#31DC2013 Day 16: Tribal Print

Todays challenge is Tribal Print. When I searched for 'tribal' in Pinterest, I came across a cute bikini by Mara Hoffman, which inspired me to make this nail art.

Mara Hoffman Embroidered Tribal Bikini - Source

Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet as a base, then I used scotch tape for the white triangle and stamped - also with the tape - using BM-423 and Essence Stamp Me! Black.

I wish I had taken more pictures of this manicure, but unfortunately I had to work that day and when I came home, the manicure was all wrecked because of the activities that day.


Next time I'll show; GLITTERS! That will be a hard challenge, cause boy!, have I some really pretty glitter polishes to choose from!
AND! That will be a great opportunity to review OPI Glitter Off Peel-able Natural Base Coat!

#31DC2013 Day 15: Delicate Print

Hello sweeties!

It has been over 2 months since I updated my blog. Isn't that a shame? It is...


But today I have for you the 15th challenge, also known as Delicate Print. I find this challenge hard to do, because the term is so broad, you can interpret it in so many ways! I wanted something simple, something quick. So I chose for a nude background with white delicate stamping. Here's what I came up with.

It was indeed super quick. As a base I used 2 coats of Essie - Ballet Slippers and for quick drying I used one coat of Seche Vite. I stamped the lace using image plate BM-323 and the little flower is a part of an image from an Essence stamping plate. Polish I used was Stamp Me! White by Essence. Once again sealed in with a coat of Seche Vite.

Though I like how it turned out, I find it just a bit too simple for my nails. But the next challenge will be more 'me', I promise!

#31DC2013 Day 14: Flowers

Today I have for you day 14, flowers! I have many floral stamps to choose from, but I wanted to do some free hand nail art. So I did. I made some poppy's, or 'klaprozen' in Dutch. I painted two nails with poppy's and the rest of the nails are painted with two coats of W7 Lava Flow.

The three colours of Lava Flow are the same three colours I used in my poppy design. 

Essie Blanc as a base, for the red I used a mix of Essence Kiss On Top Of The Rock and Catrice Fred Said Red, and the black is Essence Black Is Back.

This polish remind me of poppy's because the black glitter looks like the seeds of a poppy and the red glitter comes really close to the colour of the poppy flower petals.

I really enjoyed painting these floral nails free hand. I did quite some stamping and tape manicures lately, so it was nice to put my painting skills in the design for a change.

#31DC2013 Day 13: Animal Print

I have for you; Snakeskin Print Nails! For the 13th challenge I didn't want to do cheetah or zebra nails, because I think those are too mainstream. I wanted to do some snakeskin print nails, but I wanted them to look as realistic as possible. So I got onto the web and searched some snakeskin images. I found some white/beige/gray prints that I really liked. So, here are the nails!

These nails took some serious painting! I used a few different techniques, which I'll show below.

These are the equipment I used for this manicure. From left to right, top to bottom: China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier Base Coat, Essie Blanc, OPI My Vampire Is Buff, Catrice ASHley, Only You Mirror, Mirror, OPI Nein, Nein, Nein! Ok, Fine!, ball of plastic wrap, image stamping plate MLS-09, Essence stamper, old gift card, kitchen towels.

First, I painted my nails with two coats of Essie Blanc, let it dry and used the saran wrap method to dab on the colours OPI MVIB, Catrice ASHley and Only You Mirror, Mirror.

Then I stamped on a snakeskin print using image stamping plate MLS-09 and OPI Nein, Nein, Nein! Ok, Fine!. Topped it with Seche Vite and voilà! Snakeskin Print Nails!

I like how the colours come together in this manicure. These are quite realistic looking, as I say so myself!

#31DC2013 Day 12: Stripes

Wauw, long pause... December in Holland is such a busy month! Especially because we celebrate 'Sinterklaas' as well as Christmas. I did not even have time to post or even paint my nails! Now that the holidays are over, the calm is back again.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and received fun presents! I did! I was spoiled with 3 OPI polishes, a cute sweater, a day at the spa for two, a xmas mug with candy in it and lots of love from my family and friends!
As Christmas present from my boss, I got a beautycard, which I spend on buying more new nail polishes! I bought nine polishes from the brand Only You, which they sell at Ici Paris XL. I also bought two polishes from Barry M, sold at River Island, which I show you one of them today.

