NOTD: Purple & Bronze

Here is a basic one before I do my New Year's mani. I have to admit, I'm amazed at how this magenta/purple and bronze look together. The purple is similar to China Glaze Let's Groove, maybe looking a bit towards China Glaze Stella. It's a gorgeous color, and has the same lit-from-within look that China Glaze Retro Diva polishes do. I did the tips with a bronze Inglot polish, and I was about to leave my nails that way, but the Konad monster peeked out as always, and I stamped the nails using China Glaze Admire and Konad plate s06.



They look soo much better in real life than in pictures. And I'm really pleased with my freehand tips! Btw, it doesn't really show up, but Admire is a cool pink, and compliments the bronze and the purple nicely. =)
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From The Vault: China Glaze Emerald Sparkle

I've reached 100 followers this week, thank you my friends, for your interest and support =))) I love you all!

I'm really disappointed about Emerald Sparkle. When I ordered this polish from eBay last year, I had no idea that there were two versions around. Then I found out about it and asked the seller, but she didn't give me any information. When I received the polish, it looked like gorgeousness in a bottle, but something was a little off, the glitter was small and too dense, and had nothing to do with the jelly I expected. I'm still not 100% sure if this is the "bad" version, it looks kinda inbetween to me. But it's not the green glitter suspended in a black jelly base, and has a more foily finish, so I'm almost certain. Ironically my blog is named after this polish, I wanted it sooo bad!



Colors are corrected to look like IRL. Camera actually showed the tealish-base, which wasn't supposed to be. This polish is still really lovable on its own, but I just want that gorgeous original Emerald Sparkle! Today I checked out Transdesign, and they're out of stock! And I was about to order it! Arrrgh! I emailed them, and they said they're not sure and I'd better check the site regularly. So I'm asking you: Would anyone from the US help me to get the original Emerald Sparkle if I'm unable to get it in the following weeks? Head2Toe isn't shipping China Glaze internationally, and 8ty8beauty doesn't provide insurance. (I have serious problems with stolen post, if it's not trackable.) I'd appreciate any offer, and of course I'd pay for everything. I just need a friend to redirect the order to my address, using Priority Mail International (Not Flat Rate), which is trackable. If someone is willing to do this for me, I'm going to contact them when I'm sure I can't get it myself...
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NOTD: Tinsels

Things were a bit hectic and rocky in the last few days. I didn't even want to paint my nails, imagine such a thing! =) I still keep admiring the Konad set, something that cheers me up quite a bit everytime I do. Today I tried one of the individual plates I received, m62. First I did a black base, then layered it with China Glaze Tinsel. Finally, I stamped the tinsel-like ribbon in white. It's a simple but delicate design, and I really like it.


Flash:

Right hand:

I went over the designs in speed of light, but they still bleed a little. The designs look like they have a white shadow underneath, that's because I didn't use Konad topcoat. But it's only noticable with Flash, not a big deal.
I have a special thing in mind for New Year's Eve. And I'm gonna be doing interesting konad designs soon, I mean as soon as I'm done with this stupid project. The deadline is in 24 days, wish me luck.
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Best Christmas/New Year's Gift Ever: Konad Professional Salon Case

A very, very dear friend of mine sent me this gift, with great help of Kathleen from OC Nail Art. We don't have Christmas in my country, but this is seriously the biggest New Year's gift I've ever received. It's Konad Professional Salon Case! Oh my God, I'm lost for words...
On to the pictures. Sorry they are kinda dark, I hastily took them and the indoors light is never enough! I guess I need my own Crappy =)






She also included a few extra plates, m48, m53, m54, m55, m62, m68, m70 and s09.

