We're Gonna Rouge Our Knees

and roll our stockings down...

I have yet to come across a musical that I DIDN'T like, and CHICAGO is no exception. I LOVE this musical. I love the movie version, and though I've only experienced the soundtrack of the stage version, I adore that too! I love the glamour of it all, the sex, the crime, the Richard Gere?! :-P Anyway, today's nails were inspired by all that jazz...

The 'glow' is far more subtle in person, but the camera really seemed to pick it up.

I used American Apparel Hassid as a base, with the orangey red from the Color Club Yacht Club collection for the glow of the neon letters, mixed with a little American Apparel Hassid to try to fade out the glow a bit, and with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud to create the glowing neon of the middle C. For the black of the other letters, I used American Apparel Hassid.

So who's your favorite Velma? Bebe Neuwirth? Catherine Zeta Jones? Someone else? Are you more of a Roxie Hart fan? Maybe Mama? Billy? *rawr*

Review: Essence Nail Art Pens

Essence & Nail Art

Essence is really getting into nail art recently. They now have an entire line of glitters, decals, special nail art base & top coats and also these six Nail Art pens! Nail art can take up a lot of time, especially if you're into freehand stuff. Will these pens make your nail art life easier?

Essence came up with these pens in six different colors, the packaging actually reminds me a lot of markers. They're fairly easy to use. Give them a good shake, press on the tip until the polish comes out and you're all set. I played around with these and they're pretty neat when it comes to drawing, thanks to the pointy tip.

Swatches

I swatched the colors over black and white, to show you how they're holding up against a bold background.

• Cool Black is really awesome, it's very opaque and applies pretty nicely, allowing to make neat tight lines (which I obviously didn't - damn caffeine!).
• Silver Star is another winner, very opaque, easy to handle.
• Then we have Silver White, in the picture it looks nearly the same as Silver Star but it's not, I was expecting this to be a solid white, but I got a pearly sheer white instead, not a fan of this one.
• Next in line is Deep Purple, I love this color but it has an extremely watery texture, so it's almost if you're making a water-colour painting with this one.
• Same goes for Juicy Orange, sheer, watery, I don't like it.
• Last but not least we have Spacy Pink. Spacy pink looks a LOT lighter than its deceiving packaging, but because it's a very well pigmented color, I liked it nonetheless.

Conclusion

Overall I'd say these are nice, but not perfect. I would recommend getting Cool Black, Silver Star and Spacy Pink and that's about it. And luckily those make up for a great color combination! You can also use top coat on these without smudging your lines, I was pleasantly surprised!

I got these at Dutch drugstore Kruidvat and they were €1,99 each.

Baroque Chic

I'm a winter-person. I love tweed, warm woolen sweaters and mittens. Waking up to see ice flowers on the bedroom window and staying in bed just a little longer, curled up under the blankets. Cooking typical (Dutch) winter foods like stews, hotch potch and pea soup. Taking a long walk when the first snow falls, even if it's in the middle of the night. Or should I say especially in the middle of the night? The world is a magical place when it's covered in a white layer. Everything is so peaceful and quiet.

I'm a longing for winter and I'm getting a bit sick of all the happy pastels and glittery goodness so for todays nails I used Catrice The Devil Wears Red; a nice near-black red vampy polish. I'm told TDWR is a dupe for Chanel Rouge Noir. I don't have that one so I don't know how close it is but it's a beautiful vampy nonetheless.

I've been painting my nails at night with poor lighting again (will I ever learn?) and I woke up this morning to discover a couple of spots that weren't covered completely so I decided to cover them up with a little Konad.

I used Konad plate M71 and China Glaze 2030 from the Khrome Collection for stamping. Most chrome polishes are great for stamping and this one is no exception! The result is always very crisp and clean and the shine is amazing.

Remember you can buy all your Konad supplies and China Glaze and other polishes from www.enchantra.eu at a 15% discount with the code DTCHNLBLG! They ship to most of Europe.

Atomic Wedgwood

I've always been a fan of all things retro in the art world, and the plates that today's nail art was inspired by are no exception! I love the atomic era art style, so when my friend Chris showed me his plates and suggested they'd make great nail art, I completely agreed. So, I palmed a plate, and headed to my nail art desk, and got to work!

The inspiration:

The Nails:

I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with a mixture of Essie Mink Muffs and American Apparel California Trooper for the beige, Orly Gumdrop for the turquoise, Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Spring Green for the green, and MAC Showy for the dark brown line work. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Review: Nfu Oh Aqua Base

Extra oomph?

Lately I've been reading a lot about a special base coat by Nfu Oh, the Aqua Base. This base coat is specifically designed to go under holographic nail polish. On several blogs I read this base coats gives extra "oomph" to holographic nail polishes, it would even make Nfu Oh 61 a dupe for Chanel Holographic. Oh la la. So my nail polish heart beat a little faster and I before I knew it I had ordered myself a bottle.

