Kiko 300 and 347 with a comparison

 Wow, lately I'm bursting with imagination when it comes to titles, aren't I? Well, right now I'm effing starving, so my thoughts are pretty much all about that very unhealthy pizza I'm about to have. ;) I want to show you another two Kikos I have. 300 beat 299 and is now my number 1 Kiko polish, 347 was number two for the longest time, now it's number 4, but it's still utterly gorgeous! I also did a comparison between Kiko 347 and Orly Enchanted Forest ages ago, so I'm finally showing it to you.

First Kiko 300. Oh dear Lord of the Rings. I never thought I'd seen more gorgeous Kiko than 299, but they did it. It's one of those shades that make you stare at your nails, thinking: 'how the hell can this polish look so awesome?!'. At least I have these moments with polish that sweeps me off my feet. ;) 

Naturally this gorgeousness doesn't photograph well at all. It looks too blue on my photos, so does on just about every photo I found online of it. So I actually went through the scales of colours I found online and the closest I got to the actual colour is a colour called 'teal blue'. And it is, in fact. Add a few drops of green in the colour, but be careful enough to still keep it strongly on the blue side of the teal. Do I make sense? It pisses me off when I can't present a colour so beautiful accurately. You can at least very accurately enjoy in the tiny shimmer/micro glitter/glass flecks this little beauty has. It creates an insanely deep colour. Gorgeous. It took three coats for full opacity, excellent formula and brush. Kiko 300 was in fact a gorgeous NY gift from a good friend of mine, all the way from Spain. Thank you, darling, I love it! :*

Next Kiko 347. A deep green creme, but still green in every light. Right up my alley. 

Great formula on this one too, it's a two coater, the brush is again fantastic. I love these deep green cremes, although I'm more in a brighter green phase now for a while. And teal phase. Loads of teal. Anyway. Still a great one! 

When I got Kiko 347 I still  had Tevta's Helmer at home, and it looked awfully close to her Orly Enchanted Forest, so I did a fast comparison back then. It's so old I'm still using my very thick Seche Vite, hence the bubbles on my middle finger and the shrinkage on Orly. *sigh*

Both need two coats for full opacity, both have great formula and great brush, although I prefer Kikos. If you look really hard you'll notice Kiko has a tiny bit more blue in the colour, in softer light or if you won't check out your nails very carefully, the difference won't be noticeable. So I'm skipping Enchanted Forest, one less on the WL! :)

Thoughts on these two? Are the greens close enough for ya?

Thank you for reading!

NOTD: Blair on Sea Spray

Hello my dear people! How are you doing? My posting frequency is getting shameful again, isn't it? You know my list of excuses and they are all still very true and real. So I won't bother you with them again, I'd prefer to show you my NOTD, once for a change. I like the combination. When I did the mani I felt it looked awfully familiar, so I thought I must have seen it on a blog somewhere. But I haven't found anything on blogsphere, which surprised me a lot, until I remembered I did a nail polish ring (or rather cabochon only) with this combination! So maybe that's the reason it looks familiar. And lovely, it feels ... soft and springy with a bit of glitter thrown in there. 

Two coats of China Glaze Sea Spray, from last year's Anchors Away collection, one coat of Essence Blair (from twin set Blair & Chuck). Very simple mani, but I love how it turned out. Today I mattefied it, because I like how this kind of glitter looks like mattefied:

Surprisingly there isn't a lot of change, only the silver glitter pops out more, and Sea Spray looks awesome matte. :) I remember someone commenting on my Blair & Chuck post that she likes Blair in just about every combination more than with Chuck. I see what she meant. I like it TONS better on Sea Spray.

What's on your nails today?

Thank you for reading!

The Polished Perfectionist mani

Hello people! How are ya? Hope all is well! It was a sunny day here in Ljubljana and so I didn't mind my pile of work so much. I miss sunny days, they make me feel so much better right away!

