Comparison: Essence "Walk Of Fame" vs Essence "Most Wanted"

These are two coats each one.
In the bottles they're so similar, but once applied - even on a water bottle cap - you can see the difference: "Walk Of Fame" is lighter and pinkier, while "Most Wanted" resembles the cup of chocolate shade.
However, "Most Wanted" alone is a rosy/taupy brown, compared to a "true" brown.


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

Want something amazing?

Here I have it!
Yesterday I stumbled accross this post totally accidentally, and suddenly I remembered I knew that cosmetic brand, because I saw their flag shop one day on my way home.
I was already curious about them and wanted to visit the shop, but after seeing this polish, I rushed there and found it!

Fontana Contarini is an italian professional cosmetic brand from Bergamo, existing since 70's, but I've never heard of them before.
They have a website, but you'll never find prices there. However, they're pretty affordable, despite the fact that they're a professional brand: polishes are € 6,20.
Beside polishes, they have a complete range for nail art, beads, glitters, tools, gels, chemical products, just about everything.


But I was lucky: some shades are on sale, because they're going to be discontinued - and guess what? This polish was among them :>
€ 1,20 for every polish, almost a shame. I chose that duochromy beauty and, obviously, a deep blue, full of microglitter.


I picked up a little jar full of flakies too, because I saw them on eBay and wanted to try them from way back.

There aren't many other interesting colours, at least to me, but some polishes were a little strange and bizarre, such as a combination of a milky pearly white base with a strong violet-pink flash and tiny black microglitter, not too many, like crushed pepper; then I saw a tarnished brown-olive-dark gold microglitter in a clear base, but it was in the regular range of polishes, so I decided not to buy it.
They're all 12 ml, and, at that prize, I have nothing to say.

Colour is amazing, I'll show you soon a comparison with other two polishes :>


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

Universe Nails

Thanks to Asami and her idea, I made one of the nicest manicure I've ever seen on me :>
She called them "Space nails", Emerald Sparkled "Galaxy Nails", mine are "Universe Nails" :^D

These were my ingredients:


From left, Essence's "Fabuless", Nubar's "Reclaim", OPI's "Significant Other Color", Kiko n. 229 and some shiny glitters - I used just the rounded ones.

Asami already explained all the process in her post, but basically it's just about sponging colours on a dark base with a paper towel, to give colours some texture, and then add some glitter to reproduce planets and/or stars.

"Fabuless" was perfect for the sky, because it's not a plain black and it has shimmer, so fine they can imitate stars faaaar away.


To give it a more realistic effect, you have to "sponge" colours in a nebulae form, just like galaxies appear on astronomy books.

That Kiko top coat is full of little chunkies of milky silverish glitters which are slightly duochrome too - blue/green AND purple/pink: see how it sparkles? :>


These chunkies have an irregular shape, and they reproduce stars very well, it's fascinating to look at!


After adding the sparkle top coat, it's time for planets, or, in this case, just blue-green and copper glitters.
Maybe it would be better to have them in a smaller size too, but that's ok, I worked with the material I own.

Last pic shows a little the duochrome side, on certain angle nails appear purple-pink.


Two coats of top coat sealed everything perfectly.
This nail art is very simple, but I LOVE the result, I'll try to replicate it with different combinations of colours, finishes and glitters.
Thanks to Asami for sharing it!


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

Essence - Fabuless

Here it is one of the new Essence I bought last week: "Fabuless" is a dark gunmetal grey, VERY VERY glossy, here you can see it without topcoat:


It's full of the finest silver shimmer, which makes polish deep yet soft, with a little glow inside.
Formula is ok, two coats cover everything and give a smooth and shiny surface to your nails, easy to apply without being watery.
Just one picture because:

1) it's raining again;

2) this was the base for something fun and nice I'll show soon! (that's why application isn't perfect...)


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

It's just a question of time

As good ol' Depeche Mode sing, it's just a question of time - before they lay their hands on you...


But I laid MY hands on them, finally.
From left, Essence's "Matt Top Coat", "Choose Me!" (I chose you!11!!1), "Walk Of Fame", "Glisten Up!" (my second one).
If i found another "Choose Me!", I'll say goodbye forever to the other 296758 overseas dupes of "Charla" that I'm lemming since I saw it :^D


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

I'm a romantic one...

... because colours like this one are simply a pleasure for the eye. Mine, at least.
And I have to say that Collistar's bottle is really of a beautiful AND smart design: it's solid, elegant, eye-catching, but not an odd-shape; brush is flat, so application is super easy, colours are often quite interesting.
See how blurple is the base? Call me crazy, but I love seeing it against sunlight :>


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

Comparison: Essence "Trendsetter" vs Essence "In The Jungle"

Just in case you ever wonder, in your life, what's the difference between these two Essences, here I am providing you the precious answer:


Left, "In The Jungle", right "Trendsetter", two coats on the cap.

