New Year's Eve Mani

Today I'm wearing a mani that was inspired by this YT tutorial. As my nails are way shorter than hers & due to my small nailbeds, I didn't have a lot of place for my nail art, but I tried my best:

I used Illamasqua "Boosh" as base, for the nail art I used (from pinkie to pointer) Nubar "Absolute", ChG "LOL", Gosh "Holographic" & a nameless SH "Nail Prisms".
But I guess I'll have to change my mani as it won't go very well with the makeup I decided to wear...


Ich wünsche euch allen einen guten Rutsch!
Happy New Year!

Do blondes have more fun?

I'm a brunette & very happy with it, but from time to time everyone needs a change, right? So I decided to go blonde for today:

eyes: Brule von lids, Bark in crease, Wedge above crease & to blend, Blanc Type as highlight. Blacktrack fluidline on upper lashline, Carbon on lower lashline.

cheeks: Red Brick e/s as blush, TheBalm Mary-Lou Manizer as highlighter

lips: Viva Glam I lipstick

nails: MAC "Shirelle" over OPI "I'm Suzi & I'm a Chocoholic"

I'm not sure if blondes really have more fun, but I certainly felt funny with my wig on *lol*

Winter Wonderland a.k.a. It's cold in Germany

Today it was freezing cold again, it was around - 8°C (17.6 °F) during the day. I loathe winter with a passion! I'm clearly living in the wrong climate, California would be so much more after my fancy!

But what can I do, I've to accept the fact that it has been snowing since a whole month & that no end is in sight.
That's why I decided to share a few winter impressions with you.

This is a part of our garden, all covered with snow.


And these are a few small icicles that are hanging from our roof:

You don't need to check the thermometers to know when it gets warmer, all you need is to listen to the sound of the icicles: 
as soon as they start drip dropping on our terrace you know it's above 0°C :-D

MAC "Concubine"

Another lovely red that isn't only suitable for the holiday season, MAC "Concubine":

Maybe the name's a little bit off, but the color is really awesome!
A dark cherry red jelly base with lighter red sparkle, what's not to love?!
It applied evenly & was opaque with 2 coats, which is great for a jelly. Drying time was good, too, about 10 minutes.

Tag (in German)

This post will be in German as I was tagged by MACKarrie who posts in German.

Die liebe MACKarrie hat mich getaggt & mir die folgenden Fragen im Bezug auf das fast vergangene Jahr 2010 gestellt:

 1. Welchen Lippenstift/Lipgloss hast Du 2010 am häufigsten/liebsten getragen?  

Chanel "Bikini Peach" Glossimer.

 2. Welcher war Dein Lieblingslidschatten in diesem Jahr?

MAC Shroom, weil er immer paßt!

 3. Welches Produkt hast Du für den Teint (Foundation, Rouge) am liebsten benutzt?

Im Sommer: MAC Satinfinish Foundation (NW25)
Im Winter: Dianne Brill Coverage Foundation (in Geisha Pearl 01) 

 4. Deine liebste Nagellackfarbe 2010?

Alles, was Peach ist :-D Insbesondere Essie "Van d'Go"


5. Auf welches Gesichtspflegeprodukt hättest Du auf keine Fall verzichten wollen?

Mein heißgeliebtes Guerlain Super Aqua-Serum


 6. Welches war Dein liebstes Körperpflegeprodukt?

Kiehl's Creme de Corps


 7. Dein meistgetragener Duft 2010?

Frédéric Malle "Carnal Flower"


 8. Welcher Schmuck war Dein persönlicher Favorit?

Ich mag alle meine Schmuckstücke, da hab ich keine Favoriten.


 9. Was hast Du 2010 neu für Dich entdeckt (neue Produkte, Inspirationen, Blogs o. auch Hobbies etc.)?

Nail Art & ein klitzekleines bißchen den Gesang. Ach ja, natürlich auch das Bloggen *g*


10. Hast Du Vorsätze für 2011 & wenn ja, wie lauten sie?

Ich hab nie gute Vorsätze - dann kann ich sie nämlich auch nicht brechen :-D


11. Tagge weitere Personen :-)


Ich möchte gerne Meilu, LoveT., Valerie & Graphology taggen :-)

MAC "Pink Friday"

Since I bought MAC's "Pink Friday" lipstick I was thinking about which look I could sport it with. Then I remembered this YT video by pixiwoo that I had watched a while ago. Back then I thought that I'd love trying to recreate it & now the time has come :-D 
It's inspired by Edie Sedgwick, you can read about her short & tragic life here (in German) & here (in English). 

