Pink Ruby with gradient stamping to rid me of my cold

Greek/ Ελληνικά

I have many posts waiting in my drafts, but I decided to post this one today since I finished it a little while ago. I really needed a little pick-me-up cause I've had the most annoying cold for the past few days.

The base colour is from a Bulgarian company. I've noticed there are a lot of cosmetics around coming from Bulgaria lately, most of them are pretty inexpensive, too. This could be a fledling trend, who knows. Anyway, Brooklin - 9* is a beautiful metallic pink ruby colour that applied beautifully and was opaque in 2 layers.

On top of it I did a gradient stamp with Her Rose Adagio and Fated Prince by A-England* using the Drikk DRK-B plate. This was a little bit more challenging than the gradient stamping I had done before since so far I had only done a gradient using similar colours and tones.

the bottles are so similar

My mani-cure (I am really not well, I am making terrible puns!) is not bringing my voice back, but at least I can stare at my pretty bejewelled nails now. On to some soup and a few episodes of 'Bob's Burgers'.
xxx
Elysse

*All the links in this post are non-affiliated links.

Korres Nail Colour Mega review - part1 (picture heavy)

Ελληνικά/Greek

I had reviewed a nail polish by Korres in the past, but since then my collection has grown a lot which is a testament to how fond I am of them. After I finish presenting all 21 of them I will finally announce my first giveaway.Yay! 

Some general points about these polishes:

• They are perfect for those looking for more muted tones. Their more winter colours have a characteristic and unmistakable muted quality to them which makes even the more unusual colours look very chic and wearable.
• They are 7- free, i.e. they contain no silicone, acetone, phthalate, formaldehyde, camphor, tuolene and xylene. Their smell is really inoffensive, there’s hardly any of it. They also contain myrrh extract, provitamin B5, and oligoelements.
• Each bottle contains 11ml and the brush is medium sized and flat, not as bit as an O.P.I. brush, more like an Etude House one.
• Their formula feels different to other polishes, they are easy to control, apply very smooth and level very well. They don’t tend to pool at the sides at all even when I applied a thick layer (see the yellow below).
• They are easy to remove and do not stain the nail.
• All pictures were taken without a top coat.

All of them were bought with my own money. You can find more of them at the company website (non-affiliated link).

47 – Apricot: in the bottle in looked more pastel, but it a dries a little darker, to very cute apricot colour. It’s a cream that levels nicely when applied and requires 3 thin layers for full opacity.

13 – Sweet Pink: a salmon pink with the familiar silver sheen. It feels very romantic and autumnal. Opaque in two layers.

34 – Pastel Lemon: as with most yellows, this is applies a bit patchy. It’s the only one of the lot that I had any problems with though it was fine with 3 layers. It also has a sheen put it’s completely undetectable.

The golden sheen is apparent in the bottle, on the nail it's a different story.

17 – Candy Pink: the most appropriate name for this vibrant blue toned pink. It has a slight golden sheen that is very typical of Korres’nail polish, but in this case it is not really visible on the nail. It needs three thin layers to reach full opacity.

22 – Flashy Fuchsia: again, a very correctly named colour. It, too, has the golden sheen only in this case it is more visible, but not distracting from the colour. It’s in the same family of colours as Essie’s Rose Bowl, only this is a deeper vibrant colour. Opaque in two layers.

51 – Tempting Coral: this is a jelly-like (a crelly maybe?) polish with the same golden sheen. The sheen is not visible as a golden colour, it just makes the polish more vibrant. A very summery colour, deeper and more orange than both Ciaté Mistress and Snatch and with the same type of opacity. Even with 3 layers on I can detect a VNL, but I still like it for its juicy look.

20 – Pink Azalea: a muted berry pink. Perfect in 2 coats and super smooth to apply. There’s also a deeper and redder version of this that I saw in the shop the other day and I know I need to get that, too.

28 – Disco Purple: Another colour that makes you think of the late 70s disco craze. I can’t help but think that this is a nod to the classic YSL Fuchsia. It’s a medium pinky orchid with a pink flash. Opaque in 2 coats.

