Swap with Sarah from Rainbow Obsession

I didn't plan posting this for today but because it's 29th February I just had to post something on a leap year. I hope we'll still be here on next 29th February, we'll see. :P

 Nail Mail all the way from Brazil! <3 I asked Sarah from Rainbow Obsession (her blog used to be called Them Pretty Colors :) ) if she could get me any of those awesome holographic beauties that I'm seeing around all the time. :L

Sarah was so sweet and kindly sent my package before I even send her out so I can already have all these goodies in my hands. :) When I got this package, I slowly opened it and screamed when I see them in real. I know they were gorgeous but SO gorgeous? :o Yes, they're stunning on pictures, but they're even prettier in real life. :D Here's what she picked for me. <3

 Hits No Olimpo
Héstia
Atena

Dionísio

Apolo

Ludurana 

Maravilhosa

Show

I wanted Ludurana Show for stamping, because the pattern made with this polish looks so amazing! She also got another Apolo and Hera for Kvacka, I already sent them to her, so head to her blog to see if she'll show them. :)

She also included this super cute extras. <3

Hits Powerpuf Girls

F'lorzinha

PRetty

Lindihna

I just love how cute this bottles are!

Sarah thank you so much for sending me all these goodies! I hope you'll like the goodies I'll pick for you I hope soon! I should really think about how could I mail myself too, so I can enjoy Brazil. :D 

 http://weheartit.com

I can't wait to try them out. :e I'll probably put them aside for Summer, because I just love wearing holos in Summer, when the sun is shining all the time. &lt;3 Do you already have Hits No Olipo holos or you still have them on your WL? What's your favorite? :)

Thanks for reading lovely readers and followers. :)

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Flakie Jelly Sandwich

Yap, after glitter sandwich I had to try flakie jelly sandwich. ^_^

I saw that Deborah Lippmann released a new gorgeous polish named Sweet Dreams. You can see gorgeous swatches at The PolishAholic. <3 It's a pink jelly full of gold flakies and of course I would love to have it but first I need to save some money to get this beauty. :i In the meanwhile, I made my own version. I didn't come up with a dupe, but it's close enough for me.

I started with a coat of OPI's Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em from Texas collection. I just love all jellies I have from this collex. :L Then I added a coat of Essence - Waking Up in Vegas, another coat of OPI, another coat of flakies and finished it with the last layer of pink jelly. Lots of coats but it's so worth it. :) I also added a coat of TC for fast drying and glossy shine. :L

Flakies aren't super visible on sun but you can still spot some orange reflection. :) Nail line isn't visible as much as it shows on pictures, it's still there but I don't mind it, because I just love jelly finish. It looks like I'm wearing candies on my nails. :D

Daylight

Shade

Sun

Essence Nail Art - Protecting Base Coat

OPI - Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em / 1 coat

Essence - Waking up in Vegas (TE Re-mix) / 1 coat

OPI - Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em / 1 coat

Essence - Waking up in Vegas (TE Re-mix) / 1 coat

OPI - Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em / 1 coat

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

A close up. :L

What do you think? Do you already tried sandwich like this? It tastes delicious. :P I definitely need more flakies in my life, especially in other colors, for now I own just pinks. :D

Thanks for reading and have love start of the week! :rainbow

Xoxo,

Ivana :k 

Word Verification & Guest Post

I just saw Karen's post about Word Verification at comment section and I wanted to share a link with the instructions how to remove word verification. Blogger changed comments system lately and this option became even more annoying as it was before. If you don't know if you have it, because administrators of blogs can't see it on their own blog, please check the settings. I also tried to find this in new blogger interface, because I'm using it at the moment, but it looks like it's missing there, but you can always change to old interface for a second to check the settings. If you don't know what I'm talking about please check the picture below.

See, two words, my vision is perfect but this words confuse me every time I see them and sometimes if I get them wrong I don't try again. Some of you also moderate your comments so I don't really understand why having both. I used to get lots of spam comments but now I don't allow anonymous to comment and I get none. :)

If you have any special reason to keep word verification, then leave it, I just wanted to point out the problem with those words lately. :) Are you annoyed with them or you are still having them on your blog?

