Red Dalmatians

Hello!

Don't get scared when you read the title. It's just so you'll have an idea of what you'll see.

I've been using PVA glue as base for every single polish I wore lately, and today I chose to shorten my almond claws and do a new manicure.

Here's the result after two coats of Golden Rose Paris 79, a faded burgundy creme, and Essence Black Dress And White Tie, my newest beauty. The Essence polish mentioned is a speckled topper with -obviously- tiny black and white hexes and fine white glitter packed in a clear base. Fortunately, it applied flawless, it's neither tacky nor too thin and the glitters apply in the perfect amount.

 Tomorrow's my birthday and I thought it's a fun combo. What do you think?

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

Holiday Haul & Manicures (Pic-Heavy!)

Hello!

That's right, I'm back from my trip to Itterswiller, a lovely city in the region of France called Alsace. The thing I definitely loved was the view I enjoyed every single morning, as the guest house we stayed at was located on a family-business wine domain.

In just one week, we took the time to visit Paris, Strasbourg, Colmar and, in Germany we went to Europa-Park in Rust, and also visited Zürich in Switzerland. I have to say that I hate Zürich, because I got "attacked" by bees. The big "up" is that, even though I've been pinched twice, one time after another, the second time I couldn't get all the venom out, so of course my arms hurt a lot, but I heard that bees venom is good for treating some health issues. Just imagine - some people out there would've even sold their houses to be me. (because, you know, health isn't that cheap)

Anyway, let's go straight to the subject.

The first part of this post, actually, is the holiday haul. I just couldn't leave France without getting some nail stuff, so I grabbed these 3 polishes from YesLove and D'Donna, plus the pack of metallic gold press-ons for 5€. (and here's also the mani part)

 (I was a bit disappointed because the glue spreaded all over my cuticles -I also messed up a nail on the front side- and I even glued together two of my fingers.. I'll definitely wear them again, but sticking them to my nails with another glue)

(in order: YesLove 023 -azure-, D'Donna Acid No. 57 -neon yellow-, YesLove 578 -speckled mint & choco chip-)

I also took some photos in dark light, to show how bright the acid yellow is (sorry for the quality, my camera went crazy when capturing the yellow).

(Shown in blue light, in the car)

Just a short addition: after just one day of wearing, the azure polish chipped on the tips, and when I peeled some bits off, they were a bit of latex-resembling. (Awkward..)

Moving on to the fashion part, I bought a gorgeous dress with a studded star print, also for 5€, a bag with hand-sewed print for 13€, the Playboy VIP eau de toilette for 11€, a pair of high-waisted jeans for 15€ and -because I'm madly in love with them-, a pair of platform sneakers for 10€.

(I know, I'm such a child, but it was the last bag of this kind and I bought it for high school, because it would hold more and bigger school stuff than the others available)

 And here's a small gift from out guests: three tiny jars of jam made out of wine, with added sugar and pectine.

 

(In order: Gewurztraminer, Pinot-Noir, Pinot-Gris, all of them made out of their own and best wines; ignore the polish chipping on my ring nail)

 

And now a few extra photos:

 (The best birthday surprise ever!)

 (The Statue Of Liberty in.. France? -at Colmar-)

 (The best macarons in the whole France -and world-)

 (Spray art in the centre of Colmar)

 (A short trip to the European Parliament in Strasbourg)

 (Lunch at our guests' restaurant in Strasbourg)

 (Stunning view from the top of the Eiffel Tower!)

 (Been there, done that!)

 (I've always wanted to try a traditional crépe, so I ordered one with bananas and Nutella)

 (In Zürich.. I still think it was a bad idea to spray Playboy VIP on my top before leaving)

 (Ready to go to Europa-Park)

(My dad's hoodie is still the best piece of clothing I'd wear in the mornings, while having breakfast)

Okay, so that's it for today (I guess), I'll see you really soon with the Techniques Challenge - Water Marble! Kisses and enjoy! xx

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 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

Glitter Layers featuring essence Time For Romance and AVON Mineral Fix

Hello everyone!

Because one re-swatch wasn't enough, and because now I have an obsession for essence Time For Romance, I decided to do one more post about it.

And here's one more review.

I haven't tried to swatch it in different lights until today. I did my ring accent nails with 1 thick coat of Time For Romance over 2 thin coats of AVON Mineral Fix, and topped with 3 more coats of the base. Wanna know why? This base/top coat has a pinkish-orange-ish tint, which makes the colour of the polish even more vibrant.

Anyway, here's yet another new review. As I said before, it's some kind of crimson liquid sand, with a crimson jelly base. A few things to add: besides the crimson glitter and small hexes, you can find holo glitter, too. This gives the polish such an amazing effect, I can't really describe how amazing, though. I just love its rich colour, easy appliance due to the wide brush and the short drying time. (I'm not that handy with quick-dry polishes, but essence polishes' formula makes it all easier)

I also found it a bit difficult to apply the polish knowing that:
1. You don't need to fish for hexes, the polish has plenty of them!
2. This is the main reason I had to swipe the brush a few times over the nail to get the desired look, with hexes nicely spreaded over the nails.

There is also a problem, if the brush fishes too many hexes, it's very difficult to apply them all on the nail (if you want to) and almost 30% stay on the brush, no matter how many times you apply the polish. But these aren't bad points, though.

essence polishes are awesome, even though it's the first time I'm trying them. I can say that, so far, essence and Golden Rose (including the Golden Rose Paris collections) have been my easiest-to-apply polishes. They don't even leave too much residue to clean up and essence polishes' wide brush allows me to cover my whole pinky nails in just one easy swipe.

And, because I CAN'T make a post without pictures, here are a few from this swatch. Here's shown essence Time For Romance in 1 thick coat over 2 thin coats of AVON Mineral Fix, and freshly topped with 3 more coats of the base.

That's it for a while, I'll be quite busy these weeks, as I'll soon finish the 8th grade (which, in Romania is, officially, the end of school and the beginning of high school). When I have some time, I'll keep you tuned to some fresh manicures. Love you all! 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

Sneak Peek - essence Swatches!

Hey there!

This Saturday, while I was in hospital (a few problems with my throat, no big deal), my sister went shopping and got me these beauties from Douglas:

The polishes are essence 122 Chic Reloaded (black color-shifting polish) and essence 112 Time For Romance (glitter top coat), and the lip gloss is essence 05 Berry Sorbet. And here's a short description for each of the polishes!

Chic Reloaded is a black color-shifting polish. It has shimmer which changes from green to reddish-purple depending by light.

Time For Romance is a beautiful top coater, made of multidimensional crimson glitter and mini hexes is a very sheer crimson base. 

They look really cute in the bottle, I wonder how Time For Romance looks on nails, though, layered in 2 coats over another polish or just on its own, in 3 coats. I'm thinking about layering these two polishes, maybe they'd look nice, but I think Chic Reloaded's duochrome effect wouldn't be noticeable anymore..

These were quite cheap, as I was told, yet I don't know which was their exact price.. I'll swatch them as soon as possible, and I'll also make a special post with a manicure I want to do for the upcoming prom this Friday. (Yayyyy!) I'll leave you with some more pictures. (Sorry, I couldn't find my Canon camera, so I had to use my phone to take them.)