Guest Post Time! - Gnarly Gnails

Hello lovelies!

I had the privilege to guest post for the amazing Missy of Gnarly Gnails, while she was undergoing some intensive nail care treatment. In this post, I will show you how to create the effect of L'Oréal Nail Art Stickers "Confetti" without having to spend 10 euros on them!

Click the pic!

xoxoxo

Captain

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Studded nails part 2!

Hi there! 

Today more nail art using studs from Action's! As I showed yesterday, the smal sized studs (SS6) can be used very well on the nails. This is a simple and elegant mani I did using Hunkemöller "Mint Green" and the bronze coloured studs:

Just apply a little clear polish or topcoat and pick up the studs using a dotting tool. Then seal in the design with two layers of top coat and you're done! These nails even survived a day at the beach:

xoxoxo

Captain

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Nail Art with "Made By Me" studs from Action + review.

Hello lovelies!

Today I have a budget alternative to the amazing studs from Born Pretty Store. I found them for 2 euros at Action's. The might not be as nice, but they do the trick! They come in different sizes and are not actually meant for nails, but they work perfectly fine. The size you want to go for is SS6, as seen on the lower right corner of the package:

As you can see, they come in 3 different colours: gold, silver and bronze. There are stars, squares and tiny round rhinestone-shaped pieces in there. Unfortunately the tiny gold studs are a much more yellow gold than the bigger gold studs, so you can't really use them in a mani together. But hey, 2 euros... So this is a mani I did with some silver studs:

It is loosely based on a design by Cutepolish. I tried to get indentations like her on my ring finger, but for some reason, I failed miserably. Still really love the bad-ass look of the studded nail. The rest is not my greatest creation either; My hands were really shaky. But the studded nail is just really cool ;-) The base colour for this mani is Hunkemoller "Vintage Pink" and the black is my  black striper from Etos and NYC "City Blackout". Everything is topped off with Hema Matte Top Coat.

Placing the studs is easy: I just put a dot of top coat on my nail and then picked up a stud with my dotting tool and placed it in the blob of top coat. Easy peasy! They stick perfectly fine.

What do you think?

xoxoxo 

Captain

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Stained nails - WHAT TO DO?

Hey lovelies!

Here a quick solution to those who suffer from stained nails, either from a specific nail polish colour, or the yellowing of the nails. You can easily take care of that yourself with some household products:

You'll need:

1 tablespoon of baking powder

a little olive oil

a few squeezes of lemon juice

an old toothbrush

Mix it in a bowl and rub it on your nails with an old toothbrush. Rinse with warm water after 5 minutes, and you're done! I would not recommend doing this too often, but every once in a while it couldn't hurt!

Take care of your nails by applying some caring nail balm or butter, to hydrate them. Use the cuticle remover to push back the cuticles and improve nail growth.

xoxoxo

Captain

Swatch-It Sunday: George Blueney & Hugo Moss, feverishly gold.. (Catrice & Essence)

Hey lovelies!

Today we have George and Hugo, suffering from gold fever. George Blueney had already a spot in the previous collection, but the continued this gorgeous blue in their new collection. Hugo Moss is new, and as was George, irresistible already because of its name ;) It is a deep dark green creme, that reminds me of a deep dark forest.

Have a look at George:

With flash:

Daylight:

George is sleek, cool and grey, with a mysterious shimmer that makes him (oops! I mean 'it') irresistible.  Gorgeous! Application is fantastic, 2 easy coats and done. Next up is Hugo, so here we go:

Look at him shine.. Deep green cream polish goodness. However, two coats is not quite enough, which was a disappointment. As you can see, there's still some vnl on the pinky. But it doesn't bother me much. I used this polish as my base for the feather nail decal and it looked majestic. I loved it. It does however stain a lot on the skin, so use a basecoat (I suspect it will also stain the nail a lot) and lacquer neatly (look at my index finger, I tried cleaning it up, but it would just not go!). I think this polish is amazing for fall and winter, but also whenever you need something classy that is other than red or pink.

Now for some nail art, I chose Essence "Gold Fever":

It is an awesome gold glitter polish, with gold and red microglitter, small gold glitter and bigger silver glitters, that really makes it special. First let's see some feverish Hugo Moss:

Sparkle sparkle in the sunlight! (This is my right hand, so a little less neat ;) ). 

