China Glaze Flying Dragon & P2 Silver Crackle

Hi girls !

I have a question for you ! What do you do when you don't have a lot of time for your nails but want something more funny than a single color ?
There are a lot of possibilities, from skittle manicure to stickers and crackle polish ... Here's what I did some days ago when I really was in a hurry, and I think it was the fastest manicure I've ever did :p

First, I applied two coats of China Glaze Flying Dragon. Neons are known to dry very fast, so I was able to start the second coat immediatly after I ended the first one :)
I topped it with one coat of P2 Silver Crackle, which also dries fast, and finished with one coat of Seche Vite :)

I think I didn't spent more than 15 minutes for this manicure, including the drying time for the Seche Vite and the cuticle cleaning with a small brush.

And I loved that combo :)

I have a few neons, I'll surely use them for another similar manicure ^^

Do you like it ? What are your tips for a fast and not boring manicure ?

Have a nice day :)

Pink Wednesday: Milani Digital & Konad

Hi sweeties :)

I've always wanted a pink holo polish in my stash. My dream pink holo would be QT or BFF from China Glaze's OMG collection, but they're sooo expensive on Ebay :( I'm trying to get some Spectraflair pigment and make my own dream pink holo <3

But when I made my first order at Cherry Culture, I couldn't resist to get that cute Milani from their 3D collection, Digital !
Digital is a light pink scattered holo. I know that some people prefer linear holos, but I like the two styles the same :)
The base is a very soft, sweet shade of pink. I had to use three coats for a perfect coverage, but it dries fast so it didn't bother me.

The first two pics are take inside under artificial light, Digital looks like a brighter pink under full sun.

I wanted to add a little something to that polish. I'm still trying to improve my tape manicure technique but I have some more lessons to take lol :)

First I stamped my nails with black Konad polish and a pattern from Konad plate m64, added a coat of Seche Vite to protect the design and added a black french manicure with tape.
The polish I used for the french was Essence Berlin Story but it's definitely too thick for the tape technique and I can't get a smooth, straight line. It also made my tips bumpy 'cause of the thickness, not so pretty.

Oh, and apologize my Konad skills, I also need some training because it seems all my designs are stamped partially T_T

Anyway, I liked the idea and will try again. I like how my index finger looks here, I think it's the one I managed to do the best.

What's your advice ? :)

Catrice - Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy & Essence Confetti Circus

Hi girls !

I don't know what's the weather like where you live, but I think readers from around Belgium will understand what I mean ... We didn't have a real dry and sunny day since summer began :s It's one of the worst summer I've ever known, and not only it's rainy, but it's also cold ! We had 12° C today ... Looks like November yet !

So, to ward off that terrible weather, I decided to wear something very bright and fun: Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy, one of the lastest Ultimate Nail Lacquers by Catrice.
Don't trust the name, this is definitely not a lemon color. It's a kind of sour apple green with yellow in it. Not my usual type of color, but I have a dress that has exactly the same accents of color so I decided it was time to wear them together :)

There's nothing special to say about the application, it's like any other polish from that Catrice range, it applies easily and has an average drying time (I used two coats). The sad thing is the noticeable shimmer in  the bottle, it nearly disappears once on the nails :(

I wanted to add more fun to this manicure, and I just received Essence Confetti Circus, so I thought they would match together:

I love those multi-colored glitters ! Do you like them ?

What do you think of that combo ?

Have a nice day :)

Pink Wednesday: Revlon Bubble Gum

Hi everyone :D

I'm sooo glad, tomorrow will be our National Day here in Belgium, so I'm on a short holliday ^^ I really need some rest !

In summer 2010, Revlon brought us a collection of scented polish, Scents of Summer. They only arrived in Belgium some weeks ago, so for me that's something new :p
Though the shades are not unique at all, I was curious about wearing a perfumed polish ! I had one when I was 15 and it was funny, but never saw something like that 'til the Revlon collection.

