Oooh, Shinies!

JORD Wood Watch: a review and giveaway!

2017-12-13T20:02:00.000+01:00

Woah! It's been SO long, remind me how this whole blogging thing works again?! :D Well, I have a great reason for a comeback - the wonderful people over at JORD contacted me and offered a review plus giveaway for you guys!

Let me start this post with a little update. I've been quite busy and nail art and blogging just wasn't high on my list anymore. In fact, I started clearing out my stash! Of course I still wear polish, hah, some things never change :) But having to find the right color in those endless amounts of bottles didn't work well anymore and my goal is to just keep a few drawers. Still a lot more than average I'd say, but in a way that works better for me nowadays!

Having said that, with the remaining drawers being a hot mess right now, I'm not overly pleased with the colorcombination I chose to show off this watch - but you'll have to forgive me, I currently can't really find my way around my stash, ugh! But I found a great charity for a lot of my stuff, it'll go to girls in Africa that want to become beauticians, and I hope they'll enjoy all those pretties that I won't be using anymore. And yes, it took me this long to start clearing out, my precioussss! Eek! Haha.

Aaaanyway, back to JORD! While I was away from the blog, they kept on adding beautiful new timepieces to their collection. And they made some changes to the way the product is presented to you as well! Let's have a look, shall we?

They've changed the box that holds the watch, it now has a small drawer at the bottom and the lid closes with tiny magnets. They've also added a tube with natural finishing oil, to help you take care of & condition your watch.

Here's everything shown at once! In the drawer you'll find a little bag of product for humidity control, and the box contains the remaining links, the oil, cleaning cloth and wipe, some information about the watch and brand. And of course, the watch! It's the Frankie 35 in Dark Sandalwood & Slate.

The polish I'm wearing is of a brand I use A LOT nowadays... A England has always been a favourite, but I really became a sucker for the colors, coverage and application! This one's Sleeping Palace.

Right, back to the watch, with all its details! It comes with protective foil on the front, blue protective foil on the deployment buckle and a little piece of plastic on the knob of the watch. The battery won't start unless that's removed and the knob is pushed in. It has a black buckle and on the back of the piece itself is the usual JORD imprint. I love the great attention to detail the JORD watches have, and the natural grain of the wood never bores me, making each piece truly unique.

And there we have it on my arm, isn't it beautiful? I love the combination of the dark wood, the slate (which varies in darkness depending on the light) and the soft copper, which leans a bit golden at times. The watch feels light and comfortable, just as their other watches that I've had the honour of reviewing. You can find those here: Fieldcrest in Dark Sandalwood - Ely in Black - Cora in Koa & Rose Gold.

A England Sleeping Palace.

Now, as I said above, JORD also offered a giveaway for my readers, woop! And not just that, I get to offer you a coupon code for 25% off as well!

Here are the rules...

The giveaway will end on December 27.
Entering the giveaway can only be done by clicking the link below and filling out the form on the JORD website.
The coupon code is valid until December 27.

The winner will get $100 to spend at the JORD website plus FREE SIZING and FREE SHIPPING! Wouldn't that be a lovely way to end the year, with a brand new watch on the way? If you wish to get a great discount, just head over to JORD and use code 'bregje' for your 25% off!

** Giveaway is closed, congratulations to M.! **

For now, I wish you all the best of luck in the giveaway, and let me know what your choice would be! :) Take care!

P.S. Dewey says meow!

I can finally say it now...

2016-01-22T10:52:00.000+01:00

If you follow UberChic Beauty, you might've already seen the latest release which includes Collection 7... and that collection has a few of my mandalas on them!! :D I originally made my mandalas so people could color them in and hopefully, relax a little while at it, and because I enjoy drawing them of course :) But UberChic Beauty took it to a whole new level by combining them with our shared love, nailart! I can't get over how awesome it feels knowing that ladies worldwide might end up wearing my drawings on their nails! If you end up using one of those images; please do show, I would so LOVE to see the result!!

The images that I'm aiming at are the big one on the top left of this plate, and the 2 at the bottom right:

There will be a full review of the collection on my blog soon, but the plates haven't arrived yet, and I'm sure you can understand that I already wanted to share this - I am so proud right now :D You can find Collection 7 here and you can find my mandalas on this website. If you'd like to see more of them on plates, well, you might want to keep an eye on UCB, there's a lot more plates coming up with my mandalas... ♥

Stamped marble with Bundle Monster, BornPrettyStore and Dance Legend

2016-01-09T14:35:00.001+01:00

Hey guys! This post combines a bunch of items; polish, a set of plates, and a stamping polish. And when trying out those items, I ended up with this mani:

Starting with the polish, this is Dance Legend Regina from their Binary collection. I love that collection; perfect, shiny cremes that apply and cover great! This was 2 coats, no base/top coat. And in case you wonder, I haven't noticed any staining yet (although that might happen when wearing it longer). You can find Dance Legend in various webshops and on social media like Facebook and Instagram.

Let's move on to the plates! Bundle Monster collaborated with a bunch of bloggers and together they've created 10 plates. You can find all of them on the Bundle Monster website, where you can buy them for $4.99 each. I have 5 of them to show you :) The images are clickable for an enlargement in case you'd like to see more of the details.

Lucy's Stash created one of my favorite plates of the bunch; there's swirls, floral prints (and with those 2 covered I'm sure it's no surprise that I love this plate) and room for coloring or even for a little rhinestone here and there.

Madam Luck's plate is perfect if you enjoy graffiti. This plate offers all kinds of graffiti images! Add a pop of color and some creativity and you're good to go.

Nailstamp4fun adds some lace to the collection, and some more swirly/floral prints. I don't think I need to tell you that there's some images that I really like here :)

Sloteazzy's plate is the big winner for me though! Yay for an easy marbled look! I used the right side of the big image for today's mani, and I kept the mani simple because I wanted to try out several products, but imagine the possibilities here... Now of course you can't create a marble with all kinds of colors like you can with water, but a gradient stamping, stamping decals or a crazy base easily outweigh the messy and tricky part of real water marbling for me :)

YaGala's plate has a nice variety of styles combined onto a single plate, and there's a few images that jump out to me, like the bottom left, the swirly/dotted one in the middle and the chains next to it.

