OPI Chapel of Love

Hi all,

After all the Christmas colors, I have a very nice pink for you today! I wasn't really fond of OPI's reds and pinks - not unique enough, I thought - but I've changed my mind. I'm discovering more and more lovely reds and pinks and those colors are rapidly multiplying in my helmer...


OPI Chapel Of Love, four coats in daylight. Yes, four coats, as it isn't opaque at all, but I love the soft shade of pink and the lovely (almost hidden) silver shimmer it holds.


Chapel Of Love, four coats, with flash. You can see some of the shimmer here. It's the same kind of shimmer A True Ab-Original has and it's quite subtle. I really like it - I think it's a nice variation on all the bold colors I've been wearing lately!

Application was good, although the polish was sheer. I usually only apply 2 - 3 coats and leave it at that, but I wanted this one opaque before I took pics. I should really get me a bottle of underwear..

Anyway, I love this color and I think I will make this my new pedi color - it's so sweet to look at!

Recent NOTD: Collistar Viola Glitter

Hi all!

So sorry about the lack of posting yesterday, my internet wouldn't coorperate :/ On top of that, there's not much good light going on so taking pictures of my nails seems like a mission impossible, so I hope you don't mind that I have another recent NOTD for you today.


Collistar Viola Glitter, I believe this was three coats with China Glaze FFWD topcoat. Please excuse the tipwear, this was the third day of wear so it shows some signs of wear. Viola Glitter is a gorgeous purple packed with shimmer. The next picture is a little more color accurate!


It's not as dark blue based as the first picture makes it appear, it's a little more red. I love this shade. I don't think it's entirely unique (I believe there's even a dupe: Milani Totally Cool, but I don't have that one so I can't compare..) but it's still really pretty to look at.

It wore pretty well on me with Nfu Oh Aqua Base and China Glaze FFWD topcoat, too!

It's a day late, but I wish you all a great week :)

Just Bells..

Hi all,

Quickie today! I wore this on the last two days that I wore OPI Smitten With Mittens and it was Christmassy, so I thought I'd share a subtle Xmas mani :)


China Glaze 2030 stamped with M12 over OPI Smitten With Mittens. It's a really subtle, yes festive mani if you ask me.

I'm still working on sorting out the giveaway entries so please be patient with me! I'll do a post on what you'd like to see on Nailswatches more, too :)

Hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Because You Can't Have Too Many Pictures Of OPI Smitten With Mittens

Hi all,

In the tips that I asked you on the OPI Damone Roberts 1968 giveaway, there were a couple of people asking if I could do some more NOTD's. I'm really pretty boring nowadays with my NOTD's, because I find myself grabbing colors I've worn earlier. But anyway, I'm sharing my last NOTD from last week: OPI Smitten With Mittens. It's one of my all-time favorite polishes and I grab it so often that I'm seriously considering buying a backup for it. Anyway, here she is again!


OPI Smitten with Mittens, I believe this was two coats (I'm lazy). Can you guess what book I was reading while I was wearing this NOTD? Hehe! Nothing better than reading a nice book underneath a blanket with a pot of tea besides you!


And a picture to show the sparkliness of the polish. I absolutely love it. I think the Holiday Collection from last year was one of the best collections OPI ever did. Besides Smitten with Mittens, Merry Midnight is high up in my top-nameanumber.

I wish you all a very nice Thursday :)

To Top It All Off..

Hi all,

Today I have some different 'toppers' for you that I played a bit with a while ago.. I hope it may be helpful to (some of) you :)


From left to right: CND Jade Sparkle, CND Copper Shimmer, CND Teal Sparkle and Catrice Matt Topcoat over Catrice Hip Queens Wear Blue Jeans!. I played a little to see how it would work out and this was the result! I actually like all of them over this pretty blue..

I really want to get a ton more of the CND Effects, I love them all! They just turn your polish into something even prettier, it's awesome. Maybe I'll give myself some Effects for Christmas... ;)

Stampabilities is a little late this week, but I'll make sure I'll have it up on Wednesday!

Misa Burnished Bronze

Hi all,

I'm a bit behind on my nail pictures so here's one that I did a couple of weeks ago. I've had this polish since almost forever but I hadn't got round to it yet. I'm shopping my stash lately and I found this one, so I decided to put it on.


