Christmas Sweater

Hi all,

First up: I've filed my nails down recently so you may see different lengths of nails in the next couple of weeks, because I still have a ton to post that's not Christmas related. Just so you know my nails don't grow 5 mm a night! This manicure is done with Christmas colors green and gold, but has no holiday design. I think it looks like a Christmas sweater though!


China Glaze 2030 stamped with M60 over Catrice Run Forest Run! (review on this one will come next week :)). 2030 is the perfect gold stamping polish and although I'm not really a big gold fan, I love this for stamping. It gives a crisp and shiny look to the design!


In some angles you can barely see the green underneath the gold! I like this look, but it won't be my Christmas manicure, that's one thing I know for sure. What it will be.. I have no idea yet! And Christmas is so close..

Thanks for stopping by :)

Christmas Balls!

Hi all,

Today I have another Christmas inspired manicure again for you: Christmas balls! It's really easy to do but it looks very festive on the nails.


RBL Recycle with dots of China Glaze 2030 and China Glaze Ruby Pumps. I used my dotting tool to create the dots/ Christmas balls, but you can also use a toothpick if you don't have a dotting tool. The dots on the green make it look like balls in a Christmas tree! It's SO easy yet very festive on your nails.


How do you like my Christmas hat? Hehe! I thought it would make a nice background on the Christmas manicure!

I have a couple more Christmassy manicures ready to come up next week. They're all easy to do so everyone can do them :)

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!

It Feels Like Fall

Hi all!

Is the weather acting like it's fall there as well? It sure has around here. It has cooled off and we had lots and lots of rain. Yesterday was alright, we even had three beams of sunlights. It felt like fall, so I thought a color that made me think of fall was 'in order'.

I ordered this one in the time that I thought everything would look great with my skintone. A couple of months back, I realized that not everything looks good on me and since golds made my hands look like lobster claws, this baby stayed an untried ever since I got it in last December. I expected it to make my hands look red and ugly and I didn't really like the color in the bottle.. Untill I put it on.

China Glaze Golden Spurs, three coats in daylight. Golden Spurs is a golden shimmer that has a hint of brown to it.. I think. I can't put my finger on it. And I have to say, I'm pleasantly surprised by this little gem! It might not look spectacular to you, but it's one of the few gold-ish shades that I can wear without getting ugly red claws. I really likt it! It feels like a very wearable color, even in an office environment.

Application on this was good. The polish was just the right structure for me and was easy to apply. Drying time was good as well. I waited 10 minutes before stamping on it and it was dry when I started stamping.

China Glaze Golden Spurs, stamped with Wet n Wild Black Creme and Bundle Monster Imageplate BM11. Fall means leaves falling off the trees to me, so I immediately thought of the leavespattern on one of my Bundle Monster Plates. It turned out alright! It would have been better when I used a dark brown polish so the contrast wouldn't be so harsh, but I like it nontheless.

Do you own polish that reminds you of fall?

A Sparkly NOTD

Hi all!

A short post today with a sparkly NOTD I wore a week ago. I finally got my hands on one of the CND effects and now I want more! (Actually, Natasja took one of the CND Spakles with her to visit us while we were on vacay so I tried another one as well) I will do a proper review on this in the future, but for now.. Let's take a look at the sparklies :)

CND Jade Sparkle, one coat over Nubar Vital (two coats). Ooooooooh I LOVE this! It looks so awesome. It turnes Vital into some kind of burgundy shimmery basecolor instead of the purple it origionally is. The sparkle consists of gold and greenish (jade) sparkle which is awesome to look at.

What do you think of this combination?

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!

Zoya Ivanka

Hi all!

So today I have the second polish from the Zoya Sparkle Collection for you: Zoya Ivanka. Let the pictures do the talking..

