V-gap experiment, part 2

Hi guys :) Good morning. Today I'm going to show you part 2 of my previous V-gap experiment. I added a lot of silver (China Glaze Millenium) to the design, but that just didn't work, haha. So I added a tiny bit of red to make it better. I used a jelly for it, that's why you can still see the silver V-moon underneath. Finally a layer of matt topcoat et voilà... Thanks for watching!

Before

V-gap experiment, part 1

Hi everyone! I hope you are all doing fine. As you may have noticed, I haven't been posting daily anymore. It's because I've just started with my bachelor Communication and Multimedia Design, which will be my main priority from now on, so I won't be able to spend a lot of time on nails or post as much as I used to. I'm sure going to miss working on this little blog but I will keep posting, just not as often as I'd like to. So that was my little announcement. Now let's show some nails :)


This is a mani from the vault. I was experimenting a bit, trying to find a new design, with the V-gap as my starting point. I used China Glaze First Mate as the base color and the turquoise is Essence Bella. The finished V-gap could use some shimmer so I added China Glaze Jitterbug to the tips, which made it look more spectacular :) After this I updated my nails again, hence 'part 1' in the title, how part 2 became will be shown tomorrow... ;) Going to bed now, have a great night!

Teeez Outta Control + accent nail


Hi guys :) This is a recent mani. I started with the accent nail, one coat of Essence Bella with silver dots. To match the accent nail I chose a purple creme for my other nails, W.I.C. Dakar (similar to OPI Funky Dunkey). But after I applied the first coat, the sun suddenly began to appear, so not long after I was applying two coats of Teeez Outta Control on top. What a pretty purple that is! The holo isn't extremely strong, but definitely visible. Another lovely surprise was how shiny it was, I didn't even need topcoat. And it stayed just as pretty the day after, I couldn't stop staring at my nails! (Which can be quite dangerous while riding a bike... *Cough*) Thanks for reading!

Collistar - Blu Lamé

Hi everyone, for this post I have a blue gem to show you, Blu Lamé from the Italian high end cosmetics brand Collistar. Blue Lamé is my first high end polish. I pai€12.50 for this bottle of 10ml/0.3fl.oz., which is an amount I rarely spend on polish. But this looked so, so beautiful in te bottle. A denim blue with silver shimmer, which dries with a foily, satin matt finish which reminds of the OPI Suedes. Blue and shimmer and foil and matt, how could I ever resist that, right? Well, I didn't :) In the store I was still hesitating if I should buy it or not, considering the high price, but finally the beauty of it won me over and besides, I hadn't bought nail polish for a while at the moment. Anyways, Blue Lamé... Words can't express how pretty I find it. Look at that finish! And it's just as pretty with a glossy topcoat. But the perfection doesn't stop there, it's also a true one-coater! And with the best formula you can imagine, it makes it so pleasant to apply. And even though it's a matt polish, the formula is very smooth and it doesn't dry too fast, so you can just comfortably apply everything nice and even in a quick 'swoosh'. So yes, it costs more than other polishes, but it's definitely worth it. Needless to say it's one of my favorite polishes, ever! ;)

With topcoat

Sephora Diving In Malaysia vs Chanel Peridot

Hi everyone! These pictures I just found are from a comparison of Sephora's Diving In Malaysia and Chanel Peridot, from a German blog called In Your Face. And I really can not tell any difference! Sometimes dupes have the exact same color but a difference in the shimmer for example, which is harder to duplicate. But from these pictures Diving In Malaysia and Peridot seem actually identical! Left is Diving In Malaysia, right is Peridot. So if you love Peridot, but don't want to pay the high price, see if you can get your hands on Diving In Malaysia, which is only €5.80 for a bottle of 5ml/0.16fl.oz. For the entire post (in German) and more pictures, click here.

Dim Sum Flames


Hi everybody! Today I have something from the vault to share with you, it's my second flame mani. I really liked my first attempt, but as it did take a lot of time to make I chose to keep it more simple this time by using the design for accent nails. And instead of the gradient for the flames, I used a stunning base color, Essence Bella, on the rest of my nails I'm wearing OPI Dim Sum Plum, because the color forms such a nice contrast with the turquoise :) Have a great night!
P.S. I mattified my accent nails with Essence Matt topcoat.

Exotic stripes

Hi everyone! Yesterday I showed you Sephora's Diving In Malaysia. Though it was very special on its own, I already felt it needed to be spiced up :) So I used it for today's tape mani, just simple stripes in exotic colors. The pretty turquoise metallic is also a Sephora, called Summer In Bangkok. It's so extremely pigmented, but also stains your nails very bad, so it's a good thing I'm wearing several layers polish underneath. Because the glossy version looked a bit tacky to me, I mattified the look afterwards with Essence Matt topcoat. Hope you like it!

