It's Nailswatches' Birthday!

Hi all!

It's exactly a year ago that I went over to Nailswatches on blogger *yaaaay*! Which means that today is Nailswatches' birthday! I can't believe I've lasted a whole year with blogging.. On to the next year! As a treat, hot chocolate with whipped cream for everyone! ;) (or of course chocolate cake... hmm!)


Hot chocolate and whipped cream watermarble with OPI Suzi Says Da! and BarryM Matt White. I swear I only used those two colors (over a white base), the colors combined to an almost purple shade in between the colors! I love the outcome of it. It might not be perfect, but it sure is pretty in my eyes.


Bonuspicture! *walks round with a plate of mugs with hot chocolate and whipped cream* hehe! I really like this marble. I never thought it would turn out the way it did, but I love it.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go and buy myself some *real* chocolate cake to celebrate ;) Hope you all have a very nice Friday!

Kiko 245

Hi all,

How are you doing today? Last night the last Harry Potter movie showed for the first time in The Netherlands! Have you been to the midnight showing? I'm going this morning and to be honest, I'm pretty excited hehe!

Anyway, for today I have Kiko 245 for you. I don't really like the whole number thing, I accidentally bought one double because they don't have names but only numbers. Ah well. Kiko sure as hell has some really pretty colors!


Kiko 245, two coats in daylight. Kiko 245 is a gorgeous deep and dark red shimmer. I would call this carmine or maybe even bordering on maroon, but Kiko calls this shade "pearly dark ruby red". I don't agree with that, since there's nothing pearly about this shade. It's gorgeous!


Kiko 245 in lower lighting. As you can see, the color darkens to more of a brown toned vampy.

Application was soft, sweet and easy. The formula was exactly how I like it - not too thick or too thin and it went on smoothly. The polish was opaque in two quick coats.

I really like this color! I can't believe I've had some of my Kiko's for so long without even trying them. I'm going to try to grab them more often nowadays! I paid a shocking € 1,90 for this bottle and it's great value for money.

Wet n Wild Rustic

Hi all,

A real quickie today - I'm about to crash into bed (it's 0.45 when I'm typing this) after celebrating my sisters birthday. I ate some delicious chocolate pie and way too many yummy other things, but I enjoyed myself (and my sister did too). This is one of the polishes that Rachel picked up for me for our awesome megaswap!


Wet n Wild Rustic, three coats in daylight. Rustic is what the name suggests: a true rust color! It's filled with bronze shimmer, making it pretty to look at. The color in my pic is a little too light - imagine it a tad more brown (and thus a tad darker).


Application was a bit tricky for me because of the really short brush handle - it's so short and tiny! The formula on the polish was actually pretty good, so I have no complaints about the polish itself.

I hope you'll enjoy your Sunday!

Recent NOTD: OPI Espresso Your Style

Hi all,

Today I have another recent NOTD for you. I'm grabbing more and more of my favorites when I'm doing my nails, so it's not really a surprise for you when I tell you that I pulled this baby out to wear again, is it? My original review can be found here, my opinion on the formula and the color is still the same ;)


OPI Espresso Your Style!, three coats in daylight. Still one of the prettiest browns I own, will be pulling this out some more this fall!


The polish is darker on the nail than it is in the bottle, which I like :) Pretty eh?


I promise that I have some new (unshown) material for you tomorrow :)

Orly Rockin' Rocket

Hi all!

The holiday collections are popping up everywhere around us, and today I have one from the Orly 'Tis The Season Collection for holiday 2010 for you.


Orly Rockin' Rocket, two coats in daylight. Rockin' Rocket has a sienna or maroon base, which is a very red based brown, packed with pale copper and copper shimmer. I absolutely adore this color. It looks so warm and comfy, yet sparkly and interesting and far from boring.


Application was great. Orly's rubber cap is great to work with and the formula on this baby was awesome, smooth like butter. It almost did the work itself..


Drying time was great as well. I'm really really pleased with the only polish from 'Tis The Season that I have but I still hope that I can snatch Meet Me Under The Mistletoe, that one looks stunning as well. Well done, Orly!

Which polish(es) from the Orly holiday collection strikes your fancy?

Zoya Kalista

Hi all!

In the last couple of months, I really reached out to the vampy part of my stash. Somehow those colors were more appealing to me than the summery bright colors, while now it's getting to fall, I feel drawn to pastels hehe. Anyway, I pulled out this pretty baby and put her on and I have to say; I love her!

Zoya Kalista, two coats in daylight. Kalista is a gorgeous brown with lighter brown and bronze shimmer, which gives the polish amazing depth. It reminds me of mahogany wood, somehow.


Application was great. The polish went on smoothly and I didn't have any issues with drying time either. Some of my other Zoya's won't dry with a quickdry topcoat, but this pretty one dried quickly :)

I really love these kind of vampy colors. I'm excited to try more of them so I think I will show you a lot of these in the future :D

Orly Cosmic FX Stunner: Space Cadet

Hi all!

