Señorita Bonita & Forget Now Gradient

Gradient is a new huge trend going on right now so I definitely will make more gradients in the future, because I'm really a big fan! It looks like your nails were done by professional, but all you need is a piece of sponge, 2 or more polishes and you're ready to go. :i

When my previous manicure started chipping, I decided to upgrade it with a gradient. :L Since I already had this blueish pink, I decided to go with a pink and purple.

The purple I used is Señorita Bonita from China Glaze's Summer Island Collection (really gorgeous purple with tiny pink flakes), the pink is Forget Now from Sinful Colors. First I wanted to use 108 Degrees, also by China Glaze, but since I spilled out a few ml of this gorgeous polish, I checked my stash and found a dupe, yay! So yes, 108 Degrees and Forget Now are really really close. :)

I think I sponged 3 times, mostly because I wanted to cover my ring finger with Waking Up in Vegas, but 2 would be enough on other nails.

I just love this blurry picture I took. <3

Daylight - Blurry

Daylight

Base:
OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Essence - Shopping Trip in Soho / 2 coats

Essence - Party all night long / 1 coat

Ring Finger: Essence - Waking up in Vegas / 1 coat 
***
Sponging: China Glaze - Señorita Bonita & Sinful Colors - Forget Now
Beauty Secrets Top Coat Fast Finish Polish Dryer 

I just love how these 2 looks together! It looked even yummier as a base color I had on before sponging. :L Sometimes it looked like I was wearing a duochrome. :)

What do you think about this color combo? :) Did you already master this gradient technique? :) If you're searching for a tutorial, don't forget to check Sammy's amazing tutorial!

There's still time to vote for BM's contest, you can find the links in the right sidebar or in my previous posts! I know I'm spamming you with these links all the time. :$

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Essence Nail Colour³ - Shopping Trip in Soho

Essence came out with duo nail polishes this spring and when I was buying some of them for swap, I decided to buy one for me. I picked duo Shopping Trip in Soho, of course. :i They're called Essence Nail Colour3 - "choose from either of the two colours or layer them over each other to create your unique 3rd colour!" That's what it says on the bottle.

I decided to layer them, because the flakie side is sheer so it's perfect for layering. :) Each side has also name stamped on the bottle with really cute font. :)

The base Shopping Trip in Soho is pink with really subtle pink shimmer, but it looks like it's a pink creme on nails. My phone doesn't want to pick up the shimmer but it's really visible in the bottle but unfortunately not on nails. I added 2 coats for full opacity.

Daylight

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Essence - Shopping Trip in Soho / 2 coats

 I was trying to pick up the shimmer, but I failed. xD

Then I added one coat of Party all night long. It's a sheer jelly base with pink and blue flakies. It reminds me of jam - so juicy and delicious. :D They're not super visible on the nail, but if you look closely, you will see this blurple and pink sheen.

Daylight

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Essence - Shopping Trip in Soho / 2 coats

Essence - Party all night long / 1 coat

Flakies.. :L

Just because I was bored, I added a coat of Waking up in Vegas (also by Essence) on my ring finger. More flakies. :L

Daylight

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Essence - Shopping Trip in Soho / 2 coats

Essence - Party all night long / 1 coat

Ring Finger: Essence - Waking up in Vegas / 1 coat 

I'm not really a fan of pinks with blue shimmer, so I'm not really sure how I feel about pink with blue flakies. :D I won't say I hate it but I'm not really loving it either. :D I'm also not a fan of duo polishes - you get 2x4 ml of polish, they're hard to storage, because they're so long. If you don't like how long they are, just simply pull them apart and you'll get 2 tiny bottles easy to storage. 

Do you have any of these Essence's Duos? What's your favorite?  :)

Just to remind you... It'd mean a world to me if you'd take a second of your time and vote for me in BM's contest. Voting ends on Sunday and you can vote every day...

If you have FB profile, click HERE to vote.

If you don't have FB, click HERE to vote.

Thank you so much for your votes! :) 

Have a lovely day and thanks for reading!

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 

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

Call me when you find Unicorn Puke

It's time for another manicure I'll probably wear until it totally chips. :D

My hand is much better now and I'm happy I waited to fully recover before coming back. :) I still have problems with lifting things and I can't move my wrist up and down,  but it's much better as it was. :e

I also file my nails down just because I had problems with my index nail, I had a tiny cut on the side but I always manage to file it to a smooth edge. But it kept breaking my nail and everytime I spotted the cut, I was so nervous so last time I decided to file all my nails down. As you probably know I prefer long nails on me, but I hate if I have peels or weird borders. :$