Fall color scheme

From left to right: Nice 'N Naughty, Moody Model, Looks Great On You, Hunt Me Down, Golden Treasure

Hi guys, just wanted to share this personal selection of H&M polishes with you, wouldn't they make a cute fall collection? :) Have a great night!

Sephora - Diving In Malaysia

Hi everyone! Today I have a special polish to show you, it's Sephora's Diving In Malaysia, supposedly a Chanel Peridot dupe. Now, I don't own the famous Peridot, so I can't make a real comparison. But from the many pictures floating on the web, you can tell they're very similar. Like Peridot, Diving In Malaysia is an olive gold shimmer with a multichrome effect. In the bottle, it looks gorgeous. There are flashes of vivid blue, green and even purple. So pretty. But unfortunately that rainbow isn't that evident on the nails, where only the greens shows up. Still I think it's very intruiging, the way the gold subtly changes to green is just beautiful and makes it different than all my other gold shimmers. So I am beyond happy with this unique polish in my collection. And having paid only €4.05 (with 30% discount) to get this close to the real deal was a nice plus, which my wallet also appreciated very much. The regular price for Diving In Malaysia is €5.80 for a bottle of 5ml/0.16fl.oz. Chanel Peridot costs €22 for 14ml/0.5fl.oz. You do the math :)

Explosions with OPI Absolutely Alice

Hi everyone! For today I have another explosion mani to show you. It's such a fun design, so I'm still experimenting with it, using different colors and finishes.

Here I used OPI's Absolutely Alice for the design, on top of Wet 'n Wild Blue Moon and with a matt topcoat afterwards. Normally I wouldn't pick a glitter as a layering color for tape manis, because they often need several coats to cover. But those of you who own a few OPI glitters, know how dense they can be, which is also the case with Absolutely Alice. I only used one coat of it and I'm still surprised by how crisp the design came out. Another benefit of this polish, being a glitter, is it doesn't 'bleed' when I go over it with my topcoat, like with some cremes. Nice! All the OPI glitters are stunning in my opinion, whether used alone or combined with other polishes. And apparently they're also perfect for tape manis ^^ So I'll definitely use them again for future tape adventures to add some magic to my nails... See you later!


In case you'd like to create this look yourself, check out the tutorial for tips and tricks.

Orly Sapphire Silk + Kleancolor Afternoon Picnic

Hi guys, this post I have another Kleancolor layering experiment to share with you. The base color is Orly Sapphire Silk, a beautiful muted teal with a great application. On top I used Kleancolor's Afternoon Picnic, a clear polish filled with HUGE different colored and sized glitter. I'm talking about chunky glitter on steroids here! Just to make a comparison, I included a picture of Afternoon Picnic next to a Milani Jewel FX polish, which already has large glitters.
As I said, Afternoon Picnic is a blend of multiple colors and sizes glitter. Once you've finally been able to fish out some of them, it does look pretty. But man, I wish more of that amazing stuff would stick to the brush. I think I've had to apply three, incredible thick layers on each nail to reach the density as seen on the pictures. So it most definitely needs fast drying topcoat, otherwise it will take you about four ages to get your nails dry. So not the best application nor drying time... But would you look at the result?! It's so festive! And people will notice the glitters from a mile away.
And last but not least, I also wanted to share the matt version of it with you :) Thanks for reading!

Gold explosions

Hi everyone! For today I want to show you an explosion mani. I had already worn China Glaze For Audrey a whole day and the next morning I decided to add someting special, using tape. I wanted to pick a gold to go with For Audrey and usually I'll just grab my favorite gold 2030 from China Glaze, but then I stumbled upon H&M's Golden Treasure, which I actually thought was better for this mani because it's darker, so it creates a bigger contrast with the soft blue then 2030 would have. I'm happy with the end result, but when I see blues and gold together, it's hard for me not to haha. Love those colors together :) Thanks for watching and have a nice day!

This way, please!


Hi guys! The other day I was experimenting with tape (shocking! :P), so one thing led to another and I finally ended up with these cute arrows on my nails. After finishing the first arrow, I wanted to do all of my nails exactly the same, but eventually I'd placed the arrows all pointing in a different direction to make the whole more dynamic. As my base color I used the girly China Glaze Strawberry Fields (over two coats OPI Don't Know... Beets Me!), then I made the arrow shapes using multiple tape strips and a black creme (Color Club Where's The Soiree?). The designs came out crisp and clear but there was still something missing... I know, it was my favorite matt topcoat from Essence ;) Thanks for watching!

H&M Fall mani

Hi guys! We've pretty much had fall weather all summer in the Netherlands, kind of a bummer, but after seeing all the bright and happy colors it's also nice to wear darker shades again. For this fall-appropriate tape mani I used three muted polishes from H&M: Hunt Me Down, Looks Great On You and Moody Model. I started with two shades of Hunt Me Down which dried quite quickly, then added the orange and when that had dried the teal. I made this mani when my nails were a bit longer but if I wanted to do this on my current shorter nails I'd probably make the pattern vertically to make my nails seem longer ;) Are you also excited to wear fall shades again?

