I'm back + Essence Lady Mermaid

It's been a long time. It's almost hard to believe I haven't posted anything for more than two months, months that have been extremely demanding in terms of time and energy.
Now I would really love to go back at posting more regularly. I'm not promising anything, I don't wanna make promises I'm not sure I can't keep, but... I really missed this blog and the awesome beauty blogging community. I will do my best from now on.
I also want to post more about make up, not only nail polishes. I'd love to write a post about liquid-to-matte lipsticks, something I can never have enough of.

But now I want to show you something really pretty: Essence 30 Lady Mermaid, part of their standard special effect polishes range.

with flash

A gorgeous blue foil that really deserves the mermaid-related name. It's so shiny! In the bottle it has a duochrome effect from blue to violet, hard to capture in photographs (and much less visible on the nails, I have to say), but under artificial lights it can be seen and appreciated.
A bit sheer like a lot of foils, but it's not an issue for me. This is three coats.

 It was also quite long lasting, so I really appreciated it in a moment of my life when I didn't have much time to devote to my nails. Also, can you imagine how awesome will this look with something stamped on it?I must try it someday.
I definitely recommend this.

without flash

Essie Coat Couture

with flash

 I know I haven't posted for a while, I really miss blogging more frequently but the time for nail art has significantly reduced in my life. I could still create a series of posts of "rediscoveries" of old polishes, since it's pretty much what I've been doing.
But first, something new! Essie Coat Couture, a cashmere matte from the upcoming fall LE, bought at Cosmoprof. Not that hard to believe that this was the last bottle of this color left, am I right?

This color is a nice cold taupe with a blue shimmer, more visible under flash. Opaque in two coats. Drying time was good, no complaints. I can't wait to try to wear it with a shiny topcoat to see how it changes! For now I am quite satisfied, if you count that it's my first Essie!

without flash

Orly Lunar Eclipse

Here it comes the first one of the polishes I bought at Cosmoprof this year, Orly Lunar Eclipse. A total beauty. In the bottle it's a dark blue - blurple shimmer with a shift towards violet-purple.
On my nails the duochrome shift is visible only under artificial lights.
As other Orly shimmers I have tried, it's quite sheer and I had to apply three coats for full opacity - would probably look great on a black base.

The quality is really good, however. With Seche Vite it lasted 4, almost 5 days without chipping!
And it's really beautiful, I can never have enough blue polishes. And enough Orlys. I mean, who does?

Galaxy nails

I can't believe I haven't posted anything in almost two weeks. The life I am leading now makes me quite busy, I still miss posting regularly but I can't deny that this is a good moment for me.
I haven't stopped painting my nails (pfft as if it could ever happen), I just have less time for more elaborate nail art.
Anyway I want to show you this attempt at "proper" galaxy nails. I have nicknamed it Galaxy Fail because, as pretty as it is, it doesn't make me think of a galaxy when I look at it.
Or maybe it's just me.

The base was Rimmel Blue Vogue, the other polishes are Essence Over The Rainbow, Catrice Play it Blue, Revlon Ginger Melon, Essence Elves Like Liliac and some Sinful Colors Snow Me White.
My favourite thing of this nail art was having it topped with Essence's More Than Words from a very old (almost 2 years old, I believe) Valentine's day LE. The glitters are in warmer colors which allows for a very nice effect.
Not perfect, but I enjoyed having it on my nails.
I hope I'll be able to post regulary soon!

Christmas nail art and gifts

Merry Christmas, everyone! I hope you had a nice day (whether you celebrate it or not)
I always love looking at what other people received so I'm showing off my gifts, because why not.
The bag is kinda like the Freitag bags, this one is made with old ads and recycled seat belts. All recycled! I really wanted something in that style so I'm really happy!
And the beauty case is a nice addition too, it's very big.

Aaand a close up of the Sugarpill makeup I received! I've been wanting this palette for so long! And finally a good matte yellow eyeshadow!

Aren't those the prettiest colors you've ever seen?! Look at that palette, seriously! It's all my favorite colors combined in one palette, I can't wait to try this!

