Mundo de Uñas Stamping Polishes

I received my order from Mundo de Uñas on Friday and given the feedback on Instagram today, I don't really have to introduce these, do I? :) I read about these Mexican stamping polishes a while back and they seem to be highly pigmented, even when stamped over a black base. Since they're also quite cheap, I decided to make an order of six colors to decide for myself. 

Am Freitag habe ich meine Mundo de Uñas Bestellung erhalten und ich glaube, ich muss die gar nicht wirklich vorstellen, oder? Sehr gut pigmentierte und beliebte Stampinglacke, die ich nun auch selber testen wollte. Sie kommen aus Mexiko, sind jedoch recht billig, darum habe ich mir mal sechs davon bestellt.

Today I tried Green and Blue, and I'm not disappointed. For my base I used one coat of KIKO - 347 Dark Green. Then I applied some liquid nail tape to protect the skin from the polish (a post on that will follow soon). I think that was a very good idea, since they're so highly pigmented and can stain your skin. I used two images of the MoYou London Hipster plate for the plaid pattern. Karine also gave me the tip to wait a few seconds after picking up the pattern with the stamp. I did that and it worked, but I didn't feel like redoing my nails, so I didn't try it without the waiting time. They only bad thing about these is their smell, which is terrible. Apart from that I'm very happy with my new polishes and I can't wait to stamp the complete rainbow on my nails! <3 

Zuerst habe ich Green und Blue ausprobiert und ich bin sehr begeistert. Als Grundfarbe habe ich eine Schicht KIKO - 347 Dark Green lackiert und dann rund um den Nagel Liquid Nail Tape aufgetragen (dazu folgt dann noch ein separater Post). Da die Lacke sehr stark pigmentiert sind, war das auch eine gute Idee, das sie die Haut verfärben können. Für das Plaid Muster habe ich zwei  Bilder von der MoYou London Hipster Platte benutzt. Karine hat mir ausserdem den Tipp gegeben, den Lack ein paar Sekunden auf dem Stempel antrocknen zu lassen und erst dann auf den Nagel zu drücken. Das hat gut funktioniert, ich habe aber auch nicht die Geduld gehabt, es noch andersherum auszuprobieren. Leider stinken die Lacke sehr, ich finde sie aber trotzdem toll.

I messed up my index finger nail with my top coat, in case you're wondering.

Den Zeigefingernagel habe ich mir übrigens mit dem Top Coat ruiniert.

Matte Gradient Splatter Nails

A while back I saw a beautiful design by one of my favorite nail artists: Lady Crappo. She did a matte gradient with metallic splatter on top and I really wanted to have this design on my nails as well. I decided to go for the green gradient and I used OPI - You Are So Outta Lime! plus KIKO - 347 as my gradient colors. I then used Essie - Matte About You for the matte finish and added the metallic splashes with Essie - Penny Talk. She did a tutorial on how to do all of that.

Heute gibts ein Design von Lady Crappo. Den grünen Farbverlauf/Gradient habe ich mit OPI - You Are So Outta Lime! und KIKO - 347 gemacht. Für das matte Finish eine Schicht von Essie - Matte About You aufgetragen und dann die Spritzer darüber mit Essie - Penny Talk. Sie hat auch ein Tutorial dazu, in dem sie genau erklärt, wie das alles geht.

MoYou London Explorer Plate 26 feat. Zoya - Dree & Essie - Penny Talk

MoYou London had a free shipping offer a few days ago and I decided to take the opportunity to get one of the plates that I've been wanting to buy for a while now. It's number 26 from the Explorer collection with XL images. I combined it with two of my favorite colors at the moment: Zoya - Dree as my base with two coats and Essie - Penny Talk as my stamping color. I used some top coat after Dree but none after Penny Talk to keep the chrome effect, but obviously after a few days of wearing these without top coat, they don't look perfect anymore. 

Vor ein paar Tagen hat MoYou London gratis versendet und ich habe gleich mal die Gelegenheit ergriffen, um mir eine der Schablonen zu kaufen, auf die ich schon länger ein Auge geworfen habe: Nummer 26 aus der Explorer Kollektion mit XL-Motiven. Ausprobiert habe ich sie jetzt mit zwei meiner momentanen Lieblingsfarben: Zoya - Dree als Grundfarbe mit zwei Schichten, dann eine Schicht Top Coat drüber und für das Stamping Essie - Penny Talk. Penny Talk sieht halt generell besser aus ohne Top Coat, aber so nach ein paar Tagen sehen die Nägel leider nicht mehr ganz so perfekt aus. 

Two-tone Studded Nails

So I finally took the time to do some nail art again! This was very simple and didn't take up too much time since I didn't bother using striping tape. All I did was painting a base with Zoya - Dree and then adding Essie - Lady Godiva on half of my nail using the brush from the bottle. To make it a bit more exact I used a striping brush and black nail polish for the centerline. On top of that I added some studs, which I received from bornprettystore some time ago. I then added one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss and I think something's wrong with this bottle. I used it once or twice, so I'm not sure what it is... it might be because I used it over Essie - Penny Talk? Anyway, please ignore the dust on top of the design. ;) 

Green Glitter Gradient feat. KIKO

A few days ago I got myself two new KIKO polishes: 347 Dark Green and 532 Pearly Amazon Green. They look beautiful combined! I wore the glitter over the creme but didn't get to take pictures, because one of my nails broke off. So this time I tried it again, but with a sponged gradient. I loved it until I had to clean up the green glitter on my cuticles, but well that was my own fault. I generally think that gradients look better, if I place the glitter on the cuticle area and not on the tip of my nails. I used Essie - Matte About You on top which made the surface appear a bit uneven. I think it's always a good idea to put on a normal top coat first before applying any matte top coat, especially if you don't have the smoothest nails. That glitter looks awesome though! 

