Messy Splatter Manicure

Hi dear readers :)

Today's manicure is a messy one :)
I wanted to do a splatter nail art with the straw method, and I planned to use orange and bright pink over a white base, some nice summer-y colors to call for the sun. When it was done, I wasn't sure to like it so I started to add yellow and blue all over. Finally, I decided to add some black for a contrast, and threw again some of the others colors over the black so it didn't look too dark.

The result was a real mess, but I really loved it ! I think it's a bit special and I'm not sure everyone will like it, so I'm waiting for your advices :)
I still plan to do a softer splatter manicure soon ;)

The white base was done with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. The others I splattered are Kiko 279, Kiko 356, OPI Koala Bear-y, China Glaze Shower Together and Essence Fatal.

If you'd like to know how to achieve the straw splatter look, you can check The PolishAholic's tutorial :)

Do you like it ?

Have a nice day :)

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Hello :)

Le nail art d'aujourd'hui est quelque peu ... désordonné :)
J'avais prévu de faire un splatter à la paille avec de l'orange et du rose vif sur une base blanche, des couleurs qui rappellent un peu l'été pour appeler le soleil. Une fois terminée, je n'étais pas sûre d'apprécier, donc j'ai ajouté un peu de bleu et de jaune. Finalement, j'ai ajouté du noir pour le contraste, et j'ai remis un peu de chaque couleur pour que ce noir ne domine pas.

Le résultat était un vrai fouillis, mais j'ai adoré ! C'est un peu spécial, je ne suis pas certaine que tout le monde aime ce genre, donc je compte sur vous pour me donner vos avis ;)
Et je compte refaire une splatter prochainement, en version plus sage cette fois ^^

La base blanche est faite avec My Boyfriend Scales Wales d'OPI. Les autres couleurs sont Kiko 279, Kiko 356, OPI Koala Bear-y, China Glaze Shower Together et Essence Fatal.

Si vous voulez savoir comment faire un splatter à la paille, je vous conseille le tuto de The PolishAholic :)

Alors, vous en pensez quoi ?

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 !

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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 !

Summer Citrus Stamping & BPS review !

Hi dear readers !

It's time for a new review from Born Pretty Store ! I really love that shop, they have tons of nail art stuff for low prices but great quality, I've never been disappointed with their items !
They also started some time ago to sell other items like smartphone and pads covers, toys, hair accessories, make up ... Visit them, I'm sure you'll find something to please you :)

This time I was able to try some of their stamping nail polishes. I chose two colors that I don't have yet in Konad or other stamping brands, yellow and red.
And I decided to mix both of them for my first stamping using more than one color haha ! Let's see what I did, then I'll give you my advice on these stamping polishes :)

I painted my nails in white with China Glaze Snow (two coats), then I did the stamping with the two colors from BPS and plate BM308. I added thin coat of China Glaze Wireless for an extra bling and ended with one coat of Seche Vite.

Getting the two colors for the stamping is easy, you just have to work quick so it doesn't dry: I applied some lines of each color randomly on the plate, mixed them a bit with a toothpick, scraped and stamped, that's all :)

On to the stamping polishes !
To be honest, I was really disappointed when I first opened the bottles, as the polishes looked jelly. I though they would never stamp correctly or opaque with such a texture, especially the yellow one. So I made a test on paper and I completely changed my mind !
Once stamped on paper, they appeared to be totally opaque, but also very bright and beautiful. The red is not a vampy red, it has a bit of orange in it, but used on it's own, it's still red.
They don't dry too fast, which makes them easy to play with.

I also tried them over a black polish to test their opacity. They are not totally opaque but still work well, but I noticed a slight color change over black: the yellow turned like lime green, the red one turned pink.

I'd say these are perfect to work over light or medium colors. For very dark colors, I still prefer to use metallic polishes that always remain opaque :)
For the price, you won't be disappointed !

You can find these on Born Pretty Store, under the Beauty Nai Art/Nail Art Stamping category.
Each bottle contains 3ml of product and costs 2.05$.
Don't forget you can also have free shipping, and get 10% off on your order with my code AYUUMIK31 :)

Did you like this manicure ?

