Squared Stamping

Moin moin!

This post is devoted to those readers who love stamping as much as I do, but who missed seeing it in my blog! So here is some for you:

You can notice that my nails are usually too long for standard Konad images, so I have to be somewhat inventive : ) For this "nail look" I've been using Manhattan 96E as a base colour and CG 2030 for stamping. Manhattan was very easy to apply (2 coats), and totally pleasant to work with. Some pure swatches:

What I can tell is that this polish is ranging from grey to brown depending on the light, it's a taupe, or "greige", if you want. Under the artificial one it becomes somewhat brownish:

Generally I'm supersatisfied with Manhattan brand, although they don't really have a wide range of interesting colours, you can always find some pearls. And the quality is always on top level! As well as the price.

Weekend = Glitter

Quick post to prove that I don't only work like crazy (*sigh*) but also sometimes have weekends : ) And weekends for me is the time to wear all crazy shades I have, including glitters of course!! Today I'm showing one of really_rocking_glitter: Amour with a very inventive name Blue Glitter. And it's not simply blue, it's this electric blue, the colour I adore since my very childhood :) 

What can I say, I just love it!! Thanks to one wonderful person for sending me this! Such a festive and wintery colour.. Application was fine, removing was a bitch, 2 coats - yea, it's a very dense glitter. Can't wait to do some sponging with it : )

And a very random bonus pic: it's a whole bowl of tiramisu I cooked to say thanks to one of my friends who gave me so much support when I had uneasy time. Nails included, of course : )

What do you think about such glitter polishes? Why not or rather not? : ) 

Working Couple

As some of you know already, I've been to Egypt and Jordan lately. Unfortunately not as a tourist : ( Instead of enjoying the African sun somewhere on the beach I was rushing around Cairo (oh my, what a city..) trying to put things together for quite a massive international conference I was attending there. Pure working stuff. That means what? Right, properly (= unnoticeably) polished nails. Here are two polishes which helped me with that: 

Left: Revlon Cotton Candy, sent by lovely Carolina

Right: Essence Welcome To Wonderland, LE Fairytale, bought from Dani's blogsale

Let's start from the first one, cuz this pretty pink thing is actually very controversial...Revlon Cotton Candy. It was on my nails twice (!) already, but I still don't understand if I like it or not. Neither nor.

Why I do? Because it's a gorgeous pink shade with subtle golden shimmer, it's a nice office-friendly colour which is not so boring by itself and it's scented - the only scented polish I have.
And why not? Because to get this nice colour you need at least 3 slowly drying coats and a lot of patience, and then a thick coat of TC to even everything out. But when your mani is ready you can enjoy the nice smell for some days : )
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Second polish is a ivory light beige foil - Essence Welcome To Wonderland. It's also a 3 coater (2 is enough if you are ok with VNL), but the formula is much easier to handle and the layers dry fast. Pretty one and very boss-nerves-friendly : )

As I said, no pyramids for me.. Only from the window:

Soo hard to imagine that I was walking at Tahrir Square two weeks ago.. If by any chance I have Egyptian readers - you have all my support and compassion! Your country deserves a better future!

Cozy Purple

Quickly showing you one lovely thing today: Depend 243, which I got from an equally lovely fellow blogger Miss Jones. By the way, she also was showing it and after seeing her swatches I was sure I'll like this polish a lot. So it happened : ) You know why? 

Maybe because it's a wonderful calm purple with clearly visible silver shimmer, maybe because it matched so well the weather outside and to my mood or maybe just because this shade looked pretty unique to me (I don't have anything similar in my stash). The formula was ok (2 coats), however it took me some time to figure out how to properly layer it. 

Although generally I respect Depend as a brand (ok prices, good quality, small bottles, nice brushes), I have some things to rant about: a) these polishes chip fast; b) they discontinue the coolest shades (I've been chasing Depend 170 for a year now!); c) they are not sold in Germany (why in Slovenia, for example, but not in Germany/Austria/Switzerland?? Unfair!). Uff. 

What do you think about Depend, ladies? Is it sold in your country? 

Blue Starz

Hellou girls! My pace of posting is still very irregular, but oh well, so are my life conditions. Hope for your understanding : )

Today I'm showing one very pretty lilac/lavender - Kiko #248 Lavanda Chiaro. Here I don't have much to say, the name of the polish and pictures are speaking for themselves. But don't be deceived with its seemingly calm colour - this baby is eye-catching (I judge by the looks of random people and my boss :). As for the formula, it's just as nice as all the rest 3 Kiko polishes that I have: easy to work with (2-coater) and fast-drying.  

In the artificial light the shade becomes a lil bit more "neony":

Aand some starry stamping with Shirley's plates:

Oh my, I wish I bought some more KIKO polishes this summer when they had sales. Maybe they'll have some special offers for Christmas too...

------------------------------------

Announcement for the German ladies: 

- good news for those who don't have Kiko shops around! Kiko opened its online-shop and now ships within Germany (as well as to France, Spain and Italy of course). Free shipping during first 15 days after registration!

- Butter London (!) polishes noticed in Douglas (NRW)! Price: 16,95€.

- NYX polishes are sold in Douglas in Köln. Quite a nice assortment, price: 4-5€ (don't remember). 

- Essie Cocktail Bling Collection is now retailed in Douglas at 7,95€ (instead of crazy 12,95€). 

------------------------------------

Green + Gold

...combination is one of my favorite ones ever. More than that I only love dark blue + gold, it's such a royal couple - I'll show it some other time, now we'll get back to green and gold. After I tried Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow, I firmly decided to buy it's cheaper dupe - Essence Make It Gold. As it is a gold glitter topper, I couldn't show it alone, so I took little green baby Depend 249. 

What do you think?

Looks interesting to me, especially after long weeks of boring office colours. By the way it's the reason why it's so quiet in my blog. I'm all sunk in work, moreover I'm travelling. So, excuse me for that and greetings from Cairo :)