I didn't know what to wear so my mom chose for me.Well I pick 2 of them and she pick the one. :)

p2 - Call me! & Cult Nails - Unicorn Puke

She picked p2 - Call Me! - dark plum creme. It looks much lighter in the bottle on the sun than on nails. :) I got it from Adora Belle but I didn't hear from her for ages, hope she's okay! :( I added 2 coats for full opacity and it dries pretty fast. Since I've seen Amygrace's nails she did for my guest post, I feel in love with sponged flakies so I decided to try my first Cult Nails tiny bottle of Unicorn Puke I got from Iris at Polish Amor ♥. Thank  you Iris for sharing your bottle of Unicorn Puke with me. <3 Unicorn Puke or also Clairvoyant has multicolored flakies in a purple jelly base - you can find blue, green, orange, purple flakies inside, all I can say is gooooorgeous! <3

Sun

Daylight

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

p2 - Call Me! / 2 coats

Cult Nails - Unicorn Puke aka Clairvoyant / sponged

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

It's soooo pretty. <3 Unicorn Puke is really an amazing polish. :) I hope I'll get my hands on more awesome polishes from Cult Nails. :) I should definitely wear dark color more often, especially when my nails are so short. :$

What do you think about this combination? :) Thanks for reading! :rainbow I should take a nap to catch some sleep and study! I have an exam on Saturday - not good. :(

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Holiday Guest Post #13: The Polished Perfectionist

Another holiday guest post, maybe the holidays are really gone but I don't want to change the name of this guest post set, and we have an Orthodox New Year's Eve on Friday too. :P

I'm so excited to have AmyGrace from The Polished Perfectionist here. :$ She's probably my role model! When I "grow up" I want to have nails like she has with such a perfect application, pictures and everything. I can stalk her blog all the time, because she's just amazing. <3
Let's see what she has prepared for us today. <3

 

Hi everyone!

I'm really excited; being asked by Ivana to make a guest post for her wonderful blog is just.. wow. I love her nails and she's so sweet, but of course you already know that. It feels good to help a sweet blogging friend out! Ivana, thanks for the opportunity! I hope your hand recovers quickly so we can see your beautiful nails again. ♥

No pink on my nails, but I hope you guys can appreciate my purple mani. ^^ I started with applying two coats of Diamond Cosmetics - Crushed Velvet. This purple is so lovely I almost felt guilty for adding something to it, but I had to make my nails look a bit more special for this special post. I decided to sponge the tips of my nails with Fowl Play from Orly. Fowl Play is a masterpiece, look at all those awesome glitter bits and flakes (noticed the big one in the letter O?)! I was curious how my nails would look matte, so later I applied one coat of matte top coat. I like both looks, what do you think?

 

Thanks for watching!

I'm in loooooove, that's why I made this pictures so big! <3 Everything is just perfect on this manicure. :L I never thought of using a flakie for sponging but now I definitely need to try this out! I love both but shiny version just a little more. AmyGrace thank you for sending me this amazing manicure, I'm really honoured to have you here. :h

I'm sure you all know AmyGrace, but just in case you still don't follow her blog The Polished Perfectionist, you should and I promise you, you'll be obssesed with her :P

Do you like both versions? :L

Thanks for reading! :rainbow

Have a lovely day,

Ivana :k

Merry Midnight dear True Love

Today's the perfect day to show you this manicure. <3 I already posted True Love but here's my upgrade. I wanted Merry Midnight for ages and I'm so happy I own it now, thank you so much mrsrexy from Canadian Nail Fanatic.

Merry Midnight is part of OPI's Holiday Wishes collection from Winter/Holiday 2009. It's a deep plum base with blue glitter and opal flakies. It's more on a sheer side so it was a perfect time to layer it over another plum color. <3 There's nothing more to say... Love at first sight! :)

All pictures were taken under daylight bulb and black background.

Essence - True Love / 2 coats

OPI - Merry Midnight / 2 coats

I could post so many pictures of it but I decided to pick just 2. I just love this combination! What about you? Do you have MM? If not, you can still grab Orly - Fowl Play when it's still available, because MM can be really hard to find or very expensive though. :/ 

 It's D.'s birthday today, so Happy Birthday my dear! <3 u! :k

I picked the perfect combination for his birthday, don't you think? :$

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Gossip Girl (yap, I just started watching GG xD )
Ivana :k

Essence TE Re-mix Your Style Swatches & Nail Wheel Review

Guess what just hit our stores??? :) Essence's Re-mix Your Style Trend Edition. <3 I've been waiting for this collection for ages and it's finally available in DM (hurry up, you can't miss all these pretties :) ).

I'm so broke without any money so my mom helped me get these. :h 6 base colors and 4 special top coats were released in this collection but I wanted just some of the topcoats. 

I picked Dance, Love and Pop top coats, I left behind Rock TC because I'm not a fan of dark colors. :) I just got nail wheels from Born Pretty Store to review so I decided to show them on nail wheel but of course I can't wait to put my new beauties on nails.

