Blues of last summer (and a remove-stains tip!)

Last summer I wore winter shades, that's it.
Maybe I just tought they would be great with tanned hands, don't now why :D

Anyway, pictures are a little too bright, as the summer sun makes these dusty colours way too intense (or it's my poor camera reaction), but that's the beauty of light, right? :>

This is Essence "Goofy-Blue", cornflower blue with silver-white snowglitters.

Sparkly and wet-looking, it's quite pretty on the beach, trust me.

Below, Catrice "Shoppind at Bluemingdales": nice colour, worst name, I HATE these stupid names à la O.P.I., what's wrong with simple numbers and codes? :D

Again, this is a perfect autumn powdery blue (if you're that kind of person who cares about seasonal colours - I'm not :D ) and here you can see it a little too brighter than its real appearance...

Last, NYC "Jade" (simple name!).

PERFECT with tan, awful on nails, it stained them badly >.<

Below you see my nails right after the polish removal, and then clean again.

I used this homecleaning product to remove stains: it's a biodegradable, non-toxic detergent made of soap, natural fats, clay, lemon, glycerin and water; in the jar it looks like a block of white stone, you have to rub it with a damp sponge in order to use it on surfaces, but I used an old toothbrush whit the smallest quantity of product to brush my nails and get rid of stains in 3 seconds!

Please note I recommend it only for those bad bad stains you can't remove with just remover/acetone and q-tips, because this is a mild abrasive detergent. I used it only once, as I usually don't get stains, and my nails didn't suffer from this procedure.

In Italy you can find it in Kasanova stores (€12 for a 500g jar, if I don't get wrong) or in open air markets.

Have you ever heard of this product before?

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

Catrice - Dirty Berry

Ahhh, new post!

No breathtaking things this time :D, but a simple yet very nice colour from Catrice, one of the nicest they ever released, in my opinion :>

(full sun)

Dusty periwinkle with holo fine shimmer, so elegant, discreet and NOT boring!

I think I applied two coats, but it was some time ago, unfortunately I'm a bit late with posts lately.

And I only have two pics, no full hand shot this time.

I don't remember problems in application or such things, brush is the large one, but usually I prefer it larger than smaller, I think it spreads better the products on the nail, smaller brushes can cause streakes and/or different amount of nailpolish in some areas.

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

Spring new buyings...

... even if actually we still don't have spring here!

Weather is awful, few days of sun and MANY days of rain, and I'm that person whose mood it's strictly tied up with nice days, sun light and warm temperature. Great choice living in Milan, I guess :D

Anyway, these were the last nailpolishes I got in a long time, since that I then stopped, because I didn't find any other interesting colour...

From the new Catrice range, my choises:

From top and clockwise:

- "Mint Me Up", dusty mint with old gold shimmer and glitters, nice combination!

- "Purple Reign": actually it's more purple than in my picture, and it contains blue (and some spare pink) glitters, how can you resist?

- "Shopping Day At Bluemingdales" (short names next time, pls?): not so bright in real life, I've seen electric blue swatches around the web, don't trust them :D

But I'm a sucker for blues, you know, so I really like it, could be a nice choice for anyone who wants a boost of colour without being too much over the top.

Next ones: some time ago, FabFingerTips had a blogsale, and I spied a couple of vintage things I wanted to have in my collection, so here they are!

From left:

- Mavala "Capella", I'll talk about it later;

- Revlon n. 490 "Kiwizing", see great swatches here!

I think you all know the (in)famous "zing" collection by Revlon, here's a comprehensive total view (and list) on this collection, which dates from 2000 and it was full of (now older type) duochrome shades!

In the past, Revlon used to make gorgeous nailpolishes (check Color Illusion range!), so when I saw this little gem for sale, I couldn't resist, my inside collector won over me :D

At first I thought it was similar to Nubar "Indigo Illusion", and I think they've somewhat the same formula (see the teal base?), but then I realized the final result is different, as Revlon is a duochrome, and Nubar a multichrome.