Misa Burnished Bronze, three coats in daylight. Burnished Bronze is as it says, a burnished bronze. It's not as orange as my picture makes it appear to be.

The first coat went on very sheer. It was red and looked like a pretty duochrome, but the duochrome effect went away after applying the second and third coat. The coats were a bit brush strokey, but other than that, the polish was easy to apply.

It's a bit of an odd color in some way, but I like it. I'm glad I was reminded that I have this :)

Have you recently discovered something in your stash that you'd (almost) forgotten about?

Recent NOTD: China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic

Hi all,

How are you doing on this fine but cold Wednesday? It seems like everything is evening out a bit here, I finally took care of my entire room so it looks more like I want it to be :)


China Glaze Rodeo Fanatic, three coats in daylight. I wore Rodeo Fanatic earlier but I thought I'd show it again :) This one never gets boring. The color and the finish are gorgeous and it's one of my favorite China Glaze polishes.

Edit: The network connector thing on my laptop appears to have died, which means that I can't access the internet on my laptop. I hope I (or rather: my dad) can fix it, but it looks like it may take a while and I'm not in the luxury position that I'm able to use another computer every day. I still have my phone, so I can check my email and such, but I think I won't be online as much as I usually am.

OPI A True Ab-Original

Hi all,

Todays color is a little out of my box so to say, but I actually really liked it when I put it on!


OPI A True Ab-Original, four coats in daylight. A True Ab-Original is a coraly pink with silver and magenta shimmer. This isn't a color I usually pick out, but I saw it at a blogsale and thought I'd give it a shot. I actually really like this color! I think it's because it's not a straight coral or straight pink.


And a picture with flash to show the shimmer. Pretty eh? The polish itself was pretty sheer though, so I needed four coats for opacity, and I think that's a bit much.. So next time I wear this, I think I'll try some kind of nude polish underneath it as underwear (I learned this from L8B on MUA hehehe).

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Essie Swing Velvet

Hi all,

How are you all doing? I've heard it's almost Thanksgiving, are you looking forward to it? Today I have a little gem for you that I discovered when I was shopping my stash and I totally forgot that it was so pretty!


Essie Swing Velvet, three coats in daylight. I really don't know how to label this color. It looks like a vampy red in my picture, but it has a hint of purple too that doesn't show up in my pics. I love this color. It's darker in low light, but more red in full sunlight. I was surprised that I had almost forgotten about this baby.

Application was good. Essie polishes tend to be a little thinner than my liking, but this one applied very well. It took me three to get the color opaque but the color was so stunning that I didn't mind :)

I hope you all have a great day! Thanks for stopping by :)

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!

Ciaté Silhouette

Hi all,

Today I have a polish for you that I wore as a notd recently. I saw this over at Michèle's blog and told her I wanted it, not realizing that I was already getting it.. Haha! Anyway, here is Ciaté Silhouette.


Ciaté Silhouette, two coats with a coat of China Glaze FFWD topcoat. The polish doesn't need topcoat to be shiny! Silhouette is a gorgeous vampy red shimmer. It looks on the brown side in the bottle, but on the nail it's mostly a very vampy red.

The application on this one was great: the polish went on smoothly and was easily opaque in two coats.

You can buy Ciaté at their website for £ 9 per bottle. They are having a 25% off sale until 09/11/2010 (ends today!) when you use code ciate25mc.

MAC Jade Dragon

Hi all,

Hope you're enjoying the weekend! Today I have one of the polishes from the MAC Nail Trend collection by Jin Soon for 2010 for you. Jessika was so sweet to send some polishes over, thanks hun!


MAC Jade Dragon, two coats in daylight. Jade Dragon is a gorgeous dark green shimmer. It's not as flat as my picture shows it, the light outside was doing funny things, so sorry about that! It's a very pretty shade, although I wouldn't call this entirely unique.. I think this must have a dupe somewhere.

The application was flawless. The formula on Jade Dragon was like a dream - it went on smoothly, dried very quickly and the polish itself was just easy to work with. It was well worth my $$!

