Chinese Dragons

Happy May, everyone! This is a mani I did over spring break back in March. I really liked it and had a hard time convincing myself to take it off later even though I felt like it was time for a change.

I used Borghese Stellare Notte with Nfu Oh 38 layered on top. I really like the flaky look and I wanted to try and do something that would look like scales. Dragon scales! ♥

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Chinese Imperial dragons have five claws and carry a pearl, so I stuck on a little white "pearl" on my index fingers.

I really liked the way this looked different in different lights/angles. Stellare Notte is really quite beautiful! You can see in some of these pictures that it looks purple, while in others it looks green. I've heard it described as looking like a beetle, and that seems about right. It's a duochrome, but it's not as smooth a transition as the Nubars are. More grainy, but in a good way. It's very fun to play with and was a nice contrast to the warm-tone flakies.

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Painting the Roses...Red?

Here's another Borghese. This is Borghese Red, a bright tomato-red creme. Formula was great on this one, I did two coats here but one was completely opaque and sufficient. The pictures without flash made me look incredibly jaundiced, so I chose not to scare you with them. :P

I used Konad plate m65 for the roses. They remind me of ladybugs from farther away, though. Either way, it was a lot of fun!

Until next time!

Borghese Rubino Red + Nfu.Oh #59

I hope everyone's weekends went swimmingly. In advance, please excuse the large chips on my index finger. I used two coats of Borghese Rubino Red, a lovely pinky blue-toned red. Ruby red is a pretty good description of this creme, and it applied very well, perfect application with two coats, but if you were neater than I, you probably could have gotten away with one. The Borghese cremes I've tried are all extremely opaque and glossy. The colors are not particularly unique, but the formulas are superb. I change my polish every few days, though, so I can't comment much on wear.

I added two coats of Nfu.Oh #59 to Rubino Red, which made it a bit redder and very squishy/jelly-like in appearance. The flakies were really eye-catching, changing the tone of the polish from cool to warm.

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Natural lighting (more color accurate, but I look extremely pale)

Until next time!

Borghese Nail Lacquer

Having recently discovered Borghese nail lacquers at Rite-Aid, I wanted to do a mani with all Borghese products. For a base coat I am using Hydrati, a treatment designed to rehydrate nails. I used three coats of Botticelli Nude and stamped using Carnevale Grape. I used Konad plate m71, and topped it all off with Borghese Presto Fast Drying Top Coat. Three coats was enough to cover my staining and look relatively uniform, but it was not fully opaque, just milky/creamy. I think you could reach full opacity at around 5 coats, but I was satisfied with three.

I originally got Botticelli Nude as a mannequin nails color. It's close, but not quite right. I really like it, though, it's very soft and delicate. I feel very sophisticated wearing this.

Borghese nail lacquers supposedly contain micronized gemstones, and given that the brand was started by Italian royalty, there's no denying the glamour of these lacquers. Thankfully, the application makes me feel glamorous, too. I had minor streaking with Botticelli Nude, but the polish evened out nicely. These polishes tend to be creamier than many I've tried. They aren't watery in the slightest (I'm looking at you, OPI You Don't Know Jacques), nor are they thick and blobby. I am careful with my application, and going a bit slower made me feel very elegant and serene. Also, they dry quickly. Not like holos or neons do, but significantly quicker than most cremes I've tried, especially thick ones. And did I mention shiny? I swear these look wet for ages, they've got marvelously high gloss.

As for the topcoat, I think Presto dries polish more thoroughly. It is not dry instantly like Seche or Diamont, but dries the layers of polish quicker than either, so manis are less dentable. I experienced no tipwear, and polish does not need to be wet or tacky for this to work well; the box even suggests waiting at least 1-2 minutes before applying the topcoat. I'm loving this topcoat right now, but it does leave occasional brush strokes if you really look hard.

Borghese nail lacquers are pretty pricey, especially for a drugstore brand, and retail for about $8. The bottles only hold .4fl oz of lacquer, unlike the standard .5fl oz, so they really do fall on the pricier side. Their color selection is limited mostly to reds and pinks and other french tip appropriate shades, definitely mature and classic. Their Fashionista collection has much wilder colors, although the only one I have from there is Stellare Notte (which is still in my untrieds, but has plenty of swatches floating around). I've been very intrigued by Plummagio Purple, an interesting blueish purple shimmer but I fear it will be too blue for my skintone.

Have you tried any Borghese products? What do you think of them?

Until next time! <3