Shabby

April 28, 2011

Zoya - Phoebe + first time tape!

New collections from Zoya always get me very excited, for this summer the brand came out with three (!) new collections (Sunshine, Summertime & Mod Matte). Right now I'm wearing a polish from the Mod Matte collection, Phoebe. This is how Zoya describes this nail polish: 

Bright azure with fine electric blue and violet shimmer with a velvety matte finish. The matte finish amplifies the bright color; this is a matte that positively glows.

I have a hard time finding the violet shimmer, but other than that: perfect description.  Phoebe reminds me of the sea - oh, I mean the Caribbean Sea, the sea around here has an awful colour. It's a very pretty polish, matte polishes can look dull, but not Phoebe, I love the velvety finish. The first picture shows how it looks shiny and matte (ring fingernail).

The formula wasn't that great, thick, gloopy and not very pigmented. So you have to be careful (to avoid streaks) and fast (it dries very quickly because it's a matte) at the same time when you're applying Phoebe. I got the most even result with thicker layers, I used three coats I believe.
As you can see I also had some fun with tape. :) I used two China Glaze polishes, Kiwi Cool-Ada and Millennium. These colours are awesome together, but I think it looks better without the silver stripes, they cover to much of that gorgeous neon green. But it was fun to do and I like the neat result you get with tape! What do you think?
Thanks for watching!

April 26, 2011

Teeez - Smooth

Today I'm showing you Smooth, the third (and sadly also the last) prismatic nail polish from the brand Teeez. A pink-fuchsia coloured polish with prismatic particles. It looks fantastic in bright light, but indoors it's a pretty too! Let me think... do I have something similar? I guess I don't. And that's cool, 'cause it's a fabulous shade. And hey, everything that has something rainbow-y going on is a total win for me! The formula was very nice, I could've stopped after applying two coats, but after three coats the colour looked more intense, which I like, so you're looking at three coats without a top coat.
You like? In case you've missed it, I'm giving away Smooth's purty purple sister and her blowing-you-away blue brother (among others), so if you want to enter my giveaway click → here ←!

Thanks for watching. :)

April 23, 2011

China Glaze - Kiwi Cool-Ada

Aah, I can't believe how nice the weather is here, flip flop weather, I like! I love to wear neons right now, so I could of course show you Flip Flop Fantasy from China Glaze, matching the flip flops and all, but that's for another post. Today I'm showing you Kiwi Cool-Ada, from the same China Glaze collection. What a crazy colour, it's freakin' awesome! My pictures don't show all the awesomeness, in real life the colour is more intense and darker, but also brighter! This glowy green reminds me of kryptonite. You just have to see this nail polish in person, it'll knock your socks off. :D 
shiny konad
Kiwi Cool-Ada is a neon, so it dries up matte. I wanted to see how it looks shiny so I added a layer of top coat, but I actually like it better with the matte finish. The application was not the easiest, this is three coats and four on some nails to get rid of bald spots. As you can see I also added some stamping, I used an image from imageplate M64 and China Glaze - Millennium as the stamping polish.

Thanks for watching and have a great Easter weekend!

*The product(s) in this post was/were sent to me for reviewing purposes.
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

April 21, 2011

Essence: Romeo and Circus Confetti

Yesterday I went to the nearest Kruidvat (a Dutch drugstore) to see if they added the new Catrice and Essence products. And yay, the new shelfs were fi-nal-ly there! The Catrice shelf looked like a tornado had passed though, all the fun stuff was already gone *sigh*. But I got myself some new Essence nail polishes, so I wasn't too sad about it. The first polish I tried out was one half of the Essence Nail Art Twins, Romeo, a grey creme (nice formula, two coats). I guess Essence made a new version of Romeo, because the swatches I find on the web show a silver metallic polish. The other half of the set, Romeo's beloved Julia, was missing, so I decided to cheer him up with one of the new special effect toppers from Essence, Circus Confetti (one coat). 


I have to state first that I háte chunky glitter polishes, so buying this one is a true milestone for me.. And I have to say: Love. It. What a fun look, Circus Confetti is really awesome. I can't wait to try it on top of other nail polishes, the possibilities are endless. Imagine how it'll look on a red creme, or a turquoise, an orange one! The only downside is that the clear base is a tad yellowish, so it can change the base colour a little. 

Thanks for watching!




