Illamasqua Creator

Now THIS is... I lack words. It's black, sparkly, the way it glitters in sunlight is just gorgeous in so many ways. The formula was very easy to work with, I'm wearing two coats in this picture and then Seche Vite. Judging on this swatch, I need more Illamasqua in my life. Its not available in Sweden so I had never seen it before, until I saw this at Scrangie.com (friend of mine sent a link, thanks Gina!) and fell hopelessly in love.

I have tried to mattify it with Essies Matte About You and the effect was cool, but I sort of regret it now because the sparkly version was so mesmerizing.

Products I use - Polish remover

I'm not all that fussy about which polish remover I use, usually I grab the super quick ones since my nails aren't very weak and I always moisturise after, but I do try to avoid acetone for my skin. The brand I have on hand at the moment is Depend, which is a Swedish brand that I am yet to find in England. I tend to use their dip-in remover jars since they are so easy to use and you don't end up with cotton pads and buds everywhere. The downside of that is that you have to either clean the sponge and refill the remover after a while since it will start to smear your nails, or buy a new bottle. I am hopelessly in love with them though, they even take away glitters easily.

I've noticed that Orly and Bourjois make dip-ins as well, if you haven't tried yet I recommend it! Its amazing for swatching since its like soaking your nails. There are also some more sophisticated one with a round brush in the middle, I'm in the market for one of those when this jar brought over from Sweden gives up.

Depend can be found here (International site, so no worries about the Swedishness) http://www.dependcosmetic.com/int/

OPI Shorts Story

I love pinks, any shade really, but this bright pink just makes me extra happy. This is the first time I have swatched like this, and now when I look at the picture I can definitely see where there is room for improvement. But overall I'm quite happy about it.

I used Seche Vite on this one, and I have to say, I haven't mastered it yet. I still have to find out exactly when to apply it because the pinkie was a bit to dry, causing lifting and bubbles, whereas the index was too wet causing it to streak since I had to redo it. Oh dear. Now I notice that I have no oil on the index either.

Formula on this is great. I have 2 coats here and its opaque enough, another coat might have made the colour pop a bit more but it covers up enough to not leave any VNL. Application was like a dream, I have done no clean up in this picture.

Anyway, now that I have the first trial done, I can apply the corrections and do more!

The first of many

So this is my new blog, and its mainly about my little obsession: Nail polish. I love pretty colours, glitter, shimmer, jellies... the list goes on. I'll swatch, review, post about pretty things I come across, things I want, and so forth. I hope you'll enjoy the ride with me! Pictures are my own if I don't state otherwise.