Polish Us Pink: Nabi Magnetic nail polish Cinnamon swatches & review

Hello, everyone!

Until this year, October was only special to me, because my birthday is in October and so is my father's. This year, I learnt that October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month. The Subtle Shimmer is holding Polish Us Pink days, which are basically 5 Mondays of October, on which we post pink nail polish! Learn more here, and if you are a fellow blogger, you'll find the inlinkz code to join the event there, too.

The first polish i'm featuing at Polish Us Pink days is Nabi Magnetic in Cinnamon. It arrived about a month ago from evilbay and was sitting in my stash waiting for its moment. As I had intented to do ABC challenge (you choose the nail polish you're going to wear by its name, in accordance with the alphabet), too, and this was day 3, i had the letter 'C'. I've also decided to do the 30(31) days nail art challenge, starting from tomorrow, so ABC will have to wait.

I'm sorry to say that the nail polish kind of disappointed me. It has a metallic finish, thus it's quite brush -strokey, but i would have forgiven it, if the magnetic effect show well. I even used Layla magnet instead of the original Nabi one (which Scrangie said was hald as strong as the Layla one), but the effect still was very subtle. visible only under certain angles and nearly unnoticeable if you look directly on your nails. In addition, the formula was really goopy, so 2 coats felt like 5. And finally, the dry time was ve-e-e-e-ry long.

I'm going to give it another try when i have more experience with magnetic nail polish (this was my first attempt), but judging by the swatches of it i've seen on the Internet, I think the problem is the polish, not me.

Now, onto the photos.

 natural light, no flash

 natural light, no flash

 natural light, with flash

 natural light, with flash

natural light, no flash; how it looked 90% of time

Remember that you can click on the photos to see them in full size (900x600pxs)

Nubar Stylish Peacock swatches & review

Hi everyone!

I have to admit, I simply adore turquoise and teal and I may have too many such nail polish. At least, if you're a teal lover like me, you can benefit from it, because obviously teal & turquoise are going to be frequently featured here :)

Nubar Stylish Peacock from Polished Chic collection was one of my lemmings for quate a period of time, so when I was ordering my very first Nubars on evilbay, this beauty added itself to my shopping cart :D

It's pretty reknown, so I won't do much talking, and I'd rather turn to showing you some pictures, especially since I'm satisfied with how they came out. 

Remember you can always click on the image to see it in full size (all of them are actually 900x600 pxs)

I love how it changes its color, depending on light. It's more blue than green under natural light, becomes a tad greener and dustier when in shadow, and gets quite green, dark and really dusty if put in warm artificial light.

All photos showcase 2 coats of Nubar Stylish Peacock over a basecoat and finished with a coat of INM OTD.

It lasted about 3 days on me with minimal chipping on my peeling middle nail. Then it broke, and I had to file down my nails and change nail polish. So, next post you'll get to see my shorties! :D

P.S.:

Meet my dog, Maurice! Apparently, he was jealous, so he tried to intervene :D Well, he did succeed :D But can you stay angry when he gives you this look?

A-england Galahad swatches & review

Hi everyone!

This week has been really busy, i've painted and taken photos of my nails, but simply couldn't find the time to write a post, it's so sad! But at least now i have some stockings :)

Before i turn to the nail polish, i'd like to let you know about 2 awesome giveaways held at the moment, one by Peace, Love and Polish, another by Nail Polish Anon.

I've heard a lot of great things about a-england nail polishes. It's always seemed to be that if there was one indie company each nail blogger should have a nail polish by in their collection, it would be a-england. The only downside i've read about was the rather long dry time, but you were compensated with astonishing pigmentation and colors.

Yet, speaking honestly, i found and still find the regular price of a-england nail polishes too high, but i nevertheless wanted them! So when Adina had a sale a while ago, and all polishes from The Mythicals collection were discounted by 50%, i squeed with joy and rushed to order some gems from it. My order included Galahad. It's worth mentioning that Galahad is one of my favorite Knights, and i love the turquoise color, so i was really looking forward to this polish!

Of course, you must have already seen gazillion of swatches of this beauty, so i didn't focus on the photos this time, and decided that i'd better told you about my impression.

Galahad is a nice 1 to 2 coater cream, depending on how thin coats you're doing. It's very pigmented, beautiful turquoise, very name-appropriate. Also very glossy, i'm wearing it with INM OTD here, but i honestly couldn't see the difference between the natural gloss of the lacquer and when it was enhanced by OTD. I associate this color with purity, dignity, virtue, and i couldn't stop staring at my nails the day i wore it.

