Sci-fi chic Skittle

Hi everyone! Today I have this sci-fi kind of skittle to show you. This mani started with the two semi-nude accent nails that I made using tape and freehanded strokes of polish. After that I went through all my drawers like a crazy person to find polishes that would match the accent nails. The result is an unusual combination of colors, which in hindsight, I'm not sure whether I love or hate. Doesn't matter, I enjoyed the process of doing these nails nonetheless. :)

The polishes I used:

Index finger: China Glaze Tinsel Town on top of China Glaze Westside Warrior

Middle finger: OPI Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ

Thumb and ring finger: Color Club Where's The Soiree and Barry M Cobalt Blue

Pinky: China Glaze Sea Spray

Inspiration manis for New Year's Eve

I can't believe New Year's Eve is already tomorrow! Time sure flies. But since 2016 has yet to come, I thought it would be fun to do a couple of New Year's Eve manis in one post to maybe give you some last-minute inspiration on what to wear on your nails. I've got a lot of pictures, so let's get cracking.

Semi-nude nails is something I tend to do more often lately. I'm not sure what it is, but there's just something about that bit of blank space that I find interesting. For the mani above I placed square pieces of tape at the top of each nail (at the cuticles) and painted the tips black. Then I filled in the gaps with gold linework, using a striper polish from Janet (#115). I really had a hard time deciding on how to fill those V-gaps, because the possibilities are just endless. You could fill it with a (stamped) pattern, a glitter polish, or with geometric shapes like in my last Christmas mani here, and even with nothing in the gaps, I think it still looks pretty neat.

For this one I used a dotting tool to make a firework-like pattern. I started with making a circle of six dots and then I added a line of dots after each dot. (Are you still with me?) It's a simple and fast way to create a fairly detailed design on the nails, plus you can easily combine it with an exciting glitter/shimmer/holographic/multichrome/etc. polish for the basecolor. Here I've opted for golden oldy Wild At Heart from Color Club.

Champagne! I like to combine this design with a shimmery blue, in this case Dorothy Who? on top of First Mate, both from China Glaze. You might've gotten a glimpse of this mani already if you've seen my new tutorial. If you haven't, go have a look at it here if you like it. It's easy-peasy to achieve!

Lastly I'd like to include my nude clouds mani from New Year's Eve 2011 to this inspiration post. For this mani I used my trusty cloud design. Again, an easy way to quickly spruce up your nails with just two or three colors. I can enjoy spending lots of time on my nails, but sometimes - especially in the hectic holiday season - a simple but effective design is very welcome! You can find the clouds tutorial here and the full post of this mani here.

I hope you all enjoyed this post and that it may have given you some inspiration for tomorrow night. Since I won't post until the new year, I'm wishing you all a very amazing and healthy new year in advance! See ya! :)

31 Day Challenge, day 14: Flowers

Hi everyone! :-) This is day 14 in the 31 Day Challenge and today's theme is flowers. I have to say the whole mani is a little bit too tacky for me, haha, but being a tad different than most of my manis, I enjoyed working on it very much. I used my trusty cloud design method to draw the petals, first with a black, then with Essence Ultimate Pink. Then I added the blue, diamond-shaped glitters for a bit of contrast. I don't use loose glitters often, but I immediately fell in love with these from Essence, named Shine Like A Star!, which I bought about a year ago. It doesn't show on the pictures, but they're actually holographic, which makes them even more awesome. Can't wait to use them again. :-) Thanks for dropping by!

Fierce French

The black part in this picture reminds me of the M of Maroon 5, love them! ^^

Hello everyone! In my last post I used Orly Solid Gold in a fifty-fifty tape mani. I liked Solid Gold so much that I prepared two more looks with it and today's semi-nude look is one of them. I first started with a zigzag in black (tutorial here) and when that was dry I added the gold chevrons with Solid Gold. It dries with a matte finish as you could see in my last post, but this time I went for glossy by adding topcoat. I'm not sure which finish I like most - the edgy matte one or the sparkly glossy one. They're both so cool! :-) What do you think? Thanks for reading!

Nude Zigzag

Hi everyone! How are you? I'm liking semi-nude manis more and more and they can be very simple too! Just like today's mani with zigzag French tips. Because there's no base color needed, you can immediately place tape strips on the nails. Apply a coat of Essence Chuck on top, remove the tape right away and you're done. Finally a layer of topcoat and edgy nails are born! :-) What's your thought on this funky French mani?

Nude with hearts

Hi guys! How are you all doing? :) I've finally finished all my exams for the first semester, so more time for blogging again! :)

For this post I wanted to share this semi-nude mani with you that I made last year. I wanted to make hearts on my nails by making a template with tape and this heartshaped paper punch that I have, but the punch had a hard time getting through the tape, so all I was left with was a little wrinkled, misshapen hole... So I cut out the shape myself from a fold up piece of tape and that's how I got to this design with V-shaped French tip. I still have to get used to nude nails, but I kind of like it like this. ^^ For the rest of my nails I was looking for a smokey purple, the polish that came nearest to what I wanted was Bourjois Bleu Asphalte. But I if I had Frederiksberg from WIC Herôme at the time, I certainly would've gone for that instead, I love that color so much! :)

So what are your thoughts on these nude nails? Would you wear them yourself?

Nude clouds for New Year's Eve

Hello everyone! Here's a quick little post on my New Year's Eve mani. Initially I wanted to do the festive star pattern again that I wore for Christmas, but in the end I decided to go for something quick and simple instead. I don't like my nails naked, but this semi nude cloud look I like ^^ I used H&M Golden Treasure and Color Club Where's The Soiree? for the clouds and finished with a topcoat.

Have a great New Year's Eve and I'll see you in 2012! :)