32 – Light Mocca: this one has a silver sheen, too, but it’s almost undetectable even in the polish. It’s just there so that this beige colour won’t look flat. Three layers for full opacity.

33 - Metallic Sand: a light/medium sand colour. It has a light silver sheen to it that is visible when the light hits it. A good work-safe colour. Opaque in 3 layers.

65 – Metallic Bronze: a medium and rather cool bronze colour. It applied a bit streaky, like metallics do some times. It is such a pigmented colour that you could get away with single coat, though I obviously did two for the swatch.

61 – Metallic Taupe: a silver-brown taupe. 61 is not as streaky as in looks in the picture and it looks more brown under natural light. Opaque in 2 layers. 

I love both 61&65 cause they have a very vintage feel to them with 61 being the late 70s Bianca Jagger in studio 54 kind of colour and 65 being early 80s Crystal Carrington from Dynasty type of colour, equally unique in my collection as colours and textures. 

That's it for today. Tomorrow it's going to be all about the cool colours!

XxX

Elysse

Flowers from Korea

Στα Ελληνικά

A few months ago a dear friend of mine went to Korea. She’s one of those people that wherever she goes pleasant surprises happen and they are the stuff we talk and laugh about for years. I wonder what stories she’ll have to share when she comes back from her travels later this week. Along with her amusing stories she also brought back a ton of presents, some of which you will be seeing eventually. Not the chocolates, though. Those are already gone.

One of those presents was a colourful cosmetics bag. I love unusual combinations of colours, and this is definitely a winner combination. It’s one of those combinations that when you hear about it, it sounds like it wouldn’t work, but then you see it and it’s beautiful, vibrant, it makes your day just looking at it! I aim to become brave enough to combine colours that way. 

Something that beautiful of course had to be translated to a mani and here is my attempt, along with the colours I used to achieve it. I chose the plum tree pattern from the Konad plate m66 as the fabric has a similar embossed floral pattern, though you can’t see it in the pictures. The colours I used were (thumb to pinky):

Essie – 563 Bachelorette Bash

Butter London – Dosh

Orly – Everything’s Rosy

OPI – Kyoto Pearl 

Bourjois – 39 Jaune Trendy

Nails Inc – 050 Tower Bridge (for stamping)

My Inner Monologue, Stargazer - 234, Sparitual - Body & BM201

Greek/Ελληνικά

Inner monologue

Thought no1: I really feel like doing something pink. How odd...

Thought no2: Why haven't I used my Stargazer Chromes as a base colour yet?

Thought no3: I really like this design, but the lines always come out too thick. Maybe if I tried stamping with a matte polish?

And here's the results! I did the swap in colours on the middle finger to show you how thick the lines on the design come out with a normal polish. I didn't use top coat over the matte stamping and the whole thing lasted flawlessly for the better part of the week. I think this is one of my favourite manis so far. I was looking at my nails so much when I had it on!

Stargazer - 234

Sparitual - Body

BM201 plate

Fuchsias in the Garden

Greek/Ελληνικά

The fuchsias this season are glorious so it was a bit of a no-brainer what my 'In the Garden' manicure was going to be about!

Base colour: Etude House - GR605 

Stamping polish: LeChat CM - True Violet

Plate: Konad m83

Green leaves: Misa - The Grass is Greener on my Side

Flowers: OPI - Kiss me on my Tupils & LeChat CM - Royal Purple

A rare moment of sunny weather

Dotting tool fun with Etude VIP Girl polishes

Greek/ Ελληνικά

The seventh challenge in the Summer Challenge is Dotting Tool Summer Fun and fun I had. I really enjoyed making something this colourful. I don't usually use this many bright colours, but I really felt like making something cheerful today so out came my dotting tools along with the VIP Girl collection from Etude House and this is what I made!

Here is the full collection. Aren't they the cutest? From left to right they are: YL802, GR605, PK011, BL505 and PK012. 

XX

Comparison: Orly - Mysterious Curse(Dark Shadows Collection), Orly - Royal Velvet and Stargazer - 317

Greek/Ελληνικά

Hello my dears!!

I'm so sorry for being absent for almost two weeks, but I've been having such a nightmarish time with blogger and Google Friend Connect! I couldn't make them work at all and after trying out a million different things, they just went back to normal as if nothing had happened.

I couldn't even enjoy the first time I've ever been featured on another blog! The Driveler Kate from one of my favourite blogs, drivel about frivol, featured me along with other great bloggers in this post. Thank you so much Kate for the feature and your kind words! I really loved the idea of the Liebster Awards and I've been around to look at some of the features, though of course GFC wouldn't let me follow any at the time *ugh*. I will have a look around again though! I also see I have some new followers; hello new followers! I will in time do my own nominations for the Liebster award, but for the time being I have a comparison for you that I'd prepared ages ago.

Mysterious Curse, Royal Velvet, 317, Natural Light.
Check out the colour shift of the shimmer on the StarGazer bottle!

Along with Buried Alive, I also ordered Mysterious Curse from the Orly Dark Shadows collection. I could tell it was somewhat similar to another polish I had from the Spring 2011 collection, Royal Velvet, I just wasn't expecting them to be almost identical. So, here is a comparison I did between those two and another similar polish,Stargazer 317 version 1.

All three have a deep purple base with a lot of fine shimmer in that shifts from bright pink, to blue. The pink shift is actually a lot stronger than what you see in my pictures, but my camera consistantly fails to capture it. They are practically dupes and their only differences are:

*Orly Royal Velvet is much less pigmented than the other two (requires 4 coats at least as opposed to 3) and harder to apply. It's a pooling nightmare as you can see in the pictures.

*Both the Orly polishes left behind red staining in spite of using a base coat. 

*Stargazer 317 has a lot more shimmer in and a slightly darker base colour. It is also more pigmented, you could get away with only 2 coats of it if you're careful. 

Mysterious Curse is a better polish than Royal Velvet as it is more pigmented and more manageable, but I can't help being very dissappointed in Orly who came out with -practically-the same polish twice in a year. If the Stargazer 317 was easier to find, I would undoubtedly point you to its direction as it is much better and a lot cheaper at the same time. What a shame it's not!

Paper swatch along with some more colours, natural light

One coat/ 3 coats, artificial light 

First coat

Natural light

Artificial light

Artificial light and as much of the pink shift as my camera could capture.

Stargazer 317 Ultra Cover Nail Polishes

Last year I saw this polish here and really really liked it. Purple with a blue sheen, what's not to like! However, when I ordered it from the Stargazer shop, what I received was completely different. The one I received is a bright pink with a multichrome shimmer that shifts from pink to purple, the same kind of shimmer you find in Stargazer Ultra Cover Nail Polish 305. I looked around on line and in the end I found the version of 317 I was originally looking for, but no further details as to why or how they are different.

The odd thing is, even their barcodes are exactly the same. I thought I should point this out on a separate post in case someone is looking for the Stargazer Ultra Cover Nail Polish 317 and ends up having the same problems I did.

direct sunlight

direct sunlight

Natural light

Nubar Wildlife & Stargazer 234: Green and Pink in Las Vegas

Στα Ελληνικά

I haven't been using my duochrome/multichrome polishes much lately. They'd be wasted in such overcast weather as you really need natural light to appreciate their colour shifts. I was a bit tired of creme finish polishes though, which is why I decided to use a polish with a strong shift. Nubar - Wildlife is the polish I chose and it did not disappoint-quite the contrary. I decided to go all out and stamp it with Stargazer 234 (pink chrome) using a design from Konad plate m83.

This design somehow makes me think it belongs on the walls of a 70s hotel in Las Vegas where they would play Tom Jones-type songs. 

Take care!

xx

Edit: I had to add a video in the end. The post felt empty without it!