Reddit Challenge - Week 10: Winter

Winter has begun! As I am typing this blog post, it's snowing like crazy outside, so this week's theme in the Reddit 52 Week Challenge is very fitting: Winter.

Recently I've been seeing very pretty freehanded snowflake manicures on Reddit and other site, and I really loved them, so I wanted to do something similar. I am still awful at freehanding, however, so I used my stamping and dotting tools for my manicure.

Here is what I came up with. The blue base is Essence I Love Bad Boys, which has a subtle but very nice looking blue shimmer in it. I wanted to use a lighter base but I don't have that many blues yet, haha.

Then I stamped over it! I used one of the plates that I ordered from Born Pretty Store, and Essence Stampy Polish in white. I think I did a pretty good job at the stamping this time, even though it smudged here and there. With the same white polish I used my dotting tools to make snow flakes!

I felt like there was something missing, though. I wanted it to be more sparkly! So then I added some rhinestones, slapped a topcoat on it, and it was done. I think this manicure came out super cute, I hope you like it too! :D

Holo glitter gradient

Hey everyone! Today I have a pretty simple manicure to show you. This is the first 'wintery' manicure I have done this year. At least, I thought it was wintery. :)

I love glitter gradients. They're really simple to make and they always look good. I've been in a glittery mood lately, so I think it's safe to expect more glitter this month, since I have a bunch that I don't use as often as I should!

For this manicure I used Essence Absolutely Blue, which is a soft light blue colour. I've often heard people say this is a perfect colour for summer, but I think blues are perfect for winter, which is why I chose this colour. Temperatures are starting to get cold and The Netherlands has had its first snow already, so it was fitting. The glitter is Essence Hello Holo.

I love Hello Holo, as you can see in the bottle in the pictures, it's super sparkly! I have worn this one so often, it's definitely my favourite glitter that I own. It goes with practically every colour, plus it's great for jewelry making as well, in my opinion.

I definitely was happy with this manicure! What do you think?

Catrice - Dirty Berry

What do I do when I'm not in the mood to wear something bright and flashy but still want to wear an amazing colour? Well, I usually pull out the polish I'm showing you all today, which is awesomeness in a bottle.

I'm talking about Dirty Berry, by Catrice. I think I bought this one for a 2 for the price of 1 type of deal, because I wanted a different one I saw. I randomly picked Dirty Berry to make good use of the deal and I'm glad I did, because little did I know this is one of Catrice's most famous polishes. And with good reason!

The polish is a muted purple colour... and while the pictures don't show it, it's a holo! It has scattered and subtle holo. The weather has been gloomy and dark here, so I could not take better pictures, but the holo is very noticable in sunlight and it looks amazing. It looks great in shade too, though, because you can still see silvery shimmer.

As for the formula, I'm afraid I can't say much about that. I've had my bottle for a long time, and it's thickened just a bit. I can still apply it just fine though. I needed two coats for coverage.

Oh, and did you notice the different nail shape? I grew my nails out pretty long, and I wanted to try something new. I was curious how they would look with a more oval shape. My nails are short nubs again as I'm typing this but I still haven't figured if I like it more than my regular shape, so I don't know if I'll be shaping them like this again. What do you think? Let me know!

Nino Mont - 142

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? I've been doing quite fine myself. As of late I have been feeling pretty artsy and I have mostly been drawing and trying to give me nails a bit of rest, haha. I have a very nice polish to show today though, one that I'm very excited about!

This polish is by Nino Mont, a brand I had never heard of before. My boyfriend went on a holiday to Spain last month and he was sweet enough to buy me a few nail polishes, and this one is my favourite of the three I got!

The polish doesn't have a name but a number - it's labeled number 142. 142 is very, very pretty. It's a shimmery and deep red or berry colour, and to my surprise, it's even a duochrome! The polish shifts colours from red to orange, and I just love the way it looks on my nails.

See that fade effect? It's subtle but amazing. This polish is amazing. I like it a lot, so much that it might be a new favourite of mine. I know I'll definitely be wearing this one more often!

As for the application, I had no problems with it. The formula is pretty thin but easy to control, and I needed three coats for full coverage. It dried up very shiny and it lasted for a long time too. I wore this one on my nails for five full days before it chipped on one finger, which is pretty amazing for me.

So I guess it's pretty obvious how much I like this polish! It makes me want to go to Spain myself to get even more from Nino Mont. Thankfully this isn't my only one, I have another blue shade that I will be showing sometime as well. :)

Reddit Challenge - Week 6: Games

Hey guys! No, I didn't actually miss a challenge. I did do week 5, but I wasn't happy with the manicure at all. I did post it on Reddit however, so if you can find me there, you can have a looksie at what I did last week.

So I was pretty excited about this week's theme, which is 'Inspired by a game'. I'm not a hardcore gamer but gaming is one of my hobbies and you can often find me playing World of Warcraft, Minecraft, Pokémon games, or random games on my iPhone. I wanted to dedicate a nail art to one of these games, but I went for the most obvious choice for me: Pokémon.

Pokémon has always been one of my favourite things. I got Pokémon Yellow over 10 years ago and never really stopped loving it! I've finished most of the handheld games save for some of the newer ones. I admit, I have been a bit out of the loop, but that doesn't mean I don't like it anymore.

To portray this theme I decided to paint little Pokéballs on my nails. This isn't the most original nail art, but hey, it works. The original plan was to do a different Pokéball on each nail but I don't have the right colours for it. It's something I will definitely do in the future, though.

So here's how I did this: I started out by painting all my nails with two coats of Essie Blanc, a simple white creme. I applied a quick drying topcoat and let it dry for a while before taping half of my nail and adding a coat of NYC I <3 NY, for the upper red half of the Pokéballs. I taped it because I am really, really horrible at freehanding with regular polish brushes, haha. Then I added black lines with my black striper, and after that I used my dotting tools to add the black and white buttons in the middle.

One of my Poochyena figurines wanted to make a little guest appearance. :) I don't usually use props for pictures but I figured it would be cute for this one. Poochyena is one of my favourite Pokémon, by the way.

These nails were pretty simple to do but I think they turned out really cute. I love having little Pokéballs on my nails. I hope you like them too!