Kiwi pattern

Hi dear readers! Such a lovely, sunny day calls for a suiting mani, so for today a kiwi pattern! Why not?

I had this desire to do a fruity design, but I wanted to use a fruit which was less likely to be picked. So no strawberries, no watermelons but an ode to the kiwi!

This pattern is freehanded with a new set of nailart brushes that I bought from Born Pretty, before I only had my one little paintbrush, so I'm happy to have more sizes to pick from now. I started with two coats of Essence Check Me Out (the bright green one), which is discontinued by now but I guess you can use any vivid, grass-green. Then I picked Sir! Yes, Sir! from Catrice's new collection to draw the round kiwi-shapes and filled in the spaces in between. After that I applied little blobs with China Glaze Lemon Fizz for the centers and black, teardrop-shaped seeds around them. Finally I outlined the fruits once more with black and I was done... Okay, I have to admit that was a lot of work, but don't they look delicious?! Haha. And if I'm feeling lazy I'll just cut it down to an accent nail :) Enjoy your day!

Black magic

Hello everyone! This afternoon I've posted the Black mummy mani, which I loved the way it was but I just couldn't resist to give it some magic! So I layered it with Last Friday Night from the OPI Katy Perry collection. And I know it would've been great if it, when applied on the nail, looked just like the bottle color. And I know that that's not the case, because it's so sheer. But that does mean you can layer with it! Which gives you a million more possibilities, isn't that sweet? :) Good night!

Close-up!

Black mummy

Hi guys, good afternoon. For this tape mani I used a tape pattern that you're probably already familiar with by now. I can't get enough of it! And today I called it 'Black mummy' because it looks like the grey parts are wrapped around my black nails. However I applied the grey first, not the black.

So this time I used Color Club Snakeskin as my base color and it's such a pretty polish! And very unique, I must say. It's a steel grey shimmer with gold particles, from the 2010 Untamed Luxery Collection - Diamonds. On top I used my new fave black creme: Color Club Where's the soiree? And as you can see I didn't use any topcoat to make everything shiny. I just really loved the way it was, it's got this tough thing going on, you know? Lol. Thanks for reading again and have a great day :)

Color Club - Snakeskin
'Click me, I'm huge!'

Pooh's friend

Obviously not intentionally, considering Tigger's stripes aren't teal-cloured with glitters, (how weird would that be?!) But that tape pattern (same as Time to rock!) with that base color just looks an awfully lot like him, don't you agree? Oh well, on to the polishes!

The orange is Life Preserver from China Glaze's Anchors Away collection, I normally don't have a thing for oranges but this one's so pretty! It's slightly muted :) On top of the tape strips I used Trust In Fasion, and immediately after that Choose Me! Both from Essence.

Choose Me! is the Essence dupe of OPI Catch Me In Your Net, Orly Halley's Comet and Zoya Charla. On its own it's a tad sheer and more blue based, but it forms a perfect pair with Trust In Fashion.

Thanks for reading!

Designer Satin meets Adore

Hey everybody! Once again a tape mani :) I'm still incredibly hooked on the tape method, as you might notice, but always eager to come up with new designs.

This mani again is a very simple one. I like simple :) It's an asterisk consisting of three overlapping tape strips. On each nail, I made the center of the asterisk on a different spot. Not only does that make the design a bit more dynamic, but also you don't have to be so precise in placing the tape strips. Basically you can just throw 'em on the nail and as long as the strips cross each other at the same point, you're cool.

The polishes I used are Designer Satin and Adore, both from China Glaze. Adore is a new purchase, I really wanted a new metallic that was different than the usual gold and silver ones, because since I started on tape manis I've been using metallics a lot. Metallics are very suitable for tape manis, for both base- and top color because of their great opacity and drying time.
And that was it! Thanks for reading.

Essence - Got A Secret

Hello everyone, today I'm wearing Essence's Got A Secret, a very pretty, extremely light grey. Though it's not exactly a stunning color, it's far from full. I am totally loving it! It's so clean and sophisticated and work-appropriate :)

The formula is just perfect, it almost applies itself, I used two coats for full coverage. And the price is very nice too (€1,29 for 5ml/0.16fl.oz), so there's nothing more that I could ask for.

What do you think of this unusual color?

Black relief

Hello guys! Recently I purchased a new black creme: Color Club's Where's The Soiree. And I absolutely love it! The formula is just perfect and it's a one-coater :) My old blacks were either runny or goopy and nameless... So finally I've found a great black creme.

However it did dry quite matte, not what I expected, but instead of seeing it as a con, why not take advantage of it? I used the same tape pattern as the mani from Time To rock! and added a layer of clear polish. Because of the thick top-layer, the surface obtained a subtle relief which - combined with the mixture of glossy and matte finishes - gives the whole that bit of extra spice it needed.
What are your toughts? And as always, thanks for reading :)

Preppy plaid mattified

Hello everyone! The other day I did a Preppy plaid mani, but as with many manis I do, I always wonder what it would look like with a layer of matte topcoat. Especially with tape manis since they're so graphical. Mattified the tape pattern just pops more.

So now you're looking at the mattified plaid mani. Overall I think it looks nice, it's only when you compare it to the glossy version that you realize how washed out the red's become. So just don't compare it, lol. Just kidding, I'd love to hear your opinions on the two versions.

Good night!