Holiday Post - Gabrini Neon 01

Hi there!!!!

I'm still on vacation but thanks to smartphones and Blogger App, I can still post and manage my blog... Here is a quick post I made....

I've been seeing Gabrini nail polish on many blogs but never had a chance to own a bottle.... Eventhough it is a Turkish Brand, it is not widely found where I live...

So when I saw a display in Bodrum, (where I spend my holiday) I grabbed two bottles...

They are from the Neon colection. The one on the left is N01 and the one on the right is the white base for neons...

I've read many reviews that they smell bad, but honestly I did not expect this much! And I am a person who loves polish smell!!! (Talk about weird) I don't think these polishes are free from anything, I tried to read the label but there was a date stamp on the bottle making it hard to read the ingredients... So, if you have any info, please share...

Anyway, I used a thick coat of the white base and then used 3 coats of the pink. Why 3 coats? Because it is a jelly and takes 3 coats to build up!!!

The pictures don't do any justice! This color is a true neon!!! And with a tan, it looks really eye catching!

Since I brought my Flormar Matte M17 neon pink with me, I decided to compare them...

Flormar is two coats plus a topcoat, Gabrini is one white, three neon coats...

They look similar enough, but if you are like me and prefer less coats, you should pick Flormar!!!

Yes Love K028

Today I tried the gorgeous blue polish Cristina from The Clockwise Nail Polish sent me... It is Yes Love, K028. It is such a pigmented creme polish that one coat was enough, almost! I applied two coats anyway... It is easy to apply and has a normal drying time... :)

I lovvvved Yes Love polishes so far!!!! I still have 2 more to try, and I'm pretty sure I'll love them as well... :)

Anyway, I painted my accent nail with 2 coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and then stamped the chevron design from BM201 plate. I really loved how my mani turned out, UNTILLLLLL I used China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat!!!

Look at what it did to my stamping!!!! I hate when this happens! My stamping was totally dry and I tried not to go over the same place twice, but it happened anyway! I think CG FF Topcoat and Konad Special Black don't get along!!!!

Well, being a perfectionist this bothered me a lot! But being the lazy guy, I did not reapply it and went out like this. Guess what, nobody noticed the smudge!!!! They even complimented on my mani. But knowing that it is there, I came home and took it off immediately! Grrr!!!

So, what do you do when you have a situation like this? Do you take it off and try again or do you let it go???

Guestblogger - Elis from The Black Widow's Place

Hi all! Today I have another guest blogger and a lovely friend, Elis from The Black Widows's Place... She has done an amazing post about a brand I've never tried... :) Let's see....

Hello,

I am very glad that I got the honor of participating in Aylin's amazing blog.

First, a little something about me. I'm from Eastern Europe (Bulgaria) and I moved to the U.S. 5 years ago. Since then, my obsession is those small beautiful bottles of nail polish. I have two wonderful children and am currently a stay-at-home mom. Even with the children, I still find time to work on my own blog  (http://theblackwidowsplace.com/)

I am going to show you something new from Salon Perfect (SP). Rumors are that they are actually owned by China Glaze and focus only on professional salon manicures.

We all know the wonderful matte glitter polish made by the Indie brand "Nail Venturous". This new collection by SP is a very good copy of them (They even have a color very close to Floam).

The color "Jolt" has matte yellow and orange glitter particles in a transparent base. The polish is quite thick and can actually need two coats to achieve good coverage.

As a base, I used Sally Hansen's "Hard to Get" and only one layer of Jolt. The big question was whether or not it would absorb the top coat. I used a fast drying top coat in the beginning and everything was fine until it got absorbed and the surface of the nails became dull and uneven. I decided to try a different top coat - "Gelous". It got absorbed as well, so I gave up. Apparently, with this type of glitter you cannot achieve a smooth effect unless you put on several layers of "Gelous".

As you can see, the manicure is very interesting and mostly yellowish because of the numerous yellow Glitter particles.

I hope that you liked my manicure and I thank Aylin for hosting me in this wonderful blog.

Keep Smiling. :)

Thank you Elis, that was a lovely mani... It looks awsome.... :)

Holiday Haul

Supposedly, I was on a no buy for a month... Well, as you will see in a few seconds, it was impossible....

Ok, here we go... 

Essence Me & My Ice Cream collection... How could I resist??? I managed to skip one polish though... 

The polishes are Always on my mint, Ben&Cherries, and Ice ice baby... 

I also bought the blush and the highlighter balls... And found another eye shadow palette that I missed....

As usual, my daughter got all the lip balms of the collection... ;)

Then I saw the NYC display and since I love its polishes, I decided to give the lipsticks a try... The long lasting one is Forever Fuschia...

On the left we have Sugar Plum and on the right Purple Crush...

Moving on to other polish!!!

Maybelline Urban Turquoise and Rimmel Salon Pro Navy Seal...

The one in the middle is Golden Rose Holiday 70, white texture with flakie like glitter....

And the Golden Rose rich colors, from left to right; 38, 26, 12, 47, 15 and 49...

Here is the textured GR up close....

Finally, a lemming... Alix Avien made a 24 Carat Gold Leaf Topcoat with black polish... I was looking for it everywhere... Finally found it!!!! The bottles are extremely small, 5ml each. They cost 13TL, aprox 7$.... 

Here's the achivement of the day... Looks like Zoya is in Turkey... And I am like the last person to find out about this!

Anyway, I've been asking around in Istanbul where to find this but I had no luck... Untill today!!!!

I had really high hopes before entering the store but unfortunately, they only brought old collections... There were like 20 polishes on the rack and most of them were old collections. I only saw a few from the lovlely collection and grabbed this one, Neely, a mint creme...

And boy, they cost too much!!! 18$ for a Zoya!!! I also saw the Zoya Remove but did not buy it! Yay for me!!!

I know it has been a long post but I want to finish with a pedi I did using my Golden Roses... Remember, I don't have my regular tools here. And the sand is really harsh on my feet! 

And I'm writing this post on my phone so you won't be seeing my regular watermark... ;)

So, what do you think about my haul??? Do you think I need theraphy??? 

(All pictures were taken with cellphone. Sorry!!!!)

Monkey See Monkey Do :)

I follow a lot of blogs daily. I really admire their work and sometimes I get inspired by them. Well, honestly, I get inspired a lot.

When I saw this design on LuvMyLacquer, I knew I was going to copy it...

Most ladies use the term "Monkey See, Monkey Do" for inspired manis like this. So, this is my Monkey See, Monkey Do mani for today.

I used the new Pastel Spring Colors 140 and 141. And OPI My Vampire is Buff...

I stamped Konad m59 on index finger, made polka dots with a dotting tool on the middle finger, stamped Konad m71 on the ring finger and finally used my BornPrettyStore striping brush for the pinkie... My thumb was empty... LOL :)

By the way, I used OPI MYIB for stamping. It makes a faded look which I like... :)

So, what do you think? Did the monkey do a good job???