Piece of Cake

Ahhh, it's done, the cake is finished, the wedding is over. Thank goodness. I'm exhausted, since I didn't really sleep last night because I kept having cake-related nightmares. It was NOT good. lol Anyway, the cake seemed to be a success, and the bride was happy! :-D My bread class ends tomorrow, I'll be sad when it's over, I really enjoyed it! On monday, my sister comes to stay for a few days, so I'm super excited about that, it'll really be good to have some family around, even if only for a few days. Today's nails were based off of the illustration on the back of the wedding invitations, a red hand-drawn looking flowery design.

The inspiration:



The nails:



I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with China Glaze Strawberry Fields for the line work.

Some pictures:

The cake I made for the wedding as my gift:



They killed it!!



Chocolate:



Vanilla:



The bride:



Food baby!! lol I have a great ability to push out my tummy and look pregnant. :-P (and the food was SO good, I ate until I couldn't breathe- I actually had to unzip my dress a little lol)

Should Have Zagged

Ok, stole that name from my friend John G, hope he doesn't mind! Today's nails are simple Konad design, because I was working on a wedding cake all day!! I'll try to post pics of it tomorrow! I think it turned out pretty well, not exactly how I envisioned it, but still cool. If I never make buttercream again, it'll be too soon. The recipe I used is SO yummy though!!



I used China Glaze Sun Worshipper as a base, with China Glaze Grape Pop applied with Konad Plate m78, then topped off with Seche Vite top coat.

Got my eyebrows threaded today, gonna do my nails for tomorrow in a few minutes, then bed, then up early to get ready and finish cake! WOO!!

ManGlaze Giveaway!

Yes you read that right :-). I was enjoying my ManGlaze polishes so much, I just felt the need to share some of the ManGlaze awesomeness with you! And to be honest, you guys are all so great and supportive and funny and sweet and caring, so consider this giveaway as a small gesture of my thanks. Unfortunately I cannot buy everyone nail polish so I'll be giving away Matte is Murder (click here for swatch & review) and Fuggen Ugly to one lucky winner. The rules? Pretty simple: You have to be a follower of my blog (I will check) Leave me a comment with your email address It doesn't matter where you live, this contest is open internationally. Optional: You can earn one extra chance to win by reposting this on Twitter or your blog - include a link to your tweet or blogpost in a separate entry. You can enter till the 21th of May, 11:59pm - CET. I will use www.random.org to decide the winner I won't be sending out this package myself, I will order straight from the ManGlaze website and make sure it gets delivered at your address. Yay for laziness! ;-) Well dear readers, if you wish to enter: good luck!

Let Me Take You Down

Ok, so I'll admit, I didn't see what all the hub-bub about Strawberry Fields was about....at first. Not being a pink/red nail polish person, I was reluctant to order this polish, but when I saw it in person at the International Beauty Show- I pretty much HAD to have it! So today- I use it! :) I apologize for today's post being so late in the evening (I only have 15 min left of the day!!), but I have been working on a wedding cake all day for my friend's wedding this weekend.... more working tomorrow on it! :-D



I used China Glaze Strawberry Fields as a base, with China Glaze 2030 from Khrome Collection for the moon at the cuticle, as well as the dots, then American Apparel Peacock for the swoops. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Strawberry Fields Forever!

Gel Polish Cheetah and much more!

This is opi gel polish in Pink Flamenco. I hand painted a little cheetah print to go with a super cute outfit my client brought for inspiration! Love the gel polish just can't get enough of it.

This client was in the mood for blue and green so that is exactly what she got! I hand painted some little swirls and circles.

These are some stars that I purchased from the IBS Las Vegas show. I just mixed them with some acrylic and went for it!

These are fimo clay flowers from oaktreedollshouseminiatures.com The glitter that I faded into the black is from sparklesnailproducts.com. Can you tell that I love internet shopping for nail stuff???

This is a glitter from sparklesnailproducts.com. I love their stuff! I just bought some of their new glitters.

These have fimo clay dragonflies and flowers from kennickkreations.com.

Baseball Mom! The baseballs are fimo clay from kennickkreations.com. Go Granger Lancers! Go #24! Woot Woot!

Pop Beauty Cosmetics on Sale at Hautelook!

Pop Beauty Cosmetics on sale on Hautelook today!!

