NOTW #2 ~ Purple Glitter Gradient and Foil

Here's another Nails of the week post. :i I wore this manicure for a whole week because I loved it. I don't know why but I'm in love with glitter gradients lately and yes, I'm wearing one at the moment too. :$ They're easy to make but they look so stunning.

I decided to dig out the foil from Essence I already tried once for this cute manicure, as an accent nail. :D

 Nail Tek - Foundation II

Color Club - Vintage Couture / 2 coats

Sponging: Orly - Bubbly Bombshell & OPI - Servin' up Sparkle

Ring finger: Essence - Style me Love / 1 coat & Transfer foil set in Style me Pretty

Essence Better than gel nails Top Sealer
 

 Let me know how do you like it. :i

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Beach Cruiser Make it Golden for 2O13

2O13 is here, can you believe that? :o I can't, time flies by way to fast as I'd want to. I had b-day on 28th December and I'm 24 now. Not that I feel old but...

...and that's who I am.

But what can we do. :i At least I got some pretty awesome gifts. :party

I didn't have to think twice what to wear for B-day. :L It was all about neon pink this year and I really started to love gold lately so here is a winning combination I'm still wearing. :)

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Orly - Beach Cruiser / 2 coats

Sponging: Essence - Make it Golden

Essence Better than gel nails Top Sealer

What do you think? :)

...and that's who I am.

Hope you are too! Healthy, happy and full of love 2O13! :h

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Just checkin' in...

... to say hi to all my old and new followers. :) My life is really busy atm so I'm not really able to blog as before + I have some major issues with my lap top. I still paint my nails all the time of course, but I'm sharing pictures mostly on Instagram - IvanaThinksPink if you would like to follow me there.

Anyway, my nails were pretty long but when I started with a job few weeks ago, I broke every possible piece of my nail so I'm stucked with nubs! They're peeling and so weak but I hope I'll get them back into last condition in a few weeks. I admire all of you who can have long nails and work with your hands a lot! :)

I'll share some pics from Instagram so you can see some of my manicures... :P

Orly - Beach Cruiser

Orly - Beach Cruiser & Essence - Make it Golden

Orly - Flirty

p2 - Rich & Orly - Fowl Play

Essence - Fall for me & Deborah Lippmann - Glitter in the Air

OPI - Steady as She Rose + Essence - Make it Golden

CH Nail #14

Models Own - Pinky Brown

Which one is your favorite? As you can see, I'm still a big fan of pink! :P :L

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Video Tutorial: How I stamp my nails

I got a request to make a video tutorial about stamping. First I didn't know if I should really make one, because I can stamp my nails really bad sometimes, especially with some difficult patterns. But then I decided to film myself doing an easy zebra pattern. I love animal prints, because they're easy to stamps and mistakes are barely visible, so double win. :i

My hands look so bad on these pictures I took.  Manicure was so bright in person, because I decided to use Beach Cruiser from Orly. I'm in love with this polish, just like with Fancy Fuchsia. :L

Enjoy. :P

I put these infos in an info box on YouTube, but just in case you don't watch this video on YouTube and can't see the info bar.

Stamper ~ there's a few different versions of stampers like this one I'm using in this video or double sided. If your stamper doesn't pick the color well, try to file it a bit to make it a bit rough.

Scraper ~ I'm using my old plastic card as a stamper, because it works great and it doesn't scratch my plates like metal scraper I have. I would suggest a plastic scraper over metal, but even old credit card works just fine.

Stamping polish ~ I'm using stamping polish but sometimes you don't need them, because regular polish can work with stamping too... Especially metallics and one coaters, holos,... You need to experiment to see if they work or not.

Double stamping ~ I always have to double stamp my thumbs and other nails if they're long as in this video. Some patterns are really easy to line up and get a perfect stamp, like this zebra print I'm using in this video.

Top coat ~ Some top coats don't work great with stamping, because they smear the pattern. If you have those problems, be sure you gave a enough top coat on the brush. If the top coat still smudges the pattern, try another top coat.

Essence Nail Art - Protecting Base Coat

Orly - Beach Cruiser / 2 coats

Stamping: BPS black stamping polish & BM-223

Essence - High Shine Top coat

What do you think? :) I hope someone will find this video helpful. I'm not really super great with stamping, but I'm learning. :D

Thanks for reading! Have a lovely weekend!

Xoxo,
Ivana:k

Video Tutorial: Gradient Nails

I wanted to film how I do gradients on my nails and since I loved my orange and pink gradient I did a while ago I decided to recreate them. Here's a video...