And why not add a 3rd review to this post? BornPrettyStore has surprised me (in a good way!) with their stamping polishes that I've recently tried, so I figured to try another one of them - this time in a color that might prove a little more difficult. This is color #6 and costs $4.79 for 15ml. If you order something, don't forget to use coupon code ABJ61 for 10% off! As you can see, it's not as bright on the orange base as it is in the bottle, and it shows slightly sheer with these thicker lines, but with this color? I am happy with it nevertheless! I suspect it'll work even better with finer lined images. And it was nice and easy to work with, not too thick, not too smelly.

Dance Legend Regina with BornPrettyStore #6 and Bundle Monster + Sloteazzy BM-XL210.

What's your favorite Bundle Monster Blogger Collaboration plate? Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

You can find Bundle Monster on the following social media: Facebook - Twitter - Pinterest - Instagram - Google+ - Youtube.

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Lady Queen héhé stamping plates

2016-01-06T19:52:00.001+01:00

Howdy! Lady Queen kindly send me some stamping plates for review and, if that wasn't enough yet, today I also received a fabulous package from Dance Legend. You'll see plenty more from the latter, but I figured to start with combining one of those polishes with one of the plates!

Let's start with the polish, shall we? This beauty is from the Dance Legend Malta collection, and shown here is 2 coats without top coat. This is number #94, and the mauve basecolor leans a little more pink at times. Easy application, lovely result :)

The stamping plates come with protective blue foil on the front, which came off fairly easy, but there's no protective cover on the back and I got a little reminder of why those covers are nice... I ended up with a cut in my thumb, yikes! So please be aware that these plates can be sharp!

This plate looks great for some steampunk nail art, don't you think?

These images look a little like watermarble, but it was the image that I used for my mani that stood out for me.

And this plate will be great for Fall nails!

Dance Legend #94 with China Glaze 2030 and Lady Queen héhé 040.

I've only tested 1 of the plates so far, and as you can see, that image worked fine! The plates cost $2.99 each and here are the direct links to them: 011 - 040 - 052. With code USBT15 you'll get 15% off on the Lady Queen website :)

What do you think of the polish and the plates? Thanks for stopping by!

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Essence & Catrice Spring/Summer - Preview pic heavy

2016-01-01T19:38:00.000+01:00

Hi guys, happy new year!! :) I have the previews of Essence and Catrice for the coming seasons for you today, it'll pretty much be a picture dump post, but please feel free to ask if you'd like to know more about a product! I'm just a little tired, and fixing all those images was enough for me today, haha. Both Essence and Catrice will be in stores mid Februari. All images are clickable for an enlargement.

So there we have it, and I have to say, there's plenty things that I'd like to see in stores! How about you, looking forward to any of these products, or are you more looking forward to the usual sale of the current products that'll get replaced by these?

My Top 10 of 2015: Nail art

2015-12-30T20:26:00.000+01:00

Let me start this post by wishing you a fantastic NYE and 2016! May it be a year filled with happiness, health, and full of wonderful people and experiences - and nail polish of course! :) Here's my Top 10 nail art of this year, in random order:

Sheer polishes and a stamping plate, easy and effective! Smudged, smeared and stamped!

The Uber Mat made creating stamping decals so much easier, for these decals I used black stamping and lots of holo polishes, and a little patience to fill in all the spots ;) UberChic Beauty Collection 4.

Various green acrylic paints with black stamping and some matte top coat gave this result. There was another mani in the running for a spot in this list (or well, a whole bunch, heh), that one felt more like a typical Oooh, Shinies! mani yes, I'm sneaking it in here anyway!, but eventually I decided on this one because it's a bit more unusual :) UberChic Beauty plate collection 3!

The Bundle Monster Shangri-La plateset brought us plenty lovely images, and here's one of those images colored with the help of the Uber Mat! Reversed stamping with lots of colors!

Dance Legend Sub-Zero almost made it to my top 10 polishes list, but because I wasn't loving the thermal effect as much (it turns blue), it didn't. I think this mani didn't look as nice with the basecolor going blue, but I sure do love it like this! Sub-Zero stamped.

This mani didn't turn out as I originally intended, but well, it's in this list now anyway - I guess that says enough :) Blue roses with Dance Legend Go Fast and Top Satin.

Randomly sponged colors with black stamping stays nice! UberChic Beauty Out Of Africa.

Of course I had to add a mani in the style that I never get tired of; floral or swirly print, tone-on-tone, matte top coat = love! Matte flowers.

I said it above already, randomly sponged colors with black stamping, and this result was an easy choice for this list :) Dance Legend Pure Manicure (liquid skin protector).

Yep, same image as the green mani further up, but it's a great image and it combined so well with this basecolor! Burnt orange meets black.

There we have it, my Top 10 nail art! What's your favorite here, and what's your own favorite mani of the year? Feel free to upload and share your image in the comments! Take care for now and I'll see you in 2016 :)

My Top 10 of 2015: Polishes

2015-12-28T20:06:00.001+01:00

Yes, it's that time of the year again; the time where I go through the posts of the year and somehow come up with a top 10. Really though, there were plenty polishes that deserve a spot on this list, and it depends a lot on my mood as well. And then to think I haven't even swatched that much this year! So this list focusses on just a few brands, but they are brands that you can't really go wrong with anyway :) Here we go, in random order!

A England Incense Burner from the Rossetti's Goddess collection. Beautiful duochrome on top of a pretty basecolor, you can't go wrong with that!

Well, next year I should maybe just go for top 10 of collections, that would make my life easier! Here's Let Me In, from yet another fantastic A England collection; To Emily Bronte. That typical A England holographic sparkle, so good!

