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!

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!

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.

Sweet Marble

Hi all,

A presceduled post for today since I won't be having time to upload anything today or tomorrow. It's another marble that I did a while back and I thought it turned out pretty nicely.

Watermarble done with Orly Lemonade as a base and Lemonade and Pixy Stix used as marble colors. They are so cute and happy together. The Orly Sweets are amazing for marbling, since they're very pigmented.

I think my index turned out less than the other fingers, but even that one looks alright to me. This might be the first marble I'm really pleased with :)

And just because my fingers looked superduperawesome after marbling, I added a pic pre cleanup.

Awesome right? I used the vaseline method this time instead of the tape method, and I found it to be easy to work with: if you apply the vaseline right, you won't have that much of a hassle to take the polish of your fingers.

Tomorrow Will Be Better.. Right?!

Hi all,

Another quickie. I know I suck, I have tons to do for the blog and I haven't been around on Twitter either. I need to reply to my emails and comments. I suck. I'm having a bad week and it's not getting better, so hopefully things will turn around tomorrow. Otherwise, I'll probably have to stay in bed all day.

Today is another recent NOTD. I pimped Strawberry Fields with one of my newest plates after wearing this baby for four or five days (so excuse any sign of wear you may notice).

China Glaze Strawberry Fields stamped with China Glaze Awaken and imageplate M71. I love the lacey design! It looks so cute.. I can see a whole lot of konadicures with this one in the future.

Little closeup as bonus

Do you SEE those golden glass flecks? (this one is left bigger so you can click it)

Anyway, I hope you will forgive me for not being as active as I should/would like to. I want you to know that I really love the fact that you all come here to read my little blog and leave comments or send me an email. It means the world to me. But for now, the world is a little too heavy on my shoulders. I'm sorry about that.

China Glaze Strawberry Fields

Hi all!

You probably have seen this a gazillion times already, but I got this baby in last week and I wanted to share. I hesitated to get it, since well.. It's pink. I'm not digging pink as much as I used to, so I'm on the fence to buy new pinks. I looked at tons of swatches and decided to give it a try.. And here she is!

China Glaze Strawberry Fields, three coats with one coat of David in sunlight. Strawberry Fields is a gorgeous bold and bright medium pink, packed with tons of golden glass flecks. They are more obvious than my pictures can show you, since SF freaked out my camera (maybe I should get myself another camera, since this one gets scared easily).


The polish was a little watery, but the polish went on evenly so I needed three coats to be opaque. I really like this pink. It's bright and happy and cheerful and I love to look at the golden glass flecks. They really add the 'oomph' to the polish!


About the wear: I wore FS with OPI's Nail Envy as underwear and David as a topcoat and had no chips on the fourth day of wear, only a little tipwear. That's pretty good in my book!

Orly Lollipop

Hi all!

Today I have a polish for you that I used for my first watermarble a while back (My First Watermarble). It's Lollipop from the Sweet Collection!

Orly Lollipop, two coats in daylight. Lollipop is a very pretty lavender creme with a hint of pink. Or you could call it a pink that leans strongly to lavender, whichever you prefer ;) It's not a standard color so I like this a lot.

Application was alright; the polish is a bit on the thick side and streaky while being applied to the nail, but that's what I'm used to by now from pastels. Drying time is good. I let it dry without topcoat and I had no problems.

I own the remaining polishes from the Sweet Collection as well, but I haven't had the time to take pictures of them.. Will do in the near future!

Ciaté Festival Fever Couple I

Hi all!

Today I have a couple of swatches for you that I did over a month ago and they were just lying around.. I originally planned these to go up while I was on vacay, but somehow I forgot! I don't know how that happened. Anyway, here is the first couple. I have swatched Talent Scout and Fun Fair earlier. Let's take a look!

Ciaté Mainstage, two coats in indirect daylight. Mainstage is a dark magenta creme that it bright and bold at the same time. Imagine this a tad darker please.. I like these kind of pinks! Completely opaque in two coats.

Ciaté Ditch The Heels, three coats in daylight. Ditch The Heels is a bright green creme with a hint of blue. I wouldn't call this a neon, but it is bright! My camera makes it look a bit washed out, but it's not. Application was alright; the polish was a bit on the thick side but I still needed three coats for opacity.

