Does glitter make you bitter? I just might be able to cure that!
You can also put little pieces of tissue or cotton pads that have been soaked in acetone remover around your fingertips and secure them with an elastic band. Example shown below.
After this be sure to wash your hands thoroughly and moisturize them as Acetone can be very drying for the skin!
I hope this little trick will help you as much as it has helped me already. And let me know if you’ll give this a go and what you thought of it!
Posted in Acetone, Gel, Glitter, Nail care, Nail Polish, Nail polish remover, Nailpolish, Nails, Shellac, Tips and Tricks | 
10 CommentsIs Gosh Glitter Nail Dust sparking up your interest yet?
Have you you ever tried to paint your nails with loose glitter? I have, and I can tell you from my own experience what an absolute disaster it can be. I’ve always wished for an easier, less messy way to do this. Recently fashion forward brand Gosh seemed to have read my mind and has released their very interesting Glitter Nail Dust.
Just paint your nails with a clear polish or color polish of your choice, dunk your nail in the pot and carefully wipe off any excess with a little brush!
As you can see there are ten different colors and they are currently, as far as I know, only being sold in the United Kingdom at Superdrug where they retail for £3.99.
I can’t wait to see if it comes to the other countries that have Gosh as well and what great creations will be made with it. The ideas are endless really, for instance; for a different effect try dipping just the tip! Instant french glitter mani! How cool is that?
Have you already had the chance to play with these fine nail glitters? And if not; will you be looking for these at your local Gosh section?
Dior Blue Tie Beauty Collection Nail Polishes Fall 2011
The famous fashion house of Dior is soon releasing their latest beauty collection to celebrate the upcoming fall season. The Dior Blue Tie collection is the creation of Dior’s new makeup ambassador, Andrew Gallimore.
As Dior is known for a great collection of nail polishes I shall, of course, use this post to focus on the lovely shades of polish that will be arriving with this collection any day now.
There will be three shades of nail polish released with this collection, the first one is called Beige Safari which is a pretty pale pink nude. Suitable for not just that nice sharp business suit you have for important meetings but also for a softer look. You know what I mean, that nice and warm early fall evening while you wear your summer dress. It also acts as a nice base for the other two colors in the collection as it will ensure you don’t have a blue hue to your nails after removing the blue polish.
Up next is Tuxedo which is a rich, dark, mysterious sapphire. It’s almost a black-blue with a lovely shimmer to it. And it’s my favorite of the three. It’s not a color we haven’t seen before with other brands, but if you insist on wearing a new Dior nail polish – this is one of the must have colors of the fall.
And last, but certainly not least, is a nice cream blue called Blue Denim. There’s not very much I can say about this color because really, it’s just a blue cream with nothing else to it, no slight shimmer, interesting finish or anything, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it, of course, is a nice nearly navy blue.
I’ve heard from the people that had the chance to swatch the polishes already that the formula was quite thick, yet not streaky or hard to work with. You get good coverage with just one coat, but like most people I prefer two, just to be on the safe side.
All in all a nice small collection but I personally don’t see anything I haven’t seen before and shall be saving the $21 these bottles retail at for some other colors I do not have in my collection yet.
How about you? Are you a Dior Addict and are you already pining away for one or all of these colors? Or are you skipping this collection just like I am?
Posted in Andrew Gallimore, Beauty, Beige, Beige Greige category, Black, Blue, Christian Dior, Collection, Cream, Dior, Limited Edition, Midnight Blue, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, Opaque, Preview, Shimmer, Style, Trend | 2 CommentsThe Muppets are bringing the Wocka Wocka to O.P.I!
Recently we’ve seen quite a few celebrities release their own sets of nailpolishes and I guess this time is no different. Well, okay it is because… well – they’re puppets!
Girls, I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am about the twelve piece polish collection O.P.I. will be releasing this holiday season along with a lovely new gold shatter polish as it features none other than the Muppets!
The colors are sometimes soft, other times shimmery and glittery and some even loud – just like many of the beloved stars of the new ‘The Muppets‘ movie that is going to be released just in time for the holidays!
I’ve looked at the twelve colors and I have to admit to wanting nearly all of them, And that doesn’t happen to me very often when a collection gets released! Let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Posted in 2011, Blue, Bronze, Collection, Copper, Cream, Deborah Lippmann, Dupe, Fuchsia, Glitter, Gold, Green, Holiday Season, Metallic, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, O.P.I., Pink, Preview, Purple, Rainbow, Red, Set, Shatter, Shimmer | 12 CommentsAre you in shape?
