Nailsupplies.us haul

Hello my beauties! I can't believe it's been so long since my last post. It's been almost one week since I've talked to you guys. This week has been so crazy for me and I'm so tired. Hopefully this weekend will get me rested enough to start it all again on Monday. 

I have a lot of stuff to show you and lots of pictures on my backlog and I will start today with the pretties that arrived this week. I actually waited a lot more than usual for these because they were shipped only a week after I ordered them and then they traveled from Florida to NY for 5 days. But in the end I'm happy I finally received them. Excuse the ugly photos, but these were done as I was opening my package in bed. In case you wonder, the busy background is my bedding. 

L-R: Orly Fowl Play, Androgynie and Au Champagne

I was amazed as I removed these Orly's from the packaging. There are really no words to describe the beauty of Fowl Play. Androgynie is also amazing in the bottle and I will do my best to translate that on the nail. I ordered Au Champagne because I've seen it on many blogs and thought it would be a great canvas for nail art. It's also very pretty on its own. 

L-R: Barielle Slate of Affairs, Essie Cocktail Bling, China Glaze Awaken

I've been lemming Slate of Affairs for some time because of its resemblance to MAC Blue India (which I missed out on), so when I saw that the site had Barielle at such a good price I couldn't resist. I think it's pretty obvious why I got Cocktail Bling. It's so elegant and pretty and I think I'm gonna post swatches of it next. Awaken was mostly purchased for stamping and it works great for that, but I really feel an urge to wear it as a full mani. 

L-R: China Glaze Kinetic Candy, Aquadelic, Light as Air

The first two are from the new Electropop collection for spring 2012. I couldn't resist these gorgeous shades. I also wanted to get a light purple and decided to get the one from last years spring collection instead of Sweet Hook, because Light as Air is a little more purple (although it looks pink in my picture). I also would have gotten Electric Beat, but decided not to because of it being to close to Orly Snowcone (which I have). 

Ok, that's it. Now tell me what you think about my haul. Which polish are you most curious about?

My top 10 for 2011 (part two)

Hi loves! The last day of 2011 and I'm posting my top 5 for the year. Don't forget that these are my personal favorites and they include polishes that were not released in 2011. Also, clicking the pictures will link you to the corresponding post. Hope you have fun reading this! 

5. Eyeko Vintage

I enjoyed wearing this jade green all spring and summer long. It was actually a staple color for me and I was also very impressed with its wear time. 

4. Nubar 2010

Only a recent purchase, but it's still very high in my list. I was wishing for flakies for a long time and I knew I would love them. Of course, I was totally right!

3. China Glaze First Mate 

The perfect blue creme for me! In this picture it has ELF Twinkle on top, but I've also enjoyed wearing it on its own. It's a good base for nail art also. 

2. Essie School of Hard Rocks

I love love love this polish! Such a unique and gorgeous shade of teal. I have never seen anything like it and the Essie formula is also great. The perfect winter shade! 

1. Revlon Facets of Fuchsia

My obsession for almost a month, this polish is so gorgeous that nothing can compare to it. I'm so glad I have this and I think it's my favorite polish at the moment. 

So this is my little list. You can comment below if you have any questions/additions/objections. This is also my last post for 2011. I want to wish you all a happy new year! I hope 2012 will be the best year ever for all of you! And I hope to talk to you soon in 2012! 

Happy New Year!

My top 10 for 2011 (part one)

Hello my beautiful readers! When you will be reading this I will already be away on my new year's trip. But don't worry! I've scheduled a couple of posts to keep you entertained while I'm gone. Since there are only 2 says left of this year, I thought of doing a little list of my favorite polishes for 2011. This blog is only less than 4 months old, but I've been wearing polish all year round. This is not a top of 2011 releases. Some of these are older polishes that I've enjoyed wearing this year. If you click the pictures it will open the corresponding post. So let's get started! 

10. OPI Gone Gonzo! 

This came out in the Muppets collection this year and it was the polish I chose to wear for my birthday. So I could not leave it out of this list. The aqua glitter is truly amazing! 

9. China Glaze Blue Year's Eve 

Another winter polish from this year, a glass fleck that is every glass fleck lover's dream. And of course every blue lover's dream also. I instantly fell in love with it and I sure will be wearing it again this winter. 

