Models Own Hot Stuff

Hello loves! Wow, look at me! I'm doing Pink Wednesday two times in a row! I don't know what got into me last week but I was craving for a pretty pale color and so I busted out my Rimmel Rose Libertine and wore it for half a day. But then I got bored and this happened. 

Rimmel Rose Libertine with Models Own Hot Stuff indoors, artificial light

This is the 4th polish from the Models Own Mirrorball collection that I'm showing you, which means I've only got one left. Hot Stuff is the pink one and I didn't have high expectations from it because of that, but turns out I was very wrong. It has not one, but two types of glitter that are new to me: square and diamond. And I was thinking that I didn't own any polishes with square glitter in them while this was sitting patiently in the Helmer. 

Rimmel Rose Libertine with Models Own Hot Stuff indoors, artificial light

Ok, so here's what this polish contains: tiny red glitter, bigger fuchsia glitter, gold squares, random pink shards and big silver diamonds with a holo effect. Wow! The squares are a little smaller, but you can see them if you look closely (click to enlarge). This is just one coat so the density of the glitter is very very good! You don't have to fish for it because it sticks to the brush. The only thing is that it needs to be "placed" on the nail to be distributed evenly. The clear base was a little thick and of course the smell was very strong. It needed about 2 coats of Seche Vite to be shiny and smooth. 

Rimmel Rose Libertine with Models Own Hot Stuff indoors, artificial light

I won't go on again about how much I love these glitters. I think my other posts have been really persuasive about that fact. In case you missed any of them you can check them out by clicking these links: Freak Out!, Disco Inferno and Boogie Nights. I've got one more to show you so stay tuned! 

Monday Blues: GOSH Midnight Blue

Hello my lovelies! I have a pretty basic blue to show you this week. I think a lot of people own at least one of these shimmery blues and they are made by many brands. But I think they are still gorgeous to look at and perfect for winter. 

GOSH Midnight Blue indoors, artificial light

Midnight Blue is a dark navy with lighter blue shimmer. The shimmer is so fine that it's very hard to catch on camera. I bet some of the more sophisticated cameras out there can show it better but mine can't. However this shimmer makes the polish look extra glossy so that's still a good thing. I have some direct light photos below that give you a better idea of this polish. Excuse the awful glare. 

GOSH Midnight Blue indoors, artificial direct light

You can see the tiny shimmer if you look closely at the photo above. If you click it you can make it even bigger! The formula of this polish was quite good. It's on the thinner side but with a good opacity, so 2 coats are all that is needed to make it opaque. The drying time is not very short, but I applied a coat of Seche Vite to make it dry faster. 

GOSH Midnight Blue indoors, artificial direct light

I also tried to do some subtle stamping with a-england Tristam and plate CH15 from Cheeky on top. It was very very subtle and hard to catch on camera but I liked it a lot. This kind of stamping that is "barely there" is one of my favorite things. I wish there would have been some sun for me to photograph this better. 

GOSH Midnight Blue with a-england Tristam stamping

I hope you like blues like this and I helped take some of those Monday Blues away. For more help check out what these ladies have come up with: 

Marisa from Polish Obsession

Joanna from The Treasure Chest
Mandy from Chameleon Stampede

Have a great week!

Born Pretty Store Nail Studs Review

Hello my lovelies and happy Sunday! Today I have some really fun stuff to show you! I've been wanting to try nail studs for a while now but couldn't bring myself to buy large quantities of just one style that I knew I would end up not using entirely. But Born Pretty Store came to the rescue by creating this awesome wheel* with a lot of types of studs in silver and gold. Here's how it looks. 

Born Pretty Store Studs

The wheel has square, round and ring studs of several sizes, both in silver and in gold. It also contains some gold oval ones, some gold heart shaped ones and some silver stars. It's the first time that I actually see studs in these awesome shapes. I would say that there is more gold than silver in this wheel, but I love both, so it's a decent mix. The great thing about these is that you can reuse them as much as you want. You just take them off with your polish, clean them with nail polish remover and put them back in the box. So unless they fall off and you lose them, there is really no way you can run out. 

