Simple nail art with Etude House & Modi

For this weekend I wore this simple and gorgeous nail art, which is actually a combination of two Korean polishes I recently purchased. I won't lie, it had it's cons and pros, but the result was really pretty.
I got both of these polishes with the help of The Cutest Makeup blog (which I will explain about in another post) along with some other cool polishes.

I started this nail art with Etude House - Tint Mint (DGR701), a gorgeous mint color (I really love minty shades and I have plenty of them. I wouldn't say it's really something special that you can't find with other brands, but I still wanted to get this one). It's a creamy polish with a great formula that gave a good coverage with just one thick coat, so I was very happy about this. I also want to mention that Etude House changed their brush and made it slimmer, which is a great improvement since the previous brush was really wide. It was ok for glitter application but made it harder to get accurate strokes, so I'm very pleased with this change. 
Then I applied one coat of Modi 48 which contains black and silver shreds of matte glitter in a clear base. When I ordered this polish I actually didn't see any swatches of it, and I was just curious to try a nail polish from this brand. I was very surprised and happy to find out that this polish was exactly what I was looking for from another brand. It was great on the swatch stick, but then when I applied it to my nails, I found it a bit hard to work with. There were a lot of large shreds that stuck to the brush and to the nail, too big to put on my nails, so I had to wipe them on paper to remove them from the brush. There were also some shreds that were not straight but folded, again something I can't use. Another thing that I was a bit disappointed about is that there were lots of tiny black bits that made it look a bit dirty, and not as clear as Dance Legend Aztec No 6 which looks similar to this polish. It gave the polish a dusty look, which I didn't like at first.
I did like the combination of the silver and the black colors, I think it's a nice addition to this polish and much more interesting this way.
Then I added one coat of Poshe on top of that, I hopped it will smooth the surface but it still remained quite bumpy at some parts, even though I applied a thick coat of top coat.
I know it probably sounds like I had a really bad experience with this polish, but I guess it wasn't that bad after all because I came to love this nail art and enjoyed it for whole 3 days which is a lot for me lol. Well, I guess it was because I was really busy this weekend as well, but still - I enjoed wearing it, it's just that the application was a bit tricky.
After all I think this nail art turned out pretty nice, and it photographed very well. I think it's worth giving this Modi polish a second try, it really looks great with this color and it made me want to do another mani with this polish over a gray base and a matte top coat. I think it will look great and will create some sort of marble or stone look, which could be really nice to try.
I hope you liked this posts and my nail art. Thanks for reading (the long long post)! :)

Zoya Aurora

This beauty has been waiting in the untried stash for so long, and I just couldn't take it anymore! lol
I had to put it on and enjoy this pretty polish. I already swatches two other colors from the gorgeous Zoya Ornate collection - Blaze and Storm, and this is the beautiful Aurora I kept for last.

Zoya Aurora is a gorgeous red toned purple with scattered holo flakes. The holo effect is so pretty in real life and a bit hard to catch on camera (surprise, surprise). The sparkle of the holo flakes is so pretty in the sun, and even indoors it has a pretty look while the flakes are just silver in the purple base. The formula was great, very good coverage with just two coats. The finish was quite shiny too but I applied one coat of Poshe, as I do with almost every design and manicure.
Since I love purple and holo effect, this polish is just perfect for me because it combines these two elements into one fabulous color. I believe that most of you already have their favorite colors form the Zoya Ornate Collection, but if you are only now getting to know this polish, I'm pretty sure you will like it.

Dance Legend Termo Color Changing Polish N. 175

Today I want to show you a swatch of a gorgeous polish I received in a swap I did with a lovely girl from Russia, and I'm very excited since it's my first time trying the Dance Legend polishes. The swap was really awesome and I got lots of goodies and pretty polishes, I will share them with you in another post, but for now check this beauty!

Dance Legend 175 is a gorgeous polish that changes it's color according to heat/cold.

When it's warm, it's color is a shimmery berry shade, and a deep purple with a red undertone when it's cold. Both versions are very pretty, it was so hard for me to decide which version I liked better, but since it's a color changing polish - I enjoyed them both!

Since it's a warm weather here and my hands are warm most of the time, the color of the polish was mainly berry shade, but when I washed my hands in cold water of reached for something in the cold fridge, the color changed to the lovely purple shade. Of course I had to play with it and dipped my nails in ice cold water and then warm water, just to see it change again and again. It was so much fun! 

As for the formula of this polish, it was fantastic! It spread really nicely and gave a pretty good coverage with one coat, but I used two coats to make it completely opaque. Drying time was pretty quick too, which was good for me and didn't affect the application (not streaky at all). The finish of the polish was somewhere between shiny and matte, and for these photos I decided to apply a top coat. It instantly made the color and the shimmer pop out, which made it even prettier.

I really enjoyed this polish, it's very pretty and unique, and the color changing effect is super fun!

I have a few more of the Dance Legend polishes I got in the swap, I'm very excited about them as well and I hope to show them to you soon.

Hope you enjoy the photos, thanks for reading! 

