More summer to my nail polish collection

What more could I need anymore? These are bottles I drooled over at Getcha Nails Did. To have them is a small dream come true. Luckily there are good people in Canada (thanks M. & I. !) who provided me these Claire's since they are not sold here in Finland.

These colors come in 6-pack, with no names but with lots of charisma.

These are so freakin pretty!!! Like sweetest candy there is!

The pictures say it better than I do. And they will speak more when I get them on...

Starting tomorrow with bright green :)

Discount code for Skin MD Natural! / Alekoodi

Great news! I just got a discount code for us all to use on Skin MD Natural !

Type DOO on the shopping cart to receive 20% OFF.

Shipping in the US is $ 7.95 and worldwide shipping is $ 9.95

You can also order free samples for 2 dollars handling fee.

My review on the shielding lotion here. I found it to be a very good base for mineral makeup.


Alekoodilla DOO saat -20% tilatessasi osoitteesta: www.skinmdnatural.com

Toimitusmaksu Suomeen on tuotteiden määrästä riippumatta 9.95 dollaria. En ole itse tilannut sivuilta vielä kertaakaan, mutta olen saanut heiltä kuvassa näkyvän pullon testiin ja asiakaspalvelu on ollut todella ripeää ja mukavaa.

Noilta sivuilta voi tilata myös ilmaisia sample-pusseja, toimitusmaksu silloin 2 dollaria :)

Klikkaa arviooni shielding lotionista. Minusta se toimii loistavasti mineraalimeikin alla.

Kun valon määrä lisääntyy (ja minun oleskeluni ulkona) niin perehdyn vielä suojakertoimelliseen versioon tuosta tuotteesta. Siinä on SPF 15, mukana myös UVA-suoja.

CG Lemon Fizz with extra fizz

I wore Lemon Fizz by China Glaze for the first time to brighten up a dark week. I really like this bubbly shade. But the application then, that's a big minus. It gets so streaky, so gluey.

Compared to Helen by Mecca Cosmetica (<- click the link to my post) this is tad lighter which I like but then again Helen applies way better on the nail. It's been a long time since I've applied anything this streaky and I was way out of practise. Being lazy in building up many many coats I hid the imperfections under sparkle...
Added more fizz that is! This is regular crafting glitter I sprinkled on half-painted top coat. It looked very uplifting but sadly I had practically no time to photograph it. This is the only not-fuzzy shot I got.

I'm so thrilled it's weekend! It's so great to get mind off work and tune in to "color therapy" for a while. Thank you for your interest and kind comments along the week!

Nail Art Contests

Weekend, yippee!!! For that I'll get a bit playful and try something fun. There are inspiring on-going contests (along with the nail tutorial entries) I wanted you too to know about:



To view on YouTube: The Queen Eileen's Fairy Tale Nail Contest and the video responses (=entries) below it.

Ends March the 1st, so now is the time to make a response.
Organizer: TheQueenEileen

---------------------------------------------------



To view on YouTube: Nail art contest/giveaway Differend Strokes and video responses (=entries) below it.

"Rules for Picture Slideshow/Video Tutorial:

1. You must be a subscriber (if youre not, do it now!)
2. It's International
3. Must leave a video or picture slide show tutorial as response to this video.
4. Must be a new video.
5. Please title your video "My Entry to Linda165's First Nail Art Contest/Giveaway".
6. Show username somewhere in video.
7. Upto 2 entries per person.
8. If I receive less than 10 entries, the contest won't run.
9. You can send your video from now until March 15, 2010 at 11:59 pm Eastern time.
10. Please DON'T make a different design for each nail. You can have one or two accent nails (ring and or thumb nail), no more.
11. No Konad or stickers, but can use rhinestones, glitter, etc.
12. I have the attention span of a gold fish, so make the video 3 to 5 minutes long."

Organizer: Linda165
--------------------------------------------------------

I have Lemon Fizz to show you next, be back for the pics :)

Pure Gold by Nivea layered (more metal that is)

I just can't stop digging up the clearance bins on local stores - though I know the stuff on sale costs still as much as the new China Glazes and other top notch polishes ordered online. But the thrill of the hunt beats rationality... This one is Pure Gold #72 by Nivea Turbo Colour, for 4 euros on sale. Dries in 45 seconds it says.

