Beetle Inspired Nails

Yes, today's mani is inspired by beetles! First I applied two coats of Orly - Enchanted Forest. I let it dry completely before I added a piece of striping tape in the middle of the nail. Then I carefully brushed two strokes of Ludurana - Admirável on both sides of the nail. I removed the tape, added a layer of top coat and stared at my nails for the rest of the day. ^_^

I also took some underwater shots (learnt this from Goose!). Multichromes look SO good underwater. All those colours. In one polish. I couldn't believe my eyes!

This spectacular multichrome from Ludurana was a gift from Penélope, one of my lovely readers. She sent me an awesome package with Brazilian must-have nail polishes and a great selection of her own handmade glitter polishes. Thanks again dear! You are so generous and sweet. ♥ 

Thanks for watching!

Dots 'n' Roses - Teal Version

Today I'm showing you a re-creation of one of my favourite manicures (click). As you can see I used mostly teal coloured nail polishes. This is just so interesting to look at, I love it!

Thanks for watching!

products used

pinky: China Glaze - For Audrey

ring finger: Diamond Cosmetics - Don't Teal My Heart Away, Konad plate m65, Konad Special Nail Polish in White

middle finger: China Glaze - Optical Illusion ♥

index finger: OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, China Glaze - For Audrey, dotting tool

thumb (not pictured): same design as the ring finger

P.S. I wanted to let you guys know that I'm taking a little blogging break. My husband and I are going to the beautiful Italian island Sicily for a couple of weeks. 8) Take care and see you soon!

Cirque - Epoch

Today I'm showing you Epoch from the brand Cirque. Epoch has a shimmery duochrome finish and shifts from dark teal to purple. It's a real stunner, I love it! Epoch was easy to apply and dried fast, I used three thin coats. 

Epoch 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

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.

B.O #63 Crystal Purple Pink

Recently I received a glitter polish from BornPrettyStore.com. It's #63 from the brand B.O (you can find it here). This polish has a clear base with multiple sized hexagonal glitter pieces. The hexes are duo chromatic, they look mostly fuchsia but shift to a blueish purple when viewed at a different angle... super gorgeous!

#63 has a thick formula, it took me some effort to get a nice amount of glitter on the nail and to get those pretty big ones out. I layered one coat of #63 over Flying Dragon from China Glaze. Flying Dragon is a red-leaning purple neon with tiny blue and pink glitter. It was hard to photograph, I colour corrected the third picture to show you how it looks in real life. The B.O glitter combines really well with Flying Dragon, I like it a lot!

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

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.

Liquid Crystal Tips

I want to declare my love to Crushed Velvet from Diamond Cosmetics. It's my fav dark purple creme, so smooth and dreamy... I love it to pieces! And with China Glaze - Liquid Crystal sponged on the tips I love it even more. This is such a winning combination, I couldn't stop staring at my nails! The third picture shows the blue-purple colour shift in Liquid Crystal, SO gorgeous. (Keep in mind this mani looks way more purple in person.)

colour shifting shimmer, multi-coloured glitter, ooh and aah! ♥

Thanks for watching!

a england - Princess Tears

I can totally see why this delicate polish is a england's gem of the month, it's a lovely shade for spring! Princess Tears is a lilac coloured polish with a strong lilac flash ánd an awesome and strong prismatic effect. At some angles it also flashes a subtle yellow-green, you can see a hint of it in my last picture. Princess Tears is kinda like Ascalon's lighter, lilac coloured sister! This polish has what we can call the typical a england formula: excellent. I used two coats, no top coat.

Princess Tears is part of The Legend collection. This fabled collection is available (with free worldwide shipping!) on the a england website.

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.

Guest Post at Fashion Polish

Please check out my guest post at Fashion Polish.

