Love. Varnish, chocolate and more...

The Bloglight - You tell ME!

2013-06-19T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you today? I was a bad girl and ended up buying Chanel Azuré.. after saying I didn't need it. But yeah, I did after all ;-)! It is such a beauty ♥.

Today's version of The Bloglight isn't about me telling you which blog to follow - I want you to tell ME! The only restriction is I want you to nominate a blog that isn't your own.

All comments containing a link are marked as spam mandatory so don't freak out when your comment doesn't show up right away, I have to approve it first! So, have fun, tell me which blogs I should follow (this isn't a promise I will) and it would be very nice to read what motivates your opinion!

Bondi Blue Skies & Essie Stroke of Brilliance

2013-06-18T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you today? It is very very hot here (at least outdoors), around 31 degrees Celsius. It has been around 20 degrees Celsius for days so it makes quite the impact. Tomorrow it'll be even hotter and in the evening thunder is coming, together with rain... so far our summer weather LOL!

Today I am showing you a combo I quite liked. It's Bondi Blue Skies and Essie Stroke of Brilliance. I bought that last one not only because it is such a pretty glitter, but also so I can try and recreate a look like this. I love that one so much!

Bondi Blue Skies is a lovely creme polish, kinda dusty and not quite pastel, but not bright either. Somehow it makes me think of freshly washed sheets, whispering in the air.. Uhm, yeah. It might be the heat talking ;-). It applied easily in 2 coats. At first it was kinda goopy - not completely selfleveling while being very opaque. But, I did shake it quite well before using it and after it settled a bit, my other nails painted much easier somehow.

After it dried I used a sponge and Essie Stroke of Brilliance to create glitter tips. I am not completely happy with how these came out, but oh well.. you win some, you loose some right? The endresult was still quite nice!

Bondi polishes can be found on their own website as well at Harlow & Co. They retail for $12,50. Also check out their Facebook, Twitter & Instagram! Bondi is a very customer friendly company - it makes the polishes even better for me.

Do you own Essie Stroke of Brilliance? And what is your favorite combo with it?

I Bought This

Shimmer Karen & Julie

2013-06-17T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

I've got another 2 gorgeous shimmer polishes for you this Monday!

First up is Karen, a beautiful purple glitter mix. It's made up of lilac, purple and holographic glitters in different shapes and sizes. It's a bit sheer to wear on its own because the base is clear, so I thought I would wear it over Kiko - 333 brilliant violet, which is the same colour as the purple glitter. I really liked the mix and match manicure I did with Valerie, so I decided to give it another go :) This time I did some stamping and a splattered nail with China glaze Harmony and Hema 11 (a silver foil). The stamping plate was bm-321.

I really like Karen. The colours really speak to me, and the sparkle is great! I also don't mind a clear base with glitters, as I usually layer them anyway.

Next up is Julie, a clear base with a fun mix of every colour except black, but predominantly silver and purple. I thought this one would look great over black, but when I was picking one my eye fell on I wear my sunglasses at night from Catrice, a pretty black with tiny purple and green sparkles.

So instead of just painting Julie over a black base, I did a gradient so that the glitter would flow over into the sparkles from the Catrice polish! I really love the result. It's very bling and showy, but not too much so.

So what do you guys think? Have you seen any must have Shimmer polishes yet? Are you curious to see the other 6 I've got to show you? Stay tuned, they are coming up!

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Swatches & Review - El Corazon Easter Eggs

2013-06-16T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you this Sunday? Any plans? In Holland it is Father's Day today, but I am actually not visiting my father (shame on me) because we have a birthday party to attend - my best friends son turned 4 last week!

Today I have quite the post for you - swatches & review of 6 polishes, all from the El Corazon Easter Eggs collection! These are a fun and bright colored take on the speckled trend, with the same kind of black glitter in each polish. The shades are all very different and there is something in this collection for everyone!

