martedì 29 ottobre 2013

A small announcement & getting ready for Lucca Comics

I had a couple of mani ideas for this week. However, they won a ticket to the "To Do Land", because I have injured my right hand's thumb. It sounds less heroic when you learn I got this wide, annoying painful cut while washing the dishes. I took a cracked glass from the water, it broke, and now I'm here with a C-shaped cut covered in hospital bandages and the inability to use my right hand for two weeks. Well, i can use my other fingers but not too much, and try grabbing things without your thumb. It's still quite painful, but hey, I can still apply nail polish. More complex nail art experiments are impossible for me now.
This is why you'll mostly see swatches of polishes in the next weeks.

The good news is, I'm definitely going to Lucca Comics! And for the first time, I'll bring a cosplay. I'll be Alyx Vance from the videogame Half-Life 2. She wears no make up in the game, even if in some stills it seems she's wearing black eye pencil, I doubt she'd be wearing anything, since the game is set in a dystopian post-apocalyptic world. I will go for a no-makeup look.



The Maybelline Fit Me foundation is the best foundation in the world, everyone else go home. I use the lightes shade, 105, and it's just perfect. I apply it only with my fingers, and it sets in perfectly, lasts all day and is just the right shade for me. You know those people that make you wonder under how many cm of foundation is their face buried? Well, you only need a thing layer of this to have a nice, even skin color. I rarely even use concealer anymore.If I need it, I brought the Essence eye primer, you know, just in case (it's quite a good concealer).
The Complexion Perfection by E.L.F. is, as you can guess from the hole, a product I've used a lot. Even if it didn't have such an awesome name (it's like a videogame weapon name), it would be a great setting powder.
The Essence Lashes go Wild mascara is pretty good, it really gives me long and impressive lashes, which is why I'm still not certain wheter I'll use it or not.
The character I cosplay has darker hair than me, so I'll have to get darker eyebrows as well. This Max Factor eyebrow pencil will do the trick, even if it's not too dark.
But what about the Neve Cosmetics lip nectar and the single eyeshadow in Watermelon? Their moment of glory has come. I'll mix them in a small Essence jar and use the final product...as hair mascara.
Alyx Vance has red strands of hair, and this will do the trick. I've already tried and it works perfectly!


And that is all for now! I'm leaving for Lucca Comics & Games on thursday, and won't be able to post anything until monday (probably). Have a nice Halloween and/or a nice weekend!


venerdì 25 ottobre 2013

Rainbow Challenge Day 4, Green Nails

The rainbow challenge continues with this Astra Holo (n 705) I kept exactly for this occasion... a lovely forest green. A pity there has been almost no sun lately, under the light it shines very nicely.
I decided to stamp something over it with Kiko 626, and I went for some leaves... even if I did leaves last time too, the results are quite different. I haven't done stamping in a while but I really love the results, the design came out neatly.

mercoledì 23 ottobre 2013

Urban Decay Hustle nail polish

Sorry for the lack of posts! I've had some really full and tiresome days. At the end of the day I might not be too tired to apply polish, but I wouldn't give it enough time to dry.
Anyway, here's Urban Decay Hustle polish from the Naked set.
The color is a metallic brown/purple that doesn't require a topcoat to shine. Application was easy and drying time was good, shown here are three thin coats. The color really makes me think more of an eyeshadow than of a polish, and I don't even own a UD palette. It is similar to Concrete Minerals' Smut, but darker.
I thought some blue would have gone nicely with it, since light blue/brown is a color combination I love. The light blue is kiko 624. It's also amazing to hide tipwear.

mercoledì 16 ottobre 2013

A multichrome experiment

I've had this mani in my to do list for a while, so I'm happy to have it finally done.
The base is Pupa 209, and the top coats are Deborah 102 for the blue/greenish parts...and a very old L'Oréal Jet-Set polish for the orange/green ones.. It belonged to my sister, and despite being very old I never threw it away, due to its mighty duochrome powers. I kept it thinking to use it for paintings and art, but how could I resist using it on my nails? It looks like some certain high-end duochrome top coats.
It's really old (I wouldn't be surprised to find out it's 10 years old) but still works magnificently.
It has more duochrome fleckes than the Deborah one, and they're bigger overall: one coat of it was enough, while I had to apply 2 covers of the Deborah one to have a better coverage.
The silvery line is Kiko 617.