Zoya Ivanka, three coats in daylight. For the second picture I adjusted my camera settings a bit to show you how she really looks, since my camera makes her look a bit dull with the regular settings.. Ivanka is a true stunning green with golden sparkles. Whoa. It's no coincidence that this is the color of money with a name like hers..

This one easily makes it to my number one green, bumping China Glaze Emerald Sparkle from it's throne. Damn, this is gorgeous. Of course, I had to mattify her as well..

Zoya Ivanka with one coat of Essie Matte About You. This glows! It looks like dragon hide.. Hm. Maybe I'm reading too much Harry Potter. But look at her!

Is that gorgeous or what? I can't stop saying how awesome this is.

I did a little Konad on her as well. Of course, I used a gold to stamp with..

Zoya Ivanka stamped with imageplate M73 and China Glaze 2030. The colors play really well together! In the closeup you can see that Ivanka just won't stop sparkling underneath the Konadicure.

See? What else can I say.. This is a great color!

Application was good. The polish is a bit watery, but easy to work with and opaque in three coats. Drying time was good as well.

What do you think of Zoya Ivanka?

Thanks for stopping by!

Gold Polish and New Dutch Blog About Nails!

Vandaag heb ik wat gouden swatches voor jullie! Goud is voor mij niet helemaal mijn kleur, maar toen ik deze bestelde wist ik dat nog niet. Ik was in de overtuiging dat als het mooi stond op Scrangie, het ook mooi zo staan bij mij. Niet dus :P

Today I have some golden swatches for you! Gold isn't really my color but I didn't realize that when I bought these. I thought that if it looked good on Scrangie, it would look good on me too. Guess again :P


LA Girl Live on stage, drie laagjes zonder topcoat. Ze lijkt een beetje bobbelig, maar dat valt op zich wel mee. Live on stage is een gouden lak met verschillende grootten holo en niet-holo glitters. Het is een beetje een 'pale gold', waardoor ze nog niet eens zo heel slecht werkt met mijn huidskleur.

LA Girl Live on stage, three coats without topcoat. She may be a looking a little bobbly in the picture, but it isn't too bad irl. Live on Stage is a pale gold with various sizes of holo and non holo glitters. She doesn't clash with my skintone too bad, I think I actually like this in some way. It will not be my favorite, though.



LA Girl Electric Guitar, vier laagjes. Mijn hemel.. Deze past totaal niet bij me en ik vind dat ze ook niet echt lief samenspeelt met mijn huidskleur! Electric Guitar is een warmere gouden shimmer met microglitter en chunky hologlitter. Op de foto ziet het eruit alsof er bobbels op zitten, net als bij Live on Stage, maar Electric Guitar is hier helemaal glad! Maar de kleur... Nee, Electric Guitar is niks voor mij.

LA Girl Electric Guitar, four coats. Oh my.. This really doesn't play nicely with my skintone. Electric Guitar is a warmer golden shimmer with microglitter and chunky holo glitter. She's not even a bit bumpy, the polish is completely smooth. The color though.. Oh my, I really don't like this one.






Color Club Wild and Willing, drie laagjes. Deze had gewoon drie foto's nodig omdat ze zo gaaf is! Ik noem het wel goud, maar in sommig licht is het meer een soort koperkleur. De lak zelf is een shimmer met een lichte duochrome flash naar bruin. Zie je dat in de laatste foto? Geweldig! Ik kan niet geloven dat ik haar nog nooit heb uitgeprobeerd! Ze was nog een untried, maar ik ben echt blij dat ik haar herontdekt heb.

Color Club Wild and Willing, three coats. This one just *needs* three pictures because she is so cool! I call this gold, but in some lightings it's more of a copper kinda color. The polish itself is a shimmer with a slight duochrome flash to brown. See the different colors in the last picture? Gorgeous! Look at the awesome shimmeryness! I can't believe she was still in my untrieds. I'm so glad I discovered her again!