Index & middle finger - cold, Ring finger & pinkie - hot

GIVEAWAY - Born Pretty Store $20 Voucher!

I wanted to thank my lovely readers for their support, and so I have another awesome giveaway for you!
This time Born Pretty Store is sponsoring this great giveaway and giving to one of you a $20 voucher to their store, where you can get plenty of nail art related stuff like nail polish, various decorations like decals, rheinstones, stickers, stamping plates etc, and many more fun stuff!
Enter the giveaway in the rafflecopter widget below.
This giveaway is open internationally and ends on May 25 at midnight.
Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

OPI Polka.com

I wanted to share with you some swatches I did of the gorgeous glitter by OPI - Polka.com
I've been eying this gorgeous polish for a while now, and I was super excited when I finally got it!
It's so pretty and delicate, colorful yet subtle, and I think it can be paired with so many colors and still look fabulous!

Polka.com is a mix of fuchsia, purple and teal hex glitter in two sizes in a clear base. It's probably the most interesting polish from OPI's Euro Centrale Collection, and defiantly my favorite one!
I love how these three colors combine into a beautiful mix, and I can't wait to try it over other colors - I have a feeling it will look gorgeous every time! The formula was great, and it was very easy to spread the glitter in just a few strokes to get this look.

From swatches I've seen, I really liked how it looked over OPI Suzi's Hungary Again, but since I don't own this polish in my collection, I decided to pair it with a similar color I have by Barry M - Grapefruit. For the pictures I used one coat of Polka.com over two coats of Grapefruit, and topped it with one coat of Poshe.

Shimmer Nail Polish Swatches and Review - Cristina, Karen & Mary

Today is another Shimmer Polish day! 

Check out the swatches I did for three fabulous polishes by Shimmer Polish.

Don't forget to visit Shimmer shop on Etsy, and feel free to use this 10% discount code when you shop at their store: NAILZCRAZE (valid for a limited time).

Cristina is a mix of tiny colorful glitter in teal, green, black and red. This very unique and beautiful combination instantly made me think of Christmas. I decided to layer it over a dark green/teal base - Barry M Watermelon. I applied one coat of Cristina over two coats of Watermelon, and added one coat of Poshe to smooth it out.

Karen is a mix of violet, purple and pink glitter. It's so gorgeous in the bottle as on the nails, the pretty holographic glitter was so sparkly and gorgeous in the sun.
I layered it over a dark purple base by Barry M - Plum, so the violet color will pop against it.
This is also one coat of Karen over two coats of Plum, with one coat of Poshe.

Mary is a mix of mostly red, black and silver glitter in red tinted base. This polish also has a hint of holo glitter to it, which makes it even prettier. The combination of the red and large black glitter made me imagine a giant sparkly strawberry. I layered it over a dark red base by Barry M - Pomegranate. It was so sparkly and juicy on the nails, gotta love it!
For the photos below I applied one coat of Mary over one coat of Pomegranate, and topped it with one coat of Poshe.

Barry M Gelly Hi Shine Swatches - Grapefruit, Plum, Pomegranate and Watermelon

In this post I will be showing you some swatches of the Barry M Gelly Hi Shine polishes from my collection.
I really love this brand, and when I tried the Gelly formula I came to love them even more.
These polishes have a great formula; it's very pigmented, opaque and very glossy! I can't wait to put my hands on some more colors from the new collection.
Meanwhile, here are the swatches of the polishes I own from this great line.

Grapefruit is a bright and sweet pink. It's it's a very pretty color, I can't really describe it, but it has a neon look to it, and a bit of coral tint. It reminded me of OPI Suzi's Hungary Again from what I've seen in swatches (I don't own this color).

I used two coats for the pictures below. No top coat applied since it's so glossy, like all the polishes in this collection.

Plum is a dark purple shade, a beautiful color which I was happy to add to my collection.

I'm really love purples and I was looking for a good dark creamy polish - and this one perfect for me!

I applied two quick coats, I don't even know if I can call it two coats or one, since I applied the second coat right away while the polish was still wet. It had a great coverage with just one coat, but I wanted to enhance the color and the glossy effect, so I applied another quick coat on each nail.

Pomegranate is a dark red shade, very classy and gorgeous. You will be surprised to hear that this is only 1 (one!) coat of the polish. It's super opaque and gave a great coverage, so I was very satisfied.

I will tell you a little secret about this polish; I was getting ready to leave the house and go the a wedding, and of course I'm always so late late late, I had about 5 minutes to pull off a mani before I had to leave the house. I was in total panic, I can't leave with naked nails! So I recalled seeing swatches and reading about the great coverage of this line, so I decided to try my luck with this one - and it did the job! I had a perfect and super quick mani with just a base coat and one coat of this polish. Didn't even had the time to apply a top coat (shame on me!) but it was so shiny and dried so fast, that you couldn't even tell! I was super happy with this one ;)

Watermelon is a dark blue-toned green, I don't have anything like this in my collection, and even though I don't really like greens - I think this color is fabulous and I would love to wear it again.

Such a great and juicy color, love it! This is also two quick "wet" coats, no top coat.