and colourful.

This is three coats and application was good. Formula seemed very good but the brush was a bit stiff and the first coat ended up streaky, it was easy to even out with the following coats though. The only real complaint I have really is the smell. All the Models Own polishes I bought have a very strong chemical smell, almost got a headache when I swatched them on a wheel and it wasn't better applying it in 3 coats on all 10 nails. But the colours are really pretty and I'll just have to keep the window open when I use one of them next time

As many others I jumped on the 50% off offer from Models Own, and I picked up 6 bottles. Wanted many more but had to limit myself :P I recieved them yesterday, and here they are:

I loved all these 3 colours, not much else to say about them. Pretty pretty pretty! I only wish the glitter in Emerald City was a bit more dense, tried them on a swatch wheel and I lost count on the coats I had to use to make it opaque.

L to R: Beth's Blue, Lemon Sherbet and Fuzzy Peach

Beth's Blue isn't really blue at all in my eyes, more lilac or maybe a pastel lavender, I'm happy though cause it's exactly how I had hoped it would be. Lemon Sherbet is as bright as in the picture, it's fantastic! Come on spring and summer, I want to wear this baby! Fuzzy Peach was alot darker and brighter than I had hoped, not sure if I like it at all at the moment. Had hoped for a more soft pastel'y peach colour, still need to try it on and see how it looks against my skin tone. Worst come to worst I'll just mix in a bunch of white to lighten it up.

After seeing swatches of some of these over at Plane Beauty I'm bummed I didn't pick up Purple Grey instead of Fuzzy Peach. I was looking at it when I was placing my order, I should have googled for swatches before deciding against it! Maybe next time, cause I'm sure I'll be wanting to shop for more Models Own!

Here they are, what you've all been waiting for! Or even if you didn't, here's swatches of the half of the Sweet collection that I recived.

L to R: Gumdrop, Cotton Candy and Lollipop
This is half of the Sweet collection - available April 2010

Orly Gumdrop

Gumdrop is a turquoise pastel creme. I had expected this to be more mint green for some reason, the promo text says turquoise though and that's exactly what it is. It's really flattering on me and I can definitely see myself wearing this alot later this spring. It took 2 coats for it to be opaque and I had no application issues what so ever, the formula was smooth and easy to work with.

Orly Cotton Candy

This baby was a surprise! As I've said before this wasn't really appealing to me. Never had a thing for light pinks and this one looked like a pig pink in the bottle, the colour a cartoon pig would have, but with a slight peachy tone. My skintone brought out all that peachy goodness though, to my delight. It really is peachy, or like a pastel coral on me. It's a great spring and summer colour. Really want to wear this on my toes. This one was a bit streaky and stringy and it took 3 coats and topcoat for it to be opaque and even.

Orly Lollipop

This was a colour I thought I would love but I didn't, I like it but I don't love it. It is a pretty purple pastel, but it made my hands look super pale, like I'm undead or something. I have a golden undertone, that shows in the picture but in reality it made my skintone look grey and pale. I will give it another chance when I've developed a little tan, or atleast got more colour on my skin from not being freezing all the time! On the good side it was almost opaque in one coat, had I put a little more polish on the brush to cover my whole nail I would have stopped at that. But I didn't and got some streaks so I needed a 2nd coat to even it out.


*Products courtesy of Laforce + Stevens

I've finally swatched the Orly polishes I got, all but 2 anyway. So I'll show you the Bloom colours today and Sweet tomorrow

L to R Thorned Rose, Wandering Vine, Blushing Bud
This is half of the Bloom Collection.

Orly Thorned Rose

Thorned Rose was the one colour out of the 3 I didn't find appealing at first. In the bottle it looks like a dark berry red creme, but I was wrong! It's a blood red jelly and it's really pretty on the nail. I can definitely see myself wearing this again, it makes me think of vampires. This is 3 coats, it was kind of opaque after 2 but I had some lighter areas and did another coat to even it out.

Orly Wandering Vine

Wandering Vine is everything I had hoped Enchanted Forest (Orly Fall 2009) would be. I wore that shade once and then I trade it off, it just fell flat on me. This on the other hand is gorgeous! Pretty dark green creme, that looks green in pretty much all lights. It's shiney and I love this colour. Took 2 coats for it to be opaque and it went on smoothly.

