33DC Day 10: Flowers

Hi dear readers !

Today's prompt for the 33DC was flowers ! I like this theme, there are so many possibilities !
It was a good opportunity to pick dried flowers, which I don't often use.

I picked the turquoise ones and did a kind of mix'n'match mani with matching polish.

The polishes I used were OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and H&M Bella's Choice. On my index and pinky, I used them in a saran wrap, and I did a gradient on the other nails.
I added the dried flowers, one thin coat of China Glaze Wireless and one coat of Seche Vite, that's all :)

I didn't really like those nails at first, but after wearing these for a few days, I kinda liked them :)

What do you think ?

Have a nice day :)

Version Française - Cliquez ici
Hello !

Le thème du jour pour le 33DC c'étaient les fleurs ! Un thème que j'aime, parce qu'il laisse plein de possibilités.
C'était l'occasion pour moi de ressortir mes fleurs séchées, que je n'utilise que très rarement.

J'en ai choisi des turquoises, et j'ai fait une sorte de mix'n'match avec des vernis assortis: My Boyfriend Scales Walls d'OPI et Bella's Choice d'H&M.
Sur l'index et l'auriculaire, j'ai fait un saran wrap; sur les autres ongles j'ai opté pour un gradient.
J'ai ensuite posé mes fleurs séchées, une fine couche de Wireless de China Glaze et j'ai terminé comme d'habitude avec une couche de Seche Vite.

Je n'aimais pas trop ce nail art quand je l'ai fait, mais finalement, après l'avoir porté quelques jours, il me plaisait bien !

Et vous, qu'en pensez-vous ?

Bonne journée :)

Fake Tattoos - Summer Sunset

Hi dear readers !

This week will be a special one, as all the posts will be dedicated to my reviews of Fake Tattoos nail decals :)
I was contacted by Ana, the marketing assistant of this Swedish company a few weeks ago, and after a quick look on their website, I couldn't resist to accept reviewing their stuff.
Fake Tattoo is specialised in ... well, fake tattoos for the body. They recently launched a range of smaller tattoos for the nails, but you can also use them on your skin. Their tattoos are safe, non toxic and hypoallergenic.

Shipping was extremely fast. I accepted the review on a thursday, and the next monday, my tattoos were there !

I got a sample of their whole nail range, which means one sheet of each serie (6 series in total), but if you buy a serie you will get two sheets.
Here's what I got:

As you can see, there is a nice choice of designs and I think every one can find something they'll like :) The texts are cut so you can put two or three letters on each nail to create a phrase (the hidden text on the first sheet from the second picture says "Be the change!')

Let's see what I did, I'll give you much more info about the tattoos after :)

The pretty trees inspired me to create a sunset gradient, and I added a bird that suited the rest of the mani.

I started with a white base (H&M Pure White) than sponged my gradient with the following polishes: OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui, Catrice Lucky in Lilac, OPI Pink Flamenco, Kiko 356 and 279. Then I applied the tattoos !

The instructions are printed on the back of each sheet and are very easy to follow.
- Cut the desired image, remove the plastic protection sheet
- Apply it on your nail. It will stick immediatly, so be sure to place it well. Unlike water decals, you won't be allowed to move and adjust the position once it's on the nails.
- Apply a wet paper towel (or wet cotton ball/pad) on the paperback and wait a few seconds. When the paperback starts to slide away, you can remove it.
- Let the tattoo dry a few minutes and apply a thin layer of top coat.

Isn't it easy ?
Now I've tried a few different designs (which you'll see later this week), I can say that I had no problem at all to apply them, no bad surprise when removing the paperback, and they lasted as long as my manicures did.
I'm really happy with this product !

The only bad point in my opinion is you can't see exactly where're you're sticking the tattoo, so you'll have to be more precise and patient to place it. Otherwise, the result is very pretty, with no visible demarcation line (as it happens sometimes with water decals or stickers) and the tattoo is merged with your polish base. You could almost believe I hand painted these, if only I had freehand skills haha :D

What do you think of this nail art ? Do you like those tattoos ?

The number of tattoos you'll get depend on the serie you chose, going from 56 images to 82 images.
Each sheet costs 7€ (~9$), shipping depends on your country (3€ for Europe, 2£ for Great Britain, 4$ for the USA)
You can get more info on Fake Tattoo's website or Facebook page:

http://www.faketattoos.se

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fake-Tattoos/148446165187741

I hope you enjoyed this review :)

Have a nice day !