Formula was the same for 4 out of 6 polishes, the other 2 (number 423-100 & 423-102) I'll describe seperately. These polishes are sheer and feel a little watery, so not jelly sheer but more watered down creme sheer? If that makes any sense.. I needed 3 coats for them, and normally I wouldn't like that but it makes sense with these polishes: it allows the glitter to get a nice buildup and create some depth. They applied quite even and weren´t patchy at all (even the yellow wasn´t!), and with a thin layer of topcoat (I used Essence Better Than Gel Top Sealer, a new bottle so it was quite thin) they all felt smooth to the touch.

So, let's take a look, shall we?

First up is 423-97, the pink one. I couldn't really capture the true color, it is way brighter than it looks here - it also did not match bottle color. It is like a bubble gum pink in real life.

I like the combo of pink and black, it stands out nicely, and it seems fitting for an Easter Egg collection. This wasn't my favorite though. This had great glitter payoff.

Second one, 423-98, the blue one. This is a nice and soft shade of blue, the black really stands out in this one. The glitter payoff was a little less, but I still liked the amount.

Third one, 423-99, a purple color. Based on the bottle I thought this would be my favorite out of the bunch, but somehow I just didn't like it on me.

Great glitter payoff, and good spread too.

Fourth is 423-100. A berry/red kind of color. This one had a different formula, it was true jelly like instead of just sheer. It applied heavenly in 2 coats. The glitter payoff is a bit less but I didn't mind, the color itself is so beautiful it would be overpowering if there would be too much black.

Fifth one is 423-101, the yellow. Aaaah, yellow, one of the lesser loved colors in polishworld. It is very fitting for a collection like this and the black glitter is a really fun addition.

It is a warm shade of yellow and I am not sure how I liked it on me.

Last but not least, 423-102, the green shade. This one looks like mint chip ice cream! This also had a bit different formula, more creamy. I needed 2 coats for this one.

Together with the berry/red one I liked this the most.

El Corazon polish can be bought by sending an e-mail to ELCorazonzakaz@gmail.com. I do not have any idea of the shipping costs or the price per polish unfortunately.

So, there you have it, the 6 shades of the El Corazon Easter Egg Collection! Which one is your favorite? Tell me in the comments!

Press Samples

Chanel Taboo

2013-06-15T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you today? I am having an awful neck pain, but I did some swatching this afternoon so hopefully the El Corazon Easter Egg collection will be shown tomorrow!

Today I have a gorgeous lacquer for you. I wasn't going to get this one, but then I walked through ICI Paris XL and they had 25% off.. and I bought it. Woops! I am not sorry though as this polish is gorgeous, beautiful, perfect. Chanel Taboo is a musthave!

I needed 2 coats and it applied heavenly. Chanel's brush is one of my favorites, round brushes just work better for me! Finishing with a topcoat it dried to a nice shiny surface. It wore good too, 2 days without chipping or tipwear.

Did you bust out the bucks and purchase this beauty? Or are you not convinced? Tell me in the comments!

I Bought This

OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest

2013-06-13T20:39:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! A quick post as I am a bit lazy and don't have a whole lot to ramble about - and I want to get back at staring at Chanel Taboo as soon as possible ;-)!

Today I am showing you a look I did with OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest and Revlon Copper Penny. I ordered these french manicure stickers that holds 3 designs: the classic shape, a sharp V shape and a flowy V/curtain like shape.

I wanted to create a halfmoon like nailart so I started with a base of Revlon Copper Penny (1 coat) and let it dry. It dries quickly so yay! Then, I grabbed the flowy V shaped stickers, and placed them more on the bottom half of my nail, with the pointy side upwards. Using OPI Every Month Is Oktoberfest I painted a thickish coat on the top half of my nails, removing each sticker after each nail.

The result was a ladylike manicure, though it didn't photograph as pretty :-(. Hope you still like it.

Do you ever use those french manicure stickers? And what do you like to create with them?

I Bought This

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Striped Nails!

2013-06-12T20:00:00.000+02:00

Deborah's manicure - Ay ay, sailor!

Hi loves! Can you believe I already prepped this manicure not last Sunday, but the Sunday before? I had this idea pop up in my head and knew I wouldn't have much time after that day to make this work, so I just jumped on it. Glad to finally be able to show you!