Everything is 70% off!! eyeshadow palettes, lipglosses, lipgloss palettes, gel liner, tons of stuff! :) (and cheeeap!)

The link:

Pop Beauty Sale on Hautelook

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder

>

Hi everyone! Last week I received my order from ManGlaze, I was so excited! I have been drooling over their polishes for months now, so I decided it was okay to give in ;-). ManGlaze is actually one of the, if not THE, very first company to sell matte nail polish. Of course a lot of brands followed, but there's not another single brand out there with the same attitude and edge that I love so much. Oh and the nail polish is pretty damn good too. I got all 4 polishes, Matte is Murder, Fuggen Ugly, Matte-Astrophe (clear matte top coat) and Hot Mess (bling matte top coat). Eventually I will show you all of these and I will compare the matte top coat with some other matte top coats I have. But today I will show you Matte is Murder. Meat Matte is Murder is a bad ass black matte with a nice shimmer to it. The shimmer has a turquoise hue, absolutely stunning. The formula was really good compared to all the matte polishes I've tried so far. I only applied 2 coats, and this polish actually allows you to go over the same area multiple times, without ending up with a streaky mess. Drying time was pretty awesome too, just a couple of minutes and you're good to go. I haven't been able to test how good or bad the wear is yet, but I'll come back and edit this post when I find out more.

I actually took this pic a week earlier, so my nails are a bit longer here

If you get bored with the matte look you can always add top coat, the shimmer really comes to live, so pretty. I decided to make a ruffian with some top coat to show you what it looks like.

You can order ManGlaze polishes online at www.manglaze.com and they do ship internationally!

Well dear readers, this was it, thanks for stopping by!
- Michèle

Catrice Limited Edition: The Oceana Collection!

Catrice heeft ons niet alleen een geweldige core line gegeven maar ze blijven ook nog steeds erg mooie (en erg beperkte) limited editions uitbrengen. De meest recente is Oceana.

Niet alle kleuren in deze collectie horen bij het thema vind ik maar wat maakt het uit. Wat wel leuk is, is dat deze collectie twee matte lakjes heeft en dat de kwaliteit erg goed is!

Op naar de swatches.

Catrice did not only bring us an amazing new core line, they also continue to make very nice (very) limited editions. The most recent one is Oceana.

Not all the colours in the collection make sense to me but who cares. What matters is that this collection has two mattes and the quality of the polishes is great!

So, on to the swatches.

Pebble Beach, a zachte lichtgrijs. Dit is mijn favoriet uit deze collectie! De finish is meer satijnachtig dan mat maar dat past bij deze kleur ook wel heel erg goed. Dit is twee laagjes en de dekking was erg goed. De formule was prettig om mee te werken omdat deze niet, in tegenstelling tot sommige andere matte lakjes, haast op het kwastje al droog is.

Pebble Beach, a soft, light grey. This is my favourite from this collection! The finish is more satin than matte but that suits really well with this colour. I used two coats in this pic but the formula was very opaque. It's also easy to work with because, unlike other mattes I've worked with, it doesn't dry before it's properly on your nail.

Sea Of Green. Deze mooie turquoise is ook weer meer satijnachtig dan mat en is een goede tweede favoriet. Mooi! Ook deze was dekkend in twee laagjes en droogde eenmaal op de nagel redelijk snel. Dat is altijd erg prettig aan matte lakken. Bij cremes vind ik een satijnachtige finish ook mooier dan echt mat.

Sea Of Green. This nice turquoise that also dries to a satin finish instead of matte. It's a close second to my favourite. Pretty! This one was also opaque in two coats and once on the nail, it dried pretty fast. I like that about mattes. With cremes I also prefer satin finishes over true matte.

Ik hoor om me heen dat dit een matte versie van I Sea You van Catrice zou zijn maar dat is zoals je ziet niet het geval! Om de vergelijking qua kleur goed te kunnen maken heb ik over beide een topcoat gedaan. Op mijn wijsvinger en ringvinger zit I Sea You en op mijn middelvinger en pink Sea Of Green. Zoals je ziet is Sea Of Green donkerder dan I Sea You.

Word around the blogs is this is a matte version of I Sea You by Catrice but as you can see it is not! To be able to compare the colours correctly I added a topcoat to both of them. I Sea You is on my index and ring finger, Sea Of Green on my middle finger and pinky. As you can see, Sea Of Green is darker compared to I Sea You.