Muted green plaid

Hi guys! For today's post I have plaid nails to show you. I love pretty much anything with a plaid pattern, so there's plenty of plaid to find at my home, from pillow cases and blankets to shirts and bags and PJs. So why not have it on my nails as well, right? ;) As my base color I'm wearing Essie Sew Psyched, a gorgeous muted grey green with slight shimmer. Then to make the tape design, I used tape strips in different sizes, four for each nail. I placed them horizontally and vertically on my nails, layered it with H&M's Moody Model and a simple plaid pattern was born. So it's quite simple but gives that instant plaid feeling. Doesn't it look cosy? ^^


For those who'd like to see more plaid manis from the past, just click here.

Essence - Gabriella

Hi guys, today I have Essence Gabriella to show you, a bright red-toned purple with a subtle blue shimmer. Gabriella is part of an Essence Nail Art Twin together with Troy. I was very excited to try this purple beauty because all the other Nail Art Twin cremes I already had (Bella and Chuck) were very satisfying, they're so pigmented that most of the time, you can get away with just one coat. Though Gabriella isn't as pigmented as her buddies, it still covers perfectly with two smooth, easy-to-apply coats. And though I'm usually more into darker, blue-toned purples, the blue shimmer really adds something special to this polish and makes me like it very much. So, yes, I'm a fan and it's making my growing love for purples continue...

Explosion accent nails


Hi guys! I hope you're all doing fine. For today's post I have explosion accent nails to show you, looking familiar? I made the tutorial for the explosion design while doing this mani, killing two birds with one stone ;-) On my accent fingers I used OPI Dim Sum Plum as my pink base color, I absolutely love that it's a one coater and how fast drying it is. The black is Color Club Where's The Soiree? and the silver China Glaze Millenium. A pink as bright as Dim Sum Plum would rock next to a cobalt blue just as bright, so I used Barry M's Cobalt Blue (duh!) for the rest of my nails. I really liked the final look, though I had to keep my whole outfit some what calmer to keep my nails the center of attention haha. So if you'd like to recreate this look yourself, don't forget to check out the tutorial for tips. Have a nice day everyone!

Tutorial: Explosion design tape mani


Hi everyone, welcome to my 'explosion' shape tutorial! The first time I used this design was in my 4th of July mani , representing fireworks. You loved it and requested a tutorial, so here it is :) The taping technique I use for it is similar to the zigzag pattern, so it's not very hard but it does require some patience because there are two taping sessions. So to make the time this design takes reasonable, I recommend using one-coaters or a fast drying topcoat. Continue reading »

W.I.C. - Sydney

Hi everyone! For today's post I have a polish from W.I.C. by Herôme. All their polishes are named after big cities all over the world and this gorgeous vampy red is called Sydney. According to Wikipedia's List of colors, Sydney would be a crimson red, which has hints of pink. I adore colors like these, I just never get tired of them. They're vampy, classy and match pretty much any outfit. The formula of this polish was excellent, it only needed two thin coats to cover and also it dried surprisingly fast, I like that :) If you're curious about the other 78 polishes that W.I.C. by Herôme has to offer, just click here to see them. Have a nice day!

Subtle leopard

Hi everyone, today I decided to practice my stamping. The base color I'm wearing is China Glaze Below Deck. For the leopard print I used Konad plate M57 and my favorite gold 2030 (also from China Glaze) to add some sparkling. I don't normally wear neutral shades a lot, though I love it on others, but this is something I might try again. As you may have noticed, I have a weakness for bold colors, graphical patterns or heavy glitter, but I kind of like the subtlety and minimal 'bling' of this calm look :) What do you think, would you wear this yourself? Thanks for visiting!

China Glaze First Mate + Kleancolor Party Fever

Hi everyone! Today I have a Kleancolor swatch to share with you. This glitter bomb is Party Fever, over one coat of China Glaze First Mate. Party fever consists of silver, aqua blue and purple hexagons, together with small red glitter in a clear base. It's the ideal chunky glitter topper, the glitters are dense enough to cover evenly in one coat, but not too dense so you can still see the base color underneath. And above that, the blend of colors and different sizes is very unique to me, you don't find a lot of glitters like these in the Netherlands! I really like it and it's also gorgeous with a layer of matt topcoat. Thanks for reading!

Cute funky French

Hi everyone! And a big welcome to my new followers, it's great to have you here! The other day I made a cute version of the lightning bolt, I'd used two pinks from Essie for it: Lion Around and Your Hut Or Mine. I liked the two colors so much together, so I decided to make another tape mani with them. The simple stripe design I used is the same as the one from the nautical funky French I did a couple of weeks ago. This time it's a lot girlier than most of my nail art and sure brings out all my inner girliness haha, but I like it :) Thanks for stopping by!