Aurelia Magnifique...

Say 'hello' to my shorties! No, these aren't quite nubs, but they are shorter than I've had in a while and it's kind of refreshing. I find that I like this length a lot in person, but for some reason I am usually not pleased with photos so I tend keep them longer. Anyone else keep their nails longer/shorter than they normally would for the blog or am I just strange?...

Today I would like to show you two Aurelia beauties that I got in a swap with the lovely Mari of muxe.net. I've actually worn these a few times, but the first two times I managed to smudge the manicure before getting any photos. Well third time is the charm...

This is Aurelia Magnifique Vanille 06. A grape purple crelly which gets good coverage at three coats. Application was nice, no streaking or pulling and easy to put down thin coats. It is fairly difficult to wrap the tips with this one since it is sheer. Swatches are with no top coat. It is very shiny in part due to the jelly like formula...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Aurelia Collection: Magnifique Color Name/Number: 06 Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Aurelia Magnifique 137 is a gorgeous flakie cover. The flakies color shift from coppery red to gold to green. What makes this flakie cover unique in my collection is that in addition to the flakies it is filled with a beautiful blue shimmer. I applied one generous coat over Aurelia 06 above. I love flakie polishes so this stole my heart. I wore this manicure for a few days...

Trying to show a bit of the color shift. This doesn't quite capture the strong green flashes that it gets...
You can click and zoom in the photo to get a closer look...

Do you ever want to "cloud" watch your flakie manicures and see what shapes you can find? I'm pretty sure there was a dragon on one of my nails...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Aurelia Collection: Magnifique Color Name/Number: 137 Number of coats: 1 (layered over Aurelia 06) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

A big thank you Mari for these beauties! I love them!

If you have not seen Mari's blog yet, you are missing out... head over to muxe.net for amazing nail art and swatches!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Color Club Evolution and Pearl-spective...

Hi everyone! Today I would like to show you swatches of two pretty shades from the Color Club Kaleidoscope collection for this summer...

Evolution
A bright sky blue cream. It has a pretty good formula. Although a bit streaky at first, it does provide complete and smooth coverage at three coats. Very pretty and nice for summer. Swatches are without a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Color Club Collection: Kaleidoscope, Summer 2013 Color Name/Number: Evolution, 988 Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Pearl-spective
Translucent to purple color shifting shimmer/flecks. This can be layered over any shade to add a bit of sparkle. Sadly, the photos don't properly capture the beautiful purple color of the flecks. They are not actually this hidden in real life and are really very pretty over a lighter shades such as this blue. The swatches are one coat of Pearl-spective over Evolution, with a top coat...

I tried taking a photo under water because someone once told me the shimmer shows better that way. Can you see the purple shift any better?

To really see the gorgeous purple flakies, try layering this over a dark shade. This swatch below is one coat of Pearl-spective over Wet 'n Wild Black Creme. I will do a full manicure at some point, but since my nails lack the curve needed to show off the beautiful color shift, I thought it would be easier to show it this way for now...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Color Club Collection: Kaleidoscope, Summer 2013 Color Name/Number: Pearl-spective, 990 Number of coats: 1 (over Evolution) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Thanks for looking and commenting!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

St. Patrick's Day Manicure

Somewhere halfway through the day I decided to change my subtle St. Patricks's Day manicure to something a bit... greener. Since I didn't have much time to work on it, I opted for one that was quick and simple...

The base of the manicure is Color Club Wild Cactus from the Fiesta collection released this spring. It is a beautiful deep green cream with a hint of blue. The formula is smooth and creamy making application easy. The color is very pigmented and it can be used at just one coat for full opacity. I used two coats anyway as that is my preference. Because it is so pigmented it works well for stamping as you can see in this first St. Patrick's Day manicure. Swatches are without a top coat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Color Club Collection: Fiesta, Spring 2013 Color Name/Number: Wild Cactus, 984 Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

On top of Wild Cactus, I added a layer of Sinful Colors Green Ocean. This shade is released once a year for St. Patrick's Day by Sinful Colors. It usually sells out quickly and after missing out on it last year, I was finally able to snatch up a bottle and try it out for myself. I can't say that I incredibly impressed with it. The flakes are mylar and a bit stiff, so in some spots they would stick up off the surface of the nail, driving me absolutely crazy. This is just one coat of Green Ocean plus a top coat...

On closer look, it appears there is glitter in here in addition to the mylar flakes. It is pretty when everything lays flat...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Sinful Colors Collection: Go Green Color Name/Number: Green Ocean, 220 Number of coats: 1 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

As a small accent. I added a Shamrock made out of four rhinestone hearts. That may have been my favorite part of the manicure. Since I was worried about loosing the hearts I attached them with nail glue and they easily lasted the rest of the day...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Nail-aween Challenge Day 8: Witch

I hope you are all having a bewitching Friday. I'm trying to keep up with the Nail-aween challenge with just a few days left until the big day. The witchy manicure kind of had me stumped, the only thing I knew for sure was the witch was going to be stamped. I first thought to put her over a moon background, then maybe some sort of orange gradient and finally settled on a night sky using a few of my piCture pOlish favorites...

I started out with two coats of piCture pOlish Voodoo which with the tagline of "see the darkness, feel the magic" seemed really fitting for a witch. I actually stamped over it with piCture pOlish Aphrodisiac, but we'll pretend that I didn't since you can't see it anyway. Then, I added the beautiful piCture pOlish flakie Festival which gave it nice little bursts of color...

