They say when life gives you lemons make a lemonade. But if I may add – if life doesn't give you some sugar, that is going to be one heck of a bitter lemonade, my friends. I've been sippin’ on my fair share of unwanted lemonade and I want a refund. I want to throw my lemons back as they suck and demand chocolate. This is one moody Cancerian and it's all because my laptop dropped dead and I'm completely out of my resources to blog. Not just to blog – to do anything. After I was left without my laptop, I have realised how addicted I am to the internet. If it wasn't for my smartphone, I'd be disconnected from the world. The part of the world I like to keep in touch, that is. So, please bare in mind that technical problems are deterring me from regular writing and posting. I am trying to make up by being active on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook accounts. I promise that I am working on finding a new laptop so I can get back in my routine, which I miss already. My lemons were served twice as my order of China Glaze nail polishes, Seche Vite top coat and Ardell falsies got a bit complicated but, fortunately, it ended quite well. My first impressions on China Glaze nail polishes weren't exactly stellar but I've realized that it all depends on the shade and – it's a thing of practice.
Kazu da, kada vam zivot da limun – napravite limunadu. No ako dopustite dodala bih i ukoliko vam zivot ne doda nesto secera uz limuncice, to ce biti jedna gorka limunada. Servirana mi je jedna upravo takva, dosta gorka i ohladjena limunada koju nisam zeljela. Ne zelim limun, vracam ga nazad i trazim cokoladu zauzvrat. Pred vama je jedna neraspolozena Racica iz razloga sto je laptop otkazao poslusnost, otisao u vjecna lovista a time sam ostala bez tehnicke podrske za blog. I nije u pitanju samo blog – svakodnevne obaveze su postale veliki problem. Otkako sam ostala bez laptopa, shvatila sam koliko sam ovisna o njemu i internetu. Da nemam svoj mobitelcic, bila bih odsjecena od svijeta. Barem od onog dijela svijeta sa kojim volim ostati u kontaktu. Stoga, molim vas da imate na umu kako je nedostatak kompjutera razlog mom oduststvu sa bloga. Pokusavam nadoknaditi odsutstvo putem Instagrama, Twittera i Facebooka. Nadam se da u tome donekle uspijevam. Radim na nabavci novog laptopa i zaista se radujem povratku blogerskoj rutini koju jako volim. Limun mi je ponovo posluzen kada je narudzba China Glaze lakova za nokte, Seche Vite nadlaka i Ardell laznih trepki iznenada dobila komplikovani epilog no na kraju sam zadovoljna kako je sve ispalo. Iako su moji prvi dojmovi o China Glaze lakovima bili na ‘klimavim nogama’ (ponajvise zbog mrsave cetkice, ipak me Essie razmazio) – nakon malo prakse sam skuzila da se radi o navici ali i da tekstura odredjenih nijansi pomaze ili odmaze u nanosenju.
I will make a dedicated post about my China Glaze nail polishes as well as a special one for all my Essie babies. There I will elaborate in detail and explain why I feel the way I do. For now, I will only say that Essie has not been dethroned. As for my China Glaze order, I focused on neons and pastels as I find them fitting for spring and summer. I haven't even been able to order shades I initially wanted so I needed to find a replacement but China Glaze Lemon Fizz was on my wishlist from the start. Yellow nail polish isn't as flattering as some shades and you really have to match a certain shade of yellow with your skintone for things to look pretty. Lemon Fizz is a gorgeous pastel yellow shade and I would say that it looks better and better as the skintone gets deeper (warm and olive skintones preferably). I cannot wait to get some tan (my skin really gets a tan during summer, even with high SPF) so I can make the most out of this shade. Apart from the shade, the fact that China Glaze bottles are very cute and that you get 14ml of nail polish in them – I really had a hard time working with them. The teeny brush took some time to get used to. After more than a month of getting used to it, I think I've finally got the hang of things. It does require a bit more time and concentration but – is it worth it? I think so as CG has some truly unique shades in its repertoire and these nail polishes dry fast (always a plus). I hated Revlon nail polish brushes which is a shame as I adore the Vixen shade and I couldn't make Revlon nail polishes work for me but I've stuck with China Glaze.
Napraviti cu poseban post koji ce biti posvecen China Glaze lakovima i mojim iskustvima sa njima. Isto cu uciniti i za svoju ljubljenu kolekciju Essie lakova. Tim prilikama cu detaljnije objasniti i pojasniti svoje stavove u vezi ovih brendova. Za sada cu samo reci kako Essie za moj ukus ima malo bolju tj. malo deblju cetkicu. Jednostavno mi je lakse raditi sa buckama. Glede moje narudzbe China Glaze lakova za nokte, fokusirala sam se na neonske i pastelne nijanse koje volim nositi u proljece i ljeti. Nisam uspjela nabaviti sve nijanse koje sam u biti najvise zeljela ali sam dosla do ipak solidnih zamjenskih boja. Jedna nijansa koju sam zeljela isprobati od pocetka je dosla do mene iz prvog pokusaja a radi se o China Glaze Lemon Fizz laku za nokte. Zuti lak za nokte je sam po sebi nezgodna kategorija i nije univerzalan kao sto su neke druge nijanse. Da bi dobro izgledao, potrebno je da ukombinirane budu odredjena nijansa zute koja se slaze sa odredjenim tonom koze. Lemon Fizz je prekrasan pastelno zuti lak za koji bih ocijenila da najbolje pristaje tamnijem (toplom ili maslinastom) tonu koze. Iskreno, zeljno iscekujem da mi koza poprimi tamniji ton kako bih izvukla izvukla maksimum iz ovog laka (moja koza svakog ljeta potamni i uz visok SPF). Pored toga sto je sama nijansa jako lijepa, ne previse obicna, te su bocice jako slatke i u njima dobijete cak 14ml laka za nokte – ovaj lak ima neke svoje mane. Prije svega, tanka cetkica mi je zadavala probleme i trebalo je vremena da se naviknem na nju. Nakon vise od mjesec dana, u potpunosti sam ovladala cetkicom ali prilagodba znaci izdvajanje vise vremena kako bih dobila zeljeni rezultat. Da li vrijedi truda? Mislim da vrijedi. CG ima u ponudi prilicno unikatne nijanse a veliki plus je i jako brzo susenje. Jednako nisam bila fan cetkice Revlon lakova za nokte sto je velika steta jer mi je Vixen nijansa fantasticna. Od Revlon lakova sam odustala ali od China Glaze ne.
Apart from the extremely high-maintenance brush, can it get any more complicated? Actually, it can. The formula and the consistency is the only thing more high-maintenance than the brush. I am aware that in general yellow nail polishes are demanding and it is hard to make one to apply perfectly. However, Lemon Fizz is especially demanding. It is runny and thick at the same time – quite unique. You suddenly end up with paths of nail polish running down the brush, it applies somewhat unevenly so you need to layer it up to achieve full opacity. I needed four coats on each nail + an additional coat to cover any occasional bald patches. Not to mention that my nails have genetically inherited my moms ridges. This nail polish makes them stand out. Seche Vite Top Coat helped me smooth out the nail plate surface. This nail polish looks perfect from a far but when you come close, you can see all the little imperfections. I wanted to completely cancel out those imperfections with nail art. I have one sheet of the Fantasy Holo Nail Foil in Gold which I got from the bornprettystore.com. It is the cheapest thing to get as it's currently on sale for $0.99. You can use my 10% off code as well (SQX31). After I've applied my final layer of Lemon Fizz I have waited for it to dry a bit but I still wanted it to be tacky. Than I picked up my gold nail foil, turned over to the matte, whitish side and pressed it over my nails, waited for a few seconds and quickly removed it. I am a newbie with nail foils so I need to get more experienced with those but it doesn't look bad for my first time application. If you apply such foils, please apply a top coat over them as the design will wear off. When life gave me lemons, I made sure they were these cool galactic lemons. You like?
Osim zahtjevne cetkice, da li je moguce da stvari budu jos vise komplikovane? Sve je moguce. Tekstura ove nijanse laka je dosta specificna te takodjer iziskuje poseban trud.. Svjesna sam da su zuti lakovi (narocito pastelni) zahtjevni i da nije lako napraviti jedan takav lak sa ravnomjernim nanosenjem. Medjutim, Lemon Fizz je posebno zahtjevna nijansa. I rijetka je i gusta u isto vrijeme – zaista posebna. Iako lijepo ocistite drsku od viska laka, puteljcii laka se iznenada pocnu slivati niz nju a da ne zntea kako je to fizicki moguce (odakle lak uopste dolazi?). Nanosi se relativno neravnomjerno i potrebno je vise slojeva kako bi se postigao intenzivan, neproziran sloj. Da vam uzmem za primjer manikir koji vidite na slikama – za njega su mi bila potrebna cetiri sloja Lemon Fizz laka + peti sloj na noktima gdje su jos provirivale prozirne flekice. Da ne spominjem kako su moji nokti genetski izbrazdani, to znaci da sam naslijedila vertikalne linije duz nokatne ploce. Ovaj lak ih ne sakriva no to sam rijesila uz pomoc Seche Vite nadlaka. Iz daljine ce ovaj lak djelovati krasno i zavesti ce vas lijepom bojom no kada se priblizite, istrenirano oko ce primjetiti sitne nesavrsenosti. Vecina ljudi vjerovatno to ne bi zamjetila. Kako bih prekrila te nesavrsenosti, posluzila sam se jednom tehnikom nail art-a. Koristila sam Fantasy Holo folijom za nokte u zlatnoj boji koju sam nabavila sa bornprettystore.com stranice. Inace su jako povoljne a trenutno su snizene na samo 1,40KM. Mozete iskoristiti moj promotivni kod za popust od 10% kako bi sve bilo jos povoljnije (SQX31). Nanosenje je jednostavno. Nakon sto sam nanijela posljednji sloj Lemon Fizz laka – sacekala sam da se blago osusi no ne previse – mora biti blago ljepljiv na dodir. Potom sam foliju okrenula na unutarnju, mat bjelicastu stranu i nju sam prislonila na nokat. Sacekala sam koju sekundu, ravnajuci povrsinu folije prstima preko nokta i potom brzim pokretom je odstranila. Posto mi je ovo prvi susret sa ukrasnim folijama, nisam posebno iskusna u radu sa njima no cini mi se da je sve ispalo pristojno za prvi put. Ukoliko koristite slicne folije, nemojte zaboraviti da ih zastitite slojem nadlaka jer ce se dizajn bez njega izbrisati. Tako da sam odlucila – kada mi je zivot dao limun, potrudila sam se da to barem bude kulerski galakticki limun. Dopada li vam se moj manikir?