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Lantern Waste from The White Witch collection. I'm sorry for adding polishes to this post that aren't easy to get (anymore), but I can't leave them out either - look at it!

Yep, there's more where that came from, yet another stunner by A England! Proserpine is one of Adina's beauties that also works for stamping, but really, most of her creations deserve a spot in a list like this if you ask me. This one is also from the Rossetti's Goddess collection.

Dance Legend Enamel Gel Effect #1035 might seem like the odd one in this list, but I just cannot resist a smooth, non-streaky creme that applies and covers great! Lovely color on itself, but you know I've added it here because it's such a fantastic nailart base :) Nail art 1 & nail art 2.

Woah! There's so much going on in Mad As A Hatter from Femme Fatale Cosmetics' The Mad Tea-Party collection! I couldn't leave this out - but FFC has a lot of very unique polishes, which made it quite tricky to choose.

Spirit Of The Moors - right now I chose this one because I love that color combined with that holo sparkle! But it was a close call with another one of the A England To Emily Bronte collection.

Wow! This is #20 Бабай, also known as Bogeyman from the Anna Gorelova Winter collection by Dance Legend. Rich, unique darkness that looks great on itself and with top coat.

Ok, ok, I'll be honest, I'm cheating a little here; 3 fav polishes at once ;) First we have Essence Wonderland, a very pale grey, almost white, matte polish which makes for a perfect nail art base. And then we have Dance Legend Chagall and Sisley from the Top Aquarelle collection. Now even though I don't have more polishes from this collection, I love the idea and how they work so much, that I just needed to add them here! None of the 3 mentionned polishes is swatched on itself, so I figured to show them like this. Nail art 1 & nail art 2.

Last but certainly not least, Femme Fatale Cosmetics Poisoned Apple, from the Snow White Inspired collection. The soft hint of sparkle, the duochrome effect against that basecolor... yep, it earns a spot here!

There we have it, my top 10 of the year. What are your picks? Let me know :) Thanks for looking and take care for now!

Happy Holidays!

2015-12-25T15:12:00.001+01:00

Hi lovelies! Merry Christmas all!! I of course don't know if you're celebrating anything, but either way, I hope you'll have a great time these days :) I'm currently wearing Rose Bower on my nails, but since that one stamps well too, here's a holiday mani with it as stamping polish. It turned a little more on the pink side though, but that's nothing a little bit of red sparkle won't fix ;)

Sinful Colors Snow Me White stamped with A England Rose Bower and BornPrettyStore plate 01, and China Glaze Ruby Pumps.

Take care for now, and I'd love to see what you're currently rocking on your nails, feel free to upload an image in the comments! ♥

BornPrettyStore mesh pattern vinyls

2015-12-21T11:21:00.003+01:00

I haven't tried vinyls before (although I have a lot waiting in my review drawer now - stay tuned!), so I was eager to try BornPrettyStore vinyls. But if you pay close attention, you'll see this mani is stamped... Read on to see why!

These stickers are sold as stickers/vinyls, and they come in a package with 12 of them on 1 sheet. They are really big, so they're great for ladies with longer nails as well, and those wider thumbnails won't be a problem either.

You can find them here, and they're $2 for a package. BornPrettyStore sells all kinds of versions, so if this mesh pattern isn't your thing, you can probably find something else that's more to your liking. As always, coupon code ABJ61 will give 10% off.

The stickers are holographic, which makes for an easy mani with a lot of effect. But using these as vinyls? Oh dear. I guess the image below says enough. They're sticking too well, so when removing them, I also peeled off some basepolish and some sponged polish, bits of the holo stickers stayed on my nails, and then there was some glue residue to top it all off. The next set will be shown as stickers, that's for sure!

So time to do something similar; I started with a quick coat of one of the polishes, sponged all 4 of them randomly on my nails, and stamped an image in black on top. This felt a little more topcoat-worthy ;)

A England Dorian Gray, Camelot, Merlin and Excalibur Renaissane stamped with UberChic Beauty UC4-03 and BornPrettyStore Temix #12.

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Subtle Savita

2015-12-12T15:13:00.000+01:00

Even though it's fun to come up with a mani that matches a product for review, I also like to just look in my drawers and pick a random polish that jumps out to me at that moment, and take it from there. That's what I did here as well, and I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise that I went for a subtle, swirly stamping to go with it :)

Zoya Savita with China Glaze Red-y & Willing and UberChic Beauty plate UC1-02.

I haven't used Savita in ages (I love how deep and rich purple polish can look, but I don't often find myself going for a purple), and I straight away remembered why I've always wanted the other mattes from that line too! Savita is actually one of the first polishes that I posted on the blog, quite a difference with my current photos, don't you think? :D Thanks for looking and have a great weekend!

JORD Wood Watch Fieldcrest

2015-12-05T14:32:00.002+01:00

Hi guys! I'm starting the month with another gorgeous JORD Wood Watch - this time it's a Fieldcrest in Dark Sandalwood. I intended to create a mani to go with the watch, but it ended up looking a lot more like my background, haha! Keep on reading if you'd like to see more of this combo :)

The watch came in the wooden JORD box, which includes a few things like the spare links (if you have a watch sized before it's shipped) and a cleaning cloth. Fieldcrest is JORD's unisex watch and they offer it in 4 different wood combinations, but thanks to the natural material, each timepiece is unique, no matter which one you choose.

Besides their looks, I love how light these watches feel, and how the wood adapts to your temperature. It's there, but you hardly notice it!

I've shown you the Ely watch in Dark Sandalwood before, this one is similar but far from the same. The reason I went for a second Dark Sandalwood watch? JORD was so kind to let me gift this watch to my dad! ♥

As with all JORD watches, there's a lot of attention to detail, which gives their beautiful watches that little something extra to make them even more special. On the top right here, you can see the watch half closed, with half the stainless steel clasp shown - the other half is below the piece of the band that has their name engraved.

