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.

Kiko Cupcake Nail Lacquer 648 & 656

New LE nail polishes from Kiko! As they did with the mirror and the liquid sand last year, this season we have glitter toppers (nothing groundbreaking imho) and those new liquid sand polishes. It was love at first sight when I saw swatches.

They're supposed to look like cupcake frosting. The bottle with the white cap is really cute, and those polishes have an interesting finish.
Matte, they have a base color and particles of other colors in them. Formula-wise I have no complaints, they require two coats for full opacity but dry quickly.
648 is supposed to look like ananas frosting: it's pastel yellow with orange(more) and brown(less) particles.
656 is supposed to look like pistachio frosting: it's pastel green with dark green(more) and orange(less) particles.
Now, the only problem I have with these is that they don't remind me of cupcake frosting at all.
648 reminded me of a potato soup at first, then of rice with saffron and mushrooms, and 656 of a vegetables soup... if it's pistachio why should it have orange particles? I am confused..
Probably they would look more "soft" if layered on a white base, maybe with just one coat. The problem is that the colored particles don't distribute evenly with one coat, sometimes even with two... as you can see from my pinky.

Final Verdict:

Do I like them? Yes, the effect is quite unique and I have nothing like them, and I'd love to try new colors, probably the pink/violet/orange ones will look more like cupcake frosting? yet, the one that intrigues me mostly is 647, Jasmine...

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).

Strawberry, vanilla & chocolate nails

You caught me: when I don't post nail art for a while it's because I'm not 100% satisfied with the results. This one isn't a masterpiece either, but I still find it cute.

You can either imagine it as chocolate dripped over vanilla or strawberry cream, or vice versa.
I used Max Factor Mellow Yellow (urgh, what a bad formula), Essence Very Cherry, Essence Tip Painter in pink (the one from the Tribal Summer LE) and an old unnamed brown I had at home. All covered in Essence's matte top coat. Actually the pink flakies on Very Cherry are above the top coat, as if on cake icing.

First experiments with Essence's Tribal Summer Tip Painters

Since those are really the first experiments, i did some clean up but kept the non exactly precise and accurate lines, so to show you better how it works for me.
The pigmentation is better than I expected, the brush is super tiny, like the nail art brushes usually used for lines, and it works nicely.
The color selection is also nice, I wish they made more of them among the regular products.
I don't have much to say since I just started using them, but I definitely don't regret the purchase.
(Although it is true you could just use a small brush and use the colors you prefer, here what helps is also the pigmentation. And generally, it's practical.)

The basis is Deborah 55 Blue Lagoon.

Sephora Arty Pois goes fluo

So, are you ready for a jump into the '80s?

Coral: Catrice Pimp my Shrimp; Light blue: Pupa 41 (disc.); fluo yellow: YSNY, white base by Kiko.
Over them, Sephora Arty Pois.
Even Sephora jumped in the nail art mania bandwagon... and i'm happy of this, 'cause I love this topcoat.
Apparently a dupe of OPI Black Spotted (and of the Layla topcoats of the same kind), but definitely cheaper. Yeah, despite my past not so good experience with Sephora polishes (great colors, bad formula) I decided to try this.. and wow, am I happy! Just remember, the more topcoat you use, the less spots will leave, so I recommend you to clean the brush a bit before using it on your nail if you want the basecolor to pop out. And don't forget a layer of topcoat afterwards to protect the design.

Vote: A

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.

Lava nails

Hello everyone! I wanted to try a lava effect on my nails, so I used an orange base, Juicy Pumpkin by Shaka and sponged red (Super red, H&M ) and yellow (Little miss sunrise, Essence) on it
Then I applied Kiko's rock top coat in black.

I really love the top coat effect, but perhaps I should have used only red and yellow, more contrasting colours would have been nicer. Either way, it's certainly a mani I like and it really reminds me of fire.

Anomaly Nails + mini haul

I missed the time when I did something more than just apply nail polish on my nails, so I decided to try something more elaborate. My inspiration comes from a videogame, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, set in the Chernobyl exclusion zone with radioactivity, monsters and misterious artifacts. The game takes inspiration from one of my favourite novels, Roadside Picnic, and from the movie Stalker.
But, onwards to the nails, or I could just talk about this for ages.
The radiation symbol needs no explanation, and the biohazard one was done as a challenge to see if I could draw something so intricate without my favourite nail art brush on my smallest nail, and I'm quite satisfied of the result. The ring finger hosts a caviar mani: it was a weird feeling to have those really small beads on the nail, but not bad. Unfortunately it's not much long lasting, after 2 or 3 days the beads were all gone. Perhaps I should have pressed them on the fresh coat of polish more, who knows, I'll try it again sometime.
I wasn't much happy of the black polish that came with the caviar mani kit because of the brush, that imho was a bit too small... but the brush of the yellow polish by Essence was really big and perfect (also a good polish, one coat would have been enough).

Products used: Pupa Bubbles Manicure kit in black, Essence 118 Little Miss Sunshine, Super Red by H&M, Kiko Rock Top 612 (you can barely see it, sigh), Essence nail art soft touch (matte top coat), Essence quick dry topcoat.

 I've read good reviews of the Limoni store brand polishes, but never tried them. So yesterday I was in front of a Limoni store and decided to see if there was something interesting. And so it was! There is a special offer, 3 polishes for 4.99 (one polish is 3.99) so I realized it was sign of destiny and I had to try them. The first one I noticed is the shimmery blue one, that according to the light varies greatly, and you can see its violet hues under the right light... I'm trying this today for a gradient mani!
The other ones are a very light shimmer silver and a beautiful shade of red.. I've already planned something for those two...