Barry M - Silver Cascade

Hi dear readers !
It's a rare thing to see Barry M polish here on the blog. I like this brand a lot and have some make up from them, especially my beloved Dazzle Dusts, but only three polish. I have to change that :p

Silver Cascade is in reality a cascade of glitters ! It's a very light and clear pink base with tons of silver, red, green and blue small glitters. That's one of the most sparkly polish I have in my stash :p My camera didn't even want to catch it decently ...

I didn't know how opaque it would be, so for my first use I put it over a random black polish (I think it was an Essence :) )
Now you can see how opaque it is with one coat, next time I won't hesitate to use it alone, two coats will look nice :)

Finally I was able to get something a bit more neat with my old cam (still no new pics on the blog, I have a lot of "old" ones to show you before). You can see clearly the different colors of glitters :)

I love a lot that kind of polish, I have a lot of cheap nail polish with that kind of glitters but they don't apply as opaque as this one. Most of them need many coats and don't dry well. So, this one is a must have if you're a glitter lover :D

And if you're affraid of the removal, just use the foil technique I talk about in my routine page, it's easy and goes really faster than classical removal ;)

Do you like it ?

Gosh - Gasoline

Hi sweeties !
Wow, look at how much readers I actually have, I've almost reached 500 ! And I'm sure you guess what that means ... But I won't say anything about that yet :p Thank you all for visiting my blog and leaving comments, I used to be quickly bored of my older blogs but I have a lot of fun with this one and want to continue it as long as I can :)

On to today's polish, it's Gosh Gasoline !
A great purple based polish with blue and pink shimmer. It applies in thin coats but is quickly opaque, only two coats are needed. It also dries fast, that's a thing I love with a lot of thin shimmer polish :)

On these pics you can mainly see the blue shimmer, but the polish changes his appearance depending on the light. It looks more red/purple in natural light and full sun, and more blue/purple in artificial light.
It really has multiple personnalities ^^

Of course, I liked this one a lot :)
I'm just a bit disappointed: because of their names, I always mix up Gosh Gasoline and Purple Heart. If you know Purple Heart or make a quick search on Google images, you'll understand why I'm confused about them ;)

Do you like it ? Have you ever tried some Gosh polish ?

Dark Blue Sponge Gradient

Hi dear readers !
It's been a long time since I posted some sponge gradient here ... You know how much I love them ^^
You may have seen this mani on one of my quick NOTD but the iPhone pic really had a poor quality.
So here it is again, a bit better this time :)

I started by applying a whitening base coat (Catrice Nail Whitener), I really love that base for that kind of mani. It gives my nails a natural soft pink tone.
Then I sponged one of my oldies polish, Revlon Midnight, allowed it to dry and sponged again with OPI Absolutely Alice to add some bling :)
I finished with some stars and round crystal rhinestones and a thick coat of Poshe top coat :)

Some words about my Revlon Midnight: I have this polish for at least 10 years, if not 15, and it's still in a good state ! Now I think it's discontinued, I don't even know if Revlon still makes StreetWear polish :p 

It's a pretty dark metallic blue, a pretty shade but a bit classical. If you like it, you might find a dupe easily (I know that Catrice, China Glaze, Sally Hansen and OPI have similar shades)

I have a dozen of oldies like this one: L'Oréal, Revlon, Dior, Maybelline ... I can make some swatches if you're interested ;)

Did you like that blue sponging ? :)

Have a nice weekend :)

Essie - Splash of Grenadine

Hi sweeties !
You know, sometimes I lose my pics from the camera, but sometimes I also find some oldies that have been on my computer for a while :p

That's why today I'm going to show you some old pics I took last summer, I was wearing Essie Splash of Grenadine from their Resort collection (summer 2010)
Oh, and sorry for the mess on my middle finger, I had a broken nail and I wanted to try out an handkerchief-repair :p

This is two coats with no top coat. This was my first Essie polish and I had some application issues. It was okay on the second hand, so I think I needed to get used to the brush.
The formula is opaque and very shiny.

Splash of Grenadine doesn't really reming me of grenadine, I'd imagine something a bit more red, but it's still pretty :p
This color is perfect for spring and summer, I might wear this sometimes this season :)

That was also when I received my free samples from VivaLaNails, so I tried something with their star dazzlings and stamping (BM plate 05 and Gosh Gasoline) but I'm not sure I like how it turned ... At least it hid a little the mess on the middle finger :p

Do you like this shade ? What will you be wearing the most this spring/summer ?

