OPI Designer Series - Diamond

Hey everyone! How are you all doing? The weather here in the Netherlands has been really good, maybe a little too good, because the temperature is around the 30 degrees Celsius every day. I'm almost burning up here! The sun is really great for wearing holographic polishes so today I'll show you another one. OPI DS Diamond is one of my favourite polishes, I wear it quite often.

Most polishes of the Designer Series are holographic or have a really great depth and sparkle in them. Diamond has a touch of holographic in it but it isn't apparent at all. It's really subtle.

Diamond in sunlight, three coats

See how subtle it is? Other than being holo, Diamond is a weird shade. It's not silver, it's not lilac, it's hanging in between. So I'll be describing this one as a silvery, dusty lilac. Application was good like all the DS polishes I own. They're easy to work with and they all apply really even.

In the shade this is really toned down and it isn't that sparkly anymore. It's really dusty and to me very work appropriate. I'm loving it both ways but it's sooooo gorgeous in sunlight.

Diamond in the shade, three coats

How do you feel about Diamond?

Pure Ice - Free Spirit

Hey dear readers! As you may notice I've changed a few things about my blog. The colours are turned down to grey and white and I got new icons. I've also changed the header and my watermark. It's a great thing how creative you get when not being able to sleep! ;)

Today I want to show you Free Spirit, a polish I received in a swap. It isn't available in the Netherlands but I've seen some great shades so if you can arrange some in a swap, do!

Free Spirit in sunlight, three coats

Free Spirit is a really bright green with green shimmer in it. The shimmer isn't that apparent but it's definitely a nice detail in a polish like this. Funny thing: there is another Free Spirit! It's a minty green. I really wonder why brands name polishes the same. As far as the application, it was a little streaky and thick but with the third coat it was all evened out. Drying time was pretty fast.

I'm bummed out we don't have these here in the Netherlands. I want moaaaar!

Zoya - Reece

Hi all! I wanted to show you something else after some badly chipped polish. So here's something I did before but wanted to do again and take better pictures of it.

Reece in daylight, three coats

Reece is a deep rose pink with gold shimmer and a gold/green flash from Zoya's Reverie collection (2010). It's pretty and the changes between gold and green is nice to see. However, having an absolute dislike for pinks this isn't my kind of polish.

I've seen a lot of comments and messages that Reece is a dupe of China Glaze's Strawberry Fields. It isn't, see:

Left: Strawberry Fields, Right: Reece

I think it's pretty clear. Reece is lighter and more rosy, has the gold/green flash and no glass fleck shimmer. Application wise I like Strawberry Fields a little better because Reece is thinner, it can flood into your cuticles and we all know that's a pain to remove with a brush.

Which one do you like most?

Rockin' Park with Claire's Mood Polish

Hey everyone! I had a great day yesterday because yesterday was time for Rockin' Park! Rockin' Park is an open air festival in the Netherlands and this year the closing act was Pearl Jam - my favourite band. So of course I had to be there! I went with two friends, Janina and Michèle and even though the weather was crazy hot (30 degrees celcius) we had an awesome time.

Ben Harper & Eddie Vedder performing Under Pressure

The picture above was a surprise, all of the sudden Eddie came on stage and sang a song with Ben Harper. Awesome! Pearl Jam was awesome and the vibe was great, all day long. For more impressions of our day you can check my flickr here.

Now, polish wise, I painted my nails the night before (after taking a shower) with Claire's Mood polish peaceful/confident. A bright green that changes into teal when cold. This pretty much has written awesome all over it - a nail polish that changes colour, omg! Well, it started chipping the next morning.

After a half day of wear, this is what it looked like:

Icky. It started cracking, tearing and polish came off in pieces! I used Nail Tek as my base coat and Nubar Diamont as my top coat like I always do, and never fails, so this was really, really disappointing. I didn't do anything crazy with it. I didn't pick my nails. I didn't scratch the polish off. This was really after doing NOTHING with it.

This is really sad. I got this polish in a swap and I was so excited but it'll end up standing in my helmer or only be polished on my toes. Never going to put this one on my nails again.

At least I scored some goodies.

Plectrums from Rise Against and Pearl Jam (!). Yeeeeeehaw! This is my thumb the day after. How you like that nohhhh? :o)

What's your experience with the mood polishes?

