Kiko 389 | Random Swatch Saturday

It's Saturday whoohoo! That means: Random Swatch! Today I have a nice bright cream to show you: Kiko 389. Oh how I wish Kiko named it's polishes, numbers are boring. But this polish suuuuuure ain't boring, nope! This is one of my favourites to wear during Summer, like for real.

Colourful Caged Nails | Nail Art

Hi everyone! How are you? Today I have some nail art to show you. It is not really wintery, not really springy, it is just a nice geometric nail art with some colours thrown in!

A while ago I saw this amazing nail art done by @purplenailbox on Instagram and I fell in love. Frances' version is a lot better than mine, but I was in a hurry and I could not perfect them the way I wanted too. So I will probably do them over in a few weeks or months.

Polishes used for this manicure:

• Sinful Colors - Snow me white
• China Glaze - First Mate
• China Glaze - Aquadelic
• Kiko - 343
• Essence - Ultimate Pink
• Essence - Passion for Fashion
• Gosh - Bubble Gum

I painted the stripes using a regular striping brush.

I hope you like it! Please let me know in the comments what you would like to see on my blog. I read every comment so do not hesitate! ;-) <3

White + Teal Ruffian Manicure

Hi guys!

As the header says, I am showing you a white and teal ruffian manicure today! This is my very first attempt at a ruffian manicure, and I think it came out pretty good. I realllllly like the colour combination. That Kiko colour is tooooo dieee forrrrr. Ah, I always get so many compliments when I am wearing it. Oh btw, today I went to the store to pick up a new base coat as my other one is getting gloopy as hell. The woman in the store asked me: "Do you paint your nails yourself? Or is it like GelColor or something?" I was like, "U-uh no GelColor, woman, I paint them alllll mahself". And she was like: "Oh, so you used nail vinyls or decals then ofcourse. Yessss ofcourse!" "NOPE WOMAN, I painted them myself and I am pretty damn proud about it. OOH btw, I have a blog." Haha, okay, enough. Let's move on to some pretty pictures!

Products used:
Kiko - 389
Sinful Colors - Snow Me White

I used the brush of the nail polish to create the ruffian, I think that is what other people do, too? No?

Some pretty ruffiannnnns:
So Nailicious
Lucy's Stash
All Lacquered Up

Soooo, hope you liked this post. Let me know what you think in the comments below! Did you ever try a ruffian manicure?

Prismatic nail design inspired by Chelsea Queen

Heyaaaaa!

I am sooo in love with this geometric nail art inspired by the PRISMATIC Scratch nail wraps designed by Chelsea King/Queen/you know who. It has been a while (a loooooong, very long while actually haha) since I did a more difficult nail design. And I felt a bit rusty too: I spent 3 hours painting my nails and I perfected it this morning. God... My back hurts, my room is a hot mess, but it was totally worth it. And now, I'm done with nail art, because I'll probably wear this one for the rest of my life. Or until something else pops into my head and my fingers start aching. Alright, without further ado, let's move on to some pictures!

I also stole Chelsea's pose, hehe, woops

Yay, sunny picture!

The thumb!

Hope you all like this design as much as I do! I really like geometric designs, but you can always make the lines more crisp, get your corners a bit sharper... Mine are never painted to utter perfection, just because I really don't have the time to do so haha :-D.

What do you think about geometric designs?

Products used

Base coat: Essie - Grow stronger
Catrice -  Black to the Routes
Catrice - It's all I can blue
Catrice - Birdy reloaded!
Gosh - Bubble gum
Gosh - Berry me
Kiko - 236 (orange-y red)
Essie - Cute as a Button
Bourjois - Blue Water
Faby - Don't disturb my Puppy
Sinful Colors - Snow me white
White acrylic paint 
Top coat: NYC - Grand Central Station/Essie - Good to go
Nail art brushes from Born Pretty Store


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Ooh La Lacquer - Regulation Hottie

Hi guys! Today I have another indie polish swatch for you. This time it is Regulation Hottie by Ooh La Lacquer.

Regulation Hottie is a red jelly base packed with multicoloured shreds. The first thing I noticed about this polish, is that it has a LOT of shreds in it, but the base is a bit on the thin side. And because it is on the thin side, it can't hold the shreds as well as it should. But no worries, with some fishing and dabbing you will get this pretty polish on your nails!

I layered two coats of Regulation Hottie over Kiko 236. I think you can build it up on itself, but the jelly is very sheer, so you'll probably need 5+ thin coats. It applied well, but you surely need some dabbing, otherwise you will drag the shreds off your nail.

Regulation Hottie is something different. I can honestly say I have nothing like this. Not even close.

You can find Ooh La Lacquer on Facebook and Twitter and you if you want to treat yourself with a unique and affordable indie polish, go the their Etsy store. Polishes retail for only $ 5!


Ooh La Lacquer polish was sent for my honest review.

Forever Polished - Gleamin' Blue

Today I have the fourth Forever Polished swatch for you: Gleamin' blue. After this one, I still got one polish left, so stay tuned for that one! Alrighty, let's move on to the pictures.

Gleamin' Blue has a ton of fine blue-ish turquoise holo glitter and larger blue squares. I think these squares are not made from the same material as normal glitter, as it has some kind of texture to it. This adds something more to the polish, something special! In the last photo you'll see what I mean with texture.

