Rainbow Candy Cane Nails

A rainbow candy cane, that's what this mani reminds me of.. just perfect for a sweet tooth like me! The base colour I used is OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls and the design is from Bundle Monster plate BM-301. I wanted a gradient look for the stamped lines, below you can find a little how-to.

1. Pick two colours and paint two stripes on the image. Leave some space between the stripes.

2. Swirl the colours together with a toothpick.

3. Grab a scraper and scrape the excess polish off. 

4. Place the stamp on the design, check if it transferred well and roll it over the nail. Work fast or the polish will turn too dry to stamp with. Some parts of the design are missing on my stamp because I had to take pictures. ^_^

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products used

white (base): OPI - My Boyfriend Scales Walls

red: Essence - Hot Red

orange: Essence - Andy, You're a Star

yellow: Catrice - Bye, Bye Birdy!

green: NYC - High Line Green

blue: Barry M - Cobalt Blue

purple: China Glaze - Grape Pop

stamping plate: Bundle Monster BM-301

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.

Pink Floral Water Marble

Water marbling... who hasn't struggled with it? My first water marble experiment was two years ago, all I can remember was the mess and the frustration. Time for some practice! I decided to go for watermarbled accent nails. You know how much I like accent nails and it saved me a lot of frustration (and nail polish). I marbled with a random white polish, OPI - Mod About You and Aretha's R·E·S·P·I·N·K from Catrice. As a finishing touch I added a couple of dots with white polish and China Glaze - Ahoy. The light pink polish I used on most nails is also Mod About You from OPI. 

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Euro 2012 Nails

Today the Dutch football team will play their first match of Euro 2012! Our national colour is orange, but if I can avoid wearing it, I will. So I painted my nails with a grassy green (High Line Green from NYC), matching the football field. ^^ I used straight french tip guides to create the Dutch flag. I kinda like it.. the only downside of the green base is that the white stripe slowly got a greenish hue. Oh well, I'm ready, bring it on!

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Iron Studs

How cool are these steel grey stud rhinestones from BornPrettyStore.com? It's nice to wear something different than clear rhinestones! For this mani I applied two coats of Orly - Iron Butterfly on most nails and Essence - Got a Secret on some accent nails. I wanted a complete matte look so I also applied a matte top coat over Got a Secret. Then I added the stud rhinestones. I recommend applying a layer of top coat to seal the studs or you'll lose them within a couple of hours.

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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.

Pastel Arches

Do you guys remember this mani? And this one? During spring I love wearing pastel colours, so this time I created a pastel version. I already had Did You 'ear About Van Gogh from OPI's Holland collection on my nails, a wonderful neutral shade with good wear time. For the arched tips I used OPI - Mod About You (pink), the minty colour is Thanks a Windmillion, also from OPI. To complete this mani I placed a couple of silver dots with Millennium from China Glaze and of course I applied a good layer of top coat. I'm really pleased with this combination! Pastel ♥

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Rainbow In The Air

I'm SO excited about today's nails. I wanted to do some kind of rainbow nail art for ages and now I finally did it, yay! My first attempt was a mess, so I took it off and started again. Believe me if I say that this requires patience and a super steady hand. Oh, and it's FUN to do! :D

A few tips: • Let the polish dry before you add the next colour (I started with the purple stripe, I added the blue when the purple was dry and so on). • Use tape if you don't have a steady hand. • Use pigmented polishes or white polish as a base. • Don't worry when the lines don't look crisp straight away, you can always do touch-ups with a nail art brush. • Wait till everything is completely dry before you add your top coat to prevent smudged lines.

image source

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products used

light blue (on most nails): Catrice - Up In The Air, two coats

red: Essence - Hot Red

orange: Essence - Andy, You're a Star 

yellow: Catrice - Bye, Bye Birdy! 

green: NYC - High Line Green

blue: Barry M - Cobalt Blue

purple: China Glaze - Grape Pop

Polka Dots

Last week I was doing two of my favourite things: drinking tea and nomming M&M's. Easter M&M's to be precise! They're so adorable. And delicious of course.. I ♥ M&M's! I wanted to use this colour combination on my nails. Now, I don't have the exact same colours (see? You can never have enough polishes ^^), so I picked four polishes in the same colour range. I think they look awesome together! As you can see I also covered all nails with white dots (a polka dot mani was on my to-do list for ages). I love how this looks! Gives quite an 'Easter vibe' don't you think?

