Soft peachy gradient

Hello there! I want to show you my second attempt at gradient nails today! Last time I used three entirely different shades. This time I wanted to pick shades that were more alike to create a nice, smooth gradient look. 

Giveaway winner...

The reader who won the polish from the 'a polish I hate..' - post is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats Katrien! I sent you an e-mail! Katrien has a nice blog herself, check it out here. I'm curious what nice nail art she might make using the Maybelline polish :)

I want to thank all others who joined the giveaway. I thought it was an exciting thing to do and I'll probably do it again sometimes!

~ Hema Holographic Bordeaux ~

Hola! Holo in tha house today!

My cousin asked me what I would like as a birthday present and I named the new Hema Holographic polishes. She got me Bordeaux & Copper and I'm so happy with them! Although these don't have the strongest holo effect they are very very pretty and budget friendly, being sold at €3,75.

I took way to many pictures and I was thinking: me having to choose between all these pictures takes more time + energy than you guys scrolling a littttleeee bit more than usually!

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (4) A polish that you grabbed randomly

Soft sunlight

For this part of the 2013 Nail Art Challenge I decided not to grab a random polish but to create a random number and use that to pick a polish from my stash file. I did this because I know that I will never be able to fully randomly grab a polish since not all bottles are the same size/shape. I also didn't want to ruin the order in my Helmer. Anyway, the number I got was:

Nail Care Essential: Essence Express dry drops

A while ago I wrote about my favourite nail polish remover. Essence does not only make great removers. I love their nail art supplies and polishes, and a product that deserves special attention are the 'express dry drops'. This picture probably shows how much I like this stuff:

That's three finished bottles and two back ups!

I don't know exactly HOW this stuff works... but it works. It doesn't harden your nails faster - it just makes them dry really fast. I like this because by applying these drops, you make sure that no dust, (cat) hair, or small weird fabric-thingies coming of your clothing will stick to your nail polish. Don't you just hate when that happens?? The express dry drops will solve all your problems :). They make your polish dry faster and leave a wet/greasy layer on the top. Everything will just stick onto that layer and you can simply wipe it off. Here is a video I made (I'm sorry about the awkward angle) to show you how well this stuff works:

Thank you Essence, for another great product!

Oh, by the way, I also tried the express dry spray, but I definitely prefer the drops, because

1. The spray doesn't last as long as the drops.
2. It's more expensive. The drops cost €1,99 whereas the spray costs  €2,79.
3. Most of the spray ends up being inside my lungs rather than on my nails.

Do you own any quick drying drops/sprays? 

I'm on Twitter now...

That's right. I never thought this would happen... But I made a Twitter account! My main reason was that I'd love to increase my chances at giveaways (I never win anything and it would be so nice to win something hehe :D). A lot of the times there are extra options like following/sharing on Twitter and Instagram, sometimes these are even mandatory which then made it impossible for me to join the competition.

I am not sure yet how often I will use this or how much I will post, but I'd sure love to follow other nail polish lovers and talk tweet about our obsession!

Find me at https://twitter.com/Ongleterre

~ OPI Jinx ~

My sweetest boyfriend gave me the beautiful OPI Jinx for my birthday (I turned 20 yesterday!). We both can't stop staring at it. You have probably already seen a zillion pictures of the OPI bond girls collection... and you probably also read that Jinx looks 'way better in real life' and that everybody just loves it, well, it just won't stop and I hope you haven't had enough of this polish yet, because here are my pictures and opinion of Jinx. Jinx's base seems to be pink/coral, white the shimmer is orange and gold. This combination makes Jinx a lovely, sparkly, bright, coral stunner. I applied two coats. All pictures were taken outside in natural light unless stated otherwise! :)

Spring time flower nails with pictorial

(Without top coat)

I am so happy with this manicureeee :D I hope it will make you happy too! I spotted these awesome nails on Caroline Burke's blog. Thanks Caroline for doing such pretty nail design every time, I copied one of your designs before and now I'm doing it again :)! It seems like a lot of nail art bloggers copy designs from others without sharing the source. I think that's rude so if I like and 'steal' your design I'll always let you know and I hope you do the same with me! Now let's start talk about this manicure, and show you way too many pictures ^^.

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (3) A polish you hate + GIVEAWAY (of that polish)

That's right people. I decided I dislike this polish so much that I think it deserves a better owner. I'm honestly never going to use it again so I hope somebody out there would like to adopt it! The funny thing is that I also got this from somebody else so this will be a travelling polish! It's already been to Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

Me no likey...

Other uses of nail polish #2

Click here for the first edition!

Time for a new 'other uses of nail polish'! I found some awesome DIY's :)

1) Making nail decals using craft punches. I found this DIY on this blog.

Mia Secret Pink to Peach - colour changing nail polish :D

 Recently, I somehow came across a lot of pictures and video's of colour changing nail polishes. I own two polishes that change in the sun, one that glows under black light, two glow in the darks and one 'mood polish', that changes with the temperature: Mia Secret 'Pink to Peach'. I realized that I only wore that last one two times max (maybe just once) and I thought: why not give it a try again?

Apple nails with Essence L.O.L and a Born Pretty Store image plate

Who else loves nail art that involves fruit? Fruit makes everything look so happy and nice :). I got a new image plate from Born Pretty that I hadn't tried yet, so I decided to use it for the first time and I picked the image I liked best. I also used my newest Essence polish for the first time. Meet L.O.L, one of the weirdest, most original nail polishes I've ever seen...

Natural light

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (2) A polish that's your favourite

Hello there! It's time for the second part (challenge? stage? what shall I call this?) of the 2013 Nail Art Challenge. It was too hard to pick my ultimately favourite nail polish so I decided to use the favourite that was most recently added to my collection: Catrice Mint Me Up. Beware: this post has a  LOT of pictures.