Who Can Take the Sunrise...Sprinkle it With Dew...

...Cover it with chocolate and a miracle or two.. the candy man can!! :) Ok, these nails are a tribute to one of the greatest movies of all time... Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this movie, and Gene Wilder's Lovable, yet unsettlingly close to insane character. :-P I chose to paint Willy Wonka's purple velvet jacket, purple flowered shirt, and gold satin bow tie! I even used a Zoya Matte Velvet collection color for the VELVET jacket!!! :-P





I used Zoya Savita matte for the jacket, mixed with Sally Hansen All the White Stuff for the lapels, and again for the purple on the shirt. For the white of the shirt, I used OPI Alpine Snow Matte, and for the bow tie I used China Glaze 2030 from Khrome Collection, then mixed with China Glaze Liquid Leather to shade, and tehn topped it off with Essie Matte About You to dull down the shine of the Khrome.

Remember:

"Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple. "

Oh, and the snozzberries DO taste like snozzberries.

BarryM Grey Konadicure And A Comparison

Hoi allemaal!
Ik ben blij dat ik de Konad weer eens te voorschijn gehaald heb. Wat is dat toch ook leuk om te doen! Ik ben ook wat aan het experimenteren met grotere foto's. Wat vind jij prettiger om te zien, dit of kleiner?

Ik heb voor deze manicure BarryM Grey als basis gebruikt met Essence Caribean Sea uit de Show Your Feet Collectie en plate M64 voor het stempelen. BarryM is een prachtige grijs met een klein beetje blauwe ondertonen. Ik had wat moeite met de formule maar de kleur is het waard en uiteindelijk zit het er toch nog netjes op. Dit zijn drie laagjes met Nubar Diamont, konad en nog een laagje Diamont.


English: Hi everyone!
I'm glad I busted out the Konad again. It's so much fun to do! I'm also experimenting with bigger pics. What do you prefer, this or smaller?

For this manicure I used BarryM Grey as a base and Essence Caribean Sea from the Show Your Feet Collection and plate M64 for stamping. BarryM is a beautiful grey with some blue undertones. I had a bit of difficulty with the formula but the colour is worth it and it turned out OK in the end. This is three coats with Nubar Diamont, konad an another layer of Diamont.







De Show Your Feet lakjes zijn ge-wel-dig voor Konad! Heel erg gepigmenteerd waardoor ze erg goed te gebruiken zijn voor stempelen en er zitten bovendien heel leuke kleurtjes bij.
Deze collectie is in Nederland nog steeds te koop bij de grotere Kruidvatfilialen en ik raad je zeker aan om er wat van te kopen als je ze tegenkomt.

English: The Show Your Feet polishes are a-ma-zing for Konad! Very pigmented and thus very good for stamping and to top that off they have very nice colours. This collection is still available at some stores and I highly recommend you to pick some up if you see them somewhere.


Ik ben heel blij met deze mani! Dit design is een van mijn favorieten zoals sommigen van jullie misschien wel weten na de lieve post die mijn vriendin Thess gedaan heeft voor mij.

English: I love this mani! This design is one of my favourites as some of you may know by the sweet post my friend Thess made for me.


Omdat ik weet dat ik hier vragen over ga krijgen heb ik een snelle en slordige vergelijking gemaakt.

English: Because I know I'll get questions about this I made a quick and dirty comparison.





Pink en middelvinger zijn BarryM Grey, ringvinger en wijsvinger Recycle.
Beide zijn drie laagjes maar Recycle had nog een vierde kunnen gebruiken.

English: Pinky and middle finger are BarryM Grey, ring finger and index finger are Recycle.
Both are three coats but Recycle could have done with a third.




In Nederland is BarryM verkrijgbaar bij Alice And Jo's Havesentials voor €3,99 en China Glaze voor €6,95 bij Enchantra.

Ik wil jullie ook nog even wijzen op mijn lijstje met Dutch Divas rechts in mijn sidebar ->
Er zijn een aantal leuke nieuwe Nederlandse nagelblogs bijgekomen de laatste tijd!
En daarboven in de sidebar zie je een lijstje met leuke giveaways op andere blogs. Over giveaways gesproken... ik heb wat leuks in de planning voor Valentijnsdag en om verhuizen, de nieuwe look én de 100+ followers te vieren met jullie! Daar horen jullie binnenkort meer over!

English: I also like to point out my list of Dutch Divas on my sidebar to the right ->
There are a couple of new Dutch nail blogs!
And above that in the sidebar you'll see a list of fun giveaways on other blogs. Speaking of giveaways... I have something fun planned for Valentines and to celebrate the move, the new look ánd the 100+ followers with you! You'll hear more about that soon!

Thanks for looking!

Gosh - Blue Monday

Hi everyone! It's thursday already, only one more day till the weekend! I've been quite busy and since I work from 9 to 18h, I rarely get to see daylight this time of year. I'm feeling quite the vampire. But Edward is nowhere to be found, alas. Anyway! This was trying to tell you the reason why today's pictures have been produced in our little ministudio :-D.

This is another jelly based shimmer/glitter polish by Gosh. Blue Monday is a medium blue and the formula was pretty much the same as Gasoline, very smooth, but it requires at least 3 coats and a topcoat to create that rich sparkly look. I like it! What do you think?

PS. Another Dutchie, with thepretty name Michelle ;-), started a blog a few days ago. Please don't forget to take a look at her Lacquerfiles!

So How Do You Feel About V-Day?

Het leek me wel leuk om de serie Valentijnsnagels te beginnen met een Anti-Valentijnsmanicure!

Ik heb als basis Zoya Tangy gebruikt omdat het de meest giftige kleur in mijn collectie is. Een mooie heldergroene shimmer maar wel een beetje doorzichtig. Dit zijn vijf laagjes.
Vervolgens heb ik met een linerkwastje en zwarte lak prikkeldraad getekend en een chagrijnige Coraline van plate C05 en twee kleine hartjes van plate M56 gestempeld.


English: I thought it would be a fun idea to start my series of Valentines nails with an Anti-Valentines manicure!

I used Zoya Tangy for the base because it was the most venomous colour in my collection. It's a lovely bright green shimmer but it is a bit sheer. This is five coats. Next I handpainted the barbed wire with a liner brush and black polish and stamped my ringfinger with a grumpy Coraline image from plate C05 and two little hearts from plate M56.




Wat vind jij van Valentijnsdag? Kijk je er naar uit, zie je er tegenop of doet het je helemaal niets?

English: So how do you feel about Valentines Day? Are you looking forward to it, do you dread it or couldn't you care less?

Up, Up & Away!

So, I LOVE the Up & Away Collection from China Glaze, and bought 10 of the 12 colors (the other two looked too similar to something I already had). I really wanted to use them all, as I normally do when I'm excited about a polish haul, so I got the genius (self-proclaimed) idea to replicate the China Glaze Up & Away collection art, and paint my nails to look like the balloons! :) Sorry, but I just couldn't get good pictures of these nails, I tried and tried!! :(

The reference:






I used

Left Thumb:

China Glaze Flyin' High as a base, with American Apparel Peacock to shade, and China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint to highlight. For the China Glaze logo, I also used American Apparel Peacock.

Left Index:

China Glaze Peachy Keen as a base, with Zoya Paz to shade, and China Glaze White on White to highlight. Zoya Paz was also used for the China Glaze logo.

Left Middle:

China Glaze Grape Pop as a base with China Glaze Liquid Leather to shade, China Glaze Light As Air to highlight, and OPI Russian Navy matte for the China Glaze logo.

Left Ring:

China Glaze Lemon Fizz as a base, with China Glaze Happy Go Lucky to shade, and China Glaze White on White to highlight. A mix of Zoya Paz and China Glaze Happy Go Lucky were used for the China Glaze logo.

