June 2010 ~ Nail Art Design Gallery

Orly Lemonade

Hi all!

I just realized I haven't written a post about Orly Lemonade alone! Whoops.. Well, here it is :)

Orly Lemonade, three coats in daylight. Lemonade is a pretty pastel yellow creme, a little more yellow irl. Pastels tend to be streaky at first and this one was no exception, but all evened out in three coats.

Orly Lemonade, three coats in the shade. The color is more accurate in this picture since it isn't as washed out. I'm really starting to like pastel yellow polishes, they sure as hell are growing on me!

Application was good. I like the Orly brush; it's not as big as the OPI ProWide brush but it's easy to work with. Drying time was good.

And because I like it so much, here's my sugar sweet summery mani again:

To read about the products I used in this mani besides Orly Lemonade, please read Sugar Sweet Summer Manicure.

Thanks for stopping by!

[Weartest] Misa Cherry Glazed

in Creme, Misa, Red, Weartest

Hi all!

So today I have the polish for you that has been on my nails for 7 days till now, and I haven't taken it off. Yes, you read this right! Seven days! That's a lot, especially for me since I usually change my polish every day or every other day. I took pics on day two (on day one I didn't have proper lighting) and on day seven. It's also a first for me to post my thumb up close and personal on my blog! :D

Misa Cherry Glazed, two coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont in daylight. Cherry Glazed is a rich red creme with hints of berry. It's slightly darker irl and you can't really see the hint of berry I'm talking about in my picture, but my camera wouldn't pick it up.. It's a red with an edge in my opinion and surprisingly, I love this! Application was flawless, but drying time took a little longer than I'm used to. I'm guessing that's because of the heat though, so I can't really judge this.

This picture was taken on day two of wear and looks indeed like a fresh mani.

And now, the picture that I took today, on the end of day seven.

Misa Cherry Glazed, two coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont in daylight on day seven. It looks almost identical to the picture that I took on day two, since I only have a few scratches on my polish. You can see that my nails have grown a bit since my gap is quite big, but other than that.. No chips, no tipwear.. And I use my laptop (and keyboard) a lot. I'm impressed!

I used OPI Nail Envy Matte as my basecoat and only two coats of Cherry Glazed. I believe this one could have done with one though, since it is so pigmented! But really, I'm impressed. I think I've found the polish I should wear when I go on vacation :)

What do you think of Misa Cherry Glazed? Do you own polish yourself that lasts 7 days and does not chip - excluding Shellac of course!

Thanks for stopping by!

OPI Catch Me In Your Net versus Zoya Charla

in Blue/Green, Comparison/Srovnání, OPI, Zoya

As I promised I bring you a comparison of one of the shades from the new OPI summer collection. If you missed my swatches, have a look here. Now my favourite shade from the collection was Catch Me In Your Net, I love colors like this and obviously I also have a shade that is very similar...Zoya Charla. Similar? Well I would call them nearly dupes. As you can see from my picture you can´t tell the difference much. Both of them are three coats. I would say that Zoya is a tad more opaque, on the other side I like the OPI brush more.

bottle pictures

Comparison Time

in Chanel, China Glaze, Comparison, Creme, Duochrome, GOSH, Kinetics, Limited Edition, Orly, Periwinkle, Turquoise

Hi all!

It's time for some comparisons again! There are three comparisons again this time, so let's get started.

A little roundup

First up is a comparison between Chanel Nouvelle Vague and Orly Gumdrop.

Left Orly Gumdrop, right Chanel Nouvelle Vague. As you can see, they are dupes! The only difference is the really subtle shimmer that Nouvelle Vague holds and Gumdrop is a teeeeenie bit more blue, but the difference is barely visible. Gumdrop is easier to get your hands on and it's a budget friendly alternative if you want Chanel Nouvelle Vague.

Next up: a coincidental dupe! I bought Kinetics Shall We Dance? at Alice and Jo's havesentials and found out it looked really close to GOSH Purple Heart.

Left GOSH Purple Heart, Kinetics Shall We Dance? on the right. The only difference is the way the light hits these polishes. These polishes are identical. They're both evenly duochrome-y (which I couldn't really capture on the wheel) and have the same smokey dark purple, mossy green colors. These are dupes.