I also did a guest post for the lovely Marta and ChitchatNails who went to Poland and ask me if I can do a guest post for her. I totally forgot to share a link but if you want to check it out, please click on the picture below. :)

It was my pleasure to do it for her, because Marta is really always so sweet to me! <3  I really love this manicure. I posted it on Tumblr and it has more than 5,000 notes. :D That's a record for me, because I usually have less than 50 or even none. :D Yay! :e

Thanks for reading and have a lovely end of the week! 

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Pastel Pink & Roses... My take on Spring!

Another contest ladies! 2 contest in a row for me. :D But this one was a bit harder for me. :i Enamel Girl is having a Nail Art Stamping Contest Spring 2012. Theme is obviously Spring and you need to stamp something that reminds you of Spring. Spring always reminds me of pastel colors and flowers and that's what I was trying to recreate on my nails. :)

This is another manicure I always wanted to try out but I never did it until yesterday. S. tweeted me a picture of similar manicure ages ago and I just couldn't understand how it was made. I still don't, because my mani isn't even close to perfect as that one was. I wish I could show you a picture, but we can't remember where we saw it. :/

This is my second try on this manicure. First I applied 5 different pastels on each nails but the final result wasn't great. So I took it off and start again. I took my favorite baby pink polish with amazing application, Something Sweet by China Glaze. Some pastels have really awful formula, but all I tried from China Glaze are amazing. <3

And then the funny part begin and you're still probably wondering what I was trying to recreate well if you skip to the pictures you already know. :D You probably saw this pattern a million time, I showed it here, here and here and I can easily say that this pattern is my favorite! I got this plate from Dolores at Colorful Bottle's blog (btw she's back with a challenge so go and say hi! :) ).

Anyway this pattern was stamped on the pictures so perfectly with green leaves and pink or red roses, I can't really remember. So I tried yesterday but mine are far away from perfect. :D 

Daylight

Sun

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

China Glaze - Something Sweet / 2 coats

Essence - Once Upon a Time (TE FairyTale) + Kiko - #342 & Konad m65 / stamping
Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I wish I had daisy pattern but I don't, so roses will have to work. :D In case you're wondering how I made them look like this.... Here's a really quick tutorial! :)

Step 1: First I applied red shimmery color over roses. I simply put some drops where the roses are and when I covered all roses, I took a green for leaves and drop some polish all over them.

Step 2: When you cover the whole pattern with green and red or any color combination by your choice, scrap the polish off in diagonal way, just like I did on the picture below and you can still see how I scrapped it.You can also crap it from another corner I did and it'll still work. I still had some red on leaves and green on roses but it wasn't that bad, at least I don't think so. :)

I really love how it looks like so I probably won't remove this manicure until it totally chips. It definitely isn't perfect as I would want it to be, but if I can't do it, then I have to be satisfied with what I can do. :D If you have any tips how to make this pattern perfectly stamped in red and green, please let me know. I would love to find out. :D

Let me know what do you think about my take on Spring. Did you ever try to stamp pattern in different colors? 

If you are inspired by Spring and you have a stamping idea, be sure you'll enter the contest, you still have lots of time left to enter. There won't be only one winner but also 4 random winners so we all have a bit more chances to win anything, I wish. :D

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! :rainbow

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

1 Dot, 2 Dots, 3 Dots, .... ∞

Sarah from Chalkboard Nails is hosting a lovely nail art contest. :) I usually don't enter any contests, because themes are way to complicated for me or I just don't have time to actually make something out. :) But I really loved the Sarah's theme: The Dotting Tool. Everyone knows how to use a dotting tool or if you don't have it, you can use a toothpick or a bobby pin. Simple but you can get a lovely polka dot pattern. <3 I'm a big fan of polka dots so I almost made a plain manicure with dots for this contest but then I decided to challenge myself.

I always wanted to try this out but I never actually had patience for this. I came home in a bad mood because of my exams yesterday, so I decided to do something with my nails and cheer me up. I had a bad cut with a razor few days ago so I shorten them as short as possible again.

So, I started with a coat of BS. So "naked" nails, dotting tool, a white and bunch of pink and  polishes. :D Another manicure that just screams my name. :$

I added dots on background with CS3, I just loved the heart theme before and I can't stop trying more and more. :) Pictures aren't best, because this weather makes everything just worse. :(

Daylight

I'm holding China Glaze - Empowerment

All the polishes I used are on the picture below. :) I used those two sided dotting tool for dots.

 China Glaze - Snow, Something Sweet, Empowerment, Sugar High, Laced Up,  Rich & Famous, Heli-Yum

Orly - Fancy Fuchsia, Frolic

Catrice - Hot or Not

p2 - Crazy Love

Essie - French Affair, Splash of Grenadine

Essence - Very Berry, Mr. Big

It's not hard to make a manicure like this. You just keep adding dots until your nail is fully covered. :) You probably need a bit of patience and that's it. :)

I'm not expecting to win anything, because lots of gorgeous manicures already entered but I had a great time doing this manicure. So if you're a dotting tool fan or you would like to try something out, enter Sarah's contest too! 

Let me know what do you think? Will you try it out? If you don't like pink, you can choose your fave color, I'm really wondering how would this manicure look in purple or even blue. :D I'd need more blues in my stash to get a manicure like this. :D 

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

It's V-day! ♥

It's <3 Valentine's day! <3 I love Valentine's day but that doesn't mean you have to show love only today but all the time of course. I'm having a really really bad day today but oh well... It's only a bad day, not life. :)

I wanted something simple but cute and what's better than glitter and pink manicure? For me... Nothing. :) I showed you my franken I did months ago (actually half year ago :o ) and I still didn't wear it and I was so excited when I made it....... I really need or more hands or less polish, I have so many untrieds. :/

I started with a coat of Revlon - Cupid and a layer of my franken. Almost all the glitter was in sandwich but I wanted some on the surface too, so I added a coat of Essence - Circus Confetti and finished everything with a layer of top coat. <3

Daylight

Sun

Blurry

 Nail Tek - Foundation II
Revlon - Cupid / 1 coat

Frankenpolish made by me / 1 coat

Essence - Circus Confetti / 1 coat

Beauty Secrets Fast Drying TC

I don't know about you but I simply love it. <3 It's not really screaming Valentine's day but it's pink and all that multicolored glitter screams fun. :) What do you think? 

I really hope you're having a great day and week and thanks for reading! Oh, and we reached 1111 (just saw we got another one :i ) 1112 today, thank you so much, it really means a lot to me. <3

Xoxo,

Ivana <3

Orly - Fowl Play

I didn't have time to update my blog lately, because I really have to focus on studying. I have 2 exams in next two weeks and I really want to pass them so I have no choice. :) I don't know if I'll do any Valentine's Manicures more, but thanks for all your lovely comments you left, I didn't even have time to reply on them. :)

The other day I was just so irritated with my nails on right hand, especially my middle finger nail which is peeling  all the time and all this weather and cold doesn't help to get it better, so I decided to file them down to total nubs. The final result..... I'm not used to them and I really wish I I had long nail beds. :$ This is the shortest I can get them to still have square nails, can't go any further down. :D

I had hard time to choose what to wear on shorties and after one failed combo I reached for this beauty I got from Iris in December, I'm so happy she found it for me. <3

Orly - Fowl Play is from the Birds of a Feather Fall 2011 collection. It's supposed to be OPI's Merry Midnight dupe. I still didn't compare them but I probably will one day in the future. :D It has dark plum jelly base with red and green duochrome flakies with tiny blue and silver glitter. :) It's more on a thick side so it was a bit hard to apply, especially when you get lots of flakies on brush so you drag the first coat together but maybe that was just me, because I prefer applying thin coats. :D

I've only one crappy picture from yesterday, because I got home so tired after exam and took a nap and the daylight was already gone to take better pics. I'm so sorry for the tip wear visible on photos. :D I took pics next day and I didn't apply a TC. :D

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

Orly - Fowl Play / 2 coats

 Bottle close-up. <3

So much going on in this polish. :L What do you think? Did you get it? :) There's a lot of flakies going on lately, just like with magnetics and crackles last year.... I have few of them so I really don't want more. :D Do you like flakies? What's your favorite?

