Striping Tape Fun

Hi dear readers :)

Last week, a friend of mine got me the 4 bright colors from the Essence Season Extreme collection. I decided to have some fun with them all !
These four bright colors (yellow, purple, orange and pink) are really pretty and they have a jelly finish so I'm sure I'll make some sandwiches with them ! But this time I wanted to play with striping tape.
Here's what I did, read the end of the post for further info :)

That looked fun and pretty, I really loved the result even if there are still some flaws with the tape ...

To achieve this look, I first applied the four colors randomly. I made stripes, dots, french tips in an uneven way, I regret I didn't take a pic to show you how gross it was lol ! I was even afraid that it would not look good after the tape work ...
When my messy first coats were dry, I added striping tape in various patterns. I used the tape from Born Pretty Store I reviwed here. I love to use that tape, it has a good width for that kind of nail art, it adheres enough to stay on the border of the nails but it removes without tearing the polish off.

Then I applied one coat of black polish (Essence Black Out) and removed the tape. When the first hand was done, I added some Seche Vite and waited a few minutes before starting to add tape to the other hand. That way, my first hand is totally dry thanks to SV and I can work easier on the other hand.

If you want to know the name of the Essence polishes I used, here they are:
Bright Alert (pink)
Little Miss Bright (purple)
On the Bright Side (orange)
Pimp my Bright (yellow)
I guess Essence wanted us to know that those colors were BRIGHT ! ;)

Did you like it ?

Thanks for reading :)

Have a nice day ^^

Guest Post on aviDliaN

Hi dear readers !

I'm very honored to be featured in a guest post for Nail Diva's blog today !
She wanted to know what my favorite polish was ... Wanna know the answer ? Check it on Nail diva's blog !

Thank you again sweet Hanan for having me as your guest <3

Have a nice sunday :)

An Unknown Polish and Shooting Stars

Hi dear readers !

Did this already happened to you ? You paint your nails, take pics for your blog or for record, want to post them some weeks later and then, you don't remember at all what you used ...

That's happened to me with these pictures. I loved this mani, but I can't remember at all what I used as the base. I searched into my stash, compared with my nail wheels and didn't find anything similar. That's terrible, isn't it ?

So, this is the unknown dark red polish, topped with one coat of China Glaze Shooting Stars and a matte accent on the ring finger.
My first idea was to make all the nails matte, but when I saw how glossy Shooting Stars is on it's own, I didn't want to lose that effect :)

I love Shooting Stars a lot, it's a very pretty and festive top coat with beautiful effects. And it works well glossy or matte :)

Do you like it ?
Maybe one day I'll wear that red polish again and remember what it was ... :)

Thanks for reading :)

Have a nice day ^^

Essence A Lovely Secret, Stamped

Hi dear readers !

I'm so glad, to day I got my hands on the three polish from the Fruity TE I wanted. It was hard to find them, but they're mine now :D
Oh and right now I have a true beauty on my nails, Dandy Nails Wingless, but you'll have to wait a few time for me to post the pics ...

Today's polish is Essence A Lovely Secret, from their latest addition to the Colour & Go range.
A Lovely Secret is a very pretty periwinkle shade with pink and purple microglitters that give a grain aspect to the result, but the surface stays smooth. It's not really showing in my pics as I stamped directly over it, but you can check The Swatchaholic's pics to see what I'm talking about - you won't regret it !

I Stamped over A Lovely Secret with BM plate 210 and China Glaze Millenium. I still can't decide if I liked it or not, the whole thing looked too bright and too cold in my opinion. It wasn't bad but not one of my fave combos.

What do you think ?

Thanks for reading and commenting :)

Have a nice day !

Essence Hello Holo over Pink

Hi dear readers :)

I have a simple but sparkly layering for you today.
I wanted to try China Glaze Something Sweet which I bought recently, but once on my nails I wasn't convinced. Looks like it doesn't really suite my skin tone, or I'm not used to that kind of very light pastel color ... I'll give it another try, but that day I didn't have time to stamp over or remove it so I added one coats of Essence Hello Holo.

Hello Holo is from their Special Effect Toppers range and is made of a clear base with tons of tiny holo glitter. It's very dense and I think I could have covered totally my nails with two or three coats !

