Nails of the day follow up!
I’ve decided to add some stamping to the previous nails using Dashica XL SdP image plate 8.
I am really enjoying this a lot right now. I hope you like it too!
Posted in 2012, Blue, China Glaze, Cream, Crème, Duri, Fashion, Gradient, Links, Manicure, Mattésse Elite, May, Mint, Nail Art, Nail Hardener, Nail of the Day, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, Nails of the week, Nicole by O.P.I., Opaque, Petrol, Rejuvacote, Seche Vite, Sponged, Stamping, Stamping system, Stars, Style, Summer, Topcoat, Trend, White | 
6 CommentsNail of the day: Mint to teal gradient
Just a very quick drive by posting of my nail of the day which is a gradient I did using China Glaze – For Audrey as a base color and along with that I used Sinful Colors – Why Not, Mattésse Elite – Vig(Thank you again Marissa for sending me that set! They’re stunning!) and Nicole By O.P.I.’s Khloe had a little Lam-Lam to sponge over it leaving me with a nice fresh looking gradient. I hope you like it!
Have you tried gradient nails yet? Or is this not your thing at all?
Posted in 2012, Blue, Cream, Crème, Duri, Fashion, Gradient, Manicure, Mattésse Elite, May, Mint, Nail Art, Nail Hardener, Nail of the Day, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, Nails of the week, Nicole by O.P.I., O.P.I., Petrol, Rejuvacote, Seche Vite, Sponged, Style, Summer, Teal, Topcoat, Trend | 4 CommentsTime to Christmas it up in here!
This is my current festive manicure, what do you ladies (and possible gentlemen) think of it?
It’s a layer of Sally Hansen’s Triple Strong as a base. Over that I have OPI’s An Affair in Red Square with a little layer of Beyu’s 209 over it for some extra depth. I’ve stamped an all over image with white Konad stamping polish on top of it for some holiday cheer. It’s an image from the BIG SdP K plate. One of the many Dashica Beauty Shop plates that I have. Over that I’ve dabbed some foil glue in the spots where I wanted my rhinestones to be and after putting those on I’ve used Seche Vite topcoat to seal it all. If you have not tried Seche Vite I seriously urge you to try it. It is the best topcoat I’ve tried. It dries gorgeously shiny and fast. And it keeps my manicure going for at least a week if applied correctly.
What do you think? I rarely wear red on my nails so it takes some getting used to for me and I might just switch when it’s Christmas, to something else and more sophisticated like Chanel Graphite. But for now it’s certainly helping me get in the holiday spirit!
Are you wearing any special holiday manicures this year?
Posted in 2011, Basecoat, Chanel, Clear, Crimson, December, Foil, Foil Glue, Holiday Season, Manicure, Nail Art, Nail Hardener, Nail of the Day, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, Nails of the week, O.P.I., Red, Sally Hansen, Seche Vite, Shimmer, Stamping, Stamping system, Topcoat, White, Winter | 7 CommentsThe Nailpolish tag!
I was recently tagged by the lovely Natascha of Beautytas.nl with this little quiz about my love for polish… Here we go:
How many polishes do you have? - About 250, I’ve honestly lost count and I like it that way! {It’s called denial I think}
What’s the most owned brand? - China Glaze, OPI is a close second.
What’s the most common color in your stash? – Purple, but I also have a lot of greens.
Are there colors or finishes you do not own? – I recently found out about sherbet, which is a finish that lies between jelly and cream. I don’t own that yet, but I don’t think I need it really. And colorwise I think I really do have everything and if not it’s on the way (like a black, dark green and bronze holo by Glittergal <3)
Is there a polish you wear the most, write share the color and the brand with us! - Not really to be honest, I have so many that I don’t often get to wear a polish more often than once. There’s a polish that I am very impressed with right now though; Greta by the Make-Up Store. It’s THE holo-est holo I’ve ever seen <3
What polish should you have tossed out ages ago but haven’t? - Honestly none. I love them all and polish rarely goes off, even if it looks like it, if you shake it for a bit it’s usually as good as new. And if not it probably just needs a few drops of polish thinner. {As her best friend and friendly editor, I say there is a polish she needs to get rid of, but I think getting rid of any polish breaks her heart so she holds on for dear life. There is a polish that she wore when she came to visit me in the US that needs to go. She put a Del Sol polish over a base coat color she had on and it ended up looking like something you’d find in a babies diaper and made her look very sickly. I say toss it, but I know she’d cry. We just agree to disagree on this one because I don’t want to make her cry *wink* – Angel.}
Do you use Base- and topcoat? - Religiously. It doesn’t only protect and sometimes even nurtures your nails, but it also makes your manicure last much longer.
Would you rather stamp your nail art on or are you a fan of doing it freehand? - I like a mix of both really. Stamping if I’m in a hurry, freehand if I want something more unique.
Do you like shimmers and glitters or are you more into a cream finish? - I love shimmers, I love a nice even cream, but I’m not so much into glitter because they’re just such a hassle to get off again even if you do it with a nice trick.
Do you feel naked without nail polish? - Sadly, yes I seriously do!
What polish are you wearing at the moment? – Blagger by Butter London. A gorgeous rich blue cream that reminds me of the blue of Dr Who’s Tardis. Yes I’m a nerd and I’m proud of it! *Grins*
Thank you for the tag Natascha, I had fun filling this one out!
Posted in 2011, Angel, Basecoat, Beauty, China Glaze, Cream, Del Sol, Glitter, Glitter Gal, Green, Holographic, Konad, Links, Make Up Store, Nail Hardener, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, Nude, O.P.I., Purple, Seche Vite, Shopping, Stamping, Stamping system, Style, Topcoat, UV activated nailpolish | 4 CommentsGuest blog: A Nail Skeptic’s Experience
A few weeks ago, my dear friend Claudia told me that I could write a guest blog on NailingThis.com any time I would like. Now, I thought that was sweet of her, but I didn’t think there would ever be a moment when I would actually have anything to write about for her wonderful site. You see, I am not a typical girl. I don’t wear makeup ever. I don’t even own any makeup products. And nail polish – well… the farthest that goes is my toes. I never paint my fingernails.
See, I have some health issues and this has lead to some really bad nails throughout my entire life. I have really weak brittle nails that crack, peel and just break easily. They don’t grow real great and if they do, they eventually just tear and snag on something so they break. I’m also really great at bending them back to a painful degree because they are caught on something. And then there’s the wonderful curse I carry – The curse of the deep, disgusting nail ridges. How I loathe thee! The ridges are so defined that applying any kind of polish just makes my nails look even more ridiculous.
The other day, I decided I was going to drop into Ulta because I needed a purple polish for my toes (great new outfit, but no polish to match it). While I was there, I grabbed Nail Tek’s Foundation III; ridge-filing- nail strengthener-base coat. I’m a bit of a skeptic when it comes to any product like this because, as I mentioned, I have really awful nails. I have tried just about everything and have long ago given up on finding any product that actually does what it says.
Last night, I decided to give Foundation III a try and I have to tell you, I am completely impressed. The polish goes on white so you can see what part of your nail you have covered and it dries more translucent. Once the polish was dry, I had the most amazingly even, smooth nails. No more ridges!! I can’t even tell you the last time I – if I ever did – had nails that looked ridge free! If I had nails that looked like this I would probably paint them, but this is the first time I’ve ever experienced looking at my nails like this. I am completely impressed with the way Nail Tek Foundation III managed to do exactly what it said it would and how amazing my nails look. I slapped some top coat on and left them be for now. I find myself looking at them from time to time and just thinking ‘wow I have great nails!’ This must be what all the other girls feel like on a regular basis.
After five days, it was still going strong. There were no chips and it still looked amazing on my nails. The only reason I took it off on day five was because there were outlines where my nails had already grown out and I needed to do some touching up. I don’t like painting over already there nail polish so I removed it and started over. The other problem I have noticed is that if I don’t apply a top coat, the edges start to peel a little bit around day five, also something that isn’t a big deal considering it’s five days of wear. I do a lot of typing so this is the ultimate test and it passed with flying colors!
Trust me; I am a huge skeptic when it comes to nail products. I’ve tried everything and have always been severely disappointed. I am, now, a firm believer and a lover of this Nail Tek product and I will likely be checking out their other products as well! I can’t wait to put it on and slap some color on as well and see what that looks like! So, if you have nail problems, like I have my entire life, I strongly recommend trying out the Nail Tek products!
