Blue nails with hearts accent

I'm having such an off-day.

I think I did about 15 designs today but it just didn't work for me.

I had no inspiration...and was even a bit done with the blues.

 

But whilst I was making dinner I suddenly remembered this picture I saved with hearts and I just went for it.

 

 

Polishes used:

- Maybelline Color Show Brocades 222 Beaming Blue (nails and 4th heart at the bottom)

- H&M Nail Polish Blue (accent background)

- L'Oréal Color Riche 624 Island in the sun (1st heart from the top)

- Big City Nails Are you feeling blue? (2nd heart)

- Big City Nails The sky is the limit (3rd heart)

- Maybelline Color Show 661 Ocean blue (outline hearts)

 

 

 

 

Essence Trend Edition Love Letters

Essence says:
"Let's get romantic with the trend edition Love Letters. We're heading towards Valentine's Day and it's all about traditional love letters. These gorgeous products have such a cute love of detail, you're sure to find the right words for beautiful compliments."

This trend edition brings 5 longlasting nail polish colors and a stampy set.

I didn't get the stampy set but I do have the 5 polishes for you.
Here are the swatches:

Essence Love Letters 01 Rosy in love

 

Essence Love Letters 02 I got a crush on blue!

 

 

Essnece Love Letters 03 Grey-headed lovebird

 

 

Essence Love Letters 04 Dear peach!

 

 

Essence Love Letters 05 Inkheart

 

 

All the polishes appear to be very fluid but it tends to get tacky in a short period of time.

Therefore I recommend to apply two thin coats for all the polishes and also wait with the next coat until the first one is completely dry.

I haven't tried it yet but I think these polishes (all of them) could be great for stamping and sugarspun nails.

The colors are very beautiful and have a shiny finish (the stampy one a little less shiny).

They remind me of Vintage colors and ballet.

 

 

Of course I also made a nail art with this trend edition. I did add one other Essence color.

Essence Trend Edition Beaty Beats 04 Groupie at heart

 

 

Index: Hand painted Vintage roses

Middle: Hand painted Love Letters design

Ring: Sponged background+stamping

Pinky: Hand painted hearts

 



Swatches Rimmel Sweetie Crush

Rimmel London just released a new limited edition called "Sweetie Crush".

This collection holds 5 sugary textured polishes in sweet candy colors.

Perfect for Spring, Easter and of course Valentine.

Source: veracamilla.nl

From left to right:

008 Sherbet Sweetheart

009 Candyfloss Cutie

010 Frizzy Applelicious

011 Violet Swizzle

012 Blueberry Whizz

Now, I've been in a lot of stores but could only find 3 of 5 colors.

Some didn't have this edition at all, others just two colors.

I like to make this collection complete especially after my experiences.

Perhaps with the next arrivals?

As soon as I have the other two colors (blue and purple) I will update this post.

 

Here are the swatches of the 3 colors that I did get (all are two coats):

 

008 Sherbet Sweetheart

 

 

009 Candyfloss Cutie

 

010 Frizzy Applelicious

 

 

And of course I made a very sweet nail art for you :D

 

Update

Here are the swatches of the last two colors...I finally could get my hands on them ;D

 

011 Violet Swizzle

 

 

012 Blueberry Whizz

 

 

I am very happy with the Sweetie Crush line by Rimmel London.

Colors are gorgeous. Beautiful sand texture. Two coaters.

Well done!

 

Valentine nail art

Hi lovelies,

I'm trying to find a new balance between getting my driving license, having fun with the kids, spending time with my hubby and doing nails.
It's very hard for me because nails are in my blood right now and it feels I have to choose between many things I love.
I came with a (not yet) satisfying solution: I will be doing nails in the weekend...my hubby likes to sleep in...my kids love that they are free from school and have lots to play with...so nobody really misses me at that time ;D

Meanwhile when I find some extra time I'll be swatching, nail arting and reviewing for you.

