#076: The Almost Champions, though Never the Champions

essence carry me home! (Ready For Boarding LE)
China glaze Love Letter (1 coat)
essence colour & go! black is back (black)
essence colour & go! famme fatale (red)
Posca (white & black)
essence better than gel nails top sealer

LONG TIME NO DO!!!!! :/
Yes last year I’ve been done several bundesliga-related mani, for BVB Borrsia Dortmund, SpVgg Greuther Fürth and FC Erzgebirge Aue, and since then I’ve always wanted to do something else but I totally lost my time and inspiration…but finally I’M BACK HERE :D So today’s mani relates to yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay for current 2nd position, one of the team we’re REALLY supporting this year, Bayer 04 Leverkusen!!

Well I know it’s not a “fancy” or “sexy” team, but because my hub is fan of its SB & MF, Hajime Hosogai, since he used to play at Japanese football team Urawa Red Diamonds, and we live pretty close to Leverkusen…he decided to get season ticket and now he is enjoying the home game almost every 2 weeks :)

Though we still have other teams we do like and support much than others, anyway this year’s our biggest support will go for this team carrying one of our favorite player…and also my hub was asking me if I can do Bayer04-related mani for looooooooooooong time…so now it’s here!

First, so sorry that topcoat pulled the color…alright do I need to seek around the good topcoat to seal the art properly? :( Anyway, as always, I took the motif from their uniform, but this time I took it from whole uniform; I mean, not only from tricots, but also from pants and socks.

Basically I’m pretty satisfied with this…even I must practice more for line drawing…it looks kinda sporty, no? I hope I can go to the game someday (yes, it’s only my hub who’s going every games!) with this mani! ;)

お久しぶりですブンデスネイル！！よく考えたら半年以上ぶりですよブンデスネイル！ブンデス1部リーグに限るなら一体どれくらいぶりだブンデスネイル！！
……ということで以前のネタはBVBボルシア・ドルトムントだったワケですが今回は今年の我々イチオシチームであるところの永遠のシルバーコレクターorzことBayer04レヴァークーゼンをネタにしてみますた！

何でBayer04かといえば　細　貝　が　戻　っ　て　来　た　か　ら　で御座います。ついでにうちの結構近所だからでもあります。近所だっつーんならゲルゼンキルヒェンもメンヒェングラードバッハもデュッセルドルフもそーじゃね？というところですがぶっちゃけ一番通いやすいスタがレヴァークーゼンだという。なので今年うちの（赤い血が流れておる）ダンナはシーチケ買って全ホームゲーム通い詰めております。↑の写真はその席からの光景。ありえん凄え席ですが当人全力で楽しんでおるようです。

さてそのレヴァークーゼンですがロゴが物ッ凄い　めんどくさい　ので描くことは早々に諦めて、相変わらずのユニモチーフネイルに走っています。ただレヴァークーゼンのユニってこれまた物ッ凄い　地味　なため、どーすっかなーといろいろ考えた末に取ったのが「全身取り」。っつーことで人差し指＆小指はハーフパンツから、中指は靴下から、薬指はユニ正面から取りました。結果的にいい感じにまとまったかなあと思います。

ラインがきったないのだけは本当にどうにかしないとは思いますがorz　あと相当良く乾かしたのにトップコートが盛大に黒を引きずってくれたのが大変にショックですorz　トップコートを変えるべきか、引きずられない黒を探すべきか、どっちなんでしょうねぇ……(´・ω・`)

#075: Playing around with deep metallic forest green

essence carry me home! (Ready For Boarding LE)
P2 powerful emerald (Keep the Secret LE)...plus others :P
essence better than gel nails top sealer

Generally I enjoy the polish itself, but sometimes some color just ask me if I can play with them…and this time, P2’s powerful emerald just whispered to me to play with her a bit, so that’s what I’m going to show here today :)

最近買ったポリでちょっと遊びたくなりまして、重ねたり混ぜたりした中でキレイだったのを選んでみました。ベースは全部P2のpowerful emeraldです。やりたかったことが全部できたので（結果はどうあれ）私としては非常に満足です(;ﾟ∀ﾟ)=3ﾑｯﾊｰ

---

P2 powerful emerald alone (2 coats)

