Christmas Mix & Match Manicure

I don't think I can express how much I love this Christmas mix and match manicure.. I had this idea in my head and it turned out better than I expected! The ingredients for this lovely combination: a juicy red colour, subtle stamping, a yummy candy cane design and I used Emerald Sparkle from China Glaze for the first time! Gotta love those little pops of green. 

I wish you a merry, merry Christmas! May God bless you and your loved ones.

Thanks for watching! :h

products used

pinky: HEMA #85

ring finger: China Glaze - Millennium, plate BM-323, Konad Special Nail Polish in White, silver rhinestone

middle finger: China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle

index finger: OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls, HEMA #85, striper brush

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

Dotted French

Something simple and classy for today. I was in the mood for nude-ish nails after wearing a lot of dark colours. So I applied three coats of Essie - Body Language. Beautiful colour! I should wear it more often, but my untrieds disagree, hehe. Later I added white dots on the nail tips with a dotting tool. I finished with one coat of OPI - You Callin' Me a Lyre? to soften the colour of the dots.

Hope you like it. ^_^ Thanks for watching!

Syrup Glitter Nails

After I saw a couple of Nfu Oh's Jelly Syrup nail polishes on Jeanette's beautiful nails I couldn't resist and ordered two, JS17 and JS30. Today I'm showing you JS17, a happy green jelly. I was in the mood for some glitter, so I also used OPI - Pirouette My Whistle. The layering order was JS17-JS17-glitter-JS17-glitter-JS17-glitter. Applying JS17 was easy, no streaking or bubbling at all. I was afraid it would take forever to dry, but the drying time was surprisingly quick for 7 (!) coats. Ahh, I'm in love with my syrup glitter mani. ♥

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Forgotten Treasure

A couple of days ago I was cleaning out my closet and found a box with old nail polishes. A bunch of sheer pinks and thickened frosts, but also this impressive little glitter polish (Effect Nails #008) from Etos (Dutch drugstore). The sheer blue base is filled with small and medium-sized prismatic hexes. SO pretty. For this mani I layered one coat over two coats of the blue side of Essence's Colour³ nail polish called It's Two Bright. I had a hard time capturing the glittery awesomesauce on the nail, but the bottle shot does show how beautiful the glitter looks in real life!

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Bright Pink Glitter Nails

Who can resist bright pink glitter nails? I know I can't! ♥ For this mani I started with two coats of Barry M - Pink Flamingo. Then I added one of Catrice's Million Styles Effect Top Coats, Million Dollar Baby, a top coat with small gold hex glitter and medium-sized silver hexes. Silver you say? Then why do I see pink glitter? That's because I also added a layer of the sheer pink jelly of Essence's Colour³ nail polish called Brightsmates. Oh yes, you're looking at a glitter sandwich! ^_^ My camera freaked out a little (actually a lot *sigh*), my nails are obviously pink, but not neon pink in real life (that would've been nice too!). The close-up picture is more colour accurate than the first pic.

Thanks for watching! :h

Dragon of the Green Hills

I'm still wearing Green Hills from ANNY. The wear is exceptional, no chips or even tipwear after four days, that's how I like it! I can't get over how great this colour is and it turns out to be a perfect canvas for something even greater. The scale-like pattern is from Bundle Monster plate 215 and I couldn't think of a better polish to use for those scales than a england's Dragon. This could easily be my favourite stamped manicure ever! Dark, green, prismatic sparkles.. :L 

My nails reminded me a bit of this little dragon iguana we spotted during our trip to Curaçao last summer. Isn't he cute?

Thanks for watching and enjoy your weekend!

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!

Thanks for watching!

Indigo Lunar Eclipse

I love snow. But when it starts snowing at the moment I want to photograph my fresh new mani, I hate snow. I wish I had more pictures to show you, this looks so awesome! Recently I finally bought Barry M - Indigo, an insanely gorgeous blurple creme (the colour was hard to capture on camera, it looks much deeper and purplier irl). Indigo applied beautifully, two coats were enough for full opacity. I wanted to add something to it without losing too much of that beautiful colour so I lightly sponged the tips of my nails with Lunar Eclipse from Orly. This is a dreamy combination, I like it very much! Indigo is such a stunner, why haven't I bought it earlier? In my experience Barry M never disappoints!

Thanks for watching and enjoy your weekend!

