Today I received my first Barry M polishes: I ordered the Croc Nail Effects and Indigo (I have plans for a great mani with this one).

I got it for $4 at inlovewithfashion.com + free worldwide shipping (for a limited time).

I have to admit that for a long time I didn't like the crackle nail polish at all and I thought I will never have one in my collection, but then I spotted this unique crackle / shatter polish by Barry M Croc Nail Effects, and I felt like I had to try this.

The formula was surprisingly thin and kind of watery. I assumed that it's going to be creamy and thick, but it wasn't. Since it's my only shatter polish at the moment I don't have anything to compare it to. It was really hard making one thick coat.

I was really surprised to see that it takes few minutes to start forming the shatters - much longer than I expected. I saw some reviews of crackles that started forming slightly after applying it on the nails.

After waiting so long, I made a little experiment and tried using a hairdryer, hoping to speed up the process. Well it formed much quicker but the shatters were really tiny - as you can see that in the first image, on the left. Since I wanted larger shatters I decided that using the hairdryer is not a good idea for me.

The one in the middle is quite thick, therefore the shatters are bigger and wider. The one on the right is my favorite - it's actually one quick normal stroke. The shatters are not as big but I like the way it looks. 

In the second image you can see these same "normal" strokes with other colors. I don't recall using a bigger amount of shatter polish on the pink one but it seems that I did, because the shatters are quite large. 

These are the instructions on the bottle:
1. Apply a thin coat of your chosen nail varnish.
2. Wait for 1 to 2 minutes until nail are touch dry. Do not apply on dry polish.
3. Apply a thin coat of Croc Nail Effects.
4. After 3 minutes the effect will start to appear.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it, it's fun and interesting, but the cons are the thin formula and the long time it takes for the shatters to form. 

What if your favorite color combination? I really like it with gold and pink.

If you have any crackle nail polish please share with me your impressions.

Hi there!

So today I'm going to show you all how the dandelion stamp from my stamping plate looks like.

I have to admit, my decent stamping nail polish collections is pretty much limited and I apparently didn't choose the best one to do the job this time. I could have gone with the simple black stamping polish but I wanted it to look a bit more colorful. So the result you will see is not perfect because of the nail polish I used for stamping (it wasn't thick enough).

The dandelion design is really beautiful and delicate. As I mentioned before, my stock of stamping polish is quite low but if I had a good white stamping polish I would defiantly use it with a light blue base (which I don't have at this moment as well) to get that light and perfect delicate look.

For this design I used a minty polish by Laka #131. I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of the formula but I really love this color. The stamping polish was Sexy Emerald #512 by Chic. Can't say I picked the best ones for this mani but it turned out pretty nice.

 

The first orders of the stamping plate were sent last week, and I'm really excited to know what the ladies will think. :D

Let me know what you think about this mani and the dandelion stamp, and what would you like to see as my next mani from my stamping plate?

Wish you all a great week!

xoxo

Natalie

Finally, I'm proud and excited to share with you my latest nail related project!

I've been working on a nail stamping plate with my own original designs. I am really into stamping and was looking to create something new and unique, something that you don't see in every nail stamping set there is out there, so I came up with the idea of the butterfly wings - which is a gorgeous design but very difficult to make ever for those who are truly talented with freehand drawing.

That's how the first Nailz Craze stamping plate was born.

This plate is all about nature and really focuses on the butterfly wings design. I thought it would be a good idea to include an option for both directions and for small and large nails. That's the reason you will find four wings designs on this plate, along with some other new and original designs you probably didn't see much on stamping plates, which are the peacock feather and the dandelion. The rest of the designs are more common but still are very lovely. They include heart shaped patterns in different variations. Actually when I created them I felt they are a part of the nature theme because the heart shape is coming from the center of the peacock feather, and the tiny hears combined together create little flowers.

Of course the first pattern I wanted to swatch for you was the butterfly wings. I think that was the pattern that most ladies were excited about :) And so was I!

Here are some photos of the butterfly wings nail stamp I did yesterday, right after I received the stamping plates. First I've created an orange gradient over the nails and then I applied the wings stamp (used WnW black creme for the stamp). Then I've added tiny white dots with a dotting tool and there you go - you've got yourself a gorgeous butterfly wing nails design with minimum effort. 

I really love the result and it was quite easy, of course much easier than that time when I tried making this design by freehand.

