Cake Love

*Pfew*, the last couple of days I've been really busy baking cakes (which means: 'naked' nails, so I don't have polished nails to show you right now). But I thought you wouldn't mind me showing you another cake.. And if you do, let me know! ;)

Today I made a small simple cake for my husband. We don't celebrate Valentine's Day, but today we're seven years a couple (we didn't celebrate Valentine's Day then either, it just happened, lol) so that is something to celebrate, right? :O

If you dó celebrate Valentine's Day I wish you a Happy Valentine's Day! 

Thanks for watching! 

...I can't wait till the HB is home from work, I want a piece now! *nomnomnom*

Comparison: Catherine Arley #677 & OPI DS Extravagance

I know these Catherine Arley polishes aren't so easy to get (intact that is.. :brow), so I like to show you comparisons with other polishes to see if they're really worth getting. This time I made a comparison with #677 and OPI DS Extravagance. As you can see DS Extravagance is darker and more a purply berry  than  cranberry coloured like #677. Both polishes have a scattered prismatic effect. DS Extravagance seems to have prismatic particles of different sizes, which makes it (for me) more interesting to look at, even in low light. 

The application of both is good, they're both pigmented so I applied two coats, no topcoat.

Thanks for watching!

Catherine Arley #677

I can't believe I ordered so much Catherine Arley polishes, when will it end? :o ;)

This is #677 (and I just have to say it: I'm hating these polishes for having a stupid number instead of a fancy name.. ). I would describe it as a berry red polish with - no surprise - prismatic particles in it. This one has a subtle scattered prismatic effect. It's very sparkly and I love the colour! #677 applied  like butter and is nice and pigmented, this is two coats without topcoat. I had to be careful to not cut myself with this bottle, it was the only damaged one from my order. :|

I'll make a comparison post with OPI DS Extravagance! 

Thanks for watching! :h

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)

Comparison: Catherine Arley #673 & OPI DS - Original

Here we have my promised comparison between Catherine Arley #673 and one of the OPI Designer Series polishes, Original. Looking at the bottles side by side they were quite similar to me, apart from the prismatic effect (which is way more visible in DS Original) and #673 being a bit darker. On the nail the differences between these two are more apparent. 

OPI DS Original is lighter and I'd call it more lavender than lilac. To be more precise: DS Original is more blue toned than #673. But the biggest difference lies in the prismatic effect! Under bright light (last picture) the Catherine Arley polish has no chance, becoming almost boring next to DS Original. For me the latter one is definitely winning this battle, because let's face it.. there aren't much polishes strong enough to beat DS Original, right? :i But if you're in the mood for a more subtle prismatic polish, you could give the pretty #673 a try. 

The application of both polishes is very nice, with #673 being the more pigmented one, I needed only two coats against three coats for DS Original.

Thanks for watching!

Catherine Arley #673

And I'm back with another Catherine Arley today, #673. It's a lilac polish with a subtle, scattered prismatic effect (which is most visible in bright light of course :)). It was a dream to apply, this is two coats (no topcoat). I think it's truly gorgeous. A comparison with OPI DS Original is coming up!

Thanks for watching!

Cherry Blossom Love

A couple of weeks ago we were celebrating my Mom's birthday. I decided to make a sweet cake for my even sweeter Mom, in cherry blossom style! Isn't it adorable? I'm so proud of it. :)

Why am I showing you this yummy cake? Well, apparently my cakes inspire me to do nail art :O (remember the ladybug?). So I painted cherry blossom on my ring finger nails and it was so much fun to do!

The pastel pink I used as a base for all nails, except the ring finger nail, is Mod About You from OPI. The base colour for my ring finger is Flower to Flower, also from OPI. I painted the branches with You Don't Know Jacques (OPI, again) and for the blossom I also used Mod About You. With Millennium from China Glaze I made some silver dots in the flowers. And after a good long wait (seriously, you don't want smudged flowers!) I applied a thick layer of topcoat.

The cake tasted a lot better. ;) Thank you so much for watching!