My card holder, used to protect individual plates:


Professional Salon Case includes images from 1-45 (last 9 are individual), 3 stampers, 3 scrapers, 19 polishes (2xwhite, black, black pearl, blue, sky pearl, dark orange, pastel orange, dark purple, royal purple, violet pearl, green, red, wine red, silver, gold, yellow, pink, pastel pink), 2 top coats, 1 base coat, cuticle oil, plate holder, one touch remover bottle, 2 acrylic sticks, Konad rhinestones, body glue, arched buffer, emery board, nail trimmer, tweezer and sponges.
I'm so, so happy. I can't even tell. I can't wait to use this set, make tutorials, etc. Thank you, my sweet friend, for your consideration and good heart ♥ =)
I almost own every plate now. 8 are missing from the m plates, and I only have 2 s plates, because I don't really like the rest of them. I'm pretty pleased with my collection =)

For request reference, here are all the plates I don't own:
m46, m47, m49, m52, m58, m61, m67 and m72
Any s except s06 and s09

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NOTD: Your Majesty

First of all, my friends, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I hope you're having a great holiday. =)

This one started out as a festive mani, and then I blinged it out a bit =) The base is my light grey franken, I poured about 15 drops of black into a whole bottle of white polish. Then I stamped using plate m60 and China Glaze 2030. The combination somehow reminded me of royality, so I stamped the crown from m40 on my ring fingers with black, and added clear rhinestones in the middle.


Right hand:

With flash (My pinky is kinda unfocused and blurry)

I'm going to keep this mani for a few days. Today I gave in and purchased Barielle Growth Activator. It was recommended to me, and it has to be applied twice a week. I want it to work out, and I don't want to change the mani often during this period.


Ten days after having cut them, my nails are the same length as the last time I had them short. They grew out to be this size in about 3 weeks. So unless they don't grow out to be the same size in - let's say - 2 weeks, I'll consider this product to be worthless.
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NOTD: Leopard Goes to the Club

Today's nails are leopard print from m57 on a medium cool pink. Then I added pastel pink dots in the middle of the spots using my self-made freehand brush and my last franken. I poured some polish on the konad plate holder, and dipped the brush very lightly into the polish to do tiny dots. I like the result. I smeared the thumbs a bit, because the base was not completely dry. But the rest went without smudging, and that's with black special polish and without the Konad topcoat, so I'm proud. The pastel pink dots look like they got smeared a bit, but it's not noticable IRL, and the mani looks fun, especially from a distance.


And my rarely shown right hand. It was hard to freehand with my left one, as you can see =)

I'm having a hard time these days about my college and personal life. If you read this, please take a few seconds to wish me luck and strength to deal with the issues. (In your hearts, of course, I didn't mean comments =)
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NOTD: Festive Red & "5 Guys I Used To Like" Tag

I'm back =) Say hi to my nubbins =D Kidding aside, I'm grateful for every day I'm healthy, and a pair of broken nails are nothing serious. They grow back, so no problem =)
Here is today's mani, 4 coats of warm red jelly with tiny gold glitter, same brand and texture as my Starry Winter Night mani base polish. Festive! Although we don't have Christmas in Turkey, I still feel close to the colors around this time of the year =) Then I did the rose design from plate m40 in white. The roses sort of remind me of mistletoes, I don't know why. By the way, I keep diluting the tiny 5ml bottle of white polish, and it still works! Yay, thanks to the guy who invented polish restorer. The best thing about the restorer is, it can even recover a konad special polish, and while thinning it considerably, it doesn't affect the opaqueness in a bad way. I definitely recommend thinning konad special polishes drop by drop, when they're starting to thicken. Enough babbling, on to the pictures!


I corrected the colors here, because my camera suddenly thought I must be an alien. My hands were green on all the pictures. =)


With flash. Look at my pinky. Baaaw!

And Finally, Sasha tagged me with "5 Guys I Used To Like" tag. Thank you, Sasha!