The peacock feather design is also one of my favorites, I really love the fact that you can play with it and create different designs because it's a long stamp. For instance, you can apply it on long nails, or you can split the design in two and place on each nail a different part of the feather.

I haven't done a full mani with this stamp yet bet I will defiantly do that soon and post all about it.

Actually my nails are quite short at the moment (well I wasn't expecting the plates to arrive so fast and I thought I had some time to let them grow) so you can't really see most of the feather design on the nail, but on longer nails that should be gorgeous. 

For the feather stamp I also used WnW black creme over mocha gold Skin Food nail polish.

This is the full Nailz Craze NC01 stamping plate. As you can see it's a larger plate and it's size is 7 cm in diameter. It was important to me that the designs will be large enough to cover even long nails, so I needed a bit more room for them all.

The top wings are smaller and should fit short nails. That's actually what I used on my nails from the pictures above. The upper wings are 1.6x1.5 cm which was great for my short nails - they are currently 1.5 cm long and the wing stamp covered them just right. For the long nails I've made the stamp a bit larger and it's 2x1.6 cm.

The peacock feather stamp is quite long - it's 3.5x1.5 cm. Since it's such a long stamp, you probably would not get the full design on one nail unless you have super long nails and a super-duper-huge-jumbo-XL stamper :P just kidding, most chances there is no such stamper, but maybe someone will be creative and create something like that. What I like about the feather is that you can choose what part you like the most and use it, or place the feather on two or even three nails in parts, so the result will be one long gorgeous feather.

The middle flowers / hearts pattern is also large (2x1.6 cm) and can easily cover long nails.

The hearts row on the left is 1.7 cm long, the hearts flower on the top right is 0.8x0.8 cm, and the dandelion on the bottom right is 1.7x1 cm long.

Since these designs are pretty large, I would defiantly recommencement using a larger rubber stamper to get the best results. You can see the comparison of a regular small stamper on the right (can be found on ebay for $1 with a plastic scraper) and the black XL stamper on the left. I actually got it as a gift so I don't know where you can buy one like this, but if someone knows - please share it with me and I will gladly post the info here so my readers can get this stamper for themselves.
This is actually super great stamper. It's surface is larger and it feels a bit sticky, which I think helps to get a better image from the plate on to the nail. I think it's a silicone stamper but I'm not sure.On the other side of the XL stamper there is a small red rubber stamper.

I'm hoping to post more swatches of my plate in the next few days. I know that many of you liked the dandelion design as well so I'll try to swatch it soon.
If you are wandering where you can get this plate, please visit Nailz Craze facebook page and read the Purchasing and FAQ note. There you can find all the information about buying my Nailz Craze stamping plate. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

For now it's the only plate I have for sale but I believe that I will be coming up with more new designs in the future. Feel free to suggest anything you would like to see on the next stamping plates.
Tomorrow I will be sending out the first orders I've received from anxious stampers :) Really excited about it!
I know this post was super long, so those of you who read it all - I really appreciate it. It took a while :)

I would be happy know what you think about my designs and the stamping plate. Please don't be shy and leave your comment below :)

Thanks for reading!

xoxo
Natalie

This is my all time favorite nail polish - China Glaze Ruby Pumps.
Everything about this nail polish is just perfect! I love how deep and dimensional it is, and I can't stop staring at it and playing with it in the sun. I love this perfect ruby red color... Just perfect!

This is two coats of Ruby Pumps and one clear top coat. I think that a clear top coat is necessary, otherwise the nail polish isn't really smooth because of all the glitters.

As you can see I cut my nails pretty short this time, and shaped them kinda square. I've tried to shape it to look like the nails of some lovely bloggers, but I just can't get it right. I guess no matter how much I'll try, I can't get them to look like that. Maybe it's just the shape of my nails and it wouldn't look the way I want it to, no matter what I do. I'm not sure that I like how it looks right now. For some reason my nails always appear shorter in photos, so when they are pretty on photo they are too long in real life. I hope I will like them better in a week or two.

And what about you? What is your all time favorite nail polish? :)

Finally tried out my new and gorgeous Essie As Gold As It Gets with GADE's Gray Beige.

I just love how it came out! I'm in love with these little golden flecks and they actually do look great on top of everything!

Thanks once again Amber for sending me this gorgeous nail polish. Defiantly one of my favorites!