De volgende is Blue Out To Sea. Een donkerblauwe shimmer. Niet heel uniek maar wel mooi. De kobaltblauwe shimmer geeft deze lak net even wat meer diepte.

Next up is Blue Out To Sea. A dark blue shimmer. Not terribly unique but still pretty. The cobalt blue shimmer gives this polish a little more depth. 

De laatste is Ocean Sunset. Ik zal er maar gelijk bij vertellen dat deze foto absoluut niet kleurecht is. Als ik alleen deze wilde laten zien had ik de foto niet geplaatst maar omdat ik de hele collectie laat zien wilde ik hem er toch bij doen. Deze lak is niet oranje maar echt brandweerwagenrood! Een prachtige rode jelly die ook weer niet heel uniek is maar als je nog geen rode jelly hebt dan is dit een erg prettige!
Op de foto draag ik twee laagjes zonder basecoat of topcoat.

Dat was het weer voor vandaag! Bedankt voor het kijken en dat jullie zo geduldig met me zijn geweest toen ik afwezig was.

Last is Ocean Sunset. I'll say straight away that this pic is far from true to colour. If I just wanted to show you this one polish I wouldn't have even posted it but because I'm showing the whole collection I wanted to include it. This polish isn't orange but vibrant fire-engine red! A gorgeous red jelly that also isn't terribly unique but if you don't own a red jelly yet this one is very nice to work with!

I'm wearing two coats without basecoat or topcoat.

And that's it for today! Thank you for watching and for being so patient with me during my absence.

Hold the Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! What is everyone doing to celebrate today? I painted my nails- woo! :-P However, in today's spirit, I painted them with margaritas!! :-D I also used one of the new glitter polishes that I picked up at the International Beauty Show a week and a half ago. It is awesome, it has an orange jelly base, with tiny holo glitter, stringy holo glitter and huge hexagon holo glitter!! I got it from a company called LECHAT, and the nail polish line is called Dare to Wear, so far, my experience with this brand has been great, I have no complaints!!



I used Dare to Wear Get Funky from the Disco Tech collection as a base, with Dare to Wear Inspiring surroundings for the nargartia, topped with Zoya Tangy, then shaded with Zoya Midori. For the glass, I mixed American Apparel Cotton with Color Club Pure Energy, then used the Color Club Pure Energy to shade the glass as well. For the salt on the rim, I dabbed American Apparel Cotton on with the tip of the brush along the rim. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Got a free ticket to go see Lance Burton tonight- it's gonna be maagggggic. :-P

OPI Shrek Collection: Ogre The Top Blue

Vandaag dan eindelijk de andere lak die ik voor review gekregen heb uit de OPI Shrek collectie: Ogre The Top Blue.

Today I'm finally showing you the other polish I received for review from the OPI Shrek Collection: Ogre The Top Blue.

Een mooie, heldere middenblauwe creme. Omdat de formule wat dun en streperig is had ik drie laagjes nodig om deze dekkend te krijgen. De kleur is niet heel uniek volgens mij maar ik ben nog niet op zoek gegaan in mijn stash naar vergelijkingsmateriaal. Mocht ik nog een dupe tegenkomen dan laat ik dat jullie zeker weten!

A nice, bright middle blue creme. Because the formula was a bit thin and streaky I needed three coats to get it opaque. I don't think the colour is very unique but I didn't search my stash for dupes yet. If I come across one I'll let you know!

Sorry voor de matige kwaliteit van mijn foto's. Mijn camera is stuk waardoor ik op mijn back-up aangewezen ben die helaas niet zulke mooie foto's maakt. Ik ben aan het bekijken of ik qua budget beter mijn camera kan laten maken of een nieuwe kan kopen.

Bedankt voor alle inschrijvingen op mijn giveaway! Het zijn er meer dan ik verwacht had dus het kan even duren voor ik ze allemaal het uitgezocht. Zodra ik alle inschrijvingen nagekeken heb laat ik www.random.org of een vergelijkbaar programma de winnaar bepalen.

I'm sorry for the poor quality of my pics. My camera broke down so I have to use my back-up which doesn't really make nice pictures. I'm looking into having my camera fixed or buying a new one depending on the cost.

Thanks for all the entries on my giveaway! There were a lot more than I anticipated so it's going to take a while to sort them all out. As soon as I've checked all the entries I'll let www.random.org or a simmilar program decide the winner.