Floral Bits and a Pink tribal Accent

The weather in the Netherlands has been really gloomy lately. So as a person who's very sensitive to the weather - happy with sunshine and very moody on grey days, I desperately needed a bit of summer here. Enter nail polish! I went for a bright tribal accent nail with flower bits on the rest of my nails. The pretty silver is Hema #845, the purply pink is China Glaze Purple Panic and the teal is China Glaze Custom Kicks. I freehanded both the tribal pattern and flowers with a striper polish and dotting tool.

It's still grey outside, but that's okay, I've got my nails done! It's funny, though. This mani actually reminds me of summer, as the two China Glaze polishes were bought on my last summer vacation in Spain. Ahh, good times. Oh, well. Thanks for reading!

Tutorial: Bubbly champagne glass

Hi everyone! Here's my first New Year's Eve nail art tutorial, just in time for the 31st. In this tutorial I'll show you how to make a simple glass of bubbly champagne. The design is very doable, whether you're experienced or just beginning with nail art. So if you're still looking for a fun and super easy design for the last day of this year, this might just be the one!

Continue reading »

Abstract Mistletoe

Here's a quick post to show you my Christmas nails and to wish everybody a merry Christmas! I hope you're all having a great time with your loved ones. Tonight I had to work, but the next couple of days I'll be spending some quality time with my family. On my nails I'm wearing classic red, accompanied by glittery pinkies and an abstract mistletoe accent nail that I made with tape. (What else?) The polishes I used were all three from China Glaze: Phat Santa, Party Hearty and Custom Kicks. Happy holidays!

Rudolph, the Rhinestone nosed Reindeer

Hi everybody! Christmas is around the corner, so I've prepared a couple of Christmas themed nail art ideas that I will share with you in the upcoming posts. Among them is this cheeky Rudolph accent nail. I used OPI Get in the Expresso Lane for the head, a couple of striper polishes for the details and to top it off I added a shiny rhinestone for the nose. On the rest of my nails I'm wearing China Glaze Ingrid and I decorated it with little gold stars to match Rudolph's antlers. Hope you like it and thanks for reading! :)

Lace and Buttons

I keep thinking everything at school will eventually slow down so I can blog more again, but I don't think it ever will! Yikes. Good thing I discovered a couple of old pictures on my memory card, such as today's. ;-) I totally forgot about this mani and I'm happy to have found these pictures again, because I personally think it's so cute! ^_^ The basecolor I used is China Glaze First Mate (probably my favorite navy creme polish) and on top I made a simple lace design and three tiny buttons with a white striper and a dotting tool. Hope you like it!

31 Day Challenge, day 25: Inspired by Fashion

Hi everyone! :-) Today's nails were kind of an experiment. When I saw this super cute Modcloth dress, I couldn't wait to capture the edgy neckline with the starry mesh fabric on a semibare accent nail. I used an image plate (that I bought here) to stamp the star pattern, and later I added the rest with the help of tape for nice and crisp lines. It didn't turn out as awesome as I hoped it would though, the stars made the sharp edges of the 'neckline' fade a bit. So next time I try this, I'll probably leave out the stars. What do you guys think about my fashion-inspired nails?

My inspiration: 'Written in the Stars Dress' from Modcloth

31 Day Challenge, day 24: Inspired by a Book

Hi everyone! Seems like the last couple of challenges were a lot harder than I expected. With the previous two and today's book challenge in particular, it took me quite a while to get inspired. After lots of thinking I decided to go with the character Janneke of the Dutch Jip en Janneke stories by Annie M.G. Schmidt that I grew up with. Fiep Westendorp is the one who brought the duo further to life with her adorable and iconic illustrations in black and white. I absolutely love the simplicity of her drawings which makes the characters so easy to recognize and therefore also... perfect for on the nails! ;-) I paired my freehanded Janneke accent nail with a girly polka dot pattern, using a black creme and China Glaze Designer Satin for the dots. It wasn't the easiest job, but I'm happy with how it turned out. ^_^

Image source

31 Day Challenge, day 23: Inspired by a Movie

Hi everyone! For day 23 of the 31 Day Challenge my nails are inspired by the movie My Neighbor Totoro. It's impossible not to love all the cute characters in it! :3 So on my ringfigner I made the giant totoro. First I applied three coats of China Glaze Recycle (which I'm also wearing on the rest of my nails), then I used a striper polish in black to outline the head and ears. Finally I added the eyes, whiskers and other details and my cutie was complete. ^_^ Thanks for reading!

