New Catrice Colour: Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!

With the aim to look for the Essence Fairytale collection in mind, I bumped into something as interesting: one of the newest colours in the Catrice Nail Polish assortment.

This one goes by the name: 350 Hip Queens Wears Blue Jeans! It is a beautiful blue creme with subtle blue glitters that are more presence in the bottle than on the nails unfortunately. I'll give you a closer look at the bottle:

They are in there!!!

Overall, I really like Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!, since it applied smoothly, opaque in 2 coats and is totally new colour in my nail polish stash ^^'

Have a great one!!!

Multi Christmas!!!

Whohoho...There are so many beautiful Xmas mani's out there in blog world! I wanted to give it a try as well:

I used Etude House LUCIDarling's WH001 as base colour for my index and pink finger. As for the middle and ring finger, I layered two coats of OPI Red Hot Ayers Rock and OPI Yoga-ta Got This Blue respectively. For the design on the index finger, OPI's RHAR is used to draw the Xmas sock and the lines are created by Essence Nail Art Pen in Pearl White.

Sorry for the not-so-sharp picture.
I'm glad though, since the designs did not turn out that well =P

The shy Snowman is created with Barry M Matt White (body), OPI Yoga-ta Got This Blue (eyes and bottons) and OPI Red Hot Ayers Rock (scarf). As for the Christmas tree, this one is made by using GR 607 of Etude House Petite Darling HD Nails.

I definitely need more practice on the nail art, but I had much fun making it. What (mani/polish) are you going to wear on Christmas?

Have a wonderful one!!!

Yoga-Ta It's Snowing!

Today I swatched a very special polish, which is: OPI Yoga-Ta Get This Blue! It is not special in a limited edition way...it is very special because this is the very first OPI polish that I bought! Yoga-Ta Get This Blue! is from the OPI India Collection and it is a beautiful navy shimmer polish.

It began to snow a couple of days ago and that inspired me to do a mani with snowflakes. Luckily I have Konad M59, which offers two different types of snowflakes, so that I do not have to draw them myself (which would be a total disaster). I used Konad's special white polish to do the design and covered it with Konad topcoat.

Do you also want to create a winter-related mani during this time of the year?

Have a wonderful one!!!

Tiny Mittens

Brrr...the winter has really arrived... It is time to wrap yourself in nice warm clothes and get yourself pretty winter accessories like mittens. That is exactly what inspired me to do this mani: the patterns of mittens.

I used Topshop's Hopscotch (grey) and Catrice's Back to Black (black) for this manicure. Furthermore, I made use of the Viva La Nails black striping tape to make the excellent horizontal lines in this nail art. The striping tape was easy to use and it is impossible to make a mess. This comes in handy for me since I am quite clumsy when it comes to drawing a line with a striper brush. In the end, I had to redo it many times which is time consuming. The use of a striping tape is simple and effortless: you just place it on the nail and make your preferred pattern and that's it. AND it doesn't need time to dry.

Hope you like this winter mani.

Have a warm and wonderful one!!!

Etude House Petite Darling HD Nails + PP904

I have already another haul for you, this time it is: Etude House Petite Darling HD Nail Polishes.

<From left to right>
GR607 - GR605 - PK006 - Pink Sheer Glitter - PP904

Etude House is a famous Korean brand and offers a huge product assortment (skin care, make-up, body care, hair care, perfume, tools etc). To find out more about Etude House, please check: Etude Global. And for the Etude House USA online-shop, you can visit: Etude House USA.

By showing you the nail polish bottles alone is just not enough. Therefore I proudly present: PP904. Etude House does not have names for their polishes but that is OK with me, as long as the bottles are cute and the nail polish is GOOD!  PP904 has an aubergine purple colour with golden and purple shimmer. It is quite interesting if you look at the bottle. The golden and purple shimmer creates patterns in the bottle, as you can see in the pictures. There are 2 coats in the pictures, but 1 was already enough.

I would recommend the Etude House Petite Darling HD Nails to every nail polish lover. The price is reasonable and the quality is good. Above that, the Petite Darling HD Nail Polishes come in 7ml bottles, which will diminish the 'waste' if you can not finish the whole bottle.

Have a great one!!!

Viva La Nails Haul

Viva La Nails is an online store which offers a huge variety of nail art products. If you are a blogger or a Youtube artist, it gets even more interesting, because Viva La Nails gives you the opportunity to try and review their products for FREE! You can order the sample pack (worth £12) here.

It is very nice of Viva La Nails to send me the sample pack which contains:

Nail Art Stickers

And

Water Decals

I ordered a few other products as well:


2 Water Decals
Striper Tape - Black
Nail Art Brush Set # 5

Many bloggers have posted pictures of the water decals and they look beautiful. So I can't wait to try them out myself. Stay tuned and be sure you order your Viva La Nails sample pack!!!

Have a wonderful one!!!

Copper Rulez!

