KIKO - 255 - Violet Microglitter

 As I wrote a couple of days ago, I just went on a little shopping spree at Kiko stores, that resulted in 5 more polishes. I didn't stick to one particular line, but grabbed some here and there. First one I was dying to try out was Kiko - 255 - Violet Microglitter
I wouldn't say that this is just a micro glitter polish, cause when you look at the pictures you can definitely spot some holo in there.

It was smooth to work with and dried really quick on me, but it left a gritty texture so it needed a solid coat of topcoat on top to smooth that grittiness out.
I needed two coats for this to cover completely, as it left a couple of bald spots here and there.

I hear some people compare this to A England Lady of the Lake, I do own that, but I didn't bring it with me to Spain, so comparisons there have to wait, if anyone is interested (let me know in the comments below, if you are).

I took a lot of pictures of this polish, to truly show how it looks in all the different light-conditions. So while the first few pictures might not look amazing, wait for it, until you get the last one, and you can see just how pretty it is in the sun.

Kiko - 255, indoor with flash

Kiko - 255, indoor, direct artificial light 

Here it really reminds me of Accessorize - Magic. One of the first polishes I showed on this blog.

Kiko - 255, indoor, indirect artificial light.

Kiko - 255, indirect sunlight

I am swooning over how pretty this on is in the sun, so pretty and shiny. What do you girls think?

Small Kiko - Haul

So as you might already know, I just moved temporarily to  Spain, Madrid to work as a gametester for EA. It was a huge opportunity for me and I just couldn't say no to it.

Today, we are working overtime on my project, which means I get to update myself on all the blogs out there, and do some blogposts. In between all the working of course, it's not like I'm not doing anything here. But the rules are less strict when working overtime.

Since my flat doesn't have a proper kitchen I have most of our meals out in pubs or restaurants, and it leaves little time for reading blogs and do some blogging. I have missed it so much. I have been so used to being updated on all the blogs I follow, the minute someone posts something, and now, I feel like I am falling behind.

One of the plus sides when moving from UK to Spain, is that I can easily get hold of Kiko polishes.

I mean. The shops are EVERYWHERE!

Every corner I look, there is a KIKO shop. One even had a grand opening just few days after I got here. I didn't go to it, but there was definitely champagne there. Quite the show.

These are the polishes I bought. They sure look amazing in the bottles, and I hope it transfers as well to the nails. I am so excited over these polishes. They are perfect for the Spanish weather with lots of sun and warm weather, so shiny!

So these are the polishes I got:

Kiko - 255

Kiko - 530

Kiko - 533

Kiko - 493

Kiko - 497

I think I managed to line them up, somewhat in order, so the furthest to the right is Kiko - 255. 

And oh my gosh, that green! It's freaking amazing!!

Gorgeous!!

I love my little haul, and I hope you did too. I will be back later with some swatches for you girls. 

A writers manicure

I was totally inspired by Mishka over at Lacquer or Leave Her! for todays manicure. You can find her post: Review and Before & After: Moyou London Scholar Collection 02 and 06 here.

Quick view of the original.

Property of Lacquer or Leave Her

This manicure is so gorgeous. It's amazingly gorgeous. I can not praise it enough. hopefully my recreation with a twist will get as much love as the original. If you are not already a subscriber of her, I would highly recommend checking her out.

For this manicure I used the same plate as Mishka did in her manicure, but I also added one plate from MASH - 39, for a background image. I wanted my nails to look like notebooks, and since I don't have the Scholar Collection plate 06, I found an image that kinda looks the same on another plate.

I used a several different nail polishes for this manicure. W7 - Buff on the tips over Barry M - Lychee, and ESSIE - Little Brown Dress as an accent. Stamped using Makeup Mekka - Charlotte Grey and Barry M - Lychee, and ESSIE - Little Brown Dress.

This is how it all started.

A writers manicure

A writers manicure

A writers manicure

A writers manicure

Can I just say that I am totally in LOVE with this manicure. I just LOVE LOVE it. And I love how the ink came out, when I used a brush over it to make it look more like it was "wiped" away. 

