New In ~ A Haul Post

Hello everybody! How are you doing? I am just about to go for my jogging hour and then to my studying. As it happens, I got the job I was hoping to get and I start tomorrow, I am quite excited about that. I'm moving to my own place, similar to what I had in Bratislava, with entirely new schedule for me. We'll see how it goes. :)

I planned to do this post yesterday, but we went out and I ran out of time. It is essentially May haul post. And I kind of bought a lot this month. 

Maybe a lot is a strong expression ... certainly more than in previous few months. :) The pictures are an adventure, because my camera went crazy, I hope it is not too annoying. I think I really need to toss it at this point, but I dislike the pictures my cell phone makes, so I am trying to make it work ..

Nail stuff first! Afrodita Oliva nail polish remover is the only nail polish remover with acetone I can use and it is my favourite nail polish remover ever, together with its acetoneless sister called Aroma. I finally used up Sally Hansen remover I bought in Blava, where you can't get Afrodita and the change in quality is amazing. I love Afrodita, if you have the chance, try it! :)

China Glaze Splish Splash nail polish I bought on a whim from a girl, because I really liked it on swatches and it was on my WL since the collection came out. I am wearing it ATM and it feels very very similar to Zoya Tallulah. Comparison will follow. 

And Born Pretty Store water decals, three of them, you already saw Pandas, and I have two more to show you. Fun stuff, I love water decals!

Stuff for skin and face! :) A little package of testers I got from Sabex, our distributor of Bioderma brand. You can go online and give your information and they send you testers every once in a while. That is where I got my tester of their BB Sensibio cream and now I got a perfect package for my mixed skin, Sebium Global creme is already on my WL, I think it will be great for me, as my skin condition worsened in the past year. 

Illamasqua blusher Allure. Oh dear Lord of the Rings. One word comes to mind whenever I think of this blusher: pigmentation!! It is hands down the best blusher I have ever used. You need to touch it with your brush really really lightly and then tap it on your hand and then put it on your face, otherwise it will be too much. Amazing blush. And I LOVE the colour. Gorgeous little thing. I need to get more Illamasqua in my life. It was a bargain, I got is as exchange on mojbutik, but I honestly think it is worth whatever money they are demanding for it.

Oriflame double sided brush I got as exchange on mojbutik and it is a good brush, albeit a bit hard to store. But it is good for applying eyeshadow.

Etude Proof 10 Eye Primer is an eyeshadow base that I was planning to order for a loooong time. Ever since I saw the review on mejkap.si so yeah, long time. I still haven't tried it, as my ArtDeco one is still acting nicely, but I can't wait to put it to the test! You can see on the first picture a bunch of testers I got with it.

And something for hair and body. :) Le Petit Marseillais brand got on my radar when a good friend of mine brought me a couple of their products all the way from France and I loved them. Later on I noticed our Leclerc has some of their lines and I tried them again and loved them. So it was great news for me when I saw they are coming to Slovenia for real, with most of their lines and Leclerc had this huge sale on them a couple of weeks ago. So I got their Shea butter and honey hair conditioner and their Shea butter, almond and Argan oil body lotion. They smell divine, especially body lotion and they are great (I prefer the white, almond hair conditioner though). 

Balea Warmwachs I got again after reading amazing review on mejkap.si, and I already tried it on my legs and loved the result. It is good stuff. It is on sale right now since they are discontinuing it (figures!) so I already bought another package.

As always, if you want any specific reviews of any of the products in this post, just let me know in the comments. :)

What did you purchase for yourself in the last month? :)

Thank you for reading and commenting!

Masked Ceremony with a dash of Champagne

Heya lovelies! How are you doing? I just did a fresh mani and decided I'll show it to ya right away. Do not forget about my giveaway now, 8 days left!

I finally put on Orly Masked Ceremony and decided to throw in China Glaze Champagne Bubbles as an accent nail, because to wear it alone seemed a bit too ... gold. :) 

Orly Masked Ceremony is a part of their Secret Society collection. It looks very promising in the bottle, with silver square and purple round glitter in gunmetal base ... but the glitter basically does not show on the nail. No matter how you try to work the handle and brush. The two silver squares you see on the pictures are the only ones I managed to get on my nails, plus another one on my right thumb. Purple glitter is even less visible. Pity. I do like a silvery-blackish polish so I do not mind much the final result, but still. It is the same story that happened with Androgynie, remember that one? On pictures I have three coats.

