mercoledì 30 aprile 2014

Catrice Haute Future 04 GaLILACxy


Hello ladies! Today I'm showing you the only polish from the Haute Future LE I bought, GaLILACxy. The other two were holos and another one was a shimmer. A weirdly assorted collection!
This one is hard to classify because it seems a simple metallic pastel violet/lilac, but it's actually a duochrome, as I hoped from the bottle.
It goes from lilac to a pale yellow/champagne color. I couldn't capture it in photos really well, but under artificial lights it's very visible and impressive.
The formula isn't to die for, very sheer, this is three coats (could probably use a white base).
The color is however something very "soft" and quite unique, I have nothing similar to it and find it an interesting addition to my stash.
I could classify it as a "polish even my mom would wear" because it's very delicate.

domenica 27 aprile 2014

Kiko 617

I know it's old, I know it's discontinued. But look at how beautiful it is! I've used it countless times for stamping, and never on my nails directly. And wow, I love how it looks, my nails look like blades.
A bit streaky, getting a perfect application is not easy, but it could have been worse. But I am overall satisfied. Yes, it's not a "mirror" in the sense you can see yourself in it, but it's shiny and beautiful. My nails look like steel and I see nothing wrong with it.

venerdì 25 aprile 2014

Orly Space Cadet

The last one of the Cosmoprof polishes! Very similar to NYC Empire Purple (EP is metallic, this one is a foil).





A beautiful duochrome from purple to bronze with greenish undertones, it would probably look far better on a black base, because it's extremely sheer. This is three coats, and the coverage still isn't perfect.

The color is super pretty, so I don't mind having to apply countless layers... at least while I have my trusty Seche Vite at my side. I can understand why it became famous, good duochromes aren't as easy to find as they should be. I can't say much for the duration so far, but it already has (3 days after) some tipwear.

martedì 22 aprile 2014

Kiko 647 Cupcake Nail Lacquer


Hello! I hope you had a nice (and sunny) Easter! I'm here to show you Kiko 647, my Easter day nail polish. These polishes are now 2,90 euros, so I absolutely had to get this one, and I did my best and managed not to buy almost all of them. They're so pretty! (I might get the light blue one ..)
Kiko 647 Jasmine is a liquid sand effect polish with a white base and teal and red particles. Drying time was good, application wasn't so perfect (the polish doesn't grasp on the brush greatly and getting the right amount of polish on it might be not easy) but overall I have no complaints. I might add some nail art details later, for now enjoy it alone!

sabato 19 aprile 2014

Orly High on Hope

I've waited for a bit to post this, because I was working on an experiment. Usually I put a new nail polish on after 3, 4 days, it depends on how much my current mani has chipped (or how much I liked it, or how eager I am to try a new polish, and so on.)

With High on Hope, however, I decided to keep it on my nails for a few more days. I couldn't decide if I really liked the denim-like shade, and was a bit disappointed by the extreme sheerness (this is 3 coats).
It contains a golden-to-purple shimmer, like someone sprinkled Space Cadet on it.

And so I decided to wait. This is how it looks after a week, and I really can't deny that I am impressed!
(Ignore my cuticles, playing in the sand with my niece doesn't help) There is some minor tipwear, but no chipping... usually polish chips very easily on my index, seeing it still there after a week was really a surprise. Tonight I'll remove it to put my easter day mani on, but this incredible duration will make giving a vote to this polish quite hard. Overall it's a between A and B. I still can't decide if I like color, but I can forgive sheerness for such a good quality.



domenica 13 aprile 2014

China Glaze Lubu Heels

Look, some sunlight! It allows me to show you China Glaze Lubu Heels, another Cosmoprof purchase.
I was afraid it might be a bit sheer, but look at this, this is two generous coats (no black base!) and I'd say it's enough. The glitters give it a "rough" surface so I recommend adding a top coat.
A sheer black base with red glitters, Lubu Heels is a lovely polish, a bit gothic perhaps and in the best possible sense. The effect is undoubtedly elegant.
The glitters are very small, and it could be mistaken for a plain black polish... until the sun hits it.
I wonder how it could look with an extra coat of red glitter above it.
Overall I am extremely pleased with it! (I've been wearing it for a few days and it shows only minor tipwear).

giovedì 10 aprile 2014

Orly Miss Conduct





Ah, there is something incredibly satisfying in removing a polish from the wishlist to the stash list. I've been wanting this one since I discovered its existence, and guys, am I happy I have it!
Basically, it's a fuchsia shimmery polish. But that shimmer! It's a holo shimmer! Under sunlight it's super eye-catching.

