Thursday, March 30, 2017

Glowy drippy drips nail art


I have no idea what to call this nail art design except 'glowy drippy drips', which ofcourse sounds sooper sophisticated :-p I was totally winging it when I made this but it rather grows on you after a while!

It took me a few tries to find a pattern I liked, luckily the white puffy stuff is A 3D gel from Madam Glam called Sugar. This stuff is AWESOME! It comes in a little tube and I really enjoyed the ease of just moving the tube while the gel came out in a thin line. It really looks like it has sugar in it!

I'll have more (read: better) designs in the future using this 3D gel ;-)

The base is Sangria by Madam Glam, also a gel polish only this one is one step (easy to use and no tacky layer after curing) and the color is right up my alley! When I was a kid, everything in my dream world would have been this color <3 I was crazy about magenta!
Aaaaand I couldn't help myself, I had to add something glowy. The 3D gel itself isn't glow in the dark, but I added a little bit of After Dark (also from Madam Glam) to it. It's the sheerest pink so it hardly shows up in the photos, but in the dark it glows a gorgeous purple. Purple is notorious for not glowing too brightly, but this one actually performed pretty well! Applying it over something white helps a lot too ;-)







I received Madam Glam Sangria, Sugar & After Dark as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Monday, March 27, 2017

Hidden wall art nail art


SPRING IS HEEEEERE!!! It's gorgeous spring weather here in the Netherlands, a little windy but the sun is shining, birds are chirping and I am ENERGIZED! Nice weather always brings me out of my shell :D

So this design here is a way of hiding a message by way of thermal nail polish. I used Madam Glam Pink Fizz to paint I <3 N A (nail art) that only shows up when my hands & nails get cold. The design turns pink et voilá! Otherwise, it's a soft yellow and blends into the background, which is Picture Polish Sorbet.

All the rest was (ofcourse) hand painted with acrylic paint and I'll have a tutorial on my Instagram tomorrow!






I received Madam Glam Pink Fizz as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Friday, March 24, 2017

I need a hug nail art


The Smaug in me is giving a little huf at the sight of all that gold! What would you go for first, love or money? (there's no wrong answer here ;-)

And then when the lights go out, the truth shows. Me, I'm always up for a hug!!! If you look closely, you can see the ascender of the h in honey in the light pic too! And yes, ascender is a typograhpy term and I'm a total graphic design geek. Can't hold it against me :-p
My black base is Madam Glam perfect black, because it shows off the flakies SO nicely! I applied Savannah & Treasure flakies from What's Up Nails in a sort of gradient for an extra 'rich' experience, pardon the pun.











I received Madam Glam Perfect Black and What's Up Nails Savannah & Treasure Flakies as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

All you need is love (and polish) nail art


Love... and polish. And also food. Some sunshine would be nice. I guess I'm a little more needy than that!

The base is just watered down acrylic paint, sort of a watercolor idea. I painted the text with Madam Glam Perfect Black (which really is perfect btw) and when that was cured, I rubbed some Fantasy Powder from What's Up Nails over it. I love how the thickness of the letters makes the color shift pop!














I received Fantasy Powder from What's Up Nails & Madam Glam Perfect Black as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Saturday, March 18, 2017

Golden Gate Bridge nail art


Happy Saturday my peeps and welcome to this miniature version of the Golden Gate Bridge! I know it may be cliché to pair a gold polish with the 'GOLDEN' Gate Bridge but it felt right!

Because... *drumroll*... the golden glitter is Stardust from Madam Glam. It's awesome and I'm really digging these gel polishes! The Madam Glams are super easy to use and hello, no dry time!

I keep forgetting to share my discount code with you, so here it is: please feel free to use the code NAR30 for 30% off your Madam Glam order! This is not an affiliate code and I get nothing when you use it. You just get a nice discount :)

The middle two nails were hand painted with acrylic paint, and I used my Fine Lines brushes from Winstonia and my Roubloff 00 detail brush from Adnails Manucure.






I received Madam Glam Stardust as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Friday, March 17, 2017

SuperChic Lacquer Cupid's Bow collection swatches & review


Happy day to you, my dear readers! I'm showing you the Cupid's Bow collection from SuperChic Lacquer today, a wonderfully bright collection that was released for Valentine's day but also fits the springtime really well!

All of these polishes contain holographic pigment, making them flare up in rainbow colors in bright, direct lighting. I feel like there's also some magic mixed in though because I've noticed that unlike regular holos, you only need a little bit of light to see a rainbow appear. I don't know exactly what it is but I love it!

