Lekker Lacquer - Holiday/Winter 2013 Collection

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It's almost Christmas and I've been dying to show you this new Lekker Lacquer Holiday/Winter 2014 Collection earlier, but I was too busy and couldn't keep up with my blogging duties. My apologies! 

So let me show you these 8 new nail polishes that comprise the new collection. Beware that this is going to be a looooooong post with lots of pictures! :)

First up is Santa's Curfew:

Santa's Curfew is a dark blue jelly polish loaded with holographic silver moons, stars, dots, bars, squares and hexes. Swatch above shows 2 coats of Santa's Curfew on its own.

Next is Everybody's Present:

Everybody's Present is a glitter bomb! It has a clear base and tons of green, gold, red and silver glitters in different sizes of hex and dots. The swatch above shows one coat of Everybody's Present over Catrice Hugo Moss. 

The following polish is I Snow What You Did Last Winter:

I Snow What You Did Last Winter is a white crelly polish loaded with orange, blue, silver and black glitters of different sizes and shapes. The swatch above shows 3 coats of ISWYDLW on its own.

The next one is Go Elf Yourself!

Go Elf Yourself is an white crelly polish with with holographic red, green and gold glitters in different sizes and shapes. The swatch above shows 3 coats of Go Elf Yourself on its own.

Chimney John is a bright red crelly loaded with white matte glitter of varying sizes and shapes. The swatch above shows 2 coats of Chimney John. 

Can't Bear The Cold is a jelly blue polish loaded with frost white hex glitters of varying sizes. The swatch above shows 3 coats of Can't Bear The Cold on its own.

Cane Touch This! is a clear polish with micro bar glitter in red and white. The swatch above show 1 coat of Cane Touch This! over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. 

Last but not least is Did It Rein, Deer?

Did It Rein, Deer? is a very sheer light brown jelly polish with with brown hexes, caramel hexes and squares, red dots and bronze micro glitter and a hint of shimmer. The swatch above shows 2 coat of Did It Rein, Deer? over OPI Did You Ear About Van Gogh? And the swatch below shows 1 coat of Did It Rein, Deer? over KIKO 324 Dark Chocolate.

Lekker Lacquer can be purchased thru Lekker Lacquer's etsy store for €5.90 each bottle. Worldwide shipping is available and currently there's a Buy One, Get One free offer that ends on Dec. 27th. Just enter the coupon code BOGO13 at the checkout.

Lekker Lacquer is also on Facebook and Instagram!

Thanks for reading! 

Shimmer Polish - Cassandra

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Hi my lovely readers,

I have another Shimmer polish for you today. Today it's Cassandra's turn.

  

Cassandra is a stunning frosty white iridescent glitter mix in a clear base. It's sparkles so much! It's a must have! Cassandra will look beautiful over any base color. 

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

Thanks for reading!

Shimmer Polish - Jovie

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Today's Shimmer Polish beauty is Jovie. This polish is so beautiful and so sparkly!

 

 Jovie is a pink opalescent/holographic mix of hex glitters with a clear base. I chose the base colors very carefully because I really wanted to bring all the sparkles out. The brown/nude gradient really made Jovie shine! 

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

Thanks for reading!

Rica - Oh, Minnie!

Hi everyone,

Sorry that I've been MIA. My cat Cookie brought home 2 baby mice that luckily weren't hurt at all. They still had their eyes closed, so I had to nurse them or they wouldn't make it. So for the past few days I've been waking up every 2 hours round the clock to feed them. Their eyes finally opened and the babies have been weaned, so they can eat now on their own. If you want to see pictures of my baby mice, check my personal instagram account. 

Coincidentally, I had Minnie Mouse on my nails!  

The polish used on my index and pinky is Rica Oh, Minnie! For the gradient background, I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Essie Play Date. The Minnie was painted free hand using acrylic paints.

Oh, Minnie! has a pink-lilac base color with white, pink and silver holographic hexes in different sizes. And tons of mouse holo glitters. This one required less fishing than Real Girls Wear Mickey Ears. The swatch above shows 3 thin coats of Oh, Minnie! on its own. 

Here's a macro bottle shot of Oh, Minnie!

I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading!

Rica - Real Girls Wear Mickey Ears

Hi my lovelies,

look what I have for you today! This super cute glitter polish is Real Girls Wear Mickey Ears by Rica. 