I decided to do 2 looks with these to show you how versatile they are. And since Valentine's Day is in less than one month, they are both somehow related to this theme. Here's the first one. 

Sometimes I like to keep it simple and elegant. These nails are perfect for a date and can be worn anywhere because the studs are not too overpowering. I used a base of H&M Nude and after it dried I put one drop of top coat at the base of the nail and placed the stud with a pair of tweezers on top. I finished everything with a coat of Seche Vite. I don't have any nail glue so I didn't use it, but these were still well anchored and there was no danger of them falling off. 

The second look I did is a bit more edgy, but also romantic. It involves roses and red polish. 

I used Golden Rose 60 as a base for this manicure. Then I stamped with China Glaze Liquid Leather using plate m65 that I also got from Born Pretty Store a while ago. I used the same method to place the square studs on the accent nail. Just a few drops of top coat and then a coat on top after placing them. I was honestly thinking they would be harder to place and they would bother me but I didn't mind having them on the nail at all. 

These studs are my new toy and I already made another manicure with them, which I will show you next week. They are so awesome and the fact that there are so many styles makes me think that I will never get bored of them. If you are interested in these studs or other nail art supplies go over to Born Pretty Store. They were kind enough to give all my readers a 10% discount so please use the code MFL91 at checkout to take advantage of this offer. They also have international free shipping.

 I hope you liked my manicures and thanks for reading! 

*Disclaimer: Product sent for review consideration. For more info see my official disclosure policy.

Where In The World Challenge: South Africa

Hello my lovelies! Saturday is a great day for relaxing and looking at some nail art. So I have some country themed nails to show you today and the destination is: South Africa! 

I know it's a cliché, but I had to use my China Glaze On Safari polishes for this one. I don't do a lot of leopard print on my nails so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I used China Glaze Kalahari Kiss as a base for most of my nails and I'm Not Lion for the accent fingers. These two polishes go so well together! I also used them for a glitter gradient type mani (post here). 

For the leopard print I stamped with China Glaze Liquid Leather and used an image from plate QA8. I have a lot of leopard print images and I chose one with larger spots so I could fill them in with I'm Not Lion. In hindsight, I should have probably used a lighter color for the spots, as they do look a bit too contrasting with the rest of the colors. I still liked this a lot and wore it for about 2 days even though I normally dislike leopard printed stuff. 

I will most likely be taking a couple of weeks off from this challenge since exams are coming and I can't keep up with everything. I promise I will be back sooner than last time. Normal posts will still go up so no worries. In the meantime, you can check the other South Africa manicures below! 