And my Christmas nail art. I didn't want to use red, so I used Essence Colour 3 Midnight Date and Catrice Bronze Deco for a simple star-inspired nail art. Not a typical Christmas nail art but I really like it.

Revlon Wintermint

I always wanted to try those "scented" nail polishes by Revlon. And the cute bottles were a part, I'm going to admit it. However since I could never find them under 5 euros I always left them on the shelf with a sigh. After all, what if the quality isn't that great or the scent fades instantly?
But I found a Revlon store at the train station... who sold those for 2,90 euros. Now, that is what i call a good price.
I got only one because I wanted to test it, but I am probably getting more of them soon.
The one I got was Wintermint, a mint green (duh) with golden shimmer and blue microglitter. Even if it were scentless it would be nice in a collection, right?

I applied three thin coats of polish and no top coat, to see if the scent thing was real. Boy, it really was! My nails smelled of delicious mint and it was quite a strong scent! The thing I liked more was how relaxing the scent felt, it was really pleasing.
I've been wearing it for 3 days now, and not only it hasn't chipped, but if put my nails under my nose I can still smell the mint. Granted, it's not as strong as the first day, but it still feels nice.
Really satisfied about this, I can't wait to try some more, maybe Lime Basil.

Catrice Viennart LE 04 ARTful Red

blurry, but you can see the color nicely

This is the first nail polish review that I write in my new room! It feels weird and nice...
And today I show you ARTful Red, the result of a shopping afternoon and the lucky finding of an untouched Catrice display.
The color is a wonderful red (rosso mattone, diremmo noi), a brownish red with cold undertones. An extremely elegant color. It's a shimmery polish opaque in 2 coats, but here you can see three of them.

 

 As you can see, it would be a perfect color for Christmas (and a perfect gift too - it's what I call a mom friendly polish) and I think I will use it again for a Christmas mani.
The polish lasted a good 4 days without chipping, and it chipped because of something I did so if you're a bit more careful it'll last longer.
It's very shiny even without the Seche Vite.
So, do I recommend it? Yes, it's quite an unique color, I don't have many reds but this was quite a pleasant surprise and I'm very satisfied of my purchase.
Did you find this LE? Got anything?

I'm back (with an old gem)

Thanks for bearing with me, gals (and guys). I survived a tour de force consisting of: 1) the Translation Slam at Lucca Comics 2) a saturday in Lucca Comics (coming back home was a disaster, we had to queue for 4 hours just to reach the train station...) 3) my graduation! I've obtained my Laurea Magistrale! (110 e lode, ragazze, non ci posso credere!)
Now I can finally go back to blogging regularly. I'll do my best, because I have a new laptop and it doesn't read my memory card, but I still will post some stuff this week. I also have a review of Neve Cosmetics's primer coming down the pipeline!
For now I want to show you a little gem, an old discontinued Kiko polish, 382.

A shimmery gunmetal grey that reminds me of the Pupa matt cream eyeshadows (review of one of those soon too!) in terms of color, but it has a shimmer finish. Here it's not topped with seche vite, because, uh, I got distracted playing Payday 2 (new laptop = more videogames!), but it's really beautiful. It's quite old, I had recently started to be into nail polishes when I got this but I absolutely love it, it's extremely elegant also because it's not 100% black.
A personal favorite, if I had to say. I hadn't worn it in a lifetime so I am happy to show it to you!

P.s. here's what I got at Lucca Comics!

I would've gotten more if I had had more time and if there had been less of a crowd. But hey, I've got 3rd issue of Saga, the second volume of the Elric of Melnibone comic, a mug with Eevee and the eeveelutions (sounds like a band name...) and a Sailor Moon set containing a small purse where I'll keep my lipsticks, a small mirror and a hair band. There were sooo many SM goodies, I didn't know where to start!
That's all for today, tomorrow I'll post the first review!