So here it is, the stunner of the Orly Cosmic FX Collection; Space Cadet. I took a gazillion pictures of this beauty, so hold on to your seats!

Orly Space Cadet, three coats in daylight and sunlight. This is AWESOME! I've never been this thrilled about a duochrome! Space Cadet is a mauve-ish brown-ish base filled with tons of glass flecks that make an awesome duochrome effect together. My nails flash brown, mauve, pink, purple, greenish yellow, copper, gold and green when I move my nails. It's so awesome. I can't tell you how amazing this is. My pictures don't even capture all the color shifting properly, so it's even better in real life!!

Application is good, the polish is a bit thin but that's what I'm used to with these kind of glass flecked polishes. I needed three coats for opacity, which is pretty normal for the glass flecked finish. The polish was easy to work with and dried in a couple of minutes without topcoat.

Do you think Space Cadet is the stunner of the collection? Or do you think I'm being overexcited? ;)

Flakie Poo

Hi all!

The day before I went on holiday I showed you Sally Hansen Leather Creme. I thought it looked a bit boring though, so since jbrobs was so nice to put in a surprise for me, I wanted to spice it up! She was so sweet to give me Nfu Oh 058 to add to my flakie and boobiecollection :)

Nfu Oh 058 over Sally Hansen Leather Creme. Er, right. Although I love 058, I don't like it in this situation. It looks like flakie poo. Yuk!

And another picture of the poo:

Ew. I don't like this AT ALL. I love 058 since it's packed with flakies (this is only one coat) but I don't like the combination of the two. Too bad, I thought it would have looked pretty!

Thanks for stopping by!

Buenos Dias!

Hi all!

How are you all doing? Guess who's back from holiday? Yes, it's me! Lol is has been a week filled with sun and reading just to empty my head a bit. And it did, a bit. I also need my holiday with Michelle and Michèle! Only a couple of days, yay!

Anyway, I wanted to share a NOTD from before I went to Spain. The pictures turned out a bit less than I expected because the polish was rediculously shiny, so I had the reflection of just about everything in the house pictured on my nails.

MAC Blue India, three coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont. Blue India is a dusty medium blue creme. Dusty! This was actually one of my biggest lemmings and I recently got it in thanks to a lovely MUA'er in a swap which contains over 20 polishes lol. I love love love the color, but I got chips in a matter of hours so that was a big disappointment. I'll try it again to see if it was just bad luck or that the wear of this polish is indeed not that good.

Application is good. The polish went on smoothly. The polish bottle is a bit wonky in my opninion, so I had a bit of issues holding the cap to polish my nails, but I think that's just me lol.

I also wanted to share the pretties I picked up while I was in Spain. We only went to one little village with one little store that had polish, so I grabbed these four.

Yes Love 402, 534, 526 and 429. They only have numbers, and I'm not even sure about the brand, Yes Love. When I google, I can't find anything on the brand - no swatches, nothing. Help? I can't imagine that I'm the only one buying these!

That's it for now, dear reader!

Thanks for stopping by!

Cowardly Lyin' - And a Leopard Mani

Hi all,

While organizing my helmer, I stumbled onto a lot of polishes that I haven't shown you yet. Today's polish is no exception - I bought the complete China Glaze Wizard of Ooh Ahz Returns collection at the end of 2009. We're talking 6+ months ago! Yikes. And I have only used one of them.. Anyway, this isn't really my color (I bought it loooong before I realized golds are not for me) but I thought I'd show you anyway :)

China Glaze Cowardly Lyin', four coats in daylight. Cowardly Lyin' is a frosty gold packed with tiny golden glitter. The polish isn't as yellow as my picture shows it, it's a little more 'faded'. I like the idea of this one, however, golds and frosts are not really my thing. Cowardly Lyin' doesn't clash with my skintone as much as most other golds do, so this is good.

Application on this one was good. I needed four coats for opacity (and still VNL in my pics.. Damn you macro!) but all coats dried quickly although it's about 30C around here. Well done China Glaze!

Since this is not really my color, I thought I'd spice it up a bit.. This ain't no coward!

China Glaze Cowardly Lyin', four coats, stamped with Konad special polish in Black Pearl, imageplate M57 and OPI Suzi Says Da! to fill in the spots. I think it looks alright :) I'm not really into the whole leopard print thing, but I think this looks quite nice.

Thanks for stopping by!

Catrice Bronzed Brown

Hi all!

Today I have a polish for you from the Caramé collection that Catrice recently released. I picked up only one of the colors since I don't think I will be wearing the other colors.. I picked up Bronzed Brown and I don't regret it :)

Catrice Bronzed Brown, two coats in daylight. The color is slightly darker (more accurate in the next picture). Bronzed Brown is a gorgeous medium brown with bronze shimmer.

