Hello, people of the internet!

Znam, znam, za nekoga tko je napisao post #vratimoblogerice stvarno sam pala na testu... zadnji post je bio prije skoro pola godine... Što da vam kažem - life happened. Poslovne obaveze, preseljenje u drugi stan, putovanje - sve je to pomalo utjecalo na manjak postova, no najviše je utjecalo manjak motivacije. Iskreno, krajem 2019. godine mi je volja za bilo čim kreativnim toliko opala da su patili i blog i Youtube, pa i sam Instagram - zamislite to!

I know, I know, for someone who wrote a post about bringing the bloggers back I really failed the test... The last post was written almost half a year ago... What can I say - life happened. Work responsibilities, moving to another apartment, traveling - it all kind of influenced the lack of posts, but what influenced it most of all was a lack of motivation. Honestly, in the second half of 2019 there was so little will in me to do anything creative that both blog and Youtube suffered. Instagram, too - can you imagine?!

No nova je godina, novo desetljeće i, iako nisam osoba od novogodišnjih "Nova godina, nova ja" odluka" ipak sam se odlučila malo više kreativno pokrenuti. Osim što sam (napokon) započela makeup business - da ne šminkam samo sebe već i druge - započela sam i bullet journal, koji mi iskreno puno pomaže u organizaciji i tjera me da budem produktivnija. Više o njemu, a i o drugim stvarima ćete moći vidjeti na mom Youtube kanalu i Instagramu, a u ovom postu - kako vidite iz naslova - je riječ o nečemu drugome, pa je vrijeme da krenem na tu temu.

Anyway, it is a new year, new decade and, although I am not the "New year, new me" kind of person, I still decided to let my creative juices flow a bit more. Apart from (finally) starting a makeup business - to put makeup not just on myself, but on others, too - I started a bullet journal, which, honestly, helps me a lot in organization and pushes me to be more productive. More about the bujo, and other things will be available on my Youtube channel and Instagram profile, and for this post - as you can see from the title - the topic is something else, so it's about time I start with it.

Ako duže pratite moj blog, mogli ste primijetiti da sa Born Pretty stranicom surađujem skoro od početka blogiranja, a kao netko tko voli raznolike manikure i zabavljati se raznim dizajnima i bojama, ta suradnja mi je zaista draga. Ovaj put se ne radi o jednom paketiću već dva različita. Jedan je čak, mogu reći, stigao slučajno jer nisam ja izabrala stvari, već mi se samo pojavio na adresi, dok sam drugi sama izabrala.

If you've been following my blog for a longer period of time, you've noticed tha I've been collabrorating with Born Pretty site almost from the beginning of this blog, and as someone who loves wearing various manicures and playing with different designs, this collab is really close to my heart. This time it's not about one package, but two different ones. One even, if I can say so, arrived accidentaly, because I didn't choose the products, yet it just appeared at my address, while I chose the products in the second one.

Paketić br.1 / Package no.1

Paketić br.1 ili "slučajni" sadržava dva laka za nokte i dvije pločice za pečatiranje. Lakovi za nokte su iz White Night kolekcije i odlični za pečatiranje! Jako su pigmentirani i savršeno se uklapaju u reljef, tako da u 90% slučajeva će vam slika biti savršena. Mogu se koristiti i za "klasičnu" manikuru - da ih nosite samostalno. Ne suše se brzo, no ne suše se ni pretjerano sporo i na noktima traju neka 4 dana uz obavljanje kućanskih poslova, što je zadovoljavajuće. Nijanse na slici su "Throne" - crna i "Dark Armor" - crvena.

Package no.1 or the "accidental" one contains two nail polishes and two stamping plates. The polishes are from the White Night series and they are excellent for stamping! They are very pigmented and fit perfectly into the reliefs, so in 90% of the times the image will be perfect. They can also be used for "classic" manicure - to wear them individually. They don't dry very fast, nor too slow and they last about 4 days on my nails, with all the housework I do, which is satisfactory. The shades are "Throne" - black and "Dark Armor" - red.

Što se tiče pločica za pečatiranje, već sam puno puta pohvalila Born Pretty pločice, tako da i ove nisu izuzetak. Obje su iz kolekcije "Western Memory" inspirirane divljim zapadom i cvjetnim motivima. Pločice i lakovi jako dobro surađuju skupa. Nažalost nemam fotografije manikure sa ovim pločicama ali imam kratak video koji sam snimila za IGTv, tako da njega možete pogledati.