Same polishes used as before, just a bit different technique and reverse version. I prefer applying polish directly to the sponge, I find it way easier. Pictures...

Essence Nail Art - Protecting Base Coat

Sponging: China Glaze - Peachy Keen & Orly - Fancy Fuchsia

Essence - High Shine Top coat

If you have any questions let me know! Do you love gradients? What's your favorite color combination??

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

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

Daylight

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

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Step by Step: Color Blocking Manicure

Color blocking became a huge trend so I decided to do something my way on this theme. :e

I decided to use my new polish I just got from Morgan (I'll show you what I got soon :L ). Beach Cruiser is part of Orly's Summer Feel the Vibe 2012 collection. As soon as I applied it, it became my 2nd favorite Orly, right after Fancy Fuchsia. <3 It's bright vibrant neon pink with great formula. If you're careful, you can get away with 2 coats, if there are still some bald spots, you add another thin coat. It has satin finish so for a glossy look add a layer of TC. :)

I decided to match it with Wanna Kiss? from Essence. First I wanted to use neon with nude, but since I don't have one, I chose muted pastel pink. :) And to play with my manicure a bit more, I reverse the colors on my other hand. ^_^

Daylight

I also did one quick tutorial how I did this manicure. Pictures in this post aren't the best, because the weather was really gloomy today. :/

Step 1: Add striping tape on fully dry base color.

Step 2: Paint the opposite color between tape.

Step 3: Carefully remove tape, while the color you just painted is still wet..

Step 4: Add a layer of top coat to smooth the surface.

Daylight

Essence - Wanna Kiss? / 2 coats

Orly - Beach Cruiser / 2 coats

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I'm in love with Beach Cruiser <3 I definitely need a back up! :$ Do you like my take on color blocking nails? Do you find these kind of tutorials helpful?

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

Daylight

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

Bright Pinks

Did you notice anything new? Yes? No? :D I changed a header and the background in case you didn't guess. I wanted something pink and cute and I like it but I'd love to hear your opinion too! :$

Bright pinks make me feel so good so I love to wear them especially when I feel my nails need to be "noticed". :) So I wore 3 different bright pinks this past week. The only problem is taking pics of them. My phone refuses to take color accurate pictures of some bright pinks so I wasn't really sure if I should post them. But here they are anyway, if I already took them. :)

First was Golden Rose (with protein nail lacquer) in #324. It's bright pink with very watery formula, so I needed 3 thick coats to get a decent opacity, VNL was still there it didn't bother me so much. :) I got this polish from Veri (she bought it in Bosnia), thank you sis. :h Because I had 3 thick coats on I decided to add a coat of G2G to speed up the drying process.

Daylight

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Golden Rose (with protein nail lacquer) - #324

Essie - Good to Go

Then I wasn't really sure what should be next, so I choose the polish I usually pick when I really don't know what to do with my nails. It's my all time favorite bright pink from Orly called Fancy Fuchsia from their Precious Spring 2011 collection. I love everything about this polish. :L I already wore it so many times and I'm happy I have a back up, because I'll definitely need one. It has my name on it. <3 Formula is more on a thick side but nothing you can't work with. 2 coats and you're done. It's so bright and so pink, it's so me! :)

Daylight

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Orly - Fancy Fuchsia / 2 coats

Essie - Good to Go

And today I got another bright super pretty pink from Tinchi - Ruby Kisses - Sweet Thing .She said she couldn't use it because it stinks so much and I just have to agree with her. It really stinks! :~ I checked the ingredients but it's formaldehyde, toluene and DBP free, so I'm not sure why it stinks so much. :/ Anyway, thick formula, 2 coats and it looks great. :D 

This one was hard to capture, it's really light highlighter neon pink in person, nothing orange-y like on the pictures below. :D

Daylight

 OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Ruby Kisses - Sweet Thing / 2 coats

That's it! :D Three bright pinks that I love so much! I'm just not happy with my cuticles and nails atm, they're at that lenght that I really don't like them - I prefer them a bit shorter or a bit longer. xD Oh well... I can complain about everything - never happy! :D

Do you like wearing bright pink? Or are they a bit out of your comfort zone? What's your favorite pink? If I had to choose only one, that'd be Fancy Fuchsia and I think every pink addict should own a bottle! :)

Have a lovely weekend and thanks for reading! 

