My First OPI

Here is the whole story.
In Turkey, nail polish concept is not like in the USA, Japan or Europe. One can hardly find any blue polish here, let alone greens. Most of the time the lines consist of reds, pinks, whites, sheer whites and sheer pinks, some vampy colours and occasionally corals, etc. Cremes are minority, there are frosts, shimmers and a few true glitters. There are no permanent lines and collections, there are colours with numbers, you can't exactly follow them because numbers change, things get re-packaged, etc. Nail polish is really cheap (less than a dollar) but good quality.
One other thing you oughta know is that imported items are rare here. They are imported on demand, and because nail polish culture hasn't really developed among women here, who only wear either reds or french, importing nail polish brands is a dream to me. And when something is imported from another country, they are expensive. The annual income of people here is far less than in Europe or in the USA, but imported items have too much tax on them that we have to pay unreasonable prices.
What I did was to haul 14/15 pieces at a time from online retailers in USA, and I always fear that they might get stuck at the customs. I can't do this very often... So when I heard that OPI was finally sold here, I went kinda crazy.
They are 20$ a piece. And a bottle of Nail Envy is 60$. What the hell? Someone here is definitely a fraud.
I got my OPI for 15$. Here is my ridiculously pathetic OPI haul.


You Don't Know Jacques
This is all. I had been wanting this polish for such a long time, that I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it! I'm thinking of buying maybe 2-3 more in the future, but I'm not sure. I'm planning on doing another haul when Wizard of Ooh-Ahz comes out. And I hope my China Glaze haul arrives soon!
Türkçe için tıklayın | Click here for Turkish

NOTD: Lilac & Pink Konad

Hi everyone, I hope you had a blast at Halloween.
Last night I did this manicure, with a She polish I got this summer. It's a lilac creme with strong pink undertones, and I thought it would go along well with Konad polish in pink (pastel pink?) and design from palette m69. It's one of my favorite palettes and it's not yet sold in my country, luckily I contacted Kathleen from OC Nail Art and she sent it to me along with m71, m73 and m74. I just can't get enough full pattern palettes. They are my favorite. I also love little flowers and tip designs, but full designs have a special place in my heart, and are the main reason I got into Konad stuff.




This lace design is beautiful, and I'm slowly getting hang of aligning the designs correctly. With full designs it's much easier, because the rectangular shape is obvious. But with tip designs and/or vertical designs, I always have problems with my recessive hand. Now I use the marks on the sides of the double ended stamper, and align the stamp that way. But I still have problems with aligning with the central axis =)

Btw, all of my manicures are base coat + 3 coats + top coat, unless otherwise stated. Of course when I konad, I put an additional coat of top coat to seal the design.
Türkçe için tıklayın | Click here for Turkish

Happy Halloween!

Yes, it's a nail =)
Türkçe için tıklayın | Click here for Turkish

NOTD: Craftstore Pink Glitter Franken

I have a problem in my knees. Especially my right one. I have been complaining about joint pain, especially when the weather was humid (before rain), and when I saw a doctor he said that the bones in my knee rubbed against each other and that was where the pain came from. But it has always been managable. But the pain became more noticable this year and when I woke up an hour ago, I had severe pain in my right knee and I can't walk properly right now. I feel like an old woman. My father has a joint problem too, but it's different than mine. His joint fluid (synovial fluid) has reduced with age. I'm going to try out his joint salve right now... Of course I'm grateful that this is not a matter of life and death, but it causes unnecessary discomfort.
Anyway, here is a funny franken I made a while ago. I actually don't like this one. It's gloopy and chunky and far from perfect, but it looks nice on nails from a distance. In summer I had this crazy(!) idea to pour some glitter in clear polish, but the cosmetic glitter I found was too expensive. So me and my boyfriend went to the craftstore and got a jar of glitter. I poured some in a bottle of clear polish on the street, and accidentaly poured some on my guy's jeans too, which made him glitter like a bug for a day. (Yes, we're still together.) Then I put the bottle in my bag and went home. It was only 5 minutes, and the glitter had already tinted the clear polish heavily, and turned silver itself. The result was not bad in the bottle, but the pieces are not uniform and the glitter is too big, I'll probably never wear that again.



Excuse my cuticles, they have healed after this. (I'm still wearing the Jade Franken, this is an older picture.) Next time I'm going to get some duochrome cosmetic glitter and try again.
Türkçe için tıklayın | Click here for Turkish

NOTD: Jade Franken

This is yet another franken I wasn't actually going for. But it happened. LOL.
Actually I started with a bottle of very runny lime green polish, and tried to turn it to a turquoise by adding some very cheap sky blue jelly polish. Then I hated it in the bottle and put it away. Some time ago I found the bottle again, and realized it was this gorgeous dusty jade shade, close to Chanel Jade and OPI Damone Roberts 1968. It's very sheer because it consists of all jellies, and this is 5 (five) coats.


And yes, those are my pyjamas.
And my nails get along really well with my jade earrings mom & dad got me recently from China:


The lighting is not reflecting the true color, the blue hint is almost non-existent, it's a true jade. I wish I could give you a formula, but since I never intended to do this one... My frankens are trial-error most of the time. And finally, here is a comparison pic: (Photo: mariannaoust@flickr)


Index: OPI Hey! Get in Lime, middle & pinky: Chanel Jade, ring: OPI Damone Roberts 1968.
Türkçe için tıklayın | Click here for Turkish