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

Once Upon a Time I Made it Golden for Christmas

Did you miss my nails? :$ I did miss you! :)

My nails are in worst condition - still peeling and weak so I'm keeping them short. I'm still painting my nails all the time, I just don't find time or great light to take photos that's why I'm not posting as much as before..

Here's my easy red and gold Christmas combination you can't go wrong with. :D Pictures aren't best but you get the point. :i

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Essence - Once Upon a Time / 2 coats

Sponging: Essence - Make it Golden

Essence Better than gel nails Top Sealer 

Do you like this combo? Let me know what are you wearing today! :party

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Bloom-a-Loom & Forget-me-Not Gradient

Gradients, gradients... We're seeing lots of great gradients everywhere. :D I usually get bored with a new trend quite fast but gradients still rock my world. So I decided to make another one. x)

Blossoms etc... TE from Essence was available more than 1 year ago and I didn't have a chance to use them before. I still remember going to the store to pick them out, when they showed up. :D So when I was searching for a perfect combo, I knew they're meant to be together. :D

Essence - Bloom-a-Loom & Forget-Me-Not

Bloom-a-Loom is a warm lilac polish with a lilac shimmer, Forget-Me-Not is a stunning periwinkle blue with a blue shimmer. Both are really gorgeous and the shimmer isn't super visible on the nail, but it's there, especially visible on sun in person. :L

I started with 2 coats of Bloom-a-Loom and then I sponged both. I just made an accent nail on my ring finger with a reverse combo. :)

Daylight

Sun

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

Essence - Bloom-a-Loom / 2 coats

Sponging: Essence - Bloom-a-Loom &; Forget-me-Not

Beauty Secrets Top Coat Fast Finish Polish Dryer 

It's maybe not bright enough for what I want on my nails right now (I'm really in the mood for neons at the moment) but I still love this color combination. :L

What do you think? Did you already master this technique? You're not familiar with this technique? - Well, check Sammy's tutorial here and start sponging! :)

Just came home after watching Eurosong with my BFF. :) Congrats to Sweeden of course, but my winner is Željko Joksimović and his absolutely amazing song and voice! <3

Idi, samo, samo idi, tamo. Leti, pevaj, srce drugome daj, al' znaj, da zbogom nije kraj. Nije moja ljubav stvar, pa da neznam šta ću s njom, želim ti sve najbolje, ova ljubav samo moj je brodolom.

Have a lovely weekend! <3

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

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

Berry with Gold Glitter

I'm really into sponging lately. :e Sponge is such an easy tool to use but it gives really amazing results. :L

Traffic Jam is a part of China Glaze's Metro Fall 2011 collection. It's a berry creme with really great formula (if you're careful, you can easily get away with just one coat). It's not so pink as on the pictures below but it's really hard to capture with my phone.

I didn't want anything from that fall collection at first but when I saw this manicure from Elsa I just had to have it! :L I still need to try out that combo, but this time I decided to go with gold. I usually sponge the glitter on the tips of my nails, but this time I decided to sponge them on the base of the nails.

The gold glitter I used is Make it Golden from Essence. I just love everything about this polish - gold hexagonal glitter, tiny glitter and gold dust in clear base. <3 I already showed you in combination with nude or blue. :) I definitely need a back up!

Sun

Daylight

Sun - Blurry

OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener

China Glaze - Traffic Jam / 2 coats

Sponging: Essence - Make it Golden
Nail Tek Intensive Therapy II

I had to include the last blurry picture, because the gold really pops out. :L Just gorgeous! <3

What do you think about this manicure? Would you wear it? :)

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).

Daylight

Sun

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

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

Valentine's Day Manicure #1

It's already February and I can't believe it. :o I already saw lots of Valentine's stuff around in stores and because I loved my last year's Valentine's Day manicure, I decided to make a few more this year. :D Of course I can't make anything similar like last year, because I don't have so many plates to play with, so they probably won't be the best. :$ Instead of studying I rather play with my nails.... :/ Oh well...

