Bluetiful Flowers

The previous post showed how beautiful Essence's I'm Bluetiful looks on its own. Today I added a stamping design:

 The picture shows 2 coats of I'm Bluetiful. I used Konad M31 and stamped with China Glaze Millenium. At first, I thought that this flower design was small. But now that it is stamped on my nails, it almost looks like a full nail design. 

Have a wonderful one!

Rule: I love bad boys

Essence Colour & Go nail polish number 127 I Love Bad Boys:

It's a dusty teal with blue/green shimmer. The colour combined with the shimmer is super! I have nothing like this among my collection. 

One of my aims for this year is to do more stamping nail art.

I used Konad M64 with Essence magnetic nail polish Copper Rulez!.

Have a great one!

Black & White Tribal Print

Tribal print or ethnic pattern? I'm not totally sure which term fits the mani I have today:

The base colour is 2 coats of Essence The Dawn is Broken from the Vampire's Love collection. I've seen the pictures of the coming Breaking Dawn Part 2 collection and it looks promising.

For the tribal print, I used the design from BM 204 and white Konad stamping polish. Then I filled some areas with black nail art pen and added a coat of SV topcoat.

Have a great one!

Inspired Ribbon Mani

Today's mani is inspired by a ribbon mani from the Nail Up! magazine (November 2012 issue).

This is the look in the magazine:

The base colours are 2 coats of Topshop Hopscotch (index, middle and pink) and Essence Black is Back (ring).

Index ~ I made 2 X's with black striping tapes to create the ribbons. Then gave the ribbons different colours: blue with KIKO 385 and purple with Essence Passion for Fashion. On the insection of the striping tapes, I placed golden glitters.

Middle ~ The same method as the index finger, just different colours. The purple ribbon is created with Essence Passion for Fashion and the black one with Essence Black is Back. I made dots on the ribbons with Topshop Hopscotch.

Ring ~ 2 coats of Essence Black is Back and added golden glitters.

Pink ~ The ribbon design from Konad M3 with black Konad stamping polish.

 

Have a wonderful one!

Ceramic Glaze

A few years back, a friend and I followed a ceramic course. We were thought techniques to create various products and use glaze to give the ceramic product a beautiful and unique finishing touch. The mani that I will show you today somehow reminds me of the ceramic glaze effect.

 First I used a nude base colour, which is Essence Iced Latte. Then I sponged a jade green colour on the tips to create a gradient effect. The nail polish used is KIKO no. 344 Light Misty Green (KIKO have names now!). A layer of Sech Vite topcoat was used to even out the sponged areas and let it dry faster.

 I wanted some paintings on the ceramic as well, so I used Konad M73 for the flower design and China Glaze Passion for stamping.

Have a great one!

Smell of a Rose...

Today’s nail art is inspired by roses:

I used 3 coats of OPI Malaysian Mist as base colour. It’s a beautiful nude crème with a touch of peach. For the accent finger, there is one layer of Anna Sui Nail Art Color N #080 which is a clear base with multi-coloured glitters - blue, green, silver, purple and gold. The rose scent of this polish is very nice. It feels like ages for me to finally own a bottle of one of Anna Sui’s beauties, so I’m really happy with #080.

The rose design is from the Konad image plate M76 and stamped with Konad special stamping polish in white. At last, I’ve added one layer of topcoat.

 Have a great one!

Iced Age Reloaded

The second nail polish of the Essence Crystalliced collection: 03 Iced Age Reloaded. It’s a beige/ taupe with champagne gold shimmers. Iced Age Reloaded is a very pretty and work friendly colour to wear.

For the flower design, I used BM221 and Konad stamping polish in white.

Have a great one!

First Try-Out Zoya Kristen

This is just the first try-out of Zoya Kristen from the Feel collection. I couldn't make any pictures during the day since it was gloomy the past few days. So this is the best one I've got:

Kristen is a light blue-grey creme, which is a beautiful wintery colour. Now I understand what other nail polish bloggers mean by 'it applies like butter'. I can't believe I waited so long to try Zoya polishes, but it's not too late right? The application was indeed nice and easy. Two coats were layered and I added the BM 219 french tip design with Konad special stamping polish in white.

I should practice more with the french tip designs, because I still have trouble with stamping them on the right place on the nails. And this design didn't like me at all, it smudged like crazy. The design smudged already when I picked it up from the plate, any suggestions for this problem?

