Nude + Pink taping

So it has been a while since I have done anything but a simple manicure with only one colour. However, I decided that I was in the mood to do some taping again, and I wanted to use one of my favourite new additions to my stash!

For this manicure I used Essence Cookies & Cream as a base colour. I used two coats on my index- and middle finger and my pinky, and three on my ring finger and thumb. This is a sandy nude colour with subtle shimmer in it. For some reason, nudes always look odd on my skin tone, but not this one! It's very pretty and I also like to wear it on my toenails because it gives a clean, neat look.

I added a quick drying top coat and after it had dried enough I used striping tape to tape off 4 lines on each finger. Then I painted over it with a coat of NYC Perpetual Peony, a simple pink creme, and quickly but carefully pulled off the tape. I smudged it in a few places... whoops! Nothing too bad, though. I think I'm getting better at it. :P

After that I added a silver rhinestone to my ring finger and thumb, just because I'm obsessed with my rhinestones. :) I really need to think of some new creative ways to use them! Anyway, then I topped it all off with another coat of fast drying topcoat and I was done. Even though it's a simple mani, I enjoy it a lot, and I think this colour combination works very well! I hope you like it too!

Essie - Mod Squad

Hello everyone! Since it has been ages since my last nail post, I thought it would be a good idea to start off with a polish of my favourite brand. Today I'll be showing you one of my favourite pinks in my collection. I have shown it before, but I decided it was worthy of its own blog post.

Mod Squad is a perfect bubblegum pink creme with a cool undertone. A colour like this is a must have for polish fanatics! I simply love polishes like this, and I personally like to wear this one when I'm in the mood for something simple but pretty. 

As (pretty much) always with Essie, the quality and formula of this polish was great, and I don't have much else to say about it. It applied smooth like butter and I only needed two coats for full opacity. I also wore it for several days without even a minor chip. I'm very happy with this polish and I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for a pink shade like this one.

I got a Helmer!

Well, I've already had it for a few weeks now, but I think it deserves a blog post!

My collection keeps growing steadily, and a while back I realized I was running out of room to put them. When my stash was still small, I kept them all in a basket, and my nail supplies in a box. Once my basket was full, I cleared out the drawers of my desk and put plastic containers with my nail polishes and nail art things. But soon enough, I noticed this was getting too full as well.

There isn't an IKEA near here, and I rarely go to the one that is closest to me, but my timing was lucky. My sister and her boyfriend are moving to a new house and had to make a trip to the IKEA to get some things, and she brought back a Helmer for me!

I originally wanted to get the white Helmer because most of my other furniture is white as well, but there weren't any white ones left so I got a gray one instead, which also looks very nice. It didn't take long to put together and it fits perfectly under my computer desk. I was hoping for that, since that's where I usually do my nails! So now I always have my stash right next to me. :D

In the top drawer, I put my favourite brands and the brands I use most often. This includes Essie, Essence, Catrice and NYC. It's almost full, there's still a bit of space left in the back that I'll be using for more Essence  or NYC polishes once I get them (I'm on a bit of a no-buy for a while!)

The second drawer is a mix and match of a bunch of different brands including China Glaze, Revlon, Golden Rose, Diamond Cosmetics, Stargazer, Wet 'n Wild and others. As you can see, my stash is mostly dominated by Essence and Catrice, because I don't have much of other brands, haha... hopefully that will change!

In the bottom drawer, I have nail art supplies! The plastic containers I used for storing my polishes before turned out to be a perfect fit for my Helmer. In the blue one I have my stamping supplies, crackle toppers, special top coats, my magnets and the tape I use for my taped manicures. And finally, in the purple one I keep my nail wheels, dotting tools, nail stickers, striping tape, rhinestones and loose glitter. I also have some things in the drawer above this one, but it's not much - just the stripers that I got a while back.

I'm very happy with my Helmer! My things are easily accesible and I have a lot of empty space that is waiting to be filled with more pretty polishes. I don't know how I've lived without it for so long, lol.

How do you store your own stash?

Essie - Leading Lady

So, I still haven't been painting my nails very often! It's not that I don't have the time to, I just don't really feel like it. However, my nails do look much better now - they're not as stained anymore, so that's a plus. :)

Anyway, I do have some pictures to show you from a few weeks back from an amazing polish by my favourite brand - Essie!

This nail polish is Leading Lady by Essie, from their winter collection of this year! If you visit a lot of nail blogs you've probably seen this one a few times already. I know I have! So when I saw it in store, I was really excited. I wanted to use gift vouchers I have to get it, but I wasn't able to use them in the store it was sold, and I couldn't afford it by myself... so then my boyfriend secretly grabbed it and got it for me! I have trained him well- I mean, he's a sweetheart. :D 

However, he told me I had to make a blog post about it, so here it is!

Leading Lady is a polish with a dark red jelly base full of gorgeous red glitter. Despite being so glittery, it has a very easy and smooth application. I needed two coats for full coverage. It dries up rather gritty, however, so to really bring out the sparkle I added a generous coat of topcoat.

The result is really squishy and sparkly nails, and I love it. There's so much depth in this one! I had a hard time choosing which pictures to use, because the polish is just so pretty there weren't any bad pictures, haha.

And here is a picture of it in a different light, to show you just how much glitter it has. I am in love. As for removing it... I'm not sure how difficult it is, as I personaly used my peel off basecoat. But I'm sure it's nothing the foil method can't handle!

Lavender Skies

So this week I have been doing my nails a bit more often! I recently got a Helmer (which I am going to write a little post about soon) and have sorted out my collection which has definitely helped.

Anyway, when I did this manicure I was in the mood for something simple, but I didn't want to wear simply one colour, because that was TOO boring. ;) I always see people do all kinds of accent nails and I think they are super cute and a great solution if you don't want something too plain. So that's what I did!

For this manicure I used a really cute pastel nail polish by NYC. It's called Lavender Cupcake and it's a simple creme. The colour is really pretty and I like how it looks on my nails. It needed two coats and the quality is good. No remarks there.

The silver on my accent finger is Platinum Card, also by NYC. I kinda wish I had a nice silver glitter to add to this, but it looked good on it's own too! And, a while back I ordered some star shaped rhinestones from eBay. I thought they would go well with this manicure so I added some on all the other fingers.

I really liked this manicure! I hope you like it as well. :)