Around year 2000, I was a hardcore fan of the movie Matrix. I was seriously addicted, hence the name Trincess =) I watched The Matrix about... 44 times. I always cried in the end, lol =) Although I watched the sequels several ten times too, I didn't love them as much. They just weren't the same! And Neo (Keanu Reeves) was my hero for years. I still love him, he's a gorgeous guy =)


Raphaël Vogt is a German/French actor, who used to play in German soap opera, "Gute Zeiten, Schlechte Zeiten" (Good Times, Bad Times). I watched it when I was in high school. It was very, I mean very cheesy =) I watched it for Raphaël, because I loved the character he played (Nico), and his good looks =)


Johnny Depp. I mean, how can anyone not love Johnny Depp? My love for him is eternal =)


Kivanc Tatlitug, Turkish model and actor. He is seriously good-looking. I liked a character he played a few years ago, and I think he's humble in spite of his good looks. =)


Finally Hugh Laurie, the delicious doctor from House, M.D. I wonder how many English guys are out there, who could play an American doctor so well? He seriously makes my heart melt! He is one of my all-time favourite actors.

I wonder if I was kind of a rule breaker, because I can't let people go easily =) There are not many guys who I "used to like", because I still like them =)

But most of all:

My guy! ♥♥♥ =)))

I'm tagging:
Nathalie
Gildedangel
Jeanette
Kirsten
Kelsealaurel
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Tips&Tricks: How to stamp Konad images

I've been stamping my nails for almost a year now, and I want to share some tips&tricks with anyone who could benefit. I'm by no means an expert and I see much better and creative konad manicures every day, but I also watch tutorials time to time and see some details which could be misleading. If you've came across one of those tutorials and ever wondered why your images didn't come out as they should be, maybe this post could be helpful to enlighten some points.

• Try to use a plastic scraper. If you don't own the Konad plastic scraper, use a plastic card, like an expired credit card. I don't own the plastic scraper, either, and never had issues with a plastic card.  Cut one card in half and there you have a scraper. At least now you're not going to stratch your plate.
• Take out your desired polish and dab some on one end of the desired image. You don't have to go all over the image with polish. It's a waste of product, since most of the polish is not going to be used. Scrape all the way along the image, and the polish will be evenly spread. You can even grab some of the excess polish on your image plate holder with the scraper, and run it all over the image to cover it again. Note: The last one works best with Konad polishes. Other polishes have different nature, they dry quickly. But painting all over the image is not necessary with any polish I've used. Of course if you wanna waste product, that's your choice =)
  

• Don't hold the scraper vertically, and don't push hard to scrape. Instead, hold the scraper in a 45 degree angle, and lightly scrape the plate. If you push too hard, you'll wipe away the polish from inside the image and the image will be gappy and not complete.
• Get your stamper. The stamper should be clean, but not wet with polish remover. Press one side of the stamper on the plate, and gently roll to cover the whole image. Don't go down directly and push hard on the image. Push the stamper firmly on the image, make sure all the image is covered with the surface of the stamper. If your stamper is clean but doesn't pick the image, rub its surface with a buffer, or like me, with a rough cloth. This will make the polish stick to the stamper.
  
• Put your nail on a flat surface, and push the stamper again, firmly, in a rolling motion. You don't have to push too hard, just be sure that you roll all over the nail, and only once. Don't push down from the top, don't go in rocking motion, just roll gently but firmly. Pushing too hard might double the design, pushing too light might leave it on the stamp. You will find the right pressure after a few times. Rocking the image might misalign the image, and pushing down can leave some parts blank, failing to transfer the edges.
  
• The image should be on your nail now. If the image is not complete on the stamper in the first place, start over. Practise until you can transfer the image to the stamper. If you transfer well on the stamper, there is no reason for you to be unable to transfer on the nail =)
• After stamping the nail, don't wipe the stamper with remover. Just stamp the stamper on the hard plastic surface of the plate holder, and the image should come off. Wiping regularly makes the stamper surface slick and reduces friction, which is key to transferring images. Wipe only when bits of polish won't come off.
• Clean the image plate with a cotton ball when images start to get "clogged". This happens mostly with other brands, since they dry early. Konad polishes don't dry on their own, I can go through ten nails without wiping most of the time. But with other brands, you need to wipe regularly. Make sure you dry the plate with a cotton ball afterwards.
  
