Khaki Squared

Always wanted to try studs in my manicures, but I never could choose which sizes and colours appeal to me more.. A chance turned up recently, when KKCenterHK offered me to post a review on their studs, allowing me to choose whichever I wish to try out. Only then I figured out that I want something middle-sized and silver/gold. Let's start with the gold ones.. :)

...right after I shortly introduce you the base colour - Cliché Khaki. What's so special about it? It killed one of my lemmings which I would probably never own anyways: Chanel Khaki Vert. I know it's not a dupe, and probably H&M Hunt Me Down resembles Chanel even more, but it was this polish that killed my desire for Chanel. And saved me some 200€ lol.

Cliché Khaki is also a... khaki semi-jelly, cold-shaded. Application was great and I only needed 2 coats. The formula is on the runny side, but everything dries fast.

Overall, it's a great shade, and I showed it once already - that was some years ago. By showing it again I'm just trying to show how much I like it :)

And this is how the studs arrived: great packaging idea in my opinion, this little jar is so convenient to work with! The studs themselves are shiny, coloured in gold and 3,5mm in size.

So, after stamping the square pattern with BM-322 and CG 2030, I quickly applied the studs and covered everything with the top coat - this is how I got the "look" :) 

Summarising here.. what you should know about these studs is:
+ they are easy to use and to glue on just one drop of clear polish (top coat);
+ they last pretty long without falling off (esp. with a top coat);
+ you can reuse them (yes yes!!);
- it's was a bit hard to pick them before application lol - or I haven't figured out how to do it yet :D
Overall I'm more than satisfied!

Lastly, I'm sharing a 10% discount code for KKCenterHk online store with you: just enter "ritterbraten" before paying! Check their shop, they really have interesting stuff for nail art and other beauty supplies : )
*The studs were kindly provided by KKCenterHk PR team for my consideration. In this post I expressed my honest and unbiased opinion about the product.

Aerial Nude

Today I am showing something you have NOT seen in this blog before: VNL pure. Visible nail line that is. Many times I wrote that I'm not any fan of it and I usually try to avoid it, layering as many coats of polish as it takes to cover it. But - rereading the name of my blog - I had to try it once :) The opportunity came together with a swap package from Zelinda - she sent me Cliché Areia as a nice extra.

You see, you see?? Here it is, the VNL! :) After 4 coats - this polish was never meant to be opaque actually, the name "areia" means.. NO, NOT AIR!!!

...but "sand". Oh well, I was confused till the last moment : ) The polish is a very light nude peachy jelly, very transparent as well, but I'd rather name it "air" than "sand". Application was quite easy but loooong, all these 4 coats + base + top, uff! At least all the coats dried fast. 

Honestly speaking, Areia looks much prettier on the photos than in reality. When I was wearing it, I couldn't decide if I liked the nail look or not. The VNL thing was still confusing, but I promised myself to try this polish in a glitter sandwich :) It's called "sand" after all, I just need to find the "wich" part :) 

After some days I added a BM-314 stamping pattern on top. I still wasn't sure if I liked the result, but it matched one of my T-shirts :) 

What's your attitude to VNL? Love it? Hate it? Tell me! :) 

Swap №12: Light Shades Only!

During the Christmas time I received some packs: expected, unexpected and expected but with unknown contents : ) Today I'll show you one of them: a swap package that arrived from Portugal (by far my most popular swap destination lol). In this pack lovely Zelinda from Unhas Fofas da Z sent me two Ludurana lemmings, a Cliché polish I wanted so much, and a lot of nice extras!

Polishes, left to right: 

Purple Professional #49 

Cliché Espuma

Ludurana Perlato

Ludurana Arabesco

Cliché Areia

Above: Cliché nail polish thinner with banana smell

and two Avon lipstick testers and a happy nail file :)

The polishes close up:

Thank you so much, Zelinda!!!

And of course, I'll show the swatches of one of the polishes I received. Somehow I grabbed Cliché Espuma first! 

Cliché Espuma is a wonderful white jelly - something I've never had in my stash before. Although the colour is pure, it's a bit muted, so not in-your-face white. The nails therefore look like porcelain. My bf told me after careful observation that depending on the light he sees some either pinkish or slight beige tinges - well, let's believe him.

