a england - Briarwood

Oh, so pretty! I'm wearing Briarwood from a england for over a week now and apart from tip wear it's still looking great. It happens so often that Adina's creations leave me speechless... It's a perfect colour for fall, I can see myself wearing Briarwood a lot. This is two coats plus top coat.

I don't know if you noticed, but I decided to go for a more rounded nail shape. I wore my nails in a square shape for years and I wanted to try something else. It feels nice, I like it!

Thanks for watching! :h

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).

Thanks for watching!

*The studs were sent to me for reviewing purposes.

For more information, check out my Disclosure Policy.

Curved Chevron & Shimmer Polish - Elsa

Oh, I love this mani! The colours, the combination of finishes and hey.. I see glitter. ♥ I used two coats of Essie - School of Hard Rocks and I added curved chevron tips with 2030 from China Glaze. On my ring finger nail I'm wearing Shimmer Polish - Elsa, a perfect match with gold, teal and red glitter. I can't get over how blingy and beautiful it is...

Thanks for watching!

PS I'm sorry for posting so little lately. The eczema on my fingers keeps bugging me, most of the time it's not a pretty sight. :( I can't say the weather is very helpful, so I'm hoping a change of season (warmth, yes please!) will make it disappear.

*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.

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. 

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

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. ^_^

Thanks for watching!

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

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!

Thanks for watching!

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.

Copper'ize Me Caught On The Red Carpet

Today I want to show you a super cool new glitter topper from Essence called Copper'ize Me! Its clear base is filled with small copper coloured glitter and medium-sized multi-coloured glitter. I applied one coat over two coats of Catrice - Caught On The Red Carpet. My camera couldn't pick up the right colour, COTRC looks more blue-toned and deeper in real life. But.. I'm posting this to show you how awesome the glitterzz are! I love how the copper glitter peeks through and how it twinkles with the glossy finish. Copper'ize Me! is a stunner, matte ánd glossy!

without matte top coat

Thanks for watching and have a good Easter weekend!

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

Thanks for watching!

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

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!

Thanks for watching!

Speciallità - Ares

It's a little obvious to wear red for Christmas, but I just lóve red. I decided to wear Speciallità's Ares, a coral leaning red prismatic polish. Isn't it pretty? I think it's perfect! Applying Ares was super easy, two coats were enough for an opaque result. 

That's it for today... I wish you all a merry, merry Christmas! :h May God bless you!

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.

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.

Thanks for watching!

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? :)

Thanks for watching!

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!

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!

a england - Perceval

On the a england website this nail polish is described as a 'splendid and resplendent red'. And that's what Perceval is! I really like this glowy red, the shimmer in it is so beautiful. I wish I could show you a picture taken in sunlight; sadly the sun was shy when I was photographing my nails. But I'm sure this red will rock my nails more than once the coming season (and beyond), so maybe I'll post a nice sunlight picture later. The formula was nice, I needed two coats for full opacity. 

Oh, don't forget it's The Gothic Month at a-england! Out of these five mysterious shades I've tried Camelot and King Arthur, I can totally recommend those two. ♥

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.

Kleancolor - Bite Me

Eat your heart out, Ruby Pumps! This is one coat of Kleancolor - Bite Me. Yes, you read that right, one coat. Can you believe how pigmented this glittery red is? I really hope two layers of base coat will prevent my nails from staining. :o The formula of Bite Me was a bit thick, but manageable. An amazing red, so sparkly... love it!

That's it for today, 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.

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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!

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!