• There are different polishes that work with Konad, but if you're using a polish other than Konad special, you'll have to rush. Other brands dry very quickly, especially with layers this thin. After dabbing the polish, you literally have to scrape, push the stamper and transfer within 3 seconds. But this shouldn't be very hard after finding your own rhythm. But I recommend starting with konad polishes, as you can be slower with them and that they're more forgiving. But even with konad polishes, don't wait about 10 seconds. Because they dry after a while, too.
• First make a decision in your head, then do the stamping. If you wait with the stamp in your hand, unable to decide where to put a pattern, you will most likely end up with half of the dried image, and hate the thing altogether =)
• If you made a mistake, grab a cotton ball and soak it with remover. Go lightly over the design. It should remove, as long as you have topcoat underneath. If you don't put on topcoat before stamping, I advise you to start doing so, because it could be a life saver. After finishing the manicure, you will put another topcoat, which will hide the dullness, so don't worry.
  
• In order to avoid smudging, use Konad topcoat, or if you want to use your regular topcoat, just get a big amount on your brush, and spread evenly, from root to tip, without touching the brush on the nail. Go with light strokes, and only once over every section of nail. Let dry, and then do a proper topcoat.
• Finally, don't give up! It's not rocket science, it's a very easy and fun thing to do, and possibilities are endless =) I once saw a woman who tried to return her professional salon kit, because she thought she couldn't do this. She had tried every single color, and she didn't even clean the plates, she was just demanding her money back. I was eyeing her like O_o with only 3 first plates and 2 mini polishes in my hands. I mean everybody can do this. Just sit at it for an hour, and try, and don't give up. I remember my first time =) It was a fiasco! But I got the hang of it and now it's one of my favorite leisure activities =)

That's all for now. I hope I didn't sound arrogant or annoying, I don't blame anybody who does my don't s, I just merely wanted to say what could go wrong with them, based on my own experience. Of course everybody has their own ways of doing Konad, and maybe I'm doing many things wrong in your eyes! It's just what works best for me, and if I was helpful in the slightest way, I'd be happy =)

Bonus tips from readers:
Kirsten:

• If you see parts of the image sticking up off your nail right after stamping, carefully press them on the nail with as little contact as possible before you proceed. (This happens with non-Konad polishes, like Romantiques.) These parts will cause your image to smear when you use the topcoat. Don't rub, just lightly press them down. 
• If you haven't mastered Konad yet, play with it over old mani's. Nothing frustrates more than ruining a good mani. (Yeah, me too =) And not only try the stamping, but practice putting a topcoat over it, too. Go crazy, use bold designs, regular polishes, experiment with angles, pressure, double stamping etc.
  Over an old mani it doesn't matter what you do but it can give you inspiration and it helps you find a way that works for you without the frustration of ruining a perfectly good mani.

If you want a tip added here, just leave it in the comments!

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NOTD: China Glaze Custom Kicks

I'm sad at this point because this is the last time for a while that you're seeing my long nails. Yesterday in bed I managed to break my left pinky, which has been growing for 4 months now... I was kinda furious but I calmly picked my nail clipper and cut my nails to little nubbins. At least now they can grow together. Arrgh. Why does this keep happening? My pinky is so short now that I'm gonna have to take pictures of my right hand for a while.
Anyway, here is China Glaze Custom Kicks, three coats as usual, but 2 would be just fine.