Thanks for the opportunity to guest post for you, Sam! :k

Essie - School of Hard Rocks & CND Effects - Crimson Sparkle

The two nail polishes I used here were part of my last Transdesign order and I just couldn't wait to wear them. I'm not sure if this is the best combination, but I do know both polishes are a-ma-zing. Essie - School of Hard Rocks is a dusty greenish teal creme. A difficult colour to photograph, so it's obviously the perfect choice to wear when you're learning to work with a new camera. :|| SoHR looks more greyed out/dustier in real life, it's a beautiful shade that appeals to me a lot! Formula was great, I applied two coats. Then I added one coat of Crimson Sparkle from the CND Effects range. I'm telling you nothing new, but the Effects polishes from CND really are the bomb!

Thanks for watching!

Dangerous Rainbow

I felt a bit uninspired today. Then, as I was looking through my Helmer drawers, I spotted Rainbow from Gosh. Perfect! I applied two coats of p2 - Dangerous and one thin coat of Rainbow. Flakies :L

Thanks for watching and have a lovely weekend! 

a england - Ascalon

"Forged by magic and guided by our hero's sainted hand, the steely grey of his spire is alive with a swirling heart of lavender fire."

Today I'm showing you a england - Ascalon, another nail polish from The Legend collection. I think Ascalon is an incredibly cool nail polish, I already wore it twice in two weeks. Now that says something, believe me! Ascalon is a steel grey coloured polish with a good amount of prismatic particles. It also has a subtle duochrome effect; I mostly see a purple flash, but at certain angles there's a golden green colour visible. It's hard to photograph, but the green is definitely there! The formula was excellent, I used two coats. 

The Legend nail polishes are available now on the a england website (£9.00 for 13 ml).

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.

Nubar - Indigo Illusion

I'm not in the mood for writing a long post, so I'm keeping it short today. Indigo Illusion is too awesome for words anyway. :) I applied three coats, no top coat. Love, love, LOVE it!

Thanks for watching!

Chunked Shawn

Hmm, I think my nails never looked this weird. Two coats of Zoya - Shawn, one coat of Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Black and a layer of matte top coat (I'm loving the matte texture these days!). I kinda like this mani in all its weirdness.. Tell me, what do you think?

Thanks for watching, enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Berry Fowl Play

Yesterday I covered my nails with Just Berried from Catrice. It's not the first time I'm wearing this berry coloured creme polish; that means I like it a lot! But sometimes you just feel the urge to add something, so this morning I looked through my Helmer for inspiration. And there it was: Fowl Play. Oh and ah! I almost forgot I owned this stunner from Orly. I decided to use it for some accent nails and well, I love how this looks! Can't wait to wear Fowl Play on all nails though. It's a miracle of a polish... :L

Thanks for watching and enjoy the rest of your weekend!

MOAR Green!

There's no such thing as too much green, right? So today I'm showing you another green mani. I used one of my cherished gems from Nfu Oh: #56. The green base of #56 is packed with duochrome flakies ánd micro-glitter. Awesomesauce! Due to the sheerness and the dirty green base colour (not the prettiest in my opinion) I always layer it over another polish. This time I applied one coat of #56 over two coats of Essence - Fatal (black creme). A match made in heaven, if you ask me. The application was easy, the drying time average. I didn't use a top coat.

Thanks for watching! :h

Orly - Meet Me Under The Mistletoe

Today I would like to show you an amazing polish, without a doubt one of the prettiest greens I own: Meet Me Under The Mistletoe from Orly. I wanted to wear green on my nails, because green is the colour for Depression Awareness Month (Scrangie wrote a great post about it, check it out!). I'm struggling with depression (dysthymia, to be precise) for a while now and I think it's a good thing to raise awareness for this awful illness. 

A little more info about this Orly polish: love, love, love it! Those gorgeous little duochrome flakes, I catch myself staring at them all day. I had no application problems, this is three coats, no top coat.

And a little more close up... ♥

Thanks for watching!

