Daniel Wellington - Classic Bristol Lady (Rose Gold) (Cooperation)

Right before Christmas I was contacted by Daniel Wellington and asked if I'd like to write about one of their watches. Although this is obviously not nail related, I decided to accept the offer since I fell in love with that one specific model. They send me the Classic Bristol Lady* in Rose Gold to review on my blog. If you're interested in buying your own watch, you will find a promotion code at the end of this post for 15 % off your order.

*PR Sample

Daniel Wellington is a Swedish company and they sell watches for both women and men. Their watches are clean and elegant and you can choose between the leather or the NATO strap. The straps are interchangeable, which is pretty cool if you like both styles. I felt like the NATO strap doesn't fit my personal style so I decided to go for the dark brown leather strap. They also have different case sizes but not for every watch. Make sure to check the size of your case and compare it to your wrist before you decide on a model. I picked the Classic Bristol Lady where the case size is 36 mm in diameter. This does sound quite bulky and at first I was thinking about choosing the Classy Bristol with 26 mm instead, but I didn't like the Swarovski stones on the index. I feel like the 36 mm is the perfect fit for my wrist (width: 5.5 - 6 cm, circumference: ca. 16.5 cm). You can also pick the case color in either rose gold or silver. I think the rose gold looks pretty awesome combined with white and dark brown leather and I like rose gold in general, so that was an easy choice for me. The price depends on the model you're choosing. The Classic Bristol Lady is sold for $199, worldwide shipping is free when purchasing a watch.  

Obviously I had to match my nails to my new watch. I tried different designs and I liked this one best, although it was a bit difficult to capture on camera. I used two coats of my new white polish Essence - Snow Alert (Mountain Calling LE) as my base color. Then I added the stamping with MoYou London Pro Plate #03 (XL) and Essie - Penny Talk. Even though Penny Talk looks way better without top coat I had to add one, because I didn't have time to take the pictures on the same day.

I've been wearing the Classic Bristol Lady for a week now and it has adjusted perfectly to my wrist. This is my first watch in years and it feels great not having to check my phone all the time. The only drawback for me is the missing second hand. I'm a very punctual person but I still need to have to know the exact time sometimes, for example when catching a train (the Swiss, you know...). Apart from that I'm very happy with this watch. 

Daniel Wellington offers a promotion code to my followers. Enter spektorsnails at checkout to get 15 % off your order. The code is valid until 31.01.2015.

Autumn Leaves - Stamping Sandwich

Today I'm copycatting a design that I fell in love with last week! I saw this beautiful stamping sandwich manicure on the Facebook page of Vivid Lacquer and Angela (the artist) just started a blog this week because of this specifique design! Her blog is called SaltyStyle Nails and she is planning to do a tutorial on these nails soon. This is my first ever stamping sandwich and although I've seen and liked them, I have never done one myself. I wasn't really aware of the awesomeness of jelly nail polish up until now, but I feel like this is the beginning of a beautiful relationship :) Since the only kind of orange jelly nail polish that I own is Essie - Clambake, this one had to serve as my jelly sandwich color. For the stamping I used the Bundlemonster plate BM05 and Essence - Bienvenido a Miami, Essie - Fishnet Stockings and Essie - Lady Godiva. Clambake wasn't really sheer enough, so my yellow leaves aren't showing very clear. But I feel like it still works, it is just a bit more gentle. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer and I'm probably going to try a matte top coat before I take it off, I'm curious about the result! 

Original design: SaltyStyle Nails

Also, if you're in the mood for some beautiful sadness:
Eva Cassidy - Autumn Leaves

Grey & Neon Pink Splatter Nails

I tried again and came up with another color scheme for Splatter Nails. I did these for the Splatter Nails Competition over at My Awesome Beauty, which will end tomorrow. I chose a grey splattered base color with Essence - Got A Secret, Essie - Maximillian Strasse Her and Essie - Licorice. And the neon pink cherry on top is once again China Glaze - Pool Party. I used my DIY Decals technique this time, to avoid a big mess. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. 