And what's swatching without a little Konad? Since I got my new plates in, last week, I started to do a lot more Konad again. This is plate M57 and for stamping I used Konad Special Polish Black Pearl. I think it looks good! What do you think?

Last, but certainly not least; there's a new Dutch blog about nails! Be sure to check out Michelle's blog at The Lacquer Files!

Thanks for stopping by!

More Ciaté Swatches

Vandaag weer meer Ciaté swatches. Dit keer laat ik alleen lakken zien die in the winter pack zitten: Power Dressing, Stiletto en Ladylike Luxe. Waarschuwing: dit is een lange post!

Here I am with more Ciaté swatches. This time I show you three polishes that come in the winter pack; Power Dressing, Stiletto and Ladylike Luxe. Warning: this is a lenghty post!




(again, I have no idea how to get the images to upload on the right side.. It's really annoying! I started with paint.net so maybe that's the problem. I'll try to fix it!)

Stiletto, een groene jelly. Twee laagjes zonder topcoat. De bovenste foto is genomen zonder flits en is meer kleuraccuraat, de tweede foto is genomen met flits. Jellies.. Ik weet niet of het echt iets voor mij is. Misschien ligt het ook aan de kleur; deze groen spreekt me niet zo heel erg aan. De groen in de flitsfoto vind ik een stuk mooier. Ook deze lak was makkelijk aan te brengen en droogde snel.

This is Stiletto, a green jelly. This is two coats, without topcoat. The first picture is taken without flash and is way more coloraccurate than the second picture, which is taken with flash. Jellies.. I don't know if they're for me. Maybe it's the color. The green is pretty, but not really appealing to me. The green in the flashpicture is a green I like more. Application with this one was as good as the others I've shown you.





Power Dressing is een blauwe jelly. Dit is twee laagjes, wederom zonder topcoat. De bovenste twee foto's zijn in daglicht genomen zonder flits, de derde foto is met flits. Na één laagje dacht ik 'Dit is niks voor mij, ik ben net een smurf!" maar na het tweede laagje is de kleur een stuk dieper en werd het een mooie 'royal blue'. Deze vind ik, in tegenstelling tot Stiletto, wel erg mooi. Deze was wel een beetje tricky om te lakken. Hoewel de lak niet dun was, leek het wel waterig op de nagel doordat het soort van uitliep. De nagellak zat aan beide zijden van mijn nagels tussen de nagel en de huid in. Nu lak ik niet supernetjes, maar zo erg als bij deze heb ik het nog nooit gehad. Verwijderen van deze lak levert blauwe vingertoppen op en om dat weg te krijgen moest ik flink weken. Desondanks ben ik tevreden over deze lak. De kleur maakt veel goed :)

Power Dressing is a blue jelly. This is two coats, again without topcoat. The first two pictures were taken in daylight, the third was taken with flash. The first two pictures are coloraccurate. After one coat I thought "Oh no, this is so not me!" but after the second coat I changed my mind since she turned out to be a very pretty royal dark blue. I like this one a lot better than I like Stiletto. The polish itself wasn't thin, but it was a bit runny. I had nailpolish on both sides of my nails against the skin. I don't want to say that I'm the best at polishing my nails, but I've never had polish like this before. It was everywhere! Removal of this polish gives smurfettefingers. I needed to soak a lot to get all the blue off my fingers. But, I have to say, I'm pleased with this one and I can see myself wearing it again.





Als laatste in deze post: Ladylike Luxe, een gouden shimmer met haast frosty of foily finish. Dit is de eerste lak die ik draag die gewoon écht niet bij mijn huidskleur past. Het is net alsof mijn handen ontzettend rood zijn! De lak zelf is erg mooi, maar het past gewoon niet bij me. Deze zal op de swaplijst gaan, zodat ik er hopelijk iemand mee blij kan maken bij wie deze lak wel staat :) De lak droogt slechter dan de andere Ciaté lakken die ik tot nu toe geprobeerd heb. De lak was nog helemaal niet droog toen ik de foto's maakte, terwijl de andere lakken dat wel waren.

