Inspired by: Sophy Robson EEK Nails

Yap, another inspired by manicure. :) Thanks to everyone who left a comment on my last post, I was so happy when I saw you like it so much and I didn't expect a feedback like that. ^_^

I tried to find more manicures and when I saw this manicure, I had to try it out. It's simple but cute! :L

Here's a picture:

http://www.sophyrobson.com

This manicure was done by successful Sophy Robson, who paints the nails of celebrities. :) All the colors were made just for the Giles SS11 Show.

I tried to match the colors but I just couldn't find any similar blues in my stash. It looks like a blue with green undertones and I don't like them so I picked another one instead.

I made googly eyes with dotting tool and black and white polish. This manicure is so simple but it looks so cute. :)

 Nail Tek Foundation 2
Thumb: Orly - Pure Porcelain / 2 coats
Index: China Glaze - Sugar High / 2 coats

Middle finger: Essence - Sunny Side Up / 3 coats

Ring finger: Essence - Chuck / 2 coats

Pinkie: Essence - Replay! / 2 coats

Eyes: Dotting tool + Essence Stamp me! White & BPS  black stamping polish

Essie - Good to Go

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What do you think? :i Thanks for reading! :h

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Aquadelic Fancy Fuchsia

Huh, can you read me now? xo This malware problem almost made me stop blogging. But it should be fine now. If you're still having problems please let me know. If you have this malware problem, try to remove your blogroll, ads, favicon,..., check Google Webmaster Tool and ask for another check from Google and it should be fixed in a day if you removed everything you should.. :) I also extended a BPS $18 Giftacard Giveaway for two days and added a Google form instead of Rafflecopter, because I'm not really sure how safe Rafflecopter is.

It's finally super hot here and because I love neons atm so much I decided to wear my new neon top. <3 I usually don't mach my nails with my outfit, that's why I decided to wear another fun combo with neon pink and turquoise. I think I finally found a way to wear turquoise and green shades more often :)

I played with taking pictures to catch my nails and my outfit in the background. :)

H&M Top

Tally Weijl Shorts

New Yorker Bracelet

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OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Thumb, Ring finger: China Glaze - Aquadelic / 2 coats
Orly - Fancy Fuchsia / 2 coats 

What do you think? :) Do you like this combo?

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Replay Very Berry

I wanted to share both hands of my current manicure I already showed you here but I couldn't get a decent photo when I posted it few days ago. :) I'm still wearing it, because I love it so much. I don't know really why but I love when my mani is something special. ^_^

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Essence - Replay / 2 coats

Essence - Very Berry / 2 coats

You can see my PJ's in background. xD

How would you call this manicure style? I think I'll make another color combination tommorow for sure. :e

Because I only have one picture, here's another of  my big boy in action. :i

Let me know if you'd wear a manicure like this. :P

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Very Berry Replay

I wasn't really sure what to wear on my nails when I removed my Houndstooth Nails today so I picked just 2 random polishes and played with them. :D

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I have this combo on my left hand and reverse combo on my right hand and I must say I love it. It's kind of weird and funky, but I love when my nails are something special. :P

I used Very Berry and Replay from Essence, but both are discontinued now. :/ Such a shame, because I love them so much! ^_^

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 OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Thumb, index, middle finger: Essence - Replay / 2 coats

Ring finger, pinkie: Essence - Very Berry / 2 coats

Quick post for today! Would you wear a combo like this? :)

Have a lovely start of the week! :h

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Blue & Turquoise Gradient Nails

Can you believe it's already May here? :o Time flies by so fast....

I have another gradient manicure for you. :) I must say I'm really loving this trend, because they look so amazing and I got lots of compliments when I wore them. :$

Last time I picked a pink that was really hard to capture on picture and this time I picked a turquoise that looks blue on the pictures but I really hope you can see 2 colors on the pictures below. :D

Anyway, I applied a turquoise (China Glaze - Aquadelic) and baby blue creme (Essence - Fall for me) polish on the sponge and sponged it directly nails, moving the sponge a bit up and down while pressing so the colors really mixed together on the nail. I repeated this step 3 times to get a bit more opaque colors.I think I should add another coat but it looks better in person as on picture (I still can see some bald spots here and there).

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Here's how I applied 2 colors on the sponge. :)

Sponging: China Glaze - Aquadelic & Essence - Fall For Me

Beauty Secrets Top Coat Fast Finish Polish Dryer

There's a lot of techniques to do a gradient effect. You can do it like I did, or you apply one color and sponge the second on the tips,... I really love this tutorial from Sammy at The Nailasaurus so you should really check it out to see how she does it. I'll definitely try her method soon. :e

What do you think about today's color combination? Like it or not? :)

Have a lovely week and thanks for reading!