I needed only two coats for opacity and they went on very smoothly. Catrice has quite a nice brush so it's easy to work with. Drying time was good.


Catrice Bronzed Brown, two coats in daylight. This picture is more color accurate. Isn't she a pretty brown?

I thought my nails matched pretty nicely with my outfit a couple of days ago :)



Catrice can be bought at Kruidvat stores in The Netherlands and they cost € 2,49 a bottle (8ml).

Thanks for stopping by!

Nubar Raspberry Truffle

Hi all!

I wanted to post this yesterday, but due to the weather I wasn't able to.. The thunder and lightning made my internet connection go crazy! This polish is one that I was lemming quite badly since I saw swatches online. Nubar isn't easy to get your hands on in The Netherlands, since bynubar.com doesn't ship outside the us, so it took me a while to find an etailer that could sell me this pretty. I'm talking about Nubar Raspberry Truffle, which is a part of the Chocolate Truffles Collection for Fall/Winter 2009.

Nubar Raspberry Truffle, two coats in indirect daylight. Raspberry Truffle is a gorgeous deep dark chocolate brown with red and raspberry colored shimmer. The color is closer towards the first picture. Rich and deep dark brown.. It's a unique polish in my stash and I love it. It has the vampy feel and look that I love lately and it's just gorgeous.. I totally forgot to mattify it, so I'll do that next week.

Application was good. I never have problems with Nubar actually.. The brush is easy to work with and the cap is nice to hold, so no problems there either.

Thanks for stopping by!

Pieces Nail Polish

Hi all,

Last sunday, Michèle and I stumbled upon some unknown pretties; nail polish from Pieces. Pieces is a store that sells mostly accessories and clothing, but they now sell nail polish as well. I picked up three colors; Cookie Dough, Lavender Haze and It's Camouflage.

The pretties! Cookie Dough, Lavender Haze, It's Camouflage

Pieces It's Camouflage, three coats in indirect sunlight. I tried to capture the colors as accurate as possile, so there's some variety in the poses lol. It's Camouflage is a dusty, putty green creme. The name says it all; it's a perfect camouflage color. Application was watery with the first coat. I thought I wouldn't be able to make it opaque in a couple of coats, but I had no visible nail line in three coats. Drying time is good and the polish is shiny like hell! No topcoat needed.

Pieces Cookie Dough, one coat in indirect daylight. Yes, this is a onecoater!! Yay!! Pigmentation in this one is awesome. Cookie Dough is a dark taupe, or dusty brown creme. These kind of colors look very classy to me and it's almost impossible for me to not like these shades. Application is good. The polish shines a little less than It's Camouflage, so you could apply topcoat for extra shine. Drying time was great.

Pieces Lavender Haze, three coats in daylight. Lavender Haze is, as the name states, a lavender colored creme. It's very light and almost pink in some lights, but mostly it's a true lavender. I really like this color. Somehow it makes my hands look really tanned (= big plus). The structure was a bit watery at first, but like It's Camouflage, all evened out and Lavender Haze was opaque in three coats. Since this is a pastel, it tends to be a little streaky so be careful when you apply this one.

Overall, I'm really impressed with the polishes! The quality is just as good or maybe even better than other, more expensive brands of nail polish and they have some interesting colors. I saw a great red as well, that might be a RBL Banging dupe :). The only little downside I have is the square cap that makes it a little less comfortable to apply the polish than application with a round cap. But other than that, I'm really digging these.

Oh and a little tip; the polish looks a lot darker on the nail than they do in the bottle! So don't let this scare you when you want to pick these up.

I bought them in a set of three for € 6,95 at the Pieces store at the Kalverstraat in Amsterdam. You can pick the three colors yourself. I believe they are € 2,50 or € 3 a piece when you buy them seperately, but please don't quote me on that ;)

What do you think of these Pieces polishes?

Thanks for stopping by!

It's A Sad Day Today

Hi all,

Today is a sad day. Our 16 year old cat was put to sleep today by the vet. The poor thing was ill for the last couple of months and we tried every possible treatment for the sneezing disease that he was diagnosed with, but today we discovered that it wasn't the real thing that was going on. Our little man had a tumor in his little head that caused chronic nose bleeds and because of the bleeding, he got weaker every day. It's better for him this way, but it's so, so sad to lose the pal I've had for 16 years.

Rest in peace, Mistie, my dear little nerdy friend.

I was planning on doing a happy mani today because I launched my new blog layout, but I decided to do something a little less festive for today.

Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco, two coats in daylight. Cherry Tobacco is a vampy brown with glowing shimmer and it screams fall to me.