Have a nice day :)

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Hello !

C'est le moment de faire une nouvelle review pour Born Pretty Store ! J'aime vraiment cette boutique, ils ont des tonnes de produits Nail Art pas chers mais de bonne qualité, je n'ai jamais été déçue de ce que j'ai acheté là-bas !
Ils se lancent aussi dans la vente d'autres petites choses comme des covers pour smartphones et tablettes, des accessoires pour les cheveux, du maquillage, ... Je suis sûre que chacune peut y trouver son bonheur :)


Cette fois j'ai pu tester des vernis à stamping. J'ai choisi deux couleurs que je n'avais pas encore en Konad, à savoir le jaune et le rouge.
Et j'ai décidé de mixer les deux couleurs, ce qui fait mon tout premier stamping avec plus d'une couleur !

J'ai d'abord posé deux couches de blanc avec Snow de China Glaze, puis j'ai stampé les deux couleurs de BPS avec la plaque BM308. J'ai ajouté une fine couche de China Glaze Wireless pour avoir un peu de paillettes et j'ai terminé avec une couche de Seche Vite.



Faire un stamping bicolore est assez facile, il faut juste travailler assez rapidement pour ne pas que les vernis sèchent: j'ai fais des lignes au hasard sur mon motif avec les deux couleurs, je les ai mélangées avec un cure-dents, j'ai raclé et stampé, c'est tout !

Passons à mon avis sur ces vernis !
Honnêtement, à l'ouverture des flacons, mon premier avis a été négatif ! Les vernis avaient une texture jelly assez transparente et je me suis dit que jamais ils ne marcheraient pour un stamping, en particulier le jaune ... J'ai donc fait un test rapide sur un bout de papier blanc, et j'ai immédiatement changé d'avis ! :D
Une fois sur le papier, non seulement ils étaient opaques, mais en plus les couleurs étaient assez franches et vibrantes. Le rouge n'est pas un vrai rouge "vamp", il y a un peu d'orange dedans, mais utilisé seul il reste tout de même rouge. Ils ne sèchent pas trop vite, ce qui permet de bien pouvoir jouer avec ;)

J'ai aussi essayé ces vernis sur une base noire pour tester leur opacité. Pour le coup, ils ne sont pas vraiment opaques mais fonctionnent tout de même. J'ai remarqué un changement de teinte par dessus le noir, le jaune semblant tirer vers le vert et le rouge paraissant un peu rose.

En résumé, je dirais que ces vernis à stamping marchent très bien par dessus des couleurs claires ou moyennes. Pour les bases foncées, je préfère toujours les vernis métalliques, qui sont opaques à tous les coups :)
Mais à ce prix là, comment être déçu ? :)

Vous trouverez les vernis à stamping sur Born Pretty Store, dans la catégorie Beauty Nai Art/Nail Art Stamping.
Chaque flacon contient 3ml de produit et coûte 2.05$.
N'oubliez pas que les frais de port sont gratuits, et que vous bénéficiez d'une remise de 10% en utilisant mon code AYUUMIK31 :)

Que pensez vous de cette manucure ?

Bonne journée :)

Sunday Nail Battle: my First Saran Wrap

Hi dear readers :)

I usually don't post on sundays but this may change from time to time, as I recently discovered the Sunday Nail Battles ! These were launched some months ago by two French bloggers, 10tubes and Odile Sacoche. Each week they submit a "battle" theme, and people who want to participate post their pics on sunday.
There's nothing to win, no votes, only a big part of fun :)
I love that kind of challenge as much as the Stamping group, but I don't always have time or inspiration, so I may not enter all Sunday Nail Battles.

Anyway, this week's theme inspired me instantly ! The challenge was to use a color we don't like at all and make it look beautiful to us. You can guess what my base choice was: yellow !

