Base Coats

Recently I feel like sharing my experience and discussing what's best for hand&nail care. So today I'll tell you about the base coats I've tried, since for many of us they are an inevitable part of the manicure process.

Before I switch to the base coats themselves, I'd like to share some details. My nails are: fast growing, thick, splittering and stain easily. So, from a top coat I expect 2 things: to prolong my manicure and to prevent staining. I don't really need any fortifying effect, as I achieve it by other means.

In search of my first base coat I explored the whole internet and read thousands of feedbacks and comments before I choose which could work best for me. So I bought Nail Tek Foundation II.

Generally, I was very satisfied. Nail Tek Foundation II did everything what it promised plus I felt that my nails became even harder. To put it in a perceivable form, the "+" are:

~ it dries very fast and becomes somewhat matte when it's dry, so you can see it;

~ prevents staining. With especially 'suspicious' colours I use 2 coats and it works fine;

~ strengthens the nails and makes them grow faster - that was my impression.

The only "-" feature I noticed is that when you use 1 coat of polish, the 'thready' formula of the base coat will be visible underneath. But oh well, I rarely layer just 1 coat, even if the polish is completely opaque.

The next base I bought was Nail Tek Foundation III. Obviously, because I liked Foundation II, but I noticed that the product description of the IIId suits my nails better. By effect, II and III are similar, only maybe II makes nails grow faster, but they both fortify the nails pretty well. So, I equally liked Nail Tek Foundation II and III.

One more base coat of a similar type that I've tried is Essie Fill The Gap. Also a ridgefiller, also dries pretty fast and matte. I didn't really notice any effect on nails, otherwise this base coat is almost a dupe of Nail Teks. 

A completely different base coat - CND Stickey - I bought it after reading many positive reviews and also because one of the nail bloggers I read recommended it very much. So, its name describes it exactly as it is: it's green and sticky. My impression of it... is pretty mixed. The fact that it's sticky makes it hard to apply the first layer of nail polish over it - so I felt at least. Otherwise this base coat had no additional super effects. Dries ok, but remains sticky, so you are always confused if it dried or not...

One more product I use as a base now and then is Essence Pro White Effect. Actually it's something else than a base, but I can't think of any other application. Despite the name on the sticker, it does not whiten anything. As a base coat it also sucks: after some days you can just peel it off together with the polish. Hm. But hey, works perfect for glitters, just like a peel-off base coat :D 

Last, but not the least, is P2 Ridgefiller, which I bought because all above-listed ones simply finished. It's a nice product which you can find in any drug store in Germany, it works similar to Nail Teks, maybe it dries a bit more slowly and doesn't harden your nails that much. Overall: good one.

To add some illustrative effect for this post, I compiled a simple comparative table. I hope it will be useful.

	Nail Tek II	Nail Tek III	Essie Fill The Gap	CND Stickey	Essence Pro White Effect	P2 Ridgefiller
Dries Fast	5/5	5/5	4/5	3/5	3/5	4/5
Prevents Staining	5/5	5/5	4/5	not really	not really	4/5
Fortifies Nails	yes!	yes	a bit	-	-	a bit, I think
Prolongs Manicure				not sure	no! on the contrary
Overall Comments:	Nice one!	Same here: nice one!	Also not bad. Works well with Essie polishes.	Hmm.. I don't think I'll buy it again.	Seriously weird stuff. Never again.	Nice one and really affordable.

That's pretty much my experience with base coats. Not extensive, I know, but I'm planning to try more new ones. "Short list candidates" are Zoya Anchor, INM Milky Bond and CND Toughen Up. I also crave for Essie Protein Base, but I think it's discontinued... :( If you have any nice base coat in mind, I'll be glad to hear your recommendations :)

What about you, girls? What's your favourite base coat so far? Which one would you never ever recommend? I'm very curious ;)

No Summer Without A Holo

Hellou. Haven't been posting forever, but here I am. Life is somehow very fast, and I suddenly happen to be in Berlin for a couple of weeks with no laptop and no time to be in-house. Active holiday, that is. In some days I'm going to the sea-side again (yaaaaaaaaaaaaay!), so the postings will be quite sporadic till mid-September :) 

Today, with this crazy hot weather, I can't wear - and post about anything else but a holo. For my stash - a king of all other holos. No need for a long introduction, as it's a famous China Glaze 2NITE :)

Everything is just perfect about this polish - it applies like butter and dries in seconds, faster than you finish painting your nails! Leave alone the shade - I'm not a big fan of linear holos, but this one is stunning. Ah, and I bought it for 2,5€. Hihi. I actually should have bought a box of them, sell them on ebay and make a fortune :)

Baaack!