Last but not least of this comparison post, I have two periwinkle cremes for you; China Glaze Secret Peri-winkle and Orly Cashmere Cardigan.

Secret Peri-Winkle on the left, Cashmere Cardigan on the right. Please imagine this is more periwinkle (a tad bit of purple), because the color freaked out my camera. These are not dupes. Secret Peri-Winkle is lighter and a bit dustier than Cashmere Cardigan, while Cashmere Cardigan leans more towards purple. The difference is big enough to justify you owning both ;) These are not dupes.

And of course, to round it all up.. A little summary in the form of a shot of the nailwheel;

These were the comparisons I had for you, dear reader! If you have requests for more comparisons, feel free to ask me!

Thanks for stopping by!

Zoya Gilda

in Essie, Matte, Pink, Sparkle, Zoya

Hi all!

Tonight I have another Zoya Sparkle for you: Gilda. Doesn't that remind you of the series that was on, years ago? Sabrina The Teenage Witch? Lol well it does to me. I used to watch it every time it was on and I loved it! Anyway, on to some pics :)

Zoya Gilda, three coats in daylight. Gilda is a bright pink that has the same sparkle finish as Ivanka and Alegra that I showed earlier. Even though I'm not really into pinks anymore, I think this one is pretty. The sparkles really look awesome!

I did a little mattification (lol, is this a word?)

Zoya Gilda with one coat of Essie Matte About You. Please excuse the white flakes, my Essie MAY appears to be developing these.. Gilda looks pretty with a matte topcoat! Well that's no surprise since the others were great as well. It look like scales of a fish, or pink dragon hide. Hm. Interesting!

Application was good and Gilda needed three coats for opacity. All three coats dried pretty quick. You can really see the sparkles build up in intensity when you add the second and third layer :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Blogsale

in Nailswatches Talk

It's time for a little blogsale! I added a tab just underneath my header where you can find the polishes I'm tossing out of my Helmer. I will be adding more pictures when I decide to sell more polishes - my Helmer is in desperate need of some room since it's FULL. I actually have a bag of polishes next to my Helmer, because they won't fit anymore.. Whoops!

Misa Heaven White

in Creme, Misa, White

White polish should be a part of every nail polish collection :) and especially now because it looks great with summer skin. I have some whites but this one is the best. Applies very flawless and needs only two coats. I am always curious what about you, so tell me...what is your favourite white polish?

Sugar Sweet Summer Manicure

in Creme, Hex Glitters, Nailart, Orly, Pastel, Pink, Yellow

Hi all,

First of all I would like to thank all of you who was so kind to either tweet or comment on my blog because of the loss of my dear cat. It means a lot to me to read everything and it feels good to be comforted, even though it's by words through the internet. Thank you for that.

Today I have the post for you that I prepared for yesterday. I got a package from Viva La Nails in last week and I decided to do a summery mani with something they sent me.

I used Orly Lemonade as a base and Orly Pixy Stix for the pink triangle near my tips. I used Viva La Nails Hex glitter on the line between the two polishes. The hex glitter that came in my package were perfect for the color combination!

The hex glitter actually changes color in different lighting between a pinkish gold and yellow green flash. Nice! They are really easy to use, just dip your dotting tool in a bit of topcoat and gently press the hex glitter in polish that still is a bit wet.

Here's what I used to do this mani (OPI Nail Envy Matte as a basecoat not included)

Orly Lemonade, Orly Pixy Stix, Nubar Diamont as a glue to put the hex glitter on my nails, a dotting tool and of course the Viva La Nails Hex glitters.

Viva La Nails is sold at their own website, which you can find here: Viva La Nails Webshop. They have a great variety of different nail art products, which include different kind of glitters, stickers, water decals and Konad. Here's what Viva La Nails sent to me:

I actually forgot two packages (teardrops and stars) in the picture, but as you can see they were very generous! I will be reviewing more of their products in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's A Sad Day Today

in Brown, Bundle Monster Imageplates, China Glaze, Diamond Cosmetics, Nailart, Nailswatches Talk, Shimmer, Silver

Hi all,

Today is a sad day. Our 16 year old cat was put to sleep today by the vet. The poor thing was ill for the last couple of months and we tried every possible treatment for the sneezing disease that he was diagnosed with, but today we discovered that it wasn't the real thing that was going on. Our little man had a tumor in his little head that caused chronic nose bleeds and because of the bleeding, he got weaker every day. It's better for him this way, but it's so, so sad to lose the pal I've had for 16 years.

