China Glaze - Ahoy!

I can imagine you're almost tired seeing polishes from the China Glaze Anchors Away collection, so thanks for hanging on! :D I decided to buy just one polish from the entire collection, Ahoy! I'll keep it short: raspberry coloured jellylike yummyliciousness (!) with golden glass flecks. Bright, intense and sparkly. A magnificent polish. Definitely a must have!

The application was fine, this is two coats plus topcoat. 

Thanks for watching!

Sparkly Fruity Forest

Yeah, that title... don't ask. :i Yesterday I showed you Orly - Enchanted Forest and today I have a spiced up version for you. I sponged half the nail with China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle and the nail tip with Ivanka from Zoya. I love the contrast of the creme base and the sparklies on the tip! Then I added a slice of a lemon fimo cane. You know, for funsies. :D I think the fimo is fun to play around with, cute designs and all, but the thing is: I wish I could slice them thinner. It's so bumpy on the nail and that makes me want to peel it off all the time. If you want to try the fimo canes yourself, you can find them at the Born Pretty Store.

Thanks for watching!

*The product(s) in this post was/were sent to me for reviewing purposes. 

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Models Own - Purple Ash

Today I have a Models Own polish for you, Purple Ash, which I bought as a part of the 'Autumn/Winter Collection'-set (it's the 3rd one from the right). The lovely Ulmiel asked for a swatch and a comparison with other polishes, well, it's all here, enjoy! :O

Purple Ash is a muted red toned purple creme, but describing it as a dark dusty rose seems fitting too. It looks like Models Own also put a drop of brown in it.. It's a gorgeous, unique colour. I have nothing like it! The application was very good, it was opaque in two coats. I also used a topcoat.

I was searching through my stash for polishes that are close to Purple Ash and these are the ones I found (I told you I had nothing like it, lol). As you can see Purple Ash is more red toned than the other two, but I think they dó look nice next to each other, don't they? :) I totally forgot I had P2 Gracious, it's so pretty with its subtle shimmer (which isn't visible in this picture). I should definitely make a special post on that one! And China Glaze's Channelesque... well, it's Channelesque. :L (I just noticed I misspelled it in the picture, #fail).

Thanks for watching!

Comparison: OPI - Glacier Bay Blues & China Glaze - Rodeo Fanatic

Yesterday I made a quick comparison with China Glaze - Rodeo Fanatic and OPI - Glacier Bay Blues. When you hold the bottles next to each other they both show more than one colour; in both is a blue green visible and also a beautiful purple. So I was wondering how they would look next to each other on the nail. And why not share my findings? :) 

Glacier Bay Blues is a true duochrome (look at the bottle in the 2nd picture, wow!), showing different colours at different angles. It's a dark blue polish that can look dark green sometimes and does show the blurple and purple you see in the bottle, whereas Rodeo Fanatic shows blue green most of the time with a hint of dark blue at some angles, but definitely no purple. GBB is obviously darker and more frosty than shimmery; you can see subtle brushstrokes after applying it. So.. different polishes for different moments I'd say. :O

I applied three coats of both and a topcoat. Rodeo Fanatic dries way faster, I always experience drying problems when I use GBB (bummer, cause it's a stunning polish!).

Thanks for watching!

Rodeo Fanatic + Konad

Today I pimped Rodeo Fanatic a bit with some stamping. I used China Glaze - Adore as the stamping polish and a beautiful flower image from imageplate M20. Then I added some half pearls which I received from Born Pretty Store, I think they're cute!

Thanks for watching!

*The product(s) in this post was/were sent to me for reviewing purposes. 

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

China Glaze - Rodeo Fanatic

Today I have another beautiful polish to show you, Rodeo Fanatic from China Glaze. Rodeo Fanatic is one of the polishes from the Rodeo Diva Collection, one of my favourite collections from China Glaze (Branding Iron, Cowgirl Up, Gussied-Up Green, Wagon Trail.. need I say more? *drools*).

Rodeo Fanatic is a shimmery, almost frosty polish with different faces. I wouldn't call it a true duochrome, but there's definitely more than one colour there, making it one of those polishes that are hard to photograph. Most of the time you'll see a gorgeous blue green (best visible in the 2nd picture, which is the most colour accurate picture by the way), but at some angles you'll also see dark blue on the sides of the nail (1st picture). In the bottle there's purple visible, sadly it doesn't show up on the nail. But still.. what an awesome polish! 