martedì 15 ottobre 2013

Rainbow Challenge Day 3, Yellow Nails


Or "I had no idea leaves could be so hard to draw" nails. I wanted to do something different besides the usual bees and lemons that happen at day 3, but those falling leaves didn't come out as I expected. It's still a funny mani, imho.
The base is my favourite yellow, Essence's Little Miss Sunrise, now discontinued, and the red is Orly Red Flare. Why is Essence even discontinuing that color, it is so pretty.
Sorry for the short post, I just came back from a Krav Maga lesson and my wrists and arms hurt (along with many other body parts).

venerdì 11 ottobre 2013

OPI Don't Talk Bach To Me


As for today, I have for you something old, but lovely. I bought this for sale ( 6 euros) at Sephora: some polishes of the old Germany collection are for sale, as well as old polishes from other old collections. Don't forget to check your local store for this. And if something was signalled as available online in that shop but you can't find, ask. Ok, this seems obvious, but this way you'd get to check every bottle they may have on sale.
I found this hidden gem, a lovely chartreuse/pistachio green with micro shimmer that becomes almost invisible on the nail. I am soo in love with this color! It's actually great for autumn.
Shown here are three coats of polish.

mercoledì 9 ottobre 2013

My first order from Concrete Minerals

Sorry for the lack of posts, I've been very busy and tired lately. I'm also late on my rainbow challenge. But first...



I'm always searching for nice matte colors, especially blue and green. So when I found out the pro matte eyeshadow line on the Concrete Minerals website I knew I needed them. I searched some review and swatches, and everything seemed very promising. So I asked my sister if she wanted to join me in this order, and a friend too. We got ourselves some nice colors!


My picks were Toxic and Bulletproof of the Pro Matte line and Smut of the standard minerals line. I decided to try their standard minerals too, since I got a coupon code to get two of them for 10 dollars when becoming their friend on fb. One for me and one for my sister!

Their customer service was really good, I sent them an email on friday evening and received an answer on saturday morning, that was really quick and nice from them. As you can see from the upper photo, everything was nicely packed in order to avoid problems. There was also a card explaining how to use mineral eyeshadows, two samples and a discount on the next order. The cutest thing? The thank you note written in pink marker!


I still haven't had the time to test them all, but I can tell you this: Bulletproof is the brightest bluest eyeshadow/eyeliner you can find. I used it as an eyeliner today, simply mixing it with a drop of water and applying it with an eyeliner brush. On their website it says they blend like a dream, and you know what? it's freaking true. They're soft and easy to work with. Bulletproof did stain the upper part of the lid a bit until it was fully dried. Then it was like a tattoo. A matte, blue eyeliner tattoo. Perfect.

 Toxic is an acid green, more neon that acid perhaps, but the color I needed nonetheless.It's going to make a gorgeous cyberpunk eyeliner. Smut is the weirdst color I've ever seen: a multichrome that goes from grey to purple to brown with glitter. I can't wait to try them too!


The jars come with a plastic seal on the holes. Look at that blue, isn't that the most gorgeous blue you've ever seen? Better than the Sephora pencil, better than the Kiko eyeliner.
I am sooo pleased by this purchase.

sabato 5 ottobre 2013

Essence Sparkle Sand Effect nail polish 163- Hey Nude!

When the OPI Bond Girls collection came out I fell in love with many of its polishes, mainly Pussy Galore and Jinx. So when I found a Kiko polish that was Jinx's dupe, it became mine! (It was Kiko 640).
A dupe of Pussy Galore didn't seem to exist. Until Essence came out with this.
Now, let's be honest, it's not a perfect dupe: Pussy Galore is pinker, Hey Nude is more nude-ish (as you could guess). PG is pearly and has no big glitters, HN does.
However, it's exactly what I wanted: a pink/nude shiny sand effect polish. The glitters are quite big, but it's still an office-friendly shade imho. I love how they reflect the light!
I applied three coats for full coverage. If you want less coats, you might want to use a base, and I wonder how it looks on a pinker base, since it can be quite sheer.
Drying time, as most sand effect polishes, was pretty good.
Side note: if you have very long nails the white part of the nail might still be visible under this polish.

I'm still going to give it an A, well done again, Essence.

venerdì 4 ottobre 2013

Urban Decay Smog nail polish & Essence new products haul






No, I don't have the whole Naked Nail Set... my sister does, but she didn't like this one, so she gave it to me.
A shimmery brown/bronze, very warm. It's almost a duochrome, under the light it shifts from brown to bronze to dark purple. I love this color, but it's not much pigmented, after three coats it still didn't offer the coverage I'd ask for. I think it would be better as a layering polish, since it did just a couple of days without topcoat before chipping. Certainly not a groundbreaking polish, and it would've been great if it had offered the same apocalyptic-proof resistance of, say, the UD pencils.