There has been no sun at all for weeks here so I can't show you how it looks in the sun, but you can already see the holo particles in the lightbox.
I like Hello Holo a lot, I want to try it as a full mani even if it's gonna be a mess to remove lol :p
It's also very pretty for layering or nail art purposes. I think it's still available so don't hesitate, go for it :)

Do you like that kind of glitter ? Or do you avoid them because of the removal ?
I always use the foil technique for glitters and "hard to remove" polish, now I'm used to it and glitters don't scare me anymore haha :D

Oh, do any of you play Draw Something ? I started playing yesterday and it's sooo addictive ! I suck at drawing but it's so much fun :)

Thanks for reading :)

Have a nice day !

Nails & Beauty Blogs Roundup #2 !

Hi dear readers !

I hope you had a great weekend and enjoyed it ! Here in Belgium the weather is so bad, I'm tired of it and need some sun !
at least I had time to sort my polish stash, read your blogs and of course prepare this second round up ...

You were a lot to participate this week, how great !

Let's start with my little selection of things I loved a lot lately ...

I saw this manicure by The Nail Buff on Pinterest and fell in love ... The video tutorial is here !
Anutka from Wacky Laki show us a great way to create geometrical designs with nail polish used as decals
You know my love for gradients, I couldn't resist to share this sparkly one by The Polished Perfectionist
Niesha from Lovin Nailz did a oh-so-pretty floral print for spring

And now the blogs you submitted me !

Creative Nail Designs by Sue
Criminal Nails
Nails, Actually
Jugando Con Mis Uñas
My Life of Make Up, Nailpolish and Beauty Addiction
Le Bout des Ongles
Oh So Lacquered
Sunday Manicures
Todos los Esmaltes son Pocos
Narcissistic Nails
Our painted World
Adventures in Mani-Land
Nails & Nonsense
MeMa's Manis
I.Doll
Polish Fanatic
Lauriestrodes Fun With Nails
Varnished Valkyrie
Pink By Stephanie

That's it for today, I hope you'll enjoy these blogs :)
If you want to be included in the next round up, feel free to leave a comment here or write an email to gwenn@sugar-nails.com :)


Have a nice day :)

Pink & Gold Gradient

Hi dear readers !

Not so long ago I made a swap with Kelly, who offered me to ship the Red Angel plates to me as the seller doesn't send them anymore to Europe. I got my plates, and she added some goodies, including a bottle of Revlon Gold Get'em. I don't have many gold shades, this one was a bit sheer and sparkly so I immediatly knew what I wanted to do with it: a sponged gradient over pink !

As I was thinking of which pink to use, I noticed  that Cristina from Let Them Have Polish did a gold & pink gradient using Strawberry Fileds from China Glaze. As it's one of my fave pinks, I decided I'd use it for my sponged manicure, I just added some gold flecks from NYX Gilded Glitter. Here's how it turned:

It looked less shiny in real life, more discreet, but I liked it a lot. Strawberry Fields has gold flecks in it, so it marries perfectly with a gold polish. And I love my NYX Gilded Glitter a lot, for me it's another must have !

Do you like it ?
Thanks again to Kelly for her goodies, she also sent me a bottle of Claire's magnetic polish which looks to be a dupe for Icing Magnetix blue polish, one of my lemmings. I tried it on a nail wheel and WOOOOAAA I love it :) I'll show you it soon ...

Check Cristina's manicure that inpired me here: Let Them Have Polish !

Have a nice day :)

Black & White Stamping - Reloaded

Hi dear readers !

Remember last month, I did this black and white stamping for the Facebook challenge:

I liked it, but on the third day I wanted to try something with it. I topped it with one coat of Beyu 209 and OOOH the manicure became nothing but amazing !

This it how it looked after one coat of BeYu209 and one coat of Seche Vite:

I was totally in love with the subtle red/gold glow on the black parts and the sparkly bright purple on the white parts.

That's another good reason to get a bottle of BeYu 209 (or Max Factor Fantsay Fire, it will be a bit more blue but will act the same way over black and white; or even the Real Unicorn Pee Clarins 230 if you can afford it), I'm sure I'll use it over black and white manicures many other times :)

BeYu 209 is definitely a must have and I'll try to get some other bottles on my next trip to Germany :)

Do you like how I changed my b/w manicure ?

Thanks for reading :)

Have a nice day ^^

Sunday Stamping Challenge: Purple Gradient

Hi dear readers !