KBShimmer - Holly Back Girl (Winter Collection 2014)

Remember how I fell in love with KBShimmer - Holly Back Girl and tried to recreate it? Well I think I came pretty close with my DIY project but still I felt the urge to buy the original. And I'm not disappointed, it's a very beautiful Winter/Christmas polish in my opinion. Holly Back Girl has everything: a fancy name, Christmas glitter mixed into a snowy base and enough pigments to cover the nail with two coats. It did need a bit of careful application, but still, two coats were enough. I also bought another polish from the KBShimmer Winter Collection 2014 (while I'm at it...) and I love it just as much. I'm probably going to post it in the next few days, but first I'm enjoying this beauty! I bought mine at Harlow & Co but you can get this from various shops online.

Christmas Glitter Nails feat. China Glaze - Party Hearty

I have something very simple and very Christmassy for today... I'm in the mood! I used two coats of the beautiful KIKO #391 Grass Green as my base for my one and only Christmas glitter top coat: China Glaze - Party Hearty. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

exurbe cosmetics - Seductive (Francoise Nielly) - Fall/Winter 2014/15

I received the new Fall/Winter collection from exurbe cosmetics called Seductive*, which was inspired by the artist Francoise Nielly. There are five polishes altogether and I swatched all of them for this post. I was mainly curious about two of the colors (Diva & Dark Obsession) since the other three didn't seem too exciting. Both of them are nice, but not as special as expected. Exurbe cosmetics is a Swiss brand available in a few selected stores and online (shipping to Switzerland and Liechtenstein) for CHF 21 per 11ml. You can become a member by using my invitation link (not a paid link).

*PR Sample

exurbe cosmetics - Armed Amazon

I used two coats for this bronze. The tips are still a tiny bit showing through, but overall this had a nice formula. 

exurbe cosmetics - Dark Obsession

Again two coats for an opaque result. It's a dark green with a bit of shimmer. Sadly most of the exciting purple shimmer from the bottle doesn't appear on the nails. 

exurbe cosmetics - Diva

While with the first coat this one looked almost raspberry pink, the second coat turned it into a brownish red with golden shimmer. If I had to pick a favorite of this collection, this would be my choice. 

exurbe cosmetics - Love Scene

This is really not my color, so I might be a bit biased. I used two coats, but the formula was too thick and left my nails with a streaky finish. That's why I applied one coat of top coat for these pictures. 

exurbe cosmetics - Maneater

Same problem here, this is not a favorite. I used two coats of this sheer orange and the tips are still showing through. Although it almost looks like it in the pictures it's not actually neon orange. 

Dance Legend - Waszowski feat. OPI - Ski Teal We Drop

For today I have a very simple nail art with just two different colors. As my base color I used two coats of Dance Legend - Wazowski*. After the base was completely dry, I added a piece of my self-made 2 mm nail art striping tape in center of each nail. Then I used one coat of OPI - Ski Teal We Drop* as my top layer and removed the striping tape. On top of it is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

* PR Samples

DIY Textured/Sand Finish - Green Glitter Nails

Back when the textured/sand finish trend came up I made a little tutorial on how to create the same effect with nail glitter. I never actually did this again after the tutorial so I think it's about time! I had a very pretty green glitter from Born Pretty Store lying around in my stash, that I have received as a sample quite some time ago, but never actually used. It's the #10 from these glitter powders. As my base color I used KIKO - #391 Grass Green and then I just sprinkled the glitter on top of the wet polish. Since it already looked really cute without the next step, I took some pictures without top coat. I wouldn't actually wear it like this though, since the glitter is gonna get everywhere! So you want to add a matte top coat onto the glitter for the textured/sand effect. I used Essie - Matte About You. Please look at the pictures below for a direct comparison with and without top coat.

Tip 1: Use tape to get rid of glitter on your skin and work space!

Tip 2: Wipe off the brush of your matte top coat before dipping it back into the bottle, glitter gets everywhere!

No Top Coat

Left: No Top Coat

Right: Essie - Matte About You

Essie - Matte About You

OPI - You Are So Outta Lime - Halfmoon Lime Nail Art

Today's design is something I wanted to do for a while now: a half moon manicure with tiny limes. Since I got some lovely mint green colors I decided to go for it! As my base color I used OPI - You Are So Outta Lime (PR Sample) from their 2014 Neon collection. This one is not the classic neon green but it does have a hint of neon, which makes it look very different on camera. It's more of a light green and not the mint color you are looking at. I applied two coats over one coat of white. For the little lime halfmoons I used Maybelline - Chic Chartreuse and then painted the rest of the design with acrylic paint. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

This is a scheduled post. I will be scheduling posts for the next few Sundays, but I'm trying to keep up with your feedback! You can follow me on Instagram, where I might post some nails during my vacations. Have a beautiful summer :) 

Spring/Summer Splatter Nails

I haven't done splatter nails in a while and I thought I could include one of my new neons from the Maybelline Bleached Neons collection in a cute spring and summer neon splatter design. You can find out more about how I create splatter nails in my tutorial for DIY Decals. For this one I used Flormar - 400 as my base and then added Maybelline - Chic Chartreuse, Essie - Shake Your $$ Makers, Essie - Lights and Flormar - N006. The first pictures shows the design with a shiny top coat and in the second I'm wearing one coat of Essie - Matte About You on top.