A Transformation...

Last week I showed you a sheer little El Corazon Poly-Chrome beauty. As a rule of thumb I like to try the sheer shimmery shades over a black base and this was no exception. The beautiful brassy color that resulted did not disappoint. Accented with a bit of stamping, it was transformed from a delicate beauty last week to something much more bold today...

Shown here are two thin coats of El Corazon Poly-Chrome 322 layered over Sinful Colors Black on Black. The first coat was a bit streaky, but it evened out by the second coat...

I stamped with Black on Black using MoYou Pro Collection 06 stamping plate. This is such a gorgeous pattern that for me lies somewhere between stained glass and animal print depending on how I look at it. It also reminds me a bit of that stone man from comic books/movies. I've only seen pictures so I don't know what he is called. Anyone know what I'm talking about?..

The manicure was missing something and I debated adding black tips vs a black raffian. As you can see I went the raffian route and I love it. It just gave the manicure a more finished look while giving it a bit of pop and definition...

This is definitely one of those manicures that I don't want to take off...

Let me know what you think of this manicure!

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 **

El Corazon Floral...

Today I would like to show you a manicure with one of the El Corazon beauties that I received for review. It made the perfect base for some delicate stamped flowers. I love how this looks as though someone just doodled on my nails...

For this manicure, I started out with a base of El Corazon Poly-Chrome 322. I stamped using Kaleidoscope № f-14, the same polish that I used for my previous stamped manicure, but as you can see the manicures are completely different. The gorgeous floral image is from MoYou London Pro Collection 14. The Pro Collection is one of my favorites from MoYou so you will be seeing a lot more of it...

Kaleidoscope № f-14 is absolutely fantastic for stamping. I have been told that the whole mirror polish (зеркальный лак) line works just as well. I only have two beauties from this line to play around with, but I know I will make good use of them since they have easily won me over.

El Corazon Poly-Chrome 322
I am not entirely sure how to describe this shade. It is a sheer nude with a strong gold shimmer. In some light and at the more extreme angles it looks a bit gray with tiny black specks. It is part of the Poly-Chrome line. This is quite sheer and at four coats the nail line is still visible, although not as much as I had anticipated at first. It can look wonderful layered over another polish for a beautiful golden shine. I will show you one such version soon.

Although some of the newer El Corazon lacquers have a Big5Free formula, the Poly-Chrome line is not one of them. These lacquers contains Toluene and Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), both of which I personally usually try to avoid. It also contains Camphor, but is free from Formaldehyde. I know a lot of people don't worry about the contents, but for those of you who are worrywarts like me, there you have it...

You can see some of the black specs here along the side of the nail. It is so beautiful...

Swatch Details
	Brand: El Corazon Collection: Poly-Chrome Color Name/Number: 322 Number of coats: 4 Top Coat: No Free of Formaldehyde; Contains Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Camphor

I've gotten a quite a few questions regarding purchasing El Corazon lacquers so here are a few websites to check out.

For a full catalog of lacquers visit:
http://www.scarlet21vek.ru/ or http://elcorazon.ru/

Internet shops that ship internationally:
(from Russia) http://charme-beauty.ru/ishop/brand/236_0
(from Russia) http://www.krasotkapro.ru/catalog/el_corazon_/
(from Ukraine) http://elcorazon.com.ua/
You will need to contact them directly regarding shipping costs. I suggest using the translate feature of your browsers to navigate the pages (unless of course you are able to read and understand Russian :)). Also if there is something that you are interested in that is not listed in the shops, contact the shop in Ukraine and they should be able to order it for you from the manufacturer.

Let me know if you have any questions about El Corazon lacquers and I would be more than happy to clarify for you...

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 **

Wild Birds...

I recently had the pleasure of doing an impromptu nail polish swap with the lovely Mari of muxe.net. A few of the El Corazon Eggs of Wild Birds polishes were on my lemming/wish list and I had mentioned this to her. They are not readily available in her area so I didn't expect her to ever find them, but she happened to come across them and snatched them up for me. A huge thanks to Mari for squashing one of my big lemmings. If you have not visited Mari's her blog yet, you are missing out on gorgeous swatches and nail art, so go check her out!

For today's manicure, I thought these pretty little birds would feel right at home on a polish inspired by bird eggs...

To create this manicure, I started out with the base of El Corazon N423/95. I then stamped the birdcages using Messy Mansion plate MM14 and Essence Stamp Me! Black stampy polish. To complete the look I added bird decals which I made a day ahead using the same MM14 plate, Stamp Me! Black and acrylic paint....

I just love how soft and delicate this manicure turned out. I had envisioned these two pretty birds escaping their cages and flying to be together. You can't cage love...

Messy Mansion plates have incredible detail in every image and they pick up and stamp so well! Please pardon the tear in my stamper, it is my favorite one despite the tear. I've tried buying many other stampers and have not found one that works as well, so I use this torn one that is long overdue for retirement...

El Corazon N423/95 is a milky lilac base with black hex and micro glitter. It is part of the Eggs of Wild Birds collection. The application is good, although I did have to chase a few of the hex glitters around to keep them from following the brush right off the nail. It is fully opaque in three coats. The only thing that I'm sad about is that it contains formaldehyde which I personally try to avoid. I hadn't realized that until sitting down to write this post and trying to read the teeny print on the back of the bottle. I am so bummed because I absolutely love this color!...

Swatch Details
	Brand: El Corazon Collection: Eggs of Wild Birds Color Name/Number: N423/95 Number of coats: 3 Top Coat: Yes Contains Formaldehyde; Free from Camphor, Toluene, DBP

I'd love to know what you think of this mani!

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)