Orly Blushing Bud

Blushing Bud is a hot pink creme. Nothing spectacular about it, but I didn't own any pinks like this so it was very welcomed in to my collection. I like pinks, even though I tell myself I don't when I go polish shopping, hardly any pinks end up in my basket and I'm not sure why. This colour looks brighter and almost with a neon touch in some lights and like a regular hot pink creme in others. It would have been opaque in one coat if I had been a little more careful, but I had to do two to even it out. The formula was a little thick and I think I might thin it a little to make it easier to work with next time.

I ended up liking all 3 of the colours Orly sent me from this collection. Wandering Vine was my favourite as I had thought but Thorned Rose was a surprise and is a very close 2nd. I'm really happy they sent it to me cause I would never have bought it myself judging from how it looks in the bottle. Over all the formula was good and they were easy to work with, and the colours were gorgeous even though they kind of feel like fall colours more than spring to me.

I know you guys might have already seen these, but I am super excited about these colours. Orly was super kind and sent me 3 bottles each from the Bloom (Spring 2010) and Sweet (Summer 2010) collections to try out. They look great, most of them are colours I had planned on buying, and the rest looks much better in real life than in the pictures I had seen so I'm excited about them too!

Here is what I got

Orly Bloom Collection - Available now
Left to Right: Thorned Rose, Wandering Vine and Blushing Bud

Orly Sweet Collection - Available April 2010
Left to Right: Gumdrop, Cotton Candy, Lollipop

Out of the Bloom collection I had already been eyeing and thinking about buying Wandering Vine and Blushing Bud, they look great in the bottles! Thorned Rose is not a colour I would have picked myself, it is pretty though and look better in reality than in pictures. I don't own anything like it so it'll definitely be interesting to try it out. I'm a sucker for pastels so I've been looking forward to the Sweet collection. Gumdrop and Lollipop are my spontanious favourites out of the three I recieved. I hadn't planned on buying Cotton Candy at all as I thought it'd be a straight pastel pink, but it kind of has a peachy tone which makes it much more appealing to me. Going to be interesting to see how these look on the nails!

Just a quick post to show you guys I'm still alive. I've had alot going on this weekend and now I'm feeling ill, sore throat and fever'ish :( Decided to paint my nails today to cheer myself up and I grabbed this pretty from my untrieds box. P2 Glory, a colour I can't really decide if it's green or gold. Antique gold maybe? It looks almost olive green in some lights, it makes me think of one of my major lemmings China Glaze Out on Safari, wish I owned that so I could do a comparison. It's a friggin' awesome colour anyway!

P2 Glory

P2 Glory

P2 Glory Bottle

This beauty was almost opaque in one coat, but I did two anyway to even it out. It was a tiny bit thick but still very easy to apply, probably thanks to the P2 brush shape which is a bit wider than regular brushes and spreads more polish on the nail and makes it easier to control. I liked this polish in the bottle, I LOVED it on the nail! Don't own another colour like this but have a handful on my lemming list so I have a feeling this will be used alot! Wish P2 was sold in Sweden, so far I have really liked their colours, brushes and formulas.

I just can't stop looking at my nails! As you know I recieved some Nfu-Oh's recently in a swap with Kirsten, but I hadn't tried them out on my nails yet. Experimented some on fake nail tips to figure out nice combinations for layering, this was one of them. But it's just so much better on the nails, check it!

Nfu-Oh #52 over Essie Midnight Cami

Nfu-Oh #52 over Essie Midnight Cami with flash

The happy couple! L to R: Essie Midnight Cami and Nfu-Oh #52

This is 2 coats of Essie Midnight Cami with one coat of Nfu-Oh #52. It's absolutely stunning, it's like a flakey duochrome. It shifts between blue and green depending on the lighting and I think I've seen some purple flash by a few times, and it has shimmer and flakies. All that mashed up in to one manicure is just awesome overload! The top picture shows how it looks in daylight, can really see the green and blue flakies pop on the blue bottom. The flash picture is how it looks right now in lamp light, it's just packed with green shimmer, looks like an emerald green shimmer fest! I keep moving my hands around to see how it changes in different lights, the pictures just don't do this manicure justice. It's impossible to capture everything that is going on with this polish, I need a friggin' video blog or something! As for application, the Essie is an Essie, never had any problems with them. It might have been a tiny bit runny but that seems to be common with dark blue colours and I'm always a little extra careful when applying them, it took 2 coats to get opaque. I had expected the Nfu-Oh to be more sheer but one coat was enough to get that shimmer and flakie madness going on. I need to try this beauty on it's own, it's real base colour is purple so it can't be anything else than fabulous! I definitely need to get my hands on a few more Nfu-Oh's when my budget allows it.

Happy hump day everyone!