I'm showing them all with a single coat of top coat, and photographed in direct, artificial light. Usually I take my pictures in daylight, but the artificial light makes the holo stand out a lot more and to be honest, daylight here SUCKS during winter. I'm trying something new with my pictures and hand pose too, mixing it up a bit! I hope you like it! Now let's dive in!

Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Umbrella girl nail art


Who else is humming 'Singing in the rain' right now? Or maybe Rihanna's 'Umbrella'? This design is definitely making me want to bust a move!

The base is Perfect Black from Madam Glam and MAN I love that gel polish so much! It's smooth to use, very opaque and just gorgeous. It was the perfect base to show off the Mermaid Scales from TwinkledT, they are gorgeous on any base but black just really brings out the best in them. As a bonus they stick to the smooth surface of the cured gel polish so it's really just a matter of placing them and applying a top coat!












I received Madam Glam Perfect Black & Twinkled T Mermaid Scales as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Multichrome dragon scales nail art


Dragon scales: always my favorite over the weighing kind! And these happen to reeeeally float my boat :D Yes, it's yet another dragon themed nail art design!

I built up the scales using Madam Glam Perfect Black. I painted each row of scales twice, curing after each layer, and then moving on to the next row. It took FOREVER but Perfect Black is great to work with and cures so well!

I never really redo designs, but my first try was just not doing it for me. It wasn't... It just wasn't what I wanted it to be. I adjusted my technique a little bit when I recorded the tutorial and that turned out so much better! That gave me the confidence to redo them :)
Perfect Black is also a one step gel so it works with multichrome powders too! I did 2 nails with Twinkled T Trapeze (the blue/purple/pink shifting color) and 2 others with Acrobat (the copper/gold/green shifting powder).
















I received Madam Glam Perfect Black & TwinkledT Trapeze & Acrobat as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Spring beehive nail art


I am SO done with winter and ready for spring! It's already staying light until after dinner and getting slightly warmer so these nails, inspired by @blueberrynail, are my tribute to that!

I have a thing with bees & bumblebees. They are gorgeous, have you ever examined them from up close? How they even work is still magic to me!

All is hand painted with acrylic paint, and I used both my Winstonia Fine Lines brushes as well as my Roubloff 00 detail brush from Adnails Manucure. They are a killer combo for smooth transitions and tiny details!
My base is SuperChic Lacquer Dopamine, a delicious holo that works perfectly as a blue sky! I especially love how it makes that pink flower stand out <3

This nail art is part of a mani swap I did with the lovely @blueberrynail. She chose to recreate my UFOs from outer space, and she did an AWESOME job! Go check it out!












I received SuperChic Lacquer Dopamine as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Monday, March 6, 2017

Pensive sunset nail art (glow in the dark)


I could say a lot about this nail art and what the imagery represents, but I think it's better if each of you finds their own meaning in it.... How's that for deep :-p

I used Madam Glam Jungle Beat for the outer two nails, and this is NOT a glow in the dark polish but I used some glow pigment on top of it. The pigment added texture and helped me to press a pattern into it. A tutorial will be up on my Instagram account soon!

The base gradient is made with Serum No. 5 Glo-balt Blue, Blue Blazes and Day Glow. It's gorgeous and they uhh... well, they glow! As if that wasn't obvious :-p These are my favorite glow polishes in the WHOLE world!!
I added the landscape painting using acrylic paint, the tiny details were really tough to paint and I was impatient so... there you have it. I love the watercolor look of the ground!

















I received Madam Glam Jungle Beat as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.  

Friday, March 3, 2017

Glow constellations nail art


It's written in the stars! Which constellations can you recognize in this nail art design?

LOOK at that shift!!! The base is made with Galaxy Flakies from What's Up Nails and they are gorgeous!! There is *one* downside to this product and that is that the flakies fly everywhere. And then get stuck on stuff. It makes a mess but at least the mess is pretty!
Aaaaand you can look at the stars in your bed even from under the blankets! I painted the stars with Serum No. 5 Guiding Light, and added the constellations with Budding Lights. The constellations were supposed to be invisible, and then glow when the lights went out, but... sometimes stuff just doesn't work exactly the way you envision it!














I received Galaxy flakies from What's Up Nails as a press sample. Opinions expressed are 100% my own and not influenced in any way other than the quality of the product itself.