Today I received my first Barry M polishes: I ordered the Croc Nail Effects and Indigo (I have plans for a great mani with this one).

I got it for $4 at inlovewithfashion.com + free worldwide shipping (for a limited time).

I have to admit that for a long time I didn't like the crackle nail polish at all and I thought I will never have one in my collection, but then I spotted this unique crackle / shatter polish by Barry M Croc Nail Effects, and I felt like I had to try this.

The formula was surprisingly thin and kind of watery. I assumed that it's going to be creamy and thick, but it wasn't. Since it's my only shatter polish at the moment I don't have anything to compare it to. It was really hard making one thick coat.

I was really surprised to see that it takes few minutes to start forming the shatters - much longer than I expected. I saw some reviews of crackles that started forming slightly after applying it on the nails.

After waiting so long, I made a little experiment and tried using a hairdryer, hoping to speed up the process. Well it formed much quicker but the shatters were really tiny - as you can see that in the first image, on the left. Since I wanted larger shatters I decided that using the hairdryer is not a good idea for me.

The one in the middle is quite thick, therefore the shatters are bigger and wider. The one on the right is my favorite - it's actually one quick normal stroke. The shatters are not as big but I like the way it looks. 

In the second image you can see these same "normal" strokes with other colors. I don't recall using a bigger amount of shatter polish on the pink one but it seems that I did, because the shatters are quite large. 

These are the instructions on the bottle:
1. Apply a thin coat of your chosen nail varnish.
2. Wait for 1 to 2 minutes until nail are touch dry. Do not apply on dry polish.
3. Apply a thin coat of Croc Nail Effects.
4. After 3 minutes the effect will start to appear.

Overall I'm pretty happy with it, it's fun and interesting, but the cons are the thin formula and the long time it takes for the shatters to form. 

What if your favorite color combination? I really like it with gold and pink.

If you have any crackle nail polish please share with me your impressions.

Hi there!

So today I'm going to show you all how the dandelion stamp from my stamping plate looks like.

I have to admit, my decent stamping nail polish collections is pretty much limited and I apparently didn't choose the best one to do the job this time. I could have gone with the simple black stamping polish but I wanted it to look a bit more colorful. So the result you will see is not perfect because of the nail polish I used for stamping (it wasn't thick enough).

The dandelion design is really beautiful and delicate. As I mentioned before, my stock of stamping polish is quite low but if I had a good white stamping polish I would defiantly use it with a light blue base (which I don't have at this moment as well) to get that light and perfect delicate look.

For this design I used a minty polish by Laka #131. I have to admit, I'm not a big fan of the formula but I really love this color. The stamping polish was Sexy Emerald #512 by Chic. Can't say I picked the best ones for this mani but it turned out pretty nice.

 

The first orders of the stamping plate were sent last week, and I'm really excited to know what the ladies will think. :D

Let me know what you think about this mani and the dandelion stamp, and what would you like to see as my next mani from my stamping plate?

Wish you all a great week!

xoxo

Natalie

Finally, I'm proud and excited to share with you my latest nail related project!

I've been working on a nail stamping plate with my own original designs. I am really into stamping and was looking to create something new and unique, something that you don't see in every nail stamping set there is out there, so I came up with the idea of the butterfly wings - which is a gorgeous design but very difficult to make ever for those who are truly talented with freehand drawing.

That's how the first Nailz Craze stamping plate was born.

This plate is all about nature and really focuses on the butterfly wings design. I thought it would be a good idea to include an option for both directions and for small and large nails. That's the reason you will find four wings designs on this plate, along with some other new and original designs you probably didn't see much on stamping plates, which are the peacock feather and the dandelion. The rest of the designs are more common but still are very lovely. They include heart shaped patterns in different variations. Actually when I created them I felt they are a part of the nature theme because the heart shape is coming from the center of the peacock feather, and the tiny hears combined together create little flowers.

Of course the first pattern I wanted to swatch for you was the butterfly wings. I think that was the pattern that most ladies were excited about :) And so was I!

Here are some photos of the butterfly wings nail stamp I did yesterday, right after I received the stamping plates. First I've created an orange gradient over the nails and then I applied the wings stamp (used WnW black creme for the stamp). Then I've added tiny white dots with a dotting tool and there you go - you've got yourself a gorgeous butterfly wing nails design with minimum effort. 

I really love the result and it was quite easy, of course much easier than that time when I tried making this design by freehand.

The peacock feather design is also one of my favorites, I really love the fact that you can play with it and create different designs because it's a long stamp. For instance, you can apply it on long nails, or you can split the design in two and place on each nail a different part of the feather.

I haven't done a full mani with this stamp yet bet I will defiantly do that soon and post all about it.

Actually my nails are quite short at the moment (well I wasn't expecting the plates to arrive so fast and I thought I had some time to let them grow) so you can't really see most of the feather design on the nail, but on longer nails that should be gorgeous. 

For the feather stamp I also used WnW black creme over mocha gold Skin Food nail polish.

This is the full Nailz Craze NC01 stamping plate. As you can see it's a larger plate and it's size is 7 cm in diameter. It was important to me that the designs will be large enough to cover even long nails, so I needed a bit more room for them all.

The top wings are smaller and should fit short nails. That's actually what I used on my nails from the pictures above. The upper wings are 1.6x1.5 cm which was great for my short nails - they are currently 1.5 cm long and the wing stamp covered them just right. For the long nails I've made the stamp a bit larger and it's 2x1.6 cm.

The peacock feather stamp is quite long - it's 3.5x1.5 cm. Since it's such a long stamp, you probably would not get the full design on one nail unless you have super long nails and a super-duper-huge-jumbo-XL stamper :P just kidding, most chances there is no such stamper, but maybe someone will be creative and create something like that. What I like about the feather is that you can choose what part you like the most and use it, or place the feather on two or even three nails in parts, so the result will be one long gorgeous feather.

The middle flowers / hearts pattern is also large (2x1.6 cm) and can easily cover long nails.

The hearts row on the left is 1.7 cm long, the hearts flower on the top right is 0.8x0.8 cm, and the dandelion on the bottom right is 1.7x1 cm long.

Since these designs are pretty large, I would defiantly recommencement using a larger rubber stamper to get the best results. You can see the comparison of a regular small stamper on the right (can be found on ebay for $1 with a plastic scraper) and the black XL stamper on the left. I actually got it as a gift so I don't know where you can buy one like this, but if someone knows - please share it with me and I will gladly post the info here so my readers can get this stamper for themselves.
This is actually super great stamper. It's surface is larger and it feels a bit sticky, which I think helps to get a better image from the plate on to the nail. I think it's a silicone stamper but I'm not sure.On the other side of the XL stamper there is a small red rubber stamper.

I'm hoping to post more swatches of my plate in the next few days. I know that many of you liked the dandelion design as well so I'll try to swatch it soon.
If you are wandering where you can get this plate, please visit Nailz Craze facebook page and read the Purchasing and FAQ note. There you can find all the information about buying my Nailz Craze stamping plate. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to ask.

For now it's the only plate I have for sale but I believe that I will be coming up with more new designs in the future. Feel free to suggest anything you would like to see on the next stamping plates.
Tomorrow I will be sending out the first orders I've received from anxious stampers :) Really excited about it!
I know this post was super long, so those of you who read it all - I really appreciate it. It took a while :)

I would be happy know what you think about my designs and the stamping plate. Please don't be shy and leave your comment below :)

Thanks for reading!

xoxo
Natalie

This is my all time favorite nail polish - China Glaze Ruby Pumps.
Everything about this nail polish is just perfect! I love how deep and dimensional it is, and I can't stop staring at it and playing with it in the sun. I love this perfect ruby red color... Just perfect!

This is two coats of Ruby Pumps and one clear top coat. I think that a clear top coat is necessary, otherwise the nail polish isn't really smooth because of all the glitters.

As you can see I cut my nails pretty short this time, and shaped them kinda square. I've tried to shape it to look like the nails of some lovely bloggers, but I just can't get it right. I guess no matter how much I'll try, I can't get them to look like that. Maybe it's just the shape of my nails and it wouldn't look the way I want it to, no matter what I do. I'm not sure that I like how it looks right now. For some reason my nails always appear shorter in photos, so when they are pretty on photo they are too long in real life. I hope I will like them better in a week or two.

And what about you? What is your all time favorite nail polish? :)

Finally tried out my new and gorgeous Essie As Gold As It Gets with GADE's Gray Beige.

I just love how it came out! I'm in love with these little golden flecks and they actually do look great on top of everything!

Thanks once again Amber for sending me this gorgeous nail polish. Defiantly one of my favorites!