Swap calls another swap :D

Another little swap arranged with the lovely Zygzak, who's a reader and friend of Sabbatha :>
She saw this post on her blog and immediately fell in love with that green, so she asked me to send her a bottle (plus a couple of Kikos), in exchange of some of my greatest lemmings: oh yes!

Result? I got not only three of my lemmings satisfied, but she was so kind to add three, VERY yummy, extras :D

1) Golden Rose n. 307: purple-blue glittery duochrome, I won't add any further comment :D

2) Sally Hansen's "Purple Pizzazz", if you are here, you know this better than me :D

3) Safari n. 265, GREEN with gold shimmer - but i see some glitters too; she wrote me it's a dupe for China Glaze's "Moonpool" - which I didn't know, but from what I read it's a well known shade...

4) Jumpy n. 143, purple glitter! These little cute bottles are adorable.

5) Sally Hansen's "Garnet Lapis"...

6) ... and "Turquoise Opal" = ♥ ♥ ♥

What else can I say? Just another "thank you" to Zygzak, it has been a pleasure ;>


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Eyeko - Vintage Polish + Revlon - n. 986 Ultra Violet

Finally I'm here :D

From my last manicure, I stayed three days without nail polish on nails because I couldn't choose a colour... I know that this happens to YOU too, my reader :D

Yesterday I finally had an idea about layering two polishes, so I did my manicure and... I don't like it at all :^(
But strangely pics came out waaaay better than reality, so I'll explain later why I don't like the result.

In shade:


Direct sun:


Base polish is the infamous "Vintage" by Eyeko: now I officially hate this one.
This is the second time I use it, but I already used 1/3, because it needs three coats to get an even surface; it thickens too with time (I mean, during application), don't know why; plus, I had to redo two nails, because of this behaviour. I remember from the first time I wore it that it was one of the most durable nail polish - on me, obviously -, but I can't recall such a bad formula, so maybe it got worse by then...


On top of "Vintage" I put "Ultra Violet" from Revlon, an oooooooold polish I saw in The Nailphile blog and later found on eBay.

This is a triumph of chemical stuff - it will kill your nose -, and it's extremely sheer, but I LOVE its violet flash, so I thought it would be a good idea to layer it, and I tried.


Now, I absolutely don't know why, but to the naked eye my nails are HORRIBLE: "Ultra Violet" is sheer, but its base is lavender coloured, and you can totally see it on top of "Vintage" in all its STREAKY and PATCHY GLORY.

Can you spy patches on my nails in the next pic? They almost don't appear in pics, so imagine them 10x times worse, and you'll understand why I already hate this combo.
In the sun, that violet flash hides unevenness, but in low light...
At least, i must say that from far (and to a non-nail polish freak like us), these colours are nice and wearable.

Just a last question: is "Ultra Violet" a shimmer or a pearly polish?


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Rimmel - n. 402 Urban Purple + Vipera Jumpy n. 155

Uff, finally I did it...
This post required so much effort of taking pics, editing them... And obviously colours are off >.<>

For this mani I used two polishes: since Jumpy n. 155 is too much red for me to wear it on ten fingers, I decided to paint just one nails with it, and for other nails do a sponge effect (my first try) on this deep magenta-purple-fucsia creme by Rimmel.

I can't describe this shade.
Probably the colour of the bottle is the closest-to-the-real depiction of this so complex polish that I can show you:


N. 155 is on middle fingers, rest of nails have tips sponged with it.
"bumps" you might notice on some nails are just refractions of glitters, surfaces are all completely smooth :>


I took TENS of pictures even in direct (weak) sun, but that didn't help, polish comes always too much pink, so you have to imagine this shade more vibrant and purplier; it's dark, but VERY vivid - and so glossy itself.


Brush is GIANT and flat, I can cover almost my thumb nail with a gentle pression of it :D


N. 155 came too much red: again, add to it a mixture of purple and fucsia... (but you can see here it's a little more red than "Urban Purple")


Formula of Rimmel is fantastic: thanks to the brush too, polish flows very well, it's very pigmented and you can go with one coat, but I applied two - I prefer two thin coats than just a single thick one.