Nails come in all shapes and sizes. I know that and I’m sure you all know that too. Some people prefer to file the tip square, while others prefer a round or even almond shaped nail.
Not just the natural nail is shaped in different sizes these days. Now that we have started to artificially lengthen our nails, did you know that there are gel and acrylic nails with more shapes out there too? These started with the rounded and square tips too, but soon the almond shape followed and of course the infamous stiletto nail.
There are lots of in between shapes and fantasy shapes out there too that can’t really be categorized, but recently there were two new and very distinct shapes added to the mix. One of them is a shape for acrylic nails and they are called Duck Bills or Flare Nails, this, of course, is due to their shape. I have to admit, I myself am not very impressed by the shape and feel like they would be hard to do things with but I’m sure a lot of people rock it greatly and with pride.
These ‘new nails’ have actually been around for a little longer than you expect. You see, one of the places where the trend started was in a salon in a little town in Sacramento owned by Alison Martinez. And according to her it started eight years ago.
According to her the trend is only getting hotter and now even nail companies are selling flared tips. Actually there is even another nailshape that has been born from this. The tips for that are called the V tip or a fishtail tip, which is like a flare but the top is a bit curved, like a V or a fishtail.
Other people in the business think it’s actually on its way out slowly, but still lingering a bit now because it’s cheaper than gel nails. A lot of them actually refuse to do them because they are difficult to refill or because they just really do not like them and think their client would look better with a different shaped nail. Some even go as far as saying that gel AND acrylics are on their way out as in Los Angeles they are already spotting more and more people with natural nails.
Now on to the latest trend; Facet- or Edge nails. There isn’t much I can tell about them yet as they are really new. The only thing I can tell you is that they are derived from the now very popular stiletto nail but as you can see in the picture below they have a quirky difference, the top has a ridge that usually starts at the smile line and that gets more narrow towards the tip, almost like a little roof. The effect is quite interesting and I have to say these nails are more to my taste than the previously mentioned style.
Very closely related to the Edge nail is the Bridge nail. Which also has the recognizable side facets but differs in having a flat top instead of the sharp edge that the Edge nail has. The top is worked into a point by the nail stylist usually by using a certain type of tweezers like pictures below.
So, now I have a question; what do you all think of these? Are you sticking to the regular shapes, or are you going to spice things up a little bit and go for something different next time you visit a nail salon?
Also, have you already spotted people wearing these styles?
Posted in 3D, Acrylic, Beauty, Bridge Nails, Duckbill nails, Flare Nails, Gel, Glitter, Hot, Links, Nail Art, Nails, Nfu Oh, Style, Trend | 12 CommentsYSL has done it again!
While I am all still enjoying the color blocking trend with bright colors that is currently going on in the fashion world, luxury cosmetics and high fashion brand Yves Saint Laurent has already caught my attention. How did they do it? By releasing the product pictures of a gorgeous new Autumn/winter collection called “the Midnight Garden” created by top designer Lloyd Simmons.
Aren’t they stunning? The top deep blue color is called Moonlight Blue and the lighter, almost teal color below that is called Wintergreen. Both have a light shimmer effect and I’m sure everyone knows that it will look amazing on your nails.
With its beautiful deep, dark colors – that have clearly been inspired by hot house gardens, tropical flowers and exotic birds – it gives an overall fantasy winter garden effect. It is quite the contrast with the current corals, bright yellows and other neon colors we have seen on the fashion runways for this season and I love it!
Along with the polishes, YSL will release six new ‘Rouge Volupte Perle’ colors for the lips, the stunning ‘Ombres 5 Le Lumieres’ eyeshadow palette and six ‘le Blush Radiance’ blushes. These will all hit a store near you (depending on where you live) this July and will cost about €35.
What do you think of these polishes? Are you thinking about getting these or will you admire them from afar?
Posted in 2011, August, Beauty, Blue, Collection, Cream, July, Midnight Blue, Nailpolish, Nails, Opaque, Petrol, Preview, Set, Shimmer, Teal, YSL, Yves Saint Laurent | 11 CommentsCute Strawberry Nail art tutorial video!
Learn how to make this cutie here:
This is a little strawberry nailart tutorial requested by the lovely Marjolein of the artismakeup.nl.
If you do not know her and her fantastic make up tutorials yet, you should certainly check her out!
Coming soon… More nailart videos & tutorials!