I used Orly Lemonade as the base. I truly hate this polish. Oh, it's okay in the bottle, I don't like yellow in general but this one looks soft and pastel, but once on my nails with my pale skin, it's really horrible, I think it's the worst polish I can even wear. My hands look like they are sick with it on.
Then I decided to give the Saran Wrap manicure a try. I saw it on Nailed It blog, she even did a tutorial here. It's a very easy technique and you can get great combos with it !
I used Kiko 361 as the second color and tapped my saran wrap ball on it while it was still wet to create that marble effect. I finished with one coat of Seche Vite.

I really loved that look ! I love how the two colors combine, the yellow pops uder the dark purple without being too present so that doesn't look bad on me.
The technique is easy and quick, I love it a lot, I'll have to play with it again :)

What do you think ? Have you tried this technique ?

Have a nice day :)

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Hello tout le monde :)

D'habitude je ne poste pas de billets le dimanche, mais cela risque de changer de temps en temps car j'ai récemment découvert les Sunday Nail Battles ! Elles ont été lancées par deux bloggeuses, 10tubes et Odile Sacoche. Chaque semaine, elles choisissent un thème, et celles qui souhaitent participer postent leurs photos le dimanche.
Il n'y a rien à gagner, pas de concurrence, seulement une bonne dose de fun :)
J'aime ce genre de challenge, tout comme le groupe de stamping, mais je n'ai pas toujours le temps ou l'inspiration, donc je risque de ne pas participer chaque semaine.

Par contre, le thème de cette semaine m'a inspirée dès que je l'ai lu ! Il s'agissait de sublimer une couleur qu'on déteste. Vous avez peut-être deviné mon choix: le jaune !

J'ai utilisé Orly Lemonade en base. Je déteste vraiment ce vernis. Oh dans la bouteille ça passe encore, je n'aime pas beaucoup le jaune de façon générale mais celui-ci est doux et pastel. Par contre une fois sur mes ongles, avec ma peau pâle, l'horreur !! Je crois que c'est le pire vernis que j'aie jamais porté. Mes mains ont l'air malades avec.
Cette SNB était l'occasion de tester une technique nouvelle pour moi, le "Saran Wrap" en anglais, ou manucure au film alimentaire ! J'ai vu cette technique sur le blog de Nailed It, elle a même fait un tuto ici. C'est vraiment facile à faire et on peut obtenir de chouettes résultats !
J'ai utilisé le Kiko 361 comme seconde couleur et tapoté une boulette de Saran dessus tant qu'il n'était pas encore sec pour créer l'effet marbré. J'ai terminé avec une couche de Seche Vite.

J'ai adoré le résultat ! J'aime la combinaison de couleurs, et la façon dont le jaune ressort sous le mauve foncé sans être trop présent, du coup ça ne fait pas moche sur moi :)
La technique est facile et rapide, je me suis pas mal amusée avec, je pense recommencer bientôt :)

Vous en pensez quoi ? Vous avez déjà essayé le saran wrap ?

Bonne journée :)

Candeo Colors Jelly Bean

Hi dear readers !

Again I have an indie polish for you today, Jelly Bean by Cando Colors ! I've been wanting this polish for a while, and I finally got my hands on it some days ago. Well, I still want even more Dolce, but it wasn't available when I bought Jelly Bean. Better luck next time !

Wearing Jelly Bean was very weird to me ! Officially, I hate yellow. The only time I wore that color was two years ago, when I had to review Orly Lemonade, and it was really terrible on me. I didn't know how Jelly Bean would look on me, finally I liked it but I still think it's strange to see my nails in that color. I went out with some friend while I was wearing it and there were a bit shocked, too :D

I finally adopted it because it's not a bright, "in your face" yellow. It's very sweet and the glitter sandwich effect it great !

The base of this polish is jelly, it's very sheer in one coat but it becomes opaque with a second one, so don't worry if you hate to see vnl. It's also great to work with, it applies very easily.
I used two coats and one coat of Seche Vite for this manicure.

Do you like it ? Do you dare to wear colors you usually hate ?
I used to hate green in everything (clothes, deco ...) but since I started my polish mania, I love this color a lot and appreciate it even in non-polish stuff, so maybe one day I'll like yellow ;)

Have a nice day ^^

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 ^^

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 !

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 :)