Want to play a game?

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a good start of the weekend. I cleaned my room from top to bottom and I realized I really need to find another way to store my polishes. I don't want a second Helmer because I have issues with round bottles (yeah.. kind of OCD-ish) so I was thinking of shelves. I'm going to pick some up in an hour or so and hopefully it works out. I might post the results later!

You might have noticed that I'm posting less these past weeks and that's because I've worked a lot. I really like working but sometimes I really crave for 'me-time' and finally, yesterday I had. I decided to create some nail art that I haven't done in quite a while, freehand with my striper brush.


Of course you see right away what my inspiration was! - If not, you've been living under a rock. ;-) I'm not really a Saw fan, I liked the first film but after the second I felt it became boring. I don't know which one is or will be in theatres now, probably part 34, but this one is inspired on the first film.

I've used a striper brush for all the designs and the base colour is H&M Love at First Sight.


Pinky: Jigsaw puzzle
The outline is done with Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You and I've coloured the centre piece of the puzzle with Orly Poison Apple.

Ring: Spiral
The spiral is inspired by the cheeks from the puppet. I've started from the centre of the nail, using Orly Poison Apple, and swirled around the point I started the spiral.

Middle: The Puppet
First I created the outline with Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You, as well as his hair, nose and eyes. I did some shading with Orly Mirror Mirror and coloured the eyes, lips and cheeks with Orly Poison Apple. Last thing is to create the pupils with the Diamond Cosmetics.

Ring: Saw
I used China Glaze Millennium for the saw. I just made a thick stripe on my nail and added the saw teeth. After that I used Orly Poison Apple to tip the saw teeth and the small puddle of blood.

Voila, topped it off with China Glaze Fast Forward and done. I haven't done my thumb because this was a little experiment and I must say, this design was pretty easy to create. Especially the saw and spiral are easy to make though you need a steady hand. Made a mistake? You can always do a little touch up when you've finished the design.

Have a great weekend and take care!
Michelle

Jaws

Hey everyone! Do you all remember the Jaws movies? I think you do because when I was little there was nothing more scary than that big white shark (well, Pennywise the clown was scarier, but shh). Jaws actually made me not want to go into the sea - ever. When I'm enjoying my day at the beach I'll never go further then my knees into the water. It's just really scary because I do not know what's beneath me. Now I'd like to leave my crazy personal traits here and show you my manicure. Yesterday I was watching Jaws and I thought it would be nice to make a Jaws manicure.


First I painted my nails with Misa On the Edge. I took out my sponge and sponged my nails with Zoya Robyn, leaving 1/3 from the tip as my base colour. After that I mixed Zoya Robyn with H&M Love at First Sight and sponged the tip. That is my base, the ocean.

When my base was dried I wanted to start drawing. I used a striper brush for everything unless I tell you otherwise. Here's what I used:

Pinky: Shark Attack
I sponged the pool of blood with Eyeko Saucy. After that I drew a shark fin with a striper brush and used Orly Mirror Mirror. I shaded the fin with a mix of Ciaté Vintage and H&M Love at First Sight.

Ring: Shark
This is how we know Jaws! First I created the outline of the shark using Orly Mirror Mirror. I left out space for the mouth and coloured the shark. The mouth is coloured with Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You. After doing the mouth I shaded the shark using Ciaté Vintage and H&M Love at First Sight. I've also mixed these colours for a little more depth. When done shading I created the teeth with H&M Love at First Sight. Don't forget the eyes! Mine are done with the tip of the striper brush and Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You.

Middle: Eek! A Shark!
The swimmer is made with a mix of Barry M Mushroom, H&M Love at First Sight and Hard Candy Splendid. His hair colour is Barry M Mushroom. Behind him is a shark fin that is made the way I made the shark fin on my pinky. I've added a little bit H&M Love at First Sight around the fin and the swimmer, it just gives a little more movement.

Index: Jaws
The Jaws logo is made with Eyeko Saucy. I've added a shark biting the logo. The colour of the gums is China Glaze Something Sweet and the teeth are made with H&M Love at First Sight. The sharks skin is a mix of Ciaté Vintage, Orly Mirror Mirror and H&M Love at First Sight.


After feeling like Bob Ross for one hour I was finally done and topped it off with China Glaze Fast Forward. I really like the shark, my dad didn't believe that I made that one so that was pretty funny. Now I want to make more stuff on my nails like this but it takes so long, I'm not that patient, darn!