As I just wanted to try one (don't want to have many basic shades dupes), I chose Bubble Gum. It's a hot and bright pink, very nice color for summer (and any other season for people who don't care, like me lol).

As you can see, it's sheer :( I used three coats and Seche Vite for the pictures, and you can still see vnl. You know how much I dislike that >< It doens't seem so important in the pics but in real, in full sunlight, you really notice it.

Anyway, Bubble Gum has a good and easy application but doesn't dry really fast. I prefered to add some Seche Vite before I go to bed :p

Now, what I'm sure you all want to know the most: what about the scent ? :D

I think it's really a funny thing. It has a sweet scent of bubble gum but not too loud, you don't smell it if you don't approach nails of your face. It also stays if you use a top coat, I was glad to note that :p

On the bad side, it didn't smell anything 24 hours later :s

Sooo, I wasn't convinced by this polish and won't buy the other colors, if I want another scented polish I'll prefer to try the Color Club Wicked Sweet 'cause they have more original colors (at least, shades I don't have a lot in my stash lol)

But it's still pretty and has a good quality, so if you want to give it a try, why not :)

What do you think ? have you ever tried scented polish ?

Have a nice day :)

China Glaze Hi Tek & Fault Line

Hi dear readers :)

Today's post will be a quick one as I'm very tired ! Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy it ...

For my first use of China Glaze's purple crackle Fault Line, I decided to go for a gold base. As I don't have China Glaze 2030, I went for Hi-Tek which is more bronze than gold, but I liked the combo with purple :)

First pic is without top coat, Fault Line is matte as almost every crackle polish, but it contains some pretty shimmer.

As I don't really like the matte effect of crackle polish, I added one coat of Catrice Quick Dry top coat. It's still hard to capture purples but you can see the shimmer is more present :)

What do you think ? I hope you like this combo :)

Have a nice week :D

Essence - Blue Ray

Hi sweeties !

I hope you're having a nice weekend ! Mine is fine, I saw the last Harry Potter yesterday and loved it ! I wanted to make a movie related manicure to go to the cinema but I didn't have time :(

Well, there was a lot of pink and purple these last days here, I love them a lot and I know a lot of you like them too, but what about some blue to change ? :)

Last month, Essence released a collection called Meet Me @Holografics.com with 5 new polish. They were not released in Belgium but a dear friend brought 3 of them back and offered me them ! <3
The most attractive to me was Blue Ray, a dark duochrome blue with purple reflects and beautiful shimmer. Here he is :)

 I used three coats and no top coat. The application was okay but i had some blank spots after the second coat, that's why I added the third one :)

Are you readyd for some picture spam ? :)

Isn't Blue Ray a stunning blue duochrome ? :)

There is only one mystery about this polish and the whole collection: why do people at Essence still call their duochrome make up "holographic" ? I knew at the second I saw the first pictures of this collection that it wouldn't be true holos, but I still feel like some deception about that ... We want more real holos !! :D

Have a nice day dear readers :)

Pink Wednesday: OPI Steady as she Rose & Konad

Hi dear readers !

It's wednesday again, time goes by sooo fast ! Sometimes I just can't believe it ... OPI collections come fast for me too, I just got the Pirates of the Caribbean minis and two new collections are already available for online shopping ... Well, I'll try to catch up soon with these collections ;)

I like the PotC collection but I didn't fell totally in love, so I preferred to get only the minis, but I also bought a full bottle of Steady as she Rose because I'm still looking for my perfect pale pink <3

This one is great, it's a dusky pink with a hint of purple in it and a creme finish. Application was good as usually with OPI. I wanted to make something sweet and delicate, so I tried stamping the ribbon pattern from Konad m63 with OPI Rally Pretty Pink.
I was affraid that RPP would be too sheer for stamping, but it turned out exactly like I wanted !
It's discreet, like a tone on tone with all the shimmer from Rally Pretty Pink. Lovely, isn't it ?