My Nail Care Routine

Hi dear readers !
Today's post will be a quick one, but I worked on a permanent page for you :)I decided to explain you my nail care routine. I prefered to add it as a page rather than a blog post, so you can find it easily :) 
I think I'll improve it with pics of my nails during the cares and other pics with my fave products, but for the moment it's a text-only page. 
You can give me your feedback on that page and ask any question about nail cares by commenting here or on the page ^^
You'll find it here or in the top menu ;) Hope you'll enjoy it !
Before I leave you, here's a quick view of what I got in the mail last week ... Get ready for some crackle pics ;)

Catrice - Absolutely Chinchilly

Hi dear readers !
I hope your weekend is fine :) I found some interesting news about one of my favourite brands, Catrice ! They are going to remove some of their regular colors to make place for brand new ones ... And some of them look very exciting !!
I let you make your own opinion with the pics Emily posted on her blog: here. I'm usually disappointed when a brand discontinues some of their shades, but Catrice's ones were pretty basics and I won't regret them.
These will be available in early April, I can't wait to get them ;) (they are already available in Germany and Netherlands)

Well, let's stay with Catrice for today's polish ! In the late 2010, they brought us 3 new shades, here's one of them !

Absolutely Chinchilly is a nice grey with a hint of beige, which you can also call "greige". It has a creme finish and is very pretty. I usually don't wear that kind of shades but this time I loved it, it has something classy :p

The formula on this one is very good, it applies easily with Catrice's flat brush and is nearly opaque in one coat ! I usually make thin coats so I needed two of them, but one thick coat would have been enough. The drying time is also good.

I don't have Essie Chinchilly but according to the pics I've seen of it, they look very similar.

Do you like that kind of color ? :)

P2 Heartbeat & P2 Crackle

Hi dear readers !
Wow, the sun is coming back here, that's so good ! Seems like spring is showing up ... I hope the sun will stay :p

Today I'll show you some crackle for the first time here :) Crackle polish are really a beloved trend since some month, and I also love them a lot !
For the end of 2010, some beauty shops here in Belgium had Pupa crackle polish sold as a set (base color + crackle polish), I got one and that's when I began to fall in love with these :p So asked a friend to bring me back some P2 crackle from Germany, and that's the one I chose to show you right now :)

This is P2 Heartbeat as base, I love this pretty light pink, it's a perfect sweet shade. It's my first P2 polish, the formula is ok to apply but I can't tell you more about the durability 'cause I topped it immediatly with the black crackle :)

If you have not tried crackle polish yet, you must know that they dry matte. I don't like the matte effect on crackles a lot, so I added a coat of Poshe. It lasted 4 days on my nails and could have stay longer but I decided to change. As the crackle are not regular, it's less noticeable if you have a little flaw on your tips ^^

Lol, my nails look so big on that pic !

I just got my OPI Black Shatter and the complete China Glaze crackle collection is on the way ... So prepare to seeu more crackle in the coming weeks ;)

Do you like this trend ? Have you tried very gorgeous or unsuccessful combos with crackles ?

Catrice - Purposely Purple

Hi dear readers !
It's been a long time since I swatched some Catrice here. Purposely Purple is a nice purple creme from the fall 2010 collection, Expect the Unexpected.
Not a really unique shade, but still pretty and easy to wear.

I made an accent nail with one coat of Essence Glisten Up. I have to make some swatches for this one, sooo pretty with his blue glitters and flakes, but if you want to get one, hurry up, I heard that Essence will discontinue it ! Why do good things have to be discontinued ??

This Catrice polish has a nice formula, opaque in two coats and easy to apply.

Do you like it ? :)

China Glaze Hey Sailor !

Hi sweeties !
Let's end these China Glaze Anchors Away swatches with a bright note !
First I want to apologize, I already told you I lost the pics. I don't know what my camera did, it's started to get crazy and I got a new one last weekend - but no new pics for Hey Sailor yet.
So I have iPhone pics for you today, they are not the best even but they are more color realistic than my old cam ! They just look a bit too bright :)


Hey Sailor is a gorgeous and sexy red. I'd call it a pin up red as it reminds me of the kind of polish pin ups were wearing on some old pics :)
I've never wear such a red before, I was a bit afraid 'cause it's really bright. I usually prefer dark reds, but finally this one was nice and I liked it.