Have a great one!

First Halloween Mani

This is the first time that I wear a Halloween themed mani. Thanks to the amazing BM plates, I am able to wear creepy but cool mani's on this years Halloween.

I used 2 coats of Catrice Spiced Bronze from the LE Caramé collection. Spiced Bronze is a beautiful bronze orange shimmer. It's just now that I realize Spiced Bronze's beauty because of the shiny shimmer.

The 2 designs are from the Bundle Monster image plate 224. I stamped the 'church' design twice on my index and middle finger and once on my pink. The overlap of the design on my middle finger did not come out good though. For stamping, I used Konad special stamping polish in black.

Do you also like autumn- and Halloween-themed manicures?

Have a great one!!!

Barefoot Through The Soft Moss

Today I have another Essence TE NATventURista polish for you. This time it is no. 03: Barefoot Through The Moss.

BTTM is indeed moss green with silver shimmer. The formula is a bit watery and it needed 3 coats to be opaque.

I used Konad M73 and Konad special stamping polish in white for the design. And to add a little extra effect, I applied Essence Nail Art Special Effect Topper (what a long name for a category) no. 07 Soft Touch to the edges of the nails. Soft Touch resembles a matte finish and it feels extremely soft!



Have a wonderful weekend!!!

All NATURal

Essence TE NATvenTURista consists 4 colours that are inspired by nature. Today I will show you 2 of them: 02 Mother Earth Is Watching You and 03 Chirp, Chirp!.

CC! is a light beige base with shimmer that shines pink/purple. The formula is a bit watery and it's still not totally opaque with 3 coats. I used CC! as base colour and layered 3 coats.

I used the 'full leaves' design of Konad plate M83, because I wanted something that fits the nature theme and picked MEIWY for stamping. MEIWY is a chamoisee brown base filled with lots of silver shimmer. Luckily, it's opaque enough to be used as stamping polish. I'm not sure if it will work with darker base colours, but it definitely works fine with lighter base colours like CC!.

What you think of Essence TE NATvenTURista collection so far?

Have a lovely one!!!

Free Hand Flowers Look-alike

There's the final look:

What do you think? It may not be a strong look-alike, but these flowers do remind me of the free hand painted ones. I started with 3 coats of Essence Ahoy! for the white base. Then I stamped the flower design of Konad image plate M83 with Catrice no. 410 Pool Party At Night to create the dark purple flowers.

Now it's the turn for the free-hand-look-alike step. I used Essence Colour & Go no. 42 Dress For A Moment to change the white petals into beautiful lilac ones. This step may seem simple, but I don't have a steady hand, so the flower on my middle finger blossomed into a slightly mutated one.

To brighten things up, I randomly made dots with China Glaze Millennium. I think I overdid the dotting on the middle finger, blame it on the mutated flower... At last, I used Konad Topcoat for a glossy seal. All the colours used above are totally optional, I would definitely try other combinations with this design as well.

Have a great one!!!

In The Mood For Fall

It's still summer here, but I am already in the mood for a fall mani. The cause of this crazy mood change has to do with the launch of the 2011 fall collection of both OPI and China Glaze. The moment I saw the swatches of OPI 'Touring America' and CG 'Metro' collections, I just wanted to use similar colours to create something.

These are the colours/ tools that I used:

~ H&M Spring Nails Set: White
~ H&M Spring Nails Set: Brown
~ Etude House Petite Darling Nails: GR607 Sand Green
~ Dotting tool (you can also use a toothpick)
~ Konad image plate M77
~ Konad special polish: White

I have already swatched all four colours of the H&M Spring Nails Set in a previous post. Who would have thought that these tiny beauties are suited for fall mani's as well =] As for the other beauty, Etude House Sand Green, this is the first time to swatch it, although it's been in my stash for a while now. Sand Green (don't quite get the name) is a dark sheer green polish that reaches opacity with two coats. Just like the other Petite Darlings, the application was easy and smooth. I really like the way this polish blended with H&M White; it looks like a green gradient.

This mani is very easy. The method for the index, middle and pink is the same. I simply layered thick coats of the brown, white and green polishes first. While the polish is still wet, I used a dotting tool to make stripes beginning at the tip of the finger to the cuticle. Due to the thick layers, the dry time is a bit longer than usual. As for the accent nail, I used Konad M77 along with Konad special White polish to stamp the feathers.