Blueberry Tie-Dye Nails

Today's design was inspired by the Tie-Dye tutorial from Chalkboard Nails. I love how Sarah transfered the print onto her nails and especially how she added depth to the first color by adding a darker one on top! I decided to use blue and purple for my tie-dye nails because these are my favorite tie-dye colors. If I was brave enough, I would wear blue tie-dye pants every day! I started with two coats of Flormar - M103 and then added the following colors with small brush strokes: Bourjois - In The Navy, Essie - Licorice, Essie - Bond With Whomever & Essence - Passion For Fashion. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN Top Sealer. And because I was eating blueberries for breakfast today, I figured they would look awesome combined with these nails. Hungry yet? :)

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 4: Gluttony (Water Marble / Drippy Nails)

Skip your diet and paint something that makes your stomach growl! Today is Day 4 of the Deadly Sins Challenge and I painted something yummy on my nails! 

   Illustrations by: dahlig

I wanted to have some strawberry ice cream with chocolate drips on top and this is how I did it: I started with one coat of China Glaze - Something Sweet and then did a Water Marble with Something Sweet and Essence - Shopping Trip In Soho. This time I used the needle to paint a spiral in the water, which was quite difficult to achieve. On top of my marble I used Essie - Chocolate Cakes and a nail art brush to paint tiny drops of chocolate. On top is one coat of Essie - Good To Go. I really like the Drippy Nails, this was my first attempt, but I'm sure I will try these again soon! 

Galaxy Nails with Acrylic Paint

Another attempt at Galaxy Nails, surprisingly this time I'm really happy with the result. I decided to use acrylic paint because this way I had a bigger selection  of colors to chose from. I used one coat of Essie - Licorice, then added a white base first and dabbed on the blue from dark to light with a sponge. After that I used Essence - Blair, my go-to glitter polish for Galaxy Nails. With a toothbrush and white acrylic paint I sprayed on the tiny stars (as seen on Coewlesspolish) and finished with one coat of Essie - Good To Go.

Deadly Sins Challenge - Day 1: Lust (Aztec Nails)

I'm really excited today, because I was asked to participate in my first ever nail art challenge! Helena from Nail Wish and Alice from One Nail To Rule Them All decided to create a challenge on the subject of the Seven Deadly Sins, two days for each sin and one sin per week. I will try to do both days every week! Click on the picture to see a list of all the days:

Illustrations by: dahlig

Today is Day 1 (Lust) and the theme says: Be a bad girl and make something you have wanted to do soo badly. This probably doesn't make me a very bad girl, but I wanted to do an aztec design, inspired by this beautiful manicure by Coewlesspolish, for a long time now. Mine was also inspired by my new favorite jumper from C&A Clockhouse. I used two coats of Essence - Got A Secret as my base color and then painted the patterns with acrylic paint, which took me forever. Then I added two coats of Essie - Let It Shine, went to sleep, woke up with marks all over my design and added one coat of Essie - Good To Go to even the surface.

Besides the awesome theme there's another reason for my excitement: the other ladies participating in this challenge are amazing nail artists! You can see their designs below and come back at the end of this week to see the complete first part of the challenge:

Military Ikat Nails

A few days ago I stumbled upon this tutorial on my tumblr dashboard and since I really liked the look of those so called Ikat Nails, I searched Google for some images. And wow, I have missed a trend! I didn't know that these are so popular, but I wanted to recreate them anyway and let me tell you, that was not the last time! I love how they are so easy to do and look great from further away (and at close range). I decided to use my very first Zoya nail polish for this design and added two colors that I thought would match the military green. I started with two coats of Essence - Iced Latte and then added the first part of the Ikat design with Zoya - Dree and Essie - Eternal Optimist. Then I finished the design with Essie - Licorice and one coat of Essie - Good To Go.

Have you done Ikat Nails? How do you like this technique?

