What's on my nails today?

Hi everyone!


My last manicure of 2014 was a plain one, but with a gorgeous polish: Beyond Words by new to me brand Il était un vernis.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


I received a special polish for my birthday earlier this month. My two nieces (10 and then 7, now 8 years old) picked out a bright blue and pearly white bar glitter topper for me, l'Oréal Grace Tweed. Since today is the youngest one's birthday and we are invited to her party, I expect a close inspection of my manicure so of course I'm wearing 'their' polish :)

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


I had great plans for my christmas manicure... I would dazzle the world with perfect stamping, gradients or even a water marble (and the tiny detail that I haven't even mastered those techniques I completely ignored of course ;) But alas, fate (or rather, my limited capabilities in planning) decided different and instead of doing my nails I was busy preparing dishes for Boxing Day. So on Dec. 25, when it was almost time to leave for dinner at my in-laws I grabbed two polishes, sat down for five minutes and ran out, holding my hands high in the air to make sure I wouldn't smudge anything... and I don't think I've had this many compliments on a manicure yet :D

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


When I'm in a hurry and I don't have the time to wait for multiple coats to dry but I still want something really pretty on my nails, I grab an a-england polish. The ones I own are without any exceptions perfect one coat wonders which is great when you're in a hurry. Today I'm wearing Her Rose Adagio from the Ballerina collection that was released in December 2013.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


Once again I have to apologize for my absence. I could blame it on the absolutely gorgeous polish I'm about to show you and that I did not want to take off, but a bout of the flu had something to do with it as well. I felt so sick I didn't even want to think about painting my nails, and I didn't mind watching the same beautiful nail polish for over a week though but I've been told it didn't suit my slightly green complexion very well :)

I'm talking about Spell Polish - No Place Like Home, a lovely green-teal-purple multichrome that changed to pink and gold and bronze as well. No Place Like Home is part of the Magichromes: Magic Happens collection that was released in September and is still available through the Spell Polish website and various stockists.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!

It took quite some time but the black-and-glittery manicure finally disappeared from my nails and this is what I replaced it with: a creme-blue-green dotticure.

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When I was thinking about what colors to use I was wearing dark blue jeans, a lime green shirt and a creme colored cardigan so I decided to go with those colors in polish as well. I chose OPI My Vampire Is Buff (the perfect creme as far as I'm concerned), a-england Queen of Scots (a beautiful shimmery dark blue that never looks black except in my photographs), and Liquid Sky Lacquer Carissa's Lime Is The New Black (a lovely lime green holographic polish).

On my nails you see two coats of My Vampire Is Buff. After that had dried I added green dots with Lime Is The New Black using the thicker end of a double ended dotting tool and the other end was used to place blue dots in the open spaces with a-england Queen of Scots. I finished with a coat of Seche Vite and I was ready to face another day in complete color coordination :)

And of course the line up of the polishes I used:

OPI My Vampire Is Buff, Liquid Sky Lacquer Carissa's Lime Is The New Black, a-england Queen of Scots

Do you coordinate your nail polish with the clothes you wear?


a-england Queen of Scots was bought from Pretty Polish.
Liquid Sky Lacquer Carissa's Lime Is The New Black was bought from Norway Nails.

Hi everyone!

Finally, another post... it's been almost two weeks :(
I blame real life! I have been shopping like crazy!! In the Netherlands we celebrate a holiday called Sinterklaas or Saint Nicholas (yep, that's where Santa Claus originates from ;) that is mainly for children but usually grown ups get gifts as well and with a lot of family and friends I have been searching everywhere for the perfect presents. Also, it's tradition to add a (preferably self written) poem to the gifts for the adults so I think I'm even dreaming in rhyme by now! Add to that the ridiculous amount of birthdays that we have to go to in November and December (I guess February and March are fertile months in my family ;) and there's the reason for my absence.

But on to today's manicure. It's still on my nails but not for long as I've been wearing this for a week and I really need a change.

indoors, no flash

I painted one (1!!!) coat of Illamasqua Scorn on all my nails, after applying OPI Natural Base as base coat. Scorn is a very pigmented black polish that dries with a rubbery matte finish. As with all Illamasqua polishes, I LOVE the brush: thin but not skinny with a medium length, and since discovering the square cap can be removed to reveal a much smaller round one, I hardly have to do any clean up after painting my nails.

I wanted to add some sparkle to it so I applied one coat of Spell Polish Light As A Feather after Scorn had dried. Light As A Feather is a glitter polish with a clear base that is filled with small, various sized iridescent glitters that show gold, orange and sometimes green. It has a more chemical smell than other polishes I own, but that disappears when the polish is dried so I don't mind one bit, especially when looking at the gorgeous sparkles. Light As A Feather is part of the "It was written in the Stars" collection and is still available on the Spell Polish website and various stockists.

I finished with a coat of Seche Vite to shorten the drying time as I had to go out and I was running late again. I took the picture above after seven days of wearing this manicure and I had to correct hardly any tip wear before taking it so I guess Scorn is very durable as well :)

Illamasqua Scorn, Spell Polish Light As A Feather

Hi everyone!


I've just received a huge present... a camera!! It's an Olympus E-520 and it looks pretty intimidating with all the different buttons and menu options and lenses so I'm going to have to study the manual... but I already took it for a test run and photographed my current manicure.

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Hi everyone!


A brand new limited edition collection by Catrice was displayed in the drugstore this morning and I brought the polishes home with me.

Hi everyone!


A holographic polish this time: Boudoir by Cirque Colors.

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Hi everyone!


After a week of neutral nails I desperately needed more color... so I went with red and sparkles :)

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Hi everyone!


OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around (DBNMA for short), a lovely nude this time as I had to wear a very neutral manicure to an official occasion.

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Hi everyone!


Today a beauty from the core collection of Illamasqua: Stagnate.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


A short post today of a dotticure done with Zoya Yara. a beautiful mossy green with gold shimmers, and a-england Princess Sabra, an golden olive green holo.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


Today another attempt at stamping... but maybe a bit too subtle and definitely not durable enough.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


A quick post today with a beautiful made-for-me polish: Nothing To Be Desired by Polish Alcoholic.

I saw a picture of Velvet Goldmine on Sabrina's Facebook page when she announced her Fall 2014 collection. I really liked it but I thought it would look even better if it were a darker color, like berry of burgundy. A couple of messages later and Sabrina agreed to try and make a berry version of Velvet Goldmine... and this is it!

indoors, no flash

Nothing To Be Desired is a gorgeous berry red jelly that is packed with small iridescent and rose gold glitter. I used three thin coats over OPI Natural Base to obtain full opacity, and two generous coats of Seche Vite to make the surface completely smooth (although one would probably have been enough if I had been more careful applying it).

Making this polish with Sabrina was something I would happily do again (and probably will in the future). She was very patient and sent lots of pictures of the different polishes she mixed until it was just the way I envisioned it. When the package arrived, the bottle was wrapped in purple and pink crepe paper and closed with a small ribbon (and of course I ripped it open without taking a picture first...). Sabrina also made a custom label for the bottle so I won't have to remember its name.

I just can't stop looking at my hands, the polish looks so squishy, the color is great and the glitters in the lower layers keep peeking through when I wiggle my fingers... definitely Nothing To Be Desired!


Do you have custom made polishes in your stash?


Nothing To Be Desired was custom made for me by Polish Alcoholic.
You can request a custom polish through the blue button on the left of the shop.

Hi everyone!


I was looking for a clean, office friendly look and this is what it turned out to be :)

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


Today I have a gorgeous blue polish with a suede finish for you to look at: El Corazon - Matte & Shine Effect 161. It was given to me by Maria from Hypnotic Polish.

no topcoat - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


Today a fall colored manicure that was heavily inspired by the Sketched Flowers Jacki of Adventures in Acetone did for The Digit-al Dozen Does Floral. I loved the colors and the sketchy feel of her manicure when I saw it but as I can't freehand if my life depended on it I decided to stamp instead of paint.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


Today I have a layering experiment on my nails... and boy, did it work out great!!

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Here I was, wondering why there was no place to leave a comment... only to discover it WOULD be nice to actually enable commenting!
So I did that... just now :S

I thought senior moments appeared AFTER gray hairs and crows feet showed up.
I guess I was wrong ;)

Hi everyone!


Today swatches of a gorgeous charcoal gray holographic polish: a-england Fated Prince.

Fated Prince is part of the five piece Burne-Jones Dream collection that was released in 2013 and it's a one-coater if your coats aren't too thin.