Music used in this video is Imagine Magneta by Dan-O @ Danosongs.com
Posted in Acrylic paint, Black, China Glaze, Essence, Fruit, Green, Nailpolish, Nails, Permanent marker, Pink, Red, Topcoat, Tutorial, Video, White, Yellow | 14 CommentsO.P.I. is working on shattering breast cancer!
OPI will not be bringing back their Pink of Hearts Nail Lacquer for a fifth consecutive year. This time they’re mixing it up a bit and are releasing a gorgeous hot pink shatter polish instead! They have sent out a press release with all the information about this years special release:
Let’s Shatter Breastcancer!
Showing your support for breast cancer during the month of October has become a fashion statement; OPI wishes to celebrate their partnership with the National Breast Cancer Foundation with their limited edition Pink Ribbon Shatter texturing treatment product, the new fashion statement in nail art.
During the month of September and October, OPI joins forces with the National Breast Cancer Foundation, for our 7th year as silver sponsors, where 100% of profits from the sale of the limited edition Pink Shatter will be donated to the Foundation.
The revolutionary new Pink Ribbon Shatter is a texturing treatment formula that transforms as it dries on your nails. When applied, OPI’s Pink Shatter begins to shatter and disappear, leaving behind a shattered effect in matte within minutes of it being applied onto an OPI lacquer shade. For a high gloss finish, seal the shatter effect by applying another coat of OPI top coat.
Each bottle of Pink Shatter will feature a special pink Shatter shrinkband on the cap and a pink ribbon Shatter hangtag with how-to instructions.
OPI’s Pink Shatter offers a new dimension to nail design, the cracked pattern effect, similar to a pink leopard print, offers another form of fashion statement in nails.
OPI aims to raise another $25,000 for the National Breast Cancer Foundation and assist in their funding of research programs into the prevention and cure of breast cancer, which affects 1 in 9 Australian women.
In support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month, OPI will make a donation of $20,000 to Susan G. Komen for the Cure™ to advance breast cancer research in the USA
To support research and treatment in Canada, OPI will make a $5,000 donation to Rethink Breast Cancer.
OPI’s Pink Ribbon Shatter will be available from September through to October.
Will you be on the hunt for this special polish?
MAC me over collection September 2011
Last year, in November, a special competition was launched at www.macmeover.com, to find a real-person face for MAC’s fall 2011 color collection.
To enter, one had to submit a photo or video of themselves using the phrase, “MAC me over because…” and completing it with “style, heart, and soul.” Entries went through a judging process led by James Gager. Eventually six winners were flown to NYC to be photographed for the campaign. The final image was showcased globally.
These are the lucky few, and their make overs are quite fabulous don’t you think?
Now on to the Nail Lacquers!
There are four colors in this collection. And if you look closely at the models, the lady in the white shirt is wearing the Quiet Time polish, which is a lovely nude. All four colors are shown below.
- Deep Sea Deep teal (Cream) (Limited Edition)
- Purple Majesty Deep purple (Cream) (Limited Edition)
- Fatigues Army green (Cream) (Limited Edition)
- Quiet Time Beige nude (Cream) (Limited Edition)
This Mac Me Over collection will be launched this this September. Do you have your heart set on one of the colors?
Posted in 2011, Beauty, Beige, Beige Greige category, Collection, Competition, Cream, Green, Limited Edition, MAC, Nailpolish, Nails, Nude, Opaque, Pink, Preview, Purple, Teal | 9 CommentsThe Kardashians hook up with Nicole by O.P.I.
The famous Kardashian sisters; Kourtney, Kim and Khloe; have recently been in chats to launch their own line of OPI nail polishes. They are, of course, following in the footsteps of Katy Perry, pro tennis players Venus & Serena Williams, and Justin Bieber who have also partnered with the beauty brand.
Kourtney recently tweeted the following: “Amazing top secret meeting today with OPI!!! I am obsessed with their nail polish colors!” which of course made me very curious. You see, the Kardashians have interesting taste in fashion and O.P.I. has some of the most wanted polishes out on the market, so this could only be the beginning of a fantastic business relationship.
Now we’ve finally been given a sneak peek of their Nicole by OPI nail polish collection and you’re going to love some of the names, I know I do!
On the top from left to right: All Kendall-ed Up, Sealed with a Kris, Kim-pletely in Love, Khloé Had a Little Lam-Lam, Kourt is Red-y for a Pedi, Rainbow in the S-Kylie
At the bottom from left to right: Disco Dolls, Listen to your Momager!, Wear Something Spar-Kylie, It’s All About the Glam, Follow Me on Glitter, Kendall on the Katwalk, My Empire…My Rules
The Kardashian nail polishes hit the stores in the United States this holiday season for $8 a piece.