Do you like that ?
Have a nice day :)

OPI Steady as she Rose, Pirates of the Caribbean Spring 2011
OPI Rally Pretty Pink, Serena Williams Glam Slam Spring 2011
Konad plate m63 

Essence - Irreplaceable

Hi sweeties :D

I hope you're fine and the begining of the week wasn't too hard ! I did some shopping 'cause there are sales right now and brought back some nail related things you can discover on my Facebook page ... I also picked some almond perfumed products at The Body Shop, I like that scent soooo much !

But on to the polish, today i'll show you a pretty thing from Essence's new line. Well, it's not so new anymore as it is available since a couple of weeks, but I didn't show those novelties here yet.

Irreplaceable is a beige polish with a gorgeous and classy gold shimmer. It has a glass fleck finish, which is probably the main reason why I love it :D

I usually don't wear a lot of beige and nude shades, I think they just don't suit me, and perhaps they are a bit too discreet for me, but I like this one. I'd say it's a neutral color with a twist, I really love how the shimmer looks in the sun !

Do you like it ?

And more generally, do you like neutral shades with a twist ? :)

Have a nice week :)

Sponging & Konad over Dirty Berry

Hi dear readers !

I'm very happy, I finally managed to get my old RSS feed redirected to the new one, and now I appear again on your blogrolls and feed readers ! That was really bothering me ... I found the solution thanks to this article, if you're interested in it.

On to today's nails, this is a stamping I made some weeks ago and which I loved a lot !

It all started when I saw some of the latest Konad plates on NDED, especially m83. I totally fell in love with the cute hearts and birds on it, though I'm usually not a big lover of the heart patterns.

I started with a sponged french manicure with my beloved Catrice Dirty Berry. Then I stamped the heart and bird designs in black Konad special polish and finished with a purple rhinestone on the ring fingerand one coat of Seche Vite.

I didn't have the occasion to make natural light pictures but I think my new daylight lamp did it good enough :)

I was asked how I do my sponged manicures, well it's very easy in fact. I tried many kind of sponges but my fave to use is a classical sponge you use to wash the dishes. I cut several pieces, one sponge makes many uses ^^
I pour some drops of polish in a small plate, dip the sponge in it and tap it on the nails from the tip to the nail bed. The first coat is very thin so I tap the sponge on almost 3/4 of the nail. I do it on all the nails, then start again but I only tap on 1/2 of the nail. If needed, I do this again, sponging only the border of the tip.

This technique helps to have a soft gradient and also works if you want to sponge over another base color.

So, what's your advice ? Do you like this stamping ? :)

Have a nice day ^^

Pink Wednesday: Splatter Manicure

Hi sweeties !

I'm sure you've seen this trend on other blogs these last days ... Splatter manicure !
I discovered it on Jen's Facebook page, and I immediatly ran to her blog to get more explanations on how she did. I found her tutorial, and in fact it's just sooo easy to do ! You just need a straw and the polish of your choice :)

Of course, I *HAD* to try that manicure by myself ...
I started with pale base polish, Color Club Who are you Wearing from their Rebel Debutante collection. Application was a real mess, it's sheer and very streaky. I had to use 3 coats, and as it was not drying fast enough, I added a coat of Seche Vite which helped to hide the streaks.
The result is quite good but it needed too much work imo !

Then I took my straw and chose two bright pink shades, Borghese Raspberry Sorbetto and China Glaze Ahoy ! And I did this:

I loved this manicure so much !! I can only thank Jen for her tutorial, now I have to try it with other colors :)

What I dislike the most is the big flat splatter on my left ring finger. I prefer when they are thinner, as on my right hand :p

Do you like this effect ? Did you try it or plan to do it ? I'd love to see your splatters, don't hesitate to link them in the comments section :)

Have a nice day :D

Born Pretty Store Cuticle Pen Review

Hi dear readers !