Here're the polishes I used on nail wheel down below:

Wet n Wild - Black Créme

Essence Dance Top Coat - Waking up in Vegas

Essence Love Top Coat - Feels so good

Essence PopTop Coat - Just can't get enough

Here are all TCs layered over a Black Créme . :L

 

 From Top to Bottom

Essence Pop Top Coat - Just can't get enough / 2 coats

Essence Love Top Coat - Feels so good / 1 coat 

Essence Dance Top Coat - Waking up in Vegas / 2 coats

Wet n Wild - Black Créme / 1 coat

They look amazing layered over a black! Bottles look so boring but when you apply them over a color, they become gorgeous! <3 

Just can't get enough (Pop) is a light pink base shimmer with holographic glitter. It's pretty amazing in person as on pictures and very opaque so I add 2 coats and like you can see, you can't even see a black under. I love this beautiful scattered shimmer inside, great job Essence, now you really made a holographic TC, I actually thought that this will be just another duochrome.... xD

Feels so Good (Love) is a very beautiful duochrome TC like those CND Sparkle effects. It changes the color depending on lightning, I only caught this beautiful lilac sparkle. 

Waking up in Vegas (Dance) is probably the diamond of this collection. How can you miss a flakie top coat for such an awesome price? :o It's just perfect. It looks like Nubar - 2010 what I've seen from some comparison posts but if you ask me, Essence wins, just because of the low price. :)

Essence should put all of these top coats in their regular range with other special toppers because these are just amazing. :L Unfortunately when this TE will be sold out, you probably won't be able to find it anywhere so be sure you grab them when you find them. :/ 

Let me say just a few words about my new nail wheels. I wanted them forever and when I got another opportunity to review some things from Born Pretty Store I decided to give them a try. I got 10 pieces of Clear False Nail tips Art Display Practice Wheels.

They came in one piece because they packed them great, so no issues with broken nail wheels. I like that they're clear, idk why but they just look prettier than the white one. :)

Now I can't wait to paint them all. :D They're great, because you can see how the polish looks like when you apply it, you can paint all your nail polishes you have and see if you have any dupes, you can try to make a nail art first on them and after you see the result, you can make same manicure on your nails, etc... :) Every piece has 20 "nails", so you can try 200 combinations with this set but if you want more, you can order another set, they're not so expensive.

You can get 10 pieces for a nice price $6.15 and use code IRJ61 for 10% off on your order. :)

Do you use nail wheels? Why? For nail art, for keeping a track of your collection? What do you think about Re-mix collection? What are your favorites? Did you manage to get any of these? Can't wait to hear your responds!

I got another stamping plate from BPS but I can't find it. I've been loosing things in my room forever and it annoys me so much lately. :/ As soon as I find it, I'll try to make a manicure with! :)

Thanks for reading! :rainbow

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

*Some of the products in this post was sent to me by Born Pretty Store! For more information read my disclosure policy!

Funky Dunkey with a Broken Hearted Treasure

I'm trying not to change my manicure so often because my pointer is still peeling a bit and I still don't want to shorten them all. :D I hope it'll grow out soon so I could fill them down little by little and have strong nails.  :$ I'm using Nail Tek II Intensive Therapy at the moment, I'll probably make a post about this therapy but later. Now it's too quick to say anything. :)

I wanted to try one of my crackles so I picked Broken Hearted and layered it over Funky Dunky with Hidden Treasure. :L Broken Hearted dries matte so I added one coat of Nail Tek to have shiny nails.

Broken Hearted dries extremly fast so you have to be quick with application. I wasn't even careful how I applied thic crackle - just be sure you have enough polish on the brush and apply it on nail quickly. And then the magic happens. :i

Sun

Sun, blurry

Daylight

I really love this effect and combination with flakies. :L You can expect lots of crackled manicure in the future. :e

Tommorow I've lectures again and I hope that profesor will show up this time. :i Or..... :brow

Nighty night,

Ivana :k

OPI - Funky Dunkey with Hidden Treasure

Like I said, it's time for Hidden Treasure. :L I got this bottle from colorfulbottle to try out. I got it months ago but I didn't have any idea how to combine it. :D But when I saw really beautiful combo at With love, Ana I knew what I'll try one day. :P

So  I added 2 coats of Sally Hansen - Hidden Treasure over OPI - Funky Dunkey. I don't know why I thought one coat wasn't enough because it would look softer than this but I like it anyway. :D It can look yellow, orange or even green depends on the light, true chameleon. :)

The only thing I really don't like about this Sally Hansen is the brush. So wide and awkward. xo Applying HT was easy, but I really can't imagine how would I apply a pastel polish with that brush - my manicure would probably be just a big fail. :O

Sun

Shade

Daylight

My nails are on fire. :i I took thousand of pictures but I'll show you just these, because most of them are really similar. You get the idea how it looks like right?

I need more flakies in my stash, I wish I could get my hands on OPI - Merry Midnight - another polish which is hard to get. :( And I need some Nfu.OH flakies one day too......... Will my WL ever come to an end? :i

What do you think about this combination? Like it or not? I'm going to sleep now, it'll be a looong day tommorow. :)

Nighty night,
Ivana :k