Since I saw the new collection from Orly for the coming spring (Hope & Freedom Fest), I imitatively spotted the lovely polish named Peaceful Opposition. I was really inspired by this one and decided to try to create this look with what I had in my stash. 

I picked a sheer milky polish by GA-DE Nude Luxe (which is quite a good dupe for Essie Limo-Scene) and the lovely glitter Essence Julia. And this is how I started my 7 coats jelly sandwich.

I started with my new base coat - Duri Rejuvacote, then applied one coat of Nude Luxe, one coat of Essence Julia, then again a coat of Nude Luxe and Essence Julia, then another (!!!) coat of Nude Luxe and finally topped it with Poshe. Phew, that was a lot of coats! Can you break my record? ;)

So the result was very delicate and you can't actually see there's a great depth to it with all the coats, but it made my nails super thick and a bit chunky for my taste, but it was still nice.

The final result reminded me of Revlon Starry Pink, which I haven't tried yet but it's more delicate and less pink.

Overall it was a nice experiment but I don't think it's worth the time I spent on it, so I don't think I will do another super-multi-coats design soon again.

But this is still pretty, right? ;)

I really wanted to use my sweater print from Nailz Craze NC03 stamping plate with this pale minty color, so I combined a couple of my favorite polishes to create this design.
I used Essie Mint Candy Apple as a base, and applied over it one coat of the gorgeous Models Own Indian Ocean. The effect I got was gorgeous! Indian Ocean is also one of my latest additions to the collection and I really love it. It has a pretty duo chrome shimmer that shifts its color from pink to yellow, and the base is really pretty even though it's sheer. I think it will be a lovely addition to any blue or teal base, and I intend to try all sorts of combinations with it.
The bottom photo shows really well the shimmery effect of Indian Ocean over Mint Candy Apple. Isn't it gorgeous?

I decided to stamp over this base the sweater design from my new Nailz Craze NC03 plate, but this time I stamped it vertically and used the same row from the design on each nail. I used Essence Stamp Me! White for stamping, and applied one coat of Poshe.
I think the result is very pretty and subtle and I really like it. It was a bit hard to get it on camera but I think you can get the hang of it. This is defiantly one of the favorite designs I've made lately and I'm quite pleased with it.

I've been wanting this beautiful color for so long, actually it's what started my obsession for nail polish about half a year ago and now finally I got it! The perfect minty cream.

Essie Mint Candy Apple is a pale mint in a creamy base. I needed two coats to get it opaque. The formula was really great, wasn't streaky as I thought it would be, and the application with the thin brush was really pleasant. I really love this color, I think it is perfect for spring and summer, but I had to give it a try now since I only got it few days ago.
I really love this shade and I know I will be using it a lot in my designs. :)

Today I'm going to share with you another review I did, this time for the fauxnad stamping plate m66 I got from Born Pretty Store. 

You can get this plate at this ling for $2.99 at this link.

I was excited to try this plate and wanted to re-create a design I saw a while back ago at Picchi's Nails blog. I really loved the colors combination she used and I was even inspired to get this pretty Essence glitter for it :)

When I got the plate I was disappointed to see that the etching and the details weren't clear enough. From far it looks like it's quite good but when I looked up closely it had a lot of fine details missing. I don't know if all the plates are like this, but the one I got wasn't good quality in my opinion. I wish it was more delicate, as the original design, but instead it came out a bit chunky and unclear.

The plate came with a protective film and has no backing paper, but I don't mind that at all. I've never got a cut from plates with no backing so that didn't bother me. Plate's size is 5.5 cm in diameter.

To create this design I started with two coats of Essie She's Picture Perfect which is a violet creme with delicate pink shimmer. Then I applied on the tips a few coats of Essence It's Purplicious (old version) which is a colorful mix of small glitters in a clear base. I wanted it to looks like a glitter gradient but I don't think I did a great job there. Then I applied one coat of Poshe to smooth it out and when it dried I stamped with Essence Stamp Me! White using the m66 plate I got from Born Pretty Store.

I wasn't really happy with the result. It came out very chunky. I wish that the designs were more delicate and looked more like the original plate. I hope to get another plate like this, hopefully it will have clear and crisp design on it. I really love the designs on this plate so I think it's worth giving it another chance.

For my weekend mani I decided to combine the gorgeous Orly Devil May Care with Essie Jag-u-are to create this festive look.

Orly Devil May Care is a red and gold glitter with clear base, from the Naughty or Nice collection. The glitters are quite dense and I think you can get it to cover your nails fully if you apply about 3-4 coats, but I didn't try to do this yet. I applied only one coat over Essie Jag-u-are and I think this combination rocks! I've tried this polish over a creamy red (which was a bit more orange toned) and I like this version much better. I think that Jag-u-are really compliments the glitters and they look fabulous together.

I really love this on my nails and I have a feeling I will be repeating this looks soon enough ;)

Essie Jag-u-are is a gorgeous shimmery red, and I think it's a perfect red for Christmas.

