Zoya - Yara

One of my three picks from the Zoya Smoke & Mirrors collection ( by the way did you know that Topshop released a new make up collection called Smoke & Mirrrors?) is this lovely charmfull polish.

This is a definite MUST HAVE!!!!! For anyone!!! I mean this is THE color!! Such an amazing polish.
It's a dark but raw green cream with lots of golden flecks in it. Love, love, love it!!

The formula is a bit on the thick side, but nothing bad, anyone can handle it, I actually like it better a bit thick, I find it easier to manage.

This need a top coat, because it dries a bit gritty, but a layer of top coat fixes that right up.
So did I mention this is gorgeous?

Photos:

Artificial light

Natural sunlight

Natural sunlight

Essie - Bobbing for baubles

Hello everyone!! Sorry for the lack of posts. I am still renovating my apartement, and I have guests over helping me, and I've got tons of work too, so that all leaves very little time to blog. BUT, yesterday I got a very interesting package from nailssuplies that is the Essie Winter Collection - Cocktail Bling. And so I have for you today the first one I wanted to try - Bobbing for Baubles.

This polish is a deep dark blue cream, it's a very commun color I guess, but I happend to not own anything like it in my collection and although it does not suit me that much, I love it!!

Call me Essie addict or whatever you want but this brand is rapidly becoming my favourite. I said I could not pick favourites but I am leaning toward it.

This polish has a thicker formula so you can have an opaque look with one single coat!! It is not that easy to apply, but I think it is worth it. As for the rest you all know my opinion of these polishes.

Sorry about my cuticules but I have been washing lots of stuff lately.

So here are the photos and stay tunned for the rest of the collection:

Color Club - Secret Rendez-vous

Sorry about missing pink Wednesday, but I've been really busy at work. And in the evenings we've been going to our appartement to get stuff in.

Today's polish is a soft lilac cream. This was two coats, perfect application and formula. I had a bit too much of shirnking with the Seche, and some tip wear within two days, but otherwise I am pretty happy with this polish.

So here are the photos, sorry I don't have much time, so it's a bit of a hurried up post

New feature!

Hey everyone!! Just a quick word to tell you that I added a new feature on my blog, that is follow by email, so this way you can get email notifications each time I post something new.

The button is on the side bar.

Kiko stuff

Sorry about the abscence but I've been really busy. We have started buying stuff for our new appartement and taking it there, so we are going to be renovating soon, and my posts will be scarce for a few weeks.

This is not even a polish post, because I have not had the time to do my nails. I did however go by the Kiko store because they have put out a limited edition line - Chic Chalet, and I had to have one of their palettes I saw on this blog. 
So along with this four eye shadow palette I bought a few nail polishes, and an eyeliner. Now all their normal line is at 2,5€ all the time, and the limited edition ones are at 4,90€.

Je suis passée par la boutique Kiko et j'ai vu qu'ils avaient une nouvelle collection - Chic Chalet , j'ai donc acheté une palette de fards à paupières - Unexpected Rosy Taupe qui coûte 12,9€. Pour l'information de tout le monde, les vernis à ongles de la gamme normale, sont tous à 2,5€, et je pense que le prix va rester comme ça. Dans la nouvelle collection il y à aussi 6 nouveaux vernis à ongles, qui coûtent 4,9€ chacun. Je n'ai pas été très tentée par ceux-ci j'en ai pris qu'un seul, le noir nacré. 

The new collection also has 6 new nail polishes, I did not like them that much so I only bought one which I will be showing you soon. The caps on these are golden, a detail that I do not like either. The palette I bought is called Unexpected Rosy Taupe, and I really like it. This retails for 12,9€.

I also bought an eye liner for 6,9€.

What I like about this brand is that it is affordable, and still better quality than L'Oreal, but cheapper.All their products come in boxes, just like the most expensive brands, except for the nail polishes.

So here are now the photos.

The products in their boxes 

These swatches are not quite appropriate of the colors, but it is the closest I could get. Sorry about the scratches on my hand it's Mumu's fault

I like the texture of the eye shadows and I definitely think this is worth buying. The swatches are done on my bare hand.

And so I don't leave you high and dry, here are some photos of China Glaze Pool Party covered in Kleancolor Chunky Holo Scarlett, back when I still had long nails.

Essie - Smooth Sailing

This is part of the Braziliant collection 2011, and it was the shade that I was most looking forward to trying. And I was not wrong!!! This is an amazing colour, I do not own anything else like it in my collection, and any laquerhead should have this one.

