Ninja Polish: Ambrosia, Divinity, Shillelagh

Heyo! Today I'm posting a massive entry because I'll be showing 3 polishes at once - all those Ninja Polishes that I own. Last autumn I was lucky enough to win a giveaway of Good Lack, Nail! blog and Caroline sent me my 3 Ninja prizes together with other beauties.

Here they are bellow, all stemming from Enigma Collection, all three beautiful as hell: left to right below you see Divinity, Ambrosia and Shillelagh.

As you know, Ninja polishes are mostly complex unusual colours, so I had two problems related to swatching them. Firstly, there was not enough daylight (I was swatching in autumn) and secondly, I didn't use a top coat on Ambrosia and Shillelagh, so I maybe didn't show all the possible colour shifts. In any case, no camera would picture them as real and beautiful as they are live :)  

Let me start with the most prominent out of these 3 - Divinity.

Divinity is a bordeaux/purple jelly base with a magic shimmer. Yes, magic, because I wouldn't describe it with one single colour. The shimmer creates a multichromal effect - from deep burgundy red to gold and sometimes green - so amusing to watch! The colour shift effect is strong, so you will not need a microscope to observe it :)

The application was mmmnot so easy-peasy, I couldn't cope with the wide brush that well, but in the end I won :) Unlike Clarins 230 and other similar unicorn pees, Divinity is opaque in 2 thick coats. The polish has rather a satin finish and definitely needs a top coat, only then you see the full beauty of the colour metamorphoses. 

The next polish is Ambrosia, and on this one my camera freaked out completely :) I would also freak out on such a beauty, would I be in my camera's position.

Ambrosia is a vibrant red with golden shimmer, and the shimmer changes the base colour from pink to red depending on the light and the view angle. Also a nice colour transition, but not as intense as in Divinity. 

The application was ok after I figured out that I have to carry more polish on a brush, otherwise there are bald spots. The opacity is good, 2 coats are enough. Oh, and it definitely needs a top coat. Which I didn't apply. My bad. 

And the last one, and my most favourite of the three is Shillelagh. It's such a cool word, too.

Shillelagh is an intense green shade with shimmer ...of I don't which colour. Inbetween bronze and gold, maybe, but also with a green hint. I'm telling you, these polishes contain some magic in them :) Less poetically, the colour reminds of a June bug. 

The application was challenging, the formula is quite liquid and the polish was trying to get under the cuticles and where not, but I managed to layer it in 2 coats. Again, the top coat is necessary but missing (on the pics).

Sooo how do you like those? Which do you think is the coolest one? :)
Do you have any Ninjas in your stash?

Salmon Mate

Corals. Ugh. That's what I usually say because they don't suit me, ever: in make-up, in clothes, in polishes. Except some very cold shades of coral, only then they don't make my skin look dirty and/or sick, lol. One of such shades is Sinful Colours Soul Mate: 

Soul Mate is a soft dusty pink coral shade, quite whitened and with a cold undertone. Complex description of a complex colour, hehe :)

The formula is great, very opaque yet not goopy, the application is nice - except one thing: the brush. It's just sooo harsh that it leaves the furrows on the surface. Either I will have to change the brush, or to try to work in easy quick strokes barely touching the surface. I wonder if it's the problem of all Sinful Colors?

Oh, well, I couldn't but stamp it :) So I took the Bundle Monster BM-306 plate and white Konad polish and stamped some flowers over the salmon.

I'm not really satisfied with how the white polish transferred, but noone is perfect :) I don't know if it was the problem of the plate or of my stamping skills.

Do you have any Sinful Colors? What do you like in them? :)

Green Grass and Shining Sun

... - it's not me being poetic, it's the name of the polish from El Corazón Spring 2014 collection called "Dreams of Spring". To be even more precise, the name is translated as "The grass is green and the sun is shining" (№07) and I decided that NOW is exactly the right season and time to wear it.

El Corazón Green Grass and Shining Sun is a bright green creme packed with dense but tiny blue shimmer, which paradoxically, doesn't shimmer at all - it appears rather matt. Nevertheless, it's due to this unshimmerable shimmer that the polish looks interesting - and unique.

The application was more than pleasant. The polish is very opaque, so 1 coat can be enough. I applied 2 coats to wear it longer but I didn't use the top coat - there was no need. It dries well and has a "plastic gloss finish" - I can't describe it better, haha.