China Glaze Champagne Bubbles was a part of one of their holiday collection, Let is snow, from 2011, but I got it this year. Surprisingly, wearing it as an accent, I kind of want to wear it as a full mani now too, I like it more than I thought I will. On pictures I have three coats.

Which polish disappointed you the most, comparing how it looks in the bottle and how it then looked on your nails?

Thank you for reading and commenting!

New in January (again) ~ Haul, an USA one

Hello, my dear readers! I am still in (at the moment) freezing Bratislava, with a small piece of USA in my room. :) When I posted my haul post of January about two weeks ago, I thought that was really it for January, I spent a lot of money on the cosmetics and didn't feel like shopping for anything else. How was I supposed to know my flatmate would return from the USA with an entire suitcase of stuff just for me?? Well, ok, not entire suitcase, but, really, I was flabbergasted when she started pulling out all the gifts for me. USA is the paradise for shopping, seriously. Even as I browsed through her cosmetics, all from Lancome to Shisheido and asked her about the prices, I was shocked, the prices in USA for the high end brands are ... laughable comparing to the European ones. But that you already know, don't you? How about I show you all I've gotten?

Group photo! Everything from nail polish, make up, hair, facial and body cosmetics. Oh, and a cosmetics bag from Estee Lauder. You know why she got the bag? They put the testers in it. Yes. The bag just for the testers. I laughed out loud, really. Here you are lucky if you get testers at all. Or bag for that matter. Even if you do, it is the regular plastic one, that I have no use for. This one is actually great, I need more cosmetic bags.

Nail polish first, right? China Glaze Champagne Bubbles, this one is from 2011 holiday collection, one of my favourites from china glaze, as they gave us Tinsel Town, Glittering Garland AND Twinkle Lights in that collection. Orly mini called Conduit. If you search for swatches, you shan't find Orly one, but SpaRitual one. Did you know Orly and SpaRitual are sister companies? I sure didn't. But Conduit is a GORGEOUS copper gold, I cannot wait to try it! And a set of minis Orly Secret Society. I cannot wait to play with these, they flew under my radar completely, so it will be a complete surprise, trying them. I like Orly, so I do not think I'll be disappointed. 

We proceed with The Body Shop set.

 The set is for brown smokey eyes and it is utterly gorgeous (although the picture below does not do them justice). Plus, I like how I accidentaly took a picture of my Iron Maiden T-shirt in the mirror, so I left it uncropped. :D

I was crazy about The Body Shop a couple of years ago, I wanted everything from them. Then I kinda realised they are not worth the price for me. I mean, their products smell ah-mazing and they are good, but the price tag is too much for me, at least now. Still, I like their shower gels and body butters and I have an eyeshadow that is amazing ... yeah, I would buy more of it, if their price wasn't too much. The Body Shop Sugar Body Scrubs are Karite and Chocolate and they smell divine. The 4-step Smokey Eyes Set looks awesome and the brushes actually look useful, another win! The palette seems like the perfect set for quick brown smokey eyes, I will try them asap.

The Lancome set.

Ok, girls, get this. These are all testers! All of them! And the tubes contain 15 ml of product. Is it just me or we don't get that in EU?? And if we do, can you please tell me where? Ok, I am not going to retype the names of the products, just in short: the silver tubes are a serum for under moisturiser, the purple one is a daily cream with SPF 15 (really happy about that), the pot is an eye creme. The teal bag is Advanced Skin Correction (Visionnaire), also for pores - and if this baby works, I just might sell my kidney for it, or something. The black bag is Youth Activating Concentrate, whatever that means. If you want to know more, please let me know. :)

And the rest, a mixture:

The Blue Spa Shea Cashmere Hand Cream smells utterly divine. Quite strong smell, but I love it. The hands are incredibly soft after applying, it absorbs really fast and just works great on your skin and cuticles. I love it. As I am running low on my hand creme here (was already looking for replacements in drugstores), it is a perfect gift.

Maybelline Baby Lips Dr. Rescue is menthol scented "medicated" lip balm. I love the feeling of menthol on my lips (I liked the Blistex one that everyone around me hated, too) and it is not too strong, plus it feels amazing on the lips.

Aussie 3 minute miracle conditioner, at last! Yay! This one is purple, not white as the ones I saw in DM in Bratislava, I am not sure, if it is different or is it just the package, either way, I am supper happy that I have it! 

I also got Crabtree & Evelyn Lily bath and shower gel, travel sized gorgeously smelling goodie. I love the smell.

I also got a Yankee candle, jogging pants, T-shirt and two bras. At that point I was standing in the middle of the room, speechless, having the first world problem of not being able to hold all my presents and making two rounds of taking them into my room. Yeah. My flatmate seriously rocks (thanks, dear!). I need to go on a shopping spree in the USA! 

Have you tried any of these stuff? Any nail polish you would like to see first?

Thank you for reading and commenting!

Stone and Grape flowers mani ~ a 3D Metalic Sticker review (ocena nalepk za nohte)

Hey my peeps, this one will again be only in Slovene. Still, you can check out my two manis I did for this review. The base colours were Stone Cold and Catherine the Grape, hence my weird title of the post. :)

***

Živjo! Danes se bom posvetila drugemu izdelku iz mojega paketka, ki mi ga je prijazno poslala Mojadrogerija.si, 3D nalepkam za nohte. Skupno fotko vsebine paketa sem vam že pokazala:

In še close-up nalepk in navodil za uporabo:

 

Uporaba nalepk je sila preprosta. Jaz si pomagam s pinceto, tako da ne poškodujem laka ali nalepke same, in jo preprosto odlepim s plastike ter položim na noht kamorkoli želim. Nalepka se potem prilepi na noht, z nadlakom jo še dodatno zaščitiš, da podaljšaš obstojnost. So pa to res 3D nalepke, so reliefne in se bodo čutile na nohtu, tudi z nadlakom. Jaz osebno nisem pretirana ljubiteljica tega, ampak z nalepkami sem na to računala, tako da me ni motilo.

Bolj me je zmotila precej slaba obstojnost nalepk. Na prvi manikuri so nalepke brez vihanja zdržale dva dni, na drugi manikuri pa zgolj en dan, potem se je vse skupaj v treh dneh zelo poslabšalo. Ko se začno vogali vihati, se ljubezen hitro konča, ker slej ko prej odtrgaš del nalepke, pol cvetka. Na nohtu potem ostane samo lepilo od nalepke, kar je mene osebno izredno motilo, videti je, kot da imaš poškodovan lak. Zakaj se začnejo tako hitro vihati, mi ni jasno, saj je nalepka zaščitena z nadlakom in pritrjena na noht z lepilom. Tudi mat manikuro sem zaščitila z mat nadlakom, tako da nisem pustila nalepke nezaščitene (zanimivo, da mi je ravno mat manikura zdržala cel dan dlje kot nemat).

Drugo manikuro (z vijoličnim Catherine the Grape lakom) nosim tudi zdaj, tretji dan. Na sredincu imam še polovico zgornje rožice, na prstancu tri cvetke spodnje rožice (brez zelenih listkov) in en odpadli listek ter vejico, ostalega ni več. Pusti pa lepilo obliko nalepke na nohtu, kar v teoriji zveni lepo, na daleč pa kot da sem se v kaj butnila ko je bil lak še relativno svež.

Na kratko plusi in minusi:

+ enostavna in hitra uporaba nalepk

+ ugodna cena (1,62€ za celo folijo)

+ lep dodatek k preprosti manikuri, prvi dan obeh manikur sem dobila več komplimentov

- slaba obstojnost nalepk (z eno manikuro en dan, z drugo dva brez poškodb nalepk)

- ko nalepka odpade z nohta, pusti za sabo moteče lepilo, ki dodatno kvari izgled manikure

Jaz svoje manikure rada nosim vsaj 4 dneve, tako da me je obstojnost razočarala. Menim pa, da če želite poskusiti nalepke na lastno pest ali imeti cvetlice za kakšno posebno priložnost, da so dovolj ugodne, da se splača, tudi če morda ne bodo zdržale več dni. 

Če vsak dan menjate manikuro, je pa najbrž obstojnost itak irelevantna, en dan so meni v obeh primerih zdržale. :) Sicer pa mojih standardov obstojnosti ne dosežejo, niti jih ne bi priporočila nekomu, ki želi imeti isto manikuro na nohtih več dni.