8. China Glaze Glittering Garland 

A true stunner! It was really hard to chose an order for this one and Blue Year's Eve, since I equally love them and they have a special place in my heart. The shimmer in this green polish is so gorgeous that it makes me wanna wear it all the time. Also a perfect holiday shade. 

7. Essie Coat Azure 

With this one we go way back into the summer, when I wore it a lot. I didn't have a proper swatch picture of it so this is a nail art that has it as a base color. Every time I look at these pictures it makes me wonder why I don't wear this blue all the time. A special mention also goes to Smooth Sailing, another of Essie's gorgeous blues from this summer's collection. 

6. Eveline Holografic Shine 405

I really hit gold with this one! A true holo at such a low price and good staying power too. I'm impressed by this brand and would love to try more!

So that's it for the first part of my list. Tomorrow I will post my top 5 polishes for 2011 so don't miss them!

Nailsupplies.us winter haul

Hi guys! I'm almost done with this very long and stressful week. I'm very tired so I hope I can be coherent in this post. Today, I finally got my China Glaze winter (Let it Snow) collection polishes from the nailsupplies.us website.  I also got some other stuff which I will show you in a bit. 

First of all, let me give you some info on this website. I've seen that many people arrive on my blog by searching for "nailsupplies.us" on google, bing or other search engines. This is my second time purchasing from them and they are very reliable. They used to sell OPI polishes, but now they don't anymore. They also have sales on Essie occasionally so be on the lookout for that. I got my Essie polish for 4 $, but I see they are back to 8 now. Shipping is 20 $ for a small flat rate box that can hold up to 9 polishes. It took about 2 weeks for the items to arrive. If you have other questions don't hesitate to use the comments section. So here are the polishes: 

China Glaze Ring in the Red and Velvet Bow

China Glaze Holly-day and Glittering Garland

China Glaze Blue Year's Eve and Essie School of Hard Rocks

China Glaze Atlantis and Seche Base

The China Glaze Let it Snow polishes are 2-coaters except for Ring in the Red which is more of a layering polish because of the sheerness of its base. I've tried it on a nail wheel and 3 coats were still sheer. Essie School of Hard Rocks is from the winter Cocktail Bling collection and it's such a gorgeous and unique dusty green. I can't wait to use it and I think I will show you the polish on my nails tomorrow so stay tuned! China Glaze Atlantis was an older lemming of mine. It's just so gorgeous in the bottle and it even has a holo effect, as you can see in the first picture. I also got the Seche Base to try and I hope that the fact that it has toluene in it will not stop me from using it. 

So what do you think of my purchases? Do you have your eye on any of these polishes? I hope my post wasn't too hectic. Thank you for reading and have a great day!

Recent hauling

Hi everybody! It's Thursday and that means it's almost the weekend. This week was awful for me and I'm so tired. I'm so glad the worst is over. Just a few classes left today and tomorrow. Today I want to show you what I have purchased in the last 2 weeks. I know it's a bit much, for me especially, but I plan to restrain in the following 1-2 months.

Eyeko Cosmic, Rain and Vintage polishes

My Eyeko order from Ebay. Eyeko is a British company that was, until recently, making these awesome quality polishes. I had purchased a few in the spring, but little did I know they will be rebranding and discontinuing their polishes. So the surprise came this summer when the polishes were gone from the website. I made an enquiry and they confirmed that the polish is discontinued. The only place you can find them now is here. So if you want any of these, you better hurry!

Flormar Miracle Colors U33 and Golden Rose Matte 11

French manicure guides and nail art brushes

These are all local purchases. The Flormar polish is a gorgeous duochrome that I can't wait to show you! Also welcoming the matte polishes on the local market with these Golden Rose ones (selling for around 2,5 dollars/2 euros).

My Born Pretty order finally arrived (after one month). I got a set of 16 image plates, the stamper and scraper, and some striping brushes. I will be reviewing these in detail in a future post.

I have also added a new section to the blog: the poll. Now you can decide what manicure I will show you next. So check my left sidebar and please vote!

I won! I won!

Hi guys! I'm very happy to tell you that last week I won an awesome blog giveaway on Fab Fingertips. Esther, the owner, is very nice and I love her blog. You should definitely check it out and subscribe cause you won't be sorry! 