I couldn't resist, it's too adorable! Real Girls Wear Mickey Ears is a mix of red squares, white rectangles, yellow and black dots, small holographic silver hexes and best of all, Mickey Mouse shaped glitters!!!!!! How cool is that?! Application required some fishing, but I managed to easily get some Mickey Mouse glitter on my nails. I applied 2 coats of RGWME over Essence Got a Secret.

So to go with the theme, I hand painted Mickey Mouse on my ring finger using acrylic paints. The base color is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls.

Here's a macro bottle shot to show you the awesomeness!

So how do you like it?! :)

[Tutorial] Watercolor Hearts

Hello everyone,

those who follow me on Instagram already saw this mani, which I created for the Rainbow Collab 2, hosted by the super talented ChristabellNails and NailsLikeLace. 

   

Polish used: OPI Alpine Snow

Surprisingly, this was my most liked nail art photo ever on Instagram! And a lot of people asked me for a tutorial, so I decided to make a Youtube video tutorial. It's my first time making video tutorials, and I was stupid enough not to use my HD camera, so the video is far from perfect. But it's a beginning! 

I hope you like it and I plan to create more tutorials (with better quality) soon! 

[Review] BornPrettyStore Water Decals

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Hello my dear readers,

Today I want to show you another set of water decals that I received from BornPrettyStore for review.

Polish used: OPI My Vampire is Buff

These decals are really cute and apply like most decals, in 5 easy steps:

1. Remove the plastic protective foil
2. Cut the decal you want to use
3. Dunk it in water for about 10 - 20 seconds
4. Slide the decal off and with the help of tweezers, apply it on your nail
5. Apply to coat to seal in your design.

You can purchase these decals at BornPrettyStore.com and they sell for $1.86 each. Furthermore, BPS offers free worldwide shipping and if you use my coupon code AA7J61 you get a 10% off of your entire purchase!

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Shimmer - Astrid

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Hi my lovelies,

Today I would like you to meet Astrid!

Astrid is a mix of opalescent, holographic and amethyst hex glitter in different sizes. Like all other Shimmer Polish I have tried so far, Astrid applies effortlessly and is packed with glitter. You'll get plenty of shimmer and sparkle in just one coat. For the swatch above I applied one thick coat of Astrid over a gradient using Illamasqua Jo'mina, OPI You're Such a Budapest and OPI Alpine Snow. 

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

Thank you all for reading! 

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Shimmer - Jacki

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Hi everyone,

How are you all doing? I hope you are all ready for some more Shimmer Polish, because today I have another one to show you! Meet Jacki!

According to description on Shimmer's website, Jacki is a violet and navy sparkle glitter polish, but when I looked at my bottle of Jacki, I must say I did not see that violet and navy sparkle. All I saw was this very subtle mix of dark red and silver macro glitters in a brownish jelly base, just like you see in the macro bottle shot below. So I picked OPI Mrs O'Leary's BBQ as a matching shade for my accent nail. But I was in total AWE when I applied Jacki on my nails. What you see on the swatch above is what I saw too! It's like there's an entire galaxy on my nails!!!!! OMG!!! It's STUNNING! I even think that Chanel Taboo would have been a better choice for my accent nail. But I like how this combo turned out anyway. After all, it's an ACCENT nail. For the swatch above, I applied 2 coats of Jacki over OPI Mrs O'Leary's BBQ.

Shimmer Jacki is very much like the previous 2 Shimmer shades I tried. Application is perfect, it has a smooth finish and it's packed with shimmer!

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

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Shimmer - Mary

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Hello again my lovely readers!

Last week I posted a swatch of my first Shimmer Polish, which was Cindy. Today I want to show you another beautiful Shimmer Polish shade: Mary.

Mary is a mix of different sizes of red, silver and black hex glitters in a red jelly base. It also applied effortlessly and you could also get away with just one coat. But because I wanted to show you how sparkly Mary is, I applied 2 coats over OPI No Spain No Gain. 

I'm again very impressed by the quality, application and looks of Shimmer Polish. Just like Shimmer Cindy, the glitters lay flat on the nail and it dries to a relatively smooth surface. It's not as gritty or rough as most glitter polishes of the same kind.

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

I hope you are all liking the Shimmer glitter bombs, because I'm coming with more later this week! :-)

Thanks for reading!

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Barry M Limited Edition

Hello again my lovelies,

I got a lot of nail polish for my birthday and it's time to start trying them out. I'll start with some beautiful Barry M Limited Edition polishes that came in with 5 other Barry M I got as a birthday present. 

