I don't normally buy beauty products before reading at least a couple of reviews first, but when I was looking through the shelves of dm during my stay in Berlin, there was a stand of nail polishes that immediately caught my attention. The selection of shades was impressive and so were the prices, with €1,25 or €2,25 per bottle.

I have to admit, I don't keep up with the lastest European releases anymore since moving to London, so I had no idea about 'trend IT UP', dm's own, new-ish beauty brand. I'll definitely be paying attention to it now, though. My first experience was great and more than exceeded my expectations. 

I ended up purchasing two nail polishes. They had quite a lot of different effects and finishes available, but me being me, I went for the classic - shiny - and the shades I always gravitate towards during this time of the year. A lovely lavender grey, number 070 from the Double Volume & Shine range, and a deep burgundy stunner, 110 from the N°1 line.

'070' comes in an 11 ml large bottle with a considerably wide brush, which I personally love, while '110' comes in a 6 ml version, with a slighty thinner but still great brush. I have nothing bad to say with regards to consistency, application or wear. Both of them are creamy and neither too liquidy nor too goopy. They apply evenly, require two coats and last for three or four days on my nails before they start chipping. That is with my number one bae, the Seche Vite Dry Fast Topcoat, which I always apply on top. 

I'm so impressed with them I have already decided to pick up a few more shades when I go home to Slovenia for the holidays. Man, I love a good nail polish that doesn't break the bank! Don't you? If you've tried any trend IT UP products yourself and you feel like I might like them as well, PLEASE leave me suggestions below. I already have my to-buy list right in front of me, ready to be written on. 

Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat was the product everyone blogged about back in the days, and I still remember the moment I first laid my hands on it, back in 2012. It was love at first try and we have been inseparable ever since. But while I do love the fact that it dries the nail polish underneath in seconds and makes my mani super shiny, it has one annoying flaw. The formula thickens up after a while and becomes not so great to work with.

Here's where Seche Restore comes into play. A few drops of this nail polish thinner turn the top coat  (or any other nail polish, for that matter) back to its normal consistency and it's awesome. I just wish it didn't take me such a long time to buy it. I would help me save so many bottles of nail polish and so much money! 

Meet the nail polish I've been wearing for one month straight. I don't know what's happening with me. I used to be all about changing my nail colour every couple of days, but lately I've been sticking to just a few of my faves. My last month's obsession was China Glaze's In A Lilly Bit.

The gorgeous light pastel pink shade with a lilac undertone was perfect for spring and brought some very much needed colour to my monochrome outfits. The formula of the nail polish is consistent with the rest of China Glaze's offerings. It is fairly liquidy and requires two to three coats. I'm still waiting for China Glaze to make the brush wider, as I think it would be a lot easier to apply their nail polishes, but while I'm waiting for them to make that happen, I'm happily using Seche Vite's Dry Fast Top Coat, which manages to conceal all mishaps and makes my nails look super glossy! 

Let me finally introduce you to the nail polish I've been wearing for literally one month straight. Not because I would be so obsessed with the colour - although I do really like it - but because I always forgot to take photos of my mani before the nail polish started chipping off. I would love to blame it on the polish, but unfortunatelly it was just me and my forgetfullness. Or laziness. However, last weekend I finally managed to take some photos, which means I can finally share my thoughts on it! It's been time.

Nails Inc.'s Marylebone Mews came as a freebie in December's Glamour UK Magazine, and I couldn't have been more excited about it. When I moved to England, there was only a certain amount of nail polishes I was able to take with me and a light taupe shade unfortunatelly didn't come with me. Why, I have no idea, since this is one of my favourite shades and a very wearable one as well. Anyway, the shade was not the only exciting part for me. I've never tried Nails Inc. nail polishes before and you know how I am when it comes to testing out new products...Much excitment! 

This particular polish definitely impressed me and left me wanting more. It applies evenly, requires two coats, lasts without chipping for a few days and is just a lovely all-arounder. The only thing I'm missing is a big fat brush. It's normal sized, which most people don't have a problem with and neither do I, but I always prefer the likes of Essie, Essence and Sally Hansen. 

So, who's tried Nails Inc. before? What do you think about their nail polishes? Should I check out any particular shades next time I have some money laying around?

In my book, no Christmas is complete without a festive shade on my nails. I only have two requirements: red and glitter. The nail polish I've been wearing this season combines both in one bottle. And guess what? The quality doesn't disappoint either. 