I googled this color (after buying it) and found out from Sasse's blog that it is workable with Konads. That is wonderful news since I don't have golden stamping polish!

Pure Gold seems to be very sheer on its own (tried it on my daughters unpolished nail) so I decided to build it over the Devotion which has started to wear a bit. For Devotion's credit, I did wear it for like 5 days with top coat (I am days behind on posting, sorry).

The metallic base Devotion laid down obviously brings out the best of this polish. On its own the shimmer dominates Pure Gold but layered like this it looks really metallic.

I love it how it leans to green rather than to warm (yellow or red). This is definitely kind of gold that suits to my skin!


So all in all, I needed this one, I had none like it. Even if it was my 195:th nail color... Eeek!

Have a great week!

New stickers and Krackpolish

Here are some holographic stickers I bought last week. They are not made specifically for nail art but they are (most of them) small enough to fit on nail, are not of thickest quality and do bend well. With thick top coat like Revlon Colorstay they are sure to stick for at least one fun night out :)

I swapped some with my daughter so I could give her the biggest ones and I would get all the small ones - win win LOL

See, they do fit! I wish I had had these already around Valentine's Day!

Too bad the hippos and giraffes won't fit my nails. Don't they look cute?

One "wheel" has solely ladybugs on it (seen down-left there). I think they will fit if I cut out the flower. They look amazing: holographic red and black.

The letters (on right) are just the right size for nail art - 8 times all the alphabets (except for Scandinavian). I think I can work something out of them...

Here's cracking try-out I forgot to show you earlier. It's white Krackpolish over the Pink Underground -tips. There wasn't much of a color selection over at Transdesign on these polishes so I went for white - so that at least I could create a winter scenary with cracking ice or something like that.

I'll also try to mix some pigment on a drop of white Krackpolish to get more funky looks too. Hope it works well and won't clump. Doesn't get much funky with just white... :/

But it does work! Last time I ordered Krackpolish in December it was mislabelled and the product I got was actually a base color. Did nothing but a white smudge. Then I got it replaced. This real stuff started cracking after about a minute and then on you could see the cracks grow - fun thing to watch really.

I might make a video of Krackpolish use later on - when I plan on a design worth filming through :)

Thanks for stopping by!
More metallic look coming up next...

Devotion by China Glaze

Here's Devotion, metallic shimmer with a hint of lavender. I've been wearing it the rest of the week and I'm really loving this color! It's stunning in the shadow as well in the bright lights. The icyness is so fitting to the winter season turning to spring. The tiny reflection of purple it has makes it more feminine than a plain silver etc. This is without any top coat so excuse the streaks on ring finger.

The true color is very hard to capture on camera. But for once I can say I'm really happy with the way the pics turned out! Thanks to the beautiful Sun that keeps brightening up the snowy Finland more and more each day.


The Sun doesn't bring warmth though - this past week the temperatures have been record low. Last Friday it was -41.3 degrees Celsius in Kuhmo, eastern Finland.

"

According to the forecast, conditions should be worst Saturday night and early Sunday. YLE meteorologists say the storm will be one of the worst this winter.

Temperatures in the south and west are expected to go down to between -15 and -20 degrees Celsius, but the wind chill factor can make it feel like it’s closer to about -30. Winds could reach up to 23m/s, and Finland may see 10 to 20 more centimetres of snow.

Calmer conditions are expected in Finnish Lapland, but temperatures there reach as low as -40 degrees in the coming days. Low readings are expected in the east as well."

The forecast by Yle.

But you can feel the Spring is coming. Last week when I left from work I realized I didn't have to switch off the lights from the waiting room! It had been bright enough for whole day without them!

Bless the Sun! Have a great day :)

Vice versa with Pink Underground

Before taking Violette off I decided to swatch Pink Underground by China Glaze over it in Mavala's Vice Versa style.

With Mavala pack that I bought Violette in came a Vice Versa booklet with differend color combo suggestions.



To me Pink Underground and Mavala's Miami look very similar - so this look would be "Sixties". I swatched them quickly side by side on fake nails and these pinks truely are close cousins.