Today I have another inspired mani for you. As I read Bergje's blog I realised I might have, accidentally, copied her idea a bit. Hope you don't mind, dear! She has a 'blogger inspired mani' section, that I think is really great. I, on the other hand, won't do inspired mani but rather reproduce the mani i loved on another blog. I did so with Nightly Nails and I realised this is a great way to finally do all the manicures I absolutely loved on other blogs. You know the situation, you go through your favourite blogs and you're literally drooling over all the amazing manicures you see, thinking 'I totally need to do that ASAP' ... and then you don't. You just don't. At least I don't. Now I have this little project, that will, hopefully also teach me new techniques of nail art. I'm marking all the manis I'd like to try out and then I do. Sometimes I fail, sometimes I don't. But it's fun! And challenging!

Now. I don't really need to say 'you probably know The Polish Perfectionist', do I? We all wish we had AmyGrace's nails and steady hand. :) You know you really love a blog when you're having coffee with a friend and you mention a blog. The friend replies 'oh yes, she did that amazing mani that was inspired by a cup, white and blue'. And you correct her, instantly seeing the mani in your head, 'no, that's Amy Grace, the Polish Perfectionist'. And the friend knows who are you talking about. She's just that good. 

 So ... yeah, what the hell am I then doing, trying to reproduce one of her manis, right? I went with one, that I fell in love with ages ago, but still remembered it, being so insanely awesome. Plus! My first sponging! Holy cow! So it's not perfect, not at all. But I did it! Yay!! Her manicure was Sparkly Fruity Forest. Although I have the Enchanted Forest dupe at home, I really felt like wearing Zoya Shawn, so I took that one as my base colour, and I didn't have the lemon fimo, so I skipped it, I'm not really a fan of fimo, although I really love it on this mani. 

So, I used Zoya Shawn and then sponged with China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Zoya Ivanka, just like AmyGrace did. I think I need a better sponge and some more practise, but I already seriously loved the result.

Yay, my first sponging! And I really love how it looks and how simple it actually is, so hopefully I'll make a habit out of it. :) 

What do you think? Do you ever copy an idea from another blogger or not, even if you like it? 

Thank you for reading!

Deborah Milano Pret A Porter gorgeousness in It's Evergreen and Stardust

Good evening everyone! How are you doing? I'm tired as hell, but really feel like posting. These are long effing days for me, people. Loads of work, loads of stress, add a few douchebags into the mix and you can get the general situation. Maybe that's why I want to post this, blog is always such a nice stress relief. Plus, I really really really wanted to show you It's Evergreen since the moment I wore it. ATM it's not on my nails anymore, but it's one of the biggest crushes I had lately from my untrieds end of the table. It's been sitting there for months, since we've gotten Pret A Porter in Ljubljana. Lame, I know. I noticed then in my Deborah Milano folder the gorgeous Stardust is still waiting to be published, so I'm posting them together. 

First Deborah Milano Pret A Porter It's Evergreen. *dreamy sigh* Isn't this utterly gorgeous? Such a perfection of a green. Bright green, with golden shimmer. I love it so much. Also, the formula is fantastic, the brush is great and it needs only two coats for full opacity. This baby was a really nice surprise.

And Deborah Milano Pret A Porter Stardust. You probably noticed already that I have a thing for foil finish. I just love it. And this baby called for me right from the bin where it was hiding. I love how Ice Queen this feels. Something the evil Queen of Narnia would wear. And it's also so insanely bright. It needs three coats for full opacity, the formula is again wonderful, so is the brush. I love their brush, it's a bit wider. 

So yeah. Two great discoveries from Deborah Milano Pret A Porter series. We were told it's a LE when they came to our stores but I quickly realised it's not an essence type of LE, the shelves/bins were actually refilled and we can still find a lot of shades in Ljubljana. And I always love to find really awesome colours in my local drugstore. These two and Celestial Sky are really a must. 

Which shades form Pret A Porter do you have and like?

Thank you for reading!

Comparison: A England vs. Depend vs. GOSH

Hello everyone! How have you been? I'm back on my study time. Did I ever mention how much I dislike that? Not just because I can't blog as often, but my far the most because my spare time gets incredibly limited, which means less time with my friends and boyfriend. It sucks. So I've gotten myself 3 more MAC eyeshadows and a Venomous Villains lip gloss with Cruella de Vill, as comfort make up. Does that count? It has less calories than comfort food. Sucks big on the wallet though, even if it was a total bargain. ;) 

 

I owe you this comparison post. I love bright blues and I love glass fleck, so you can imagine I have a few. I compared A England Order of the Garter with GOSH Blue Monday and Depend 252, they felt the closest to A England. I also have Moyra 89, which is much much darker, and Revlon Mint Fizz, which is closer to the base colour of Blue Monday but has much larger particles. So i didn't include them.

