Jeansy Blue

The shade I will never be bored of is jeans blue. I have around 5 polishes of this type in my stash and something tells me some more will appear in the future :) So, what you see today is one of them, the jeansy Pupa #726:

Pupa #726 is a middle blue shade with abundant blue shimmer, which makes the polish look like jeans denim. Application was pleasant, 2 easy coats and a very nice consistency - not goopy, not runny. Pupa polishes generally apply nicely, I find. Also, I recommend using a top coat for extra gloss.

Surprisingly, there are not so many swatches of this polish published in the internet, although the shade is really nice - so is the quality. I don't know if my camera did the justice to the polish, but it's the best I could shoot in the damn full absence of the day light. What I also like about all these jeansy polishes is that they look good in any time of the year.

Actually, this bottle was a present from my friend who doesn't have much idea of all the polish variety in the world, but she knows I like special shades. That's why it was a big pleasant surprise for me, because she just managed to hit the mark regarding my taste :) 

White Noise

Remember the White Noise movie? Boo! :) Although the post is about a nail polish which should be called this way. Officially it's called El Corazón Confetti #529a, but if it could have a name, it would be "white noise" - no other options :)

El Corazón Confetti #529a consists of black and white small glitter in a transparent base. The glitter concentration is very high, so I had an opaque coverage after 2 coats only. The first coat dries fast, the second one.. needs some time. 

The surface is gritty (as you could guess :), and not glossy. Which is cool in my opinion because it looks like stone, but if you want a glossy finish you better use a top coat.

Now that's what I call a unique polish! Nowhere have I seen anything similar yet.. have you?

*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.

Step Right Up!

Today is a BIG day for me because I am starting to work for the BIG4. Those who know what it is about will also know that from now on my free time is gonna reduce drastically. Hopefully, it will not influence the blog, but if the posts will be rare or irregullar - I'm sorry in advance : {

Now, to signify such a day I will show you my "lucky" polish - OPI Step Right Up! Why lucky? Because I was wearing it for 2 job interviews and both times I got the job :D Last time I even jumped over one selection step (right up!), but hopefully that happened due to my brains and skills, not because of the polish :) 

Step Right Up is a light ivory jelly, quite difficult to deal with - to tell the whole truth. The formula is just weird, streaks and bold spots appear all over the place. This time I was lucky to layer it in 3 coats, whereas normally I apply 4. Sorry to say that this polish probably won't be any good for French manicures. Oh, the thing doesn't dry either. 

However, every time I tolerate it all because the end result is actually great. The nails have that "porcelain" effect - not quite nude, but still very elegant. 

Do you have "lucky" polishes? :)

Mellow Yellow

Holiday time starts to feel in the air, and I'm still painting my nails with the pastel shades. But what can I do if I have the undying love for pastels :) Besides, yellow is good at any time of the year, even winter. So, the hero of today's post is piCture pOlish Mellow Yellow:

Mellow Yellow is a pale pastel yellow creme, which I have shown in my blog once already. You can compare the swatches of "now" and "then", hehe. What I feel is that the formula became a bit goopy with time, and so I needed 3 coats to cover all bold spots.

The shade is very pretty though and the application is way better than in case of similar whitened pastels. And it dries very fast, so I didn't bother to put on any top coat. 

Actually I did use a top coat, but later on, when I decided to cover the polish with loose gold glitter - holiday time is in the air, I'm telling you :) That was not a rocket sience: working with one nail at a time, I was applying a top coat and immediately sowing the glitter on top of the nail with a fan brush. Then dabbing slightly and letting dry a bit. 

So, are you in the Xmas/holiday mood already or it didn't reach you yet? :) 

Fenechka

Introducing you a nice Russian word "fenechka", which stands for a handmade bracelet which you give to a close person as a symbol of friendship. "Friendship bracelet" it's called, isn't it? In any case, both of those words sound better that "Freundschaftsband" lol Now why I am saying all that is because El Corazón has a collection called "Fenechka" and today I'll show one of the polishes from this collection - El Corazón #423/130.

El Corazón #423/130 is a periwinkle crelly base with black and white hexagonal glitter swimming in it. The idea is nice, so is the implementation: the polish is pleasant to deal with, 2 easy coats and you have bright periwinkle nails :) I'd recommend to use the top coat for smoothness and gloss.