Today I went to the post office to pick up my prize. So here's what I won:

The polishes were tightly packed and Esther enclosed a hand written note, which was very nice of her

And here are my prizes

Revlon 095 Facets of Fuchsia

This polish has been on my wishlist ever since I saw it. I think it's gorgeous and these photos don't do it justice. I was literally amazed when I took it out of the package.

Revlon 091 Smoky Canvas

Smoky Canvas is a greige creme that is so perfect for fall. I think this will be my go to nude shade from now on. So lovely! 

OK, that's it for now. I'm off to play with my polishes. Will post swatches of the fabulous Facets of Fuchsia tomorrow. Thank you Esther!

 

What I'll be wearing this fall

Hi everybody! First of all, I want to welcome all my new followers and thank you all for reading my little blog. I hope you are enjoying my posts! I also want to tell you that questions and suggestions are always welcome, so don't hesitate to use the comment section bellow! 

Well I guess by now summer is over just about everywhere. We had some warm days over here these last weeks and didn't want to face it, but it's getting really chilly out there. Today I want to show you what colors I will be wearing the most this fall and maybe give you some suggestions if you're looking to buy some colors for yourself. Let's get started!

The neutrals

• S-he Stylezone 500 – taupe is a big color for fall and it really can suit anyone. Pretty much every brand has a taupe color in their collection, so there’s plenty to choose from.

• Elf Desert Haze – everyone should have a nude in their collection. This one is a greige color that goes with anything and is also work appropriate.

• Hello Kitty Blackstage – of course we can’t forget about grey. Mine is a darker one, but you can always choose lighter greys like China Glaze Recycle or Barry M Grey.

The classic fall shades

• H&M Hunt me Down – army greens are very trendy this fall. This is a pretty close dupe for Chanel’s  Khaki Vert and a very cool color for this season.

• H&M Fall in Love – rusty colors are in tone with the season’s falling leaves. These go with all the rusty colored clothes that are all over the stores this season.

• H&M Moody Model – a gorgeous dark green. This one goes into the winter season also.

• Essence Late at Night – I’ve included this dark red because it’s a staple color and a shade everybody should have in their collection.

The purples

·          

• China Glaze Skyscraper -  from this fall’s Metro collection, this is a gorgeous blue-purple glitter. If you’re into glitters, this is perfect for fall and for any season really.

• Barry M Dusky Mauve – a dupe for the famous Chanel Paradoxal, this one just screams fall to me.

• OPI Siberian Nights – the perfect vampy dark purple. It's perfect for fall and also for the winter season.

Personal additions

• China Glaze First Mate – this one came out in the spring collection, but I find it goes great in the fall also and I really love this color.

• Color Club Gossip Column – another shade intended for spring, this dark teal color goes great with the fall wardrobe shades.

• OPI Don’t Mess with OPI – finally another (you’ve guessed it) spring shade. I bought this in the spring but found it a little too dark then. I think it’s a perfect pop of color for fall.

I hope this was helpful to give you an idea of the fall shades that are available in the nail polish department this year. These are all available in the shops right now, but can be also duped with other colors from other brands. Don't forget to always try new things cause you can never know if you like something until you try it!

DIY nail blogging

Hello everybody! Hope you are having a great Monday and starting a great week!

When I started collecting nail polishes and reading nail blogs, I saw all these nice, but somewhat pricey solutions for storing, using and enjoying polish. But don't worry! Today I'm here to tell you that there are simpler solutions for every issue and you don't have to spend a lot of money to do nails or even take nice pictures.

Storage

 

This is a nice gift box that I had and kept from my birthday. I knew it would come in handy some day and it has the really nice bow on the lid. Inside it is a divider so that the polishes stay nice and separated, don't collapse or move all over the box. I made this separator out or the lid of a shoe box. My storage box has space for 54 bottles. Can you tell I'm running out of space?

Photos

This is my light box. I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with what a light box is. It is used for close-up  photographs of objects and is used by nail bloggers to photograph, well, nails. I made this out of an old box I found around the house. The only things I bought were some wax paper to put as walls and some white cardboard to make a nice background. It's not very neat, but considering that I made the cuts in the walls with a  scalpel (that's what I had "around the house" :)) ), I'm just glad I have all my fingers left. You can find many tutorials on how to do this by googling "diy light box". 

