Essie - Dive Bar

I have returned from Oslo, Norway. And I have brought back with me a bottle of Essie nail polish, which was given to me. Also happens to be my first experience with and polish of the brand.
It's Essie's '90 - Dive Bar'.

I think it's an absolutely stunning colour. I wouldn't classify it as a very strong duochrome out of bottle but the green can have that purple-y edge to it in the right light.

The manicure had been on my nails for a few days (nails polished in Norway, pictures taken back home) so it's seen a bit of wear and tear but it doesn't really detract from the colour.
It's fairly dark, which I usually feel suits the colder months better, but the shimmer makes it work in sunnier weather just as well.
The polish applies very nicely, covering nicely in two coats, although one would probably suffice for shorter nails.

Eat the Rude.

I'm sure most have now heard about and possibly seen NBC's new 'Hannibal' show. The first season's nearly over, and I have to admit I wasn't hooked from the get go. A few episodes ago, though, it seems like something clicked with me and now I'm sad I'll have to wait for the next season for so long.
I tend to follow up my fancies with nail art, so Hannibal is no different.

I stopped layering this red (Rimmel - 035 Wine Not) so it wouldn't be a completely opaque shade. The effect won't come across in the picture, but I like the subtle changes it makes in the shade when the light hits it differently, making it reminiscent of liquid. (Blood or wine is anyone's guess.) Bottom polish is YSL 141, which is probably my favourite silver. And obviously it's another half rhombus mani because it suits the theme and not because I am just obsessed with them. Obviously.

And now the more clearly Hannibal part of the nails -

Swiggity swag, I'm a stag.

Black is the Koh polish of the same name, and the antlers are acrylic paint.

Galaxy.

A lover of space since a young age, I got really excited when I saw galaxy nails for the first time. And then I also saw a lot of .. erm, less than great looking examples of the trend, and I became a little weary. However, I found it time to take the leap and simply try.

Some reference..

Polishes used (left to right):
Wild & More 109
Catrice - 840 - Genius in the Bottle
Catrice - 31 - Even More Heavy Metallilac
Essence - 43 - Where Is The Party?
Hema - French Manicure striper
Hema - 10
Koh - Midnight Blue
Koh - Black
YSL - No35

Left.

Right.

I was getting along relatively well, sponging away with my various colours and dotting the stars. And then I'd finished and.. put glitter on top. In retrospect, the glitter was a mistake. I had seen glitter work really well in galaxy nails by other people, but my glitter is FAR too green and there's just too much of it. So I wish I hadn't done that.
Will have to repeat sometime, with a less dense glitter, or going without altogether.

Garfield.

I just enjoy the challenge in nail art of painting characters on one's fingernails. It's far from perfect but though hard to do, they are fun.
Base colour is Catrice's '240 Sold Out Forever', which I've strangely never used before even though I own two bottles. Garfield and his tail were done entirely in acrylic paints.

Diamond in..

"Diamond in the rough", get it? Because the bottle says.. nevermind.

One from Essence's 'Floral Grunge' LE, '05 Black to the Roots'. A not-truly-black-but-more-really-dark-gray with little silver shinies spread throughout that (unless tampered with) has a .. something between matt and 'regular' finish.
I didn't like the finish the polish itself had, so I covered most nails in regular top coat and did my ring fingers in matt. I didn't really like the application of the polish either. Dubious coverage and it took more than usual doing to get it on properly. Not one I'll quickly use again, I'm afraid.
I would've liked to do a neater half-moon mani, but the unpleasant application of the polish kind of made me throw the towel in. Meh.

Lilac Fever.

 My previous mani left me wanting to experiment some more with sponging and gradient techniques. How could I not try to combine it with my other favourite style of nail art? 'Half rhombus' style counting 6 now.

I thought it'd be nice to try this with shades of purple but.. I don't know, it gives off a bit of a '14-year-old-girl' vibe in my opinion. I think the lilac shade is to blame. Oh well. I quite like the result of the experiment anyway - pretty much what I had in mind! And slapped on some rhinestones because I just have too many of those.

  

Essence, Crazy About Colour, '02 Lilac Forever' 

&

Herôme W.I.C. 'Dakar 107'

Good Riddance.

Polishing your nails is the fun part. Removing it.. less so. I now have three nail polish removal products in my possession, and I thought I'd write up a little article on how I find each method.

• Ol' trusty bottled nail polish remover. In this case, Kruidvat's own brand, acetone free.
• 'Quick & Easy' nail polish remover. Also Kruidvat, but other brands carry the same system as well. Acetone free.
• Herôme nail polish remover pads, also acetone free.
  

   

  Bottled nail polish remover

   

Everybody's used it, I don't have much to say. Reliable in that there's not much that can go wrong, annoying in that you need the added product of cotton pads. With sufficient rubbing it gets the polish off. Can leave residue in the cuticle a bit.

 

'Quick & Easy' nail polish remover

I honestly had no real idea what to expect with this product. It seemed a little gimmicky to me so I was skeptical. I'm always reluctant to trust products that claim to be quick and/or easy. Still, worth a try, right?

I was very pleasantly surprised about the product.

Simply put, you stick your finger in there, and swoosh it around in the moist cushiony thing. Take it out, voila, nail polish gone. And your finger smells somewhat floral. It really works very well. No polish in the cuticle and no excess garbage in the form of cotton pads or whatever!

Nail polish remover pads

Herôme's nail polish remover pads; 30 thin little pads in a plastic box. Works in essentially the same way as the bottled nail polish remover except the remover is already in the pads. This much was obvious.

I'd also used these before so I had some bias. I'm just not a fan of them. It takes longer than bottled nail polish remover to get the nail clean, and I hate that it leaves your fingers so oily. Now, I for one, hate my fingers being icky. They eventually get your nails clean, but I've yet to be able to do an entire hand because I don't like the texture and oiliness of the pads. I tend to just use them for finger-clean up.