Color Club - Wild at Heart

Hi lovely readers! Today the weather is really warm and the sun is scorching hot so the summer has hit the Netherlands! Unfortunately the summer has brought my hay fever back and today I really feel like a mess but there is no way that spoils the holo fun!

Wild at Heart in sunlight

Now, as you can see my camera didn't pick up the holo that well. Kind of sucked because this polish is one of my favourite holographic polishes: it's deep purple, it's subtle and it applies very good. This is a one coater though I applied two like I always do even when it isn't necessary.

Wild at Heart in the shade and sun

The reason for this ridiculously close close-up is to show you that it actually IS holographic. That's the best I could do but believe me: this is great and amazing and you should buy it. :o)

Have a great day!

Go Dutchies!

Hi all! Today is another match for the Netherlands in the World Cup. Now I know that they already reached the 1/8 finals but since I didn't post a World Cup mani last time, here's one now.

I'm wearing Essence Date Me from the Cute as Hell collection and my middle finger has different coloured rhinestones on it, of course in the colours of our flag!

Enjoy the match and have a nice day!

Turquoise Stripes

Hey everyone! Enjoying the weather? I sure am! After the dots madness I'll show you some stripes- keeping it all balanced. :o)

I've used OPI Over the Taupe as my base, a medium taupe creme. The white is from the H&M, as always, called Love at First Sight. I've used the polish brush to create the white line and coloured this in. With a black striper I created the black lines. Mine is from Essence and it has a regular length - I prefer real long stripers, makes it easier. After that I took a really thin paint brush and dipped it in H&M Hello Kitty Turquise Kitty. This is a turquoise creme with fine silver glitter.

A question for you: are you interested in seeing a tutorial of one of my mani's or are there things you'd like to see? Please tell me!

Have a nice day!

Ice cream

Hi dear reader! Since yesterday the temperature has gone up here and I'm really enjoying the sun. The weatherman tells us it'll stay this week and that is great because I'm attending Pearl Jam (and more) on sunday. These concerts will be in the open air and I really can't use rain then! This warm weather also makes me crave ice cream. My favourite is yoghurt.

I've used H&M Love at First Sight as my base colour. I'm really happy with this white because it covers so good but it does get pretty thick so I need to thin it - yes, after one week. Ah well, anything for a good covering white polish. The sauce is Ciaté Main Stage, a gorgeous berry colour, and the sprinkles are Orly Snowcone and Lemonade.

What is your favourite ice cream flavour?

Dots & Spots

Hey all! How's everyone doing? Today will be a short post and I will show you, as the title already tells you, something with dots. I already posted a dots manicure a few days ago but they're so friggin' cute!



Here you see H&M Love at First Sight as the base colour. I've used only Models Own polishes for the dots: Lilac Dream, Lemon Meringue, Feeling Blue and Slate Green. Of course I also used my dotting tool for this!

I feel this mani has a little Easter vibe to it, but I really like it. It's springy and I want this on my toes!

Thanks for stopping by!

Chanel - Illusion D'Or

Good afternoon all! I've been super busy the past two days. I had a really nice date with Daphne and Michèle on friday, we spent our day shopping in Arnhem. I had a great day so thanks ladies! Yesterday I went to Muse and it was really a good show. Today I feel like I'm eighty years old so I really need to get some rest and relax time!

Today I'm showing you Chanel Illusion D'Or, one of my favourites in my collection. Illusion D'Or is from the Noir Et Or Paris-Shanghai Collection and it's a very special polish in my collection. I don't own anything like it. Illusion D'Or is a clear based glittery gold with bigger gold and iridescent purple flake glitters. I'd never wear this polish on it's own so I was in doubt buying it, but I'm glad I did! It spices up every polish and especially my favourite shades: blue and green! Today I've layered this one over black.

Close up: Illusion D'Or in the bottle and over black

I own multiple Chanel polishes and they're all a bit off in their application. However, this one applies really easy and dries fast and smooth. In case you're wondering: this isn't your awful chunky glitter polish! One coat of this pretty layered over something else is enough, it covers good.

Illusion D'Or over black

How do you feel about Illusion D'Or? Do you own it and think it's really special or just blah?