Left Pinky:

China Glaze Something Sweet as a base, and mixed with China Glaze Heli-Yum to shade. To highlight, I used China Glaze White on White, and China Glaze Something Sweet mixed with China Glaze Heli-Yum for the China Glaze logo.



Right Thumb:

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky as a base, with a mix of Zoya Paz and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover to shade (I hate the shading on this one), and China Glaze Lemon Fizz to highlight. For the China Glaze logo, I used Zoya Paz.

Right Index:

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover as a base, (Love this color!), American Apparel Peacock to shade, China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint to highlight, and American Apparel Peacock again for the China Glaze logo.

Right Middle:

China Glaze Light As Air as a base, with China Glaze Grape Pop to shade, China Glaze White on White to highlight, and China Glaze Light As Air mixed with China Glaze Grape Pop for the China Glaze logo.

Right Ring:

China Glaze Heli-Yum as a base (unexpectedly LOVE this color!!), with Zoya Dakota to shade, China Glaze Something Sweet to highlight, and Zoya Dakota again for the China Glaze logo.

Right Pinky:

China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint as a base with China Glaze Four Leaf Clover to shade, China Glaze White on White to highlight, and China Glaze Four Leaf Clover again for the China Glaze logo.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat to smooth out the dullness that sponging creates.

Did this collection take you Up & Away?

H&M - Fashionista

Hi guys! Is everybody enjoying their day? I hope so! I'm having another busy but boring day at the office, thankfully I'm allowed to wear any nail polish to work. Heck, they don't even notice that I compulsively change colors every day :-D.

Today I'm wearing another pretty nail polish by H&M. Like always, the formula was pretty good, 2 coats and a finish as smooth as silk. This polish can be a bit streaky though! The color is a bright blueviolet. Love.

The name of this polish is Fashionista, and I'm glad they got it right this time, because they have messed up before! :-D

Thanks for stopping by and till next time!

From The Vault: Sunshine And Flakies!

Ik hoop dat iedereen het nieuwe adres van mijn blog heeft gevonden! 100+ followers al, wat is dat snel gegaan! Bedankt dat je me volgt. Ik waardeer het heel erg dat jullie de tijd nemen om mijn geklets te lezen en mijn foto's te bekijken.
Zo, genoeg geslijm. Op naar de foto's!


English: I hope everyone found the new blog address! 100+ followers already, that's fast! Thank you for following me. I really appreciate you all take some time out of your day to read my ramblings and look at my pictures.
So, enough with the mushy stuff. On to the pics!



Dit is een oudje uit het archief omdat ik gisteren en vandaag zo druk ben geweest met de verhuizing dat ik geen tijd heb gehad om te lakken. Deze foto's zijn volgens mij van afgelopen zomer en zoals je ziet had ik nog niet helemaal uitgevogeld hoe mijn camera werkt want het zijn niet de beste foto's.

English: This is an old one from the vault because I've been so busy with the move that I haven't had time to polish my nails. I think these pics are from last summer and as you can see I hadn't yet figured out how my camera worked because the pics aren't the best.



In de schaduw zodat je de flakies beter ziet. Ik draag Nfu Oh #235 met #50 daar overheen.
235 is een prachtige lavendel creme. Helaas was de lak behoorlijk gescheiden dus ik had VEEL verdunner nodig om alles weer gemixt te krijgen en dat deed de applicatie geen goed. Na deze mani heb ik hem een nachtje open laten staan en toen was de formule wel weer handelbaar.
50 is een lichtpaarse jelly met blauw-groene flakies.

English: In the shade so you can see the flakies better. I'm wearing Nfu Oh #235 topped with #50.
235 is a beautiful lavender creme. Unfortunately my bottle had separated significantly so I had to use a LOT of thinner to get it all mixed up again and this didn't help application. After this mani I left it open for a night and that made the formula workable again.
50 is a light purple jelly with blue-greenish flakies.



