Beach Manicure

Hi dear readers :)

Today, I'll exceptionally won't make a Pink Wednesday post, but be sure it will be back next week :)

On a board where I usually chat with friends, there are some polish and nail art fanatics and someone launched the idea to make monthly challenges between us. Nothing to win, just a simple theme to interpret each month. As I'm on holliday for the end of the challenge, it was decided that I post my manicure here on the last day of the month :)

The first theme came naturally during this summer: the beach !

Here's what I made ...

It's not a unique design, I've seen it many times on the web with different interpretations, but I'm really proud of it 'cause it turned out exactly like I wanted :)

And believe me, when I only had the sponged colors on the nails without top coat and palm tree, it wasn't really appealing ...

First, I painted my nails with two coats of Orly Blushing Bud. Then I sponged near the cuticles with the dark purple, Orly Wild Wisteria.
I continued with the orange, Essence Sun Downer. I really like this polish for sponging with bright colors :)

I added the yellow but gave it a round shape with the sponge, to remember the downing sun. I used Orly Lemonade (my only yellow lol) but it  was too bright so I added some Sun Downer again in light touches to make the yellow a bit more realistic.
I applied a first coat of Seche Vite to make the surface smooth and ready for stamping, then I used the palm tree from Konad plate m29 and special polish in black.
Finally I sponged some black (Essence fatal) at the base of the palms, added a coat of Seche Vite and it was done :)

I know it looks a bit long when I explain all the steps, but the sponged areas dry fast and you can do this design more quickly than it looks :)

Well, now my friends are discovering my entry to their challenge, I hope they like it and I hope you do, too :)

What's your advice ?

Have a nice day !

Zoya Breezi

Hi dear readers !

How are you this weekend ? I hope you're fine ! I can't wait to be under the sunshine of Spain, I'm so bored of Belgium's weather :p

I have a perfect summer blue for you today, it's Zoya Breezi ! 

Breezi is a cerulean blue creme polish from Zoya's Summertime collection (2011). It looks a lot like OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui, which I have but never tried. I'll try to make a comparison :)

It was a dream to apply, very opaque and nearly perfect in one coat (but I preferred to use two coats for a better result)

I think I should have picked some other shades from that collection ... Well, it's not too late :)

Do you like it ?

Zoya Breezi from Summertime Collection is available for 6.49$ at Nailetc.

Pink Wednesday: Essence Let me in Pink

Hi sweeties !

Today's post will be a fast one because I had some issues with the blog, I wasn't able to get into the admin panel ... As I didn't change anything I still don't understand what happened, but at least I fixed it.

There were also no post since last wednesday as it was our wedding party ! We had a lot of fun with our family and friends, but I didn't have time to get a picture of my manicure :p

On to the nails, today I'll show you Essence Let me in Pink from the You Rock Limited Edition.

It's a dusty pink, a very nice shade easy to wear alone or as a base for nail art, stamping ... Unfortunately, the application is messy, it was thick and goopy, I had some bubbles without shaking it ... Well, I love the shade but I didn't like the polish himself.

It was the only one from that collection with that problem ... perhaps I had a bad bottle ! Anyone had that issue ?

That big squared cap with a tiny thin brush also didn't help ...

So, it's still pretty ... Do you like it ?

A quick word before I go, as you may know I'll be on holliday next two weeks. I planned some posts but I don't think there will be a Pink Wednesday during these two weeks. Next wednesday is already planned for a challenge and it's not pink, and I don't have any pink polish pics ready for the second week ;)

Stay tuned on the Facebook page, I'll add some news if I find pretty nail stuff in spain ;)

Have a nice day :D

Hi everyone :D

The big weekend is coming, saturday it will be my wedding party ! So, you'll understand if I don't post anything until next monday :p

Before I leave you, I'd like to show you a manicure I really loved a lot. I was inspired by a talented blogger, Emerald Sparkled. I really love what she does, it's always perfectly applied or stamped ... The manicure I was inspired by (or copied lol) is this one: Seafoam & Golden Flowers. Isn't it gorgeous ?

Of course, as it's wednesday, I made it pink ! I used OPI Sparrow me the Drama as the base, then sponged with OPI Steady as she Rose from the middle to the tip, and finally sponged some white (China Glaze Snow) on the tips. And finally I added a design from Bundle Monster plate BM20 with China Glaze Hi-Tek. Of course I ended the whole thing with a coat of Seche vite ;)

I think the white sponging is very important in this manicure. It really adds a lot of light to the rest of the design :)

I also enjoy stamping with China Glaze Khromes, I just wish I had some more :p (Oh, I just bought a couple of metallic colors from Gosh, they're also perfect for stamping if you want to know ;) )

What's your advice ? Do you like this sponge/stamp combo ? :)

OPI Sparrow me the Drama & Steady as She Rose are available on Nailetc for 6.99$China Glaze Hi Tek is also on Nailetc for 5.99$Bundle Monster Plates are available here (two sets available, BM20 is from the first set)

Have a nice day :)

Claire's Daring/Innocent

Hi dear readers !

