>NOTD: Green Green Vines

>I got this yellow green a few days ago, and today I decided to give it a try. It’s by Claire’s and it’s very very streaky. I had to use thinner on a brand new bottle, which is always a minus for me. I had to do 4 coats, because it didn’t want to even out. This polish has a very, very subtle silver shimmer, which is very hard to see. You gotta know that it’s there to see it. Then I used konad special polish in green and vine design from plate m73. This mani has a very springy, fresh feel to it.

The brush I’m using to clean my cuticles:

It’s a flat paintbrush I got for 2$. It does a great job =)
I hate that the nails on my index fingers curl inwards after a certain length. The sides curl inwards on both sides and the tip appears more narrow compared to other nails. They look so uneven, is there a known way to prevent that? I’d be grateful =)

>I’m Free!!!! And a small haul, and a NOTD =)

>Hi guys! I’m finally free! Yaaaay! Sleepless days and nights of hard work are finally over. Phew! Now I can attend to my konad stuff, and post regularly again =)
Jeanette from The Swatchaholic helped me to get my hands on some Essence and some P2 stuff. She is amazing! Thank you, Jeanette!

Here are all 3 polishes I ordered, and a fourth one, gift from Jeanette =)

P2 Electric (gift) and Dangerous

P2 Gorgeous and Elegant

Essence rhinestone sets! Yaay! =D

Finally, here is a recent manicure, Claire’s petroleum blue jelly with konad s09 and China Glaze DV8 for the stamping. The base color is beautiful, it’s a very dark teal, on the blue side, and it’s 4 coats for opacity. DV8 stamped subtle, but I like it =)

Oh, and this is my second attempt at cleaning the cuticles with a brush =) I got three paint brushes, one very tiny and two larger ones, and I’m amazed how they work =) Still need to practise to make it perfect, though. I’ll post pictures soon!

>NOTD: Love-Me Nails

>This is my first attempt at Valentine’s Day Mani =) It’s kinda lame, I know =D Overly girly, even for me!
I used 4 coats of a sheer white polish, which looks pink on the nails in a strange way. OO – kay. Then I used plates m59 and m56, and my frankens which can be seen here and here for the stamping. I freehanded the alternating french tips.

What do you think about my french tips? I hate using m19, it’s far worse than the other french tip plates. I never seem to get it right! Are they OK this way or do you reckon I should learn to use it? =)

>A few recent NOTD’s

>Hello everyone! Sorry for the absence, it has been such a hectic week for me… Thank God, everything will be over on the 27th. Phew! That’s the bad thing about being a last minute person =)
Anyway, today I’m going to show you the nails from the past week. First: sunshine yellow jelly polish from Clarie’s & konad m53:

This was 5 coats!!! I loved this one, but sadly it was not fully dry for a few hours, and I managed to nick it at the cuticles, which I hate. Tips can be covered, but cuticles not =(

Then I have the coral/pink pastel polish, layered with China Glaze Pure Torture. I looooove Pure Torture, so happy I got it. I can layer one coat over any red, and it turns this gorgeous, bright, saucy red I love, and can’t find anywhere!!!

A layered konad using m74. I don’t know what was going on in my mind, I was sleepless for 32 hours that day =D

Then I did a full mani with China Glaze Glam:

Glam is sooo bumpy, and runny, I like it but I wasn’t very careful with the application, so it didn’t stay very long.

Finally, my current mani, inspired by the sudden snowstorm outside. I used the magnificent purple glitter polish I recently discovered, plate m59 and my latest silver polish find:

Don’t forget to take a look at Lacquer Link Love for 01/22/2010 over at Polishswatches!

>NOTD: Periwinkle

>China Glaze Secret Peri-Wink-Le is one of my favorite polishes ever. Creamy, perfect application, perfect color. I’m kinda weird, if I like something very very much, you won’t see me wearing that often. I guess I don’t want to become weary of them, and I tend to save them for better occasions =)
Here is Secret Peri-Wink-Le, 3 coats:

After some konad m60 and some bling:

I hope this one stays for a few days =)

>NOTD: Black Cherry Chutney

>My quest in search of the perfect application continues. Lol =) Today I applied OPI Black Cherry Chutney. I’m not really fond of OPI’s Pro Wide Brush. I personally like China Glaze’s brush a lot better. OPI is too wide for my clumsy hands! After 3 coats, I layered it with a local brand polish, which is a sheer pink and has blue & pink shimmer in it. It somehow enhanced BCC’s own shimmer. Then I used plate m53 to stamp and purple rhinestones to bling it out.

