Konad (Fauxnad) haul from Hong Kong

You can click all pics in this post to enlarge them.

Check out this awesome fake Konad (Fauxnad) haul from ebay seller beauties_factory. I got a nail stamping machine (useless, I think I broke it already):

Notice where it says: "Give You A Creation Of Freedom And Great Satisfaction!"? I think that sounds pretty hot.

The kit included 6 image plates (including the famous Hello Kitty plate):

and 7 polishes (one of them is clear so it's probably a top coat):


Notice that the text on the polishes say: "NAIL COLORS MACHINE - Specify of the Nail Polish". That's gotta mean it's good! The box also says: "Nail colored drawing machine - Appropriative nail polish". Does it get any more awesome than that? I don't think so.

There is also an instruction booklet. If you enjoyed the above quotes, you WILL love it. All of that for £8.99.

I also got 10 image plates for £7.99:

Before you run out to ebay to buy this wonderful kit, a word of warning: I've heard about other people who bought the stamping set, but didn't recieve the Hello Kitty plate and had to go through paypal to get it. I can understand why conversation might be a little difficult. This is the e-mail I got from ebay after winning the auctions (click to enlarge):

I was pretty much like ?????????

NOTD: Konad fail with Zoya Pasha, Sally Hansen Platinum French, and Konad m15

Ummm. I'm not very good at centering the image on my nail. I actually almost missed the nail here hehe. I used white Konad polish, m15 plate and a coat of Sally Hansen Platinum French. I think it's supposed to be used on the tips of french manicures. I never do french mani, but I do buy a lot of crap on ebay (including this). I wish it was a bit more sparkly.


Click to enlarge the horrors.

NOTD: Zoya Pasha

In the battle: Pixie vs. Zoya's Crappy Brush, the Zoya brush wins again. I just can't get it to look neat. Fortunately Pasha is a forgiving color. It's a very pretty, slightly frosty, light greyish brown. Very work appropriate.

NOTD: Nubar Candy Cane Lane

Candy Cane Lane is another red polish from the Cheers Collection. It's a bright red creme. I love it. I feel like Joan Collins in Dynasty (my mom used to watch that). So 80's!

Unfortunately JPEG compression wasn't kind to this image. It looks really nice in the original (if I may say so), but that picture is too big for the intrawebs.

Sigh

Just remembered I'd taken a pic of how I messed up my lovely DS Diamond mini. My polish started peeling and for some reason I felt I had to help peel some more... Don't do it, kids!

Haul from the US

There are a lot of polish brands we don't get here in Denmark. It might seem weird, but I drool over Covergirl and Revlon when I visit a drugstore in the US! One of the nail polish brands that's not available here is Sinful. I've been lemming Sinful polishes forever. Before christmas I was able to get a kind lady in the US to make a custom purchase and send some Sinful polishes my way, and here they are:

#218 Thimbleberry, #260 Volcanic, #380 Under The Star, #23 Mystery, #50 Buster's Brown, #251 Jasmine Jazz, #61 Purple Blue Glitter, #19 Strip Poker, #39 Fabulous Red.

I also got some Maybelline Colorama top coats and some of the new Color Club minis:

And some OPIs and China Glaze:

NOTD: Nubar Dreamer's Island

This is one of those wacky semi-sheer Nubar duo chromes that I can't tell the color of. I think it might be a peachy pink with silver shimmer, but I could be totally wrong. I think I see a little bit of blue-green duo chrome in there as well. My camera is acting all funny today. I apologize for the weirdness of the pictures. This is 3 coats.

NOTD: OPI DS Diamond + Konad Plate m2

I love the little lolcat on Konad plate m2. So cute. I still suck at Konad stamping, especially at centering the images. I used the black Konad polish for this, and it turned out ok. I guess I put on my top coat too early because it sort of messed up the image on one nail. It looks like a really frightened kitteh now! Click the pics to make them really huge and sort of scary:

NOTD: OPI DS Diamond

I didn't really look like anything special in the bottle, but on the nail this polish is beautiful. A brown/grey (taupe?) with multicolored sparkle. Application was perfect. This is two coats:

This isn't holographic like some of the Designer Series polishes, and I think it's subtle enough for the office.

Cargo Cosmetics are awesome

and so it their customer service. Remember back when Karla was kind enough to do a custom purchase of some $OPIs from Sephora? She also got some makeup for me. I've been wanting to try Cargo's new PlantLove line since I first heard about it, but it's not available here. I'm very interested in organic makeup and skincare, and it just looked fab. Anyway, I had Karla order a blush for me. She packed it incredibly well (we're talking layers of bubble wrap and sturdy cardboard box here) and it arrived in a million pieces. The pan had even popped out of the compact. I decided to write to Cargo and explain to them why I was disappointed with their product and a couple of weeks later this arrived: Inside I found:

and inside this was:

My gorgeous blush and a free PlantLove lipbalm!

I have to say that Cargo really rocked my socks with this and I will definitely be buying more. I love the packaging too. Biodegradable packaging + 70's style print is for the win!

NOTD: GOSH Gasoline

I really like this color. It's purple with red and blue shimmer particles. So beautiful. This is 4 coats. It looked good with 3 coats, but I wanted the dark purple color it has in the bottle, and that takes 4 coats. I didn't wrap my tips (I usually always do) which resulted in shrinkage at my nail tips after I applied my quick drying top coat. Sigh. I still love it though. The shimmer looks really nice.