Bonjour les filles! Comment allez-vous? :) Me voici de retour du Maroc!

Oh my, I think out of nothing I acquired A1 level in French while struggling to communicate with the local population :) So yup, I'm back, I had a great time, and I hope you're enjoying your summer days too! :)

Time to tell what I was wearing in Morocco, right? My holidays were not so long, plus very active, so I spent minimum time on doing my nails. The only thing I wanted was the polishes to combine with my swimming suits :) So I took off wearing Eyeko Vintage, a polish I didn't manage to swatch, and packed 2 more bottles with me: Alessandro Pale Blue Lagoon and Andreia #93. 

First to show is baby Alessandro - I already posted about it here - but this baby blue creme is so pretty, that I can't help writing about it again. And again a warning: don't be decieved by it's prettiness, because the formula is far from being a good one. You'll need 3 coats, because the brush tends to leave bald spots. Also, the polish tends to become goopy in the bottle after the second use. But for objectivity reasons: it does stay long on the nails without chipping.

The next one is Andreia #93. For a long time I have been craving a golden glitter polish, but a swap with Akuma Kanji solved this problem very easily :) I'm still thinking of getting Butter London West End Wonderland one day when I have money. 

The "golden look" required some effort: I needed 3 to 4 coats on different nails. Was totally worth it though! By the way these swatches are unique: they were shot at 5 am. Yeah, what else to do if it's only one hour before breakfast :D

Not the best quality swatches because they were taken with a phone, but I didn't have much time and proper conditions.. And some bonus pics: 

Double Swirls

Won't be much text this time. Another manicure inspired - very possibly - by the trip, done in 10 minutes. When I finished stamping I realised that the whole thing reminds me of Moroccanoil bottles : D

The base polish is a wonderful bright sky-blue creme by DERMExcellence. The brand is totally new for me, I got it in a swap from Portugal. Nevertheless I totally liked the application and the colour. On the photos you see 2 coats of DERMExcellence #55, stamped with Manhattan 77Z and China Glaze 2030. Below the base colour alone, because it's worth seeing :) 

This was the last pre-scheduled post before I come back :) The next one will be about the polishes I wore during the trip :) 

Paisley

Second time I am trying out my Bundle Monster plates. The positive impression only becomes more positive! Seriously, even the designes with fine details stamp very well. Such as this paisley pattern on BM-315, or as I normally call it - "cucumbaaa" : )

And just to be precise, the base colour you see is NOT black. Yes Love #504 is a dark dark dark aubergine shade, which - to my big surprise dried matte! Like this: 

Then I looked at it for some minutes, and generously poured with top coat. I think I like it better this way :)

And finally, it's my first and only shade which is black_but _not_really_black.. Myself I wouldn't probably buy it. But lovely Akuma Kanji sent it to me as an extra in our swap, and I'm really greatful for her choice, because all in all I liked how it looks on me - also nice on toes in winter :)

Multicolour Stamping

Experimenting with multicolour stamping this time.. The idea came to me suddenly, the colour combination as well. Very possibly inspired by the trip : )

The stamping is done with Konad plate m85 over Sally Hansen White On (very poor formula as for a white polish, by the way..), the pattern is stamped with China Glaze 2030, Victoria Shu #16 and Manhattan 77Z. HOW to do such a multicolour design - see here, for example. Quite easy, actually.. and I love the technique :) 

Before I did this, I was wearing pure white on my nails for a day.. Looks amazing in summer! Totally recommending : )

Random Glitter

Umm... I don't even know what to say!! I was sitting and watching a movie, and there were a couple of glitter bottles and fan brushes lying around me. Since I already had base colour on, in 3 minutes I got THIS on my nails:

Used products: 

Base colour: Franken Scandalous Ballerina

Colours: Victoria Shu #16, China Glaze Midnight Kiss, Manhattan #77Z

Glitters: Milani Gold, Essence Troy, NYX Lights-Camera-Glitter

Nail Art Fan Brush

"Weird" is the softest word one can use to describe this mani. But since I promised to myself to post about my fail manicures, too - here it is ; ) Of course, I didn't wear it out. More out, than a garden I mean : )

You seriously don't have to comment on that! :)

Yay! Holidays!

Dear girls!
Now that you are reading this post I am sitting in an airplane heading to....

THERE!

Believe me, I am super happy because I was waiting for such a holiday for a loooooooong time. No worries, I have some posts scheduled already :)

To make it more interesting, I won't tell you where I'm going. However, it's not that difficult to guess. And if you do guess, you'll have +10 entries in my next giveaway :DD If you name the country AND the place/city, you'll have +20. No kidding! First come - first serve, comments are valid today and tomorrow. And a hint: my next giveaway will be a cutie holo polish :)