I'll paint them on real nails to really capture the shades for you guys if you want to? I'll come back to these pinks later on when it's time to be pink again, these really are my favorites :)


I have nothing to complain about this Pink Underground. It's very feminine, seems to apply well and I just love the way China Glaze bottles are designed. The fact that it resembles my all time favorite Miami shoots it up to my top 5.

Next I'll show you Devotion ;)

New beauties from the mail / Kynsilakkatilaus

Yippee, new colors to play with! The total count is now 194 with these 9 new polishes (since the last inventory I found 5 missing nail colors adding to the announced 181). Quite enough and bit too much... but I dream of some Orly's and Color Clubs too, and there's something (other) good on the way already...

I need more hands to paint!!!

With this order from Transdesign came First Kiss by Misa, then Pink Underground, Lemon Fizz and Grape Pop by China Glaze. The last one on the row is Cashmere Cardigan by Orly, the one I put on the shopping cart after seeing Wan's swatch.

I was in a metallic mood no doubt while putting all these to the basket (drooling over promo pics of upcoming Orly foils on other blogs). I remember thinking which ones of these I'd order and it seems I couldn't decide?! I'm sure I'll find use to these - after all metallic colors seem to be the neutrals of 2010 LOL

From left to right Sci-fi, Devotion and Millennium. And then white Krackpolish, real stuff this time.


Here's the whole lot. Misa there on the second stealing the show. This was my first Misa and the brightness of the First Kiss surprised me *blushing*. But then again it's always easier to tone down a color than brighten it up. I would've preferred a softer first kiss...

See you back polishing with these new additions...
Thanks for stopping by :)

Valentine's Violette with nail stickers

Happy Valentine's Day! Here's Violette by Mavala with the 3D stickers I bought back in January.

I wanted something quite neutral but yet soft and sweet. With two coats Violette was just what I needed! On the bottle it looks more boring but on nails it's really cute color - but not too girly, mature enough to wear at the office too :)

I bought Violette on a 3-pack along with Miami and fast drying top coat. They are supposed to look good together but I've yet to try them on a same design. I did use Violette on the French vines manicure I did back in November along with white.


Here's a close-up on the thumb. The stickers were very easy to put on, I was quite surprised for that! I thought they'd be more stiff and sticky but in fact the film was extremely thin and easy to transfer to the nail. No visible seams.

Then I just followed it with top coat Revlon Colorstay Overtime. Usually I have to be careful with the top coat because when I do nail art the black color might start to smear. Can't believe how easy these stickers are to use compared to that. The golden parts were flat enough to

Far more easy to achieve a pro manicure than with Konad IMHO. But it lacks the excitement LOL

Thanks for visiting :)

Valentine's Day designs / Sydämiä

Here are some ideas for Valentine's Day manicures. They are on one hand for illustrational purposes. I prefer to choose just one to wear at a time on every finger or just on a ringfinger.

The first one is kind of funky french, with hearts as a bow. On pinky there are black dots with smaller darker pink dots in them. No top coat so they seem to pop out but I'm sure a clear coat would fix that.


Products used:
The white parts are pearlescent so they look a bit cooler IRL. Twinkle in the eye serves as a base with one coat of sheer white.

All the nail art is made with Migi Nail Art pens + a few drops of glitter on each heart with Nail Star nail art 2-way striper. These are the Migis I got from their giveaway on YouTube and they're holding up really well. No clumping, no clogging, goes on as smoothly as when I first used them in early December.



The flying heart came out a bit too big and the wings are left like folded there. Should make it a tad smaller next time.

I thought that it'd be cool (for the parties) if single girls painted the "flying heart" on their ringfinger and those with spouses would go for "hearts&arrow". Would the guys take a hint?

Have a great weekend!
I still have the heart stickers to show so check back soon :)

Twinkle in the eye by Lumene

Here is one of the new polishes I got last month. Fairly good color for St. Valentine's Day I think. This Twinkle in the eye by Lumene is actually almost neon pink but yeah, hard to capture.

