Skittle Mani (+ Tutorials & The Techniques Challenge)

Hello!

I'm back with yet one more skittle mani! (Sorry for the background, I took these photos this morning while I was still in bed..)

 I decided I've been using too many glequins lately, so I chose to replace the middle gleguin pattern with a gradient Spun Sugar, the pinky with a Cut-Out and the thumb with a layer of a row of glequins and a dark blue jelly.

I can't list  all the polishes, they were quite a few, but I can show you the (quite big) mess I've made doing my nails:

And that doesn't include the Cut-Out, the grey accent nails and the jelly layering on my left thumb nail.

"Wait, grey accent nails? They don't even have a specific pattern on them!" Exactly, that's the point! I decided I can't ruin the gorgeous iridescent pink glow with any pattern, so these are the actual accent nails.

I also made some step-by-step tutorials (one of them isn't included in this manicure, but it was supposed to.. The layering was a complete mess.):

(Glequin placing - use a the very end of a tothpick dipped in clear polish to place the glequins one by one)

(Glitter & jelly layering - let each coat dry for 5-10 minutes to prevent smudging!)

(Jelly layering - let each coat dry for 5-10 minutes to prevent smudging; in order not to cover the first-drawn stripes, do them thicker, or redo them after the 2nd layering!)

Keep your eyes peeled for The Techniques Challenge! The first post will be up next Monday. Kisses! xx

Fallin' For.. Glequins! (+ Lacquer Land Info)

Hello, everybody! (take your time to read the whole post, please!)

First, I want to mention that, currently, I'll only ship Lacquer Land polishes to Romania. Maybe at some time in the future I'll be able to ship polishes worldwide. I'm really sorry, but I promise, if you place any international orders, the delivery delay might be massive, but you'll surely receive your polishes!

Now, as promised, I returned with a full glequin mani!

The base is 2 coats of Leydi 761 and, for the accent nail, Essence Grey-t To Be Here.

I applied the glequins using THIS technique (thanks to Sammy for the tutorial). Can you believe it only took me half an hour for all the nails? (maybe it's because they're quite short.. really short!)

Oh, and I found some gorgeous shoes in a Deichmann store, and my nail just couldn't miss the chance to take a few pictures with them!

And also, I took a few more pictures with this lovely PowerCam filter named Holiday. Just check the pictures.

(I simply love this ring I got last year from a SIX store in Munich!)

Sorry for the last 2 photos, which are a bit blurry, my hand's kinda shaky.. Oh, and below are also some pictures of my "naked" nubs.. That's it for me, I'll see you soon with the very first Lacquer Land collection, "Crazy For Greens". Kisses! xx

Skittle Mani (+ Giveaway Entry)

Hello!

I won't talk too much tonight. Josephine at Rainbows In A Jar is having a giveaway! You can send your entries via email or upload them on her Facebook page until Aug. 5! More information right HERE!

This is my brand new skittle mani, and also my entry. I have to say, I expected to want to keep it for longer, but I knew the cleanup would take a lot of time, as glitter can be such a pain in the behind sometimes! So, the best thing to do -being in a hurry- was peeling off the polish.

"Seriously? Peeling it off?! Like, isn't there any other, more nail-damaging solution?!" Yeah, I know, this is the main reason that caused my nails to have ridges (and a razor slipping on my left thumb nail, but it's a bit better now) but I wanted to get that damn black glitter off my nails! I promise I'll soon do a glequin mani, though I'm not sure when..

Uhm, no, that black thing is definitely NOT a liquid sand/textured polish. I applied a thick coat of Essence Black Is Back over Leydi 700, dipped my finger in matte black glitter, then brushed the excess off and applied a coat of Leydi 700 to make the glitter stay in its place.

For the rest of the nails, I used the jellies, glequins and Fimo bows listed in my latest post. While my left ring nail chose to wear a cute bow, the right one seemed to hate it, so I applied the diamond glequins (which will also feature in a new Lacquer Land "Crazy For Greens" polish, along with the orange bar glitters and the golden glitter topper from Leydi).

I won't give you too many details about the 2 new mixes, just that one resembles coffee (at least, that's what I relate it to; and another detail: for this one, I had to ruin the lovely pink on my ring nails). That's it for me, I'll see you soon with a glequin mani. Kisses! xx

(Josephine said she loved both my nails and the tag. Get it? A rainbow in a jar? The blog's title? No? Oh, okay then..)

