a field of radishes and counting my blessings !

Hello dear readers (my, my, my... I am speaking to myself , nobody's here anymore...)

I had a no-blogging month due to some perturbations in December 2010. Hurray, it's over, let's embrace 2011. And what not to love in 2011 when you receive THAT !!!???

I won a give away (really weird, I never win anything, it's like a rule in my life !!!). But let me say something, when I win, I win BIG TIME . I had a hard time trying to make everything fit in the photo !

Stickers for the nails : I have a weakness in the knee for the "Camée" in the right. Have you ever seen such delicate and girly stickers ? I will feel like Keira Knightley in Pride and Prejudice whith those on my nails !

Then there is this amazing palette from Sephora , all sleek and compact ! But I am a tough cookie , I though : humph the pay off of the e/s must be poor (I am not a big fan of palettes). OH, dear palette, let me apologize sincerely : those swatches were made of 1 swipe and no primer...Holly molly !!!

Now, meet my new babies ! Look at that blue, that dark plum, this mushroom color : I must have died and went directly to heaven...I want to paint every single nails I have on my body a different color just to test them out !

Now here is the problem : meet my radish nails aka false nails....bouhou ! Because of me being sick all December long (told you December was crappish...), my nails broke painfully on a regular basis. As I had a voucher for a salon (courtesy of my latter employer) I decided to have my natural nails covered with gel to prevent the breaking...Only to remember, once I have the radish nails on , why I hate false nails : because they look SO false (yeah I am that intuitive in real life !)

So I guess I am stuck with a field of radishes at the end of my fingers for a month or so ...I need to have my natural nails protected for a while. I am starting the multi-vitamins thing to help them grow stronger and then bye bye radishes !

This fabulous color called : Chocolat irisé (foiled chocolate in English I guess) was offered by the sweet Lily along with all the goodies mentionned before. I say sweet because she added candies from my childhood in the package (not shown in pics cause already eaten !). If you like nail varnishes, just go and subscribe to her blog : I think she has swatches on every existing nail polish available on earth....

Dear Lily, would you marry me ?

Caro-radish lady xxx

Swatch : Zoya Isabel

Those pictures were taken outside. I found this was the best way to capture the "redness" of this polish! It looked darker in the bottle than it is in reality. At the beginning, that annoyed me a little bit until I looked at my hands in the sun...BAM ! glittery, gorgeous nails appeared from nowhere ...
I first bought this color because I thought it would be a nice red to wear at work...But I am not sure it's office appropriate finally....What do you think ? Red shoes are hot with a black suit. Is it working the same for nail polishes ? ... May be I'll look like a Xmas tree in April (Funny but tempting !...)

Have a nice Sunday

Caro xxx

Konad experiment : Zoya jane in the clouds !

So this is my 4th attempt to Konad ...not convinced yet as the clouds and rain seems to get smudged and not as precised as I would wish them to be...At first I thought those approximations were caused by the use of other nail polishes than the ones that are meant to be used with the plates! But on this one I painted with the Konad nail varnish and still, the details are not flawless. SIGH !

Now I wish you could bow with respect for my work to show you the plates and varnish that I used. It nearly gave me a stroke to take that work of art !!!!

Have a nice Easter week end and eat chocolate...

Caro xxx

NOTD : Jane from Zoya

So, if you follow my blog, you know that I am under a strange spell. Let me explain for those who just subscribed (welcome in my blog!): from time to time after wearing nail polish, I swell ....eyelids , lips and then I peel...like crazy. Absolutely yummy, I must say. So after doing a little research, I found that Zoya could be an option for me : less chemical atrocity, it seems in those little bottles. So the adventurous side of me went to chase those little gems. My wallet is more efficient than a GPS to find things to buy so I ended up getting 3 Zoyas and here is the first one : Jane.

Jane is a lovely milky color. It disappointed me a little bit as I asked the saleswoman if you can build the color and have opacity and she answered : Yes, ma'am. We probably don't have the same version of opacity because after 3 coats, I can see through it ! Next time , I'll try a matte white underneath. On an other hand, this color is very pretty: This Jane girl was probably an english flower : pale porcelain skin, pearls around the neck. So her polish is classy and very office appropriate. I'll think I'll spice it up tomorrow with a Konad. What do you think about blue clouds ?