Version Française - Cliquez ici

Hello !

Cette semaine sera un peu spéciale, car elle sera consacrée entièrement à mes reviews des nail decals de Fake Tattoos :)

J'ai été contactée par Ana, l'assistante marketing de cette société suédoise il y a quelques semaines, et après un rapide coup d'oeil à leur site, je n'ai pu qu'accepter de faire un compte rendu de leurs produits.
Fake Tattoo est spécialisé en ... faux tatouages, vous vous en doutiez ^^ Ils ont récemment lancé une gamme de tattos plus petits, pour les ongles, mais vous pouvez aussi les utiliser sur la peau. Ces tatouages sont non-toxiques et hypoallergéniques.

L'envoi a été extrèmement rapide ! J'ai accepté l'offre un jeudi, et le lundi suivant, les tattoos étaient déjà dans ma boîte aux lettres !

J'ai reçu un "échantillon" de leur gamme complète, soit une feuille de chaque série (il y a 6 séries au total), mais sachez que si vous en achetez, ce sont deux feuilles que vous recevrez.

Comme vous pouvez le voir, il y a un grand choix d'images et chacune peut y trouver son bonheur :) Les textes sont découpés de façon à placer deux ou trois lettres par ongle et former la phrase (la phrase à moitié cachée sur la seconde photo est "Be the change!)

J'ai été tout de suite inspirée par les jolis arbres, je les ai vus immédiatement dans un dégradé façon coucher de soleil, et j'ai ajouté un oiseau qui se mariait plutôt bien au reste de la manucure.

J'ai commencé avec une base blanche (Pure White de chez H&M), puis 'ai créé un dégradé à l'éponge avec les vernis suivants: OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui, Catrice Lucky in Lilac, OPI Pink Flamenco, Kiko 356 et 279. Et enfin j'ai appliqué les tattoos !

Les instructions sont imprimées à l'arrière des feuilles et sont très simples:
- Couper l'image désirée et enlever la feuille de protection plastifiée
- Appliquer sur l'ongle. Attention, ça colle immédiatement, faites attention de bien le placer. Contrairement aux water decals, il est impossible de faire bouger le motif pour l'ajuster.
- Appuyer sur le motif avec un papier absorbant humide (ou un bout de coton). Quand la partie cartonnée commence à glisser, vous pouvez l'enlever.
- Laisser sécher un peu le tattoo, puis appliquer une fine couche de top coat

Facile, n'est-ce pas ?
Maintenant que j'ai essayé plusieurs de leurs motifs (que vous verrez au fil de la semaine), je peux dire que je n'ai rencontré aucun problème pour les poser, pas de mauvaise surprise lors du retrait de la partie cartonnée, et ils ont duré aussi longtemps que les manucures.
Je suis vraiment ravie de ce produit !

Le seul point noir, à mes yeux, c'est qu'on ne peut pas voir exactement si le tattoo est bien positionnée, il faut donc être minutieux et un peu plus patiente qu'avec un water decal. A part ça, le résultat est vraiment agréable, pas de ligne de démarcation comme c'est le cas parfois avec des stickers/decals, le tattoo est vraiment bien fondu avec le vernis de base. On pourrait presque croire que j'ai peint ces décors, si seulement j'étais douée en dessin ahah :D

Qu'en pensez vous ? Vous aimez ces tattoos ?

Chaque feuille de tattoos coûté 7€, les frais de port dépendent de votre pays (3€ pour l'Europe, 2£ pour l'Angleterre, 4$ pour les USA)
Le nombre de tattoos que vous recevez dépend de la série choisie, ça peut aller de 56 images à 82 images.
Pour plus d'infos, rendez-vous sur leur site ou leur page Facebook

http://www.faketattoos.se

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Fake-Tattoos/148446165187741

J'espère que cette review vous a plu :)
Bonne journée !

Blue-Green Gradient Tape Manicure

Hi dear readers !

Finally the summer seems to be here in Belgium, I hope this will last ! Even if i can't move a lot, I'm still very happy to get some sunlight in the garden, that's so great ! Now I'm sooo impatient to be on holiday in Spain next month ;)

For today's manicure I worked with some colors that will work great for sunny days, and did a blue/green gradient, using striping tape.

