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

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..)

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

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

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.