Happy New Year!

I'm actually not a chunky-glitter-polish person, but for today (well, actually tonight) I made an exception.. The beginning of the year 2011 is a once in a lifetime experience after all!! :O

I used one layer of Barry M - Cobalt Blue and two coats of China Glaze - Dorothy Who? on top of it. For me it's definitely firework on the nails!


Now I'm moving to the kitchen to bake a lot of yummy 'oliebollen' (free translation: oil balls, hmm, that actually sounds very very bad, ha-ha) for tonight!

I wish you all a ...

  

       HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! :party

World Inspired Colours by Herôme - Bogota

Today I have a nail polish on from Herôme, a Dutch hand and nail care brand. A while ago Herôme created a line of polishes inspired by the riches and colourfulness of the world. The name of this line: World Inspired Colours (W.I.C.) -you didn't saw that coming, ey? ;)-. They gave each polish the name of a city and this one is named after the capital of Colombia, Bogota. Bogota is a muted periwinkle coloured polish with rosy gold glass flecks in it. I don't know what Bogota (the city) has to do with periwinkle and goldish glass flecks, but I honestly don't care.. :O What's more important: I love glass flecked polishes and this one's no exception. They're so sparkly!

The application was ok. I bought this polish a year ago and it thickened a little, but after adding some drops of polish thinner (I finally found it!) you're good to go! This is two coats with top coat.

Thanks for watching!

How To Wrap Your Tips

Did you know that applying a little bit of polish at the end of the free edge of your nail (the nail tip) makes the nail polish last longer? The free edge of your nail suffers the most from everyday chores, so the polish will damage easily. That is what we call tip wear. A bit of polish on the nail tip can prevent that. And it doesn't only extend the wear of your beautiful polished nails, I think it looks very nice too.

I tried different ways to apply nail polish on my tips. The way I'll show you in this post works best for me and is in my opinion the neatest!

First a picture of my nails with three wrapped/covered tips and one unwrapped (I guess I don't have to explain which one that is :O ). The polish I'm using is Kristi from Zoya, a juicy red.

Ok, let's go.. How to get neat wrapped nail tips without globs of nail polish under the nail?

• Make sure your nail is clean, dry and oil-free;

• Apply your base coat. Also put a little bit on your nail tip (the same way I explain below) to protect the nails from staining;

• Start off with the first layer of polish;

• When you covered your whole nail make sure there's just a little bit of polish left on the brush, wipe off the excess if necessary;

• Place your brush in a 90 degree angle (see picture below). You're going to use the side of the brush for wrapping;

• Wrap those tips! Put the side of the brush against the nail tip and swipe the  brush from left to right to cover the whole tip with polish (see picture below);

• Add a second layer of polish on the nail if necessary. You can wrap your tip again;

• Wrap your tip with a little bit of top coat. Then cover the whole nail with top coat to seal everything.

And voila, you're done! :) Then it looks something like this:

See? Nothing under the nail, just on the tips.

Another picture of the end result:

I hope this howto was helpful! Do you wrap your tips while polishing your nails? Or do you change your nail colour so often it's not worth the extra trouble?

Thanks for watching!

The Christmas Story: What Christmas Means to Me

link

The Christmas Story from Luke: Chapter 2

1 About that time Emperor Augustus gave orders for the names of all the people to be listed in record books. 

2 These first records were made when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 

3 Everyone had to go to their own hometown to be listed. 4 So Joseph had to leave Nazareth in Galilee and go to Bethlehem in Judea. Long ago Bethlehem had been King David's hometown, and Joseph went there because he was from David's family. 

5 Mary was engaged to Joseph and traveled with him to Bethlehem. She was soon going to have a baby, 6 and while they were there, 7 she gave birth to her first-born son. She dressed him in baby clothes and laid him on a bed of hay, because there was no room for them in the inn.

8 That night in the fields near Bethlehem some shepherds were guarding their sheep. 9 All at once an angel came down to them from the Lord, and the brightness of the Lord's glory flashed around them. The shepherds were frightened. 10 But the angel said, “Don't be afraid! I have good news for you, which will make everyone happy. 11 This very day in King David's hometown a Savior was born for you. He is Christ the Lord. 12 You will know who he is, because you will find him dressed in baby clothes and lying on a bed of hay.” 

13 Suddenly many other angels came down from heaven and joined in praising God. They said:

14 “Praise God in heaven!

Peace on earth to everyone

who pleases God.”

15 After the angels had left and gone back to heaven, the shepherds said to each other, “Let's go to Bethlehem and see what the Lord has told us about.” 16 They hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and they saw the baby lying on a bed of hay. 

17 When the shepherds saw Jesus, they told his parents what the angel had said about him. 18 Everyone listened and was surprised. 19 But Mary kept thinking about all this and wondering what it meant. 

20 As the shepherds returned to their sheep, they were praising God and saying wonderful things about him. Everything they had seen and heard was just as the angel had said.

source

I wish you all a merry Christmas! :h May God bless you!

