My Christmas Manicure

Hi dear readers :)

Today I'll finally show you what I had on my nails for Christmas ! I should have shown you it before, but well, I didn't have a lot of time ...

As I was wearing Ruby Pumps last week, I decided to go for little Santa coats on my nails. I saw that design on a lot of blogs this year and found it adorable :)

I'm not so happy about the final look I got ... The white stripes are too thick and the belt buckle was a bit hard to paint perfectly for me ... But I like it for a first try :)

What do you think ?

For the base I used China Glaze Ruby Pumps, the white is China Glaze Snow, the black is a liner from Essence and the buckle was painted with China Glaze Millenium.

Thank you for watching and commenting :)

Have a nice day ^^

Festive Nails with Essence Circus Circus

Hi dear readers :)

I wish you all a merry Christmas, I hope you spent a nice festive evening with your parents, friends and beloved ones :)

I have a festive manicure for you today. That's not what I was wearing for Christmas (I'll show you that later) but I did those nails during last week, invested by all the festive things around me in the city :)

I wanted to use My Sparkling Acrobat from Essence Circus Circus LE, a two sided polish bottle with black creme on a side and gold glitters on the other. But I also wanted to add a little something more in it, so I chose to layer the red glitters from Applause Applause (the other side of this one is a red creme)

So, I started with two coats of black, then added one coat of red glitters (I should have taken a pic at this point, it was really pretty), and finished with one coat of the golden glitters and top coat (Seche Vite)

Here's what I got:

A closer view of the pretty glitters ... As you can see, there are thin round and bigger squared glitters in these polish, like in some of the Essence's Twins :

I love that Essence LE, the polish are quite basics but they have a good quality, the glitters apply easily and evenly, I think that's the kind of basics every polish lover should have in their stash :)

Do you like that combo ?

I made two other festive manicures, more with the Christmas colors this time, I hope I'll be able to show you them this week :)

Have a nice day :)

Geometrical French with BPS Stud

Hi dear readers :)

Last time Kevin from Born Pretty Store asked me what I'd like to review from their webstore, I thought of the pretty studs I saw lately on Emily's blog. She told me how much she liked them, so I decided to give them a try and review these !

Metal studs are used like rhinestones, but they are made of metal and have a smooth, bumpy side. They come in different sizes (1.5mm, 2mm or 3mm) and colors (silver, gold, pink, purple, black ...)

For my first use, I wanted the most basic ones, so I went for 1.5mm silver studs.

Here's what I did with them:

For this design, I used two coats of Flormar Supermatte M126 (which is not matte at all, not even satin, but still lovely!)  as the base and added two coats of China Glaze CG in the City on one half of the geometrical design.

Then I added some black lines with and Essence liner, and finally added the studs just as usual rhinestones: I put one small drop of top coat where I wanted the stud to be, took the stud with an orange stick, placed it and finished with one thick coat of top coat (Seche Vite)

That's all ! This design is really easier than it seems ... Would you like to see a step by step ? I could make one soon :)

The studs are really lovely. They don't bling like rhinestones but they add some shine to your nails. I think it's easy to match with many kind of nail arts :)

The 1.5mm are not as thick as rhinestones, so if you are one of those people who can't help scracth that little bump made by the rhinestones (like I do), the studs are perfect for you !

I wore that manicure 4 days, and the studs didn't move at all. As they are thin, they'll suffer less from bumps and all those things that make normal rhinestones fell off your nails after a few days.

Metal Studs are available on BornPrettyStore, in the Metal Rhinestones section. You'll find them for 5.51$, with free shipping as usual on BPS.

I don't know how much studs a bag contains, but I filled 2 1/2 compartments of a rhinestone wheel, which is a lot !

The silver ones don't react to acetone or polish remover, so you can use them again if you're patient :)

What do you think ? Have you ever tried that kind of studs ? And do you like today's manicure ? :)

Have a nice day :)

Giveaway Winner

Hi dear readers :D

I finally sorted all your entries, you were 168 to enter this giveaway, thank you all for participating !

My 2 Years Blogiversary Giveaway winner is ....