Below I tried to capture that shimmer that is present in every polish of the collection. And on the photo above you can see that despite the tiny size of the shimmer, it's still visible from afar. 

What is also notable, the overall undertone of the shade is cold, so it was not making my hands look like lobster, which is an important thing in green polishes for me.

Just to let you know: I have 2 other polishes from this collection and I'll be showing them soon! :)

*The nail polish was kindly provided by El Corazón company for my consideration. In this post I expressed my honest and unbiased opinion about the product.

Inspired by a Bracelet

Do you often get inspired by clothes or accessoires? I do, and I even picture the suitable manicure designs in my mind, it's just not that often that I implement them. However, I didn't even hesitate when I first unpacked and saw the bracelet I got from SammyDress store for review.

The bracelet is dark blue with gold, white and pink abstract patterns, it's very light and fits perfectly to my somewhat wide wrist. It clips easily and doesn't fall off during the day. I also like that it doesn't catch neither hair nor clothes when you wear it.

The bracelet retails at 4.43$ (!) at SammyDress store - here you can find the direct link to the item. There are also other colours and patterns, but I think you can never guess which one you get, hehe. I didn't mind about that because I liked all the colours and pattens they offer.

As for the manicure - it was very easy to create: I started with 2 coats of Layla Ceramic Effect #13 (swatch), applied rhinestones on my index and pinkie fingers, then added some drops of gold, white and pink polish and made some random movements with a needle. Easier to create than to describe :)

To be honest, I haven't done any nail design with a needle since high school, and I was happy to experiment with it again. And, what is good about abstract designs - you can never go wrong :)

Halo

Spontaneous polish purchases are something that I don't do that often any more - for stash control purposes. Swatches of every shade are thoroughly scrutinised by me in an attempt to conclude whether I really want this polish or not. All the above did not refer to Orly Halo which I bought simply because I liked it on a nail wheel in a store. Oh, and it was on discount, too ;)

Orly Halo is a transparent base full of golden glitter and bigger silver hexagones. It took me some time to realize that they are actually silver - and this is where the secret of this polish is hidden. Silver counterplays with gold, and all the thing glimmering - a nice effect is created overall. Now I can justify my spontaneous purchase - the shade was interesting enough to be in my stash :)

The application was ok, it's just the polish is quite transparent, so I needed 3 coats. I also covered it with a top coat, and it became even more shiny. Never seen halos, but they definitely could look like that :) 

And my attempts to make the close-up shots. Uff I need a better camera... but just to describe it in 3 words: glitter, glitter, glitter. Me happy :)

I have a weird but persistent idea to mattify it.. it either will kill all the beauty or will make it look different but cool. What do you think?

Stamping Plate KD3 from Born Pretty Store

Keeping my promise to show you another stamping plate that I got from Born Pretty Store. The more I use them, the more inspired I get: for such a price these plates are simply a treasure! Because look what a mani I got without any effort:

As a part of the "standard operating procedure" I would like to devote some words to the base colour. But just a few, because there is nothing much to describe, you will know everything yourself as soon as I say the name - Essie Lilacism.

Essie Lilacism is a light lilac cream - just as the name hints. Just because it's one of my first Essie polishes ever - I like it more than I should, probably. To be honest, it's nothing special, neither unique. The formula is good, so is the drying time.

What is more interesting is the stamping plate. I like 2 things about it: the designs it contains are quite simple but always handy and cute - hearts, dots, bows, stars - standard girly set :) And second, the full nail images are big enough not to care if they fit the nails. And my nails are relatively long at the moment.

Just FYI - the stamping plate costs... how much? No. It's 1.55$!!! You can find it at Born Pretty Store here, and as you know they have free shipping worldwide. Sounds great to me.

The stamping turned out quite fine, even though I made it within 7 minutes and used a usual polish for stamping, not any special one. 

So far so good, now if I see any nice stamping pates on Born Pretty Store - I'll take them because I got sufficient assurance in their quality.

And finally, here's a coupon for 10% discount at Born Pretty Store. Check their site, apart from stamping plates they have a whole huge variety of different decorations, nail art tools and supplements and other nice stuff for nails! 
*The stamping plate was kindly provided by Born Pretty Store PR team for my consideration. In this post I expressed my honest and unbiased opinion about the product.