Thanks for visiting and have a nice day!
Michelle

Jip & Janneke

Hey everyone! From 6 to 16 October we have 'Kinderboekenweek' here in the Netherlands, roughly translated as Children's Book Week, meaning there's a whole theme week about books, specially for kids. I remember that when I was a kid I always looked forward to Kinderboekenweek (and still do!). Meeting writers, teachers who will read you a whole afternoon, sitting with the whole school in the great hall with your pillow and read your own book. Very awesome. This years theme is 'imagery in children's books' and I think we all loved pretty pictures in our childhood books. One of the books I loved and still love is Jip & Janneke, written by Annie M. G. Schmidt, full of great drawings by Fiep Westendorp. Let me introduce them:


On my pinkie you see Takkie the dog, next to it there's Jip, then we have Siepie the cat and last there's Janneke. Maybe you've seen them already because not only is the book Jip & Janneke translated in a few foreign languages, also the Dutch company Hema has released a limited edition collection of these four figures - you might have seen the nail polish that was a part from this collection.


See, matchy matchy isn't it? This make up bag is one thing I scored out of the cute Hema collection. Jip & Janneke is one of my happy childhood memories and I truly love Fiep's drawings and Annie's stories. If you ever stumble across this book you should definitely have a peek in it!


For this manicure I used Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You as my base colour and H&M Love at First Sight for the characters. I drew them by hand with a striper brush. In the picture above I've mattified it with China Glaze Matte Magic. Also, since I've been getting questions about the treatments I use: my base is NailTek Foundation II and I use the China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

What is your favourite Childhood book?
Michelle

Glitter Puke

Hey everyone! I really like glitter polish but sometimes I don't want to wear a full mani with glitters so I always try to find something for it. Sometimes I do a glitter french or a moon manicure but last time I tried something different.


It's like someone puked glitters over my nails!

I like it when glitters pop out and have a contrasting colour underneath so when I was picking out colours I decided to go for a black background and silver glitter. The black I used is Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You, one of my favourite blacks because it's not watery, it's opaque and even in two coats.


After applying the base colour I used the Essence Silver striper and started to create stripes from the tip of my nail towards the cuticle. All these stripes variate in length. When that was done I used Essie Silver Bullions and applied this pretty over all the stripes. You can use a striper for this but Silver Bullions is not that dense so I used the brush.

When done with that the next glitter that I applied was from China Glaze, Spellbound. I love this one and the orange glitters that are in it make this polish for me a special one. And last, but certainly not least, all this was topped with Misa Confection Section. There you have it, glitter puke.


I expected this to be all bumpy but that wasn't the case after I topped it with China Glaze Fast Forward top coat. Nice! This is a manicure I'm looking forward creating in different colours, I absolutely love it!

Thanks for stopping by! :-)
Michelle

Pastel Leopard

Hi everyone! Finally, weekend! :-) I've showed you a nail art design a while back, the crazy leopard one and yesterday I wanted to do a similar thing but a little less in your face.


I chose pastel colours for this design. The base colour is Something Sweet from China Glaze, a very pale soft pink. After applying my quick dry top coat (I'm super impatient) I used Konad imageplate M57 and China Glaze 2030 for the leopard print. I wanted to use a pastel for this but 2030 is one of my favourite stamping polishes, it stared at me and I couldn't refuse. When that was done I coloured the spots with Diamond Cosmetics Tranquility, using a small and thin paint brush.


I mattified it to see how it looked but it didn't make a huge difference as you can see on my picture. I think it looks pretty cute for a day and I'm sure it will be removed tomorrow. Hopefully I can find some inspiration to do freehand nail art because I'm really missing my mojo haha.

Have a nice weekend!
Michelle

Diamond Cosmetics - Never So Ever Green

Hey everyone! You probably know I looooove greens and today I want to show you one of my favourites. This is not only one of my favourite greens but this polish also hits the top 10 list high!


Never So Ever Green is a gorgeous mossy green with gold shimmer. It's not only gorgeous, it's also easy to apply and opaque in two coats. Definitely a polish I grab when I haven't got enough time for a full mani.


See the sparkle? It's sooo pretty! There's nothing to add more to be honest, except that I think this is an addition for everyone's stash.