 I started to paint my nails in white with China Glaze Snow and added one coat of Seche Vite because I didn't want to wait for the base to dry haha !
Then I applied 3 little strands of striping tape on each nail and painted each part with the following colors, from the lightest to the darkest:
Essence - You Belong to Me
Zoya - Wednesdday
A England - Galahad
H&M - Moody Model

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram, you might have seen the work in progress pic here :)

Later I added one coat of China Glaze Wireless, I wanted to see how it looked with an extra bling and I actually liked it:

I'm very happy with the result, it was exactly what I wanted to do.
What about you, do you like it ?

Have a nice day :)

Version Française - Cliquez ici
Hello :)

On dirait bien que c'est enfin l'été ici en Belgique, pourvu que ça dure ! Même si je ne peux pas bouger des masses, ça fait un bien fou de voir le jardin ensoleillé et d'en profiter du mieux que je le peux. Par contre ça me rend encore plus impatiente d'être en vacances en Espagne le mois prochain ;)

Pour la manucure d'aujourd'hui, j'ai travaillé avec quelques couleurs parfaites pour la saison, et créé un dégradé de bleu/vert avec du striping tape.


J'ai commencé par poser une base blanche avec Snow de China Glaze, suivi d'une couche de Seche Vite pour ne pas devoir attendre le séchage complet de ma base.
Ensuite j'ai posé 3 petits bouts de striping tape sur chaque ongle et j'ai peint chaque section avec les couleurs suivantes, de la plus claire à la plus foncée:
Essence - You Belong to Me
Zoya - Wednesdday
A England - Galahad
H&M - Moody Model

Si vous me suivez sur facebook ou Instagram, vous avez peut-être vu le "work in progress" ici :)

Plus tard, j'ai ajouté une couche de China Glaze Wireless, je voulais voir ce que ça donnait avec un peu de paillettes, et j'ai bien aimé.


Je suis très contente du résultat car c'est exactement ce que j'avais en tête.
Et vous, vous aimez ?

Bonne journée :)

Holo Skittles!

Hi dear readers !

I'm so happy, today I received my order from Pretty & Polished, her polishes are little wonders ! We made a group order with friends and I received the whole package, I was drooling over what they had chosen haha :)
So, obviously I'm painting my nails with one of them right now, but you'll have to wait until friday to see it :) Can you guess which color I'm painting with ?

For today, I have holo goodness ! I got Hits Hefesto, the holo top coat, a while ago and I want to try it over sooo many colors ... It was too hard to chose, so I went for holo skittles :D
Here's what I've done, you'll even see my thumb, which is rare ! lol :)

Last pic was taken in the sun, all the others in my lightbox.

I hope you're not blind now.
I loved all the combos, it was funny to see my classical creme shades becoming holos ! The effect of Hefesto is nearly as spectacular as a linear holo. Maybe not totally crazy like Gosh Holo or Nfu Oh, but as cool as the China Glaze OMG and very bright, thanks to the base colors I chose.

Here's what I used from thumb to pinky:
H&M Blue, China Glaze Spontaneous, OPI Who the Shrek are You?, Essence Surferama and Mavala Blue Curaçao. There are two coats of each, one coat of Seche Vite to dry them faster, one coat of Hefesto, no top coat.

I can't really tell which was my fave combo but I loved the two blues a lot ! What about you ?
If you had Hefesto, what color would you use it over ?

Have a nice day :)

Monkey See Monkey Do: Taped Zigzag Gradient

Hi dear readers !

It's monday again, so it's time for another Monkey See Monkey Do challenge :)
For today's manicure, I chose te re-create a design originally posted by Makeup Withdrawal. If you don't know her blog yet, please check it, this girl has beautiful  nails and she does really pretty things on them !

Sooner this month, she did a blue gradient including some stripes made with striping tape. I decided to copy her style but in pink :)
Please check the original manicure here :)
Here's my version:

Do you like it ?

To get this result, I painted my whole nails with two coats of H&M Pure White and used Seche Vite to make it dry faster. Then I added striping tape (the one I have is from Born Pretty Store and works great) in a zigzag pattern and sponged with H&M Pure White, China Glaze Something Sweet and P2 Heartbeat.
Now I tried this technique, I always use a makeup sponge and paint stripes of polish directly on the sponge before dabbing it on the nails.
Then I removed the striping tape and sealed all with a coat of Seche Vite.
That's all, it's easy to recreate but the striping tape part is a bit long, you'll need to be patient if you want to give it a try :)

What's your advice ?

Have a nice day :)

Monkey See Monkey Do: Peacock Nails

Hi dear readers !