Zoya - Kristi

This is Zoya Kristi. A red creme. An awesome red, the perfect red. In my opinion, that is... :O

It applied like butter, this is two coats with topcoat. If you don't want any visible nail line you can add one extra coat.

Another winner from Zoya, great job!

Thanks for watching!

Catrice - Run Forest Run!

I don't know what's wrong with my bottle of Run Forest Run! from Catrice. I seriously think they stuffed silicone paste in mine.. my goodness, the application was a nightmare. Catrice, first you spoil me with your nice polishes and now you give me this gummy, gloopy stuff? I'm disappointed. No, I'm sad..

Ok, enough with the complaining, I think a bit of thinner will help! I have a bottle of thinner, but it disappeared somehow. So I'll have to find it first before I put RFR on my nails again. 

On to the colour, it's a forest green. I find it a bit of a boring green though, it screams for a fancy stamping pattern, a sparkle or even a glitter :) But that's for another time, because I already removed it. Yeah, I was thát frustrated, lol. 

Did I mentioned I dó like the name of this polish? While applying it felt more like Run Amy Run! though.. :O

Thanks for watching!

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!

Storage Tip: Image Plates

No nails in this post, but something about storing image plates for stamping. I tried different ways for storing those shiny plates. Keeping them in the original package didn't work out, because I often decide to stamp just after painting my nails and opening something could ruin my mani. Then I used a little business card book, but the plates always fell out when I tried to flip a page, not handy. So I wanted to store the plates where I can get them easily without ruining my freshly painted nails. This is how I store them at the moment (you may laugh now.. ;)). I used a cheap ass sponge, cut some slices in it and voilá. I think it's great, I can get the plates without damaging my polished nails and I can still see what plates are in it. Another thing, now that I can see them, I stamp more often, yay!

I know, it takes some space, but hey, my nail polish bottles do too :O. How do you guys store your image plates?

Thanks for watching!

Nubar - Purple Beach

Today I have Purple Beach from Nubar for you to look at. What a mysterious nail polish. Shifting from a greyish purple to a mossy green to a golden green... multichrome to the max! It's so fun to look at, I'm moving my nails in all angles to see the different colours (the people around me probably think I'm crazy.. :O ).

The application was very good, this is two coats without a topcoat (look how shiny!).

Thanks for watching!

One Polish To Rule Them All - Nfu Oh no. 51

If there's one nail polish that doesn't need a whole bla-bla description it would be Nfu Oh no. 51. I can't recall hearing or reading one negative word about this masterpiece. Ok, honestly.. the drying time isn't that fantastic and it's very sheer, but who really cares with this juicy purple flake heaven? :d I think it's one of the greatest polishes out there, especially for layering. This time I layered it over Zoya Mimi and I think it's freakin' hawt!!

Thanks for watching!

Zoya - Mimi

I have Zoya Mimi for aaages, so it was about time I used it! It's a winner, deep purple and super crazy sparkly, yum! The sparkles change colour depending on how the light hits your nails from purple to pink to a rosy gold, beautiful! (I leave all my pictures clickable/big so you can see the awesomeness from up close.. I recommend clicking! ^^ ).

I applied two coats of Mimi over one coat of Grape Pop from China Glaze, because with the application of other polishes from the Sparkle Collection I experienced some sheerness. 

Thanks for watching!

Catrice - Just Married + Konad

The polish I showed you yesterday (Just Married from Catrice) was nice but evenly boring. A great canvas for some stamping experiments. I say experiments. :O The idea I had in my head was nicer than the look on my nails, but hey, it's so fun to stamp! I used the wavy design from Konads image plate M69 and Millennium from China Glaze as the stamping polish. Then I stamped some cute butterflies (plate M66 + Konad Special Polish in White) on top of it.

Thanks for watching! :h

Catrice - Just Married

I don't know why I picked up Just Married from Catrice. I guess I thought it looked nice in the bottle. It don't like it as much on the nail. Well, actually, the colour is ok, very work appropriate. Or very newly wed appropriate? :i It has a lovely shimmer in it, which I like. But overall it looks a bit boring. I wantz sparklies, holo, duochrome..!! *sigh* The application was good, this is two coats plus topcoat. My nail line is still visible, one extra coat could cover that, but I don't mind. :D

Thanks for watching!

CND - Sapphire Sparkle

Yesterday I showed you Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! from Catrice. Today I decided to add one of those fabulous CND Effects, Sapphire Sparkle. Well, it sparkles! I love it... The difference you see in the pictures is due to the lighting; the top pic was taken with direct light, the bottom one with diffuse light, look at those sparklies!! :L

Thanks for watching!

Comparison: Catrice - Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! & Essence - Underwater

When I polished my nails with Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! from Catrice it reminded me of Underwater (the 2nd version) from Essence. So I made a quick comparison:

As you can see they look quite similar, Underwater is a teeny tiny bit less blue and slightly more dusty. But other than that, dupe alert! :O Not very strange, Catrice being Essence's big sister (they share the same manufacturer). 