Ste že poskusile te nalepke? Ste naletele na isto težavo, je to morda običajen problem pri 3D nalepkah?

Hvala za pozornost in komentarje! 

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*Product sent for reviewing purposes, you can read my disclosure here.

24/7 gradient mani

Hello everyone! How are you doing on this fine day? :) Oh, BTW, did you all switch to bloglovin' now that GFC is supposedly gone? I can't really tell the difference, I thought my list of blogs will disappear now, but when I open Blogger it is still there with your latest posts. So I am not sure what is the deal ... anyway, you can follow my blog on bloglovin, naturally, by clicking on the button on the right side, should that be more convenient for you. :) 

Today I have a gradient mani. Since the names of the polish I used are VII and 24k Gold I titled it 24/7 gradient mani. I had this combo in mind for quite a while before I did it. Honestly, I wish the gradient effect would be more ... well, gradient. It looks too much half-half for my taste. Practise makes perfect, right? I do like the colour combo though, even if it is extremely blingalicious. 

I remember not being too sure about the combo while I wore it. Looking at the pictures, I like it, aside from failing a bit with the gradient effect. I used China Glaze VII as base and Petite 24k Gold glitter for gradient. 

Do you like gradient manis? Do you do them often? How do you avoid it looking simply as 50-50 mani?

Thank you for reading and your comments!

Emerald Sparkle meets flakies

Heya guys. I have about 15 minutes before I need to run to my dance class, so I will be short. I want to show you one of the best manis I have worn in the past few months. I layered Nfu Oh 56 over China Glaze Emerald Sparkle. It is a combination I did not wish to make, because I imagined the removal will be an agony, but my BF insisted on it. Yeah, every once in a while he looks at my stash, grabs a bottle or two and says I should wear *that*. With this combo I needed some convincing, but I so did not regret wearing the combination. Emerald Sparkle is easily one of the best greens in my stash, is absolutely stunning. And Nfu Oh 56 is my favourite Nfo Oh flakie I have ... both create such a rich colour. The glitter of Emerald Sparkle gives it depth and the green flakies that shift to blue at some angles, an extra touch to the awesomeness. It really is a gorgeous mani. Oh, and the removal was not messier because of the combination, the standard foil removal did just fine (although admittedly I dislike the foil removal in general ;)).

As always with manis I really love, I do not think the pictures do this one justice, but I tried. And even made a video of it, just so you will see how the sparkles become alive under the flakies.

 

It also has that 'lit within' effect, but my camera failed to capture it. Still, I absolutely adore this. Emerald Sparkle really is not just a Christmas polish, I should wear it more often. And in case you are wondering: 3 coats of Emerald Sparkle, two (thin! - I noticed thin coats work much much better for these flakies) coats of Nfu Oh 56 and a dash of top coat. 

What do you think? What is your favourite layering combination?

Thank you for reading!

Happy 2013!

Heya folks! I'm just dropping by for a moment before I start putting make up on for today's party. My mani is drying, so it's a perfect excuse. :)

I wish you all the best in year 2013, may it be happy, successful, full of health, joy, laughter and those precious little moments that just make everything better. 

My NY mani is China Glaze Tinsel Town, an old photo:

And a quick photo of what I baked today for the party, as I'm quite happy with the result. :) Cinnamon buns! I wish I could gave you one as well. :)

Have a great new year's eve, whether with your friends and family or with a nice book or a good movie and nice warm tea, may it be a good night! 

~ Ulmiel

Glittering Garland with silver drops

Hello people! How are you? I hope you are having a great holiday week, whether you celebrate Christmas or not! :) I already feel much much better, thank you all for your kind thoughts! 

I redid my mani yesterday, as my previous one got pretty tired. I adore Glittering Garland, it has to be one of the best greens I own. You know I love greens and glass flecks, so GG was pretty much meant for me. Lately, with having little time for taking pictures and the gloomy weather that kills all chances for natural daylight photos (that is especially important for multichromes and holos), I'm enjoying discovering the beauties in my stash all over again. Glittering Garland seems perfect for this season. 

Because I really like the effect of drops some bloggers do on their manicures, I decided to try something like that as an accent finger. It did not came out as I wanted, my drops are too shaky and just not right. And this is a dotting tool, for crying out loud. One would think a monkey can use a dotting tool, but honestly, I always screw up my dots. I like how it looks if you don't pay too much attention to the details at least.

I think silver and green go well together. I just thought of Slytherin though ... not a fan of Slytherin, really, but their colour and animal choice are superb. :)

What is on your nails today?

Thank you for reading!

A simple holiday mani

A very simple one, since I'm still not feeling 100%. I just layered one coat of Twinkle Lights (China Glaze) over BeYu 306, that I'm already wearing for a couple of days now. I planned to do a very cool holiday gradient, but now I just don't feel like doing my nails at all.

I wish you all happy holidays!

Comparison: China Glaze Fast Track vs. Catrice Clay-ton My Hero

How I thought these two were similar I still do not know. Scrangie said Fast Track reminds her of Essence Irreplaceable and in my head Essence and Catrice are close enough not to own them both. As you will see in the pictures, they are not really similar. Actually, they're not very close either. My skin had a rough time when I made this comparison. Luckily now it's much much better, thanks to my hand cremes and oils. It was dried up and I got a major cut on my pinky, like a paper cut, only a bit thicker and longer, it hurt like a papercut though. I was able to cut it out from the pictures, so I'll spare you the view. ;)

Clay-ton My Hero is a taupe with golden shimmer, while Fast Track is beige with golden glass flecks. I suck at describing colours, but I guess that's close enough. :) Naturally they don't look at all similar, I guess the concept of making could be, although I think China Glaze wanted the golden glass flecks to really pop out, whine Clay-ton My Hero is very work appropriate with shyer shimmer. 

Two coats of Catrice, three of China Glaze, both polishes have a wonderful formula and wonderful brushes.  I like them both, I was on the verge of giving Clayton away, but there is something awesome on it that I really like. So I kept it. Glad to know I don't have any dupes of it! :)

Do you have any of the two? Which one do you prefer?

Thank you for reading!

China Glaze ~ Fast Track mattefied

Hello mah peeps! Whoa, I think this is the weirdest hello so far on this blog. :D I am full as a hobbit, and that's saying something! But I have a dance practise in the evening and I'm also happy as a hobbit for it. Sure, after that I'm working my butt off the entire night, but details details! No matter. It is a good day! :) 

Today we continue with China Glaze and the seriously spectacular collection that is The Hunger Games Capitol Colors. Fast Track wasn't really my first choice in this collection but I was very happy when I saw it in the package. The golden glass flecks looked ah-mazing! I thought it will be an excellent neutral work-college-appropriate colour and I was right. Plus, the golden twist is very nice and does bring a bit of bling to the whole look. The next day I mattefied it and I loved the result even more.

A friend of mine told me that Essence Matt top coat isn't available anymore. And I'm using mine surprisingly often! :/ Sucks, really, I love how strong the matte effect is with this one. Oh, on Fast Track it looks even more yummy because the golden flecks keep a bit of glow even when mattefied. I think it looks awesome. :) 

The original finish:

The golden glassflecks are quite strongly visible, they give a very nice twist to the nude base colour. I think it looks beautiful. Still, I prefer the matte version. :)

Do you have any suggestion on wallet-friendly substitute for Essence matt top coat? 

Thank you for reading & have a great week!

China Glaze ~ Smoke and Ashes

Good evening! How are you on this Friday night? It's all about work with my Friday, so I'll be brief tonight. I have another beauty from China Glaze The Hunger Games Capital Colors and this one is one of those that you just have to see IRL to appreciate the beauty of it. It's easily one of my favourite polishes made by China Glaze, it is a fantastic colour. And yet, it looks somewhat boring on the pictures. Pity. Trust me, it looks stunning on the nails in real life. I give you Smoke and ashes.

Like I said, pictures don't do Smoke and Ashes justice. It's a black base with greenish glass flecks that are very visible in real life. It actually does give an ashy impression, or maybe it's just my brain, trying to fit the name to the colour. The formula is amazing too, it could almost be a one coater, perhaps it is if you're a bit careful with the application. Not a bad thing about this one. I absolutely love it.

Where do you stand with black polish and black polish with something extra? :)

Thank you for reading & have a great weekend!