Catrice Ombre Top Coat

Hello lovelies!

Something interesting appeared in my local drugstore this weekend and I thought everybody who sees it in store would like to know "Does it work?" So let me tell you my experience with Catrice Ombre Top Coat. (Now that I google it, it has been out there for a few weeks, I just have not set foot in my drug store much lately!)

img by cartice.eu

So what they say is the following. Start out with any light colour. Then put one coat of of ombre top coat on the second nail, two coats on the third, ... you get it. So I tried it. I started out with a baby blue base, She Nail Enamel 304, that I picked up in Malta.

The Hundredth Post - Celebrating with Preenification Nail Art Water Slide Decals review :) [very pic heavy]

Hello lovelies and welcome for our one hundredth blog post!

We hereby present you Preenification's Nail Art Water Slide Decals!

A while ago, Preenification posted on instagram that she was looking for nail bloggers to try out her nail decals, so I did not have to think twice! Yes please, pretty pretty! So she sent me 5 sets to try out:

Exciting! So I started thinking up designs. The decals come with instructions and are really easy to use. You cut them out, soak them in water for half a minute and lift them carefully off the paper. I used a pair of tweezers to do that and place them on the nails. Make sure your base of nail polish is completely dry before placing on the decals. Then seal them with a layer of top coat. Here goes!

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 Catrice "Aretha's R-E-S-P-I-N-K" with Essence "Alpha Better Gamma" and Etos white sponged on.

Although soooo pretty, The decals didn't pop because I used white as the base. I tried again over a dark base, so that you can really see the decals in all their beauty :) This is Essence "Prom-berry" with "Cool Breeze" (swatches here):

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 This is Rimmel "Sky High" with dotticure in various colours.

Or, just the decals:

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A ruffian with Essence "Prom-berry" and "Hello Marshmallow!"

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Catrice "Hugo Moss" 

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 Our frankened polish "Pocahontas", Aretha's R-E-S-P-I-N-K and 

Essence "Upper Green Side"

The beauty of the decals w.r.t. stickers is that they are so thin, they blend into the design as if painted on. It is beautiful. A nice and quick way to prettify your nails! The best way for these decals to pop is to think about the background colour; when too similar, the decals will fade into the background colour. This almost happened in my first design..

I had so much fun with these! They are specifically designed for nails, each decal will fit perfectly while enhancing the shape and length of you nail. PERFECT!

You can buy them here (the ones I reviewed will be up soon). 

This is her instagram page for more pretty pictures and she is setting up a Youtube channel and a website up too! She ships worldwide (while based in the UK) and since the decals are really lightweight, it won't cost much :) With one set of decals, you can decorate 20 nails. They're 2 pounds, or 2.50 euros or 3 USD! Cheap and easy DIY nail art :)

I had a great time with these and I hope to review more in the future! 

xoxoxo

Captain

Friends on Friday: Glitzy gradient, oh so radiant!

Hello dears!

Now I know it's Saturday, but who cares ;) My friend saw me with my Catrice "Mint me Up" nails and was mesmerized by the colour, so I told her I would do her nails too! She asked for a design with minimal texture (height differences annoyed her the last time I did a dotticure, even though she liked the way it looked, of course), so I decided to go for gradient, and a sparkly one at that! Since Mint Me Up contains a gold shimmer, next to the bronze flakies, I thought it made sense to go with gold:

I sponged up some gold from Miss Sporty and then topped that with some gold glitter from HEMA no. 03. Topcoat and done!

She made it last for days! Very nice :)

xoxoxo

Captain

Friends on Friday: Two different gradients

Hello Ladies!

Time for some friends' nails :) One of my friends gave me a small collection of Columbian nail polish, of the brand Vogue. I have yet to do swatches, but I already used them in some nail art on The Lieutenant's nails. My friend gave me 4 of the most vibrant neon colours ever and I fell in love with them instantly. I had a design in mind for a while, but I didn't have the appropriate nail polish, and while I was almost about to break my no-buy policy, she showed up and gave me what I needed! <3 Here goes:

I first applied a white base of Etos Long Lasting, and then sponged the Vogue colours: First neon yellow (Cítrico), then green (Limón Néon), then orange-ish red (Mango Néon) and then some neon purple (Violeta Néon). Then I applied two coats of  l'Oreal Confetti on top, to give it an extra summer party boost ;)

The second gradient was entirely made up by another friend. She picked out all the colours and told me to do something with it. This is it!

I first applied a sheer yellow shimmer from Hema. Then I sponged on some Hema no. 19 and some Essence "Purplicious". All yellow goodness with a hint of purple in the glitter, perfect!

Until later,

xoxoxo

Captain

Gradient and glitter goodness

Hey hey!

Quick post;

So, on my right hand, I started out with the same ombre as for the butterfly, but didn't feel like trying to paint with my left hand, so I just did an ombre, adding some extra NYC "Revolving Red" on the tips (as in the previous post, it already had Catrice "Sing: Oh, Champs-Élysées" as a base, and then sponged on Essence "What do u think?" and "Fame Fatal", mixed with a little pink polish). Then I added Essence "It's just a little crush" over it, which gave it a frosty finish. The next day, I had been cleaning, so it had chipped. I decided to tape it with a glitter polish from Max:

That's it! 
Soon you will learn from the Lieutenant how to make crazy braids in your hair :)

xoxoxo
Captain

Butterfly of Love

Hello beauties!

As promised, a blog post about my entry in Tip Top Nails South Africa's nail art contest! The theme of the week was "hearts and animal print" and the task was to perform this with only nudes, pinks, reds, purples and browns (and this  time, black was permitted), as it was last time. After long contemplation on WHAT TO DO AND HOW TO BE ORIGINAL, while still being beautiful, it hit me: Butterfly wings! I had never done this before, so now was the time:

I used Catrice "Sing: Oh, Champs-Élysées" as a base, and then sponged on Essence "What do u think?" and "Fame Fatal", mixed with a little pink polish. Then I took my black striper from Max and freehanded the wing structure. I started with a diagonal base, and then a curved line at the top. Then I connected them and curved the edges where they meet. Then I put a little Essence "It's just a little crush" on the bottom of the wing. Then I took the red "Fame Fatal" and my dotting tool, and created the hearts. I sealed it all in with topcoat, and done! 

I took a look at all the other entries, and nobody else had a butterfly design, so yay! Me happy ^^

xoxoxo

Captain Lothwen