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 =)
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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!
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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? =)
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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!

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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 =)
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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:


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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! O_o 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!
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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
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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.
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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.

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NOTD: Meteor Shower

Today I decided to give Meteor Shower one more chance. Well, although it's a stunning color, I can't say the same thing for the formula. Long story short, I'm not too fond of it. I will use this occasionally, but it really disappointed me. I was expecting a gorgeous polish with a dreamy formula, I guess... Maybe I should have applied even more carefully.
Anyway, I stamped the nails using the chrome polish I last mentioned. Although it was very good for stamping, opacity-wise, it's so slow drying that it smudged when I stamped. Do you know what I mean? Other polishes are most of the time already tacky when delivered on the stamp, and they don't smudge, but this one did. I had to remove 7 nails and re-do them. I guess I'll let it wait a bit before stamping the next time I use it.
Here is another simple mani using konad plate m54:




And finally, here is the award BabyD, Danica, gildedangel, kelsealaurel and kelliegonzo tagged me, thank you guys! If I'm missing out anybody, I'm sorry! My head was so busy in the last few days =/


7 Facts About Me

• I have never been a girly-girl. My nails are the only thing extravagant about me. I never had dolls, I played with teddys and stuffed animals. I don't own any high-heels, clutches, low-cut tops, etc. I run around wearing a T-Shirt, jeans and chucks most of the time =)
• I met my boyfriend on sheer coincidence, and we were together in less then 24 hours. He was living in another city, I didn't even want to go to that place the day before, and me and my parents had a little row. I gave in, sulking. =) The funny thing is, I never believed in love at first sight before I met him.
• I love console games. I own Wii, DS and PS3, with 20, 34 and 7 games respectively. I was a game collector before I started collecting polishes. This hobby is more economic, for sure =) Guys somehow don't believe I can like console games. Huh?
• I love being at home. I can entertain myself endlessly at home =) I always invent stuff to do, I re-read my books, I play games, read blogs, do my nails, talk to myself and think about tutorials&videos. The only thing I can't do is study. I was a very good student until college, but now I just want to be over with it. =/
• I've always wanted to be a doctor. Due to some strategic mistakes, I couldn't study medicine. Although I'm kinda glad I didn't, I still have a thing for medicine. I love to watch House MD =)
• I wish I had a cat. If my parents allowed, I would rescue a cat from the street or fostercare right away. I have a special bond with cats, I think I can understand their nature well =) Saying that, my boyfriend has a cat, and I'm extremely jealous of her! How stupid is that???
• I hate getting wet. I feel like I will never dry properly again. Especially in winter. =/ Not fun.
  

I'm tagging everyone on my blogroll who has not been tagged yet =) Sorry that I wasn't very clear, but I'm so sleepy at the moment!
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NOTD: Butterflies, again

Yesterday I found a silver chrome polish, which made me really happy. I can stamp with it, and I thought it was impossible with Turkish brands. Although it's not as opaque as Romantiques or Khromes, it's a good substitute, and clearly visible on the nail. Anyway, I used the silver as a base, it was opaque in one coat, but I did two. Then I stamped using image plate m41 and special polish in black. The topcoat is bubbly, I know, it indicates that I need a new one =) I mattified the whole thing using China Glaze Matte Magic. There is a rhinestone sitting on my middle nail, because I nicked it right after I finished putting the topcoat on.




If you can feel the uncreativity these days, it's normal =) I sleep through the day and study through the night, I'm moody, bemused, cranky the whole time. I hope it's over soon, and I hope I'll survive the stress!
Oh, I keep forgetting about my Blog Award. Shame on me. I'll make up for it, I promise =(
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NOTD: An apple a day, keeps the doctor away!

Alright, today I needed something to cheer me up =) This post will be a bit brief, I hope to make up for it the next time. I was tagged (as far as I'm aware) by kelsealaurel, kelliegonzo and gildedangel, thank you friends! I'll attend to it by my next post, I hope I'll have more time then. I'm very busy till Jan 25th, until then, bear with me and my delayed updates =)
I've decided to wear China Glaze Tree Hugger, which I don't really like very much. It doesn't really suit me, but I made use of it by stamping apples on it! I used konad special polish in red and green for the apples, put a dot of green on the side of the leaves and red on the side of the fruit, and scraped sideways to avoid mixing colors. The result:


With flash:

Right hand:

It's by no means perfect, but I don't really have time to be specific and very careful with stamping these days =) I do it mostly to cheer myself up, and I'll start with the "real" stuff when I'm finally free on Jan 25th! I hope you like this, it makes me feel happy =)
By the way, I think of doing a konad video tutorial soon, is there something you'd specificly like to see? Any requests? You can tell me via comments or chatbox on the sidebar! =)
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New Year's Manicure a.k.a. Albus Dumbledore's Magnificent Dress Robes =)

Hello Everyone! I wish you a very happy New Year, may health, love and success always be with you!
I had to wear something classic on New Year's Eve, a burgundy creme with tiny reddish glitter. It was actually very nice, but I couldn't take a good picture, sorry... This manicure was hastily done, and I'm not very good at clustering images on the nails, I normally do full images and now I fancy stamping small images multiple times =) I hope I'll get used to it! Anyway, the name comes from, as you might have guessed, Harry Potter books. J.K. Rowling often describes Dumbledore's robes as "magnificent dark purple, emblazoned with golden stars". And Albus Dumbledore is my #1 book hero of all times, so I decided to name this manicure after him =)
I started off with a very bad quality black creme polish. It was streaky and gloopy and overall terrible, but I had no other black option at the moment. Then I did the tips diagonally with a gorgeous purple glitter in a dark purple base, a recent local-brand discovery. It's so beautiful that it deserves a mani on its own, which will follow. Finally, I did the stars from plate m42 with China Glaze 2030, and the year "2010" on my ring finger. It could be so much cleaner and nicer, but like I said, I was in a hurry. I hope you like it!




Oh, how I cried a river when Albus Dumbledore died!
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