For the last Go Pink Wednesday I decided to go for something special, so I used two of my favorite things for this mani - Holographic nail polish and the butterfly wings stamping plate I designed a while back ago.

I started with two coats of Shaka Hologram Silver 06, then created a gradient with PUPA Holographic Strawberry 38. Once it was ready for my stamp, I stamped the black butterfly wings stamp from my Nailz Craze NC01 stamping plate with Wet n Wild Black Creme polish. I added some white spots with a dotting tool, used Chic White Flag white polish. Then I added Poshe top coat once the design was all done.

I had a few rough incidents while creating this mani, the most annoying was that Shaka's holo polish just didn't work with my regular base coat. I've been using  Nail Tek foundation 2 for few months now, and I haven't seen anything like this with my other polishes. Shaka's holo just wouldn't go on to of it even after the base coat dried. It left huge bald spots and dried so dull you could never see it was a holo at all. Even after applying the second coat on top of it, it was bad. So I removed it all and applied my old nail hardener by GADE which is kind of transparent glossy polish that doesn't do much. It was better on top of it, but first coat wasn't great. It was better when I applied the second coat of the holo, and then I could go on with my mani.
Pupa's holo wasn't as satisfying as I hoped it would be, I guess the sponging process didn't do justice to it because by itself it has a gorgeous holo effect.
Then the sun wouldn't come out for me and my holographic mani, it's a gloomy day here, so I had to use my lamp for the photos. So it's not as pretty as I hoped it would be but you can still see the holo effect.
I really love how Shaka's Silver holo changes it's color in the light, you can see the blue, green and even some purple which is really nice. Overall I love this mani and I'm happy to share it with you and would love to hear your thoughts.





The next day I managed to take some photos in the sun, although it came out for few minutes and it wasn't as bright, but the holo looks pretty and the colors are more accurate :)

Recently I bought a new addition to my collection - PUPA Deep Ruby. I saw it in a store and I knew I had to have it. When I arrived home, I realized I had something similar to it but I was surprised to see that it was quite a perfect dupe for the lovely Zoya Jem.

In the bottle PUPA looked kind of a deep burgundy, so that what "deceived" me. I remembered that Zoya Jem is more purple, but that was a deceiveing memory because I forgot that Zoya didn't look the same on the nails as in the bottle.

Zoya Jem and PUPA Deep Ruby are surprisingly identical, the only difference I could see is that Zoya Jem has little flakes as PUPA has only shimmer. The shimmer is golden, red and blue.

In the bottle it look kind of burgundy, deep plum color, and on the nails (in direct sun light) they look more purple. The color is defiantly gorgeous, rich and beautiful.

I really couldn't see the difference when I applied them on the nails, they look identically to me. In the bottle there is some difference but on the nails, the same!

I did see a bit more of blue shimmer in PUPA but it's a slight difference.

As for application and formula, PUPA was a delight! I like the long thin brush, and it was SO opaque in one coat that I could leave it like that (actually for this swatch I applied two coats but on the right hand I used one coat only. Shh... don't tell anyone). When I applied it I said to myself outloud "What a rich color!" lol so that's how great it was!

As for Zoya, it needed two generous coats for good coverage. It's formula is thinner but also good.

Another difference I've noticed while I applied them, is that the base color of both polishes was different - I'm not sure how to explain this but Zoya was more red toned, and PUPA was blue toned, which is pretty weird considering the result is the same (I can see this clearly if I raise my hand against the light, so I can see that the distal edge has a different color).

The last thing - PUPA was a bit more shiny and Zoya was kind of dull, before I applied the top coat (Poshe), but once with a top coat - Zoya sparkled a bit more in the sun and showed it's flakes.

Overall I like them both, I can't decide which I like better because they are so similar. I can say that if someone else would have made this comparison before me, I probably wouldn't buy PUPA as well because I already had Zoya and I'm not a big fan of identical dupes, but I could live with them both. I'm thinking that PUPA might be better for traveling and such, because it's small and convenient. But I swear - I do LOVE them both! :)

For today's mani I used PUPA Deep Ruby 619 from the new China Doll collection. I just got it a few days ago and I had to try it. I had a feeling I have something similar to it in my collection, but I wasn't sure, so that was my excuse for buying it :)

Deep Ruby is a gorgeous rich color. I would say it's something between a burgundy and purple, with golden, red and blue shimmer. It was opaque with one coat, and I just loved it! When I compared it to Zoya Jem I was surprised to see that they were quite a perfect match, but I will write about it in my next post.