They say Flyin' High from the Up&Away Collection is close to Custom Kicks, minus the golden shimmer. So I'm trying to kill my lemming with these while waiting for Up&Away. =)
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NOTD: Sugary Sweet

My favorite color this year along with aqua/mint green has been this cool, pastel pink along China Glaze Second-Hand Silk. I've frankened this polish past summer using a bottle of white and about 20 drops of medium cool pink. And now China Glaze has come up with Something Sweet, which I adore =) My franken is darker and more vivid, but it's going to be a substitute until I get my hands on Up & Away collection. OPI Hong-Kong Collection has Lucky Lucky Lavender and Pandamonium Pink, it seems polish brands are on the same wavelength with me this year.
Anyway, here is my franken, unfortunately the white was very stark, streaky and altogether not nice, but 3 coats evened everything out.



Showing off my ring =)

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NOTD: Pearly White

I got China Glaze Platinum Gold and Platinum Pearl about a year ago, hoping that they could also stamp like Romantique polishes, but I was disappointed. I guess I should have done more research... Anyway, I love Platinum Gold because it's a lovely bronze, but I can't say the same for Platinum Pearl. It's sheer and a bit streaky, but I decided to give it a try. Then I stamped using special polish in white and plates m56 & m57. Please ignore the smeared parts, because they irk me to no end. I just hate that a bottle of topcoat lasts only for about 3-4 weeks.


My nails are bare right now. Tomorrow I'm getting a new topcoat, which means you're going to see more decent manicures from then on =)
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NOTD: Houndstooth Gift Wrapping Paper and Get To Know You Tag

A few days ago I was trying to create a sheer blush using a very pale jelly polish and some drops of red. That's when I accidentaly poured 1/4 bottle of red into the pale polish, and I had this medium, bright jelly pink. Yesterday I put it on, it looked very cool and squishy, but I'm not very fond of medium pinks, and I topped it with Inglot 202 flakes. Today I stamped it with m63 and black polish, but my black is dying and although I diluted it a bit with polish thinner, it's a sticky mess and though to work with. My Mavadry is on its last drops, and it smeared the konad like crazy. Finally I put on some white bows to cover the Konad failures, which got smeared, too. That's why the far shot =)


See the flakies? This mani actually looks cool from a distance. I'd like to repeat it when I have a new black & white, and with another base color.

I can hardly tolerate konad mistakes on myself. I'm kinda OCD =)
Anyway, Nihrida tagged me a few days ago with Get To Know You Better Tag. Thanks, Sasha! I'm tagging anyone on my blogroll who would like to do this, I'd love to read all your answers =)

1. Where is your phone? Left side of my left leg =)
2. Your hair? Chestnut, with golden brown highlights
3. Your Mom? Just came home from work
4. Your Dad? Watching the news
5. Your favorite meal? Grilled Cream Cheese Sandwich w/ Ketchup!
6. Your last dream? Chaotic, I don't really remember, they just leave this familiar feeling.
7. What do you like to drink? Orange Juice, Ayran (Traditional Turkish drink, like Buttermilk, only better! =)
8. Your dream? My most significant wish to come true.
9. In what room are you? Own
10. Your hobby? Internet, Nintendo, Polishes, Beauty stuff, Games, Books
11. What are you afraid of? Incurable diseases, roaches, burning
12. Last travel? Mudanya, where my boyfriend lives.
13. Where were you last night? Home, studying. How boring.
14. Something you are not? Peanut butter jelly with a baseball bat
15. Muffins? Don't fancy them. Give me tartlets!
16. Wishlist? Consult my sidebar =)
17. Where did you grow up? Istanbul, Turkey
18. Last thing you did? Ate Pockys =)
19. What are you wearing? Jammies
20. Your television? Vestel
21. Your pet(s)? Right now, I have none =/
22. Your friends? I love them =)
23. Your life? Has its ups and downs
24. Your temper? Unpredictable.
25. Do you miss someone? Me and my bf have been living in different cities (2 hrs apart by ship) for almost 5 1/2 years, since the beginning. Do the math =)
26. Your car? No car
27. Something you don't bring with you? Like I don't take my desktop computer anywhere =)
28. Your favorite shop? Pull&Bear, C&A, Stradivarius, Sephora
29. Your favorite color? Aqua
30. Last time you laughed? Yesterday I guess...
31. Last time you cried? Today. I'm not in a good mood...
32. Your best friend? I have a couple, including my bf =)
33. A place where you can go again and again? Mudanya, to see my bf
34. Facebook? Consult my sidebar =)
35. Favorite place to eat? Arby's
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NOTD: Cover up, cover up and some more cover up =)