I started with a base of 2/3 coats of OPI My Vampire Is Buff. Seriously, if you don't have this shade yet.. GET IT! It is amazing, a soft base for all kids of nail art and not boring to look at when you want to wear something classy but pure.

After it dried, I used some regular scotch tape to tape off sections on my thumb and middle finger, and a combination of scotch tape and striping tape was used for my ring finger. I used OPI I Saw.. You Saw.. We Saw.. Warsaw for the blue and Essence Fame Fatal for the red, and China Glaze 2030 for the gold stripes. I also used that gold polish to freehand some anchors (they don't look too bad, do they?) and after it settled for a while, I topcoated everything. Voilà, nautical nails all done!

What kind of nail art would you do for this challenge? Tell us in the comments!

Loqi's manicure - Holograpic stripes

Hi everybody! We've finally had some very nice and sunny days here in The Netherlands. And for me that means one specific thing: holographic polishes! So for today's challenge I thought I would do holo stripes.

I started off with a base of Color Club AngelKkiss, a blue toned green holo, and let that dry. Then I put a gazillion pieces of striping tape on all of my nails (yes, I did both hands!) and put 2 quick coats of Color Club Cloud Nine, a pinkish purple holo, over it and pulled the tape off. I chose the Color Club polishes because they can be topcoated without losing the holo effect, and tape-manicures get some texture to them witch I wanted to minimize.

I am very pleased with how this turned out! This is what it looks like inside:

But this is what you really wanted to see right? Holobomb whooooo!

Stay tuned for challenge day 13: Animal Print nails!

Previous manicures:
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Polkadot Nails!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Gradient Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Rainbow Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Metallic Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Black and White Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Violet Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Blue Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Green Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Yellow Nails!
31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Orange Nails!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Red Nails!

I Bought This Press Samples

OPI Jinx

2013-06-11T20:01:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How have you been? I came home today from a long weekend in Zürich, Switzerland. My boyfriend and I visited his family, it was fun! But, we took the night train and now my neck is so sore I can't even really turn my head.. painting my nails today also was a bit painful but necessary I had been wearing gel polish since last week Tuesday and I was SO done with it!

Luckily, before we left OPI Jinx arrived, I already swatched it on a nailwheel so I knew how beautiful it would look. I am still very impressed with it on my nails and really adore this beauty. This one is from the Bond Girls collection, I must admit I am debating to get Honeyrider too - so pretty!

I needed 2 coats and it applied easy, no clumping or patchyness at all. I started using Duri Rejuvacote as my basecoat today, curious to see the results! OPI Jinx dried quickly and when it dried, the beautiful matte yet sparkly texture came to surface. The gold sparkles so pretty!

Do you like this texture as much as I do? Tell me what your favorite texture polish is in the comments!

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Shimmer Mary & Leslie

2013-06-10T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!
I've got another 2 gorgeous Shimmer polishes for you this week, Mary and Leslie.

First up is Mary, a very pretty berry colour. Mary is a mix of different red and purple glitters with some larger black and silver ones in it. The base is tinted, so it's perfectly wearable on its own. Shown here is 3 coats, no base-colour, with 2 coats of topcoat. All Shimmer polishes eat topcoat so you really need 2 coats for that smooth shininess.

Leslie is a gorgeous mix of small and large light and darker blue glitter, medium purple glitter and small red and very light blue-green glitter. Not only are there a lot of different colours and sizes in this polish, the glitters are a mix of square, round and hexagonal too, making this an insane mix of sparkle! Leslie has a more clear base so used H&M Liberty girl as a base for a little glitter gradient.

This one was gorgeous in the sunlight (the weather is finally nice here!), so sparkly! I hope you guys like them and see you soon!

Press Samples I Bought This

I wanna see your peacock!

2013-06-09T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! Today I've got something great to show you - at least I thought this manicure was fabulous! I received some more things from Born Pretty Store to review and I couldn't wait to create a look with these beautiful gold marquise shape studs.

They quickly inspired me to do a "peacock" manicure, though pretty abstract haha! I hope you still like it :). I started with 2 coats of H&M Lady Luck. I keep telling myself this is close enough to Chanel Azure so I don't need that one. I haven't compared them side by side though.. after it dried, I taped of my nail and painted the tips with CND Urban Oasis, a onecoater teal. I liked the contrast already but wanted something to pull the colors together. I put down a strip of clear on the middle of each border and put down the studs! Press them down, seal with topcoat and you are done!

Born Pretty Store sells a lot of great nailart products, the studs I used cost $5,83 and the bag holds quite a few studs (no, I didn't count them - you can reuse them though!). With the code DELJ61 you get 10% discount on any order!

What do you think of these studs, and how would you use them?

Press Samples Affiliate Links I Bought This

Guestpost from Mirma Natalia

2013-06-08T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! Today is a special day as I have a gorgeous guestpost from Natalia, seriously this girl had the most perfect nails and hands and I just adore her blog, so I was very happy she wanted to guestpost! Enjoy, and don't forget to check her own blog before you leave ;-).

Hello lovely readers of Love, Varnish, Chocolate and More...!

I'm Natalia from Mirma Natalia and I'm so happy to be guest posting here today.

I've prepared for you swatches Sally Hansen Lustre Shine 004 Azure and little comparison.

SH Azure is a beautiful blue & purple slight duochrome shimmer. The formula was great, but thin and I needed three coats to make it opaque.

Comparison:

Pupa and Guerlain are darker than SH Azure and they have more purple tone. Chanel lighter and has another blue color.

Thanks so much to Deborah for this opportunity and I hope you enjoyed looking at photos!

Natalia

Swatches & Review - Femme Fatale Cosmetics

2013-06-07T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! Recently I received 4 complimentary mini's from Femme Fatale Cosmetics, provided for review. Today I have the first 2 for you, the other 2 are waiting to be edited and posted ;-).

I must say I was very impressed in the way the review package was put together. Sometimes it can be difficult to determine what a brand wants you to include or mention in your review, or if there are any expectations when the review should be due. Femme Fatale Cosmetics nicely added an information sheet, with everything I had to know to do my review! This might not be interesting if you aren't a blogger, but I can only assume the take as much care of their regular orders and that must mean good customer service!

Now, about the lacquers. Today I am showing you 2 out of 4, I chose to show the layered glitters first. Application wasn't bad but not easy either - these are STUFFED with glitter so some dabbing and placing is needed to get a nice result. They did dry quite smooth for glitters like these, but still need a coat of something like Gelous before your regular topcoat.

Let's start with Coldwraith. This is described as: a dense blue glitterfest in a deep blue base, with hints of teal holo and flashes of purple. Totally accurate!

I layered 1 coat of this beauty over Essence Show Your Feet Deep Blue Sea (a dark blue shimmer) and they combined gorgeously.

This one applied a little bit better than the second polish I am showing you today, it spread out nicely, I just had to make sure there wasn't any piling glitter.

The second polish I am showing you today is Dream Bough. What is a bough? Because I have no idea haha. This is described as: a sheer bruise-purple base with green shimmers, various green/teal hexes, iridescence and a scattering of lavender. Again, very accurate!

I must admit I was a bit afraid of this polish - the sheer purple base combined with the green glitter (including bar glitter) left me a bit puzzled on how to combine this one. Then I decided the best thing would be to go with the base of the polish. I grabbed Models Own Purple Grey and layered Dream Bough on top of that (1 coat). Quite a nice match I must say!

The green shimmer is gorgeous, and I was surprised how cute they green looked against the base. This applied a bit more tricky, it seemed thicker and didn't spread as easy so I had to be very careful in spreading the glitter.

Have you seen anything you like? And have you ever tried Femme Fatale Cosmetics?

If you are interested in trying them after this review, you can purchase them through www.femmefatalecosmetics.com.au, a full size bottle costs $9,85 and they offer worldwide shipping!

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A little bit of everything ft. Shimmer Sarah

2013-06-06T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you today? I am writing this post far in advance so I can't really tell you how I am ;-).

