Manhattan Taupe

Today I decided to show just a pretty taupe, nothing more than that. Almost nameless even, because it stems from a very old Manhattan LE M&Bufallo launched in like 2011, and has no real name, just a number - #96E. But it still is one of my favourite taupes in the stash, so here are the swatches: 

Manhattan #96E is a grey/beige (=greige) creme shade with a drop of brown and a tiny hue of lilac in it, which altogether makes it a pretty cold-toned taupe. The application is simply great, it's opaque in 1 coat already, and dries really quickly. Absolutely nothing to complain about here.

The shade feels so comfortable to wear in late autumn or winter, it just gives you that "cosy sweater" feeling. It works well against my skin tone as well, which is really not always the case with the taupes.

Although it's discontinued long ago, the substitute is easy to find in other brands palettes, I would suggest smth like Color Club High Society (which I also own) or Essie Chinchilly. By the way, I noticed that taupes are a real trend in the company where I work, you can see these shades on every third pair of hands! Do you also like wearing taupes, or are you rather not a fan? 

Below Deck + Flossy Top

In my stash there are certain polishes which I know I will immediately repurchase once (if ever) they finish. China Glaze Below Deck is one of such shades, and I like it so much that I hope that it either never comes to an end, or it will be forever available at the stores!

China Glaze Below Deck is a dusty mixture of purple and grey. Greige? Taupe? Mauve already? Go figure. Besides, on the background of various skin tones, and under different types of light it will look differently. I am just showing how it looks on my hands, and I kindly ask you not to perceive these swatches as an ultimately true colour representation.

By the way, here is the comparison with some other popular taupe/mauve shades, I hope you'll find it useful! 

A couple of words about the formula: it's awesome!!! One-coater (!), applies like butter, dries fast. Tipwear can be disturbing, but not for those who change their polishes once per 2-3 days - like I do ; )

After wearing CG Below Deck for a day, I decided to decorate it somehow - instead of removing it :) Last time I did the golden net stamping (warning: old pics!!!), now I opted for glitter. For a very cool glitter, I should say - Depend Flossy Top #151.  

Depend Flossy Top #151 consists of a clear base and middle-sized hexagonal glitter of 4 colours: pink, red, green and blue. Simple combination, yet looking so cool!

And I decided to experiment with other background colours for Dance Legend #151. Forgot the light green base, argh! Maybe you have some other combination ideas?.. : ) 

Pasha

Moin, today I'm showing something special. Special for me, because I normally don't wear such colours. But as I was looking at the swatches of Zoya Pasha on the web, I was thinking how nice it looks, and then Pasha went to my wish list. I never really hoped to get it, but Carolina was so kind to send it to me in a swap : ) For a long time I didn't have courage to try it, but I couldn't just keep watching at it forever, so here are the swatches:

Pasha is a coffee-with-milk cool-shaded polish with a silver shimmer (frost, if you want), and I just cannot describe it any other way.. Somewhere between beige and taupe?

The main stress should be made on the words "cool-shaded". Exactly because of that it doesn't create 'lobster hands' effect on me, but if you have warm skin tone, you won't have to worry at all : ) I did worry. In vain, as it turned out.

For Pasha to look nice on your nails they have to be without ridges - this polish tends to highlight them. Secondly, you will need a top coat in order to smooth the shimmer streaks. On the photos there are barely any - that's only because of the top coat. Otherwise, the application is typical Zoya - smooth and nice, 2 fast drying coats. 

Otherwise, Zoya Pasha was the only case when my bf, being asked if he likes it on my nails, said explicitly: "No". Maybe it was weird for him to see such a colour on me, don't know. Me, on the contrary.. I liked Pasha more than I expected : ) Do you?

Seventeen

Not so many pictures today, neither words, although the polish I'm showing, Seventeen #271, is one of my favourite "calm shades". 

Seventeen #271 is a dusty beige with a drop of lilac in it, the texture is light semi-jelly. It was my first experience with this Greek brand - [it's where I am at the very moment actually :)] - and I should say I'm very pleased with formula and application - 2 easy coats. And Seventeen has a great colour pallette, so if you occasionally have access to Seventeen polishes - check them, they are worth it :)

Note: I saw many people writing in their reviews that Seventeen polishes smell very strongly, almost unbearably. In my case, I didn't feel anything special, just an average polish smell, but maybe it's because I was polishing my nails in front of an open window. 

The Taupe Times: Comparison

Proceeding with the taupe theme. I rarely do comparisons because.. I don't know why. Maybe because I believe they are of no value, as everything was already compared and cross-compared by other bloggers?.. But this time I was curious myself how the taupes I have compare to each other. And no free nail wheels : )

So, here are the guinea pigs:

And having applied all of them on the nails we have the following result:

All applied in 2 coats, moreover, by formula and quality they are pretty similar (=equally good!), except maybe China Glaze Below Deck, which is a 1-coater. OPI Parlez-Vous OPI? I just added to have some purpleness there, I wouldn't call it a taupe otherwise. And I'm glad to see I have no dupes, Manhattan and CC look very similar, but the first one is less brownish.

Which one do you like the most? Maybe you have some other taupes you like? Tell me : ) 

Taupe Time

Rainy (! - not snowy) cold weather for the last week... What would you wear? I went for taupes. Normally I don't wear them any often, but there was one - Essie Merino Cool - peeping out of the nail polish box and complaining to be untried for ages, so I had some mercy on it. Here it is by itself:

Looks pretty, right? And you never really know how it looks on your nails until you try it.. And I guess it depends on skin tone too. Anyway, here's my version:

What can I say? It's a very nice taupe polish - for those who like such shades. I'm not a huge fan, but sometimes it matches my mood. No complaints about the quality, 2 coats - this time Essie did a good job. I did some stamping, but it didn't turn out good.. and I neither could shot a good photo of it because it was getting dark.. Sorry for the totally colour_balance_wise distorted picture.

By the way, can someone explain me the "coolness" of the name? Does that come from "merino wool"? 

Squared Stamping

Moin moin!

This post is devoted to those readers who love stamping as much as I do, but who missed seeing it in my blog! So here is some for you:

You can notice that my nails are usually too long for standard Konad images, so I have to be somewhat inventive : ) For this "nail look" I've been using Manhattan 96E as a base colour and CG 2030 for stamping. Manhattan was very easy to apply (2 coats), and totally pleasant to work with. Some pure swatches:

What I can tell is that this polish is ranging from grey to brown depending on the light, it's a taupe, or "greige", if you want. Under the artificial one it becomes somewhat brownish:

Generally I'm supersatisfied with Manhattan brand, although they don't really have a wide range of interesting colours, you can always find some pearls. And the quality is always on top level! As well as the price.

Silber+grau/braun

Zur Zeit leider kann ich keine Weihnachtsdesigns auf meinen Nägeln schaffen (die ich sooooo maaaag!!), weil ich fast jeder Tag nach Uni muss, und obwohl es nicht verboten ist, bunte Nagellacke zu tragen, dennoch versuche ich im Grenzen der Eleganz zu bleiben. Doch bald habe ich Weihnachtsferien und hoffe während dieser Zeit meine Kreativitätsbedürfnisse zu befriedigen :)