Ehm... that's not a toy, Dewey! Yes, blogging with cats can be a little tricky at times :D The background that I used here is my winter gardenset, and it's mainly there for the cats, haha. And Dewdew likes to get involved, especially when I'm near "his" stuff! ♥ (Standing there didn't give great light for my nailpics, but I only realised that afterwards - fluffy cat to make up for it! :))

I went with a simple mani with two-toned stamping, but a watch like this will go with any kind of colors, the wood just blends in nicely with almost anything. I bet this wood looks amazing paired with turquoise!

Essence No Doubt stamped with Essence Spicy, Kiko #617 Taupe and UberChic Beauty plate UC 4-03.

I wanted to show all 3 of the JORD watches that you can find on my blog, say hi to my sister and my dad! Or well, their arms at least, haha. I'm wearing the Cora that I've shown last month, my sister shows the Ely here, and my dad is wearing his Fieldcrest (he's very happy with it!). I already figured as much, but now I know for sure - their watches truly make wonderful gifts :)

If you also want to surprise someone with a very special & unique gift, or if you've had your eye on one of these lovely watches for yourself, then this might be the perfect time to get one...
I've partnered with JORD to giveaway e-gift cards worth $35.00 each for the holidays, yay! Entering is easy; click the link below - it will ask you for your email and your favorite JORD watch (and they have so many to choose from!). Once you hit enter your code will be emailed directly to you. Please note though, there's a limited quantity available!

•• Click here for your $35 JORD Gift Card ••

I think it's already clear from my posts that I LOVE these watches! How about you, do you feel the same about them? Thanks for looking and have a lovely weekend!

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Collage of the Month: November

2015-12-01T12:25:00.000+01:00

I'm starting the last month of this year with a cold and a sick cat, ugh! Hopefully the vet can help this afternoon and we'll both feel better soon :) In the mean time, here's the collage of november and, in case you missed those reviews, you can get 10% off at Onecklace with coupon code shinies10 & you can get a $35 JORD Gift Card through this link!

Onecklace silver chevron birthstone necklace

2015-11-28T15:46:00.000+01:00

Hey all! Today I have another Onecklace review for you, this time of a beautiful, chevron-shaped necklace with a Swarovski birthstone (diamond, to go with April). And of course I have a mani to go with it :)

And here's how it looks on me :) This Sterling silver necklace comes with either a box or a rolo chain, mine is an 18"/45cm rolo chain. You can choose the birthstone to go with your birthmonth, like I did, or you can of course just pick the color that you like the most!

Onecklace specializes in personalized jewelry, in silver, gold-plated, gold and white gold, and they have such a huge range of products - I'm sure you can find something you like on their website! They offer free, worldwide shipping and if you want, you can buy a gift box & bag along with your order.

For my nails I went with a 'brushed metal effect' basecolor, added some larger rhinestones and stamped some accentnails with silver. Those nails I did finish with top coat, the others I left as they were.

Catrice How I Matt Your Mother with China Glaze Millennium, Bundle Monster Polynesia BM-XL113 and Viva La Nails rhinestones.

If you're going to shop at Onecklace, you can use coupon code shinies10 for 10% off! What do you think of this necklace, and my mani? Thanks for looking and have a great weekend :D

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Simply swirled

2015-11-26T11:57:00.000+01:00

Time for something simple in between all the reviews, but simple doesn't mean boring to me; I never get tired of a mani like this! And it also shows that A England Let Me In stamps wonderfully ♥

Perfect Touch #27 Utaupia with A England Let Me In and UberChic Beauty plate UC4-01.

Onecklace silver angel wing bracelet

2015-11-24T15:39:00.001+01:00

Hi guys! A while ago I've reviewed an Onecklace angel wing necklace, and I'm so happy that I got another review opportunity with them! This time I chose a beautiful necklace, which I'll show sometime soon, and a bracelet that matches with the previous necklace. Here's a quick look at the bracelet and my nails, further down you'll find more information and a 10 off coupon code :)

This angel wing bracelet is Sterling silver (if you look closely you can see the silver mark), with a matching Sterling silver rolo chain. I chose the 6.5"/16.5 cm chain, but it's a little big for my wrists, as you can see below. If your wrists are fairly small as well, you could perhaps go for a shorter length, or have a jeweler move the chain to the next part in the tip of the wing.

Onecklace ships free worldwide and, if you like, you can add a gift box and bag to your order. Here's how that pretty gift box looks, ready to make a lovely present!

I thought the wing on the bracelet would be smaller, but it's actually the exact same size as the wing on the necklace. The necklace, however, has a little ring attached to it. If you like these wings: they also have earrings and different necklaces with them!

Onecklace specializes in personalized jewelry; name necklaces, monogram jewelry & engraved jewelry. So if you're looking for a piece like that, you should definitely check them out! But as these wings show, they also have quite a few other items, and it took me quite some time to choose from all their lovely pieces :)

For my mani I started with a basecolor and stamped on the flower image, then I added a subtle silver sparkle and finished it all off with a matte top coat.

A England Wuthering Heights with BornPrettyStore Ya Qin An #16, UberChic Beauty plate 4-01, Essence Glitter top coat and Dance Legend Top Satin.

What do you think of this bracelet? If you're looking for a special gift, for yourself or for someone else of course, make sure to check out Onecklace - and coupon code shinies10 will give you 10% off! Thanks for stopping by and take care :)

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

JORD Wood Watch Cora

2015-11-19T16:44:00.000+01:00

Hey all :) As you might've seen on my social media, the lovely people at JORD contacted me and asked if I wanted to review for them again, and of course I said yes! I've showed you the Ely watch before and this time I chose Cora, in a beautiful combination of Koa wood and rose gold, with little Swarovski sparkles here and there.

In this post you'll find my review, my nails of course, and... a $35 JORD Gift Card for you!

The watch arrived in its own wooden box, safely nested on a little pillow. The sapphire crystal glass is protected by a round sheet of clear plastic, which easily comes off. In the box you'll find a warranty card, an instruction card, a cleaning cloth and the remaining links (if you had it sized before shipping).

And here's Cora Koa & Rose Gold out of the box, isn't she lovely? I've had so many compliments already, and I can't stop looking at my watch either :)

"Finely grained golden Koa wood and rich rose tones encapsulate the beauty of a summer sunset. Warm, and luminous light is thrown across the horizon of grain, as the day ticks away. Simple and stunning, crafted to be adored, our Cora was created for you."

Cora is a self-winding automatic watch, meaning it requires no battery but winds by your movement. And you can see how it works, on both the front of the watch (a small part) and on the back. Look at all those extra little details! The added instruction card explains how you can wind it manually and set the time.

And here she is, on my wrist. The JORD Wood Watches feel very natural and are surprisingly light, and they fit nicely around my wrist. JORD offers to size the watch for you, which worked great for me, but if you find your watch being too tight after all, you can always take it with the spare links to your preferred jeweler. If you need more links, you can order them on the website as well.

I went for a doublestamped mani to go with the watch, but thanks to the natural wood, the watch matches well with all kinds of colors. And if Koa & Rose Gold isn't your cup of tea, JORD offers Cora in 5 gorgeous color combinations. I found it quite hard to choose, especially the Zebrawood & Turquoise got my attention, but I'm SO happy with my final choice - lovelovelove this watch!

The JORD Wood Watches open and close by a deployment buckle with push button; on the top left you can see it partially open. The wood on the right folds over the metal and clicks in place, as it is on the left side there. On the bottom left you can see how it sits on my wrist. You can open the band by pressing the 2 little bits of metal that stick out a tiny bit.

What's also great about these watches, is that they're made of wood and stainless steel, a great combination for people with metal allergies.

The Koa wood is amazing, it's like a duochrome wood! :D Check how the links look here; same watch, different angle. How cool is that!

I added some matte top coat to my nails later on, so in case you wonder; yes, some pictures have matte and others have shiny nails :)

Essence 02 stamped with Perfect Touch #04, China Glaze Poetic and PUEEN plate 15, and Dance Legend Top Satin.

Is this a beautiful watch, or what? ♥ I think the JORD watches make for a perfect gift, especially with the upcoming holidays! If you want to surprise someone with a very special & unique gift, or if you've had your eye on one of these lovely watches for yourself, then this might be the perfect time to get one...
I've partnered with JORD to giveaway e-gift cards worth $35.00 each for the holidays, yay! Entering is easy; click the link below - it will ask you for your email and your favorite JORD watch (and they have so many to choose from!). Once you hit enter your code will be emailed directly to you. Please note though, there's a limited quantity available!

•• Click here for your $35 JORD Gift Card ••

Have you looked at their watches? If so, I'd love to hear what your favorite is! You can find all their watches on the JORD Wood Watch website. Thanks for looking and take care!

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

More Messy Mansion plates!

2015-11-16T16:05:00.001+01:00

Howdy! Earlier this month I showed you 4 Messy Mansion plates, but those weren't the only ones that I received; here's another bunch of great, themed plates!

Messy Mansion MM66

Mardi Gras, although it'll work for the Dutch carnaval as well, and I used the image on the right for today's mani. I chose that one because it's a less unique image, but thanks to its size I could use it different after all. These images are large enough to fit sideways on my nails!

Messy Mansion MM72

Aren't those roses perfect for coloring? And I'm glad to see their thorns as well! I haven't seen square rozes before, but this plate has them. I'm loving the whole thing in the middle as well; for coloring, or for some little details. You could even use it as seaweed!

Messy Mansion MM73

Oh my, lalalove it! So pretty, so detailed, so perfect for the recent trend of stamping decals!

Messy Mansion MM75

Ha! Now there's something I haven't seen before, a wine themed plate! Yet it doesn't come as a surprise that it's a Messy Mansion plate, they do such themed plates so well, don't you think?

Essence I ♥ My Boyfriend with Dance legend Top Satin, A England Queen Of Scots, Tristam and Spirit Of The Moors with Messy Mansion MM66.

Aren't these plates unique and lovely? They work fantastic too! Once again, I'm impressed with their plates :)

You can buy the Messy Mansion plates on their website, and you can also find Messy Mansion on various social media, like Facebook and Instagram.

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Will it peel, will it stick?

2015-11-13T17:02:00.002+01:00

I'm starting the weekend with a review of 2 products, and 2 matching manis! Let's take a look at one of the finished results first, I'll share my thoughts on the products further down.

BornPrettyStore send me their peel off liquid tape product, which came in a simple white bottle without any information on it. I've only tried 1 peel off product before and even though I love that stuff, a cheaper version wouldn't hurt! So I hoped this would be just that.
The first thing I noticed was the scent of the product; it smells like citrus, which was a nice surprise, although I don't like it more or less than the usual chemical smell. It applied fairly easy, but as you can see on the side of my thumb, it didn't stay together so well. That worried me a little, how can it peel off in 1 go when there's little bits and pieces on my fingers? On the bright side, my fingers didn't stick together and peel off the product when accidentally touching another finger with the product, which is the case with my usual stuff.

Here's the bottle and, oh boy, the first peel. That doesn't look too good!

Right. No, this isn't what I'm looking for! I had to scratch it off my skin to start peeling, and had to scratch off lots of loose bits and pieces afterwards. Yikes! I tried to apply thicker coats on a 2nd attempt, but then it just wouldn't dry... According to their information on the website, it would normally dry within 5 minutes.

Now I'm not sure if it's just my bottle, the product gets good reviews on the website and I've had products go bad during transport before, so maybe that's the case here too? But I don't know that, and I'm sharing my experience with the product that I have here. Or maybe this specific peel off just needs a little practice to get the right amount on your skin?
If you want to try it out, you can find it here on the BPS website. A bottle of 15ml costs $4.59 (don't forget to use couponcode ABJ61 for 10% off!).

Essence Ciao Oliviero saransponged with A England Fotheringhay Castle, BornPrettyStore Temix #12 and UberChic Beauty UC Out Of Africa-01.