Normally when I'm doing a skittle mani the nails of my right hand get the same look, but this time I used the colours more randomly. It looks very playful, try it some time. :)

My right hand debut on the blog!

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products used yellow: Catrice - Bye Bye Birdy!; pink: Barry M - Bright Pink; light blue: Models Own - Bloobloo; green: Catrice - Run Forest Run! (2nd version); dots: Catrice - Snow Motion. 

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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Sweet Roses

This is the cake I made for my own birthday over a month ago. I love this one, it looked so cute and lovely and tasted good! ♥ I was thinking about how I could match my nails to the cake and this is what I came up with. First I polished my ring finger nails with three coats of Catrice - Snow Motion and on the other nails I used two coats of Mod About You from OPI (which looks less blue-toned in real life). For the wavy tips I also used Snow Motion.

Roses were on my to-do list for a long time. I was inspired by this tutorial, check it out! This is my first attempt and it's not too difficult actually. I used nail polish to create the roses (Mod About You and Flower to Flower from OPI); my experience is that it works fine, just keep in mind you have to work fast 'cause nail polish dries quicker than acrylic paint. If you want your roses to look more 3D I suggest using acrylic paint.

Thanks for watching! :)

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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Green, White & Red

Recently I posted this red, white & blue mani with arches on the tips. I loved it so much I wanted to recreate it with different colours. Holly-Day was still looking good, so I kept this beautiful green as the base colour. With a random white and Poinsettia from China Glaze I added the arches on the tip of my ring finger nail. For the dots I used China Glaze - 2030. Last time I made these arches on all nails, but I lacked in time, so I did just some accent nails. It looks rather Christmassy don't you think? :)

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Red, White & Blue

Recently I made this Holland themed cake for a befriended couple. I bought the Delft blue kissing couple (non-edible) a while ago and now I finally had the chance to use it on a cake. I thought it would be nice to use the colours of the Dutch flag: red, white and blue. These colours look so great together! So I also used them on my nails; China Glaze - Poinsettia (a new fav!) as the base colour, a random white and Chuck from Essence for the arches on the tips. I also placed some silver dots with China Glaze - Millennium. A layer of top coat and done!

I hope you enjoyed this new episode of Match the Nails to the Cake. :) Below you can see a collage with all the cakes I shared with you until now; a colourful whole, isn't it? I really like sharing this other passion here and hope you don't mind looking at more cakes (ánd matching nails) in the future!

Thanks for watching and have a good weekend!

Canal Houses in Delft Blue

The title says it all actually. This manicure was inspired by the cup I'm holding in the picture. This cup is part of an awesome dinner set I'm collecting called Delfts Blond. Man oh man, I love how this came out! I think I'll cry when I have to remove it from my nails. Seriously. ;)

I applied three coats of Catrice - Snow Motion. Not the best white nail polish, it's sheer ánd streaky. So the search for a good white continues, tips are welcome! Then I freehanded the canal houses with a small nail art brush and Bermuda Breakaway from China Glaze. I also used this blue polish for the blue tips on the other nails. I finished with a layer of top coat.

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Dots 'n' Roses

In the mood for pastel colours and cuteness.

Inspired by some lovely nail designs, spotted while surfing the web.

Can it get sweeter than this? ^_^ 

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pinky: OPI - Mod About You;

ring finger: Eyeko - Vintage Polish, Konad imageplate m65, Konad Special Polish in White;

middle finger: Milani - Cyberspace;

index finger: Gosh - Groovy Grey, OPI - Mod About You, dotting tool;

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

My Love For Prints

Prints. Love them. Colourful prints? Even better! In case you haven't noticed: (colourful) tribal prints are a hot trend right now. I've seen some pretty nail art designs with tribal prints on the web, which inspired me to create a cool design on my own nails. Well, on one nail actually. As you may know I love accent nails, it's interesting enough to look at and not too much for me. Besides that, doing one nail costs me quite some time and I have other things to do besides painting my nails (crázy, I know! ^^). I think the end result looks pretty cool! Oh, and it's great to wear Kristi from Zoya again, definitely one of my fav polishes. This gorgeous red looks more blue-toned in real life though, my camera let me down a bit.