OK, I hate this mani. But for some strange reason, I like it too. And I'm too tired for removing my nail polish for the 3rd time today, so it stays.
I started off with OPI Bubble Bath. I have to say I'm not too impressed with OPI. The brush is kinda too wide, I'm not used to it. It causes me to make mistakes. The formula is nice, but not that I cry tears of joy. (I was kinda expecting that!) I can live with it, though. Anyway, after 4 coats of Bubble Bath, I nicked my mani. Then I decided to do a konadicure I saw on the Konad page:


I altered the spots a bit, to cover my mistakes. Then I nicked the mani again. And I placed black fishnet design diagonally on the tips. Like randomly. Interesting. Then I applied top coat, which tinted Bubble Bath because of the black tips. Arrrgh! But I wasn't ready to give up, so I covered the tinted spots with China Glaze Glam. 5 coats of top coat, 4 coats of OPI, 2 coats of Glam and a coat of ridge filler have been used for this mess! Altogether it makes 12 coats. I don't wanna go through the removal of this!
Pictures:



What do you think? I don't like it very much, but from a distance it looks bearable to my eyes =)
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NOTD: Spring Mani in December

When I first tried China Glaze Bahamian Escape, it was thick, streaky and funny. I tried to thin it, I tried to love it, but I couldn't. I used half of the bottle for frankening, and two days ago I poured about 7 ml of yellow creme polish with much thinner consistency in the Bahamian Escape. The result looked identical to For Audrey from the bottle, but on the nails, it's darker, greener and more greyed out. In two coats it's perfectly opaque, too. Now looking at it, it could be a dupe for Barry M Spring Green. The picture doesn't do the color justice, but this is the only decent picture I could get today.


I konaded using plates m36, m51 and konad polishes in white & pink. It has a very springy feel to it =) I'm planning on ordering China Glaze Up&Away and I will be wearing that stuff for all spring! =)
Last year I paid a fortune for Emerald Sparkle, and waited for it to arrive on my doorstep for 4 weeks, and the result was that I got the bad bottle. I'm going to order this year's ES, along with Dorothy Who and Mint Candy Apple. I'm really annoyed.
Quick question: Do your glass/crystal nailfiles last forever, or do you experience that the rough glass surface gets smooth after repeated usage and doesn't file anymore? I'm on my third file now, is there something wrong with me, maybe?
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NOTD: Starry Winter Night

Edit: I've passed the 50 followers mark this week, thanks to anyone who takes time and reads my blog =) I truly appreciate your fellowship!

It seems I couldn't keep my word =) I tried to mattify the Khrome manicure yesterday, which turned out to be a big no-no. Mattified Khrome looked dirty and unappealing on me, so I took it off. Today, I put on a local blue jelly polish with tiny silver and blue glitter. It reminds me of Essie's Starry Starry Night, only less black-ish and with smaller glitter. In my opinion, this one could be a nice substitute. I personally like this polish very much, it's very unique for my country's standards, but unfortunately this one is discontinued and I could only grab two bottles =/
Afterwards, I stamped snowflakes on the nails using plate m59 and konad special polish in medium blue with a purplish pearl, whose name I don't know. I would say "sky pearl", but on the pictures, sky pearl looks more visible on darker colors, and mine is quite subtle. After stamping, I did matte french tips with China Glaze Matte Magic, and the ring fingers are matte with glossy tips. Ring fingers also have teardrop shaped rhinestones.



With Flash:

I hope you enjoy this mani as much as I do =) It reminds me of a very cold and dark winter night =)
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