Today I am showing you a fun skittlette that was created to feature Shimmer Sarah. This won't be the only time I show this because this is just 1 nail, but as Loqi already said last Monday, we don't want to do the "regular" reviews because there already are so many of those out there about Shimmer polishes!

Now, for this skittlette. Thumb - Bondi Lady Liberty (2 coats), 2 golden round studs. Index - Bondi Lady Liberty (2 coats), freehand leopard with China Glaze Exotic Encounters & Wet 'n Wild Black Crème. Middle - Bondi Lady Liberty (2 coats), gradient with China Glaze Exotic Encounters. Ring - China Glaze Exotic Encounters (2 coats), Shimmer Sarah (2 coats). Pinky - China Glaze Exotic Encounters (2 coats), 2 golden round studs.

Shimmer Sarah is a gorgeous glitter, there is purple, blue, green and gold (I am not describing every glitter bit as it is near impossible to identify them all - these polishes are complex!) in a slightly muted sheer grey base. Therefore it is best to layer over darker colors, a lighter polish will be altered by the base. It applied so easy, spreading like a cream instead of a glitter. It also dries really smooth!

I loved this manicure a lot! The combo of the glitter and the studs ♥ I love studs so much haha!

Which nail is your favorite?

Shimmer polishes can be bought in her Etsy webshop, a bottle holds 15ml. of polish and costs $12. Shimmer can also be found on Facebook and Cindy has a blog too!

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The Bloglight - heartnat

2013-06-05T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you today? I am almost leaving for a long weekend in Zürich - my boyfriend's uncle and aunt live there and we are staying at their house. If anyone has any tips on what to do and to see there, let me know!

Today I am sharing with you another Instagram crush - I've been following this girl for a while now and she does the cutest nailart! I really love her long nails and all combo's she does are awesome.

Say hi to Natalie from heartnat! If you can squeeze in another blog on your reading list this totally is a must visit blog!

The Polish Well Gluttony

2013-06-04T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How about a superfun and happy manicure for today? I was feeling down the other day and wanted a manicure that would cheer me up - The Polish Well Gluttony was still untried and what could be happier than multicolor glitter?

I started with 2 coats of China Glaze Kinetic Candy, which has the most perfect formula! Smooth, buttery, flowy and opaque in 2 coats. Looove it! After it dried a bit, I applied 1 coat of The Polish Well Gluttony. This was also easy to apply, the glitter spread nicely, just 1 or 2 spots I had to "manipulate" because some glitter clumped together. It dried to a nice flat surface, and with a coat of topcoat I was done!

I especially love this one doesn't hold silver or black, which is often the case with rainbow glitters like these.

The Polish Well lacquers can be bought in her Etsy shop that opens up every first and last 3 days of each month. Mini's (5ml.) are $4 and full size (10ml.) are $10.

Do you like multicolor glitter? Which one is your favorite?

I Bought This

Shimmer Valerie review and nailart

2013-06-03T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi everyone!

Deborah and I recently received a bunch of gorgeous Shimmer polishes to review! But instead of just showing you a big bunch of swatches all at once we decided we are going to show them separate with some nail-art and stuff thrown in, to spice it up!

First up is Valerie, the youngest girl of the group. Valerie is a pretty mix of different sizes of copper and silver glitter in a brown, almost blackened base. There are also some holographic glitters in the mix, giving her a colourful sparkle.

Valerie can be worn on its own in 3 coats and you don't have to dab a lot to get the glitter where you want. I however decided to layer 2 coats over Catrice - In the Bronx. Then I did some tape nail-art on my middle finger with In the Bronx over China Glaze Millennium and I added some dots on my pinky with the same colours. Valerie is kind of topcoat hungry, so I applied 2 coats to finish everything off.

I'm really happy with how this manicure turned out. I love the combination of the bronze and silver in this polish! I hope you guys like it too, and see you next week!

Press Samples I Bought This

Swatches & Review - 3 El Corazon Art Topcoat polishes

2013-06-02T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you today? Had a good weekend? I sure did - epic wedding party Friday night, working on our attic on Saturday together with my father, Greek dinner Saturday night with my parents (I ♥ Greek food, it is THE BEST!) and some drinks in the city Saturday night. Today I've been working on the website because next weekend I'll be away to Zürich with the boyfriend!