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

China Glaze - Aquadelic

 Let's show you something not pink, okay? :P

Aquadelic is a first polish from Electropop collection that I'm showing you on my nails. That collection really stole my heart (just like Up and Away) and I still want 2 of them (Kinetic Candy & Electric Beat) to complete my WL. :D

Aquadelic is everything you want from a turquoise creme nail polish. Great formula, easy application, you can easily get away with one thick coat but here I did 2 thin. Dries fast, looks fab. :D

I really love the color in the bottle, but I'm really not sure how it looks on my nails. I'll try it one more time when I get Dance Baby, because they go so perfectly together. :D

Btw... This polish is so hard to capture on picture! I ended with way to blue toned pics, but this polish really has lots of green undertones, I did my best with pictures below. Compared with For Audrey it's a bit brighter, so they definitely aren't dupes, in case you were wondering.

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 Nail Tek Foundation 2

China Glaze - Aquadelic / 2 coats

I think it stained my nails a bit and I wore it only for an hour, so be sure you're having 2 coats of base coat to prevent any major staining! :P It's such a pretty color - this is a good example how green I can go. :D

What do you think about Aquadelic? Do you already have it in your stash?

Have a lovely weekend dear readers and followers and thanks for reading!

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 

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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

Stargazer - 307

I owe you swatches of Stargazer #307, right? :) As I told you before, I got this polish from Esther at Fab Fingertips months ago and never had a chance to try it out. I wanted Space Cadet (Orly) for ages so Esther kindly sent me this polish instead, because it's supposed to be Space Cadet's dupe. :) Thanks Esther! <3

Stargazer #307 is more on a sheer side, I think I needed 4 coats for full opacity but it's definitely worth it. I like everything about this polish except the green shade which was visible most of the times under lamps and it drove me crazy, because I can't stand green on my nails. :) I will have to wear it on a daylight to see if I'll change my minds. :D 

This beauty is multichrome foil with teal base - you can spot green, pink, purple, yellow and bronze color. I took all this pictures under daylight bulb. 

I wasn't satisfied with pictures and my fingers posing, that's why I made this collage of pics to show you how green can this polish be. :D

I'm really loving Elsa's round pictures, hope she won't mind if I start using them too. :$

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

Stargazer - #307 / 4 coats

What do you think? It's also great base for stamping like I showed you here. :)

Do you own Space Cadet or any of its dupes? :) Like I said, it's way to green for my taste so I'm having bigger hopes for Models Own - Pinky Brown. :$ What's your favorite multi or duochrome?

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Stargazer - 307 & Born Pretty Nail Art Stamping Plate m57

Weeks ago I got another package from Born Pretty Store with few products for review purposes and here is the first I decided to try out. These pictures are quite old now but I never had time or will to crop and prepare them for post. Better late than never, right? :)

I got another image plate in mail - m57. I wanted it for a while, because I still don't own it. I just overlooked the important text on their page saying that the patterns are smaller than others. It'd be probably perfect for those with short nails but for me some patterns are too small, even normal patterns are sometimes too small for my nails but you can still use them of course. :)

Here you can see m57 on the right and m69 also from BPS on the left. You can see that the patterns are smaller on m57.

I wanted to try out another Leopard French Manicure I did before with different base color so I used Stargazer - 307 for my base. I'll show you pictures of this polish on its own in one of my next posts. :)

I used tape for diagonal lines and stamp my tips with this leopard pattern and Wet n Wild - Black Créme. On my middle finger I had to stamp the pattern twice to cover my whole nail. I probably couldn't do that with fishnet pattern, it'd be hard to make it look like I didn't stamp twice so if you have long nails or nailbeds, that pattern will be too small for you. :)

 

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

Stargazer - # 307 / 3 coats

Wet n Wild - Black Créme & m57 / stamping

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I hope you can see the pattern but it was really hard to take pictures of this mani. :/ What do you think? Do you like it?

Born Pretty Store has so many stamping plates and lots of other nail supplies for nail art with free worldwide shipping so I'd recommend you to take a look. You can also use code IRJ61 for 10% off on your order. ;)

Do you have any image plates from BPS? Do you like them? Thanks for reading! :)

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

*The product in this post was sent to me by Born Pretty Store! For more information read my disclosure policy!

Holiday Guest Post #4: Oooh, Shinies!