As you can see, "Trendsetter" is bluer and darker. Or, same thing, "In The Jungle" is greener and lighter.
Moreover, "Trendsetter" is more pigmented, I guess it could be a one-coater.
Bottles are slightly different from each other, but they both contain 8 ml of product.


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

Little family portrait

I think it's becoming clear wich colours I like more...
From left to right, Essence's "Trendsetter", "Fabuless", Collistar's "Viola Glitter", Essence's "Just Rock It!".

Strangely, I managed to find all the Essences I wanted, except for "Choose Me", which I think it isn't arrived here yet... At least, I hope so.


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

MAC - Mean & Green

Formidable! This colour is simply formidable.
Like the previous billion of bloggers said before me, this polish is one of the beautiful combination of pigments/glitters I have seen, and obviously it applies to Orly's "Space Cadet" as well and the other dupes you can find out there :D

It's very complex not only under the colour point of view, but even regarding the finish.


It's foily, but not mirror-like, even with top coat. It's smooth under my finger, but it appears a little gritty too, and I like this effect.
This polish has many faces, because it's composed of a dark mossy-teal jelly base, which is shown here:


plus a ton of very fine glitter, which looks like tarnished gold:


or flashes purple-pink:


or a pewtwerish gold-olive green:


Dark, but luminous, is beautiful in the sunlight, but in shade too, and under artificial light.
Really a masterpiece.

However, I have to say it's a little mean too, because this one is three coats, but left some balder spots here and there; I don't know if it's me, but under certain angles, you can view them - oh well, normal people will NEVER tilt their head so much just to stare at my nails, so I'm not afraid about that, but you all know how much obsessed we are :D
Maybe four coats would offer the perfect coverage, but next time I'll try to layer it over a dark creme base - teal or blue. I guess it would be fantastic over a gold too, or bronze, or black, or...
This is 10 ml for € 12,50. Definitely worth them :>


EDIT about wear: really good, after 5 days I barely see tipwear and had two tiny tiny chips (not polish's fault, though).


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

Ch-ch-ch-changes

New darker look, it fits more to my taste and enhances pictures better.
It's not the final version, I'll work on it again to add something else here and there, it's funny :^] (when it works :D)

* yum *

Why am I yumming? Because of this:


An awesome deep blue, dark like ink (but not black!) and JELLY polish, as you can see better in the pic below.


These polishes are supposed to give your nail a perfectly smooth surface, but we'll check its effect as soon as I'll try it.


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

H&M - Blue Sky

Meh-mani this week.
H&M's "Blue Sky" is a summer buying, and I thought I would enjoyed it during the greyest days... like those we are living these days in Milan, but I was wrong :D

In fact, I love this dusty medium blue, but maybe I'm still tied to bright shades, or prefer them because of the weather.


Last three pics show it a little brighter then reality, first one is more accurate, but it's under my bathroom lighting, and mirror causes crazy reflections on my nails, making them appear bumped, even if they're not!
As you can see, I even tried to add a sparkly touch with some flitters by Viva La Nails; it wasn't difficult, I used a toothpick lightly damped with... saliva - mine, of course.


It's not obviously a great try, but in a certain way I like it; well, if sun decided to show up, I bet it would be even more interesting, I could see some REAL little sparkle every now and then peeking from my hands...


... Not at all, it's cold and dark outside, so pictures suck.


But polish is really good, well pigmented and glossy. I found mine a little goopy, so I added two, three drops of thinner before applying, but that's all. Two coats offer perfect coverage.
"Blue Sky" is a mini from H&M, every bottle is 3,2 ml for a price of € 0,95.


EDIT about wear: after 4 days I had some tipwear, and a couple of chips (caused by some nail peeling, so I'm not counting them).


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

Light up your nails!

As usual, surfing on the web may lead you towards strange things.
Now I'm introducing you the LED nail polish bottles:




Did you ever see one of those? I noticed it's pretty diffused on chinese and taiwanese market, especially sold empty in various size lots.
I don't really understand in which occasion those bottles would help women - maybe when you're camping, in a tent?
Would you ever dare to apply nailpolish during nighttime just with the light of a LED? I wouldn't! :¬D


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

Essie - Mint Candy Apple

Soft nails this week.
I bought this Essie from a blog sale a while ago, it wasn't even in my wishlist, but generally I like mints, so I picked it anyway and now I'm wearing it.


And I like it! At first, I thought it was too light, I don't usually wear such pale tones, but I must say it's really sweet and relaxing to the eye, definitely it's not too whitey for me.
Second pic shows colour much closer to reality:


Application, to me, was good: it's a little runny, but with three coats - or two plus some touch-ups to fill spare bald areas - it's evenly done, I can't complain.
Nothing more to say, I'm glad I have this :>


EDIT about wear: today it's a week I have this on, but after 4 days I gained tipwear and one or two tiny chips.


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

Unbelievable!