It is a beautiful blue cream base, that leans a bit towards purple, and it is packed with the most gorgeous little white and baby blue small flakies.

The application is easy and the formula is just right, not too thick, but really manageable. This is two easy coats.
 I am just in love with this colour, it is vibrant, all in the same time staying a bit on the safe side, if you know what I mean.

I just couldn't add anything else, because it is perfect all by itself, so here are the photos:

Revlon - Cherries in the snow

This is another great polish I got in my swap with Carolina . It's a red cream with a bit of a blue reflexion, you can't see that in my pictures, but I assure you it is there.

This was an easy two coats, the formula was perfect on this. I don't know if they've changed the brush, or it is so only on the minis but the the one on this bottle was great!!
I don't usually buy Revlon polishes because here they are super expensive 12€ each. So the Revlons that I have are from swaps with Carolina.

Anyway this is really an awesome polish, and I definitely recommend buying it.

I wanted to make a glitter sandwich, that is you start with a jelly, then apply a coat of glitter, and finish off with the jelly.
So I applied a coat of Essence Blair and to top it off  OPI Guy meets gal-veston. The result was not so good:

How to do Konad Stamping

I have gotten quite a lot of questions on this. So I decided to do a post about it, that will go into my FAQ page.
What you need for Konad stamping is:

• nail polish that works for stamping. You can buy special Konad polish, or you can use some of the regular polishes you already have, here is a list of those that work for stamping. If you do not own any of the polishes on the list, know that almost any metallic polish works well. This is the polish I used.

• stamp and scraper - I have the Konad ones, and I think it is better to buy original ones for these, because I have heard that the fakes have a soft rubber and the design does not stamp well because of that

• acetone and some cotton discs

• cue tips - I have these special cue tips for make up retouching, these work very well for nails also.

• The design plates - The ones in the image below are from Bundle Monster, these are very good value, 25 plates for 22$, as opposed to the Konad ones that cost 7$ each. 

So what you do is soke the cotton disc in acetone and put it on some tissue, just not directly on your table. This works better on a base coat, don't apply directly on the naked nail because you risk staining and also that the design will not stay on. 

You then apply the nail polish on to the chosen design like so:

 Using the scraper take off the excess nail polish and wipe it on the cotton disc.

Then take your stamp and stick it on the design so you can grab the nail polish like so:

As you can see the design is now on the stamp. The next step is to carefully press the stamp on your nail. Starting from applying the polish to the design all these movements must be relatively quick so the nail polish does not dry in between moves.

After applying the design to the nail it should look like this:

Don't worry about the nail polish on the side of the nail, that will be taken care of later, with the cue tip. 

After you've done all your fingers you can now dip the cue tip in acetone and remove all the nail polish on your skin. 

After clean up wait a while before applying your top coat, because other wise you risk dragging the design and messing it up. 

This is how it looks after clean up and before top coat:

And know let me show you what I came up with :

I used my dotting tool for the blue spots. 

My new Boots - Mes nouvelles bottines

These boots are made for walking and that's just what they'll do!!
Just a quick post to show you my incredible new boots!! I saw these on Jen's blog and they stuck in my head untill two weeks ago. I was walking around Rouen with my husband and saw these in the window of a Jonak shop. So then I knew I had to have them. I bought them in their Paris Opera shop for 100€, and I don't regret it one bit. You can buy them on sarenza.com and they exist in black and dark brown too.

J'ai trouvé ces bottes chez Jonak après les avoir vu sur le blog de Jen. Je les ai acheté dans leur boutique de Paris Opéra pour 100€. Ils existent en noir et brun aussi. 


Aren't they the most beautiful boots you've ever seen!!!

Pink Wednesday - Essie Lion Around & Sally Hansen Set the Stage

For this special day I did this special mani.
I started with two coats of Essie Lion Around the last of my resort polishes, which is a very light shade of pink cream base, with lovely white shimmer, that gives it a kind of frosty look.

By now you all know I am a super fan of Essie polishes and that I love their formula, even the bottles, and the application, etc. So there is no need to rave again about this right?

I topped it off with two coats of Sally Hansen Set the Stage which is a clear base, with small and larger hex golden glitter - oh wow!! I got this in my last swap with Carolina - Thank you!! so much it is one of the prettiest glitters I've ever seen and it goes well with everything!!

So this is what came out- click to enlarge the photos: