Essence Underwater

Hi all!

How are you all doing today? Most of us Dutchies have the day off tomorrow because of Queensday, but still I'm in a hurry! No time to lose, on to Essence Underwater - One of Essences new colors that the lovely Michèle picked up for me when she was at DM in Germany.

Essence Underwater, three coats in daylight. Underwater is a very bright, though not neon, blue frost. You can see the frostiness in the first picture, while the second is more color accurate. Application on this one was fine, no big deals! I was a bit scared of blue colored nails afterwards, but thankfully I didn't have the slightest staining.

Happy Queensday tomorrow all! Don't go out and celebrate too much ;)

Thanks for stopping by!

Models Own Magenta Divine

Hi all!

How are you all today? Are you as tired as I am after only two days of work? I feel like I ran a marathon or something! Anyway, today I have Models Own Magenta Divine for you.

Models Own Magenta Divine, three coats in daylight. Magenta Divine is a clear based magenta glitter. Woah, glitter! It has been a while since I wore this kind of glitter.. Pretty though! Application was fine, I find that glitters have some kind of manual for application. I want the glitters evenly divided on my nails and sometimes glitter just sticks together. I didn't have that issue with this one though!

In the same range as Magenta Divine, there's Emerald City. I own Emerald City as well, so I'll try to swatch it somewhere later this week. I find myself really busy since I started working more, so I can't do my nails as often as I'd like. All will be fine though, I'm sure! I just have to find some kind of rhythm and balance in my life :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Playdate Pics! And OPI Over The Taupe

Hi all!

If you're following me on Twitter, you probably know that it was playdate time yesterday! I met up with Michèle from Lacquerized, Karin from Romika's Nails, Michelle from The Lacquer Files and Natasja. We all brought a ton of polishes (though this wasn't nearly everything we own!) and were dazed with the amount of polish on the table. This is what a playdate with five lacquer ladies looks like:


And from a different angle:

Michèle and Karin actually had their polishes in their Helmers, so they are not even all visible in these pics! Woah! Can you imagine us just staring at all the bottles, not knowing which polish to pick?

We all picked a polish to paint our nails with and since this is my nail blog, what would this post be without a pic of our hands and nails?

Clockwise, starting from the top: Michèle - wearing purple H&M Hello Kitty with Sally Hansen Garnet Lapis, Karin - wearing Milani Hi-Tech, Michelle - wearing Hard Candy Mr Wrong with Hard Candy Breakup on top, Natasja - wearing Orly Cashmere Cardigan and me - wearing OPI Over the Taupe.

I'm wearing OPI Over the Taupe as a NOTD (which I borrowed from Michelle - thanks dearie!! <3 ), but I spiced it up a little with some flowery stickers. I actually have some weird kind of bubbeling in my polish, not regular bubbles but very teeny tiny wobbly parts that look like they lay under the polish. Michèle told me she has the same thing. I have no clue what caused this bubbeling.. Anyway, here are some pics of today's manicure!

OPI Over the Taupe, three coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont and flowery stickers. Over the Taupe is a gorgeous taupe creme. I really like this color! I took advantage of all the bottles on the table and it's no dupe of Eyeko's Taupe Polish, Catrice Lost in Mud or Catrice From Dusk To Dawn. Application was good. The polish was a little watery at first, but it all went well in the end.

A little closeup of my ring finger:

It's just the accent to make the color pop! I really like these stickers. I got them as a freebie with an order at Veelnagels/Veelsieraden, a Dutch etailer.

Dear Michèle, Karin, Michelle and Natasja; I had a great time yesterday and I hope you did too! I'm looking forward to the next playdate (Michèle, hurry up with your date picker! ;) )

Thanks for stopping by!

China Glaze Chrystal Ball

Hi all!

It's a quicky today, so I have more pics than words lol! Today I have China Glaze Chrystal Ball for you. I've been lemming Grape Crush ever since I saw it on MUA and Chrystal Ball has a similar finish so when I saw this one for sale, I grabbed it. It's discontinued, but I don't know when (Will look into that!). On to the pics!


China Glaze Chrystall Ball, three coats in daylight. Chrystal Ball is a medium soft red with holographic particles in the polish. Nice! I really like this finish. It dries a bit gritty though as you can see, so you'll need some topcoat to make her smooth and more shiny. Application on this one was great, as was the drying time. It dried so quickly!

Please note that you can see different colors in the holo particles irl! My camera didn't capture the effect on the nails, but you can see it in the bottle.

I will be searching for Grape Crush, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy myself with Crystal Ball. What do you think of this polish?

Thanks for stopping by!

Orly Pixy Stix

Hi all!

