Fridails: Insprired by Tutorial

I don't know whether I'll be able to participate in Fridails the following 3 weeks, as exams are approaching and I'm taking the first one on Monday, June 2nd, so I just couldn't miss this week, especially since it was time for another prompt I was really looking forward to!

This week, we're doing nails inspired by a tutorial. I must have mentioned several times here on the blog that I have a folder called "Nailspirations", where I collect pictures and iPhone screencapses of nails I liked so much I wanted to rereated them. A decent part of those nails are by Lucy of Lucy's Stash, who is an immense source of inspiration for me as a nail artist and blogger. And she also does tutorials for her most famous looks! Thus, choosing a nail artist was a no-brainer for me, and the technique I settled on was a spiral dotticure. 

Я не знаю, смогу ли участвовать в Fridails в следующие три недели, поскольку ж..сессия к нам приходит, первый экзамен уже в понедельник, и такой сложной сессии у нас еще не было. Ох, найти бы сейчас того человека, который убеждал меня, что самые сложные курсы - это первые 2... В общем, эту неделю я не могла пропустить ни за что, тем более, что по плану была еще одна тема, которую я очень ждала.

На этой неделе заданием было сделать маникюр, источником которого послужил бы туториал. Я наверняка уже несколько раз упоминала в блоге, что у меня есть папочка с фотографиями и скринами понравившихся маникюров, которые я бы хотела повторить, и приличную долю изображений составляют дизайны авторства Люси, владелицы блога Lucy's Stash. Люси для меня - постоянный пример для подражания и как блогер, и как художник. А еще она записывает уроки, как повторить самые известные ее творения. Так что выбора, кем вдохновляться, у меня особо не стояло, а технику я в итоге выбрала spiral dotticure - то есть узор, выполненный доттером, в форме спирали. 

Monday Blues: chrome stamping

I haven't posted a mani on Monday Blues for far too long. Here are nails I did the other day for blue Friday flashmob on Instagram, so they're pretty appropriate. I started with 2 coats of Nubar Boyfriend Jeans, which is a dusty medium blue thin creme, applied a coat of fast dry top coat to speed up the drying process, and when the base color was try, stamped over it with Kiko 623 (blue one coater chrome) and Bundle Monster BM-210 stamping plate. I finished the mani with another coat of top coat in light strokes to prevent smudging.

Давно я не участвовала в синих понедельниках, так что исправляюсь. Вообще, этот маникюр я делала для синей пятницы - флешмоба в Инстаграме, так что тема, можно сказать, одна. Сначала я нанесла 2 слоя Nubar Boyfriend Jeans, который представляет собой пыльный джинсовый жидкий крем, а сверху - слой топа-сушки, чтобы поверхность быстрее высохла. Стемпинг я сделала с помощью лака Kiko 623 (синий хром-однослойник) и диска для стемпинга Bundle Monster BM-210. И, наконец, закрепила маникюр еще одним слоем сушки, нанося ее легкими движениями, чтобы ничего не смазать.

Ocean & Frangipani

Hey everyone!

Всем привет!

So this is a nail art I did for this contest. The task was to get inspired by provided pictures and do a manicure. When I first looked at the Pinterst board, I instantly fell with this pin, but I could resist mixing it with another one, as the flowers on it reminded me of my favorite kind - frangipani. The background, representing the ocean, is a gradient of Sally Hansen White On, Nubar Baby Blue and Faded Jeans, and the flowers were freehanded using the one-stroke technique and the Sally Hansen polish and China Glaze Happy Go Lucky. All topped with a coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. 

Сегодня я покажу нейл-арт, который сделала для этого конкурса. Были предоставлены изображения, по мотивам которых и надо было придумать маникюр. Одна картинка мне понравилась сразу, но я не удержалась и смешала ее еще с одной, цветы на которой напомнили мне мои любимые - франжипани (они же плюмерия). Фоном, который представляет океан, служит градиент из Sally Hansen White On, Nubar Baby Blue и Faded Jeans, а цветы я нарисовала вручную в технике одного мазка и лаков White On и China Glaze Happy Go Lucky. Маникюр покрыт слоем сушки Sally Hansen Insta-Dri. 

The Lazy 15! Dessert

Hey everyone!

Всем привет!

Posting late today *again*, sigh. I'm so sorry! I got home late today, even had to take photos in *drumroll* my bathroom, because, ironically, it has the best lighting!

Опять припозднилась с сегодняшним постом, прошу прощения! Поздно добралась домой, в итоге фотографировать пришлось в  - внимание! - ванной. Ну не виноватая я, что..нет, не полюбила женатого)) там просто освещение, как выяснилось, лучшее в квартире. 