We finally got snow here and dear snow, you're a whole month late. I love snow only in December so I can't wait Spring to arrive. :i At least someone is enjoying all this snow around us. :D Bebo loves to play in snow especially when it's snowing so he tries to catch all those snowflakes. :)

I have so many pictures of him to share with you, can't wait to have some time to sort the best of him. :D

Thanks for reading! :rainbow

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Valentine's Day Manicure #2

I didn't plan doing any skittles manicure for this Valentine's day because I'm not having so many plates to play with like last year. :D But yesterday after small talk with Liz on Twitter I decided to make at least something like last year. :D So I checked all plates I have and this is what I came up with....

All the colors and image plates I used are in the description under the photos so I won't write them here again. I choose dotted bow and hearts, sponged glitter and lovely stripe pattern,...Of course, you can wear one pattern for a full manicure nail or skittles like me. :D I did just my left hand because I'm planning to do more manicures so today I was walking around with only one hand polished, oops. :$

Here's the final result. :$ And of course, I had to add hearts one the first pictures in CS3 again! I just love how cute they are! :L

Essence - Nail Art Protecting Base Coat

Thumb: Essence - Very Berry / 2 coats + m59 & Essence - Style me Love / stamping + Pink Rhinestone

Index: Essie - French Affair / 3 coats + m65 & Essence - Style me Love / stamping

Middle: Orly - Fancy Fuchsia / 2 coats + m59 & Essence - Style me Love / stamping + Pink 3D Steel Glitters

Ring: Essence - Mr. Big / 2 coats + Essence - It's Time for Romance / sponged

Pinkie: China Glaze - Heli-Yum / 2 coats + BPS m17 & Essence Stamp me! White & Essence - Style me Love / stamping

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer 

I really can't decide what's my favorite design, because I'd wear all this patterns as full manicure for sure. &lt;3 The pink beads I added on my middle nails started staining after applying TC so I'm wondering how do you prevent that? It happened now with pink and purple beads a while ago with different TCs. :/ But if I don't layer a TC over them, they start falling much faster...

What do you think about this skittle manicure?? :) Thanks for reading! :rainbow

Okay, another post done... Now it's time for me to play with statistics.. It's midnight and I love studying at night, because everyone including our little devil is sleeping, so I have my own peace. :D

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Valentine's Day Manicure #1

It's already February and I can't believe it. :o I already saw lots of Valentine's stuff around in stores and because I loved my last year's Valentine's Day manicure, I decided to make a few more this year. :D Of course I can't make anything similar like last year, because I don't have so many plates to play with, so they probably won't be the best. :$ Instead of studying I rather play with my nails.... :/ Oh well...

I started with a coat of Essence - Back to the 50's, sponged a bit of Essence - Once Upon a Time and stamped with BPS image plate m17 and Essence Stamp me! White. :) Just like I said yesterday on Twitter, I'm not really satisfied with this manicure, there's something missing but I can't figure what! :D

On the first picture I added lovely hearts in CS3. <3 It looks like my background was full of hearts, cute! <3

Essence - Nail Art Protecting Base Coat

Essence - Back to the 50's (TE 50's Girls Reloaded) / 1 coat  

Essence - Once Upon a Time (TE Fairytale) / sponged

BPS m17 & Essence - Stamp me! white / stamping

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

 Here's the image plate I was using on the picture below. :) As you can see the pattern is pretty small so I had to stamp more than once to cover my whole nail. :D I just tried to stamp them near as possible but I failed, because sometimes I stamped the same spot twice. :D Oh well, I need more practice! :$

It's cute and simple, but I still don't love it. :D What do you think? You can play with colors and stamp hearts in different colors, I think that'd totally look awesome over a white with pink and red hearts. :D

Xoxo,
Ivana :k