Sorry voor mijn afwezigheid gisteren, ik had een ontzettend gezellig etentje gisteravond en daarna geen tijd meer om een nieuwe post te uploaden. Vanaf vandaag gaat posten weer zoals normaal :)

Vandaag heb ik één van de lakken uit de Orly Sweet collectie voor jullie; Pixy Stix. Ik heb deze geswatcht voordat ik mijn nagels korter heb gevijld, dus schrik niet van de sprong in lengte.

I'm sorry about not posting yesterday, but I had a very lovely dinner last night and I didn't have time to upload a new blogpost. Posting will be normal again from now on :)

Today I have one of the polishes from the Orly Sweet collection for you; Pixy Stix. I swatched this one before I filed all my nails down, so there's a little jump in nail length.

Orly Pixy Stix, drie laagjes in daglicht. Pixy Stix is een zachte roze creme met een beetje zalmkleurige ondertoon. De lak heeft een goede textuur, dus lakken was fijn. In drie laagjes is Pixy Stix volledig dekkend en de droogtijd was goed.

Orly Pixy Stix, three coats in daylight. Pixy Stix is a soft medium pink creme with a little hint of peachy (I would have said salmon color, but I don't even know if you know what I mean when I say that lol - is it even a word? Salmon color?) in the undertone of the color. Application was good; the polish has good structure so it was easy to work with. I used three coats for complete opacity. Drying time was good.

I really like this color, but.. It's pink! It must be the 65th pink in my stash or something! It has something that makes it different from the rest though. Maybe it is because it looks like a soft pink that is bright at the same time. I don't know, but it's a pretty color and I think pink lovers will like this one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Giveaway Winner!

Hi all!

So my Teeny Tiny Giveaway ended last night. A little reminder of the prize:

Eight polishes from Lizzie Foxy Fingers.

I had to exclude some of the entries, because some people entered after the giveaway closed and I had a couple entries that I couldn't match with the followername.

There was a total of 47 entries, that I put in The Hat. I shuffeled the names three times and let The Hat pick the winner. Without further ado: the winner is....

Michelle from The Lacquer Files! Congratulations!

I want to thank everyone for entering in this small giveaway and of course I thank you all for reading. Without my readers, I wouldn't have as much fun in writing this blog as I do now, so I thank you all for that <3

OPI DS Extravagance

Hi all!

How are you all today? I hope you are surviving this week! Today I have a gorgeous polish for you again: OPI DS Extravagance. It's my first OPI DS and I'm so glad I have it! Prepare for quite a lot of pics for one polish, because she deserves every single picture I'm posting here!

OPI DS Extravagance, two coats in daylight. Oh my, I absolutely love it!! Extravagance is a red based purple, leaning to magenta. It's not a true holo, but a very subtle one that doesn't give you the full "rainbow effect", but it's a lovely effect and fascinating to look at. It's like the holo wants to break out and show itself, but doesn't know how. Me likey!

I'm actually wearing this one since yesterday as a full mani and I can't stop staring at my nails. I'm staring at them, just checking out the beauty of this polish. It's even worse than when I wore Color Club Revvvolution!

Application was like a dream. The polish went on smoothly and dried quickly. What more can a girl ask for? I barely needed cleanup!

Do you own any of the OPI DS polishes? If so, what are must haves? I'm thinking of buying some more...



Don't forget to enter my Teeny Tiny Giveaway! You have less than two hours to enter in this giveaway.

And a little anouncement: The lovely Michelle from The Lacquer Files started a nail polish forum for us lacquerladies! The forum can be found here: Polished Up!

Thanks for stopping by!

Models Own Misty Grey

Hi all!

Although the weather was nice and sunny over here today, I decided to swatch some more Models Own polishes that I got in with various orders. Today I have Misty Grey for you.

Models Own Misty Grey, three coats in daylight. Misty Grey is exactly as the name states - a misty grey creme. Although mist would be less opaque, I think they came up with a name that summarizes the polish pretty well! The polish was a bit on the thick side, but other than that application was fine. I really like these misty, foggy colors. I don't think I own a polish that is a dupe for Misty Grey.

I'm planning on doing more swatching to complete my "Models Own polish database", but life got busy when I started working again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Subtle Konad

Hi all!

Today I have a short post for you with a mani that I wore last week for a couple of days. It's not my best pic, since it was taken under artificial lighting and pre-cleanup, but I liked this a lot so I thought I'd might as well show you :)

RBL Bruised stamped with China Glaze Joy and imageplate M64. The colors aren't really accurate, so I'll post pics of RBL Bruised alone in decent lighting in the near future.

I really like the subtle effect of this konadicure. China Glaze Joy is in the same color range as RBL Bruised. Joy is a part of the China Glaze Romantique Collection and works great for stamping, as does the rest of this collection.

What do you think of subtle konadicures? Do you like them or are you more into more visible Konad?