Yesterday I got 3 bottles of Maybelline Mini Colorama nail polish. Actually this time I didn't really pick them myself, it was my mom who saw them and I asked her on the phone which colors they had there, so I could check online for swatches. That was kind of funny :)
I didn't have any nail polish of this brand so it's always nice to have new additions to the stash.
These are pretty cute but I'm not sure I would have picked them for myself if I saw them in the store. Maybe it's a good thing though. I tend to pick the safe colors when I shop for nail polish.
I swatched them using two coats and it was pretty good coverage except Candy Frost which is really sheer so I guess you'll need at least three coats for better coverage.

Fruit Roll Up is a lovely old pink with a frost finish. I really love this color, actually I have something similar to this color but the finish is different. I'm not a big fan of this frost finish though.

Peach Cocktail is a hot orange with a glass flecked finish.

It's my first orange nail polish and it's sooo bright! If I were to give it a name, I would definitely name it Carrot! I love these tiny bright glitters.

Candy Frost is a sheer pearly white color with a touch of purple shimmer. I have nothing like that in my stash and I thought I could use it as a top coat but it was too white. I guess I will try using three coats and see how it goes next time. Basically it's nice but I was a bit disappointed, and I couldn't find the swatch online so it was kind of a surprise.

They come in a cute little bottles and contain 7.5 ml. I managed to get them for a good price so I'm not too disappointed.
I think I will stop by that place and see what else I can get for this price. I've seen them around but never actually thought about buying them because the price was a bit high for that small bottle.
I've seen many lovely colors online but I'm not sure the selection will be that large over there.

Since my obsession with nail polish began, I was totally jealous with all these gorgeous hands and cuticles I saw on many nail blogs, and I decided I had to have great cuticles too!

I always thought I had nice cuticles, but only when I took a closeup of my nails I saw all the flaws I wasn't aware of and I decided I want to perfect them.

I have to admit I'm a real newbie to the cuticle treatment but I would love to share with you the products I use to get nicer cuticles.

Basically for a long long time I was one of those girls who had no idea that having a manicure is much more than just paint your nails with a nail polish. I wasn't even aware of the fact that you have to use clear base coat to protect the nails from getting yellow and weak.

My nails are pretty strong and grow fast, rarely break or split, and I'm really thankful for that.

I've done my homework and looked up some products, and finally decided to purchase Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover. I've also read lots of good reviews on Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticle cream and I was about to purchase it but then Amber sent it to me along with the nail polish swap from the previous post. So I got some orange sticks online (have no idea why they called like that. It's a plane wooden stick) and I that's my beginner's cuticle treatment kit :)

I have to admit I was a bit scared to use the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover because there were some reviews I've read that said using this product got their nails weaken and split, but then I've read that they've probably didn't use it right and left it on the fingers for too long.

It is a matter of seconds I guess and so far I used it twice according to instructions and it looks ok.

When I use this I prepare a bowl of warm soapy water, a brush and an orange stick. I apply the gel on the cuticles of one hand and wait for 15 seconds. Then I push the cuticles back and remove the gel from the fingers and wash the hand in the bowl I've prepared. I repeat these steps with the second hand and when I'm finished with the cuticles I put some gel under the nails and wait again for 15 seconds and remove it. Of course I wash the nails again.

I'm just too afraid to leave it on for too long so I wash it really quickly. I find it a bit hard to push the cuticles back on the right hand, but I'm getting better.

I can't say it's a miracle, the cuticles don't instantly dissolve and disappear as I thought they would. They do get softer and it's easy to push them back and it does remove some thin skin. I guess after few more times using this products I will see more results but I'm quite happy with it so far.

The second and really wonderful product is the Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticle cream. I use it almost every night for few weeks now (there are times I'm too tired and I just forget) and I'm really pleased with the results.

I really love this product for few reasons - first it smells really good! I love that lemony scent! It's really hydrates the cuticles and the skin around the nail, and it's not too oily. I find it most useful to put it when I go to bed because I don't have to use my hands then, so that gives the cream some time to absorb into the skin and cuticles.

When I wake up I have hydrated and nice cuticles. I've noticed that when I don't use it my cuticles become a bit dry again, so I guess you kind of have to be addicted to it to have nice cuticles all the time.