So let’s start with small swatch & review of itself. It’s deep forest green with super-fine shimmer which makes its finish as metallic or even a bit frosty. Application was ultra smooth, even a bit too smooth…or watery, but not too runny. Leaves a bit of brushstrokes but because base color is really deep that you must see very carefully to notice it. Pretty unique itself, because there’s not many of deep forest green polish in the world :)

---

P2 powerful emerald + Girly Bits Street Magic (2 coats)

Then I added Girly Bits’ Street Magic. I knew it’ll be great on black BUT I wanted to try on dark green, and powerful emerald was perfect shade! Now this combination is really a dream-came-true shade for me, color-shifting pigmented green…it’s so lovely. I’m sure if I put black underneath the shade will differ and this was exactly what I wanted to have. I’m so happy with this, and I really can say I’m happy owner of Girly Bits Street Magic :)

---

P2 powerful emerald based holo franken (2 coats)

I’m totally amateur of franken, I don’t have so much know-how for it, but simply thought what’ll happen if I mix holo polish with this forest green polish. Holographic deep forest green? Sounds yummy! :D
...Well, although final result that I got after few mixing was not something I wanted, I stopped here because I thought if I’ll need more holo effect or more deep green then I’ll need the whole stuff…suspension base, pigments, spectraflair…which we can’t get here easily :( But I think it’s still pretty! Also franken stuff was pretty fun for me, …again I REALLY want to ask brands to release suspension base here.

Glass-flecks spam!

Because I found a pile of pics in my folder, today I’m going for spam post…but only with glass fleck polishes! I love glass flecks and was painting my nail with ‘em these days, so why not :) All of these are painted with essence carry me home! as the basecoat and essence better than gel nail top sealer as topcoat, as usual.

何だかんだと写真が溜まって来ていたので（ええ、全部は出せていなかったりしますｗ）ここらでまとめて大放出してみます。ただ放出するだけじゃ面白くないので今回はいわゆるGlass Fleckと呼ばれる大粒シマー系ばかり集めてみました。基本写真記事です、ではお楽しみあれ！ヽ(ﾟ∀ﾟ)ﾉ

---

Zoya Ivanka

Bright green with golden glass flecks. It sparkles so much that I couldn’t take so many good pics showing golden fleck and that’s why there’s no macro :/ But, as very well known, amazing green :)

---

Zoya Daul

Sheer light purple with golden glass flecks. My hub loves this color so much because “Reminds me of baked sweet potatoes!! Yum :D”…Alright he’s such a gourmet guy.

---

GOSH Galaxy

Charcoal gray with rainbow-ish multicolor shimmery flecks. Really a rainbow color shimmer, but not holographic…which is pretty interesting and beautiful :)

---

KIKO 208 (on index & ring, with GOSH Galaxy on middle & pinky)

Another gray shade with rainbow-ish flecks, but KIKO 208 has much warmer reddish tone while GOSH Galaxy goes much yellow-ish. But both looks pretty similar…I don’t say these are dupe but like sisters/cousins!

---

Catrice Return Of Space Cowboys (over essence black is back)

Multichrome glass fleck topcoat. Even though bottle color is pretty bold, it’s super sheer so need to apply on black. Shimmer is strong and rich that only one coat already gives enough effect ;)

---

Flormar U33

My fav in Flormar! Looks like Catrice’s ROSC but flecks are much blue and fine. I want to grab another bottle as a backup but it’s OOS these days :( Hope my local shop will restock…PLEEEEEEEASE :(((((

---

So this is it today! :D Are there any of ‘em you like?

Review: P2 Color Stop!; Really a stopper for cuticle mess?

