Shaka Stone Like Sky

I've been stalking the local OVS for the new Shaka polishes for a while, and finally, my patience was rewarded! I haven't seen the duochromes yet, only the Stone Like polishes which, as you can guess, have a liquid sand finish.
Quite frankly, this color is awesome. A peacock teal based polish with yellow, blue and lime microglitters that make it shine incredibly well - for the first time I felt the curiosity to wear it with a topcoat, but then I'd have to wear sunglasses all the time because damn, the shine!

Without flash

The color is really wonderful, and the drying time was wonderfully short. Definitely recommended! I can't wait to find more colors and other finishes of the new series...

Essence 172 Splash!

A simple but beautiful metallic blue with hints of teal/green, Essnece Splash! was given to me by a person who thought the shade didn't fit with their skin undertones, along with another Essence polish.
Quality wise, it's good, I wore it without the Seche Vite above it and it still dried quickly enough, and it lasted for approximately 4 days before the first signs of chipping.
The color is nothing groundbreaking for me... because I love it and already have something similar. But if you don't, it's a little jewel of a polish. You can't go wrong with it.
It's perfect for summer and shines wonderfully under sunlight!

Teal and pink

I can't believe I haven't posted anything with this color combination yet.  And look, no triangles for this time! I wanted to make dots, but I realized I liked the little strips more...
For this I used Deborah 55 Blue Lagoon, Kiko 284 and an Essence tip painter from the old Tribal Summer set.

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!

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..

White and teal french

A simple nail art I did the evening before an exam. The dark teal is Deborah 55 Blue Lagoon and the white is Kiko 203, a white for french... and it is the first time I used it for its original purpose.
On the photo it looks like there's a white-ish stain on the left side of the nail, but I blame the lights for this, on my nail is not visible.
I really wanted to do something simple since I was tired, and I have achieved what I wanted.

Stamping over Kiko Venom Teal

As I've already told you before, Kiko Venom Teal is a gorgeous, gorgeous polish.
So I've experimented with some stamping on it, and now look at this hot duochrome on duochrome action. The stamping polish is Pupa 001 from the Cosmic Beauty LE. It's truly a beauty, since it stamps really amazing. It was an one coater, so I could guess that, but the results were better than I expected. The contrast with the dark base really makes the design pop out, and under the right angle or/and light, when the pink/violet hues of the Pupa polishes are visible, well, it's magnificent. For me it's one of those nail days when I can't stop staring at my nails!

I should remove it and wear something else, since I won't have time to do my nails again until sunday, but it's too pretty...

Kiko Venom Teal over China Glaze Charmed, I'm Sure

The good thing: the two colors go really well together.
The bad thing: apparently i cannot draw triangles.
The teal ones were supposed to be triangles. I was expecting Venom Teal to be an one-coater and it was not, which kinda complicated things. I purchased it with the 30% off coupon, together with a violet lipstick.
The duochrome effect present in the bottle isn't much visible on the nail, but it's still a magnificent color. For once, they chose a really good name, it's really dark and venom-like, fitting for a Dark Heroine.
I can't wait to try it all over my nails. More of a fall color than a winter one, but in the end who cares, it's awesome. I have a couple of teals, but this is different than any I own.
I was afraid it might be a dupe of the Pupa blue/violet duochrome of the fall LE, but they're actually very different. This is less duochrome-ish (unfortunately) and much more teal-based.
For some weird reason I don't like my nails when they're fully covered by polish...

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.

Blue, teal and gold

I haven't posted for a while because 1) exams argh 2) wasn't satisfied with my last nail art efforts.

However, I still want to show you this. I did this mani a week ago, the gold tips didn't show tipwear for approximately 5 days, which is super great. When they did, I recovered them with gold and started with the nail art I wanted to do... until I realized I had forgotten my nail art brush at home, and had no substitutes here. My watercolor brushes were all too big, so I didn't complete this nail art. Also, the artificial light fails to capture the beauty of those colors.

It has an Ancient Egypt feel, don't you think?
I am absolutely in love with kiko 294, such a gorgeous blue. Oh, and both the blue and the teal (essence 03 life is a freeride) lasted more than a week without topcoat, I'm impressed.
The gold is my trusty Kiko 628, a must have.

Noblesse oblige: Stamping with Kiko 628

 I bought Kiko 628, of the new Mirror Nail Lacquer series, because I heard these mirror polished stamped greatly (and because I love gold nails..) and it turned out to be true! This polish is very beautiful and stamps greatly, I recommend it.
The base is Life is a Freeride by Essence and I used the GA38 stamping plate by galscosmetics.

I must say, I really like how it turned out, it's simple and yet eye-catching... it reminds me of brocade, hence the nickname of this nail art. I really feel like a queen now!

Mini Essence Haul and Reviews

I've been away for a few days around Valentine's day, and I was pleased to come back and see my blog had a lot of visits especially on Valentine's day, that was unexpected, so thank you!

I have many things to post about, let's start with my small Essence haul: some Essence products will be discontinued and were on sale, so I bought the two Colour3 polishes I wanted and a nail polish from the Snow Jam LE. I had to celebrate the end of exams, after all.

A Walk in the Park + Stop for an Ice Cream, Life is a Freeride, Midnight Date + The City that Never Sleeps.

And, since I was in a good mood, I tried them all the same afternoon:

This is two coats of Midnight Date, A Walk in the Park, Life is a Freeride.

 The two Colour3 polishes with their assigned top polish, and, you can barely see it, an experiment with Midnight Date and Stop for an Ice Cream: mixing the tops was fun!

...and everything went matte! Life is a Freeride looks so splendid! I am really happy with those polishes, if you still find something in stores, buy'em. I've read of people complaining for Essence's new brushes, but I think they're really good to work with.

Review: They all get an A! Especially if you consider that the Colour3 polishes were at 1.19 euros each..

Stay tuned for details, tomorrow I'll post my Valentine's Day nails and the special gift I received..it's nail related!