Blueberry

As the days are becoming darker and colder, so are the colours on my nails. I didn't wear all the summer brights I planned to wear, but I don't mind, I'm already in a "autumn-winter palette" mood : ) And because in April I was not yet, MIYO Blueberry was waiting to be tried since spring, since the time Akuma Kanji sent it to me in a swap. 

MIYO is a brand available in Portugal, but presumably fabricated in Poland. It was the first MIYO polish for me to try, and I should say I'm pretty satisfied. Dark polishes are always super hard to work with for me, but I managed to apply it very smoothly and easily. I can even say I was proud of myself : )

MIYO Bluberry has a colour of... guess what?...blueberry! : ) Actually not. As a fan of blueberry, I'm telling you it's way bluer. The polish is a dark purple creme, so dark that it will seem almost black indoors. A tone too dark for my taste maybe. The texture, as I said, is nice and super opaque - 2 coats on the photos, but you can get away with one easily.

All the pictures are taken in a gloomy daylight, I had no chance to test the colour under the sun.

Well, I know this post is pic heavy already, but I have to show the stamping I did, too. Pls have some patience and take a look at the bundlemonstered Blueberry : ) For that I used Stargazer Chrome and BM-320.

Uf, that's it. The next post will be shorter and lighter I promise :)

Grape Escape

Early autumn.. Grape time, no? :) We have crazy low prices for grapes now and I seriously think I got grape overdose in my nutrition plan :) Whatever, I'm never sick of them, neither of the grape colour in polishland. Well, conditionally "grape colour". Just as the creators of the polish below imagined a grape colour. The creators of Barielle Grape Escape: 

I don't have much to add, you see everything yourself at the pictures. Flawless application in 2 coats with Barielle thin brush (❤). At some point I saw the bubbles, but it might have been my fault - sometimes I apply basecoat, go eat a slice of pizza and then continue with polish : {

And some fruit bonus :) I'm not really fond of swatching with fruits, but because of the name of the polish I couldn't but make an exception :)

If the grapes were really the same colour with the polish, I would assume that they are too toxic to be eaten. But look at OPI Grape Fit, China Glaze Grape Pop, Grape Juice and A Grape Fit!, etc. - they are all the same. Somehow THIS is the grape colour in the perception of the polish makers. Not in mine though: my grandpa used to make wine as his hobby, and I saw a looot of grape types of different shades, but of this one. Whatever, I still like it! :)

Iced Licorice + comparison

"Whaat, is she crazy? Such a gloomy shade in the middle of summer?" - you might think, seeing today's swatches. But I've been craving Nubar Iced Licorice for ages, and after I got it, I couldn't let it stay in untrieds for a long time. Moreover, a fellow bloggerin, TatiN (check her blog, she has very pretty swatches!), asked me to show it. So I am doing: 

And of course I was VERY curious to compare Licorice with my favourite Deborah Milano #60. They look pretty similar in the bottles, no?

Although both polishes have purple base, the difference here is that Deborah is more cool-toned, and Licorice is slightly warmer.  Also, the golden shimmer is not the same: Nubar has mica-type flakies, and Deborah just usual small golden shimmer particles. Whereas Nubar has a more delicate shine, Deborah is more of a blingy-thingie. By formula, Nubar is thicker than the quite sheer Deborah, and covers in 2 coats vs. Deb's 3. 

Yeah, might be not that much of a difference on the photos, but there is more in real life, you see it. They are NOT dupes. And as for me, I ❤ them both! :)

Swap №10: Little Exception

With all my Italian posts I totally forgot to post about a swap I recently did. Some of you know, that I was not swapping for a long time, mostly because I had so many untrieds and I didn't want to receive even more, however attractive they might seem. But when Akuma Kanji contacted me, I just couldn't refuse: she is my constant swap buddy, this is the 3rd exchange that we're doing. Besides, they have so many pretty polishes there in Portugal which are almost impossible to find anywhere else, so I couldn't say "no". Which I never regreted afterwards : ) Look what she sent me:

Left to right:

• Andreia #93: golden glitter!! I'm super excited!!

• Cliché Sonho

• Andreia #96: recently I have a big crush on purples.. 

Left to right:
• DERMExcellence #55
• DERMExcellence #39: totally unknown polishes for me, but I love trying new brands.
• Inocos Dançar from Noites de Verão Collection: I'm telling you, this one is gorgeous!!
• Inocos Maria Bonita from As Marias de Portugal Collection: very nice shade, right inbetween blue and lilac.

Left to right
• Carlos Santos
• Yes Love #Y74
• Yes Love #504
• MIYO Blueberry

... and a HUGE pack of Portuguese sweets : ) I have never tried anything similar before, but they were so tasty, that I ate the whole package at once : )

Yes, the whole big nail mail full of nice stuff.
Thank you so much, dear Akuma Kanji!!!

Traditionally, I am also posting a swatch of a polish from the swap pack. The very first one I tried was Inocos Dancar, but I was on the run and didn't take pictures of it :( So, I'm posting the second "try": Andreia #96 (you can see the bottle on the first picture). 

The colour is deep dark eggplant purple with an awesome texture inbetween creme and jelly. Probably I mentioned before that such a texture is very characteristic for Andreia polishes, together with a crazy gloss - there is NO top coat on the pictures!! As usual, I'm very pleased with Andreia, and I recommend all of you to get some and to see yourself how great they are. If they are not sold around, you might try to find a Portuguese swap buddy : )

Deborah Milano in Milano

This post as well as a couple of next ones I will devote to what I bought and what I wore in Italy. Getting ready for this trip I decided to paint my nails with the most Italian polish I had in my stash at that point of time (!) and to let it see its "motherland" - Deborah Milano #60. It was on my nails when I landed in Italy and during the first days of the trip. And when I had my first cup of real, indigenous Cappuccino on the central square of Milano:

And other coffee creations in Bologna (what I am holding below is cafe au chocolate):

Actually, I showed Deborah Milano #60 already, so if you are interested in detailed swatches and description - click here. In this post I was just sharing some Italian impressions : ) 

Nails In Foil

As usual, I'm posting the swatches of a limited edition in a very timely manner, i.e. after a year after its release : ) But that's me, and my blog is a very direct reflection of my personality. Anyway, today 2 pretty foils from Essence Nails In Style LE - a little flashback to the last summer. 

The first one here on the pictures is Essence Style Me Love, a very thick and opaque warm purple foil - works per-fect for stamping by the way. One coat (!) on the pictures. Dries fast but chips even faster. 

Close-up below. The "foil" actually consists of purple and silver shimmer, you can see the texture very well:

And now onto the second polish, Essence Style For Summernights, which is a tiny bit less interesting - I find. Just because you can find a silver foil everywhere now, and if you missed this LE of Essence you can grab Zoya Trixie or China Glaze Icicle or China Glaze Cheers To You. Or many others. Two easy coats, but my favourite thing is to mattify it. If you have foils, I do advise you to experiment with matte top coats, you'll love the effect :)

So, yay or nay to the foils? I know, the best season for them is winter, but I just can't switch to spring/summer shades. Not yet. What do you think?