Rest in peace, Mistie, my dear little nerdy friend.

I was planning on doing a happy mani today because I launched my new blog layout, but I decided to do something a little less festive for today.

Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco, two coats in daylight. Cherry Tobacco is a vampy brown with glowing shimmer and it screams fall to me.

Application was good, no problems with drying time either so I was pleasantly surprised since this was one of those polishes that was sitting in my Helmer since like forever. And if it feels like fall.. We'll put some fall on the nails.

Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM04 and China Glaze Millennium. Millennium works really really well on these kind of shades and I just love the contrast between the brown and the silver.

A Closeup of Cherry Tobacco stamped with Millennium.

These kind of manicures just fascinate me although there isn't even glitter, holo or duochrome to keep me satisfied..

Thanks for stopping by

New Layout!

in Nailswatches Talk

Hi all!

It's finally there, my new blog layout! As you can see, I decided to do something completely different and thanks to Michèle's help I finally put it together today :)

There are changes in color (obviously), but also in the setup of this layout. I now have seperate tabs for different pages and I will be adding one or two more tabs in the next couple of days.

Also, I also added Formspring to my blog. Feel free to ask me anything!

There are a ton of changes behind the scenes, which you will probably not even notice but those changes will make me easier to find through google and such.

Feel free to say what you think of my new blog layout by commenting on this post :)

OPI Summer Flutter Collection 2010 - Swatches and Review

in Blue/Green, Creme, Glitter, OPI, Orange, Pink

Today I have for you a cute little summer collection from OPI. The weather outside is just right for these shades, so lets have a look at them.

OPI says: OPI is all "aflutter" this summer with four new lacquer shades inspired by the brilliance and whimsy of butterflies!

"These sizzling pinks, orange, and turquoise look amazing against summer skin," says Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. "And whether you pair them with flip flops and your favorite bikini or a slinky mini with high-heeled sandals, they add a burst of exotic, tropical color to your style!"

The swatches are all without a base or top coat and are in natural daylight (no sun or lightbox).

FLOWER TO FLOWER

A beautiful bright pink with silver shimmer. Reminds me of ice cream. Just a perfect shade for summer. Application was flawless, three coats.

FLIT A BIT

Super bright orange creme. I am not much an orange person but after trying OPI Hot & Spicy I am starting to fall in love. And now I have this beauty here. Also very pretty, screaming summer is here :) Three coats and flawless aplication.

WING IT!

Love the color and idea of this one. Sadly it isn´t opaque even after three coats. I will try layering it in my next post. Still I have to say that this polish pretty and unique.

CATCH ME IN YOUR NET

I saved the best for the end. LOVE this! It is such a beautiful mermaid color. And so perfect for summer, I will be taking this one on my holidays for sure. Three coats.

I like this collection very much. The only downside is the sheerness of Wing It! but as I said, I will try some layering experiments. The formula on all of these was just perfect. Love the OPI brush :) These are already in stores, so go and get your nails ready for summer. Oh, and the good part is that all four of these can be found in the mini set. Great for traveling!

P.S. In my next posts I will be comparing these to see if there are any dupes :) stay tuned.

* the product(s) in this post were sent to me by the manufacturer or their PR company.

China Glaze DV8

in China Glaze, Holo, Teal

Hi all!

Whew it's getting hot in The Netherlands! Hot and sunny means.. Holographic polishes! They look stunning in sunlight and for this occasion I decided to pull out China Glaze DV8, which I bought when I went polish hunting at the China Glaze wholesale.

China Glaze DV8, two coats in the shade. DV8 is a stunning teal holographic polish that is opaque in two smooth coats. The polish can show you ridges since it's kinda 'flat' on the nails (I don't know how to describe this properly) so you might need to use a good ridgefiller before you paint your nails.

What's a holo without sunlight? Right, nothing!