 

eyes: Shroom all over the lid, Typographic above crease & to line. Fascinating eye khol inside the eye.

cheeks: Personal Style blush

lips: Pink Friday lipstick

nail polish: Illamasqua "Loella"

Essie "Ruby Slippers"

Essie "Ruby Slippers" is a polish that I wanted for the longest time. Unfortunately it's discontinued & therefore pretty hard to find. I was so lucky to get it when I swapped with a very nice woman from Canada & I really couldn't be more happy! 
But please see for yourself:
 

indirect light:

in the sun: 

It's a dark red polish loaded with mainly red, but also gold & a little silver glitter. (I only detected the silver when I took it off.) It's absolutely stunning!!!
IMO it's the perfect polish to wear to any special ocasion since it's so festive & elegant.
I had to do 3 coats, but next time I plan to layer it over another red polish since it's way too precious to do 3 coats - it'd use up far too quickly! Drying time was good, about 10-15 minutes. 
Alas, taking it off was a PITA! Even though I used the foil method I had glitter all over my hands & needed to literally drown them in nail polish remover to get rid off the mess. 
But still the polish is so worth it as I've never seen anything similar - if you ever have the oportunity to get your hands on it, don't hesitate & grab it as fast as you can ;-D

Christmas Eve

Christmas eve deserves a special polish, so I chose OPI "Russian To A Party":

It's a warm burgundy red with brown undertones & gold shimmer. This polish really glows, it looks like lit from within. I was on the hunt for it for quite a while, then a very helpful eBay seller found it for me at a very good price. It's a black label OPI which means that it isn't B3F & still includes all those bad chemicals. Application was great, 2 coats & it was completely opaque. Drying time was very reasonable with about 5-10 minutes, a little quicker than B3F polishes.


This was my Christmas makeover:

 

Unfortunately I look much paler than I really am *meh*

eyes: Humid on the lower lid, Texture in crease, Plumage in outer crease, Malt to blend it all together & Shroom to highlight. Carbon to line & Feline khol power pencil on the inner lashline.

cheeks: Red Brick e/s & NARS Albatross as highlighter.

lips: Dare You l/s

Lillith's gorgeous pictures inspired me to wear a poinsettia in my hair:

I hope you all spent a great day! (I certainly did :-))

Merry Christmas everyone!

Hi guys,

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays, I hope you all have a wonderful time :-)

More reds for the holidays

Chanel "Rouge Fatal" is a darker red with brown undertone, but I wouldn't say that it's so warm that cooler skintones couldn't pull it off:

 

It's extremely pigmented so you can get away with one thick coat, but I did - as almost always - two thinner coats. It has a high shine finish, even without Seche Vite, which I applied nevertheless.

Application was great as well as drying time (10 min w/ Seche Vite).

This polish ranks among my favourite reds of all time, it's a lovely color: Red but - due to the brown undertones - not your random everyday red.

IMO Chanel reds makes the most amazing reds out there!

And to prove my statement from above, I'd like to show you another red from Chanel, "Coromandel":

This is really stunning, it has hidden shimmer that only pops up in the sun or artifical lighting. I really adore the color, it's bright & warm & simply amazing!

If you like to wear warm reds, you need to try this!

It's even more pigmented than "Rouge Fatal", but I still did 2 coats& topped it with Seche Vite.

Application was flawless & drying time was again about 10 min.

Lippmann Collection "Bad Romance"

Today I'm wearing Lippmann's "Bad Romance" over OPI "Lincoln Park After Dark":

I've already worn "Bad Romance" on it's own, but the result wasn't 100% satisfying (= a little uneven & goopy looking) so I thought I should layer it over another polish. OPI "LPAD" seemed like the perfect choice. 
I used one coat of "LPAD" & layered 2 coats of "Bad Romance" over it. Application was great & I'm really happy with the result (*please click on the pic to enlarge*).