Photos taken in the grey light of Ljubljana, like A England pictures were. But I went out on snow without jacket for ya, so snow helped a bit. ;)

 Enlarge this one, it's pretty good.

The photos are left fairly large, so you can see the details better. All of them need three coats for full opacity, Depend too, I don't know what happened on the edges of my nail, it looked fine IRL. GOSH would need a fourth one for my taste though. Which is funny, I remember when wearing it as a full mani three were more than enough ... go figure.

Anyway. Not dupes, of course, very obviously not. Depend 252 is the brightest, GOSH Blue Monday the tealest and A England Order of the Garter the truest blue. The particles differ too, you can see that best on the first picture.

Formula wise A England has no faults, the same goes for Depend. Fantastic formula on both of them, very easy application. GOSH however went a bit diva on me. For some odd reason it gathers on the edges, making my nails look thick. This happened every time with full mani too and I really hate that effect. Plus it would need the fourth coat. It also dries the slowest. Still, i love the colour. I love all three colours, actually. Very good varnishes, I do suggest you get them. :)

Which one is your favourite? Do you have any of them, did any of you have the same problem with Blue Monday?

Thank you for reading!

A England - Order of the Garter

Evening everyone! How are you doing? It's a lazy Sunday here. I baked something though. I think I'm addicted to cinnamon. That's also why I'm posting this later than planned. I also watched the news, Whitney Houston passing away was quite a shock. I swear, just last week I was dancing to I wanna dance with somebody playing in my head. Whether you like her style of music or not, she was one of the best voices out there. Oh, my favourite song (and probably the one of the three or four I really like by her) is I learned from the best. I remember being in my teens when I heard it first and liking the lyrics, not being all 'I'm gonna die because you left me', hehe. Plus her voice is incredible, of course.

I put A England Order of the Garter on yesterday, to match my teal make up. A friend of mine did photos of it, combining with the teal cocktail I was drinking, hehe. Order of the Garter isn't a teal, though, it's a true bright blue. And you know what? You know what??!? It's a glass flecked bright blue! GLASS FLECKS! YES! Naturally the photos from my lightbox make it look to bright, so I tried to do some decent photos today in a very grey light of Ljubljana and failed miserably. Photos are the way they are, I might redo them in the Summer. 

I don't need to talk much about this one, do I? The A England The Legend collection is everywhere and everyone seems to want them. Myself included, thank you very much! Order of the Garter is amazing. Vibrant blue that I adore and to top that, a glass fleck, being my favourite finish, or one of them at least. Awesome. It took me three coats for full opacity, I'm guessing two will do for a lot of people, I'm just annoying like that. :) But glassflecks are usually on the sheer side, so it wasn't much of a surprise for me.

What I was curious about was the formula,  because I haven't ever heard anything bad about A England's formula and it's my first. The formula is superb. Seriously. It's incredibly easy to work with. All in all an amazing polish. Even has a little tiny hue of purple, but my camera naturally didn't catch that. Thank you so much for this gem, Stefanie! 

So, now I ask you, what's you experience with A England and what's on your WL from The Legend? You know me. St. George, Dragon. Seriously, now, it's pass the 'i want' and already in the 'i need' sector. ;)

Oh, I prepared a comparison with Order of the Garter for ya too! 

Thank you for reading!

11 questions tag

Hey people! So, Zebra-nails (hehe, love the name!) tagged me with 11 questions. I get tagged quite often, but usually I already received the awards numerous times. This one is my first and it looked like fun! If I ever forget any award you tagged me with, forgive me, please, I get lost in my swamp of emails, plans for posts and other stuff really fast. Let's do this!

Here are the rules:
Each person must post 11 things about themselves on their blog.
Answer the questions the tagger set for you in their post and create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
You have to choose 11 people to tag and link them on the post.
Go to their page and tell them you have linked him or her.
No tag backs.
No stuff in the tagging section about 'you are tagged if you are reading this'. You legitimately have to tag 11 people.

11 things about me:

1. I'm seriously not a morning person. My best hour to get up is around 11 or 12. But anything earlier than 8 a.m. turns me into a grumpy monster you should avoid until it gets its morning coffee.

