Golden Rose 132

Hello loves! Another short and sweet post today to show you one of the manis I wore last week. I'm slowly catching up with all the stuff that I haven't had time to post. This one is another limited availability brand (mostly available in Eastern Europe), but I think Golden Rose polishes are also available in some parts of the US. I promise that after this one I'm gonna post some widely available polishes for you! So here's Golden Rose 132! 

indoors, artificial light

This is a gorgeous sky blue with a subtle shimmer in it. It looks a bit more vibrant in these pictures than in real life. The problem with these colors is that they are usually very sheer. I applied 3 coats of this and there's still visible nail line on some of my nails. It also dried with bubbles on two of my nails, so that's another drawback. 

a non-light box picture to better show the shimmer

I wore this for about 4 days with no chipping and only minor tip wear (the kind that is unnoticeable with such a light color). It was kinda surprising for a polish that was about 1 euro. So if you are patient enough to apply a lot of coats and lucky enough to not get any bubbles, this is a great color to have. Unfortunately I'm not patient at all and I tend to avoid colors that need more than 2 coats. I'm not sure I'm gonna wear this much. 

So what do you think about this polish? Are you willing to apply a lot of coats for the sake of a gorgeous color?

Local brand test: Farmec 355

Hello my lovelies! How's your Monday going so far? Mine just got a little better because I finally got a good news (first one in ages). I have a review for you today, that I've been meaning to post for a long time now. Photos are older, from this summer when there was still sun and they are not so good. You can see I have improved my skills in the last months. Most of my followers won't have access to this polish because it's a local brand and that's why I've been putting off posting this. But I started this blog in order to post reviews of stuff that you can't really find info about on the internet and I hope this will be useful to someone.

Farmec is a beauty company that comes from my city and is actually very famous around here. The products are cheap, but usually surprisingly good. I can remember using these cosmetics since I was very young. One day I saw some Farmec nail polishes at the store near me and thought I’d do a little experiment.  Little did I know how good this experiment would turn out.

indoors, natural light

Color:

Farmec 355 is a berry colored creme. It was very hard to capture on camera (it's not as pink as it looks above) and that’s why I’ve included a nail wheel picture that looks closer to the real color. I’m not a lover of reds and pinks. I hardly ever use them, but this color is just gorgeous. It’s not too pink, yet very feminine and not boring at all.

Application:

This polish applies like a dream. The brush is great (medium size), the quality is great and all this makes for a flawless application. It’s very opaque but I would still use two coats for full coverage. And on top of all the good stuff mentioned before, it also dries super fast and very shiny. I didn’t use any top coat in these pictures.

Durability:

Another winner here also.  I wore this for a week with it only chipping on the last day, and that probably was my fault anyway. This polish can hold up to any OPI or China Glaze for only a fraction of the price.

oh so shiny without top coat (please excuse the cuticle oil)

Verdict:

This is one of the best quality polishes I own. Seriously, if you see a shade of this that you like, don’t hesitate. You won’t be sorry! The only drawback is they have a limited shade range and it’s mostly pinks and reds. I sure hope they will make some fun shades soon. Other than that, good job Farmec!

Fun Sunday: 20 questions tag!

Hello my lovelies and happy Sunday! For this week's Fun Sunday post I decided to do another tag. This has been around on youtube and blogs for the longest time so I don't really know who came up with it. I also have a nail tag I have previously done and you can find it here. So let's get started with the 20 questions tag!

1.Thing you cannot leave the house without: My phone of course, wallet and keys. And gloves in the winter.

2.Favorite brand of makeup: This one is tricky. I'm not into expensive stuff because I'm on a budget. I think that from what I have, it's Nyx.

3.Favorite Flowers: I know it's a cliche but, roses.

4.Fav clothing stores: Stradivarius and New Yorker

5.Fav perfume: I'm not really into perfumes. One I've really enjoyed is Calvin Klein Obsession Night.

6.Heels or flats: Mostly flats, but if I find a confy pair of heels, why not?

7.Do you make good grades? I mostly do.

8.Fav colors: Red and blue. Blue for nail polish of course.

9.Do you drink energy drinks? Only when I'm really tired and have an exam or something.

10.Do you drink juice? I rarely do.

11.Do you like swimming? I can't swim :))

12.Do you eat fries with a fork? If they are on the side of a steak. It's not like I'm gonna stick my hands in the plate.

13.Whats your fav moisturizer? Currently I'm enjoying Nivea Mattifying Day Care.

14.Do you want to get married later on in life? I guess I do.

15.Do you get mad easily? It depends on the situation. Some people just drive you crazy.

16.Are you into ghost hunting? Huh? No...

17.Any phobias? Germophobia!

18.Do you bite your nails? Of course not :))

19.Have you ever had a near death experience? I had a car accident once. Don't think it was a near death experience though.

20.Do you drink coffee? Every morning. And sometimes once more during the day. I love coffee!

So that's it! If you are reading this, consider yourself tagged! Have a great Sunday!

Mint crackle

Hi guys! I hope you are having a great weekend. For me it's studying again, as I have another week of exams ahead of me. Luckily it's the last one and I can't wait for it to end! I think it was about two weeks ago on a gloomy day that I thought I should make it better with a fun manicure. There's nothing like a bright, crazy color to cheer you up on a day like that. Here's what I came up with.

This is Rimmel Lycra Pro Peppermint, which has been previously reviewed here. To add a little something to the manicure I slapped on a coat of China Glaze Black Mesh (also reviewed here) and topped everything with a shiny coat of Out the Door. 

This is obviously not a fall mani, but it was fun wearing it. I think I'm kinda over the crackle look though, so I'm happy I didn't buy a lot of these polishes. 

You can see I'm very behind with posting manicures, but hopefully next week I will try to post more to catch up. I also can't wait to have time to do some nail art. I know I have been neglecting that part, but I was really swamped lately. I promise to redeem myself with some Christmas designs! 

ELF Dark Glitter Purple

Hello my lovelies! To the ones celebrating Thanksgiving today, I wish a very happy Thanksgiving with family and friends! To the rest of you, I hope you had or are having a great Thursday! Today I have for you one of the ELF polishes I got in my recent haul. It's called Dark Glitter Purple and while I do agree about the dark purple part, I'm not so sure about the glitter. Let's take a look! 

indoors, artificial light

This is a dark, vampy, lit from within kind of polish. The color is slightly more red-toned than you can see in these pictures, but for some reason it comes out like a blue-toned purple on camera. Now ELF calls this a glitter, but I don't think it's the case. It's more of a glass fleck finish because of the small particles that become visible in the light. If it's darker though it just looks like a dark purple and that was a little disappointing for me. 

Application was easy enough. Two coats made it perfectly opaque. I'm not a fan of the ELF brush though, because I found in many of my polishes that it is often wobbly and has longer/uneven bristles, which makes it hard to achieve a flawless application. Drying time is pretty fast and what you see here are two coats of polish with one coat of top coat. You can see in my next pictures that I've also wrapped my tips in order to get a better wear time. 

But sadly this polish doesn't wear well at all. It started to show massive tip wear after one day of wear. By the second day, when the sun finally showed up and I was able to take some pictures, it really looked like a manicure you wouldn't want to be seen in public with. Only a few hours after that, it started to chip on the sides on the nails. That really is something I've never experienced with a polish before. 

in the sun, excuse the massive tip wear

another one in the sun

Other than its horrible durability (it is a one dollar polish after all), I really love Dark Glitter Purple. Not what you would expect from the name, but beautiful nonetheless. I highly encourage you to click the photos and make them bigger because it's worth it! 

Ebelin nail polish remover wipes review

I got these wipes in a “buy one, get one free” package at my local DM (Drogerie Markt) shop . I was leaving for my vacation and wanted something to remove my polish without carrying and spilling a bottle of nail polish remover. I chose these because they were a good deal (about 1,3 euros for 20 wipes). 

The wipes have an individual packaging and are acetone-free. Now I must state from the beginning that I’m not an acetone-free obsessed person. I personally think that the other solvents they use instead of acetone are chemical solvents too, even if they don’t work as well.

Ingredients: BUTYL ACETATE, ETHYL ACETATE, ISOPROPYL  ALCOHOL, PARFUM, PANTHENOL, TOCOPHERYL ACETATE

The packaging states that one of these is enough for ten nails. But the fact that they are non-acetone (so they work slower), associated with the fact that they dry up very fast, makes them not last until the tenth nail is clean. I have to literally race through my polish cleaning and not be as thorough in order to finish all my nails before the wipe stops working. Usually I end up pouring some nail polish remover on it for the last 2 nails or so. Of course removal of glitter polish is out of the question with these.

Another issue I had was with the smell of the wipes. I don’t know if it’s the thing they call “perfume” in the instruction box, or the many solvents that are evaporating so fast, but every time I use one of them I have to cough at least a few times because they make me choke. This makes me think that my good old acetone is much better for my windpipe than one of these "non-acetone" wipes.

In conclusion, I wouldn’t repurchase these again. I don’t think my money was wasted, because I ended up using almost all of these, but I wouldn’t spend it again on them.  There are many Ebelin products I love (including the nail polish removers), but these were just not how they were supposed to be.

Matte suede

Hey everyone! So I had a huge and ugly exam yesterday and I was planning to blog and do my nails afterwards. But I was so tired I ended up laying in bed all afternoon and watching TV shows (btw if you haven't checked out "Once Upon a Time" yet make sure you do cause it's awesome). Again I have to apologize for my absence and say that I do hope to post more this week, although I still have another exam coming up. Ok, now let's get to the nails!

One of the polish finishes that I long for and is so hard to find around here is suede. So one day I thought "What's suede anyway? It's a matte shimmer!". I stole borrowed this shimmery gold polish from my mom and popped it on. Then added two coats of my Color Club Matte-ified and there it was. Suede! 

The polish is actually H&M Golden Treasure, a gold shimmer from this year's fall collection. It's a color I wouldn't probably wear on it's own just because gold nails are not my style. But I was surprised by how much I liked this manicure. The polish applied very well, opaque in two coats and fast drying. 

Here's a close-up to better show you the finish I ended up with. I think this is the perfect fall manicure and it actually got me lemming even more for the Barry M foils, which I plan to use for stamping but also try as a full mani. 

So what do you think of my little combo? Do you know any other fun ways to use a matte top coat?

Fun Sunday: join me on Pinterest!

Hello everybody and happy Sunday! Just a quick Fun Sunday post today to talk to you about Pinterest. If you haven't heard of it or don't know what it is, let me tell you that it's definitely a lot of fun! It's a new social platform concept that involves pinning your favorite photos and videos on your own board, so you can have all your ideas and inspirational pictures in one place. You can pin stuff you find all over the internet because they have a special widget you can easily add to your browser, that allows you to import pictures and videos from any website to your personal Pinterest board. 

Another fun feature is that you can follow other people's boards and see what they have pinned, so you can draw inspiration from other people's pins. You can also browse general pins from people you don't really know or you can choose certain subjects. These range from beauty and fashion to home decor or music and books. Those of you that are into DIY can also find a lot of great ideas here. I made a screenshot to show you how the browsing feature looks like. I, of course, chose the subject beauty and hair. 

I have a lot of fun browsing this section every day and I also enjoy the humor section a lot. But you can find lots of stuff according to your interests here. If you want to follow me you can find my boards here. I hope you will be joining me soon! If you need an invite leave me a comment or send me an email. Happy pinning!

And of course you can also find me on Facebook and twitter.  Make sure to leave me a message/tweet when you drop by!

INM Out the Door top coat review

I got this top coat with my first nailsupplies.us order early this fall. I was searching for a fast-dry top coat, because the ones available in my country are slow drying and not very bump resistant. I knew I didn’t want to get Seche Vite because I’ve heard many people complain about it getting thick in time. Plus the fact that it’s not 3-free doesn’t particularly please me either. I had heard about Out the Door from some other blogs and I know some people swear by this stuff so I decided to get it.

First of all, let me state that this is a thin top coat. If you are looking for something that can smooth out a glitter, you’re probably in the wrong place. I really like the fact that it’s thin and goes on so smoothly on the nails, without the danger of getting bubbles.

Ingredients: Ethyl Acetate, SD Alcohol 40B (Alcohol denat.), Butyl Acetate, Cellulose Acetate Butyrate, Acrylates Copolimer, Trimethyl Pentanyl Dissobutyrate, Sucrose Benzoate, Triphenyl Phosphate, Nitrocelluloss, Isopropyl Alcohol, Benzphenone-1, Dimethyl Polysiloxane, Violet 2 (CI 60725), Blue 1 (CI 42090).

The bottle states that this top coat dries in seconds. And let me tell you, it’s very true! It takes less than one minute for the polish to be dry to the touch. It also makes it thoroughly dry in minutes. If you want to use it over nail art, you have to wait for a bit so the polishes dry. After that, it won’t smudge your designs. Once it’s dry, it will make your nails very shiny. They won’t get dull in a few days and there won’t be many scratches and bumps on your nails like with other top coats.

I did a little experiment for you guys using Out the Door and Kallos 3in1 Shine base coat/top coat. I used Out the Door on my middle finger (on the left) and Kallos on my index finger (on the right). You can see the scratches on the index nail versus the perfect glass surface on the nail where Out the Door was used. This might not be visible in the photo, but the nail on the left is much more shiny while the nail on the right kinda has a dull finish. 

Out the Door on the left, Kallos top coat on the right (click to enlarge)

I personally love this top coat and would repurchase it anytime. The price is also very convenient on this one. I think it will remain my go to top coat for a long time.

Two more looks with lllamasqua Faux Pas

Hi everybody! Well you might have noticed that my posts are running low these days and that's because I have an exam on Monday and I'm studying like a mad person. But I thought I should take a break tonight and do some posts for you guys. So I'm back with Illamasqua Faux Pas. I thought I should experiment a bit more with this fabulous polish and show you the results here. First off, I naturally wanted to see how it looks with a glossy top coat. So on the second day of wear I added one coat of INM Out the Door. 

indoors, artificial light

Not much to say about this one. Except for the fact that I like my polishes glossy and adding a top coat really made this shine. I had some scratches on the surface of the nail before adding top coat, which makes me think I'm too sloppy to be wearing polishes without anything over them.

On the third day, I really wanted something shiny and fantastic on my nails. So I went with one of the ELF glitters, the one called Glitter Glam. It's a silver microglitter in a clear base, with just a few larger glitter pieces that seem to be holographic. The holo glitter pieces are too sparse though to even call this a holo. Feel free to click and enlarge the photos to take a better look.

Illamasqua Faux Pas with one coat of ELF Glitter Glam

I'm really impressed by this glitter and the amount of coverage it gives with just one coat. I still think of it as a layering glitter, but I'm curious how many coats it would take to get it opaque. I really like this combo and I can't wait to try this ELF polish over lighter colors to see the effect. 

So what's your opinion on these? Do you like Faux Pas better as a rubber or glossy finish? Or do you prefer the blingy alternative? 

Illamasqua Faux Pas

Hello my dears! Today I have a very special polish to show you. My first Illamasqua! I've received this as a gift (early birthday present maybe) and I love it! This is from the Theatre of the Nameless autumn-winter 2011 collection and is one of the four rubber finish polishes Illamasqua came out with this year. 

indoors, artificial light

The color of this polish is a perfect grape purple, a little darker in reality than it looks here, but for some reason it doesn't come out right in pictures. I've also seen this on many blogs and it still looked a bit more blue than it does actually. This is the first polish I get that comes in a box. So fancy! The rubbery square lid also comes off to reveal a more round and hold-appropriate cap. 

The brush is on the small side, just as I like. The polish is very opaque and you could get away with just one coat. I wasn't very careful with my first coat so I applied two. It dries super-fast to a "rubber" finish, something between matte and glossy. This is still pretty glossy so I wouldn't compare it to the rubber on the cap, more like to the rubber bracelets teens wear these days. 

I just put this on and I was eager to show it to you guys, so I can't tell you anything about how it wears. I've also wrapped my tips to increase wearing time. Please excuse my horribly dry hands and cuticles. It's very cold and lotion doesn't seem to cut it anymore. I've also been using a treatment on my nails that contains formaldehyde and that thing is very drying. 

some close-ups featuring the ugly cuticles, enlarge at your own risk

I'm very excited about this polish and I can't wait to use it for a lot of combinations. What do you think?

Later edit: Forgot to mention that I made it to 50 followers. Thank you so much to all of you! Couldn't have made it without you!

My design is on The TraceFace Philes!

Hi loves! Just a quick post to tell you that my moustache mani from last week made it to the combined post with all the designs on Traci's blog. Thank you so much Traci for including me!! You can find her post here. Make sure to check out all the awesome moustache nails. Here's mine in case you forgot or missed it: 

This is a challenge that took place in support of Movember. Click on the link to find out more about it.

I have an exam tomorrow so I will be studying all day. I have an awesome manicure to show you though, so stay tuned!

Twinkle Mate

Hello my lovelies! It's Monday unfortunately, but that doesn't mean we have to quit our polish habits. Today I want to show you a glittery manicure I did last week. Here's the story. 

About a week ago I went bowling with some friends. I was wearing China Glaze Atlantis at the time and my nails were very long (by my standards of course). I was prepared for them to chip, but along with the chip on my thumb came a big crack. Oh the horror! I had to reduce my nails to nubs and there was no other way. For the following week I dreaded every nail polish on me. I only showed you old manicures on the blog, because I couldn't face the horrible nubness of my nails. Now they have grown a bit and I got used to short nails again, so I decided to show you these manicures because, after all, the polishes are gorgeous and they shouldn't go to waste. So first up we have: Twinkle Mate. 

indoors, artificial light

The name of this combo comes from the two polishes I used: China Glaze First Mate and ELF Twinkle. First Mate came out in the Anchors Away spring collection and is a gorgeous navy creme. I was lemming for this polish for a long time until I got it, but it seems I always use it in a bad situation. Last time I've used it, my top coat had thickened and it got really huge bubbles, shadowing the polish. I'm sorry that I didn't take some pictures of it alone, but I didn't think my nails were swatching material at the time. This was two easy coats.

On top of the ChG, I layered one coat of Twinkle, a multicolored glitter. This reminds me of MAC's Unconditionally Fabulous, but it seems the glitter particles in Twinkle are smaller. Not sure though because I've only seen the MAC in some pictures. I really liked how this was playing in the light and the combination with the navy made it really pop. 

I'm definitely gonna layer this glitter over a lot of things in the future. What do you think? 

Fun Sunday: they nailed it!

Hi everybody! Today I have a few things I have to tell you. First happy Sunday! I hope you are having a lovely, fun and restful Sunday and that you are spending it with the people you like. Secondly, I think you've noticed that I have a new banner. If not, scroll to the top and look. It was made by my sister using some of my pictures and I think it turned out spectacular! So I have to thank her for that. 

If you are new to the blog, let me tell you that Fun Sunday is a post I like to do pretty much every Sunday (sorry for last week's missing post) and talk about something different than my regular posts. Also, I'm accepting suggestions, so if you have a fun tag or idea for me don't hesitate to leave me a comment or send me an email. 

Today I want to talk about nails (again!?!) and TV shows. How many times have you found yourself watching a show and seeing only naked, unpolished nails? It seems that these people think that filing and buffing is enough for a manicure. But we want COLOR! So I begin to get excited even if I see some boring red or pink nails. But these ladies that I want to talk about here, really have the nail thing going! 

Naomi from 90210

Played by AnnaLynne McCord, I would call Naomi the queen of style. She's always perfectly dressed and her makeup and hair are flawless. So naturally, her nails have to be top notch too. I've seen a lot of shades on her nails, including minty green. I also remember an episode where she was just coming out of the salon sporting a fresh gorgeous purple manicure. OPI also had a small 90210 collection out (back in 2009 I think), but it was made only of reds, while Naomi's manicures are much more creative than that.

I chose this older picture (season 1) because it was the only one I found where her nails were visible enough
*source*

Jane from Happy Endings

I don't know how many of you have heard of this show. It is now on its second season and I find it very funny. If you are a fan of shows like Friends, you will love this. Besides for it being  funny, it also has the character of Jane (played by the talented Eliza Coupe), who is a very put together lady. I wouldn't have expected for her to sport such bold colors on her nails, but her manicures are amazing. She usually has a different color on for every episode. 

*source*

Max from 2 Broke Girls

This is a totally new show that just came out. Kat Dennings plays Max, a sexy and smart waitress that wears killer teal polish. I really liked her nails in the first episode and noticed that the color didn't change throughout the first season, so this has become a signature look for her. It seems the polish she is wearing is Wet n' Wild Teal or No Teal (that costs no more than 99 cents). I think this bold color goes perfectly with her style and personality.

*source*

I hope you had fun reading this post and if you know other TV actresses with great nails please write a comment below. Happy Sunday!

Barry M Dusky Mauve

It's Saturday! How's your weekend going so far? Unfortunately, I have to study most of this weekend because exams are starting next week. The first one will be an easy one, but after that it's gonna be hell, so expect a lot of slacking off from my part on this blog. But until then there will be plenty of posts like the one from today that features the (in)famous Barry M Dusky Mauve. 

indoors, artificial light

If you haven't heard of this polish yet, let me tell you that it is famous for being a perfect dupe for Chanel Paradoxal. Now I don't own the Chanel to do a comparison, but I've seen pictures on other blogs that confirm this. This color is very hard to describe. It's a greyed out purple with a hidden shimmer. According to this guide, I would rate it as an iridiscent finish. I don't know how this is with the Chanel, but the shimmer is really hidden in this one. It's hardly visible in bright light and only in certain angles. I was very disappointed by this fact. Look at how gorgeous it looks in the bottle! 

But on the nail, not so much. I found myself looking at some plain mauve nails almost the whole time I wore it. For these pictures I used artificial light and no lightbox to capture at least an idea of the shimmer, but it was very hard. 

click on the pictures to enlarge

Application was great. I really love the formula and the brush of the Barry M polishes. Perfectly opaque in two easy coats and fast drying. I can't comment on the wear time because I only wore it for two days. 

I'm not sure I'm gonna wear this again. Don't get me wrong, I love Barry M polishes and would love (and will get) a lot more of them in the future. I just didn't feel it with this one. Maybe I will find somebody that enjoys it more than me (like my mom or something). What do YOU think? 

Funky french: glossy tips

Hi guys! I hope the weather is being more generous with you than it is with us. It's getting really cold over here or as the Starks would say "Winter is coming!". So yesterday I was telling you about this matte polish from Golden Rose that you can see here. After it chipped on me prematurely I decided to do something to cover the tips. I saw this idea long ago on  Chloe's nails and I loved it.

indoor, artificial light

 I used Hello Kitty Blackstage and some french manicure guides to paint the tips. Blackstage is a true dark grey creme and you can see for yourself how different it is from the Golden Rose 11, which is supposed to be grey but is actually a lot more blue/purple. The difference between these two was not that evident under normal light.

I really loved how this turned out. I find it very sophisticated and chic. What do you think?