Nail Skittles

Hello, guys!

My surgery went awesome, now I'm recovering at home and the pain at the top of my throat goes away more and more by each day.

This was supposed to be a full-of-tags post, but Blogger only allows me 200 characters for tags, so..

Anyway, this mani is something I've wanted to do for a while. It's a skittle mani. For this one, I chose to do th following nail-art models:
-Ruffian
-Waterfall (inspired by Sammy from The Nailasaurus)
-Honeycomb (unfortunately, the glequins curled at the sides)
-Half Moon
-Double Chevron
-Swirls
-Dream Catcher
-Caviar Border

I used about 14 polishes, so I won't be able to list them all. I got the caviar beads at a really low price - about 30p, if I remember well - and I still have 1/4 of the tiny bottle. I bought the glequins mixed up with hearts and stars in a medium-sized (?) container. For placing them all, I used a toothpick and some clear polish blobbed on a sticky note.

The beads' placing for those nails took me neither more, nor less than half an hour, and also, I was pretty annoyed that my glequins and the star on the right pinky nail curled and couldn't stick too well without two or three very thin coats of my top coat. Saying very thin, because I used too much thinner and it got very watery. Hoping I could make the glequins stay on my nails (and actually managed to!), I dotted some silver polish where 2 or 3 of them met. I also used a glitter franken I did a while ago, mixing a bottle of fine gold, silver and red glitter in a gold tinted base with a bottle of clear-based, silver bar glitter. This polish caught TONS of tiny air bubbles (the way some others did, too), but (don't ask why) it looks really cute!

The right pinky nail required several coats of top coat, so goodbye, matte finish!

This is such a long post, but I hope you like it. If you mind giving some models a try, leave links to posts in your comments. Kisses! xx

Spun Sugar Nails

Hello!

This will be the last post for a while, but I'm looking forward to having a guest post on Monday, if possible.

Anyway, here's a fresh post and, because I was so excited to share it with you, I haven't done my right hand yet.

It's about Spun Sugar nails. Here are the steps.

1. Choose a base colour (I chose 3 jelly polishes for this one: GR 209, Gabrini S01 -pink- and Gabrini S12 - turquoise).

2. Apply some greasy cream around your nails and on your fingers (I used my essential beeswax balm). Scotch tape might work well, too!

3. Add a few drops of a different polish on wax paper or something else useful (I used an adhesive note).

4. Give it 5-10 minutes to get tacky, then stir with a toothpick. Slowly lift the toothpick and, if the polish is stringy, you can apply it on the nail just like this: stir a bit in the polish, lift the toothpick and drag the polish string on the nail, and keep doing this until you reach the desired look.

5. The cleanup is easy: just remove the excess polish on your skin and cuticles with the toothpick, or simply remove the tape surrounding your nail. It's easier if you apply vaseline or chapstick on the skin, anything greasy keeps polish from drying on the skin, so you don't waste a lot of polish remover. Also, it's a lot less messy. And here's a useful tip: before the cleanup, slightly press the strings' ends on the sides of your nails. In this way, you can get a nicer finish after the full cleanup.

It's a 3D/textured pattern, so I recommend skipping top coat at leat for this manicure. Also, try to do it early during daytime, not in the evening, as the polish dries very slow, so you have to give it some time to make sure it won't be ruined by the next day.

You can also mix it with other patterns, like I did on my ring (Tribal-like + Spun Sugar) and index nails (Geometric + Spun Sugar).

God, I love how it feels! This will definitely be my must-have manicure this summer. Anyway, I hope this tutorial helps, and I'll see you again in 1-2 weeks. Fingers crossed for my surgery on Monday! xx

P.S.: Basically summer in Romania. -.- (The rain was pouring hard, unfortunately my camera wouldn't take a clear, unblurred shot.)

Golden Rose Paris Swatch + Review

Hello!

It's been a while since my last post, but here's the swatch I promised ages ago!

It's about Golden Rose Paris 209, the yellow polish I bought together with Essence Absolutely Blue (I used it a lot, so now there's only half of the polish left).

Here are a few things about this polish.