Beauty Blogazons Weekly Roundup 1/25/2013

• Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom: Check out Destany's review of Nail Candy pens...one of the most inventive things to happen to Confessions of a Sarcastic Mom!
• Makeup Demon: Romantic pink & purple makeup and photoshoot.
• Pinked Polish: No Whine Left, no not that wine, it's a fabulous polish by KB Shimmer. :)
• Mama Fashionista: Quinn's latest Anatomy of a Mani was inspired by her favorite NFL team, the Atlanta Falcons! (Too bad it didn't help them win their playoff game!)
• Beauty and Fashion Tech: Best Beauty Products of 2012.
• Girl Gloss: Urban Decay Vice Review.
• Lola's Secret Beauty Blog: Lola's Secret Beauty Blog loves Relogy Natural Acne Treatment System- it is gentle, effective, vegan and cruelty-free!
• Midnight Manicures: Looking for an easy to use Vegan Acne Treatment that works? Check out my Relogy Rinse-Free Foam Acne Treatment.
• Harajuku Girl FL Beauty: Want to be a Darling Girl? Take a look at these swatches from Darling Girl Cosmetics and become an Independent Beauty!!
• TheFabZilla: Fergalicious! TheFabZilla's FOTD (Face of the Day) features Wet n Wild Fergie Makeups. Plus she has some randomness and OOTD to share.
• Polarbelle: Find your Perfect Pout with the lipsticks from the Wet N Wild Fergie Centerstage Collection.
• Skin, Bones, and nails: Look at these cheaper versions of the ever so popular caviar manicure.
• Cult of Taupe: This week, Beauty meets Geek. See my favs from the Game of Thrones insipired "Win or Die" collection from Geek Chic Cosmetics.
• Beauty by Arielle: Easy Black & White Dot Nail Art Tutorial.
• Liesl Loves Pretty Things: Liesl's favorite nail polish layering duo is a beautiful mix of high and low end. See it here.
• Emily Hudspeth, hair design and makeup artist: DIY Sugar Scrub for Dry Lips. Only 2 Ingredients!
• Beauty by Miss L: Check out Miss L´s simple lazy manicure.
• Rachel's Makeup and Skincare: Rachel continues her search for the perfect foundation, check out what she thinks of By Terry Sheer Expert.
• Lacquer Buzz: Water marbling is not easy. But the result is worth it!
• Crows' Feet, Cupcakes, and Cellulite: Sasha profile's Pur Minerals film-inspired Beautiful Creatures makeup palette. Bring on the supernatural glam!
• Lipgloss Break: Angela reviews KISS Nail Dress nail stickers.
• My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog: Laura from My Newest Addiction Beauty Blog shares her review on the Laura Mercier Creme Eye Liners in Indigo and Espresso.
• Amber Did It!: Amber has some big news and a cute peacock accent mani to celebrate the news.
• Lisa's Nail Obsession: Paint or texture...which do you prefer?

Models Own Boogie Nights

Hello lovelies! One more day and this week is over. I would say it was a pretty good week because I had a lot of spare time. However, a big exam is coming in 2 weeks and I really have to start studying. Oh well. Today I have another Models Own Mirrorball glitter to show you. It's the purple one and a lot of people have swatched it over all sorts of purple polishes. So I decided to do something "a little" different. 

Models Own Boogie Nights over China Glaze Lemon Fizz indoors, artificial light

I decided to layer it over yellow! I think purple and yellow look great together because they are complementary colors. So I did one coat of Models Own Boogie Nights over my China Glaze Lemon Fizz mani that I showed you here. I was so in love with this combo! 

Models Own Boogie Nights over China Glaze Lemon Fizz indoors, artificial light

Boogie Nights has all sorts of craziness in it. There are smaller and larger purple hexes, a few purple randomly shaped shards, small and larger pink hexes and also some blue hexes in there. In other words, a fun glitter bomb. I must say that I like the fact that even though purple is the predominant color, there is still some variety which makes this polish extra special and original. There is nothing like it out there! 

Models Own Boogie Nights over China Glaze Lemon Fizz indoors, artificial light

Application was a little problematic with this because the glitter was very hard to apply evenly and the base was too thick. I had to place the glitter deliberately in some places to make it look more even. The glitter density is decent for one coat and I think it deserves the extra effort with application because of its gorgeousness. As usual with these, it did dry sort of matte so top coat was necessary to make it shiny. 

Models Own Boogie Nights over China Glaze Lemon Fizz indoors, artificial direct light

Another thing to keep in mind with this collection is that they have a very strong smell, since they contain toluene. If you are willing to get over this issue, these are totally worth every penny. I wore this combo for 3 days straight, which is really unusual for me. That's how you can tell how much I loved it. What do you think? 

Flormar U13

Hello my lovelies! I hope your week is not too busy and stressful. I have a quick post for you today. I never do Pink Wednesday on the blog just because I don't even need all my fingers to count the pinks in my collection. But this time I had one to show you and I decided to do it on a Wednesday too. So here goes! 