It has a very delicate and lovely golden shimmer that looks almost metallic, but I think it's still in the shimmery zone. Like most of Essie's polishes, the application was a delight. It had a pretty good coverage with the first coat but I applied two coats for an opaque and stronger color.

I really love this red, it's so festive and... may I say sexy? Love it! ;)

Today was pretty cloudy so I couldn't get photos with a good light but these are still pretty.

The last photo is taken under the lamp light, and you can see it looks more metallic.

The color itself is very pretty and you can see in the first photo the gorgeous golden shimmer I was talking about, it shows more in the bottle.

I think this is my favorite red for Christmas. Have you picked yours already? :)

I knew I wanted to do this look from the second I had the Nailz Craze NC03 plate ready.

It's kinda funny that I created the Blue China design using the plate that I originally named Russian plate, but - it all depends on the color you use, right? :) So Blue China it is!

I have a feeling this pattern will look great with other colors too, but this time I went for the traditional white and blue combination.

I started with two coats of a plain white ( I used Chic White Flag), then applied one coat of China Glaze White Cap which is a sheer milky base with gold shimmer, looks almost like it has tiny golden flakes in it. Then I stamped the flowery pattern from the new Nailz Craze NC03 plate using Barry M Indigo which was pretty sheer but it created this delicate look which I really love. Then I sealed it with one coat of Poshe.

I really love how this design came out and I think I will be creating many more looks like this one using other color combinations. I know it may seem to most of you like just another flowery pattern and it might not be as exciting for you as it for me, but I really love this pattern especially since I had a hard time creating it while designing this plate. I'm really glad it came out the way it is, and I hope that some of you will find this design pretty and refreshing even though there are so many flowery patterns on other stamping plates. I actually put a lot of thought into this on :)

I would love to hear your thoughts about my Blue China design. What colors would you use with this stamp? Don't be shy, feel free to share with me your thoughts.

A while ago I received this color changing nail polish from Born Pretty Store for review, and I would like to share with you my thought on it.

I was very excited about this product, it's actually the first color changing nail polish I've tried. I really love the idea of it to be temperature sensitive and it's pretty invoative and cool (well, I know it's not that new but still, it was my first try with it).

The item I am about to review is: Magic Purple/Sky Blue Color Changing Mood Nail Polish Nail Art #7

You can buy it at the Born Pretty Store, along with other colors of color changing nail polish here.

 

Before I received it I saw some swatches of this nail polish on other blogs, and I saw that the polish inside the bottle looked like some kind of water marbling, like the colors weren't mixed good, so I knew what to expect when I got my polish.

As you can see in the first photo, the colors in the bottle are some kind of mixture of blue and purple, but I guess it's ok if others had this as well.

The application was ok, the brush was a bit short but I managed with it nicely. I needed two coats for a good coverage. The polish dries matte or with a plastic look finish, but it seemed to me that it's taking it a bit more time to dry than regular nail polish. I also noticed that it wasn't completely smooth and had some kind of grains in it, you can see this in the photos if you look up close.

Once i dried, I dipped my fingers in a bowl with warm water and the polish instantly changed it's color to light blue. I must say this was very fun, and I liked the color changing effect. I had to hurry to take the photo because it started to change it's color back to purple, you can see at the tips of the nails that are already purple.

When I dipped my nails in a bowl with cold water, the color instantly changed back to purple. I was enjoying the effect, dipping my fingers in warm and cold water a few times, and then I was suddenly noticed that for some reason these huge bubbles were formed on my nails. I assume that the water somehow diffused underneath the polish and created this horrific look. It was a huge turn off for me, and I was disappointed to see this weirdly gross thing that happened to the nail polish. I started thinking back, maybe I did something wrong, I don't know... Basically applied it on bare clean nails, and waited for it to dry completely for about 5-10 minutes. I have no idea why this happened, I guess it might be this one polish that gone bad, since the other's swatches and reviews I saw were ok.

So.. This is my unfortunate experience with this polish. I think I will give it another try, and see if this will happen again or not. I'm thinking that a top coat might prevent this from happening but it didn't say I had to apply one so... I don't know.

I wouldn't say you can't try this yourself, I really think that this problem is really rare and not suppose to happen.

Have you tried this polish or something similar? What did you think about it?

Important update: I've been told that you do have to use a top coat with this polish to prevent thing like this from happening, so I will try this soon again and will let you know how it goes :)

Barry M

Essence

Essie

KIKO

China Glaze

Orly

Loreal

ZOYA

OPI

PUPA

 

Color Club

Nature Angel

GA-DE

Life

Maybelline Colorama

MUA

Pure Ice

L-R: Mint Dream, Twinkle, Stunning, Rio, Temptress, Busted No Means No, Temptress, Cheatin

Chic

Beauty Care

Catrice

Sally Hansen

Sinful Colors & Spoiled

Skinfood

Wet n Wild

Revlon

Nfu Oh

Nubar

Butter London

Catherine Arley

Maisie Shine

Jade

Misc. 

Base & Top Coat