Application was good, no problems with drying time either so I was pleasantly surprised since this was one of those polishes that was sitting in my Helmer since like forever. And if it feels like fall.. We'll put some fall on the nails.


Diamond Cosmetics Cherry Tobacco stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM04 and China Glaze Millennium. Millennium works really really well on these kind of shades and I just love the contrast between the brown and the silver.

A Closeup of Cherry Tobacco stamped with Millennium.

These kind of manicures just fascinate me although there isn't even glitter, holo or duochrome to keep me satisfied..

Thanks for stopping by

Ulta Forbitten

Hi all!

How is your weekend so far? I know the US girls still have the half sunday ahead, that's why I say so far ;) Today I have a polish for you that came in a RAOK from a lovely lady from the US. We decided to swap a ton of polishes, but my package is still at customs and probably won't be released ever so she sent me a couple of beauties. Thanks Rachel, they're gorgeous!

She sent me the Ulta Glam Goth Set that's only available in the US, and since the colors are gorgeous it's a big hit :D

Ulta Forbitten, two coats in daylight. This polish is ridiculously shiny so it took me a gazillion pics to get the color right in my pics. Forbitten is a gorgeous dark brown, almost black base with tons of bronze and brown shimmer and it's absolutely stunning. This one definately doesn't need any topcoat because it's shiny as hell itself.

I thought this would make a great matte as well, but I was wrong in this case..

Ulta Forbitten, two coats with one coat of Essie Matte About You. It looks flat and dull and none of the shimmer really shows through the matte.. Too bad!

Application was good, although the brush is teeeny tiny. The structure is nice and went on smoothly so I didn't have any issues with this. Drying time was good as well, I was pleasantly surprised!

If you like dark colors and have the chance to get your hands on the Ulta Glam Goth set, get it!!

Thanks for stopping by!

Misa Chocolate Icing

Hi all!

I hope you are all having a wonderful weekend! Today I have a vampy for you that I got in a swap package from the lovely Linda from Latvia (thanks dear!): Misa Chocolate Icing. Somehow, I'm really into vampies lately. I actually caught myself doing my nails only with vampies last time I was swatching.. But they're so pretty! Anyway, I'm getting carried away.. On to some pics!

Misa Chocolate Icing, three coats in daylight and indirect daylight (last pic). Chocolate Icing is a cherry wood colored polish; brown shimmer that leans very strong towards red in some lights, as you can see in my pics. I actually thought Chocolate Icing would be way more red from all the swatches I have seen, but it doesn't even show red in the bottle.. When there's no direct light hitting the nail, the color in the last pic is most color accurate.

Application was good, as was the drying time. I didn't have any problem with Chocolate Icing and I truly love this shade. I actually think this would make an excellent pedi color as well!

Thanks Linda for sending me all these pretties! ♥

Thanks for stopping by!

Essie Decadent Diva

Hi all!

How are you doing today? The working week is in half and I believe there's a ton of sunshine on the way in the weekend (25 C this weekend!) so that's something to look forward to! I'm feeling a little better than I felt yesterday and monday, but still not the old me.. It should be fine in a couple of days though. Anyway, today I have one of my latest acquisitions for you: Essie Decadent Diva! I made this post a long one, so beware ;)

Essie Decadent Diva, three coats in daylight. Decadent Diva is a gorgeous brown shimmer. In my opinion, this is a true stunner. The shimmer in Decacent Diva is a lighter sort of brown and cherry colored, which makes it look like it glows on your nails. I love it!

Decadent Diva is a part of the 2007 Essie Glamour Girl Collection and is in my opinion by far the best color in this collection. I bought this polish without being sure that I would like it, but I sure do.

Application was a bit tricky since the structure of the polish is a bit watery at first, but all evens out in two coats. I did three because of the macro settings on my camera. Drying time was alright, not too quick even though I waited a bit between coats.

Since the polish had a glowy vibe over it, it was screaming "Mattify me!", so of course, I did.

Essie Decadent Diva with a coat of Essie Matte About You in daylight. Essie MAY makes Decadent Diva look purely matte, without it looking flat. I actually really like this..

But of course, making this polish matte wasn't enough.. I had to stamp something on it! I decided to use one of my new Bundle Monster plates that I got in just a couple of days ago.

Essie Decadent Diva with one coat of Essie MAY, stamped with China Glaze Millennium and Bundle Monster plate BM15. Whew, that's a whole lot! I LOVE this image! I didn't notice it when I was ordering, but I saw it when I got the plates in.. Look at the details of the tail of the peacock! Isn't that amazing? Let's see it closeup:

Whoa, I think I found a new favorite stamping image! Millennium makes a great contrast between the base color and the image. Yes, this combination is a winner for me!

What do you think of Essie Decadent Diva - Do you like her more when she's shiny or when she's matte? And what do you think of the Bundle Monster image? Do you own them yourself?

Thanks for stopping by!

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!