Kiko #339

Hey guys! 

Sorry for being absent for a while, some foreign guests came to me and I was running around the city like crazy for the last week! And although I had no time to blog, I did shoot some nice swatches of my oldies-goodies which I wanted to show you. This Kiko #339, for example: 

Kiko Fiordaliso (yep, Kikos have names..) is a sky blue creme with periwinkle hue, very glossy and of middle opacity. I got away with 2 coats, but there were some tiny bold spots left, not even visible on the pics. What I liked about the polish is that it dries very fast and basically doesn't require any top coat. No top coat = less time spent for a mani, haha. 

Oh, and the shade is very pretty - is that really necessary to say?

A kind of "I wore it out" pic. Now with a new phone I get nice phonopics :) 

P.S. When I was about to click "publish", I realised that I showed this polish in my blog already.. The more pics the merrier, so feel free to check my "old style" swatches too :)

Suspiro

These swatches have been lying around since early summer, but although my hands looks a bit more tanned than they should, I think that publishing the pics of this polish is also ok in winter. Polishes, actually, as this is a layering combo. No one cares about the base colour (although it's a pretty periwinkle - Essence Forget-Me-Not - swatched here), the eyecather is the glitter top - Hits Speciallità Suspiro from Mari Moon collection. 

Hits Speciallità Suspiro consists of 2 colours and 3 sizes glitter: pink and blue; smaller, medium and larger hexagons. The base colour is light lavender, and I'm not sure if it is opaque enough to cover VNL in 2-3 coats by itself - I should try once. As I said, I was using Suspiro as a layering top, and I liked it that way. The application was pleasant, the glitter particles are easy to spread on the nails. 

For me, a glitter top is always the easiest way to prolong the manicure life, or even to hide the worn off tips. 5 minutes and you don't have to repaint your nails, so easy :)

And of course I'm especially happy to own this polish because it's very hard to get in Europe.. many thanks to one of my readers, Mauni, for sending me this beauty from Brasil!

Party Rockin' Cashmere Cardigan

For a long time, starting even from pre-blogging period of my life, I've been craving Orly Cashmere Cardigan. Somehow I was sure that I will not find any dupes, and even if, I still wanted the original. After 2 years craving, I almost gave up hoping: none of the online shops had it, none of the fellow bloggers could find it. And suddenly, in the best traditions of Bollywood, it appears on German ebay and I win the auction with 3 euros. Happiness : ) 

Cashmere Cardigan is a [stunning] muted periwinkle creme, with a perfect 2-coat application. Generally Orly polishes work great for me, so I don't have any single complaint.

After wearing Casmere Cardigan solo for a day, I decided that it's also a great base colour for Lush Lacquer Party Rockin' - the only indie polish I have in my stash (thanks to a swap with Sarah) : ) Party Rockin' is a mixture of multicolour and multishape glitter. Just click on the pics below to have a closer look of what's included in this mix : ) In any case, it's very party and very rocking : )

Forget-Me-Not

A blast from the past. The manicure I was wearing last December. Either the time goes very fast, or I am very slow in posting.. : ) Regardless, the polish is still pretty, a periwinkle shade by Essence - Forget-Me-Not. 

Essence Blossoms Etc. was the only collection (limited edition, actually) which I bought whole, as it was. I still don't regret about it - those pastels are so pretty. Essence Forget-Me-Not was a part of that collection - slightly dusty periwinkle creme with blue nanoshimmer, which is not any visible in reality but still makes the colour less flat. No issues with application, 2 easy coats.

And some stamping I did back then using Konad white polish and m63 plate..

Maria Bonita + Monsters

Aaand my very first experience with new Bundle Monster plates! I can tell you it was VERY exciting :) 

I didn't expect: 1) that the images will be so big; 2) that they will be of such a good quality for the price (no sharp edges, well engraved tiny details etc.); and 3) that they will stamp so well! See yourself!

What you see on the pictures is randomly picked pattern from BM-314, and the pretty base colour is Inocos Maria Bonita from a cool collection (I like the concept!) Marias de Portugal. I got this beauty from my last swap with Akuma Kanji. The colour is soooo pretty - dusty lavender with a touch of periwinkle - that there's no way I won't show the swatches : )

Well, what can I say.. The new Bundle Monster plates are just pure delight, and Maria Bonita polish - muito bonita, indeed! : )

Cloudy Blue

As promised, showing you KIKO 339 Fiordaliso, the "cloudy blue", as one of my readers, Kim, has described it. Nothing to add here: gorgeous airy sky-blue creme with periwinkle undertone with a glossy finish (no top coat on the photos!). Application was easy: 2 coats over my favourite Nail Tek Foundation (this time III, not II). The brush was a tiny bit too wide for me, but no big complaints here either. 

And some attempts to recreate the cloth's pattern by sponging:

Kiko Sneak Preview

Walking in one city where I went for a short excursion I stumbled upon a whole Kiko cosmetics shop. It obviously just opened, because it's not even on Google yet. Anyway, it was a great surprise for me.. I spent there half an hour trying not to buy half of the polishes, because they all looked sooo pretty and tempting and cheap.. With a big effort I chose four:

From L to R:

KIKO 339 Fiordaliso

KIKO 340 Celeste

KIKO 288 Rosa Fenicottero

KIKO 338 Lavanda Chiaro

That was a week ago. Yesterday (weekend wohoo) I painted my nails with KIKO 339 Fiordaliso and went shopping. I ended up buying a blouse matching the colour of my nails (otherwise I wouldn't even probably look at this blouse) - yes, I am THAT addicted : ) Here they are altogether:

I'll be showing the full mani next days, now it's only a sneak peak :)

Does anyone else buy clothes to match thenail polish or it's only me being so weird?

UPD: KIKO polishes actually DO have names!!! It's just they are not written on the bottles, but you can check them on KIKO website.

Something Blue

Today I've made a somewhat weird mani. I seriously don't know what inspired me, probably I just didn't want to stamp over the whole nail because I love the polish colour so much - China Glaze Secret Peri-wink-le. It's among my top-10, which I'm probably going to publish for fun in the end of the year or so. Anyway, in the end I got almost what I wanted, but I didn't think it will look that weird:

Actually this mani is weird in all possible senses: I took million of pictures before I got some decent ones, and for the first time in my life I've stamped my right hand better than the left one! I never even thought it's possible, cuz I'm right-handed.

Now question to my dear readers: Do you stamp/do free hand nail art better on one hand than on the other? Does it become easier with time?