Two weeks after midnight

This title ended better than I expected! Anyway, I haven't posted much lately because between my thesis, the time staying at my parents, my other relatives.. the time for nail polish was definitely not enough!
So I did an experiment: I wore Essence Midnight Date + City That Never Sleeps...for almost two weeks:

Yes, there is some serious chipping on my index finger, surely. But overall, it all lasted way better than I expected! The beach damage has been minimal because the rain (and the study) allowed me 2 days at the beach. And I am glad because I'm easily bored by it..
Another thing that delayed my polish habit is the fact that next week I will be on holidays, as in, real, no computer holidays. I will also be in London for a few days! I will try to make a pre-London post, and surely an after-London haul post when I come back!
Have fun you all!

Color Spotlight: White

Welcome to a new episode of the Color Spotlight series! I originally planned to do white and black together, but I have enough white products for a post on its own. Black will probably go with grey when it will be its turn.
There are my white polishes: Kiko Rock Top 615, if it were less sheer it would be awesome, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, my tipical white polish, China Glaze Texture There's Snow One Like You, potentially awesome but not long lasting enough, I need to experiment putting it on a different base, Shaka Sugary White, a very cute (a bit sheer) super shimmery white, and Kiko Cupcake 647, a white sand effect polish with red/green/blue micro particles.

My white makeup products! (not including white eyeshadows that are part of other palettes)
Manic Panic Goth White is a multi-purpose white cream, it can be used mixed with foundation, as concealer, as highlighter if you're really pale (on me it works nicely) and, my favorite use, as an eyeshadow base. I purchased it online after having used my other Manic Panic products long enough to be enthusiastic about them.
The Kryolan white eyeliner doesn't mess around, it would probably survive the apocalypse, along with cockroaches and Nokia 3310 phones. Super long lasting and awesome, I don't want to use it as a base because I don't want to waste it (and because it would probablu glue my eyelid still), but as an eyeliner it's pretty amazing.
I also added my Neve Cosmetics Ivory eye pencil, I don't use it that often but when I do, the effect is really nice, my E.L.F. matte white eyeshadow (it's always useful to have a matte white eyeshadow) and my Shaka white lipstick, that also happens to be a great base for lip pigments.

Tell me people, do you like white? Do you use it often? I think it's a wonderful, underrated color.

Black and white

I was in a "argh, I don't know what to wear on my nails" moment yesterday, and since I couldn't decide on the color, I went for black and white!
I hadn't worn Shaka Sugary White for a while and had forgotten how cute (and how sheer) it was. A really lovely polish, very shimmery. Under sunlight you can catch its actually very colorful shimmer.
I added Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots in Chalk Dust over it. A bit of a salt and pepper effect perhaps, but still cute. And it's always nice to use polishes that had been neglected for a while.

Dots on pink

Can you tell I'm in a dots mood? I used Essence Ben & Cherries as a base and added green dots with Essence L.O.L. I was tempted to stop there because the pastel pink and the acid green looked wonderful together. But I decided to add some dots, this time with a textured polish, Essence Hello Rosy. I didn't apply seche vite over the dots in order not to lose the liquid sand effect of the dots. I personally think it's a lovely color combination!

Essence 173 Over the Rainbow

I've been curious about this polish for a while and since I haven't bought a nail polish in weeks (can you believe it? me neither), I decided to go for this little beauty.
The color is a dusty light blue with a soft duochrome to lavender, with light blue shimmer. This is the best description I could come up with, because it's a really special polish, and hard to define.
Application was easy, it's a bit sheer but two coats are enough, I put on 3 just to be sure but two would have been enough.
Can't say much about its lasting power yet but the color is very pretty, and I recommend it.

Color Spotlight: Blue (pt 2)

Welcome to the next episode of Color Spotlight, this time we're reviewing more shades of blue.

Essence 03 Life is a Freeride, from the Snow Jam LE is a shimmery/metallic teal you can't go wrong with. But if you're not in for shimmer, and prefer a darker, more petrol-like shade of teal, go for Deborah 55 Blue Lagoon.
How could I not include the famous Cinderella by Sinful Colors? a light blue with a soft golden/pink shimmer so cute that will make you feel on a raibowy cloud while riding a winged unicorn.
Layla 66 is a simple creme, yes, but a nice shade of blue, almost a denim blue, with grey undertones. Would look awesome with a matte topcoat.
Nails Inc. Sweets Way may look like a mere glitter topper, but don't let looks deceive you. It has a light blue base and an intense concentration of glitters really reminiscent of a cupcake.