Have a great day!

H&M - My Favorite Jeans

Hi everyone! How is your day so far? I just came home from a huge shopping spree with my friend and now I'm trying to decide what to wear tomorrow - nail polish wise I mean, so I can wear the dress or shirt that goes the best with it. :o)

Last week I bought this H&M polish called My Favorite Jeans. It is a kind of sheer black base packed with blue, turquoise and silver glitter. It's so packed that it has a foily look: awesome!

H&M My Favorite Jeans, 3 coats in sunlight

I didn't liked the formula that much because it was really thin and flooded easily in my cuticles. I don't mind working with it though, the polish looks amazing so this one stays with me. For the rest I have nothing to share - I just like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Dots

Hey all! I've been doing lots of dotted manicures lately. I really don't know why but they all look so cute and are really easy to create with a dotting tool.

This is one of my latest dot manicure. I've done this design, including the rhinestones, before with MAC's Blue India and Orly Gumdrop. I choose China Glaze Channelesque as my base colour and China Glaze Something Sweet for the dots. I really like this combination of colours. For the finishing touch I placed one pink rhinestone on each nail as a dot.

This mani is really easy to create so it's also possible to do one with no nail art experience. Some people use a toothpick to create the dots but I don't like the small dots that it creates so it's definitely worth buying a dotting tool. You can find one for €3!

Have a great day!

China Glaze - Strawberry Fields

Hi dear reader! The polish I'm showing you today has been swatched earlier on my blog but I wanted to swatch it again - in the beginning of this blog I wasn't aware my camera had other settings than the standard one. ;) So here it is again: China Glaze Strawberry Fields!

Strawberry Fields, three coats in daylight

Strawberry Fields is from the Summer Days collection (2009) and is a medium pink with golden glass fleck shimmer. I don't like pink, really, but this baby I'll wear with pleasure. The golden glass fleck shimmer makes it so special! Application was good. Not runny, not too thick and easy to apply evenly.

What is your favourite pink?

Hup Holland Hup!

Hey everyone! Today is the first match of the Dutch in the World Cup and of course I need a suiting mani for this event!

This is based on the Dutch flag (red, white and blue) and our national colour (orange). I've used H&M Love at First Sight, one of the best whites I've ever tried. Opaque with two coats! I used OPI's OPI Red and a nameless blue striper for the flag. The orange outline is created with Essence's Bad Girl from the Cute as Hell collection. The gold is Orly's Rage, I thought it would be fitting since we're going for gold! :o)

Hup Holland Hup and have a nice day!

Grey Ruffian

Hi all! Yesterday I was thinking of doing a ruffian again. I've done a couple in the past but that was quite a long time ago so I had to do one again.

First I painted my nails with China Glaze Awaken. Awaken is a darker grey metallic from the Romantique collection and it's also great for Konad. I used OPI's Suzi Skies in the Pyrenees suede as my second colour. After that I used the silver striper from Essence.

Not much to say really except I like ruffians. :)

Have a good saturday!

ManGlaze - Matte is Murder

Hello everyone! A few weeks ago I received my ManGlaze order! I'm super excited about these polishes - I got them all. It's okay to give in once in a while. Matte is Murder is a gorgeous matte black with shimmer. This isn't your regular matte black polish! Of course one eye catcher is the artwork on the bottles, but there's much more great about this one.

Matte is Murder, two coats, sunlight

The shimmer is gorgeous. Simply stunning. When applying the polish you see the tiny turquoise and fuchsia shimmer peeping through - these are still visible when dry but of course not as noticeable. Applying Matte is Murder was a surprise: the formula is very good. No polish dragging after your first coat, no bald spots and it applies evenly. Yes, evenly.

Matte is Murder with top coat, sunlight

Of course you can put top coat over Matte is Murder! This picture doesn't do justice. It's so much more gorgeous in real life. The shimmer jumps out and it reminds me of the starry night sky.

For more info about ManGlaze check their website. They ship internationally! ;)

Ciaté - Vintage

Hi dear reader!

Today will be a short post because I only want to show you my favourite grey of the moment: Ciaté Vintage. Vintage is a dark grey creme and applies fine. The formula is a little thick so be careful while polishing - streakyness could attack you any time! It is opaque in one coat but I used two coats in the picture - had to even out the polish.