'Rhubarb and Custard' is the first Models Own polish I've tried and also the first scented nail polish that touched the surface of my nails. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised. If you're a fan of sparkle yourself, but don't enjoy the dreadful process of removing chunky glitter from your nails, this might be the nail polish you've been looking for. With its almost jelly-like consistency, it nicely distributes tiny slivery glitters between the red base and makes your nails look festive in a nice, subtle way, without making you pull out your hair once it's time for the shade to say goodbye.

The formula requires standard two coats for opacity, leaves no streaks behind and makes sure your nails are chip-free for at least a couple of days. As for the scent goes, the polish truly does smell like the sour candy you can see on the cap. And while I have to admit that I don't see much point in scented nail polish, I still think it's kind of cool. In case you're wondering, the scent lingered on my nails for two days, even when I applied my Seche Vite top coat over it. 

What are your thoughts on scented nail polish? Yay or nay? Have you tried any yourself? I don't think I'll be the first in line once new scented releases come out, but I'll definitely be picking up some more Models Own nail polishes, scented or not. 

My friend and a fellow blogger Laura put up a photo of an awesome minimalistic manicure on her Instagram a few days ago, and I fell in love with it right away. As you do, a few hours later, I was already copying her. For the base, I used Orly's 'Kiss the Bride', a nail polish I've been wearing all summer long. It's usually reserved for my toes, but recently I've been wearing it on my fingernails as well, since all my nails broke and it seems like nude is the only shade that looks ok on me right now. It actually reminds me a lot of Essie's Fiji, which is similar in colour and consistency. You need two to three coats to get it completely opaque and it also lasts for a decent amount of time before it starts chipping. The only thing that annoys me is the brush, because it's on the thinner side. I prefer the likes of Essie, Sally Hansen and Essence. Speaking of Essence, the black nail polish I used to make the dots is called 'Black is Back'. How are you feeling about this mani?

I have a love hate relationship with neon nail polish shades. I love them, but they don't love me back. Most of them just don't go with my skintone, so I've been trying to find a way to wear them anyways, and I think I found it in the form of a 'neon splash' manicure. I just love how fun it looks as well! If you're interested in how I achieved the look, check out the video below.  

Today I'm reviewing another Makeup Revolution product that has some great potential, but fails miserably. 'Never Enough' nail polish is of an amazing quality considering it only costs one pound. The consistency is just right, it's opaque after two coats, dries extremely quickly and stays chip-less for about two to three days. But there's one huge problem. The brush. It is terrible. It's so rough that it leaves stripes on your nails when you're applying the polish, and let me tell you, it doesn't look good. It really is such a shame, because otherwise, the nail polish would have been wonderful. Have you tried any Makeup Revolution nail polishes yourself? Did you have a similar experience?

I used to have a lot of fun with nail art until I completely abandoned it a year ago. But I think it's time to go back to the roots, and start being creative again! Nail art takes patience and skills, which I don't necessarily have a lot of; having said that, there are tons of cute and easy ideas out there even for us clumsy types. Today's tutorial is one of them. I think the mani is perfect for the summer. How about you? Also, let me know if you would like to see more nail tutorials from me in the future. I'll be more than happy to film them if you're interested.

Hi there! Do you still remember me? I've been a bit MIA from the blogging/youtube world for the past few weeks, but fear not, I'm back. I'm back with a NOTD post that I haven't posted in what it seems like ages. I've recently been gravitating towards the same old shades or have not been wearing nail polish at all - I know, shocker! - so NOTD posts had to take a backseat. However, my sister's recent purchase broke my streak. China Glaze's Too Yacht to Handle caught my attention right away (turquoise, *cough cough*). The shade is stunning and perfect for the summer time, but keep in mind that the above photograph is misleading. My camera failed to capture the right undertone, so I suggest you to check out this photo I posted on my Instagram for the true representation. Think less bright and light. Ok, you all know about how much I love the colour, but what about the formula? I have to admit, I'm not the biggest fan. It goes on a little sheer and streaky. Seche Vite's Dry Fast Top Coat manages to conceal most mistakes, but I still find a few streaks peeking from the bottom. And the fact that China Glaze nail polishes don't have the biggest brush is not helping the situation. Oh well, what can I say. Essie, Essence and Sally Hansen spoiled the heck out of me, haha. I still love the shade, though. :)

I've been rummaging through my sister's nail polish collection the other day in hopes of discovering some new gems, and China Glaze's Sugar High turned out to be exactly what I'd been looking for. Fun, bright shade perfect for the warmer months ahead of us. In the bottle, it looks a little bit lighter and softer, but when you put it one the nails, the shade turns into a hot pink goodness with a bit of a coral undertone. This nail polish must be one of the oldest in my sister's collection, because there's hardly any of it left, but it still performs perfectly. I applied two coats for an even opaque cream finish, and chipping doesn't seem to be a problem either. Me likey. Do you have any similar shades in your collection?