Posted in Angel, Clear, Guestblog, Nail care, Nail Hardener, Nail Polish, Nail Tek, Nailpolish, Nails, Ridge filler, Ulta | 8 CommentsNail of the day – Silver Lining
Every cloud has its silver lining. There have been plenty of rainclouds here in the Netherlands lately so I thought I’d add my own little silver lining here with this stamped nail art.
Due to the current weather conditions here I’m already in an autumn kind of mood so this is also a little preview of this falls fashion colors. I hope you like it as much as I do!
I used the following to achieve this look:
- Bourjois So Laque Ultra Shine in Bleu Violet as a base color – a beautiful violet blue that I’m in love with each time I get to wear it.
- China Glaze Millenium as a stamping polish. – I love the foil finish of this polish, it’s just so shiny!
- Nail stamp and scraper, tissues and acetone.
- Big SdP plate – I from Dashica Beauty Shop (No they don’t sponsor me, I just adore all of their plates and own many of them by now.)
- And because the so laque polishes chip very easily I decided to go with the Nail Envy by O.P.I. nailhardener first before using Bonder by Orly as a base for the Bourjois laquer. After that I applied O.P.I. QuickDry topcoat to finish the look.
What do you think? Is it something you’d wear?
Posted in 2011, Basecoat, Blue, China Glaze, Metallic, Midnight Blue, Nail Art, Nail Hardener, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, Nails of the week, O.P.I., Opaque, Orly, September, Silver, Stamping, Stamping system, Style, Topcoat, Trend, Vinyl, Webshop | 27 CommentsWhen yellow isn’t so mellow…
Yellow nail polish is currently quite a hit and I’ve rocked the color numerous times already. But what if, underneath it all, your nails are stained just as yellow and you’re afraid to go ‘bare nail’ because of that?
If you have stains on your nails from nail polish or other staining things like paint and such, luckily there are a few things you can do about it. You can start by using a good basecoat religiously and wait for the yellow stains to grow out, but you can also speed up the process by doing a few other things…
- You can use one of those nail-buffers that you can use to make your nails shine to buff the top layer off of your nail. If you’re lucky and you’ve only had a polish stain the top layer, this is the perfect one time solution to getting rid of those ugly yellow tint stains on your nails. Because this is quite an aggressive way to treat the stains I suggest you do this no more than once every month or two. Buffing your nail does make your nail thinner every time you do it and you will end up with perhaps pretty looking, but extremely thin and fragile nails. You don’t want that do you?
- You can soak your nails in water with lemon juice or lemon slices. The acid in the juice will strip away stains and grease. Do not do this too often as your nails do, of course, contain calcium and calcium and acid aren’t exactly friends and it can leave your nails soft and weak. If you don’t have much time and don’t want to do the whole soaking things; simply rub a slice of lemon directly underneath and on top of your nails.
- Mix up a nice little paste with some lemon juice and baking soda. It doesn’t only look cool because it will start to fizz a little, but it will also whiten your nails quite a bit when you scrub your nails with this mixture using an old toothbrush. Beware that this is quite an abrasive little mix and it might end up making your nails feel quite rough, so do not do this too often!
- Not everyone has just a couple of lemons or baking soda lying around, so you can also use a common whitening toothpaste. So try scrubbing your nails with an old toothbrush and whitening toothpaste!
- This is something I do often myself: Dissolve a tablet of denture cleaner into a small bowl of lukewarm water. Then, soak your nails for about five to ten minutes. Sure your fingers will smell minty and that’s not always something you want, but it will also have cleaned your nails quite a bit. This is also a great tip for people who have long acrylic or gel nails to get them really cleaned up well underneath as it’s sometimes hard to get into each nook and cranny when washing your hands!
- If you happen to have some 3% hydrogen peroxide in your medicine cabinet you could soak a cotton ball with it and rub it into your nails. Let it dry and rinse your hands before putting on a basecoat or a nail treatment of your choice.
Be sure to always wash and moisturize your hands after doing these treatments as both mint and acid works as an astringent and will leave your nails and your hands feeling quite dry.
Will you be trying out or have you tried some of these out before and would like to share the experience, please comment below! If you have other tips share those too! I’m curious to know what you think.
Posted in Acrylic, Basecoat, Beauty, Calcium, Fruit, Gel, Herôme, Lemon, Nail buffer, Nail care, Nail Hardener, Nail Polish, Nailpolish, Nails, Skin Care, Tips and Tricks, White, Yellow | 8 CommentsCiaté 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 Comments
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