Just checking in...

Long time no see? :) Absolutely yes...

I just unintentionally clicked on my favorites that led me to my old blog I loved to update back then... I rarely read any blogs now days, just being obsessed with Instagram, because it makes it so easier to keep in touch with some of my favorite sites on my phone while I'm driving back from work...

Looking back I really miss blogging but as probably all of you know, it takes time for doing it. There's a history I left here and I still love doing my nails but I just can't prepare myself to do my nails more often (or even take some pictures of manicures I do wear). I change my manicure every Sunday, so once per week which is like 3 times less than I used to. Stamping? What's that? I don't remember the last time I stamped my nails...

I just wanted to see if there's anyone here? Let me know how are you all doing... :i

Love, 

Ivana <3 comment-3--="">

Gold Knockout Pout

My nails were naked for a whole week, because I wasn't really sure what to wear. But few days ago I finally decided. It was time for Essie's Knockout Pout. It's part of Essie's Summer 2010 collection. 

Really lovely pink with peach undertones and it has a satin finish when it dries, so it's probably a neon? :) The formula is a bit thick, but you can easily get away with 2 or 3 coats. I'm not really a fan of Essie's brush, I prefer big flat brush over Essie's. It's a bit hard to capture on photo, but it's such a lovely shade in person - sometimes more peach and sometimes more pink. :)

Then I added a coat of Essence's Make it Golden on half on my nails and over also Milani Jewel FX - Gold. Make it Golden is going to be discontinued this fall, so be sure you'll grab it before that, I need a back-up of this gorgeous polish. :L

Daylight

 OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthene

Essie - Knockout Pout / 2-3 coats

Essence -  Make it Golden / 1 coat

Milani Jewel FX - Gold / 1 coat

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

Extra photo... :i

What do you think? :i Have a lovely Friday and weekeend and thanks for reading!

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

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

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

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

Houston We Have a Purple with Prancer Mattified

Hiya! :) 

I'm still wearing and enjoying my Funky French Skittles so I'll have to show you something else. I showed you Houston We Have a Purple few days ago but I decided to upgrade it somehow. :i I's seeing mattified glitter all around so I wanted to try it out and that's why I'm posting matte first although I wanted to show you shiny version first. :D

I added 1 coat of Wet'n'Wild Prancer (red hexagonal and small glitter in a clear base)  and 1 coat of Essie - Matte About You. 

Daylight

Weak sun

Mattified glitter looks sooooo amazing! And flakies too but I need to try that one day too (probably when I get my hands on some Nfu.OH flakies). :i

That's all for today, I'm sooo sleepy so I'm going to take a nap for an hour or two. :)

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Easter Funky French Skittles

I wasn't planning doing an Easter manicure but I remembered how much I liked Funky French Skittles at The Polished Perfecionist so for my Easter manicure I decided to make something like she did. I wish my nails were longer so the french tip'd be longer but anyway, I must say I like it a lot!

It's so colorful, just like chocolate eggs I'm eating right now *yummi* so it's perfect for Easter too. :P

Sun

Daylight

 From thumb to pinkie:

Essie - Van D'Go & Orly - Pixy Stix

China Glaze - Something Sweet & China Glaze - Rich & Famous

China Glaze - Light as Air & China Glaze - Spontaneous

China Glaze - Agent Lavender & Essence - Forget-Me-Not

China Glaze - Secret Peri-wink-le & H&M - Blue My Mind

I used 2 coats of each polish, even for the french tip. All polishes are creme, just Forget-Me-Not has secret shimmer. :i It's so fun to make it and combine different colors. :i It's quite hard for me to find a matching blue, since I don't own a lot of blues (I've to change that :$ ). Colors are most accurate on last picture. :) Just Essie - Van D'Go became more orange after putting one layer of TC, weird. xo

That's all for today! :)

Take care,
Ivana :k

Swap with Leslie from Nail Polish Art Addiction

I just got home and immediately start taking pictures of package that I got last week from lovely Leslie at Nail Polish Art Addiction. I was busy lately, then spending time at BF's but Leslie - your package'll go tommorow on your way too I promise! Sorry for this tiny delay and I hope you get it soon... :) I hope you'll like it as much as I like all goodies you sent me. :e

Let's start with pictures... :) Be prepared for lots of pinks, like always. :P

China Glaze

Snow

Laced Up

Crackleglaze Broken Hearted

Strawberry Fields

Heli-Yum

Spontaneous

OPI

Rumple's Wiggin

DS Original :L

Funky Dunkey

Houston We Have a Purple

Do you think I'm Tex-y

Too Hot Pink to Hold 'Em

Original - my new love. :L I don't know what's happening but I want all holos on this world. :D I got also all pink sorbets from Texas collection, yaay! :e

Orly

Fancy Fuchsia

Sapphire Silk

Milani

Gold Glitz

Purple Gleam

Hi-Res

Color Club

Vintage Couture

Mrs. Socialite

Essie

French Affair

Nice is Nice

Sally Hansen

Blush Rush

Dahlia

See - I don't have enough of pinks at all! :D It's a crazy obsession, because I always think I need all pinks I see. :D But at least I'm obsessed just with pinks for now.... :$

Candies, ring which I already showed, a strawberry tote! It's so lovely, I will definetely use it often. :)

Thank you so much Leslie!