 

I know this might look funny to you but it's an awesome phone stand I made. Many of my pictures were made with the phone, as I don't always have access to a proper camera. My Galaxy S is a great phone, but it didn't come with a stand. So instead of buying one I decided to do one myself. All credits go to the tutorial here.

Nail art

First we have some make-up sponge tip applicators that I use for sponging. These came in a pack of 12 for less than one dollar. They can be used for 4 colors (2 ends, each end has 2 sides) and you can also reuse the same tip for the same color. 

Finally, dotting tools. Now I'm sure you've seen the dotting tools in the shops and on nail supplies websites. But why spend money on these when you can use stuff you have around the house. They might not look very professional but they get the job done. We have:

• large dotting tool - the head of a pin that is inserted in the back of a pencil for commodity 
• medium dotting tool - the end of an old brush that I wasn't using anyway
• small dotting tool - the round ends of a hair pin

So there you have it! You don't need a lot of money to do nice nails and photograph them. Don't hesitate to be creative and use your own ideas. And never be afraid of trying new things! You can never know how they work out unless you try!

Local haul and swatches

Today I did a bit of shopping, sampling the brands that are available locally. I'm trying to branch out so I covered about every brand that I found and that looked decent. So here we go:

L-R we have: Farmec nail treatment with vitamin B5, Moyra 88, Aden Cosmetics 92, Golden Rose 134,  Eveline Holografic Shine 405, Kallos 54, Butterfly Collection blue crackle, Enamel Art 1000 nail art pen and some dolphin stencils

Now on to the swatches. Sorry I didn't swatch these on my nails, but my cuticles are just terrible today. I also used the treatment above so I'm taking a break from nail polish. Let's see how long it's gonna last...

• Moyra 88 is a blue-purple (blurple if you will) opaque in 2 coats. 
• Aden Cosmetics 92 is a blue polish that is more sheer, so it needs about 3 coats for it to be opaque (hence the fingerprint because I touched it too soon). These both come from the same retailer and are said to be produced in the EU, but it's not really clear from what country they come from.

• Golden Rose 134 is a light grey. This was pretty opaque after the first coat, but I used 2 here. This is a Turkish brand, despite the fact that it's full name is Golden Rose Paris.
• Butterfly Collection Artistic Cracks is a blue crackle (no name or number of the shade on the bottle).  I haven't found much about this on the internet but it seems to crack pretty well and it's a nice color.

• Kallos High Gloss Nail Colour 54 is a nice bubblegum pink, opaque in only one coat. Too bad that it smells like cheap paint. We'll see...
• Eveline Cosmetics Holografic Shine 405 is a purple holo! It's one of the few holos you can find over here. This is pretty sheer so it probably needs about 3 coats, or it could be layered over a purple creme.

So what do you think? Would you get any of these colors yourself?

 

Nailsupplies.us haul

A few weeks ago, I ordered some polishes from the fairly new retailer nailsupplies.us that claimed to sell OPI after Transdesign stopped selling the brand. However just a few days after I've placed my order, OPI polishes were completely gone from the site and never returned since. Right now I don't think it is possible to order OPI's at a reasonable price other than from Ebay.

Anyway, my order was sent promptly and traveled about 9 days (weekend included) from the US to Romania. Shipping is a bit pricey and that's why it's better to order more polishes at a time to cut on the shipping per bottle.

Here's what I got:

• OPI Siberian Nights - a lovely dark purple, perfect for fall
• China Glaze Grape Pop - this has been on my wishlist for a while now (you can tell I'm on the purple wagon right now)

 

• China Glaze Skyscraper - this is from this year's fall Metro collection and is my introduction to glitters
• China Glaze Black Mesh - I've been wanting to try crackle for a while and thought I'd start from the basic black

 

• Color Club Gossip Column - this looked blue in the swatches I've found online but is actually a more green leaning color (teal is the word)
• Color Club Matte-ified - matte nails is another big trend that I'm trying to catch up on

• INM Northern Lights Silver Hologram Top Coat - I just had to try this!
• INM Out The Door fast drying top coat - I didn't have a top coat that was fast drying and since a lot of people criticize Seche Vite, I thought I'd better try this one instead.