NOTD: Rainbow Fish

The Rainbow Fish was one of my favorite books as a child so I knew I had to do this design someday. I've seen this idea for the first time at The Nailsaurus. And yesterday I stumbled upon this tutorial from little nails on how to do mermaid nails. 

I used mainly colors from Catrice and Essence - Gleam In Blue as a base color. I added the dots with a dotting tool but in the end just used the brush that came with the polish. Since it's really time-consuming I only did one hand this time and left my other nails with the base color.

One coat of BTGN Top Sealer which caused a tiny bit of smudging.

NOTD: Black & Gold Croco Effect

I've had this polish for a while now but never really used it. I was too afraid it would look like those crackling polishes which I usually dislike. Well it doesn't!

This is the black Go Magic Croco Coat Effect Polish from Alessandro. The set came with a silver base coat and a special(?) top coat. I've seen the Croco Coats without the sets these days and they have some pretty great colors to choose from. But black is perfect for a start.

I chose Stargazer Chrome polish in Gold as a base coat and I guess you could use any nail polish you like. You have to pay attention to two things though: The base coat should not be completely dry when you apply the Croco Coat. Otherwise nothing is gonna happen. And you should only apply a thin Croco coat over your base coat. Don't worry about it being sheer, it worked just fine for me!

Afterwards I applied one coat of the Alessandro top coat. I'm not sure if you could use any other top coat. I guess it would work though and I'm definitely gonna try it since this top coat resulted in pretty bad shrinkage (I repaired it with black nail polish for today). I added two coats of BTGN Top Sealer, one to even the surface and one after repairing the shrinkage.

I like these so much more than the crackling polishes!

Dots!

Sarah from Chalkboard Nails is doing a Nail Art Contest with a great theme: the dotting tool!

I decided to join as well and put some color on my nails.

Colors used: Catrice - Bye Bye Birdy, Catrice - Sweets For My Sweets, Catrice - Apropos Apricot, Essie - Mint Candy Apple and Artdeco - 95.

Get your dotting tools out and join the contest!

Catrice - Put Lavender On Agenda

As promised one of the new Catrice  nail polishes! It's called Put Lavender On Agenda. They changed all the brushes and I heard some people complain about the new ones. I can't really see a big difference though, I had no problem with the new brush.

These are two coats and one coat of BTGN Top Sealer. 

I'd say drying time is average, just like the old Catrice colors. This is the only polish I picked up from the new ones, they seem to be very similar to the old colors. 

NOTD: Roses

A little late for Valentine's Day - but roses are always nice, aren't they? 

I can't really give credit on this design since I don't know who it is originally from. It's all over the web in various styles and you will find a lot of tutorials on YouTube. If you know the original artist, please leave a comment and I will edit my post.

I used Essie - Mint Candy Apple as a base coat and added the roses with Catrice - Raspberry Fields Forever and Sweets For My Sweets. They're all done with a nail art brush. The roses came out a little more abstract than I hoped they would but I think this design looks better from a little distance. 

As always one coat of BTGN Top Sealer.

Tomorrow I have some swatches of a new Catrice nail polish for you, stay tuned! 

NOTD: Black & White Polka Dot Nails

Just some simple Polka Dot nails for today! I got myself a new black nail polish from H&M called Manhunter. I really hoped it would be a one-coater since I have great experience with those nail polishes. Well, Manhunter still needs 2 coats to be opaque so I will have to continue my search.

I added the dots with my dotting tool and a white nail polish. 

As a top coat I used one coat of BTGN Top Sealer.

Sorry for the lack of words lately, the new semester is about to start next week and I have a lot of stuff to take care of until then. Painting my nails has always been a great way to relax though, so I will continue to post my designs nonetheless. And btw, since last week I have over 300 followers! Thank you very much for your support and especially for all your comments, I really enjoy reading your feedback! 

NOTD: Valentine's Day 4: Amy Winehouse - Back To Black

Inspired by Amy's song.

