Terrana & Paradisio.

My Chanel polishes had previously only been used for some detail work, so I thought it was about time I wore them on their own, too.

'Is that a Christmas tree? When did you wear this exactly?' Shhhh, you.

Terrana is a nice earthy brown, and I really like this shade. It's quite unlike any other brown I own. It has a subtle, non-overwhelming shimmer and applies just fine.

Of course, the green is my favourite of the two. It has a bit of a mother-of-pearl-y consistency which makes it a little on the sheer side, but it has such a strong shine to it that you don't really see the nail through it all that much, and subsequently it didn't bother me. Hurray! I used two coats.

House Pride.

Recently I found myself in a bit of a reading rut so I went back to Harry Potter. In this case, The Prizoner of Azkaban. On top of that, a friend had recently sent me that Ravenclaw sticker and I wanted to do something in theme with it! I went for the book House colours of blue and bronze rather than the blue and grey of the films. That said, I had a hard time finding anything properly bronze in my collection. The browns didn't quite cut it, and this one literally has copper in its name. Oh well, close enough. Tape used for the design, as per usual!

Blue is Koh's '130 Midnight Blue'. The word I'd use to describe it is brilliant - it is just so stunning and sparkly in the sun. My bronze substitute is an Essence polish from the Metallics collection from 2010 (oh my god, I've had this for 6 years?!) '02 Cooper Rulez!'.
Yikes, 'rulez'. Going to erase that from my memory now.

Melange.

Left: 100 Top coat
Right: 560 Spice Age

I'd like to think I have a healthy skepticism towards things that seem gimmicky. Often enough, they don't deliver on their promises.

I had similar hesitations about Sally Hansen's 'Miracle Gel', no-lamp-needed shtick. (I think the word 'Miracle' sets off my cynicism, to be honest.)

I was actually really satisfied with the results!

The post title is a reference to Frank Herbert's 'Dune' because of the nailpolish name. Spice. Geddit.

I had a hard time getting a clear picture, and this one doesn't show the nice shimmer as well so you'll just have to take my word for it. For not-wanting-to-start-over's sake, I let each coat dry for a considerable amount of time out of fear for ruining the curing process somehow. It took a little time, but it was hard as the proverbial rock and didn't chip or scratch the entire time I wore it. When I took it off a couple days later, it still looked freshly done, so colour me impressed on this one!

Shimmery Send-off.

(If you don't know, these are 'oliebollen', a traditional Dutch new year's snack thing.)

Here we are, arrived on the last day of the year, and the sun briefly came out to play to allow me to take pictures of what will be the last nail polish I wear in 2015. Thank you kindly, sun.
On that note, my blog-related new year's resolution is to write less about the darn weather. Will I be able to? We will see.

Anywho, I don't particularly enjoy New Year's Eve festivities but for the hell of it still chose a polish with a bit of sparkle to it, to end things on a fun note.

This Miss Sporty polish, only given the number '420' (insert 'blaze it' joke of choice here) is a nice cool grey, livened up with multicoloured shimmer.

Everyone have a wonderful 2016 ♥

Green Marble.

It is my goal to stubbornly keep attempting the occasional water marble nail art until one day I might actually be able to pull them off with only a minimum of frustration! Still going for the darker, autumny colours, though my fellow nail bloggers make me feel like I should be on the Christmas train at this point.

Colours used are Dior, '605 Amazonia' and Catrice '670 It's Rambo No. 5'. The latter of which I've since given to my sister because in the many years I've owned it it has been used.. maybe twice.

Elderberry (not so) Matte

Though it might be the season to be jolly, it is absolutely not so for nail photography. At best, natural light is bleak and grey, at worst, there's none whatsoever when the clouds are dark and the rain is pouring. But before I start waxing poetic even further, I'll get to the nail polish, shall I?

It's a Pieces polish by the name of 'Elderberry Matte', and though I suppose the Elderberry part is all well and good, I don't feel like the finish of this one is all that matte. (Say that five times fast!) Since it's not that matte and unfortunately a little on the streaky side, it definitely needed a topcoat to try and even it out a bit.
Alas, as lighting conditions were not working out in my favour, the photo with top coat turned out somewhat on the grainy side. Streakiness aside, the colour both applied and lasted well.

Frankfurt.

Now that I'm wearing it, I can't believe I let this stunning blue be an untried for so long. It has such a deep richness and vibrancy to it, somehow. It's Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Frankfurt 120'. I can fairly safely say it has instantly become my favourite dark blue.

Still, lovely as it is on its own I wanted to add a little something extra. This little design is from Konad plate m15 and the colour is actually a nail art striper by Max called 'Grey Galaxy'. As you can probably see by the slightly awkward placement, I'm out of practice with stamping. This was the second attempt. Yikes.