China Glaze DV8, two coats in indirect and direct sunlight. Shiiiiiiiine! Me likez! Personally, I prefer the finish of the Kaleidoscopes over these, but it still is pretty.

Application was good, since the structure of this polish is just right and dries quickly. DV8 is part of the China Glaze OMG collection that contains 11 other holographic polishes.

Thanks for stopping by!

OPI Merryberry Mauve

in OPI, Purple

I love discovering old OPI polishes. There are just so many colors! This one looks absolutely gorgeous in the bottle :) Love the golden shimmer in it. The downside is that this needs four coats for full coverage. I am not happy about this, but still the color is very pretty:

I tried layering one coat of this polish on a black creme and look what came out :)

Zoya Nidhi

in China Glaze, Glass flecked, Imageplate M77, Konad, Matte, Nailart, Red, Silver, Sparkle, Zoya

Hi all!

Is the weather there as good as it is here? It's getting hot and sunny in The Netherlands! Today I have another Zoya Sparkle for you: Zoya Nidhi.

Zoya Nidhi, three coats in daylight. Nidhi is the oddball in the Sparkle Collection; it has a different finish than the other five polishes. It's still super pretty though! Nidhi is a tomato red glass flecked polish with silver, red, lime and yellow particles. This is three coats, but I guess you could go with two coats as well.

Application was as good as the other sparkles. The texture is a bit on the thin side but easy to work with. Drying time was good.

Since I made the other Sparkles matte, here's Nidhi mattified:

Zoya Nidhi, three coats with one coat of Essie Matte About You in daylight. Pretty, but not as pretty as the other sparkles! Please excuse the white chip on my nails, my Matte About You seems to have issues..

And of course I did a little (because I don't want to cover up the prettyness of Nidhi) Konad.

Zoya Nidhi, three coats stamped with imageplate M77 and China Glaze Millennium. It's a little stamp, and I have to say that I like it! I have never used this plate before and I've had it for a while..

What do you think of Nidhi?

Also, I've been working behind the scenes on my blog. You might not see it now, but you will see major changes on my blog in the near future. I've worked on it for the past four or five days, yesterday even over 11 hours to make everything perfect. I think it will keep me off the streets since I want everything perfect, but I hope you will enjoy all the effort I put in it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Nectar (Cabana Corals Collection 2010)

in Bobbi Brown, Face / Tvář

No nail polish for you today dear readers. I want to show you a product I fell in love with in the past few days. It is the Bobbi Brown Shimmer Brick in Nectar, actually my first shimmer brick. I LOVE it! This is part of the spring collection for 2010 called Cabana Corals, which is a limited edition I believe. From the other shimmer bricks I saw in the past I was a bit afraid that it will have too much glitter/frost but no. All you get is just beautiful coral golden shimmer, looks so beautiful on the skin (enlarge the pictures for full detail). Like sunset. You can build up the colors very easily, from a light sheen to more color. What do you think? What is your favourite Shimmer Brick?

Detail of the palette:

Swatches of the colors separetly:

Swatched together:

Readers Requests: Comparisons

in Catrice, Comparison, Creme, Essence, Essie, Green, Illamasqua, Khaki, Lilac, OPI, Shimmer

Hi all!

There were a couple of people asking for comparisons, so here they are! If you would like to see another comparison, please let me know and I'll see what I can do for you.

All the comparisons lined up on the nailwheel :)

First up, I was asked to do a comparison between Essie Chinchilly and Catrice Clay-ton My Hero.

Left Essie Chinchilly, right Catrice Clay-ton My Hero. As you can see, these aren't similar at all. Chinchilly is a khaki creme, while Clayton My Hero is a lighter sort of khaki, almost sandy brown, that holds golden shimmer. These are not dupes.

Next up are Essence In The Jungle (from the Show Your Feet line) and OPI Jade Is The New Black. In The Jungle is supposed to be a dupe for Jade Is The New Black, as I've seen on various boards.

Left Essence In The Jungle, Right OPI Jade Is The New Black. The biggest difference is the finish that the polishes have; Jade Is The New Black dries completely smooth and shiny, while In The Jungle dries a bit weird; it's not satin, but it's not shiny either. It looks a bit bumpy, but it's not when you feel the polish. Besides that, In The Jungle is a little bit more blue and less dusty than OPI Jade Is The New Black. These two are not dupes.

