My Favorites Of 2010

Hi all,

Today I have my favorites of 2010 for you! It contains the polishes I've loved the most in the past year, so that means they're not necessarily 2010 releases :) I'll link my original post of the polish underneath the picture! I've sneaked in some favorite mani's as well. Be prepared for a lot of pictures and a lot of variety in my nail length!



Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Slippers
(shown over Chanel Gondola)


Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe


China Glaze Party Hearty
(shown over OPI Smitten With Mittens)


China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic


Chanel Paradoxal


Paint Splatters Everywhere


Frankenstein Watermarble


OPI Espresso Your Style!


ManGlaze Matte Is Murder


CND Night Factory Set with
Urban Oasis and Teal Sparkle


RBL Orbis Non Sufficit
(shown with China Glaze Ink stripes)


OPI Merry Midnight
(shown over OPI Funky Dunkey)


OPI Damone Roberts 1968


BB Couture Grenade


Orly It's Not Rocket Science


OPI Smitten With Mittens


Diamond Cosmetics Never So Evergreen


OPI DS Glamour


OCC Blackboard


OPI Catch Me In Your Net


RBL Scrangie


Chanel Gondola


Orly Shine


OPI Mad As A Hatter


OPI DS Extravagance


Lace Illusion


My First Watermarble


Nfu Oh 051 and RBL Bruised


Whew! That's a lot of favorites.. And there's a whole bunch of polishes that I really liked, but *just* didn't make it on the 'list'..

So tell me! What are your favorite polishes of 2010? And what will you be doing in tonight to celebrate the New Year?

Christmas Lights

Hi all!

Christmas is only a couple of nights away so here's another Christmas manicure! I didn't come up with this myself: I saw someone do this on MUA - I forgot your name, so sorry! Let me know if you read this, so I can give you the credits :) It's another easy, yet festive mani.


Christmas lights! To do this, you'll only have to do a few simple steps. First, paint your nails in a green color. I chose to do Nfu Oh 056 over China Glaze Holly Jolly, because I wanted a flakey tree. You can also go with a creme (like Orly Enchanted Forest or RBL Recycle) of a shimmer or glassflecked polish (like Orly Meet Me Under The Mistletoe or China Glaze Emerald Sparkle).

What you want to do next, is get a black polish and a striper brush. I used China Glaze Ink, which is technically not even really black, but it would work just as good. I drew some lines over my nails. I didn't want the lines to match: I wanted them to look 'random', like you see them in the trees.


When you've done that, it's time to take out your light bulb colors. I picked Barielle Glammed Out Garnet (red), China Glaze Lemon Fizz (yellow) and China Glaze Coconut Kiss (purple), but really, you can pick any color you'd like. I 'wiped' the brush of at the neck of the bottle, keeping just enough polish on the brush to create a bulb. I just put the brush on my nail to create a little oval drop and that's it! I think you could also use a dotting tool and pull it a little toward the light cord, so you get a somewhat teardrop shape to your colors.

I did that three times on all of my nails, so I had three different colors of lights. You can use as much colors as you'd like: I was aiming at a subtle yet colorful look, but I think I could have put another color there - like a pale lilac or something.

That's it! Easy, right? Even I could do it and my hands are nowhere near steady. Thanks for stopping by!

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!

Flounder Marble

Hi all,

Remember Flounder the fish from The Little Mermaid? He was the inspiration for this marble :)


Watermarble with Orly Lemonade and Snowcone over one coat of Snowcone. The blue basecolor makes it look like a greenish yellow (that was not my intention). I love how the colors combine!


See? Flounder is so cute. I don't get why he's called Botje ('Little bone') in the Netherlands tho. (Misschien naar het soort vis, Bot, maar Botje is helemaal geen bot!) The Little Mermaid was one of my favorite childhood movies. I should watch it again sometime soon!


Another pic of the marble, this time in the shade (the first pic is taken in dim sunlight).

This is one of my favorites so far. I seem to get a hang of it more and I really enjoy doing marbles! The only thing I don't like, is the cleanup afterwards lol!


Thanks for stopping by :)

Image of Flounder from monsters and critics

Jack O'Lantern Nail Ideas

Hi all,

A little over the top manicure today! I wanted to do some Jack O'Lantern designs on my nails, and decided to a different one for every nail. It looks way overdone like this, so I would recommend doing the Jack O'Lantern as an accent on one or maybe two nails :)


I used China Glaze Breakin' as a base, and Wet n Wild Black Creme for the faces and the candle on my pinkie. I did the flame with an ittybitty of Breakin'. My hand wasn't as steady as I wanted it to be while I drew on the faces, but you get the idea, right? :P

I'm still thinking about what to do with my nails for Halloween.. We don't have Halloween here in The Netherlands, but I like the theme so I want to do something with it :)

Dress Like A Chick For Halloween!