2. I'm on a serious bright eye make up kick. The brighter the better!

3. There is a giant closet full of books in my room and my secret dream is I'll once have a giant room full of them in my house.

4. I love cinnamon and marzipan.

5. If I'll ever have enough money I'd love to visit all countries in Europe.

6. I think I'm awfully unphotogenic, that's why I hate taking pictures of myself.

7. I love warm wind.

8. If there would be a way to meet beings what (officially) don't exist, my top 2 beings would be a dragon and an ent.

9. ATM I can't sleep. I'm typing this away at 1.30 a.m. Which is kind of a normal hour to be awake for me anyway.

10.I really want a Sheldon T-shirt. With 'Bazinga' written on it. Or the rock-paper-scissors-lizard-Spock sign.

11. I have a few words, that I really love just because of how they sound, regardless of their meaning.

Here are Zebra's questions for me:

1. What is your favourite basecoat and topcoat?

ATM my favourite basecoat is Essence Nail Art Protecting Basecoat. Very good at preventing staining! Topcoat: Revlon Quick Dry, it's really awesome.

2. What is your all-time favourite nail polish?

Just one? That's impossible, I said it before, I'm saying it again. It's hard for me to even say a few favourites, so here are few that came to mind: H&M Blue My Mind, Brucci Blue Sapphire, Illamasqua Rampage, China Glaze It's Alive, China Glaze Watermelon Rind, Zoya Gemma, BB Couture Widow Maker, China Glaze Haunting, Nubar Forest, Zoya Dree, Nubar Greener, Essie School of Hard Rocks, Essence Blue Addicted, Jordana Wicked, Misa Quirky Smile, Misa Phazers on Stunning, OPI Jade is the new Black, Orly Nite Owl ... sheesh, I think that's enough, and I still left out quite a few.

3. What nail polish was your biggest disappointment?

Probably Nubar Indigo Illusion, because I craved it for so long, and when I got it on my nails I didn't like it at all.

4. How many nail polishes do you own?

ATM 292. I'm trying to keep it under 300. Lol, I wonder what the limit will be next year ...

5. How many of them are still "untrieds"?

ATM 71. I'm trying so badly to clear them, it has become like a major project, which sometimes actually keeps me from wearing one polish more often. Weirdo.

6. Do you have backups?

Only of one polish, Catrice Back to Black.

7. How many?

One. :) And even that's just because it's the coolest black I can do million things with and discontinued.

8. What is your favourite nail polish colour?

Green.

9. What is your favourite nail polish finish?

Hmmm ... probably glass flecked finish, but I also love creme and duochrome.

10. What was your first nail polish ever? (if you remember)

I think it was ArtDeco, a deep wine red colour. 120 or a similar number. It's still somewhere in the house, I think, my mum uses or used it.

11. What nail polish is on the top of your wishlist?

Right now? A England Staint George and Dragon. I. Effing. Need. Them.

My questions to you:

1. What is the one song that was that bad you regret ever hearing in your life?

2. Are you a Smurf fan?

3. If you had only one chance to enter your house/apartment and all your other precious things would be already saved, which make up items would you grab?

4. Do you have any discontinued nail polish you're keeping as a secret treasure?

5. How many untrieds do you have in your nail polish stash? (I like this one, so I'm using it too, tnx Zebra!)

6. What's your favourite sweet?

7. Do you prefer tea or coffee?

8. What colour prevails in your nail polish stash?

9. Is that colour still your favourite colour to wear?

10. What made you start a blog in the first place and did you change the main topic of it any time from the start until now (you know, from make up to food etc.)?

11. Is there any colour or finish of nail polish you always firmly say no to and can't imagine wearing it ever?

The 11 people/blogs I tagged:

1. Vettelicious

2. Nail Crazy

3. Nihrida

4. My Lucid Bubble

5. Love, Varnish, Chocolate and more ... 

6. Fingers Polish Mania

7. Biberlee

8. Danny

9. Ivana

10. Nails For Fun ...

11. An Amateur's Nail Obsession

Phew! Lot's of work in one tag, my questions are very random for a reason, I just couldn't think of any other. Of course tagging is completely optional, if you feel like doing it, go ahead, i'd love to read your answers! If not, it's totally cool too. :) 

This is a scheduled post, so I'm not going to spread the word to tagged bloggers just yet. So if you read this before I bug you about it, consider yourself tagged! :) 

Thank you for reading! 

BB Couture hot things Widow Maker and Playboy

Hello people! How are you doing? It's sunny outside! Yay! Still cold cold cold, but sunny. I was sitting next to our porch doors, sunbathing like a cat for hours. It's national holiday today for us in Slovenia, we're remembering one of our greatest poets today, France Prešeren. If you like poetry, I really recommend his works, he's fantastic. Plus, there are many translations in many languages of his work, so that shouldn't be a problem.

Today I want to show you one of the colours I've received in my latest package, Widow Maker. As usual, I went first for the colour that seemed weirdest in the bunch. I always do that, even if others are my great lemmings. Widow Maker is incredibly unique and weird in a very good way, so it called for me. When I opened my BB Couture folder I saw many more were yet to be edited and showed. With my little collection of BB Couture in general that felt a little lame. So I'm showing you Playboy too. One of the best teals ever made. They are both from BB Couture polish line made for men, so it seemed like a good idea, showing them together.

While we're on the subject, I want to ask you about your thoughts and opinions on men wearing polish. I thought about it a while ago, and especially when there was the Essie and pink nails on a boy 'scandal' I firmly made up my mind. Men are cool with nail polish. I see no problem with them wearing nail polish, I salute their care for nails and hands in general, because neglected nails are just disgusting, on men or women. If they throw some colour on them too, even better! I think we're generally a very unisex society and I think is about damn time we break the stereotypes around make up too. 

And just in case there are any men who'd like to wear polish, but are afraid of it, out there reading this. Here's one of the hottest man on this planet, wearing sky blue polish. So awesome. :) You can't argue about awesomeness of Johnny Depp, it's a fact, just like gravity.

source: denisedoesjohnny.com

This is all, of course, just my opinion. When I'm asking for yours, I'm completely aware of the fact some might feel differently and I respect that. I respect every opinion, whether it's different, similar, the same, or 50-50 with mine. So don't worry about that, all right? There will be no arguing, only opinion sharing, if you'll be willing, of course. 

Anyway, to the nail polish! 

Here's Widow Maker. What a fantastic, utterly gorgeous grey this is. It has this shimmer, that on sunlight warms the grey, making it a bit taup-ish.It's hard to explain, you'll see what I mean on the pictures. The black glitter is fantastic. It's very subtle on the nails, you have to look for it, but when I find it, i go 'wiiii'. :)

See what I mean? On the sunlight it gets this steel look, or how should I describe it ... it's incredible colour, a complete surprise for me, really. I didn't even know it existed until I unwrapped the bottle. What a hidden gem! This isn't a part of a named collection, as far as I know, it's from the very first set of BB Couture nail polish for men (together with the ever so perfect Grenade). I did 3 coats, for the picture's sake, two would be enough, with a bald spot here and here, that only macro shot would catch.

The second one is Playboy. A gorgeous, gorgeous teal with shimmery glass-flecked finish I adore so much. I got this from the wonderful Kim on her Thoughts of Beauty blog. There was this competition called Tell us a story, and the winner would get a bottle of Playboy! To my great surprise I was the only one who entered with a relatively boring story. I never thought I'd win it, I just wanted to be a part of it, since I thought it's a wonderful idea. And so I won. I'm not complaining, mind you. This teal is gorgeous.

Isn't this amazing? Teal/peacock (as some call it) with teal, purple and silver glassflecked/micro glitter or whatever you wanna call it. My pictures sadly don't do it justice at all, I failed to capture the amazing shimmer it has. It's a part of BB Couture Eye Candy Collection for Spring/Summer (not sure) 2011. For men part, of course. On my WL from that part also Sexy Centerfold and Rustic Romance. But Playboy is the gem of this collection. Two easy coats.

The formula on both of them was amazing. As usual. BB Couture has a flawless formula, I never had any troubles with the application. I was expecting Widow Maker to be brush stroky, but it wasn't so that's great. All in all perfect polishes, really, I'm really happy I got them.

Any thoughts on men wearing polish, Widow Maker and Playboy? Do share. :) 

Thank you for reading!