Then I tried to do a matching eye makeup (sorry for the bad quality, I've always problems to take good pictures in artifical light):

 

Even though I used black (Carbon e/s from MAC) in the crease, it looks rather grey than black on my pictures. Please imagine it to be black ;-)

eyes: Purple Shower e/s (from the Makeup Art Cosmetics collection) on lid, Push the Edge pigment (from the same collection) w/ Carbon e/s layered over it in the crease, Push the Edge & Carbon to line.

cheeks: NARS Deep Throat

lips: Chanel Chintz l/s

MAC "Cockney"

MAC "Cockney" lipstick is from MAC's core line, but also part of the recently released Stylishly Yours color story. It's an orange based red with very subtle gold shimmer (I couldn't detect any once the color was on my lips) & surprisingly well pigmented for a lipstick with a lustre finish. It's among my favourite red shades & so I decided to do a look using it (*please click on picture to enlarge it*):

All products I used are from MAC.

eyes: Brule on the lid, Brown Down in the outer crease & Carbon in the outer V as well as to line.

cheeks: Prim & Proper, on the apples of cheeks Stereo Rose MSF (very lightly).

lips: Redd lip pencil to line, Cockney

I also did some Christmas inspired nail art (*please click on picture to enlarge it*):

The silver & gold nail art is ment to look like tinsel ;-)

As base color I used MAC "Shirelle", a vivid red which has a great formula, not thick, not thin, very easy to apply & opaque with 2 coats. It also dried extremely quickly (in about 10 minutes) without Seche Vite!
For the nail art I used CN "Silver Chrome" & CND "Gold Chrome". The glitter accents were done with Esssence Nail Art & Tip Painter in "Silver Sparkle" & Orly Instant Artist in "24k Glitter".

OPI "Holiday Glow" & "DS Mystery"

I had totally forgotten about OPI "Holiday Glow" (which came out last winter with their Holiday Wishes 2009 collection) & just recently rediscovered it. It's a shame it didn't get more love from me before as it's such a beautiful color. But see for yourself:

It's a dark neutral brown loaded with lots of gold glitter, really swoon-worthy! It needed 2 coats to get completely opaque & even though the polish is on the thinner side, it builds up very well. I'm totally in love with it!

On to another gold glitter polish, OPI "DS Mystery"  which is one of the newer Designer Series polishes & if you expect a holo, you'll be disappointed as "Mystery" - while pretty sparkly - isn't a holo by any means: 

 

It's similar to "Holiday Glow", but darker. The weird thing about this polish is that it has a dark purple base which you can actually only see when removing it. On the nail & in the bottle it looks like a very dark brown.

Again I needed 2 coats, but the consistancy of "DS Mystery" is thicker. Even though I like them both, if I had to choose I'd pick "Holiday Glow", it just seems more vivid & uplifting to me.

But you can't go wrong with either if you like dark glittery polishes.

  

Retro Look

Last night we went to a party & I decided to do a Retro look.

All products I used are from MAC.

eyes: Shroom e/s on the entire lid, Smoke & Mirrors e/s (from the Smoke & Mirrors Holiday 2009 palette) in the crease, Carbon e/s in the outer crease &
Blacktrack fluidline to line.

cheeks: Burnt Pepper pro blush

lips: Lady Danger l/s

Of course I needed to find a nail polish that matches Lady Danger!
This is what I came up with, Zoya "Maura" (from their Flash collection):

Zoya is a bright tomato red with yellow undertones. 
I can't say that I'm very impressed with the formula. Even though it's very pigmented, it goes on rather streaky. Maybe I'm the only one with this problem because I read that other people like it a lot. 
I needed to do 3 coats which really is too much. You can easily get away with 2 coats or even only one, but as I needed to get rid off the streaks, I had to do 3.

Dark, But Not Black!

I'm always on the hunt for dark polishes that don't look black & at the moment I've a little weakness for dark blues with an extra oomph.

Sephora by OPI "Go My Own Way" (from their Fall 2010 collection) fits perfectly into this category:

It falls somewhere between dark blue & dark teal & has a dusty quality to it. There are also blue shimmer particles, but they only show up at certain angles.
The polish has an almost metallic finish, but is surprisingly unstreaky *yay*! There's nothing worse than a streaky metallic finish, right?
I did 2 coats to achieve complete opacity. Drying time was a little longer than usual (even with Seche Vite), but after about 20 minutes the polish had dried completely.