Ciaté Vintage, 2 coats with top coat in daylight

Verrrrrry pretty! It's a little darker in real life, it looks like concrete. :o)

What's your favourite grey?

Wet Paint Nail Glaze System Pastel

Hi dear reader!

Today I want to show you something I never heard of: the Wet Paint Nail Glaze System. I own the pastel 6 pack but there is also a bold set available. Basically the Wet Paint Nail Glaze System is about creating different colours using different base colours and different glaze colours. In the 6 pack I own there are three base colours and three glaze colours.

Wet Paint Pastel Bases

The first base in the picture is Inspire, a pastel pink creme. Then we have our pastel orange creme called Innocence and Immortal, a pastel tangerine creme. The base colours are very pigmented but everytime I put on one coat I had a few bald spots and had to use two coats. The formula is good: not too thick or too thin. They dry really fast, faster than most polishes I own.

Wet Paint Pastel Glazes

The baby pink creme on the left is Affection. We also have Desire, a pastel yellow creme and Karess, a pale blue creme. The glazes have a different formula: it's thinner and more watery. It's harder to work with these and you need to pay attention while painting your nails with them because they can be streaky. These also dry fast, a little slower than the bases, but still very quickly.

With these six colours you can create 18 different shades. In the package comes a colour chart that shows you which base and glaze to use for the desired colour. You pick your base and glaze colour and start polishing!

The 18 colours of the Wet Paint Glaze System Pastel

For example: you want to try colour 14. The chart tells you to use Immortal as a base and layer it with two coats of Affection. It's an easy system. One thing though: the colours are very similar to each other. I see the difference but I think there could have been done more with the bases. Maybe trade the tangerine creme in for another colour so the outcomes won't be that close to each other. I do like the variety of pastels on the wheel.

Innocence & Affection

This is the first swatch I have for you. The soft pink of Affection gives the orange a softer look which really appeals to me. This might be the first orange toned polish I'd wear!

Inspire & Karess (2x)

Karess makes Inspire a soft lavender with a hint of blue. I've used two coats of Karess on Inspire.

I think this is a great system. Playing with it was very fun and the outcome of some colours really surprised me. For this pack however I think you need to be mad about pastels - I can see that other people don't care about 4 shades of pastel pink or orange.

For us Dutchies the Wet Paint Nail Glaze System is available at Alice & Jo's where you can also find the Bold 6 pack and more. It costs €25 and they also ship internationally. For more info you can also check out Wet Paint.

This product was sent to me for a review.

Owl Manicure

Hi dear reader!

I wanted to do this design for Daph's nail art contest but the one I did wasn't great so I never sent it in. Now the contest is closed and I did a new owl mani yesterday.

I used American Apparel - Mouse as my base colour. After that was dry I created the contours of the head and wings with OPI - Over the Taupe. I used a small paint brush for this.

After I created the contours I took a smaller paint brush and created the feathers using three brown colours: Diamond Cosmetics - Decadence, American Apparel - Mouse mixed with China Glaze - White Out and OPI - Over the Taupe mixed with China Glaze - Liquid Leather. I created the feathers by pulling the brush over the contours and base colour and tap a little.

The eyes are created with China Glaze's White Out and Liquid Leather. A dottingtool is very handy when it comes to creating nice dots. The beak is an orange striper.

I like owls. Have a nice day!

Horror Nailart Contest!

Hi, here I am again! I can hear you thinking, what is she doing - posting her second post today?! Well, I'm hosting another nailart contest! The theme will be...

Horror

Jep, that's right! A horror theme! I love horror movies and I think there will be some awesome mani's you all can create!

The rules of this contest:

- You can submit two entries per person. Not more than that. I want to receive one picture of your design.

- Email the picture of your design to lacquerfiles@gmail.com. Please give me your name in that email. You can also give me additional info (polishes used, inspiration, etc).

-Don't show your entry anywhere on the web: blogs, forums or other sources. These will become public when voting starts and then you can publish them on the world wide web. ;)

- Entries with pictures on nailwheels or popsticks are not counting as entries. I want to see your own nails!

- This contest is open for everyone and after I made the photo's public my followers can vote for the winner.