Today I have for you the 12th challenge, stripes!

As a base I used Blue Velvet from Only You (one of the polishes I got this Christmas). When completely dry, I used two pieces of tape to create a gap in the middle of each nail for the glitter polish, which is Amethyst Glitter from Barry M (also bought during Christmas). I topped everything off with Essence Soft Touch top coat.

Snowflake Jelly Sandwich

Hey my lovely readers! Today I took a little break from the challenge - which I still didn't finish - to paint my nails more 'wintery'. So here's my Snowflake Jelly Sandwich!

Isn't this cute? It is so subtle and sweet yet so wintery! I didn't want it to be much of a Christmas manicure, we celebrate Sinterklaas before Christmas, so I think that's a little early. But the Xmas nails are definitely coming!

For this manicure I sandwiched OPI - Pirouette My Whistle between Catrice - Cotton Candy At Eiffel Tower. I stamped the snowflakes with Essence - Stamp Me! White and used plates BM-323 & BM-H02.

I had fun doing these, but from now on I only do manis for the challenge till it ends.

Do you like these as much as I do? Please leave a comment below!

#31DC2013 Day 07: Black & White

Noooo! This post is delayed because of the weather. What?! It was so dark the last few days that I couldn't shot a single resonable picture of my nails. I'm trying again today.

As I told in my previous post, I'm excited to post this Black & White. I really like how it turned out! Let's take a look at the pictures, shall we?

I already knew I wanted to stamp today's challenge. As I recieved a lot of stamping plates in the mail lately, I had plenty of choice for the design. I chose Essie Blanc as the base colour and stamped with Essence Stamp Me! Black.

For the thumb I stamped the tribal / aztec design from BM-402, for my pointy finger I used the chevron pattern from BM-423, my middle finger is stamped with the triangle pattern from BM-414, for my ring finger I used the houndstooth / pied de poule pattern from BM-322 and my pinky is stamped with the stripes from BM-411.

Seche Vite made everything perfect. It smoothed everything out, gave it an enormous shine and it made the black much more dark! I have to work this evening, so I expect this manicure not to last much more longer, but that's okay, because I can just continue the challenge and paint some metallic nails!

Please let me know what you feel about this Black & White manicure in the comments below!

#31DC2013 Day 06: Violet

Today's theme is violet. I'm not a huge fan of purples, but I do really like how this manicure turned out! It kinda looks like ikat, an abstract, knitted... something? Actually I don't know what it looks like... Anyway, enjoy the pictures!

For this mani I used three shades of purple (or should I say; 'violet'?). For the main colour I used Yves Rocher Améthyste. For me that is THE purple colour. For the darker violet I used Essence Passion For Fashion and the lighter shade is OPI You're Such A Budapest from the Euro Centrale collection.

Above is shown Essence Passion For Fashion.

This mini version of OPI You're Such A Budapest came in a set of four polishes included Suzi's Hungary - Again!, Can't Find My Czechbook, You're Such A Budapest and OY- Another Polish Joke!

Because it sorta looks like a knitting, its a perfect fall/winter look!

The next challenge is Black & White and I cannot wait to post that one, as I got a great idea for that challenge. But it is also a pity that I have to take these off already :(

Please let me know what you think of today's manicure by commenting below. See ya!

#31DC2013 Day 03: Yellow

I'm excited to show you today's post! Todays challenge is Yellow and I did some 'cheesy' nails. My boyfriend showed me this video tutorial from ChristabellNails and I knew for sure that this would be my Yellow challenge. Her video's are so clear and the manicure was relatively easy to recreate.

For this manicure I used H&M Yellow as the base colour. The lighter yellow is Essence Destination Sunshine and for the darker yellow I mixed my base colour with a tiny bit of H&M Chica Boom Boom (yesterdays manicure). Just like ChristabellNails did, I painted a layer of matte topcoat on top to give this a more realistic look.

I figured these cheesy nails are still in yesterdays 'Dutch' theme, haha! Because cheese is a typical Dutch food.

The grass fits perfectly in this picture because without grass, there would be no cheese! I really like how these turned out and it's a shame I have to take these off real soon :(

(I'm craving for a slice of cheese right now... ;)