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.

Vitrage Nails

Vitrage patterns always catch my attention, both in art and home deco. For a long time I was wondering about the possibility to incorporate mosaic elements into a nail design, and unexpectedly a solution was found - nail water decals by KKCenterHk.

The decals I was using are actually not separate pieces or nail strips, it's a single decal sheet which you can cut in whichever shapes you like. Probably that's why it's called DIY water decals. By the way, KKCenterHk has a great variety of decals and patterns, check their web-site to see the whole range. Actually, I was expecting the size of the decal to be larger than it is, in reality it's around 5x7cm, so it's only enough for 1 full manicure if you decide to cut into full nail strips. 

So, how was I using it? Firstly, I painted my nails with good old China Glaze Secret Peri-winkle, and then the fun began :)
What you should know about these water decals is:

- you have to remove the protection film! Very important.

- you have to cut the desired shape before dipping the decal into water.

- you have to soak these decals longer than usual: 10 to 15 mins according to the KKCenterHk web-site, I'd say you better wait up to 15 and then gently try to remove the paperback. If it slides - then the decal is ready to be placed on your nails.

- you have to be gentle and careful all the time, these decals are very thin, especially without the paperback.

- you have to use the top coat over the decals, 2 coats are even better than one.

To be honest, I had to practise a bit before I managed to place the nail stripes accurately and seal them. While wet, the decal slides over your nail, which is good cuz you can reposition it at any time, but also tricky when you try to keep it on place. Working with smaller pieces (i.e. not full nail) is much easier, and next time I will rather cut just parts of the patterns.

Overall, I liked the experience of playing around with these decals - it was also quite new for me. Still way to go to reach the perfect application but I'm looking forward to further practising! :) 

*The water decals were kindly provided by KKCenterHk PR team for my consideration. In this post I expressed my honest and unbiased opinion about the product.

Lemon Sugar & Water Flowers

Seems like forever since I last used any type of nail decals! I don't even have a reasonable explanation to that, I was just into other stuff like stamping, layering, flocks, thermo polishes and what not.. Well, it's time to show the decals now, especially such lovely ones! 

As a base I was using Avon Lemon Sugar (sent to me by Antallex), which deserves its own story. The polish is a pastel yellow creme with quite smooth application qualities for such a texture: opaque in 2 medium coats already.

My camera TOTALLY freaked out while I was trying to shoot swatches of Lemon Sugar, so I had to resort to my NotePhone :) I'm still not sure if I managed to catch the colour correctly.. So if you see any green there - it's not, the polish is a plain pale pastel. 

And here comes the fun part: water decals from KKCenterHk! As I said, I haven't used decals for ages, and water decals for... never! So yes, it's my first experience. In theory, I always knew how they work, but I didn't think that the application process is much easier than it looks on a tutorial video. Remove the protection film, put them to soak for 30 seconds, place them wherever you plan and bam! you have cool nails : ) And top coat. Fini.

I should also say I was very happy with the quality: the decals don't tear, the pattern doesn't smudge when you apply top coat, they stay forever AND - I was fearing this the most - they are easy to remove! 

My poor friends thought I actually drew all this flowers and patterns myself with a brush.. Hehe!

And the last thing: I really recommend you to have a look at KKCenterHk online store. They have lots of things for nail art and decoration, as well as make up stuff, eyelashes, eyeshadows, wigs etc etc. Aaaaand you can get 10% discount if you enter "ritterbraten" at the check-out : )

*The water decals were kindly provided by KKCenterHk PR team for my consideration. In this post I expressed my honest and unbiased opinion about the product.

Pretty Jules

Still getting to know Zoya polishes.. and the more I do - the more I like them: starting with the shape of the bottles and ending with drying time. All the rest is just self-evident: lovely shades, top quality and long-lasting finish. Today I'm showing you Zoya Jules, which I got from one of my swaps. 

First three swatches made under the sunlight to show Jules in all its beauty. I love beige shimmers, they are a good option when you are "tired" of colour but you still don't want to wear a nude polish. Overall, this shade seems very pretty to me and I guess it's worth having.

Below you can see some efforts to stick a decal. I must confess, my creativity level is just being extremely low during the last two weeks. Maybe I need some travelling to boost my inspiration? 

Quick Peach

Just a quick post today. Nothing special, no sophisticated designs, just another spring colour and a decal. Quite simplistic.

And under artificial light (more orange):

Somehow I thought peach cremes wouldn't suit my skin tone, but I was partly mistaken - it looks pretty good, especially outdoors or under the sun. I can't wait till summer though, on tanned skin it would look even better. 

The polish used is Sinful Colors Soul Mate, I got it from Cherry Culture together with Milanis to try out the brand. And I must say I'm quite satisfied: easy application in 2 coats, but already very opaque in one and pretty fast drying time. So if you have the chance to grab some Sinful polishes - do that, you probably won't regret :) 

Graue Laune