The next product that I received are these stickers:

This sheet has the most adorable images, don't you think? They're so pretty and sweet!

The stickers stuck to my nails at first, although I think they're a little on the thicker side and the tiny flowers didn't like the curve of my nails as much. So on some parts the edges came loose. My top coat didn't exactly make things better... From a distance it looks pretty good nevertheless, but these big photos are showing clear lines. I think they'll work better on flatter nails, and I'll stick them on something else instead, because I think they're so cute that I almost forget about how they sit on my nails!

You can find the stickers here, a sheet costs $3.69 (coupon code ABJ61 gives 10% off).

A England Cathy with BornPrettyStore stickers.

Have you tried the liquid peel off? If so, I'd love to hear your thoughts on it! Have a great weekend :)

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Flowers, flowers everywhere!

2015-11-11T11:55:00.001+01:00

Hi guys! I just got home from shopping with my sister (new shoes, yay!) and I'm now working on some reviews. In the mean time, here's a mani from the vault with doublestamped flowers. I didn't plan on doublestamping, but the first polish that I used was less suited for stamping than I thought, oops! It gave an uneven result, but below the 2nd color, it works after all and adds a nice sparkly touch :)

Dance Legend #1031 with A England Gloriana, China Glaze Red-y & Willing and BornPrettyStore BP-L015.

A England To Emily Bronte Collection

2015-11-09T15:23:00.001+01:00

A England's latest collection is yet another masterpiece; this time it's a collection that's dedicated to the author of the worldwide famous English gothic novel Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë. I fell in love with every single polish in this collection, and I'm eager to tell you why!

CATHY

ghostly, eerie white grey holo with an illusory flash of blue

the unhappy tormented female protagonist fluctuating as a ghost after her tragic and premature death

I'm starting with Cathy, a beautiful, soft grey polish that leans a little lilac here and there. Cathy has a very fine & very subtle holo effect and blue shimmer. I think the soft color makes for a perfect nail art base that will combine perfect with all kinds of colors, but it works fantastic on its own as well. I can't wait to see this in sunlight, but at the same time, it doesn't need sunlight to look really lovely and sweet. I'm wearing 2 coats with top coat.

HEATHCLIFF

a subtle glitter on a black base

the male protagonist tenebrous and full of hidden sparkle and tumultuous feelings

Heathcliff is my least favorite of the bunch, but I'm loving it nevertheless! I can't point out precisely why, you know I'm not wearing blacks and glitters as much, but I don't know, this polish still has that elegant and sophisticated A England feel to it. Heathcliff is filled with blue, purple, red and silvery-golden glitters. Shown here is 2 coats of Heathcliff with top coat.

LET ME IN

dark red berry holo full of depth and passion

the haunting cry of Cathy as a ghost by the house where she lived her youth

Well hello there, you beauty! With Let Me In it's not just the color that does it for me, but it's pretty much a 1-coater, and you know what that means... stamping! Let Me In is a red-berry color, that can look more purple-berry as well, as some of my swatches show (on my screen at least :)). It's packed with that typical A England holographic sparkle that I adore. This is 2 coats with top coat, but 1 thicker coat will work as well.

SPIRIT OF THE MOORS

bright blu holo revealing at times tiny surprising green lights

the moors is the vast scenery, where all the characters move and the story unfolds, which envelopes and reveals the essence and soul of them

Woah! This has to be one of my favorite blues; the vibrant color, that holographic sparkle, and the flawless A England application, lovelovelove! My Spirit Of The Moors is unfortunately a little too sheer for stamping, but it still covers in 2 slightly thicker coats (swatched with top coat).

WUTHERING HEIGHTS

soft medium grey holo wrapping multiple reflections

the setting of the novel: a dark, windy, stormy place

Another finer and more subtle holo, this time in a medium grey base. It's perfect for these seasons, a classy polish that'll make for a great nail art base as well. Wuthering Heights covered in 2 coats (what's new!) and is shown here with top coat. The holo effect is more obvious than in Cathy, yet finer than the usual A England holo effect (as shown in Let Me In and Spirit Of The Moors). I'm looking forward to seeing this collection in sunlight!

I'm sure it doesn't come as a surprise that these polishes all applied like a dream, and I just can't rave enough about A England's polishes. To Emily Bronte is another wonderful collection, and I can't pick a favorite here - that really depends on my mood. This might sound a little dramatic, but have you ever felt happy inside from a polish, that it somehow moved you? These did just that for me. Well done, Adina ♥

How about you, can you pick a favorite? If so, I'd love to hear what it is! Thanks for looking and take care :)

I couldn't skip this quote, it's shown with this collection on the A England website, isn't it romantic?

"Whatever souls are made of

his and mine

are the same"

You can find the collection in various webshops and of course on the A England website.

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Bundle Monster holiday themed plateset: Halloween & Thanksgiving

2015-11-07T14:47:00.000+01:00

Hey lovelies :) Unfortunately my review is too late for Halloween, but this Bundle Monster plateset isn't just about the scary and the spooky, there's a lot more images to match with the current season! Here's the mani that I did with the set, you can check out all the plates further down!

The first plate of the set is clearly a Halloween themed plate, and it brings us all kinds of scary images, but I also see a little owl, a wood print and some leaves, in case things are getting a bit too scary for you :) Halloween isn't that common yet in the Netherlands, but that increases every year, so who knows, I might just join in for the scary nails next year!

Scary cute is a good way to describe this plate, and it's perfect for a lighthearted approach, or for kids' nails perhaps?

If you want to get creative with scary images, this set'll be perfect, it offers anything I can think of! But it's not just a set that you can only bring out once every year. Here's another plate that'll make you think of Halloween straight away, but also gives other options; the fence on the right, the roof of the house, a tree and leaves, random symbols around the witch on her broom.

Well, if you're looking for pumpkin nails, look no further! Although I'm sure at least some of these will work with different colors as well, like the catface or the skelletonface above it.

