Dino-MITE!!

Heidy-ho, neighbors! :) Today was a great day!! I participated in Corporate Challenge earlier (a Las Vegas competition between a bunch of corporations where we compete in sports, card games, etc), today's event was Kart Racing. Too bad Mike S. came in 7th, or we might have placed. :-P (Yes, Mike, that was another jab, lol) ANYWAY. lol Another fun thing I got to do today is go to the International Beauty Show! I'd never been to it before, so it was like being a kid in a candy shop... a tad overwhelming, but awesome. It was cool to see people like Nick Arrojo cutting hair a few feet away (and yes, I put in my phone number to be a hair model!! lol). I also loved going around to see all the nail booths, Nubar, CND, China Glaze, Minx, CalGel, etc. There are so many fun techniques- and I swear when I get my project done, I REALLY wanna try CalGel, it looks super rad... and I'm thinking that Shellac is going to be a must-have for this summer on my toes!!! Anyway- I'm hoping to have time to go back tomorrow, and I'll definitely be writing more about what I found, bought, saw, etc. in the next few days! :)

On to the nails... a girl named Danielle in my culinary class suggested that I do Dinosaurs.. I totally thought it was a kick ass idea, so I did it!! It's a T-Rex on my thumb, and dino footprints across the other nails! :)



I used MAC Abalone Shell as a base for the footprint nails, with Essie Mink Muffs and Zoya Dea sponged lightly on top, as well as for the footprints. For the T-Rex nail, I used Orly Snowcone for the background, L.A.Girl Army Green for the T-Rex, Nubar Forest for the shading and part of the lines, American Apparel Hassid for the eye, and the outlines, and Green Scene for the leaves at the bottom. I used Essie Matte About You on the footprint nails, and 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat on the dino nail.

RAAAAARRRRRRRRRR!!

Eyeko - Vampira polish

Hi guys! Long time no see! My absence was caused by my crappy laptop's decision to call it a day. My hard drive completely froze and never really recovered, so all of my pre-made swatches are gone, down the drain :-(.

Luckily I do have this one for you today: Vampira polish by Eyeko. Eyeko has just released five new trendy shades including a taupe, pastel pink, coral and this black and red glitter polish. The packaging is very cool. Every shade has their own designed label, absolutely adorable.

Vampira Polish (for gothic nails) is the star of the collection, hands down.
I *love* this black base filled with bright red glitter. I think it's pretty hot, I could totally picture Elena from The Vampire Diaries wearing this. Not Bella though: "I've been tortured, Alice painted my toenails!". Aaaanyway, Eyeko sure knows how to please a vampire infatuated girl like me.

The application was alright, definitely the best out of all the Eyeko polishes I've tried so far. It only needs 2 coats for complete opacity. It is a bit on the thick side though, so I would recommend adding some thinner for easier application. The finish is rather dull as well, you'll absolutely need a top coat to make it lust-worthy glossy.

Eyeko polishes cost £3.50 (€4.- or $5.40) for 8.5ml, which I don't find to be that cheap actually. However, for a unique color like this I wouldn't mind making an exception. On the other hand: their shipping is extremely cheap: either free (if you're in the UK or Europe) or $5.40 for all international orders.

This was it for today, thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

- Michèle

EDIT: I compared this polish with China Glaze - Lubu Heels (14ml for $2.99) this weekend, and they're are really similar, the glitter in Vampira Polish is brighter though.

This polish was sent to me for review by Eyeko

Behind a Mask

Happy Friday, everyone!! :) Today's nail design was inspired by an episode of Weeds in which the character Ignacio is a Lucha Libre wrestler who goes by the name Perro Insano (insane dog). I think the masks are funny, and colorful and fun, so I thought they'd make an interesting nail design! :) On a more personal note, the root canal saga comes to an end today- I get the final filling!! WOOO!! (this is the third installment/appt in the saga).



I used Urban Outfitters Matte Nude 3 for all of the exposed skin and American Apparel Hassid for anything black.

Left thumb:

Essie Mint Candy Apple for the base, with Pure Ice French Kiss for the darker blue and Zoya Trixie
for the silver.

