DIY Textured/Sand Finish - Green Glitter Nails

Back when the textured/sand finish trend came up I made a little tutorial on how to create the same effect with nail glitter. I never actually did this again after the tutorial so I think it's about time! I had a very pretty green glitter from Born Pretty Store lying around in my stash, that I have received as a sample quite some time ago, but never actually used. It's the #10 from these glitter powders. As my base color I used KIKO - #391 Grass Green and then I just sprinkled the glitter on top of the wet polish. Since it already looked really cute without the next step, I took some pictures without top coat. I wouldn't actually wear it like this though, since the glitter is gonna get everywhere! So you want to add a matte top coat onto the glitter for the textured/sand effect. I used Essie - Matte About You. Please look at the pictures below for a direct comparison with and without top coat.

Tip 1: Use tape to get rid of glitter on your skin and work space!

Tip 2: Wipe off the brush of your matte top coat before dipping it back into the bottle, glitter gets everywhere!

No Top Coat

Left: No Top Coat

Right: Essie - Matte About You

Essie - Matte About You

Blue Watercolor Dry Marble feat. KIKO

I'm not sure what to call today's design. I called it 'watercolor' for the last couple of times, but looking at my 'watercolor' label, there are a lot of different styles. I guess it's more of a dry marble technique, although there is another way to do a dry marble as well... Anyway, it's the one technique where you add blobs of polish onto the nail and then marble them with a piece of plastic. I did a tutorial on how to do these a year ago (like, exactly a year - I'm getting old!). Since I'm in love with my new KIKO polishes, I used three of them for a lovely blue color combination. The dark one is #523 Royal Blue, the middle one is #336 Electric Blue and the mint one is #389 Mint Milk. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

OPI - Skyfall

Another holiday souvenir 

Two coats of OPI - Skyfall, one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri

Swimming Pool Nails inspired by stephstonenails / KIKO - 389 Mint Milk & 295 Cerulean Blue

Today's swimming pool nails are inspired by @stephstonenails and her tutorial for the Amore & Vita blog. I really liked the look of that saran wrap technique and I tried to recreate it with two KIKO polishes. As my base I used two coats of KIKO - 389 Mint Milk and let it dry completely. Then I used one coat of KIKO - 295 Cerulean Blue plus a piece of saran wrap to create the effect of sunlight on the bottom of a swimming pool. On top is one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri. 

This was my base color, two coats of KIKO 389 - Mint Milk. The polish is quite difficult to capture, but for me this is the perfect mint nail polish. It's bright, clear and just adorable. It appears more like a light blue on this picture, but it is actually very minty in real life.  

KIKO Cosmetics Haul & 523 Royal Blue

Last week I visited my first ever KIKO store. I've never tried KIKO before but heard a lot of good things about them. So when I saw every possible nail polish shade available I got quite a bit excited. Plus, the polishes are amazingly cheap, especially when you compare them with those of other brands here in Switzerland. I paid CHF 2.90 for the normal polishes and CHF 3.90 for the Cupcake polish (textured). The nail patches were CHF 6.90 (on sale). This is what I got:

@spektorsnails

Yes, I like blue nail polish! So obviously I was curious about the quality of these and I'm definitely not disappointed. The first one I tried was #523 called Royal Blue. The names are only visible on the website though. I used two coats and the formula is great. I was wearing this polish for four days with one coat of Sally Hansen - Insta-Dri on top and there's just minimal tip wear. A snapshot of Royal Blue while collecting blueberries:

If you didn't know already (I didn't!): KIKO has a few stores in Switzerland and you can also buy their products online. You can find their online shop here. 

Water Marble Nails feat. OPI Nordic Collection

I always like doing nail art with specifique colors of a collection and I think the water marble technique is perfect for combining different colors in one design. I used my favorite polish from the OPI Nordic collection called My Dogsled Is A Hybrid as my base color for the marble. Then I added Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm? and Viking In A Vinter Vonderland to the mix. If you're unsure about this technique you can check out my Water Marble Basics. 

OPI Nordic Collection Fall/Winter 2014

After a few weeks of beautiful Mexican heat, I'm back in rainy Switzerland and ready for fall. Waiting for me on my return was the complete OPI Nordic collection for Fall/Winter 2014. Thank you Opi Swiss! The collection is available now in Swiss stores and each bottle is sold for CHF 23.90. As always these have a great formula and dry rather fast. I really like the general look of this collection which was inspired, well, by the northern countries. I would have expected a lot more blue instead of the brown shades, but then again I haven't seen too many brown shades in nail polish collections so far. My absolute favorite though, which is not surprising, is the mint color and you should definitely check out My Dogsled is a Hybrid if you're into mint nail polish. I swatched every color with two coats without base or top coat. 

Rainbow Flakies

If you follow me on Instagram you might have already seen this one, since I couldn't resist posting it early. I used one coat of Wet N Wild - Black Creme as by base color and then added two flakie top coats over the nails. First is Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Black and second is Sinful Colors - Green Ocean. If you're a long-time follower you saw this exact combination in June 2012! :) 

Floral / Cherry Blossom Nail Art inspired by H&M

This design was inspired by a bikini I saw at H&M. I used H&M - U Must Have This as my base color (including stained nails!) and then painted the flowers on top with acrylic paint. On top is one coat of Essence BTGN High Gloss. 

