Squared: Cake & Nails

A new cake inspired nails post, finally! This square shaped cake was for my brother's 28th birthday two weeks ago. (His name is Job and jarige job is a Dutch term for birthday boy.)

I painted most of my nails red with China Glaze - Poinsettia (not colour accurate) and I used My Boyfriend Scales Walls from OPI on the accent nail. As you can see there's no crossword puzzle on my nails, a simple raster design (plate BM-315) turned out to be difficult enough. Black stamping on white is not forgiving, but studs are perfect for hiding little mistakes. ;) Oh, and I'm wearing black french tips for the first time, LOVE them.

The square studs are from Born Pretty Store, you can find them here. They come in a wheel together with a variety of studs ($4.89).

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*The studs were sent to me for reviewing purposes.

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Pastel Skittle Nails with Penélope Luz - Lotus

The star of this post is Lotus, one of  Penélope Luz's creations. This lovely lady really has an eye for gorgeous glitter combinations, I think she makes super pretty and fun nail polishes. You should definitely visit her blog, you'll be amazed! Lotus is a mix of small white, pink and black glitter. I never thought a nail polish with black glitter could be so delicate. Oh, I love it so much.. especially over pink and white! The formula was nice, I'm wearing one coat on my ring finger nail.

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products used
pinky: Eyeko - Vintage Polish
ring finger: OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls
middle finger: OPI - Mod About You
index finger: Rimmel - Too Cool To Tango
thumb (not pictured): same combination as the ring finger

Crossed Ascalon

Yup, I couldn't resist wearing my beloved Ascalon from a england again. I spiced a couple of nails up with a simple cross design. To achieve this look I applied two pieces of tape on the fully dried nail. Then I sponged the centre of the nail using a make-up sponge and a england - Bridal Veil. After removing the tape and applying a generous layer of top coat I added a black stud as the finishing touch.

The stud is from this wheel which contains various silver and gold studs. You can get it for $4,89 at Born Pretty Store.

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Shimmer Polish - Karina

This gorgeous cherry red glitter polish is Karina from Shimmer Polish. This polish glows and sparkles like crazy, I'm drowning in its depth. ♥ The formula was a little thick, but manageable. I used two coats plus a generous amount of top coat.

Shimmer Polish is available at Cindy's Etsy shop for $12 a bottle.

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy. 

Quilted Purple

It's time for another cake-inspired-nails post! A so-called quilted cake was on my to-do list for ages and I finally decided my birthday was the perfect occasion to give it a go! The cake is covered with marzipan and the flower on the cake is made of fondant. It took me some practice and I have to say I'm kinda proud of it. ♥

About the nails: the medium purple I used on most nails is China Glaze - Spontaneous. The colour on the accent nail is Grape Pop, another purple beauty from China Glaze (both look less blue-toned in real life). After Grape Pop was completely dry I added a raster of striping tape. To achieve the gradient look I sponged the nail surface with Spontaneous and a england - Guinevere. I removed the tape, added a couple of silver dots and a thick layer of top coat. Aah, so pretty! 

For the flower I used white acrylic paint. Before I added the black heart of the flower and the silver dots I sponged a little bit of Spontaneous in the middle. 

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a england - Beauty Never Fails & a england - Holy Grail

I always get very excited when I find new nail polishes from a england in the mail! Today I'm wearing two new shades, Beauty Never Fails (a black base with gold and olive green coloured flecks) and the revamped version of Holy Grail (a mesmerizing gold coloured foil). I wanted to combine these two sparkly polishes on my nails and I think it turned out really well! The formula of Beauty Never Fails and Holy Grail is excellent; both polishes are easy to apply in two coats. I used tape to create the "V" shapes.

a england nail polishes are available on the a england website.

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Taking a Break + a england Tess D'Urbervilles

I hoped to post earlier, but at the moment I have a bad case of dyshidrotic eczema on most of my fingers. I can wear nail polish, but using nail polish remover hurts like hell and worsens the eczema. So I have to take a little break from polishing (and thus posting, bluh). Hope to be back soon of course! I have a lot of inspiration and beautiful nail polishes to show you. The last polish I wore was Tess D'Urbervilles, one of a england's Gothic Beauties. I love wearing black and this is black with something extra: beautiful emerald flecks. Absolutely amazing! Love the formula, too. This is two coats plus top coat.

