China Glaze - Knotty

Hi dear readers !
Today I planned to show you Hey Sailor from China Glaze's Anchors Away collection, but it looks like I've lost the pics. I can't find even the original pics, or the resized ones, don't know what happened. At least I took an iPhone pic of the small nail art I did on it, so I'll swatch it again and show you everything in a next post.

I chose quickly another swatched polis from this collection, Knotty !
Knotty is a nice beige polish with a lot of glass flecked glitters in it. Yummy !!

At first coat, I thought it would be very sheer and long to apply (I mean, I thoughtit would need 4 coats to look good) but at the second coat, it was good enough for me. There's still a little vnl but nothing crappy. That was a good surprise 'cause I hate to put more than 2 coats for one color :)

The quality of this polish is excellent, like the rest of the collection. Applied like butter, beautiful finish, pretty shade ... A bit too discreet for my skin tone, I prefer contrasting colors but I still like it and I'll wear it again for sure !

See the wonderful glitters above ? That's what make this polish soooo appealing :) As I said for other colors, I have to wear this one under this summer's sun to see it sparkle ^^

Do you like it ?

China Glaze - Ahoy !

Hi dear readers :)
Let's go back to the Anchors Away swatches ! Today you'll see my second favorite from this collection, called Ahoy !
When I saw the promo pics, I thought this would be really similar to Strawberry Fields and I was a bit deceived. I saw some bloggers had the same feeling. But when I received my package, I thought OMG it's nothing like Strawberry Fields, except for the golden flecks :p

Ahoy! is a dark raspberry pink with pretty reflects, due to the golden flecks. It's really much darker than Strawberry Fields, and it's very, very gorgeous. I think I'm in love with this one :p

The application is very good, and the color is opaque with two coats. I didn't add a top coat on it.
I also noticed I don't have a lot of chipping with this collection, even with my typing job. That's great !

See the flecks in this pics ? They have a warm color, I really love them. This polish is definitely a winner for me :)

What's your advice ?

Valentine Nails 2011

Hi dear readers !
As I promised you yesterday, here's my Valentine's Day manicure :)
One of the only occasions for me to wear something with hearts, 'cause I don't really like that shape :p It's not that I'm in a bad feeling with hearts, but it's just like if you don't like squares or stars ...

This year, I chose to go pink for that day (last year's nail art was red). I used OPI Got a Date To-Knight as a base but I would have prefer something softer, Got a Date came out to be more flashy than in the bottle.
As I wasn't really inspired, I decided to make a design from this blog. Here is the result:

How to do this design ?

- Apply a soft pink on the whole nail and let dry.
- Take a small amount of pink/holo glitter polish (here: China Glaze Carnival Lights) and paint from the tip to the nail bed, to create a gradient. You can also sponge it, if you prefer.
- With a red striper, or a red polish and a liner brush, draw red the red lines (I used China Glaze Phat Santa)
- With a white striper or a white polish and a liner, draw the white lines (Essence Tip Painter in White)
- Add a coat of thin and discreet glitter top coat (Essence Glitter Top Coat)
- While the top coat is still wet, add rhinestones where the lines cross. You can also add hearts shaped stones, or replace the round rhinestones by squared ones.
- Seal the stones with a clear top coat. I prefer to use thick ones over rhinestones, so I chose Poshe top coat this time.

This is something you can do easily, drawing straight lines with a striper is really easier than it seems :)
I think I'll do this design with other colors or to lighten up a french mani :)

Do you like it ?

China Glaze - Life Preserver

Hi dear readers !

Let's go on with the next polish in China Glaze's Anchors Away collection :) I started with my fave, so in second you'll discover the less appealing from the collection for me :D

It's not it isn't pretty, but I don't like orange shades on me. This one is a bright coral/orange, it's a bit brighter on the nails than in the bottle but still soft, we're far from neon orange polish. 

