Splatter & Sponge

Today's design was inspired by this pillow on Society6 from the artist Melissa Smith. I love the color and the technique used, but it was not until five minutes ago, that I realised it's called Iron Man and that it actually shows Iron Man. Well, my nails don't show Iron Man! I used a combination of sponging and splattering polish on the nails with a straw which I think looks really cool together! I used two coats of Essie - Blanc as my base and then sponged on Essie - Angora Cardi, Zoya - Dree mixed together with Essie - The More The Merrier and Essie - Licorice. Then I splattered it with the red, green and white using a straw and finished with one coat of BTGN Top Sealer.

Shimmer Polish: Liana, Jasmine, Cristina, Tammy, Alice

A few weeks ago Cindy from Shimmer Polish sent me 10 beautiful glittering bottles to review. I finally had time so start swatching and today I will show you the first five polishes, including Liana, Jasmine, Cristina, Tammy and Alice. All of the polishes are named after Cindy's friends, which is such a sweet idea! They come in bottles of 15 ml and are sold for 12 $ each at her Etsy store. You could even personalize a polish's name and color yourself for 15 $. Some of the colors are also available on Harlow & Co. Make sure to click on the pictures for an extra dose of glitter. This post contains three pictures per polish, so you can see more after the jump! 

Sandy Ruffian Nails feat. Dance Legend - White Noise & Essie - Maximillian Strasse Her

Ever since I used White Noise by Dance Legend I wanted to combine it in some kind of nail art design. I started small with a simple ruffian using pale color shades. As my base coat I used two coats of Essie - Maximillian Strasse Her (Madison Ave-hue  2013). Because a top coat would ruin the sandy look, I just used one coat after the grey base and then added White Noise on top. At first I planned to add some studs, but then I decided against more details. I think a thin neon pink outline of the ruffian could look cool.. maybe tomorrow! 

Blue & Yellow

I realized today I'm really out of practice when it comes to to free-hand nail art. I painted this design with a nail art brush and I messed up some of the lines. Well, I need more practice! The colors were standing side by side on my desk, waiting to be stored again and I figured they would look good combined in a design. They're Essie - In The Cab-Ana, Avenue Maintain, China Glaze - For Audrey, Re-Fresh Mint and Anny - Sunshine In My Heart.  I used acrylic paint for the black lines. On Top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

Does anyone have a suggestion for a bright opaque yellow nail polish? Sunshine In My Heart is just almost opaque with three coats and actually it's not bright enough for me. What's your favorite?

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 14: Pride (Lemon Water Marble)

It's the last day of the Deadly Sins Challenge and the second day of Pride. I can't believe how fast these seven weeks went by and a bit sad it's over! I really enjoyed working at this challenge with all the other bloggers and I loved painting my nails based on given themes. The theme of Day 14 says: This is YOUR time! Brag about how good you are at...

Illustrations by: dahlig

Yay, bragging. So I know this will sound weird, because I mentioned this technique in my Wrath week. But actually I decided to 'brag' about Water Marbling, because even if it takes a lot of patience and can sometimes end in a disaster, it is the one technique that I improved the most in. While my first Water Marble was full of air bubbles and incomplete patterns, these days I usually manage to do a consistent and good-looking Water Marble. Then again, this is more a question of practice than of talent. This time I wanted to do a summer inspired marble and I chose white and yellow as my colors. I used two coats of Essie - Blanc as my base and then did the marble with Blanc, Anny - Sunshine In My Heart and China Glaze - Lemon Fizz. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

You can find all the designs of my Deadly Sins Challenge here. And please check out all the amazing designs by the other participants: 

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 13: Pride (Turquoise Stone - Water Spotted Nails)

The last week of the Deadly Sins Challenge arrived and the last sin is Pride. The theme of Day 13 says: Recreate your own work to make it even better.

Illustrations by: dahlig

So while browsing through my blog and looking for a design that I wanted to recreate for this day, I stumbled upon a few designs that I wasn't too happy with. At first I was pretty sure it was going to be one from the early days of this blog, but then I saw the Turquoise Stone Nails that I did at the end of January this year. It was after cutepolish made her awesome Water Spotted tutorial and I then decided to use her tutorial to create my design. 

But even if I liked the result, I wasn't completely happy with them. I think they looked too constant or smooth and not very realistic. So I tried again, this time with a different base: I used China Glaze - For Audrey, China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint and Essie - In The Cab-Ana to create Watercolor Nails. Then I did the Water Spotted technique with Essie - Licorice and filled in some of the spots with Catrice - Shanghai. I think I made my design better, but there's still a lot of room for improvement! I think next time I might try a freehand version of these, because I still think the black pattern is almost a bit too strong. We'll see! 

Lush Lacquer - Clowning Around (Neon Glitter)

Today I want to show you one of my new favorite nail polishes! I ordered it a few weeks ago after seeing amazing pictures on Chalkboard Nails and Rebecca likes nails. I'm talking about Lush Lacquer - Clowning Around which is an adorable bright neon glitter top coat. The effect on white nails is just brilliant, so I used one coat over two coats of Essie - Blanc. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. You can buy Lush Lacquer nail polishes in their online shop on Etsy. (Update: They don't longer offer international shipping, but you can get some of their polishes on Llarowe or Mei Mei's Signatures.)

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 12: Envy (Green Watercolor Nails)

I love green nails, so the theme of Day 12 of the Deadly Sins Challenge for Envy was perfect! It says: Let the "Green Monster" guide you to some enviable nails.

Illustrations by: dahlig

I decided to do Watercolor Nails, but this time the "original" version using acetone, rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover and not a plastic bag as usual. I picked three pretty green polishes and used the lightest as my base color, which was Essie - First Timer. Then I made dots with all three colors (China Glaze - Holly-Day, Catrice - I'm Not A Greenager) one by one and dissolved the color with a brush dipped into rubbing alcohol. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 11: Envy (Stripes & Flowers)

Day 11 of the Deadly Sins Challenge was something I was really looking for! This week's sin is Envy and today's theme says: Who would you like to be? Let us know recreating another challenger's work.

Illustrations by: dahlig

I chose to recreate a design by the amazing Brittney from Precious Polish because ever since I saw her French Riviera design, I fell in love with how beautiful those colors and patterns looked mixed together. I didn't have the exact same colors so I worked with what I had: Essie - Blanc, Bourjois - In The Navy, H&M - Lemon Tree and OPI - Friday Devil. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. So I still think the original colors look better and now that I look at her pictures again, I notice that I even forgot to paint the leaves! But nonetheless I really enjoyed wearing this design, it's so bright and colorful!

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 10: Wrath (Black & White)

It's Day 10 of the Deadly Sins Challenge and today I did the second design for Wrath. The theme said: Find something that blows your top and express it with your art! 

Illustrations by: dahlig

Something that makes me really angry is when people have a "black-and-white mindset". You know, judging others or a situation and there are only the options right or wrong. Not thinking in between or beyond. Sometimes I even do it myself and that would be something that 'blows my top'! Obviously I chose black and white to express it on my nails, but I'm not very happy with my execution. I used two coats of Essie - Blanc as my base and then at first painted the black pattern with a pen, which was not a great idea. The black smudged over the white and turned red after I applied my top coat, so I did it again, this time only with nail polish. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer.