NOTD: OPI Take The Stage and Zoya Myrta

Heya guys! Today I have for you a quick NOTD I am wearing right now. I already showed you I got O.P.I. Take the stage mini and it was about time I wore it as well. I wanted to do a simply accent mani, as I seriously lacked time to do something more innovative. I thought Zoya Myrta might be a cool bright accent, only to realise when putting it on, it is way to close to Take the Stage. Oh well. :)

I really like the sparkly Take the Stage. It is a part of O.P.I. Burlesque Collection for Winter 2010 (omg, really, I feel like it was released two years ago!!) and I remember everyone went mental for the collection and I didn't get why. Take the Stage is actually a gorgeous copper foil, I love it, so I am glad I got it. I takes 3 coats to be opaque on my really short nails, I imagine I would need to work for it to be opaque on longer nails.

Zoya Myrta is a part of Zoya Surf Collection for Summer 2012, full of bright foils and definitively one of my favourite collections out there. I adore Myrta as well, such a rich orange. Two coats and you are done. 

Yeah. The combo seems a bit pointless, but I love both nail polishes, so it is all good. :)

What's on your nails today?

Thank you for reading and commenting!

Born Pretty Store: Stamping Polish in Black

Hello everybody! How are you doing? I am actually doing better from the nasty cold, yay for me! Today I wish to show you the second part of the Black and White stamping polish set Born Pretty Store kindly sent me for review. I wanted to try a completely new stamping pattern with it, that also seemed a bit complicated with all the fine lines, to really put this black (and my stamping skills) to the test. Let's see how it turned out!

First, let me copy the observations i have made with the white stamping polish, because they are completely the same for the black one.

As you all know, Born Pretty Store holds everything possible you would wish for in relation to nail art. They have it all, and at a very affordable prices. So far I had not have a single bad or unpleasant experience with them. BTW; my code for 10% discount is still valid: SSL91.

In this package two stamping polishes were hidden, in black and white, the ID code for the set: 1381).

• The bottle is small, 3 ml. Consequently it is cheap. 3.41$ for the set, 1.70$ for the bottle. 
• The brush is wide and big enough so there are no troubles with quick application to the plate.
• Formula is thicker, obviously that makes it very nicely opaque and easy to work with. The pattern got on the nails easily, where I noticed mistakes it was due to me pressing the stamp too hard on the nail (still haven't lost the habit).
• The pattern does not smudge when top coat is applied! Praise the nail polish fairy, this was my biggest issue when stamping before and now it is gone! 

Both black and white polish are of the same excellent quality when it comes to stamping. They don't smudge, they make the stamping process extremely fast and easy ... no complaints! To the pictures:

I really loved how this turned out. The orange base and black fine pattern. And the black stamping polish acted wonderfully. I wore this until it chipped during my sauna visit. Too much water, what can you do. Anyway ... I really recommend this stamping polish set of black and white colour. They are both great to work with. Here is my code for -10% if you decide to shop at Born Pretty Store, to get the low prices even lower. :)

What do you think about this combo?

Thank you for reading!

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

Zoya ~ Myrta

Hello everybody! Today I have another summer-y colour for you. I find it brings me in a better mood when I wear such bright colours on gloomy days. So summer colours are very often on my nails during winter. Myrta is a gorgeous, gorgeous orange, very cheerful colour. It's a part of Summer Collection 2012 Zoya made, from which I own half of the colours. Pretty neat. 

See the shimmer on the second photo? Love it. :) This is three easy coats, very good formula and brush, but I'm very used to that with Zoya. They present no troubles whatsoever. If you like orange polish, you'll definitively like Myrta, I think the finish makes her perfect.

Did you get any colours from this collection? What is your favourite orange shade? 

Thank you for reading!

Sinful Colors ~ Big Daddy

We continue weekly program later than planned, but with a real treat. This year's colour that grew most on me comparing to last year is most certainly orange. Over more than one year ago I wouldn't even think of wearing orange, thinking it is one of unwearable colours for me. Ha! So much for that! I absolutely love orange now. My first crush was obviously Orange Marmalade. And this year I craved orange even more. Since my swap buddy, Ms. My Lucid Bubble, knew that, she surprised me with a great great juicy colour in one of the packages. Yum!

A really great orange jelly that I need to wear soon again. ATM I'm sporting a poisonous green, which is also a totally delicious colour, but I think Big Daddy shall be next, it is just too awesome. For some reason I saw  a lot of red in this colour on other swatches when I googled the colour. It is not read, it is a bright bright orange that can make you thirsty for orange juice, no kidding! As it seems it's also a dupe for O.P.I. A Good Mandarin Is Hard To Find.

The formula and brush were great. This is a jelly, so it needs three coats for good opacity on my short nails, I'm thinking I'd need four on longer ones. Don't care, love the colour!

Which colour you disliked before but warmed up to it eventually?

Thank you for reading & have a great Sunday tomorrow!

Take two on China Glaze

Heya people! How are you doing? I put on China Glaze Watermelon Rind again today and remembered I wanted to redo the swatches of it. Then I saw I already posted them and they are, in short, horrible. As I scrolled down my China Glaze label I also noticed my Bad Landing and Orange Marmalade swatches probably convince you not to buy them and not vice versa. Luckily I took a few shots of each when I wore them this Summer, so here is my take two on all three of them, in hope of doing them a little more justice, for they are awesome, especially Orange Marmalade and Watermelon Rind being my favourite China Glazes. 

Watermelon Rind. A green/blue/teal glass flecks. How gorgeous is that. This polish is incredible, really. If I had to hold on to just one China Glaze in my stash, this would probably be it. It contains everything I hold dearest in a nail polish. Yes, it's sheer, but with glass-flecked finish I'm willing to look past that. The formula was great, I had no troubles today with the application, so the extra coats weren't time consuming. 

Orange Marmalade is the orange sister of Watermelon Rind, the orange glass-fleck of the Summer Days collection that China Glaze released in 2009. I still don't think I did this amazing orange justice, but you can see how it glows and just how bright it is. And juicy, I always crave orange juice when I see it, hehe. Again a great application. Every time I wear these two I remember why I want the entire Summer Days collection. Glass-flecked finish at its finest, and you know how much I love that finish! 

Bad Landing. When I wore this for the first time, Tevta lent me her China Glaze collection. The second time I wore it, it was already mine, because Tevta hated it and gave it to me. I still love it, I have no idea what I love so much about this polish. Probably that it is so insanely bright (my pictures don't show that correctly). Or that it shifts from red to orange to pink, depends on the light. It's a cool colour, I like it. :) I can't find if Bad Landing was a part of a collection, so I'm guessing it wasn't. Oh, the application is superb, I don't think I needed clean up with this one at all.

Well, I don't know about you, but I think my new swatches are much much better than my old one. Finally figured out my nail shape, my hand position when taking photos etc. Bloggers, ever redo your swatches simply because it bothers you that you have a set of bad ones on blog? :)

What's your favourite China Glaze polish? Ok, top three? ;)

Thank you for reading!

My Awesome Beauty Competition mani

Hei everyone! How are you doing on this very hot day? I'm doing my nails ATM and I remembered I wanted to mention Sophie's competition early enough for you to participate too (in case you haven't yet). Well, you still have today and tomorrow until 10 am. And that is enough time, btw! Here's the deal. In case any of you don't know Sophie: she owns My Awesome Beauty blog.  A beautiful blog with a beautiful author, her blog is versatile, fun and holds incredible photographs. I do recommend you visit it! Nail wise she does awesome designs with great colour combinations. I always wanted to recreate them, but you know how I am with time and my nail art ... until the competition started. You have to recreate one of the two patterns, but with your own ideas. I got hooked immediately and searched for inspiration. That's how I finally discovered that the designs are actually very user-friendly and that they don't take much time, so they're in my nail art book now! 

In short: my inspiration was the Eye of Sauron, that's why it is in the background of the pictures. Beyu 209 with Essie flakies on top represent the lava of Mount Doom, the gold is for the One Ring and the orange Finger Paint seemed a better combination than the predictable red or yellow for the eye. So I mixed them in an orange colour. ;)  I played with the pictures a bit before I sent them, here you'll see them separated.