It's time for my second MSMD challenge :)
I tried to copy something a bit hard today ... The Polished Perfectionist's Peacock Inspired Nails ! (Please click here to see her version)

You already know I love gradients, but the hard part was to find the three polishes that would look the most like what she used ... And I didn't have any green or blue like hers, can you believe it ? I should really get a royal blue creme ...
Let's see the pics and talk about them below !

The stamping is a mess, isn't it ?

For the gradient, as I didn't have the right colors, I used these:
- H&M Moody Model, which is a dark teal, nothing like the green Amy used but I think that color is ok for something  "peacockish".
- Catrice It Blue My Mind, the worst idea I had ... It has shimmers and it doesn't suit the rest of the look at all :( I should have used a ligher creme blue, the result would have been better.
- Catrice Purposely Purple, which was the best choice, it's a nearly dupe for China Glaze Grape Pop. But I didn't add anough purple, and my cam focalized on the blue so you almost can't notice it.

For the stamping, I really had some hard times ! I had to re-do it 3 times and the result was still the same, parts are missing. At least I had a great tip in my comments recently (sorry girl I don't remember who you are, my memory is too bad), before stamping I did a thick coat of Seche Vite. So when I failed, I just had to add a very few remover on a q-tip and remove the stamping without messing the gradient !
I stamped with China Glaze Hi-Tek and BM plate 212, then added drops of Flormar U18 and U33 which looked great imo.

So, this is a partial fail for me, I'm sure I could have done it better, but it's still okay. I might buy the polishes she used and try again because it was such a gorgeous job !

What do you think ?
Do you like peacock related stuff ? I do a lot, these birds have such magical stuff in the colors of their feathers ... I need to buy some peacockish jewelry :)

Have a nice day !

H&M Hunt Me Down

Hi dear readers :)

I'm really sorry I didn't have time to post these last days ... I came back home too late tuesday and wednesday, and yesterday I had a dinner with my colleagues. I thought It would end at something like 8pm, but in fact we left a 1am and I still had some road to go back home :p You'll understand it was a bit late for posting ^^

 

When I last visit the only H&M store I know that has nail polish, I found that pretty shade, Hunt me Down. I'm not really a fan of true and bright greens, but muted, military shades like Hunt me Down really appeal me.

The application was correct, easy, and the creme finish is very pretty. The drying time was ok but i still prefer to use one coat of Seche Vite to make it dry faster and for the glossy finish :)

The next day, I wanted to do some Konad over it but it appeared that I was in one of my "bad Konad days" ... One of those moments when you can't do anything good with the plates and stamp ... The design didn't want to be complete, I trid to hide it with some sponged spots but I don't know if it was a good idea ...

Anyway, it's not that awful, so I can show it to you :)

It looks a bit old and worn out ... Don't know if I like it or no :)

I used China Glaze Hi Tek from the Khrome collection for both sponging and stamping.

Do you like this polish and the design I attempted to create on it ? :)

Have a nice day :)

Dotted French

Hi dear readers !
I hope your weekend was fine. Mine was a bit busy like the whole week, but it's getting better :)

Today I'll show you a design I made on my nails last month (you'll see snow in the pics, but there's no more now ^^)
It's a classical dotted french mani, I've seen this many times on other blogs but didn't try it ... Now it's done :D

I used Blue my Mind by H&M for the french, and a white polish from H&M's summer pack for the dots.

Easy to make, but hard to get in picture, that blue isn't so flashy in real life :)

Wanna try this ? It's easy :)

Put a base polish. I use a clear nail whitener but you can use any pink or beige french base.
Apply your french in one or two coats, as needed. I used a thin paintbrush 'cause I prefer it to the polish brush, it's too thick for me to make a french line.
Draw a thin line, I used a silver liner from Stripe Rite*.
When the french is well dried, make white dots with a dotting tool.
You can also add a little bow (I used a Peggy Sage sticker) or a Konad design from your choice :)
Add top coat (Catrice Quick Dry High Shine for me) and you're done ! :D

Do you like it ?

*I bought my Stripe Rite liner in a Belgian beauty store some months ago. I paid 13€ (17$) for it, which is a "normal" price in our stores. I just discovered they were sold for around 3€ (4$) at Sally's ! I wanna go to the USA !!! :p

H&M - Summer Nails Green

Hi dear readers !
I don't know how it is in your country, but here it's very, very cold with a lot of snow !
So, what about a bit of summer in today's post ? These are old pics I took last summer and haven't posted yet ...  H&M did a nice collection called Summer Nails, made of two boxes, each containing 4 polishes. I have the box with Pure White, Purple, Blue and Green, I think the others were neons.
Here's Green !