In my previous post about the Essence TE Metallics, I already swatched number 01 of the TE collection: Iron Goddess. So today I have for you: 02 Copper Rulez! The colour is copper brown, as indicated by the name, with tiny golden glitters. This one is my favourite of the 4 magnetic polishes. See for yourself:



Copper Rulez! with different patterns on each nail

As you can see, the patterns created with the magnet are more obvious with Copper Rulez! compared to Iron Goddess. This is one of the reasons why I like Copper Rulez! The application was very smooth and easy. Although I had to swatch a thick layer, it dried quite fast. There was no need to use a topcoat, since it dried OK-glossy. But you can use one for the last fine touch if you prefer.

Have a wonderful one!!!

Mag-nificent-netic Nail Polish

When the news came about Essence Autumn/Winter 2010 Trend Edition: Metallics, I was determined that I had to try these out!!! This TE would hit the stores in November, so I have been busy for a week to hunt them down. So finally today...

Compared to other polishes, these magnetic polishes come with a magnet and prescription. Because I was so excited to try them out, I did not pay any attention to the prescription. So after a few failed attempts, my enthusiam declined...Then my sister stepped into the picture, who saw me messing things up, and told me how to use the magnet and showed me how it is done (-_-)" So I am grateful for her help, otherwise I could not show you how awesome the magnetic polishes are!





The whole TE collection consists of five polishes:



01 Iron Goddess

02 Copper Rulez!

03 Steel Me

04 Nothing Else Metals

05 Metal Battle (this one is NOT a magnetic nail polish, so I did not buy this one)



In sunlight

01 Iron Goddess and 03 Steel Me have the same holo-look-alike effect if you look at the bottle. Whereas 02 Copper Rulez and 04 Nothing Else Metals have copper and silver glitters respectively. The first one that I would like to share with you is 01 Iron Goddess.

For each nail a different pattern

Tips!!!

• You have to swatch a thick layer in order to get enough 'magnetic parts' to create the pattern you like
• Hold the magnet really close and really still above the nail
• Work fast, because when the polish is dry, the 'magnetic parts' will not respond to the magnet

Have a great one!!!



Simple Nail Art

In my previous post, I swatched OPI's Fair Pinkum Drinkum, a sheer pink polish with tiny silver glitters. Today I would like to share with you my first DIY nail art, since the nail art mani's that I did so far is with the great help of Konad.

With a silver glitter striper, I painted 2 rows of little dots. Then I linked the dots by making a cross and painted the dots with a black polish again. And there you'll have this 'shoe lace'-effect. Easy right?!!!

Have a wonderful one!!!

Canmake Crack Lac NailPolish

Lately, there are a lot of crackling polish surfacing on the nail polish market. Among them are Barry M's Instant Nail Effect, which is already available at various online shops, and OPI's Black Shatter in the collaboration collection with Katy Perry and Serena Williams. So as consumer, you can choose between many brands of crackle nail polishes. And to make it 'easier' to choose, I would like to introduce to you Canmake Crack Lac Nail Polish:



# 01 Pink

Canmake is a Japanese brand and sells a wide range of nail polishes. You can find nice and useful description of each colour on their site. Apart from Barry M's Instant Nail Effect and Black Shatter of OPI which are all black crackle topcoats, Canmake Crack Lac nail polish comes in 3 different colours: #01 Pink, #02 Yellow and #03 Blue. So Canmake Crack Lac Nail is not just another crackle nail polish. 

#02 Yellow

 

#03 Blue

Although Canmake is mainly sold in Japan, I found one online shop that sells it and ships internationally: Yesstyle. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will find the links to the other 2 colours.

I do not own any crackle nail polishes yet, but I am very curious how it works. So in the near future, you can expect swatches from me about these amazing polishes.



Have a wonderful day!!!

For Pinkum Ribbon

Since it's THE month of the year which we should pay more attention to this awful and deadly disease, there are a lot of beauty bloggers out there who have done something that is related to Pink Ribbon. I think it is a good way to create awareness and to support the awesome work that Pink Ribbon is doing.

Usually, pink is not the colour that ranks high on my favourite colour list. But for some odd reason, I do have some pink polish in my collection and from time to time, I would swatch them. In my latest haul, you can also find one: OPI 'Fair Dinkum Pinkum'. It is a very nice sheer pink polish with tiny silver glitter parts. There are 3 coats on the nails but there is still a visible nail line. I have tried to catch the tiny silver glitter parts in the picture below:

Let's fight it together and support Pink Ribbon!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Mummy May I Do A Gradient?

The polish that I picked out of the Transdesign-order box is from the China Glaze Halloween Awakening Collection: 'Mummy May I?'. It is a nice purple base with purple glitters. At first, the base colour looked black to me, but in fact it is dark purple. That made it even more interesting.

I came across some fabulous bloggers who did a great gradient look, which I want to try as well. I used 2 coats of 'Pearl of Wisdom' of OPI as base colour for the gradient. Then I layered 4 coats of 'Mummy May I' with some distance between the coats. This is still quite visible in the final look, even though I used a thick layer of topcoat, hoping that it will blend the layers a bit =( In many of the gradients that I saw, they use a glitter polish as topcoat. But 'Mummy May I' already contains beautiful purple glitters, that is why a normal topcoat is used here.