It is very playful color and the original Finnish name actually translates as "a playful glance". Not the one for the office really - but I did wear it at work this week for the fun of it and it did brighten up my mind so it fullfilled its purpose. And I got compliments too though they came from little girls LOL


This is how the camera sees it. That is actually the way I would have preferred it to look. Well it is easy to tone it down with a layer of sheer white so I consider this as a good buy :)

I wear it here with 2 coats and no top coat. Not the easiest one to apply for the "one touch brush" which I find quite clumsy most of the time. But nice neat strokes. This is from a clearance bin so it might be an old shade...? but as a bright candyland shade goes well with all the new collections that have been popping out with other brands.

I plan to do some heart themed decorations over it so stay tuned.

I have many Valentine's Day related designs on my mind and wish to bring them here before the V-day :)

Skin MD lotion review - Tuotearvio

This is a special post of me. I do write about other cosmetics from time to time, when I have a strong word to say. But I am really picky when it comes to skin care or hair care.

Skrollaa alas suomiversioon * Finnish version at the end *

When I got the contact offering me the Skin MD shielding lotion sample I did not have nearly as many readers as I do know. I take it as a huge compliment and also like to think that the representatives have done their background check - as I do not use cosmetics that contain parabens and I am likely to be a good candidate to try it. I was very eager to test this out!

You have probably read the glowing review of Powerlifterchick or some other bloggers by now but here is my account on this lotion.

I use oils on my skin care on a regular basis. In fact, the last time I used any lotion on my skin was last summer. Getting used to light oils instead of thick creams I used to wear has made me very picky when it comes to lotions or even sunscreens. Everything besides oils feel cold and alien against my skin and I feel like the creams would stick to my fine facial hair and ... err.. leave a sticky, IsThereYoghurtOnMyFace- feeling. I never really found a way around that when I used moisturizers. And I used to suffer from blackheads and enlarged pores - not having problems like that since I ditched the moisturizers.



As you can see, I might have been a bit sceptical about this Skin MD lotion. As for moisturzers I never really knew what was the ingredient that was the troubling one. It has been widely discussed on message boards if silicones such as dimethicone are the bad guys disturbing the skin.

Just in case, I first used this lotion on my hands (and a hubby...) to test it out. To my surprise it felt really light -light but not cold. Nice powdery scent that is only noticeable when you rub your nose in it (and it is fragrance free). Takes a while for the lotion to absorb but when it does it does seem to vanish. Still leaving protection.

Verdict

On my hands I did not feel it was heavy enough considering this cruel climate and frequent washing. I still prefer oils for my hands.

But on my skin this lotion feels like a great protection against cold and wind.

And my skin had no reactions to it (been using on and off for about a month). No blackheads, no itching, no redding - which are common reactions to some - if not most!- skin care products I have tried and used.

It also fullfills another basic requirement for my skin care: it works beautifully with loose mineral foundation setting a nice base to build on.

The principle behind this lotion is according to the text:
Promptly absorbs, transforming the outer layer of skin into a hydrating invisible shield

That it seems to do.

I also received a small sample bag of this lotion with SPF. I am saving it for first Spring days to try out. It might be just the light solution I have craved for for a sun protection :)

Ingredients | Inci :
Purified Water (Aqua), Aloe Barbadensis Leaf Extract (Aloe Vera), Cyclopentasiloxane, Dimethicone, Methyl Gluceth-20, Tocopheryl Acetate (Vitamin E), Extracts of Arnica Montana Flower (Arnica), Symphytum Officinale Leaf (Comfrey), Chamomilla Recutita (Matricaria Chamomle), Achillea Millefolium (Yarrow), Acrylates C10-3Alkyl Acrylate Crosspolymer, 1,2 Hexanediol, Caprylyl Glycol, Butylene Glycol, Aminomethyl Propanol, Phenoxyethanol (preservative).

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Olen nirso ihonhoitotuotteiden suhteen ja tavallisimmin k'yt'nkin vain luonnon;ljyj'. (Pahoittelen skandien puuttumista!). Sain kuvan lotionin testattavakseni (ilman sitoumuksia tuotearvion tekemsest). Olin alkuun skeptinen miten se ihollani toimii. Olen j'tt'nyt kosteusvoiteet jo kauan sitten ja tuntui pikkasen pelottavalta kokeilla taas kasvoille jotain, jonka inci on nooooin mittava. Ja sita pelottavaa silikoniakin. Jos seurauksena olisi taas laajentuneet huokoset ja mustap'it', joista olen jo kyennyt eroon... Mutta kiinnostuksella aloitin kokeilun, jota on nyt reilun kuukauden kestanyt.