What are your thoughts on these? Will you be on the hunt for the polishes? If so, which one(s)?
Ciaté twitter contest winner!
I rarely win anything, the only thing I actually remember winning is a juicebox in school many many years ago, that’s about it really.
And now, about a week ago, by tweeting a little message I won a nailcare package provided by HetCosmeticahuis.nl of the British high-end nailpolish brand Ciaté! Can you imagine, a nailpolish nut like me, winning nailpolish and all kinds of awesome other items? I was over the moon I tell you!
Right away I got a sweet private message from Cosmetica Huis telling me I could pick a color and they’d send out the package right away.
That was a tough one, Ciaté has 40 seriously amazing colors. I first wanted to go for my standard go to color; purple. However, I found myself looking at all the wonderful colors this brand has and I opted for a cream style green called ‘Stiletto’. I like green on my nails, somehow it seems to go really well with my pale skin tone and I didn’t have a nice rich sap green like this yet. I already spotted a nice dupe for this color – Starboard from the Anchors Away collection by China Glaze – but since I don’t own this color either I decided to go for the Ciaté one.
Read on to see what my experience with this brand was and of course to see more pictures…
The package arrived two days later and I was just really pleasantly surprised because not only did I win the polish; I had also won a rhinestone wheel with the most adorable little 1mm multicolored rhinestones, a nailpolish remover in a glass bottle which had an adorable matching bow, a nail file and cuticle care cream!
I started with a nice coat of my favorite nail hardener by Orly called ‘Naitrition’ which I’ve mentioned on this blog before then put on two coats of Stiletto. One coat was a bit too sheer for my taste, but two coats did the trick. I liked the brush, it has 250 hairs and it’s slightly oval so it takes good care of your coverage.
The bottle promises that it contains a long lasting full coverage nail enamel so I was going to test this out for sure.
I was sad to discover that a few bits of the polish had chipped off 
by the end of the first day. All of them were along the free edge of my nails, though not all nails were affected and I wondered if it could be the fault of the basecoat I had used. Maybe I should use a Ciaté base coat or possibly not just a nail hardener.
Four days after that sad discovery the chips were, of course, still there. I did not cover them to see what would happen and honestly, no more had appeared and the chips that did occur before hadn’t become any larger. So all in all, I am very very happy about the staying power of this polish and I think that if I had used a different basecoat and topcoat I would have had completely perfect nails through day five.
During the time I wore my polish I started to use the nice jar of Miss Rich Nail Growth Promoting Balm with Biotin that came with the package. On the jar it says the following: “An active Balm enriched with Biotin for its nail strengthening properties. Contains Shea Butter infused with Apricot Kernel, Jojoba and Kukui Oil. These natural ingredients deeply condition and protect nails and cuticles from free 
radicals.” It smells very sweet but it is not overwhelming. So far I’ve really enjoyed the cream but I since I already religiously use my L’Occitane handcreams daily I didn’t feel it was making my hands any softer than they were already so I feel I can’t review this honestly. It is lovely though, nothing wrong with it at all.
When I decided to take off the polish I used the special remover that came with the prize package. Now let me tell you, next to the pretty polish this is my favorite product of the package. You see, when I first got it I spotted that on the front of the bottle it says White Chocolate Gentle and Nourishing Nail Polish Remover which of course made me, a big fan of 
anything chocolate, very curious. It even says so on the bottle: “A gentle nourishing nail polish remover with a non-drying formulation enriched with Panthenol (vitamin B5) and Vitamin E. Delicately fragranced with White chocolate essence.” So I untwisted the cap and took a whiff of it and made a face because, yuck, it smelled just as strong and non chocolaty like all the other regular removers I have used before. I put it aside and kind of forgot about it until I thought it was time to take off the polish. I decided to use the Ciaté remover and poured a little bit of it in a tiny cap and stuck my finger in it to soak off the polish like I always do. After about thirty seconds I was able to whipe it all off my nailplate with a tissue with one whipe and oh my goodness, there it was – once my finger dried – the gorgeous scent of creamy, yummy, delicious chocolate! I had only tried one other scented nail polish remover before that smelled this good and that’s the strawberry one by Konad. However, this one, ladies and gentlemen, takes the cake! If you ever want to spoil yourself you need to order this nailpolish remover as soon as you can!
Besides all these things I also got a lovely wheel filled with 1 mm rhinestones in all kinds of pretty colors and a nailfile for soft/weak nails that I have yet to try.
