Lilac Seduction

Lilac time! And not just a simple lilac, this tiny pretty thing called Deborah Milano Prêt À Porter Lilac Seduction made its way together with me from its motherland, Italy! : ) Since there were so many beautiful polishes in Italy to bring home, I was choosing only some kind of special ones, and I do think this one can be called so too. 

Lilac Seduction is a lilac (obviously) polish, slightly muted, with pink microshimmer. Some of you will say it has a frosty finish, and I will not disagree. It's just a matter of the subjective crossing line between a shimmer and a frosty polish... everyone defines this border by himself.

The tiny bottle.. I just love them. Most probably I will never finish it up anyways :P 

Oh, in case you missed out the little sisters of this polish, Startdust and Love At First Sight - just click the names to see them :)

Close-ups: yes, you might see the streaks, but it's obvious that they are not visible in real life. Unless you stick your nails right under someone's nose, I mean.. :)

Oh, I shouldn't forget to mention the application: you seriously can apply Lilac Seduction with your eyes closed. From the first look I expected this polish to be on a sheer side, but it flawlessly covers the VNL in 2 coats. What I also liked is the way how the thin coats layer one over other - smoothly and without any cuticle "build-ups".

Still not sure if I would call this polish a duochrome, but it definitely has such features, shifting from lilac to pink and back.

And I cannot but share how much I missed nail stamping!! Both the process and its results, which I'm happily posting now:

The stamping job was done with the help of Cheeky Plates - CH44 and Wet'n'Wild Buffy The Violet Slayer as a stamping polish.

And lastly, this was actually my manicure to wear the Nevskiye Berega Beauty Expo - I just wanted to create something catchy but yet not kitschy :) I should have gone for kitschy though, I would be much closer to the expo thematics :)

Iced Licorice + comparison

"Whaat, is she crazy? Such a gloomy shade in the middle of summer?" - you might think, seeing today's swatches. But I've been craving Nubar Iced Licorice for ages, and after I got it, I couldn't let it stay in untrieds for a long time. Moreover, a fellow bloggerin, TatiN (check her blog, she has very pretty swatches!), asked me to show it. So I am doing: 

And of course I was VERY curious to compare Licorice with my favourite Deborah Milano #60. They look pretty similar in the bottles, no?

Although both polishes have purple base, the difference here is that Deborah is more cool-toned, and Licorice is slightly warmer.  Also, the golden shimmer is not the same: Nubar has mica-type flakies, and Deborah just usual small golden shimmer particles. Whereas Nubar has a more delicate shine, Deborah is more of a blingy-thingie. By formula, Nubar is thicker than the quite sheer Deborah, and covers in 2 coats vs. Deb's 3. 

Yeah, might be not that much of a difference on the photos, but there is more in real life, you see it. They are NOT dupes. And as for me, I ❤ them both! :)

Love At First Sight

Finally I'm posting "normal swatches", I shot them right after I got back from Italy. Nevertheless, I'm still showing treasures from my Italian haul, of which Deborah Milano Pret A Porter #13 Love At First Sight took a very special place in my stash and in my lacoholic heart.

"Why?" - you might ask. Well, because it's a super bright summery shade which consists of pink jelly base filled with golden glitter. Pink, jelly, glitter are the keywords : ) Love At First Sight looks like a strawberry syrup with sparkles, which I found amazing! Formula was not any difficult to manage (2 coats), although in the beginning I was worried that the polish will be too sheer.

Under the sun the orange undertone immediately appears - which I don't find bad at all, as it only embellishes the colour. Also, the glitter shines more : )

For me this polish was indeed a Love At First Sight in all respects. Ah, one more thing: 13 is also my lucky number : )

Prêt Á Porter In Verona

Next post from the series of "Italian polishes&places" : ) Actually I was very glad to hear from you girls that you like such posts.. For those who wanted more - here we go! I started trying out my Italian buys immediately i.e. already in Italy (I also didn't carry any polishes with me from Germany - on purpose, I was sure I'll get a nice haul). The first one to try was Deborah Milano Prêt Á Porter Stardust - I was wearing it in Verona, below you see its landscapes.

The polish by itself is pure delight: it's a blue foil consisting of blue and silver shimmer. Formula (2 coats), application (nice little brushie :) and wear time (6 days without chips or tipwears!!) cause no complaints, but the most delightful part is the colour! Well, I'm a foil lover.. : )

As you see, the photos are done by someone else - this someone else - referring to the issue I raised in one of the latest posts - is a now a new reader of my blog and my personal photographer : ) 

Deborah Milano in Milano

This post as well as a couple of next ones I will devote to what I bought and what I wore in Italy. Getting ready for this trip I decided to paint my nails with the most Italian polish I had in my stash at that point of time (!) and to let it see its "motherland" - Deborah Milano #60. It was on my nails when I landed in Italy and during the first days of the trip. And when I had my first cup of real, indigenous Cappuccino on the central square of Milano:

And other coffee creations in Bologna (what I am holding below is cafe au chocolate):

Actually, I showed Deborah Milano #60 already, so if you are interested in detailed swatches and description - click here. In this post I was just sharing some Italian impressions : ) 

Deborah Milano #60

A pearl of my collection. If I bought it before the New Year, it would definitely go to my Top-list of 2011! The beauty of Deborah Milano #60 is very hard to describe, both on words and with pictures. It's a purple shimmer base filled with GORGEOUS golden shimmer. You know that I worship the golden shimmer in all its kinds, right? ; )

I tried my best to show all the allure of this shade by taking shots in different light conditions. First two are in a normal day light, it's when the shimmer comes up to the surface: 

On the direct sun (yes, we finally had a sunny day) it sparkles and shines like crazy - I didn't really catch it properly: 

And with the indoor electric light it glows slightly, but still mostly shows its purple base:

Application and coverage were totally ok, 2 coats and you are fine, although there are 3 on the photos: I wanted to see if the colour looks richer if you layer more coats. It does.

I hope you liked it, because I do, immensely. Now what I wonder is how it compares to Zoya Faye, OPI It's My Year, Orly Oiu and such. The only thing I know is that it has a dupe (!) - Kiko #354 [you can see Cristina's comparison here], so if you don't have Deborah Milano in your country (I got mine in Serbia hehe), you can always go for Kiko. That's pretty much the story =)