Thanks for stopping by!

Milani Hi-Tech

Hi all!

Since the weather is so sunny, I thought a sunny polish would be in order! Holo's are great when the sun is out, and since I had this one from my swap with Laquermanic, I easily made up my mind!

Quite a lot of pics, so be prepared ;)

Milani Hi-Tech, three coats in sunlight (the first picture is taken in indirect sunlight). Milani Hi-Tech is a lime green holo and is not as washed out as my pictures show her. She is more green! She even shows her holoness when she's not in direct sunlight, which is great.

Application was good, way better than application on GOSH Holographic for example. I had no issues with bald spots or something in that order. I really like this polish; it's holo without being too holo and the color of the polish itself is bright, but not too bright - if you know what I mean. Hi-Tech looks a bit dull in the bottle, but comes alive on the nail. Yay!

Hi-Tech is a part of the Milani 3D Holographic Collection. I believe there are 5 more polishes in this collection (Hi-Res, HD, Digital, Cyberspace and 3D), so if you see these in store, check them out!! If I recall this correctly, these polishes aren't available for sale in The Netherlands :(

Thanks for stopping by!

Illamasqua Wink

Hi all!

How are you all today? Last workingday of the week, on to the weekend! Today I have a polish for you that I got in an amazing swap with Laquermanic, almost two weeks ago. She surprised me with very pretty polishes! I am actually wearing this polish for the second time in two weeks. Yes, you got that right! Well, on to the pics so you can see why I like this so much :)

Illamasqua Wink, two coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont. Wink is a gorgeous lavender colored creme. She's a tad darker than the typical lavender, but she has a bit of a dusty look to her so I really love her! The pictures above don't capture her true color, but the next one does (at least on my screen).

As you can see, she has a little more red to her than shown in the first two pics (I apologize for the crappy picture though). (Hmm, on this screen - at my boyfriend's - it looks mostly yellow? That's not what the pic looked like on my own screen! Does it look yellow on your screen? Let me know, otherwise I will try to fix it!)

Application was good. The polish is a little bit on the thick side, but noting I can't manage. The polish itself went on smooth and was relatively quick dry.

This is, hands down, my favorite pastel-ish color I own so far. It has something to it that makes her different from all other pastels out there, although she might look like "just another pastel purple/lilac/lavender" to you. As for me, I think I'm sold.

Thanks so much for sending me this dear laquermanic!

Thanks for stoppig by, dear reader!

Zoya Loredana; Swatches & Comparison

Hi all!

So, today I have quite a lengthy post for you. I decided to do a matte mani and while I was at it, I did a 'complete' post; Swatching both matte and shiny plus a comparison. Lots to cover, so on to the pics!

Zoya Loredana, two coats in natural light. Loredana is a medium grey, charcoal colored polish. This one isn't shiny, a true matte! I love how this looks. Because she is so pretty, another picture:

Application on Loredana was super easy. The polish structure was just right; not too thick or too thin. A couple of my mattes/suedes tend to be a bit gloopy, but this one certainly wasn't. I didn't have problems whatsoever and since the polish dried so quickly, it's an A+ polish for me!

There isn't any matte that I wouldn't try to make shiny, so Loredana is no exception:

Zoya Loredana, two coats with one coat of Seche Vite in natural light. Pretty huh? She really shows her shimmer when you make her shiny. It looks so pretty! I can't decide if I like her better matte or shiny.. What do you think?

Judging on the color, I thought she might be close to OPI Suzi Skis In The Pyrenees Suede, so I grabbed my bottle and did a comparison.

Index and ring are Zoya Loredana, middle and pinkie are OPI Suzi Skis In The Pyrenees Suede.

Loredana is two coats, while SSITP is three coats. Opacity is better with Loredana. On the nail they are closer colorwise, but my camera shows a huge difference. These are no dupes, but similar. SSITP is a darker grey with more shimmer than Loredana. Loredana looks a bit flat besides SSITP because she is a true matte.

A shiny comparison:

Again, Zoya Loredana on index and ring, SSITP on middle and pinkie. Both are topped with a coat of Seche Vite. You can clearly see now that SSITP looks deeper because she holds more shimmer.

I really like both of these! It depends on my mood which one I will wear, but I know for a fact that both will be a part of my go-to polishes when I'm in a hurry. If you can't decide which one you like best of these two, I'd say the Zoya is 'better', but only because she is opaque in two coats, while OPI needed three to be opaque.

I hope this was helpful :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sinful San Francisco

Hi all!

How are you all today? The week is in half, so it's only two working days 'till weekend.. Yay! I hope I have more time on my hands the next couple of days, because I picked up my new car yesterday! Yay! It saves me time in public transport (I save about 2 hours a day!) so I hope I can do some better posts.