Yesterday's stamping challenge was to create a stamping manicure with a gradient. Well, in fact, the votes were very close and some girls decided to do the other challenge, or mix the 3 ideas together (gradient, two different stamps, wild animal print), but you know how I love gradients, so I obviously chosed to do one :)

I wanted soft, pastel shades and decided to go for purple. I found my inspiration on Pinterest with a similar manicure in blue, but I can't find it anymore and I don't know who didi it ... If you are or know the author please let me know, I'd like to mention her work here :)

Do you like it ? I was very pleased with the way it looked. I was a bit afraid because my gradient looked nice and when I stamped over it I was like "oh nooo it's going to hide all the purple goodness" ! But finally I'm glad with the result :)

I used China Glaze Spontaneous as the base, darker purple. This has to be one of my all time favourite purples !
Then I started sponging with the medium purple, Eyeko Lilac Polish, followed by the lightest purple, OPI Rumple's Wiggin. I added a tiny bit of white on the tips with China Glaze Snow, still applied with a sponge.
I put a coat of Seche Vite to make a smooth surface and stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM201 and white Konad polish.
Finally, I wanted to add a "little something" with one coat of China Glaze Wireless which added a very subtle  bling. And of course I topped all of these with one coat of Seche Vite :)

That's all ! That makes many coats but imo sponging always goes fast, as the coats added with the sponge are thin. I usually sponge on one hand, then the second, then back for the next coat on the first hand as the polish is already dry.

I hope you liked it :) Thanks for visiting and commenting ^^

Have a nice day :)

Blogger Round Up: Send me your links !

Hi dear readers !

My next Beauty & Nails Blogs Round p will be on next sunday !

So this is just a quick reminder to tell that you can send me your links by leaving a comment at the end of this post, or sending me an email to gwenn@sugar-nails.com with "Round Up" as the subject :)

Don't be shy, share your blogs, or your friend's blogs :)

I'll be back tomorrow for the Stamping Challenge :)

Have a nice day :)

A England Saint George

Hi dear readers !

I'm sorry for the lack of posts this week but I fell ill and now I try to rest a lot. I hope it will be better very soon.

I have a perfect polish to show you today. Yes, really perfect ! You already saw it on almost every blog and I'm late with the trends as I don't hunt anymore for novelties (by that I mean I now take my time to chose what I'll buy instead of buying every new collection, as my stash is getting too big for me lol), but I couldn't resist to show you my own swatches of it...

So, here is the wonderful Saint George from A England !

Isn't it gorgeous ?

Now, why is it so perfect imo ?
- the teal shade is rich, deep, shiny ... nothing but pretty !
- it has scattered holo effect
- it applies like butter, I made two coats here but one could have been enough
- did I already said it was gorgeous ? :D

Seriously, I can't find any reason not to love that polish, unless you hate teals !

Beside of that, I love what Adina, the creator of the brand, did with her actual collections. I mean, her shades are magical like the legends they evoke, like if each polish had a story to tell.

I can also tell you that not only her scattered holos are great, but the formula of the cremes I tried is also perfect ! I had Guinevere and Galahad last week, I love them a lot and hope to show them to you soon :)

Have you ever tried this brand ?

Have a nice day :)

Pastel Glitter Sandwich

Hi dear readers !

A few weeks ago, I saw a great idea by Amy Grace from The Polished Perfectionnist. She used China Glaze Innocence for a glitter sandwich and I loved the idea because as long as I like Innocence, I only used it for french manicures base, it's really too sheer for me to use it alone.

Thanks to this post, he'll get a second life :)

Here's what I done with it:

I used China Glaze Lap of Luxury to have an opaque base, than layered one coat of Essence Circus Confetti and finally added China Glaze Innocence. I added the matte finish with Essie Matte About You.

I loved how it looked, especially once mattified. Now I want to give a try with other base colors !

Do you like it ? Have you ever tried that kind of glitter sandwich ? If you do, I'd love to see it :)

Thanks for reading :)

Have a nice day :)

Beauty and Nails Blogs Roundup

Hi dear readers !

As promised, today there will be a beauty blog round up with the blogs you submitted me since wednesday :)

I plan on doing this at least twice a month, so feel free to send me you blog addresses to be added for next round up :)

That's also an occasion for me to share posts that I loved a lot, wether they are recent or not, so let's starts with a small selection for today:

Emily used a mood polish for her mix'n match manicure, that was such a good idea !
Jenni from Gold Speck Nails did a great rainbow-spring-y stamped manicure for her Spring Challenge !
Megan from A Polish Problem made me fall in love with Candeo Colors Dolce
Cristina from LTHP swatched the recent glitters from Jordana in a lot of pretty or crazy layered combos.