The pictures are taken after two days of wear, fantastic right? The application was good, the polish was a little on the thin side, but nothing I can't handle. ;) This is three coats with topcoat.

Thanks for watching!

China Glaze - Stroll

Today I'm showing you guys China Glaze - Stroll, a burgundy jelly/sheer polish. And what else did China Glaze put in the bottle? A whole bucket of awesomesauce: golden glitter or actually some kind of golden mini flakes. It's so gorgeous and yummy, my nails look like mashed cherries (that sounds crazy, I know :$). I like it so much, I just removed Napa Valley Red (BB Couture) from my wishlist. I'm aware of them not being dupes or something, but Stroll definitely killed one of my lemmings*! And I'm mad at myself for not using it earlier.

The application was something else. I tried it on a nail wheel first so I knew it would be sheer, but it wouldn't apply evenly on the nail (frustrating!). I was done with it after the 3rd coat and thankfully it looks ok, even on camera. :)

Thanks for watching!

*lemming: 

    1. refers to a purchase/wished-for-item which results from reading an enthusiastic post about a (new) fabulous product. Overcome by compulsion, readers follow like lemmings diving off a cliff.  
   2. A small, short-tailed rodent which lives in the tundra. It is said that large groups of these animals come together every so often to jump off of a cliff. On the contrary, they fall off quite by accident. (source)

Cherry Blossom Love

A couple of weeks ago we were celebrating my Mom's birthday. I decided to make a sweet cake for my even sweeter Mom, in cherry blossom style! Isn't it adorable? I'm so proud of it. :)

Why am I showing you this yummy cake? Well, apparently my cakes inspire me to do nail art :O (remember the ladybug?). So I painted cherry blossom on my ring finger nails and it was so much fun to do!

The pastel pink I used as a base for all nails, except the ring finger nail, is Mod About You from OPI. The base colour for my ring finger is Flower to Flower, also from OPI. I painted the branches with You Don't Know Jacques (OPI, again) and for the blossom I also used Mod About You. With Millennium from China Glaze I made some silver dots in the flowers. And after a good long wait (seriously, you don't want smudged flowers!) I applied a thick layer of topcoat.

The cake tasted a lot better. ;) Thank you so much for watching!

China Glaze - QT

This is QT from China Glaze's beloved OMG-collection. After seeing swatches of the Tronica-collection (a new range of - more subtle - prismatic/holographic polishes from China Glaze) I wanted to put one of the OMG-masterpieces from CG on my nails. Oh my, it's so gawgeous! QT is a dark magenta prismatic glitter polish. Everytime I put it on I'm like: :L Why are these polishes discontinued, why?! I want them all. Plús back-ups. Can't stand the thought of running out of them! (Not that I don't have enough polishes to wear for the next 200 years, lol).

Two smooth coats of awesomeness. No base coat, no top coat. Great for those moments when you want your nails to look fab fast!

Thanks for watching!

Happy New Year!

I'm actually not a chunky-glitter-polish person, but for today (well, actually tonight) I made an exception.. The beginning of the year 2011 is a once in a lifetime experience after all!! :O

I used one layer of Barry M - Cobalt Blue and two coats of China Glaze - Dorothy Who? on top of it. For me it's definitely firework on the nails!


Now I'm moving to the kitchen to bake a lot of yummy 'oliebollen' (free translation: oil balls, hmm, that actually sounds very very bad, ha-ha) for tonight!

I wish you all a ...

  

       HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :party

Periwinkly Konadicure

I'm a big fan of subtle stamped nails. One way of achieving a subtle result is using colours lying close to each other (duh!) like the combination above. 

This is three coats of China Glaze - Secret Peri-Wink-Le and I stamped with an image from Konad imageplate M64. The polish I used for stamping is China Glaze - 2NITE. That one is ah-ah-awesome for stamping! And awesome in every other way. ♥

Thanks for watching!