It's lacquered and very shiny, you see it without any topcoat. China Glaze did a great job with that collection, those I've tried right now have a beautiful finish and dry fast :)

Again it's hard for me to have good pics with that bad weather, I haven't see any sunshine during the past week T_T Weather in Belgium is SO boring !

So, this will not be on my top list, but if you like that king of shade, go for it. And even if I don't like it a lot, I think I'll try it again this summer, when the sun appeals to brighter colors :)

What do you think ?
Tomorrow I'll interrupt Anchors Away swatches for some Valentine nails ;)

China Glaze - Sea Spray

Hi sweeties !

I'm sooo glad ! I just received an almost complete collection to review ... It's China Glaze's Anchors Away !
I have already tried one of them on, and I plan to show you all the swatches during the next days ...

So, let's start with the one that appealed me the most when I saw the first promo pics from China Glaze, Sea Spray !

Sea Spray is a sky blue with a hint of grey. Or is it a light grey with a hint of blue ? I can't tell that, but it is really pretty ! It's a soft shade to wear and it's appealing spring :)
It also has a silver shimmer but it's not really noticeable once on the nails. That didn't really matter for me as I love the look of this polish :p

The pic below isn't good but it shows the shimmer :) We still don't have a lot of sun here but I'm sure this one will look even better this summer, under full sun !

I also added some Konad for the fun, but this time the pic was taken inside. You can notice it looks more grey with that light.
I stamped the flowers with Konad special polish in blue and plate m29, and the butterflies with Konad special polish in white and an Essence stamping plate.
Then I added some blue rhinestones and fixed everything with Seche Vite :)

It's been a long time I didn't use Konad, and it's the first time I use different colors and patterns on a single nail ^^

So, what do you think of China Glaze Sea Spray ? Will you get that collection ?
I plan to swatch the creme polish from the collection during the week, and swatch the shimmer ones during the weekend, so I'll be able to find some sun ;)

Stay tuned :)

Eyeko - Tea Rose Polish, and a Burberry

Hi dear readers !

Some weeks ago, I ordered my first Eyeko polishes. I decided to try one of them, Tea Rose Polish this week.
Eyeko polishes are so cute with their tiny bottle and their matching labels <3
Tea Rose Polish (for country nails, as they say ^^) is a pretty soft light raspberry pink, and the shade is exactly what I'd expect from a 'tea rose' polish :)

Here's it is in (bad) artificial light: laquered, shiny, good to apply and fast enough for me to dry.

The next day I decided to enhance it a bit with a Burberry design on an accent nail (in realistic natural light this time):

Well, before I continue, I have to tell you about the mess that happened last week on french speaking blogs.
If you don't know Fleur de Lys, you should visit her nail blog here: http://nail.art.over-blog.com/. She makes some stunning nail arts ! But another blogger (who has nothing to do with nails and nail art) made a Facebook post and an ironic article saying nail art and long nails were ugly and vulgar, especially Fleur de Lys ones.
Well, anyone can like or hate long nails, nail art, bright polish colors etc., to be honest I visit blogs where I don't like everyting I see and I'm sure you don't like everything I post on mine, but making a complete article to say someone's passion is disgusting, dirty, etc. ?? I'm sorry but that stupid b*tch is totally sick !

So, as I admire Fleur's art, I stole her last pink Burberry design as a kind of tribute to her, like other bloggers did last week :)

That was also the first time I used liners to try to make parallel and long lines, and I was surprised 'cause it was really easier than I thought ! I used Essence Tip Painters in matte black (from the Berlin LE) and white, and Stripe Rite liner in silver. And a coat of Poshe top coat to finalize it all :)

And the third day, I decided to go for a full Burberry manicure, I thought that would be too much on my nails but finally I loved it a lot ! I have to try that with other shades :p

Well, do you like that base polish from Eyeko and the Burberry design ? Would you wear it ?

Sorry for the long talk about bloggers gossip, but I had to do this rant, I really hate people being naughty for their pleasure !
See you soon ;)