Camel Whoa

Today, I managed to snag my major nail polish lemmings- China Glaze Classic Camel and China Glaze Ingrid! :) (I decided to grab Swing Baby as well. I love the Vintage Vixen collection!! Today in Vegas it feels disgusting. I know that I shouldn't complain, but after living in the desert for 2.5 years, 41% humidity is HELL. (on top of the 100°+ temperatures. It makes me think of the days in Michigan where you step out of the shower, and then feel like you have to shower all over again. Humidity is the devil, and the devil is in Las Vegas. I did another relatively simple design today, since a few people expressed that they dug the simpler stuff. I think it sort of has a vintage feel to it as well, so I think it fits with the color collection I used. :) BTW Class Camel was so totally worth the wait. I am in love with this polish, even though it looks horrid with my skin. :-P

I used China Glaze Classic Camel as a base, China Glaze Ingrid for the scrolls, China Glaze Swing Baby for the dots. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

There's No Place Like Home!

It's GIVEAWAY time!!! To thank all my lovely readers, (new and old) I decided to do a giveaway!!!

The theme? HOME.

The challenge? I want to see a nail design that reminds you of home, whether it's a place you love to go when you're home, what you think of when you think of home, or what home means to you.

The rules:

You MUST be a follower. When you send your entry, please put your Google ID in the Subject. Also, I ask that after you send the entry, please comment on this post. :) All entries should be sent to thedailynailcontest@gmail.com by August 8, 2010. One entry per person please! Depending on the number of entries, I will post all of them in one post for you all to vote on, or I will whittle them down to a reasonable number if there are a lot. YAY!

Now the important part: THE PRIZES!!

A special thank you to reader Patti, who donated some fun (and a tad naughty- sorry dad) chapstick holder keyrings, and to the First Place winner, an eyeshadow quad palette with choice of colors! Check out her sites Etsy (chapstick holder) and Bella Sugar Cosmetics.

FIRST PRIZE:

The Daily Nail cosmetic bag (hand screen-printed and sewn by yours truly!)
Color Club Rebel Debutante Set
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color Collection mini set
essie Berry Hard
Claire's Mood Polish in Calm/Wild
Piggy Polish Free Toes
Piggy Polish Teeny Pink-ini
Eyeshadow quad with choice of colors from Bella Sugar Cosmetics!
Naughty Chapstick Holder- ADULT WINNERS ONLY

SECOND PRIZE:

The Daily Nail cosmetic bag (hand screen-printed and sewn by yours truly!)
Sally Hansen Lacquer Shine Nail Color Collection mini set
Orly La Playa
Orly Top 2 Bottom
Dare To Wear Inspiring Surrounding
Rimmel Tequila Sunrise
Revlon Lavender Light
LA Colors Live
Naughty Chapstick Holder- ADULT WINNERS ONLY

THIRD PRIZE:

The Daily Nail cosmetic bag (hand screen-printed and sewn by yours truly!)
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color Collection mini set
Orly Bailamos
Orly Top 2 Bottom
Rimmel Night Before
LA Colors Phenomena
Naughty Chapstick Holder- ADULT WINNERS ONLY

Who else is excited?! I love giveaways!!

Retro Zig Zaggin'

Today's nail design was quick, I'll admit it, I'm in a rush today- lots to do- Colin Hay concert tonight! woo! The design was inspired by the paint job I saw on the side of a building in southern California, I just thought that it had a really retro vibe to it, which, of course, I love. I also got to use a new polish I picked up from Milani- they have a new collection of nudes out now!! :)

I used Milani Teddy Bare (which is pretty close to Essie Mink Muffs) as a base, with American Apparel Cotton for the ivory line, and Zoya Jancyn for the orange line.

Sorry for the lack of complexity today, I feel kinda guilty when I don't do crazy stuff. :-P

Les Contrastes de Chanel: Paradoxal

Crush Maybe you remember my review on Chanel's previous hit: Nouvelle Vague? I was a bit disappointed to be honest... and then this beauty strolled along. Trust me, I was reluctant. But then the swatches started to haunt me and I knew I just needed to have it. I think I now know what it's like to have a nail polish crush. It won't be out here for a while, but a big sweetheart CP'ed it for me, thank you so much Brittni!!

Secret shimmer

And you know what? I'm happy to have it! This polish belongs to the Les Contrastes de Chanel fall 2010 collection. Paradoxal is a deep purple-y taupe, I really love this color. In brighter or sun light there's this pretty pink/blue-ish shimmer, it's stunning. The shimmer is barely noticeable in normal lighting though, but sometimes the purple sheen will catch your eye. I'm pretty sure I will be wearing this color a lot this fall!

Application

I normally don't use the phrase "it applies like butter", I save it for very very special occasions, and this is one of them. I've used two coats and they just glided on. A lot of people experienced major chip city within a few days, but for me it stayed on for five days with only one chip at my thumb (and that was on the 5th day AFTER I cleaned the house). I used Orly Bonder and Nubar Diamont and it held up really well!

Dupes?

If you're looking for a less expensive alternative you can look into Purple Grey by Models Own, it doesn't have shimmer but the base color is really close!