Unfortunately, not only the dry time was quite long, as expected, but it turns out that a-england chips quite fast on me. I've tried Tristam an Galahad on so far, and both of them chipped after only 1,5 days of wear. I usually expect my nail polish to last at least 2 days on me, but you know what? The color are so wonderful i don't care, i will repaint my nails every day if that's what it takes me to wear a-england.

To sum it up, a-england is an awesome brand, and its polishes leave a general great impression. I with the price tag wasn't so stingy, but i can hope that Adina will hold a sale of the Legends sometime. If that moment ever comes, my avoirs will start to sing romances :D

PS: I'm also taking part in Sparkling Saturdays , you should check it out! It's a "place to post your best nail art or your best nail art from the week", as described in the info :) My design for this week is the fishtail accent nail manicure.

Vertasile Blogger & Liebster Awards

Hi everyone!


I've been nominated for 2 awards, Vertasile Blogger Award and Liebster Award, by, respectively, Nail Polish Creations and In-The-Red Nails - thank you, lovely ladies! Now it's my turn to give a shoutout for some talented new kids on the block, and i happily oblige.

These are the rules for Vertasile Blogger award:

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers who are relatively new to blogging.
2. Let them know that you have nominated them.
3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.
4. Thank the bloggers who have nominated you.
5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

And these - for the Liebster Award:

1. The recipient must post 11 fun fact about themselves.
2. The recipient must also answer 11 questions created by the award giver.
3. The recipient must give the award to 11 new bloggers with less than 200 followers and post 11 questions for them to answer.
4. These 11 bloggers must be told they have been given the award.
5. They will in turn pass the award to 11 new bloggers of their choice (no tagging back the award giver.)

So i'm gonna merge the rules for the two awards, if you don't mind :3

Fishtail accent nail mint manicure

Hello, everyone!

As you may have noticed, there are some changes in my blog: i redesigned it, added Disclosure policy, Contact me page and a link to my stash database (I spent 2 days on it, ugh, I hadn't realised i have that much nail polish!). I'm also going to add social media buttons this week & create pages for my blog everywhere, so, if you like it, please follow!

I've been meaning to post this one for a while, but life has been so hectuc lately, so i only got around to it now. 

I've been eyeing fishtail braid manicure (Lucy of Lucy's Stash originally came up with the awesome idea and it has been used widely since) for a long time, but i was hesistant to try it out for some reason. About a week ago i kicked myself, used one of my dresses for color scheme inspiration and set off :)

The participants of this manicure are:

Essie Mint Candy Apple, Chanel Rose Confidentiel, Essie Case Study 

I'd like to justify Essie Mint Candy Apple first. I've read a lot of nasty things about it, how the formula is too thick, goopy, and overall awful and unmanageable. On the contrary, I found the polish to be a wonderful pigmented 2 coater, even 1 coater if you do thicker coats and are careful while maneuvring the brush. As I bought my bottle of Mint Candy Apple offline, it came with the wide brush, and I actually liked it better than the 'regular' thin one that the rest of my Essies have. I didn't have to do any cleanup after painting my nails, by the way! 

Now, onto the fun part. I wanted to actually wear Mint Candy Apple but still try out the fishtail technique, so i went for accent nail! More pics under the cut.

By the way, the fabric i'm using as a background here is actually the dress I used as inspiration! It fits me perfectly, and I received lots of compliments on the look (both overall and the nails. Even the guys in my group noticed them, which speaks for itself!)

Color Club Incognito swatches & review

I felt like nude polish the other day, and i've been eyeing this beauty for some time already, so i finally took it off my nail polish shelf and gave it a go.

Color Club Incognito is from Spring 2011 collection called Alter Ego. It looks quite pink on me though i believe it's actually brown-based. 3 coats below, because it was the third day of wear and the surface was quite scratched - my dog's fault rather than the polish'es. You can certainly get away with 2 coats - i actually preffered 2, they looked more 'airy'. I'd say it's a crelly (a creme and jelly hybrid) or a really opaque jelly, because it has this quishy look that's characteristic of jellies.

I should really pay more attention to Color Club. They're chip, dry time is a flash, i've loved the formulas so far, the brush is easy for me to control - this is coming from a person with extremely shaky hands.

All in all, Incognito is a wonder pallete cleanser and a wonderful nude. The next day i spiced it up with red tips (tested Essie Limited Addiction borrowed from a friend of mine. I need this beauty in my life asap.), but it chipped before i'd had a chance to take some pictures. Well, no wonder since there were 9 coats of polish overall... (basecoat, 2 coats of Incognito, 1 coat of INM OTD, 1 coat of Incognito, I coat of INM OTD, 2 coats of Limited Addiction in my tips, a generous coat of OTD)

Also, please excuse dry cuticles!