Flormar U13 indoors, artificial light

U13 is one of the amazing Miracle Colors polishes from Flormar and it's a very sparkly fuchsia glass fleck. The base is sort of a raspberry pink but the fact that it's packed with tiny fuchsia shimmer makes it look very girly and glitzy. If you don't get how much sparkle this one has, check out the sun pictures below. 

Flormar U13 in the sun

This is a very unusual color for me to wear but I really liked it in the end. It made me feel very girly and it was fun at the same time. 

Flormar U13 in the sun

This polish is on the sheer side so I had to do 3 coats to make it opaque. Even with 3 coats, there was still a bit of visible nail line, but it wasn't too obvious. As usual with Flormar polishes, it went on like butter and dried very fast. I only wore it for one day before removing it, but from my experience the polishes from this brand are very durable on the nails. 

Flormar U13 indoors, artificial direct light

All in all, I'm glad I have this in my collection even though it's not something I wear often. There are times when I feel like doing a girly manicure and this polish is perfect for that. 

Monday Blues: Sally Hansen Gray by Gray and Color Club Sexy Siren

Hello lovelies! I'm not even gonna mention that "M" word again. I have no idea where this weekend went. It was like 5 minutes for me. But anyway, today I have not one but two polishes to show you. Let's get started with the first one. 

Sally Hansen Gray by Gray indoors, artificial direct light

My story with this polish is long and I won't bore you with all the details. It was a lemming of mine because it is remotely similar to MAC Blue India, a polish that I missed and always wanted to have. Of course this one is less blue and more grey. I payed a lot for this in London and then came home with it and swatched it several times before I finally decided to make a post about it. This is, I think, the 3rd time I photograph it. It's impossible to photograph accurately and I never liked how it looks in the light box. It looks more blue in my photos than it actually is. It's a slate grey creme with a touch of blue in it, but definitely more on the grey side. 

Sally Hansen Gray by Gray indoors, artificial direct light

Since this is one of the Complete Salon shades, it's supposed to have a 5in1 formula: base coat, strengthener, growth treatment, color and top coat. Now, I tried to apply this without top coat and it didn't look good at all. It has a great creamy formula and goes on smoothly, but it does show some streaks. It could partially be because of the brush, which is wide and on my bottle was uneven and had a hair sticking out of it. I had to cut that hair with scissors to fix the brush a bit and it still was bad. Pigmentation is good, but 2 coats are still needed. It does dry shiny and fast, so you theoretically don't need any top coat, but there are visible streaks that don't even out. The pictures above are without any top coat and you can see some streaks if you look closely. I won't even comment on the strengthener and growth formula parts, because I have no idea if it does that. All in all, I'm not very impressed with this polish. I did some glitter tips with a Color Club polish to make it more interesting. 

Sally Hansen Gray by Gray with Color Club Sexy Siren indoors, artificial light

Sexy Siren is one of the older Color Club glitters. It comes from the 2008 fall collection named Glitter Vixen.  What we have here is a clear base with tiny round turquoise glitter. The color is a tad more green than my pictures show, but not by much. The glitter is not very dense in this one and the application is not very easy. I'm not sure how many coats it would take to make it opaque. I did sort of a glitter gradient here and the very tips of my nails have about 3 coats. You can see that it's not that opaque in that area either. 

Sally Hansen Gray by Gray with Color Club Sexy Siren indoors, artificial direct light

All I can tell you is that this definitely looked better in real life than in my pictures. The glitter in Sexy Siren has a bit of a holo flash in direct light, but it was impossible to capture on camera. If you've enjoyed today's blues (or if you didn't), stop by these ladies to see more: 

Marisa from Polish Obsession

Joanna from The Treasure Chest
Mandy from Chameleon Stampede

Have a great week!