Have a wonderful one!!!

Sea Sparkle

Today's mani has colours that reminds me of the sea.

There are two coats of KIKO no. 341 Verde Cobalto. It was really hard to capture the accurate colour of Verde Cobalto, because it leans more to green/ teal in real life. So I tried to change the colour of the picture above in order to show you how it really looks like. The application went very smooth thanks to the fine brush and the layers dried quite fast. 

Then I layered two coats of CND Effects no. 559 Gold Sparkle over it. Gold Sparkle is the very first bottle of CND in my tiny collection. I really like the formula and the brush of this CND polish. The shape of the bottle is also a bit different than the usual round ones that I own. Gold Sparkle is filled with golden glitters and flakies and it has an extremely  glossy finish. I am totally in love with 'effect' nail polishes as they can give your mani an extra something special =]

For the accent nail, I used Konad image plate M76, which is one of my favourite image plates at the moment and Konad special polish in white.

Have a wonderful one!!!

Ahoy!

From the latest Essence's TE '50's Girls Reloaded', I bring you: No. 01 Ahoy!

Ahoy! is a simple white polish that requires at least 2 coats to be opaque. The application was less smooth compared to You're A Heartbreaker! due to the thickness of the polish. Furthermore, each layer resulted in visible brush strokes, but a layer of topcoat solved the problem.

I used 2 coats of Ahoy! and added some blue and gold glitters. As for the tiny ribbon on my ring and index finger, I used Konad image plate M03 and Konad special nail polish in black. Finally, I used a layer of topcoat to seal everything.

Have a wonderful one!!!

You're A Heartbreaker!

Essence has recently launched a Trend Edition that allows you to travel back to the 50's. With this newest collection, you can create the ultimate retro-look. The 50's Girls Reloaded Collection consists of eyeshadow, eyeshadow brush, eye pencil, 2 lipstick, translucent loose powder and 5 nail polishes. Just like any other TE, the nail polishes are the ones I want =] When I looked at the promotion pictures, I thought that the nail polishes where all transparent, so the moment I saw them in the store, I was quite surprised in a positive way.

The one swatched above is: no. 05 You're A Heartbreaker. It is a steel grey/ blue with beautiful green and purple shimmer. At first sight, you'll think that it's just silver shimmer, but if you look closely, then you'll see they actually shine green and purple. I took the picture above under artificial light at night. It does not show the exact colour, so when the clouds were gone for a second during the day, I took another one:

Please do ignore the tip wear, I did not pay enough attention to my mani during work. You're A Heartbreaker and the other 4 nail polishes of this TE collection comes in full sized bottles which contain 15ml! The application was smooth and 2 coats were sufficient to reach opacity. I used Konad image plate M03 and white Konad special stamping polish to stamp the stars.

What do you think of these Essence TE nail polishes?

Have a great one!!!

Sorbet with Golden Topping

It's been a while...

Today I have for you a simple mani featuring OPI Houston We Have A Purple from the Texas collection. When this OPI Texas Collection was launched, the first colours that caught my eye were the beautiful red/purple ones. Little did I know that these came with a total different finish which OPI named it 'the sorbet' finish.

I'm still not used to wear any red-coloured polish just like that, so I had to 'cover' the colour a bit. I gave my index and ring finger a golden frame using Golden Rose's nail art striper no. 108. I stamped a design from Konad image plate M76 with China Glaze Passion on my middle finger. As for my pinkie, I placed golden metal beads on a layer of topcoat.

I really love this sorbet finish a lot. What do you think about this kind of finish?

Have a wonderful one!!!

Double F-lowe-rench

Hope the title was not too confusing...lemme explain: today's mani is a double french mani with flower motives. I didn't like the double french mani the first time I saw it, but I wanted to try it anyway. To enhance the chance to like it, I used a flower pattern for the french tips.

I used the new colours from Essence 42 Dress For A Moment and Catrice 530 Up In The Air for the base and french tips. The upper and lower french tips are made with the help of french guide stickers, which narrow down the mistakes I would have made if I painted it free handed. As for the flower pattern on the french tips, I used Konad stamping polish in white and image plate M41.

What are your thoughts on a double french manicure?

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!!!

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!!!