At first I wanted to cheat and skip on nail art altogether, leaving my nails in a solid colour. So as they corresponded with the theme, I chose a name-appropriate nail polish, Nubar Chocolate Coffee Bean. This polish is a stunner! It has a rich, well-pigmented dark chocolate brown base infused with raspberry/purple shimmer. Makes me think of those cakes I think are simple chocolate ones, but they turn out to have a layer or raspberry-ish something, which spoils the dessert completely in my eyes. Can a girl just have a simple dark chocolake cake, please? Ok, rant off. The polish is very beautiful and is completely opaque in 2 coats, although I'm guessing you can get away with a more generous one coat. Dry time is quite usually fast with Nubar, and this polish is no exception, but I used a coat of INM OTD anyway, because I was tired and wanted my nails dry as soon as possible. Frankly, I think it made the shimmer shy, and next time I'm going to wear this polish sans top coat (something i never do, I'm too impatient to do something and always screw up semi-dried varnish!). The downside of the polish is that it is prone to cuticle drag, so I'd recommend waiting a couple of minutes between the coats, if that's not a habit of yours (my case - I never wait between coats!).

Сначала я хотела немного сжульничать и просто покрыть ногти лаком, не делая никакого нейл-арта. Я выбрала подходящий по названию и содержанию к теме - десерты - лак, Nubar Chocolate Coffee Bean. Замечательный лак, надо сказать! Это хорошо пигментированная база насыщенного цвета горького шоколада, в которой плавает малиново-фиолетовый шиммер. Полностью непрозрачен в 2 слоя, но думаю, если положить 1 пожирнее, то лак сойдет за однослойник. Напоминает мне о тортах, которые я всегда считаю просто шоколадными, а они потом оказываются с малиновой пропиткой или чем-то в этом роде, а я ее ненавижу :)) ну да лак от этого менее красивым не становится. Лаки Nubar обычно хорошо и быстро сохнут, но я все равно использовала сушку INM OTD, потому что шило в попе :) Честно говоря, шиммер от этого перестал так ярко играть на свету, мне кажется, немного прибился, поэтому в следующий раз попробую носить этот лак без топа - вообще жутко редкий случай для меня. Единственный недостаток, который я заметила - лак имеет склонность плешивить у кутикулы, когда при нанесении 2 слоя первый как бы стягивается. Так что советую подождать хотя бы пару минут между слоями, если это не входит в вашу процедуру маникюра (как у меня - обычно я никогда не жду между слоями, торопыга я, куда деваться). 

I wanted to leave it as it was, but my conscience decided to wake up, so I took a fine nail art brush, Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Green Tea, Nubar Moire and OPI You Don't Know Jacques and freehanded a cone of green tea ice cream on my ring finger - LOVE that! Now I desperately want some, and it's 1:30 AM in Moscow..damn it.

Я хотела оставить ногти такими, какими они были, но совесть взыграла, и я достала тонкую кисть для нейл-арта, Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Green Tea, Nubar Moire и OPI You Don't Know Jacques и нарисовала на ногте безымянного пальца рожок с мороженым зеленый чай - мое любимое! Ну вот, опять его захотелось, а в Москве просто так днем с огнем не сыщешь, приходится во всякие общепиты за ним ходить :( 

Karma Duty series. Comparison of teals: Nubar Stylish Peacock vs. Orly Sapphire Silk vs. OPI Ski Teal We Drop

Hi everyone!

I was supposed to post a black&white nail art, but I kind of messed that up so I'm going to redo it, and for now I have a comparison for you. Personally I love this kind of posts, so I hope you'll enjoy it, too.

So this was actually inspired by a lady from a Russian LiveJournal nail community, who requested a comparison between Nubar Stylish Peacock and OPI Ski Teal We Drop. It was actually so long ago even I don't remember. As my 18th birthday is approaching (it's tomorrow!), i'm cleaning up all my karma duties :)

The moment I pulled out the bottles out of my stash, I knew they were nowhere the same or even similar (well, to us, polish addicts, that is). So i decided to compare them to another teal I have in my collection, that is Orly Sapphire Silk.

By the way, I couldn't believe my eyes, but I only have 3 teal creams in my shash! The advantage is that that means I can order more without feeling ashamed of it :D

Onto the comparison, here's a bottle comparison pic.

More photos and some text under the cut :)

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?

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 :)

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky swatches & review + NOTD

Hello everybody!

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky from Up & Away Collection is a bright creme that is opaque in 2 coats. The formula of this one is quite thick, so you need to be careful at the cuticle area unless you want to end up with nasty bald spots :)

This polish is a blast of sunshine! I've worn it twice in the past month, and it's become my go-to polish if i feel upset and need to cheer myself up. 

I used a coat of Nail Tek Foindation II, 2 coats of Happy Go Lucky and a coat of INM Out The door for this mani.

The next day this polish made the perfect base for some geometrical manicure :)

Ugh, the colors look washed out again, i don't know what to do with that :( Anyway, the orange is Skinfood or006 and the dark blue one (yes, it's dark blue, not black like it appears in the pictures %)) is Nubar Dark Wash Jeans. The manicure lasted 3 days on me before i grew tired of it and took it off - something that never happens with me, i change nail polish because it has chipped off (and because i need to swatch many other for my blog :D), not because i'm tired of it!