12/30/13

My Best French Stamping So Far

It is not a secret that I love stamping. And it is not a secret that I cannot achieve french stamping... :)

Well, I've tried stamping French designs before but never had them lined up, EVER! No matter what I did, they never lined up...

Anyway, for today, I wanted to try a different, festive French Mani... And I wanted to do it with stamping, because, let's face it, my free hand skills are worse than my French stamping skills... :D

I grabbed my Konad m19, simple French designs plate and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Cherry Red... With the white squishy stamper, I stamped my bare nails with red french tips...

Then I decided to go overboard and try double stamping... Well, double french tip stamping to be exact... :)

This time I reached for my Konad m56 plate. I have bought this plate only for the bow french tip image... And I never got to use it... Well, I tried using it, but it did not satisfy me, because it was always crooked... :)

Anddd here's the result!!! I nailed it!!!!! YAY!!!!

Btw, the stamping is made with Barry M gold and I did put a small rhinestone on the bows... And a coat of Sv...

One proud mama!!!! :) :) :)





12/28/13

Face of Australia - Between The Flags

Here's the textured red polish That came all the way from Australia...

It is from Face of Australia's Carnivale Collection and it is called Between The Flags...

The brush is thick and really covers the nails nicely. The formula is lovely, average drying time, no streaks or bald spots... This is two coats on my nails...

It dries to a matte gritty finish, more grittier than Zoyas... But I like that feeling when you touch. It is like a massage for my fingertips... LOL Oh, and it has golden glitter!!!

Really Christmassy.. Well, since Christmas is over, our next destination is New Years... So I might just say that this red is perfect for New Years... :)

Just another excuse to wear red, don't you think?



12/26/13

Christmas Gift from Australia

There was a competition on our Facebook Group and guess who has won????

ME!!!!!

Here are the "gifts"!!!



I'm really loving the Face of Australia Carnivale Textures!!!! And the "joy" ornament is just what I need!!!! :) :)

12/25/13

GRFC Challenge - Christmas Party

Today is the final day of Getting Ready For Christmas Challenge! I really enjoyed doing this Challenge. And I'm kind of sad that it is over!!!

I want to thank Elsa for hosting GRFC and hoping that she'll come up with a new fun challenge anytime soon... :) :)

Well, for today, the theme is Christmas Party... I don't think red looks good on me, so I picked a black outfit for this night... LOL :)

Here is Models Own Obsidian from the Velvet Goth Collection. It is a black jelly based tiny silver glitter with hexagonal holographic glitter as well. It dries to a semi-matte finish, which I did not like so I used a coat of SV over it... :)




As for the accent nail; I've been wanting to use the BM420 for a long time, and this was an excuse... Unfortunately the image was a little big on the sides for my nail... So I taped the edges of my nail and renewed the black lines of the tuxedo with a striper brush and black polish. Oh, and the base is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls... :)


Soooo, that concludes the challenge!!!

And here's the roundup of my entires!!!




12/24/13

GRFC Challenge - Christmas Movie Inspired

Today is the 9th day of Getting Ready for Christmas Challenge and today's theme is Christmas Movie Inspired!!!

There were lots movies to choose from, and I personally loved them all. But I decided on this one!!!!

The Santa Clause!!!



Anddd here's my inspired mani!!!!


I started with my fail proof red polish; China Glaze Ruby Pumps... :) Two coats on my nails... Gorgeous as ever...




On my index and pinkie, I freehanded Santa's belt... Not perfect as you can see, but from a distance, it looks acceptable... :)

And for the middle and ring fingers, I stamped the sweter design from Nailz Craze NC03 plate with white stamping polish.



Fun and festive... What do you think????



12/23/13

GRFC Challenge - The Christmas Red

Oh, no I'm falling behind in Getting Ready for Christmas Challenge!!!! Well, behind my schedule, I should say... :) I was planning to finish the challenge on Christmas day, but I think I will need a couple more days... LOL

Anyway, for today, day 8, the theme is Christmas Red...

Honestly, I don't own many red polish. I have 3 or 4 tops. I don't know why, but it may be bacause red is a flashy color and I prefer to go with simple colors...

Anyway, one of the best reds in my collection is Catherine Arley 800, the red holo! I have two coats on my nails and application was a breeze... No special base coats needed... :) It isn't a in your face holo, a more subtle one but it is still pretty..





I decided giving my MoYou Christmas plate a try and ended up stamping with it using BarryM Gold... :) This plate is really awsome, I think I need more MoYou's in my life..

Oh, and for the accent nail, I used a generous coat of Pahlish Pianos Filled with Flames, a lovely red and gold glitter in a sheer pink/red base... It think it needs a wear on its own... :)











12/20/13

Christmas Package from Sweden!!!

Warning!!! Contains lots of photos!!!


You know I belong to an international swap group. It will be a year in January since I joined. I have to say, I've found really nice friends there. We are a drama free, small sized group and we share other things as well, other than nail polish. We share happy moments, we share sorrows... Honestly, this group has been the best thing that's ever happened since I joined Facebook... I want to thank our admins and all the members for making this possible... :)

Anyway, we decided to go "big" for Christmas, and skipped November, so we could make a package twice as big for Christmas...

Annnnddd, my partner was Camilla from Sweden! Check out her blog! Doesn't she have the nicest nails???? And you must remember her from this awsome guest post she did for me!!!! I still read it when I need a little laugh!!!

Anyway, this was a Secret Santa kind of deal and we had a month of asking and answering about each other, in order to send the best package ever...

Which is....



Ta daaaaa!!!!



If you want to see the rest, continue after the jump!
I "may" have taken a lot of photos, so beware... :)

12/18/13

GRFC Challenge - All I Want For Christmas

Hi!

Today is the 7th day of Getting Ready For Christmas Challenge and today we are revealing our wishlists!!! Sorry, no manis for today!!!

Since it is a wishlist, and since it is Christmas, I decided to reveal all the things I want under my tree (knowing that they won't be there)... :(

Here we go, here is my dream team!!!



1) All the Zoya polish that is available on the website. You may skip the ones I already have, but I might ask for Pixie Dust backups... :P

2) All the Real Techniques make up brushes... Again, feel free to buy duplicates, I may need them for different colors...

3) Urban Decay Naked 1 - 2 - and 3!!! All of them!!!! :) :)

4) All the MoYou London plates available! I know that they release new plates every week, but the ones released untill today "might" be enough!!!

5) Speaking of plates, Winstonia is about to release a new series, so you may add them as a stocking filler.... :)

6) And finally, new Konad plates and the Konads I don't have may be a nice present... :)

So, there you go! My secret wishlist revealed!

Now I have to wait untill Christmas to find out if I've been naughty or nice... :D



Tell me, which of these would you like to find under your tree?





12/16/13

GRFC Challenge - Snowflakes Manicure

Yay!!! Snowflakes!!!!

Today the challenge for Getting Ready For Christmas is Snowflakes!!!!

I love snow! We seem to have less and less snow each year in Istanbul. I'm not sure if that's a good or bad thing, because honestly, in such a big city, sometimes snow just pauses the life! And the melting stage!!! Oh, don't ever get me started on that...

Anyway, I still love snow and the white cover and how it hides anything and everything ugly and just brings its own beauty...

Sooooo, for today;

here are the polishes I used... I used the first four to make a gradient. They are Yes Love K028, K034, Kiko 339 and Flormar Supermatte M103...


After the gradient, I stamped the snowflakes... I used Konad m59 and some from the full image of BM323. Stamping polish was Essence Stampy White.

Finally I added some Model's Own Blizzard and I was finished...






A soft and glittery look I was trying to find was on my nails... :) I really enjoyed this mani. I just wish cleaning up the blue was not that hard.... Although I tried to do my best, you can still see some blue shadows in the pictures... :(

That's all for today...

See you on day 7!!!!



12/14/13

Essie - Cashmere Bathrobe

I don't own many Essies... Maybe that's because they have mostly cremes. They are pricy here in Turkey and if I pay that price for a polish, I expect it to have some suternatural powers... :D I mean, there are really good regular cremes among Turkish brands, so why pay more, right?

Anyway, when I saw the promotional pictures from Essie's fall collection, only two cought my eye. One was Vested Interest and the other was Cashmere Bathrobe... Well, after seeing the swatches, I changed my mind about Vested interest but I got the other one... :)


Here is Cashmere Bathrobe, a dark grey with silver shimmer... This is two coats. Application was easy and it is a pigmented polish...





And here's what I combined it with...

Thumb, index and middle fingers have Flormar WL07, pure red, one coat... Over that, Golden Rose Jolly Jewels 121, red glitter... I haped half of the nails with scotch tape and stamped the other half with Vivid Lacquer VL10 with Konad Black. And added some dots with China Glaze Angel Wings...

Ring finger is China Glaze Angel Wings only, 3 coats... And finally the pinkie is Essie Cahmere Bathrobe... :)




What do you think????
Do you have any Essie Fall Collection polishes?

12/12/13

GRFC Challenge - Blue And Silver

We are halfway through the Getting Ready For Christmas Challenge prepared by lovely Elsa from Like a Candy Shop...

Today it is blue and silver...

Going through my stash of blues, I realised that I haven't still used my precious Zoya Pixie Dust Sunshine!!!! Being a navy blue with silver sparkles, it surely is the polish of the day... :P

Here it is with all its glory... Two coats with a base coat underneath...




 Then I grabbed my good old Gals 27 plate with the christmas tree looking image and using Essie No Place Like Chrome, I stamped my nails...




Simple yet gorgeous mani that got me a lot of complimets... :) :)

Andddd coming up... Snowflakessss!!!!