Oh and before I forget, I didn't have any staining. I heard some people complaining about that on MUA, but I used my regular basecoat and was fine when I took the polish off :)

Chanel Paradoxal

Hi all,

It's been a little while since this baby was released and caused a true frenzy in the nailpolish community and it's certainly one of the shades that I love a lot. I find myself wearing this one quite often, so I would say it's worth every penny ;)


Chanel Paradoxal, two coats in daylight. Paradoxal is a gorgeous taupe with a very strong purple hue (or purple-ish taupe) packed with hidden shimmer that only shows up in sunlight or under artificial lighting. The shimmer is mostly purple and pink, but you can also discover some blue in there if I'm not mistaken. This shade is absolutely gorgeous!


The application was flawless and the formula was superb. The first time I used it, I was honestly impressed with the formula. I have some more Chanels and lets just say that some don't share the same kind of formula.

I love this shade for fall, but I also wore it during the summer so I would say it's good for every season (not that I pay attention to seasonal colors, but okay). I recently saw some bottles at the local Douglas and Ici Paris XL so if you want it, you can still grab it when you're in The Netherlands.

There is a deadon dupe though: BarryM Dusky Mauve. Michèle wore it recently when I was wearing Paradoxal and you couldn't possibly see the difference between them!

Barielle Date Night

Hi all,

Today I have one of the Barielles for you that I bought in the sale recently: Date Night.

Barielle Date Night, two coats in direct daylight. Date Night is a gorgeous deep green shimmer that doesn't look black in low lighting (yay!). It's gorgeous and it's really pigmented as well. I used two coats to even my sloppy polishing, but if you work neatly you can call this a onecoater!

As you can see, it's just the slightest bit brush strokey so you want to be careful while applying the polish.

The formula is smooth as butter and practically applied itself :)

In low lights, it looks darker and 'mossier' (is that a word?) so I immediately thought of Slytherin - well hey, I'm a Harry Potter fan! I decided to do an accent nail to wear with this mani.


Barielle Date Night stamped with China Glaze Millennium and imageplate M28 in indirect daylight. The color shifts to a darker shade of green, me likez!

I'm a bit lost for words, I really don't know what to say.. I'm tried and I don't know why. Thank goodness the clock goes back one hour tonight, so that's an extra hour of sleep! Yay! (I'm writing this on Saturday night hehe)

Hope you have a great Halloween!

Zoya Dovima

Hi all,

How are you doing today? I hope you are doing good. Today I have one of the Zoya Matte Velvets for you.

Zoya Dovima, two coats in indirect sunlight. Domiva is a matte black, packed with shimmer. The matte isn't matte-matte, but has a semi-satin finish. The shimmer in the polish shows mostly silver, but in some lights it also shows you a variety of colors. I topped it off with some topcoat to see how she looked, and I wasn't disappointed.


Zoya Dovima with topcoat to make it shiny. I left this picture bigger, so you can see the shimmer better. I could see blue, red, green, yellow, purple and pink shimmer besides the silver shimmer that's visible most of the time. In the next picture you see a closeup of how the polish looks most of the time.


Application was pretty darn good! Mattes tend to be lumpy and when you go over the same spot twice, you might drag some of the polish off that was already there. I didn't have that issue with this pretty baby though! I wouldn't recommend going over the polish over and over, but it doesn't seem to have the same issues as regular mattes.

The dryingtime was good as well. I would have loved for this to be a pure matte, but to be honest, I don't even mind the subtle satin-ish effect at all. I think it looks pretty..

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?

Barielle Pin Up

Hi all,

How are you all doing on this fine thursday? I hope you are doing well :) Today I have a pretty red Barielle for you; Pin Up from the All Lacquered Up Collection for Fall 2009.

Barielle Pin Up, three coats in daylight. Pin Up is a pretty red with a hint of tomato; I wouldn't call this a pure tomato red though. It has golden and orangey red shimmer in it to give it an interesting finish.

As I've probably said before, I'm digging reds lately and this one is no exception. It looks really pretty, without being the trashy kind of red.


Application on this one was very good. The polish went on smoothly and was of pretty good structure, giving me no problems to apply it. Dryingtime was good as well.

The more Barielles I try, the more I dig them. I think the first two were a bit on the thick side (formulawise) because the polish had leaked a bit in transport, since all the Barielles I've tried ever since had a good formula. So if you like red and this one looks good to you, I'd suggest you give it a try :)

Barielle can be purchased at www.barielle.com and costs $8 a bottle.


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

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.