The polishes from Diamond Cosmetics are available on their website but can also be bought on the Dutch webshop Boozyshop. Boozyshop ships internationally so if you are interested in buying there you can always contact the owner.

Thanks for stopping by! :-)
Michelle

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Hey all! Did you survived your Monday? :-) There are a few things I want to do nail wise and one of them was making Jack Skellington on my nail. I absolutely love the movie 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and since Jack is my favourite animated movie character the choice was easily made.


I used Diamond Cosmetics I'm Raven About You as my base colour, my favourite black because it's opaque in two coats (I don't own one that does the same without leaving streaks.. hmm) and Jack and the stitches are made with H&M Love at First Sight and a striper. Why I did stitches? I don't know but I didn't want to leave my nails blank - next time I'll try a full Nightmare Before Christmas manicure.

Have a nice day!
Michelle

Color Club - Revvvolution

Hi all! I really don't know what is up with me because every time the weather changes I start to get sick. I didn't sleep last night due to nothing, I just couldn't, and today the sore throat I've had since last Friday really starts to hurt like crazy. The weather is still great and sunny so time for more great holographic polish!

Revvvolution in the shade, two coats

Color Club's Revvvolution is a dark grey holo from the Spring 2009 collection called Femme Fatale. In the shade it doesn't look that special but wait till you see this pretty in sunlight!

Revvvolution in the sun, two coats

POW! In your face! It's gorgeous. My camera really has issues with holographic polishes, the pictures don't come out as good as I'd like to but this gives you an idea. Revvvolution applies good, the consistency of the polish is exactly spot on and it also dries fast. Mine was opaque and even with two coats.

Left: Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm, Right: Color Club Revvvolution

Of course I had to compare this one with Chainmail Charm. I've heard people say that these two are completely the same but they aren't. Chainmail Charm has a brown base instead of a dark grey one. They do look very similar so I wouldn't say it's necessary to own them both but... they're both pretty and slightly different so come on. It isn't that bad owning them both, right? ;o)

Have a nice day!

Diamond Cosmetics - Decadence

Hi dear reader!

I've been receiving a few good packages these last few days and I had so much trouble chosing what to wear! One of my orders was one at Boozyshop, a Dutch webshop where us Dutchies can get the Diamond Cosmetics polishes. I love the DC's I own so there's always room for a little more!

Meet Decadence! Decadence is a very pretty rich brown shade packed with shimmer: it's almost foily. The shade of the brown makes me think of chocolate and the shimmer in it gives it this amazing sparkle. To be honest, most DC shimmers are amazing. They really know how to work it! Application was good but I've never had any troubles with DC polishes. The cap of the bottle is easy to handle and the texture of the polish is smooth, making it easy to apply.

What is your favourite DC polish?
Thanks for visiting!
Michelle

Spring Mani's Part 2!

Hi dear reader!
As promised, the second part of my spring mani's! Above you see my dots design. I used Models Own - Beth's Blue as my base colour. With the dottingtool I placed two colours of dots on my nails, both Models Own polishes: Lemon Meringue and Lilac Dream.



My funky french! ;) This is Models Own - Lemon Meringue for the base and Feeling Blue for the french. The gems are from Essence, they have a cute nail jewel line.



Last, my mani that is based on a watermelon! Essie - Mint Candy Apple is used as my base colour. I created the lines using a really thin paintbrush and the following polishes: Essence - Not Just Cute, Diamond Cosmetics - Sparkling Sherry, Ciaté - Stiletto and Models Own - Slate Green.

I saved the best for last I think, these are really my favourite mani's out of the whole bunch. Especially the watermelon is my favourite.

Thanks for visiting!
Michelle

Diamond Cosmetics - Cherry Tobacco

Hello dear reader!

How are you today? I hope this monday was a good one for you, it's always hard to start up after the weekend. It was a cold day today but the sun was shining so that gave me the opportunity to shoot some pictures of the nailpolish I'm wearing: Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco.

Cherry Tobacco is a really nice polish. The base colour is a blackened red. There is also red shimmer in it. It looks like it's lit from within and it gives a really nice glow to your nails. Diamond Cosmetics polishes apply really good and I love the colours they have. I might order a few new ones pretty soon.. :)

That's it for now. Thanks for visiting!

Michelle