For these pictures I used two coats of PUPA Deep Ruby and stamped with Barry M Gold Foil using the QA39 plate from ebay. I really love this Louis Vuitton pattern and I thought it would go nice with this deep color from PUPA. What do you think?

This is the third mani I've done for the  Go Pink Wednesday and I think this is my favorite so far. I've been waiting to use my new polishes from Essence and the new Cheeky plates (this one is so pretty!) and I really love how it came out, even prettier than I imagined.

For this mani I used Essence Modern Romance which is a light peachy color with pink shimmer, and Essence Naughty and Pink! which is a sweet hot pink creme.
First I applied two coats of Modern Romance, and when it dried I applied both polishes on a sponge and created this gradient. I like to use a dry makeup sponge, I find it to work best for me.
Then I stamped with white stampy polish also from Essence and used the Cheeky CH53 plate, and finally topped it all with Poshe.

This came out to be such a sweet mani and I really love everything about it. I think I could wear this forever, and I know I will be doing this again with other colors or maybe even repeat it just as is. That's how much I loved it! haha
I've been waiting to use this lovely birds and love letters stamp and I was so excited when I got it! I think it's my favorite design from all Cheeky plates.
I already planned my next mani for the Go Pink Wednesday and I'm excited for it to be my final mani for this project.
So what do you think of my mani this week? What other color combinations would you suggest for it? :)

I received this stamping plate for a review from Born Pretty Store and I couldn't wait to try these out. 

When I was requested to choose one item, I knew it would be a stamping plate, but I had hard time deciding which one I want because Born Pretty Store has so many designs to choose from. Finally I decided to go with the plate CK-04 because I really loved the designs on it, and there were some designs I didn't have yet.

When I received it I was a bit surprised to see how actually small it was, but I needed to give it a try and see how it goes.

I started with a base color for my stamping: I applied 2 coats of Wet n Wild I Need a Refresh-Mint, and one coat of KIKO 298 to add a little sparkle. Then I stamped with Wet n Wild Black Creme.

The plate itself is not that big, it's 14x8.5 cm, and the designs were disappointingly small, not larger than 1.3x1 cm. Unless you have tiny nails, this plate will probably not fit your nails, but... You can get creative with it and try different methods, for example stamping twice on the same nail, or using a tape to create some kind of french tip nail art.

For the index and the middle finger I I stamped each nail twice because the designs were too small for my nails, but it actually looks like it's one large pattern so you can't really tell.

I really love how they both look and I will be using hem again in a full mani sometime soon.

The plate came with blue protective film to prevent scratches before the first use, and it has a backing paper to prevent cuts from the sharp metal plate.

As I said before, the designs are very small. You can see the comparison to Bundle Monster's plate (which are not too large as well). I've also recognized a lot of designs I'm familiar with from Konad's and Bundle Monster's plates.

Most of the designs are about 1 cm wide and 1.3 cm high, some are much smaller. Not all of them stamped well for me, and I had to try several times until I got a good enough image that I can use, but that can happen with other plates too.

Overall this is a nice plate but it probably will not fit most people's nails, As I said before, there are other creative ways to use this to create lovely nail art. 

You can find the plate I reviewed and many other stamping plates in this link, there is a large variety of plates, and the prices are really cheap. I know they also have regular rounded plates and the designs are supposed to be larger so that's worth giving a try. I know I will be shopping from Born Pretty Store for few new stamping plates for myself.

You can get a special 10% discount for your purchase if you use this code upon checkout: NL91.

Hope you liked my review. I will be happy to know what you think about it and if you have used any plates from Born Pretty Store and liked / didn't liked them, please share it with me :)

Hurray! Giveaway time!
Nailz Craze has reached 1,000 likes on Facebook and 400 followers on the blog - and this is a good reason to celebrate!
I would like to say a HUGE thank you to all my followers and readers, I really enjoy sharing my passion for nail polish with you guys!
I've prepared a little thank you package that includes all these goodies - and one lucky winner will have it all!

One lucky winner will win:

• 2 Nailz Craze stamping plates: NC01 Butterfly + NC02 Magical plates
• 3 Color Club polishes: Factory Girl, Blushing Rose, Blue-Ming
• 1 Essence topper - Disco Disco
• 1 OPI Avoplex Cuticle Oil to go

Please follow the Rafflecopter instructions to enter the giveaway.
This giveaway is open internationally and new readers are welcome!
The giveaway ends on November 18th.
The winner will be announced within a week from November 18th and will have 48 hours to respond to my email, otherwise another winner will be chosen.
All the products were purchased by me and are brand new. Everything will be packed carefully, but I can’t replace any lost or broken item.
Please check if you have any custom tax in your country before entering.
If you are sharing this giveaway on your blog, please use the image above and link back to this post.

