Aerial Nude

Today I am showing something you have NOT seen in this blog before: VNL pure. Visible nail line that is. Many times I wrote that I'm not any fan of it and I usually try to avoid it, layering as many coats of polish as it takes to cover it. But - rereading the name of my blog - I had to try it once :) The opportunity came together with a swap package from Zelinda - she sent me Cliché Areia as a nice extra.

You see, you see?? Here it is, the VNL! :) After 4 coats - this polish was never meant to be opaque actually, the name "areia" means.. NO, NOT AIR!!!

...but "sand". Oh well, I was confused till the last moment : ) The polish is a very light nude peachy jelly, very transparent as well, but I'd rather name it "air" than "sand". Application was quite easy but loooong, all these 4 coats + base + top, uff! At least all the coats dried fast. 

Honestly speaking, Areia looks much prettier on the photos than in reality. When I was wearing it, I couldn't decide if I liked the nail look or not. The VNL thing was still confusing, but I promised myself to try this polish in a glitter sandwich :) It's called "sand" after all, I just need to find the "wich" part :) 

After some days I added a BM-314 stamping pattern on top. I still wasn't sure if I liked the result, but it matched one of my T-shirts :) 

What's your attitude to VNL? Love it? Hate it? Tell me! :) 

Glitter Nude

Remember the epic glitter swap haul that I got from Brazil? Well, I still do, because these Hits glitters are simply amazing (thank you, Mauni! :) ! I keep trying them one by one, and I think it's time to post one of them! :) So, next after Atenas I picked Hits Speciallità Cairo - also because I've been there, citywise. 

Cairo...Cairo is a huge buzzing turmoil city. And the Cairo polish is a multicolour glitter swimming in a light nude base. Where's the resemblance? None. In spite of that, this polish is quite beautiful (unlike the city - sorry), to be more precise, it consists of blue, red, green and gold hexagonal glitter and tiny particles of the same colours.

Application is only a bit tricky because one needs to even out all those glitterinis, and the consistency of the polish is like sour cream with sugar. Once it's applied (2 coats are enough), the surface remains a bit gritty, and there's nothing a layer of an average top coat can do.. maybe a thick layer of Seche could have helped.

I really like the effect Cairo creates - a nude polish with colourful glitter looks so fluffy and meanwhile interesting. Actually, the colour base in the bottle seems to have a pink and a lilac hue, but I don't see it on my nails, rather a grey one..

Trying to shower glitter in a close-up.. all clickable :)

Have you tried the Hits glitters? From the Glitters of the World Collection or maybe any other? Aren't they just so cool?? :)

Don't Pretzel My Buttons!

I swore many times that I'm never gonna buy any polish from OPI Germany collection for 2 reasons. First, the colours are anything but attractive to me, neither they represent Germany as a country in my opinion. Second, the names sound endlessly stupid, although OPI traditionally has been doing a nice language play in their country-centered collections. In spite of all that, when I picked a bottle of Don't Pretzel My Buttons in the store, I thought it could be a nice mannequin nude. And when I scored a deal of 1,90€ with shipping for a mini-bottle on the auction-website-we-all-know .. you know.. :) Never say never. 

What I got on my nails is a quite interesting effect of "no nails". At some point it was weird to look at my nails and "not seeing" them :) Fortunately, there was no conflict between the shade of the polish and my skin tone, they just mimicrated one into another.. Otherwise Don't Pretzel My Buttons is a light beige creme, not so easy to apply (2 thin coats) but still no major problems encountered. 

And, as in case of some other polishes of the OPI German Collection, the colour has not much in common with the things it tends to depict - if at all. The real colour of Brezel is rather sienna, as you see on the pics below. The shade of Don't Pretzel My Buttons is rather the one of the raw dough. 

And since I live in Germany I'm literally surrounded by props suitable for making photos with. Meet the real Brezel : )

Eternal Optimist

I perfectly remember that sunny spring day - yes, old swatches again - when I felt like wearing something bright or neon, but because of a damn meeting in the ministry the most I could "afford" on my nails is a muted nude. So I chose Essie Eternal Optimist, which I personally refer to the category of "nude but not nude" polishes. 

What is special about this polish, is more the name than the colour. Although under "Eternal Optimist" I would more envisage some crazy pink neon shade, I still like it because this is exactly how my friends call me, lol. 

The colour, on the contrary, is not very optimistic - it's a beige-pink nude creme, and not the easiest one to work with. If you are lucky, you'll get away with 2 coats, if not - 3.

Moments when I like the colour of Eternal Optimist the most is when it occurs to be under the cold day light. Then it shows the drop of its purple undertone, which is so flattering for my skin tone: 

After a long day, when I was finally home, I decided at least to make some stamping to spoil the calmness of the colour. Here it is, done with Catrice Plum Play With Me, as far as I remember. 

Unfortunately, it turned out too subtle too, and so not matching my demand for intense colours. Well, maybe that's why I'm posting it now - when I took the pics, I didn't like this mani. Now I do. Eh, time changes everything : )

2+2+2 Giveaway is now CLOSED!

Extraquick post to announce that the 2+2+2 giveaway is now closed. I won't count any entries more. I'll draw the winner with random.org during the next days. Thank you all for entering and I wish good luck to each of you, ladies : )

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And also an extraquick ooooold swatch of a polish with a very inspiring name: Essie Eternal Optimist. Just in case some of my readers prefer long nails to the short ones : ) To be honest, it's very weird to look at the pics where my nails have this seemingly immense length, I think I prefer their current state... Anyways, to the polish:

Pinkish nude creme, a bit tricky application (3 coats), but a pleasant colour. As far as I remember it needs a TC, otherwise it will get all scrathed and dimpled (there's no TC on the photos though). I'm not all amazed by this polish, but I'd like to keep it in my collection. Nice nudes are always useful after all. 

Cirque du Glitter

Howdy, my dear readers :) Currently I keep on trying out the freshly arrived polishes from my latest swap, and so far I have only positive impressions. Right after the awesome Khaki I decided to turn to calm colours again and polished my nails with a nude which was nicely included in a swap as an extra. Very nice extra, I should say! :)

I should confess that before the swap I had only nude (beige nude I mean) polish in my stash - Color Club Who Are You Wearing, with which I have very complicated relationship. By itself it's a nice colour, but it make my hands look like a manikin and the application in 4 coats is just driving me insane. On the contrary, Yes Love 629 (they should come up with names, not numbers grrr) which I've received recently passes my skintone much better and the application is easy and pleasant! Thus I wore it for a day enjoying the colour and then decided to play around with still untried Milani Gems:

(Used products: Yes Love 629 - 2 coats + Milani Gems - 1 coat)

I did a mistake not to swatch the polish alone, but I liked it really much so I'm definitely gonna wear it again :) 

What concerns the glitter: I'd say these "Gems" are rather a circus in a bottle.. No doubt they are weird and funny and most of my friends were starring at my nails these days, but I just can't get used to them :) 

What would you say? Too colourful? Do you have Gems or their sisters (Deborah Lippmann Happy Birthday, Wet'n'Wild Party of Five Glitters etc.)?