HQWBJ! does come in a bigger bottle (10 ml against the one from Essence which contains 5 ml) and the brush is a little bit wider. I didn't experience any difference in application. When it comes to the wear & tear... that's something I'll have to test in the future. :)

Thanks for watching!

Catrice - Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!

I love Catrice! And how they keep making fantastic polishes. This is Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans! How cool is that name..? 8) The name already gave you an idea, HQWBJ is a dark blue, denim coloured polish. At first I thought it would be a creme, but surprise surprise, there are some subtle light blue glitters in there! 

The formula was nice. My experience with the polishes from Catrice is that they're always a bit thick, but very pigmented. This is two coats plus topcoat.

Thanks for watching and following!! :h

Koh - Platinum Silver

Today I have a a very special polish on my nails, at least for me it is. It was my first prismatic one! And not just your average one, my eyes still hurt a little from seeing it in sunlight. This is Platinum Silver from Koh, a Dutch brand. I have to admit I thought this brand was Japanese, well, I was wrong, it's from my own little country, ha! Normally I'm not a big fan of silver polish on my nails, but this one is such a stunner. The prismatic effect is truly mesmerizing! Platinum Silver was difficult to apply. You can't apply it like a normal nail polish, it's all about filling up bald spots. A special base coat (like Aqua Base from Nfu Oh) may help, but I don't own one. 

I also have something funny for you guys! I was going through my nail photos and stumbled upon a picture of my nails when I just used this polish a year ago. How cute were my hands back then! *giggles* I don't even recognize my own nails!

Thanks for watching!!

Diamond Cosmetics - Chainmail Charm

Seeing the next picture you might think this one is nice, but also kinda blah...

Well, I tell you, my nails are on fiyah! Proof:

This polish is a-ma-zing!! Look at the :rainbow ! Do I hear angels singing..? Every time I wear Chainmail Charm I decide I want to wear it for the rest of my life.. But maybe that's not a good idea, you probably want to see other polishes too. ;)

The application was easy, 3 coats + topcoat.

Thanks for watching!! 

Periwinkly Konadicure

I'm a big fan of subtle stamped nails. One way of achieving a subtle result is using colours lying close to each other (duh!) like the combination above. 

This is three coats of China Glaze - Secret Peri-Wink-Le and I stamped with an image from Konad imageplate M64. The polish I used for stamping is China Glaze - 2NITE. That one is ah-ah-awesome for stamping! And awesome in every other way. ♥

Thanks for watching!

(Almost) Naked Nails

Although I like to wear all kinda crazy colours on my nails, I have to admit: sometimes I like to have my nails (almost) naked. Fresh and simple.. Today is one of those days. I did use a Nail Whitener from Etos (a Dutch drugstore brand), because my nails are a bit stained and it gives a shine. It's an old bottle, but it works like a charm! 

Don't be afraid, tomorrow I'll dive into my evergrowing pile of nail polishes and look for some crazy polish to wear and show you.. :O

Thanks for watching!

Essence Studio Nails - 12 Trust Me!

Today I tried something different on my nails. No nail polish, no! Nail stickers, from Essence. I like the idea of nail stickers, fun designs, no drying time: nice. I bought them quite a while ago and finally tried them. The design I used is called 12 Trust Me!.

Well, trust me, they suck! At least on my nails they do. The set contains 14 pieces so you can choose what size fits best on every nail. Sadly my nails are too small for most of the stickers, so I had to cut most of them. It says perfectly styled nails within seconds on the back. Hmm, I don't think so. When I finally got them on my nails I saw some tiny wrinkles and some other imperfections. Although I'm kinda perfectionistic I really wanted to give these stickers a chance. I started photographing my nails and noticed the sides of the stickers were curling up. That's it. Top innovation my *ss. That's not the 5 days lasting Essence promised... (not that I believe such promises in the first place ;) ).

Of course I dó have the result for you! Looks nice, huh? ^_^

Thanks for watching!

CND - Amethyst Sparkle

I thought it would be fun to use a CND Effects polish. My first time using one! I applied one layer of Amethyst Sparkle on top of Yasmeen from Zoya. Not that I thought Yasmeen wasn't nice on its own by the way :O

Amethyst Sparkle adds a lot of purple and pink sparkles to the manicure, gorgeous! It's a great way of bringing your manicure alive again and giving it a little extra oomph. I like it!

Thanks for watching!!

Zoya - Yasmeen

Experiencing some Internet connection problems over here, that sucks big time! It's still not how it should be, so a quickie today, because uploading the pictures already took ages *wipes of forehead*.

This is Yasmeen from Zoya. Zoya's description of Yasmeen: "Dark blue-toned purple base with very strong red-toned medium purple shimmer and hints of gold duochrome. The ultimate complex purple for maximum drama".

I couldn't describe it better :D. The shimmer is awesome. In natural light the blue undertone is more visible (see pic below). And still that crazy rockin' shimmer, me likey! What's up with hidden shimmer in some polishes nowadays?! I want to see it. All the time. So YAY for Zoya! :D

Thanks for watching!