Swiss Bank in London Nails

This post and manicure is dedicated to my dear Swiss friends Christine from Polished Marvels and Natalia from Polished Polyglot. Why? They are Swiss and this manicure is inspired by the spectacular Swiss Bank building in London. It looks like checkered lipstick if you haven't seen it ;)

I hope you like my Swiss tribute ladies! ;)

The base is IsaDora Pool Crush and then I've stamped on a pattern from MoYou London Tourist Collection-05, which of course is the London plate :) Polished used is Essie Blue Rhapsody.

How do you like this manicure?

Isadora Pool Crush - swatches and review

Let's start the week with a golden oldie ;) This is the pretty Pool Crush from IsaDora. A lovely blue textured polish. This is two coats.

Today is also my cat Smilla's birthday! 11 years today! Hurray for her!! :D

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Textured.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: Very good. Easy to control. Dries pretty fast.

Brush: Very wide straight cut brush.

Top Coat: No.

Grade: 4/5

How do you like Pool Crush?

Textured Gradient Nails

For this Green Wednesday I've got a textured gradient in silver and turquoise for you!

The base is Isadora's fantastic Turquoise Crush! I keep coming back to this gorgeous polish time after time! Then I've sponged on another great Swedish textured polish, this time from Depend and their Rough Sparkles Collection released last summer. This is #2066.

I think the result is great! The gradient was best captured in a laid back angle hence the new hand position photos ;)

How do you like this manicure?

Have you tried textured gradients?

Isadora Turquoise Crush - swatches and review

I can't believe it Green Wednesday again! I'm so busy at the moment so I guess that's why the time's passing so quickly. Both good and bad ;)

I also want to take the opportunity to thank all of you who read and comment on all my blog posts! You know who you are! :) Your comments mean the world to me and I'm so sorry I don't have the time to do the same for you! My life is crazy busy right now, both private and work wise, but I do read your blogs! Bare with me please, I hope I will have more time in a few months!

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Textured.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: Excellent formula! So easy to apply!

Brush: Very wide straight cut brush.

Top Coat: No. 

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. 

Grade: 4+/5

This is a fantastic textured polish! Great color and great qualities! It lacks that extra punch to get a 5 but it's very close ;)

How do you like Turquise Crush?

Isadora Chameleon Crush - swatches and review

I don't know why but I've waited like forever to try this polish. But now I have and oh boy what a stunning textured beauty! It's really hard to capture it's beauty and my pictures don't do it justice. If you look at the out of focus nails you can get a hint of its beauty though ;)

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Textured.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: Very easy to control but it dried a bit slow (this could be partly due to my old glue-y base coat).

Brush: Very wide and slightly rounded.

Top Coat: No.

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. Much more glittery live.

Grade: 4/5

I love the idea of loads of gold glitter in a purple base but this polish looks just plain dark gold in most lightings. Pretty yes, but I'd love to see at bit more of the purple, hence the grade ;)

How do you like Chameleon Crush?
Are you tired of the textured trend yet?

Fireworks Nails

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Travel" and this manicure is inspired by a journey I did quite a few years ago to Loire in France. It was a company thing and the weekend was amazing!

One of the things we did was to have a medieval party with costumes, jugglers, magicians etc at an old castle. It was great fun and the evening was ended with a huge firework at midnight.

I will not lie and say this manicure was an easy ride ;) It took me a about two hours actually but it was so worth it and this was actually my new years eve manicure :D

The base is Illamasqua Scorn and then I've stamped a pattern from Bundle Monster BM-202 with a silver polish from Depend, #223. After that I've carefully filled in the middle of the silver patches with three different textured glitter polishes, Isadora Love Crush (red), Isadora Turquoise Crush and Barry M Majesty (gold). To finish the whole thing off I've added a thin coat of INM Northern Lights Holo Top Coat Silver for that extra sparkle.

Here's what it looks like without a holo top coat.

I was very pleased with the result :)

How do you like it?

Do you like it best with or without the holo top coat?

(Jingle) Bells Nails

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Christmas". I decided to interpret one of my favorite christmas songs - Jingle Bells. I don't think I need to explain this interpretation ;) lol! It's quite literal.

The base is a dark green cream I bought on sale at Gina Tricot last year. It's called Forest Night. The bells are a pattern from Bundle Monster plate BM-223 and the gold/copper polish used is Essence Steel-ing the Scene. The red ribbons are made with a thin brush and Isadora Love Crush.