Left index:

American Apparel Manila as a base, with American Apparel Downtown L.A. for the red.

Left Middle:

American Apparel Downtown L.A. as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the black.

Left Ring:

Green Scene as a base, with American Apparel Downtown L.A. for the red.

Left Pinky:

Sinful Colors Let's Talkas a base, with China Glaze 2030 from Khrome Collection for the outlines (for some reason the purple underneath dyed EVERY other color I put on this nail. (even through seche vite)



Right Thumb:

American Apparel Cotton as a base with American Apparel Hassid for the black.

Right index:

Pure Ice French Kiss as a base, with Orly Snowcone for the light blue, and Zoya Trixie for the outlines of silver.

Right Middle:

Zoya Trixie as a base with China Glaze DV8 and American Apparel Hassid for the lines.

Right RIng:

Electric Orange as a base, with American Apparel Downtown L.A. for the flames, outlined by China Glaze 2030 from Khrome Collection.

Right Pinky:

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Sally Hansen All the White Stuff for the white outlines.

Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Orange Juce manicure and pedicure

Love it!!! First time in this year finally wore flip flops.
Base color is beautiful Zoya Jancyn from flash collection

MORE FUN NAIL ART TO COME...

I will be attending the IBS Las Vegas show and I can't hardly wait! I am hoping to come back with tons of new exciting ideas for all of my fabulous clients. See ya soon!

Today's .Com-Post

Happy Earth Day, everyone!! I hope that you are recycling today! (and every day!!) Today's nails were (obviously) inspired by Earth Day and the recycle symbol. I tried to make the background look like recycled paper, too! :)



I used Urban Outfitters Beige 1 as a base, with Zoya Dea sponged over it. For the recycle symbol, I used Nubar Forest.


Do your part- even if it's something simple, like getting a reusable water bottle, or bringing your own shopping bags... or even doing Back 2 MAC, where you bring in 6 of their empty containers to recycle and get a free lipstick!! (excludes Viva Glam)<---WIN/WIN SITUATION!

Another great company that recycles that I love is Bear Naked, a great granola company that has AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME granola (check out the Apple Cinnamon, Banana Nut, and the Chocolate!!), which has no refined sugars, and no preservatives or other gross stuff. This stuff is amazing- and this is coming from someone who'd rather eat Cheetos than carrots, and I'll eat this stuff over Cheetos. :-D

There are so many easy ways to do your part to save the environment... so get off the internet and do 'em! :-P

Sock it To Me

Guten Tag! :) The inspiration for today's nails came wile watching GLEE! (but aren't related to GLEE... lol) The new KIA Commercial with the toys came on (which I love- especially the sock monkey tattoo), and I thought to myself that a sock monkey design would be funny and cute! So to work I went!! :)



I used Essie Mink Muffs as a base, with American Apparel Cotton sponged on top to give the marled look of the sock, for the forehead and mouth area I also used American Apparel Cotton. For the red, I used a mix of China Glaze Salsa and Zoya Angelina. For the eyes, nostrils, and mouth line, I used American Apparel Hassid, and also mixed American Apparel Hassid with American Apparel Cotton for the highlighting on the button eyes. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Now that's one funky monkey.

Shrek Collection: Rumple's Wiggin' and a pupdate!

Heel erg bedankt aan iedereen die hun beste wensen en felicitaties heeft gestuurd voor ons huwelijk. We hebben een fantastische dag gehad! We hebben wat tijd genomen om te genieten na de bruiloft maar ik zal ergens in de komende week weer normaal gaan posten.

Thanks to everyone who sent their best wishes and congratulations for our wedding. We had a great day! We've taken some time to enjoy our post-wedding days but I should be back to regular posting somewhere in the next week.

Dusss eerst de swatch is ik al dagen beloofd heb. OPI Nederland heeft mij twee lakken uit de nieuwe OPI Shrek Collection gestuurd voor review. Dit is Rumple's Wiggin', die gebaseerd is op een nieuw karakter uit de volgende Shrek film.