Viva la Diva is a Swedish drugstore brand. A brand I didn't care much for until recently, always thought Swedish drugstore brands were expensive for drugstore brands :P But Viva la Diva's quality is surprisingly good and they have a wide range of colors and finishes. This specific collection came out for Fall 2008, but I didn't pick them up until recently. It's discontinued but one store in town still had a few bottles left! Woo! They're more expensive than most brands you can find at e-tailers but cheaper than buying those name brands at the stores here. Nail polishes and make-up is generally expensive in Sweden, so I guess these are "cheap" considering.
This collection consist of 6 colors, conviniently named 1 through 6. I did some quick one finger swatches, and why am I showing you this now you might ask? You'll find out in my next post! ;)

Viva la Diva Fall 2008 #1

Viva la Diva Fall 2008 #2

Viva la Diva Fall 2008 #3

Viva la Diva Fall 2008 #4

Viva la Diva Fall 2008 #5

Viva la Diva Fall 2008 #6

Dusty, tan, nude colour. Another one of my favourites. It gets a grey tone in some lights, it's really pretty if you like nudes. Bet this is gorgeous as a base for some Konad. Very work appropriate but still not boring. This was a bit more chunky than the rest of the colors as you can tell in my picture, maybe it's just my bottle, gonna add some thinner to it before I use it next time. I'm sure a topcoat would even it out, but I did all the swatches without and didn't want to do this one different. Used 2 coats but 1 would be enough if you're careful while applying.

Today I'm wearing one of the colors from the swap with Kirsten. It's the Essence polish I was the most excited about and it sure lived up to my expectations! This is officially my new favourite green! It's so deep and gorgeous! Even had a customer walk up to me at work complimenting on it and wanting to take a closer look.

Was a little worried about the quality of Essence polishes, but this was great! Applied smoothly, completely opaque in 2 coats. It lasted a whole day through work without even the slightest hint of tipwear. Me like! It definitely gets the Nail Nerd stamp of approval! Just wish the bottle was bigger cause I have a feeling this will be used alot!

I got some Eyeko Polishes the other day, they have change the design of their bottles to the better, yay! My old Eyeko's keep drying out cause the cap wont close tightly and it's uncomfortable to hold while painting cause it's so small. I got Vintage Polish, Lilac Polish, Purple Polish and Cosmic Polish.

Today I'm wearing Vintage Polish, which is supposed to be a jade green color if you believe what it says on the bottle. However I think it has too much blue in it to be a jade. It's still a pretty color though, soft and very nice for spring

This isn't really color accurate, it's a tiny bit more green. Look at the bottle picture above.

Enough about the color, on to the formula. It was a bit sheer, maybe even jelly'ish. It took 3 thick coats to get it opaque but the application went smoothly. They have definitely improved their formula, bottles and brushes. Looking forward to trying the rest of them!

Hi guys!
The headboard is DONE! YAY!
It's a pretty basic padded headboard in black faux leather, was going with fabric first but there's just gonna get a bunch of dust stuck in it, and I realised wouldn't be able to take the cover off to wash as it's attached with staples on the backside of the wooden frame. The reason I decided to build my own was cause they are insanely expensive to buy! Atleast over here they are, no matter where I looked they were far over my budget. Making it myself cut the cost down to 1/8th of the store prices. Totally worth the extra time, it was fun too!
This is how it turned out:

When the headboard was done I could paint my nails!
I went with Nubar Conserve, which is a really pretty green shimmer with a tiny hint of blue. I was a little dissapointed though as it looks more blue toned and kind of teal'ish in the bottle, but it's still a gorgeous shade of green!

See how it looks more blue in the bottle than on the nail? It's even more apparent in real life.

This was 2 coats, and I had no application problems what so ever. I really like Nubar polishes, they have a good formula and goes on smoothly. Great brush size which makes them easy to control. The only thing I don't like is the bottlecaps, they're not that comfortable to hold, had hoped they would have a rubber coating like Orly does, and they are slightly too light. I think the brush would be even easier to control if the cap had a little more weight.

Thats all for now! Thanks for reading!

She's baaaaaaack! My very own ninja and today she's wearing a gorgeous green! Zoya Envy!

This is a really beautiful dark green creme, it has a slight shimmer in it, you can tell right where the ligh hits the nail. The shimmer isn't visible 90% of the time though so I still call this a creme.

Application was great, just like the other Zoya polishes I have tried. It took 2 coats to get it opaque. It looks more or less green in different lights but never thought it looked really black like some dark cremes do. Gorgeous color!