Today's post will not be about nail polish as I have a lot of pictures to sort before I show you them, and not a lot of time!
But tomorrow I promise you a pretty Pink Wednesday manicure :)

The item I want to share with you today was offered to me for review by Born Pretty Store. I don't have to introduce them anymore, everybody talks about them and their products right now :)

When they asked me to chose some items to review, I chose a cuticle pen from their range. I love cuticle pens, they are usually "not your big moisturizer" but they are so easy to carry !
Now I've been using it for a bit more than a month, so here's my advice !

How to use it
Nothing is more easy. Remove the cap, twist the upper part of the pen until you get a drop of product on the brush and apply to your cuticles.

Product consistency
It's a non greasy oil. It leaves a shiny film on your skin which looks greasy, but it's not at all, so you can continue your activity right after the application. The product also doesn't run off your fingers or make them stick.
If you ever wonder what was the shiny thing around my nails on my most recent pictures, that's it :)

MoisturizingEven if it doesn't act like a cuticle balm or a very nourrishing cream (which is normal, after all), I feel this pen really made a difference for me. I must admit I forget to carry it in my bag and use it a couple of times a day, but I use this pen after each manicure to nourrish my cuticles after I do my contour cleaning, and also when I come back from work to revitalize the skin.
I tend to have very dry cuticles (even with cares) but it's going better since I started using it. Of course, I recommend not to use this product alone, but you should use it when you don't have time to make your usual moisturizing care. I use Lush Lemony Flutter or The Body Shop Almond Hand Repair once or twice a week, and the other days I use the cuticle pen from BPS :)

ScentThis cuticle pen comes into various scents. I chose Pomegranate because I love this fruit a lot, but my pen had a very light scent. I don't know if the other ones have a stronger smell, but well, is that really important ? I mean, I didn't get that product to have my nails perfumed.
What's important for me is it doesn't have a strong chemical and/or unpleasant smell. The Pomegranate pen has a very light fruity scent which doesn't stay very long, so even if you feel like you did a bad choice when getting your cuticle pen, it's not really a problem.

Will I buy it again ?
Definitely, yes. For that price and considering it has good results, it's really a must have.

Where to find it: Born Pretty Store
Price: 1.61$ (with free shipping on every order)
Available in Aloes, Apple, Jasmine, Kiwi, Pomegranate, Lavender, Peach, Rose & Strawberry.
They also come in 4, 6 or 10 packs with different perfumes in each.

Well, did you ever tried or plan to try BPS' Cuticle oils ?
I hope you found this review interesting :)

This product was sent to me by BornPrettyStore for review. All images come from their website.

Catrice Times Square at Midnight & NYX Blue Ave

Hi dear readers !

I hope your weekend is fine ! I just got a new laptop, the other one was a bit old, so I spend my time transfering files from the old computer to the new one ... But I don't forget you ! And I started by moving my nails folder :p

Some weeks ago I made my first order at Cherry Culture and I couldn't resist to get some NYX flakies ! You know how much I love those wonders ...

But first, let me introduce you Catrice Times Square at Midnight from the winter 2010 LE, Glamourama. It's a dark purple with blue and pink shimmer which turned more blue on the pics, sadly :(

So, unfortunately the pics turned blue but you can see all the shimmer in this polish. It's really pretty :)

Then, as I just received my Cherry Culture order, I needed to try NYX Blue Ave., a light blue sheer base with turquoise and orange flakies. I didn't know how it would look, I just wanted to try the flakes quickly, but it was really gorgeous !

Ready for that ? This post will be picture heavy ! :D

WoW. Isn't that pure awesomness ?

Depending on the light or sun, the turquoise flakes will look more green, they are a bit color changing. I also love how the flakes look like engraved in the nails, as you can see on the two last pics.

I also ordered Peach Ave from the same collection, but I think I need to get more of them :D Flakes are a very good option if you want to add a twist to your classical polish. I'll also try them over my next french manicure, I'd like to see how it looks on bare nails ;)

Did you like it ?

Have a nice day :)