Vettelicious - Teal Rex

Heya people! How have you been? It's been a couple of days, I know. It's been hell around here and it's not finished yet. But I felt like writing this one, it's been on my list for ages. 

This is one of my most cherished polishes I have. I got it in my swap with the lovely Vetten from Vettelicious blog, it's her teal franken and it was the nicest surprise ever when I unwrapped my own bottle of it. I saw it on her blog, obviously, and that post left me with my jaw on the floor. The bottle design and the colour were just perfect. Perfect, I tell you! This teal still remains my favourite teal, after I've worn it on my nails for days, I can only confirm what I said when seeing the pictures. It's a teal with strong green undertones and with the type of shimmer I adore ... hard do miss why I love it so much.

This is the best colour accuracy I could get, I feel it's sometimes a bit too green, but the rest of the photos kept going totally blue on me. This is basically how it looks like, but you should see it live to see just how incredibly awesome this colour is. Also, the formula on Teal Rex is perfect. I could almost do with only one coat, I did two for full opacity. The brush on the bottle was great too, so yay for that!

Vetten, thank you so much for Teal Rex! It's beautiful. :)

What's your favourite franken or teal? :)

Thank you for reading!

Paket Petek

Heya people! Another Friday, another package! Ah, but this one is even more special than usual. I'm always extremely happy to receive any kind of packages, you know, in general, they're just super fun, and with having an awesome swap buddy every package is a total win. That is why I started with this particular label. To praise the packages! :)

Today's particular little gem of a package came yesterday. And it was completely unexpected and I can't get over the awesomeness of it. Remember when I was utterly surprised by dear Stefanie with a bottle of BB Couture Clyde? I keep it in my display picture too. Well, guess what. A couple of days ago I received another email from her. I don't think I could be more surprised about it. It was also a surprise package, so I could hardly wait to get it and when it arrived in a cute box, I could not open it fast enough. What was inside left me speechless. The totally great Rembrandt card with the cutest message that made me smile and ... these:

I couldn't believe it. Honestly. I mean, look at them. Before I forget, L to R: Kiko Frozen LE 06, BB Couture Horned Devil and Widow Maker, A England Order of the Garter, Cult Nails Power Thief and Nubar Gem. And now I'll go faint. 

I could go on and on about this. Two of my great lemmings, my first A England (and what a pick, this blue and the teal and the green holo are the ones I want the most from the new collection, the blue is SO electric and bright!), my first Cult (that looks like a darker Orly Nite Owl with not only silver but green and pink shimmer, FTW!!) ... Kiko looks like it's going to kill my Zoya Raven lemming and Widow maker makes me stare at the bottle for a few moments with its black glitter.
No words for how awesome this package is. Nor for how touched and honoured I am that Stefanie remembered me once more with this wonderful gift. Thank you so much, darling. It was the nicest surprise, I just can't get over it. I'll stop typing right here, because I can't think of words cool enough to express my gratitude or happiness. In short, Stefanie, you rock!

And now to pick the first one to wear! I'm thinking bright orange or bright blue. They are BRIGHT! 

What was in your latest package? :)

Thank you for reading!

H&M - Envy Me

Good evening from incredibly cold Ljubljana! Holy cow, the wind is running around, beating people up, I always come to college with tears running down my face, it's impossible to keep your eyes open without crying. I liked the mild winter we had. The lady started to show her claws now. And I forgot my gloves today at home. Can I get a high five? On the head? With a hammer?

I want to show you an older one today. You know, back when my nails were superlong still. I'm really pampering them now, with all the cold and everything, and I think (hope) they're getting better a bit. Anyway, this polish is from my swap with lovely Vettelicious, and I adored it so freakishly much. It's deep green shimmer, what did you expect? 

Two coats, although it's pigmented enough to be a one coater. I couldn't do it in one coat because the handle is just unbelievably wonky, I have the hardest time, polishing my nails with this giant square in my hands. Oh well. The colour is well worth it. It's such a rich shimmer, yummy! Hope H&M comes out with more shades like this! And brings them to Slovenia too! :P I'm not too happy about the pictures here, only these three were good enough to post, all others were blurry. :S Go figure. And even here there is too much reflection ... sorry about that.

What do you think? 

Thank you for reading!