Tinseled Poinsettia

I just received Tinsel Town and Poinsettia from China Glaze's Let It Snow collection and my hands were itching to use them. Can you blame me..? They're SO pretty! I applied three coats of Poinsettia, a super glossy blue-toned red, and the glittery Tinsel Town at the base of the nail. I really like to use glitter for accents, but I can imagine Tinsel Town looking totally awesome on its own. Can't wait to try it. :)

Poinsettia reminded me of one of my all-time favourites: Kristi from Zoya. And look how close they are! I used two coats here. As you can see Kristi is more opaque and maybe a bit darker; Poinsettia is much more glossier. But you can increase the opacity with an extra coat and use a top coat for a glossy finish.. so let me conclude by saying you probably don't need both.

Thanks for watching!

Beyu - Brilliant Shiraz

In case you've missed it: this Beyu nail polish is the bomb! When I saw this wonder of a polish on Jeanette's beautiful nails I immediately ran to the store to see if I could find a bottle.. and I was lucky, there was one tiny bottle left. Imagine the joy! ^_^ Brilliant Shiraz is a fuchsia jelly packed with awesome multi-chromatic shimmer. It looks like nail polish heaven in the bottle, but how does it look on the nail?

It's kinda sheer, so if you want to wear it on its own you'll need at least three coats to get an opaque result. As I cherish every drop of this polish I decided to layer it. I applied two coats of Kleancolor - Neon Sapphire and two coats of Brilliant Shiraz. The shimmer looks mostly reddish on the nail, but at some angles it turns from orange to yellow to green. Aren't those sparklies mesmerizing? I'm in love. And I can't wait to try other layering combinations with this beauty from Beyu. Any suggestions? :)

Thanks for watching!

Franken Fun: Confetti Sky

I'm always intrigued by those jelly nail polishes with large multi-coloured glitter floating in them, for example those glitter bombs from Deborah Lippmann. But I find those quite expensive and a bit too glittery, so what to do..? Franken one! The result: Confetti Sky, a blue jelly with multi-coloured and multi-sized glitter. I can't believe how pretty this came out, the amount of glitter is just enough for me and the blue base looks so delish and squishy... And it's ridiculously easy to do! Fun times. :) 

Ingredients:

-half a bottle of Essence - Clear As Ice

-half a bottle of Essence - Circus Confetti

-a few drops of Catrice - Blue Cara Ciao

Thanks for watching!

Orly - Androgynie. Let's Get The Holidays Started! ;-)

Today finally feels a bit like summer, I love feeling the warmth of the sun on my skin. Ironically I'm wearing a nail polish from Orly's upcoming holiday collection (Holiday Soiree). A couple of days ago I saw that my sweet blogging friend Miranda already got her hands on two nail polishes from this collection, what a nice surprise! Of course I went on a search and I found them in a Dutch webshop, yay! It was hard to choose, but I ended up buying the one I was most excited about: Androgynie. It looked so spectacular in the bottle I wanted to try it on my nails immediately, summer day or not. 

Androgynie is a black jelly with large multi-coloured hexagons, finer prismatic glitter and really fine gold flecks. A perfect party polish, it's SO pretty! The formula was good, it applied easily and dries fairly quick. It is a bit on the sheer side, so I used three coats (plus top coat). I have to say I was a bit disappointed by the amount of hexagons showing up on the nail, most of them are sticked to the side of the bottle and difficult to get out. I gave the bottle a real good shake, but apparently it wasn't good enough. :/

Thanks for watching!

p.s. the bottle comes with a tiny lace nail file, how cute is that? Useless, but cute. ♥

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.

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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!

Layering WIN

Ok, ok, I confess: I'm addicted to prismatic prettiness. Those rainbows of colour on my nails are hypnotizing, no joke. Sometimes you're just trying some layering combinations on a nail wheel and then you find a killer combo like this! I applied two coats of Kleancolor - Neon Sapphire (I wouldn't call it neon, but it's a beautiful blue jelly) and one coat of Catherine Arley #667. 

Something this pretty on my nails: instant happy-maker. :)

Thanks for watching! 

Color Club: Wicked Sweet (Part I: pinks & purple)

This summer Color Club released two nail polish collections called Wicked Sweet and Starry Temptress. Today I'm showing you the pink and purple nail polishes from the Wicked Sweet collection. The nail polishes from this collection are all very bright or neons with a nice extra: they're scented. The scents remind me of scented markers I had as a kid, aah, I loved those! :)

↑ Raspberry Rush is a bright magenta with a jelly like finish. What an awesome, vibrant colour. So mouthwatering and juicy, I'm a fan! I'm not sure if it's really raspberry scented, but it does have a sweet and fruity scent. The formula of Raspberry Rush was ok, the first two coats were a bit streaky though so I applied three. You can see my nail line in the picture, but in real life it was barely noticeable.