Please check out my lovely sponsor DressLoop.co.uk for amazing party, prom, wedding and bridesmaid dresses.

I'm still picking my nail wear from the blue spectrum, but this time, I went for a shade that is more me. Turquoise is a colour that I wear most often on my nails, however, I've never owned such a deep shade before. My other ones are either pastel or bright. Well, technically speaking, this isn't even my nail polish. I brought it back from California as a present for my sister, but the truth is, we share our nail polishes, so I consider it mine as well, tehe. 

Essie is always spot on with the consistency of their nail polishes and 'Naughty Nautical' is no exception. It is not to thin and not too thick, it applies evenly, requires two coats for full opacity and stays chip free for almost a week. A+ for the quality! The shade itself is fabulous as well. Not only does it look exactly the same on the nails as it does in the bottle, but it also has a twist to it. Tiny little silver glitters! I myself am a big fan of the cream finish and am always sceptical about shimmer when it comes to nail polishes, but this shade won me over completely. It just looks right. Especially when the light hits it! It kind of reminds me of the glittering turquoise sea... Ahh, who wants to take me to the Maldives?

For a person who is convinced that blue nail polish doesn't suit her, I have far too many of them. A few months ago, I went through the so called blue period. Whenever I saw a blue nail polish shade, it landed in my shopping cart. But when it actually came to me wearing them, well, let's just say that it never happened. There were always other shades that won me over, so my blues have been patiently sitting on the shelf, waiting for me to start feeling sorry for them. About a month ago, it finally happened. I put them in line and started wearing them, one by one. Unfortunatelly, I'm still not feeling most of the shades - pastels are of course an exception - but if we overlook my 'blue nail polish doesn't suit me' idea, they are far too pretty on their own to not share them with you. I'm sure at least some of them will catch your attention. 

The first 'blue' I have to show to you is Essence's 'If I Were a Boy'. I took the advantage of today's sunny weather and snapped some photos of it outside with my new camera. Yay for spring! Anyway, back to the nail polish. I have to say, I was very impressed with the formula. I only needed one thick coat to get it opaque, but I ended up putting on two. Why did I think that was necessary? I have no idea. I guess I did it out of habit. Luckily, the mani looked good even with two coats. There was no streakiness in sight, even though the application might seem a bit wonky when you take a close look at the photo. I swear, it's not this nail polish's fault. Blame it on the crappy old top coat I've splattered on top. I regretted the deision right away, but at that point, it was too late to fix the mess... 

Since I don't know what else to say about this nail polish other than it's great, I shall end this post here. Let me know how you like the shade and if you feel a bit weird wearing certain nail polish colours on your nails as well. Oh, and one more thing! Would you mabye be interested in me doing a blog sale? I'll be moving all my make-up into another room in about a month (more on that later), and I thought that this would be the perfect opportunity for me to go through my beauty stash and give the products that don't get the love that they deserve from me a new home. 

I first saw this nail polish on Maja's blog, and it was love at first sight. I'm usually not attracted to purple shades, but for some reason, Warm & Toasty Turtleneck caught my attention. Maybe it's because the shade is sort of muted and has a taupy undertone? I don't know. There's definitely a twist to it and I like it. I don't think I need to mention how awesome the formula is, because we all know by now how OBSESSED I am with Essie. But just in case you don't have a clue what I'm talking about, I'll quickly sum it up. The formula is awesome. Oh, you want a more detailed description? Ok, it isn't streaky, becomes opaque with two coats and stays on for ages. I've had mine on for five days and there's not a single chip in sight. Gotta love Essie!

P.S. The ring is from my online shop Destination Pretty. You can get it here. :)

This new year's eve, I went for a rather unusual color combination on my nails. I decided to pair up Catrice's How I Matt Your Mother, which is a dark muted blue shade with a gray or even purple undertone, and a rose gold glitter explosion called Kitch Me If You Can. They look beautiful together, but I don't think the gorgeousess translates very well on camera. Anyway, I Matt Your Mother is actually a nail polish with a metallic finish, but since I did put  another nail polish over it, it lost the metallic effect. Of course, I forgot to take photos beforehand, so if you still want to see how it looks like by itself, I can put up another NOTD post next time I'll be wearing it. And now a few words about Kitch Me If You Can. I'm obviously going through a bit of a rose gold glitter phase ever since I started my love affair with Rosie Lee, but this nail polish doesn't only contain rose gold glitters. There are also tons of little multi-colored (holographic?) glitters that I think are a great addition to the polish, because they nicely fill out the blank spaces. So, how are we liking the combo? :)