Finally, here is yesterday’s mani before I took it out, stamped with special polish in yellow using plate s09:

>NOTD: Mint Green

>I showed this franken before, but I wanted to wear it today anyway. It’s a very light mint green, more on the blue side, very similar to Mint Candy Apple. I love the color, but the quality is bad, it’s very streaky, and this one is 4 coats. Not because it’s not opaque, because it didn’t want to even out.
I thought I could apply polish well, until I saw Lacquerized. She applies flawlessly. How can she maintain her cuticles so perfectly? I’m stunned, such gorgeous nails and application! My next goal: Make cuticles perfect and practise, till you apply better.

It looks too bright on the second pic, the flash one is color accurate.
I also want to draw your attention to my friend Elizabeth’s blog, Lacquered Lizard. She started a nail blog only yesterday, and her nails are beautiful, take a look!

>NOTD: Another Bow Mani

>Maybe you have realized, I love Butterflies. And bows. Bows are some of my favorite images, especially those huge ones on m59. Unfortunately it’s almost impossible to have them show up as a whole, my nails are too narrow for them. But I don’t care! By the way, I’m getting better and better at completing the missing parts of the images =) But I can only do that with konad polishes at the moment, because with other polishes, I’d have to work at the speed of light =)))
This is a regular red creme polish, layered with one coat of China Glaze Pure Torture, to make it warm and saucy. I love bright, warm reds, so vintage and glamorous! I still need the perfect red, and although it’s a cool one, Bangin’ from the RBL spring collection seems to be just the perfect red for me. I’ll try to get my hands on it, for sure =)
Anyway, I layered the manicure with one coat of Inglot 202 and stamped with m59 and special polish in white. The result:

One day I’ll be able to fit all those bows on my nails! Hear my oath!!! =D

>Guest Nails: Mom =)

>When mom first saw what Konad was and what I was doing to my nails, she thought I finally lost my marbles. =) But then she started to visit my room every sunday, to get her nails done! =D She says everybody’s asking her where she’s getting her nails done. She is not easily satisfied, and sometimes she claims that I do my own nails better than I do hers =) For example last week she wanted the same starry design as I did for New Year’s, in pink and blue. When I stamped her nails with repeated stars, she said I had aligned my stars better. For some reason I couldn’t be as precise as I am with my own nails… I guess practise makes it perfect. But most of the time she is happy with my work. I let her pick the design she wants, and suggest a color to stamp it with. This week she painted her nails with Rimmel Funky Diva. She picked the vine design from m73, and I stamped it using konad special polish in pastel pink. The pictures are with flash, because she is not as patient as I am =D She wiggles with her fingers like a small child! LOL

You can expect more mom nails in the future =)
Oh, and her nails break so easily, she recently started treating them after seeing my obsession with my nails, but she’s more active with her hands and didn’t really know how to protect them till recently. She is allergic to strange stuff and in summer her nails break severely. I’m still thinking about a solution.

>NOTD: Tickle My Lace-y

>I’m officially the queen of lame names =D Anyway, I hated yesterday’s mani so much, that I had to change it. My friend Jeanette from the-swatchaholic has done a wonderful mani recently, inspired by MAC’s Love Lace collection. OMG, it’s exactly my taste! I liked it so much that it inspired me to do something similar. Although mine is not nearly as nice as hers, I still put a lot of effort to avoid ruining it =D And I guess I’m going to get MAC Light Affair, or it’s dupe, Essie Body Language.
This mani is made of 4 coats of OPI Tickle My France-y, lace image from konad plate m37, special polish in black and freehanded french tips. The first image is taken with flash, but although the color is not correct, I like it because it looks so eerie =D

Without flash:

I even managed to stamp side-by-side =) I guess I’m proud of myself =D

It has been 18 days since I’ve started Barielle, and I guess my nails actually grew somehow slower. !How is this even possible? =) I’ll continue using the product, but I honestly can’t say it made my nails grow any faster. If I’m not terribly mistaken, this product is waste of money, growth-wise.