Good Luck and thank you for entering the giveaway! :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This is my second pink mani for the Go Pink Wednesday project I've joined last week.
I used Essie Fiji as a base, it's a lovely creamy pale pink. I needed two coats for nice coverage, but I think if I wasn't using a stamp over it, I would probably need 3 coats for perfect finish.
On the ring finger I applied one coat of Essie A Cut Above, which is a gorgeous glitter top coat with four different sizes of hexagon glitters with a clear base. I really love the color of these glitters, it has a lovely pinkish-red tone. I actually think it would look great layered into a jelly sandwich, but I will do that some other time.
For the stamp I used fauxnad plate M63, and stamped it with Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in Fuchsia Chrome.
I really love how it came out, very feminine and delicate. What do you think about my mani? Did you do a mani for Go Pink Wednesday yet? You totally should join in!

Today's NOTD is a fun and easy to make lepard print. No stamping, no special tools and very little time invested to receive a great result.

I've been wanting to try this for a while, and it was surprisingly fun when finally did it!

I started with two coats of Essence Grey-t To Be Here, then added pink spots (don't try to make them rounded and perfect, then you'll get much nicer results) with Essence Ultimate Pink. Then I used a toothpick and applied black polish to partially contour the pink spots, and added some black shapes to fill the gaps. When it was quite dry I applied Poshe top coat (use a generous coat to prevent the smearing), and voilà - it's done!

Super easy and fun nail art! I'm sure I'll be doing it again soon :)

 The polish I used for the base was Essence Grey-t To Be Here, which is a light grey with a subtle pink shimmer. The new Essence bottles are very pretty, they contain 8ml instead of 5ml as in the old ones. The brush is wider and rounded, which I wasn't sure it's better but this is the only polish I've tried so far. I should test them few more times and then I would be able to decide if I like the new brush or not. I used two generous coats, which was enough for, but the formula was a bit streaky but not too bad.

Overall I'm pretty happy with this polish - it's a great light and neutral grey that I've been looking for and I really love it's shimmer. Plus the bottle is adorable, and I just LOVE how they make the caps of each color look as the polish itself :)

Great job Essence!

Be sure to check Walkways songs and funny "making of" videos on Youtube, like them on facebook, follow them on twitter and see the awesome photos from their last show.
Help me spread the word about this great band!

As you might have noticed there are lots of pink manis around the blogosphere lately. Well if you don't know why, I should probably be the first one to tell you that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

I decided to join in and spread the word, so for today's mani I chose to go with two things I haven't tried yet - Jade's holo polish and Cheeky's stamp :)

I'm a fool for holos and I just can't get enough of them, so I was really excited when I got this polish in a swap. I've seen lots of Jade's holos swatches and they were always so amazing! They sparkle like crazy in the sun, which is great because that's what the holos are all about!

I've also really wanted to try this cute swirly stamp from Cheeky's first plates set (CH16) so I thought it would be nice to try it over this holo. I stamped it with Essence white stampy polish. The white stamp gave it a subtle look which I like. What a shame that this mani will stay with me for one day only (I have a mani I've planed to do for my bf's band which is performing tomorrow!).

For these photos I used two coats of Jade Holografico - Seducao Rosa, no top coat in the photos but I applied it later when the stamp was completely dry. With a generous coat of Poshe I had no smearing of the stamp :) I love that top coat!

For this weekend I wanted to try something new, so I grabbed the new Catrice Dirty Berry I just received the other week, and stamped it with my new plate from Cheeky CH13 (from old collection). I really loved this geometric design and couldn't resist trying it.

Cartice Dirty Berry is a lovely light  purple color with holo shimmer. I really love how it sparkles in the sun. It's not like most holo polishes, it's sparkle is really subtle but still pretty.
Applying a geometric stamp is always a hard work, because I kind of struggle to apply it straight and perfect, which doesn't always work lol. I think that the best application is on the middle finger, but still it looks pretty good on the rest. I really love this design and I have a feeling I will be using it a lot.
I used two coats of Catrice Dirty Berry, WnW Black Creme for stamping, and sealed it with the Poshe top coat (I love this one!).