And here's the makeup. I am not really much a fan of light blue as an eye makeup color, because I've got light blue eyes and I don't think it compliments them well.
Neve Cosmetics Abracadabra from the Duochrome palette is a pretty light blue that shifts to a greenish/golden shade, it looks way better with other eyeshadows in a more complex makeup rather than alone. A Deborah teal mascara can't go wrong, and the old Pupa eyeshadow is, like Abracadabra, not so great alone on my eyelid. The pigmentation is good, especially with a wet brush.
On the left a Kiko cream eyeshadow from the Boulevard Rock LE, 107 Inspiration Emerald. Now, besides the fact that it's not emerald but teal, I have a few complaints about this. It acts weird, as in, it's not enough pigmented and you have to apply lots of it for a full eyelid coverage (using it as eyeliner would be even harder) and besides the 80s music video effect... when it dries it creates wrinkles. I am so sad because it's a really pretty color, and I've usually had god experiences with Kiko cream eyeshadows. I have to experiment with it, to find a way to still use it without side effects.

And that's all for today!

Orange and Blue

May has not been a good month for blogging. But here I can show you a pretty Shaka polish, Juicy Pumpkin, that should have appeared before in my blog because damn. Shimmery in the bottle, like some OPI polishes the shimmer is not much visible on the nails. It gives it light without being a "ooh look at me I am clearly a shimmer". Here I used 3 coats, but 2 would have been enough. It's a magnificent shade of orange, almost a neon orange. Definitely recommended.
Kiko quick dry 830, one of my favourite blues, covers the tips creating a nice color and finish contrast.
Simple nail art, but I love it.

Kiko 530 (new range)

Did I really need another blue polish? Yes, yes I did.
Kiko 530 is from the new range, and is one of the most stunning ones. A shimmery/foil blue that looks almost green with scarce light... I'm pretty sure this is the color of dragons. By the way, one of his fellow (not sure if 529 or 532) is probably a dupe of the discontinued Essence Choose Me!.

So shiny! And the quality is pretty good, I've been wearing this for 4 days and there is no tipwear at all.

Would I recommend it? YES.

P.s. A small announcement: I will be working during the weekend and monday (at the elections) so I probably will not be able to post anything until the end of the month. Hopefully June is going to be a much less stressful month.

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.

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.

Green Gradient

Of course, as soon as I said "look, it's sunny, I'll better take a pic of my nails", the sun went away.
Anyway, I hadn't done a gradient nail art in a lifetime so I figured out it was time to try it again. I probably can do better, but I'm still satisfied with the result. I'd love a more blue-to-green effect rather than a dark teal-to-green, and also some other color combinations...
Here I used two Essence polishes, L.O.L., a personal favourite, and 03 Life is a Freeride, from the old Snow Jam LE. If you look at the teal part closely, you can still see the shimmer, and it's something I love.
I'm probably going to add something to this gradient, like a cracking effect or I could use Sephora's arty pois top coat..

Maybelline Color Show Brocades 224 Rosy Rosettes

The first time I saw this LE, I didn't get anything. What a mistake. Weeks after, I went searching for the gold/rose polish, not finding it anywhere. I searched it in every shop I knew had Maybelline products, and I gave up after my last hope (a Target-like shop near my parent's house). Some pieces of the collection were still available, and I surrendered to my second choice, the pink/red one. I honestly remembered this as red, I'm glad it's more pinkish or the effect would me too Christmas-like.
The finish is a beauty, it's like Shaka Burlesque on a darker base and loaded with glitter. Shines beautifully under the light (if only it hadn't been raining for weeks you'd see it under sunlight).
I had read reviews on how the pieces of this LE were pretty but not long lasting, on this one I have no particular complaints, it lasted 3 days before chipping on my index... could be better, but also worse.

I haven't seen anything like it, and I really love it. Vote: A-