Shimmery Send-off.

(If you don't know, these are 'oliebollen', a traditional Dutch new year's snack thing.)

Here we are, arrived on the last day of the year, and the sun briefly came out to play to allow me to take pictures of what will be the last nail polish I wear in 2015. Thank you kindly, sun.
On that note, my blog-related new year's resolution is to write less about the darn weather. Will I be able to? We will see.

Anywho, I don't particularly enjoy New Year's Eve festivities but for the hell of it still chose a polish with a bit of sparkle to it, to end things on a fun note.

This Miss Sporty polish, only given the number '420' (insert 'blaze it' joke of choice here) is a nice cool grey, livened up with multicoloured shimmer.

Everyone have a wonderful 2016 ♥

Green Marble.

It is my goal to stubbornly keep attempting the occasional water marble nail art until one day I might actually be able to pull them off with only a minimum of frustration! Still going for the darker, autumny colours, though my fellow nail bloggers make me feel like I should be on the Christmas train at this point.

Colours used are Dior, '605 Amazonia' and Catrice '670 It's Rambo No. 5'. The latter of which I've since given to my sister because in the many years I've owned it it has been used.. maybe twice.

Elderberry (not so) Matte

Though it might be the season to be jolly, it is absolutely not so for nail photography. At best, natural light is bleak and grey, at worst, there's none whatsoever when the clouds are dark and the rain is pouring. But before I start waxing poetic even further, I'll get to the nail polish, shall I?

It's a Pieces polish by the name of 'Elderberry Matte', and though I suppose the Elderberry part is all well and good, I don't feel like the finish of this one is all that matte. (Say that five times fast!) Since it's not that matte and unfortunately a little on the streaky side, it definitely needed a topcoat to try and even it out a bit.
Alas, as lighting conditions were not working out in my favour, the photo with top coat turned out somewhat on the grainy side. Streakiness aside, the colour both applied and lasted well.

Frankfurt.

Now that I'm wearing it, I can't believe I let this stunning blue be an untried for so long. It has such a deep richness and vibrancy to it, somehow. It's Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Frankfurt 120'. I can fairly safely say it has instantly become my favourite dark blue.

Still, lovely as it is on its own I wanted to add a little something extra. This little design is from Konad plate m15 and the colour is actually a nail art striper by Max called 'Grey Galaxy'. As you can probably see by the slightly awkward placement, I'm out of practice with stamping. This was the second attempt. Yikes.

1.2.3.

A simple, thick striped tape mani. This one was inspired by another piece of clothing somebody on television wore, but no matter how much I try to rack my brain I cannot remember what it was. The unknown gentleman on screen was wearing a cardigan striped grey, light blue and dark blue. I wanted to give it a little twist and make it less visually grim by going with an off-pink shade instead.

Colours used; Catrice, 'C05 - Nautica', Koh, unknown colour, Koh, 'No Worries (217)'.

Autumn.

Of all the seasons, autumn is the one with the best PR. With pictures of leaves in beautiful colours, cozy sweaters and pumpkin spice lattes, it's enough to make you actually look forward to it.
And then it arrives.. and it's rain, wind and cold all day, every day. No thank you!

That said, I still felt like doing some nails suited to the season. In retrospect, I think I should have used either a darker brown or a lighter shade of red to have it look best, but I'm still satisfied with the result the way it was.

Polishes used are the following -
Dior, '413 Grège'
Dior, '943 Rouge Garconne'
Chanel, '697 Terrana'
Herome WIC, 'Utreg 173'
Herome WIC, 'Zagora 150'
P.S., white.

Dutchess.

The tape strips I had cut off for a previous nail art were way too long and thus unwieldy and I had cut them in half. Leaving me with a bunch of tape.

I had two recently acquired polishes - a silver Depend polish numbered 'Nr. 206' that my aunt bought me in Spain, and a Wet 'n Wild polish from the Fergie collection called 'Dutchess' that I picked up at the local tourist market.

It didn't take a genius to figure that Dutchess is more of an effect polish and wouldn't work for me on its own.

And so we have arrived at this nail art.

The Depend polish is a nice, metallic silver and I'm glad to have it in my collection as I use that sort of thing especially as a nail art base all the time.