Sorry voor de zwarte stipjes, Ik had wat bubbeltjes in mijn topcoat die irl niet echt te zien zijn maar blijkbaar op de foto zwart lijken.

Sooo first the swatch I've been promising for days now. OPI Nederland was kind enough to send me two polishes from the OPI Shrek Collection for review. This is Rumple's Wiggin' which is based on a new character from the next Shrek movie.

Excuse the little black dots, I've had some bubbles in my topcoat that don't really show irl but apparently show up black in pictures.

Iedereen die mijn blog regelmatig leest weet dat ik paars bijna net zo mooi vind als modderkleuren en deze is geen uitzondering. Het is een heel mooie lavendelkleurige pastel die net een beetje warmer van kleur is dan China Glaze Light As Air. Wat kleur betreft vind ik deze mooier omdat deze niet het typ-exeffect heeft op mij.

Anyone that reads my blog regularly knows I love purples almost as much as I love muddy colours and this is no exception. It's a very nice lavender pastel that is just a bit warmer toned than China Glaze Light As Air. Colour-wise I prefer this one because it doesn't have that white-out effect Light As Air had on me.

Ondanks dat ik erg houd van een goede paarse pastel was ik een beetje teleurgesteld in de dekking van deze. Ik had drie laagjes nodig om het dekkend te krijgen en op sommige nagels zelfs vier. De formule is wel erg prettig om mee te werken maar ik zou hem liever iets gepigmenteerder zien. Desondanks ben ik helemaal weg van deze!

As much as I love a good purple pastel I was a bit disappointed with the coverage of this one. It took three coats to be opaque and on some nails I even needed four. The formula is very nice to work with but I would prefer it if it was a bit more pigmented. That said, I really love this one! 

Daarnaast heb ik nog een pupdate. We gaan de leuke tijd in nu alle ogen en oren open zijn en ze beginnen te lopen, grommen, blaffen en spelen. Het is zo'n grappig en schattig gezicht als ze per ongeluk blaffen en dan in paniek raken omdat ze iets engs gehoord hebben! lol

We hebben besloten om een van de reutjes te houden omdat deze nu al als twee druppels water lijkt qua karakter en ondeugendheid. Die links bovenaan richting de hand loopt is onze Wammes.

On unrelated news here is another pupdate. We are entering the fun stage now that their eyes and ears are open and they are starting to walk, growl, bark and play. It's so funny and adorable to see them bark by accident and then freak out because they heard something alarming! lol

We've decided to keep one of the male pups because it already is the spitting image of his dad where attitude and mischief are concerned. The one on the left going towards the hand is our Wammes.

Als je je nog niet hebt ingeschreven voor mijn Surprise Puppy Giveaway doe dat dan snel! Je kunt negen Catrice lakjes naar eigen keuze winnen en misschien zelfs een puppy een naam geven! De giveaway is open voor idereen, overal ter wereld!

Please remember to enter my Surprise Puppy Giveaway if you haven't already to win nine Catrice polishes of your choice and maybe you even get to name a puppy!The giveaway is open to everyone, anywhere in the world!

That's it for today. Thanks for looking!

Urban Decay Meets Hautelook!

Another Urban Decay sale on Hautelook!

Stuff starts at $4.25! They have the Apocalypse Nail Polish set for $13 (50% off!!)

They also have lipglosses, the big Buddha brush, pigments, etc for cheappppppp!

Urban Decay sale on Hautelook!

Scratchin' the Seven Year Itch

Hey everyone!! Today's nail design is one I've wanted to do for ages, it was inspired by Andy Warhol's Marilyn, c.1967 (On Blue Ground). It's not perfect, but I think I did alright, given the size, and time I had. :) A few of them look a tad 'challenged' but what can ya do, I was already up til 1 am doing them! I hope you all like them!!



I used Orly Gumdrop for the background, a mix of American Apparel Manila and American Apparel Cotton for the hair, China Glaze Flyin' High for the eyeshadow, China Glaze Salsa for the lips and shirt, as well as mixed with American Apparel Cotton for the face. For the lines/shading, I used American Apparel Hassid. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

And a message for one of my readers: Tia- send your dad a text message! :-P