Matte Gradient Splatter Nails

A while back I saw a beautiful design by one of my favorite nail artists: Lady Crappo. She did a matte gradient with metallic splatter on top and I really wanted to have this design on my nails as well. I decided to go for the green gradient and I used OPI - You Are So Outta Lime! plus KIKO - 347 as my gradient colors. I then used Essie - Matte About You for the matte finish and added the metallic splashes with Essie - Penny Talk. She did a tutorial on how to do all of that.

Heute gibts ein Design von Lady Crappo. Den grünen Farbverlauf/Gradient habe ich mit OPI - You Are So Outta Lime! und KIKO - 347 gemacht. Für das matte Finish eine Schicht von Essie - Matte About You aufgetragen und dann die Spritzer darüber mit Essie - Penny Talk. Sie hat auch ein Tutorial dazu, in dem sie genau erklärt, wie das alles geht.

MoYou London Explorer Plate 26 feat. Zoya - Dree & Essie - Penny Talk

MoYou London had a free shipping offer a few days ago and I decided to take the opportunity to get one of the plates that I've been wanting to buy for a while now. It's number 26 from the Explorer collection with XL images. I combined it with two of my favorite colors at the moment: Zoya - Dree as my base with two coats and Essie - Penny Talk as my stamping color. I used some top coat after Dree but none after Penny Talk to keep the chrome effect, but obviously after a few days of wearing these without top coat, they don't look perfect anymore. 

Vor ein paar Tagen hat MoYou London gratis versendet und ich habe gleich mal die Gelegenheit ergriffen, um mir eine der Schablonen zu kaufen, auf die ich schon länger ein Auge geworfen habe: Nummer 26 aus der Explorer Kollektion mit XL-Motiven. Ausprobiert habe ich sie jetzt mit zwei meiner momentanen Lieblingsfarben: Zoya - Dree als Grundfarbe mit zwei Schichten, dann eine Schicht Top Coat drüber und für das Stamping Essie - Penny Talk. Penny Talk sieht halt generell besser aus ohne Top Coat, aber so nach ein paar Tagen sehen die Nägel leider nicht mehr ganz so perfekt aus. 

Pink & Purple Dotted Nails feat. Essie

I dug out my dotting tool! As my base color I used two coats of Essie - Full Steam Ahead (Naughty Nautical Collection 2013) a cute lavender with a tiny bit of shimmer. On top of that I added a lot of dots using various sizes of dotting tools and three Essie colors from the Neon 2013 Collection: Boom Boom Room, Bottle Service and DJ Play That Song. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

Essie - Find me an Oasis / Mattified Glitter

Some very subtle nails for today! The base is the awesome Essie - Find me an Oasis with two coats. On top of that I added one coat of H&M - Blue Bliss, a beautiful glitter in a slightly blue tinted base. I'm pretty sure this one isn't sold anymore though. The matte finish is done with Essie - Matte About You.

Two-tone Studded Nails

So I finally took the time to do some nail art again! This was very simple and didn't take up too much time since I didn't bother using striping tape. All I did was painting a base with Zoya - Dree and then adding Essie - Lady Godiva on half of my nail using the brush from the bottle. To make it a bit more exact I used a striping brush and black nail polish for the centerline. On top of that I added some studs, which I received from bornprettystore some time ago. I then added one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss and I think something's wrong with this bottle. I used it once or twice, so I'm not sure what it is... it might be because I used it over Essie - Penny Talk? Anyway, please ignore the dust on top of the design. ;) 

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.

Christmas Plaid Nails feat. Essie - Urban Jungle

Today's nail art was inspired by a beautiful plaid design I saw a few weeks ago on Quiche Girl. She had the awesome idea to use multiple colors in one stamping. I love that she also added blue to the mix which looks amazing, but I left it out to make mine a bit more Christmassy. I also used the same collection from MoYou London, that is the Hipster collection. But instead of #06 I used the XL version #05. As my base color I used two coats of Essie - Urban Jungle. Then for the first round of plaid I used OPI - Christmas Gone Plaid and Cinnamon Sweet together on the same image. Then I used OPI With a Nice Finn-Ish for the golden plaid, which could have been a bit more opaque, but that's okay. For the last step I took a nail art brush and the same red and green colors to add some stripes over the stamping. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

Textured Christmas Stamping feat. Dance Legend - Amethyst / Essie - Penny Talk

After my latest Textured Snowflake Stamping I really wanted to do a similar design, but this time using different colors. I chose one of my favorite textured polishes Dance Legend - Amethyst* as my base color for the stamping. Then I used two images of the MoYou London Christmas Collection #04 and Essie - Penny Talk for the Christmas stamping.