I do personally prefer Nubar, but I'm glad I've found "Kiwizing", I'm a vintage-lover and I like to own some older items here and there :D

Now it's Mavala turn: I've found "Capella" from FabFingerTips and the very same day, on a british online beauty supplier, I scored another gem from the same collection, "Orion": these are all flakies colours from the Galaxy collection, which is a 2003 SMASHING collection released when no one cared about flakies :D 

The colours were "Agena", "Antares", "Canopus", "Capella", "Orion" and "Vega".

"Antares" and "Canopus" are too milky and frosty for me, while "Vega" has more visible flakies, but it's also milky, so I don't like it :D

I already own "Agena", so now my personal selection from Galaxy is completed!

I know now they aren't that smashing, but I just love these small bottles full of duochrome shimmers and flakies ♥

Don't be confused by the base colours, they're all pretty sheer, so I think I'll find the right use for "Orion" even if it's red :D

But, see below: a TRUE RED? Did I buy a RED nailpolish?

Damn yes, but CLEARLY I won't use it alone, don't worry :D

This is Shaka "Burn In Love", very metallic, very pigmented, very fiery! You can spy an orange-gold touch, yes it's there!

Actually "Burn In Love" has a magenta base FULL of goldish metallic shimmer =  RED

One coat.
See? Pink base :> So metallic!

On to the new adds: Elsa bought for me one of the most beautiful colours of this year:

It's beautiful and nice too! :D

Here it is Color Club "Portfolio" *______________*

No words needed, if you liked Zoya "Adina", you'll NEED "Portfolio", here's my cap comparison:

One coat each.
They aren't dupes, "Adina" has a lilac base and a lighter green side, "Portfolio" is much stronger, colder and pigmented.
I love both ♥

Lastly, two amazing H&M bottles: "Blue" and "White", clever names :D

El Corazon inspired? Who knows :D

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

Sensique - Oriental Dream n. 264 Jewel Of The Orient + Catrice - Million Styles Effect Top Coat ¿Holo Qué Tal?

How to obtain something better even from the best?

I don't know, I just know that I had the idea to layer this Catrice top coat over "Jewel Of The Orient" and BAM!, effect enhanced *_*

(indoor daylight)

"¿Holo Qué Tal?" is a milky base filled with duochrom-y chunkies of glitters, which have the same shift of colours you see in "Jewel Of The Orient", probably they contain the same glitters.

You see now nails have a more "grainy" appearance, less chrome, I must say I liked the result even more :>

(outdoor daylight)

Lately I don't have much to say while posting a manicure, just look at the pictures °_°

(indoor, semi-direct sun)

In the sun and artificial light top coats reveals its sparklier side, almost foily, great great effect.

And you have always two colours on nails *_________*

Milky base doesn't almost affect the base colour, so I bet you can use "¿Holo Qué Tal?" over everything.

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

Last new buyings of 2012

Looong post today... better start NOW :D

Sinful Colors!
Don't know why, but SC finally decided to import more interesting shades here in Italy, here's my first two picks:

Left: "Kissy", right "Blue By You".

I made some quick cap swatches and a little comparison:

1) "Blue By You"; in these pics, bottle shots is true to life: it's an electric blue base with turquoise, mmh, flecks? Don't know how to call this kind of shimmer, it's grainy. Instant love.

2) Essence "Choose Me!", compared with 3) "Kissy": they're very similar, as you can see "Choose Me!" is sparklier, that's why it looks greener. Maybe Probably you don't need both :D

Next, it's a great Pupa shade from their Déco Christmas collection:

This is n. 811, the "green" one, but as yu can see, it's not only green ♥

Since that I'm a true professional swatcher, I've even made a gif :D

(on the nails, Q by Colour Alike n. 118)

Golden-sage green to purply-bronze, how much awesome is that? Too much.

(almost sun)

Sinful Colors again :D

This is the famous "San Francisco":

Honestly, this is simply GREAT :D

It's green, but it has also a strong blue side, look at the cap swatches.

Bottle appearance it's pure green in real life (like the left swatch), but pictures captured more of the blue you can actually see, don't know why :D

Anyway: COOL.