Chaotic dotticure: Zoya Tru and Orly Oui

This is my second attempt at participating in a nail art contest, this time for Polish days. This September's theme is Geometry, and i actually had a completely different idea in mind, but i didn't have much time yesterday, so i needed something quicker.

As i was terrible at geometry in school, i thought that something messy, in no particular order would suit me. So i painted my nails with Zoya Tru, a gorgeous purple with subtle copperish shimmer flecks, and dotted randomly with Orly Oui. 

Polish and money tree - more money, more polish! :D

OPI Mermaid's Tears and Nubar Black Polka Dot swatches & review

I've figured out the reason why my photos were washed out! Yay normal colors!

OPI Mermaid's Tears arrived with my nail mail and i couldn't resist to paint my nails with this beautiful turquoise color (i'm a sucker for it, as you might have noticed! If only the spelling of this word was easier :P).

But i also had a long lemming of mine sitting on my dest, asking for attention, and this was how polka dots invaded my nails :D 

The following pictures feature a base coat, 2 coats of Mermaid's Tears, 1 coat of Black Polka Dot and 1 coat of INM Out The Door under natural lighting. 

OPI Mermaid's Tears: a green-leaning gorgeous turquoise. Application was a dream. 2 easy coats were all that it needed. Actually i think it has a potential to be a one-coater, if you use thick ones! 

Nubar Black Polka Dot: small round glitters and larger hex glitters in a clear base. I love it, but could Nubar make the brush white next time, please? You just don't see how many larger glitters you've got, which in my case ended up being 100500 smaller ones and 1 big one. Yes, it certainly had something in it, but i want more larger glitters! Apart from that, i think Nubar may become my second favorite brand soon (because nothing can beat Zoya! :D). And i love their brush, although i don't like reviewing brushes, since they're an extremely individual thing. 

This manicure lasted whopping 5 days on me! It might not be too long some some of you, but nail polish usually chips in 2 days on me. If i can wear a polish for 3+ days, i consider it long-lasting.   

And that's it for today! Have you ever tried Polka Dots? Love or Hate? How do you feel about turquoise nail polish (and do you think it could use an easier spelling xD)? 

Geometrical manicure v.2

Hi everyone :)

This is the other geometrical manicure i did before going to Malta. I like it much more than the first one, to be honest :) I loved the color combination & it was my travel mani, too, so it lasted about 5 days on me - a record!

I used Nubar Baby Blue, Nubar Faded Jeans and Orly Prelude To A Kiss to create it. The last two pics are more color accurate, as they were taken outside in the natural light, while the first two - in a cafe with artificial warm light, at it was quite dim there, but i love the photos nonetheless. Thanks go to my bestie Veronika for taking the photos for me :)

Malta haul or nail polish in Malta!

Hi everyone, here i am back from Malta!

Before leaving i raped Google, and the only thing it would tell me is that i would't have any nail polish shopping there. 'Okay', i thought, 'then i'll just order nail polish online when i'm back'. I'll still order it, i'm in love with the new Zoyas and OPIs, and i'll be sure to pick up a couple of Essies, as well. However, i did bring some nail polish with me from that paradise on Earth :)

So, nail polish in Malta:

Gabrini ? (номер содрался вместе со скотчем, которым я заматывала лаки в дорогу), 322, 356

Beauty UK 62 Street Rose, 75 Smokey Lilac, 70 Plum, 38 Burgundy

 Layla Magneffect 07 Metallic Sky, 06 Golden Nugget, Ceramic Effect 13

Essence Ticket To The Show & Front Row Or Backstage?, Naj-Oleari 71 (it's glitter, but it's MATTE so i suspect...SUEDE ^____^)

Prestige NLW – 67 Orangerie, 70 Thaiti

 Revlon Facets Of Fuchsia, Radiance, Grape Fizz

 Givenchy (supposedly, since i couldn't find either of them online, but they might as well be just old :D) Baby Vernis 52, Vernis Brilliant Couture 603 Corail Empire

Max Factor Fantasy Fire x2, Odyssey Blue 
(YES, FREAKING 2 FANTASY FIRE BOTTLES! *NAILGASM*)

Where to find nail polish:
1. Franks and other beauty shops chains
2. Pharmacies, both chain and individual. Those sometimes carry real jems!
3. Anywhere. I bought my Beauty UK, Gabrini and Essence ones at a shop in Valetta called Pushka that actually carries clothes, not cosmetics (still, they had those displays, and i couldn't miss the opportunity :D)
All in all i'm very satisfied with my purchase. I really didn't expect to buy any, and i returned with FANTASY FIRE (yes, i have to capslock :D)

Oh, also i picked up my nail mail - 3 OPI Suedes & Mermaid's Tears! I'm almost in nail polish nirvana :D