The most realistic pic, taken with my new cam

Application is smooth, nothing bad to say about it. And the result is shiny :) Again, I had no chip after 3 day of wear, typing and dish washing. Isn't that great ? 

Well, I read that some people were complaining about this collection chipping fast. I had no problem at all, perhaps it depends on the base I use or my nail nature ? For info, I used Hema Ridge Filler for the first swatches and Orly Ridge Filler for the last ones.

The day I wore it, I tried to paint a flower on a tip. I liked the result, so I decided to draw it again on my nails. It's freehand and for the first time, I need some training (especially on the right hand) ;)
I did the flowers with Essence black tip painter, the dots with a random black polish and a dotting tool, and I filled the flowers with China Glaze Mrs Claus and a small brush. 

Well, what do you think ?
Would you dare to wear such a bright red ? I thought I wouldn't, but I loved it :D

So, we're done with those swatches. Three of them are missing but I'm so satisfied by this collection that I'll surely buy them, at least Below Deck (mauve) and First Mate (blue).

I wasn't expecting a lot from this collection as I thought the shades were pretty basics, but finally they are so pretty, so shiny or cute with their subtle shimmer, I'm totally in love with them. 

What's your opinion on that whole collection ? 

China Glaze - Pelican Gray

Hi sweeties !

I don't know what's happening these days, but I lost some of my pics again. I already told you that I lost the pics of Hey Sailor, and know I can't find any of my Pelican Gray pics, excepted one.
So, I'm really sorry but I only have one pic to show you for today. I have a lot of other polish to try and a lot of pics to post here, I don't want you to wait for the end of the Anchors Away swatches, so I prefer to make this post with only one picture. But be sure to see it again later :)

Pelican Gray looks a lot like Sea Spray from far. But it doens't have any blue in it, it's a true pale gray with, again, a lot of pretty shimmer. These are not really noticeable in real life and on the pic, but they are there and you can see them shine in full sun.

The formula is the same than for Sea Spray or Knotty, easy application and fast drying. I had some bubbles with this one but that's totally my fault, I shook the bottle before I use it T_T

I really loved that shade. It's clean, you can use it alone in any occasion or as a base for a nail art.
I chose something simple with my new VivaLaNails water decals. It was the first time I used that kind of decals, and they are very nice to play with. I love the fact you can move them as long as they are wet.

Do you like this polish ?

China Glaze - White Cap

Hi everyone :)
Last time I showed you Lighthouse, the first sheer from Anchors Away LE. I had no comment about it, did you dislike it, as I did ? ^^
Today I'll let you discover my swatches of the other sheer from the collection, and you'll see this one is really gorgeous !

White Cap is a milky sheer base with tons of golden glass fleck glitters.

This is two coats. So, it's sheer and I know many of us don't like sheer polish, but isn't this one really classy ?
One coat over a classical french manicure would really lighten it up. I'm totally in love with it !

Sorry for the glitters on the skin, they came from the removal of Lighthouse ...
I also swatched this one on my nail wheel, over classical shades (black, white, soft pink, purple and teal).
I think it's pretty over any shade :)

I'll use it as a top coat to lighten up an accent nail, or revive an "old" manicure (old manicure means two days for me, lol). Or layered over a classical french, as I said sooner :)

What do you think ?

China Glaze - Lighthouse

Hi dear readers !
Today, let's talk about my least favorite from China Glaze Anchors Away LE ! Well, in fact, it's the only one I didn't like at all as it is.
The only reasons are the following: it's sheer; it's a yellowish gold. I don't like sheer polish, and I don't like golden/yellow on me, that's that simple :p

I didn't like the shade and style, but I have to say that the quality is as good as the other shades from the collection. So if you like that kind of colour, don't hesitate. If like me, you prefer something less yellow, just wait for my swatches of White Cap ;)

This is 3 coats, it dried fast but I removed it right after I took the pics :p
In the pic below you can admire how shiny and reflecting the glass flecks are ... This is lovely !

As it was very sheer, I thought it would be good to see it layered over other shades. I don't remember all the colors I used, but they are classical: black, white, soft pink, purple and teal.

I think it looks very good over pink and teal ! What are your favorites ?
Next time I'll show you his little brother, White Cap. One of the best layering polish I've ever had ^^
Stay tuned :)