I'm not too big on Dutchess - in my opinion it looks nicer in the bottle than it does on the nail.
I liked the look of the purple glitters (again, in the bottle) but they don't really stand out in the shades of blue, which is a shame.

Bright.

Here again is the Depend polish brought to me from Spain.
The moment I got it I really liked the image in the packaging, it's fun and vibrant and reminds me of paisley print.
And I do love me some paisley print. It's probably a good thing I don't run a fashion blog.

The polish itself isn't relevant to this post, but I wanted to try and recreate something similar to the background picture as an accent nail, so I did!

Base colours: white is a nameless polish from Primark's P.S. brand, minty green is OPI's 'That's Hula-rious'.

Detail colours: Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Dakar 107', Koh's 'Coral (185)', 'No Worries (217)' and an unknown polish from the same brand.

P.S., That's Hula-rious!

Here we've got a white polish from Primark's P.S. brand, I couldn't find a discernible name on the bottle anywhere and OPI'S 'That's Hula-rious!', a super cute mint shade.
What's interesting to me here is that Primark's polish, a budget one at its mere €1.50 and the OPI, retailing in the Netherlands around €14.95, have very similar issues.

My search for a good (and affordable) white nail polish is never ending and I'll be blunt in saying that the brush on this one is absolutely shit. It's a flat brush which I initially thought a positive, but the bristles are all over the place and make it hard to apply an even coat without scratching the one beneath it. It needed three frustrating coats to cover to a point where I was content with it. Despite that, I do really like the formula on this one. It's the only white in my collection so far that actually looks more like nail polish than white out. Decidedly a good thing, that. Until I find something with both a decent formula and a decent brush, I'm still going to consider this one a win.

The brush on 'That's Hu-larious!' has misbehaving bristles as well and similarly makes it a challenge to get a nice opaque coverage going. In its defense I will say that this particular shade of minty green is 100% my favourite of all minty polishes I've encountered so far. It's just so sweet and bright and fresh that I'll keep using it despite the non-ideal brush situation.

Outta My Skull.

More Halloweeny nails! I love doing them and I love seeing the influx of them all over the place.

A friend of mine had posted a picture of this H&M nail sticker set and I told her I loved them - and she sent them to me! An absolute darling. I can only say I'm very grateful because I love the collection of images present here.

I have skulls standing around all year.
Halloween or no Halloween.

Though it was the little alien heads that caught my attention initially, for this manicure I wanted to utilise the little skulls.

The stickers all seemed a little large to me initially but once applied it wasn't an issue.

When removing the sticker from the set I was a little surprised to find it was transparent instead of the white I was expecting, but by then I'd already coated the nail in Herôme W.I.C's 'Zagora 150'. I went ahead and applied it anyway and I can't say it looks any worse for it.
As for the rest of the nails, I wanted to complement the orange with a heavy black-white contrast. I'd considered using tape to separate the black from the white but it would have been far too clean for this look.  I wanted something grungy, and roughly sponged Catrice's '39 Black to the Routes' over 'P.S.' white so the distinction would be clear without becoming a smooth gradient.

Franken-French.

Today, on October 21, 2015, the day when Doc and Marty traveled to the future I bring you some Halloweeny nail art. I present to you the Franken-French. (And don't get started on how that should be 'Monster-of-Franken-French'.)

I wanted to keep it as subtle as is possible when you've got fake stitches running along the tips of your nails with a subdued kind of green, if you will. Chanel's '645 Paradisio' has recently entered my collection so it seemed like a good choice (and let's be honest here, I just wanted to use it, I can't resist a shiny new green).
As base to lighten the nail I used Koh's 'Orchid', and the stripes were done with Catrice's '39 Black to the Routes'. What this nail art irrefutably showed me was that I really need a new nail art brush. During this I kept alternating between the two I've got, and neither of them actually do what I need of them to.

The owls are not what they seem.

 Who's excited about the return of Twin Peaks? Meeee!

I've been wanting to do some Black Lodge inspired nail art for a while, but it kept on not happening somehow. 
Then I ordered some chevron-guide stickers and.. they were way too big for what I wanted to do, so that didn't pan out.

Then I got a pair of those scissors that cut zig-zag patterns, which is how I accomplished this. The scissors kept misbehaving though, so I'm not sure if I'll see a return of the chevron on my nails again soon. 

Damn fine cup of coffee.