Really wonky position of my fingers, Finger Paints bottles are not nice for holding. 

I liked the result, I didn't get tired of this mani until it looked to tired so I basically had to remove it. It's a bit blingy, but I wanted that. And yes, it's another geek inspiration for me, but frankly when you walk into my room, Tolkien is pretty much the first thing you notice. That and nail polish. So they're bound to come together every once in a while. And btw, yes, that's an actual poster of the Eye, my BF thought I photoshoped it, I didn't. :P 

Enter the competition! You have enough time and the prizes are wonderful! Good luck to all of you and Sophie, thanks for the chance!

Thank you for reading!

BB Couture spring beauties

Hello my dear people. How's everything? Enjoying the first true days of Spring? Here we already have the beautiful Lady Spring moving in. Sure, today is a bit chillier and greyer, but otherwise it's getting nice and warm. Love that! A couple of days ago me and my BF went for a long long walk, and we went through the nearby forest too. Oh, it made me so happy. Flowers everywhere, even those I haven't seen for years, birds everywhere, the tiny, adorable ones that I love, jumping from tree to tree, the smell of woods and only a few people ... Nirvana for the soul.

Today I have two springy colours by BB Couture for ya. Nice and bright and sparkly. :) Horned Devil was on my WL for ages, literally. Dear Stefanie was so kind she surprised me with it and it is utterly gorgeous. 

Horned Devil is a part of BB Couture Butterfly Collection for Spring 2010. The same collection that has Caterpillar, another lemming of mine. Horned Devil is really bright and really juicy. I get thirsty for a glass of orange juice every time I wear it or see the photos. Like right now. It's a jelly, so the VNL is forgiven. And it's packed with sparkly fine, tiny glitter. You could see that on the video, but Blogger won't load it, little jerk. Playful, cheerful polish. Totally loved it. Three coats on the pictures. I thought about doing a fourth one, but since it's a loud jelly, i didn't mind VNL.

Second is Studio 54. A green BB Couture, how surprising, eh? I think green is their strongest colour and I adore the greens they do, they're unique! Studio 54 is a gorgeous bright green with  golden and green micro glitter. Yum!

Studio 54 is a part of BB Couture Disco Collection. I suspect it was released for Holidays 2009, since most of bloggers post it in the beginning of 2010 ... but I know not. Anyway. This was three coats. Two will suffice for full opacity, but the third one gives it more depth. It's really beautiful, although it bothers me a bit how it looks like the glitter is sitting on the polish. It's not, this baby is smooth with a single coat of TC. Nothing major though! :)

What are your colours to wear in Spring? :) 

Thank you for reading!

Essence - Be Optimistic

Hey guys! How are you doing? It's a lazy Sunday. The weather is so sad and I'm having a post-concert laziness in my bones. It was a cool night yesterday. Thanks to my studies I put concerts down to a minimum and so I enjoyed it even more when I finally went out after a while. But I got so tired I fell asleep with my contacts and full make up still on, my BF woke me up after a couple of hours of sleeping, and I almost ran to the bathroom to clean everything off. I felt like I did some great injustice to my poor skin, I really take care of removing my make up every day, so my skin is clean for the beauty sleep. *sigh* Oh well, it's good that only now it's the first time that happened to me, I guess. :)

Today an Essence beauty from the new sortiment. This one was my number one on the list to buy. Great copper orange, epic win polish.

Two coats, application is a bit tricky, it can get brush-stroky fast, so you have to be a bit careful about that. But look at the colour! It's sooooo gorgeous. IMO one of the best Essence ever made. 

Your thoughts? Which ones did you get from the new sortiment?

Thank you for reading!

Petites Color Fever - 24k Gold scotch tape accent mani

Hey guys! How about a little bling bling for today's grey day? I got this in one of our swap packages and I was surprised Kris sent 24k Gold (appearantly a dupe for Milani Gold Glitz) to me. It didn't feel like me, I normally don't wear gold at all, but then I saw the orange/copper glitter mixed with the gold one and I was immediately drawn to it. And when I finally put it on it was love. Come on, look at the orange/copper glitter in the mids of all the gold!! It's fantastic!! I did a scotch tape accent nail for fun, with Catrice Wine-tastic, as always my inspiration for scotch tape is the wonderful Erica from Chloe's Nails. 

Pictures!

Isn't it amazing??! The copper glitter totally makes my day! And ladies, this was only two freaking coats! The application was amazing, really, so so easy. The polish is quite blingy, but in a good way. I needed two coats of TC, it was still slighly rough, but nothing one can't handle. I freakishly love it. Like I usually love all the "wild cards" Kris sends me, she knows my colours. This one was on my nails for three or four days. So you know I loved it, the whole package. Awesome!

What do you think about 24k Gold? 

Thank you for reading!

My day just got 230 times better

Hey everyone! How are you doing? Yes, I know, my blogging sucks lately. But you know why and I think we can all agree that family comes first. My mom is doing well, but she got ill right after the surgery, so I'm still on full duty, which usually means I get home after my classes, cook, clean, run to my dance classes, come home, clean the rest of the house, take a shower and fall dead on my bed. The days are literally flying past me, I can't believe my last post was posted on Sunday! 

But anyway ... I want to post this one, because you stuck with me when I was whining my keyboard off about all the studies I have and how sick and nervous i am about it, and now I have to share the good news. As from yesterday I'm officially in my last year of studies. It feels incredibly good, my studies mean a lot to me, so all in all it was a wonderful day just with that. I decided I'll celebrate the sign up with a gift that my wonderful swap buddy sent me a while ago, but I waited for a special occasion on wearing it. That's right, Clarins 230. Kris (My Lucid Bubble) sent me a decant of her bottle. How geneours can one get anyway? I was *so* surprised adn honoured she actually thought I deserve something like that. Come on, we're all nail polish junkies here, we all know how much that can mean to us! I would otherwise never got the Clarins, I can't afford to give so much money for a nail polish nor do I want to feed the ebay scalpers with my money. And now I have this beauty and I'm trully thankful. Kris, you've gone beyond awesomness with this one. 

Some facts. 1. This is two coats of Clarins 230 over two coats of Brucci Sapphire. I like how the blue shimmer adds to the Clarins gorgeousness. 

2. Unfortunately I'm extremely disappointed with my photo skills (and my camera) with this beauty. The photos will be all sorts, blurry, weird finger angles, just everything in order to show you the most colours of 230 and yet I still feel I failed to accomplish that. Even the videos didn't turn out as I wanted them. As you all know multichromes look their best off direct sunlight, 230 looks marvelous in softer light, but my camera doesn't work properly in that conditions. Sad face. The best photos of all the colours Clarins 230 shows, has Fashion Polish, her work with this baby is amazing, check that out, if you haven't already! 

3.A lot of pictures! Duh! Excuse the quality of some, again, for the most perfect review of 230 colours, check Sam's post!

I decided I'll show you just one video, all the rest were too poor of a quality and I really want to show just how sparkly this actually is! We all rave on the multichromness of it, but what really greatly surprised me was how unbelievably sparkly this baby is. The combination of both makes this really the best polish ever.

I usually don't see the point in the "famous" lemmings, I'm always positive I can get something better or at least similar and cheaper. You all know I don't see the point of lemming Nars Zulu, same goes for OPI Rainforest, same goes for La Boheme and others. But Clarins 230 ... here I can understand the lemming. And I think this is one of the rare polishes worth the hype they're getting. Still, if you think this is just too much, you can get Nfu Oh 51. I recognized the fraction of the look 51 gets in a fraction of the look 230 gets. Both really different, but in a certain light they will get a similar look. So you can have a fraction of 230 right there in the Nfu Oh bottle. 

Personally I can't imagine getting tired of my mani. Today it still feels new and fresh. It's like having 6-7 different amazing polishes at once on my nails. Yesterday on my dance classes it felt like the polish was dancing with me, it was insane. Yes, this baby does make you stare at your nails every second you can. Maybe I look like an idiot doing it, but heck, I love it! 

What do you think about Clarins 230 and the HTF lemmings in general? Do you think 230 is worth the hype?

Thank you for reading!