China Glaze Lemon Fizz

Hello my lovelies and happy Sunday! I'm having a busy weekend but I still wanted to get a post up for you on this beautiful day. I haven't done a China Glaze swatch post in a while and it's a shame because after all, it is my favorite brand. It's just that I pretty much showed you everything of theirs that I have in my collection. But there was one that didn't make an appearance on the blog yet and it's a shame, because this polish always cheers me up. 

China Glaze Lemon Fizz indoors, artificial light

Lemon Fizz was part of the Up&Away collection for spring 2010, which is my favorite collection from them. I'm not sure where you can find these, but they are still available online (I just ordered Four Leaf Clover yesterday). It's a beautiful light yellow creme, a bit on the pastel side, but definitely not chalky. I don't have many yellow polishes in my collection because it's such an unusual color and because it usually applies horribly, but sometimes I do get the urge to put some yellow on my nails. This one looks great with my skin tone and it's not that bright, so it can definitely be worn in the cold season too. 

China Glaze Lemon Fizz indoors, artificial light

 As usual with yellow polishes, this is pretty hard to apply. It needs 3 coats to look decent, but I would say that's not so bad for a yellow polish. The first 2 coats go on very uneven and streaky and the 3rd coat is better, but there is still unevenness. Top coat helps smooth everything out but not entirely. There were still some streaks on the nail, but they are not visible in the pictures. 

China Glaze Lemon Fizz indoors, artificial direct light

I can't say I've worn this polish a lot in the almost 2 years since I got it, but it's nice to have and take out every once in a while. It is definitely one of the better yellows out there. I've also layered some fun glitter on top of this but that one deserves its own post, so I will show it to you next week. Stay tuned! 

Where In The World Challenge: Hungary

Hello lovelies! It's Saturday again and that means it's time for another country challenge! I'm gonna be short today because it's really late as I'm writing this so that it can be up in the morning. Today we are traveling to Hungary, a country that is very very close to where I live. Not only do we border it but I'm pretty close to the border and there are a lot of Hungarians living here too. Here's what I came up with. 

I had quite a bit of trouble coming up with something for this country. In the end I was inspired by the famous spicy food and by the passionate people of this country. I also had this great image and when I was desperately browsing through my plates looking for inspiration I saw it and knew what I had to do. 

This was very simple to create. I used Essie Orange, It's Obvious! as a base color and then stamped using Rimmel Stand to Attention and plate CH52 from the second Cheeky set. This is very subtle but I thought it looked cool after I put some top coat over the whole design. Of course it was a nightmare to photograph. In the end I managed to snag a few good photos.

I won't lie to you and will tell you that I'm glad I'm finally done with this one. The ones that are next are a lot easier. To see what the other ladies have done for the Hungary challenge, check the links below. 