1. It's actually a true jelly polish, not a crelly, as I said before (maybe not really crelly, but something like that).

2. I found the applying of the first coat really tricky, as it didn't spread evenly, so there were obvious brush marks.

3. It dries really quick, and the formula is perfect, applies smoothly.

4. As I said, it's a jelly polish, so it requires several coats to build the desired opacity.

5. I love this color so much, and it seems this summer I'l wear it a lot!

I'd say more things about this awesome polish, but I think it would take ages to finish this post. Below are shown 4 coats, still not perfectly opaque but it's not very noticeable. And yeah, back to shorties, because three of my nails broke and I couldn't do anything about it but just.. cut them all. Anyway, I can handle things easier now, and I'm starting to like short nails. Is it normal? Kisses! xx

Cartoon Nails + Re-Swatch

Hey everyone!

I was messing around on Monday morning at 7 a.m. with my phone and I decided to re-swatch Essence Absolutely Blue, due to the awesome sunlight in my bedroom (see how the sun rays lit only a little of my room?) It was the perfect moment to take some fresh photos and I have to say, I'm quite impressed, these pictures were taken with my phone camera. ._.

Anyway, skipping to the interesting part, I've tried to do some cartoon nails, but I was sure I couldn't do them on mine, so I tried it on a press-on nail. It turned out great but, trying it on MY nails, the border was too thick and messy, so I gave up.

Anyway, below are some pictures. Enjoy, and I'll see you really soon! xx

essence Swatch & Review - Absolutely Blue

Hello!

Two days ago I decided I should buy some brand new polishes (judging by the fact that I had to throw away  more than 10 polishes, and now owning only 19 with the two new achievements).

Did I just say TWO?!

Yes, it's about essence Absolutely Blue, which I swatched for today's post, and Golden Rose Paris 209.

A short review about Golden Rose 209, which I'll be swatching in a few days. It's a beautiful yellow crelly (jelly-créme). It's the perfect yellow tone: not too vibrant, but not too pale. I guess it would be perfectly opaque in 3 easy coats. Here's a quite useful tip: I usually let the polish dry a minute until I apply the next coat, but sometimes I don't wait that "long" and the whole manicure smudges and looks terrible and the polish gets tacky and.. Yeah, here's the advice: let each coat dry for at least 5 minutes. If it is a quick-drying polish, like essence, you shouldn't have any problems, but wait at least 2-3 minutes, though.

Back to the main swatch & review.

essence Absolutely Blue is, like, the perfect blue créme I've ever seen! It is some sort of sky blue créme which slightly fades to a cold, subtle lavender tone. (Okay, i'm not that good at describing colours, but that's how I see it. It's not a perfect sky blue créme, that's what I can say, but it depends how you see the true sky blue colour.) Here, I swatched it in 3 easy coats with no extra top coat, among with my accent nails in two thick coats of essence Time For Romance topped with 2 more thick coats of AVON Mineral Fix. Even though I have this obsession for Time For Romance (as I previously said, too), this is a gorgeous combination!

Okay, I write too much! That's it for me, sorry if the pictures are a bit blurry (talking about how the accent nails look), but I have no idea why my nail polish got a bit matte. :\ I'll see you really soon with a new post. Kisses! xx

essence Swatches + Le Bunny Bleu Nail Art Contest

Hey there! Here's the upcoming post about my new essence polishes!

EDIT: after swatching Time For Romance I realised it's not really a top coater. Instead, it tends to be some sort of liquid sand if applied in more than one coat.

Here are the swatches (sorry if the pictures are a bit small, but my camera chose not to focus well AGAIN!)

Time For Romance is swatched in 2 coats layered over two more of Chic Reloaded. I didn't leave it enough time to dry so it became quite a huge mess.. Chic Reloaded dried really fast, actually, though I had a few problems with the clean-up. Besides, it's a black polish, so yeah.. I think I'll swatch Time For Romance again, another time.

Oh, and by the way, have you heard about Le Bunny Bleu's nail art contest on Facebook? It ends this Friday, so make sure your entries get as many likes as possible!

I checked out their site and I spotted THESE beautiful Oxfords. I'm thinking of saving money to buy a pair, I love them so much! I'm guessing they'll be on sale by the time I saved enough money, but I want them so bad, so I'll try to save as much money as I can to get them.

Here's my entry, and HERE's the link to it.

That's it for today, at first I wanted to make two separate posts, then I thought I was too lazy at the moment. I'll see you again really soon. Kisses! :*** xx

Another Quick Swatch

Oh My God I'm actually dying here! 4 posts IN A DAY!