Now you're probably thinking how difficult Espuma is in terms of application..? : ) Well, not that much. I needed 3 layers, but the polish dries fast so I didn't have problems. 

Another detail: this polish gives the nails a thick, "gel look", but neat at the same time. I did like this effect : ) 

Do you have a pure white jelly in your stash?

Pure Sweetness

Don't you think I stopped wearing my beloved pastel pinks? Ha! No way! They hold the biggest share of my stash and it's never gonna change I guess. It's just lately I'm keen on pastel pink jellies, just like my Portugese little treasure Cliché Sonho sent by Akuma Kanji in our last swap. 

Sonho means "dream", and this polish is so girly and sweet that I understand the logic of the name. As I said, it's a baby pink jelly, very glossy and pretty sheer. I needed 4 coats to cover the VNL (more or less), but it dries so fast that I didn't have any problems!

P.S. Sorry for being so slow in posting. I'm on a business trip now, but I promise to come back with a little haul ;) Greetings from the biggest country of the world!

Berry Dots

I should say from the beginning: this is NOT the pattern I wanted to make, like AT ALL. But, this is what came out. Borders with a failure, but it actually looks ok in real life and not on macro photos. Judge yourself:

 

 

Products used:

Base colour: Cliché Flash (2 coats) 

Dotting tools

Dotting colour: American Apparel Berry

The design I wanted to create still remains in plans : )

Is that familiar to you when you start out with a clear idea of one manicure and finish with somewhat totally different? 

Oliva...Really?

Do the green olives in Portugal have this colour like Cliché Oliva which I am showing on my nails today? If yes, then I'm impressed, because I normally perceive something else under "green olive" shade : ) Anyway, a controversial name does not make the polish itself less attractive. Moreover, this bottle is very special for me, it's absolutely impossible to get here in Germany and that's why it made all its way from Portugal sent by Akuma Kanji in one of our swaps. 

Arguing with the manufacturer, I would say it's a green bottle glass shade with a peculiar texture, a special outstanding feature of Cliché polishes. Super glossy and glassy (no topcoat on the pictures!), easy to handle (2 coater, I applied 3 to get a deeper colour) and gorgeous looking. What else to want from a polish? Thank you, Akuma Kanji!!! =) 

Please don't think that I missed a chance to stamp on such a great base ^^ I applied a pattern from a newly bought m85 plate:

What do you think about "Oliva"? How about such green shades?

Swap №2

Remember I told you about my first experience in swapping? Well, I did one more exchange, this time direction South :) Probably some of you already know Akuma Kanji, a blogger who won my first giveaway.. After we've arranged the sending of the prize, word by word we agreed on a swap, and it was totally worth doing!! Look at my cute Portuguese newbies:

Left to right:

Andreia 3

Andreia 75

Cliché Khaki

Cliché Flash

Cliché Oliva

Yes Love 205 (what a brand name and what a bottle!!!)

Yes Love 629

Risqué Energia

What I liked is that all these colours are unique in my collection. In addition to this, my package was full of sweets, I think their aggregate volume even exceeded the volume of polishes :) :) The pack arrived yesterday morning, and it indeed made my day happy and sweet. Thank you so much, Akuma Kanji! :)

Of course the first thing I did after I read the note and ate a couple of sweets - I rushed to try out the cuties. Unfortunately, I encountered a problem: I seriously couldn't choose which to start with... After some time I made my mind. Ladies and gentlemen (are there any lol), let me introduce you Cliché Khaki:

Resume: this polish is amazing AMAZING AMAZING!!! Last autumn I was dying to have Chanel Khaki Vert, but I was never ready to pay the crazy amount it costed. Now I don't know how close would it be with Cliché Khaki and I don't care - the latter is more than enough for me!! No need to mention good application (I loved the brush) in 2 coats and a nice formula that makes this polish look NOT flat, otherwise it would kill all its beauty. I really hope all other polishes from this swap will make an equally good impression to me. Once again, BIG thanks to Akuma Kanji :) Swap, people, it's fun!! :)