Ik ben van plan om de rest van de week weer eens wat nail-art te laten zien want dat is veel te lang geleden. Misschien gooi ik er zelfs nog wel een valentijnsdag mani tussen!
Bedankt voor het kijken!

English: I plan on showing some nail-art the rest of the week because I haven't done that for far too long. I might even throw in a valentines day mani!
Thanks for looking!

Air Nail

So I was thinking about the Daily Nail logo, and it made me think of other types of mail, like airmail, and I thought that airmail would be a fun look for nails!! So, I got to work making some french tip sticker guides out of painter's tape and a Konad plate as a guide for my X-acto knife, painted the stripes, and c'est voilà! - Air Nails! :-P Ok, I'm a dork, I'll freely admit it. I have to say though, I think it's hard to use guides, they drive me nuts, so I only use them when I have to- like for stuff like this.



I used Sally Hansen All the White Stuff as a base, with Pure Ice French Kiss for the blue stripes, China Glaze Salsa for the red stripes, and China Glaze Liquid Leather for the cancellation stamp on the middle finger. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat for good measure. :-P

(Thank goodness it didn't add on to shipping costs!!) :-P

OPI - La Paz-itively Hot! Matte

Hi guys! How's everyone doing? Today is such a grey day, it's raining for hours now. And what do we do in sucky weather? Right! Wear bright and happy nail polish.
I decided to go with one of the mattes by OPI that I actually like. Don't get me wrong, I love the suedes, but most of their mattes are really not that great. This one, however, is.

It's La Paz-itively Hot and I'm enjoying this bright, almost neon, pink color a lot. It also has a slight shimmer which adds that little bit of depth I need. Unfortunately it's a 3 coater, but it dries super fast, so I don't really mind! What colors do you love to wear when you want to cheer yourself up?

I Keep a Good Luck Charm Tucked Under My Arm...

Day 111

Alright, so anyone that knows me knows that I'm a big Jason Mraz fan, and have been for about 8 years, maybe longer. I love his clever lyrics, and his happy, uplifting sound. It's damn near impossible for me to not sing along when I hear a tune of his, and some of my favorites are ones that weren't really ever released on an album. Anyway, as an homage to Mr. Mraz, his wordplay, his total hippie awesomeness, and his 2 Grammy wins last night (Best Male Pop vocal Performance and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals), I give to you the 'Be Love' nails. (and an avocado) :)

The significance of 'Be Love' is best said in his words:

"It’s about choosing kindness over being right. It’s about cutting out the conditions in which you might think are required for love and going straight to the source, or rather, being the source yourself, that which is Love, unconditional. "

(via his blog, Freshness Factor Five Thousand)

To remind themselves to 'Be Love', he and a couple of friends (Mraz, Bushwalla, Tricia, and John) got their own individual versions of 'Be Love' tattoos. The avocado on the pinky is because Jason grows avocados, loves them, and it seems to have become a symbol of sorts of his.

The tattoo reference for the nails:

Be Love Four Ways

Anyway, on to the nails. (I even used my awesome Jason Mraz-esque straw fedora that was given to me by a great friend as a prop)

Also, accidentally did the head and shoulders one upside-down, my apologies!



I used Urban Outfitters in Matte Nude 3 as a base for all nails except the pinky, in which I used Sally Hansen Trendy Creme . For all of the black, I used OPI for Sephora What's a Tire Jack? Matte, for the red of the heart on the ring finger, I used China Glaze Salsa. The avocado was shaded with LA Girl Army Girl green polish around the edges, and outlined in Zoya Envy, the avocado seed/pit was painted with Zoya Flowie, was shaded with Nubar Milk Chocolate Creme, and highlighted with China Glaze White on White mixed with Zoya Flowie. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat, as usual.


How do you define 'Being Love'?