China Glaze - DV8

lamp light

I guess you guys have seen this one a gazillion times, this is DV8 from China Glaze. It's one of the polishes from the OMG collection, one of their best collections evah. I say: 'HOLO' (well, actually the correct term is prismatic, but you know wat I mean... ). I think the turquoise colour combines perfectly with the holo rainbows! The next time I will wear it on a sunny day though. 8)

Application was not so nice, but that's my fault. I already applied basecoat and that's a no-no with these kind of polishes (hello bald spots!). After two coats de result was nice and opaque though. I skipped the topcoat, because it can dull the prismatic effect and we wouldn't want that, do we? Polishes like these are great when you're in a hurry, just two thin layers on bare nails and you're ready to go. And it dries very fast! On some nail blogs I read that the OMG polishes chip easily, but my experience with the wear is good, still no chips. :D

Thank you so much for watching and following!

Orly - Lunar Eclipse & China Glaze - Grape Pop

When I got my bottle of Lunar Eclipse from the Orly Cosmic FX collection I was so happy with the duochrome I saw in it. In the bottle you can see a really vibrant indigo with blue and pink particles and a purple flash. I read on other nail blogs that the purple didn't show up on the nail that well.. That's often (if not always) the case with duochromes; in the bottle they're so colourful and gorgeous, but when you put it on your nails it's always a little bit disappointing. I can't believe I did it again! ..buying a duochrome polish because it looks sooo nice in the bottle.. xo

Anyway, I was warned about the disappearing purple. So I thought layering Lunar Eclipse on top of a purple could help the purple of LE to come out better. First I applied China Glaze - Grape Pop, then I added two layers of Lunar Eclipse on top of that. The result is stunning!  Most cameras have trouble capturing purple, so has mine. It took me some effort (and a couple of hundred photo's ;)) to get the purple on the pics. In real life it's even more visible! 

Thanks for watching!

Ombre Manicure

Last night I couldn't sleep and when I can't sleep my thoughts go everywhere, 'what am I going to wear tomorrow', 'what shall I put on my nails'.. Yeah, big worries, I know. :O 

I decided to make an ombre manicure. That was a big trend like a year ago, I'm thát slow in picking up trends, hehe. I can try to describe how to do it, but showing a picture is waaay easier!

The polishes I used (from thumb to pinkie): China Glaze-For Audrey, Catrice-I Sea You!, Catrice-Sea Of Green, Diamond Cosmetics-Don't Teal My Heart Away and P2-Dangerous.

Although it isn't the most ombre-like mani, I really like the result! It's also very fun to do; looking and testing what polishes would be nice together. If you're slow in picking up trends like me and haven't tried this mani yet, you should! :i

Thanks for watching!

Purple Gradient Nails

sunlight

Today I was going through my nail polish stash and saw a lot of purples which I've never worn (shame on me! Purple is even one of my favourite colours). So I decided to combine those purples in one manicure. One way of using multiple polishes in one manicure is making a gradient with the sponging technique.

I achieved the result above following the next steps: 

1. paint the entire nail with the polish of your choice (I used China Glaze - Grape Pop), let it dry a little;

2. put a drop of another polish of your choice on a piece of paper (I used Color Club - Wild at Heart);

3. dip a little piece of a sponge (I use a kitchen sponge) in the drop of polish;

4. press the sponge gently on your nail, begin at the nail tip and sponge toward the cuticle. Stop when you covered three quarters of the nail, you want to keep a part of the base colour unsponged;

5. repeat step 2, 3 & 4 with a third polish (I used Zoya - Mimi), stop halfway the nail to keep a part of the first sponged layer visible;

6. repeat step 2, 3 & 4 with a fourth polish (I used Orly - Out Of This World), only cover the tip (one quarter) of your nail; 

And you're done! The result can be a bit bumpy, so cover the nail with a thick layer of topcoat.

*of course you don't have to use so much different polishes, even with two colours you can make a nice gradient manicure, but with more colours the result will be more.. eh.. gradient :O 

Thanks for watching and good luck with the sponging! :h

How To Ruin Your Manicure - Lesson 1 ;)

Why do I always feel the need to ruin a beautiful manicure?! xP 

I thought a little Konad would be nice, well... *note to self: improve the stamping skills first 

Ok ok, I'm exaggerating just a little. ;) 'Cause I love the combination! I used imageplate M69 and China Glaze Millennium for stamping, but I'm going to look for a better silver stamping polish, any ideas?

Thanks for watching!