I think I could have done a better job but I like the idea. Hope you do too! :)

How do you like my (jingle) bells nails?

Which is your favorite xmas song?

Isadora Fall Sugar Crush Skittle

Today I've got a skittle for you with almost all polishes from Isadora's Sugar Crush Collection for Fall 2013. The only one missing is Wine Crush but that one was included in yesterdays post.

In this textured skittle I've done two coats of each polish. That was enough for full coverage. They were touch dry in about 15 minutes.

Thumb - Black Crush

Pointer - Emerald Crush

Middle - Chameleon Crush

Ring - Metal Crush

Pinkie - Gold Crush

My favorite is Chameleon Crush. I love the large contrast between lilac and gold.

Which Crush is your favorite?

Comparison Isadora Wine Crush and Kicks Black Diamond

Recently two Swedish nail polish brands released a similar textured shade - a glittery maroon. Isadora released their Wine Crush and Kicks their Black Diamond. I wanted to see how similar they were so I did a comparison.

In the bottles they are very similar. A maroon base with loads of gold glitters.

On the nails you can actually see a tiny difference. Isadora's Wine Crush has a tiny bit darker base but they both have the same amount of red and gold glitters. The bases are actually dark purples but the glitters make them look maroon.

In my pictures I wear two coats of each and drying time is about the same for both of them, about 15 minutes for touch dryness.

The price is 79 SEK for each, but Isadora holds only 6 ml whereas Kicks holds 10 ml.

The wide brush is better on Isadora Wine Crush but Kicks Black Diamond holds more polish for the same money and has a smaller cap underneath the big one which is more comfortable to grip than the Isadora cap.

In my opinion they are so similar that you don't need both. However, they are not dupes either. Based on my comparison my choice is Kicks Black Diamond :)

Middle finger and pinkie - Kicks Black Diamond

Pointer and ring finger - Isadora Wine Crush

Isadora to the left, Kicks to the right

Which one of these two would you prefer?

Comparison Isadora Love Crush and Depend #2061 Poppy

A while ago when I showed you Isadora Love Crush I promised to show you a cheaper alternative. Many of you probably knew which polish I meant and here it is - Depend #2061 Poppy! A perfect dupe as far as I can see! And cheaper ;) Almost half price. And don't be fooled by the bottles sizes. There's only a 1 ml (0.03 fl oz) difference between them.

This is two coats of each polish. Isadora on middle finger and pinkie. Depend on pointer finger and ring finger. Can you see any difference? ;)

Isn't my Geranium lovely too? :)

Do you think these are perfect dupes?

Or do you have a favorite? :)

Circuit Board Nails

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday was a bit tricky in my opinion... ;) The theme is "Circuit Board" and I was a bit puzzled for a while but then I decided to take the easy way out and do - circuit board nails! :D

The base is a great green polish from Catrice called "I'm Not a Greenager".

Circuit Boards ;)

I used the following polishes: (from left to right)

Catrice I'm Not a Greenager

Barry M Matte White

Isadora Bronzing Gold

Barry M White Nail Art Pen

After applying the green base I did the white dots with a dotting tool. Then I connected the dots with the nail art pen. Finally I did a bronze dot in each white dot to get that metal feeling to it. One coat of Seche Vite to seal the manicure. Done!

How do you like my circuit board nails?

Comparison textured polishes

Today I've got a comparison of four different textured brands for you. I'm comparing Orly, OPI, Isadora and Barry M.

These are today's stars:

From left to right:

Orly Aqua Pixel

OPI Get Your Number

Isadora Sky Crush

Barry M Atlantic Road

Without top coat

With one coat of top coat

Number of coats: 
Two on all except OPI which has three coats. One coat could actually be enough for Orly.

Texture:
Isadora has the most rough surface, tightly followed by OPI and Orly. Barry M doesn't feel textured at all, more like it's dust in it.

Sparkle: 
Orly is the sparkliest. Isadora is on second place and OPI is quite sparkly and has holo in it. Barry M has no sparkle at all.

Drying time:
Isadora is no doubt the fastest, about 10-15 minutes. Barry M is on second place with approx 30 minutes. OPI and Orly took 40-45 minutes to dry.