Double V

Hi guys! I haven't been able to do much nails lately, so I have something from the vault to show you. This mani was made with my new favorite to-go polish: H&M Deep Deep Water. It's been sitting in my drawers for ages, just waiting to be discovered, and now it has been. Pictured is only one coat. One coat of perfectly pigmented, blurple metallic polish. And it dries fast too. ♥ But as pretty as it is, I like my manis with a little extra. ;-) So later I added the triangles with tape. I started with a gold triangle, and when it was dry I made a black one inside, and repeated these steps at the cuticle area. Slowly building everything up with layers. You can imagine this took a while, with so many triangles to dry. But if you're watching your favorite TV show at the same time, there really isn't much patience needed. ;-) Thanks for reading!

31 Day Challenge, day 21: Inspired by a Color

Hi everyone! This is day 21 of the 31 Day Challenge and this time I'm supposed to be "inspired by a color". Like many other participants of the challenge I'm a little confused about what exactly is meant by that, so I chose to be inspired by the name of a polish, like fellow blogger Sarah did from Chalkboard Nails (do check out her blog!).

My inspiration, that I just randomly grabbed out of my Helmer, became OPI's Midnight Blue Glitter, pictured below. I instantly liked the name of it and already had an idea of what to make. But instead of using the polish itself for the look, I decided to only use the name as theme, because I really wanted my mani to scream: "BLUE GLITTER!". :3 And although Midnight Blue Glitter does contain beautiful blue (and turquoise and pink) bits here and there, the overall color is clearly charcoal. So I picked OPI Absolutely Alice (on top of Orly Sweet Peacock) to be my blue glitter. Which means my ring finger is indeed symbolizing midnight, with a classical Roman twelve in a clock, freehanded over China Glaze 2030. Hope you like it! :-)

OPI - Midnight Blue Glitter

Gold Ornament

This mani is from a few weeks ago. I was just getting in the mood for the December holidays and added this simple tribal-ish pattern with a striper to go with the rest of my dark nails. I sure have a soft spot for black and gold. ♥

Below are a couple of older manis in black and gold. I thought it would be fun to show these lined up together to compare, isn't it a versatile color duo? ^_^

Fancy triangles, one of my first posts!

Shining like a star on Christmas '11.

Nude clouds for New Year's Eve.

Fierce French

And my recent Art Deco linework. :-)

And for those who are interested: the black creme I use is Color Club's Where's The Soiree?. It dries with a satin-matte finish, but I don't mind since it dries very quickly because of that, and I can always add some glossy topcoat. Another thing is it's a one-coater, so it covers perfectly but therefore can also leave stains on the skin. So I have to be extra careful with the application. Despite of this, it's still my favorite black so far.

Thanks for reading!

Holly Leaf

Hi everyone! For this post I have another Christmas themed design to share with you: a holly leaf accent nail. :-) I've always loved the shape of holly leaves, so imagine  my excitement when I found out how easy it could be to have that shape on my nails, just by using a design that's familiar on this blog: the cloud design! You can see I didn't have to add much to make it look like a holly leaf. But those who still want a little more detail of how to make the design can use the tutorial that I'll be posting next. :-)

For the accent nail I used OPI Jade Is The New Black, Color Club Artsy Crafty, a blue striper polish and P2 Fever for the berries. And last but not least, that gorgeous gold on the rest of my nails is Orly Solid Gold with a layer of topcoat. It has an amazing matte fisnish on its own, but adding topcoat makes it so sparkly! Perfect for the holidays. I also did a series of Solid Gold manis a while back, you can find them all here. See you next time!

