Pink Caviar Manicure

I'm sure you're already familiar with Caviar manicure, because I'm seeing it everywhere at the moment but in case you have no idea what I'm talking about, I'll tell you one more time. :P

Ciaté released a Caviar Manicure set, where you get a base nail polish and pearls aka beads. Long story short, great idea but the whole set is a bit overpriced. Okay, you get a tray and mini funnel to pour back all beads that fall down but you can put a tiny box under and make your own funnel from a piece of paper. :D The idea about caviar manicure is to pour pearls over wet polish, gently push them to stick even more and get a 3D manicure that looks like caviar. :D I think we all got same idea when we saw this set....
 

All you need are beads. I got mine on Born Pretty Store ages ago, search for 3D Steel Ball Glitter. This set costs a bit more than $5 and you get 12 colors so you can easily mix them together and get funny combinations. You can use my new code J10X31 to get 10% off. Btw... If this code will be used two times more, BPS will sponsor a giveaway. :)

Step 1: Apply a base color. Or if you already have nail polish on, you can just add a layer of top coat to have sticky surface. Do one nail at a time.

Step 2: When polish is still wet, put your finger over something that will catch fallen beads. Sprinkle beads over your nail to cover the whole surface.

Step 3: Gently push the beads down so they stick a bit more and you get rid of a beads that didn't stick to the nail.

Step 4: Apply a coat of top coat to seal the beads and make them "long lasting".

Daylight

I did my ring finger yesterday and it seems like the topcoat changed color to light pink so it looks like I did an accent nail. :P

Sun

 Base color: Essence TE Circus Circus - Cotton Candy

Mix of pink, light pink and purple 3d Steel Ball Glitters

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I was done in less than 10 minutes, but I only did my left hand. I'm sure I'll do a full manicure once in the future, because it's really easy to make it.

My nails are super short, excuse me for that, but the final result looks funny and cute even on my nubs. :) So yes, no need to spend so much money on that set. :e You can mix as many color as you like so you're not limited with specific color combinations of beads, that's another plus!

What do you think? Do you like this new trend and idea about Caviar manicure? It's not super long lasting so I'd definitely wear it for special occasions or when you want to do something special. :D

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 

Leopard Print

Time flies by just too fast. :/ I don't have a lot of time for nails but I finally took some time to remove my previous manicure and make something quick but cute. :) I'm in a brown period lately so I wanted to have something brown on my nails too and what's better than leopard print? :) 

I started with one coat of BS and Essence - Zulu (light gray creme with plastic finish) just to give my nails a color. I decided to sponge Desert Fox (greyish brown), also from Essence, and Warm & Fozzie (brown copperish duochrome) from OPI to get a little shimmery look. :) I stamped leopard pattern with BPS M57, as I already told you that the patterns are small so I had to double or triple, but I didn't have problems with placing the pattern to look like I didn't have to stamp twice. :) I added some dots with 2030 from China Glaze - gold metallic color and a layer of TC to finish my whole manicure. 

When I made it yesterday I wasn't sure if I like but as soon as I saw it on sun, I love it! :)

Sun

Daylight

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

Essence - Zulu (TE Into the Wild) / 1 coat

Essence - Desert Fox (TE Into the Wild) / sponged

OPI - Warm & Fozzie / sponged

Wet n Wild - Black Créme & BPS M57 / stamping

China Glaze - 2030 / dots

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

What do you think? I will probably wear it for whole this week. &lt;3 Do you like wearing animal prints? Which one is your favorite? Mine are probably leopard and zebra. :)

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day! :rainbow

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Essence TE Vampire's Love True Love & Bloody Mary Blush Gelee

It's finally here. :e I'm talking about Vampire's Love Trend Edition from Essence. I found the full display in DM and thanks to my mom, I bought 2 things I wanted. Being broke on December is worst case scenario if you ask me and it's not going to be better until January. :/ Oh well. xo

All the pictures below were taken under daylight bulb and black background. I have no idea why my hands look so smooth but I didn't do anything to the pictures to remove the noise. xo

Vampire's Love has 5 nail polishes but only one caught my eye. Here's what I picked. :e

Nail Polish in True Love, Blush Gelee in Bloody Mary

I'm a big fan of blushes so I decided to give it a try. Blush Gelee is available in one color called 01 Bloody Mary. I have powder blushes, cream blushes, liquid blushes so the gelee was something new to me. Blush has lovely jelly texture and it comes in a bottle with a pump. Once you pump it out of the bottle, looks so dark jelly red, but it's very pigmented so you don't need a lot for your cheeks. :$ I use my Essence's blush brush to blend it on my cheeks, that's how I avoid having stained fingers, becuase it stains so badly, which means it's very long lasting. And that's what I love most about this blush. <3 I can apply it in the morning and it'll last on me until I wash off my MU, great, right?

 

When I wanted to remove it, I tried to smudge it with my fingers and tissue paper. This is how it looks like after.