Beauty Blogazons Weekly Roundup 1/18/2013

• Chickettes.com: Add some glitz and glam your nails for a night out on the town with the Gelish Sizzling Summer Nights collection!
• Beauty Fiends: Curious about mineral foundation? Julia at Beauty Fiends has been testing Ferro Cosmetic's Ultimate Mineral Foundation. Find out what she thinks!
• Emily Hudspeth, hair design and makeup artist: My YouTube channel got a facelift! Now you can find your favorite tutorials and product reviews organized into playlists. Enjoy!
• Adore A Polish: Kristina shares her favorite nail polish picks from 2012.
• Lola's Secret Beauty Blog: Looking for a whole new customizable Beauty Box experience? Then take a look at Wantable!
• Polarbelle: Want to know how to really plump your lips? I'd like to suggest EnvyDerm lip plumping gloss.
• TheFabZilla: TheFabZilla starts a new series- Lips Showcase. What is it? Hop over to her bloggity blog.
• Vicerimus: Like the Suede finish, but not feeling like wearing it as a full mani? Do Suede accent nails!
• Ishah x Beauty: Looking for a YSL Glossy Stain dupe? Check out L'Oreal Colour Caresse Shine Stain!
• Samarium's Swatches: Sarah shows off her LE collaboration piCture pOlish shade Atomic!
• The Beauty Think Tank: Revlon has debuted the new Photoready BB Cream - but the question on everyone's mind... is it obnoxiously shimmery?
• Lacquer Buzz: This week Lacquer Buzz ventures into makeup territory to show you this awesome movie inspired palette by NYX.
• Makeup Demon: Fresh blue and green makeup + photoshoot. Waiting for the Spring...
• Pinked Polish: Holy Holo Stamping Batman!!!!! Stamping with the beautiful Halo-graphic. :)
• Très Beau Glamour: Nay Denise has gotten her hands on the BH Cosmetics Day & Night Palette and used it to create an amazing Turquoise & Purple look. Check out the tutorial she created!
• Beauty by Arielle: Dior 5 Couleurs in Smoky Design Swatchfest & Review.
• Beauty Professor: Completely obsessed with all things Tom Ford, the Beauty Professor swatches the entire shade spectrum of his Traceless Foundation Stick!
• The Passenger Element: new year's giveaway.
• Never Gonna Give You Up: Kara swatches and reviews Daily Lacquer's I'll Fly Away.
• Midnight Manicures: Check out Jeanie's review of the Parnevu Tea Tree Shampoo & Conditioner and Hair Mayonaise. Enter the giveaway for the same 3 products.
• Love At First Site!: Beauty Elixir by Caudalie. A review. I decided that is was high time that I shared with you my views on the Beauty Elixir of Caudalie, which is said to have been inspired by the elixir of youth that Queen Isabelle of Hungary used!
• Mama Fashionista: Julep is already a star when it comes to polish, but can they "nail" mascara as well? Find out the verdict in Mama Fashionista's latest review!
• datyorkLOVES: HTF Ellen Tracy Gun Metal Gray Nail Polish *Photo Heavy Post.
• Spontaneous Chick: If you like hair products made with argan oil then check out 8 DermOrganic reviews by Spontaneous Chick.
• Lisa's Nail Obsession: What inspires your creativity?
• Beyond Beauty Lounge: Bulletproof Cream Eyeshadows from Mally Beauty.
• Rachel's Makeup and Skincare: Rachel finally invests in some Bite lip products, what's the verdict?
• The Beauty Delicacy: Quick Pink + Gold Tribal Nails.
• The Convenient Beauty: Dress up your lips with this opulent Tom Ford Black Orchid lipstick.
• Amber Did It!: Amber takes you over the rainbow with a colorful saran wrap mani.

My first successful water marble

Hello my lovelies! I'm so excited for today's post! I've been trying to master this technique for a while now and this is the first time I can actually show you the result. It's by no means perfect and there is no real pattern, so every nail is different, but I'm still happy with this mani. Here it is! 

For this water marble I used only Flormar polishes: two blues (423 and 438) and a green (437). Of course I used a white base underneath to make this opaque. I chose these polishes because I didn't want to waste any of my more expensive and hard to find polishes for this. But I'm happy to say that these spread nicely in the water and are pretty opaque. 

The first time I tried to marble with these colors was last weekend. But I kept getting these bubbles in the polish that wouldn't go away. I was so frustrated that I gave up. I then asked the lovelies on Instagram if they knew what that was. Turns out I was pulling my finger too fast out of the water. I also watched some videos from My Simple Little Pleasures on Youtube and found out that you have to pull your finger at a straight angle from the water. Seriously, head out to her channel and watch her videos because this lady is the queen of water marbling! I followed her tutorials and everything went great. No more weird bubbles in my polish! 

So now that I've nailed the basic technique, I need to learn how to create some patterns so that my nails look more similar and not that random. You can see that none of my nails has the same design as the other ones. Here's a photo of my left hand. This one looks even more different than my right one. 

I'm so happy that I finally got this right. This is the ultimate proof that you should never give up when trying something. Even if it's difficult in the beginning and you keep failing, you should try again. You will see that it will get easier eventually and once you get it right you will feel great satisfaction.