Ciatés brushes are easy to work with; they're a tad wider than the regular polish brush, but smaller than the OPI ProWide brush. Ditch The Heels was a bit on the thick side formula wise, but I didn't have any problems with mainstage.

What do you think of these two?

Something Sweet?

Hi all!

Maybe you're wondering why I'm asking a question in the title of this post? Well, I got this polish in a while ago as an extra. It has no label on the bottom of the bottle but I think this is Something Sweet from the Up & Away Collection for Spring 2010. Please correct me if you think differently!

China Glaze Something Sweet, three coats in daylight. Something Sweet is a lovely shade of pastel pink and I'm really loving it! I didn't expect myself to like it as much as I do. It was sitting in my Helmer since I thought it was 'only' a light pink creme and I don't like them that much anymore.. But this one is different. It contrasts with my skintone without clashing, making my skin look like I have more of a tan (which I have a bit since I came back from Spain).

Application was alright, but good if you consider the fact that this is a pastel creme. Pastels tend to be a bit streaky and this one was no exeption, but all evened out in three coats, making it completely smooth. Dryingtime was good.

What do you think of this polish? Do you agree with me that it looks like Something Sweet? Or do you have another suggestion?

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!

Nfu Oh 048 Over OPI Funky Dunkey

Hi all!

Someone requested a swatch of Nfu Oh 048 layered and alone, so today I'll show it to you when it's layered. It's really really sheer on it's own so I have to mentally prepare myself if I decide to swatch it alone :P

Nfu Oh 048 over OPI Funky Dunkey. The first picture is one coat over Funky Dunkey, the picture below is two coats. Nfu Oh 048 is a very sheer light pink polish with tiny little pink flakies in it. This is great for layering, it's like the cherry on the cake!

Because it is so sheer, it dries quickly. Application is very easy since the Nfu Oh brush is pretty nice (at least I think so).

What do you think of these kind of sheer polishes that are great for layering? And what do you think of Nfu Oh 048?

Also a little announcement: since it's August 1st today, my giveaway is now closed. Any entries after 31st of July will not qualify.

Thanks for stopping by!

Zoya Gilda

Hi all!

Tonight I have another Zoya Sparkle for you: Gilda. Doesn't that remind you of the series that was on, years ago? Sabrina The Teenage Witch? Lol well it does to me. I used to watch it every time it was on and I loved it! Anyway, on to some pics :)

Zoya Gilda, three coats in daylight. Gilda is a bright pink that has the same sparkle finish as Ivanka and Alegra that I showed earlier. Even though I'm not really into pinks anymore, I think this one is pretty. The sparkles really look awesome!

I did a little mattification (lol, is this a word?)

Zoya Gilda with one coat of Essie Matte About You. Please excuse the white flakes, my Essie MAY appears to be developing these.. Gilda looks pretty with a matte topcoat! Well that's no surprise since the others were great as well. It look like scales of a fish, or pink dragon hide. Hm. Interesting!

Application was good and Gilda needed three coats for opacity. All three coats dried pretty quick. You can really see the sparkles build up in intensity when you add the second and third layer :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Sugar Sweet Summer Manicure

Hi all,

First of all I would like to thank all of you who was so kind to either tweet or comment on my blog because of the loss of my dear cat. It means a lot to me to read everything and it feels good to be comforted, even though it's by words through the internet. Thank you for that.

Today I have the post for you that I prepared for yesterday. I got a package from Viva La Nails in last week and I decided to do a summery mani with something they sent me.

I used Orly Lemonade as a base and Orly Pixy Stix for the pink triangle near my tips. I used Viva La Nails Hex glitter on the line between the two polishes. The hex glitter that came in my package were perfect for the color combination!

The hex glitter actually changes color in different lighting between a pinkish gold and yellow green flash. Nice! They are really easy to use, just dip your dotting tool in a bit of topcoat and gently press the hex glitter in polish that still is a bit wet.

Here's what I used to do this mani (OPI Nail Envy Matte as a basecoat not included)

Orly Lemonade, Orly Pixy Stix, Nubar Diamont as a glue to put the hex glitter on my nails, a dotting tool and of course the Viva La Nails Hex glitters.

Viva La Nails is sold at their own website, which you can find here: Viva La Nails Webshop. They have a great variety of different nail art products, which include different kind of glitters, stickers, water decals and Konad. Here's what Viva La Nails sent to me:

I actually forgot two packages (teardrops and stars) in the picture, but as you can see they were very generous! I will be reviewing more of their products in the next couple of weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Kiko Sparkle Touch

Hi all!

I just realized I didn't even post this one, even though I wore it a couple of weeks ago; shame on me! This is one of the polishes that I picked up when we went polish hunting in Germany. I believe it only has a number, but since there's a sticker on the cap saying 'sparkle touch', I decided to call this post that way :P

Kiko #2 Sparkle Touch, two coats over Ciaté Fun Fair in daylight. Kiko #2 Sparkle Touch is a glitter topper in a clear base that's packed with hex glitter and a few smaller particles. The glitters remind me of fish scales or something.. They flash between pink and aqua, which is kinda cool. I have to add that this looks a bit dull in my pic and it looks way more sparkly irl. It's to sheer to use alone, but could just spice up a slightly boring mani..

Application was good and I didn't have any issues with the drying time. Kiko polishes are available in Italy and in Kiko stores. I believe I only paid € 1,90 for a bottle of 11ml so that's a great deal! I picked up another Kiko that I will be showing you soon as well :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Essie Not Just a Pretty Face

Hi all!

A couple of days ago, I showed you a bloody manicure and today I have a review for you of the basecolor that I used: Essie Not Just a Pretty Face.

Essie Not Just a Pretty Face, four coats with one coat of Nubar Diamont in daylight. Not Just a Pretty Face is a pinkish peachy-ish jelly and needs four coats for opacity. It's a pretty color, definitely office appropriate is you ask me. Well, that's it for the good news.. Now the bad news: I hate this polish. Application was bad, the structure was a bit thick but still runny so there was polish flooding my cuticles. I needed four coats for opacity and those coats just would not dry. Never! I used Nubar Diamont, but still the polish wouldn't dry. Yugh! Plus, if you look at my nails in the pictures.. It looks like I have an enormous layer of polish laying on my nails. Bleh!

No, this is not even a pretty face.. *sigh* What do you think of Essie's Not Just a Pretty Face? Do you own it yourself? If so, am I doing something wrong or is it just the polish? It looked so nice on all swatches I've seen!

About the Nailart contest: The winner will be announced tonight!

Thanks for stopping by :)

Bloody Manicure And World Blood Donor Day

Hi all!

A little while ago, I saw an awesome mani on MUA that I liked so much, that I wanted to do it myself. I gave it a show last week, and this is the result!

A Bloody Mani.. I'm not perfectly happy with the outcome, so I'll try this again somewhere in the near future. I used Essie Not Just a Pretty Face as a base color (review on this one will follow in the next couple of days) and Essence Hot Red from the Show Your Feet line as the color for blood.

There's a reason that I chose to do this manicure now. I received some info about World Blood Donor Day a little while ago and thought it would be the perfect opportunity to both post about nails and about something important. I'll include the information that I received, as well as some pictures of the bandages that are named in the article.

World Blood Donor Day is tomorrow, June 14th 2010. I'm not an American, but I know we have the same issues with donating blood in The Netherlands. There is never enough blood. If you are in good health, please consider giving. It takes only a little time and you might save more than one life with the blood you've donated.

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ABOUT THE “GIVE” DONATION INITIATIVE:
Many Americans consider giving blood to be an important act of community service, however, less than 10 percent donate on an annual basis. Incredibly, if just one percent more donated–less than four million Americans–the nation’s blood shortages would disappear for the foreseeable future. To help close this gap, Nexcare Brand and America’s Blood Centers are partnering on the second annual give program, a nationwide blood donation initiative kicking off on World Blood Donor Day, Monday, June 14th, and extending through Sunday, June 20th.

With the support of hundreds of participating local blood centers, the give program inspires Americans with a message of hope, and helps them to spread the word by distributing limited-edition Nexcare Bandages marked with the word give.

World Blood Donor Day comes at an important time each year. As local blood centers face “summer shortages,” the nation’s blood supply comes under strain due to less donations because of increased vacation schedules and other seasonal distractions that tend to take place in the summer months. World Blood Donor Day reminds Americans to donate and enables them to help make a impact in reducing these shortages.