 

It won't go away. :) After whole night and day I still had stained skin on my arm, so yes, this blush is long lasting for sure. :e You get 13 ml (0.43 fl.oz) of blush for 3,29 €, I think that's a nice deal. :)

Next thing I wanted the most was a nail polish in color True Love. It has a lovely name and it's an awesome shimmery plum color. I'm not a big fan of dark colors but this one just caught my eye, it's a perfect color for fall in my opinion so I decided to wear it now before the winter starts. :D

Application was great, I applied 2 coats for full opacity. The main problem I had with this polish is the brush. I already got so many wonky brushes from Essence and I always forget to check the brush before buying it. But from now on, I surely will. :D I love how his polish can look so boring and dark without light but it just pops out when the light hits it. <3

 Essence - True Love / 2 coats

Gorgeous! :L You get 10 ml of this beauty for 1,79 € (0.33 fl.oz), that's another great deal. :e

What do you think about this collection? Did you buy anything? Have you ever tried blush gelee? Do you like True Love? :)

Have a nice beggining of the week. :rainbow

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Essence - You're my Dragonfly, Sugar!

The weekend is almost gone and I'd love to have a few days more just for sleeping and resting. :/ Oh well, I can't wait another Friday to be here. :e

It's NATventURista Time. :D When I saw swatches of this whole collection, I decided that I don't need anything. But when you find an untouched rack, which usually never happen, I decided to buy at least something. :D 

You're my Dragonfly, Sugar! is a peachy nude with tiny silver glass flecked glitter. It's more on a sheer side so I had to add 3 coats for a full opacity. Well, I love the final result. <3 I just didn't like the brush, I went to find more pics about this polish and I stumbled upon this post at Mai senza smalto! and her brush was wonky as mine. I usually don't open any bottles in store but from now on, I definitely will especially when I'm buying Essence, because this was not the first wonky brush I got from them. :) On warm daylight look more peachy as on cold daylight as you can see on the 2nd photo.

 

Daylight

Lightbox, daylight

Nail Tek Intensive Theraphy II

Essence - You're my Dragonfly Sugar / 3 coats

Essie - Good to Go

Here's a bottle detail. <3 First I though that this shimmer won't be visible on nail but it is. :) I also love the cap detail, so cute. :)

This is my favorite polish from NATventURista Trend Edition. What do you think? Do you like it? I wanted to stamp it but my base coat wasn't cooperating with this beautie so after 2 days I peeled it off and my nails are still naked. :D As you can see, they're short too, I broke a middle finger while sleeping so I decided to shorten them a bit. But they're growing back, yay. :e

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Back to the 50's with Lightning Bolt

I didn't wear this because I added a coat of super pretty jelly and made jelly sandwich but I took some photos to show you how Lightning Bolt look like. It's a white creme crackle from China Glaze. I don't know why but I'm so over these crackles, I want something fresh, new, no more new crackles, please. xo

It dries fast and matte, I added a coat over Back to the 50's from Essence.

Daylight

Sun

Close up. :i

 Nail Tek - Foundation 2 / 1 coat

Essence - Back to the 50's / 2 coats

China Glaze - Lightning Bolt / 1 coat

What's your favorite crackle? Do you want more crackles in your collection?

That's all for today, thanks for reading and leaving a comment! :rainbow

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Essence TE 50's Girl Reloaded Haul

I'm so behind with my posts and comments but I decided that I'd write something today. Thanks for your lovely comments on my previous post. Next day I shorten my nails, like I said my thumb's broken so the difference was too obvious and I'm so allergic to different lenghts, okay thumbs can go through but if my ring finger is broken... No way! xo 

So as I already said Essence has gone crazy with Trend editions this summer. Ballerina Backtage and Nails in style is alread sold out everywhere but recently 50's Girl Reloaded hit our DM. :) So I actually wasn't planning to buy anything but when I saw how everyone's loving their lipsticks I had to get mine. I wanted a nice red polish too so I bought that one, you can't miss with that price at all. :$

Here's what I got:

 Nail polish - Back to the 50's

Lipsticks - 02 I’m Sailing and 01 Back to the 50’s

Let's start with a nail polish. It contains 15 ml of polish! :e In case you don't know, Essence bottles are usually smaller, Multi Dimension polishes contains just 8 ml. So you got lots of polish for a nice price. One polish costs 1,89 €. Back to the 50's is a creme red, very opaque. First I used it for my pedi, the brush was perfect, I think I never painted my toes so perfectly, almost without clean up. :D Then I moved on my mani and the brush just didn't work on my hand as on toes. Maybe's just me but my nails was a mess before clean up. :$ Like I said it's very opaque, you can get away with one thicker coat especially if your nails are short, but I added 2 to hide VNL but it's still there, on picture even more visible as in person.

