Peachella & Wilderness

Hello lovelies!

Remember when we did manis for Rose? I was torn between many of her manicures and chose to do the pond stamping technique. But I was also very much in love with her Coachella manicure. I was just mesmerized by that colour combo, you know? Now I didn't have those polishes or that stamping plate, but I have similar polishes and a totally different stamping plate, so I just gave it a go! 

Pearlies, Purples & Roses

Hi lovelies!

Of course I couldn't leave Ms. Sparkle's "Pearl" alone either,  so I did some double stamping over that as well! Let's have a look ;)

LynBDesigns "May The Fourth Be With You"

Hello lovelies!

Happy May The Fourth! A while ago (I do not remember exactly when), LynBDesigns included this beautiful treat in people's orders for a special occasion: "May The Fourth Be With You", a varnish dedicated to International Star Wars Day! So let's feast our eyes:

Born Pretty Pastel Lilac Stamping Polish

Hi lovelies!

I tested the new pastel lilac stamping polish from Born Pretty Store and I did two manis! Check it out!

My Indie Polish "Sadness"

Hello!

I got a beautiful holo glitter bomb from My Indie Polish here! It is part of the Inside Out collection, representing Sadness:

LynBDesigns "Whimsically Inventive"

Hello lovelies!

More quick blogging here, total exhaustion from the job training is plaguing me, but I want to blog so bad! This is LynBDesigns "Whimsically Inventive", a.k.a. Sheldon's description of his love making to Amy. First up are some shade-pictures, because I had a lack of sunlight :(

Friends on Friday - Hermione

Hello lovelies!

I did a friend's nails again! She has a Harry Potter theme party tomorrow and is going as Hermione. I did some simple Hermione-inspired nail art on her:

Franken Friday - For a Far-Away Friend

Hello lovelies!

Last year I met some amazing ladies from India, but after a couple of months, they went back to their home country and I really miss them. One of them was also really into nail polish, so I frankened a nail polish for her. These photos have been lying around for a while (since summer, notice the sunlight!), but now I thought it was time. I wanted to go visit them this month, but my circumstances unfortunately did not let me. So my friends, I miss you!!!

Anyways, this is it:

The 400th Post: Born Pretty L008 Stamping Plate

Hello lovelies!

Today, on this ManiMonday, I celebrate my 400th post! I do so by showing you what I'm wearing right now, which is some delicate spring stamping over a lilac holo base. The plate was gifted to me by bornprettystore.com, and a gift is particularly appropriate for this celebration :)

Mani Monday - The Ruffian Reloaded!

Hello! 

A while back, I showed you 2 ruffians (purple & blue). I had a very important job interview and did not know what to do with my nails (I had done light pink with roses twice already), but then I thought of The Ruffian! After going over it in my mind a couple of hundred times, I came up with the following colour combination: lilac and gold. I used NYC "Full Metal Jacket" and Essence "Ballerina's Charm", one coat of each, and topped it off with Sally Hansen Insta Dri. The how-to is explained here. Put it on last Thursday evening, still wearing it today! Did not have time to redo my nails all weekend, but it is hardly noticable from another person's perspective ;) Anyway, I thought this look is very chic, don't you?

One day later, I wanted to try out a ruffian with silver and maroon on my aunt's nails, so I did, with one coat of NYC "Platinum Card" and two coats of "Prune" by Europ Cosmetics that my friend brought me from Paris. I topped it off with Seche Vite. Look at that shine! Unfortunately I had forgotten my camera, so I had to make do with my phone and artificial light (never good), but one can still make out the shine :) 

Ruffians Rock! Cheers!

xoxoxo

Captain

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Tutorial Tuesday: Essence "Me & My Ice Cream" Trend Edition Nail Art

Hello lovely lacquer lovers!