Now cool George could use some warming up, so I built up a gradient (which is ridiculously easy with this polish, just put some on your sponge and sponge upwards from the tip to the base, to get this effect with only one go!):

Daylight:

With Flash:

With matte topcoat:

I adored this mani. It is true George Blueney Glitter and Glamour. What do you prefer, shiny or matte?

xoxoxo

Captain

Essence Stay Matt "Smooth Berry" - Swatch & Review

Hey beauties!

Here a quick review of another matt lip cream from essence: Smooth Berry. I loved Silky Red so much that I had to try this one out as well! It is very eye-catching, see for yourself:

I love it. The colour is perfect for summer! Application is easy, and it stays on the lips for hours. I did not care much for the sweet scent, but I know lots of you will love it. And you get used to it if you don't ;) It is such a nice way to follow the trend for very little money! Here in Holland it retails for 1.99 euros. There are also two nude ones, that I'm not sure will look good on me, but if nude is your thing then they are definitely worth trying out!

xoxoxo

Captain

Swatch-It Sunday: Essence "Prom Berry" & "Cool Breeze" and W7 "Cosmic Purple" swatches & review

Hello hello!

Today we have 2 new polishes from Essence: "Prom Berry" and "Cool Breeze". Prom Berry is a deep dark purple polish with a little shimmer. And you can totally get away with just one coat, which makes it a true "colour & go" lacquer. I hereby show you 1 coat (in direct sunlight, which truly brings out the gorgeous shimmer) and 2 coats (in daylight):

Now on to Essence's Special Effect Topper! Cool Breeze looks amazing in the bottle, all those iridescent glitters, whoaaa! But it is not as well packed as it seems. However, it does really look beautiful over this purple. This is one coat:

You gotta apply this a bit more carefully, because otherwise the glitter won't cover the whole nail, but it is not hard. Just dab the brush where you want glitter. As you can see, it has both micro and macro glitter in there. It does give it a cool breezy feel.

Now I wanted to try out W7's "Cosmic Purple". This is one coat over Prom Berry:

Cosmic purple isn't actually purple! It's a glitterbomb of fuchsia and blue microglitters, which makes it appear purple. It's really nice and sparkly and applies really easily. And it's cheap :) 2 pounds in the UK, 2.50 euros in the Netherlands (available at Op=Op). In the UK you can also order them online.

That's it folks! The nail art I did with these is part of another post, that I will probably post next week, it is something really different that I am really excited about!

So stay tuned and don't forget to follow via GFC, Bloglovin' and Facebook, so that you won't miss a thing!

xoxoxo
Captain

Swatch-It Sunday: Catrice "Mint Me Up" and vintage nail art!

Hey lovelies!

Are you ready for another Swatch-It Sunday? Today we have one of the new Catrice polishes of their regular collection: Mint Me Up. It is a dark mint green polish with a golden shimmer and with bronze flakies. Say what?! Yes exactly, I have not seen anything like it, ever, so it is a must-have ;) It retails for 2.99 euros. So let's have a look!

With Flash:

 

Daylight:

Application was easy, and it is opaque in 2 easy coats. Let's have a closer look at all the goodness!

Daylight:

Artificial light:

Even though the polish alone made me stare at my nails constantly, I needed to do some nail art. The varnish colour made me think of old wallpapers, and then I thought about one of the Nailasaurus' nail designs, and inspired by that, I went to work. This is the result:

 OMG look at that, SUNSHINE!

I used a white striper, some white polish and a dotting tool, and for the roses I used NYC "Revolving Red" and Essence "A Walk In The Park" and a little brush and some of the white polish. The mani started chipping after 2 days, that was a bit sad, because I loved it so much! What do you guys think? Will you buy it?

xoxoxo

Captain

Review: Essence Studio Nails Extra Moisturizing Nail Balm

Hello there! 

Today I have for you a very nice and cheap way to moisturize your nails: Essence Studio Nails Extra Moisturizing Nail Balm. Here it retails for 2 euros. It might seem like a tiny little tube of product, but since you only need very small amounts per treatment, it will last very long.

The balm contains Pro-Vitamine B5 and has a nice scent. It is very nourishing for both the nails and the cuticles. Apply tiny amounts on the nail and rub it in. Add some extra to the cuticles. It's absorbed within a few minutes (if there is some residue, just rub some more and it will be absorbed) and leaves the nails nice and healthy looking:

See how ugly my nails are? But repeatedly treating them with this does make them stronger and more flexible (so less prone to ripping and tearing). I've been using this (and these other nail products) for a couple of months and it really does make a difference!

xoxoxo

Captain