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?? :)

Debby #177

Since in my last post I was showing a polish that I brought from Italy, I decided to keep on with the swatches of my Italian haul. Somehow I think Deborah Milano and Debby ColorPlay polishes are bottled at the same factory, so today almost the same brand then - Debby ColorPlay #177.

The displays and colour settings are all different, so I'm saying it straight away: the colour is on the border between blue and green, and which of the colours will appear more will depend on your skin tone and the light. It's greener in my case, although when I look at the photos, I see it almost blue :{ Confusing, I know..

According to my great and powerful Excel sheet, the application was "nice in 1-2 coats". Debby's brushes are thin, which I like, and I didn't need any top coat. 

Oh, and the gorgeous silver shimmer.. was the reason why I grabbed the bottle in a shop in Italy :) It's quite visible under any light, at any angle. 

"Messy fingers" swatch below - the last one finally :) Sorry for the photo spam, couldn't stop shooting :)

Do you like light shades stuffed with silver shimmer as much as I do? :)

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 :)

Stone Cold

Hello hello, I'm not dead! Just the crazy work which doesn't leave me any time for anything...  however, I'm very happy to show you one of my favourite polishes - China Glaze Stone Cold. 

Stemming from the Hunger Games Capitol Colours collection, Stone Cold was the only one I really wanted to get. For stamping purposes mostly, but I fell in love with it once I polished my nails for the first time..

Saying that this polish is special means putting it all in a modest way. The texture is a very opaque dark grey matte (!) with visible silver shimmer. Dark asphalt as it is.. So smooth and easy to apply with 1 coat, that you are going to forgive the tip wear after a day. Will you? :)

Attempts to capture the texture - clickable, as usual!

When I see textures like suede, sand, matte etc. on the blogs, I always wonder how they would look like with a top coat. If this is your case as well, here it is - Stone Cold top coated :)

I'd say I like it shiny, but I prefer it in its original look - it reminds me of the Seam, its houses and inhabitants.. :)

You got the thing, I was inspired by The Hunger Games a lot! I finished all 3 books in a few days, I was literally unable to unstick :P So looking forward to seeing the second movie!

To sum it up: I fell in love with Stone Cold - because of the colour, name and the whole thematics of The Hunger Games. In my opinion, Stone Cold is a must have, moreover it works great with the stamping plates. Stone Cold will surely make it to my Top-10 of this year!

Wishing you all a good week, and may the odds be ever in your favor! ^^

Victoria Shu

One of my blog policies is: each and every polish I own must be swatched and shown to my readers. Even if it's immemorially old, discontinued or impossible to find - I just tend to show everything I wear. The polish of today's post falls exactly under all of these categories: old as dirt and not sold anymore. Victoria Shu #16 was purchased like 7 years ago, and nowadays the Internet history does not contain any mentioning about this line, although the brand remains. But has nothing to do with Barcelona, I'm afraid. 

The colour is quite pretty though: a purple shade with more red than blue tint in the mix, full of silver shimmer. Application was pleasant for such a dark shade, in fact it's a 1-coater and it stamps perfectly too! :)

After wearing it for a day I came up with a thought that such a texture should look nice mattified. Not bad, indeed :)

And then I added some top coat again and stamped over the base colour with BM-316. As you can see, I was really enjoying all kinds of variations with this polish :) 

It seems that even then, 7 years ago, I managed to pick a nice interesting shade. By the way, if you can remember any dupes or similar shades - please let me know!! This polish is simply finishing and I can't repurchase it, but I'd love to own a similar shade again.. 

Confetti Del Corazón

Today I'm happy to introduce you to a nail polish brand I've never shown before in my blog - it's called El Corazón. Despite the Spanish name, the brand comes from Russia, and I can say that during the last couple of years El Corazón launched a series of mind-blowing collections, which made it one of the top Russian nail brands nowadays. The polish I am showing in this post is a part of the Confetti collection, a real colour glitter explosion! Since I'm a glitter girl, it's a great fun for me to wear this one - El Corazón Confetti 529a.

First of all, have a look at the bottle! I really like the design: flat but curved. Pretty convenient to use and to store. 

El Corazón Confetti 529a is a dark blue glitter in a purple (!) base, yet the glitter particles are so many that the base colour is barely visible. Although sometimes it gives the polish a purple hue, especially indoors. 

Application did not cause any problems, the glitter is very opaque, in fact it's a one-coater (!), you see 2 coats + top coat on the pics though. The brush is of a medium size, so I could paint a nice cuticle curve. The glitter is not "top coat hungry", i.e. it doesn't absorb the top coat after the application. One medium layer of top coat is enough for nice gloss. Removal was... foily :) you know yourself :)

And of course, this kind of glitter deserves some macro shots!

And finally, some good news: El Corazón ships worldwide, so if you want to get some of their lovely bottles, you can visit their web-site or just write an e-mail listing your order. Very customer friendly :) *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.