NOTD: Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Head valentinipäeva kõigile!

Yours truly,

Tolmu Rull

Catrice Iron Mermaiden NOTD

When I first saw this polish in the store, I thought: “Ha, this is one of the polishes people buy for the name only!” I didn't think much of the color there and then and even considered passing it by. But I somehow bought it anyway, must have been the name, the name...

Turns out I was completely wrong about Iron Mermaiden. Yes, the name is hilarious, but it is not the best thing about this polish! I really like the multichrome effects this polish has! In the bottle it looks as if it were a kind of dark grey with some green-blue reflections, but once on the nail it becomes dark lilac with tiny sparkles instead. Yet it manages to reflect dove grey and metallic green at the same time! 

The multichrome effect is unusually strong. All in all I find the polish very elegant on my nails. 

The only downside of this polish is that it is very thin and requires at least three coats to get a decent result. I did four coats. Fortunately this Mermaiden goes on smoothly and is rather quick to dry.

I bought it from one of the DrogerieMarkt stores in Germany. It cost me 1.75 euros.

Unfortunately Catrice is not being sold in Estonia. Now I'm a bit mad at myself I didn't take a closer look at their polishes while in Germany.

Yours Truly,

Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian ladies:

Saksa firma Catrice küünelakk toonis Iron Mermaiden (ha!) valmistas mulle tõelise üllatuse. Pudelis tagasihoidlikult hallikana paistnud lakk on küüntel imekaunis sirelililla, mis erinevas valguses peegeldab ka halli ja rohelist...

Kahju, et Catrice tooteid Eestis ei müüda. Järgmisel korral Saksamaal olles revideerin nende letti hoolsamalt :)

Siiralt Teie,

Tolmu Rull

A NOTD with China Glaze Tarnished Gold

When I saw China Glaze Metallic Crackles on sale at the Estonian beauty trade show, I wanted to try these at once.

I decided to try Tarnished Gold at first and pair it with black polish to go with my black sweater dress. I shopped my stash for the black polish and thought for a moment that I didn't own one. Fortunately I found this ArtDeco one I had completely forgotten about.

To add some interest, I did one accent nail on each hand, trying to reverse the colors. I think that went well. Although Tarnished Gold shatter and China Glaze Midnight Kiss from 2010 holiday collection are not complete dupes, they are close enough to work together with the shatter. Midnight Kiss is a bit yellower and lighter than Tarnished Gold.

The black shatter is from Turkish company Alix Avien. Alix Avien polishes are being sold in L-Cosmetics stores in Estonia, but the shatters are not available here. I bought it from Istanbul last year. It cost arould eur 2. I really like it's quality and have used it a lot.

The quality of Tarnished Gold was a not so nice surprise to me. I found it quite hard to work with, because I had to be extremely careful with the application. If the layer of polish was too thick, the crackles were too big and it clumped. If the layer was too thin, the crackles came out tiny, almost invisible. I had to re-do several nails because of that. I think there are better options out there, but it's still a beautiful polish. I paid eur 4.20 or 4.50 for it.

Here are the polishes I used: (L to R) China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat, China Glaze Midnight Kiss, Alix Avien Nail Deco black cracle polish, ArtDeco black High Gloss Nail Polish number 39, China Glaze Tarnished Gold Metallic Crackle. I didn't use any base coat, as gel nails don't need it really.

Sincerely Yours,

Tolmu Rull

For my lovely Estonian beauties:

Nagu olen juba kirjutanud, nägin China Glaze metalliktoonides pragunevaid lakke müügil ilumessil. Loomulikult tahtsin neid kohe proovida ja otsustasin kuldse tooniga Tarnished Gold laki paari panna esmalt mustaga. Et asi põnevam oleks, tegin kummalegi käele ka ühe aktsentküüne vastupidise värvide paigutusega, kasutades põhjana China Glaze lakki Midnight Kiss ja pragunevat Alix Avieni musta lakki (Eestis minuteada ei müüda).

Kuigi toonid pole 100 % sarnased, jäin tulemusega rahule. Rahule ei jäänud aga Tarnished Gold lakiga, mida kasutades tuleb väga ettevaatlik olla, et lakikiht saaks õige paksusega. Muidu ei jää tulemus ilus, praod tulevad kas liiga laiad või kitsad. Seega, Tarnished Gold lakki ma soetada ei soovita. On palju parema kvaliteediga ja soodsamaid pragunevaid lakke. Ka metalliktoonides.

Siiralt Teie,

Tolmu Rull