This tin is pretty small and contains 8.5 g. I've already used quite a lot of it, so I guess I will buying a new tin sometime soon. There is a larger tin that contains about 17 g, so I guess that will be the smarter choice for me. Problem is, that's not a product that I can get here so I will have to buy if online for outrageous price (including shipping fee).

Overall I'm really happy with this product and I instantly got great results.

I would totally recommend these two products to anyone who's looking to keep their cuticles in a good shape. I really like them and it seems they are actually work.
I wish we could have a larger selection of these kind of nail treatment products in local drugstores here in Israel. It's not so easy getting them online either.

Do you use any of these products? Do you have another products you would recommend me to use for my cuticles? I would love to hear your thoughts. Please feel free to share it with me.

xoxo
Natalie

I know I'm really late with posting about this swap, but I decided to share it with you anyway. :)

This is my first nail polish swap I did with Amber - which is the best gal ever! She spoiled me so badly!

I gotta tell you that I was a bit bummed because we said we will be swapping for about 7 polishes, and then I got this HUGE nail mail from her with all the extras and felt kind of bad that I didn't send her as many things, but I promised to make it up for her and I have some really nice stuff that I bought for her and I will be sending them to her in few weeks.

I was soooo excited about this package, and she let me know that I should expect two things form my wishlist which was awesome! She got me Revlon Whimsical and Essie's As Gold As It Gets. I was so happy! Whimsical was impossible to get here and Essie looks so precious. 

Then of course you can see the lovely nail polishes she sent me and the goodies.

I was especially excited about the Sally Hansen color Quick pen because it is awesome for stamping and I got gorgeous results, and the black Wet n Wild nail polish is also amazingly good for stamping - but of course Amber knew that and that's why she sent me these polishes.

I also got the Burt's Bees lemon butter cuticle cream I asked for and I'm really addicted to it, I use it every night and the results are great. 

She also sent me a Konad stamping plate which is great because I'm addicted to stamping!

There's also a cute mini OPI set which I really like as well. Did you know that the minis are so adorable?! It's so tiny and cute! I don't know for how many times it will last but it's adorable! AND I love Katy Perry :P

Another surprise was Sally Hansen Byte which was simply gorgeous over black! 

I've received so many nail polish that I don't know when I will have the time to swatch it all! lol

This is the list of polishes I received in this swap:

OPI Pepe's Purple Passion

OPI The One That Got Away (mini)
OPI Teenage Dream (mini)
OPI Last Friday Night (mini)
OPI Not Like The Movies (mini)

Nubar Reclaim 

Revlon Whimsical

Essie As Gold As It Gets

Essie She's Picture Perfect

Wet N Wild Black Cream
Spoiled The Parking Meteor Expired
Sally Hansen Byte
Hard Candy Beetle

Amazing! Right? I'm so happy and grateful for this! Thank you so much Amber!

She's super nice and thoughtful and I know she has already set up for me a new swap with lots of things from my wishlist. Isn't she amazing? :D

I know it will be hard for me to top this because getting nice stuff here is really hard and the selections here is really poor, but I've got some really nice non polish stuff for her as well and I really hope she will like it :)

So that's all for my first swap. I hope you liked this post.

Wish you a great and lovely week!

xoxo

Natalie

This nail polish was a HUGE surprise!

Not only I managed to buy it online כfor less than $2, I was surprised to find out the it was kind of a great holographic too!

It's by Nature Angel (I couldn't find any swatches online on this brand), doesn't state anything on the back and only has a sticker on the bottom that says Rongxin 038 and it's 12 ml. Oh well, whatever you say :)

I bought it on ebay along with few others which I haven't received yet, and I wasn't expecting anything special. Just though it would be a nice lilac color with a pearly finish, at leat that what the picture showed.

I have to say, it's not like a crazy sparkly holo but it sure is a holographic nail polish and the result is much better than the Catherine Arley holos I bought for $8 each (or more, I can't recall) and was really disappointed with. For this one I applied 3 coats.

Along with this lilac color I also bought a silver one, which is great as well and I will be swatching it later on the blog. Few more are on their way and I have no idea if they're holos too or not.

I chose to show you how this nail polish looks in different lighting, so I took some pictures in direct afternoon sunlight, a white lamp light and in the shade.

I think I really love it and couldn't wait to wear it even though I just bought the lovely Orly's Gilded Coral which I was craving for lately. So I guess the anonymous won this round :)