Last in this post: Ladylike Luxe, a golden shimmer with a nearly frosty or foily finish. This is the first polish I'm wearing, that really doesn't play well with my skintone. I have lobsterclaws! The polish itself is very pretty, but it's just not for me. I will put this on my swaplist. Maybe I can make somebody happy that does look good while wearing this polish :) Drying time was longer than the other polishes I tried from Ciaté. The polish wasn't even dry when I took these pictures, while all the other polishes I've tried were long dry when I started to take pictures.

Overall, I think these are my least favorite of the bunch. I really like the color of Power Dressing, but Stiletto and Ladylike Luxe are just not my kind of colors.

Tomorrow I will give my opinion on the complete winter pack, after I've shown you the last two polishes of this set. I'm really looking forward to those; they look so pretty in the bottle!

Thank you for reading this long post and thanks for stopping by!

Ciaté Order!

Image is property of ABC Beauty

Gisteren is mijn Ciaté order binnengekomen die ik vorige week geplaatst heb. Deze heb ik dus zeer snel ontvangen! Mijn bestelling bestond uit zes lakken in the winter pack en twee losse lakken: Superficial en Vintage.

Yesterday my Ciaté order came in! I only ordered last week so they shipped very fast. This was in my order: the winterpack with 6 different polishes and two others: Superficial and Vitage.


Vintage
Image is property of ABC Beauty

Superficial
Image is property of ABC Beauty

In the winter pack zaten: Powerdressing (blauw), Stiletto (groen), Ladylike Luxe (goud), Cocktail dress (rood), Sharp Tailoring (lichtgrijs) en Velvet Tuxedo (donkergrijs). Superficial is een tealkleurige lak, terwijl Vintage grijs is. Afgaande op het flesje komt de kleur overeen met RBL Stormy.

The winter pack contains Power dressing (blue), Stiletto (green), Ladylike Luxe (gold), Cocktail dress (red), Sharp tailoring (light grey) and Velvet Tuxedo (dark grey). Superficial is a Teal, while Vintage is a medium to dark grey polish. Judging it on the look in the bottle, it looks like RBL Stormy.


Ik heb nog geen tijd gehad om met alle lakken te spelen, maar ik kon het uiteraard niet laten om alvast een lakje te proberen. Ik heb Sharp Tailoring geprobeerd, omdat er zo'n mooie gouden shimmer te zien was in het flesje.

I didn't have time to play with all of them yet, but I couldn't resist trying out one of the polishes. I put on Sharp Tailoring, because of the beautiful golden shimmering that shows in the bottle.




Twee laagjes zonder topcoat, binnen, bij daglicht
Two coats, no topcoat, indoors in daylight

De tweede foto is meer kleuraccuraat dan de eerste, maar die toont m.i. de shimmer beter. De shimmer die in het flesje zichtbaar is, toont zich ook op de nagel, yay! Ik vind dit een erg mooie lak, subtiel maar toch niet onzichtbaar. De kwast van het flesje is vrij breed en daar kan ik normaal gesproken niet zo goed mee omgaan, maar het werkte beter dan de prowidebrush van OPI. De droogtijd was prima, niet langer dan normaal.

The second picture is more color accurate than the first one, but the first picture shows the shimmer more. The golden shimmer that I see in the bottle, is also visible on the nail, yay! I think this is a very pretty polish, sophisticated and subtle, but still noticible. Girls who have restrictions about wearing nail polish to work, shouldn't have a problem with wearing this pretty lady. The brush was quite big and normally I just can't cope with wide brushes, but this one was better to work with than OPI's prowidebrush. Drying time was fine, no longer than average.

I'm very happy with my purchase and will be posting swatches of the other polishes when I've had time to play with all of them!

Thank you for reading this loooong post and thanks for stopping by!