'80s Accent Nail

Hi guys! After a day I decided to change the accent nail of my previous mani. Not because I didn't like it anymore, but because I just needed to play with my polish again (like a little girl with her dolls, haha). I went for the abstract '80s pattern that I showed you earlier this year in this post. It's so much fun to watch a new shape appear where the pink and mint green overlap. :3 I used OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui for the basecolor and Color Club Warhol and Orly Ancient Jade for the shapes on top. (The pink is Essence Sending You Kisses.)

Many of you had asked for a tutorial for this design, so I took this opportunity to finally make one. :-) It's coming!

Tutorial: Vertical Lightning Bolt

Hello everyone! Welcome to my vertical lightning bolt tutorial! You may have already tried its siblings the lightning bolt French or double lightning bolt, if you like those but want to step it up a notch, then this fellow is the right thing. It involves more individual tape strips and precision than the previously mentioned designs, so using it on an accent nail only is recommended if you don't have too much time. But if you enjoy the process as much as the end result, such as myself, why not go all the way for a special occasion? Continue reading »

Sending You A Lightning Bolt

Hi folks! I missed having pink polish on my nails and wasn't ready for my next challenge yet, so I'll be squeezing a couple of pink posts in between the 31 Day Challenge. For this mani I used two coats of my new favorite pink Sending You Kisses from Essence's limited Ready For Boarding collection. The silver is Essence Romeo, the shimmer version. Lately I've been really getting addicted to this 'new' form of a lightning bolt. I don't know why I particularly like lightning bolts so much. Perhaps it's the fierce shape, or the comic feel. Whatever it is, I'm not done with them yet! :-P Anyhow, unlike the lightning bolt French and double lightning bolt, this fellow has a vertical and diverting shape. So refreshing after having done so many horizontal ones. And yes, a tutorial is on its way. ;-) So stay tuned!

P.S. I didn't notice how cruel the title of this post actually sounds when I first came up with it, but I'm sticking with this silly wordplay anyway, hee hee.

31 Day Challenge, day 3: Yellow

Yellow nails! These took a long time to get done because of the design on my ringfinger, so I made studded V-gaps on the rest on my fingers, which I actually liked better in the end. :-) The yellow basecolor is H&M's Lemon Tree. This was three to four coats which I admit is a lot. But the formula is great to work with, very smooth and no dragging, making it my favorite yellow next to Color Club Almost Famous. The silver I used for the dots/studs is Essence Romeo and the black is Color Club Where's The Soiree? as usual. What are your thoughts on this yellow rock look?

Black and White Tribal

Oooh, more tribal nails! I hope you don't mind. :-) I just love how detailed it looks with only little effort, especially if you use it for an accent nail only. Also it's a cute eyecatcher that way and a great excuse for being lazy, haha. The tribal print was freehanded with a white striper polish over black and the purple is OPI's Planks A Lot. Thanks for stopping by!

Gold Tribal

Hi everyone! I hadn't done a freehand design in a while so today I made a detailed tribal pattern on a few accent nails. The basecolor is the lovely Westside Warrior from China Glaze and I used a gold striper polish (Janet #115) for the nail art. Though it looks pretty detailed it was really simple to make. I drew a few stripes on each nail and then I filled in the bigger stripes with dots or zigzags, that's it! I hope you like it. :)

Shocking

Hi everyone! :-) For today's short post I have this accent nail mani to show you. This afternoon I did a fresh mani with my favorite purple cream: OPI Funkey Dunkey. A few hours later I wanted to add a little eyecatcher, so it became this silver lightning bolt. It's a small addition, but just what I needed to complete this mani. ^^ Thanks for stopping by!

A Broken Heart

Hi everybody! For this post I have a broken heart for you. Nothing to worry about though, I just thought it would be a cool design as I'm still experimenting with sheer polishes. :) I used my vertical lightning bolt design, then I painted the heart on top with a stencil I made from tape (like I used in this mani). I'm not sure if I like the colors I used, but I'm glad the idea I had in mind came out pretty much the way I wanted, yay! Thanks for reading! :)

Polishes I used:
H&M - Bella's Choice
Essence - Stamp Me! White
Color Club - Warhol