All in all my first experience with the Ciaté brand, AND the hetcosmeticahuis.nl webshop was quite a pleasant one! I am looking forward to buying some polish colors and more nailcare products by this company. It might take a while before I do this because this is a high end brand and their products are quite pricey as you can see here in the list of products I received in this give-away:
- €15,49 Miss Rich Nail Growth Promoting Balm with Biotin
- €17,99 White Chocolate Gentle and Nourishing Nail Polish Remover
- €11,99 Ciaté – Stiletto – 13.5ml – Creme
- € 3,99 Ciaté – File for soft/weak nails
Alas the rhinestone wheel that I also received with the set is not for sale at the shop so I cannot tell you how much it costs or where you can order it.
If you did buy something I’d love to know what and if you liked it as much as I did.
Posted in Apricot Kernel, Basecoat, Biotin, China Glaze, Chocolate, Ciaté, Competition, Cream, Give-Away, Green, Jojoba Oil, Konad, Kukui Oil, L'Occitane, Nail care, Nail file, Nail Hardener, Nail polish remover, Nailpolish, Nails, Panthenol (Vitamin B5), Review, Rhinestones, Scent, Shea Butter, Topcoat, Twitter, Vitamin E, Webshop | 9 CommentsCatrice – Trend Edition Modern Muse nailpolishes
German cosmetics brand Catrice will soon be launching their ‘Modern Muse’ Limited Edition collection which is an interpretation of the legendary style icons of the sixties; a style Catrice has dubbed modern sixties glamour.
By the looks of it the main colors are beautiful shimmery metallics like bronze, gold and silver. Now I don’t know about you, but I love the look of a nice metallic polish on my nails – so I am really excited for this collection to come out!
On to the details! This polish promises complete coverage in one coat and on top of that they say it will stay on for 7 days. I shall, of course, be testing this as soon as I get my hands on these so I’ll tell you all about it once I know more. Personally, I like all five glorious colors in this collection. And at only €2,49 a bottle I might just buy them all.
The entire ‘Modern Muse’ collection will be hitting the shelves midway through August and will only be out for two months. If you have a hard time getting your hands on them in August when they are first released, fear not for Catrice will graciously add them to their regular collection this fall as well.
Will you be buying any of these colors? Or are the classic reds and pinks more your thing?
Illamasqua makes a ballsy move!
Sometimes you know a make-up brand is very special by the products it creates, the colors it produces and every now and then there’s a funky advertisement that catches your eye.
I’m sure you all have heard of Illamasqua, the absolutely amazing British brand with stunning colors and aforementioned funky advertisements. Well, they’ve taken it a step further and their London branch is now offering an interesting new service…
Let me show you the picture for the ‘The Final Act of Self-Expression‘ campaign that went live today; I’m sure you’ll be able to guess what I’m talking about when you’ve seen it…
Yep, you’ve guessed it, they are now offering services at a funeral home to help the deceased leave this place in style with their very own last look courtesy of Illamasqua!
I’ve already seen quite a few shocked reactions but I personally think this is an incredible move.
Sure, it will cost you a pretty penny (Prices start at £450 and are subject to availability) and you will never get to see the end result. However, you will leave this mortal plane looking absolutely stunning and you can’t take the money with you anyway, so who cares right?
People die, there’s no use denying it because it’s so obvious and true. So why not jump into that niche by providing this service to the people who care about make up so much they want to be buried with a final amazing look?
What do you guys think? Are you disgusted, or do you think it’s a great idea?
Essence – Ballerina backstage collection
While surfing the web for exciting new nail polish goodies to tell you all about I came across the announcement of latest Essence collection called “Ballerina Backstage”.
Now I don’t know about you, but since the movie ‘Black Swan’ my view of ballet has changed from little girls dressed in baby pinks and tutus to something more intense. Something darker, more vivid and grown up. And this upcoming collection by Essence reflects this perfectly. Not only does it have eye & blush souffles, lip gloss, false nails and even an adorable headband, this collection also has 5 delicious new polish colors to choose from. From sweet pinks and corals to strong colors like a black with peach colored shimmers and a bright fuchsia.
The names of the polishes alone already tickle your imagination. What do you think of the name ‘Grand-plié in black’ for instance? Or what about the name ‘On your gracile tiptoe’? Aren’t you just curious already? I know I am! I can’t wait to see the colors in real life when this collection hits the shelves in August this year. I plan to pick up the black for certain as black with colored glitters like these are usually very special and hard to come by.
Will you be getting something from this gorgeous limited edition collection?
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