It looks like a "plain" silver and purple shimmer, but the particles are actually holographic, so put it under the light and enjoy the awesomeness. This is 2 coats of polish.
I am very thankful to the Orly booth at cosmoprof for selling polishes from old LEs (this comes from the Naughty or Nice 2012 Christmas one), because now I have this beauty.
Duration was ok, it chipped at day 4. Despite having been considered part of a winter LE, to me it screams spring/summer, mostly because you need sunlight to fully appreciate its beauty, because in the end I don't care about the season when it comes to polishes, what really matters is my mood.



lunedì 7 aprile 2014

Cosmoprof nails + Lemon and Lavender nail art

Before showing you my swatches of my Cosmoprof goodies, I have to show you this cute nail art of mine. Inspired by a Lemon Lavender Yankee Candle that smells deliciously (obviously) and made with Kiko 338, Max Factor Mellow Yellow and Sinful Colors Snow Me White. Sadly Mellow Yellow is very sheer, so it didn't end as I wanted. Still good!


And I forgot to post my Cosmoprof NOTD, so here's what I did with Essence L.O.L. and an Essence tip painter to create a black drop effect. Very simple, but I was too tired to do anything else.

sabato 5 aprile 2014

My Cosmoprof Experience



We had set our priorities straight
My sister and me went to Cosmoprof together (the ticket was her birthday gift for me) for the first time, and despite the weather (rainy most of the time) we still managed to have good time and spend some money.
Trained by years of Lucca Comics & Games, I had brought enough food, water and supplies to survive a day in a war zone, but compared to LC&G it was a different experience: enough air to breathe, super big pavillions to explore everything without queues and people with giant cardboard swords blocking the view.

We started at the Nails pavillions, and I was super excited for it, lemme tell ya. The first booth we stopped at was Orly. It also turned out to be one of the best ones in terms of organization, courtesy, availability of products and prices. All polishes were half price, including the mini sizes, and there was a lot from old limited editions, including gift sets, single polishes and just pretty much everything Orly produced in the last years.
There were testers and nail wheels, but I had to find a specific polish... you know, the one in my wishlist. Miss Conduct. They had it. I almost trembled with excitement! And they also had the famous Space Cadet just how could I not get it? It wasn't even 10 am and I was already satisfied.
Clarissa Nails had China Glazes and a separate mini booth for Seche Vites. Seche Vite tcs were at 5.50 euros so we purchased some as gifts. I got China Glaze Lubu Heels and my sister two China Glaze. We also stopped at the OPI booth, they had only new polishes on sale, and the price was 12 euros (Insert "I don't think you even tried at all" image), really, for that price why not purchasing them at Sephora?

The nail pavillion was, surprise surprise, my favourite. Not only for the lots of stuff that you could see, also because you could, you know, buy something. Which wasn't possible in the national pavillions area and in the general make up area. I still cannot get over the fact that Nyx didn't sell anything. At Cosnova (Catrice/Essence) they gave at least beautiful bags (I got the Catrice one, a solid, almost water resistant one I plan to reuse). I could see some old LEs, gave a look at the products they don't sell in Italy and have a chat with an assistant, a very kind lady that was glad to hear our honest opinions on the brand. I also saw Catrice's Haute Future but apparently that was in an area reserved to personnel so I couldn't even try the eyeliner, sigh.

let's sob all together




oh look another Brazil inspired LE how original

Also a part of the make up area was reserved to professionals but it wasn't written anywhere, seriously the organization overall wasn't that great. Once you entered you couldn't leave, or you had to repurchase another ticket. (See also what Giuliana from Makeup Delight has to say about this here)
Even the simplest fair/concert/event has at least stamps or bracelets, why they couldn't use such a sistem is beyond my understanding.