Dangerous Duochrome

When I was applying Metallic Green from peripera for the first time I knew it would be great for stamping. I like how metallic stamping looks over a creme nail polish, so I applied two coats of P2 - Dangerous and I used the feathery/leafy design from plate BM-210. Great base colour, check; beautiful stamping design, check; awesome duochrome stamping, check! I am bedazzled... ♥

Thanks for watching!

Review: Brush Set For Nails from Born Pretty Store + Guest Post

A while ago I received a nail brush set from nail art supplies heaven Born Pretty Store. On the website the set is called 3 Lot Acrylic & UV Gel Dual Nail Brush Art Kit Set Tips. Wowza, that are a lot of words for three brushes! Apparently they have multiple purposes, you can use them for applying acrylic nails or gel nails, nail art, etc. I don't have acrylic/gel nails, but I've used them for nail art. They work fine, especially the middle one (which is more rounded than the picture on the website shows btw), I find them a bit too big for small details though.

You cannot only use these brushes for nail art, they're also great for the clean-up! I prefer to use the slanted brush, but all three will work. They're not too small, not too big and they have the perfect flexibility to create a smooth line between the cuticle and the polished area. So if you're looking for decent clean-up brushes or big nail art brushes: give these a try! The price for this set is $3,15.

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

For more information, please check out my Disclosure Policy.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, don't forget to check out my guest post at Also Known As.

Thank you so much for the opportunity, Kellie! :k

Thanks for watching!

Peripera - Metallic Green

If Kaz says you need a polish, you need it. That's right, you nééd it. Kaz has a massive nail polish stash, so I trust her. :O So when I saw this fabulous shade on her blog I immediately ran to ebay and bought it. I'm talking about Metallic Green, a gorgeous green duochrome from the brand Peripera. This nail polish is made of pure awesome, I don't know what else to say... just look at the pictures!

In sunlight it looks even prettier...

Metallic Green is easy to apply and very pigmented, you could get away with one coat, but out of habit I did two. It'll be great for stamping, don't you think? Some things you need to know about this nail polish: 1. it has a BIG flat brush, 2. visible brush strokes on the nail are inevitable with this nail polish finish. I'm not a big fan of brushstroke-y nail polishes, but with Metallic Green I don't care, 'cause it's too FABULOUS.

Peripera is a Korean brand with the cutest packaging, the brush handle of this nail polish is shaped like a cat!

source

Thanks for watching! :h

LOVE: Nfu Oh 51

I have to agree with Michèle, Nfu Oh 51 can't get too much attention. I need to wear it more often and if you have it: so do you! I could not have the heart to remove the pretty Lady of the Lake from a england (still looking good after almost six days of wear!), so I used it as a base for Nfu Oh 51. The lady doesn't mind, she loves it. :)

I applied one coat of 51 and a top coat. This layering combination is very photogenic, I took a million pictures. It was hard to make a selection for this post, I hope you guys like it!

Look how the flakies glow in sunlight... ♥

Thanks for watching!

OPI - Movin' Out

A while ago I spotted a beautiful polish on two great blogs: here and here. But somehow I forgot about it (crazy, I know!). Recently the same polish popped up on some other great blogs that I follow, here, here and here. I was intrigued. Then I saw it on Kirsten's blog about a week ago and that was it, I was lost. I hád to get my hands on this precious polish before it would be too late (or too expensive *cough* Clarins 230 *cough*). Luckily, I found a seller on eBay who was willing to ship a bottle to me, after I paid for it of course. :i I'm presenting you: OPI - Movin' Out. My preciousss...

Movin' Out is quite boring ehh.. I mean ladylike on its own. And sheer. Which makes it great for layering. And the layering results can be pretty awesome (you should really check out all the links above to see how great it looks over different polishes). I decided to layer one coat of Movin' Out over Zoya - Veruschka and I'm in love. Turns out it's not a boring pinkish purple, but multichrome heaven! And do you see those orangey gold specks in the bottle picture? Especially in bright light it looks like these specks are dancing on the nail surface, nice! 

I have nothing more to say :L        ...besides, thanks for watching!