NotD - A Failed Marble

"How can a marble fail?" I hear you cry. It can in various ways. The polish might cause a film every time it hits the water or the drops may just sink to the bottom of the cup. This fail, however wasn't a technical one, it just looks funky. In a bad way. (And I botched the clean-up.)

Swatches - Three White-ish Pretties

I've decided to post the swatches I mentioned recently despite my dry hands, so please excuse those. Today I'd like to show you a bunch of pale polishes I bought recently.

NotD - Vamp Polish vs Star of Bombay

Last night I did a bit of swatching, but my cuticles looked so bad on the photos (yes, even worse than today) that I may have to re-do them at a later point.
So today I have another comparison for you and this time the polishes really are noticably different. The polishes I'm wearing today are Eyeko Vamp Polish and Orly Star of Bombay.

KotD - Spring Is Here (I Wish)

I'm sick of winter. It's been cold and slushy for so long now and I've had my n^th cold. So after applying one of my new p2 polishes I felt the urge to add lots of flowers.
And I gave in. (OMGNubbins! The nail on my ring finger broke in a cleaning accident.)

Link Love Round-Up 2010-02-19

The first article up I'd like to bring your attention to is nothing nail related, but is definitely worth a read, especially by all the bloggers! Helen's Nice Thing's wrote a wonderful article addressing the question, should bloggers be considered as media or press and I think she expressed her views quite remarkably.
Naive Nails wants to show off a mani she's titled "Love Be Hanged". A very cute and quirky design.
French Mani anyone?! Well, Babbling Brooke has you covered! Check out her Nailene French Mani Blog Giveaway. She's gifting three of readers with these fabulous sets... so you better make sure that you're one of them!
Bye, Bye old man winter, let's bring on the sun and the pool... as The Swatchaholic brings us wonderful swatches of China Glaze's Poolside Collection.
Have you been able to view swatches of almost the whole OPI Hong Kong collection? If not, the Nail-Design bring you 9 out of 12 of them.
Maigic Maid has snagged a duochrome drugstore brand polish and nope, I'm not telling you what it is! ;)
This week Tuli's Nails has a broken heart and she letting her mani tell the story as to why. Check it out!
polishSWATCHES gives you a sneek peek at Tracy Reese's Fall 2010 Sally Hansen Shades as well as a glimpse of the nail trends that were sported at her show.
You will NOT want to miss out on what Polishing the Nails is cooking up on her blog! Even I'm in the kitchen for this one!

Looking for a interesting blue nail polish to add to your stash that you might not already have? Then Polish Freak and China Glaze have you covered, but shhh, she said the color is a secret!
Nail foiling and minx like applications are all the rage, but why not try using a nail polish for the same effect? Manicure Mommas swatches Orly Foil FX's and shows how you can turn your nails into precious metal.
Have you ever heard of Piggy Paints Nail Polish or even considered buying it but haven't? Well if so, Laquerholic has just given you the incentive to go ahead and plunge. She's secured a 10% off privelage coupon for all of her readers as well as written a full review
Nail-Design is having a special giveaway to celebrate the fact that she has received over 300, 000 Youtube views on her channel. Wow! Congrats on the great accomplishment!
Lambchop is having a really nice giveaway for readers, but she really needs for you to help her out... by ENTERING!
Today's you last chance to win some Milani Holos, so be sure to enter Naive Nails contest if you're one of the many who can't seem to find them and are lemming.

Giveaway Winners

I have finally finished cutting and folding all the entries for my giveaway. Here are the winners:

Gina and syila_slakers!
Congratulations to both of you!

I've sent both an email. Let's hope they respond within three days, otherwise I will have to re-draw. As soon as I have both addresses I'll send the packages out.

KotD - Riched and Clovered

I'm feeling celebratory today. I finally got my Ancient Greek exam wrapped up and did a bit of shopping afterwards. Amongst other stuff I picked up my first bottles of p2 nail polish. Because I've done a lot of green and teal recently, I decided to give the purple one, 248 rich, a try.

NotD - Waving But Browning

I have finally found a brown polish I absolutely adore. To emphasise the lovely colour I just added a bit of gold today.

NotD - Glitterberries

I was trying out a very interesting polish yesterday, but my misguided attempt to add some glitter to the tips destroyed the manicure. Don't you hate when that happens?
So I took everything off and started something completely different, namely layering Colorama cherry sweet over Models Own Raspberry Crush.

NotD - The Grass Is Always Limer

I received my Models Own order yesterday, and as it was mostly filled with green polish I did a simple two-colour marble. I really need to use a colour other than green for my next manicure...

NotD Racing Green vs All Access

My polish collection contains hardly any dupes. I own a few similar bright pinks, but none of those are identical. Only two pairs that seem very close in colour and finish remain.
The ones I compared today (and then used as base for my manicure) are Barry M Nail Paint 299 Racing Green and essence multi dimension 53 All Access.

Swatches - Rimmel

Today I have swatches of three Rimmel polishes for you. I bought these recently and really surprised myself by choosing a red one. The two shimmery polishes didn't photograph well, or rather didn't play nicely with my usual flash procedure. But since sun doesn't exist in my flat and there's no place nearby where I might swatch in the sun it will have to do. ;-)

Lacquer Link Love 2010-02-05

Polishing the Nails showcases 3 new nail polishes in the cutest little bottles, in shades that are perfect for Spring.
Naive Nails shows off her Mannequin Hands using OPI's gorgeous shade Dulce de Leche. Trust me, these are not your typical mannequin hands!
Check out swatches of OPI Hong Kong's Meet Me On A Star Ferry from polishSWATCHES and dare to fall in love with this shade.
Is Taupe Polish a Hit or Miss? Polished Beauty Blog weighs in on this whole "nude nail" obsession by giving her two-cents and asking for yours as well.
Travels with Euridice gives us a wonderful BB Couture comparison between Cap Haitian and OPI's Do You Lilac it. I think that she may have found a dupe ladies, what do you think?!
Polish Freak is glad she changed her mind and went back to grab Essie's Lilacism and now she's sharing it with the world! Beautiful color.

Mannicure Mammas has found a new love and it just so happens to be OPI's Shim-Merry Chic. Have you seen it?

and now it's time for the Network Giveaways announcement...

Look who's having a celebration party!!! Join in on all the fun by participating in 52 Flavors Blogaversary Giveaway.
Tuli's Nails is hosting a romantic Valentine's Day Giveaway on her site and if you haven't had the chance to enter you really must do so. The goodies are extra sweet without the calories.
Can you name a dupe for this polish?! If so, leave your answer for your chance to win your choice of color from OPI's Hong Kong collection.
and Polish Freak is having another China Glaze Up & Away giveaway in lieu of her reaching 200 followers.

NotD - China Glaze Khrome Marble

Last night was a water marbling evening again. I had been thinking about trying to marble with the lovely metallics from China Glaze's Khrome Collection and expected that those would either work perfectly or not at all. Turns out that they really are gorgeous and great to marble with.
Flaws are of course my mistakes. ;-)

NotD - I Won't Be Soothed

I decided to try out Orly Wandering Vine today and unsurprisingly, this is one of the best greens ever. I realise that I say that a lot... Greens are just that awesome.
When I first did a quick cardboard-swatch I felt that this polish must be Daria turned into polish. The final application is slightly darker, but still so much like her. Because Daria stands for simplicity and may become a crazy cat lady in the future I stencilled a single cat one one nail.

Re- Swatch - Barry M Nail Paint NPG2

Jellynat expressed an interest in the polish found in Barry M's green gift set. Sadly this set isn't available any more, but at least I can show you a better picture than last time. This photo shows NPG2 in two coats over ridge filler and without top coat.

This Nail Paint is one of my favourite polishes. The application is so smooth, it's practically perfect and the brush may not be anything special, but it's soft enough to glide across the nail but still easy to control. The formula is very nice, the polish is opaque in two coats, though you may need three if you apply it very thinly. NPG2 doesn't dry particularly quickly or slowly.
The colour is absolutely divine, a yellowy green that I associate with apples and peas (even though I don't remember ever seeing a pea that was close to this shade). The finish is especially lovely: golden and green shimmer that captivates me. Like most shimmers NPG2 shows some brush marks, though I don't feel that they detract from the overall gorgeousness.

End of Semester Giveaway

The winter semester is officially over (though I still have some mopping up to do) so I thought it would be a nice idea to host a giveaway.

This is how it works:

• You need to be a follower to participate, either via blogger/google or twitter, that means I have to see you in the lists! I will check if you're on there.
• You can enter, no matter where in the world you live.
• Entering is easy: just leave a comment here, making sure you leave your correct email-address (you don't need to add it in the comment section as it's in the form). As long as I can contact you, we're good. ;-)
• The deadline is Thursday, 18th Feb 2010 23:59 CET (that's GMT+1). On the 19th I will randomly draw two names amongst all valid entries. I will then notify the winners through the information they provided and announce them on this blog. They will have 72 hours after I contact them to claim their prizes or I will draw new winners.

You can get up to four entries:

• Follow this blog via google/blogger. Make sure you leave the name that shows up in my follower list.
• Follow @cucumpear via twitter. Remember to tell me your twitter name.
• Blog about this giveaway and add the link to your post in the comment.
• Tweet about this giveaway and let me know about it in your comment.

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The first name I draw will receive these things:

a tub of Nivea Creme, because everyone should at least try this
a tube of Labello (=Nivea Lipcare) Passion Fruit
essence nail art guides/stencils
glamour nails 03 white hearts

Eyeko Indigo Polish
Eyeko Pretty Polish
s-he 467
essence multi dimension 53 all access
essence colour&go 04 space queen
 

claire's nail art liner in black purple and white

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The second one will get this stuff:

Nivea Creme
The Body Shop Born Lippy in Satsuma Shimmer
essence colour&go 18 check me out
claire's glittery polish
claire's nail art liner in hot pink


Please let me know if you have any questions.
Good luck!

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And here's another giveaway you can enter while you wait:

Tuli's Romantic Giveaway for Valentine's Day

 (enter until the 14th!)