The Gothic Beauties are available now on the a england website (£9.00 for 13 ml).

Thanks for watching! :h

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Cirque - Dark Horse

For today's nails I used Dark Horse, a dark and mysterious nail polish from Cirque. At first I thought this polish had a black base with multi-coloured shimmer, but no.. Dark Horse's clear base is filled with small black glitter and rainbow sparkles. How amazing is that? I prefer layering glitter polishes over a non-glitter polish (makes the removal easier), so I used two coats of Dark Horse over China Glaze - Awaken. Dark Horse applies easily and dries gritty and kinda matte (second picture). You'll need at least two layers of top coat for a smooth and glossy finish. Normally I would go for smooth nails, but I'm surprised by how much I like this glittery polish without top coat!

left: three coats of Dark Horse, right: one coat over a white creme

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Skittle Nails with Tribal Print

Let me begin by expressing my love for the new Bundle Monster stamping plate set! I love stamped nails and all those new and fun designs are very, very inspiring. Today I used the tribal pattern from plate BM-315, is that a cool pattern or what? ♥ I'm not sure what to think of this mani though. I find black as a stamping colour often too overpowering and the nails with crooked stamps don't make me happy. I do like the idea of using a tribal print on skittle nails!

Thanks for watching! :)

products used

orange: Essence - Andy, You're a Star

green: NYC - High Line Green

beige: OPI - Did You 'ear About Van Gogh?

blue: Catrice - Blue Cara Ciao

black: Konad Special Nail Polish in Black

Glow In The Dark Nails with CH Nail #12

I've been wanting to try glow in the dark nail polish for ages, so I was really excited when I spotted a series of luminous nail polishes on BornPrettyStore.com. Today I'm showing you #12, a glowy pink. It's quite sheer and the formula is thick and gloopy, so I decided to layer it. This is two coats over a white creme polish, no top coat. I added striping tape and black dots to make the glow in the dark experience even more fun! The glow is clearly visible in the dark, but I have to say that my camera makes my nails look more glowy then they are in real life. Oh well.. I think it's fun! A downside of this polish is the drying time, it took hours to dry. 

BornPrettyStore.com kindly offers a 10% off code for my lovely readers! :) The code is B10X31.

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Cirque - Debris

Today I'm showing you a glitter polish from Cirque's Dark Horse collection. It's called Debris and it's awesome. Debris has a clear base with black and silver square and hex glitter and fine prismatic shimmer. I layered Debris over Zoya - Caitlin and I think they make a good pair! Caitlin doesn't look right in the first picture (too blue), but I wanted to show a glimpse of how pretty the prismatic shimmer looks in sunlight. ♥ The formula of Debris is nice, not too thick. The larger glitter parts tend to settle at the bottom, so I turned the bottle upside down before I started with my base colour. Worked like a charm, I had no trouble getting the larger ones out. This is one coat.

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

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Sparkly Tips with Cirque - Ophelia

A smooth base and glittery tips.. this is my favourite way to wear glitter polishes, I love the contrast! For today's mani I applied two coats of Essence - Chuck (looks more blurple than blue in real life) and I sponged the tips with Ophelia from Cirque. Ophelia is such a lovely glitter polish, it has a clear base with periwinkle coloured hex glitter and pink and green shimmer. You'll need at least four coats if you want to wear it on its own so I recommend layering it over an opaque base. In the picture below you can see how one coat of Ophelia looks over a black and a blurple creme polish.

Ophelia is part of Cirque's Dark Horse collection. This handmade collection is available on the Cirque website and locally in New York at Annie's stand at Hester Street Fair. Prices range from $12 to $16 (13.2 ml).

Some useful links:

Cirque's Facebook page

www.hesterstreetfair.com 

www.facebook.com/hesterstreetfair

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

a england - Bridal Veil

If there's one nail polish 'colour' I totally adore, it's black. I can wear it all year round without getting bored. My favourite black is Camelot from a england's The Mythicals collection. So imagine the joy when I received another black nail polish from this wonderful brand. This is Bridal Veil from The Legend collection. It's a very pigmented black with a subtle prismatic shimmer. Love it! It applied like butter, this is two coats.

from left to right: a england - Bridal Veil, Catherine Arley #805 & Eyeko - Cosmic Polish

I made a little comparison for you with two other black polishes with prismatic shimmer. Out of these three I prefer Bridal Veil, 'cause it's super black and super pigmented.