And now, to the Essence haul!




I have studied the Essence website when the new products were presented, and there were a couple of things I found worth trying. So when the Essence display was updated at Coin, well, I took the chance to test them:
Eye Sorbet in illuminating coconut: I had great hopes for this, but it's a bit too glittery and less whitey than I'd expect. It could make a good cream eyeshadow, but not an highlighter, unless you are going for a Twilight vampire look. I will post swatches as soon as I get back home.
Lashes Go Wild mascara: I can't wait to try this, the wand reminds me of Neve Cosmetics' mascara.
Glow In The Night topcoat:  This is going to be fun.
Sparkly Sand Effect in Hey, Nude! : I'm trying this right now! I've chosen it because it reminded me of an OPI polish. I'll post a review real soon!




martedì 1 ottobre 2013

Tag: 11 Questions

The lovely Ky of Il Mio Beauty Case mentioned me among the 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers after receiving the Liebster Award. That was really cute of her ^_^! Being tagged, I have to answer to 11 questions:


1· How did your nail obsession start?

Mmmh, I don't remember a single episode, when I was a kid I always asked my sister to paint my nails and had a small collection of drugstore polishes of all colors. I remember struggling for finding a nice green one.
At the uni I started doing more nail art and buying more polishes after seeing an image of an art deco chevron nail art... I wanted to recreate it, and I found myself in the nail polish mania!

  2· More or less, how many nail polish bottles are there in your helmer?

 I think around 100, but I don't dare to count them.

  3· Just nail lacquer, accent manicure or nail art?

It depends, I usually wear plain polish for a day and add details later. Accent manicures are perfect because they don't require much time.


  4· What was the oddest/stupidest comment to your nails?

 ...damn, I don't remember any!

  5· Are you jealous about your bottles?

 Uh, yes. There are some I would lend only to my sister or mom, some others I could lend to people but only if I get one of their polishes as hostage,erhm, to try.

  6· What is your most desired brand (NOT indie) which you would love to find in your perfumery?

 I imagine A England is considered indie, so I'm going for OCC. They did an entire limited edition based on the atmospheres of the Weimar Berlin, how cool is that?!

  7· What do you like less about nail blogging?

 Not managing to take good pics of my nails, haha. When it comes to the nail blogging world in general, I'd say people who post pictures of their nails without even a comment...did you like the color? is it a good polish? we may never know.

  8· What is your favourite nail polish brand?

 Considering  price/quality criteria, I'd say Kiko and Shaka.

  9· What is your all-time-favourite nail lacquer (I know, this is hard)?

How am I even expected to choose? Perhaps Lucky Red by Pupa, but I love them all! *hugs all the bottles*

  10· What is your least favourite nail lacquer?

A glittery apple green by Debby. Too sheer and stains the nails.


  11· What is your least favourite nail polish brand?

I have 3 polishes by B by Limoni and they all suck ( sheer, almost watery, no coverage, endless drying time..) so perhaps that's the brand.


02/10 Edit: Also, I forgot to add the 7 facts about me, so here they are:

1) I always get angry at movies that make no sense, even if they're a pleasure to watch (Pacific Rim, I'm talking to you) especially if they have flaws that could have been easily corrected. Or, worse, when people say "it's just made to entertain, duh". Yeah I know, but I don't see why it can't be nicely done.

2)I don't have the constance to follow tv series anymore. I only watch Castle every saturday on tv, but that's it. I tried the Walking Dead (first season, a bit of the second), Breaking Bad (first 2 episodes), but didn't find them so great.

3) I used to listen mostly to extreme metal when I was a teenager, now I listen to pretty much everything that catches my fancy, from Lady Gaga to new swing.

4) I love making playlists for my moods and for the stories I'm writing, my favourite ones are the Cyberpunk, the Postapocalyptic and the Dieselpunk playlist.

5) I usually play videogames when I paint my nails. Just got killed? Add a coat of polish. Too scary part/don't know how to go on? Add nail art.

6) I have studied many historical eras and figures just for fun...history books can be better than novels.

7) I love salty food more than sweet food. A lot. I used to steal salt from the kitchen cupboard when I was little.