*PR Sample

Candy Cane Water Marble Nail Art

Ho ho ho! I love everything candy cane related, so obviously there had to be some kind of candy cane nail art for this holiday season. I think water marble is the perfect technique to achieve those lines and this is my favorite marble look anyway. I was wearing three coats of Essie - Fiji the other day, so I thought I'd keep it simple and just marble over what was already there. I added Essie - Need a Vacation and Fishnet Stockings to the mix and they worked lovely together. I didn't use any top coat this time.

Holy Glitter Sandwich! / KB Shimmer Holly Back Girl inspired DIY

So I fell in love with KB Shimmer - Holly Back Girl after seeing these beautiful nails by Lindsey from Wondrously Polished. Since I'm a bit short of money at the moment (always?) I decided to recreate this beautiful polish with what I already have at home. At first I thought it might be a good idea to combine China Glaze - Party Hearty (God, I love that polish!) with Essie - Marshmallow, but there was too much golden glitter involved. So I used green and red glitter from my stash which I bought on Ebay way back. I got a bit too excited and made a whole bottle of this... Turns out my glitter bleeds and I ruined half of my Marshmallow by turning it into a dirty grey. But: I managed to get it on my nails once and I loved wearing it a lot, so there's that. :) I'm pretty sure I'm gonna buy the original though, it's just too perfect not to have for Christmas. As always there's one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri on top. 

Essie - Urban Jungle

Two coats of Essie - Urban Jungle plus one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

Essie - Leading Lady (Winter/Holiday 2012)

Before continuing with nail art, I wanted to show you my pretty base for last week's #LLAfterDark challenge. Sadly one of my nails chipped right after I did this design and I decided to file them all short for now. But to maintain a bit of consistency for the blog, I decided to post the remaining pictures with long nails, before continuing with the new designs. So you have probably seen this one before, but I think it's pretty enough to show up more than once! It's Essie - Leading Lady, one of the polishes from the Winter/Holiday collection 2012. I only own the mini bottle of this beauty, but I was happy to see that it still has a nice formula after two years. I used two coats and one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri on top. 

Essie - Leading Lady on short, square nails

The Lacquer Legion After Dark: Vampire Nails

It's been a while since I've participated in The Lacquer Legion monthly challenge! This month's subject is After Dark and since I love everything Halloween related, I couldn't resist joining in. To make it a bit easier for me, I got my inspiration from a great nail artist: Christina from Starfish on the Beach. She did this beautifully creepy vampire teeth design for Halloween 2013 and I decided to recreate it on my current manicure, which is Essie - Leading Lady. I used black nail polish and white acrylic paint for the design and added one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri on top. You can find all of the other designs of this challenge with the hashtag #LLAfterDark.

My previous designs for The Lacquer Legion:

#LLGlam

#LLAdoration

#LLReinvention

Essie Dress To Kilt (Fall 2014) - The Perfect Cover Up

1 coat of Essie - The Perfect Cover Up from the Dress To Kilt Fall collection

China Glaze Glitter Gradient: Midnight Mission, Cheers To You, Tinsel Town

Since I don't have a lot of time to do my nails lately, this is a design from a few weeks ago already. I guess I felt a bit Christmassy and I chose three of my favorites from China Glaze. As my base color I used Midnight Mission with two coats. Then I dabbed on a bit of Cheers To You and Tinsel Town on top with a sponge. Because matte glitter is awesome, I added Essie - Matte About You after my regular top coat. I love my Cheers To You memories, it's one of those bottles that made me fall in love with nail polish. (You need proof? My first blog post ever and there it is!) It's three years old but still as good as new. Cheers to China Glaze for that! 

Essie - Find me an Oasis (US)

I finally treated myself to Essie - Find me an Oasis and I'm really happy with it! It's the US version since I ordered them online, but I actually like this version better. Lackaffen did a lovely comparison between Find me an Oasis US and Europe. I used two very generous coats and the formula isn't great in my opinion, but the color is just adorable. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

Plaid Nails / MoYou London Hipster Collection #05

It's time for some more plaid nails! I'm really happy with my MoYou London Hipster plate #05 and I could wear plaid nails for the rest of my life really. I decided to use H&M - Get A Rose 4 Me as my base color. It's just perfect for autumn! Then I did the stamping with Essie - Angora Cardi. Since the plate doesn't have simple lines, I free-handed them with a nail art brush and OPI - Skyfall. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

MoYou London Kaleidoscope #04 feat. Essie - Fiji

I found the perfect color match: Essie - Fiji and H&M - Get A Rose 4 Me. I'm pretty sure the last one isn't available in stores anymore, but they might have a new one these days. I combined those two with my new MoYou London Kaleidoscope plate #04 which I think is really adorable. I used three coats of Fiji and then stamped with Get A Rose 4 Me. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri.