Meet my new ♥

Just a quick post... :D I'd be learning right now but anyway... :i 

If you read my previous post, you saw I fell in love with Candy Shop from Deborah Lippmann and I can't wait to see its swatches... But yesterday The Swatchaholic on Twitter showed her new pink frankens and I asked what she used for them. :D And she said Circus Confetti from Essence. Believe me or not but I's thinking to franken something with that glitter topper but I wasn't sure how'd it look like because the glitter isn't so dense as in Happy Birthday. :)

So I took a bottle of Circus Confetti prepared for swap ( :$ ), because shops doesn't work till Monday and I just couldn't wait to buy a bottle for myself, so here it is, my new love. :L I added baby pink Cupid creme from Revlon.

I don' have time for full manicure so I added this beauty on my ring finger as accent nail. :D I added 2 coats and TC. :)

I will definitely try to franken more of them!

What do you think? Hit or miss? :D

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Catherine Arley - 670 #2

I already showed it once here, but here it is once more. :D I had to remove KIKO - #255 because I broke my thumb on my right hand - horribly while hitting the drawer, still hurts. xo I don't shorten my nails when I broke a thumb, do you? I really don't like different lenght of other nails but if it's thumb - it's cooool. :D

I didn't want to pick dark color because I don't want to get attention on my broken thumb, so I picked this pretty light pink holographic polish. :)

I still have some more Catherine Arleys on my WL, unfortunately they became so hard to get, company changed the shades or something, they're also sold out, we ordered them again and after couple of month of waiting I didn't get any that I wanted but that's ok, at least I have 4 or them. Better something than nothing. :D

I dooon't like the brush but because it's application is really flawless I don't mind that wonky brush. It dries super fast so it's perfect for a quick manicure when you don't have time. 

Sun

It's so pretty on sun, holo effect isn't sooo strong but it's still there. I took like 50 blurry pictures without even noticing I didn't set my phone on macro. I's so worried that something is wrong with my phone, because lately it's acting a little crazy. :D

What do you think about this shade? Do you have any Catherine Arley polishes?

And OMG did you see new beautiful glitter from Deborah Lippmann???? It has my name on it! :$

Candy Shop

I took this picture from All Lacquered Up's blog so check more infos about this pretty polish on her blog. :D I lately fell in love with Glitter in the Air, which I want soooooooo badly, but now I fell in love again. Need both in my life - one day... Soon. :L Right, S.? :k

I hope you like it! :) This is my last post for next week and a half. Miss me. :$

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Swap with blondie711 from MUA

It's Suuuuuummmmmmmmeeeeeeeerrrrrrrrr timeeeeee. :L My favorite part of the year. :e Yay! :)

I'm toooooo nervous to study and at the moment I hate my faculty with all my heart! Why? You know when you're asking and nobody doesn't know anything and they're sending you from one to another? Yes, I hate that, if they don't know, who'd knew? And it's easier to make yourself stupid. xo xo xo Anyway.... It's not the first time that's why I'm angry even more. xo

Anway, instead of studying I decided to calm myself with taking pictures of my new babies. :) Which I still have on my desk and I got it quite a while ago. :D

This is my first swap on MUA and blondie711 is the nicest I met there. :D There is plenty polishes available for swaps, but some doesn't reply to your msg or they're not interested, some of them are totally nice but she's the best. :D I's hunting down some China Glaze from Tronica, which I wanted badly, because I still don't have all I want from OMG and thanks to blondie711 I have some of them now. :D Usually swaping for some HTF polishes is really hard, but she's so nice to send me even one from OMG collection, how cool is that? :$

Okaaay, here are the pictures :P :

  China Glaze

 Hologram
Virtual Violet 

Hyper Haute

108 Degrees

Señorita Bonita

2NITE

 

China Glaze - Lightning Bolt
Orly - Bubbly Bombshell

Essie - Knockout Pout

Sally Hansen - Starry Starry Flight

Petites Color Fever - Zodiac
Wet n Wild - Wild card

Wet n Wild - Black Creme

NYC - Teal Til the End

 

And last but not least is Nail Tek Foundation II, which I'm using lately insted of Intensive Therapy 2.

See, I got lots of pretty polishes. :L Some of them I already wore and still need to upload pictures and I can't wait to try more of them soon. :h Thank you so much! :k Not just for this babies but all your kind words too!

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

~* Happy Birthday *~

I can't believe it's one year since I start my blog. :o That's quick though. When I look back - I don't like anything - shape of my nails, pictures, nothing. :) At least I improved my photo skills till today and I'm still improving them. I hope I'll get one decent camera soon. :i

Anyway, 1 year - 110.365 views & 617 followers. All I can say is THANK YOU! Every comment I get makes my day and when I see that new follower joined my blog - it means me a lot. :h

From time to time someone unfollow me, it feels strange, I always think what did I do wrong but hey, I can't be interesting for everyone. :P That's why I'd like to thank all you girls who're staying with me. :)

Joining the blogsphere change my life a bit - of course the number of my nail polishes increased a lot... But I meet so many kind people, who are so friendly, kind and nice to me from all over the world. :) 

  

~*Happy Birthday*~ :party

I didn't make a happy birthday manicure but I've a surprise for you, I'll keep it simple, more after a click. :party

Zoya - Nova

Good morning. :) Well for me is still morning, I just wake up, I'm still sleepy, weather is soooo perfect for sleeping. :i I need to start studying but here I am, typing new posts, one I already scheduled for tommorow but I decided to write another one. :P 

Zoya - Nova is described as "Medium royal fuchsia-purple tinted translucent base packed with dark and light pink glitter. A stunning, sparkling shade that's sure to turn heads all winter." Application is great, 2 coats, dries fast and looks gorgeous. :) I had shorter nails when I wore it so if you have longer nails, I think you should need 3 coats to hide VNL.

Shade

Daylight

Sun

Sun - blurry

Sparkly, beautiful, delicious,... :) What more can I say?  I really love the glitter inside, it makes it special. :L

Take care,
Ivana :k

KIKO - #255 Viola Microglitter

It's so nice to be back with posting almost every day and like I said, it's so hard to be away from my blog. :) But I'm taking advantage of my free days until I get to books again. :P I removed Bubbly Bombshell yesterday and that's was such a horrible removal which I ever experienced. I had glitter everywhere - on my face, arms, legs, hands, everywhere! I even found a piece of glitter on my mom's face today. :D I's using foil removal but it's still hard to remove it. :i
When I removed it, I have naked nails till midnight... I don't like painting my nails when it's hot, I hate bubbles on my nails, which I get mostly when the temperatures are hot. I's thinking what to use because I have so many beauties to try out but then I picked KIKO #255, which I got recently from one very lovely girl. KIKO cosmetics isn't available in Slovenia, so she bought me 2 from my WL in Italy. They're on sale now - 2,5€ for piece. Nice deal! :)

#255 Viola Microglitter (they don't have names written on bottles but I find them on their page) is a dark violet polish with a stunning holographic glitter. :L It's quite opaque, I think it'd need one thick coat for a full opacity but I added 2 thin. It dries not so shiny and gritty so I added a coat of TC and then it became alive even more!

It's so hard to capture its beauty with my phone, I did my best but believe me, it's even prettier in RL. :L

Sun - blurry

Sun

Daylight

I told you it has holographic glitter, look at this rainbow! :rainbow

AMAZING! :i This is another polish worth having so if you have access to KIKO you should get it. :) What do you think, like it or not? 

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Nail Tek II Intensive Therapy Review

I wanted to post this like ages ago but I didn't have time so here it is. :) I got Nail Tek II Intensive Therapy from Carolina months ago and till then I used it everytime (lately I combine it with Nail Tek Foundation II). I used to have loooong and pretty strong nails but last year and a half something went wrong. My nails were peeling at some point all the time, they're breaking easily, I'm sure if you're with me from the beginning you know how many times I had to shorten my nails because I can't stand different lengths.

Anyway... I always thought they'll start being strong as before on their own. But of course they didn't. So when I got it, I started using it every time I changed my manicure. 

Description from their site is:

"Nail Tek II: Intensive Therapy for soft peeling nails:

Intensive Therapy helps heal weak, thin, soft or peeling nails. This unique protein formulation seals the layers of the nail together. With each application, Intensive Therapy reinforces and thickens nails while promoting strength and flexibility."

Ingredients: Ethyl Acetate, SD Alcohol-40B, Butyl Acetate, Nitrocellulose, Tosylamide/Formaldehyde Resin, Acrylates Copolymer, Triphenyl Phosphate, Trimethyl Pentanyl Diisobutyrate, Isopropyl Alcohol, Butyl Alcohol, Formaldehyde, Benzophenone-1, Hydrolyzed Wheat Protein, Dimethicone, Calcium Pantothenate, Violet #2.