The Legend collection is available now on the a england website.

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

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

ANNY - Green Hills

I was overwhelmed when I saw the ANNY stand at perfumerie Douglas. There were just too many gorgeous colours to choose from! Take a look on their website and you know what I mean. And the bottle shape.. LOVE it! I had to take one bottle home, I picked Green Hills. Green Hills is a blackened green polish with a jelly-like consistency. It looks mostly black indoors, but outside or under my daylight lamp I can definitely see the green. I adore this colour, it makes me so happy! :D I used two coats of Green Hills and both coats went on smooth and even. The flat brush is easy to handle.

ANNY nail polishes cost €9.50 per 15ml. A bit on the expensive side for me, but I'm afraid I have to try more colours!

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Beware of the Cat

When my new Konad plates arrived I immediately fell in love with the cute little bird on plate m83. For this mani I applied two coats of Eyeko - Rain Polish and stamped not one, but two birds on my ring finger nail with Konad Special Nail Polish in Black. It looked cute, but I felt something was missing so I added a naughty cat face (for the cat and the line I used a small paint brush and black acrylic paint). Yes, now it's complete. I have a little story on my nails! :)

I'm not only excited about this mani, but also about my new camera! Of course I have to get used to it(s weight), but it takes much better pictures than my compact camera, without a doubt. I'm hooked. ♥ 

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Emerald Black Glistens Up

First of all, almost 500 new followers and around 800 giveaway entries in two days.. wow, I'm flabbergasted. :o A big welcome to my new followers and a big hug for my 'old' followers! :h

For todays mani I used Glisten Up! from Essence. I'm so sad Essence discontinued this one, now I feel like I have to cherish every drop. But not using it while knowing those drops look best on my nails is just stupid, right? I applied one gloopy coat (the formula thickened up quite a bit since I last used it) over Models Own - Emerald Black. I'm intrigued by how Glisten Up! comes to live over a dark colour. That little bottle contains a true treasure. ♥

This is Emerald Black from Models Own's Beetlejuice collection on its own. I love the blue and green shimmer in this one, absolutely breathtaking. The formula was excellent, two smooth coats for full coverage.

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Camelot & Ares

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, I did! The church service was nice, the food was yummy and spending time with my loved ones is always great. ♥ I was happy with Ares on my nails, but after a day I wanted something else. Something darker. So I applied one coat of a england - Camelot and one coat of Speciallità - Ares. The result: dark maroon coloured nails with a smashing prismatic effect. Like!

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Red On Black

I love combining red and black, so why not use both colours on my nails? I started with applying one coat of Camelot from a england and let it dry. Then I taped of the sides and applied Kleancolor - Bite Me, a wonderful red glitter polish. After removing the tape I used a matte top coat. I like how it looks subtle and edgy at the same time. 8)

The glossy version looks nice too, but I'm hooked on matte glitter nails.

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Comparison: Dark Prismatic Shades

I was curious how Speciallità - Zeus would look like next to other dark(er) prismatic polishes I own. So I made a little comparison with Catherine Arley #805 (pinkie nail - two coats), Chainmail Charm from Diamond Cosmetics (middle finger nail - two coats) and three coats of Zeus on the other nails. #805 from Catherine Arley is a true black, it's more pigmented and darker than Zeus. Another difference is the scattered prismatic effect of #805; it looks really different next to the other two. As you can see Chainmail Charm has a somewhat brownish base compared to Zeus' more charcoal base colour. I think Chainmail Charm has a beautiful prismatic effect, but it looks kinda dull next to the intense rainbows Zeus shows. My advice? If you can get your hands on Zeus, well.. get it! ^_^

Thanks for watching and enjoy your weekend!

Black & Gold

There are many ways to spice up black nails; this time I decided to add some stamping. I used China Glaze - 2030 and a floral design from Konad plate M73. I wondered how it would look matte, so I also applied one coat of Essence's matte top coat. I like this mani so much! The matte finish makes it look so, uhm.. interesting? ;)

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