TAG: 7 sins of nail polish

This tag is about 7 questions that you have to answer. If you like it, feel free to join!

Let's begin!

Question 1: GREED: What is your most inexpensive nail polish? What is your most expensive one?

Answer 1: My most inexpensive nail polishes are the ones manufactured by Natty and they cost 2,5 RON. That is approximately 0,5 EUR or  0,7 USD. Even though they are so inexpensive, the polishes dry quickly and are applied easily.

This is my Natty haul:

 From left to right: nr. 445 (pink) and nr. 362 (pink gold glitters)

 From left to right: nr. 372 (bordeaux)  and nr. 381 (dark greyish blue )

From left to right: nr. 363 (camouflage green) and nr. 392 (violet)

My Homemade Dotting Tool

As you may have already seen on my blog, Saturday I have finished the 2nd Challenge: Polka Dots. Pictures here.

In order to acomplish such a manicure one needs a dotting tool. The famous dotting tools... I have always dreamed of having such nail tools, they look so... professional :-)

On a second thought, a dotting tool is just a stick with a round edge! So I came up with my own, home made dotting tool, which looks like this:

Gradient Blue Polka Dots

Well... it seems that I still have the Polka Dots fever (from Saturday when we did the Polka Dots Challenge). I just can't stop dotting my nail :-).

What I have used:

• Flormar Nr.439 - in 2 coats as a base color
• Flormar Nr. NA01 - white dots
• Maybelline Mini Colorama Nr. 96 "Party Blue" - light blue dots
• Rimmel Lycra Professional Finish Nr. 400 "Blue Vogue" - dark blue dots
• Home made dotting tool

Review - Impala Cosmetics

The following two items have been on my wishlist for some time.
I have ordered them from Lady's and received them a week ago. I have been testing them since.

1. Cuticle Remover

Facts:

• has a delicate rosy scent
• dries quickly
• easily removed with orange stick
• it has tiny abrasive particles (see the little blue and red spots on the image above) 

Contains:

• Glycerin (emollient)
• Mineral particles (exfoliating)
• Muscat rose-tree oil (hydrating and regenerating)

Conclusions:

• I get the feeling that my cuticles grow slower
• cuticle don't dry out as they used to

Challenge 2: Polka Dots

I have been working on this manicure (including the processing of the pictures) for 2 hours! I don't have much experience with polka dots and therefor it was a challenge to come up with a good combination of colors and dots.

What I have used:

• Base coat - Farmec
• Base color in 2 coats - Golden Rose Nr. 110
• Polka dots - Flormar Nail Art Nr. NA12
• Top coat -  OPI
• Home made dotting tool

I was inspired by a see snail I brought last summer in Greece. 

China Glaze - Get Carried Away

I am a big fan of China Glaze and especially of their Cirque Du Soleil Collection. I have had the glitter polish “Get Carried Away” for a looong time on my secret Wishlist.

Apparently it wasn’t such a big secret after all :-). Today morning this dreampolish waited patiently in my purse to be discovered.  I have the sneaking suspicion that I know who is behind this and I can’t thank him enough :-). 

The polish is already on my nails I just don’t have a camera right now to take the pictures.

And now a little about the polish itself:

• It has 6 kinds of glitters (little silver and black spots, black sticks, black, silver and pink hexagonal glitters)
• The polish is full of the glitters. With one coat you will have sufficient glitters on your nails. Although, if you don’t use this polish on a color base coat you will need to apply 2 coats. Otherwise it looks like and unfinished manicure
• The base color of the polish is gray (usually glitter polishes are transparent)
• It dries surprisingly quick (this is a BIG plus for this polish)
• After applying the polish maybe you will need (not necessarily, depending on how you applied it) to use the nail file on the end of the nails in order to remove the glitters from the edge of your nails
•  I prefer applying a top coat for better shine and protection
•  UPDATE: it is incredibly easy to remove, despite the glitters. I just LOVE this polish. 

Pictures will definitely follow!

And here they are :-)

China Glaze - Get Carried Away

What do you think about it? I absolutely love this polish!!!!!

Flormar: Rotten Plum and Glitter

I was in the mood for some dark nail polish (but not black) and I wanted to try my new glitter polish too, so I came up with this combination:

• Flormar True Color Nr. 038 (The Rotten Plum, as I like to call it). This is the base color of this manicure and I have used it in two coats. 
• Flormar Supershine Miracle Colors Nr. U16 (a pinky / blueish glitterish polish). This is a dreampolish!!! Yeah! This means, that it was on my wishlist and it is a dream come true. I used this polish only on the upper side of the nail. 

