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

Nail Care Routine

Hello!

As I haven't really took much care of my nails for a while, I decided to share my new nail care routine with you!

It's quite easy, I found it through cutepolish's videos. Here are the steps:

SMOOTH! Make sure your nails are clean, and apply a cuticle oil/cream/gel (I used both Moraz's Nail Oil and AVON's Aloe Cuticle Gel, and I have to admit the oil had better results!). Gently rub it all over your nails and skin surrounding them (and also cuticles, obviously), and let it dry for 2 minutes.

PUSH! Grab a cuticle pusher (it can either be a metal one, like I used, or an orange stick, or anything else you use for pushing your cuticles). As I said before, I'm not the kind to push them, but I don't advise you to cut them. I'm that kind of perfectionist so, if there are dry cuticle bits, I grab my scissors and cut them a bit. Anyway, another useful advice is the next one: DO NOT PULL the cuticles from the base to the tip to push them after that. Just push them to the nail base (you can even use one of your nails as a help -if you have long nails- for this step), but try not to lift them. It's a bit hard to find my words to explain this step, judging by the fact that it's almost midnight here and I'm REALLY tired. (I haven't slept well for 3 days!)

HYDRATE! Here I'll be very specific: ONLY USE HAND&NAIL CREAMS! I have mine from a gift set, it's really nice-scented and it hydrates the whole skin. Just apply a bit on your palms and rub your whole hands (including nails and cuticles), then wait 5 minutes till the next step.

SEAL! Wipe away the cream & oil residue on your nails with a cotton pad or tissue, then apply a nail hardener. Mine has a slightly milky tint and it dries fast, and a bit like Seche Vite-looking.

Here are some steps for beautiful and healthy nails (and smooth hands, too!), and I hope it helped you. Below it's shown through pictures. Enjoy! xx

Another new post!

Okay, this is crazy! It's the 3rd post for today!

Anyway, I'm really happy that I finally found my camera, so that I don't have to use my phone (well, at least when I can't use my camera).

And by the way, sorry for the quality of the 1st picture, it didn't focus too well (even though it was set on macro, sometimes it just doesn't focus too well). Today I was fooling around with the camera and decided to also take some pictures of my nails. And sorry about their horrible look, I took the pictures before applying any polish. I usually apply a thin coat of AVON Mineral Fix or two, and it really helps. Its sheer pink-orange colour makes the nails look really healthy! I love it!

Aaaaaand here's the camera I use: Canon Power Shot S2 IS. I've had it for a few years so ignore the chipping on its side. And sorry for the blurriness, my hand was shaking for no reason.

Nail Care - Episode 2

Hello!

For today's episode of Nail Care, my "little help" is Sarah from Chalkboard Nails. As I was browsing her blog looking for a solution to get my cuticles out of sight and keep them less dry and damaged, I found THIS post.

The steps for a flawles manicure are pretty simple:

1. You need hand cream or cuticle balm/gel which you apply on cuticles and skin around nails.

2. Cut the any skin hangs and if, you have thick, dry skin, be very, very careful when trying to remove it. You don't want to hurt yourself.

3. Even though i used to cut my cuticles, I strongly advise you NOT to. You expose yourself to infections (I had no such problems, though). Besides, it's better and easier to push them back with either your thumb nail, or a cuticle pusher.

I also advise you to apply some extra cream on cuticles and skin around nails to keep them moisturized.

Here's a little preview of my attempt. I used three of my favourite products from AVON (in order from left to right): Today Tomorrow Always Body Cream, Nail Experts Cuticle Balm (mum and I have had it for a while and now it's very little, but it's really helpful and we think of buying another tin!)  and AVON Naturals Beeswax Essential Balm. In order to see which one I should use for the other hand, I tested them all like this: thumb - body cream; index + middle - cuticle balm; ring + pinky - beeswax balm. Even though the cuticle balm was obviously thr best choice, I used the body cream instead, as it offered better moisture level to my skin. And also, it smells sooooo nice! Because I'm not the kind to apply them directly on cuticles with my fingers, I used a small-to-medium makeup brush. And, as you can see in the last picture, there are visible results from the first time!

I hope this helps you, too, and I want to personally thank Sarah for her extremely good advice. See you soon! xx

Tip of the week - "Smokey" issues

Hello! How's everyone?

Recently, I've been told about this issue: some girls smoke and they don't know how to get the smell of the smoke from their nails (and hand skin). Here are some useful tips, and I've also tried them (I don't smoke, I tried them after holding an already lit cigarette in my right hand).

1. If you don't really use to do your nails, I strongly advise you to apply at least a thin layer of clear polish, which you can wipe away with polish remover after you smoke. Wanna know why? It's way better than having your nails bare and catch all the smoke directly on them. So, it's simple. Just apply some clear polish, you also protect your nails.

2. If you have your nails done but don't want to wipe them away, it's actually easy (and it's also a tip for skin). You can wash your hands and nails with alchohol for medicinal usage. Not that you only get rid of the smell of the smoke, you also disinfect your skin, which is good.

3. Also, you can spray some perfume on your fingers - your hands will also smell nice. Here's an addition, as the smell of the smoke still doesn't "leave" the nails, so just wipe them very quickly with alchohol or polish remover (don't press on the nail, just wipe, like taking off dust -sorry, it was the first thing that came on my mind as a movement to associate-. Of course you don't want to ruin your manicure!)

I think I'll soon try some more manicures following Chelsea King's tutorials on YouTube at www.youtube.com/getnailedd and I'll also think of some fashion inspiration (or events.. now it depends if I can find out about about an upcoming event, like a fashion show or something like this).

Oh and also, don't forget that this month is dedicated to autism. If you go on Instagram you'll find as hashtag #bluenailsforautism and quite soon I'm going to do some manicures and make ONE post with all the nail-arts. Love you all!

Again, if you want to share your nail art with me, you can feel free to post either a link (if you post them on the internet) or simply tell me which pattern(s) you chose. You can also leave suggestions for nail-art. In a few years I'll take nail-art classes so I want to improve my technique. If you have any ideas which could help me, leave a comment below! xx

By the way, what do you think about skeleton shirts? I'm really looking forward to buying or making one for the summer. Here's a preview of what I'll try to do out of a quite large T-shirt. (picture from Internet, not mine!)

Nail Treatment Tip

And also, I couldn't forget to share a very useful tip for you all (and a product).

You can find different natural nail treatments at pharmacies or at different stores where are sold only natural products.

A very useful treatment would be the medical herbs nails&cuticle oil. You just have to apply a bit on the nails, cuticles and dry skin around them (and not just around nails, I added a bit of cuticle oil on a scratch from my cat and the next day it looked a lot more healed!).

Here, I have my medical herbs oil from Moraz (I've had it for a while, like 1 or 2 years; you don't have to worry if you can't use it all in a short time, it doesn't have an expiration date). Here's a tip which really helps: if you have only about 1/3 or 1/4 left in the bottle and you can't reach it too easy, you can mix it with some olive oil (which is also very good for nails and dry skin). The mixing of the oil will only have a better result on your nails and dry skin. But I advise you: don't use it on all the dry skin of the body. This oil is especially made for the hand and feet treatment because we all know these parts of our body are the most exposed to skin-drying.

I hope this tip is useful for all of you. Also, here's a bonus: it doesn't usually cost too much, I won it on a magazine giveaway together with other products such as lip balm and hand cream, also from the same brand. I searched for its price on the Internet on the official Moraz site (for Romania) and you only have to pay for the shipping (don't worry about the shipping to other countries: Moraz sells and ships worldwide!).

These nails&cuticle oils are usually made out of the following plants: Polygonum extract 99% (the percentage for this oil treatment) , Artemisia vulgaris, Myrtus communis, Salvia officinalis. If your product has at least one of these plants in it (be sure to check the ingredients!) then you've chosen a good product. Wonder why? These ingredients penetrate the deepest skin and nail layers, yet you have to be very patient if you want to have visible results in a short time: these oil treatments MUST be applied for at least half an hour, so it's recommended to do this when you're watching a movie (which doesn't involve eating something using your hands), reading a book, listening to music or simply relaxing.

I hope this is also useful, if these treatments work for you, too, leave a comment, mentioning what brand the product is from and how long you've followed the treatment. xx