Pumpkins, bats, blood drips and cobwebs, it just goes on and on, they really covered it all in this set! The blood drips will work great as paint drips as well I'm sure, and the trees near the bottom right could also look a little like tribals. Sideways in black, on a nice sponged base or gradient?

Halfway through the set, the theme switches to Thanksgiving/Harvest, and it'll make for lovely fall nails too! Especially this plate, it reminds me of what you'll find in a forest in this season. And it gives plenty options for colored decals!

You could grab a specific image of this plate, or just use it as a large full nail image; each nail could have its own text/image, yet all will match perfectly. This plate puts me in the mood for fall colors, warm scents like cinnamon and cloves, candles, cozy blankets, ... Lovely!

This plate clearly shows the Harvest theme, and for today's mani I used the top left image :)

Food full nail images! These just ask for a little extra color in the form of stamping decals or reversed stamping. Or you could combine a few nuts with the squirrel from plate BM-S206, add some leaves, done!

More food, including turkeys - if you're celebrating these holidays, this set might be just the thing for you! :)

Extra information: the plates measure 5.5x5.5 cm (2x2 inch) and come with the usual protective blue foil and cover on the back. The images transfer wonderfully, as usual with Bundle Monster plates. The whole set is currently on sale for $12.99 (normal price $14.99)!

I went for some colored decals to create some accentnails, starting with top coat on my Uber Mat, then I stamped the image in brown. I used 2 copper colors, a gold and some green to color in the design, then I used my basecolor on top of that (this way any possible airbubbles won't be visible after transferring the design!). The decals were quite uneven, so I used a ridgefiller and then I let the whole thing dry. I applied 1 coat of the basecolor, placed the decal on my nails, did a cleanup and sealed them in with top coat. Because of the ridgefiller, I only needed a thin coat to get an even result :) On a side note, I'm sure it's obvious that I love this basecolor ^^

Dance Legend #1031 with BornPrettyStore Newly Sweet Style #19, Trind Sunset Orange, Catrice Rusty But Sexy, Trind Emerald Swirl, China Glaze 2030 and Bundle Monster BM-S208.

What do you think of this set, and are you celebrating these holidays? I like these plates, they capture the themes very well I'd say, but I think I'd use it a lot more if we celebrated those holidays here. And I'm very curious to see what other themed sets Bundle Monster will come up with, they're referring to this set as 'part 1 of our Occasions Collection'. I could imagine a set for each season, and it wouldn't surprise me if we'll see Christmas trees, snowflakes and winter sweaters next!
Thanks for looking and have a great weekend! ♥

You can find Bundle Monster on the following social media: Facebook - Twitter - Pinterest - Instagram - Google+ - Youtube.

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

4 Messy Mansion plates

2015-11-05T15:39:00.002+01:00

Good afternoon! The next review that I have for you is of a couple of Messy Mansion stamping plates. I'm starting with these plates, but there will be another post with 4 more of their lovely plates, so keep an eye on my blog if you wish to see more of them. Let's have a look at my nails first:

Messy Mansion MM64

This is the plate that I used for today's mani, and this one clearly has a beach theme. Messy Mansion has a lot of themed plates, including the ones shown in this post, so if you're looking for a specific theme, they might just have it!
I haven't updated my comparison with these plates yet, and their images often vary a little in size, so measuring and updating that comparison will come later. But to give you an idea, the full nail images on this plate are 2.3x1.7cm.

I love that middle image on this plate! It's the one that I used for this mani, and I went with colors to match more with the theme, but I bet it'll look great in other colors as well. Or maybe as a fully colored decal? I think the plate offers a nice variety, some small images to make a themed mani, a few larger that'll work with different color schemes, and some larger ones that really go with the theme.

Messy Mansion MM68

Sunflowers! Who knew you could get so many different sunflower images on a plate, haha, even the seeds are included! You can of course go for the obvious colors here, but I'm sure that these flowers will work in any color, or fully colored as well.

Messy Mansion MM69

If you like jewelry, look no further! This plate packs it all; earrings, bracelets, diamonds, rings, ... Those diamond images with a holo base, or silver glitter perhaps? An accentnail with the necklace (bottom right)?

Spicing things up with the last plate in this post! You do need fairly large nails to be able to get an entire image on your nails (like the woman's face, it's around 2.2x1.8cm), but a piece of lace, the laces on the right, or the laced corset will be easier to use.
I'll be honest though, I'm sure there's people who would love these images as they are, but personally, I don't think I'll ever stamp a bra on my nails! However, if you can look past the obvious images on the plate, and imagine just a part of an image, maybe stamped sideways or on the top of your nails, it really offers a lot more than those obvious images :) Example, the little corset on the bottom left, stamp half of it on the top of your nails (either the top or bottom half), and it'll look like a random little detail.

Dance Legend Olga with A England Queen Of Scots and Messy Mansion plate MM64.

I think the Messy Mansion plates are great; they have unique and fun images, their large images will work for a lot of ladies, the quality is always perfect, and their themed plates are done so well! And if you can look past the themes, most plates offer a lot more than that.
You can buy the Messy Mansion plates on their website, not only do they have a lot of stamping plates, they carry various stamping tools as well. You can also find Messy Mansion on various social media, like Facebook and Instagram.

What do you think of the plates shown here, and my mani? I'd love to hear it! :)

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

DRK Nails plate and BornPrettyStore stamping polish

2015-11-04T14:49:00.005+01:00

Hi guys! I've shown you a couple of DRK Nails stamping plates a while ago, but there was one plate that I still didn't show yet. Yep, it's long overdue, but better late than never, right? And speaking of DRK Nails, did you know they also sell stamping mats now? They have them in 4 different colors even! I haven't tried them, but if you're looking for a mat, you might want to check them out. BornPrettyStore has send me yet another impressive stamping polish, so I figured to combine the plate with the polish, and catch up with my reviews a little bit faster :)

Here's the DRK plate that I didn't show yet! My plan was to create some colored stamping decals with the little bee, the spider and some butterflies, but since I'm behind I figured to go for the easy route for now; stamp those stripes! They looked really straight on the nails, but these big photos are always a little harsh (if you hold your finger next to the nails on your screen and see the size difference, I'm sure you can imagine them looking straight on the nails, haha!). I think the catface and the ball of wool could make a nice combo as well, but that bee is the cutest! You can find this plate on the DRK Nails website, it costs $6.50.