Barielle "Blackened Bleu" (from the All Lacquered Up Fall 2009 collection) is another beautiful polish that fits into the same category:

It has a black base with tons of teal microglitter that really show up on the nail. It's uber-sparkly & even though the base color is rather sheer, it takes only 2 coats to get opaque. Gotta love it :-)

Ozotic Pro 621

At the moment I'm wearing Ozotic Pro 621, a red holo. The holo effect is very subtle & only shows up in either direct sunlight or artifical light/when taking photos with flash. I had major difficulties to take good pictures of it, especially since there was absolutely no sun today.

indirect light:

 

with flash:

It only took one coat to get completely opacity, the formular is rather thick but easy to apply. To be honest: My search for the perfect red holo hasn't ended, yet. Most holos disappoint me as the holo effect is invisible in most lightings, 621 being no exception.While it is nice & sparkly I still wish for a stronger holo effect!

Ozotic Pro is an Australian brand. I got my polishes through a swap, but you can also order them here . They offer worldwide shipping.

Two Layering Combinations

Today I'd like to show you two layering combinations that I'm especially fond of at the moment.

The first one is Barielle "Elle's Spell" (a red jelly with multicolored flakies) from their 2010 "Holiday Hustle" collection over OPI "Lincoln Park After Dark" (a blackened eggplant creme):

I did two coats of OPI LPAD & then layered one coat of Elle's Spell over it. In the bottle Elle's Spell looks as if it had mainly red flakies & small glitter particles, but on the nail they really come alive & show their whole glory. The flakies aren't only red, but also yellow/gold & I think I can also detect a hint of greenish shimmer.
You can also wear Elle's Spell alone, it takes 3 coats to get it completely opaque. It's equally stunning on it's own & I really hope Barielle will bring out more colors like that!


The second layering combo that I have for you is Lippmann Collection "Ruby Red Slippers" (a black jelly with small & large red hexagonal glitter) over Illamasqua "Boosh" (a black creme):

 

You only need one coat of Boosh to get an opaque black base. Boosh might be my favourite black polish ever. Wet'n'Wild "Black Creme" would be a much cheaper alternative, but it's not that easy to find over here. 
Then I layered 2 coats of Lippmann's Ruby Red Slippers over it. The result is really sparkly, but also quite elegant IMO.
Of course you can also wear Ruby Red Slippers alone. As with Elle's Spell it takes 3 coats to get opacity.

Giveaway at MACKarrie's blog - Kiehl's Creme de Corps

A giveaway for a jar of Kiehl's "Creme de Corps Whipped Body Butter" is hosted by MACKarrie on her blog. 

As a huge fan of Kiehl's products I wouldn't mind winning this price myself ;-D
Find out how to participate by going to her blog . Last day for submitting your entry is Dec. 19th (= the third Sunday in Advent).

Festive Manis

Hi guys! 
Long time no see, but now I'm back in business, so here we go :-)

Today I decided to start a series of festive manis that are appropriate for Christmas.


The 1st color I chose is Chanel "Fire" which is from their core collection (at least over here in Germany):

What's better for Christmas than a classic red?! It's bright, but not to the point wear you'd need sunglasses to be able to look at your nails ;-)
Application was absolutely great (like you'd expect from Chanel even though they don't always deliver...), I needed 2 coats. As always I used my HG Seche Vite as topcoat & my mani dried very quickly in about 5 minutes.




My 2nd choice for today is OPI "Merry Midnight" from OPIs "Holiday Wishes 2009" collection:

Not everyone loves wearing red, so a dark purple with multicolored glitter & flakies would be a great alternative. I really wish OPI would do more colors like that.
I did 3 coats, but maybe you could also get away with 2 if you do thick coats. 
IMO "Merry Midnight" is one of OPIs best colors ever! Of course you need to like glitters & flakies, but they match beautifully with the base color, so there's absolutely nothing tacky about this polish. It looks pretty elegant & can be worn by all ages.


Come back tomorrow to see what other colors I've to show you :-)