StarGazer 161: Νebula in a bottle

Greek/ Ελληνικά

Did any of you catch a glimpse of last night’s eclipse? I didn’t since it was downcast here. However, I do have a very starry-night looking polish for you today. StarGazer 161 is one of the prettiest dark blue polishes I own because even though it’s dark, it is a very vibrant shade of blue shot through with a golden flaky shimmer. It looks a lot like blue goldstone which I love. It really is fantastic!

As you can see in the pictures, the shimmer becomes apparent only under direct light. The rest of the time it looks dark blue. For all its beauty, it has a very unfortunate drawback; it is a very thin polish. I had to do 4 thin layers for these pictures and it still isn’t completely opaque under direct sunlight. I usually layer it over a dark blue, but I think this dulls down the vibrancy of the blue somewhat.

 

 

I love looking at 161’s bottle, too. Look how similar it is to the Iris Nebula (NGC 7023). You can get this polish here(non-affiliated link).

Xxx

Elysse

Close up of  StarGazer 161's bottle

Iris Nebula (source)

Essie – Alligator Purse for Autumn

Ελληνικά/Greek

The autumnal equinox is this Wednesday which marks the official end of the summer and the start of autumn. I know everybody gets excited about autumn, but where I live it’s a bit impossible to be excited about autumn in the middle of July in the midst of a heat wave. Today is probably the first day that feels a bit autumnal here, chilly enough for a jacket and still pretty much sunny.

Alligator Purse (613)  is one of the unsung heroes of autumn by Essie. It is now part of the permanent line  thought it first came out in 2007, before the nail blogging world exploded making certain shades iconic and our list of ‘must-haves’ longer and longer. On the website it is described as: “this luxurious creamy burnt orange polish is the perfect couture accessory and your favorite(sic) new arm candy.”

To me it looks like a brownish red which it brings to mind 70s films like ‘Last Tango in Paris’ with its heavy orange hues. It dries a couple of shades darker than it looks in the bottle and when the light hits it it looks almost brick red. It’s a perfect autumnal shade!

I shall leave you with a beautiful song by Dusty Springfield about the end of the summer. I hope we all have a great autumn!

XxX

Elysse