Chocolate Suede

Hey everyone!

Всем привет!

This post is going to be rather short. I've passed my second exams with 2 more to go, and I've received my very first products to review! There are going to be several posts, and I'm very excited. For now, I have an oldie to show you, back from 2012. I used 2 coats of Chanel Particuliere on all fingers except for ring and middle ones, and 2 coats of OPI You Don't Know Jacques Suede as an accent. I finished Particuliere off with a coat of INM OTD, and skipped on that with the OPI to keep the suede finish. The mani lasted quite long on me, 3 or 4 days with some minor chipping (Jacques started to chip on the second day of wear, but it's a Suede = not the most lost-lanting polish in the world :P)

Пост будет достаточно коротким. Я сдала второй экзамен, еще 2 осталось, а еще сегодня я получила несколько продуктов для обзора, мне уже не терпится начать писать на них обзоры. А пока я покажу вам старый маникюр, его я носила еще в 2012м. Здесь 2 слоя Chanel Particuliere на всех пальцах, кроме среднего и безымянного, а на них я нанесла OPI You Don't Know Jacques в 2 же слоя. Particulire покрыла слоем INM OTD, а OPI оставила без топа, чтобы не пропал эффект замши. Маникюр продержался достаточно долго, 3 или 4 дня, с минимальными сколами (хотя замша начала слегка облетать уже на второй день, но это же замша :))

A fashion inspired manicure

Hey everyone!

Всем привет!

I'd like to start by doing a small roundup of all giveaways I know of and am participating in. So, first of all, Captivating Claws is giving away 3 sets of nail polish, Wish Nail Polish - a bottle of El Corazon (giveaway open to residents of Russia, but if you know someone who's willing to ship the polish for you, should you win it, you can enter it as well :)). Anna Gorelova is giving away some El Corazons, too (open internationally), and Painting The World..deep breath..Deborah Lippmanns!

Начну я с небольшого обзора giveaways, которые проходят сейчас во многих блогах. Итак, Captivating Claws разыгрывает 3 сета лаков, Wish Nail Polish - бутылек El Corazon, Анна Горелова - тоже их, но много, а Painting The World целых 2 Deborah Lippmann!

Phew, I think I've covered them all! ^^

Про все вроде рассказала, но, думаю, появятся еще :)

Now onto the actual post. I've entered Wacky Laki's contest, the task was to create a fashion-inspired manicure. I scanned spring 2013 trends and picked the seafoam green one (like if you had doubts :D). Namely, I drew inspiration from the skirt the second model from the right is wearing on the picture below.

Теперь к самому посту. Я участвую в конкурсе Wacky Laki, заданием которого было создать маникюр, вдохновленный модой. Я изучила тренды будущей весны и остановилась на (кто бы сомневался :)) цветовом: зеленая мята снова в моде, ура! В частности, я вдохновилась юбкой второй модели справа. 

As you may have guessed, my undie for the nail art is Cult Nails Manipulative, previously reviewed here. I used quite a lot of striping tape and Chanel Particuliere for the brown stripes. I let it all dry and finished off with a coat of INM OTD (had to be really careful with that, because it's prone to smudging your pretty nail art due to its being thin). You can see the result below. I'm quite fond of the color combination and the overall look, although I fear the look is not comlex enough to win (yes, I am ambitious and I don't think there's anything wrong with that :) Ambitions make us grow, to my mind), and I'm more than sure that many mani gurus are taking part, but when I come to think of all the wonderful manis we're about to see, every else thought seems to vanish :)

Как вы наверняка догадались, базовым цветом выступил Cult Nails Manipulative, который я показывала и о котором рассказывала здесь. Я использовала приличное количество striping tape (мамочки, как это перевести-то? Клейкая лента для маникюра? %)) и Chanel Particuliere. Когда все высохло, я покрыла маникюр слоем INM OTD, и здесь надо быть очень осторожной, поскольку, из-за своей жидкости и тонкости, этот топ так и норовит смазать нейл-арт, особенно если он красивый :D Маникюр мне нравится как в целом, так и своим цветовым сочетанием в особенности, хотя я боюсь, что он недостаточно сложен, чтобы победить (да, я достаточно амбициозна, не считаю, что это плохо :) Считаю, что амбиции - тот фактор, который заставляет нас расти и совершенствоваться). Я больше чем уверена, что в этом конкурсе примут участие многие гуру маникюра, и на победу надеюсь лишь мечтой оптимиста, но как подумаю о том, сколько мы увидим красивейших маникюров..ух, аж дух захватывает, и чуть рифмой не заговорила :)

Tell me what you think and wish me luck! :)

Поделитесь своим мнением и пожелайте мне удачи! :)

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!)