Sorry but I promised to do another fresh swatch, so here it is!

Sorry for the mess, I didn't have time to clean it up.. And yeah, again, it took a while to focus quite good on my nails. This is a beautiful sheer-to-opaque cotton candy (should I say?) pink from Gabrini. This collection's polishes shine really nice and you don't even need to apply top coat! I really love it because it has a subtle shimmery tint and, even though it'd make a perfect two-coater, I prefer to apply a 3rd one just to make sure it looks really opaque. I'm not the kind which'd be happy with a sheer polish, unless it's a jelly one.

Although I really like it, I'll give it up for my Mineral Fix treatment.

Quick Swatch

Hello, sweethearts!

Today I'm going to post a quite recent swatch for a jelly polish I made. It's so far my favourite polish ever! I can wear it anytime, even when I go to school.

This is Golden Rose Paris #08. It's a nude jelly polish, very cute, and it has very very subtle shimmer. I wanted to make it even shimmery-er, so I mixed it with two top-coaters: one with tiny bars and one with white, golden and red shimmer. It turned out so awesome!
In the first picture it's shown under daylight, and the other ones under neon light.

Late post for Polish Days

Hello guys! Yes, I know I should've posted my Polish Days "7 Deadly Sins" nail-art earlier but I found out about it a bit too late and I also couldn't upload the pics (my schedule has been very busy lately).

Anyway, here is my nail art.

Left hand (in order from thumb to pinky): Envy, Pride, Gluttony, Wrath, Lust. (and yes, I used caviar beads for the index nail)

Right hand, which was a quite big disaster -besides the ring nail- (from thumb to pinky): Sloth, Greed, Lust/Pride, Envy, Lust.

What do you think about this nail-art? It might look awkward because I used a matte top coat with purple glitter which kinda ruined it all. On the middle nail (right), it was supposed to be a border/dark forest pattern (see those tiny branches on the purple base?)

I'll soon update the blog with some more recent manis, knowing that I've sharpened my almond/stiletto nails even more! So now, whoever makes me mad is gonna get hurt. *evil laughing* Nah, just kidding. I think I'll post a new mani these days. Love you all! xx

Stiletto/Almond Nails

Okay, so here's the most recent mani. I decided round/oval/square nails are too mainstream, boring, whatever.

So, I dediced to change the shape of my nails from round/oval to almond/stiletto!

Here's the final result, and the mani.

Actually, it's quite simple to get this almond-like look .You just have to file your nails in a V to U - not too sharp, but not too round. Of course you have to file them quite a lot, and knowing that some of my nails are a bit short, I had to file until sharpened those ones pretty much. With the longer ones, it was easier. After adding a thin base coat, I did each nail one by one, layering two coats of polish then with a wet Q-tip picked rhinestones and placed them on the wet polish. After that, I added top coat and, after it was fully dried, I dabbed a bit around each rhinestone, just to make sure they won't slip. (actually, you have to to this -dabbing clear polish around the rhinestone- quite daily, just to make sure they stay).

So far, this is my favourite nail shape, and I had to wait a while before shaping them, as you need mid-length nails or, if you used to bite them, at least let them grow until they cover the whole finger, or just do it when you want. Just be careful not to file the nail apart from the grown part too much. Enjoy! xx

Tribal Nails

Hello, guys! How's everyone?

2 days ago I wanted so bad to do some tribal nails, so here's the result!

Here, I used two coats of each polish over a thin base coat. Then, with a nail art striper, I drew the patterns and did the dots with a toothpick. I know, they don't really look like tribal nails, but I was really bored while doing them and I was like: nah, no problem, just do them.

I'll soon post the most recent mani, even though it's kinda simple, boring, whatever. Enjoy! xx

Random Nails

Okay, I couldn't help but show you the most amazing manicure I've done so far. I did it last week, on Tuesday.

The patterns are, in order, from left hand to right hand, like this: Antique, Flowers, Camouflage, Tribal print, Tie-Dye, Cut-Out, Saran Wrap, Watercolor, Glitter Border, Misonni.

I was actually amazed when I saw they only took me an hour! (I expected a bit more, like 2 or 3..)

You can find the tutorials on getnailedd's YouTube channel. She (Chelsea King) has some great tutorials which are also the easiest to do (in my opinion).

