eBay Order Post! (+ Extras; Pic-Heavy!)

Hello!

As promised ages ago, I'll review the products I ordered from eBay and received earlier this month.
I ordered this set of 15 nail art brushes and 10 acrylic paints, and I got a palette for the acrylics.

They were about $6, and I got them from Hong Kong. They arrived in almost 3 weeks, and the only thing that kinda annoyed me was that I received the package OPENED! (due to the US toll rules, they had to check the package to make sure it didn't contain flammable things, drugs or something like that..)
Anyway, I was so damn excited that I even did a manicure the same evening! The acrylics are highly pigmented, yet some of them were quite watery (?) so I had to apply them three times.

 (All done with acrylics except for the bases)

(Again, all done with acrylics except for the bases and the thumb nail, which I did a glequin row on)

This evening, I did my nails AGAIN, using the dotting tool included in the set.

And yep, guys, I have some more goodies! The first one is a nail growth treatment from Chissa which has visible results in just 3 days of wearing 2 coats alone! I've just re-begun the treatment yesterday, so I shortened them to show you the progress. The second one is a quick-dry top coat from Flormar which also gives extra shine to the nails (applied directly on them) and polishes (applied in one thin coat). The third one is a mini AlixAvien ShinePlus nail polish, which I got in a gorgeous red. It's so tiny and cute, yet really pigmented! And finally, the last one is a polish I ordered from AVON and received 2 days ago, it's the beautiful Nailwear Pro+ shade, "Sweet Pea Dream". It's a gorgeous nude crelly with very fine gold glitter and scattered holo glitters.I think it resembles a bit the collab shade "Majesty" from pIcture pOlish, because it's basically perfect for every skin tone, and for every occasion! I wore it at school and it was unnoticeable -until the gold glitters decided to show up-. Anyway, I also wore it on a day out in town with my friends, and I think I'll also wear it at my prom. It's so beautiful, I'd wear it for ever! It's definitely on my "Restock" list.

 (My thumb nail, which had some sort of dreamcatcher with a triangle instead of feather on the middle row, wasn't in the mood for taking pictures..)

That's it for now, I'll see you quite soon. Kisses! xx

Summer Dotticure

Hello!

I know, I've been off for a lot of time, but here's a quite new post!

Last week, or 2 weeks ago, I went to the countryside. Bad decision to have chosen to wear press-on nails. Besides I almost broke 2 of them, I even lost one!

Anyway, here's the manicure, done with a lovely indigo from Golden Rose Paris and a bright peachy-coral from Classics:

Enjoy, and I'll see you soon with the challenge post!

P.S.: Expect some more manicures when I return from France.

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

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

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

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

Glitter Crowns + Extra Tip

Hello people! How's everyone?

First, I want to say I'm SOOOO happy nobody fooled me yesterday. Instead, I fooled my best friend. It was so funny seeing that she really believed my joke! It's all like this. I told her about a party I had at the beginning of March and then said I slept with this guy from the party and realised now that I'm pregnant and after panicking her, I shouted "April Fools Day!" and she ran after me in the whole school screaming "I'm gonna kill you!" and it was so funny, we are still laughing about it! Even the others laughed so hard when they heard my prank.

Anyway, here's my latest manicure. I love doing glittery French nails, but now I thought it'd be too bare, so I decided to do some white "crowns".

This is quite simple, even though I chose to do it a bit more difficult. As I can't really freehand a French manicure, I chose to try doing it with a nail-art striper and it came out really nice! Also, I dipped a toothpick in some white polish and did the crown thingys at the base of the nail. I used my new (and best ever!) nail hardener as both base and top coat.

And I also have a tip for you, just so I won't forget it. If you have a jelly polish (those ones who aren't as opaque as the others), you can divide it into halfs and mix it with glitter, so you won't have to buy a new one. You can find jelly polishes from Golden Rose Paris (they have, as an example, two beautiful midnight-blue tones which'd go great with golden or silver glitter, holo or hexes). Hope you like it. 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

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