Also Jumpy's polish is perfect: it's a jelly base with fine glitters, but it covers very well with two coats. Brush is small, but I don't complain, it doesn't affect application.
Thanks again, Sabbatha ^___^


EDIT on wear: today it's 26 february, and I got just a little chip on my right thumb's nail, few other nails have minor tipwear, rest of nails are slightly intact, I'm very impressed, this combination of polishes works wonderfully!


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

First swap of my life :>

Happy monday to all :D

Blergh, I don't know if a monday could ever be happy, anyway here I have the result of my very first swap of - guess what? - nail polishes!

Spooky Sabbatha (but she's not spooky at all, lol) offered me to exchange some local brands of polishes, and I decided it would be funny to try it, especially because here in Italy we rarely have interesting colours... (besides the ones I sent her :D)

Polish polishes!


1) Lovely COLOR MANIA n. 117; I saw this one in an old post, and obviously I fell in love, given that I LOVE blurple shades, so Sabbatha gave me her bottle ♥

2) Ados n. 579, seems A LOT like RBL's "Scrangie", so... ♥ ♥ ♥

3) Golden Rose n. 328, shimmery sparkly cold green.

4) Wibo n. 49; shimmery blue-green with gold flecks *_*

5) Wibo n. 78, interesting dusty dark green with fine teal shimmer.

6) Bell n. 542, dusty and deep teal creme.


1) Lovely COLOR MANIA n. 173, purple base with colour-changing glitter (pink/gold/green, depending on the angle), Sabbatha wore it in this post :>

2) Vipera Jumpy n. 154, cold red with gold flecks, I like it!

3) Vipera Jumpy n. 155, berry red with same flecks, very yummy.

4) Vipera Jumpy n. 138, duochrome shimmer from mauvy plum to gold green;

5) Eveline Gold Colours n. 461, mauve with pure gold shimmery veins :>

6) Eveline Holographic Shine n. 404, dusty pink HOLO!

Very nice adds to my collection, indeed, Sabbatha knows my tastes - maybe because we have the same ones?


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

China Glaze - Custom Kicks

One of my favourites nailpolish of all time (OF ALL TIME! cit. Kanye West :D), and the worst pics of it ever :¬(

I know I don't have a professional camera, it's good, not super, but usually I manage to capture colours as they appear to the naked eye.
This time it was IMPOSSIBLE: "Custom Kicks" is a green teal, but my camera considers it a blue shade, no matter which kind of light I choose.

I took many pictures - low light, in the sun, under a halogen light -, but they're all the same, so I gave up...


Next pic shows colour as it is (more or less), but I had to retouch it.


See? Seems like a robin blue :^/
At least you can spy its gold shimmer...



Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Basic Beauty n. 127 + Gosh - Rainbow

Want a fast change of your look? Flakies are THE answer :D

They're like black, go well with EVERYTHING.
So, what happens when you layer them on a dark, yet shiny grey polish? I feared for this layering being too much, instead I obtained awesomeness!

Medium light:


In the sun!


In shade:


I love them under every kind of light, and over such a metallic base, they make my nails look like made of copper or bronze! Not to mention changes of colours, as you can see... All with just one coat of "Rainbow" :>


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Basic Beauty - n. 127

Hi there!
Tough nails this week :D
While browsing Basic Beauty's stand of polishes, I noticed some new colours and, obviously, grabbed a couple of them...

This is the first one I wore: n. 127, a dark, superlustrous gunmetal grey. It's just a light grey tinged base with a TON of tiny dark silver glitters which sparkle like iron in the sun, but if you see pics it's a dark colour too, almost black under a certain angle!

So edgy, indeed... My opinion: <3


Look at it while in the shade: foily as well, like tarnished aluminum :>


Wear is pretty good: you'll need three coats, and just after one day you'll have some tipwear, but that's it; I'm satisfied because it's not too noticeable and you can go out with perfect nails for days.