Flormar True Color - Nr. 038 (The Rotten Plum)

 Flormar Supershine Miracle Colors - Nr. U16

The manicure was a success at work, several colleagues have noticed it (although they are used to my colorful nails already) . One even asked: "Is this chameleon polish?". I don't know what that really means, but I like how it sounds and I will definitely use this expression. (I think what she meant was glitter :-) )

Challenge 1: Red Nails

It is time to present my first manicure this year! This manicure is the first from the 31 Weeks Challenge; this is basically the good old 31 Days Challenge, done weekly. This way it will be easier to come up with the new manicures.

The plan looks like this:

As base color I used a neon pink polish in 2 coats (Brooklin Nr. F2). On top of the pink polish I applied randomly some nail tape and on top of all a layer of red polish (Bourjois Nr. 11 Rouge in style; also used here). As top coat I used the OPI Top Coat.

This is the first time I use these tapes and I am satisfied with the result. I will definitely use them again.

I am doing this challenge along with:

• Josephine's World.  
• Mikaela Ella
• Andreia_vd
• Cristina
• Bby Doll
• Alina

Brooklin - Nr. F2 (unfortunately this is the best picture I could take. In the reality it has a neon pink color)

Bourjois Paris - Nr. 11 Rouge in style

Nail tapes (10 pieces, brought from ebay.com)

The next challenge is Polka Dots and will be posted on Saturday, the 26th of January 2013.

Changes and plans for 2013

There is so much going on these days (and the past weeks), that I didn’t even have time to blog properly, even though it was a New Year’s resolution to post more in 2013 compared to 2012.

First of all there’s a massive change related to my blog (as you may have already noticed): it has been renamed from “Lililala’s Photo Nail Blog” to “NailGlaze” and it has its own domain name. From now on you can visit my blog at http://nailglaze.com. I haven’t changed the older posts, the photos are still watermarked as Lililala, but after all, they were written and posted as such, by me. They still are my “little children” J . Besides the name, I have also changed the layout of the blog. I hope this year I will make other changes to the layout, until it looks just like I imagine it.

Other facts about the blog:

• I have created a new page where I have made a summary of 2012’s manicures. You can visit the photos by clicking here.
• I have created a new page for my wish list. You can visit the wish list by clicking here. Once a wish is fulfilled, I will place a link next to it. This way it will be easier to track these dream polishes.
• It was a New Year’s resolution to complete a Challenge this year. I have chosen the 31 days Challenge. The starting date is yet unknown.

 At this moment I have 19 new polishes and nail care products to blog about. Some were brought from local stores, some were ordered onIine and some of them were a Christmas gift.  I can’t wait to try them all! :-D

My Nail Care Ritual

For me, taking care of my nails is at least as important as wearing some nice manicure. One isn't possible without the other. You can buy the best nail polishes and be a talented nail artist if your nails don't cooperate.

Today I will present to you some nail care products I use.

1. Acetone free nail polish remover
Make sure you use an acetone free remover, otherwise you will get your nails and cuticles dried out. It is true that acetone works faster but a non-acetone remover will be more gentle on your nails.
I have to admit I do use acetone based remover but only for glitter polishes and after removal I strictly follow the steps below.

After removing the polish I like to use Nail Polish Remover Pads to clean my nails. I use L.A. Colors pads. These come in various scents (I own the Peach and Grape scented), are acetone free and have an oily texture so it doesn't dry out my nails and cuticles.

2. Cuticle remover 
After removing the polish I like to remove my cuticles. For this purpose I use the Coral Cuticle Remover.

You have to apply it on your cuticles, wait 5 minutes until it dries and remove the dried cuticles with an orange stick.

3. Nail hardener
After trying lots of nail hardeners I stopped at the cheapest and surprisingly the most effective one: Farmec Treatment Expert with Vitamin B5.

Left: old formula which used to dry out cuticles
Right: new formula with keratin and calcium pantothenate. This is a much better formula compared to the first one.

4. Vitamin A and Vitamin E
To keep my nails healthy I give them some vitamins :-). I use Vitamin A and E in oily formula. Being 100%  oils they will dry pretty hard. I usually apply them before going to sleep. In the morning I will have hydrated nails and cuticles.

5. Base Coat

The best base coat I have ever used is definitely the Rimmel Stronger. This is a 2 in 1 product: base coat and nail hardener. It dries quickly (approximately 30 seconds after applied) and gives a discrete gold shimmer effect to the nails.

So...this is my nail care ritual in a nutshell :-).

I hope this post will help you keep your nails happy. Feel free to share you ritual by leaving a comment to this post. 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

Spanish tradition says that wearing new, red underwear on New Year's Eve brings good luck. I have changed this tradition in wearing red nail polish. Hopefully it will bring me good luck in 2013!

On page "2012" or here you will find all manicures presented on the blog in 2012.

Red base color: Bourjois - Nr. 11 Rouge in style

Top coat: Nubar - Nr. G715 Black Polka Dot