I already showed you 3 out of 6 Art Topcoats I received from El Corazon, and today the other half is shown! I must admit, I had some trouble picking good basecolors for them. If you have any suggestions how I could layer these please let me know in the comments! Again a warning: this glitter looks curly, but isn't, it is reflective. They all felt smooth with a layer of topcoat.

Starting with I'm So Different. Red tinted clear base with large hexes in blue and salmon, and small white hexes.

This one was layered over H&M Nerd which did alter the basecolor, the red tint is quite strong. The glitter spread easily and there wasn't any placement needed. As with the other 3 I showed you before, and the next 2 in this post, medium sized hexes would make this look more appealing to me.

Next up, my favorite of the 6, Knick-Knack. A clear base with small black and large blue hexes. The blue color is the same as in the polish above and Cinderella's First Ball.

I layered this one over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, and the combo and contrast was just so much fun to look at! Glitter applied easy, no placing required.

Last but not least, Pomegranate Grains. I love pomegranate so much it is becoming an obsession haha! I want to eat it all the time, drink my white tea with pomegranate constantly and every beauty product I see that has this as an ingredient, comes home with me (or wants to). The polish is fun too - again a tinted red clear base, this time filled with small black and large pink hexes.

I have a feeling both this one and I'm So Different should have clear bases and the tint is because of bleeding glitter. I can't find enough information though to be sure.

This one was layered over ORLY Enchanting, a nice red creme. The pink didn't give as much contrast as I hoped. Same experience with this polish, applied nice and easy!

El Corazon polish can be bought by sending an e-mail to ELCorazonzakaz@gmail.com. I do not have any idea of the shipping costs or the price per polish unfortunately.

What is your favorite out of the six? And how would you have combined them?

I Bought This Press Samples

ANNY Blue Hypnosis

2013-06-01T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How is your weekend so far? I had an AMAZING night last night, as 1 of my dear friends got married. The party was epic haha. Lots of dancing, drinking, I had such a good time! So how about some polish?

When I was in the city yesterday and checked the Douglas, I noticed these cute little mini's from ANNY. The sales lady told me thy were texture polishes! I doubted which one to get and settled on the blue as it seemed the most sparkly. This is ANNY Blue Hypnosis, and it is AWESOME!

I needed 2 coats, it applied easy. It also dried quite quickly and as it dries the texture appears. I can get lost in this sparkly blue beauty ♥. The texture feels slightly gritty, but not sharp. So far I am happy with my first try in texture and more may follow!

Have you tried a texture polish? And do you like the sparkly or creme versions more?

I Bought This

My nail care routine - part 2

2013-05-30T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! How are you today? By the time this post goes live I am probably all relaxed and zen because I am spending today at the sauna with my bestie. I looove days like that!

Today I want to tell you a bit more about my nail care routine. Last time I touched the subject "prepping" and today it'll all be about polishing! Again, I want to point out I am not an expert or licensed nail technician, I just describe what I feel works best for my nails.

Let's get started shall we?
Basecoat
I must say I am not that picky with my basecoat. For starters I polish daily so even if it would influence the staying power of my polish, I wouldn't notice. Preventing staining would be nice, but my nails always turn out yellow sooner or later and since I always polish them.. the most important thing for me is it should give good grip to my polish. I used the Essence 24/7 Nail Base for quite some time, but it dries to a matte/velvety finish, and some polishes and brands just did NOT agree with that. For example a england would slide right of it, and holo's... terrible! So, I switched back to Sally Hansen Maximum Growth and that does the job for me. I am currently waiting for Duri Rejuvacote.

Extra tools
While I am polishing, I screw up. I do not paint perfectly and therefore I loooove to keep some orange wood sticks close, they are the best to quickly remove some polish on your cuticles.

I also use a little brush and some acetone to do clean up after the polishing (but before topcoat).

