Summer colors

Hi everyone!


As the weather remains glorious and warm over here I simply can't resist using bright, happy summer colors... and I have some new polishes that fall into that exact category to play with :)

When my sister-in-law came over, she needed to get some stuff from the drugstore so we walked there together. There was a sale on the 'old' Catrice colors that have been replaced with the new ICONails line. S-i-l picked out a few nice colors and then she spotted a bin with more polishes from older collections and discontinued brands and... some of boxes with two polishes of the new ICONails for the price of one! So we put the old colors back and started digging around the bin to see what treasures were hiding in there. I think we spent about 15 minutes going through all that was there, blocking the aisle and making a nuisance of ourselves for other customers but in the end we ended up with four boxes each, both the same colors. I used three of them in this manicure:

First of all I have to say how impressed I am with the formula of these ICONails polishes. I've tried out five colors so far and each one was a pleasure to work with. They're all not too thick, not too thin, self level like a champ and dry with the glossiest finish I have ever seen (yep, even glossier than the Barry M Gelly polishes). The square cap comes off to reveal a ribbed round cap with a wide, perfectly cut round brush that covers my pinky in one easy stroke. Combined with the usual low price (3 euros per bottle, although I got mine at 2 for 3 euros) makes them a huge win in my book. If you're close to a Kruidvat or a Trekpleister, please make sure to give them a visit. Maybe those 1+1 free boxes are still available... ;)

Anyway, on to the details of my manicure. I started out by painting my thumb, index and pinky with Catrice ICONails 06 Nails on Fire, a bright red-coral that was completely opaque in two coats, and my middle and ring finger with 08 Catch of the Day, a lovely peach that probably needs two coats as well but since I wanted to do a gradient I used only one coat.

Inspired by Michelle's nails (here) I decided to try a radial gradient myself. I used 06 Nails on Fire, 07 Meet Me At Coral Island and 08 Catch of the Day for that and it took two rounds of sponging to reach the opacity I wanted. I painted all my nails with a coat of ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S) that was still on my desk to add a bit of sparkle and a coat of Seche Vite to help everything dry. Last but not least I stamped an image from UberChic Op Art Magic using Hit the Bottle As Black As Night on the gradient and painted another coat of Seche Vite to keep the stamp from rubbing off.

The usual line up:

Catrice ICONails 06 Nails on Fire, Catrice ICONails 07 Meet Me At Coral Island, Catrice ICONails 08 Catch of the Day,
ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S), Hit the Bottle As Black As Night

I'm so happy with these colors. Just looking at my nails make me smile, and not just me as I've had a lot of compliments already. I have to admit they are really bright so you can't really NOT see them when you see me. But I don't care... it's summer!! :)

Hit the Bottle As Black As Night and ILNP My Private Rainbow (L+S) are bought from Hypnotic Polish.