31DC2013, Day 28: Inspired by a flag

The flag topic of my never ending 31 Day challenge was a really difficult one. Honestly, what kind of a flag manicure can you wear to work, if you work in a fairly conservative, men dominated industry? Not during the finals of a football championship, but just on a regular business day?..
I gave up and decided to do a tribute to Hamburg - my most favorite city in the world. My colleagues would cope with that ;) My mani features its official flag:

I cheated a bit this time - I used thin permanent markers in black and white. I wouldn't be able to pull off such thin lines with my brush, to be frank. And even with the marker it was difficult. Then - aaarghh, buggers! I don't want a gradient!!! - my top coat started dissolving my castle... The result is quite messy, but thank god, the Hammerburg is still standing ;). So please don't look too close ;)

Base color: A-England Camelot and OPI Big Apple Red (which started getting gooey and had lots of air bubbles from my unwise shaking)
Hamburg flag: thin permanent markers in black and white

Apart from my semi-successful mani, if you're somewhere near or traveling to northern part of Europe, visit my beautiful home town, it's worth it!

Source: wikipedia

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Turquoise mix'n'match

This design is inspired by Meghan's tape mani from her blog Will Paint Nails For Food. I thought the gold trimming made the look interesting, so I applied the idea to my skittle mani today.

I wanted to use my newly created glitter polish, so turquoise had to be one of the colors in the mix. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of my thumb, so you can see only a mini-glitter gradient on my index finger.

Base color: OPI My Vampire Is Buff and Barry M Pure Turquoise
Gold stripes: gold polish p2 Next Exit Party, applied with a striper brush
Glitter: custom mix with glitters from Glitter Unique
Studs: 1mm studs from Essence

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My own glitter polish: so much fun!!!

After seeing some franken polishes at Nagellack 2.0, I decided it would be fun to mix one myself. I ordered some glitter from Glitter Unique and had fun messing around in my living room.

I used an old base coat bottle, some clear polish from Essence and three metal balls (stainless steel balls from Ebay). I couldn't find any suspension base for a reasonable price with delivery to Germany, so if you know a supplier, please let me know!

I just mixed different types of glitters - without a system or plan. A what a fun it was! :) Add some glitter - shake - check the result - add some glitter - shake - check the result, etc...

I started with half empty bottle - even less than half. I used a simple paper funnel to direct the glitter into the bottle, but it was still a bit of a glittery mess. So make sure you have a piece of paper to cover your table.

Since it was my first glitter polish, at some point I've added too much of everything :-D  So I had to add a lot of clear polish to make my polish fluid again ;). So be careful with the amount of glitter!

Without the suspension base the glitter settles down very fast, but a good shake and the topper can be used again. At least I had fun mixing it ;)

What do you think? Did you try to mix yourself? How did it go? Read More......

El Corazón Swatch: Poppy Grain

I have a new cute polish by El Corazón to show you - N423/86 poppy grain. Despite the spanish name, El Corazón is a Russian brand. I guess "El Corazón" just sounds better than Сердце. Besides, everyone can read it this way ;)
I'm wearing two coats with a top coat:

The formula was really good - self-leveling crelly with tiny, matte black specks. The color is a beautiful nude, more dusty-grayish-beige than pink in tone. And it dries incredibly fast!
It is a perfect office polish - elegant and subtle, but not boring. I didn't expect to like this cookie-and-cream look so much! But it's lovely, isn't it?

This cutie just fell into my shopping cart at Hypnotic Polish, where I wanted to order some A-England polishes.  El Corazón polishes cost 6-7€, which is a good price for this kind of quality.

Hypnotic Polish is a great shop for nail polish addicts in Europe - it is based in Netherlands (they also ship worldwide). So delivery to Germany was less expensive than from US or Russia, super fast and without any problems with customs.

What do you think of the color? Do you have any El Corazón polishes?

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Going gangsta with Hexnailjewelry

After the cute pastel mani from last week I wanted to do something dark and cool for our girls night out. So here are my bad-ass gangsta nails I wore last weekend :D :

The B*ch charm is from Hexnailjewelry. It is pretty small, so unless people look at it very closely,  no one is noticing what's saying. I even wore it to work today. Pencil skirt, silk blouse and professional expression included. This charm kept me grinning all day :D

This time I didn't cover it with top coat as I did here, just pressed into a wet top coat. The charm was pretty flat at first, so I bent it over a pencil to match the curve of my nails.

Base coat: A-England Camelot

Glitter: China Glaze I'm not A Lion

Charm:  Hexnailjewelry bought online (they deliver to Europe and the shipping costs are absolutely ok!)

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Mint Polish: Spring Fling

It's spring time in Hamburg. It's time for my first pastel mani this year, I'd say!!!

I used two of the three pastel polishes from the Spring Fling party pack made by Mint Polish -  the Original Mint and Tart.

Original Mint is a pure, beautiful mint color. I can imagine it would be flattering for almost every skin tone. The formula was perfect - not runny, not gloopy, not pasty - just exactly right. And it is a really a one-coater! Me likey!!!

Tart is a pastel egg-shell yellow. I loved the color and didn't expect it to be very flattering for my light skin tone. But it is, right? The formula was less opaque and a bit streaky at first. I used two thick coats on one hand and three thin ones on the other and look how pretty it looks! The formula was not in the least pasty, which is a surprise for such a shade.

The same as the vampy Full Bodied, which I reviewed here, these indie polishes from Mint Polish are  absolutely fantastic. I don't regret ordering them in the least!

 
Mint Polish is a Californian Indie-brand, their polishes are 5-free. They deliver to Europe, so if anyone in Germany is ordering again, I'm in!!! Read More......

31DC2013, Day 27: Inspired by artwork

The end is near for my first 31 Day challenge. This time my mani is inspired by art, by Piet Mondrian to be exact. Currently there is a Mondrian exhibition in Hamburg, so posters with this picture are everywhere. After seeing the posters for a couple of weeks on my way to work, I basically HAD to do this! :)

I used acrylic paint, a striper brush and a very thin detail brush to fill out the squares. For my other hand I created decals as shown here. Perfect solution if you, like me, are not very good with your non-dominant hand.

I loooove how they turned out! I think black is the perfect complimentary color here - it lets the pattern really pop. It took me some time to do this, but apart from getting the lines straight - this was annoyingly difficult as always - it was actually quite easy.

This mani was a huge success at work. Even my male colleagues recognized the pattern and asked me about my nails! And lets be frank, normally software engineers are not the type of men who would even notice nail polish! ;)

Base color: white Cult Nails Tempest and black A-England Camelot, both in just one coat!

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Cute dotty skittlette

After challenging myself for the 31 Day challenge, I decided to take a break and post a fun and easy mani I wore last weekend. Pinterest is full of cute mix'-n'-match nails - aka skittlettes - so it was hight time for me to copy one style or another :)
My choice fell on this cute mani by Adriana at All Nailed Up (what would I give for such a beautiful nail shape.. sigh…)

But hey, even on my wide nails this style looks cute, right?

Base colors: Orly Terracotta(so not terracotta in color!) and China Glaze Liquid Leather
Glitter: China Glaze I'm Not A Lion with a top coat
Studs: 2mm gold studs bought on Ebay

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