These 2 polishes don't have names, unfortunately. The pink one is a a jelly and dries to a satin, rubber-like finish, not shown in the picture. I applied 2 coats but there's still some visible nail line showing, so I'd recommend 3 coats. The yellow, on the other hand, is very bright and creamy! Opaque in 2 easy coats. 

On my middle and ring fingers I applied OPI Alpine Snow and painted that same tribal pattern you see on the lid of the yellow polish. 

I really like these 2 polishes and this mani! So bright and summery! 

Thanks for reading!

OPI - Couture de Minnie

Hello everyone,

I'd like to show you the mani I had on for my birthday last week. Some of you have already seen it on Instagram, but here it is for those who haven't. 

I've had the OPI - Couture de Minnie polishes for quite some time, but had never used them. So I thought my birthday was a perfect occasion to get the polishes out of my Helmer and have them on my nails!

The collection consists of 5 shades, but for this mani I used 4 of them. For my thumb, index and pinkie I applied 2 coats of Magazine Cover Mouse, which is a gorgeous Liquid Sand polish. For the middle and ring fingers I did a gradient using a makeup sponge, using the same technique I used for this tutorial. I used A Definite Moust-Have and Chic from Ears to Tail, both from the Couture de Minnie collection, and OPI Alpine Snow.  Then I topped the middle finger with one thin coat of Minnie Style and painted the Minnie on my ring finger with acrylic paint and a fine detail brush.

As you'll notice, my bottle of Minnie Style has white square glitter in it! It looks like OPI added (by mistake or not?) the leftover white square glitter from Lights of Emerald City in this batch. I don't mind it at all! Minnie Style looks way cooler this way! Don't you think?

And here's a closeup of Magazine Cover Mouse:

I hope you like it and I wish you all a wonderful week!

Thanks for reading! XX

Pokémon

Hello again!

Last week the super talented @RachelSequoia invited me to join her and @LexieJade to create a Bestie Triplet Pokémon mani. The idea was that each one of us would create a different Pokémon mani. So here's the design I created:

I must say Pokémon is not really my generation, so I had to Google some Pokémon stuff and I asked my friend for help. I found this super cute drawing of Vulpix and Cubone, which I found perfect for the challenge! 

Photo credit: Ximerika

Here are all three designs:

African Sunset version 2.0

Hi everyone,

I have decided to recreate an old favorite nail art of mine - the African Sunset, so I could enter an instagram contest hosted by @stylish_mom. So I came up with the African Sunset version 2.0.

I used a couple of shades of red, orange and yellow to create a gradient for the sunset background. Then I freehand painted the animals and trees using black acrylic paint.

I did this version slightly different from the previous one. I painted the same animals - the giraffe and the elephant, but two of each this time. I kinda like this version a little more than the first one. :-) What do you think?

I hope you all liked it!

Thanks for reading!

Lush Lacquer - Neon Madness

Hello my lovelies,

I was in Dallas, TX this past week, so I couldn't post any new manis. But here's the mani I was wearing during my trip.

Neon Madness is the first Lush Lacquer I'm trying from the bunch of Lush Lacquers I bought at their etsy store and I must say they all look awesome in the bottle! Judging by the looks of Neon Madness on my nails, I'm pretty sure the other ones will look awesome too!

These polishes are perfect for the summer! They are so bright and they glow under UV light!!!! :-D

This is one coat of Neon Madness over OPI Alpine Snow and on my accent nail I used Polish Me To Go neon shades in Sunny Days, Lucky Me, Pretty Girls and Orange you Glad?. I applied these shades with a makeup sponge.

The bottle is packed with neon hexes in green, pink, orange and yellow suspended in a clear base. These hexes are kind of transparent and very thin and have a smooth finish.

I hope you like it and I wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Penélope Luz - Sarcasm

Hello everyone,

today I want to show another Penélope Luz beauty: Sarcasm.

Sarcasm is such a beautiful polish! I applied 2 coats for the swatch above and 1 coat for the swatch below. I applied it over OPI My Vampire is Buff, which is one of my favorite base colors and I definitely need to buy a backup bottle.

Sarcasm is a mix of hex glitter in different colors, mostly bright neon colors and tiny matte black hex all suspended in a clear base. I love this combo! And yes, my nails are shorter on my right hand. :-P They keep on breaking, so they hardly keep up with their left hand siblings.

Thanks for reading!