Step by Step: Pink & Black Half Moon Manicure

I always wanted to try half moon manicure but I never made it perfect to show you the final result. I thought that I could make it free hand just like ruffians I tried before but I'm not that good at it at all. xD

I made almost perfect half moons with reinforcement rings, I just wish my nails were longer for this look. Next time I'll try to make half moons smaller. :) You can use reinforcement rings, you can try to freehand it or use a small nail art brush... As you wish. :)

I used a lovely purple holographic Catherine Arley with number 677, which I got in a swap recently from lovely Nina from Women's Temptations and classic black creme. :) I'll show you swatches of the holographic one next time, first I wanted to share my first half moon try and a quick tutorial. :P

All pictures below were taken under daylight bulb and black background. 

Catherine Arley - #677 / 2 coats

Wet n Wild - Black Créme / 1 coat

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

I decided to make a step by step tutorial with smaller half moons as I did them on the pictures above. :)

All you need is a base and top color, reinforcment rings and top coat. I used these polishes:

Catherine Arley - #677

Reinforcement rings

Wet n Wild - Black Créme

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer

Step 1: Start with a base color you want. It can be bright or dark, anything you like. I suggest that you try to do a half moon manicure on a day or more old manicure, because you don't have to wait base color to dry. That's how you can also hide a tip wear or any chips that happen in days and get new manicure with an upgrade.
Step 2: Place reinforcement ring where you want your half moon to be when the base color is 100% dry. If you want smaller half moons, place it more towards cuticle and reverse. I always use just half of the ring, because I can have 1 ring for 2 nails. Just make sure you rub the ring a little hard, to make sure that ring is completely down.
Step 3: Add a layer of top color all over your nail and a little over reinforcement ring to make a half moon line. 
Step 4: Remove the reinforcement ring right after you apply your second color when it's still wet. You can make some tiny correction with the brush after you remove it if the line isn't perfect but if you're satisfied with the half moon, finish the whole manicure with a layer of top coat and you're done.

I'm not the first one who made this manicure like this but I still wanted to do a tutorial if you didn't know about it. :) What do you think about Half Moon manicures? What's your favorite color combination? How do you make your half moons look perfect? :)

I just broke my daylight bulb and I almost throw down my lap top. Thankfully my lappie is in one piece but I need to get another daylight bulb soon. :) I'm also seeing the anesthesiologist in the morning so he can tell me when I'm having a tiny surgery on my wrist to remove ganglyon cyst. I have a big lump on my wrist now and it started hurting me when I'm using my right hand so I had to do something. Wish me luck! But a great news is that I won a giveaway at Cristina's blog Pee Before Polish (awesome name 8) and it's so true!).Thank you Cristina for making my week! :h

Thank you for reading and stopping by! I hope I'll be back to blogging soon. :)

Xoxo,
Ivana :k

Meet our kitty! #1

After 2 hours watching El Clásico I just don't have patience to crop and prepare a post with manicure. xD Seriously, great match Barca of course, but I had big hopes for Real Madrid tonight. RM played so well lately but okay... More luck next time. Hala Madrid. <3

I have way to much photos of our lovely boy and some of them are just too pretty to have them just on my phone. :) As you probably already know, we got this cute little kitty in October. At first I was just his kittysitter for my lil' sister Veri but because of few circumstances that happened back then he stayed with us but he's still her too. :) Now we all love him, except my mom sometimes, especially when he succeed to destroy her flowers. :i

I'm sure you all want to know his name but... He have so many of them - mom calls him Miki (Mickey), dad calls him Medo (like Teddybear) and I call him Bebo (Baby)... You decide, how will you call him. :P

He was so tiny when we got him. <3 This is my first cat, although I used to bring them home when I found them outside to feed them and play with the but I never had a kitty at home more than one day. :/ I wish I had, because I can't believe what I missed. :)

First picture I'm showing you is my favorite. I wish the picture was in better quality but I didn't use flash and the lighting was pretty bad. :) But I still like his angelic look here. <3

More pictures after a click. :)

Merry Midnight dear True Love

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

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

All pictures were taken under daylight bulb and black background.

Essence - True Love / 2 coats

OPI - Merry Midnight / 2 coats

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

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

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

Thanks for reading!

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

Essence TE 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

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps

What did you pick to wear on the 1st December? :i I decided to go with something red and sparkly. :)

There's something about this red polish that doesn't make me feel old when I wear it. :D If you say Christmas, I think of Ruby Pumps - red, glittery, sparkly. <3 I'm sure you all saw it so many times, but here it's once again. :$

Ruby Pumps is a reddish jelly base with lots of golden red glitter. I added 2 coats, great application, fast drying time and my nails are so sparkly. :) I just noticed that there are 2 version of this beauty and I have no idea which one is this. Oh well, both versions are beautiful. :)

All pictures below were taken under daylight bulb and black background. 

Nail Tek - Foundation II

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps / 2 coat

Beauty Secrets TC Fast Finish Polish Dryer 

It's hard to capture all its beauty on picture so you must believe me that this beauty is amazing in person. :) I took blurred picture to show you how it sparkles and even this picture doesn't show all it gorgeousness.

Believe me, you need this one. :) What do you think? Do you already have it?

Have a nice and relaxing weekend! :rainbow

Xoxo,
Ivana :k