As for the stamping plates, I have already praised Born Pretty plates a lot, so these are no exception. They are both  from the "Western Memory" series inspired by the Wild West and floral motifs. The plates and polishes work well together. Unfortunately, I don't have the photos of the manicure with these plates, but I have the short video I made for IGTv, so you can check it out.

Paketić br.2 / Package no.1

Paketić br.2 sadržava jedan lak za nokte, pločicu za pečatiranje i jedan pečat.

Package no.2 contains one nail polish, a stamping plate and a stamp.

Lak za nokte je iz Fluorescent kolekcije u nijansi "Banana Milkshake" i riječ je o jarkom žutom laku. Nešto je rijeđa formula od standardnih lakova za nokte, pa je potrebno 3 sloja za potpuno prekrivanje. Može služiti i za pečatiranje, ali na bijeloj bazi, a i tada se slabije primijeti zbog svoje rijeđe formule. No, inače nemam žuti lak za nokte u kolekciji, pa sam si naručila ovaj i unatoč formuli sam prilično zadovoljna.

The nail polish is from the Fluorescent series in the shade "Banana Milkshake" and it is a bright yellow polish. The formula is somewhat thinner than the standard polishes, so it takes 3 coats for a full coverage. It can be used in stamping, but with white base, and even then it is less noticeable due to it's thin formula. However, I generally didn't own a yellow nail polish, so I decided to order this one, and in spite of its formula I'm quite pleased with it.

Pločica za pečatiranje dolazi pod nazivom "Mini Temptation" i tematski spada pod odmor i zabavu, tako da je odlična za bilo koje doba godine. Mene su najviše privukli reljefi vezani za odmor i ovi sa uzorkom balona, tako da sam njih iskoristila za ovu manikuru. Super surađuju sa lakovima za nokte iz paketića br.1, ali i sa lakovima drugih proizvođača.

The stamping plate comes under the name "Mini Temptation" and thematically falls under the fun and leisure, so it is perfect for any time of the year. I was mostly drawn to the leisure themed reliefs and the hot air balloon ones, so I used them for this manicure. They work well with the polishes from package no.1, but with the polishes from other brands, too.

I za kraj se tu nalazi jedan pečat u duginim bojama, koji je na oko jako lijep, ali se još nisam uspjela dogovoriti s njim što se funkcije tiče. Sviđa mi se što nema plastiku na otvoru pa lijepo možete vidjeti kako postaviti reljef na nokat, no kako ima jako mekanu "jelly" glavu nikako mi u potpunosti ne pokupi reljef sa pločice i uvijek izgleda nepotpuno. Iskreno, mislim da je on namijenjen za neku drugu vrstu nail-arta, možda za mramorne manikure ili slično, jer mi ne surađuje dobro niti s jednom pločicom koju posjedujem. No, neću odustati od njega i naći ću mu neku namjenu.

And in the end we have one rainbow handle stamp, which is visually very pretty, but I still haven't managed to sucessfuly find it's function. I like the fact it doesn't have a plastic on the opening and you can see the image placement quite nicely, but since it has a very soft jelly head I still haven't managed to fully "pick up" the image from the reliefs with it and the image always looks incomplete. Honestly, I think it is intended for other forms of nail art, maybe marble manicures or similar ones, since it doesn't cooperate well with any nail stamping plate I own. However, I'm not giving up on it and I will find something to do with it.

Za kraj vam ostavljam par fotki manikure u kojoj sam kombinirala proizvode iz oba paketića. Kako sam rekla, crni lak "Throne" je odličan za pečatiranje, a "Banana Milkshake" se jako lijepo uklopio sa "Dark Armor". Ovo je slikano 3. ili 4. dan otkako sam napravila manikuru, tako da možete primijetiti da se lak počeo malo guliti na vrhovima. Manikura mi je sve skupa izdržala nekih 6 dana prije nego sam ju skinula - malo zbog toga što se ogulila, a malo zbog toga što sam poželjela promjenu.

For the final act, I leave you with a few photos of te manicure in which I combined the products from both packages. As I've mentioned, the black polish "Throne" is excellent for stamping, and "Banana Milkshake" fit in quite well with "Dark Armor". These photos were taken on the 3rd or 4th day of wearing this manicure, so you can notice it started to peel off at the edges. The manicure lasted about 6 days before I took it off - a bit because it peeled off, and a bit because I wanted a change.