Eczema Sucks

Hi everyone!

Today I want to share something other than nail stuff with you. Every once in a while (like now) I discover spots of dyshidrotic eczema on the sides of my fingers and around my nails. With this form of eczema small, itchy blisters show up. When these blisters dry up, the skin often cracks and looks and feels really dry. Unfortunately the causes of this type of eczema are still unknown, but many factors may have an influence including seasonal changes (hello fall!), stress or allergies. 

As I don't want to scare you with nasty pics, it may be a couple of days before I can post pictures of my nails again. Luckily I have some oldies to show you! I hope you don't mind. ^_^

Thanks for reading and if you also suffer from a type of eczema, feel free to share!

OPI - DS Diamond

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Oh hello gorgeous!! :L

This beautiful polish is Diamond from OPI's Designer Series. And it is a diamond! If I could marry a nail polish, this would be the one ;) Application was a dream, 2 coats, no topcoat.

Thanks for watching! 

Purple Gradient Nails

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Today I was going through my nail polish stash and saw a lot of purples which I've never worn (shame on me! Purple is even one of my favourite colours). So I decided to combine those purples in one manicure. One way of using multiple polishes in one manicure is making a gradient with the sponging technique.

I achieved the result above following the next steps: 

1. paint the entire nail with the polish of your choice (I used China Glaze - Grape Pop), let it dry a little;

2. put a drop of another polish of your choice on a piece of paper (I used Color Club - Wild at Heart);

3. dip a little piece of a sponge (I use a kitchen sponge) in the drop of polish;

4. press the sponge gently on your nail, begin at the nail tip and sponge toward the cuticle. Stop when you covered three quarters of the nail, you want to keep a part of the base colour unsponged;

5. repeat step 2, 3 & 4 with a third polish (I used Zoya - Mimi), stop halfway the nail to keep a part of the first sponged layer visible;

6. repeat step 2, 3 & 4 with a fourth polish (I used Orly - Out Of This World), only cover the tip (one quarter) of your nail; 

And you're done! The result can be a bit bumpy, so cover the nail with a thick layer of topcoat.

*of course you don't have to use so much different polishes, even with two colours you can make a nice gradient manicure, but with more colours the result will be more.. eh.. gradient :O 

Thanks for watching and good luck with the sponging! :h

How To Ruin Your Manicure - Lesson 1 ;)

Why do I always feel the need to ruin a beautiful manicure?! xP 

I thought a little Konad would be nice, well... *note to self: improve the stamping skills first 

Ok ok, I'm exaggerating just a little. ;) 'Cause I love the combination! I used imageplate M69 and China Glaze Millennium for stamping, but I'm going to look for a better silver stamping polish, any ideas?

Thanks for watching!

Essie - Sew Psyched

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Isn't that a brilliant color? This is Sew Psyched from the Essie Fall Collection 2010. When I saw the first swatches of Sew Psyched I knew that this was a musthave for me... It's a dusty, greyish green with a subtle silver shimmer in it. If you click on the picture you can see that lovely shimmer better. Great polish for fall!

I had some trouble with the application (thick, dries fast resulting in an uneven surface), but the colour made me forget all of that.

Thanks for watching!

Milani - Hi-Tech

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During my vacation on Corsica the sun shone almost every day, luckily I took a prismatic nail polish with me. This is Milani - Hi-Tech, a beautiful limegreen with prismatic particles. This polish rocked that hard on my nails... my camera couldn't capture it like I wanted. I love-love-love greens and prismatic polishes, so Hi-Tech is definitely a winner!

The formula was somewhat disappointing, though. Hi-Tech is quite sheer and even after three coats I had to put a little extra polish on some nails to cover some bald spots.  

Thanks for watching!

Essie - Wife Goes On

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Of course I polished the nails of my hands with Essie - Wife Goes On too. Actually I don't have much to say about it... Spectacular colour, easy to apply, two coats. Love it! 

Thanks for watching!