1. August Mani

Today's Switzerland's National Holiday, and of course I'm wearing my nails accordingly.

For my swiss mani I used Essence Juicy Love (three coats), Nubar White Polka Dot and white Born Pretty Store stamping polish, and topped it with KBShimmer Clearly On Top. 

2010 Matte Baubles

I haven't worn matte flakies for quite some time now, so it was time to change that.

My base color is Essie Bobbing For Baubles, a navy blue creme with and extremely shiny finish (the picture shows two coats without topcoat).





Then I added one coat of Nubar 2010, a flakie topper with translucent colorshifting flakies that show the complete rainbow, from red over orange, yellow and green to blue.





Then I added one coat of Picture Polish G'day Matte for a matte finish.

52 Week Challenge - Zig Zag / Dark and Grungey

 

Today I have the last "52 week Challenge"-mani to show you. For a whole year I've been following prompts, and it was quite fun. That's why I'll start a new one year challenge next week. But until then, here are the last two themes for this challenge: zig zag and dark & grungey.





My base color is Cult Nails Masquerade, a dark green jelly with color shifting glitters, shifting from green to pink. I used three coats on my pinkie, index and thumb.

For the other two nails, I started with three coats of Nubar Gem, a nude base with pink shimmer and scattered holo glitter. Atfer this base was completely dry, I added two coats of Masquerade over small chevron nail vinyls and removed the vinyls right after the second coat. One coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top finished this mani.

An InLinkz Link-up

52 Week Challenge - Waterfall / Violet

This week's themes give me an opportunity to try a new-to-me technique: waterfall nails





My main color is Cadillacquer I Want To See It All, a plum colored jelly with pink flakie glitter. I used three coats for opacity.





For my two waterfall accent nails I followed this tutorial by The Nailasaurus and used I Want To See It All, OPI Planks A Lot, Essence Baby, Baby, Ooh!, Catrice PLUMBeach and Nubar Treasure over a base of Essie Bangle Jangle. One coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top finished this mani.

Cadillacquer polishes are available at Hypnotic Polish and at Harlow & Co. If you live in Switzerland you can also order the polishes directly from Madeleine (Miss Cadillacquer herself) via Email on her Blog.

An InLinkz Link-up

Golden Oldie Thursday - Yellow

This week's Golden Oldie Thursday theme is yellow.

As base color I used Catrice Vanilla Love (shown here), a pastel vanilla colored polish with a subtle shimmer. Since I had some issues with it the last time I used it (still patchy after four coats), I layered it over Essie Blanc (two coats of the Essie, one coat Vanilla Love). To complete this "vanilla ice cream look", I added one coat of Nubar Black Polka Dots, a clear polish with tiny and medium black hexes. One coat of KBSHimmer Clearly On Top finished this mani.

More yellow manis below

An InLinkz Link-up

I Wish I Was The Moon

Today's polish is by the swiss indie brand Cadillacquer: I Wish I Was The Moon.





"I Wish I Was The Moon has a blue base with iridescent square and hex glitter and very small purple iridescent glitter."
(Source: Cadillacquer)

The blue base has grey undertones and is a creme/jelly hybrid, so it's more opaque than a pure jelly, the glitters in the lower layers tend to get hidden by the following coats. I used three coats for opacity and finished with one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top.

On my ring finger, as an accent nail, I used three coats of Nubar Boyfriend Jeans (shown here) and stamped with China Glaze Adore and MoYou  Suki Collection plate 08.

Cadillacquer polishes are available on  Big Cartel, at Llarowe and at Harlow & Co.  I Wish I Was The Moon is on sale at the Big Cartel shop right now, so I guess this polish is discontinued.

A Maiden Skittlette In Blue

Another saturday, another skittlette mani, another nod to Skittlette-Queen Marta from Chit Chat Nails :-)












My index finger shows three coats of OPI I Don't Give A Rotterdam (Holland Collection), a light grey-ish blue with lots of silver shimmer.















On my middle and ring finger I'm wearing three coats of Elevation Polish Jungfrau, a medium, slightly navy-leaning blue with small flakes shifting from aqua to green. Jungfrau is, as far as I've seen, the only Elevation Polish named after a Swiss Mountain, located in the Berner Oberland next to Eiger and Mönch and part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I've never been on top of Jungfrau but I once had the chance to take a helicopter ride around Eiger, Mönch and Jungfrau, a absolutely wonderufl sight. I didn't know it before, so I didn't bring a camera and can't show you pictures, though.

A little absolutely non polish related trivia for my non german speaking readers: Jungfrau means maiden/virgin, and because she should stay a virgin, the mountain Mönch (= monk) is placed between her and the (male) mountain Eiger ;-)












My pinkie and thumb show three coats of Nubar Boyfriend Jeans, a muted denim blue with grey untertones, topped with a stamping using Color Club Lumin-Icecent, a pale blue foil polish, and Messy Mansion plate A31.

Elevation Polish are available at their own store and at Llarowe.