I layered one coat of Gleamin' Blue over two coats of Kiko - 378. It applied really smoothly, and the glitter pay-off is good, but I had to fish a bit for the squares. I sealed everything in with one coat of Essence - Top Sealer.

All in all, I think Gleamin' Blue is a gorgeous topper and the squares add something interesting to it!

You can find Forever Polished in their shop, the polishes retail for $8. Make sure to check out their Facebook, and don't forget to use this special discount code LoveLifeLacquer to get 20% off when you order! 



Polish was sent for my honest review.

12 Days of Christmas: Holiday Song

Today's the second day of the 12DoC Nail Art Challenge. The theme is a Holiday Song. From the first minute I saw this theme I thought RUDOLPH! So these are my Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer - nails. They're quite abstract, but they're so stinkin' cute!

I used Only You - Geisha, Essence - Café Olé as a base colour, NYC - City Blackout, Only You - White French, Kiko - 324 for the antlers and H&M - Cherry and Essence - Glamourous Life for his nose!
I also used dotting tools and nail art brushes from Born Pretty Store. To seal in the design, I painted on a layer of Essence - Top Sealer.

What's your favourite Christmas song?

Striped Tip

Here's what I got on my nails today, striped tips!
I really wanted to paint my nails, but wasn't sure what exactly to do, so I came up with this simple design. I really love the colour combination, not quite "fall-appropriate" but hey!

For this manicure I painted on Kiko - 328 as a base colour. I used Catrice - It's All I Can Blue, Catrice - Innocent Toxin, China Glaze - Aquadelic and Nail Art Brushes from Born Pretty Store to create the stripes on my tips. I finished off with Essence - Top Sealer.

Oh, by the way! You can also find my designs here and here!

Sugar Spun Nails

Lately, everybody seems to do sugar spun nails, so I had to use this technique too!

The sugar spun technique is quite messy and a bit boring, as you have to wait some time for your nail polish to get tacky. You can watch this tutorial and give it a try yourself!

Yes, I do realize that my lines are very thin, but I like it that way! ^^

This is what I used for this manicure:
Essence - Toffee to go
Kiko - 364
China Glaze - Dress me up
NO topcoat!

Have you ever tried the sugar spun technique?

Disco Disco

This is the third look I created using these amazing Born Pretty Store glitters. 

First, I painted on 2 coats of Kiko Holographic 400. Then I painted on a layer of a not-so-quick-drying Topcoat: NYC - Grand Central Station and I picked up the glitters one by one with a dotting tool and put them on my nails.

You have to be a bit patient with this, as it takes a while to completely cover your nails!

If you're planning on buying this set of glitters, don't forget to use my Born Pretty Store coupon code AYJ61 ,and get 10% off!


Some of the products were sent to me for review.

Glitter Outlined Nails

This is the first mani I created with the glitters I got from Born Pretty Store and it was so easy to do!

First I painted on two coats of Kiko - 357, a beautiful orange. After that I gave my nails a layer of NYC - Grand Central Station, because it stays tacky for quite some time. Then I took a small dotting tool and picked up the golden green glitters one by one and framed my nails with them.I finished with a nice layer of Essence - Top Sealer, et voilà!

Don't forget to use my coupon code AYJ61 from Born Pretty Store, so you can get 10% off!

I think this is the first time I wear orange on my nails. I don't know why, but I always avoided that colour and it actually looks gorgeous!

What colour(s) do you avoid and why?


Some of the products were sent to me for review.

The New Black

For this manicure I was inspired by the designs Madeline Poole created for The New Black. I love all of the designs, but I think the one I chose is very sofisticated and classy.

I recreated this design

For this manicure I used:

Kiko - 364
NYC - City Blackout
Essence - Café olé
Catrice - Goldfinger
Nail art brushes from Born Pretty Store

Don't forget to use this coupon code AYJ61 to get 10% off at Born Pretty Store! 

Kiko Holographic 401 Swatched

 

Today I have a swatch for you! Kiko Holographic 401. I bought this beautiful turquoise holographic nail polish from a Kiko store in Barcelona.

 

I used 3 normal coats for this swatch and no topcoat and I shot these pictures in direct sunlight.
I had quite a hard time capturing this polish, because the holographic effect isn't always that strong.

It has a good formula, very smooth, good application. A bottle costs €4,90 and holds 11 ml. 
 

In this close-up you can clearly see the rainbow! Love this shot!

Do you own any (holographic) Kiko polishes? What do you think about the holographic effect?

Striped!

As gorgeous as Flormar Duochrome may be, I was a liiiiiitle bit tired of looking at a solid colour. So, I added stripes to give it some pop!

First I painted the black stripe, then I added grey stripes at the sides and to top it off I added a stripe of Flormar - DC05!

Here's what I used:
Flormar - DC05
Kiko - 328
NYC - City Blackout
Nail art brushes from Born Pretty Store

How do you upgrade your solid manicure? 

Needle drag nails

Needle drag nails

Here’s my first attempt at needle dragging!  It was much easier than I thought it would be and I’m quite pleased with the result. 

This was so much fun and I will definitely do this again!