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
If you notice on my pinkie finger, you can still see the ridge from the damage I got from the nail salon that did my first set of acrylics.  It is starting to grow out though and I’m hoping that my nails are a bit stronger once it is gone. At the moment some of my nails are bendy like paper and I hate the feeling of that.
The flag is a little messy because I free handed it.  For some reason whenever I tried to use the tape, the white polish was pulled off with it.  It’s never happened with the tape I use before so I said the heck with it and just tried to do it freehand.
Happy Queen’s Day everyone!!
Polishes Used:
Orange – Miss Sporty
White – Catrice Snow Motion
Blue – 2True Shade No. 14
Red – 2True Shade No. 41

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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.
Between Easter and this beautiful weather screaming SUMMMMMERRRR at me, I needed a colorful and bright mani. 

It was an easy choice due to my limited stash, these were really the only really colorful colors I had.  I first did a mani with each finger a different color and then dots of each other color on it but it looked horrid so I removed it.  It looks much better with the white dots.

I’m still wearing this because I just think it’s SO cute.  I guess I’ll have to remove it soon but I will be doing something similar to replace it.  I’m still trying to get my full nail Essence stamps to work, maybe I’ll finally be able to get some stripes on there if I figure it out.  I’ve already gone through an entire bottle of the stampy polish just from trying to get a full nail design onto the stamp.
Polishes used: Orange / Blue / Pink are Miss Sporty, Purple #33 by Etos, Green Maybelline MNY #753, White spots are Essence white stampy polish.

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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. 

How awesome are these bottles?  That’s one of the main reasons why I was looking at them.  I knew the polish must be great because I always see other people posting about it, but the bottles… they are amazing!  
I don’t really understand why more companies don’t do something like this to set themselves apart.  I would buy every color by Nfu Oh just because I totally dig the bottles. Seriously, that is not a lie.

I decided to try the Nfu Oh 40 first, because I just love the effect of it. I’ve seen it done a lot over black polish on other people’s blogs and loved it like mad, but I’d done a fair bit of black lately and decided to try something different first.  To look at the bottle it looks yellow, and alone it doesn’t really do it for me, but put it over another color and WHAMMO, INSTA-AWESOME!

So I put a coat of it over Maybelline Express Finish Pearl Blue Sapphire, which is a lovely navy / midnight blue color.  The flakies still stood out really nicely and I just loved it.  I do intend to try it over black soon though because I think the contrast of the black with the flakies is beautiful.
I wish I’d taken more photos of this polish because I don’t think these photos do it justice at all.  I was in a rush that day and forgot to take more before I removed it.  I will come back with more when I do it over the black.  I’m sure most people who are reading this have seen many photos of this anyway.

I learned my lesson and made sure to take more photos of the Nfu Oh 68.  I’ve had this on for quite a while now because I’m totally in love with it.  I love the mixture of purple and silver, how smooth it goes on, how it deepens depending on the light and well, everything about it really.  I will be wearing this one A LOT. 
The above photo was taken early morning in the sunny side of our flat.

This was taken indoors late afternoon with natural light.

This was taken early in the morning outdoors in natural light on the non-sunny side of our flat.
I love this stuff… love love love love love! This is the first ‘luxury polish’, as I would call it, meaning it’s not a cheapo drug store brand.  I am getting the feeling that the saying “You get what you pay for” rings true in the world of nail polish because this is a world of difference from some of the cheaper bottles I have.  I’m hooked.
I am not lying when I say I want every single color they have available and I think my husband has found his ‘go to’ gift for when he just feels like getting me a little surprise.  Sweet!

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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.

Feel free to explain to me what this is actually called, btw.

It’s so cool the way it changes color depending on how you look at it.  I swear, I spent a good portion of the day yesterday looking at my hand while continuously tilting it in different directions.  Thank god I spent most of the day alone because people would think I lost my marbles.

It’s purple!

No wait! It’s green!!

No look, it’s purple!!

See what I mean?  Pretty cool, huh? … or am I just easily amused?

I don’t get why Claire’s polish doesn’t have a name, or a number or something.  I saw the number 33 in the glass of the bottom of the bottle, but if I Google “Claire’s Nailpolish No. 33” … nothing.   I also saw something resembling “C07” on the back of the bottle, but again, nothing when I Goggle it. 

So it looks like it’s doomed to always be called Claire’s Purple and Green Thingie!

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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.

The only had the one color so it made choosing easy.  Good thing I really like blue!

This is a single coat, photo taken with flash.  I really like the color and it covers really well.  I didn’t see a need for a 2nd coat.  It almost ends up looking a bit like a rubber coating on your nail.

One thing I did notice was that the damage from the first set of acrylics was more visible with this polish.

It’s like a ring across my nails where you can visibly see where they drilled my nail bed down.  From those marks to the tips my nails are noticeably thinner than the newer nail growth.  I can’t wait for this to grow out as it makes my nails so bendy and fragile.
I kept them like that for a short while but the lines drive me bananas.  I decided to get the tape out and do a subtle design with a glossy top coat (Sally Hansen Double Duty).

You can still see it a bit but not as much as before.  I will keep it for a day or two before moving on to something else.
I’m warming up to this matte thing.  I would be lying if I said I wasn’t tempted to buy a matte topcoat to see what some of my current colors would look like if they were made matte too!  We’ll see…

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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! 

I’m quite sad that I can’t get my hands on the mood colors.  Not that I figure they are anything fantastic but I just really like the idea of polish that changes color!  I’ve seen some that supposedly change color in the sun and those look fun too.  Perhaps I will look into those instead!

I have still not managed to get my Essence stampy set to work with the full nail patterns.  Has anyone tried these yet?  I know people who have tried the smaller designs and those work just fine for me, but not the full nail ones.  Maybe I’ll make a video of all the ways I have tried and see if anyone can come up with an answer (yes I did take the plastic off).  SO frustrating.  I really hope to get a Konad plate at one point to see if I have the same issue.  If that turns out to work really easily I’ll know the Essence full nail plate is just crap.

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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.

No lie, I did every finger at least 2-3 times just because I kept hitting my fingernail against the magnet and smudging the polish. Very irritating.

I also noticed that for some strange reason, the pattern shows up a lot better on my natural nails than it did on the fakies.  You can see that my ring and pinkie finger look a lot better than the other two fingers.  I can’t figure out why that is but there is obviously something with the fake nails that affects it.

I have seen a different type of magnetic polish on a German website and I wonder if that is easier to use.  From what I’ve seen you just sit your finger in a little stand with the magnet above it, which seems like it would suit me a LOT more.  With shaky hands like mine, getting up as close as you are required to do with the Essence magnet does no go well at all.

I may try buying the magnet on the German website and see if it works a bit better, because I really like how it looks.  I’d especially like to try some different designs with it!

Have you tried the Essence magnetic polish, or the other type like on the German site?  If so, what did you think of them?

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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. 

 

I noticed that they changed the magic, I wonder if it makes any difference.  I am also curious how you make other designs as from what I see on the box for the magnet, it only makes stripes.

 

I can’t wait to give it a try.  I’m a little hesitant to remove my cute pink mani from yesterday though.  I’m sure I won’t make it through the day without getting into this though. I’ll be back!

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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!

I just used two layers of the 2True Shade No. 5 (I hate shade numbers, why not cool names?!) and some OPI Teenage Dream from the Katy Perry collection on the tips.

It’s pretty and more subtle than some of my recent manis… I think I’ll keep it a while. 

Yeah right I say that now, but I’ll be singing a different tune tomorrow or the next day, when the mood strikes again!

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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.

 

I have been having a heck of a time getting my stamp to work.  With small designs it works fine but the full nail designs don’t work at all for some reason, the stamp just isn’t picking it up.  Imagine how much practice I could get with all these image plates?

 

Oh I just love giveaways, don’t you?!  I will love them even more if I ever win one. haha

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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.

The remover pen, I’m not so sure about.  Either it’s slightly crap or the one I got just happened to be somewhat dry, because while it will remove the odd smudge I wouldn’t rely on it to remove dry polish or any large amount of it.  I had the feeling the whole time I was using it that I wanted to dip the tip into remover because it didn’t seem wet enough, which made it not work so well.  I’m wondering if this is the case with all of them or if mine is a dud.  I’ve seen various other types of remover pens from other brands, I may try one of those to compare.  It didn’t seem to do a whole lot that a dipped Q-Tip wouldn’t. 

Next time I will dip it in some remover to see how I feel about it then.


I did a small stamp on each of my ring fingers with a small stone sticker from the Broadway Fashion Diva set, just to spruce it up a bit.

It’s supposed to be over 20 degrees here in the Netherlands tomorrow so I wanted a color that said SUMMERRRRR!!!

Another concern I have is the fakies.  If you look at the photos my index finger and middle finger both have fake nails on them.  After removing my acrylics my nails were left so thin and such a mess that they were tearing really easily.  These two broke really far down and I got tired of being afraid they were going to hook on things.  So I got the set of 100 nails by Broadway thinking they would work as a ‘patch’ to cover nails that are broken low and painful.

Problem is, those nails didn’t fit! They were far too curved for my nails and they weren’t comfortable at all.

I went back and got the Smart Fit nails for FLAT nails by Broadway.  They fit a lot better in the arch but 3/4 of the package were even too big for my thumb!  I tried to get the best fit I could, but when I look at the photos those two nails look so much wider than the rest of my nails. Unnaturally so, I think… not that I expect them to really look natural but should I have chosen a size smaller for each? 

They FEEL surprisingly good, like I could easily wear them on all fingers full time, but I won’t as I just want them for cover up purposes.  Does anyone have any tips for small, flat nails and any comments on if this is just par for the course with fakies or did I choose the wrong size?

Products used:
Sally Hansen Double Duty Base / Top coat
Miss Sporty Pink
Claire’s Super Speed Polish Black
Essence Stampy Set
Braodway Fashion Diva jewel sticker

PS – Did anyone get tricked for April Fool’s Day? I did, big time!  You can read about it on my day to day blog Canadutch.  Man oh man… I got PUNKED!

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