A few months ago, my sister started obsessing over while nail polish and soon enough the obsession reached me as well. The only problem I had is that all the white nail polishes I'd tried were crap. They were streaky and never seemed to dry, so my manicures always became one big mess. When a few weeks ago, I was standing before the nail polish rack in the drugstore with my 50% off Essie coupon in my hands, deciding which shades to take home with me, Essie's Blanc was the obvious choice. Being a huge Essie fan, I only hoped that their white nail polish will live up to my expectations. And luckily, it has! It is not streaky, dries fast and lasts for a very long time on my nails. You still have to be a little bit careful with the application, because if you put on layers that are too thick, it will get smudged and the application won't be perfectly even. I apply either three thin coats or one thin and one a little bit thicker coat to get it perfect. 

I've been wearing Blanc all the time for the past two weeks, but I wanted to make my nails look a little bit more festive this weekend, now that Christmas is almost here, so I picked up Catrice's Million Dollar Baby and applied it over the white nail polish. I think the manicure looks super cute! You really can't go wrong with glitters during this time of the year, right? I'm not sure if it's noticable in the photo, but Million Dollar Baby actually contains two types of glitters - very tiny gold ones and some bigger silver chunks. I find it very convenient, as the silver as well as gold jewellery go very nice with it. 

P.S. You can get the ring that I'm wearing here at Destination Pretty, my very own online store. It's currenty 10% off! :)

It is usually very rare for me to keep wearing the same nail polish colour(s) over and over again, but this winter I've been sticking to a few of my faves that I'm going to share with you in the video below. I hope you'll enjoy watching it, and don't forget to let me know what your favorite winter nail polishes are!

PRODUCTS MENTIONED IN THE VIDEO

Essie Bahama Mama

Butter London Rosie Lee

Kiko 347

Essence Steel-ing the Scene Topper (Metal Glam LE)

Essie Chinchilly

Essie Blanc

A few days ago, I finally managed to try out Essence's 'Let It Snow!' snowflake topper from their 'Happy Holidays' collection. This was one of the products I became most excited about at the Essence event I attended a few months ago, but after seeing a bunch of negative reviews, I somehow lost interest in trying it out as soon as possible. 

The nail polish looks super pretty and Christmassy in the bottle, just like a snow globe, but I have to agree with other bloggers who say that the application is not the most enjoying. You can still achieve a nice look with all those tiny multi-colored glitters and white flakes, but it takes you ages, because you literally have to scoop out every single flake and place them on your nails one by one. So, yeah, I don't know whether I'll be wearing this topper a lot, but I definitely know that I'll keep looking at it a lot, haha. I mean, c'mon, isn't it the cutest?!

P.S. The nail polish I've used as a base is '347' from Kiko. I've reviewed it here, and here you can see me wearing it with the world's most amazing gold leaf topper. I'm obsessed with that combo!

Ohh, one more thing! I'll soon be revealing my secret project, but while you are waiting for my announcement, I thought we could play a little game. Leave me a comment down below letting me know what you think my secret project is, and if you guess it, you might be the winner of a secret surprise package. :)

Last weekend I dug out one of my favorite fall/winter nail polishes, Essie's 'Bahama Mama', and stole my sister's precious 'Rosie Lee' by Butter London to create the mani you can see below. I think it's safe to say that the Christmas nails season is now officially open at my house! 

This is one of the three nail polishes that I got from my super lovely reader called Nina, who visited me last weekend to help me practise doing make-up. The fact that she came all the way from Ljubljana, our capital, to my hometown just to meet me still baffles me, but I am really glad that she came over, because she is one of the nicest people I have ever met. Seriously. Nina, if you're reading this, you're the best! ;)

As I have said, she brought me three ridiculously pretty nail polishes and let me just say, she definitely knows my taste, because the shades that she picked out for me are spot on! The first one that caught my attention is this nail polish from Yes Love called 'Speckled'. My heart skipped a beat when I saw it, because it reminds me so much of the Illamasqua specked nail polishes that have been on my I-want-them-but-I'm-never-going-to-buy-them-because-they're-too-freakin'-expensive wishlist since they first came out. I mean, I'm pretty sure I can declare this shade as a dupe for 'Mottle'. The Yes Love one lasted about two days on my nails and I needed three coats to get it opaque, so I'm guessing the quality of the two is not comparable - it better not be for the price you're paying for the Illamasqua one - but at least it looks almost the same, which is totally enough for me. What do you think, could this be a dupe? Do you have any Illamasqua or Yes Love nail polishes? What do you think about them?