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 :)

Birthday Nails +Weirdo

This year I decided to shift away from the usual pink scheme of my birthday manis and to go to the blue side. Without thinking much, I tinkered a blue glitter sandwich. Festive enough without crossing a border to being kitschy. 

How I did it: basecoat -> 2 coats of Layla #18 -> 1 coat of Milani Gems -> 1 coat of Bell noname polish for french manicure -> Seche Vite top. Voila! : )

And THIS is one of my birthday presents, brought to me by my bf from.. South Africa! : ) I had no idea what the local assortment of polishes is like there, down under, so I just asked to bring me something interesting. Yu Xuan, or as we both call it - "Chuhuan", is the biggest weirdo of my stash now : )

Starry Nails

You know what special category of polish I like a lot? Those which you stare at, when you have them on your nails, the same way you stare at the night sky full of stars.. especially at the night summer sky away from the city, where you look at those billions of stars above and can't stop. Away from poetry, for polishes this mostly means deep/dark blue glitter. Something like China Glaze Skyscraper or Essie Starry Starry Night (yes, Essie, why the heck discontinued?!)..  But this time just a layering combination done by myself: 

I did this starry mani by layering NYC Lights, Camera, Glitter and Wet'n'Wild Kaleidoscope over Layla #13, but you can just take any similar dark blue and silver glitter and create a similar thing.

I seriously don't recommend doing similar manis when you have a high workload at uni or at work... distracting as hell! =)

Navy Jelly

Girls, I urgently need to share this awesomeness with you - Layla Ceramic Effect #13! I bought it during my trip to Italy with a bunch of other cool Italian polishes : )

Look, look at this 'syrup effect'!!

Layla #13 is a fantastic navy blue jelly that creates a glossy glass look on your nails. What I didn't like was the brush - too wide and quite hard to manipulate whereas with dark shades it's especially important to be as precise as possible.. But the formula is nice - 2 coats are enough. 

And a couple of illustrations from "how I wore it" series : )

So, if you are lucky to live in Italy, I really recommend you to grab this one. If not, you can ask our Italian nail bloggers for a swap : ) Oh, I wish I could come back to Italy soon to get my hands on their local polishes.. : )