The contest will be closed on July 31, 11:59 pm CET. After that I'll make the entries public and one week voting time starts. That means that the winner will be announced around the date of August 9.

The prize will be, as always, a big fat secret. :)

If you have any questions you can always comment or email me.

Good luck ladies!

Harrrrr Sailor!

Harrrr dear reader!

Today I created an anchor mani. I really like sailors and their anchor tattoos, as well as anchor earrings, bracelets and all that kind of stuff. Recently I've seen lots of nice things with this sailor theme and I can't help it, I just looooove it!

My base colour is Kinetics - Fashion Blue, a great deep medium blue creme. It applies really good, this is so easy to handle and because of the smooth formula the polish ends up even on your nails. I'm wearing two coats. This is my first Kinetics and good news for us Dutchies: the Dutch webshop Alice & Jo's sells it! I used China Glaze - White Out for the tips and after that OPI - Red to put a smaller line under the white tips.

I've created the anchor with one of the stripers I got from Daph (thanks dearrr!), the Nail Art Pen by Nubar in the colour Gold Frost. After that I took out my ruby and topaz rhinestones for some extra bling. Also, I really need a new top coat because mine get all bubbly. All of them. I'm in the process of thinning them all so hopefully that works and I can use them a little longer.

And! I thought it would be fun to do some tutorials once in a while so if there's something you'd like to see, please let me know! :)

Have a nice day!

Franken: Bieber my Baby!

Hi dear reader!

How was your weekend? We had some crazy hot weather here in the Netherlands but luckily it started raining today and it cooled down a bit. I know I'll get some good sleep tonight! I've really been busy creating other frankens and I'm going to show you my second addition to the franken club!

It's called Bieber my Baby, which is based on the sugary sweet song sang by Justin Bieber. I know most of you think he's an irritating little brat but the song matches the colour perfect and I think he's kind of cute. Yeaahhhhh I do. So far my 'coming out of the Bieber closet'.

Bieber my Baby (bottlepic)

Bieber my Baby is a hot bubblegum pink shimmer with blue, gold and pink glitter. I never wear pinks, I can't get used to it having pink on my nails. I did wanted to create myself a special pink, something I would even wear so therefore I put in the blue glitter. Pink polish with blue glitter looks mad hot.

Bieber my Baby, three coats in daylight

Application was fine, a little watery but manageable. Sometimes when the light changes you see a blueish glare over the polish which looks pretty cool. I do like it but like all pinks I took it off after wearing it for three hours. Sorry Bieber, you're not my style!

Thanks for visiting!

Michelle

Chanel - Nouvelle Vague

Hello dear readers!

Todays post is about Chanel's Nouvelle Vague from the Chanel Summer 2010 collection: Les Pop Up de Chanel. This limited collection came out a little while ago and while I was on a mad polish hunt with two dear friends we stumbled upon it and we all had to have it.

Nouvelle Vague is a pale turquoise that everyone had high hopes for after the Jade storm that was created with the pretty mint polish. The colour is great - it's a bright and gorgeous shade that definitly stands out. The shimmer in it is barely visible unless you catch the really bright sun on your nail - that's too bad. It isn't unique, there are a couple of almost dupes on this one, but it's definitely an eye catcher.

Now, after I got home from the trip I was really excited to try out this pretty. How disappointed was I! When a polish costs €21,50 (about $25) you are expecting it to be good. It wasn't. Applying this polish was really a pain in the ass. It's draggy, streaky, thick and it gave me uneven layers of polish. It looked like the Alps were forming on my nails!

Was it me? I thought so. I googled and googled, reading every word that was written about Nouvelle Vague. Almost all blogs and sites told me the application "was amazing, like heaven, self-levelling, gives a great coverage after two coats and the best formula they've ever come across". Wait, what?! I am the only one with a craptastic Chanel?! Darn!

Nouvelle Vague, three coats with top coat, in daylight

I couldn't believe it. Really, I felt like someone pulled a joke on me. So I started to ask about it to other people - did they experience the same? My two friends did. And then another friend of me had the same issues. And over the time I stumbled upon more and more people that really disliked the formula of Nouvelle Vague. So are we more picky about polish? Or are the praising reviews a little over the top and not telling the truth? I have so many questions but I guess I'll never find out.