I used two coats and a layer of Seche Vite to protect the polish.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


Another skittlette today, this time using two gorgeous Naturel colors by Zoya.

indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


I finally did it! I stamped all my nails for a manicure and I didn't even mess up too bad, if I say so myself :)

When I saw the Golden Leaves manicure by Bregje from Oooh, Shinies, I wanted to do a manicure just like it so I checked my stash and I found the exact same green, a pretty good substitute for the gold and a plate with a leaf pattern. Not the elegant one Bregje used though (so that plate is now on my wishlist... just a couple more months until Santa comes along and I've been a really good girl ;)

This is my result:

Green and golden leaves - indoors, no flash

I used 2 coats of Catrice Squeeze Me as base color and all nails were stamped with China Glaze Passion and Bundle Monster plate BM-H11. As usual OPI Natural Base went underneath everything and Seche Vite was used before stamping and as top coat.

I still need a lot of practice but I'm really proud of my first stamped manicure. Hope you like it too :)

Hi everyone!


Today a manicure I had on for an entire week. Not because I love it so much (although I do love it) but because it has been so busy I haven't been near a bottle of polish, let alone have the time to paint my nails :(

I was going through my polishes, looking for inspiration to do a darker, more autumn-y manicure and I spotted a gorgeous royal purple: a-england Avalon... and after that this happened:

Purple and lilac manicure - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


This manicure ended up completely different from what I had in mind, but as stamping resulted in a mess and I didn't have the time to fiddle with it anymore (my husband was growing more and more impatient, telling me we REALLY had to go... ten minutes ago!) I grabbed my dotting tools and went for a quick dotticure instead :)

Mint, teal and gold - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


I'm so sorry to have been absent for a while.
After tearing off half the nail of my left middle finger, my right middle finger apparently decided it couldn't handle all the attention so that nail got torn as well... Fortunately not as bad as the left one but still bad enough to make me want to hide my hands and not show them to anybody :(
Fast forward two weeks and both nails have grown back to nubbin size. I filed the other ones down to match their size and so my left hand makes a comeback, dressed in pink and rosy red.

Rosy red and pink manicure - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


As summer is turning into fall I want to wear some richer, autumn-y colors... and I have just received the Zoya fall collections, Entice and Ignite, so I have plenty of colors to choose from :)

I combined white, black and coppery-orange in a skittelette:

Fall skittelette - indoors, no flash

I used OPI Natural Base as base coat, followed by two coats of OPI Alpine Snow and a coat of Seche Vite on my ring and pinkie. My middle finger was done in two coats of Zoya Dahlia, a sparkling black textured polish, and my index and my thumbs were painted in one (!!) coat of Zoya Autumn and a coat of Seche Vite. I used Dahlia and Autumn to make dots on the white nails and that was all!


Have you started to wear fall colors already?

Hi everyone!


They say imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, so I hope Deborah of Love. Varnish, chocolate and more…. doesn't mind this version of the beautiful manicure she did recently.

When I saw the picture on her blog, I couldn't help myself... I had to try these colors myself! Unfortunately I have baby sized nails instead of her gorgeous long ones so I could only make one circle of dots but I still loved the results.

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I actually had most colors Deborah used, so I started with my regular base coat (OPI Natural Base) and after that painted on two coats of OPI Don’t Bossa Nova Me Around to get a completely opaque base. One coat of Seche Vite to speed up the drying and to keep the base protected in case I had correct errors and after that I could start my dots. I used one big dot of Catrice First Class Up-Grape, a small partial circle of Catrice Metalight (Metallure collection) and a larger partial circle of OPI Alpine Snow. Another coat of Seche Vite and my manicure was done.

The nude base makes me feel really sophisticated and the colors of the dots only add to that feeling.
I really loved my nails like this.


Have you ever copied a manicure you saw online?

Hi everyone!


I couldn't decide what polish to try first: Liquid Sky Lacquer Glass Slippers (a lovely baby blue holo) or Emily's Sky is Always Blue (a beautiful deep blue holo)... so I used them both in one manicure.

My first surprise: Glass Slippers is a textured polish!
My second surprise: Emily's Sky is a jelly!

This is what I ended up with:

Liquid Sky blues - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


I was not too big on brown nail polish, but this one came as a gift from Singapore and how can one resist a polish called Chocolate Obsession?

Liquid Sky Lacquer Chocolate Obsession is a wonderful chocolate brown holographic one-coater...
Yes, you read that right: I needed just one coat to get complete coverage!

Liquid Sky Lacquer Chocolate Obsession - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


I just received the OPI Nordic collection and when I unpacked OPI With A Nice Finn-ish and saw it next to the colors on my nails, I tought it looked even better than the light gold color of Honey Rider. So I painted With A Nice Finn-ish over it to see what that looked like.