 

Daylight

Sun

I feel so old with red on my nails. :D I think that red is more classy, elegant and I'm still not in that phase. :D

Swatches of lipstick after a click. :)

Essence TE Ballerina Backstage Haul

I finally got everything I wanted from Essence's new trend edition Ballerina Backstage, which is currently available in DM but mostly everything is sold out, same for Nails in Style, but I'll talk more about haul from this TE another time. :)

Here's what I got. :)

Nail polish 

02 Wear Your Little Tutu

Blush Sufflé 

01 Prima Ballerina

Eye Soufflé 

01 Dance the Swan lake

02 Pes des Copper

03 Grand-plié in black

Like I already said in preview post I was most excited for eye soufflés and blush soufflé as for polishes. :) If you want to see really beautiful swatches this TE (polishes, eye soufflés and blush soufflé) take a look on Parokeets blog, Gejba made me buy Wear Your Little Tutu. :D I didn't like others neither I had money for more, but I can still see polishes on rack, just the black one is gone from the beggining. :D

This is the first time I's trying to make swatches of something else than nail polish and it's so hard. xo

 

From L to R:

03 Grand-Plié in black

01 Dance the Swan lake

02 Pes des Copper

I don't even know how to describe them. :$ I really like copperish one, it's shimmery and it's great for defining your lids, creamy white is the most opaque and black one is more on a sheer side, I had to apply more coats to achieve such a dark look.

More after a click... :)

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

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

Violet Foil Comparison

It was such a awful day for me today. First I woke up and my laptop didn't work properly at all. Windows 7 has crashed for no reason. I really don't know what happened, because it worked for almost a year without any tiny problem! I was soooo angry. I can't be without my computer at all, so I spent almost all day trying to fix it, but no success. So... I had to format it! And now my hard drive is empty, I've lost all my files - pictures, music, documents for school, movies,... But at least my laptop is working now like it has to. I will try to recover lost files, hope it'll work!!

And as if this wasn't enough I broke my nail while pushing the reset button on my old computer, because I wanted to find some informations on the internet what could be wrong with my laptop and in the middle of searching it's frozen. I was so mad so I filed them all down! Now my nails are weird... I really prefer this lenght of my nails like on the pictures below and not so short as now.

Right before I broke my nail I took a picture of violet/lilac foils from my collection. I pick these 3 for this comparison:

From L to R:

Essence TE Into the Ocean - Bubble Bubble

Essence TE Fairytale - Fairy Berry

S-he - 436

And in the same sequence on my nails... 2 coats of each.

Daylight, cloudy day

As you can see, Bubble Bubble and Fairy Berry are very very close, #436 is kind of colder violet than other 2. Their application was good, quick drying,...

And I changed a background and header of my blog, I'm still searching for perfect background picture, but I like it how it looks right now too. What do you think? Would you change anything?

Tnx for reading!

Xoxo,
Ivana

Essence LE Return To Paradise - My Little Orchid

One short post for today, because I don't have time to talk a lot. I was lazy all day long with my BF so now is the time to start studying hard! I've got 3 exams next week, I'll probably write just 2, but I need some knowledge to pass them and at the moment I have none.

I was in a hurry on Thursday so I quickly pick this beauty that I already showed you here, but here it is, one more time again - My Little Orchid from Essence's Return To Paradise Trend edition. I added 2 coats and 1 coat Essie Good To Go TC. This is a really nice warm purple. I took a few pictures in a hurry so the pictures aren't perfect, so sorry for that.

Under light

What do you think about this beauty?

I still have to reply on your comments, I promise I'll do that soon! It'll be a tough week but I'll make it somehow like always...

Take care!

Ivana

Ruffian that didn't survive the night

I'm a big fan of ruffian and I tried it now for a couple of times. When I saw Illamasqua Scorn polish on lots of blog the first idea was: "This one is perfect for ruffian!". The only - was its high price and I can't order anything online since I don't own any credit card. Then Essence released Black&White trend edition, which includes black and white polish with soft touch finish. I was 100% that I'll get white one but I wasn't sure if I'll buy also black one since I don't like black color on my nails. Swatches I've seen so far really convince me that I need black one too, so I bought it, it doesn't cost much.

Black Out is very pigmented, one coater and also thick as hell! It has kind of plastic finish like Scorn. I wish I had China Glaze 2030 - gold khrome polish to make that famous ruffian, but since I don't own it yet, I pick pink one that I got recently from a friend. She was in Banja Luka (Bosnia) and she bring me one bright pink creme polish from Golden Rose with an amazing name - 24. This polish is also very pigmented and one coater.

I had some problems with applying Black Out, because it's so thick but the final result was awesome. I took a picture under my desk lamp and flash. And I'm glad I did. Pink is more bright than on first picture.

Under light

Flash

I did my nails aroung midnight yesterday and I fall asleep at 4AM I think. I thougt the manicure was already dry. I couldn't top it with TC, because I would lost that plastic finish of Black out. I don't know what happened during the night and how was I sleeping but when I woke up I saw ruined manicure.

Daylight

It didn't survive. At least I've a reason to change my manicure. I'll try to put thinner layer next time so I hope this won't happen ever again.

How do you like this combo? I really like it, but I would love to make it with gold under the black!!

I've rached 250 followers! Wooooooohoooo, thank you, that really made my day!! Now I'm going to study all night long.

Xoxo,
Ivana