Today I’d like to show you one of the most interesting nail product I’ve ever seen. It’s called “Color Stop!” by German brand P2, which concept is;

Okay. Now the question is “What you call liquid barrier and how can I use?”. Unfortunately there’s NO description on the bottle (which is already a pretty big cons), but I’ve found following image in their booklet;

I think this tells something. So the idea is, to apply this liquid stuff around the cuticle BEFORE painting the nail and this will guard the color mess by peeling off the dried residue with excess color after all. Because of this usage, it has pretty fine brush;

But liquid is a bit thick and bit hard to apply smoothly & quickly. It need a time to apply neatly, but well, still it’s suitable and this is a result;

I’d let them dry, it took VERY GOOD 5 min or EVEN MORE (another cons), and then I painted my nail with one of most bold color I have; OPI Yoga-ta get this blue, strong shimmery navy. I gave VERY thick one coat to let it flood around my cuticle;

As you can see here. Then I waited until color is completely dry, I think I’ve even waited for AN HOUR to be sure, and then pulled the residue carefully with the tweezers…

...to remove them with excess colors, to get neat cuticle line…

...NO. :(
It pulled the colors. It pulled the colors to the cuticle and totally messed up the cuticle line. Took one hour and this. NO WAY.

So now I’ll shout out loud “DON’T BUY” for this product. Idea is great, I really love the idea, but otherwise that’s it. It takes much longer than normal clean-up with brush and acetone, final result is so bad, even worse than I’ve expected, so completely NO REASON to get this “innovative” product…which made me sad :(

Other way around, if you still would like to try this, just grab the PVA glue. I’ve checked the INCI which was like;

AQUA, POLYVINYL ACETATE, PPG-3 METHYL ETHER, CITRIC ACID, ACRYLATES COPOLYMER, PHENOXYETHANOL, DISILOXANE, AMMONIUM HYDROXYDE, (1) PROPYLENE GLYCOL & AQUA & (2) CITRUS GRANDIS & (3) CITRIC ACID &(4) GLYCOLIC ACID & (5) LACTIC ACID & (6) MALIC ACID, PEG-12 DIMETHICONE, PROPYLENE GLYCOL, ETHYLHEXYLGLYCERIN, CITRUS MEDICA LIMONUM FRUIT EXTRACT

Even though there’s lot of other stuff else written, I’m so sure the main ingredients are water and PVA because texture wasn’t different at all.

So…wanna have a try? At least it’s fun to peel off the color from skin… :P

#074: Because November is Stomach Cancer Awareness Month…

essence carry me home! (Ready For Boarding LE)
China glaze Love Letter (1 coat)
H&M Peppermint Fusion (round french, 2 coats)
Posca blue (stitch)
essence better than gel nails top sealer

Cancer is enemy of life. It’s so close disease for everybody. Theoretically all the organs can get affected by cancer, so each different cancer has its own awareness month. I’ve already done the mani for “Movember”, the testicular cancer awareness, but today I’d like to add one more mani for another cancer, which awareness month is also November, the 2nd worst cancer in Japan, and actually my dad is fighting with just right now; the stomach cancer (gastric cancer).

Oh please don’t get serious, he is OK. Now he is in the middle of chemotherapy so not in perfect shape, but he is doing fine; or even better than other guys in his age :) He is great enabler, great geek, master of my life, …actually I’m working as exactly same field as his :P So I’d like him to be much better, to his best shape, if possible.

So as awareness color is periwinkle…well, which color you call periwinkle? It’s pretty hard to define the delicate color of polish, but this time I’ve picked H&M’s Peppermint fusion, one of so-called periwinkle polish with blue shimmer. Hope this color will show my hope to everyone…and will give a message to get aware of stomach cancer, even it’s not a major cancer in US/EU.

胃がんって日本人には凄く身近ながんですが、欧米人にはそうでもないようで……11月が実は胃がん撲滅月間でもあるということをついこの間知りまして。実は今年頭、身内に胃がんが見つかり、まあ手術でどうにかなったんですが……「○歳で死ぬとしてあと何食食べられる」がほぼ口癖な程の食うこと大好き人間だったので本人非常にがっかりしたりしつつ、とはいえ現在食べられる範囲内で全力で食を楽しんでいるようなのでこちらとしては不安な中多少安心はしているのですけれども。ただやっぱりがんって知らない間に来ていて怖いものだ、ということで今回は1人胃がん撲滅キャンペーンネイルであります。

今回使ったポリの色＝Periwinkleが胃がん撲滅カラーだそうですよ。日本人胃がん物凄く多いですし、ピンクリボンだけじゃなくて、こういう他のがんに対する撲滅キャンペーンがもっと広がればいいな、と（自分の無知を棚に上げて）思う次第です。