And now here are the blogs you submitted me, please share the love and visit them, they are all worth it :)

Susy in Color
Lipsticked Louise
Lucy's Stash
The Polish Well
Our Painted World
Adventures in Mani-Land
Raggio Di Luna Nails
Refined and Polished
Nail Call
Nailed It
Bella Diamante

That's all for today !
If you want to be included in the next round up, feel free to leave a comment here or write an email to gwenn@sugar-nails.com :)

Thank you !

Have a nice day and a Happy Easter !

Kiko 241

Hi dear readers !

This is the last post I scheduled during my recovery week ! As I'm writing this, I obviously haven't had my eye surgery yet and I'm a bit anxious ! I hope by the time you'll read this post, they'll have healed enough so I can read you again :)

Today I wanted to show you a pretty polish and a very, very simple stamp.
I used Kiko 241 as the base, it's a pink base with holo glitters. Unfortunately my cam didn't want to capture the holo correctly, but it's gorgeous under the sun !
I added a cherry tree flower on the ring finger using Konad plate s9 and black polish.

 I love those Kiko polishes, they have a few colors with the holo glitters and they are very pretty ! I also have a purple one I have to try soon ...

Do you like it ? Have you ever tried stuff from Kiko ? I love their eyeshadows, they are well pigmented !

Have a nice day :)

This is a scheduled post, I'll reply to your comments as soon as I come back ! Thank you :)

OPI Wing It

Hi dear readers !

There are some polish that you don't love at first sight because they are sheer and not of a color you usually like ... Then you see them layered over black and you fall in love.
That's what happened between OPI Wing It (Summer Flutter collection) and me.

I finally got my own bottle and layered it over two coats of Essence Berlin Story, and it looked like WHOAAA ! :D

Layered on black, the orange hue I didn't like disappeared completely and showed the purple/pink duochrome goodness.

I'm really glad I gave this polish a second chance ! What do you think ? :)

Have a nice day :)

This is a scheduled post, I'll reply to your comments as soon as possible. Thank you :)

Nails & Beauty Blogs Roundup

Hi dear readers !

Here's a non-scheduled post finally :)
The surgery went well and I'm slowly recovering, yesterday I had 7/10 on both eyes and it's getting better. I still can stand my computer screen so I play all day with the iPad, I was able to read your blogs and later this week I'll reply to your comments.

Thanks to all my fellow readers who asked news and sent their best wishes for my surgery ! That's what I love in blogging, sharing and caring for each other even if we don't know a lot about the person behind the screen <3

Oh I just switched to the new Blogger Interface and it's meh to me, I don't like it at all. But I'll have to get used to it, don't I ? ;)

Well the main reason of today's post is I'd like to start a blogger roundup this sunday or the next one. I'll publish one post each sunday with posts I loved, blogs I've discovered, and most important, YOUR blogs !

If you have a nails or beauty related blog, please send me your link in the comment section of this post, or by email: gwenn@sugar-nails.com Feel free to send me your links, wether you're a beginner blogger or an experienced one :) I hope to get links from you, I love to discover new blogs ;)

 Have a nice day :)

Cloud Manicure

Hi dear readers :)

No stamping challenge today, as yesterday was April's Fool, the girls on Adventures in Stamping decided to do a non-stamping manicure ! I loved the idea, but as this is a scheduled post it's no fun to do something in advance :p
Anyway, I'll show you a non-stamping manicure I made a while ago ;)

You already know about my love for Jane and her manicures on Nailside. she does a great job, and she shares some secrets with her tutorials.
Lately I loved her Cloud manicures and decided to follow her explanations on how to make them. Well the most difficult part was to choose some colors. As I ust got P2 Night Out and wanted to try it, I started with it as the base.

Not too bad for a first try, rigth ? :)
I know they are not perfect, they look a bit square-y, but i'm still glad with them !

I used P2 Night Out as the base, China Glaze Millenium for the middle color, and the third color is a little mess ... I wanted to use a dark blue crackle but it ate the coat of Millenium, so I hid the damages with two coats of China Glaze Skyscraper.

I'll use this technique many more time, I love it and the possibilities are infinite ! Next time I'd like to add more contrast :)

What do you think ? Have your ever tried the cloud manicure ?

You can see the tutorial I used here: http://nailside.blogspot.com/2012/01/tutorial-freehand-cloud-design.html

Have a nice day :)

This is a scheduled post. I'll reply to your comments as soon as I come back :) Thank you !