Last but not least I have a comparison between Essie Lilacism and Illamasqua Wink for you.

Left Essie Lilacism, right Illamasqua Wink. Wink and Lilacism are really really close and I wouldn't be able to tell you the difference if it wasn't for the fact that I know which polish is on which side. Both are lilac cremes and similar in opacity. This is two coats on both. The application on Wink is better in my opinion though. These are dupes, so if you're looking for a cheaper alternative to Illamasqua Wink, I'd recommend getting Essie Lilacism.

A little overview of the comparisons:

I hope this was helpful! If you have any questions about these comparisons or if you have a request for one, please let me know :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Kiko Sparkle Touch

in Ciaté, Creme, Glitter, Kiko, Pink

Hi all!

I just realized I didn't even post this one, even though I wore it a couple of weeks ago; shame on me! This is one of the polishes that I picked up when we went polish hunting in Germany. I believe it only has a number, but since there's a sticker on the cap saying 'sparkle touch', I decided to call this post that way :P

Kiko #2 Sparkle Touch, two coats over Ciaté Fun Fair in daylight. Kiko #2 Sparkle Touch is a glitter topper in a clear base that's packed with hex glitter and a few smaller particles. The glitters remind me of fish scales or something.. They flash between pink and aqua, which is kinda cool. I have to add that this looks a bit dull in my pic and it looks way more sparkly irl. It's to sheer to use alone, but could just spice up a slightly boring mani..

Application was good and I didn't have any issues with the drying time. Kiko polishes are available in Italy and in Kiko stores. I believe I only paid € 1,90 for a bottle of 11ml so that's a great deal! I picked up another Kiko that I will be showing you soon as well :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Misa Um You're Too Delicious

in Jelly, Misa, Neon, Orange

Hi all!

Since it's the World Cup and all, I'm trying out my orange polishes to see if there is one suitable for a manicure when The Nederlands will be playing. This time: Misa Um You're Too Delicious, which was part of my swap with Linda :)

Misa Um You're Too Delicious, three coats in daylight. Um You're Too Delicious is a jellylike orange neon. I didn't even know it was possible, but it certainly looks that way! Normally neons dry matte or satin, but this one dries absolutely shiny with a jellylike finish. I like it! Please believe me when I say that this polish is WAY brighter irl.

Application was fine, but drying time was not. It took forever to dry and when I tried to stamp it, over an hour later, it still wasn't dry and I ended up taking it off because the stamping ruined my mani. Also, I suspect that this is the only Misa I own that is not B3F and that this causes the polish to smell really bad (I will check the ingredients later today to be sure). I will try her once more this week or next week, to see if it works better :)

So now I wonder: what's your favorite orange polish?

Thanks for stopping by!

Ulta Forbitten

in Brown, Essie, Matte, Shimmer, Ulta

Hi all!

How is your weekend so far? I know the US girls still have the half sunday ahead, that's why I say so far ;) Today I have a polish for you that came in a RAOK from a lovely lady from the US. We decided to swap a ton of polishes, but my package is still at customs and probably won't be released ever so she sent me a couple of beauties. Thanks Rachel, they're gorgeous!

She sent me the Ulta Glam Goth Set that's only available in the US, and since the colors are gorgeous it's a big hit :D

Ulta Forbitten, two coats in daylight. This polish is ridiculously shiny so it took me a gazillion pics to get the color right in my pics. Forbitten is a gorgeous dark brown, almost black base with tons of bronze and brown shimmer and it's absolutely stunning. This one definately doesn't need any topcoat because it's shiny as hell itself.

I thought this would make a great matte as well, but I was wrong in this case..

Ulta Forbitten, two coats with one coat of Essie Matte About You. It looks flat and dull and none of the shimmer really shows through the matte.. Too bad!

Application was good, although the brush is teeeny tiny. The structure is nice and went on smoothly so I didn't have any issues with this. Drying time was good as well, I was pleasantly surprised!

If you like dark colors and have the chance to get your hands on the Ulta Glam Goth set, get it!!

Thanks for stopping by!

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