// Magpie me

Posted on | January 24, 2010 | 1 Comment

Speaking of bling…

Ok, I thougt that I was not into glitter polishes — but give me one tacky, over the top, holographic, blindinly sparkling one — and I’m sold. The image does not a justice for the actual look of this. The sparkling of it is actually insane and the slightly uneven surface the polish leaves does not bother at all.

The polish is China Glaze Medallion glitter over the 2030 sheeny gold. And the tiny coral-pink one is my Mavala find from sale… …I like my pinks bright, please!

Posted on | January 24, 2010 | 1 Comment

// Seeing gold!

Posted on | January 14, 2010 | 4 Comments

China Glaze Chrome 2030 *oops its Khrome* nail polish. I’m in awe: this is just one coat, dries lightning fast — and I’ve never seen a finish like this in nail polish. The silvers are pretty rad, too.

I could wear this with…

Posted on | January 14, 2010 | 4 Comments

// In search of the perfect perfume #2

Posted on | December 10, 2009 | 2 Comments

This autumn has been the autumn of sampling fragrances for me — and indeed I have done some great discoveries. I can’t recommend Perfumed Court enough, their service of small decants of almost any fragrance imaginable is utterly helpful — and they ship fast!

During these testing times I have concluded that the basic fragrance types that act well on my skin and make me feel good are mostly amber based, woody and spicy, use florals sparingly only lighten up the composition, have good longevity but stay close to the skin. I don’t like to intimidate others with my enthusiasm to perfume. Many scents I like seem to be unisex scents (not that I do care too much about the labels in here), that might be partially due to that fact that many scents go towards their sweet notes on my skin — those that are sweet to begin with can be sickeningly so after wearing them for a while.

Two absolutely favorites so far are these.

Ambre Sultan by Serge Lutens. This is such a great woody, spicy amber, I’ve never experienced anything quite like it. The opening is relatively strong, woody and almost medicinal — the scent of an old apothecary — but it rounds rapidly to shimmering, spiced and smoky-woody amber scent that stays close to skin — and is absolutely delightful, heart warming, unforgettable, maybe even sexy but not in most straightforward or obvious way. There is something quite barbaric but beautiful in this scent, it is empowering and teases the imagination.

etro

Etro Ambra, quite different but great as well. This is light, but has great longevity. It starts beautifully with burst of bitter citrus, more like the peel than the fruit itself, some spice and distinct aroma of fresh fir needles, the round sweetness of amber and vanilla lingering below. I really love the opening, it is so uplifting. The drydown is quite simple and very soft amber with amazingly beautiful, smokily caramelized vanilla in absolutely non-cloying form, and some very rounded and soft, slightly resinous wood. There are some floral notes in this, but they never steal the attention. Sophisticated, playful and very feminine on me (although this is unisex scent, too).

I would love to add some other Serge Lutens scents to my wardrobe as well. I’m quite drawn to very animalic Muscs Koublai Chan — this is very skin chemistry dependent, but on my skin the dirty musc and civet notes are very pleasant, resembling a summer skin with odour of sun, salt and healthy outdoor life, the scent of the natural soap from morning shower lingering below the outdoorsy skin aroma. The muscs are wrapped to beautiful smoky (incense?) notes, very sophisticated powdery rose accord and amber.

Another great one is Douce Amere (the only of these directed to women), faithful to it’s name, a bittersweet blend of wormwood root (that really smells like anise to me), cinnamon, some white flowers and again the beautiful, smoky type vanilla. Contradictory and beautiful, and probably less sweet than you could think from this description.

And oh, another, very strange and meditative one is Gris Clair, the weird combination of lavendar and amber, with some strange milky and bitter notes backed up with beautiful aged wood and smoke. I definitely like the lavendar aroma, but usually the lavendar perfumes tend to be dusty and powdery at their base, ladylike but old fashioned, or very traditional cologne type scents. Serge has definitely taken the granny out of the lavendar in this one…

I’ve also discovered the delightful scent of oud wood, but have sampled so few fragrances containing it that I can’t really name any favorites yet. Although Tom Ford version is quite fantastic…

And no ugly bottle design in sight, phew… …I prefer my fragrance bottles simple and clean lined.

Images from Luckyscent and Fragrantica.

Posted on | December 10, 2009 | 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!

You can find Finnish design from both specific and some outfit posts - but both are tagged.

You might be also interested in DIY posts, How-to posts, DIY ideas - or my adventures in Etsy =).

More about me and this blog.