The new trend edition of Essence has just hit the stores, so I wanted to inspire you with some nail art! First a swatch of "Icylicious":

It is a really nice colour, but sadly not opaque in 2 coats. This is 3 coats, and still there are some spots where it has not quite leveled. Oh well, I still like it! The shimmer makes up for everything, once the sunlight hits it ;)

Now onto the nail art. I used "Ice Ice Baby" for the lilac:

Now here is the tutorial! Enjoy!

xoxoxo

Captain

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Silly French Tips

Hey!

Another quicky post:

This was what I did when I was wearing my frankened polish Silly:

I applied matte top coat from HEMA onto the polish and then freehanded the tips with a black striper from Etos. On the ring fingers I added a starry rhinestone from Pink Tease.

xoxoxo

Captain

Friends on Friday: Silly Franken Fun for the Bday Girl!

Hey lovelies!

There are two major reasons for this blog. 

1. The Lieutenant, who convinced me and is cofounder and coblogger and 

2. The friend who got me into all this madness in the first place! 

She sent me some links of cute nail art a few years ago and from that moment on I kept on buying until I could reproduce everything! Today we celebrate her birthday and since she is abroad and I cannot physically be with her to celebrate, i hereby dedicate this post to her. 

Dear silly friend, I frankened a polish for you and you will receive it once you're back home. I hope you like it:

I used loads of different nail polishes for this and this is the outcome, a lilac base with pink shimmer and black, silver, red, pink and blue glitter of different sizes. I swatched it for you:

Daylight:

Direct Sunlight:

Daylight:

Flash:

I hope you like it. It is named after you ;-) There is only one bottle and it is yours! 

xoxoxo

Captain

How to make your short nails look longer: The Ruffian

Hello there!

Today I have a really easy to recreate mani for those of you who have trouble growing their nails! It is the so-called "Ruffian Manicure", but what it has to do with ruffians, well, I haven't the slightest idea! If anybody knows, please comment! 
This is my first ruffian:

This is how you do it, and how you optically lengthen the nails. The latter depends on the colour choice, so that is why it is specified here:

You need:

1. a base coat

2. a top coat 

3. two lacquers with good opacity (and preferably short drying times); 1 darker colour and one significantly lighter colour.

Now to work!

1. Apply a base coat

2. Apply one layer of the darker colour. If it is not opaque enough, apply a second layer, but otherwise don't worry, most of the nail will be covered with the lighter polish anyway.

3. Take the lighter polish, and carefully polish the nail, while leaving a gap between the light polish and the cuticles. Polish towards the tips and also leave some space at the sides of the nails. The dark polish has now created a frame everywhere around the nail except at the tip, which creates the lengthening effect. If needed (probably) add the second layer of the light polish. 

4. Let it dry a bit and then add top coat! 

And you're done :) For this, a bit of a steady hand is needed, but it is not hard, so with a little exercise you will quickly master this technique!

I used Essence "Prom Berry" and "Hello Marshmallow!", which are part of the new collection. I will have swatches of Prom Berry on Sunday! ;)

I feel girly with this mani! ^^

Don't forget, feedback is very welcome!

xoxoxo

Captain

Spring Clouds with Essence new spring polishes "Hello Marshmallow!" and "Upper Green Side"

Hi Beauties!

Today a quick post with yet another cloud mani! 

I just love how this design can give such different results, while always optically lengthening the nails <3 Today I show the same design, for which a simple instruction can be found here, but with all pastel spring colours, including two of the new Essence Colour and Go nail polishes: "Hello Marshmallow!" and "Upper Green Side":

source: Essence.eu

I also used Hema no. 19 for the yellow and Essence "Alpha Better Gamma" for the pink. I Started with a base of Hello Marshmallow and then alternated all other polishes to get te following result:

Hello Marshmallow suffered a bit from bubbling, but it's ok. The colour is really nice and there is a very subtle blue shimmer that makes it sparkle a bit. Gorgeous.

Hope you like it!

xoxoxo

Captain