Below you can see some more prints: my awesome warm winter slippers (I'm actually wearing them right now, it's so cold in The Netherlands.. this is NOT what I call Summer) and on the right my favourite bedding (excuse the crinkles, lol). Enough proof for my love for prints? ;)

Thanks for watching!

The nail polishes I used:

red: Zoya - Kristi, blue: Catrice - Blue Cara Ciao, orange: Essence - Andy, You're A Star, jade green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black, black: Essence - Fatal, white: Catrice - Snow Motion!

Bright Stripes

A couple of days ago I received a package from Born Pretty Store. One of the products in this package was metallic black striping tape ($1,73). You can use the striping tape for a metallic accent on the nail, but in this post you'll not see the actual striping tape on my nails. 

I started with three coats of China Glaze - Pool Party, a super bright pink neon. Neons are impossible to photograph, so imagine Pool Party being much brighter and pinker in real life. Then I placed some pieces of the striping tape on my ring finger nail, applied one layer of Romeo from Essence and removed the tape. It's as easy as that, the striping tape is perfect for this. I finished the mani by applying a layer of matte topcoat from Essence. Doesn't it look cool? I think it does! :)

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.

Rubik's Cube Cake + Nail Art

I want to show you guys another cake I made, an edible Rubik's Cube this time. I made this cake for my brother's birthday (in case you're wondering, I have three brothers, I'm the only girl :) ). This was the hardest cake I've made so far, it costed me blood, sweat and tears, but the end result made me forget all of that. I filled the cake with lemon curd and lemon cheesecake bavarois, it was scrumptiously delicious!

Needless to say, this cake inspired me to do some nail art: fun times! (If you want to see more cake inspired nail art posts you can click here). I used tape and free handed a bit. I started with the different coloured blocks (colour blocking to the max I say!), I waited for them to dry a little and added a layer of topcoat. Then I applied the black lines. After doing some touch-ups with acetone and a small nail art brush to create crisper lines I added another layer of topcoat. Doing one nail took me quite some time, luckily I'm a big fan of accent nails. ;) On the rest of my nails I applied Jade Is The New Black from OPI.

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The nail polishes I used:

jade green: OPI - Jade Is The New Black, blue: Barry M - Cobalt Blue, red: Zoya - Kristi, orange: Essence - Andy, You're A Star, yellow: Catrice - Don't Feed The Birds, white: La Femme Beauty - White, black: Essence - Fatal.

Pig In The Mud - Cake and Nail Art

Of all the cakes I made this is one of my favourites, it's a 'pig(s) in the mud' cake. I found a picture of a pig in the mud cake on the internet a while ago and I immediately wanted to make my own version. Look at those little pigs chillin' in their mud bath, isn't it hilarious? I think it is! I gave this cake to one of my brothers on his birthday, he lol'd. :r

If you know me you could've expected matching nail art, well, here you are. :) The pink nail polish you see on most nails is a new one from Catrice called Miss Piggy Reloaded (again, hilarious), the brown I used is You Don't Know Jacques! from OPI and for some darker pink details I used Orly - Pixy Stix. 

*A quick reminder: today is the last day you can enter my giveaway! The giveaway will close tonight at 11.59 pm CET.*

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Bee Happy

It was time for some nail art, don't you think? :) And I wanted to show you a(nother) yummylicious cake! Below you can see one of my birthday cakes I made a couple of months ago. I am a sucker for chocolate and m&m's, so it wasn't too hard to decide what I wanted on my cake. Oh, it was delish! The cake inspired me (again) to do some nail art, so I ended up with a bee on my ring finger nail. The brownish taupe colour I used is OPI - You Don't Know Jacques, for the yellow bee body I used Don't Feed The Birds from Catrice. I added some wings with China Glaze - Millennium and two silver rhinestones for the eyes.

Accent nails are so much fun, I don't think I would've liked it as much with all my nails transformed into bees. What do you think?

Thanks for watching!