I started with a coat of Essence - Back to the 50's, sponged a bit of Essence - Once Upon a Time and stamped with BPS image plate m17 and Essence Stamp me! White. :) Just like I said yesterday on Twitter, I'm not really satisfied with this manicure, there's something missing but I can't figure what! :D

On the first picture I added lovely hearts in CS3. <3 It looks like my background was full of hearts, cute! <3

Essence - Nail Art Protecting Base Coat

Essence - Back to the 50's (TE 50's Girls Reloaded) / 1 coat  

Essence - Once Upon a Time (TE Fairytale) / sponged

BPS m17 & Essence - Stamp me! white / stamping

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

 Here's the image plate I was using on the picture below. :) As you can see the pattern is pretty small so I had to stamp more than once to cover my whole nail. :D I just tried to stamp them near as possible but I failed, because sometimes I stamped the same spot twice. :D Oh well, I need more practice! :$

It's cute and simple, but I still don't love it. :D What do you think? You can play with colors and stamp hearts in different colors, I think that'd totally look awesome over a white with pink and red hearts. :D

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Blue & Purple Zebra Print

I don't know what's with all animal prints going on my nails. :D I got super exciting news yesterday about passing an exam that I was sure I failed miserably. :$ So I decided to make another manicure with animal print to make my day even more special. :P I made quite similar combination on Veri's nails and I loved it so much so I had to try it on myself.

I started with 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue, this is probably my favorite blue ever (its dupe is H&M - Blue my Mind). Both of them are soooo hard to photography, they're always too bright. :/ Color on the last blurry picture is probably the most color accurate. :) Then I sponged Nicole by OPI - I've Bieber Fever on diagonal half on my nails and over whole nail a bit of Nubar - Petunia Sparkle. I stamped zebra pattern from BM-223 and Wet n Wild - Black Créme. :)

Here's the final result. &lt;3

Nail Tek - Foundation 2

Sally Hansen - Pacific Blue / 2 coats

Nicole by OPI - I've Bieber Fever / sponged

Nubar - Petunia Sparkle / sponged

Wet n Wild - Black Créme & BM-223 / stamping

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer 

Steps to achieve this look are quite similar as I showed you in Zebra Print Tutorial I made a while ago, I just sponged the colors a bit differently. :) You can pick whatever color combination you want, just be creative. :) I really love how the purple glitter is peeking under the zebra pattern. &lt;3

BTW... I'm having problems with updating my Blog roll, so if you're not there, please don't think I removed you. :) Everytime I want to update and save it, it keeps saving and nothing happens. I think that must be a blogger bug, because I'm not the only one with this problem. :)

I hope you're having a wonderful and relaxing weekend and thanks for reading! :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

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

Step by Step: Pink Glittery Swirls & Review

My nails are even shorter than last week, they just don't want to cooperate with me. :/ But that didn't stop me do to another step by step post. :)

I got a new stamping image plate from Born Pretty Store so I decided to try it out for this manicure. I didn't have anything on my mind so I decided to surprise myself. xD 

Here's the final result. :) I'm still not sure if I like it because obvisouly they're not perfectly stamped like I'd want them to be but I decided to post them anyway. :$ All pictures in this post were taken under daylight bulb with black background.

If you want to see step by step pictures (a.k.a tiny picture spam) and a review for the stamping plate I used, click read more. :)

Servin' Up Sparkle on My Address is "Hollywood"

I don't have time to change my manicures more often lately so I decide to quickly update My Address is "Hollywood" from last week. I got this polish in a swap a month ago so I decided to give it a try now. :)

Servin' Up Sparkle is a part of OPI's Serena Glam Slam England duo set. It comes with Grape... Set... Match, which is amazing but still in my untrieds. :/

Servin' Up Sparkle is a sheer base with holographic hexagonal shaped glitter and small holographic glitter. I don't know why, but a lot of hexagonal glitter is sticked on the bottle, like you can see on the picture below. Looks funny but I think there's not much left of hexagonal glitter in the bottle. xD

I'm not a big fan of sheer glitters so I decided to sponge my tips with it and I loved it! :) I finally found a way to like wearing sheer glitters. All those particles sparkle every time you move your hands, so it's really pretty in person. <3

Daylight

Sun

Sun / Blurry

Essence - Nail Art Protecting Base Coat

OPI - My Address is "Hollywood" / 2 coats
Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer 
OPI - Servin' Up Sparkle / sponged
 Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I was really happy with this manicure. It lasted whole last week and I could wear it even more but I decided to change it. :) 

What do you think? Do you like sheer glitters like this one? Do you just layer it over a polish?