Today I have Sinful Colors San Francisco for you. It's a drugstore brand in the US, but I got this in a CP with my RBL's. Sinful Colors is not too easy to find here in The Netherlands, though there are some places to buy their polishes online, besides eBay.

Sinful Colors San Francisco, four coats. San Francisco is a green jellylike polish, that leans more to lime green than to forest green (although it's not lime green.. Anyway, I'm getting carried away). The color is actually greener; more yellow and less green. Somehow my camera messed the color up a little. Anyhow, this is four coats. It's a bit much, but I really like the look of this polish. It has a similar finish as China Glaze Emerald Sparkle with shimmery and glittery parts sunk into the jelly. The glitter in Emerald Sparkle is more dense though.

Let's take a closer look at the finish!

Pretty huh? I really like this polish, although it takes four coats to be opaque. The application was ok, the polish was a bit watery but nothing unmanagable.

What do you think of San Francisco? What other polished from Sinful Colors do you recommend?

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: Don't forget to enter my Teeny Tiny Giveaway :)

The Next Best Thing To My Private Jet?

Hi all!

Today I have one of the polishes for you that is said to be a dupe/replacement of OPI's My Private Jet. I'm talking about the brown holo version. I don't own MPJ myself, so if you have it, please let me know if it comes close to the polish I'm about to show you.

The polish I'm talking about is Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm. I bought this one when I didn't even like holo's and I didn't understand all the fuss about holographic polishes. I started to like them more and more, so when the sun came out, so did this polish out of my helmer!

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm, three coats in daylight/sunlight. The first picture is taken without direct (sun)light hitting the nail, so you can see the color of the polish itself without the holograpic effect. Chainmail Charm is a brown based holographic polish, that is a bit shy in soft daylight but shines in full sun. It was quite hard to capture all the holo and I have to say that I couldn't capture it all, so please note that Chainmail Charm is more holographic than shown in my pics.

Application on this one was fine, I had no problems. Drying time was good. The polish dries glossy and relatively smooth.

After taking those pics (and like a gazillion others), I went outside to take pics in full sun.

Ain't that cute? One of our cats came to check out my nail polish - and camera, obviously. Normally she stays away from my nails because she finds it smelly, but not this time :)

What do you think of Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm? Do you think it comes close to OPI's My Private Jet? Let me know, I want to find out!

Thanks for stopping by!

Catrice London's Weather Forecast

Hi all!

Hope your enjoying your weekend! In The Netherlands, the weather is finally playing along so we went for a long walk. Anyway, today I have one of the new Catrice polishes for you. Catrice just came with a whole new collection that contains about 32 (!!!!) new colors. This is one of them!

London's Weather Forecast, three coats with one coat of SV. LWF is a medium grey polish with blue undertones and silverish shimmer. I like this color a lot, but hey, I like most greys ;)

Application was okay, although I added about 10 drops of thinner before I started polishing. The polish itself was a bit goopy, so the thinner was really needed. The brush is just about the perfect size for me, not too wide or too thin. I did had a tiny amount of bubbling, which is why I used a coat of SV. LWF is shiny enough to go without a topcoat though!

That's it for today, dear reader! I wish you all a wonderful sunday :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Woah! Chanel Gondola

Hi all!

A quickie today since I'm not at home at the moment, but I soooo wanted to share this polish with you! It is my first ever Chanel polish! I've been lemming this one since November 2009, ever since I saw swatches on MUA. I finally gave in when there was a sale, so now I'm the proud owner of Chanel Gondola! She's a part of the fall 2009 collection from Chanel and the only Chanel I considered buying.

I stared at the bottle for a couple of hours straight before I finally used her for a complete mani - I'm not gonna swatch this one only, she deserves to be worn!

Chanel Gondola, three coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont. Two coats would have been sufficient for wear only - macro is evil. Gondola is red with a twist. It's not plain red, but it's not burgundy or berry either, but somewhere in between. The shimmer in this polish is gold and red, which makes it awesome to look at. She's a true stunner in my opinion!

Application was not what I expected of a € 21,50 polish though. I had some lumps in the polish, so not all my nails were pretty. I want the polish to be smooth, but I had a few nails that weren't. That's not supposed to happen when you're buying something with this pricetag. However, further application was good. The dryingtime was good was well, even more because this was three coats and I thought I'd had to wait forever to dry.

I've worn this polish three days (I went to work on one of those days, so that means a lot of typing) and I had one minor chip. I was hoping she would be flawless, but she's not.. Too bad! Her beauty convinces me to wear her again. Whoah, so pretty..

I will be wearing her a lot in the future though, because I just love the color. It's not a plain color, it's so interesting to look at. What do you think of Chanel Gondola?

I wish you all a great weekend!

Thanks for stopping by!