The stamping polish that I used is a dark brown from BornPrettyStore. It looks more red in the bottle, and I'm not loving that color as much, but on the nails it's really a dark brown. I didn't have a dark brown creme stamping polish yet, and I'm liking this specific color brown! It'll be perfect for any coffee-themed mani, but of course also for the current season! Imagine a stamped tree with some red/yellow leaves, or use it for the outlines of a colored pumpkin.
The polish worked perfect; it's not too thick and very pigmented, yet it didn't stain. This polish is #19 and can be found here, a bottle of 15ml costs $3.99, and as you can see, they have plenty of colors available! I've recently reviewed 2 more stamping polish brands from BPS that I liked, you can find those reviews here and here.

Dance Legend #1031 with BornPrettyStore Newly Sweet Style #19, DRK Nails plate DRK A5 and BornPrettyStore round studs.

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Collage of the Month: August - September - October

2015-11-03T09:26:00.000+01:00

Time has gone by so fast these last couple of months! I hope to find more time for nails this month :) Here's the collage of the past 3 months:

Femme Fatale Cosmetics - The Dune Collection

2015-10-29T16:04:00.001+01:00

Femme Fatale Cosmetics will release 1 more collection in 2015, and that'll be The Dune Collection. The presale for this collection runs from November 1-5, so make sure to grab any polishes that you might want during those days :)

"The Dune Collection is an 8 piece set inspired by the 1965 epic science fiction novel by Frank Herbert. An absolute sci-fi classic and a favourite of mine. This collection channels particularly warm tones and holographic microglitters."

All swatches are done with a peel off basecoat and top coat.

Starting with my favorite, Blue-Within-Blue Eyes. I used 3 coats here, because I wasn't sure how the thermal effect would look, but I think 2 will be fine as well. And I bet this'll look lovely when layered on a blue or black too! It goes from a lovely light blue (warm) to a rich blue when cold, and because of the purple shimmer, it'll look more blurple then as well.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Blue-Within-Blue Eyes

Here we have 2 coats of Genetic Memory, a purple base that leans brown, and has a flash of blue in it. The basecolor combined with the color of those mini flakies make for a warm color, with a slightly cooler flash.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Genetic Memory

A golden holographic glitter that covers in 2 coats: Grandfather Of The Desert. What can I say here, it's exactly what you'd expect of a gold holo glitter, and it'll be great for the holidays as well!

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Grandfather Of The Desert

Reverend Mothers covered in 2 coats as well, and I find it a little challenging to describe it! The holographic glitters are quite obvious, but then... Hmm, a darker peachy-pink base, which varies a little depending on the angle, and a shimmer that makes it look a little duochrome leaning blue. Or something. :P

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Reverend Mothers

I guess it doesn't come as a surprise that this is a 2-coater as well! Sandscrawler has a golden base with an orange to green duochrome effect. Not the strongest duochrome you can imagine, but as usual with FFC, unique and pretty!

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Sandscrawler

Another favorite of mine, The Secret Coinage. I used 3 coats here, and that creates a salmon pink color that can lean a little gold here and there (or is it golden holo glitters? Ehh...), which is packed with holographic glitters, a strong pink shimmer and if that's not enough, little flakies! On the pic below you can see the holographic effect a little better, the macroshot below that shows the shimmer and flakies well.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics The Secret Coinage

Let's continue with The Weirding Way, shown here with 2 coats. The strong blue shimmer and holographic glitter give me yet another challenge in describing the color, haha! I'd say a red/brown/purple (with 3 guesses I can't be too far off ;)).

Femme Fatale Cosmetics The Weirding Way

The last polish of the collection is Voice Of The Outer World, and just as with the previous thermal, I used 3 coats here but probably could've gotten away with 2. This thermal goes from clear (warm) to purple (cold), but even when it's clear it looks a little blue thanks to the strong shimmer. Even though this has such a strong shimmer and of course all those little blue flakies, the cold basecolor still is a real purple, not a blurple.

Femme Fatale Cosmetics Voice Of The Outer World

The Dune Collection will be available from 1-5 November on the Femme Fatale Cosmetics website, and in various webshops like Shiro Cosmetics, Live Love Polish, Color4Nails, Beautometry, Rainbow Connection, Beauty So Fly and Dope Nails.

What do you think of these polishes, and which is (are) your favorite(s)? Thanks for looking and take care! ♥

The product(s) in this post was/were send to me for review. For more information, please have a look at my Disclosure Policy.

Oooh, Shinies!

JORD Wood Watch: a review and giveaway!

I can finally say it now...

Stamped marble with Bundle Monster, BornPrettyStore and Dance Legend

Lady Queen héhé stamping plates

Essence & Catrice Spring/Summer - Preview *pic heavy*

My Top 10 of 2015: Nail art

My Top 10 of 2015: Polishes

Happy Holidays!

BornPrettyStore mesh pattern vinyls

Subtle Savita

JORD Wood Watch Fieldcrest

Collage of the Month: November

Onecklace silver chevron birthstone necklace

Simply swirled

Onecklace silver angel wing bracelet

JORD Wood Watch Cora

More Messy Mansion plates!

Will it peel, will it stick?

Flowers, flowers everywhere!

A England To Emily Bronte Collection

Bundle Monster holiday themed plateset: Halloween & Thanksgiving

4 Messy Mansion plates

DRK Nails plate and BornPrettyStore stamping polish

Collage of the Month: August - September - October

Femme Fatale Cosmetics - The Dune Collection

Essence & Catrice Spring/Summer - Preview pic heavy