Review of 2013 (pic heavy)

31st of December is always the day when I do a review for the past year and decide what I want to do in the following year.

Well .... 2013 was a great year for me and my nail blog. In January I have purchased my own domain name and started NailGlaze. This was my first post with the new name. Since the new name many many things have happened to me :). Many good things actually :-). Please take your time and take a look at my work from 2013. 

I have joined many challenges, like:

• The 31 Weeks Challenge

• Untried Polishes Challenge

• Flower Wednesday - own creation

• Breast Cancer Awareness Month

• The Techniques Challenge - own creation

• The Polish Addict Group Challenge

• Other challenges and and collaborations (Secret Manicure, 1st of March, Polish Days-Vintage, The Nail Challenge Collaborative, Tri Polish Challenge)

I received different products as gift, for testing and for review. Special thanks to Born Pretty Store, Farmec, Magiq, Incoco, Rouge-Boutique and Cosmania!

 

I have participated in the Beauty Bloggers Meetup, second edition, in Cluj-Napoca. This event was organised by Anca Pop- All Made up! by Aqua_shell, Coman Cleopatra- Passion For Stylish Life and Laura Mariana- Classy and Pink with the help of the co-organiser, Farmec. The event was sponsored by: Yves Rocher, Elmiplant, NIVEA, Golden Rose Romania, Oriflame, B.U. Romania, Bioderma Romania, Cosmetic Plant, AlhamoDent, Cupio, AQUA Carpatica, Panemar, OnePAds Web Design.

Thank you Anca, Cleopatra and Laura for organizing this event and for inviting me! Also thanks to the sponsors who have offered incredible goodie-bags. 

I got my first indie polishes ever. Thank you IQJar for this beautiful present!

I discovered the textured polishes. Ouh my....I'm in love with them!

In 2013 I have written 190 posts. This means 190 publishes manicures (some didn't make it from various reasons:-P). I am sure a few don't appear in the above collections and this is why I would like to highlight some:

In the following year I plan to take on new challenges and collaborations and plan to be more active offline. 

One big thanks to all my readers and commentators. I wish you a Happy New Year!

 

Just Another Dots And Stripes Manciure

I love my new Golden Rose Matte Velvet polish, this is why I have used it as a base color for the following manicure:

Products I have used:

• Golden Rose Matte Velvet - Nr. 104
• Flormar - NA01
• Flormar - NA12

One dot followed the other one and one line followed the other line, until this manicure came alive :-)

Let's take a closer look at the design:

Golden Rose Matte Velvet - Nr. 104

Although I am not a big fan of matte nail polish I decided to buy Golden Rose Matte Velvet. This polish is supposed to be matte with a silky shine.

I have chosen Nr. 104, a darker grayish blue ... 

... and I don't regret it! This polish is just fabulous! Has a really nice finish and believe it or not, I only applied 1 coat! That's amazing! 

I can't get enough of this polish! The producer says, that due to it's special finish it won't last so much on the nails as usual nail polish and you will need to apply it daily. I have it one for approx. 5 hours but it's still perfect. After I have taken the pictures I have applied a top coat, which makes it more shiny but still beautiful! 

This is how it looks in the shade and in direct sunlight (without top coat)

I will definitely buy a few more shades from the Velvet Matte collection. I am thinking at the following (from left to right Nr. 105, 107 and 114) :

Source: www.cosmania.ro

Have you tried the Matte Velvet polishes? What do you think about them?

Trind Natural Nail Care - First Impressions

As promised yesterday (here), I am back with the first impressions regarding the Trind Natural Nail Care products. I haven't used any of my usual nail care products, only the ones gotten from Rouge-Boutique.

To be more exact, I have used the Nail Balsam and the Nail Repair, the 2 products from left to right.
This is how my nails look like in day 1:

The first product that I applied was the Nail Balsam. It is recommended if your nails are dry, brittle and grow slow. My first impression was that it smells pretty, almost like a hand cream (after all, it is supposed to be a balsam :-) ). Trind recommends to use Nail Balsam daily. Apply, wait 2 minutes and then massage the excess into the nail and the surrounding skin. I had the impression that I don't get enough balsam on the brush, but that was just the impression. After 2 minutes I still had some on my nails. After massaging it into your nails, they will feel hydrated and so soft! Almost as if you had applied nail polish. Nail Balsam check and like :-)

The Nail Balsam is oil free. This means that you can apply your base coat immediately after massaging Nail Balsam into the nails. This is exactly what I have done. Only that I have applied one coat of the Nail Repair strengthener. It is recommended for daily use for at least two weeks. The first impression was that I know this smell!

I am not sure about this, but my best guess is that I am recognizing the specific smell of formaldehyde. This is a very controversial ingredient. I admit I have no medical degree, nor chemistry or biology training. so I can't tell you anything for sure, regarding this ingredient. I can't tell you if it's safe to use or not. What I am sure about is that nail strengtheners that contain formaldehyde work for me. I have read a while ago, that nail strengtheners only contain a few % of formaldehyde. This amount is not dangerous for your health, but can create allergies and definitely will dry your skin and cuticles. After applying products containing formaldehyde, always moisturize your cuticles.

I will be using Nail Repair as a base coat for a few days and see what happens next. Until then, Nail Repair checked :-)

One more time, Day 1:

Stay close, to see whether  Nail Repair can be used as a base coat or not.

Rouge-Boutique: Trind Natural Nail Care

Thank you Rouge-Boutique for the mysterious Red Box that I received from you just before Christmas :-).

Are you curious about what was in the box? Well, I was so excited, couldn't wait to open it! The box was full of white and red shredded paper just to make the unboxing more interesting. :-)

After only a few seconds of searching through the paper shreds, I found the perfect gift anybody could give to a nail polish addict: nail and hand care products and nail polish!!! (who would have guessed, huh?)

In the big Red Box I have found Trind Natural Nail Care products. Trind Cosmetics is a well known manufacturer of hand and nail care products, available in 28 countries. Thanks to Rouge-Boutique these products will also be available in Romania. Until the online store opens you can find Rouge-Boutique on Facebook ;-). 

Let's see what exactly was in the Red Box:

• Nail Repair
• Nail Balsam
• Caring Color
• Hand Repair
• Soft Cuticle Pen
• Nail Magic Buffer
• Black Cosmetics Bag
• 50 RON Voucher
• 1 pomegranate :-)

I decided to test the products and in order to offer an honest review I cut my nails and started using only the above gotten products. I will be back with more pictures and info about the products, stay close :-)

NOTD: OPI - Holiday Glow

This year's Secret Santa has made one of my polish wishes come true :-). 

I saw OPI Holiday Glow for a while now but never had the chance to buy it. Actually I could have seen it since 2009, because Holiday Glow is part of the OPI Holiday Wishes Winter 2009 Collection. For me, this polish is an oldie but goldie :-). 

OPI - Holiday Glow is a darker brown base with gold and red micro shimmers. For these pictures I have used 4 coats but with 3 it looks almost identically. I only applied it for extra glow.

Merry Christmas!

Grey Crowns Manicure

I have worn this manicure a while ago but haven't had the opportunity to show it to you. 

Products I have used:

• Flormar - Nr. 391
• Nail stickers

Flormar Nr. 391 reminds me of graphite. It's a grey polish with tiny little silver shimmers. In direct sunshine I have seen even light blue and pink shimmers in it.

Merry Christmas!