Leadlighting flowers

The days are going well here in Spain, life as a gametester is challenging and also a lot of fun. I get to use everything I know about the game, from being an old fan, as well as all the things I have learned as a Secretary. I am really looking forward to the release, when I can lean back, give myself a pat on the shoulder for a job well done.

I have been seeing this leadlight technique mentioned a lot of places, it's totally the rave of the summer.

I didn't bring that many polishes that would be great for this, so I needed to mix the colours I did bring with some clear polish to make this work for me. I didn't quite do it right, but as a first attempt, I think it's a good one. 

So for this manicure I mixed following colours with clear polish to create this look:
Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition Yellow
ESSIE - Mojito Madness
Savina - Royalty

All this over 2 coats of Wet n Wild - Tropicalia

I stamped using Wet n Wild - Black Creme, using Cheeky - Jumbo plate - Princess Charming

Leadlight technique

Leadlight technique

Have you jumped on the Leadlight - technique wagon as well?
Any particular polishes you find works the best for this kind of technique?
Let me know in the comment field below!

Throwback Thursday - Cafè Nails

Today I decided to do a throwback, with a re-creation. Before I even had a blog, before I was good at doing my nails (I tried, it counts), I did a nail art creation using a Konad plate and two nail polishes. H&M - Brown, and Depend - 188.

I intended to post this on the blog 2 years ago, but something kept me from doing it, firstly it's not that well done, it looks rugged and my cleanup is not the best. So it never went live. Just been sitting in my "draft" folder for these 2 years. And now I am going to post it. Excited?

This text is taken from the original drafted post:

First I started off painting my nails with Depend - 188, an old favorite of mine. But seeing it as a full mani, I felt it was boring, and needed some fun. I picked up my H&M mini - Brown, and used it on two of my fingers, then I reached for Konad stamping plate M14 and stamped a cupcake on it, using Depend - 188. 

Depend - 188

H&M - Brown, and Depend - 188, cupcake from Konad - M15 stamped in Depend - 188.

Yeah, it's not that great, but we all started somewhere, and this was one of my first stamping nail art looks.
I acknowledge that I was once a complete noobie, and I still consider myself pretty new at these things. We all started somewhere, and that's okay.

So I decided to take this mani, and do something new with it. I kept the stamping plate, added another image, swapped out those terrible polishes, and made it new and fresher.

For this look I used W7 - Buff, and W7 - Royal, Konad - M15 (using the cupcake image) and Cheeky - Jumbo Plate 7 - Home Sweet Home.

It turned out a bit more sheer than I thought it would, but in the right light (under not too bright, artificial light) you can see what it says.

If you where wondering, the stamp stays Tea Time and Cupcakes.

I don't think this is the last time I am doing this. I really enjoyed the lookback, and a bit sad that my hands looks so dry in the picture even though I mosturised them right before taking the picture. Darn you Spain for being so warm and drying me out. 

Holo-tastic

It was long after I landed in Spain that I felt the forces drag me to the nearest nail polish shop. I found this quirky shop in Alonso Martinez, Madrid, it was full of old polishes. Some Catrice, Dance Legend, China Glaze .. etc. There was no order to the chaos. Needless to say, I loved it!

I didn't want to go completely:
BUY ALL THE POLISH!
...straight after landing, so I limited myself to one polish. Believe me ladies it was hard. Yes, I might have been on a low-buy for 2 years, but it doesn't mean it's easy. Ever.
Well, to be honest, sometimes it's really easy, but not today.

I found this gorgeous Catrice holo. It's somewhere between pink and brown. I got a pink holo, but nothing like this, so it was cleared on my check list for "do I really need this polish?"

Catrice - iROSEdescent

Catrice - iROSEdescent

This polish has one of those wider brushes that we know from brands like ESSIE, some of you hate it, and some of you love it. As you can see on this picture its not a C-brush, but more like a V-brush (if there is such a term). I really liked this brush, and found it easy to use.

It covered completely in two strokes.

Catrice - iROSEdescent in Indirect sunlight

Catrice - iROSEdescent in Direct sunlight

Catrice - iROSEdescent in Indoor artificial light

Catrice - iROSEdescent in Half-shade indirect sunlight

I did some nail art as you might be able to see there, I was struggeling to get a good picture of the nail art, cause all the (holo-ness) awesomeness was blinding it out. Below you can see the best picture I managed to snap. It's coffee-beans on all nails. On the thumb I used W7 - Buff, and on the rest of the nails I used W7 - Royal. All stamped using the Cheeky - Jumbo plate - Home Sweet Home.
I think this is actually the first time I use this plate, and that's kinda sad, but it's just .. that I have so many awesome stamping plates.

I brought them all with me on my move to Spain, so hopefully I get to use them a lot more in the next couple of months, since I didn't bring my acrylics, and my selection of nail polish is limited to those I brought with me and the ones I buy while I am here.

If you got any suggestions on where to shop for polishes in Madrid, Spain, please leave me a message in the commentfield below. I am only here for 2 months, and would like to see all the polish-places while I am here.

Jump to the Airport - mani

So there I am, finishes packed and ready to go to Spain. When I noitice something horrible. My nail polish has chipped!!! I don't want to be selfconcious on the entire trip, I want to be able to relax. So those nails had to be done. 

For this manicure I did something cool.

I made a decal!

I ended up using it on my thumb, I forgot how large the image was... Oh well. There is a first time for everything, and everyone. This was mine. I am no longer a decal-virigin. 

I used the Cheeky - Jumbo Plate - Tropical Holiday. It was the only plate I could use really. Tropical Holiday, I was going to Spain, ya know?!

How-to:

Select an image you want on your nails. Transfer it to your stamper. Fill in with colours using a fine brush or dotting tool, Let it dry for 10 min. Apply a generously amount of clear nail polish over, or the background colour of your choice. Let it dry for 10-15 min. Take it of carefully, and apply to wet/tacky polish on your nails. There you go!


Now, enough about decals. Over to the nails. Since I was kinda in a hurry, I forgot the usual step-to-step pics, but you get an idea.

Jump to the Airport - mani

The thumb is the decal I made. I used ESSIE - Navigate Her as base and ESSIE - Moijito Madness for the top of the palm tree and W7 - Buff for the stem
Iindex finger I used Barry M - Lime Green stamped a plane over and filled it in using Wet & Wild - Black Creme
Middle finger I used Barry M - Superdrug Limited Edition Yellow, and stamped over using Barry M - Lychee with seashells
Ringfinger has Barry M - Acid Yellow as base with Barry M - Fuchsia stamped over with hibiscus flowers
Little finger is ESSIE - Navigate Her and a nail sticker with hipster glasses

Phuuu that is a long list of polishes.

I got to the Airport in time, and got to sit down there for a couple of minutes before take up. UK was raining like all hell was loose as soon as I got in the Airport, and when I landed in Spain, it had just stopped raining.
There was some tubulense on the trip, but all in all, it went good.


PS: If you are planning on taking EasyJet any time soon.. They are planning on denying all liquids on check-in luggage. Just FYI.

To travel with Nail Polish

I have been wanting to do a post like  this for a while, but I needed some good pictures and more experience on the subject before plunging into a long post.
We all have days when we stand there with our suitcases, packing for a trip; long or short, where we want to take with us ALL THE POLISH!
Well. We can't take it all with us, but we can take a large bunch.

As some of you regular readers know, I have been travelling a lot these past 2 years.
I moved to UK, and now I have temporarily moved to Spain.

So, jow have I managed to keep up on the posting?
Well, I take with me a good handful of polishes with me, whenever I travel. A camera, and nail art tools.
For the most part, when I travel, this is what I take with me.