If you're looking for a cheap dupe of Nouvelle Vague I highly recommend Orly's Gumdrop. There's no shimmer in it but the colour almost matches perfectly - and Nouvelle Vague's shimmer isn't really showing himself. China Glaze's For Audrey is also a close one.

So, dear reader, what's your thought on Nouvelle Vague?

Have a great saturday!

Michelle

Stamping with Suedes

Good afternoon dear reader!

How are you all doing on this sunny friday? I'm feeling kind of blah, having a headache but luckily I've had all my appointments for today so I can relax now. A couple of days ago I stamped with a suede polish for the first time and I really liked the result. I never thought of stamping with suedes because of the drying time but yes, it is possible!

Suede Stamping in sunlight

As my base colour I chose China Glaze - Secret Peri-Wink-Le from the Operation Colour Collection (fall 2008). It's a dusty periwinkle blue creme that applied fine. I'm wearing three coats in the picture. For stamping I pulled out one of OPI's suedes: Russian Navy, a gorgeous shimmery navy blue. Suedes dry very fast so you have to be quick while working with these. I'm really liking the effect of stamping with a suede, it definitely brings a twist to the normal Konad designs. I used plate M70, I love the full plate flower design.

Have a good start of your weekend!

Michelle

Zoya - Veruschka

Hi dear reader!

Today I'm showing you another polish I received from a very sweet person, Kris from My Lucid Bubble! She offered to do the Zoya exchange for me and of course I wanted that - so we swapped. One of the Zoya's I wanted and received was Veruschka.

Veruschka is a deep matte green packed with loads of shimmer. This isn't a matte like the mattes from OPI, this has the finish of a suede polish. It is gorgeous!

Veruschka in daylight

I'm wearing two coats in the picture. Application was good, the texture of the polish is very smooth so you don't have to worry about uneven lines. The drying time wasn't as fast as a matte or suede from OPI but since this is a matte polish, it still dries very quick.

Veruschka with topcoat, in daylight

Okay. Wow. This totally rocked me off my socks. Look at the friggin' shimmer! It's everywhere! In the picture you see two coats of Veruschka topped with Nubar Diamont.

I definitely think Veruschka is a must have. Even if you hate matte polishes you must have it: with top coat you can make it gorgeous. This has to be one of the prettiest greens I own, it just stunned me.

Have a great day!

Michelle

OPI - Damone Roberts 1968

Hi dear reader!

So you've all heard of OPI having a rerelease of the limited Damone Roberts and I just had to have it. I love greens so when Ange from Scandalously Polished tweeted she had a few, I responded and a week later it was mine! Damone Roberts is the eyebrow king in Hollywood (I didn't know) and this shade is based on the wall colors of his salon (another thing I didn't know).

It's a pastel mint green creme and I do like these shades, but it didn't get me all hyper and dancing around the room. It is a nice addition to the collection though. :) Application was fine, not the best I had from OPI but it was managable. I'm wearing three coats in the picture. I used my silver Essence striper and light green rhinestones to pimp up this baby - I needed a little nail art in my life.

Thanks for visiting and have a nice day!
Michelle

Franken: Rockabilly Blues!

Hi dear reader!

Yesterday I started with frankening for the first time. I've created seven frankens now so I guess you could say I found myself a new hobby! Five frankens are on their way to their new owners, my polish friends, and I'm now going to show you my first. :)

This is Rockabilly Blues, named after a Johnny Cash song. It's a dark blue with a greenish gold and purple glare and purple, blue, green and golden glitters.And it's a little pearly. Now I didn't expect it to come out this good but it is so darn funky! It changes when the light changes. When the colour looks purple you really notice the blue glitter, when green the gold and blue. The purple glitter isn't that noticable, sometimes you'll see it flashing by.

I'm pretty sad I couldn't capture the different glares and glitters on camera so I think there will be a repost when the sun shines again - and when I think of it of course. I'm wearing three coats in the pictures and these were made in daylight.

Thanks for stopping by!
Michelle

Two Winners in One Post

The winner of my giveaway is...

Marinka!

And the winner of my nail art contest is...

Thriszha!

Congratulations dear ladies,

I'll contact you asap by email.

Thanks everyone for joining! :)