Happy Queen’s Day!

It’s Queen's Day in the Netherlands today!  The sun is shining and I’m sure there are a lot of people dressed in orange partying it up all over the country.  So of course a Queen’s Day Manicure is in order!
You are probably wondering why the Dutch flag looks upside down but I figured it was best to have it in the direction that other people would be looking at it from. So just twist your head and pretend! haha

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Easter Mani!

I hope everyone had a great Easter weekend!  Here in the Netherlands we had a four day weekend and it was HOT!  Reaching temperatures over 25 degrees every day.  I spent a lot of time here:
Out on my balcony, that I wish was bigger but hey at least I have one!  It gets SO hot out there in the afternoon I always have to get out my umbrellas to give me a break from the heat.  The animals love it though, our cat and two dogs spend a lot of time out there basking and sleeping in the sun.

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Nfu Oh Surprise from Hubby

After a really stressful time my husband wanted to cheer me up a bit.  He’d recently seen me drooling over some Nfu Oh polishes online and decided to order some for me as a surprise!
He got me Nfu Oh 40 and 68 and I was soooo excited!!  He knew that I like all things sparkly and that purple is my favorite color.  Not a bad job, huh?!  I think he made the perfect choices. 

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Claire’s Purple and Green… Thingie?

I’m not sure what you call this kind of polish, to be honest.  It’s a sort of multicolored polish that looks different when you look at it at different angles and in different light.  I’ve seen people talking about “holos” and I wonder if that’s what this is.  I’m not entirely sure though.  So for now I’ll call it the Purple and Green Thingie.  Very technical, I know.

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My First Matte

If I’ve ever posted on one of your entries about Matte polish you probably know that I’ve not been a big fan.  Recently I’ve been starting to like it more as I see other people doing interesting things with it.  I think I always thought that the more glossy a polish is the nicer it is.
Oh hell, I still believe that… but I do have a bit more of an appreciation for matte.  I even bought my own first bottle at Claire’s last week.

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Claire’s Red Glitter & More Stamp Whining!

Last week I was in town with a friend and went to Claire’s to see if they had the Mood Polish, but apparently it’s not available in the Netherlands. BOOOO!!  Instead I picked up a few other bottles… one of which is the above red glitter.  I thought it would look nice with the black polish I’d bought there previously.  I was right!
I actually kept this one for quite some time because I liked it so much.  I admit I’m more partial to darker colors but all the Easter stuff around does have me thinking about pastel colors! 

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Mon Coin Amoua Giveaway!

Mon Coin Amoua is having a 1000 followers giveaway, and there will be SEVEN winners, I like those odds!  Ends April 30!

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Essence Magnetic Hex Hex!

As I expected, it wasn’t long before I got into the magnetic polish.  It didn’t turn out too bad for my first try!
It was quite difficult to do because the process is that you paint your nail, slip the magnet on your finger on the other hand and hold your freshly painted finger up against it.  Sounds easy enough, but what isn’t easy is holding it close enough without hitting your finger against the magnet.

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New Essence Magnetic Find

Look what I found today!  YAY!
 
I was under the impression that Essence stopped producing the magnetic polish but apparently it’s back!  I bought only one color (02 Hex Hex!) because I wanted to make sure it works before splurging on the rest. 
 

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2True Polish Sale & Practice in Fading

On Saturday my best friend and I took advantage of the beautiful weather here in the Netherlands, and headed into the city center of Rotterdam to do some shopping.  While checking out the polish available in Kruidvat we came across a stand selling 2True bottles for 3 for 5 Euro!  These are the colors I chose.
When I saw the pink I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it.  I’d seen a really sweet mani by Abby at Lovely in Lacquer and I knew that’s what I wanted to do.  I didn’t have the deeper shade of pink so it isn’t quite the same but I still like it!

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Spellbinding Nails Giveaway

Holy mother of god, look at all those stamping plates!  I WANT!  I bet you want too!
 
Spellbinding Nails is having a giveaway for all the items you see in the photo.  It just started so you have plenty of time to enter before it closes on May 1st.

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Funky French

Today I was out running some errands and had to pop into Etos and Kruidvat to peek at their polishes.  I picked up a few Essence products to try them out.
French manicure tip guides and nail polish remover pen by Essence.
The tip guides seemed to work pretty well, except I acted like a big cheapo and tried to use the same one again and again which lead to things looking a pretty smudgy in spots.  I think I would have better results if I 1) waited for the base paint to dry a little longer (I am so impatient) and 2) used a different strip on each finger and pressing it down firmly (unlike tonight where I was afraid to stick it too much because the base wasn’t completely dry).  All in all I liked them and will continue to use them, as I really don’t have a steady hand at all so doing it freehand is not an option.

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