OPI - You Are So Outta Lime - Halfmoon Lime Nail Art

Today's design is something I wanted to do for a while now: a half moon manicure with tiny limes. Since I got some lovely mint green colors I decided to go for it! As my base color I used OPI - You Are So Outta Lime (PR Sample) from their 2014 Neon collection. This one is not the classic neon green but it does have a hint of neon, which makes it look very different on camera. It's more of a light green and not the mint color you are looking at. I applied two coats over one coat of white. For the little lime halfmoons I used Maybelline - Chic Chartreuse and then painted the rest of the design with acrylic paint. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

This is a scheduled post. I will be scheduling posts for the next few Sundays, but I'm trying to keep up with your feedback! You can follow me on Instagram, where I might post some nails during my vacations. Have a beautiful summer :) 

Spring/Summer Splatter Nails

I haven't done splatter nails in a while and I thought I could include one of my new neons from the Maybelline Bleached Neons collection in a cute spring and summer neon splatter design. You can find out more about how I create splatter nails in my tutorial for DIY Decals. For this one I used Flormar - 400 as my base and then added Maybelline - Chic Chartreuse, Essie - Shake Your $$ Makers, Essie - Lights and Flormar - N006. The first pictures shows the design with a shiny top coat and in the second I'm wearing one coat of Essie - Matte About You on top. 

Maybelline Acid Wash Effect - Mint-Acid-Ittude

I picked up one of the colors from the new Maybelline Acid Wash Effect limited edition. I chose the mint color called Mint-Acid-Ittude, but it was quite difficult to pick only one since they all look awesome. I love the effect and the fact that drugstore brands are catching up with the glitter sandwich trend! For these pictures I used three coats. Drying time was alright and the formula as well, but the glitter does need a bit of placing here and there. I used two coats of Essence BTGN High Gloss on top for an even surface (and some air bubbles). 

Sally Hansen Beach Paradise: Searsucker feat. Blue Crush / Scaled Gradient

I received some samples for the new Sally Hansen Beach Paradise collection, which will be available in July 2014. Surprisingly so I chose the two blue shimmer polishes first, usually these are not the colors I go for. But oh, did one of them surprise me! I love Searsucker, the light turquoise blue with a bit of purple shimmer in it. It wasn't easy to capture on camera, but it is definitely really bright. I combined it in a design together with Blue Crush which I cannot recommend as much, since it stained my cuticles quite a bit. I was amazed at how awesome these look with a coat of Essie - Matte About you on top! For the design I chose my new favorite technique again, the scaled gradient. Learn how to do this over at Simply Nailogical. And find out more about Sally Hansen on their Facebook page. 

Scaled Gradient Nails

So I stumbled upon this beautiful design by Cristine from Simply Nailogical the other day and I immediately wanted to try it on my own nails. She calls it a scaled gradient and has already done some awesome variations, so you should definitely check out her blog! Cristine used nail vinyls as a guide for the gradient and I decided to make my own vinyls for this. As my base color I used three coats of Essie - Go Ginza and I actually prepared it the day before, since for this technique the nail polish needs to be completely dry. Then I did two gradients using Essie - Fiji and Bottle Service, letting them dry in between. On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. I love this technique and there are so many possibilities! The only downside is the drying time. If the nail polish isn't completely dry, the tape will ruin the first gradient. I'm still thinking of a faster way to do this! Any ideas? :)

It's also a little bit messy...

My Instagram

Water Spotted Neon Candy Nails

I felt like doing some really colorful nail art the other day and this is what I came up with. I picked a few lovely neon polishes and created random gradients with a sponge on each nail. For this first step I used Essie - Boom Boom Room, Bottle Servive, DJ Play That Song and China Glaze - Highlight Of My Summer. To complete the design I thought about doing a water spotted pattern on top using first Layla - Metal Chrome and then Wet n Wild - Black Crème. To see how I create the water spotted effect, check out my recent tutorial. I think it turned out really cute and I loved wearing this design! On top is one coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss. 

Coca-Cola by OPI: Icons of Happiness

I received three samples of the OPI collaboration with Coca-Cola and I will show you all of them in today's post. The Coca-Cola by OPI - Icons of Happiness collection will be available from the end of June 2014 until October, including 9 bottles for CHF 23.90 each and a mini set with all bottles for CHF 49.90. For more information you can visit the OPI Swiss Facebook page. I was really excited about this collection since I just love the idea of colors inspired by drinks. I'm a big fan of Vanilla Coke, so I'm probably gonna buy You're So Vain-illa for myself, just because. I got the classic red inspired by - well - the classic coke called Coca-Cola Red, then the black with dark red glitters which was inspired by Coke Zero and is called Today I Accomplished Zero (love the name!) plus the duochrome green inspired by Sprite which is called Green On The Runway. I really didn't get the reference to Sprite though, but it's a lovely color. I used two coats of each polish and no top coat except for Today I Accomplished Zero, to even out the glitter surface. As usual these are of good quality and dried fast.

Coca-Cola Red

Classic red - always in style, always perfect.

two coats, no top coat

Green on the Runway

This uncut-lime green makes a real fashion statement.

two coats, no top coat

Today I Accomplished Zero

Dramatic black with effervescent red sparkle is a total must-do. 

two coats, 1 coat of Essence - BTGN High Gloss