Purchases in Austria!

Super excited about my new purchases! I've been wanting to get some Essence nail polish for a while, as well as, try out other brands I can't get in the US! I haven't tried anything yet, but here's what I got yesterday at dm:

s-he - matte top coat - 2,95

Catrice - Forget-Me-Not! - 1,35

essence re-mix your style - Stairway to Heaven - 0,95

Then, I got an essence stampy designs plate from Müller. It says it is 01 have fun!, but I have googled this, and the results show some other stamping plate..so I'm not sure what it is really called..It was only 1,45 though.

I got these today! 
From Müller:
essence nail art - purple magic - 0,95
From BIPA:
LOOK by BIPA Nail Tattoo Liner - türkis - 1,69
b.pretty - burned pearl - 1,09
b.pretty - sky - 1,09
b.pretty - deep sea pearl 1,09

oh no!

I was limited to bringing just a handful of my favorite nail polish to Austria. So, I wrapped them all carefully in bubble wrap and other padding. Then, when I opened my suitcase in Vienna, I saw a plastic bag full of Essie - French Affair. I couldn't believe it had broken!!! But, then i opened the bag, and I guess the pressure change in the airplane had just caused the lid to come off. So, the nail polish remaining in the bottle was salvageable, but I lost about 1/4th of it in the bag. :( Better than what I had originally expected...

Day 29: Nails Inspired By THE SUPERNATURAL

I decided to do some ghost nails for today's challenge. I started with two coats of Sally Hansen InstaDri - Co-Bolt Blue. Then, I used a fine-tip brush with Pure Ice - Super Star for the ghost shape. I dipped the rubbery end of a bobby pin in Super Star - Black Rage to create the dots for the eyes and mouth.

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Lapiz of Luxury Set in Stones

I always enjoy the simpler manicures for everyday wear. I wouldn't wear most of my 31 day challenge nails out, because they are too over the top for me. That being said, I really like these nails. I started with two coats of Essie - Lapiz of Luxury. Then, I applied two coats of Essie - Set in Stones on the ring finger. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite. 

Two coats of Lapiz of Luxury:

With flash:

Without flash:

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Day 28: Nails Inspired By A FLAG

Today is my first day in Austria for study abroad, so what's more appropriate than the Austrian flag on my nails for today's challenge!!! I started with two coats of Pure Ice - Super Star. Once that was dry, I taped off the middle section of my nails with Scotch tape. Then, I painted my entire nail with Sally Hansen InstaDri - Rapid Red. Finally, I peeled the tape off, leaving the design below!

The Austrian flag:

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Valentine's Day Stamping

My final Valentine's Day nails before I go to Austria! My flight leaves in a few hours, so I thought I'd publish these nails while waiting at the airport. These were inspired by Beauty & the Glamour's nails. I started with two coats of Pure Ice - Super Star. For the pinky, I used Sally Hansen InstaDri - Pronto Purple with BM09. For the ring finger, Pure Ice - Flirt Alert with BM02. For the middle finger, I sponged on Wet n Wild Wild Shine - Sparked. For the pointer, I used Flirt Alert with BM02 and Pronto Purple with BM03. Finally, for the thumb, I used Pronto Purple with BM17 and Pure Ice - Silver Mercedes with BM03.

Here are the nails with flash:

And without flash:

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Day 27: Nails Inspired By ARTWORK

I think most people are probably familiar with Van Gogh's painting, Starry Night. If not, there is a picture of it below. I have always liked this painting, so it was the first idea to pop into my mind for Day 27. I had no clue how to approach this though, so I used Cutepolish's tutorial. I started with two coats of Ulta - Blue for You. Then, I made the swirls using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue followed immediately by Pure Ice - Super Star, so that I could swirl the two colors together before the blue dried. Then, I using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow to create the stars, and I dabbed some white around the edges of the stars. I used a fine-tip brush and Pure Ice - Black Rage to create the dark object on the left, along with the town along the bottom of the nail. I used a tiny bit of Wet n Wild megalast - On A Trip just above the black at the bottom of the scene. I used the brush to add some white marks at the bottom, as well, to create the look of the town.

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Valentine's Day Crackle

I've been wanting to do a Valentine's Day crackle manicure, and today was really my last opportunity. I'm leaving to study abroad in Vienna tomorrow, and, unfortunately, I will not be able to bring the majority of my nail polish collection with me. :'( But, I'm looking forward to buying plenty while I'm there. ;) I've already scouted out some German/Austrian brands to be on the lookout for. Anyway, I'm leaving my crackle polishes here, so I had to get one last crackle in.


I wanted to use a combo of all six nail polishes pictured below, so I started with Pure Ice - Super Star on my pinky, Pure Ice - Flirt Alert on my ring and pointer fingers, and Sally Hansen InstaDri - Rapid Red on my middle finger and thumb. Once those were dry, I covered my pinky with Pure Ice Crackle - Show Stopper, my ring finger and thumb with Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat - Snow Blast, and my pointer and middle fingers with Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat - Fractured Foil. 

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Day 26: Nails Inspired By A PATTERN

Argyle is my favorite pattern AND I've been wanting to do these argyle nails, so today's challenge was the perfect day to try them out. I started with two coats of Essie - Mint Candy Apple. Once that was dry, I used scotch tape to tape off the outer triangles. Then, I painted over the tape with one of my new Wet n Wild megalast polishes called On A Trip. Then, I peeled the tape off, leaving the diamond pattern. I finished off the design by drawing a silver diamond with So Easy Stripe Rite - Silver. 

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More Valentine's Day Nails!

Here's another set of Valentine's Day nails I did today. I started with two coats of Essie - Primavera.

Then, I used three pieces of Scotch tape per nail to tape off everywhere on the nail, except where I wanted the lines of glitter to be. I painted along the lines with Milani Jewel FX - Red. I had to sort of push the glitter into the cracks, since not enough glitter was concentrated in the untaped area. Then, I peeled the tape off. Some lines still had gaps, so I used a toothpick to pick up some extra glitter on the tape I peeled off, and I placed the glitter in the gaps. 

I think they looked just fine after the last step, but to make it more Valentine's Day-ish, I decided to draw a little heart on the ring finger. I dipped the rubbery end of a bobby pin in white polish and used that to create two dots for the top of the heart. Then, I just dragged the dots down to a point. 

Here's where I think I went overboard...I used my Milani Nail Art Polish in White Canvas to create white lines between the two red glitter lines. It looks alright, but I prefer the nails without the white lines.

Here's a pic of the polish I used:

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