Let's start with a swatch of a beautiful Spring color from BeYu.
I totally fell in love with this at the store.
BeYu Long-lasting Nail Lacquer 568

 



Too bad my camera couldn't catch all the beauty of this polish.
On the swatch it just looks like a beautiful shimmery/pearly pink but in real life the polish has a very iridescent effect.
Like oil effect but then with pink and teal like colors. So so pretty!
I've used 3 coats not really because it needed to but I don't like the tip to see through and two coats was just too sheer for me.
One coat would be pretty for the nude look; subtle pink, subtle shimmer.

I also took a picture of the bottle because you can see a little of the effect in the middle on the image.

 

For the nail art I used this image as my inspiration:

And this was the outcome:

 

I'm in desperate need of new nail art brushes.

If you know any good brand and/or webshop where I can get them, please let me know!

I'm looking for a very thin detail brush and am not able to buy from Amazon, eBay or any other which recommends creditcard or PayPal.

 

Valentine Nails "Follow your heart!"

Okay...up front...this is not my best work.

My arm is okay though. I'm not in any pain anymore and I was able to make a nail art :D
But I am feeling terribly sad about my short nails...if I could only speed up the growth ;D

These Valentine nails are easy to do...especially when you leave the words out.

I started with a white base. Then made a trail of black dots ending with a bright neon pink heart on the pinky. Along the trail I decided to paint the words "Follow your heart" but I think it's not necessary to do this.

Day 365) 365 days of nail art - completed ✅

I can't believe it: I NAILED IT!

When I started my challenge I had big dreams of becoming a famous blogger. Getting free products to review. VIP's that wanted me to paint their nails. Being an inspiration to others. Etc.
Hehehe, dare to dream big right?!
Not much of that came true though :(
I'm still a mom of 4 kids, loving wife, doing housework and...doing 'inspiring' nail art.
But I'm happy with this life! Even more happier and thankful than I've been before.

This challenge has cost and brought me a lot the past year!

The costs:
- It has cost a lot of my precious time (precious time that I could have spent with friends and family)
- It has cost a lot of money (yeah, yeah, ask the hubby)
- It has cost a lot of polishes, removers, brushes, cotton pads, base coats, top coats and many, many other nail and nail art related products (yes, people think I'm running my own business at home)
- I guess the above are the most important but I'm still wondering if this past year has cost me anything health related. I mean: I've been sniffing the polishes and acetone non-stop and maybe the bad influences will only show after time... (I will come back at this when I'm 80 or so or before that when I'm experiencing any withdrawal symptoms)

Now, let's get to the benefits or what it has brought to me:
- It has brought me yellow nails, brittle nails, broken nails, crappy cuticles (oh wait this has to be in the costs list)
- It has brought me a kind of pride.
After a troubling childhood, finishing my education (pregnant), a broken long term relationship, moving around with no goal except parenting, finding new love and being a house wife I felt kind of useless and less worthy.
I wasn't sure about myself anymore or that I could accomplish anything in life.
Finishing this challenge and getting all those beautiful comments has giving me pride.
I'm proud of my deducation, my hard work, my art and the loving person that I am.
- It has brought me ME-time. When I'm making a nail art I feel totally relaxed and forget about all the rest.
- It has brought awards (Versatile, Liebster), articles, guest posts, reviews and even winning a give-away.
- But the most important thing it has brought to me, is YOU! Or in other word: LOVE.
I didn't expect to get so much love. It doesn't matter if you are a silent reader or a commenter.
I feel really loved to have so much views, shares and comments on my work.
Some of you have been there with me all the time, others just joined in recently but without you it wouldn't have been any fun.
There is no bigger compliment in the world than people loving the thing that you love to do.
I even found some real friendships!
I also found a lot of love from my dear ones; my mother shared my pictures each and every day on her Facebook. My hubby gave me strength when I felt weak and wanted to quit, he also settled for less quality time with me as goes the same for my children ("Mommy, you have to work now right?!" "I know what mommy wants for her birthday: polish!") Hahaha, aren't they the cutest!
But for real:

 

Without YOU I wouldn't have finished my challenge!