Topcoat
For me, there is one topcoat that I'll ALWAYS use. It's the Essence Better Than Gel Top Sealer, and I love it. Dries fast, shiny, it is cheap and the most important thing for me: easy accesible. If I would run out, I could go to the city and grab a new bottle instantly. I wouldn;t have to order and wait. I always buy these when there is a BOGO going on, I usually have 7 or 8 bottles lying around to be sure I have enough.

So this is what I use whilst polishing my nails! Hope you found it helpful :).

What are your favorite products to help you polish your nails? Tell me in the comments!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Polkadot Nails!

2013-05-29T20:00:00.000+02:00

Deborah's manicure - Pop art polkadots

Hi loves! I am so excited to show you today's challenge manicures, because well, this one was really challenging haha. Not the theme, I love dots and have done lots of dotticures already, but I wanted to give this one some extra kick. And then, I saw this awesome manicure from Nailed It. I immediately knew this would be my challenge: perfect polkadots, covered in drip, executed in a pop art style.

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Then, using a small sized dotting tool, I created the "background". The colors I used are Bondi Fuchsia-tastic (pink), Bondi NYPD (blue) and Ulta Cha Cha (yellow). After the dots dried, I used a small nailart brush and the same colors to create the dripshape. Again, waited for it to dry, then used a short striper brush and black polish to outline the drip, and with a small dottingtool and the OPI created the "3d" shape.

I hope you like the outcome, they aren't perfect but I was still proud of them!

Have you ever tried this kind of freehand nailart, like the drip shapes?

Loqi's manicure - Phone case dotticure

(Click to enlarge)

Hi everyone!
This manicure was inspired by my crochet phone case! I made it myself using a multicoloured yarn, and I thought the colours would make a great manicure too! The phone is a Galaxy Nexus for those who are wondering ;)

I first painted my nails baby blue with Kiko - 339 Cornflower and then used several sizes dotting tools to make the pattern (the largest dots were actually made with the back of a pen, who needs fancy store bought tools right?). For the dots I used: Zoya - Mira (purple), China glaze - Dance baby (pink) and Herome - Frankfurt (blue).

This was a very easy manicure to do, but I had never done one like it, so I'm very happy with how it turned out!

Stay tuned for challenge day 12: Striped nails!

Previous manicures:

31 Day Nail Art Challenge - Red Nails!

I Bought This Gifts

A manicure inspired by (or stolen from) Nail Polish Wars

2013-05-28T20:21:00.006+02:00

Press Samples I Bought This Hi loves! How's your Tuesday? It was finally sunny and warmer here, too bad my ass was stuck in a meeting all day! At least I got to wear a dress haha.

Today's manicure is totally inspired by the amazing Nicole from Nail Polish Wars. When she posted this and I noticed, I just HAD to recreate immediately. I can not believe I never though of this color combo before! I didn't own the correct stamp to mimic completely so I just some own creativity too - hope you like the outcome!

This gradient was created by painting 2 coats of a england Princess Sabra and let it dry. After that I used a england Dragon and St. George to create the gradient. I am so in love with this! I decided to stamp the Bundle Monster 215 snakeskin image on my middle and ringfinger, and my thumb, index and pinky got decorated with a little black stud.

Have you ever tried a tri-color gradient? And how do you like this combo?

Striped gradient

2013-05-27T20:00:00.000+02:00

I Bought This

Hi everyone!

For this week I thought I would show you a combination manicure with my last couple of posts. You may remember the yellow and orange polishes a showed you last week and two weeks before? And the gradients Deborah and I did for the 31DNAC? Well, I thought I would combine those 3 manicures into one!

So first I polished my nails with P2 Hot berry and put some striping tape on. Then I made a gradient with P2 Blogger's choice and peeled the tape off again, done!

I am actually reaaaaally proud of how this manicure turned out. I really like how the darker stripes turned out, and as I said before, glass flecked polishes are really good for making awesome gradients!

Hema 840 & OPI A Woman's Prague-ative

2013-05-26T20:00:00.000+02:00

Press Samples I Bought This

Hi loves! Just a quickie Sunday post (already prepared last Wednesday) featuring 2 lovely lacquers: Hema 840 (from now on Hema Teal Crelly, still nothing unique but better than a number right) and OPI A Woman's Prague-ative.

I used the Hema polish on my thumb, index and middle finger. I needed 2 coats, I had to be a bit careful on the first coat to avoid patchyness, after the first coat the second applied very easy. It has a slight translucency to it so if the first coat had been patchy I would have needed 3 coats. The OPI went on my ring and pinky, in 2 easy coats.

I liked this color combo and the difference between the crelly and the glitzy foil. I wanted to do some leopard print nailart but I was lazy haha.

Have you worn 2 colored manicures? And what is your favorite finish combination?

My nailcare routine - part 1

2013-05-25T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! Recently one of my Instagram followers (hi Yvette!) asked me if she overlooked a post about about my nailcare routine and such.. she did not, I just didn't have one yet! I decided I would write one and maybe it helps one of you :-). I want to stress the fact I am not an expert or licensed nail technician, I just describe what I feel works best for my nails. I am breaking this down into 3 posts because it gets rather wordy otherwise. So, subject number 1!

Filing

When I started my blog in October 2010, my nails were just recovered from acrylics which helped me quit biting my nails. They were flimsy, soft and weak and I quickly discovered a good nail file could help minimize the damage. At first I used the Herôme glass file (at 1 point there were 3 of them laying around at different places) but when I was sent the smoooooth glass files from Mont Bleu to review, I switched to them permanently. I have a travelsize one in my little make-up bag I take with me everywhere, and have 2 at home. They have gorgeous Swarovski designs! I'll admit I could be more careful in filing my nails: I do not practice the "file-to-only-one-direction" philosophy. I am just too lazy. Also sometimes when I have to take off more length, I'll clip first and then file. Yeah, I'm cheeky like that.

Cuticles

Besides filing there is also some cuticle maintaining to do. My prefered product is Nfu Oh Cuticle Remover. Usually I'll apply this to my cuticles, let it sit for a bit and then remove the residue (and the dead skin) with an orange wood stick. I order these in bulk of 100 on eBay. I throw them out after using so it stays hygienic. I also push back my cuticles in the process.

Remover

Before starting with my polish I do one last swipe with some polish remover. I also have Blue Scrub (which is a nail dehydrator, which should allow your basecoat and such to attach better) but I am not sure I like it. It does dehydrate, but it also seems to cause my nails to break more easy. Normal polish remover doesn't dry out that much for me. The remover I use most is a cheap one from a drugstore called Kruidvat Nail Polish Remover. I use one with acetone, I accidentally bought 4 bottles of the non-acetone version and I hate it. It dries out SO much more and it just sucks. From time to time I also cook up my own acetone + glycerine mix (check out this blogpost for more info on that subject) but yeah, I can be lazy.

So, these are the materials I use for prepping my nails! Obviously I don't file my nails daily nor do I use the cuticle remover daily, but once a week is pretty standard for me.

What are your favorite products for prepping your nails? Tell me in the comments!

The Polish Well Greed

2013-05-24T20:00:00.000+02:00

Hi loves! Happy Friday! Any weekend plans? We are visiting family in Amsterdam and staying there for the night. And right now I am at Loqi's house to drool over our Shimmer samples and I am going to try and sneak out one of her cats. Too bad they are Maine Coon's... might be a bit too huge to tuck in my bag haha!

Today I am showing you a gorgeous creation I bought from Mich a.k.a. The Polish Well. When my friend Mimi showed her pictures I had the immediate urge to put on this lovely lacquer and I am not disappointed at all! I am disappointed though to not own Envy.. oh well, we can't have all things in life now can we?

I layered 1 coat of Greed over 1 coat of a england Camelot, because 5ml. isn't much and I don't want to run out. The brush in these bottles is amazing, regular sized and flat, it applies glitter so much easier with a flat brush!

The Polish Well lacquers can be bought in her Etsy shop that opens up every first and last 3 days of each month. Mini's (5ml.) are $4 and full size (10ml.) are $10.

Do you like this beautiful glitter? What polish would you choose from The Polish Well?