It's Christmas eve here so I just have to share this manicure today. <3 We're having Bregje from Oooh, Shinies! here today. :e Her nails are so perfect and she's master of stamping. I just love her manicures - perfect clean up, perfect stamping, perfect photos. <3

Hey all! Oh my, it's such an honour to be here :) When Ivana asked me I of course instantly thought pink! and cats! and glitters!, but I'm not so in the mood for pink right now with all the pretty Christmas colors around, and my cats aren't in the mood for playing background (they're too busy destroying my Christmas decoration xo ). But a glittery mani would still be perfect!

So here it is, 2 coats of China Glaze Jolly Holly with 1 coat of China Glaze Party Hearty, both are from last year's holiday collection. Party Hearty thickened up a bit, which actually made the application a lot easier! With bigger glitters I often end up with a lot of it on my tips and having to dab them in place, but now that the base was thicker, the glitters automatically spread well. I added 2 coats of top coat, and it looked all shiny and Christmas-y on my nails. But even though I enjoyed it like that, I'm not so used to these kinda sparkly manis and I couldn't capture it well either. So to solve that I added a coat of Essence Matt, and I think it looks great like this!

Here you can see how it looks shiny, which way do you like it best? :)

Have a great holiday season and a fantastic new year all! Ivana I hope you get well soon and that someone can polish your nails for you in the meantime, and thank you so much for having me on your wonderful blog :k

Christmas on your nails Bregje. :L I always loved Party Hearty, it reminds me on christmas tree full of red lights but I never added it to WL, because green isn't my favorite.  Mattified glitters are so special, but both versions are gorgeos! <3

I'm sure you all know Bregje and her lovely blog Oooh, Shinies! but in case you don't, be sure to check her blog and her lovely stamping manicures - she really makes awesome color and pattern combinations. <3 Thank you so much for this lovely post Bregje. :k

What do you think about this lovely manicure? Does it remind you on Christmas? What will you wear on Christmas Eve? Merry Christmas Eve dear readers and folowers and thanks for reading! <3

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Essence - Let's Get Lost

Going through my old swatches I found these pictures. It's definitely not my favorite, but blue lovers will probably love it. :)  

Let's Get Lost from Essence's Color&Go line is a nice blue with green undertones creme nail polish. That's why I don't like it - green undertones. I don't like blue with a hint of green, I really prefer more royal blue colors. <3

If you like those kinds of colors, then you just have to have it. Its application is quite amazing, it's great pigmented, if your nails are short, then you can get away with only one coat, but I needed 2 to hide the nail line. You can't go wrong with this amazing quality and really low price, double win. 8)

I really can't catch its green undertones, but they definitely are there, so these 2 pictures aren't 100% color accurate. :/

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 Essence - Let's Get Lost / 2 coats

I really like polishes from Color&Go line. Their application is quite amazing, brush is okay, price is low and some shades are just a must have. I just can't wait to get my hands on glitters, which were released now in September. <3

What do you think? Do you love these kinds of blue shades? :)

Have a nice and relaxing Sunday! ^_^

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Replay with Pink Fizz Instant Nail Effect

Instant Nail Effect aka Crackle time. :D So many different names of same pattern, kind of confusing. :) My inspirations was those vintage roses, which I wanted to create but I wasn't in the mood for nail art. I wanted to try Studio M polish which mostly of you have suggested but the weather wasn't beautiful so I spare it for another sunny day. :)

Pink Fizz Instant Nail Effect from Barry M is another pink crackle, dries matte, its crackles can be really bigger if you apply really thick coat like I did on my right hand but it's not fotogenic as my left hand. :D I'll definitely show you that once, because I think it's the prettiest crackle I've at the moment.

I won't talk much... Here're the pictures...

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I'm loving it so much so I decided to make a close up. :D As you can see it's matte, over a shiny polish looks kind of plastic finish too and like I draw it. :D

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Pictures with TC after a click. :)

Essence - Replay

It feels like I didn't show you my nails for ages. :D Finally I took some time yesterday and paint my nails. :) I've an idea in my minds for a whole week but since my freehand skills aren't that great I decided to make something way easier but the final result I'll be showing you next time. :)

Like I said a while ago I got a bunch of new polishes from Veri to try out and I still have so many left. :i I'm too lazy to change my manicure so often as before especially if I love it. :D Did you see that Essence'll have some new products in September (again) and I still didn't buy anything I'd like from new goodies which they've released in March. They're so fast with new stuff and lots of new limited editions. :)

Replay is a turquoise leaning more towards green creme nail polish. It's more on the thicker side, you can easily get away with one thick coat like I did on my right hand but here I've 2 coats and a layer a TC. :) I just hate its brush.. I never had problems with Essence's Multi Dimensions brushes but this one wasn't the first wonky brush I tried and I saw many complains about their brushes since they released new bottles in March. So please Essence fix that! :)

We've horrible and coooold weather (I'm freezing in July :ice ) so taking great pictures was really hard and my phone's acting really weird lately. xo

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If you love this color, you can't miss with Replay. :) First I thought this was a dupe for For Audrey but it's not. For Audrey is more pastel and more blue as this one in case you're wondering. :)

What do you think?