 

Now for the challenge.

It will only be completed when I show you today's nail art (on my natural nails).

The design I had in mind is about my love for what I do and then I felt really sad that I would only have the pictures to look back at and maybe a few days of pleasure while wearing it.

I needed it to be around me longer so I can enjoy and look back at this beautiful experience for a longer time. And I found a solution I can live with.

Here is today's nail art:



And here is my end project (that I can keep, cherish and proudly wear):

Thank you for everything!
Happy New Year to all!
And that all your dreams may come true!

Day 334) Nail art winter love

Yes, another winter nail art.

This time about winter love.

I was inspired by this image:

 

 



 

Day 250) Nail art blowing heart bubbles

As inspiration for today's nail art I've used this image

Changed it a little trying to make it more sweet.

 

Day 229) Tutorial video fan brush design and stitched looking nails

Sorry for the late update!
After my INAD nails I've been asked to write a guest post for Salon Fanatic
Super of course but it had to include a tutorial for the stitching part.
Now, up front, after my slideshow and a bad video tutorial about the Essence magnet pen I consider this as my first serious YouTube tutorial...
Still not quite there because I had to film with my smartphone and without a tripod so you can imagine this isn't easy.
Also editing and things like that aren't really my thing yet.

But I hope you like it!

And here is today's nail art:

 

Day 151) Nail art Graffiti

When I was a teenager my wish was to master the art of graffiti.
I was always jealous of the people who could do those awesome graffiti letters.
And I too wanted to secretly paint some graffiti on a wall.
It never happened...
I can still appreciate the art of graffiti, especially the big colorful drawings. Those really color the world!

For today's nail art I tried to translate a graffiti to my nails.
I've used an image for example because I'm still not good at painting graffiti.

Here is the image I've used:

Source: http://kids.flevoland.to/kleuren/valentijn/graffiti-love.shtml

And this is the nail art I've done:

I really like them! Do you?

See you tomorrow. I will announce the winner of my 'remake' give-away!

Day 146) Sparkling love

Today I was looking at some wallpapers for my new laptop.
I think I am in desperate need of some nice weather because I could only look at colorful wallpapers with a lot of neons.
In my search for the 'perfect' wallpaper I found this image:

Source: http://www.freegreatpicture.com/celebrity-symphony/fantasy-wallpapers-509

Not 'perfect' for me as a wallpaper, but it is 'perfect' for today's nail art.
I didn't want to make an exact copy. So I gave it my own touch.

1) As base colour I used a dark blue, sparkling nail polish
Maybelline Forever Strong Pro - 650 Midnight Blue
2) Then I made the outer lines of the hands with a striper brush. I used a neon pink and neon green for this.
3) Because I wanted to paint the heart neon yellow. I had to make a white heart first (My neon yellow is very watery and doesn't show that well on darker backgrounds).
4) From the hands I started to paint some kind of laser beam. I used a sparkly purple nail polish for this.
5) I gave the heart it's neon yellow colour and added some gold fine glitter. Still the heart wasn't oustanding enough (in my opinion). I chose to give it a base colour (dark blue) outline.
6) For the thumb and pinky I simply applied some glitter.

Some sparkling love for my dear followers!
Thank you!

Day 128) For my mom!

Sunday is Mother's Day!
Mij parents live in Portugal and they will visit The Netherlands on the 15th.
So, no need to buy and send a present because they'll already be here before it arrives.
But what better gift can I give her than a personal Mother's Day nail art...?

Right, that's why this one is for you mom!

Love you! XOXO

Day 35) Nail art Happy Birthday (for my husband)

          My love

                                                        

Day 34) Nail art Valentine