KayJay from Refined & Polished

Congrats, KayJay !  I sent you an email, please sent me back your infos within 72hrs or I'll have to draw another winner ...

Please stay tuned for a polish post coming soon ;)

Zoya Neeka

Hi dear readers :D

Don't forget to enter my 2 Years Blogoversary Giveaway !! Just click here, you only have ONE DAY LEFT !

As I said in previous posts and in the giveaway rules, I won't count any entry made within the comments ... The Google Docs form is easy, quick to use and open to everyone with no need of Google account, so please follow the rules :)

On to today's wonder, some weeks ago I swapped polish with friends of mine (that how I got my OPI Dim Sum Plum) and I received this little wonder: Zoya Neeka !

It was the first polish from my swap I tried, and I can't find words to say how much I love it !

It's a smokey purple with golden shimmer ... That combo is sooo perfect !

I always had some application issues with my Zoya (well, I don't own a lot of them and most are sheers) but this one worked perfectly for me. Once again, the drying time was a bit long for that impatient me, but I fixed it with one coat of Seche Vite, as usual.

I also kept this one 4 days without chip or tip wear, which is a lot for me ^^

Zoya Neeka is from Zoya's Fall 2011 collection Smoke & Mirrors (the Mirrors half), I think you can still find it easily on your favorite e-tailer :)

Do you like it ?

I have almost finished some nail polish jewelry ... I hope to show you them soon :)

Have a nice day :)

Classics 58 or Flakes Holo Goodness !

Hi dear readers !

Finally I got rid of this cought ! I had a terrible week, could not even stand the smell of nail polish for the first time, so I spended a whole week with my bare nails ... That strange, from me :p

There are two things I absolutely love in nail polish finishes: flakes and holo - every kind of holo from the plain linear holo to the subtle holo glitters ...

When a friend of mine offered me those wonderful polish that show both finishes in a single bottle, I became totally crazy about them :p

"58" is a dark purple with purple/red/orange flakes, thin holographic dust that makes it almost look like a linear holo under the sun, and some bigger holo particles. You're not drooling yet ? Here are other pictures !

Application is good, I thought it would be very sheer but it was great with two coats. I definitely love it and want to try the others I found ! (my friend offered me most of them, and I got a couple of others from a shop in Belgium)

Classics seems to be a Turkish brand, as Golden Rose and Flormar (they really know how to rock nail polish in Turkey :p). After a search on Google, I didn't find any e-tailer and can't really tell you where to find them (except in that small Belgian shop in Liège, near the Guillemins train station, if you're near there). They were sold for 5€.

If you want a chance to get yours, hurry up to enter my giveaway, it ends this thrusday :)

Have a nice day :)

Catherine Arley Black Holo

Hi dear readers !

The weather is getting colder here, and of course, I have a cought, the first of the season, yay ! xD

And I have no voice since yesterday ... I tried medicines, groggs, honey and thyme and still voiceless. And of course, I've never had so much phone calls at work than today :p

I hope you're fine with that weather :)

What about some holo goodness to forget all that cold and illness ?

I discovered Catherine Arley holographic polish not so long ago and I ordered a couple of them. The first I tried is 805 (aaaw, again some nameless polish ... me don't like that!), a pretty black scattered holo !

In fact it's more dark grey than a true black, but I'm still very happy with it :p Let's see how it looks ...

This is what it looks outdoor, with no sun:

I wanted to add an accent nail, so I chose another Catherine Arley polish, 677. It's a dark pink holo, the holo effect is less impressive than on 805 but it's still really pretty !

That's all for today :) Do you like it ?

I forgot to mention the quality ... The dry a bit slower than well known holos (like  China Glaze, Gosh, Nfu Oh ...) but the holo reflects don't disappear under top coat, so you can use your usual drying accelerator over it.

I kept this manicure 3 days and didn't have major chips, only some wear at the tips :)
You'll find Catherine Arley polish here: http://beautycosmetic.biz/ (as well as some Essence products for non-European addicts !)

They cost only 2$ and the shipping depends on the weight of your order. You can use their contact forme before ordering to get infos about shipping to your country.

Have a nice day :)