Have a nice day !

Caro xxx

Give away from nailjunkie : drooling !

here is the link :
http://www.nailjunkie.com/my-first-giveaway/

Oh my , oh my ! So many stuff I want to try ....Argh ! I never win anything ....But I discovered a blog that seems to be pretty addictive (yeah !)

Caro xxx

Essie Mint Candy Apple : pastel nails again !

So let's say I am on a nail phase at the moment ! Pastel nails if precision is needed ...The photo make the color a little less intense than in reality. Pastel, yes, but it makes a statement on a hand. Funny though, I thought pastel nails would look really wearable and discrete. I guess I was wrong but i like it (not being wrong mouhahaha, I just like to be surprised by the splash of color !)

Then, I think I found the good length for my nails now and the care I take of my cuticles seems to show. Hourah !

I still find that those pastels colors are hardcore to apply but I am a newbie to this new sport so I guess I am just clumsy ....

Have a nice sunday

Caro xxx

Essie Lilacism : Art of spring collection (2010)

Spring trend is all about pastel colors for the nails...I didn't own any pastel color to fit this trend so I couldn't resist when I find this little cute package from Essie with 4 tempting shades ! Did I read reviews on how sheer were the Essie nail polishes, did I read the warnings about how dreadful it was to apply ??? Like Amy would sing : No, NO, NO....
Oh MY, what a nightmare to apply ! It's streaky, it's to sheer. On the photo I wear 3 coats and I would probably have needed a 4th one ...Really ? Yes, really !
Nonetheless I ADORE this color, I 've been watching my nails all evening long smiling like crazy ....

SO let's get to the point, it's a pain to apply but who cares when the result is so AMAZING ?

Caro xxx

Revlon Midnight affair : navy blue on my nails

I want this one to work so much because I fear a black polish and I found that navy blue was easier to wear. But this one is so hard to work with : 1 coat is sheer and 2 coats take eternity to dry. I let the 2nd coat sit for a while (more than 30 min ) and as it looked dull, I wanted to add megashine from Sally Hansen. Eeeek, as you can see there is sort of a dent in my ring finger and it seems to be diluted by the Top coat.

I kept it for 3 days though, but I am not convinced .... I saw an Illamasqua one on the blog of short and sweet nails (see side bar for link : awesome blog !) and it looks so much better. Probably not the same price range though ;-))))

Have a good day (I am working night today, bouhou so I need to nap instead of blogging )

Caro xxx

NOTD : Plum attraction from Revlon

I am so terrible at applying nail varnish ....But anyway, here is my favorite nail polish ever : Plum attraction from Revlon (762). It is my third bottle...it is my everyday color on my nail cause even though it's dark, it is very office-appropriate (I think !). It is easy to apply (2 coats are enough) and the streaks you see are my fault (I put the top coat when the 2nd coat was not already dry....sigh : patience is NOT my 1st quality !)

Nails : rechallenge !

So I discovered once a teen that I had allergy to nail polish. That stated, the allergologist (is that even an existing word ???) told me to stay away from glittery nailpolishes but I would be OK if I'd stick to creamy colors....

But a few weeks ago, it seems that my allergy stroke again (bouhou) so I can wear polish in the day but I need to remove it as soon as I come back from work because if I sleep in my nail polish I wake up with Angelina Jolie lips and froggy eyes ;-0

In fact, the beautiful Clara is responsible with my nail frenzy as she is always publishing amazing NOTD (nails of the day). As she is not only talented for nails but for LOTD too, I wanted to copy her NY's eve look and I found that this nail polish was on point to fit with the eye look

The nailpolish here is Secret from NYX which sadly looks awesome in the bottle but not that beautiful on the nails....

It has kind of a burgundy shimmer in the bottle that doesn't stand out on the nails. Plus you absolutely need to put on 3 layers and as it's thick it takes ages to dry... That said, I like the color though even if it's not what I expected

I put the link to the gorgeous Clara's blog :

http://claralikesguts.blogspot.com/2010/01/new-years-look.html