sabato 27 aprile 2013

Max Factor Fantasy Fire


A blurred photo is needed to show you the (in)famous Max Factor Fantasy Fire, over two coats of Essence's Midnight Date.
Honestly, I don't get why it's considered a rare polish because I seem to find it everywhere. It's also a bit complicated when it comes to layering.


I tried on a dark glittery violet by Kiko months ago too.

I think that this is one of those polishes that are better in the bottle than on the nail. It's nice, but not something worth searching the seven seas for, in my opinion.
Vote: B

venerdì 26 aprile 2013

Cartoon Nails


My take on the cartoon/comics inspired nail art! A nice effect, even if I don't like to cover all my nail in polish... it's a pain in the neck to remove. But this is surely funny and I really like that lime green!

I used Essence 138 L.O.L. , a nice lime green that doesn't stain, then Essence Stamp me! Black and Kiko 203. I saw a tutorial that recommended to do a black base first and the bright color after it, but it seemed like an unnecessary waste of time to me, so i did the lime green and used a nail art brush with Essence's black that is highly pigmented. I also inaugurated a new basecoat by Essence studio nails that seems promising.

martedì 23 aprile 2013

Glossip 15 Win Beetle

A few days ago, just outside of the Glossip shop, I was given a coupon that allowed me to buy the small bottles of polish (5 ml) for 1 euro each, with a buying limit of three. If you wanted to find a nice way to make people try that brand, you did the right thing! I bought a red for my sister, and she is very happy about it. For me I bough the 15, Win Beetle. In the bottle is a duochrome grey that goes from blue undertones to pink/violet undertones.


On the nails, the pink undertones are impossible to see, and that is surely a disappointment! I was expecting a duochrome, i got grey with cold blue undertones.
The upside of this? It's a nice, very metallic shade of grey, and under daylight the blue emerges beautifully.
The formula isn't the best either, be careful or you'll leave brush strokes. It is however longlasting, i have to admit it.
Vote: B-.
Later I added Kiko 615 on the tips... although I received compliments for this nail art, I'm not 100% sure whether I like it or not, even if they go fine together as colors.



domenica 21 aprile 2013

Shaka Sugary white, Emerald and Peacock review

The main reason why I didn't post anything this week is because I wasn't satisfied with the results.
I will, however, post my last two nail art (more like fail art), because they were still good occasions to review my new polishes, especially the news Shakas of the family.

What was I expecting: a peacock-style nail art
The result: An aztec-style something
The base color is Shaka Emerald, that I find great. Unfortunately Shaka Peacock didn't contrast much with Emerald so the result is, well, not what I wanted. Maybe they would make a nice gradient together.
(Violet: Pupa 410, Gold: Kiko 628)

What was I expecting: A candy effect
The result: A sports team t-shirt effect
The white is Shaka Sugary White. Should you buy only one polish of the Shaka Sugary Collection, go for this one. It's very candylike and has small silver glitter that makes it really look sugary...
(Yellow: Max Factor Mellow Yellow, Green: Mint Cream, Orange: Kiko 356, Violet: Kiko 338, Pink: Catrice Pimp My Shrimp)

Overall, even if I am not satisfied with my nail art, something that comes more from my mood than from an effective failure, I have to say that Shaka polishes have always an overall good quality, and a low price (usually 1.99 euros, I paid them 1.79 because there was a make up sale at OVS).
Shaka Peacock was part of my birthday gifts.



venerdì 12 aprile 2013

Stamping on Deborah 13

This polish is part of my birthday gift from my sister: the gift was a bunch of make up and nail polish related stuff, hehe.

