Cheeky Jumbo Plate 1 - Viva Mexico!

It's been a while! The last few days I was wearing plain black nails on a camping site here in Switzerland and I really started to miss nail art or changing my nail polish for that matter. Good thing something awesome arrived in the mail today! I ordered the Cheeky Jumbo Plate 1 Viva Mexico three weeks ago and I love it so much! I haven't done stamping designs for a while now and I'm actually not that big of a fan of this technique (because I suck at it, ha!), but I just had to have this particular plate. If you are a longtime reader, you might know why ;) Of course I couldn't decide which design to use first, because basically all of the full designs are gorgeous! So I chose four colors and five different full designs. The colors used are: Essie - Maximillian Strasse Her & p2 - Night Out and Anny - Latina & Anny - Soul Sister. On top as always is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer.

Blue & Yellow

I realized today I'm really out of practice when it comes to to free-hand nail art. I painted this design with a nail art brush and I messed up some of the lines. Well, I need more practice! The colors were standing side by side on my desk, waiting to be stored again and I figured they would look good combined in a design. They're Essie - In The Cab-Ana, Avenue Maintain, China Glaze - For Audrey, Re-Fresh Mint and Anny - Sunshine In My Heart.  I used acrylic paint for the black lines. On Top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

Does anyone have a suggestion for a bright opaque yellow nail polish? Sunshine In My Heart is just almost opaque with three coats and actually it's not bright enough for me. What's your favorite?

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 14: Pride (Lemon Water Marble)

It's the last day of the Deadly Sins Challenge and the second day of Pride. I can't believe how fast these seven weeks went by and a bit sad it's over! I really enjoyed working at this challenge with all the other bloggers and I loved painting my nails based on given themes. The theme of Day 14 says: This is YOUR time! Brag about how good you are at...

Illustrations by: dahlig

Yay, bragging. So I know this will sound weird, because I mentioned this technique in my Wrath week. But actually I decided to 'brag' about Water Marbling, because even if it takes a lot of patience and can sometimes end in a disaster, it is the one technique that I improved the most in. While my first Water Marble was full of air bubbles and incomplete patterns, these days I usually manage to do a consistent and good-looking Water Marble. Then again, this is more a question of practice than of talent. This time I wanted to do a summer inspired marble and I chose white and yellow as my colors. I used two coats of Essie - Blanc as my base and then did the marble with Blanc, Anny - Sunshine In My Heart and China Glaze - Lemon Fizz. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

You can find all the designs of my Deadly Sins Challenge here. And please check out all the amazing designs by the other participants: 

Essence Pigments - Broadway Starlet & Heart Accent Nail

Some time ago I did a little bit of mixing with my favorite Essence pigment: Broadway Starlet. I mixed Broadway Starlet with about the same amount of the p2 eyeshadow called Moonlight Glam. Together it gives an amazing purple with colorful glitter. The only bad thing about this is that you have to work pretty fast to get an even coverage on each nail. I did one thick coat on each nail and then added one coat of Essence BTGN Top Sealer. After it has completely dried I used a piece of tape punched with my heart shaped hole puncher on my accent nail. I filled out the heart with Anny - Absolutely Fuchsia, a beautiful dark pink glitter polish. Instead of taking off the tape right away like I usually do it, I waited for a few seconds because otherwise the polish would have smudged. Then on top again another coat of BTNG Top Sealer. 

I think it looks very simply but nonetheless fancy and I'm really in love with that pigment! Just look at that last macro shot, full of glitter!