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Pink & Orange Gradient Nails

I'm a big fan of sponging so I had to try out this technique too, because the final result is just so pretty. :)

I'm talking about gradient nails, which are very easy to make but they look so gorgeous! This is the first time I tried it and I think I'll do more in the future. I only have one crappy picture, because Fancy Fuchsia is really hard to capture and all pictures are even worse and color inaccurate. :/

Daylight

I saw this technique with 4 colors a while ago on YouTube, but since my nails are short, I decided to go with just two - pink and orange. :)
The secret is applying both colors on the sponge (I'm using kitchen sponge). Then you press the sponge on the surface (paper, foil, plastic cup,...) to remove excess and sponge your nails. This is how you get a thin coat with gradient effect. To get a full opacity, you should re-apply nail polish to the sponge and do the same steeps couple of times but always wait till bottom layers are almost dry so you don't ruin it.
I also tried it without pressing the sponge on the surface first. I sponge directly on the nail and move the sponge a bit up and down so the colors really get mixed on the nail and you get a bit more opaque coat, which I prefer a bit more. :)
When you're done, don't forget to clean up your cuticles, because they can get really messy, apply a coat of top coat and you're done. :)

 OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Sponging: China Glaze - Peachy Keen & Orly - Fancy Fuchsia

Beauty Secrets Top Coat Fast Finish Polish Dryer

What do you think about gradient nails? Do you like them?

Have a lovely Sunday and thanks for reading! :)

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Swap with Carolina from Colores de Carol #4

I didn't get any great packages for some time now and when I woke up and see I just got one, I was so super excited. This is my fourth package from Carolina who runs a blog Colores de Carol. I'm sure you already know her, because she's just amazing. :L She can rock any color on this planet and spice it even more with any pattern. :L Beautiful photos, nails, manicures... Check her out! :)

She helped me get lots of goodies from my WL and thank you Carolina for that! <3

 China Glaze

Aquadelic

Traffic Jam

How about a Tumble

Orly

Artificial Sweetener
Prelude to a Kiss

Carolina helped me get one of my biggest lemmings I had! Did you guess? Yes, How about a Tumble from China Glaze's Kaleidoscope collection. After I got Tickle my Triangle from Kvacka, all I wanted was just How about a tumble. Now I got it, I'll stop desperately looking for rest of them. Better 2 than nothing. :) I also wanted Aquadelic from Electropop's collection, because I saw a really great manicure somewhere with Dance Baby together (which I'm still waiting) so I had to have it. :L

OPI Nail Envy

Sinful Colors

Daredevil

Cinderella

Claire's 

Candy Shop

Trio

I'm so excited to try out Nail Envy from OPI. I already blogged about peelies on my nails and I think that Nail Tek doesn't help me anymore as it did last year so I was eyeing Nail Envy. It's a mini so great to try out first. :) Carolina also told me I need Cinderella so she send me one and I must say I'm so happy she did. Can't wait to wear it! And of course, Candy Shop! :L I immediately fell in love with the DL's but when I spotted the cheaper version, I wanted it. 

 

Carolina also sent me 2 Konad's Image plates, m63 & m71 and I can't wait to play with them! Chocolate, cuticle pen, Viva la Nails water decals, lovely necklace, sweets,... :)

Thank you Carolina for sending me all these goodies, you're the sweetest! <3

What would you like to see next? 

It's the worst thing not knowing what to put on nails. I started doing 3 manicures the other day but I didn't feel the colors I picked, so I went naked - again. It drives me crazy when I'm not feeling the color I wear, especially with so many colors to choose from. :D 

Have a lovely week and thanks for reading! :)

Nighty night,

Ivana :k

Swap with Nail Loopy

Another swap for today... I got this package a week ago from Nail Loopy. :) I'm really not in the mood to talk a lot today so let's start with pictures. :$

China Glaze - Shocking Pink (Neon)

American Apparel - L'Esprit

Models Own - Pinky Brown

I was very dissapointed with Pool Party, because it was way to orange on my nails. I know I have to try it over white, but I prefer having a true neon pink on my hands that's why I wanted Shocking Pink. :) I also got my first American Apparel and Models Own. I was quite surprised how tiny the bottle of AA is, I always thought they're bigger. :D

 

Orly - Lola

a decant of OPI - Pink Me I'm Good

Markwins International Nail Polish??

Rimmel - Blue my Mind

Blue my mind is a dark blurple in person, I can already see how unfotogenic this polish is. :D

Thank you Nail Loopy for getting me these goodies and I hope you enjoy your goodies too. :e

Thanks for reading and have a lovely end of the week. :k

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

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

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