Thursday, October 03, 2013

Leopard mani with Bluesea bow review

Hi guys! Today I have another review for you. I already showed you the studs from KKCenterHk, but they also sent me some adorable 3D bow decorations by Bluesea.


These bows come in a ton of different colours and patterns but I personally decided to go with these with a white background and a pink and black leopard print because I'm a big sucker for leopard prints... I'm pretty sure I've said that before, though.

I made a matching nail art with them, using Essie Mod Squad as my base and NYC City Blackout with white acrylic paint for the leopard print. 


The bows are fairly small and should apply to every nail with ease. The site recommends you to apply them with nail glue. DO NOT apply them with topcoat if you intend to reuse them! I personally used topcoat, having no nail glue, and with removal of the bow I had to be very careful not to ruin it. Keep this in mind if you plan to order them. However, even with just the topcoat it stayed on an entire day before I removed it before going to bed. That's pretty great, in my opinion.


These bows retail for $4.00, which is a very fair price considering that these are intended to be reusable. They come in packages of two, which means you can use them for a cute accent nail on both of your hands. Yay!


Also, don't forget about my coupon code!
When ordering at KKCenterHk you can use the code POLISH-SMOOTHIE at checkout
to receive a 10% discount on your order.


Monday, September 23, 2013

Essence Sparkle Sand Effect - Hey, Nude!

Hey guys!

A while ago I posted about Essence's attempt at a 'rough' polish. I thought it was going to be a textured polish like the Liquid Sands we all know but I was slightly disappointed when I found out that wasn't the case. I've been dying to try out a textured polish but I haven't been able to get my hands on one yet.

Well, Essence recently came with actual textured polishes! I was very excited to try them so I picked them up. They come in three different colours and today I'll be showing you the nude variant.



Essence Hey, Nude! Is the Sparkle Sand Effect in an elegant nude colour. The base is a very light pink with silver shimmer and a few different sizes of silver glitter in it. As you can see, there is some VNL. It didn't bother me on my short nails so it's up to you if you like it or not. 

In the picture I'm wearing three layers, and let me tell you... if you are in a hurry and have to do your nails quickly, this is possibly the WORST polish to pick at that moment.My first attempt at swatching this polish failed horribly because every coat takes ages to dry. I probably waited 15~20 minutes for each coat to dry, and even then it stayed squishy on my nails and I got dents everywhere. :( It may just be this colour though, because I tried one of the other Sparkle Sands and it was absolutely fine.


If you have all the time in the world and don't mind having to wait a long time for your nails to try... this is a very pretty polish to have. I think it looked very elegant on my little nubs. I can't say anything about the wear though, because I took it off after a few hours... very, very disappointing.

Saturday, September 14, 2013

Saran wrap and KKCenterHk studs review

Hello everyone! I am finally back. It took some time but, lots of rest and cuticle cream later, my nails seem to be back in shape. I'm not really sure what happened to them but for a while they were VERY brittle, kept breaking and overall looked too terrible for swatches or nail art. It sucked!

To start it off, today I have a simple nail art and a review. KKCenterHk was nice enough to send me two products for review and today I will be showing you the first one: some very cute studs!


I didn't want to use these studs for a plain manicure. Instead I chose to do a subtle one with pastels. I used Essie Lilacism as my base and a layer of Essie Bikini So Teeny to create the pattern with saran wrap. I thought it looked very cute. If you want to know how to do this, just do a quick Google search. It's a very simple technique and there are lots of tutorials to be found.


So, how about the studs? They are pretty tiny, dark coloured studs that I found were very easy in use. I had no problem whatsoever picking them up and placing them on my nails. They are rounded on top but their backs are flat and stay on the nail quite nicely. After applying them to the nail, use a coat of topcoat on top of them and they stay on like cement. They would be perfect for a dark, edgy nail art or manicure!


The studs measure 2mm in diameter and come in packs of 50, and the best thing is that these are reusable. Just take them off, clean them with nail polish remover and use them whenever you like. You can find them here, but I'd suggest also looking at their other studs because they have them in all shapes, colours and sizes! These retail for $4.23 and KKCenterHk offers free worldwide shipping.


And just for my readers, I have a special coupon code.
When ordering at KKCenterHk, use the code POLISH-SMOOTHIE at checkout to receive a 10% discount on your order!

Monday, July 08, 2013

It's my birthday!

Hi everyone! As you can read in the title, today is my birthday. I turned 21 years old, so I am really officially an 'adult' now. :P Which is why today I'll be showing you what I'm wearing on my nails for my birthday mani!


I think I am starting to get the hang of my new camera!

Here's what I did - a simple manicure with a half moon accent. It seems I always grab this particular polish when I want something pink. It's just a lovely shade with an awesome formula. This colour is NYC Perpetual Peony, ofcourse!

To make it even cuter I added some rhinestones I found while shopping a few days ago. Apparently these are meant for application on clothing and other things but they are fine for on nails as well! For the Dutchies that read my blog, these can be found for €1.99 at the Action in a wheel with a bunch of different colours. I also got some studs at the same place, that I will hopefully try out soon.


I love half moons because they look so classy! I'd love to do a similar manicure sometime, but with a lighter, soft pink colour. That's originally what I wanted, but I didn't have the right polish for it.

Anyway, that's it for today. I'll be spending my evening with my family... and cake! Yay, cake. Have a lovely day! :)

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Delia Coral Prosilk 411

Has anyone of you heard of the brand Delia before? I know I hadn't heard of it anywhere until my mom brought some of these polishes home for me one day. Last week, I finally decided to try out one of them.


This is Delia Coral Prosilk 411. All three of the colours I have by this brand are matte cremes, and this is the red one. In my pictures it almost looks neon. While it is a very bright red with an orange tint, it's definitely not that! I'm always a bit hesitant with unknown brands because I don't know what to expect from the quality. So, how is it?

Pretty good, actually. I'm wearing two coats for full opacity, and the formula was a bit on the thick side but it wasn't hard to apply. Only minimal cleanup was needed.


This is a really cool colour! I liked the way it looked on my nails. It stayed on for three days without chipping, which I thought was pretty impressive as well.

Since I didn't buy these myself, I don't know where these are normally sold. But if you ever run into them, judging from this colour's quality, I'd say it wouldn't hurt to try it out. Would you guys be interested in seeing the other two colours as well?