One of the gifts was a box by Deborah containing this nail polish, a red lipstick and this fluffy tickler. There was also one with lacy gloves, black polish and nude lipstick. I don't wear nude lipsticks, or I would've bought that too. Why? well, those sets were on sale for 4.90 euros! Probably they were inspired by that horrible book, you know, fifty shades of badly written porn. But who cares, the lipstick is great and so is the nail polish!
A beautiful, outrageous sexy red  with cold undertones, fast drying and shiny, practically a classic you can't miss. A must have for all femmes fatales.
I tried some red-on-red stamping with Pupa 620 from the old China Doll LE. It stamps perfectly, but I should have picked a bigger design, it's a bit hard to see.
The Deborah polish vote is definitely an A. Good quality, and I love the big brush.

martedì 9 aprile 2013

Stamping with Kiko 617

A few days ago I was at my parent's, spending my saturday afternoon studying german literature and my mom came back from her walk and handed me Kiko 617, that she had just bought for me.
She had seen the Mirror Nail Lacquer promo on the kiko window and thought they were beautiful, so she bought me that one hoping I didn't have it already. I didn't, and had already planned to get at least the copper and silver one of that collection, since the quality is great and they stamp perfectly. It was such a nice and unexpected gift!

Guess what, I will not need to buy the silver one. 617 is actually taupe, but stamped it doesn't make much difference, it looks like silver.

Natural light vs artificial light.




I stamped it with Gals stamping plate n 33 over three coats of Essence's Take a Ride on Pegasus from the old Fantasia LE.


Anyway, if you came here to find out if  Kiko 617 is a good polish the answer is yes! And, like the gold one, it stamps perfectly! Vote: A



domenica 7 aprile 2013

B Basic Beauty 49PE


I had already tried this polish once, realized it was bad for gradients and put it back in the drawer. But I wanted to give it a second chance. The color is beautiful, it has some violet hues that are really amazing.
The formula, however, is really bad. It's almost like colored water, very sheer. This is three coats, and it took aeons to dry. Even with fast drying drops it dried so badly that I had to remove it the morning after.
Luckily I took this photo the evening before.. and I hadn't even bothered to clean the excess polish, because I wanted to layer it with Max Factor's fantasy fire. I did so today and it was almost invisible, perhaps it needs a darker blue as base.
Vote: between C and D. The color is great, the quality not so much.

giovedì 4 aprile 2013

Historical Figures Series: Cleopatra

And the next historical figure is...queen Cleopatra!

I really like how this mani come out, it really makes me think of Ancient Egypt!
When I was a kid one of my favourite books was a giant book shaped like a sarcophagus and I was really obsessed with ancient civilizations, especially Egypt. Who am I kidding, I'm still obsessed with History.

The blue is Kiko 294, that I obtained thanks to the one-free-nail-polish coupon for the 1 million fans on the kiko facebook page. I really needed a bright blu and I love it! The other colors are kiko 204 and 628, and the black is essence's stampy nail polish in black. A black very pigmented that comes really handy for nail art (and for stamping too, of course). Another thing that came very handy was Essence's Nail art express dry drops... I'm probably going to write a post about it soon.



martedì 2 aprile 2013

Citrus nails

 I said I would have tested that Mavala polish duration on my nails without topcoat, and I did. It lasted only 2 days then it chipped on my index, always the first nail to go, and started showing some signs of tipwear... and I wasn't exactly stranded on a desert island neither was I forced to fight a T-rex with my bare hands, the only circumstances that would make such a short duration understandable. You see, I don't mind if a 2 euros or so Essence polish doesn't last a week, but Mavala polish are around 5 euros or more and for that I expect something more.  So I decided to add something to it...

I always wanted to try this kind of mani, and it's surprisingly easy to draw it. I used Kiko 356 (orange) and Kiko 203, that's meant to be a white for french mani so it has a small brush that comes really handy for nail art. Then one coat of topcoat.
It's certainly an eye-catching mani, and it reminds me of candy.

lunedì 1 aprile 2013

Mavala Orange Amazone


It's finally sunny, so have a sunlight photo of Mavala Orange Amazone. It's my first time using a Mavala polish and I borrowed this from my sister (we're both here for Easter ). It's more red than orange irl, but it's still quite beautiful. I just couldn't resist trying a brand that was new for me, and I have to say i love the brush and the formula, but it's a bit sheer. This is two coats, no topcoat.
I don't think I'd buy this, mostly because I don't wear many reds, but the brush is really good.
I will now test how long it can last without topcoat...
Should I give it a vote, I'd say B, because the quality is good but the color is nothing special.