Well, how does this look for a first try?

Have wonderful day!!!

Food for Polish Box!!!

A week can pass by in a blink of an eye, but it's a different story when you ordered a box full of polishes...waiting...waiting...

But the waiting is OVER!!! Today my box of polishes arrived:



The arms: Misa 'When U Say My Name', Color Club 'Red Velvet'
The upper-body: OPI 'Fair Dinkum Pinkum', 'Natural Nail Base Coat', 'Miso Happy With This Color'
The lower-body: OPI 'Tease-y Does It', Color Club 'Covered in Diamonds', China Glaze 'Mummy May I' and 'Ingrid'



OPI (l-r): Miso Happy With This Color, Fair Dinkum Pinkum



From Left to Right
Misa: When U Say My Name
Color Club: Red Velvet
China Glaze: Mummy May I
OPI: Tease-y Does It

Although I am very happy to buy at Transdesign.com, there is something that bothers me. Some OPI bottles have scratches on the glass, it's like they erased the product number or something like that. But this time, the 'Tease-y Does It' is badly wounded:

Did this also happen to your OPI polishes that you ordered at Transdesign or did I just hit the jackpot for the second time?

Meanwhile, I am choosing which one to swatch first (>.<)"

Have a wonderful one!!!

Speedy & Glossy Majolica Majorca

Just a quick post for today after a long hiatus.

Todays star is: BE 116 of the Speedy & Glossy Line of Majolica Majorca. These tiny polishes contain 4.5 ml and are from Japan. I have to admit that I fell for the bottles first and decided on the colour after that. BE 116 is nude-coloured with a golden glow, which came as a surprise because pictures of this polish did not show the golden shimmer. It is very clear when you look at the bottle, but on the nails it is not that visible. BUT, a big big big plus is the drying time and the finishing gloss! It is indeed speedy & glossy!!! Although it may sound weird, but I want to describe the finish as silky smooth.

You can visit Majolica Majorca's site. It was hard to find their products since it was all in Japanese, but I found this:

Majolica Majorca

All you have to do is to pick a colour and a list of products with that colour will appear. The nail polishes are displayed on the right of the list if available. When you click on the polish, they also show nail art tutorials for a few colours. Check it out for yourself!!!

Only a few days left... It is heading my way... Then...

To be continued... ^^

Have a wonderful day!!!

Goodbye Summer Days

Time goes by so quickly! It is already autumn!!!

Today, I have for you: Etude House LUCIDarling number 03:

The application was great! There was shimmer all over the place, which made me worry about the removal. But a very big plus is that it dried suppa fast. Only 2 coats were needed to create this great finish!!!

Have a wonderful day!!!

Flower-edged French

There this thing about Japanese nail polishes (color, shimmer, glitter, design of the bottle!!!), which I like very much. I came across this brand 'Canmake Tokyo' during my quest =P partly due to the cute design of the bottle (well, about 90%). They have a large variety of nail polish colors with descriptions about the color, since there is no bottle picture of each color. For more information, you can check:

http://www.canmake.com/en/enail/item_nail008.html

Canmake No. 31
Cinnamon Pearl

This is the color that I want to share with you: [31] Cinnamon Pearl. Canmake gives the following description:

'A pinkish beige nail varnish containing crystal pearl particles. The exquisite pearl particles and glossy sheen will make your nails look more beautiful than unadorned nails and when you use this color once, you won’t want to let it go.'

There is no better way to describe it than what is mentioned above. It is a sheer polish with very sparkling crystal pearl particles. This time I used it as base for my french mani along with Konad M51.

In the mean time, I will discover whether Cinnamon Pearl has the ability as layer polish.

Have a wonderful day!!!

Coated Chocolate

A while ago, I bought L.A. Colors Mega Watt which I wanted to use for French mani's or for nude looking nails (rather than wearing nothing at all). I was curious how this color would look, so I began: swatch 1...lovely peachy pink shimmer...swatch 2...lovely peachy pink shimmer...swatch 3...swatch 4!!! Normally I would have stopped after 3, which is my max. But after 3 coats, it was still very sheer and it seems the color looked exactly like the first coat. That is why I put this one in the category of 'layer-polish'.

Since autumn is almost around the corner, I picked a brown polish to swatch: Barry M's Chocolate. It is really like you are swatching your nails with melted chocolate.



Barry M
Chocolate

 Then I layered one coat of Mega Watt over Chocolate:



with sunlight

Finding a nice layering effect is like discovering a new polish color, don't you think?

Have a wonderful day!!!



Gypsy Night

So excited to show you this pretty polish: Topshop's Gypsy Night!!!

It was a tough job to capture every detail with the camera, so I hope you can see how AMAZING this polish is. Gypsy Night has a black jelly base, but more important are the tiny glitters and orange FLAKIES!!! The glitters give a different color as the light falls on it in different angles: green, blue, orange. 

See for yourself:

With Flash

Without Flash



Flakie on Pinkie

Totally in love with this one  ^^

Have a wonderful day!!!