Application

Nfu Oh holos are notorious for their patchy application and bad wear, but this base coat makes application a whole lot easier. This milky base coat smells a bit funny, almost like glue, but luckily it doesn't have a very strong scent. I only need 2 (!) coats of Nfu Oh #66, when applied over the Aqua Base instead of the usual 3 or 4 to cover up any bald patches. So that's a huge plus for me! I can't really tell anything about the wear yet, but I promise to update this post when I know more.

Put it to the test

But does it really spice up the holographic effect? I tried it myself, with Nfu Oh #66, a gorgeous lime green holo. I applied 2 layers of the Aqua Base and 4 layers on top of Orly Bonder. I skipped the top coat. Mhmm, honestly, I see no difference, do you? I'd totally recommend this base coat for its ability to handle holographics so well, though!

I wanted to end this post with a little bit of news for my Brazilian readers! Yesterday I stumbled upon this link, and found out a brand called Rivka is going to introduce esmaltes Holográficos in Brasil. Sanction Angel is also releasing (in 10 or 15 days) a bunch of - to die for - holos, how hot are THESE?!

You can order this base coat at NailXL or check out my faq for other etailers.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great day!
- Michèle

Just Push Play

So, since I've been feeling pretty under the weather for the last few days, I've become very acquainted with the TV remote. I seem to have caught some sort of bug. *bleck* Anyway. There are a few things I make myself get out of bed/get off the couch for- and this is one!! :) (Groceries is another) Anyway, today's nails were inspired by my buddy, the remote, the clicker, the changer, your children, whatever you call the little thing that allows you to channel surf. :-P

I used American Apparel Factory Grey as a base with American Apparel Cotton for the symbols. For the red of the record 'button', I used Nubar Sexy Red. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Did you know the Travel Channel has wicked awesome shows? I'm totally addicted. between that, Discovery, History, and ID, I'm totally hypnotized. In addition, can I say I am loving Anthony Bourdain?

Review: Burt's Bees Tin Trio

Hi everyone! Sadly, the weekend is already over, so let's kickstart this week with a fresh review. I picked up this cute trio a while ago, I had heard so much good things about Burt's Bees.. I just had to. The package contains 3 small tins, each good for 8.5g or 0.3oz. I love how Burt's Bees products are 100% natural and cruelty free. They're not vegan though, as they contain bees wax.

Burt's Bees - Beeswax Lip Balm When I have dry or chapped lips I always reach for a lip balm. Before using the Burt's Bees lip balm I was using brands like Blistex and Purol. The thing that bothered me most about these, was the fact I had to reapply throughout the entire day. Not with this bad boy. It really lasts long, leaving me with soft lips! It isn't greasy and I love the tingling sensation. It smell like mint, which I adore, but if you're not into mint you'd best stay away from it. I also have this in tube form, and I must admit I like that one better, because it applies easier.

Burt's Bees - Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream I've mentioned this product before, and I think it's really good. It's more a balm then a cream though. It's my second favorite cuticle moisturizer after Lemony Flutter, and that means something. I love that it goes on quite transparent, but you do have to rub hard to get some product out. The effort definitely pays off since it does a mighty fine job at moisturizing. The smell is lovely too, it's best described as the smell of Napoleon candy or lemon cake, yum!

Burt's Bees - Hand Salve Well, this is a tough one. What I don't like about this product is that is a real solid salve, so again, you've got some work to do if you want to get some out of the tin. It melts down to an oily substance, therefore it's really greasy. Icky-greasy. It's best to walk around like a zombie because you do not want to touch things with your sticky fingers after you've used this salve. So yeah, that kinda sucks. But, it does work. And pretty good actually. My hands were really soft after it finally absorbed. I think this is best to be used at nighttime, especially in winter. It has a strong smell that reminds me a bit of herbal, medicinal stuff with a touch of eucalyptus, which I happen to like a lot.

Depending on where you're from you can order this trio at Boozyshop for €12.95 or at Sephora for €14.95

Puttin' on the Ritz

High hats, and arrowed collars, white spats and lots of dollars....

Who'd have thought that a song would inspire a nail design? Well, whether you like the Fred Astaire version or the Taco version, this is a great song, and it DID inspire today's nail design, spats!

I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the black of the shoes and the buttons. Topped with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Why don't you go where fashion sits?

WHAT I DID THIS WEEKEND

Strawberry shake 2

I found this manicure in one of the blogs, and just fell in love with it, such a fabulous idea. I can not remember who did this manicure originally, but if this is you please let me know and i will link to the original mani here.
Anyway here is my interpretation of a strawberry shake nails, i live this look.