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Because Honey Rider is a liquid sand polish and I didn't take it off, the textured finish can still be seen and I actually like the warmer color of With A Nice Finn-ish better with the pink of OPI I Love Applause and the burgundy of Illamasqua Charisma.


Which version do you prefer, yesterdays manicure with OPI Honey Rider or this one?

Hi everyone!


I planned on cleaning out my desk (read: finally put all the polishes on it back where they belong) but my eye fell on three polishes that were standing close together: OPI I Love Applause, Illamasqua Charisma and OPI Honey Rider. They looked pretty good next to each other and the best way to see what they really look like is a skittlette, right?

So instead of organizing, I sat down to paint...

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I painted OPI I Love Applause (Muppets 2014 collection) on my ring and middle fingers. Illamasqua Charisma was used on my thumbs and indexes and I painted my pinkies in OPI Honey Rider (Bond Girls collection). After that I topped all fingers but my pinkies with Seche Vite and made dots using Charisma and Honey Rider.

I was afraid the manicure would be too girly but to me Illamasqua Charisma gave it just enough maturity to keep me from putting pigtails in my hair :)


Do you like skittlettes or do you prefer each nail to be the same?

Hi everyone!


My love for dotted nails continues, but apparently my nails don't love it as much as I do.
I already had to cut them after accidentally banging them against the wall and breaking two nails on my left hand, but this afternoon I managed to tear off the nail of my middle finger half way down my nail... ouch!! :( So I cut the other ones even shorter, but not even close to the shortness of my poor middle one, which means my Cinderella hand will be in the spotlight until my left hand looks presentable again...

Making her debut in a green dress, may I present... my right hand!

Green dots - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


I love nail polish, but nail art is an entirely different thing... so when Debbie (aka The Crumpet) announced a course for the beginning nail artist, I jumped at the chance to learn basic (and not so basic) techniques.

One of the things I really like, are dots, especially random sized and randomly placed. I don't have long nails (in fact, they are toddler sized or even smaller) so I didn't think it would look nice but imagine my surprise when I started to get compliments on my manicure. An added bonus is that it doesn't take very long to do a manicure with dots either. The first time I tried, it took me 20 minutes but a few weeks of experience brought that down to 10 :)

So without further ado, here are my dotted nails.

Dots in red, black and white - indoors, no flash

I used two coats of OPI Angel with a Leadfoot (Ford Mustang collection) after I put on a coat of OPI Natural Base. A coat of Seche Vite after that to make sure that my base was dry but also because small errors when making the dots can be erased with a small brush and acetone without taking off the white base.

The dots were made with OPI Queen of the Road (Ford Mustang collection) and OPI Coca Cola Red (Coca Cola collection) and I finished with another coat of Seche Vite after letting the dots dry for a few minutes.

These nails made me smile every time I looked at them :)

Do you like dotted manicures?

Hi everyone!


An absolutely fabulous green holo today :)

This is another beauty that came to me from Singapore and I love it. I had never heard of the Fancy Gloss brand before but if all their polishes are the same quality as this one, I definitely want more.

Raging Monster is a beautiful, grass green holographic polish and in the pictures I've used one coat of OPI Natural Base, two thin coats of Raging Monster and one coat of Seche Vite.

Fancy Gloss - Raging Monster - indoors, no flash

Hi everyone!


Two weeks ago friends of ours came over from Singapore and along with them came NAIL POLISH!!! :) Among all the beauties was a beautiful rosy red polish of a brand I had not heard of before, Mexico City by Pretty Jelly.

Just look at it... isn't it gorgeous?
I mean, what's not to like: rosy red, scattered holographic and a one coater if your coats aren't too thin!

In the shade the color is a soft rosy red with a sparkle here and there but in the sun or direct light the polish shows its true beauty with all the colored flashes when you move your fingers. I was looking for light sources and wiggling my fingers the entire time I wore it :)

Hi everyone!


As soon as I received Hypnotic Polish's newsletter I knew my wallet was in for some major squeezing. The Dance Legend Chameleon collection was restocked and Dance Legend New Prism had arrived! I immediately ordered the polishes on my wishlist and the next day they were delivered... how's that for speed? :)

First on my nails: High Voltage, a bright blue strong linear holographic beauty, perfect for summer and sunshine.

Dance Legend - New Prism 11 High Voltage - indoors, no flash

Welcome to my website.
Does the internet need a new nail polish blog?
Probably not... but I started one anyway and here it is :)