// Wild child

Posted on | May 14, 2010 | 2 Comments

To compensate the unbelievably late spring this year I painted my nails with my favorite green: Color Club Wild Child (oh, the cuticles are in need of cleaning, I see!). I think this is the shade I would call Kelly green — sometimes I see the same shade name applied to more yellow tones, but for me this is the real stuff, a bright shade of green that leans just a bit to blue side. The color is even bit brighter in real life.

This is not the most pigmented polish, four coats was necessary for full opaqueness — on the other hand it is extremely easy and smooth to apply. Like some neon polishes this does not have a shiny finish (but not the full matte effect either), so it needs a brilliant topcoat (or matte one). Overall Color Club quality is very good — and unbeatable in it’s price group (about $2.50).

I could not use nail polishes without fast dry topcoats at all. Without it any manicure over two color coats takes ages to dry and I don’t have patience to wait hours before doing something with my hands. Going to sleep is not an answer, sheet marks…

So far I have experience from these topcoats:

Seche Vite — a super fast, super brilliant topcoat. Many people list this as their favorite. For me it does not really live up it’s hype, although it is good. The negatives are that the stuff goes goopy and thick when there is half a bottle left and needs its own thinner to get it working again — and it is really fast with up to three polish coats, but it often fails with thicker polish layers. The drying action works only on the polish surface and I get dried “foils” over wet polish. They can even slide off from nails but usually I just get an annoying bump to a nail with a slightest contact to some hard surface.

Mavala Mavadry — this is widely available here in supermarkets, and is very comparable to Seche Vite — works really well with one to three coat manicure, thickens gradually and needs a thinner, gives really brilliant surface. But it is extremely incompatible with some nail polish brands (Zoya’s and Orly’s being the worst) giving horrible bubbles when drying out. And the bottle is tiny. But it has been my #1 choice for years because of the availability — and yes, it works well with majority of polishes.

Diamond Cosmetics Super Dry — I think this is not even available in Europe, I got this from my friend. My favorite one! Does not work as fast as Seche or Mavala — but penetrates even the thickest layers of nail polish really well — and has not given me any drying bubbles, ever. My bottle is halfway and there is no noticeable thickening happening at all. I don’t know what I will do when this is finished.

Trind Quick Dry — hmm, this did not work for me, I did not notice any fast drying action at all. Plus the brush is really stiff and easily messes up the actual polish layers.

I have also dried so called drying drops ages ago, and did not actually like the feel of those. Might try them again some day for polishes that don’t need the shine of the regular topcoat.

Essie’s and Orly’s fast drying top coats are on my list for testing. They are available here at local department stores and nail salons — but the prices can be like three folded compared to some international sellers.

Posted on | May 14, 2010 | 2 Comments

// Nailed it!

Posted on | November 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

To be honest, I’m not much of a product girl when it comes to cosmetics. And I hate cosmetics advertising, moronic with all that pseudo-science. F**k, I feel my blood pressure rising when just thinking of it. Sorry, guys… …but this is such an issue to me that I try to select brands that do not advertise at all for skin and hair care — both product types guilty for worst sci-fi-ence babble and empty promises as an essence of their marketing strategy.

My daily makeup is really light, a quick whiff of mineral makeup base, some mineral bronzer and/or blush, mascara, brow color and lip balm, probably dabbed lightly with lipstick. Perhaps some gel liner, if I rather procrastinate than leave home…

But I like painted, short nails. Usually bright or dark. For nude look I opt for bare nails instead of painted — duh, what’s the point of painting them if you barely see the result. Bright or dark nails act as an accessory, methinks.

manglaze

ManGlaze makes some awesome but very affordable, matte but shimmering nail polish; good enough for Gareth Pugh show! Love the package design with Joe Simko graphics — and their swift customer service kicks ass.

They have only two colors currently, black and gray. But isn’t that all a man… …er… girl needs? Got them on the last summer and they have been my favorite since. Recently they added bit pricier matte topcoats to their selection, a plain and shimmery one. Haven’t tested them yet, but they promise to take the crappy gloss away from any polish… …well that’s the kind of marketing promise I’m able to swallow.

colorclub

This is my happy neon Color Club family. CC is my second favorite brand, cheap, awesome quality and great color palette from classic to unconventional.

essie

Essie is better known for very ladylike colors, but they also have great brights. In their holiday colors they have a promising mint green, too…

nivea

Nivea is available here in every supermarket. They don’t have a wide color selection but I love the jellylike finish of these brights. Rimmel is another great supermarket brand for polishes, they have one awesomely tacky eighties teal green with tons of shimmer.

green

Green… …I love it! OPI has a great and very affordable alternative to Chanel Jade (color name Hey Get in Lime, how lame, this even isn’t lime) — well not that affordable in Finland but I suggest ordering online. Misa does great and cheap polishes, this darker, tealish green is Dirty Sexy Money.

red

For my classic moments (mwahahaha!) I opt for Chanel Rouge Noir or Rescue Beauty Lounge Glamourpuss.

fuggenugly

My manglazed nails, ain’t they fuggen ugly?

Posted on | November 29, 2009 | 1 Comment

About

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Contact: kamicha (a) gmail dot com

I'm especially interested in young designers creations, non-established labels and indie fashion. So if you have something interesting to show, feel free to contact!

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