Removal: 
Orly and OPI was fairly easy to remove. Barry M wasn't that hard either. Isadora was the less easy to remove. Note! No one of these polishes was very hard to remove. No need for the foil method. :)

With one coat of a top coat:
Orly and Isadora looked pretty much the same with a top coat and Isadora was still very rough. Barry M looks like an ordinary cream polish when you add a top coat. OPI on the other hand turns into a fantastic polish with gorgeous depth and shine! A great difference and a great improvement if you ask me! :)

Summary:
In my opinion Isadora is the winner here. Beautiful, sparkly, fast drying. I don't mind that I have to work slightly harder during the removal when I get the other qualities ;)
Runner up is Orly which could be a one coater, has an amazing shine and texture and is easy to remove. The only downside is the long drying time.
OPI is only beautiful with a top coat in my opinion and Barry M's "textured" polish is a pure joke.

Which one is your winner? :)

PS. I have not taken the prices of the polishes in consideration here.

Isadora Love Crush - swatches and review

This glittery textured polish is so beautiful that my heart almost melts! The micro gold glitter in it makes it glitter like crazy in the sun. Swedish Isadora has really done a great job with this one!

It's also amazing with a top coat!

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Textured.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: Excellent! Super easy to control and it dries very fast for a textured polish.

Brush: Excellent! Nice and wide!

Top Coat: No. Except for the last picture ;)

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. The gold glitter is more visible live though.

Grade: 5/5

This textured beauty has it all really! Wonderful formula, great brush, fast drying and easy removal! And it's really beautiful too! :D The only downside is the price. 79 SEK (£8 or $12) for 6 ml (0,2 Fl oz) is a bit hefty in my opinion. I will show you a much better alternative shortly! An almost perfect dupe to half this price :)
I also find it very annoying that the little sticker on the cap is curling up all the time! Yeah, huuuuge problem I know! ;) Still annoying though :P

How do you like Love Crush?
Do you prefer it with or without a top coat?

3D Textured Star Nails - swatches

Besides the Vintage Challenge I'm also doing the "Step Into Summer Challenge" created by the Hobby Polish Bloggers. Today it's time for the challenge named "3D".

I guess you can interpret 3D in many ways but I chose to interpret it with textured polishes and some fimo stars :)

The purple polish is Blue Bell #2064 from Swedish Depend's Limited Collection "Rough Sparkles". The blue French tips are made with Isadora's Pool Crush. The fimo stars are bought at Top Shop in London.

The stars are attached with one coat of Seche Vite and that gives you a chance to see the textured polishes glossy. They get so glittery!!

How do you like my textured star nails?

This is what the other lovely ladies are doing:

Isadora Sky Crush - swatches and review

I've been loathing textured polishes ever since they were released starting with the OPI Liquid Sand polishes. But when Swedish Isadora recently released their Sugar Crush Collection I was completely smitten! They are super textured and that is what I like most about them! There are no half measures here so to speak ;)

To me this polish is the gem of the this collection! It consists of light blue and silver micro glitter and larger round silver glitters and it's really matte but still super shiny and super glittery!! I loooooove it!

This is two totally effortless coats and even though I've been working like mad for two days (as a florist so a lot of hand on work) it hasn't chipped at all and I don't even have tip wear!! Amazing!!

Sorry for the picture spam but I had to! :)

GOOD TO KNOW ABOUT SKY CRUSH:

Type of polish: Textured.

Colour: Pale sky blue and silver micro glitters and larger round silver glitters.

Collection: Isadora Sugar Crush Collection Summer 2013.

Opacity: Very good! This is two coats.

Formula: Excellent! It's super easy to control. Dries fast too!

Brush: Excellent! Wide and firm. Just how I like them!

Shine: No top coat in these pictures. Goes without saying! ;)

Accurate colour, photo vs IRL: Accurate! But even more gorgeous irl! It's so shiny and glittery irl! My pictures don't do it justice!

Grade: 5+++++++++++++++/5 :D

This polish is a really show stopper! I don't think I've ever gotten so many compliments from both friends. colleagues and customers! :D I normally think Isadora is too pricey but this time it was worth every penny!

I have a comparison of different textured brands lined up for you shortly - so stay tuned! ;)

How do you like Sky Crush?

Do you like extreme close-ups like the last picture? Include or exclude? :)