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.

Sol Brillante

If I see an appealing or an unusual "noname" polish in a shop, I rarely grab it without googling some swatches. However, when I saw [b] Basic Sol Brillante from Sevilla LE, I was not pondering even for a second. What is here to ponder, if the polish costed around a euro... Never ever have I regretted later.

[b] Basic Sol Brillante is a mixture of gold and red glitter in a clear base, whereas the red particles are larger than the gold ones. To get an opaque (more or less) coverage, you will need 3 coats. A top coat would be good to use, too, because this thing doesn't really dry by itself.

The bottle was not so poorly designed for a euro-polish, and it sparkled like crazy under the sun. So did the polish itself when applied on the nails - these are the good news.

Another piece of good news is that this polish is multifunctional - you can apply it solo, use it for layering or create cool gradients by sponging it on the nail tips. The latter I really want to try once!

The bad news is that it was a limited edition launched in like 2012, so I really doubt that you can ever find it. BUT...

...if you liked the polish and wanna get something similar, try China Glaze Electrify and Sinful Colors Pumpkin Spice. If they are not dupes, they are extremely close relatives.

Kiko #338

Thank you for your patience, for you have seen 4 polishes of the same brand shown in a row in my blog :) :) Today I'm showing you the last one out of 4 KIKOs that I own - Kiko #338. The colour is pretty interesting - and hard to photograph, so I'm honestly telling you in advance that I was tuning the colour up in Photoshop.

Kiko #338 is a bright lavender creme with a good drop of white. By bright I don't mean "in-your-face-bright", but it's more contrast and vivid than it looks in the bottle. The original name of the polish is "Lavanda Chiaro" - well, so be it. 

As it often happens with Kiko, I was more than satisfied with the quality and application. The polish is very opaque and pigmented, yet not goopy and applies very well in 2 coats. If you need a top coat or not - is totally up to you. I often wear Kiko polishes "as they are".

Next post will be featuring another brand, I promise!! ^^ And generally I think I won't be showing Kiko polishes until I buy more of them... which I hope will be soon. Their Cupcake collection is very VERY attractive ;) 

Flowers'n'Gems

Long time no see from... water decals. Although they are such an easy upgrade to a manicure, I haven't been using them for ages. That's why I was happy when I got my package from Born Pretty Store with a sheet of cute white flower decals to try. Immediately I thought: what a delicate spring pattern - and did a simple manicure with them.

But hey, hold on :) I can't omit a couple of words about the base colour - Kiko #340. Oh, sorry, Kiko Celeste. But who cares, noone knows Kiko polishes by names except for the creators anyways.   

Kiko #340 is a bright blue creme with a glossy finish. The texture is pleasant to work with, opaque yet not goopy. The application was easy as hell, 2 coats and I didn't even apply a top coat - there was no need in it.

Sorry for the photo spam, but the shade is pretty (I reckon) and it was so easy to photograph. Couldn't stop. And it's not even a holo.

And now finally - on to the decals from Born Pretty Store. They arrived in a pink hard paper and with a protection film on top. Very easy to unpack and prepare for using. There was even a "user guide" printed on the back of the pink carton, but hey, who of us doesn't know how to use water decals.. :P

So, what I did was just applying the flower pattern on 2 nails and placing rhinestones on the other 3. As simple as that.

I should say that the water decals were so easy and pleasant to use that even my 7yo niece would cope with them! And the quality was great, they slid gently from the paper back, they didn't tear or fall apart during the application. Also, after I applied the final layer of a top coat the decals looked like I hand painted the flowers. People were really asking if I did!

You can find the water decals shown in this post here - they retail for 2.86$. As usual, the prices of BPS are very customer-friendly :) 

Moreover: 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.