• A set of dotting tools
• Snipper
• Nail file
• Cuticle pusher (if I am leaving for more than a week)
• Cuticle Remover (if I am leaving for more than a week)
• A couple of nail art stickers, in case a friend wants a quick manicure
• Stamping tools
• Stamping plates (a couple if I am not staying too long, and all my plates if I am staying for more than a month)
• Top and basecoat
• Cleanup tools (I never travel with polish remover if I go abroad, but I do bring my handy acetone-bottle from Bornprettystore)
• Max 50 polishes (depending on the length of travel) 1 week - 5 polishes, 2 weeks - 10 polishes etc. When I left for Spain (since I knew I was going to be buying polishes here), I only brought with me 35 polishes.

That's the full list. It might seem like a lot, but I usually travel with only a racksack, and it all fits nicely in there together with all my makeup, clothes and my netbook etc. Never had a problem with it.

But how do I pack things for a long travel?

There are a few things you have to take into consideration when flying. There will be stuff ontop of your bag, so be careful with stuffing too much in the suitcase, go for a hard-shell one. And never pack polishes to the sides, but in the middle. I have learned this from flying more than 40 times these past years.


There are two ways I pack the polishes, and I will show you how it all looks.

The shipping method.

The large bulk method

Inside the box before filling is added

The shipping method I will only use if I am taking with me a couple of polishes. This is great for long journeys on the train, where the racksack might come in contact with other items, and obsticals on the trip. I then place them in a large size bubblewrapper envelope.
I have never had a casualty with this method except for once, when I was flying and one of the bottles leaked a little. The wrapping actually stopped it from leaking more. I don't know what you call this type of wrapping paper, but it's epic.

The large bulk method is for long trips, on planes etc. with a lot of obstacles, and weight. I bought the box a couple of years ago, for storage reasons, and I soon found that they where great for more than that. I had my polishes in this before I got my Helmer, and one day I dropped the box on marble flooring and everything was intact. EVERYTHING. So I started taking them with me on journeys.
I always fill the top with wrapping paper to avoid the polishes from bumping in the lid.
I got the box at Clas Olshon (is that how it's spelled) for 25 NOK. And they are SO worth it.
They was the reason I was able to bring with me 200 polishes to UK when I first moved. Not a single casualty. 

These are the polishes I took with me to Spain. A couple of neons, some glitters I want to use, chromes, and gold, as well as all my holo polishes (there is only 3) and some basic greens and coral.

In the red and black checker printed bag I keep my nail tools and makeup. I was only taking with me the items I knew I would get good use of, and made sure the foundation had SPF in it.

Let me know if you have any questions or want me to show more of how I pack when travelling with nail polish, or anything.

2 year blogiversary!

It seems like it was just a few months ago that I wrote this post about my 1 year anniversary, but when I think about what has happen since then, it feels like a life time ago. I am sure you can all relate.
It is only fitting that this post is being written in Spain, just like the first posts on this blog.

The 2nd of June I am starting in a new job, in Madrid, Spain. I am going to be a gametester for the next 2 months. I am very excited, and very nervous.
Best part is, I get to stock up on Catrice polishes and other stuff that I can't normally get in UK.
I know a flakie or two that I am grabbing asap.

My goal when I started this, was to do about 200 posts ea year, with nail arts, swatches and hauls. It's been such an exciting journey so far, and I do not doubt it will continue to be so.  I launched a G+ page, a YT-channel this year, mostly doing reviews, but I got a few things planned for the third year of this blog.

Let's have a look at what this year as been like on the blog.

Most read post: 

Maybelline Color Show - Street Artist Collection

Readers Favorite:

Damask 

My favorite nerdy manicure: 

Holy Motherboard

Readers favorite nerdy manicure:

Twinpost: Space invaders

Most trippy manicure:

Ripples in the Water

Ripples in the water

This year has been fantastic, I have gotten to know a lot more nail art bloggers, I got a few modelling gigs, my low-buy is looking like it's going to be over after being unemployed for almost 2 years...

I get to try out as a gametester, (even if it's only for 2 months) which has always been a dream of mine, but I didn't think it would ever happen for real.

If you want to have a look at my first post ever, here is a little link. 

I will be back with a manicure that was never posted back when the blog was new, and a redone version of it.  Until next time, have fun girls!