The colorful side:

And the black/white side:

we only said goodbye with words

I died a hundred times

you go back to her 

and I go back to black

NOTD: Red-Black-White Splatter Nails

I love splatter nails! I did another color combination with the DIY nail decals technique, but this time I had some problems with the application. My decals were too thick because I started with two coats of white. As a result they were very stiff and difficult to handle. I'd recommend doing them as thin as you can, you can always add a base coat underneath! 

I used the usual black and white and for the red I chose Essie - Limited Addiction, one of my favorite reds! 

One coat of Essie GTG on top.

NOTD: Essence Nail Fashion Stickers - Glitterastic (Crazy Good Times LE)

Well after I've seen some really great pictures of longer nails and those nail fashion stickers from Essence I decided to give it a try anyway. These are called "Glitterastic" and are sold for 3.50 CHF. You will receive 14 different sizes. 

I started with one coat of black and then figured out which size would fit best for my nails. I had some trouble with that, but more because of their width. They were just about the right lenght for my nails. I had to cut some but I would recommend that only if you are talented in such stuff, because I'm not. And it was messy. And it took me about half an hour or more to do all my nails.

Well, they might appear pretty on the pictures, but that's just because I took them from a flattering angle. You can clearly see the black basecoat on the side of the nail and the rough surface in the front. And it was impossible to apply them without wrinkles on my thumb and index finger nails. That's why I added one coat of BTGN Top Sealer, which changed the appearance a little bit.

I think they're looking awesome on the pictures but that's not enough for me! I bought the purple ones as well (yeah, of course I did) and I will still try them, maybe I can improve my technique a little. 

NOTD: Valentine's Day 3: Valentine's Day Picnic

Once again inspired by Robin Moses, click here for her tutorial on how to create the picnic tablecloth pattern. 

I chose a blue toned tablecloth and used two colors from Essence: King of Mints and Speed Of Light Blue (You Rock! LE). 

As a base color I used CG Snow and then added the stripes and squares with my nail art brush.

One coat of Essie GTG on top.

I really like the pattern so I left it like that for a day. But since I planned it as a Valentine's Day design, I added a little heart on my ring finger nail.

The heart is made with Catrice - Raspberry Field Forever and outlined with OPI Black Onyx. 

It makes me wanna pack my bag and leave for the park to make a picnic... just until I open my window and feel the sub-zero temperatures outside. :S

NOTD: Valentine's Day 2 - English Rose

I already blogged about this foil a few months back but I think it is perfect for a Valentine's Day design. Besides I improved my technique and equipment since I last used these foils.

I added two coats of China Glaze - Snow as a basecoat. I use the nail foil adhesive from Naildelights and it works great. You apply it and let it dry for about 5 minutes. Then you press the pre-cut foil gently onto the sticky nail until the design starts to peel off the clear foil.

Then I added one coat of Star Nail - Nail Art Finishing Sealer and one coat of BTGN Top Sealer.

Essence Crazy Good Times LE: Princessorize / Confetteria / Glitterastic

Finally I got my hands on the new Essence Limited Edition called Crazy Good Times. There are 6 different nail polishes and I bought three of them. 

Princessorize - Confetteria - Glitterastic

Essence - Confetteria

An amazing dark blue with small blue, green and bronze glitters and bigger blue sequins. I used two coats for an opaque result and added one coat of Essie GTG. Confetteria has a quite thick formula and therefore doesn't dry very fast. 

Essence - Glitterastic

This one is a clear base with a lot of tiny silver glitters and bigger silver sequins. I  used three coats for an opaque result and added one coat of Essie GTG on top. I'd recommend a silver base coat for this one (such as China Glaze Cheers To You) since the formula is similar to Confetteria and it takes some time to be completely dry. 

Essence - Princessorize

(Flash)

An amazing neon Barbie pink with tiny blue and purple glitters in it (which sadly don't really appear on the nail). Three coats for an almost opaque result and one coat of Essie GTG. Same here, formula is very thick and not fast-drying. 

I really like this collection, apart from the drying time. Crazy Good Times is available in February 2012.

Besides the nail polishes there are some quite fancy nail stickers called "bling style". I really wanted to try these since I've read Audrey's post on My Mirror World and I think they look amazing. But as I had a look at them in the store I realised I would not get these on my nails. So tiny! I really wish they would make these bigger!