Leavin’ Home

I’ve moved over here. See you there, sweeties.

Dotting Spree

Today the reader weather [ah ha ha, nice one!] is cloudy, cold and windy – early this morning I actually dreamed of being in a storm, partly because I was freezing, partly because they were mowing the lawn in front of my window, and that can be pretty roary (did I just make up a word? I honestly don’t feel like googling). However, today’s mani was pretty time-consuming (for my startands: it took me about half an hour to get everything done).

I used Model’s Own Grey Mist as a base color, because it is beautiful and it goes well with the weather, and did some sort of, uhm, multi-colored dotted funky french (if it makes any sense to you) on top of it, using a pink polish from H&M and a pale blue and pale green frankened by Yours Truly.

I still don’t know if I like it. I like the complex layered texture of the dots, but I’m not crazy about the overall look. I’m keen on trying again, maybe using different shades. I’m thinking pale blue and blue and white, something like that. Any suggestion?

Base coat: Models Own Grey Mist, two coats

Dots: My own pale blue franken “In Another Land”

My own pale green franken “Respectable”

H&M Get A Rose 4 Me

(All applied with an old eyeliner brush)

No top coat, for the sake of keeping the dots from becoming blurs – well, my frankens don’t exactly agree with any of my top coats, I actually had to redo a couple of nails.

Here’s another pictures, with a better view of the dots layers. I love running my fingers over them. Which is exactly the point in doing your nails, isn’t it?

Blogroll

The Nailphile

The very first nail-related blog I ever laid eyes onto. Probably the best, also. I love everything about Siobhan – her nails, her polishes, her pictures, even her calming and neat writing style. She actually came up with the term “Fauxnad”. What a lady!

Lacquerized

Michèle is nice and funny and terribly good at painting her nails – she’s got the neatest cuticle lines of the whole polish world.  She also has a lot of useful and eye-pleasing tutorials, and she totally won me over when she blogged about the Ginger + Liz case and pretty much kicked asses. I also love the fact that we’ve access to more or less the same brands, being both European. It is nice to read a review about something I can actually go out and buy, every now and then.

Emeral Sparkled

Deniz is a relatively new add to my daily nail blog check list, but I’m already in love with her short, cute nails and her crisp, stunning Konad designs. This is the picture that took me to her, and this is what definitely won me over. I love her, I really do.

Nails By Asami

Asami is insanely good at nail art, and also she’s great with watercolor and pretty funny. I would sometimes chuckle while reading her blog, in between envying her steady hand and good taste (and mother-made hats!)

The Laquer Files

There’s something about the Dutchies named Michel(l)e that makes me luuuuuv them. Just look at this, or this, or even this . Don’t you just feel like booking a flight to the Netherlands so you can hang out with Michèle and her (and maybe get them to do your nails?)

Polish Hoarder Disorder

Exciting themed weekly challenges, and trademark mirrored nail pictures. ‘Nuff said.

Dr. Frankenpolish

… wait, do I really have to tell you about her? You mean you haven’t checked her blog out yet? Ugh. (I particularly love this franken of hers)

Tags: dr. frankenpolish, emerald sparkled polish hoarder disorder, lacquerized, nails by asami, the lacquer files, the nailphile

Models Own Top Turquoise

Today’s mani. I could have used a bit more cleaning up, but I spent too much time playing around with my new Models Own beauties and now I really am in a hurry.

Here’s the finished result in the sun:

Base color: two coats of Models Own Top Turquoise + Top coat

Stamping: H&M  Love At First Sight + Konad plate m64

Top coat:  Rimmel Pro Super Wear

Here’s how it looks without direct sunlight.

Tags: H&M, konad, models own, Plate m64, Rimmel, Turquoise, White

Models Own Haul

Last Saturday, after weeks spent drooling over their fabulous polishes, I placed an embarassingly large order at Models Own.

I bought ten polishes at £5 each, and got £14 off the total (£7 off every 5 polishes) plus a free black kohl pencil (worth £5!), since it was my first order. The shipping fee was £9,95, and the delivery to (northern) Italy only took five working days. The polishes were carefully wrapped in bubble wrap and lovely purple paper, and even the cute black box they came in looked nice and stylish.

I was very satisfied with my purchasing experience, however I don’t think I’ll be buying again soon, mostly because there’s a minimum order of £30 for international shipping, and that’s quite a lot of money. Actually, I could almost fly to London for that price, and do my shopping there. It’d be nice, wouldn’t it?

This is an overview of the colors I got, and my complimentary kohl pencil.

Left to right:

Green Grass, Lime Green, Jade Stone, Slate Green, Top Turquoise, Feelin’ Blue, Purple Grey, Grey Day, Grey Mist, Nude Beige

Of all of them, Lime Green and Green Grass are the ones that do not photograph well (at least not in this light condition). They are MUCH brighter and adorable in real life. Speaking of this, I really really wish there was some sunlight out there, so I could show you these beauties in action, but the weather has been horrible ever since I got back from the lake, and I don’t feel like removing my current polish just to take some crap pictures of swatches in a cloudy day. All I could do, as of now, is show you closer, but still not color-accurate bottle pictures. I promise I’ll swatch as soon as it is sensible to do so.

A disappointing picture of two wonderful colors

Tags: green, grey, jade, models own, nail polish, swatch

Summer Wind

Hello everybody!

Earlier this evening (er, well, yesterday…) I got back from a nice mini-holiday with my boyfriend up at Lake Como*. On our way back, we were starving, so we made a mad dash at a sinister looking shopping mall near Monza. We found nothing edible, but the boy was kind enough to let me quickly pop into a strange make-up store (can’t recall the name), out of which I triumphally stepped holding the cutest lilac polish ever (again, by a brand as unfamiliar -to me, at least- as the store was).

When I arrived home, a nice dinner and a hot bath later, I felt like changing my mani (simple unimpressive red nails), so I inaugurated my brand new polish. Here’s the finished design, and I’m holding the polish bottle. It’s by Gosh. Cute, uhm?

Base coat: Gosh Wild Lilac 571, 2 coats

Stamping: L’Oreal Resist & Shine  Royal Plum 606 + Konad plate m2

Filling: same old boring Lei 49

Top coat: Rimmel Pro SuperWear (love it!)

* Yesterday’s post was scheduled. First time I’ve scheduled a post, ever. Cool.

Swinging Sixties, Here I Come!

Another old picture of mine. Please do appreciate the unnecessarily complicated pose of my fingers, I was feeling artsy at the time. I guess.

Base coat: an unnerving 4 coats of Kiko 204 (it was before my discovery of Love At First Sight, and I had no opaque whites)

Stamping: L’Oreal Resist & Shine 606 Royal Plum + Konad plate m65

I got a lot of compliments while sporting this design, even by some BOYS. ‘Nuff said.

Tags: konad, Purple, White

Go Green

My favourite  color, when it comes to polish, is green. Here’s a cute floreal mani using two shades of green and just a hint of white.

Base coat: Evagarden 406, 3 coats

Stamping: Konad Special Polish in Green + Konad m64

Filling: Lei 49

Here’s  how the base color looks alone.

A new home for my babies

Hello! Today I’ve been very busy: I persuaded my (lovely!) boyfriend to take me to Ikea so that I could buy this beauty to keep my polishes in, then we had to spent 2+ hours assembling it, then I had to take him out for dinner & to the cinema as a way of saying THANK YOU, therefore I was left with no time to change my mani and/or take new pics. Moreover, I like my current nails too much to change them just yet.

I was going to show you a design I made some weeks ago to match a dress I particularly  love, but then I realized I had used the same Konad pattern I used in the latest picture I published, and that that might have come across as lack of fantasy, so I decided to show you my birthday mani instead. BTW, my birthday is on 5/28 – YES, not exactly a fresh pic!

(Sorry for the poor clean-up, I really was in a hurry)

Base coat: Kiko 294, 2 coats

Stamping: H&M Love At First Sight + Konad plate m65

Tags: Birthday mani, Kiko, konad

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun…

[Inspiration]

Base coat: Kiko 297, three coats

Stamping: Kiko 275 + Konad plate m57

Filling: Lei 49 (White) + Kiko 289 + an old eyeliner brush

Top coat: Kiko 200, two coats

(Yep, it ended up pretty thick)

Ok, this is my first post on this spin-off blog (here‘s where I’m usually found, doing serious stuff – NOT), and I thought you might like a little bit of information about moi. Ok, maybe you don’t, but I’m going to tell anyway, so feel free not to read any further, I will love you just the same. Ish.

My name is Jules, I’m 20 and I’m a law student from Milan. I have another (aforementioned) blog, but I didn’t feel like my readers were truly interested in nail polishes and stuff, so I decided there was no need to aggravate them with nail-related posts and started this other blog.

I will write in English because a) I can, and I’ve studied hard to achieve this ability, so I might as well use it from time to time and b) it is cool, and all you other nail-lovers out there are doing the same.

Until next time, love.

Tags: green, hot pink, Kiko, konad, leopard print, nail art