Ludurana Acqualux Watermelon

Every time I looked down at my Ludurana Acqualux manicure that I have been wearing for the past two days, I was picturing watermelons. Something about the little black glitter speckled throughout the redish orange base that said I had to try this summery manicure. It was intended to be just a "test" that I ended up really liking, so please forgive the sloppiness.

Ludurana - Acqualux

The month of June is usually a hectic one for me and this one is starting out with a bang. Most of it is good, including out of town family that I'm always excited to see and birthday parties galore. There are four birthdays (including mine) within the next few weeks in my close family. Weekends and free time are hard to come by. What it means is that I have had close to zero time and energy for nail art, but it doesn't meant that I can't enjoy lovely colors such as this on their own...

This is Ludurana Acqualux, a polish I got in a swap with Fran of Francirocks. We agreed on polishes to swap and then each of us threw in a few more just for fun. Acqualux is one that I got as a surprise. It is not something I would have picked out myself, but it it is just what I needed on a gray and gloomy day such as today.

Ulta Smoke Screen with Ludurana Relampago

I am loving the current flakie trend and I hope it sticks around for a while, although I have a feeling I will be a fan of it regardless if it is "in" or not. For this manicure I finally got into playing with the polishes from my Brazilian swap. I started out with two coats of Ulta Smoke Screen and then added two coats of Ludurana Relampago, which I got in the swap. According to my wonderful swap partner, Relampago means lightning. So pretty! Relampago is a dark gray jelly base with green, red and blue flakes. The flakies colorshift depending on the angle. I couldn't stop examining staring at them. Red shifts to orange and then yellow at the most extreme. Green shifts to blue. I wore this for three days and still did not want to take it off. These photos just don't do justice to the pretty flakes...

Swatch Details
	Brand: Ludurana Line: Flocado Color Name/Number: Relampago Number of coats: 1 Top Coat: Yes

The base of the manicure was Ulta Smoke Screen. It is smoky gray creme that is just perfection. Application and formula were great. Two coats for full opacity and coverage. It was not until I put it on that I realized this may be an exact dupe for Zoya's Kelly which is still one of my favorite polishes. That may have contributed to my reluctance to take it off. In the bottles Smoke Screen and Kelly look identical and I will compare them in a swatch at some point.

Swatch Details
	Brand: Ulta Line: Salon Formula Color Name/Number: Smoke Screen Number of coats: 2 Top Coat: Yes Free of Formaldehyde, Toluene, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP)

What do you think of the new flakie trend? Love it? Hate it? Don't care either way?

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)