And thanks to all new and of course old followers who've joined my blog. There's already 705 of you, I never thought I'll have so many followers so I'm really happy to see you here. :k

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Broken Hearted, Crushed Candy and Virtual Violet

I have another crackle manicure for you today. :) I started using them more often - because they look like they'll become too thick to apply in the bottle and because I can easily hide a tip wear. :)  

Virtual Violet didn't last long on me, I think I had chips and very visible tip wear the other day so I decided to add some crackles. :D I used Schotch tape to make those straight lines - Broken Hearted is on my ring finger and Crushed Candy on others. :) I accidentaly put Broken Hearted on the opposite side of my nail, but I must say I liked it even more because of that. :$

I really loved this combination! :L On the fist picture below you can even see some holographic glitter. :D

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That's how I's wearing it for few days more. :) I don't know why, but I can't prepare myself to change my mani every other day like I used to. :D I wore my manicures for whole week or even more past 2 months so I'm still not used to change my mani if it's still perfect. :i So if I don't post every other day, you know what's the problem. :P

What do you think about this manicure? Do you like crackles? Or not? :)

Have fun,

Ivana :k

Essence You Belong To Me & Crack me! Black

Although I liked this color I decided to try how Essence Crack me! Black looks over You Belong To Me. I'm actually so bored with all crackles, because almost every brand has some. I want something new, not just crackles in one million different colors. :i

I got both to try out and here is Crack me! Black. Like almost all crackles, you must apply a coat over any dry polish. I tried China Glaze's crackles and their application is quite thick and this one isn't thick at all. It's so smooth, you can apply it so easily. Great job, Essence! 

It dries fast and it's very pigmented. Patterns of crackles are different than China Glaze's so it just depends, what you like more. I really love China Glaze's crackles but love Essence's formula. :P

It's dries matte so if you prefer shiny version, you can always apply a TC. :)

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With a layer of TC...

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What do you think? Do you like these kind of crackles or do you prefer China Glaze, OPI, Nicole by OPI, Barry M, LCN, Models Own, Golden Rose, etc. etc. etc... :D

A tiny picture spam, but I just couldn't decide which one to show you. :) I'm actually writing this post for an hour, my head is crazy, it seems like I forgot all words in English. :D I also spilled out a bottle of 108 Degrees today... I was sooooooooo mad! xo Not because I ruined the carpet but because I spilled one of most  beautiful polish. There's still a lot left but still... I'm so clumsy sometimes. xo

Nighty night,

Ivana :k

Essence - You Belong To Me

I wanted to post my upgrade of Virtual Violet but I changed my mind today when I painted my nails. :D I got a bunch of polishes from my lil' sister Veri to try them out. I still didn't buy any single polish from Essence's new range. I'm broke, I have to complete my swaps first and then I'm picking some of them for me. :D But she already picked some of them so she was kind enough to lend them to me. :D Thank you dear. :k

I decided to pick something else, it's a time to show you something different than pink, right? :) You Belong To Me (what a pretty name :$ ) is a nice light blue with hint of green creme pastel, I suppose it's very similar to Essie - Mint Candy Apple. :)

Application is great, 2 coats and a coat of TC. I'm quite impressed with their formula, some pastels can be  really difficult to apply, but this one isn't.

I had so many problems with my nails today. My pointer curls.. A lot. :P And it really annoys me, because it's even more noticable on pics. So I had to soak it into water and take all the pictures again. Everything for decent pictures. :P

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As you can see, my nails are quite long now. They're not peeling at all, thanks to the Nail Tek Intesive Therapy II and now Foundation II. :b From light it depends how this polish looks like - I took this picture on daylight and it looks just blue. :)

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I really love it and I definitely need it! I love those little Color & Go polishes, they're cheap and great! You can't go wrong with them. :)

I watched Wimbledon today. What a great finals but of course Novak Đoković won! :e From tommorow on he's the #1! Congrats! :b

Xoxo,

Ivana :k