It looks like a regular TC, so I applied one layer as BC and usually 1 coat like TC. Avoid skin contact while you're applying it on nail - I think it can irritate your skin. I didn't see any improvement immediately but last month in May (I used it like 1 month and half) I could see the difference. They're stronger, nails, which started to peel all the time, didn't peel at all... So I was quite happy with. But then something else happened. :D From time to time I noticed that pieces of edges of my nails were missing. I didn't pay attention if I hit something, I just noticed when something wasn't right. So they're obviously too strong and I was so sad because I love square shape of my nails and every time the piece was missing, I had to shorten them keep them in square. Then I started using hand creams more often (I rarely used hand cream and never any creams for cuticles), when I removed nail polish, I always rub hand cream into my cuticles and nails.. Now they aren't breaking anymore, well, for now.

I'm not an expert for ingredients like Formaldehyde, nail care, so if you want to know more about them, I recommend you to visit loodie loodie loodie blog. Loodie definitely knows a lot about nail care, I actually read her whole blog when I found it and I learned a lot of things I didn't even know. :) You can read her posts about nail hardeners based on formaldehyde here. :)

Here are some pictures of my naked nails. Pictures are black and white, because I have really ugly stains from Innocent so I'm not comfortable to show them as yellow as they're. xo

23th May - with a coat of Nail Tek Foundation II

9th June

Now I'm using Foundation II, sometimes Intensive Therapy II. We'll see how my nails will look after some time. :D And when I finally grow them longer, I found another problem (I'm never satisfied I guess). My nails (especially my pointer) curl at some point and I hate it. :i

That's it, I hope someone will find this helpful. Did you ever tried it? What are you using for stronger nails? Or are your nails just naturally perfectly strong and beautiful? :)

Nighty night,
Ivana :k

OPI - Rumple's Wiggin

I didn't like Rumpelstiltskin in the movie... But Rumple's Wiggin stole my heart. :) Another stunner from Shrek forever after collection after Funky Dunkey. :L I wore it almost a month ago and I finally crop the pictures and choose the best of them. :)

Application is great, I think I used 3 thin coats for a full opacity. It's nice light lilac soft creme color. :) First picture is most color accurate.

Sun

Shade

In case you're searching for its dupe, I think Essie - Nice is nice is the closest. :) I really can't see the difference between these two... I still didn't try Essie so I can't compare them by application but I think you don't need both of them unless if you want a back up. I prefer having differents brand than 2 same bottles, it's more fun. :D

I really love pastels so I love it! What about you?

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Orly - Bubbly Bombshell

Hey there! :k How are you all doing? :) 

I just started being sleepy because few minutes ago I was still full of energy. I didn't sleep much in these 2 days, I had two exams in a row and that never work for me... It's quite hard to study when you're sleepy, I drank some energy drinks and my tummy was hurting, I's shaking from inside this morning... No more energy drinks for me. I really love their taste but... No thanks. :D Anyway, today was such a bad day, I had a bad feeling about my exam but then my professor told me that I've oral exam next week so there's still a chance. This is my first oral exam on this faculty and I'm already nervous but at least I have a whole week to prepare myself even better. :) Now I'll take few days off and then again...

When I arrived to capital today, my feet were hurting, I got a blister on one of my foot because of sneakers, which I'm wearing like 2 years and I never have problems with them. :D But something was wrong with my pinkie on my left foot. My nail was obviously too long so it cut my finger and there was a loooot of blood. When I saw my socks, I thought that I lost my finger. xo But that didn't stop me from some shopping, I didn't buy polishes at all, I went to pick some flip flops (but I didn't find any I'd like) so I picked 2 pairs of ballerinas and cardigan. I'm going back tommorow to spoil myself just a little more. :D 

 Enough or talking... Probably no one doesn't read this anyway. :i

If you follow me on Twitter, you already saw this beauty, which I've for few days now on my nails now. :D I's posting picture of my weekly manicures there almost all the time. :)

Bubbly Bombshell is another beauty I got in swap with blondie711. :L I still didn't took pics of all polish I got but I'll do that probably these days. :$ This one is from Orly's Pin Up collection. It's such a stunning magenta two size glitter in clear base. I added 3 thin coats and a layer of TC. Look at this stunner. :L

I took a blurry picture to show you how this beauty sparkles! And of course it's sparkling even more in RL. :)

Sun - Blurry

Sun

Shade

If you're wondering if Petunia Sparkle from Nubar it's dupe - I'd say that color is almost same, but the main difference between them is Orly's two sized glitter as you can see on the picture below. :) This is how Bubbly Bombshell looks with one coat.