Ok, let's change brands.

A while ago, Shaka released a collection which you can surely recognize as inspired by something else well known...

Being Shaka distribution a true disaster, almost no-one saw them in real life, I only eyed  CH2 "Purple", and CH3 "Emerald", which I bought.

On the right, another Astra Holo, n. 708 ♥

They're both super-pigmented; "Emerald" isn't the most original green-teal-goldish reflects you can find on the market, but we're sick, and we buy things we like in multiples :D

Last two brands (with swatches!), Rimmel and Catrice.

"Rock Royalty" by Rimmel is darker and deeper, has some purple sides and a beautiful shimmer I can't define at this moment :D (looks pink...)

Actual awesomeness is the left Catrice shade, a new one: "Steel My Heart".

Nailpolish bottle cap says this colour has a "brushed metal effect", and you can see from the cap swatch that it's true: "Steel My Heart" is a mat bronze metal nailpolish, honestly I've never seen a finish like that and I like it very much!

Two coats on the cap without top coat.

Maybe it recalls the OPI suede finish? I don't know, I don't own any of them, but this is GREAT, you can notice the colours of shimmer, blue, purple, green, pink...

I bet it'll be stunning with top coat! 

BUY IT, if you can.

If I remember correctly, there's at least another "brushed metal effect", more on the blue side, but it was a little too grey for my tastes...

Last Catrice, a gold one, "Oh My Goldness!"

Yes, I bought a true gold, but, hey, this is molten gold in a nailpolish bottle.

Swatches show the shimmer, this varnish is a clear base with micro gold shimmers, VERY shiny, rich and precious.

Uff, what a marathon, if you read all this post, you really like me :D

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

Catrice - Genius In The Bottle

Not a "new" shade AT ALL, I know well, but a pretty one for sure.

Both for colour and quality, even if I already own a nailpolish like this (well, two, to be honest), I couldn't leave this one in its stand...

(natural light)

I think this is the most duped colour of 2011/2012, but "Genius In The Bottle" isn't an exact replica of "Péridot", because has a warmer hue as base colour, like brass instead of gold.

(direct sun)

I had to say it has a strongest duochrome effect, you can see green sides almost in any light condition, so you can imagine I really liked this colour :>

(daylight)

These were (I think) two coats, with some touch-up here and there; good coverage, not the fastest drying polish I've ever experienced.

One word for the duration: it lasted like a week almost without any imperfections, just tipwear on some nails, I really can't complain about anything with this nailpolish... Highly recommended :>

(artificial light)

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

New March things... Again, pt. 3 °________°

And now, the third episode of my shopping suggestions :D

As you know, Essence renewed its collection and made a lot of great products this spring.

As soon as I stumbled accross an updated stand, I grabbed all the items I was interested in which I spotted previously on other blogs:

These are almost €20 of beauty items (an eyeshadow brush too over there) :>

While taking pictures of all of them, I realized I lost that lilac bottle in the foreground (n. 97?), I don't know where it is.

Anyway, here they are:

From left: "A Lovely Secret", lilac with pink shimmer (one of the most original shades of this season from Essence), "Gold Fever" (not a me colour, but I liked the small dark gold glitter, even if there are some red too :D ), "Passion For Fashion" (dupe of Kiko n. 333, oh well -.-)

The lacking lilac (lol) I guess is another dupe of another lilac Kiko I bought in the past... Maybe n. 338?

Next, we have the new (for Essence, duo polishes are as old as Methuselah) duo-trio Nail Colour³.

I picked them just for the shades you see in the picture below:

From top to bottom: the chunked-flakies-in-a-raspberry-syrup-base "Party All Night Long" (name of the duo: n. 02 "Shopping Trip In Soho"): how beautiful? To the naked eye i'ts brighter and pink-er, not as dark, but it's way different from "Princessorize", which is a HOT pink base.