I shorten my nails yesterday a bit, unfortunately I had some major breaks on my right hand, so I decided to shorten them all. I can't stand having different lenght of nails. :/ I'll probably be away till the weekend, so take care and thanks for reading! I'm off to watch the 5th Episode of Desperate Housewives! 8) So excited, anyone watching new season of DH here?

Nighty night,

Ivana :k

Planks a Lot with Wild at Heart & Violet Orchid Microglitter

I got tipwear quite soon with Planks a Lot so I just had to do something to cover it. I wasn't in the mood for removing whole manicure, so I decided to do some sponged tips. If you're looking for a tutorial, I recommend you to visit The Polished Perfectionst and her great How To: Sponged Tips Tutorial. <3

I took Color Club - Wild at Heart and sponged it on nail tip going toward the cuticle and Kiko - #278 known as Violet Orchid Microglitter (violet foil glitter with a tiny duochrome effect) mostly on the tip of my nail. It's lighter as Wild at Heart so it gives it an extra sparkle, which was imposible to capture on the photo.

Daylight

 

Sun

Essence Nail Art Protecting Base Coat

OPI - Planks a Lot / 2 coats

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

Color Club - Wild at Heart / sponged

KIKO - #278 Violet Orchid Microglitter / sponged

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

What do you think? Do you like these kind of manicures? I really like them and they're also great for hiding tipwear so you don't have to remove your manicure few more days. :)

I just couldn't stand my pointer being more oval as others so I shorten them today. Although it wasn't so obvious but my eyes always noticed it. :/

I hope you're having a great and relaxing weekend! It's so cold here so I stayed in bed for whole day yesterday and today - perfect weather for being lazy! :P

Thanks for reading!

Xoxo,

Ivana :k

Strawberry Ice Cream & Teenage Dream

Fall is here. :) Do I like it? Not. :ice It's already too cold for me, I wish I could have summer all year long. Or at least just Spring and Summer. :party Or I should just move to Brazil. :P

Anyway, I have a new mani for today. I wanted to try out some of the new babies I got lately, so I picked these 2. Strawberry Ice Cream by Barry M is a nice pastel pink with peachy undertones creme nail polish. I added 3 thin coats, but even 2 thicker would work just great. I decided to add sponging tips with OPI - Teenage Dream. Teenage Dream is amazing - sheer pink jelly base with different sizes of glitter including some stunning holographic glitter. <3 It's much prettier in RL as on pictures, believe me. :)

Here's the final result. :)

Daylight

This beauty became more peachy pink on sun. :)

Sun

Nail Tek - Foundation II

Barry M - Strawberry Ice Cream / 3 coats

OPI - Teenage Dream / sponged

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

 

I'm in love with this combination. <3 When my mom saw Teenage Dream, she wanted to have it on her nails too, so her nails are also sparkly today, but she didn't let me take some pics. xD

Do you like this combination? Sponging french tips was so easy and it looks so nice. :) What's your favorite glitter polish?

I'm a big fan of Milka chocolate with whole nuts but I adore white chocolate even more. I never found white chocolate with whole nuts in Slovenia although I saw pictures of it, just that one without anything. So my dad's just brought me this big one from Graz, imagine how happy I was. <3

This chocolate is THE BEST. ^_^ Tell me, what's your favorite chocolate?

Have a nice and relaxing weekend! :rainbow

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Valentine's Day ♥

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

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

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

Essence - No More Drama

Essie - Lilacism

Orly - Lollipop

China Glaze - Something Sweet

China Glaze - Rich & Famous

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

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

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

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

Daylight, cloudy day

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

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

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

Happy Valentine's day girls!

Xoxo,

Ivana