Lovely layering: Glittery Elderberry

Hi everyone! It's time for MORE BARRY M! I just can't get enough (can you? - if so, I'm sorry. I still have one other polish to try out). Today I proudly present: Elderberry. This polish has such a peculiar greyish blue colour, it's very interesting! 

Friend's fingernails: three tone nail art

One cold Sunday my friend Madelief came over to get her nails done.

Jelly sandwich with Revlon Girly

Hey everyone! Today is all about Revlon Girly, the last polish that I had to test from the little Revlon nail polish set that I bought in October.

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. 

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? 

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

Nail care essential: Essence nail hardening (and scented!) nail polish remover

Today I'd like to show you one of my nail care essentials: the Essence nail hardening nail polish remover. If you change your nail polish a lot, you can't do without nail polish remover and you probably prefer a cheap one, since it won't last that long. It's best to pick an acetone free one, since it will do less damage to the nails and the skin around them. This nail polish remover is acetone free AND cheap, which makes it just perfect.

What I love about this nail polish remover:

• It contains castor seed oil
• It doesn't contain acetone
• It leaves a really nice scent (strawberry and passion fruit)
• It works fast
• It's cheap, €0,99!

~ Essence Be flowerful ~ ft. hearts (and mini tutorial)

Hello ladies (and gentlemen?)! A few days ago I went to the store to look for the Essence 'Floral Grunge' LE and all products were still there! I bought one of the polishes. It seemed to me like a more pink version of Essie Tart Deco, a polish I would love to own (although I doubt it will look good with my skin).

Soft sunlight

Sunlight

Norwegian Bad Boys That Surf (sounds good right?)

Hey guys! I'm sorry if this is getting boring - but here is another blue manicure! I treated myself at H&M yesterday and bought two new nail polishes, a cute coral one and the one I'm using today: Norwegian Sky. I keep thinking it's called Norwegian Wood because of The Beatles and Haruki Murakami... Anyway, it's very pretty :).

Blue Bows on Berries

Hello ladies (and guys? Perhaps?)! Here is another berry manicure ^^. It might not feel like spring yet but me and my nails are just pretending it does :). Today I felt like wearing a polish from the Fruity limited edition by Essence. This LE is from last year and I still love it. Back then I got this indie-brand kind of feel when I saw this polishes, because of their spare glitter. Not very drugstor-y. I used three coats of 'Mashed Berries'. I don't mind that this one needs more layers - the sheerness really gives you that fruit smoothie-like feeling. They look so delicious... and I love how the glitter peeks through the various layers like in a jelly sandwich. I hope you like it too :)

Cute? Check!

Hello nail polish lovers (: Spring seems to be coming and so today I really really felt like wearing pastels! So I grabbed my NYC mint macaroon polish and stamped a golden checker print on the top. The result? A very cute pastel manicure:

Magnetic nail spirals with new Essence stuff :D

Dear readers, today is a very special day! I got my hands on the magnet pen, new in the Essence collection. I was dying to get it and along with this awesome thingy, I bought a new magnetic nail polish called 'Witch you were here'. I practiced a bit with the pen by layering over yesterday's graffiti manicure and chose to do a full manicure with a spiral design I came up with.

My most frequently used top coats

After writing about my most frequently used base coats it is time to say a little something about the top coats I like to use! I don't use top coat that often. I don't really need my manicures to last long since I like changing what's on my nails every two or three days. When I do use top coat, I probably grab one of these three bottles!

 




Essence - top speed gloss
This is a thin top coat that dries very fast. I use this when I wear very cheap, fast chipping polishes and don't feel like a thick sealing coat.

Girly Polkadot French with MAX nail stamps

Hello dear readers (: I was quite excited about doing this manicure because I used something I was curious about to create it. At Action, I found a very cheap nail art stamping kit. Though I allready own two Konad sets, I decided to buy this becayse I didn't have the included plate yet, and it was just €1,- ! It's not the most perfect manicure ever but I thought it was very cute and I wanted to share it :D

 

My most frequently used base coats

I think it's bad that I never wrote something about my base- or top coats! I didn't include them in my stash file and I hardly ever mention using them, but they serve me every time I paint my nails... so after the jump there's a little something on my base coats, the top coats will be starring in their own post.

~ Elves like lilac ~

I found this Essence polish on sale for just €1,- ! It's very fascinating - in my pictures you will see a mostly blue sparkle, but in real life I discovered pink, purple, and even a little bit of green shimmer!

This polish is part of the limited edition 'Fantasia'

With flash

Duochromed 70's

I've been wanting to do a little stamping on top of a duochrome polish for quite a while, and now I finally did it! I don't own a lot of polishes that work for stamping but fortunately GOSH bubble gum does the job pretty well! I used an Essence stamping plate and I noticed that the thin parts of the image did not transfer very well... if anyone has tips on this - let me know! :D
And now for some images...

Kawaii Star Nails ^.^

This manicure turned out looking like something a girl from Japan would wear... So that's why I named this Kawaii Star Nails ^.^!

I love the Essie polish I used as my base, turquoise & caicos. It needs three coats though (without nail art on top of it might even need four), but the colour makes up for it. I stamped stars on the top and finished my nails with MAX 'daimond sky' (I'm not spelling this wrong, it says 'daimond' on the bottle).

 

Glitter fade

Sparkle sparkle sparkle!!

 

More sparkly pictures after the jump ;)