The base whites are Safari's 'No56' and a Hema polish, neither of which I particularly recommend. The black, Catrice's '39 Black to the Routes'. The red nail, based on the scenery of the waiting room, is actually several shades of red stripes layered over each other to get that curtainy effect, though it's not too clear in the pictures. They are YSL, 'No04', Max Factor '549 Red Passion', Rimmel '035 Wine Not' and Koh's 'Red!'.

Cell.

Though I've done Hannibal inspired nails before, the inspiration here is a lot more subtle and I doubt anybody would have picked up on it without my specifically pointing it out.

In Hannibal's third and final season, we see the titular character held institutionalized in an impossibly stylish cell - the walls wood paneled and lined with golden details.

In this scene, the lighting gave the normally white walls a green tinge that I loved in combination with the gold, and I tried to reproduce the effect on my nails.

Colours used are YSL's gold from the 'Belle de Nuit' duo, and Koh's 'Groovy Green (239)'.

The lines were accomplished by utilising the help of my trusty sidekick, Striping Tape.

Victoriana.

I was looking for a nice combination of colours with which to do some stamping, and I had this sort of light-burgundy shade Konad stampy polish sitting around waiting for me (though it looks much lighter in the photo).

The BM21 plate has this almost Victorianesque set of filigree swirls on it which I'm very fond of and keep trying to use somehow, but my nails tend to be too long for it, since it's a full-nail image. Not now, though!

I thought the burgundy-ish colour would look good over purple, and used Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Rabbat 149' as a base with some gentle sponging of 'Athens 77' to give the tips a bit of a sparkle. The stamp was also gone over with a matt top coat.
Truth be told, I like the print more on the flat canvas of the plate than the curved surface of the nail. It loses its.. je ne sais quoi, somehow.

Outatime.

Last weekend I had the privilege of attending a convention where Christopher Lloyd was one of the guests. I adore the man for not only his work in the Back to the Future films, but I watched The Addams Family movies to death in my childhood and am currently hooked on Taxi.
A part for every phase of your life.

When attending cons, I like to do nail art somewhat in theme with whatever franchise one of the guests I like is from - whether overt or more subtle - and this time I went for more subtle and stuck to the colour scheme of orange/yellow/blue you'll see on most Back to the Future posters and other imagery.

The yellow is Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Utreg 173', with a MAX nail art striper ('Neon Orange') for the lines. The orange is the only one in the ensemble that's a straight up opaque colour so it sets off nicely against the other two shimmery ones. Lastly, the blue is Koh's 'Midnight Blue (130)'.
Tape was used for the initial triangle shape with the orange parts done freehand.

A grand total of two days(!) before the convention I got stuck on the notion that I definitely should cosplay Marty McFly to the con, and to my great astonishment actually pulled it off.

With a €2,99 plain red t-shirt bought from the local Zeeman, I borrowed the rest together from friends, family and neighbours. Many thanks to all of them.
(Who even has one of those red vests nowadays? Turns out, my uncle's wife does.)

Stripes.

I don't know if I ascribe to the concept of love at first sight in humans, but I sure as hell do when it comes to clothes. Every now and then you'll see something and you just know it was destined to be yours.
These sports leggings showed up in the second-latest H&M catalogue and my heart skipped a beat. I can't even explain in words how incredibly visually fantastic I think they are. Stripes! Black! Grey!
It's like they were designed with me in mind, and so I had to have them - and got them! They've improved my running by making me feel considerably more awesome. And I've done some nail art inspired this great new addition to my sports wardrobe.

I'm still a big fan of the accent nail, so that's what I went for. The technique used is good ol' fiddling with some striping tape. The bottom (or top, depending on your angle) row of stripes could have gone better.
The grey is my precious NYC's '003 Prey of Grey', which is sadly starting to go bad. Thinner doesn't seem to restore it to its past self any longer, so I'm hoping now that autumn collections are hitting the stores I'll be able to find a decent replacement for this baby. The black is Koh's 'Black!'. Succinct naming, that one.

Belle Émeraude

A mani from a while ago, right after an unfortunate break, argh.
The green used is Max Factor's '16 Emerald' and the gold is from YSL's limited edition duo 'Belle de Nuit'. What I like about this gold, as opposed to the other one in my collection is that this is more of a 'true' gold, a yellow rather than a pink-leaning. Especially in this colour combination, the yellow gold works much better to elevate both colours to an interesting whole.

Infrequent French.

There's a saying in fitness - that the exercise you're not doing is the one you should be doing.

I believe the sentiment of that applies to many areas - the thing you prefer not to do because you might not be good at it, is something you ought to do because it is an area in which you can improve.
And it never hurts to improve.

For me, French manicures are such a thing. I avoid them because I'm not very good at them (and they're not really my aesthetic anyway) and thus my skill in them stagnates.

Long story short, I decided to give them another go after lord knows how long to get some practice in. I used a sticker guide, Essence's '03 Cotton Candy' as a base, and Safari's 'No 56' as the tip colour.

And after all that work, they didn't survive
a single weightlifting session and thus
only lasted one day. Go figure.

Montevideo.

I had this pink - Herôme W.I.C.'s 'Montevideo 79' on the nails of my right hand during the Ladies Run.

I don't wear a great deal of pink, but I've been shown time and time again that it's good to keep a couple around because the right circumstances to wear them will present themselves eventually! Though strictly speaking, this is more of a magenta than a pink pink.

The application of this polish is excellent. Great coverage in two coats with a shiny finish.

I wanted to embellish it a little bit, so I covered the nail on my pinky finger in glitter!

Accounting Jokes.

Every now and then you'll see a pattern or a colour combination somewhere that just clicks with the part of your brain responsible for nail polish creations. In my case, it happened whilst watching an episode of Parks and Recreation, where the character of Ben Wyatt was wearing this snazzy brown-blue striped tie. I've previously mentioned my fondness for the combination, so I'll spare you the repetition of the same and get down to it.

This nail art done with Essence's '03 My Boyfriend's Jeans' and Miss Sporty's '455'.

And just for those that don't watch Parks and Rec and went 'huh?' at this post title, the character Ben is an accountant and kept throwing in accounting puns over the course of the episode the tie was in.

Run Like a Girl.

Yesterday was a special day for me, I participated in my first 5K race!

As it was a 'Ladies Run', everything was decked out in shades of pink and I felt that my nails should match, since most of my sportswear is either black or blue.

The weather was truly abysmal, it was in fact so bad I wasn't sure I would even go until about 10 minutes before my mother and I left home. Luckily, the weather got a little less harsh when the race began.
(Though it did start pouring again on the way back home, but it's never quite as bad when you know you're headed for a warm shower!)

The pink I wore (which went remarkably well with the medal) is Koh's '162 Passionate Pink'. I think it's definitely a most fitting name, since you definitely need to be passionate (or have something of a screw loose) to voluntarily run around in the rain!

Brun Parnasse.

Inside, almost no light.

Swatched a while ago, as the miraculously longer nails probably gave away, is YSL's 'No20 Brun Parnasse'.

I think brown nail polishes are under appreciated, which is odd because they can go so well with so many things.
There are no issues with the application of this polish whatsoever - it covers very decently in two layers and has a very shiny finish.

The only thing I think is something of a shame is that, even at two coats, it looks very close to black unless held near a very bright light source. You just don't get to appreciate it for the colour that it really is if you're under the impression that it's black, you know?







I did take a picture in the bright sun, when there was such a thing to speak of. As I'm typing this it is absolutely pouring down. I rather fear the summer has well and truly gone. The picture does show what a nice shade it really is in the right light.

Royal Purple.

Aside from Luscious Green, I was also given '116 Royal Purple' for my birthday, also from the Nyx brand.

Unlike its green buddy, it was clear from the start this one was not going to be able to cover on its own, and thus would require some layering. I could have just used it over a similar purple as a base, but wanted to try something with a little more visual flair.

This simple combination of triangle-tape and striping-tape has YSL's  '141 White Gold' (which I guess is what the cool kids are calling silver these days) as a base.

Luscious Green.

Another polish given to me for my 23rd birthday - and it's green! One can never go wrong with green. Or have I mentioned that before?

Anywho, this lovely - or, if you will, luscious - shade of green was given to me by my best friend, who definitely has a good eye for what I like. It's by NYX and goes by the name of '133 Luscious Green'.

I was worried it wouldn't cover well, but it only took two decent layers for me to be satisfied with it. In the bottle it seemed to have a bit of a gold shimmer to it, but it doesn't show on the nail too much.