Lyhyesti laitettuna:

• Parabeeniton ja hypoallergeeninen Skin MD shielding lotion on kevyt iholla
• Hajusteettomus ei kostaudu apteekinhajuna, vaan on ihan todella mieto tuoksu joka ei hypi nenille
• Ei punoita, ei ole tukkinut ihoa vaan tasainen oma nassu on pysynyt.
  
• Erityisen hyvin lotion sopii mineraalimeikin alle, mik' on omalta kannaltani tosi oleellinen juttu.
• Kynsille ja k'sille en t'st' viehtynyt vaan tuntui liian kevyelt, mutta kasvoilla oiva suoja pakkasta ja tuulta vastaan. Ei kylmeta kasvoja ulos astuessa vaan tuntuu ihan omalta iholta, suojaavammalta vain.
• Sain kyseisen pullon lahjoituksena, mutta voisin ajatella ostavani toisenkin talvea kohti.

Odotan suuria kyseisen lotionin SPF versiosta, koska mulla ei ole kivaa tahmaamatonta auringonsuojatuotetta lainkaan tiedossa ja hakusessa on ollut. Korkkaan kokeilupussin heti kun kev'taurinko loistaa paremmin esiin!

Love panda for St. Valentine

Here's a cutie for the Valentine. Really simple panda, mainly comprising of dots. My baby girl loves pandas and was happy to fall asleep next to my thumb LOL

Emerald Sparkle from China Glaze as a base, Migi Nail Art pens used for the panda. Heart is made with Enamel Art 1000 two-way striper.

I took pics step by step and will be posting a quick video tutorial when I manage to arrange some freetime. Check back for the link or subscribe to my YouTube channel: DoorisOvi to get to know when it's up :)

Helen by Mecca Cosmetica

Finally I get to show you my dear Helen by Mecca Cosmetica! It's a really beautiful, yellow pastel shade first introduced to me by You've Got Nail . My lovely friends bought it to me while visiting Australia.

Will be cool to compare it to Lemon Fizz by China Glaze... I ordered that last week so I'll get to see them side by side some time this month.

I never really thought I'd need a pastel yellow until after last summer... But how did I manage without one for all these years?!?

I'm so sorry for the inadequate lighting on the pics. They are blurry - but at least the color is accurate, soft and cute :)

Thank you for your visit!
Next time some Valentine's day manicures...

What I got last month (Valentine's Day on my mind)

Here are my latest additions to the polish collection. Quite reasonable amount of new stuff this time.

All from the nearest shops... Except for one, the yellow one on the right. That's miss Helen, all the way from Australia! I fell in love with her and her sister Celia in Jacie's blog You've Got Nail. Luckily two friends of mine were heading Australia for the holidays so they brought me this Australian delight by Mecca Cosmetica. I'll take pics of it soon for you to see :)

The pinks next to Helen are #734 Pinkandescence by Max Factor Nailfinity and #65 Twinkle in the eye by Lumene Quick & Chic. I always end up buying these from clearance bin though I know they require much more layering than the ones I'd order online (polishes by China Glaze etc.) - and while on sale they still cost more than a bottle of China Glaze online! But pink is always worth swatching LOL

The stuff on the background: bag of cotton balls and a pack of nail polish remover wipes. The wipes are amazing with glitter polish and dark polishes.


Here's a closer look on Miss Selene polishes. How to call them? The one with holographic bits on it says #175. The other one has lost its tag but the hearts in it are really cute candy pink.

I've tested these quickly. The first one is easy to apply. The heart polish on the other hand requires tweezers to make it look good on a nail - otherwise just clumps of thick polish lands on each nail along with a heart.

These are mini-sized, just 5 ml /0.17 fl.oz so I'll manage to use both up (but probably won't restock...).


Here's a slide of 3D nail stickers. Love the modern shape of the hearts but would love them even more if the accent color was silver instead of gold. Anyway will be cool to try these out :)

Have a great start for your week !