1 coat

It's the fifth day I've it on my nails and it would still look without chips if I hadn't take my sneakers off and back on so many times today while trying so many shorts and I'd to use my fingers. :D

I hope you like it so much as I love it! :L Another fave for sure! :) Do you picked any colors from Pin Up collection?

P. S.: Can you see how many smileys I'm using totally unconsciously. :i

Take care,

Ivana :k

Essence TE Ballerina BACKSTAGE Preview

Last but definitely not least (would Tyra say :P ) TE in July 2011 is Ballerina BACKSTAGE. This one is my favorite. :)

All images are taken from Essence.eu.

I guess they're inspired by movie Black Swan... :D Lace, black, ballerina... :)

Nail polish:

"no matter whether you are dancing the swan lake, nutcracker or carmen – with these long-lasting nail polishes, each and every arabesque is sure to be the crowning glory of every show. from delicate to bright, there’s a color to suit all acts. available in 01 dance the swan lake, 02 wear your little tutu, 03 on your gracile tiptoe, 04 do a floating pirouette and 05 grand-plié in black. "

I want.... :L All polishes looks so promising to me except the black one (I think it'll be similar as Undead? from Eclipse collection but with orange/cooper glitter). Essence released many beautiful pastels this year with great application so I hope they won't be too sheer like Catrice Urban Baroque was. :)

Eye soufflé... I don't wear a lot of eyeshadows but I definitely want those... Just because... And Blush soufflé for sure! I never go out without a blush... :$ You can't never have enough blushes at home. :P

I don't know if all 3 TE's will be available in Slovenia. xo They're all released in July but we never get more than 2 in one month so I think we'll have to wait till August or even September... :D

Which one do you like most? 50's Girl Reloaded, NAILS In style or this one?

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Essence TE 50's Girl Reloaded Preview

Another TE available in July 2011 is 50's Girl Reloaded. :) Let's take a look:

 All images are taken from Essence.eu.

Inspired by mariners, anchors... Blue and white combination all around. :)

Nail polish:

"port is red, starboard is blue – and the 50’s girls reloaded nail polishes? they are an absolute must-have for all mariner girls who want to be the captain! with their long-lasting formula and the most gorgeous effects, these nail polishes are sure to cause a sensation on board! so go for it! hoist the anchor and polish your nails! available in 01 ahoy!, 02 back to the 50’s, 03 i’m a marine girl, 04 love me tender and 05 you’re a heartbreaker."

Another Ahoy! but this time from Essence (they're inspired by Anchors Away China Glaze collection I guess). And another Love me tender from Essence TE's. :) These are supposed to be jellies, yay for that. :e I love jellies, we'll see how'll they look like in real - I want more squishy look-a-like polishes. :) 

Lipstick look great. :L So bad I can't use them, my lips are dry all the time - nothing doesn't help. :( And Eyeshadow brush looks great - I don't know what's with me but I recently bought those brushes from Essence and I'm not using them because my MU skills aren't that great. :D I can't even apply an eyeshadow and create something that I'd like. xo

What do you think about this one? :)

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Essence TE NAILS in style Preview

Essence is going crazy with new limited editions. :) Next 3 months will be crazy, I have to save some money so I can buy all I want (even some MU). If we ever get this stuff of course. :)

First one I'm showing you today is NAILS in style, which will be available in July 2011.Take a look:

  All images are taken from Essence.eu.

A collection full of nail thingies. :i

Nail Polish

"following in the tracks of the summer… four exciting, shimmering nail polishes put a touch of summer on your hands and feet. whether you select a petrol color reminiscent of lampions from a garden party, turquoise blue and holographic shades like the depths of the sea, fruity berry colors like the fruits of the summer or silver like the early-morning horizon – with these polishes, you can set fascinating accents to go with your mood. available in 01 style for summer nights, 02 style me holo, 03 style me love and 04 style-ish baby!"

Holographic? Yeah right, like all "holographics" till now, right? Why they don't just use the word duochrome?  Sooo annoying. xo

I'm most interested in nail foils... It's really hard to get any nail foils (read: can't get at all) here so these will be perfect for trying them out, of course I want the pink one. But let's just wait the swatches... Sometimes things aren't that great like they look like. :)

Xoxo,
Ivana :k