↑ Gimme A Grape Big Kiss is a vibrant purple polish with a great... uhm, grape scent. Another beautiful colour, perfect for summer! It has the same formula as Raspberry Crush, I applied three coats.

↑ Yum Gum is a light, bright pink. This one has a creme finish instead of a jelly finish like the above two. It's no surprise Yum Gum's bubble gum scented, definitely my favourite scent out of these three! It made me crave for some real bubble gum. The formula is more pigmented than the other two, but I had some application issues with Yum Gum, I needed three coats to even out the worst streaks.

I always struggle with photographing neons (who doesn't? ;)), especially getting a colour accurate picture of Yum Gum was a challenge. Keep in mind these polishes look brighter and more saturated in real life. All swatches are without a topcoat. Normally bright colours dry with a matte or satin finish, so the glossy finish was a pleasant surprise.

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.

Cult Nails - Captivated

Captivated. A well chosen name for this nail polish, glittery goodness! I saw the first swatch of it and I wás captivated. Which was kinda surprising to me, because I'm not a big fan of chunky glitter polishes. But this one... oh, I nééded it. Captivated is part of a collection called A Day at the Races, a beautiful range of nail polishes designed by fellow blogger Maria! Creating your own nail polish line, isn't that the dream of every nail polish lover..? *sigh*

Maria describes Captivated as 'a coral based jelly polish packed with gold and coral glitter'. I have nothing to add to that description. It's extremely pretty, so sparkly, like a summer party on my nails! It'll be awesome for a pedi too, so applying it on my toenails will be the next thing I'm doing. The formula on this one was quite goopy, so the application wasn't the easiest. I hope some thinner will solve that, 'cause I want to wear this beauty all summer long! I used three coats and one layer of topcoat. On the pictures it may look a little see-through, especially on the pic taken in sunlight (3rd), but in real life it's more opaque. And more sparkly too! The nail surface feels slightly bumpy after applying Captivated, but that can be solved with a good layer (or two) of topcoat.

Thanks for watching!

Teeez - Free

Today I have a pretty green for you, Free from Teeez. It looks like Free has a jellylike consistency and it's filled with beautiful tiny silver flecks. Really, really pretty! I am a big fan of greens and this one doesn't dissapoint. It reminds me of one of my biggest lemmings, MAC - Jade Dragon (Fall/Winter 2010 collection), and to be honest: I think I'm satisfied with having this one #proud.

Now I only have to hunt down Ming Blue and Rain of Flowers from the same collection. :$

Applying Free was easy, I used two coats for complete coverage. The only downside is that this polish stains like crazy, even cleaning up tiny mistakes took more time than usual. I always use a layer of basecoat, but I recommend using two coats with this one. Just to be safe.

Do you like Free? It's part of my giveaway, so if you want a chance to get your hands on it, enter!

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)

Ladybug Galore

My nails didn't see a lot of nail polish the past days due to me being busy baking a special cake. I'm always afraid the nail polish will fall off suddenly while baking and disappear in the cake *shivers*. So.. as you might have guessed one of the things I love to do, next to polishing zhe nailz, is baking cakes! And to decorate cakes with marzipan and stuff... (and of course eating them afterwards, nom). This weekend I made a ladybug cake for a sweet, sweet girl who turned 1 today, hurray! Not that she'll remember the cake, but hey, at least her parents will (and I still have the pictures ;) ). 

When I was done baking and decorating I decided to paint a ladybug on one of my nails. The red I used is Zoya Kristi. What an awesome red! The pictures doesn't show the colour at its best, but I'll make a special post for Kristi soon. I handpainted the black details with Konad Special Polish in Black, because it's so pigmented. It's not the easiest polish to work with, because it's so gloopy, but it worked for now. Then I used two little silver rhinestones for the eyes. And I finished with a nice thick layer of Seche Vite! I actually almost never do nail art like this and I must say: r.e.s.p.e.c.t. for all those girls (and boys!) who can turn nails into beautiful miniature paintings! :b

Do you like to bake? And I'm curious, do you wear polish while baking?

Thanks for watching!