Hello chers lecteurs !
Je ne sais pas comment c'est chez vous, mais ici il fait très, très froid et il y a beaucoup de neige !
Alors, que penseriez-vous d'une touche estivale dans le post d'aujourd'hui ? Ce sont des vieilles photos prises cet été que je n'avais pas encore postées ... 
H&M avait sorti une collection sympa appelée Summer Nails, composée de 2 boîtes contenant chacune 4 vernis. J'ai la boîte avec Pure White, Purple, Blue et Green, je pense que les autres étaient des néons.
Voici donc Green !

Green is a pretty green shade with a hint of blue, and green shimmers. I thought I wouldn't like it but finally I did a lot. You may have recognized China Glaze Emerald Sparkle as an accent nail :)

Green est un joli vert avec une touche de bleu, et de fines particules vertes. Je pensais que je ne l'aimerais pas, mais finalement je l'ai adoré ! Vous avez certainement reconnu China Glaze Emerald Sparkle en accent :)

Application was quite OK and there's an important thing to mention, the brush is regular size, which is a very good point. Most tiny polishes have a tiny and difficult to use brush. Nice job, H&M ;)

L'application était bonne, et détail important, le pinceau est de taille normale, ce qui est un très bon point. La plupart des mini vernis ont un mini pinceau difficile à utiliser. Bon boulot, H&M ;)

I think I could wear this one in winter, too ;)
Did you get some polishes from this collection ? Do you like this one ? :)

Je pense que je pourrais le porter en hiver également ;)
Vous avez acheté des vernis de cette collection ? Que pensez-vous de celui-ci ?

H&M - Cha Cha

Hi dear readers !
Today I chose to show you another holographic polish, but less impressive than Gosh Holo !
It's Cha Cha from H&M and it's a beige polish with holo effect.

Hello chers lecteurs !
Aujourd'hui j'ai choisi de vous montrer un autre vernis holo, cependant moins impressionant que le Gosh !
C'est Cha Cha de chez H&M et c'est un beige avec un effet holographique.

                
 As you can see, the holo effect is really discreet and hard to capture. Anyway, it's a pretty polish with a cute effect, it was easy to apply and has a good qualty.

Comme vous pouvez le voir, l'effet holo est très discret et difficile à capturer. Mais ça reste un joli vernis avec un effet charmant, bonne application et bonne qualité.

I couldn't resist to make a comparison with Color Club's Love 'em, Leave 'em, they are very similar !

The base color is clearly the same, but the holo show more in Color Club's polish.

So, if you plan on buying one of them, I'd say chose CC's for the pretty holo, or chose H&M's if you want something discreet with a bit of originality. 

Je n'ai pu m'empêcher de le comparer à Love 'em, Leave 'em de Color Club, ils sont très similaire !

La couleur de base est clairement la même, mais l'effet holographique est plus visible sur le vernis de Color Club.

Si vous hésitez à en acheter un, je dirais choisissezle Color Club pour les plus beaux effets, mais prenez le H&M si vous cherchez quelque chose de plus discret avec une touche d'originalité.

Well, do you like it ? Which one would you buy ?

Alors, vous l'aimez ? Lequel achèteriez-vous ? 

H&M - Just a Fling

Hi dear readers !
You know how much I love purple shades, so here's another great one !
It was my very first H&M polish and I was very happy with it. Just a Fling is a gorgeous light purple with a gold shimmer in it. Lovely !

Hello chers lecteurs !
Vous savez à quel point j'aime les vernis violets, en voici donc un autre très beau !
C'est le tout premier vernis de chez H&M que j'ai eu l'occasion de tester, et j'en suis ravie. Just a Fling est un violet pâle avec des reflets dorés. Trop beau !

Application and drying time were good, it also lasted some long days without chipping. I really loved it and it helped me to decide to buy some other H&M polishes lol ^^

Application facile et séchage rapide, il a duré quelques jours sans s'écailler. J'ai beaucoup aimé le porter et il m'a décidée à acheter d'autre vernis H&M lol ^^

Second pic taken in the shadow, third pic inside with flash and last pic in the sunlight, so you can see the shimmer :)
Isn't it a real beauty ?
Have a nice weekend ;)

La 2ème photo a été prise à l'ombre, la 3ème en intérieur avec flash et la dernière au soleil, pour vous monrer les reflets :)
N'est il pas superbe ? 
Passez un bon weekend ;)