April 19, 2011

Sparkly Blue Curaçao

Today I'm showing you another brand new Catrice nail polish, Blue Cara Ciao. That name totally reminds me of Blue Curaçao, a blue coloured liqueur from the caribbean island Curaçao, yum! Aah, that brings back so much memories.. I lived on Curaçao for thirteen years and I still miss it everyday. I don't know if I want to live there again, but the island will always have a special place in my heart. Oh no, am I getting a bit emotional now? :$
Uhm yeah, the nails. I used two coats of Blue Cara Ciao, a fabulous medium blue, almost azure coloured, creme nail polish. In real life the colour looks more intense with a drop of yellow in it. Colours like these can be very difficult to photograph. If you ever tried photographing Custom Kicks from China Glaze, you know exactly what I mean, hehe. It's an awesome nail polish, per-fect for summer! I see myself wearing this a lot. The formula is nice and pigmented, this is two coats. Then I grabbed a sponge and my bottle of Charla (Zoya) to sponge the tips. Isn't this hot and beachy? I dedicate this mani to Curaçao! 8)

Thanks for watching!

p.s. Have you already entered my giveaway?

April 18, 2011

Giveaway Time! *This Giveaway Is Closed!*

*This giveaway has ended. Thanks to all who entered! I will announce the winner asap.*

I promised you guys a giveaway when I would reach the 500 follower mark and this morning the 500th person (welcome Vermilion Art! \o/) hit the follow button, woah! I want to thank you all so much for visiting my humble blog. I blog about nail polish because I love doing that, but hey.. it's extra fun when other people notice and like the things I place here. And all those sweet comments and emails... I love to read them all!

You guys are the best! *muah* :D

Onto the prize, what am I giving away? The prize includes the following nail polishes (from left to right): Catrice - Absolutely Chinchilly!, Teeez - Free (08), Teeez - Outta Control (01), Teeez - Cool (02), Teeez - Femme Fatale (06) and Catrice - Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!
Since a lot of you can't get their hands on the Teeez polishes I showed recently, I decided to include some of those pretties. Fun, right? Oh, I'm so excited! ..I just can't hide it.. :tone 

You can enter this giveaway only by filling out the Giveaway Form below. Entering with a comment does not count!
  • You have to be a public follower of my blog. You can follow me by hitting the Google Friend Connect 'Follow' button you see in the right sidebar;
  • Optional: you can earn one extra entry by reposting this giveaway on your blog (feel free to use my pictureor tweet about it;
  • The giveaway is open internationally;
  • You can enter till the 18th of May, 11.59 pm CET;
  • The winner will be notified via email. If the winner doesn't respond within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.
If you have a question you can always email me at thepolishedperfectionist (at) gmail (dot) com

It only remains for me to say: Good luck!!


April 16, 2011

China Glaze - Chiaroscuro

Mysterious name, right? Chiaroscuro. I looked it up, the french term for it is clair-obscur. Hey, that does ring a bell, I'm sure I had to read about this technique for my art lessons. 

"Chiaroscuro ("light-dark") in art is characterized by strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting a whole composition. It is also a technical term used by artists and art historians for using contrasts of light to achieve a sense of volume in modeling three-dimensional objects such as the human body." source

I don't know what the link is with this particular nail polish, maybe there's no link at all.. ah well. Chiaroscuro, the nail polish: a rosy peach with a beautiful golden green flash. It reminds me of those gorgeous seashells with the glossy peachy pink insides! When I saw the bottle I wasn't too excited, though. It's more something my Mom would wear, she likes soft colours on her nails. Well, never judge a nail polish by its appearance in the bottle, lol. On the nail it's not as boring as I thought, it looks feminine and chic! The greenish side of the fine shimmer (pretty!) was quite hard to catch on camera, it's definitely not just a golden shimmer. If you look at the 3rd picture you can see a glimpse of the green in the bottle, that green is clearly visible on the nail too. 

Chiaroscuro has a pearl finish, we all know what that means, right? Hello brushstrokes! I tried to apply it as careful as possible, with a light hand, and the result actually isn't that bad. The nail polish is on the sheer side, with three coats the nail line is still visible at some angles, but I don't mind. I think it will be great as a french manicure topper, have to try that some time!

Have you ever heard of Chiaroscuro? The technique or the polish? :O

Thanks for watching!

*The product(s) in this post was/were sent to me for reviewing purposes. 
For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.