NOTD: China Glaze Wagon Trail

This is one of the fall colors that all the bloggers loved. It looked great in pictures so I bought it, but didn't wear in. I guess I was scared of how dark it looked in the bottle. It really is very dark in dim light, but in bright light or sunshine it comes alive with gorgeous golden green shimmer. Very pretty. Application was really good. It was thick, but applied very smoothly. This is 2 coats:

Nubar Collections for Spring

I just recieved an e-mail from Danish webstore aromatique about two new Nubar Collections for spring. Both are supposed to be released on Feb 15th. I'm very excited for the Cleopatra Collection. It looks gorgeous! Click images to enlarge:

NOTD: Nubar Pixie Dust over Glazed Ginger - Camera Fail!

To freshen up my Glazed Ginger mani I added two coats of Nubar Pixie Dust. I try very hard to wear my manis for two days before changing them. I don't do it because i like the colors, but because I don't like it when my coworkers comment that I change nail color all the time! In order to wear a polish for two days, I often freshen it up with a new top coat at the end of day 1.

Ummm yeah. I don't see the sparkles in this picture either! In reality, Pixie Dust consists of a transparent base with varying sizes of silver glitter. Apparently these glitters are EXTREMELY camera shy. Pixie Dust isn't a very dense glitter top coat (I actually don't think it's a top coat...). It's not very awesome, but at least the name is.

NOTD: Nubar Glazed Ginger

Ohhhhhh. This is beautiful. I guess a shimmery red (or "A stunning multi-tonal medium maroon topped with a subtle ginger frosting" as they say on the Nubar website) isn't the most original color, but it's so gorgeous.

Love at First Sight - It's All About the Looks - Part II

Here are the top part of my bottle top 20. To see the bottom part, go to this post. This is purely my opinion, so if you disagree... well, then you disagree :D Bottom 10 post can be found here.

10. $OPI - You are sort of like OPI, but more ugly. Why?9. OPI - Your shape is ok, a bit top heavy, but I like you.

8. Lippmann - Oh, I am so torn about you. You are sort of square, but you also have fantastic details and such a pretty cap. Very vintage.


7. Sally Hansen - You have a lot of hella ugly bottles, so I decided to do you a favor and pick the prettiest one (you can thank me later). A little over the top with the gem maybe, but still beautiful.6. Zoya - While you are somewhat square, you still manage to have curves. We can be friends.5. Sinful - You are round. I like it.4. Nubar - You are very pretty and I like your writing.3. GOSH - I really like you. It's kind of like you copied MAC, but did a better job. Very minimalistic and chic.2. China Glaze - I think I sort of love you. You have a pretty shape, a stylish cap, and a kick ass logo.1. Nfu-Oh - Oh, my queen. Definitely the prettiest of the bunch. Just about to go overboard and become way too kitch, you manage to remain in balance and dazzle me with your gorgeous looks. Winner!

NOTD: Nfu-Oh #59 over Lippmann Brown Eyed Girl

Nfu-Oh to the rescue!

Instead of taking off my Lippmann mani, I decided to cover the chip up with some flakies. I love the Nfu-Oh flakies and glitters for refreshing an old mani (anything older than a day is old to me). Nfu-Oh #59 has red/orange/gold flakes that flash green. On top of the brown polish the flakes look like amber when they catch the light. It's so gorgeous.

It's a lot more glowy than the picture shows. Flakies are difficult to photograph for me.

Chips and breakage ....grrrrrr

Do you know what makes me mad?

This:
Day 3 after cutting the claws and this happens. I can probably file it down but now that nail won't really be square. I know it's a small chip, but I wish I wasn't so clumsy! Here, have some more pics:


At least I finally made the shimmer in the polish show up:


This is my right hand (hence the incredibly messy application), so you won't be seeing it in my NOTD posts.

There is only one solution. TIME TO HAUL!

NOTD: Lippmann Brown Eyed Girl

Dear Diary

Today is day 3 with choppy/chubby nails. I am doing well so far. I had almost forgotten how easy it was to type without claws. I'm wearing a polish that makes me happy: Lippmann Brown Eyed Girl:

It's a beautiful deep brown with golden brown shimmer (that doesn't show up in pictures unfortunately). It applied beautifully and I only needed two coats! Hope you are doing well too, dear Diary!

xoxo
me

Love at First Sight - It's All About the Looks - Part I

January is the time of year to make top 10 and 20 and 100 lists. Here is mine:

Packaging - I love it. I love looking at my nail polish bottles from different angles (yeah, it's sick, I know). So obviously the packaging is important. My decision to buy is impacted by the bottle... a lot. There are few things that will turn me off from buying a polish. The most important is shape - I hate squares (guess I have squarephobia). They are ugly and they hurt my eyes. I can live with rounded squares if the rest is awesome. Color: the packaging color has to be classy, not gaudy... yuck.

So here is my list going from craptastic to fantabulous. Today I'll share the bottom 10. Stay tuned for the top.

20. Max Factor - Holy shit. Not only does the content suck, the packaging is hella ugly. Clumsy shape with gold writing and a white and gold cap. Klassy.... :

19. CND - you suck, sorry. In addition to the squareness you also have an ugly cap and an ugly logo. Epic Fail:

18. Misa - Almost as ugly-square as CND:
17. Essie - Square with white cap - disgusting:
16. Color Club - You are square and your logo looks cheap (I sort of like the flower though): 15. Rescue Beauty Lounge - I don't like you. You are square with ugly writing. And you're too expensive: 14. Orly - Your ugly grey cap ruins what could have been decent (and I hate your name - Yarly):

13. Chanel - You are so square I don't even want you. Haha:12. SpaRitual - Very funky. You are round and you have ridges. Thumbs up: 11. MAC - You are not bad, but while you are round, you still manage to look sort of square: