Golden Rose 53

Hello gorgeous readers! It's Friday but the weather is just terrible over here, so I'll be spending my weekend indoors. Frankly it feels like fall rather than spring to me. On the plus side, I hope I will be able to get some studying done although books 2 and 3 of The Hunger Games are screaming my name. This post is about a blue polish. I haven't done one in a while so it was about time! 

Golden Rose 53 indoors, artificial light

A metallic blue! Such a classic shade! I think this is something that every nail polish lover should have in their collection. It's edgy and just perfect. And you don't need to spend a lot of money to get one because a lot of cheaper brands carry this type of polish. I also have Maybelline Colorama Electric Blue that is in the same range. I should definitely make a comparison between these two. 

Golden Rose 53 is a shimmer packed medium blue that dries to a metallic finish. It dries fast and shiny so all these swatches are without any top coat. I really like the formula on these GR polishes, although they are not very durable. I also decided I hate the bottle (the pyramid shaped one) because it's impossible to hold in pictures. It makes my nails look so randomly aligned and I hate that. 

I like my nails to be all in a row in pictures! Other than that, nothing to complain about this polish. It's a bargain for what it can do. What do you think? Am I the only one regarding this as a classic shade? 

W7 Metallic Neptune

Hello dears! One more day and the week is over. This week seemed so long! I can't wait for Friday. Today's post features a great duochrome polish. It comes from the Metallic Planets collection that contains mostly duochromes. This came out last year around the time the Models Own Beetlejuice collection was launched. I believe everyone knows about the hype this collection created, but a lot of people were disappointed. I wanted to get some myself but they are pretty expensive so I settled for some of the W7 polishes that are much cheaper and pretty similar to the Beetlejuice ones. Metallic Neptune was the first one I got (trough a friend). I then found a seller on ebay and got 3 more (I will show you those in the next weeks). 

W7 Metallic Neptune indoors, artificial light

I don't know about you but whenever I think about planet themed stuff it immediately takes me back to Sailor Moon. It's a manga anime we used to watch when we were little where every planet had a corresponding hero. I don't remember Sailor Neptune and it seems she appeared later in the anime. She has sea-green hair and her powers involve water, of course.  

Similar to Sailor Neptune, this polish has green as a main color. It then shifts to purple depending on the angle of the light. The duochrome effect is not that strong and is mostly evident in direct light. I only took one photo in my light box because there was nothing interesting to show there. But I did do a lot of shots with the lamp hitting it directly. Sadly I couldn't take proper sun pictures so you'll have to settle for the artificial light ones. 

W7 Metallic Neptune indoors, artificial light (light box)

W7 Metallic Neptune indoors, direct light

You can see the green in these shots. The next ones try to capture some of the color shift. 

The W7 polishes contain toluene but that's also the case with the Models Own ones. The bottle resembles the OPI bottle closely and the brush is wide like the ProWide brush. Metallic Neptune was easy to apply and dried pretty fast. I used 2 coats and a top coat for these swatches. I'm really glad I got these polishes and I'm looking forward to showing you the other ones. They are just as nice if not better! 

China Glaze Aquadelic

Hello lovelies! Hope your week is going well! We are getting cold weather again and a lot of wind. Not what I would expect at all. At least it's sunny, so not all is bad. I have a very springy color to show you today. Oh, how I've missed the posts about my favorite brand! 

China Glaze Aquadelic, indoors, artificial light

Amazing, perfect turquoise creme! I know this has been compared to For Audrey. I don't have that one but I'm pretty sure For Audrey is more blue, while this is more green. Most swatches of this show it less green than mine show it. Now call me color blind but this is how I saw the color in reality. I was very happy with the accuracy of my pictures. Then I googled it and was intrigued. I'm not sure what to think about this. 

Of course the sun decided to go away as soon as I put this on, so all pictures are in artificial light (light box). The formula is great on this one and the brush is perfect in my opinion. This is two coats. The polish is pretty opaque but I like doing thinner coats so two it was. The pictures are all without any top coat. 

I don't know what to think about the swatches for this color. What I do know is that I absolutely love it. Another great shade from China Glaze to add to my ever-growing collection! 

Adventures In Stamping: zebra mani

Hello my beauties! Happy Sunday! I wanted to post this earlier but it's still in time for this Sunday's challenge. I haven't done the challenges for two weeks because my nails broke and I didn't have the appropriate plates. But I really wanted to get back in the game. If you don't know what I'm talking about, it's this facebook group where we have a theme every week and we stamp accordingly. There's also a lot of talking there about stamping, nail art and nail polish in general. So you must join in because it's an awesome community! Ok, on to the nails!

This week's theme was black and white. Well, I realized it's not easy to do a black and white mani! White is not forgiving at all if you do any mistakes and black is a very messy color. I wanted to do a houndstooth pattern but I don't have a plate and there was no way of me finding the Konad plate in town although I tried. So I went with the less original zebra. There will sure be a lot of zebras this Sunday on the group. 

My base color is Farmec 50 and the stamping color is China Glaze Liquid Leather. I'm so happy to have found a good black for stamping! The plate is m69 from Born Pretty. Sadly, my top coat totally smudged it. These photos are all before top coat. I'm beginning to think that I need to get Seche Vite for nail art. The other top coats all drive me crazy with smudging. I also have some new plates on the way and I'm very excited! There will sure be a stamping galore when those arrive!

Illamasqua Strike

Hello lovely readers! I hope you are enjoying a well needed rest this weekend! I went to see The Hunger Games last night and it was pretty good. Still the book is a lot better. I can't wait to read the other two but I know that if I start one I won't put it down until I finish it, so I'm waiting for some more free time to do that. I have something amazing to show you today! 

Illamasqua Strike, indoors, artificial light

I've been a bad blogger, I know! I have kept this beauty from you for almost two weeks. Truth is I didn't have much time to edit pictures and I wasn't too happy with my short nails, so I needed time to adjust. Nevertheless, I think this looks amazing on short nails. Just the pop of color they need to look pretty! 

Illamasqua Strike in the sun

This polish is very hard to describe. I would say it's a turquoise frost that looks more blue or more green depending on the light. There's also a secret about this polish. It has tiny shimmer particles that only come out to play in the sun. I've tried to capture these but failed miserably. You can still catch a glimpse of the sparkliness in the sun pictures. 

Illamasqua Strike in the sun

Application is not very hard, thanks to the amazing formula. I did two coats to make it fully opaque. You might end up with some brush strokes but I don't mind those. I used the "last stroke in the middle of the nail" method to minimize the brush strokes. 

Illamasqua Strike in direct artificial light

So you can see from my pictures that this looks more green in artificial light and more blue in natural (sun) light. I also stamped some butterflies after one day but didn't like them too much so I didn't do any photos. I really need to work on my stamping skills. Placing small designs on the nail is much harder than it seems! 

Illamasqua Strike indoors, artificial light

I would really like to thank the amazing polish fairy that made it possible for this polish to reach me! I think this is such a classic and a must have for every turquoise lover out there! 

The red adventure part two: Rapsodi 326

Hello again! Second post for today featuring another red. This time with a happy ending! 

A week ago I was browsing some shops in the city just to see if there was any new stuff in. I saw this new brand that was very very cheap (less than 1$ per bottle) and then it hit me. I should look for a blue-toned red since the price was right for me to experiment and there were a lot of red shades to choose from. I chose one that looked ok in the light of the shop (although you can never know with these). I was very pleased with the outcome! 

Rapsodi 326 in the sun

This red is so yummy! I'm not a red wearer myself but I crave one from time to time. This is the perfect blue-toned red crelly. It has the opacity of a creme with the amazing shine of a jelly. The sun pictures are all without top coat and look at that shine! I just love how this looks on me! 

There is a drawback of this polish however, namely the durability. It shows tip wear after one day of wear and it needs top coat badly to make it last longer. I don't mind because it's not a color I wear often and the price is right. It's almost as getting it for free. 

Rapsodi 326, indoors, artificial light

I'm pretty happy with this red and I'm sure I won't need another one in my collection anytime soon. It's nice to know that if I want to have red on my nails, I have the perfect shade in my collection. 

The red adventure part one: Sleek Geisha's Seal

Hello my beauties! Another beautiful spring day is a good opportunity for me to show you some reds. I have two posts in store for you. But first I want to apologize again for not commenting on blogs and not replying to your comments. I'm really behind, again and I have to catch up. It gets old, I know, but what can I do. 

The first red that I will show you today is one by Sleek MakeUp. I've had this polish since December and I've used it as underwear for my China Glaze Ring in the Red mani that I posted about here. When I first bought it I expected it to be more blue-toned, but I was disappointed to see it's not. It actually pulls very orange on me. 

Sleek Geisha's Seal, indoors, artificial light

This picture makes it look even more orange than in reality, but it still looks awful on me. I hate how my hands look when I have such a polish on. I wore this immediately after I nubbinized my nails, so you imagined how bummed I was about my nubs with such a color on. I really don't know what I was thinking. 

The formula on this is a little thick. I remember I had trouble applying it the first time so I added a few drops of Seche Restore. It's very opaque but it looked patchy after one coat so I did two. Drying time is average, I guess. Here's a picture of it in direct light that is a little more accurate. 

I'm sure this doesn't look this orange on somebody else, but on my cool skin tone it just turns horrible. So to make it better I tried a little stamping using my m60 plate and China Glaze Liquid Leather. I did like how it turned out and I wore this combo for around 2 days. Not bad considering the color. 

I think I'm gonna give this away because I really don't see myself wearing it again. I'm ok with this brand just not with the color. Maybe I will try others in the future. 

Leopard print mani using Max Factor Fantasy Fire

Hello my lovelies! Hope you are all doing great! Some of you might remember my posts featuring the amazing Max Factor Fantasy Fire. If not you can see the shiny version here and also the matte one here. After I posted these I was contacted by a lovely lady who asked if I was interested in doing a leopard print nail art using Max Factor products. I said yes, naturally! Here's the final result. 

Purple Leopard in the sun

This is the first time I do a leopard print on my nails. The reason: I don't like leopard print. I always hated clothes with this print on. So this proposition came as a challenge to me. I love challenges! Little did I know I was going to like the end result so much! 

This look was designed by nail artist Zarra Celik using the widely acclaimed Max Factor Fantasy Fire. She also made a step-by-step tutorial that makes it very easy for anyone to achieve it. 

My nails were not that long but I still tried to file them to a more squoval shape. I used 3 coats of Fantasy Fire   on its own. Since it's the first time I've used it without underwear, here's a photo of it by itself. 

Max Factor Fantasy Fire in the sun, 3 coats

 I then used the nail art pen I was provided with to draw the leopard spots. It was the first time I've used the point of such a pen and it was very easy. I finished with one coat of China Glaze Fast Forward top coat. The manicure dried very fast, despite the many coats. 

Purple Leopard in the sun

I just love how Fantasy Fire sparkles in the sun! Back when I wore it for the first time there wasn't much sun, but now it's stunning. 

Purple Leopard, indoors, artificial light

This also looks amazing indoors. I was really surprised that I liked it that much. I think the leopard look is a lot more subtle on the nail than in clothes and the purple underneath makes it look so cool. Plus the sparkles in Fantasy Fire are divine. Can't wait to explore this polish a lot more! 

*Disclaimer: Some of these products were sent to me for review. For more info see my official disclosure policy.

Fun Sunday: my perfume collection

Hello my beauties and happy Sunday! Today's post is all about perfumes. I'm not a big perfume lover and by no means a true collector. I don't buy them for myself so everything I have has been gifted to me at some point. My collection is very small. I have a few cheap ones that I didn't even photograph. Excuse the bad lighting in the photos. I live in a loft and I don't have a proper place where the light hits directly. I'm also not very good at describing perfumes but I thought some of you might have fun seeing these. Here we go! 

Carolina Herrera 212 On Ice 

I received this for Christmas so you might have seen it before on my blog. It's a very fresh, floral and citrusy (is that even a word?) perfume. It's perfect for a spring or summer day. I recently discovered that floral scents are my favorites. The packaging of this looks like an ice cube and I thought it was very cool so I kept it. 

Paco Rabanne Black XS

This is a little different from what I'm used to. It's very sweet and fruity, but has some floral notes too. It also has a bit of vanilla scent mixed in. I think this is more of a winter scent and I don't wear it too much. The bottle is so so beautiful! 

Cerruti 1881

Every girl needs something classic in their collection. This has a more powdery smell compared to my other perfumes. It reminds me of Chanel without it being old-lady like. I think I'm gonna use this a lot this spring. 

Calvin Klein Obsession Night

An old favorite! I've had this for a while and you can see I'm almost out of the EDT. This came in a set with a small bottle of EDP and a lotion. Since I'm not a big fan of the roll-on applicator, I didn't use much of the EDP so I still have a lot of it (it only has 10 ml). Another citrus and floral scent, this makes me think of hot summer nights. The name is perfect! 

Elizabeth Arden 5th Avenue

I've saved the best for last! This is the newest addition to my collection and what inspired this post. This is the floweriest scent ever invented and I'm just loving it so much. This must be what Audrey Hepburn would wear. It will sure be my absolute favorite this spring!

I hope you liked this post and I'm curious to know, what is your favorite perfume? I hope you all have a great Sunday!

St. Patrick's Day mani

Hello again! This is my second post today and I'm very excited. I just love the green overload in my Google Reader. That's because I love green! Here's my modest nail art for the occasion. 

First of all I would like to say that I haven't done freehand in a while. I've really lost my mojo and need to start doing more. This nail art is very simple and I think anyone can do it. The base color is OPI Don't Mess with OPI (here's my previous blog post with the swatches). I usually do the same thing on all my nails but this time I went for sort of a skittle look. 

My ring finger and my thumb have one coat of ELF Golden Goddess. I've previously shown this and stated that it has a terrible smell (definitely not 3free as they claim) and the larger hex glitter lays on the bottom and is impossible to get out. I even turned the bottle upside down before I used it but I still could only get one or two pieces of larger glitter on each finger. 

here's a lousy shot that shows my thumb (excuse the shadow and the weird angle) 

I used Golden Rose Nail Art 108 (the only gold I have) and some dotting tools for the four leaf clovers. On my middle finger (the leprechaun belt) I used a black striper and a nail art brush with the same gold. I really like how this came out. My left (dominant) hand only has the glitter accent fingers and still looks great. 

As I've stated before, I love green and I particularly enjoy this OPI green. I just hope to see it more in the landscape, now that the snow has melted. Happy St. Patty's Day to you all!