I hope you're fine ! I'm preparing some planned posts from now because next weekend is my wedding, and after that I'll be in Spain for 2 weeks (if you have good addresses for nail shopping, please comment ... :D ), so this week you'll still have some "real-time" posts but most of them will be planned (which also means I won't be there to answer your comments)

Last year, I asked some help on this blog, I was dreaming to find the five first Mood Polish by Claire's and thanks to LacquerMuse I got them all :) I wore them all but never had time to take pictures, so I finally did as i was wearing Daring/Innocent last week.

If you don't know what a mood polish is, it's a polish that changes color depending on the warm or cold temperature. The funny thing is the way it looks like a french manicure if you have not too short nails. Daring is the cold side of this polish, a light grey creme, and Innocent is obviously the warm side, which is a kind of beige with a lot of orange in it and a touch of yellow. That made me think I wouldn't like it (you know how much I hate yellow) but in fact, I liked it a lot, it was a good surprise :)

It was a very cold day and that Mood didn't want to show the "french manicure effect", so I played with water to show it's colors better ... Get ready for some picture spam !

It's easy to wear, not too bright or flashy but original.

The next day, I decided to add some Claire's glitter I just bought. In Belgium, Claire's polish don't have a name so I don't know which this one is, but it has a clear base with tiny holo glitter and blue/pink haxagon glitter in it. Very cute, I'll sure use this again for layering :)

In these last pics you can see the french manicure effect, that's how it looks usually (at least when your hands are not frozen by the weather), isn't it funny ?

Do you like it ? Do you own any mood polish, from Claire's or another brand ?

Claire's Mood polish can be found on A Beautiful Secret but be careful, they don't always have them in stock so check from time to time to see if they are available ...

Have a nice day :)

Nubar Prize & OPI Black Shatter

Hi everyone :)

For this wednesday's pink manicure, I have a classical combo that is one of my faves: pink and black.
I started with two coats of Nubar Prize, a dark pink with holographic glitter: lovely !

Sorry for the tip wear, the pics were take a few days after I applied it ...

I don't have a lot of Nubar polish but I really love them ! They are easy to apply, they dry fast and they have very, very pretty shades ! Just check their website if you don't know them well yet :)

Cherry on the top, they are totally cruelty free and vegan :)

Then i did what I mostly do when I don't have time enough for a complete manicure, I added one coat of OPI Black Shatter and finished with one coat of Seche vite:

I love how the holographic glitter pops under the black coat, but there was no sun (again) so you can't see it well on my pics.

Do you like that combo ?
What do you think about Nubar nail polish ?

Nubar Prize (Prisms collection, spring 2010) is available on ByNubar.com for 9.95$ 

Have a nice day :D

Models Own Grey Day & CND Sapphire Sparkle

Hi sweeties !

Did you have a nice weekend ? Mine was good, I worked a lot for the wedding table decorations, there are only two weeks left now ... Time runs sooo fast !
At the end of this month I'll take hollidays to Spain but i'll try to plan some posts before I go :) 

Today's polish is my first and only Models Own. A good friend of mine gave me it a while ago (the same friend who offered me Lippman's polish ^^) and I was so glad to discover it !

As the name tells it, it's a medium shade of grey, very easy to wear and casual. It has a thick texture but is easy to apply. I used two coats but with a good application it would only need one. The only bad point is the smell, as it's not a big-3-free. I don't really care about that for myself but the ingredients are not indicated on their website.

My pics were taken inside because of the lack of sun, my apologies for this :(

The next day, I wanted to try my brand new CND Effects, Sapphire Sparkle, which is made of thin blue glitters suspended in a clear base.

It turned totally gorgeous ! The grey base wasn't modified but it added a sparkle of color changing glitters, from pink/purple to blue, depending on the light. Isn't it absolutely lovely ?

I can't wait for the sun to come back, I'd like to get better pics for Sapphire Sparkle and Crimson Sparkle which I also own.

Do you like those CND Effects top coats ?

Models Own polish can be found on Asos for about 8$

CND Colours and Effects are available on Nailetc for 5.89$

Have a nice day :)

Deborah Lippmann Glitter in the Air

Hi dear readers !

What a shame, I didn't answer to your comments for a while, but i'll do that soon, I wish I had 35h long days :D

On to today's polish, it's wednesday, it has to be pink ... And I'll show you something blue :p
Deborah Lippmann's Glitter in the Air has been on my wishlist as soon as I saw it for the first time ! Thanks to a lovely friend, now I have mine (along with Bad Romance ^^)

Glitter in the Air (GitA) is a very soft and pale blue base with pastel pink and blue hexagonal glitters in it. It also has smaller, very thin round pastel glitters.

The reason why I post this on a "Pink Wednesday", the base color is very sheer and I chose to layer it over a soft pink :) I used Essence Hang Loose from Surfer Babe LE (Summer 2010). here's what I got:

Sorry for the tip wear, it was hard to find a non-rainy day and i had to wait a little before taking the pics :)

This is two coats of GitA over two coats of Hang Loose. The drying time was okay but I added one coat of Seche Vite as i couldn't wait :p

This is really a lovely shade, pretty unique (but easy to franken according to a lot of polish lovers who tried ^^), it's soft with an original touche from the glitters.

Deborah Lippmann glitter polish can be found here for 18$, so yes this is high-end nail polish but I think the glitter series are worth it (i don't talk about their cream and shimmer polish which are not so unique)

Do you like it ? Would you consider spending 18$ for that kind of shade ?

Have a nice week :)