Essence - Boho Chic

Say there's a nail polish you have been having doubts about, but you buy it anyway, and you end up loving it? Isn't that a great feeling? I love it when it happens to me, and I wish had happened with the polish I'm showing you today. :(

Boho Chic is a very interesting shade that attracted me because of the flakies in it. I've never seen a polish quite like it before, and on the swatched I'd seen it looked very pretty. But when I stood in the drug store with the bottle in my hand I had my doubts about it. This is not the type of colour I would usually wear, so I put it back in it's place. Several weeks later it was for sale with a big discount, so... why not?

It's a peachy orange colour, and a special nail polish because of the orange/golden shimmer and flakies in it. uit looks very interesting, and I love flakies, but I just didn't like the look of these. Plus, the orange tone is not  very flattering for my skin tone. Too bad!

As for application, there is nothing wrong with this polish. It applied nicely, so no comments there. I used two coats for the pictures, but it could have used another thin coat to get rid of VNL. Maybe I'll end up giving this polish away to someone who would appreciate it more, because I doubt I'll be wearing it again.

Catrice - Steel My Heart

Hello again, followers! If you have been following me for a while you might know I have shown you one of the Catrice Brushed Metal Effects before: Steel My Soul, the lighter shade. Today I will be showing swatches of the darker shade, which turned out to be my favourite.

I'll admit it. I'm not a fan of matte or satin polishes, and while it can look very pretty, it's just not for me. I was hesitan about buying these, but they looked pretty in the bottle and I figured they'd look nice with a top coat. Well, when I put Steel My Heart on my nails I was instantly in love. It's unlike anything else I have in my stash.

It's a very dark brown/purple taupe colour with a lot of tiny, multicoloured sparkles that make it a very unique polish to me.

A close up shot. The blue sparkles are so pretty!

As for the formula, it was a bit thick but it was very easy to apply and I had no issues with it. It needed two coats to be opaque, and since I enjoyed the matte/satin finish a lot I did not add a topcoat.

Nude + Pink taping

So it has been a while since I have done anything but a simple manicure with only one colour. However, I decided that I was in the mood to do some taping again, and I wanted to use one of my favourite new additions to my stash!

For this manicure I used Essence Cookies & Cream as a base colour. I used two coats on my index- and middle finger and my pinky, and three on my ring finger and thumb. This is a sandy nude colour with subtle shimmer in it. For some reason, nudes always look odd on my skin tone, but not this one! It's very pretty and I also like to wear it on my toenails because it gives a clean, neat look.

I added a quick drying top coat and after it had dried enough I used striping tape to tape off 4 lines on each finger. Then I painted over it with a coat of NYC Perpetual Peony, a simple pink creme, and quickly but carefully pulled off the tape. I smudged it in a few places... whoops! Nothing too bad, though. I think I'm getting better at it. :P

After that I added a silver rhinestone to my ring finger and thumb, just because I'm obsessed with my rhinestones. :) I really need to think of some new creative ways to use them! Anyway, then I topped it all off with another coat of fast drying topcoat and I was done. Even though it's a simple mani, I enjoy it a lot, and I think this colour combination works very well! I hope you like it too!

Essie - Mod Squad

Hello everyone! Since it has been ages since my last nail post, I thought it would be a good idea to start off with a polish of my favourite brand. Today I'll be showing you one of my favourite pinks in my collection. I have shown it before, but I decided it was worthy of its own blog post.

Mod Squad is a perfect bubblegum pink creme with a cool undertone. A colour like this is a must have for polish fanatics! I simply love polishes like this, and I personally like to wear this one when I'm in the mood for something simple but pretty. 

As (pretty much) always with Essie, the quality and formula of this polish was great, and I don't have much else to say about it. It applied smooth like butter and I only needed two coats for full opacity. I also wore it for several days without even a minor chip. I'm very happy with this polish and I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for a pink shade like this one.

I got a Helmer!

Well, I've already had it for a few weeks now, but I think it deserves a blog post!

My collection keeps growing steadily, and a while back I realized I was running out of room to put them. When my stash was still small, I kept them all in a basket, and my nail supplies in a box. Once my basket was full, I cleared out the drawers of my desk and put plastic containers with my nail polishes and nail art things. But soon enough, I noticed this was getting too full as well.

There isn't an IKEA near here, and I rarely go to the one that is closest to me, but my timing was lucky. My sister and her boyfriend are moving to a new house and had to make a trip to the IKEA to get some things, and she brought back a Helmer for me!

I originally wanted to get the white Helmer because most of my other furniture is white as well, but there weren't any white ones left so I got a gray one instead, which also looks very nice. It didn't take long to put together and it fits perfectly under my computer desk. I was hoping for that, since that's where I usually do my nails! So now I always have my stash right next to me. :D

In the top drawer, I put my favourite brands and the brands I use most often. This includes Essie, Essence, Catrice and NYC. It's almost full, there's still a bit of space left in the back that I'll be using for more Essence  or NYC polishes once I get them (I'm on a bit of a no-buy for a while!)

The second drawer is a mix and match of a bunch of different brands including China Glaze, Revlon, Golden Rose, Diamond Cosmetics, Stargazer, Wet 'n Wild and others. As you can see, my stash is mostly dominated by Essence and Catrice, because I don't have much of other brands, haha... hopefully that will change!

In the bottom drawer, I have nail art supplies! The plastic containers I used for storing my polishes before turned out to be a perfect fit for my Helmer. In the blue one I have my stamping supplies, crackle toppers, special top coats, my magnets and the tape I use for my taped manicures. And finally, in the purple one I keep my nail wheels, dotting tools, nail stickers, striping tape, rhinestones and loose glitter. I also have some things in the drawer above this one, but it's not much - just the stripers that I got a while back.

I'm very happy with my Helmer! My things are easily accesible and I have a lot of empty space that is waiting to be filled with more pretty polishes. I don't know how I've lived without it for so long, lol.

How do you store your own stash?