Hi all,

I let my sister pick what to post today and since she thought chicks were cute.. Chicks it is. It feels very easter-y to me but it looks so damn cute and I couldn't help myself! I assume you can dress up like a chick for Halloween, so chicks on the nails must be fine as well :P


Chick nails! Ain't that cute? *giggles*. I used Hard Candy Splendid as a base and H&M Love At First Sight for the eggshells and the eyes. I used Wet n Wild Black Creme for the eyes and finished the chicks by giving them beaks with China Glaze Breakin'. They turned out pretty nice!


They would do great as easter nails as well, so I think you'll be seeing a variation on this creation somewhere near Easter next year too :)

What are you gonna dress up like for Halloween?


A product in this post was sent to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.

Pink Ribbon Nails

Hi all,

As you might know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month and in this month, there is more attention for this decease. I want to let you know that I don't think that all other illnesses are less important or whatever, so it sometimes makes me a little bit.. Uneasy? (that's the word I guess) that there's a whole month of full attention going towards breast cancer while there are so many deceases and illnesses out there. I do want to point out that I like the initiative of Pink Ribbon has put out to make everyone aware of breast cancer, so that's why I've decided to do Pink Ribbon nails.


I used H&M Love At First Sight as a base and I used Konad stamping polish in pink (I guess, there's no name on my bottle!) for the ribbon and my accentnail. It's a bit thick but it made the perfect pink for this manicure, at least that's what I think.


I freenhanded the ribbon with a nailart brush, so it's not flawless haha.

Have you done something for Breast Cancer Awareness month or are you planning on doing so?

Sweet Skittles & Dots

Hi all,

Another mani that looks fun to me! Again, this one is really easy to do and because of the colors, it looks sweet and summery. I used the colors from the Orly Sweet Collection for spring 2010. Yes, I'm aware that I use these polishes a lot so I hope you're not tired of them yet!

Sweet skittles and dots! I used two coats of each as a base. This is what's on my nails:
Pinkie: Snowcone with Pixy Stix dots
Ring: Lollipop with Snowcone dots
Middle: Gumdrop with Lollipop dots
Index: Lemonade with Pixy Stix dots

It looks so cute and summery. Yes, I know summer is over, but that doesn't mean that we can't wear fun and bright colors any more *rebel*! I might do more of those skittle and dots mani's, it looks kinda cool.

Orbis Non Sufficit Stripes

Hi all,

A quick and easy but fun mani for you. I showed you RBL's Orbis Non Sufficit last week and it was such a nice color, so I decided to wear it a little longer. I gave it a little twist by putting stripes on the polish and I really like the result!

RBL Orbis Non Sufficit, two coats, striped with China Glaze Ink. Ink has a striper brush which is really thin. It makes it really easy to draw some stripes, although mine are not perfect because I don't have a steady hand at all.

It's so easy to do and in my opinion, it can spice up your manicure. I like the combination! What are your 'spice up the mani' tricks? Please share!

Plaid Nails

Hi all,

Today I have a little nailart for you. It's not something I came up with myself, but I saw this over at Nails by Asami and I decided to try it myself. Hers is prettier and looks way better than mine, but I still wanted to share my design with you since it reminds me of the plaid that my grandma had and used to tuck us in when we fell asleep on the couch. I know the colors clash and it's not as pretty as Asami's, but it's just a lovely memory of me.


My version of plaid nails. The plaid my grandmother had was made of a darker brown, but I like it anyway.

I took pics step by step, but for a full and good explanation of how to make plaid nails (as well as more than one color design), check out Nails by Asami.

I started off with applying two coats of WIC By Herome Johannesburg. I let the polish dry completely before I went ahead with the next step.


I applied one coat of W.I.C. By Herome Antwerp, making it a fairly thick coat so it would be opaque. For other designs, I'd recommend making a thinner line, but the plaid in my mind had bigger stripes so I went with this. I let this completely dry before continuing.


On both sides of the stripe I made with Antwerp, I put a thin line with W.I.C. By Herome Soho Manhattan (a striper polish). The striper brush makes it easy to work with so making lines is easy, even for me (I have the opposite of a steady hand).


To finish it off, I added two more stripes with Soho Manhattan. I made these vertically so you would really get the plaid design. The lines don't have to be at the same place on every nail - I actually really like the variation in the placing of the lines.

So there you have your plaid nails! It's really easy and I think it makes a nice design on the nails so I will definately be trying this again with other colors.

A product in this post was sent to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.

Stamping On Orly Shine

Hi all!

Today I have a little Konadicure that I did a little while ago. Everyone always says that the Orly Foil FX collection is great for stamping, but I did it the other way around this time; I used Orly Shine as a base for this one.

