Saturday Swatches

Every Saturday Occasionally, on Saturdays,, I'm posting manis, swatches and other assorted nail-related pictures taken during the week recently, that didn't make it into a post of their own. If there's some polish here you're particularly interested in, drop me a line and I'll write a more detailed review about it.

Color Club - Coral Cascade / 3 coats + TC

Note: I'm not 100% sure this is Coral Cascade, because it was from a mislabelled set and there is no number or name on the bottle itself. Other blogs seem to agree on it being Coral Cascade though.


China Glaze - Cowgirl Up / 2 coats + TC



China Glaze - Cowgirl Up / 2 coats
Essence Dance Topcoat - Waking up in Vegas

Color Club & Douglas Absolute Nails Reviews

First of all, it seems I acquired my first readers *excited*  A very warm welcome to you and I hope very much you enjoy this little blog!

I haven't posted much this week because I was wrapped up in writing a term paper. Finally finished it yesterday! You have no idea just how relieved I am. Unfortunately, exams start in just over a week, so no rest for the wicked.
Nevertheless I had time to do my nails, twice even. I only had a few moments for pictures however, so there's only one for the first polish and none for the second.

The first polish I want to present today is from Color Club's 2011 autumn collection Back to Boho. I posted about finding one of the sets at TK Maxx and I decided to try the one that immediately stood out:

This beauty is Color Club 922 Nouveau Vintage. It's got a dark brown-red base and is filled with densely packed green/copper shimmer.

Price & availability: Limited unfortunately, but I've seen it on ebay. No idea if you can still get it elsewhere and what it would cost.

Formula & application: The formula is a dream - definitely not too thick for me - despite the dense shimmer. The first coat is very streaky, the second makes it perfect. I'd say the final result looks like a foil.

Wear & tear: lasted for 5 days with only some tipwear, even though I did unspeakable things to it.

The best of it is the colour however. Depending on the light it takes on a variety of colours between olive green, bronze, copper, brown with shimmer, antique gold and probably a bunch more. By playing around with matte topcoats or a bit of polish remover, the colour can be transformed into something else again. Very versatile! Unfortunately, I neither had time nor light to capture it's beauty, this was the best I could manage:

1 coat of P2 Perfect Nail Hardener
2 coats of Color Club 922 Nouveai Vintage
1 coat of Essie Good to Go
Ringfinger: P2 Matte Victim Topcoat

My second review is going to be quick, as I have no pictures to show. I replaced Nouveau Vintage with Sara by Douglas Absolute Nails:

This is a white with fine golden shimmer. In the bottle it looks very delicate and feminine, unfortunately I didn't like it at all. White definitely does not suit me. I wore it only for a day and then used it as a base for watermarbling experiments. (I'm getting there! Maybe next time I'll have something worth showing!)

Price & availability: 4,95€ in a Doulgas store or online shop.

Formula & application: The formula was a pain. It's quite thin and watery and I felt like I needed crazy precision skills to apply it. The first coat was very streaky and sheer, the second was less streaky but still sheer, the third was mostly smooth... and still not fully opaque. That was 3 thin coats. Three thicker coats were opaque, but looked, well, thick. I don't like bulky nails. I think a bit of sheerness was nice, but unfortunately this meant more visible streaks. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with this.

Wear & tear: I wore it for less than two days. On the first I got a small chip and something that might have been tipwear and might have been shrinkage, not sure. Oh and it turned slightly yellowish on the tips of a few nails.

On the whole - not my colour, not my polish. I hope the other two Douglas polishes I have fare better.

Shopping mania

Naturally, besides work and uni, I'm busily spending my hard-earned money. Instead of saving it like a good girl. I need to find some way to get a grip on my (mild, I swear!) shopping addiction. Not having any ready money to spend is a good temporary deterrent, but not a solution.
I tried withdrawing only the small amounts I need for the cantine and such. Didn't work. I tried leaving my cards at home. Didn't work. Any suggestions?

Anyway way. Stuff I bought. Much more interesting topic.

On Saturday, while still enamoured with shiny flakies and sparkles I went to look for a very deep dark blue, creme or with minimal shimmer and to sound out the duochrome options in the regular shops before I turn to ordering online (very unsatisfactory).

I ended up getting Lara from Douglas Absolute Nails (11ml for 4,95€), a very dark royal blue with blue shimmer. I have read so many conflicting opinions about Douglas's polishes, I decided to give them another try. It was also the only polish in the colour I was looking for that didn't cost 10€+, so my decision was easy. Still, I now have three and I'm going leave it at that until I've tried them myself properly.

And since I was in a blue mood, I also grabbed the Anny mini-set Blue Ocean - Miami Beach (3 x 6ml for 9,95€). I think it was a limited edition available last summer, one of the Douglas shops in Bonn still has a bunch, together with the similar autumn trio Havana Meets Miami (I was tempted, but ultimately they're not my colours).

And yesterday, I just happened to pass a TK Maxx... *cough* My first Color Club polishes! The brand is not available in Germany, so I was very happy to find it. Apart from this set from the Back to Boho Collection, there were also some sets from the Foiled and the All About French Collections, all for just 9€. I've no idea, what the regular price for these is, but at 1,50€ (I'm not counting the top-coat) per bottle, I can't complain.

I also saw 3 different and somewhat randomly combined sets of OPI polishes, apparently from some Texas themed collection. I was very tempted but... reason won. Especially since I always only liked one of the two polishes in all three sets.

I'm not going to hurry with swatches of these, since they are all from past collections. They'll have to wait until I order more nail tips. Looks like I'll need to get 2 packs at once, with the backlog I'm building...