The 2010 give Bandages are inspired by both the patriotic act of giving blood as well as Flag Day, which will also be recognized on June 14, 2010. This collection of three Nexcare bandages are designed to represent the American flag signify the everyday hero in each American who commits to saving lives by donating blood.

Additionally, there’s a dedicated website, www.nexcaregive.com, where visitors can share their story, get directions to our local blood center and register to receive coupons and a free sampling of bandages.

Finally, timing couldn’t be more perfect since this month marks the release of the third Twilight movie “Eclipse,” so it’s a time to think about giving blood, while the vampire craze is all about taking it!


Did You Know? Facts About Blood Donation
· One pint of blood can save up to three lives
· Every two seconds, someone needs blood
· Most Americans will require a blood transfusion at some point in their lives
· Less than 10% of Americans donate blood on an annual basis
· If one percent more Americans gave blood, all national blood shortages would disappear for the foreseeable future
· There is no substitute for human blood
· Donors can give whole blood up to six times a year


Thanks for reading :)

Zoya Alegra

Hi all!

Did you miss me? Our internet provider decided to cut us off internet, television and phone last wednesday, so I haven't been able to get back online ever since.. I'm at my boyfriend's house at the moment so I'm able to upload and write some posts. Internet will be off till at least monday, but I'll try to upload a couple of posts so you still have enough to read and look at.

However, I don't know if I have time to answer all emails and respond to your comments.. I hope you will understand :)

Recently I got the entire Zoya Sparkles Collection in and I don't have any regret that I bought all six polishes. They're all beautiful and today you will see the first of six: Zoya Alegra.

Zoya Alegra, three coats in daylight. The weather was really bad when I did this one, so please bear with me. Alegra is a bright fuchsia sparkle; not really glitter, not really shimmer either. I'd say the finish is somewhere in between large shimmer and glass flecked. It's really pretty! As always - when there's an interesting finish to look at - a closeup shot:

Pretty huh? Zoya really does know how to do sparkles.

This polish was just screaming at me to be mattified, so of course I put a coat of Essie Matte About You over it.

Zoya Alegra, three coats with one coat of Essie Matte About You in daylight. Woah! Damn. It glows! look at it!

Pfew.. This is the kind of pink that I can actually see myself wearing every week, either sparkly or matte.

And to finish it off, I did a small konadicure with one of my Bundle monster plates.

Zoya Alegra, three coats stamped with Bundle monster plate BM05 and China Glaze Millennium. I didn't want to put too much over it because it looks so pretty.. (the color is a lot brighter than shown in this picture!)

Application was good. The polish is a bit runny and thin, but it was easy to apply. Drying time was good, even with three coats of polish. I think you could do with two coats for opacity, but I did three out of habit. I love the sparkles..

Stay tuned for more swatches of the Zoya Sparkles Collection!

Thanks for stopping by!

PS: I haven't had the time to count the votes in the nailart contest yet because I couldn't get online till now.. I hope I will be able to post the winner somewhere this weekend. I won't forget to announce the winner!

Kitty Ate All The Fish

Hi all!

So today I have a konadicure for you! Well it's not really Konad, but it's stamping alright :) I only have half of my Bundle Monster plates, but these are already a lot of fun.

Kitty Ate All The Fish! I used OPI Princesses Rule! as a basecolor (two coats) and stamped it with Konad Special polish in Black Pearl and China Glaze Awaken. I used Bundle Monster imageplate BM04 for the images. I really like how this one turned out! What do you think?

Thanks for stopping by!

Ciaté Fun Fair

Hi all!

How was your weekend? The weather wasn't so good, but I had a nice (but very busy) weekend anyway. Today I have the first of Ciaté's Summer Collection for you: Fun Fair.

Ciaté Fun Fair, three coats in daylight. Fun Fair is a light pink creme, that looks a bit brighter irl. The color is pretty pink without being a dupe for any color in my stash. The color is more accurate in the following picture:

Ciaté Fun Fair, three coats in indirect daylight. I can actually see myself wearing this in the future, even though it's pink and I'm not into pink at all lately! I might do a little konad to keep it interesting though..

The polish was a little on the thick side, so I added 4 or 5 drops of thinner and I was good to go. Application was good after that and so was drying time. I'm looking forward to trying the rest of the collection!

Thanks for stopping by :)