Orly Shine, three coats, stamped with Barielle Pin Up and konad imageplate M60. I like the effect! The red really complements the silver base. It's not straight red, it has a strong hint of pink in it while stamping.


Hmm, nice!

Don't forget to send in your Harry Potter designs for the nailart contest I'm hosting! You still have a week to send in your design(s). To read more about the contest, please click here to read the original post.

A product in this post was sent to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.

PS: I am so way behind on answering my emails. I'm so sorry! I try to catch up with them, but everytime I try to get through the pile of emails something comes in between or I just don't have enough time. I'm working on it, so if you're waiting on a reply to your email, please bear with me! Thanks :)

Review: WIC By Herome Graffiti Nailart

Hi all!

Today I have a review of Graffiti Nailart Set from WIC By Herome for you. They started the Graffiti Nailart line just recently and it contains some great stuff for those of you that want to start stamping or doing nailart. Of course they also have some interesting things for the more experienced nailart'er around too!

WIC By Herome was very kind to send me this set for review. Warning: this is a very lengthy post and pic heavy!

Both the starterskit as the extra nailplates come in a cute holographic box with a bow on it.

Because it looks like getting presents, I could not restrain myself, so I had to post another pic of the boxes. Ain't that pretty? I love the boxes, it's like holo on a box!

The boxes when they're opened. I got the starter kit ("Small Kit", € 12,50) and three extra sets of plates ("Tips", "Say It!" and "Fancy", € 7,50 per set). Since this is quite a large review by itself, I will focus mainly on the Small Kit.

The Small Kit contains a stamper, metallic scraper, a plate (B41) and a striper polish in Soho Manhattan. These are the basic things that you need when you want to start stamping. I'd recommend you do not use the metallic scraper, since metallic scrapers can leave scratches on your design. If the scratches are deep enough, the polish will flow in there and you won't be able to get a nice design out of your stamp. I'd love to see that Herome made a plastic scraper as well. In the meantime, you can use any old plastic card (an old credit card, but also collegepasses or membership cards) to scrape off the excess amount of polish.

So, let's see what we can do with this set! Since I was still wearing Nfu Oh 051 over RBL Bruised, I tried to use Soho Manhattan over this manicure, but the color wouldn't pop enough. I didn't want to take off the polish just yet, so I used China Glaze Millennium for the stamping this time.

Nfu Oh 051 over RBL Bruised, stamped with China Glaze Millennium and Graffiti Nailart plate B41. The images on the plates are just as good as the images on the Konad imageplates. This makes stamping your design just as easy as with Konad.

After that, I decided to play some with the striper polish: Soho Manhattan.

WIC By Herome Soho Manhattan, a bright red creme. The brush is really thin since it's a striper brush, so it's easy to draw lines with it on your nail.

See? The brush is thin so you can do freehand nailart with it. The cap holds pretty nicely so you can draw your lines pretty easily. I took this picture to show you how big the cap and the brush are.

Enough about the looks of this striper, let's see what it can do!

H&M Love At First Sight, stamped with WIC By Herome Soho Manhattan and Graffiti Nailart plate B41. Soho Manhattan is well pigmented, so the stamp shows up really well. I have to say that when I stamped on top of my previous manicure with Nfu Oh 051, the polish didn't show up so well. I'd say this color pops on every light color, but it's a matter of trying to see on which darker colors it works.

But hey, it's a striper! I wanted to try some striped. I pretty much suck at making stripes, since I don't have a steady hand at all. I had a ton of stripers, but I got rid of them all because I couldn't work with them.

H&M Love At First Sight, stamped with China Glaze Adore and B41 and striped with Soho Manhattan. This striper works awesome! I can't believe I actually made some (reasonably) straight lines. It's really easy to work with! I'm thrilled with this one.

Overall I really like the collection that WIC By Herome put together for those who like nailart. I would love to see some full nail plates as well though, so we can cover up our nails completely. The plates work just the same as Konad, so if you think Konad is too expensive, this might be a great alternative.

I have to say I'm impressed with the striper polish. I don't know if all the striper polishes are of the same quality since I only have one, but if they are alike qualitywise, I'd recommend every Dutch nailart'er to get a few. They're easy to work with and have great pigmentation.

I have a little warning though when you will be using the Graffiti Nailart plates. Please be aware that the edges of the plates are really, really sharp. You won't be touching the edges that much, but be careful when removing the plastic that's on the plates. I already wrote a post about the sharp edges of the Bundle Monster plates, but these plates have the same sharp edges. If you haven't read my post about this, please check out The Tomato Test.

The WIC By Herome Graffiti Nailart line can be bought in the online webshop of Herome. You can also buy the nail art stripers seperately for € 7,50 a piece or € 12,50 for two stripers.

The products in this post were sent to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information, please read my disclaimer.