TTC #3 - Stamping

Hello, and welcome to the newest Techniques Challenge: STAMPING!

Straight to the subject: until last Thursday, I wanted to freehand a model from a stamping plate but couldn't decide which to do, so I went in town at Just Cosmetics (for the ones living in Bucharest, there's a shop on 16, I.C. Bratianu Blvd) and bought a stamping kit which includes a plate, a stamper and a scraper (which I definitely didn't use because it didn't scrape well, so I used an old credit card).

This is my manicure, each stamp besides the flowers on the thumbs was done twice:

 

(The hand wash is Lagoon from Sephora, with blue algae extract)

This is a scheduled post, so check out NailGlaze's blog for the full list with the other manicures because I was in a hurry, by the time you're reading this, I'll be in France, probably sleeping, having a shower, or out in town, who knows? See you as soon as I come back, meaning after September 2nd. Kisses! 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

Skittle Mani

Hello!

I'm not used yet to shorties and doing nail-art on them, but I couldn't wait anymore, so I grabbed (about) 13 polishes and cancelled everything for more than 2 hours to do this skittle mani.

Left hand (thumb to pinky): Glitter Gradient, Summer Ombré, Ruffian, Pink Galaxy, Caviar Chains.
Right hand (thumb to pinky): Glitter Flowers, Glitter Sandwich, Glitter Gradient, Caviar Chain, Light Ombré.

Here are the polishes I used as bases: Gabrini Elegant 300 (base coat), Leydi 700 (top coat), Golden Rose Paris 209 (yellow jelly), Golden Rose Paris in Forest Green (no number, sorry, I had to give it a name), Golden Rose Care + Strong 179 (neon orange-coral shimmer crelly), Golden Rose Care + Strong 172 (neon pink-fuchsia crelly), Maybelline Colo Rama 654 Super Power Blue (azure créme).

The polishes I used for the models are: Classics 180 (multi-colored & holo glitter topper), Essence Time For Romance (multi-dimensional round glitters, hexes and holo glitter in a sheer crimson base), Essence Chic Reloaded (black multichrome polish; shifts to purple, green and, sometimes, to golden), Essence Absolutely Blue (baby blue créme), Maybelline Colo Rama 654 Super Power Blue, Golden Rose Care + Strong in Silver (full-coverage silver shimmer mixed with fine silver glitters; again, no number on the tag), no-name white nail art polish, Golden Rose Paris 206 (pale pinkish-lilac crelly), Golden Rose Paris 108 (eggplant créme), Golden Rose Paris 209, Golden Rose Care + Strong 172.

I also used caviar beads, which I applied one by one onto the nails with a toothpick dipped in clear polish.

Below are some photos. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you really soon, probably with a summer-y ombré manicure. Kisses! xx

Brand New!

Hello there!

Sorry for not posting in a while, but I'm here with a fresh post including my sweet newbies!

(Offtopic: again, I can't find my Canon camera, so I downloaded an app from Google Play Store which improved the quality of my pictures. Enjoy less blurriness! Aaaaaand my back-to-shorties nails. I have no idea why they keep breaking!)

Two days ago I bought some great Essence polishes, and today I bought a Maybelline Colorama and a glitter topper from Classics.

I was running out of black, so I bought Essence Black Is Back, a créme with such a perfect formula and it is perfectly opaque and super shiny in just two thin coats!

As I was looking through the Essence racks, I found the last bottle of Grey-t To Be Here. It's such a lovely polish! It's a light grey créme with a slight touch of fine iridescent (?) glitter in a cute pink tone. The glitter is hard to photograph, as I'd need to try different hand poses, but I actually captured it a bit.

Today, after my freshmens meeting, I went to Kendra and bought Maybelline Colo Rama 654 Super Power Blue, a rich azure ("creamy blue") polish. I swatched it in only one coat (yes, it's that opaque!) over Essence Black Is Back.

And, after that, while I was at the underground station, I popped into a small shop and bought Classics 180, the very last multi-coloured and holo glitter topper they had. Yay! It seems I had lots of luck, as the Maybelline polish was only one on full stock (about 10 in the Kendra store).

Anyway, I'll leave you with the swatches. Kisses! xx

Essence - Grey-t To Be Here (2 thin coats, 1 thin layer of top coat)

Essence - Black Is Back (2 thin coats, 1 thin layer of top coat)

Kendra rules!

Maybelline Colo Rama 654 Super Power Blue (1 thin coat over Black Is Back, no top coat)

Classics 180 (applied using the dabbing techinque over Black Is Back, no top coat)