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Catrice - Meet Me At Coral Island

Ok, I said so many times, in comments and discussions, that I NEVER wear reds... Because I don't like them on nails, I find them - don't get me wrong, it's just my opinion - a little tacky (don't know if I chose the right word).

This Catrice (I just discovered they are now avalaible in Italy, but in a limited range of shades) caught my attention first of all because it's a coral colour - not the same thing as of a red!
It's a coral, and it has a semi-jelly texture (♥), and contains a liiiittle drop of pink, which makes this colour colder and, to me, much more wearable without that kitschy feeling I'd feel with a pure primarly red.

Unfortunately, I didn't succeed in capturing the exact colour, maybe because it's one of those polish which change under different lightings, and not being a pure red, camera can't pick its pinkiness...
Plus, it's very vivid; it's not a fluo shade, but it glows, maybe this is another reason why camera go crazy.


Very very glossy, and I have to say, one of the best formula I encountered: my left hand didn't need any clean-up, and right hand just a couple of touchs by our trusty brush+remover.

I can't explain that, but being a semi-jelly polish, to the naked eye you can see VNL, but from pictures nails seem completely opaque, I don't know why some polishes act so opposite (like my last blue Layla)!


I found this picture on web which shows the exact shade of "Meet Me At Coral Island", see that hint of pink? This is how polish looks like in reality :>



Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Catrice - Sold Out Forever (plus "artsy" flakies)

Sun!
After days and days of fog and grey sky, it returned to shine here :>
So I wanted to wear something happy and sparkly... What about a light green and iridescent flakies?
Here's the result:


"Sold Out Forever" is a minted-milk shade with a fiiiine green shimmer which doesn't show too much on nails, but it gives a soft texture to the polish.

I also pictured flakies in their jar (and naked nails, just the base before applying polish) to show you they're lightly coloured, just like the ones I used here :>


I like them so much because they're interesting even in low light, I love their reflections and changes of colour!


On my right hand I placed flakies in the wrong position, as I planned to put them in the left lower corner, instead of the upper one, but that's ok.


Like the pink mani, I put two coats of top coat to seal everything, but I have to say that these flakies were a little stiffer and bigger than the blue ones - I had to cut myself several big flakies in order to obtain smaller pieces - so after 3 days or so I saw some flakies were disappeared from nails...
If I find other colours, I'll surely try them, they're funny!


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)

Layla - Bijou n. 208

WARNING! Picture bombing's arriving :D

I'm really sorry for it, but this polish is probably on my top-three, so I wanted to show to all readers (and to me! Remember this blog is primarily a private list - but open to all :D - of my nail polish habits) its awesomeness.

Layla is an italian brand born in the 30's, which produces polishes and make-up. It's easy to find it in stores and perfumeries, but usually they have just normal shades, like reds ad sheer pinks, instead of something more intriguing and out of the ordinary.
But lately they renewed their product lines, and came with colours and finishes really appealing.

This blue is a little treasure, because it's precious (€5,00 for 4,5 ml, pretty a steal - by them :D) and rare: there was just this one on the shelf, while others were just vampy reds and other boring colours.

Essentially, this is the blue base of Orly's "Royal Navy", without any shimmer, just two coats of a BRIGHT, DARK, superintense blue jelly


It dries with a satiny finish, so you'll need top coat to make it like glass :>


Like any other dark jelly, when pictured, it shows the nails underneath the polish, but this time some pics turned out better and more true to life:


To the naked eye, VNL is absolutely not visible, and appears always just like in the next picture :>


In the sun, blue becomes ELECTRIC!
Again, VNL doesn't show to the eye, but it does in pictures *grrr*



Perfect in shade too *___*



Wear: very good! I can't remember how many days, but 4-5 for sure, and that's enough for me :>

It's a little pricy to me, but I can't resist, blue jellies make me weak in spirit, and I calculated that bottle will give me another 5-6 manis... Must find something similar, even if I had to try this yet :D :D


Have a nice day/night/whatever and thanks for your attention ;¬)