For once in my nailbloglife, I'm on time with ultimate fashion trendZ, because last saturday I bought MAC's "Mean & Green" :^D
I'm not used to such expensive actions, so It's worth to celebrate it, but being in Italy AND not having a gold miner by home, I usually pick colours I want very late... But better late than never.

I have a wishlist, and I know that probably I will own, for example, Orly's "Halley's Comet" who knows when, surely when internet will be FULL of swatches and descriptions of it - wait, it's already like this :D


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

Viva La Nails!

Shipped september 29, yesterday october 5 it has arrived :> Fast shipping and, I must say, very beautiful products.

As many of you already know, Viva La Nails provide bloggers a sample pack with stickers, water decals and sparkling things to apply on nails.
I always wanted to try some of these products, because I'm interested in creating effects on nails as beautiful as a polish could do; in fact, I'm attracted by strange colours, duochrome (or multichrome) shades, flakes, etc., and being like a magpie, sparkling objects make me curious :D

These tiny strass and glitters and flitters are challenging me to find out a way to wear them without looking too childish or overblinged out - I think it's possible and I'll try to show you that in the future.

I must say that I was worried about dimension of glitter, but they're all so small and, best part, FLAT that I think it will be easy to work with.
Pictures aren't that great, because of the weather...


Moreover, colours are LOVELY!
I know that probably these are randomly packaged items ready to send to bloggers (or not?), but I appreciate all the shades and it seemed like they asked me about my colour taste before sending the kit :^D

The bronzed strass (if I can call them strass, I'm not really sure, even after checking the website...) are stunning, so they're the pink-rainbow flitters, the iridescent hearts and the dark blue little moons. Copper ones are tiiiiny hexagonal glitters, but really luminous, even in the shade. The silver packet far in the picture contains the strangest of the group: hexagons and hollow hexagons with a subtle holo surface...

I'm thinking of using some of them in make-up too!


Stickers and water decals aren't less yummy! See the tiny tiny sparkling accents on some of them?
I will try these as I go along, I had to wait weekend when I'll have more time to think and work with them!

Viva La Nails is a Latvian venture who works for professional technicians, but its items can surely be used by any girl - like me :>


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

Bad articles

Browsing sites randomly (in italian), I came across some pages about polish methods of application, choice of colours, tips and everything else about nails, which I think they're totally wrong and pointless.

I then purposely search for these kind of articles, and I found out several of them really useless: first, they often copy each other, and says the very same thing; second, they're still full of commonplaces and advices which aren't valid at all, or oldfashioned.
Let's see some example.

• Many sites (or all) say that if you have a warm complexion - or tanned -, you should wear warm colours, such as oranges and reds: I think it's the opposite, because teals, greens and blues are in front of warm shades in the colour wheel, and this is THE basic colour theory...
I usually have an olive tint in my skin, and I tend to wear cold colours not only because I like them more, but because they don't underline the yellowish side of my skin - yellows, yellowed greens, reds are not my thing!

• Another crazy advice I found out: some sites suggest to paint your nails starting from the tip to the root: I really don't even know how to proceed like this without causing a BIG mess on nails!
And I don't know why they're suggesting it while using dark colours...

• One site says it's «useless to apply a third coat of polish»: but... Why? :D It obviously depends on the sheernes of polish...

• MANY site alert about the danger of staining only of the orange polishes: but common experience tells us that blues and greens too (or, especially) are inclined to that.

• Then, you can even find the most popular legend about nails: they need to breathe!!11! Nothing more wrong about them; they aren't supplied by blood and nerves, so there's no need to give them a "rest" every now and then, it's up to you to wear your tips naked or not.

• Another sick advice: shake well your bottle, in order to avoid air bubbles! Mmmh, that's the opposite: you have to GENTLY shake it, or, better, roll between the hands, OR wait minutes after shaking the bottles (to let air bubbles pop and disappear), otherwise polish will transfer air bubbles on your nail when you apply it.

• I found just ONE thing in these articles that I approve and it's part of my current manicure routine, but I will talk about that in the next future...


In conclusion, I see that these sites definitely don't deserve attention; I don't know if the majority of foreign sites are like this, or it's just a lack of "nailpolish-culture" here in Italy, but I've learned so much from reading blogs of REAL girls, who try and swatch and write about their own REAL experience, correct information is never copied!


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

Comparison: Basic Beauty n. 69 vs Kiko n. 300

As promised, here is a comparison between two medium dark shimmer turquoise.
After buying n. 69, I immediately thought about this Kiko's one, turned out they're very similar: same shade, same amount of shimmer, same formula, BUT on my tester field they revealed a slightly difference which makes BB a little better:



(first swatch is BB n. 66.)

As you can see, BB is more pigmented: I use two coats for these swatch and BB has a "richer" and deeper base, so I guess it will give a better result on nails. I'll see that in the future.

And yes, I use water bottle caps for testing my polishes :D
They're white, but not completely opaque (like a real nail!), easy to collect and CHEAP!
Plus, I don't want to waste polish on fake nails, and this method is perfect for observing colours using just a tiny amount of polish.


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