As I examined some polishes in the makeup area, a sales attendant informed me that, no, they didn't sell anything at that booth, but I could go to area 34 where they had another booth.
After lunch we investigated area 34, which cheered us up. It was more like a local market, with booths selling bags, clothes and even chocolate. There were some interesting hair care products, and two surprises.
The Kryolan booth with everything at half the standard price. I got a gorgeous cream matte white eyeliner, in special occasions I could use it as base, but I'm willing to try it simply as an eyeliner, I've always been intrigued by the idea of a white eyeliner.

my hand and my sister's hand

Now, see my hand? the pink stain is a gloss by Kryolan that still stains my hand after having showered and washed the dishes. Also, the blue stain on the right is another eyeliner also by Kryolan. The brown stain on my sister's hand is the eyeliner she got, Sienna.
But was you can see, there's lots of other stains on my hand. Because we found the Manic Panic booth. I knew it was there, somewhere, but I hadn't planned so search for it, so it was a pleasant surpirse. There also was a moment when only a few people, behind or in front of the booth, didn't have weirdly colored hair. The salesladies were sooo pretty with their colorful hair, I feel so guilty for not having taken a photo! One of them even complimented my nails and my hair ( my hair are brown on the right and lime/acid green on the left).
I didn't get a hair dye (despite the temptation) but I got a lipgloss, called Cross Gloss in Underworld Amethyst, and a pressed powder, Vampire's Veil. The names! And the packaging was so lovely!
Between them and Orly, it's hard to decide my favourite booth!

The pressed powder came in the drawstring bag you can see, and they also gave us a small notebook each. They were really kind and friendly. The eyeshadows, especially the cyber palette, were super tempting, but I didn't get anything.

After a small break we were almost ready to leave. But first, let's go back to the nails pavillion! I wanted another Orly polish, since I couldn't get all the makeup I had wanted. I chose High On Hope form the old Hope and Freedom LE.
Oh, and the samples you can see in the background are makeup removing cotton pads that don't require anything else but water to clean your face, since they already contain cleansing product. First law of life, never say no to samples, especially the potentially useful one.


And I think I'm gonna leave you with this closeup of the polishes. That's all for today, folks! That was a long post so if you made it to the end I am grateful that someone out there reads my ramblings.

giovedì 3 aprile 2014

Kiko Life In Rio first impressions and swatches






The nail polishes for Kiko's Summer LE, Life in Rio, called Sun Show Nail Lacquers, are ten and all shimmer-packed. I'm sure they're lovely under the sun, but of course today it's clouded.

No, it's not identical to the other pic, look at the green..
They're 476 Joyful Emerald, 475 Tropical Blue, 474 Luxurious Indigo, 473 Precious Amethyst, 472 Tasty Grapes, 471 Juicy Pitaya, 470 Dainty Passion Fruit, 469 Delicious Mango, 468 Samba Pink, 467 Quindim Gold.

 They all at least will require 2 coats, since I had to put big drops of polish to get a nice result.
Color descriptions are quite faithful, so I'll just give you some indications. 476 is a bit lighter irl. 474, 472 and 468 all have beautiful undertones, lavender, pink and orange respectively. 468 is already a personal favourite, a beautiful warm pink with orange/gold undertones. 467 too has a pink shimmer but less visible, under artificial light it feels almost bronze. But I bet 470 will be quite successful, because it doesn't just have undertones, no, its shimmerness is packed with gold. Fuchsia and gold shimmer, it kinda says summer aloud! Overall they're very pretty, nothing groundbreaking but after the "meh" polishes of the Boulevard Rock, they look awesome. By the way, the polishes of the aforementioned LE are now 1,90 in Kiko shops, sign that I wasn't the only one that was disappointed...

When it comes to the rest of this LE, I didn't see anything groundbreaking in eye or lip products, but the blushes look quite nice (similar to the ones of last summer's LE in a certains sense, bronzers are practically identical). This LE also includes colored eyeliners and I guess I'll have a look at them too.

martedì 1 aprile 2014

Holo gradient







Yes, I know the gradient isn't much visible, but it's still some holo goodness shining under the sun! The basis is the old Kiko 400, with some Kiko 399 spinged on the tips.. It might seem like a cloudy nail art, unfit for spring, due to the color.. but as soon as sunlight hits it, bam, instant awesomeness!
A very short post today, since I had an exam yesterday and I have another next monday so life's keeping me busy (and tired).