You can get Chanel Paradoxal online at www.chanel.com for $23.00 or at your local Chanel counter. It probably won't be for sale in The Netherlands until appr. October.

Grease is the Word

Lately, Paramount decided to re-release the movie GREASE in select theaters, but this time with a little twist- it's a SING-A-LONG! They added graphics throughout the movie when there were songs to be sung, and how they handled some of the lyrics was pretty damn amusing. The graphics were amusing, but some were distracting and too much. All in all it was a fun experience. In honor of the re-release, I did GREASE nails!! :-D

I used:

Thumb:

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base for the red, and for the letters in 'GREASE', with Nubar Sexy Red for the red of the car.

Index:

Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base with Nubar Sexy Red for the Rydell High logo.

Middle:

American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the T Birds logo.

Ring:

Yachty Yachty Yadda as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the words.

Pinky:

Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with Nubar Sexy Red for the lightning outline, and China Glaze OMG for the silver.

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

We go together like rama lama lama ke ding a de dinga a dong, just thought you should know.

Airbrushed tips.

Did this set of airbrush nails for a bride just this afternoon and I couldn't wait to post them up!


Stardust glitter on the tips! Pretty!



Something simple and nice. :)

Airbrushed tips.

Did this set of airbrush nails for a bride just this afternoon and I couldn't wait to post them up!


Stardust glitter on the tips! Pretty!



Something simple and nice. :)

The puff pink ribbons.

Gel pink glitter tips and puff pink ribbons! Weeeeee!

Omg. It's so super sweet. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

The puff pink ribbons.

Gel pink glitter tips and puff pink ribbons! Weeeeee!

Omg. It's so super sweet. I LOVE IT!!!!!!!!!!!

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.

Helmer says Hi!

Hi guys! Today I decided to show you how I organize my stash and what's in it! I'm not posting this to show off or something like that, but I'm posting this because it's one of the requests I get most often! I'm not sure how you'd qualify my stash, small or big, I guess it all depends on what you compare it to.

I've been holding out on this request for a long long time, but I finally managed to put all my nail polish in one place: my Helmer from Ikea. Normally nail polish is everywhere, in different rooms, in my bag, on my desk, in my pockets, in bed, you name it. After putting everything where it belongs, it started to dawn on me: my Helmer was full.

By brand or color?

I started 'collecting' nail polish years ago, but from the moment I started blogging, my stash doubled in size, whoops. Luckily for me I'm only crazy about nail polish, I wouldn't know what to do with myself if was collecting makeup too :D.
At the moment I organize everything by brand, but I'm debating to organize by color, so I can spot similar colors more easily.. Anyway, here goes :D

• Nfu Oh
• OPI
• Nubar
• Ciate
• Color Club
• ManGlaze
• Nicole by OPI

• H&M
• P2
• Gosh
• Pieces
• Eyeko
• Models Own
• BeYu
• Sephora

• China Glaze
• Collistar
• Deborah Lippmann
• Rescue Beauty Lounge
• Chanel
• Misa
• Catrice
• American Apparel
• Essie
• Diamond Cosmetics
• Superstar Nail Lacquer
• Kiko
• Koh

• Essence
• Yves Rocher
• Herome
• Max Nails
• Etos
• Bourjois
• Claire's
• Allesandro
• Hema
• Theatre
• Frankens

• base coats
• top coats
• matte top coats
• whiteners
• cuticle remover
• cuticle oils
• cuticle creams/balms
• files & tools
• glue
• silkwraps
• glitter
• bundlemonster plates
• nail art pens
• nail polish remover
• brushes
• gloves

• card, notes & receipts
• Incoco products
• some nail polish for swap/giveaway
• hand lotions

I hope you enjoyed this peek at my stash! And see? It's pretty full. I could empty the last drawer but I wouldn't know where to put everything.. And there's still so many brands I want to try out (Orly, Illamasqua, BB Couture, more Zoya, Misa & Color Club etc etc..) I'm afraid I'll have to get a second Helmer..

Pillow Talk

Today's manicure was inspired by the design on some pillows at IKEA! :) I used the VILMIE RUTA pillow as inspiration, to be precise. :-D I've always been a fan of simple shapes and bold, bright colors, so of course this pillow caught my eye!

I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with Nubar Sexy Red for the red, Zoya Jancyn for the orange, American Apparel Factory Grey for the lighter grey, and American Apparel Factory Grey mixed with American Apparel Hassid for the darker grey. For the blue, I used Pure Ice French Kiss, and for the beige, I used a mixture of American Apparel California Trooper, American Apparel Manila, and Essie Mink Muffs. I then topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Protect your painted talons!

The solution to all your problems

We all get it sometimes: post manicure stress. We bang our freshly painted nails to the door, and we smudge our nail polish because we have to pee. Or the kitty strolls along leaving a trail of small hairs stuck to your nails. But not anymore! Yes, aren't you excited?! /end sarcasm. I got an email from Tina C. showing me this wicked invention, thank you Tina!

In all seriousness, would you find these handy? Oh well, who needs quick drying top coat anyway...

You can purchase these on eBay for next to nothing! I also stumbled upon interesting inventions like Nose Up and The Wonder Double Eye Lid Clipper, pretty hot eh?