Othe half is a Barbie pink with a Barbie pink shimmer >.<

In the middle, I tried to show you the stunning shimmer of "Ticket To The Show" (same name of the duo, n. 06); balck base with multicoloured shimmer, I hope it will show well on nails :>

Other half is something very similar to a Fontana Contarini one, the second from the left you can see here. Or a lighter version of "Gold Old Buffy"? I think you get it.

Last, probably a dupe of  Nfu-Oh n. 52, which is my favourite Nfu-Oh even if I don't have it :D So, when I saw these 4ml of  beauty, I fell in love istantly. It's called "City That Never Sleeps" and it's the duo n. 01, "midnight Date"; I have to say the other half of this duo ("Midnight Date") is great too, as it's a saturated dark blue with subtly duochrome shimmer. ♥

Finally, flakies top coat arrived in Italy too, so I picked it, useless to point that out :D

Next, Kiko released its summer collection (even if we have autumn right now, to be honest), you can see it here, but I have to say that polishes aren' that great, for me at least, you know why...

BUT there's a blue, and I can' resist it:

Kiko called these "duochromes", I think these are sure "chromes", not always "duo" :D

This blue, n. 398, is a dark indigo chrome blue with almost black edges and a subtle purple side - I don't think it will show on nails...

I wanna warn you it's a little on the sheer side (I guess three coats at least, we'll see it later), but I don't have anything like that and probably tomorrow I will find the most pigmented blue-with-dark-edges by another brand, but who cares :D

Last, my Swiss-nailpolish-partner Lisa got me two of the "new" Catrice top coats, together with a couple of little cute things :>

Top part of the picture, from left: C05 "Return Of Space Cowboys", gunmetal base filled with colour-changing micro-chunkies-glitters ♥ ♥ and a bottle of Sinful Colors "Let Me Go", which I always wanted, but always read as well about its terrible quality; since she had it for swap, I decided to take it for frankening purpose, let's see if I'll get something good out of it :D

Bottom part of picture, from left: Lisa made me a surprise present and included in the packet one of the new Deborah Scarabèe n. 70 "Twinkle Star", a champagne metal-chrome with a blue-green side - see the swatch here by Stregalice - thank you!

On the right, C06 "Godfather Of Pearl", a stunning mix of lighter micro-chunkies-glitters in a semi-milky base; I noticed that glitters are almost the same of  "Return Of Space Cowboys", but they surely contain something more, like tiny silver glitters which make "Godfather Of Pearl" lighter and a little more luminous.

Will these top coats arrive in Italy too? I still don't know, that's why I asked Lisa to get me them, as we say: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure :D

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

New March things... Again, pt. 2 :P

Hello again :>

Fortunately I found a little time to write second part, but I have to admit I already have a part three, at least :° :D

Ok, you might have noticed the picture below, so words are useless to us nailpolish fiends:

This is Layla "Green Galaxy" (from the same range of "The Butterfly Effect"), and don't be fooled by the picture, its jelly base isn't teal, but PURE AWESOME green, so green my camera made the hexs a little tealish. ♥ ♥

Do you remember I said italian cosmetic world gets better and better lately? Well, finally flakies came here, I imagined a large container of flakies arriving by the sea :D, and many brands picked a part of it; after Layla, now it's the turn of Deborah, which even gave us the blue flakies!!!11

Orange bottle contains our classic orange-green combo, while the lilac one is the blue-green combo ♥

Next, the obligatory purchase :D (just in case you don't have a third or fourth bottle of this colour...) (no, I don't have four, I own the Sephora one only :D ) (two bottles of it é__è )

Catrice "Genius In The Bottle" looks a little warmer from the swatches and comparisons I've seen in other blogs, so, well, technically isn't a true dupe.

But it's Spring! Even if temperature falls from like 25°C to 14°C, I wanted some lighter colour, so I picked these two cheap choises:

Essence "Viva La Green" (a tad darker than Essie's "Turquoise & Caicos", damn!) and NYC n. 264 "Lincoln Square Lavender", which is not a lavender, as you can see if you don't have a disease in your eyes; it's a very nice dusty-but-not-dull cold rose. I like it and wanted a pink like this from a long time!