I was so happy while I was opening your package, now it's time to start trying them too. :) I really don't know where to start.What do you suggest?

And that's not all! I just opened another swap package from Carolina at Colores de Carol but I'll upload pictures tommorow - I got also so much new goodies from her. :$ Now I'm going to watch ANTM and sleep. It'll be a busy day tommorow. :)

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Valentine's Day ♥

It's a Valentine's Day today! Hope you're spending a nice time with those you love!

I made this manicure yesterday for this special day. It's not just a Valentine's day for me, every 14th in the month reminds me that I'm one month longer with my BF. Today we're 2 years and 10 months together... Love you honey!

Let's start with my manicure... I couldn't decide what color should I wear.. I didn't want ending with red, so I picked all these color and made pink-a-lilac creme skittles.

Essence - No More Drama

Essie - Lilacism

Orly - Lollipop

China Glaze - Something Sweet

China Glaze - Rich & Famous

I added 2 coat of each and 1 coat of Essie G2G. I didn't have any problems with applications. Here's one picture, but I forgot to include my thumb.

Sorry for the bad picture, it was so grey outside!

Then I started thinking what should I do now.... I searched for inspiration at many blogs and then decided to do this... Mix and match...

I was just holding Pure Ice for taking pictures, I didn't use it for this manicure. It's the only bottle I have at BF's.

Daylight, cloudy day

From L to R:
Essence - No More Drama stamped with Essence - Stamp me! White & Confetti - Vava Voom + BM02
Essie - Lilacism stamped with Essence Stamp me! White + m73
Orly - Lollipop sponged with Wet n Wild - Glitz
China Glaze - Something Sweet stamped with Essence Stamp me! White & Confetti - Vava Voom + BM02
China Glaze - Rich & Famous stamped with Essence Stamp me! White + m79

I tried sponging for the first time and I really like it how it turned out. What do you think? It's not classic red&white manicure, but it's so me. I spent an hour for this and then half hour just for my pinkie. I was perfectly done with both hands and then I ruined my pinkie... I decided to start at the beggining and ruined it again... And again... And again... And finally made it.

I won't be posting this week, because I'm having an exam on Thurdsay and I have to study. I also forgot all my polishes at home.

Happy Valentine's day girls!

Xoxo,

Ivana

Nail Mail

Today I'll show you goodies I got from two lovely girls Colorful bottle and Lyra. Both have beautiful blog I really like to read, so you should check them too!

As I already told you I got only one Essence magnetic nail polish from TE Metallics and Colorful Bottle helped me and got another 3 for me. Today I received them and I can't wait to try them. Lyra also send me 2 beautiful nail polishes, Uptown girl and Lilacism! Thank you a lot!

I add to this picture also cute Essence nail stickers I recently bought and my new glass file I really can't live without. I wanted the pink one, but I couldn't find it anywhere, so I bought blue again. I already got one a while ago but after one week I broke it. I was so mad then, but now I have new one, woohoo! I love this file, because I can easily file my nails in a shape I want, I really recommend this one! You can get it in DM and it costs around 7€. I got it for few € less, because Ina from Hysteria of Decay send me a discount coupon! Thank you!

Essence Nail Art Stickers
Essence TE Metallics:
Iron Goddes
Cooper Rulez!
Steel Me!
Nothing Else Metals
Color Club - Uptown Girl
Essie Mini - Lilacism
Credo glass file

When I opened the package from Colorful Bottle I was so happy. Why? She send me some nail polishes to try and all BM plates to try out! I always wanted to try Bundle Monster plates so she kindly offered to send me and she send me all 21 of them and I really wanted just #20, because of that stripes pattern. Now I'll stamp a lot! Wooohoo! I will try Zoya for the first time, a matte purple beauty - Savita. Can't wait! And Hidden Treasure from Sally Hansen - flakies wooooohoo! I already know that I'll put Savita on my WL!

Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure in an Essence bottle
Colorful Bottle's Franken - Gold Rush
Zoya - Savita

Bundle Monster Plates

Thank you a lot! I hope you'll like the goodies I send you today!

Now I'm going to take off Cooper Rulez!, reply to the comments and do some stamping with BM plates!

Xoxo,
Ivana