Snakeskin Nails

I've tried snakeskin nails a few times and I've never been happy with the result. I tried it with net lace and sponges and freehand but nothing was really satisfying. Recently I ordered two stamping plates from Vivid Lacquer including VL 002 which has a honeycomb pattern (and is not available right now). I figured I could use it as snakeskin as well. So I used one coat of Essence - Walk On The Wild Side as my base color and dabbed on Catrice - After Eight with a sponge. Then I decided to use Catrice - I'm A Star... as my stamping color which didn't work too well. On top of the stamping I used Essie - Matte About You which is either the worst matte top coat ever or I didn't know how to use it properly. 

My all time favorite snakeskin nails are these by Candy Glaze. She calls them Dragon's Egg Manicure though, but either way I really love them! My attempt on recreating them a few months ago failed big time, but one can dream, right? :) 

Essence Hugs & Kisses LE: More Than Words & Dreams For Sale

As soon as I saw the glitter toppers in the press release of the new collection from Essence "Hugs & Kisses", I fell in love with all of them. It seemed to good to be true and it was. Last week I found a small display with the collection and I was able to look over the glitter toppers in person. In addition I looked up some swatches on Google, just to make sure. So there seems to be quite a difference between the press release and the real bottles. They're basically clear bases with glitter, which is nothing special. But since I checked the swatches on Arinas Beautywelt, I knew I wanted to have two of them anyway. So I bought More Than Words (left) and Dreams For Sale (right) for 2.50 CHF each. I applied both of them over one coat of Essie - Licorice and I used two coats each to get the desired result. On top is one coat of BTGN Top Sealer.

Essence - Dreams For Sale

You wouldn't guess it by looking at the bottle, but this is quite a colorful glitter! Main color is green, but in the right light you will also spot orange, blue and yellow. The formula was alright, the two coats took a bit longer to dry though. 

Essence - More Than Words

This one is not as colorful as the first one and it is mostly orange toned glitter. It reminds me of the orange flakie top coats, which is a pity because I hoped for a glitter in antique pink. Application was about the same here: average formula and drying time. 

I'm quite happy with both of them, I didn't have any glitters like these yet and I love both over black. I might try them over different colors, especially Dreams For Sale over Dark Blue, Purple, Green etc. But I think they look their best over black! Make sure to check the swatches before you buy one!

Grey & Neon Pink Ruffian Nails

Another pretty color that I picked up in the sale is Essie - Lights from the Poppy Razzi Collection. It is not as neon as I hopped it would be, but it's still a very bright pink. I didn't feel very inspired today and so I chose to do Ruffian Nails once again. I wanted the pink to be really flashy so I matched it with two coats of a light grey: Essence - Got A Secret. On top is one coat of BTGN Top Sealer.

Have a nice weekend! 

Grey & Silver Saran Wrap Nails

Everytime I tried the Saran Wrap Technique before, I didn't like the result because I picked the wrong colors or the technique just didn't work. But I really like how it is supposed to look like in the end, so I tried again. Still, I'm not that happy with it, but it's the first presentable version I've done so far. I used two coats of Essence - Movie Star as my base color, a dark grey that I bought in the sale yesterday. Then I added a coat of China Glaze - Cheers To You and used pieces of saran wrap to remove random spots of color. I've once seen a double saran wrap on Dull Like Glitter that I really liked a lot, so I decided to try that as well and added one coat of Essence - Got A Secret. On top is one coat of Essence - Soft Touch for a matte finish. 

My Favorite Christmas Nail Polishes

Today I want to show you my most favorite nail polishes for Christmas. Maybe you've already seen most of them, but I wanted to gather them all in one post so you might find some inspiration for the holidays. Of course there's a lot of glitter and a lot of red. I've included two swatches of each polish and I will add the number of coats used in brackets, so the post will not be too messy. On top is always one coat of Essence BTGN Top Sealer. Click on the pictures for a better view! Alright, let's do this! 

China Glaze - Holly-Day (2) + China Glaze - Party Hearty (1)

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps (2)

Catrice - Star Of The Show (3)

Essie - Leading Lady (2)

Wet 'N' Wild - Rockin' Rubies (2)

BeYu - 334 (2)

 

Essence - Time For Romance (2) 

  

 Does this in any kind match with your favorite Christmas polishes? Which one is going to be on your nails for Christmas?