Generally I like the combination of black and white glitter + colourful base in polishes, so I got pretty excited about the Fenechka collection - you can see the other colours here, for example. I'm thinking of getting a couple of other shades from this collection actually :)

Once again I am reminding you that ordering El Corazón polishes is very easy: just write an email listing your order and you'll get a response containing prices and shipping details. El Corazón ships worldwide.

*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.

Rouge Fatal

A special post on a special day: today I am celebrating 4 (!!) years together with my boyfriend. Seems like forever, but smth tells me that there are still some years ahead :) So, during these 4 years Mr. Boyfriend presented me 2 polishes: a Chuxuan and a Chanel. Chuxuan got lost unfortunately, so today I am showing the poshy one, Chanel Rouge Fatal.

Chanel Rouge Fatal is a burgundy creme, i.e. deep red with a drop of brown. The shade is very opaque, in fact it's a 1-coater! The application was great, for me it was comparable with Butter London polishes. I did like Chanel's brush - thin and easy to operate. The only downside of this polish is that it chips extremely fast, in less than a day.

Now I have to honestly tell you that it is my one and only Chanel, but also one and only Chanel that I wanted to have so much. Apart from Jade *mwahhaha* I'm not against high end brands or anything, it's just I'm not in the right financial situation to purchase those. Or, rather, I can't justify spending 20+€ for a polish. Hopefully one day I will :)

The one who got me this polish will surely not be reading this post, but I still would like to thank him ;) 

Do you often get polishes as presents from your boys? :) Or once per 2 years, just like me hehe? :)

Khaki Squared

Always wanted to try studs in my manicures, but I never could choose which sizes and colours appeal to me more.. A chance turned up recently, when KKCenterHK offered me to post a review on their studs, allowing me to choose whichever I wish to try out. Only then I figured out that I want something middle-sized and silver/gold. Let's start with the gold ones.. :)

...right after I shortly introduce you the base colour - Cliché Khaki. What's so special about it? It killed one of my lemmings which I would probably never own anyways: Chanel Khaki Vert. I know it's not a dupe, and probably H&M Hunt Me Down resembles Chanel even more, but it was this polish that killed my desire for Chanel. And saved me some 200€ lol.

Cliché Khaki is also a... khaki semi-jelly, cold-shaded. Application was great and I only needed 2 coats. The formula is on the runny side, but everything dries fast.

Overall, it's a great shade, and I showed it once already - that was some years ago. By showing it again I'm just trying to show how much I like it :)

And this is how the studs arrived: great packaging idea in my opinion, this little jar is so convenient to work with! The studs themselves are shiny, coloured in gold and 3,5mm in size.

So, after stamping the square pattern with BM-322 and CG 2030, I quickly applied the studs and covered everything with the top coat - this is how I got the "look" :) 

Summarising here.. what you should know about these studs is:
+ they are easy to use and to glue on just one drop of clear polish (top coat);
+ they last pretty long without falling off (esp. with a top coat);
+ you can reuse them (yes yes!!);
- it's was a bit hard to pick them before application lol - or I haven't figured out how to do it yet :D
Overall I'm more than satisfied!

Lastly, I'm sharing a 10% discount code for KKCenterHk online store with you: just enter "ritterbraten" before paying! Check their shop, they really have interesting stuff for nail art and other beauty supplies : )
*The studs were kindly provided by KKCenterHk PR team for my consideration. In this post I expressed my honest and unbiased opinion about the product.

Is It Blue or Green?

Right after the baby pink follows the baby blue! Or wait, is it? Maybe rather mint? I'm confused actually... :) The source of my confusion is El Corazón #423/58, from the "Jelly" collection. Some posts ago I showed the white shade from this collection, and now comes this one below! 

El Corazon Jelly #423/58 is aa... em. I have difficulties here. Let's say - a very pale baby blue creme shade with a touch of mint. How does that sound, credible I hope? :) 

Oh, and that was not a mistake - it's a creme, not a jelly. Crelly if you wish. Its white brother was a jelly, but this one is too opaque for that, although the texture is generous on bald spots, that's why I needed 3 coats, but it's possible to get away with 2, I guess. Dries quickly, and overall the application process was pleasant.

The pictures are taken under the natural day light, but I have to make a footnote here that my hands are very tanned - swatches were shot right after the summer beach holidays.

Ok, let's say we figured out that the texture is not a jelly, but how about the shade? For the purpose of defining the mysterious sub-colour, I am posting pictures both with the blue...

...and with the greenish. It conforms, doesn't it??

What do you see? Rather green or blue? Let me know! :)
*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.