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

Addicted to cool tones

Did you ever notice I preferably wear blues, purples, greens et similia?
No? :D

Well, this is my latest weeks' haul (bottles weren't purchased all at one time...):

1) Kiko n. 333 "Viola Brillante" ("bright purple"), is this maybe the italian version of China Glaze's "Grape Pop"? RBL's "Mismas"? I don't know, but it's really bright, yet dark, to sum up: love ♥

2) Essence "Style Me Holo": holo wtf, as usual with Essence (the more they call "holo" a polish, the least it is so), but... look at the picture! From the Nails In Style LE collection.
Later I'll show you a swatch, together with...

3) Catrice "Houston's Favorite", from the Out Of Space collection.

4) Essence (again?) "I'm A Marine Girl", from the 50's Girls Reloaded LE collection, just arrived in Italy!
Bottles of this LE are all of 15ml!

5) Deborah n. 36, a long time lemming (I made me a present): maybe it's not so evident from the pics, but it's super beautiful: eggplant purple with not-so-sparkly fine teal shimmer.

6) Essence (are you tired of it?) "Hello Holo": don't know what to do with it, but I liked it in the bottle, I'll surely find a way to use it, for example, like this (*) :D

7) Rimmel "Green With Envy": finally Rimmel brought us in Italy those colours, I had to search for them in Bruxelles to find the shades I fell in love with! (even if there wasn't "Blue Me Away", a HUGE lemming of mine...)
For my italian readers, I found the (little) stand in an Oviesse, located in a IperCoop.
The brilliance of that shade! Looks like metallic jade molten and bottled ♥

(in the sun)

If someone out there is interested in any colour in particular, I can swatch it without problems, by now I give you a comparison between "Style Me Holo" and "Houston's Favorite", because they look so similar (maybe Cosnova recycles formulas?), but they aren't, in the end.

They're both in the same type of colour and finish, duochrome from dark blue-green to pink/purple, but "Style Me Holo" has a much more pronounced effect, while "Houston's Favorite" is darker, a little (just a little) more pigmented and less duochrom-y.

Some details (lol, I like to take pics of bottles):

And here's the comparison:

Two coats each.
"Houston's Favorite" gets just a bluer tone when angled, but "Style Me Holo" actually changes colour to a purple, so if you're looking for a subtle effect, get Catrice, otherwise the Essence one is amazing.

The addiction continues...


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



(*) two coats of Essence - "Can't Cheat On Me" + two coats of Essence "Hello Holo"

Miscellaneous

Nail polish number continues increasing...
While I decide if it's a bad or a good thing, here there are the newest buyings:

1) Pure Ice "Heartbreaker"... Yessss, long time lemming, I found it on eBay, it came from USA and, last but not least, I didn't have to struggle with customs! :D

2) Barbara Daly (for Tesco) nail polish, no name or number found, except for a "denim" on the back.
Another eBay find: did you ever search for a non specific brand on eBay? I do, sometimes; I type something like "blue polish/varnish" (or green, or purple) and see what eBay lists.
Most of the times I don't win the auction, lol, but this time I did, and this colour looks promising: is a dusty lavender/light blue - a little pearled - with tiny pink/bronze microflecks, I'll show it better when I'll wear it :>
Little bottle (7ml), but a nice colour indeed.

3) Gosh "Purple Heart": ♥ _♥

4) P2 "Rebel", what a deeeeep blue/purple!

Thanks again to Daph for having sold me last two polishes :>


Then, suddenly Catrice appeared in Milan too for our (my) joy, and I found the last "Dirty Berry" in the stand ^_^

Now, this little plastic bag, can you guess what does it contain and what I'll use it for? * ghghgh *

Last, my very useful nail polish dryers, I know you know which is my favourite :D

EDIT about the holo dust: I want to warn you that seller of that dust increased price per gram :^/
I paid $14 plus $5 for international shipping, now it's $22 AND $9... I'm wondering how many girls of us searched for this pigment right after reading the post on My Lucid Bubble and bought it :D
Business is business, but what a rip-off :^(


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