Coral Loser

Just a quick post of a mani I was wearing two days ago. The #@$%@!& polish used as a base for stamping got all of my nerves :( Remember I was writing about an idea of making up a top 10 polishes post? - now I also want to post the top 5 (or more, if encountered) losers of my collection. Essie Haute As Hello will be the head of this 3, be sure. Actually not, this polish is such a loser that it won't even be able to win the 1st place among the loosers. Hoho, sweet revenge. I should admit though that in the end with a stamping design the whole mani looked not so bad: 

Photo above: here's how it looks under the sun - warmer than it is + my capricious camera. The pic below shows its neon tone. 

Okay, now 10001 5 reasons why I hate this polish:

1) The colour in the bottle is different from reality. In reality it's close to neon (!), although I was expecting pale coral.

2) The application is awful! You need at least 3 coats to even everything out; it's runny, and although it dries fast it's very easy to have scrathes and damages on its surface after it's dry.

3) The colour doesn't suit my skin.

4) Chips relatively fast.

5) Boo to Essie - could have done better for such price. 

And yes, I'm VERY biased. It's my blog after all =)

What are your polish losers and disappointments (from famous brands)? 

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?

Golden Nets

Being bored with the length of my nails and under the pressure from my bf who kept whimpering that they became too long, I decided to shorten them. For me there's no difference, I like them in any length, except for extremes of course. Another reason was that with shorter nails I can try out many of my dark polishes, which would look too "vampy" on long nails. Here's one of them, China Glaze Below Deck stamped with golden nets:

(Used products: China Glaze Below Deck stamped with China Glaze 2030 + SdP A09 image plate)

Regarding the polish: it's awesome and (!) it's a one coater! That was a pleasant surprise for me. Below Deck was the only Anchors Away polish which I wanted really badly, although I still like some others. And yes, I'm still playing with Shirley's plates! Stamping has now become so much easier..

So, what do you think: are you a long_nails_lover or you prefer short ones? 

Quick Peach

Just a quick post today. Nothing special, no sophisticated designs, just another spring colour and a decal. Quite simplistic.

And under artificial light (more orange):

Somehow I thought peach cremes wouldn't suit my skin tone, but I was partly mistaken - it looks pretty good, especially outdoors or under the sun. I can't wait till summer though, on tanned skin it would look even better. 

The polish used is Sinful Colors Soul Mate, I got it from Cherry Culture together with Milanis to try out the brand. And I must say I'm quite satisfied: easy application in 2 coats, but already very opaque in one and pretty fast drying time. So if you have the chance to grab some Sinful polishes - do that, you probably won't regret :) 

Spring Stars

Sunny days came to Germany, and it's the right time for spring shades and bright colours! Thus my choice fell on turquoise, and very vivid one. I couldn't even imagine how cool it will look on my nails, really! And continuing my experiments with Shirley's plates, I stamped it with stars. Seriously, it's one of my favourite manis I've ever done! Look:

(Used products: Manhattan 78D from London Calling LE stamped with CG Millenium + SdP B18 image plate)

Actually, the photos are not colour accurate, my bad, I shoud have used a white background. In reality the polish is not so blue, it's pure turquoise, I'd say a brighter brother of CG For Audrey. Now I can't wait till the summer cuz I have a swimming suit of a similar shade ;)

Twists & Swirls

Buon giorno people! 

Having watched millions of swatches of "St. Patty's Day Mani", I even got a little bit jealous and wanted to paint something similar, but I've left this idea very quickly - I have no proper green polishes. However, this didn't prevent me from getting wasted with my kinda Irish and other friends in an Irish pub yesterday. Oh boy, it was fun. So, the green shamrock mani can wait for another year, and here's what I have today: 

(Used products: Essie Lovie Dovie stamped with white Konad polish + SdP B18 image plate)

Today I also want to mention one new product that I've used - stamping image plates from Shirley. I read about them in other nail blogs and decided to try, because it was written that the patterns are bigger than Konad ones and so I would avoid double stamping (which is my damn eternal problem!). So I ordered 2 plates, and when I got them I was amazed with the size of the full-nail image!! You can see it below (with comparison to Konad):                                      

[clickable]

So, I'm very satisfied. As soon as I have a couple of spare euros, I'll order again. And I do recommend these plates to ladies with long nails - your life will become muuuch easier :)

Lilac Dreams

Don't laugh at the heading, but I wish my dreams were like this mani: pleasantly coloured and harmonic. In reality they're more like detective movies with crazy plots, but this is another story :) Meanwhile, have a look at the mani: 

(Used products: Orly Lollipop stamped with Victoria Shu polish, Konad plate m64)

Regarding the polish: Orly Lollipop is a wonderful lavender creme with a smooth application and very fast-drying formula. As you know, it's my first Orly, and it applies really differently (I can't choose another word). I still didn't get used to it, but I think me and Orly could be friends.

Sooo, what colour are your dreams?

China Glaze - Strawberry Fields

With all my love to nail art, konading, nail decals, etc - this is a colour just to watch at. I mean it's enjoyable and awesome by itself, and once I polished my nails with it, I lost even a smallest wish to decorate it with something else or stamp upon it. China Glaze Strawberry Fields is (at least for me) a so called self-sufficient shade, it doesn't need any improvements. Look at this beauty:

First pic is taken in day light, second - under the sun (2 coats). Strawberry Fields was in wish list even before I started my blog, but when I finally got it, it looked a bit weird and different in the bottle.. When I saw it on my nails, all the doubts were gone - it's amazing. 

Do you have any "self-sufficient" colours in your collection? :)

P.S. I have at least one more, and I'm going to show it soon. It's also from CG and starts with A. :)

Le Rouge Et Le Noir

Do you know this novel by Stendhal? I read it a couple of times when I was in high school, and I just randomly remembered about this today when doing my nails. Firstly I wanted to try my new Zoya Andi (btw it's awesome!! The formula and application are flawless, and the colour is one nanoshade away from my ideal red) and in order to make smth interesting, I decided to play with a scotch tape. Here's the result:

Taking into account that it's my first tape mani, I'm satisfied. If I wasn't so lazy and applied the 2d coat of topcoat, the line between black and red would be smoother. And the last thing, for some reason my camera has an issue with red shades and never wants to reflect them correctly. So if someone is interested in Zoya Andi - you better find other swatches :)

Funky French

Today I'm showing the mani I did right before the trip: I needed it to last long, to be more or less elegant, and to suit well both for the normal clothes and for the party outfit (it's Carnaval in Germany afterall) - so I chose to do a french. Afterwards I realized that I'm a bit bored with classical white tips and moreover I had a black tip painter that I haven't tried yet. So here's the result:

(Used products: Essence black and silver tip painters, noname sheer polish, light blue rhinestones)

Free hand painting is something that I'm far from being perfect in, but still I think I've managed quite well. At some point I was afraid that my nails are too yellow for such a mani, but it turned out to be not that bad. I really wish it will last for all these days that I'm on the trip :)

Black & White

Recently I'm very fond of playing with these 2 colours. Thanks heaven Essence has releazed a lot of these colours lately, so I had no problems with supplies. I was figuring out what mani to do with them and after deciding not to invent the bicycle I stopped at something simple and decent. Like this:

(Konad Polish in Black over Essence White Hype from Black&White LE)

Day of Joy

Today is really a day of crazy joy for me! I got 2 packages with polishes: one was an order from Cherry Culture, another one - a package from Ange, I have purchased some polishes at her blog sale at Scandalously Polished. Look at these cuties!!!

Right to left: Sinful Colors - Soul Mate

Milani - Gems

Milani - Dazzle

Lip Balm from Cherry Culture

These are from Cherry Culture. I've ordered from them for the first time cuz I wanted Gems SO badly. Well, so far only a positive experience. And this free lip balm has just melted my heart lol. I LOVE freebies.

Left to right: Finger Paints - Winter Dreams

Zoya - Trixie

Zoya - Andi

Zoya - Kelly

Orly - Lollipop

Orly - Pixy Stix

And these are from Ange. I'm insanely happy! Only those living in Europe (or Asia?) will really understand me, cuz Zoyas, Finger Paints and Orlys are so difficult to get here. Even if you find them, they're gonna be crazily overpriced. And look what she has added to the package as a present!!!

Left to right: Wet n Wild - Caribbean Frost

Wet n Wild - 610 

CND Top Coat - Super Matte

Soooo many lemmings killed! And moreover, these are my first Orly, Zoya, Milani, CND, Finger Paints, Wet n Wild and Sinful Colors polishes, can't wait to try them out!!! What should I start with? *scratching my head*

P.S. I'm now on my way to Saarland, West Germany, and I'll be back next week only, but I have a couple of posts planned apart from this one, so there's not gonna be a long hiatus :) I'll answer all the comments when I'm back!