I used pretty many colors and I don't really have time to name each one of them, but you can actually use any color (for the Cut-Out you need black everytime, and for the Antique, silver frost looks the best; and don't forget to ALWAYS begin the Watercolor with a dry white base!).

Hope this helps you find a new mani, and enjoy! xx

Galaxy Nails Tutorial

Hey everyone! Today's post is about the galaxy nails, as I fell in love with it from the first time I saw this kind of nails. And here's the tutorial.


Okay, so here is a list of what you'll need:
-black nail polish (preferrably Essie Licorice)
-coloured nail polish (in blue, green, purple frost and pink, or yellow)
-white nail polish
-make-up sponge (you can also use a piece of normal sponge or an unused one for washing the dishes.. it doesn't really matter what kind, it just needs to be a sponge, I've tried with both dishes and make-up sponge and tey both worked well, but it's up to you which one you'll choose)
-top coat with glitter (it can either be micro glitter or with hexes, bars etc., it depends on how you want it to look in the end)

(sorry for the quality, my hands were a bit shaky..)

First, I suggest adding a thin layer of base coat on your nails (the best I recommend is the Mineral Fix hardener from AVON, but it can also be any hardener you own). Then, add a coat of black polish. After it's fully dried, on two layered paper plates (or wax paper, or simply paper.. i use a post-it or two, depends on how many colors I use and how much.. or what patterns I do). Slightly dip a corner of the make-up sponge in the polish and dab an oblic line through the center of the nail. After that, choose one of the colors to dab in the lower left corner. Keep doing this with the other corners left, and even dab a bit on the white. In the upper left and lower right corners dab a bit of black and finish with a glittery top coat. (I chose one which was a bit gold so it all looked quite yellow.. and sorry for the quality, I zoomed each picture).
Here's a tip: if you think the white left in the centre isn't as.. white, dab a bit more, as I did in the 5th picture. But just a bit, not the whole spot!

Well, I hope it helped. I also know how to do it on clothes! You need some non-printed black clothing and clothing dye (try to get more white than other colors, and also get black!). It;s the same thing, you just do it more times and not the same (I mean, let's say you do it on the knee; do it a bit less when you go up to the waistline or down to the ankles and keep repeating it, the result will be awesome!).

Enjoy! xx

Late Red Nose Day post

Here's another post with some Red Nose Day-themed manis. I couldn't post them earlier because I couldn't find them and Blogger wouldn't work when I tried to create this blog.

Anyway, enjoy these Red Nose Day manis!

What do you think? Sorry for the middle finger nail, I was in a hurry and it didn't really come out the way I wanted. xx

Sweet Missoni

Hello! How's everyone?

Today's mani is quite simple. It's about the Missoni manicure. I know, this is a quite difficult pattern which requires a lot of patience. Luckily, I made it a lot easier. I'll show you what I mean in the following picture:

Easy breezy, right? Because a manicure doesn't always mean doing ALL of your nails. You can only do one nail from each hand (it doesn't matter which one). I absolutely recommend this technique for the ones who like to keep it simple and not too eye-catching (even though one nail is MORE eye-catching than all of them). Here, I used , as base coat, the hardener in the picture from Chissa (tchee-sá) and, for the Missoni, Golden Rose Paris Baby Blue, some sort of jelly (I can't remember the brand, though..) and Golden Rose full-coverage silver glitter polish. For the top coat, I also used this jelly-like hardener, as I noticed from past experiences with this one that it makes the nails shinier (especially for the Saran Wrap manicure).

I hope you like this simple manicure, and if you have any suggestions for this one, leave a comment below. Love you lots! xx

Mani Mix

Hey everyone! Here's another post on mani mixes. It's all about mixing different models, patterns and create a unique mani. Here's an example:

Here, as you can see, I mixed some simple styles (Black French with sheer pink base and a bit of slight shimmer; silver glitter polish with random sheer pink stripes; polka dots on white base) with a bit more sophisticated ones (camouflage and Ikat).

Well, here, it's just a roses pattern inspired by some lovely Dr. Martens (ignore my creepy cat, Raven, in the background). This one would go well on a mani mix with black French mani, some glittery patterns (or just a nail with glittery base) and also with some spring-themed patterns.

What do you think? If you have any suggestions for this theme, feel free to leave a comment, maybe I'll do some Mani Mix requests. :) xx