All of the stamping was done in Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and Shany plates SH02 (witch) and SH08 (moon and stars). Interestingly enough, the images on these plates are engraved deeper than usual and often have problems transferring completely. In this case the moon was left with a bit of a cutout and some of the stars also were left with a hollow center...

Since I was at it, I thought I'd show you fresh swatches of piCture pOlish Voodoo. It is a gorgeous deep burgundy with gold flecks. One of my favorite vampy shades for sure. Application is good, the formula maybe just a tad too thick, but manageable and well worth it. Two coats for full coverage and the swatches are with no top coat...

I'm a sucker for anything with flecks in in it...

Swatch Details
	Brand: piCture pOlish Collection: main line Color Name/Number: Voodoo - See the darkness, feel the magic! Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

I'd love to know what you think of this manicure! Don't hesitate to comment below :)

P.S. Don't forget to take a look at all the other lovelies participating in the challenge...
datyorkLOVES, Erica's Nails and More, DreamyMM Nails & Make Up, Tes Did It Nails, Sassy Paints, Nicole gets Nailed , glitznglammer, Finger Food, Wicked Tips, Fancy Schmancy Nails, Delight In Nails, Polish Groupie, My Nail Journey, Get Polished Up!, Just A Girl and Her Polish, Spellbound Nails, Le nail's corner d'Alex, Hello.Lacquer, Countess Nails , Color the world with polish, Nail Crime Nail Art, Coat of Mani Colors, Cutie Cuticles, Nail-Aween Nail Art Challenge, GLAMOROUS NAILS, Over The Topcoat, Polish Gone Crazy, tragedystipsandtreats

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Green with Envy over the Budda-Ful Silver Mercedes

Today I want to show you a manicure that I have been wearing all weekend long. I created it to match an emerald green taffeta dress which I wore to my cousin's birthday party. I tried quite a few of the dark green polishes in my stash, but none of them matched the iridescent look of taffeta. Instead of using as single polish, I ended up layering Barielle Budda-Ful* over Ulta Green With Envy. The combination of the two polishes was the perfect fit for what I wanted, mimicking the iridescent look.

I stamped with silver to match the silver accessories that I chose to wear with my dress. The stamping was done using Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and the new Mash plate Mash-46. Just to mention, Silver Mercedes is my new favorite silver stamping polish. It has blown all previous competition out of the water and I wouldn't reach for anything else at this point.

I'm also incredibly impressed with the new Mash plates. The quality is fantastic and every little detail is transferred to the stamper and nail....

I stamped the images right off the plates on my left and and reversed them (mirror image) on my right. As soon as I have some time, I will make a tutorial to show how I do that, since the stamping plates obviously do not come in a mirror image...

I'd love to know what you think of this!
What do you think of the post title?... I was feeling a bit creative :D

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** Polishes marked with an asterisk (*) were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Barielle Elle's Spell over Falling Star

I spotted this Barielle layering combination on their Facebook page a few days ago posted by another fan. The swatch was a bit blurry, but in it's blurriness reminded me of a little polish named Fantasy Fire. I knew instantly that I had to try the combination. As soon as the previous manicure came off, this is what I put on.

This is one coat of Barielle Falling Star followed by one or two (my memory is failing me here) coats of Barielle Elle's Spell. I would have never thought to pair these two together, but I absolutely love the result. The burgundy jelly of Elle's Spell over the blue of Falling Star produced a purple grape color with flakies shining on top and glitter still visible in the depth. It is certainly not a Fantasy Fire dupe, but I'll happily wear this any day...

This was certainly a lesson to me in pairing unexpected combinations and a reminder to try more of them. Have you ever put two colors that you didn't think would go together and loved the result? What were they? I would love to know what you think of this combination! :)

Speaking of Barille, they are currently holding a sweepstakes on their Facebook page...

Prize: Barielle’s Nail Strengthener Cream (full size) and a Barielle Base Coat, Top Coat & 3 Shades Colors of your choice – a retail value up to $74.50.

There will be 20 winners!

Starts May 21, 2012 @ 03:00 pm (EDT)
Ends June 30, 2012 @ 07:00 am (EDT)

You can enter by going directly to Barielle's Facebook page and clicking on the Sweepstakes link or by clicking here to be taken directly to the Sweepstakes page.

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **

Barielle - Elle's Spell

I do believe it has been way to long since I've had a flakie manicure, so it was time for a other one. This beauty is Barielle Elle's Spell. A red flakie that shifts to gold and then blue/green. The flakies are suspended in a burgundy jelly base. Since the base is sheer, I decided to layer the polish over black. It is kind of a prerequisite for me to test a flakie over black since in my opinion that is when it shines. I have, however, seen swatches of it layered over burgundy polishes and it is also gorgeous, so that is on my to try list...

Most of the flakie polishes that I own consist of multi-colored flakies, so I love that these are all the same. Layered over black it has a very rich velvety look. This is three coats of Elle's Spell layered over black...

A bit of the color shift...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Barielle Collection: core Color Name/Number: Elle's Spell, 5103 Number of coats: 3 (over black) Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

Let's just face it, I fell for Elle's Spell... how about you?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

** These polishes were provided to me for review by the manufacturer or their PR. **

** For more information please see the disclosure policy **