Vintage Peacock Nails

I just couldn't wait to show you what I did to yesterdays polish, By K Freezing Fog! I stamped a graphic peacock pattern in gold on it and finish it off with a light pink stone to each nail.

The base is, as said, By K Freezing Fog and the peacock pattern is from MoYou London plate Tropical Collection-05. The gold polish used is Good As Gold from Essie.

I can't tell you how pleased I am with this manicure! It feels so vintage and I can so imagine it to a vintage bride! It's tone-in-tone but you can still see the pattern clearly and it has a sort of ivory feeling to it. Soft and romantic!

For this kind of nail art By K's Freezing Fog is the perfect soft base!

How do you like my vintage peacock manicure?

Swiss Bank in London Nails

This post and manicure is dedicated to my dear Swiss friends Christine from Polished Marvels and Natalia from Polished Polyglot. Why? They are Swiss and this manicure is inspired by the spectacular Swiss Bank building in London. It looks like checkered lipstick if you haven't seen it ;)

I hope you like my Swiss tribute ladies! ;)

The base is IsaDora Pool Crush and then I've stamped on a pattern from MoYou London Tourist Collection-05, which of course is the London plate :) Polished used is Essie Blue Rhapsody.

How do you like this manicure?

Tea Cups Nails

Another green nail art for Green Wednesday :)

The base is By K Glacier, a wonderful minty green. Then I've stamped on a pattern from MoYou London Tourist Collection-05 using Essie Good As Gold.

If you look closely you can see that the patter consists of tea cups and tea pots but at a distance it actually looks as a type of croc pattern :D And gold and mint sure is a match made in heaven! <3

How do you like this manicure?

Art Deco Holo Nails

The base for this manicure is the magic Spacecraft from Dance Legend. Then I've stamped on a pattern from MoYou London Pro Collection-06. The stamping polish is Essie No Place Like Chrome.

I'm pretty satisfied with the result. I like that the nails are only partially covered by the pattern so that the lovely holo shines trough :)

How do you like this manicure?

Butterflies in Nets Manicure

It's Green Wednesday and I'm joining with a green based nail art today!

The base is the stunning Mermaid Cave from By K. I keep coming back to this polish again and again, I can't get enough of it! :D

Then I've done a double stamping. First with Mentality Rigoberta and MoYou London plate Pro Collection XL-01 (the net) and then with Essie Blue Rhapsody and MoYou London Princess Collection-14 (the butterflies).

I was very pleased with the result of the manicure but I'm not that sure if I'm pleased with how I named it ;)

How do you like this manicure?

What would you have named it?

Stars on Holo Skies Manicure

For today's Nail Art Sunday I've got pretty silver stars on dark blue holo skies for you :)

The base is the magically beautiful Dream from Zoya and the stars are made with Essie No Place Like Chrome and MoYou London plate Princess Collection-14. For extra sparkle I added one coat of INM Northern Lights Hologram Top Coat "Silver".

I'm very happy with the result! If you want to see Zoya Dream on its own click here.

How do you like this manicure?

Vintage Manicure

The theme for today's Nail Art Sunday is "Antique" but I've turned it more to "Vintage" :). Our host Lela is usually very generous with interpretations so I hope she is that today too ;)

I don't really know what it is with this manicure that makes it feel vintage but it does to me. I'm thinking a vintage French boudoir here… ;)

The base polish is suitably Oh, Mr Darcy from Rimmel London ;) and them I've done a double stamping print. First the gold stripes (Essie Good As Gold and MoYou London plate Pro Collection-01) and then the flowers (Misa I Will Survive and Konad m57). And some dots on top of that. Fini! :)

 

How do you like this manicure?

Does it look vintage to you?

Essie After School Boy Blazer - swatches and review

A late after lunch post today :) This is the beautiful After School Boy Blazer from Essie's For The Twill Of It Collection released fall 2013.

Such a glossy and inky dark blue! I love it! I'm such a sucker for these kind of blackened colors… ;) Gorgeous in my eyes AND a one coater! :D

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Cream.

Number of coats: One! :D

Formula: Very good! No complaints.

Brush: Thin straight cut.

Top Coat: Yes. 

Grade: 4+++/5

How do you like After School Boy Blazer?

Comparison cobalt blue polishes

My favorite shade of all is cobalt blue and I own quite a few of them ;) Somehow I don't have a single dupe. They are all different. Ok, similar - but not dupes! :)

I thought it was time for another comparison. I've done one before about a year ago and if you want to read that one - click here.

This time I compared the following cobalt blue polishes:

Index finger - Color Club Bright Night

Middle finger - Nail Inc Baker Street

Ring finger - Essie Bouncer It's Me

Pinkie - Barry M Gelly Blue Grape

All are two coats and with top coat.

My favorite is Blue Grape from Barry M (pinkie). It's the darkest but most vibrant one in my eyes.

Bright Night and Bouncer It's Me (index and ring) are the two most similar ones but, as I said, not dupes if you look closely ;)

Which one is your favorite of these four?

Fish Scales Nails

I will not let my cold stop me from joining Green Wednesday! So from my sick bed I give you my scales nails :) I love how that rhymes!

The base is an amazing scattered green/blue holo from Darling Diva called Anna and the scales pattern is made with Essie No Place Like Chrome and MoYou London plate Suki Collection-06.

I wasn't sure what to call it at first but I think scales nails are pretty appropriate. What do you think?

How do you like my scales nails?

Acorn Nails

It's Green Wednesday again and today I'm showing a green nail art :)

The base is a show-stopper-beautiful textured polish from Kiko called #643 Spring Green. Then I've used MoYou plate Mother Nature Collection-03 and Essie Good As Gold to stamp the acorns.

I love acorns! They are so beautifully shaped and they make me think of squirrels who are so cute!

However, stamping on a textured polish makes the pattern a bit blurry. It's best to use really bold patterns and not as delicate as this one. You can only see they are acorns if you look closely. I still think it looks alright though and bright green and gold is a fun color combination.

How do you like my acorn nails?

Bamboo Leaves in the Rain Manicure

The theme on today's Nail Art Sunday is "Motivation" and there are so many fantastic nail art ladies out there that motivate me! Recently I've got to know Ruth on Instagram who does fantastic nail art manicures! She is marvelous at doing layering stamping and her beautiful double stamp manicures were the motivation for me to try that myself. Ruth is called @firefly5 on Instagram - check her out!

I was a bit of a chicken though with this first attempt of doing double stamping. The first layer is a very close to the base color but if you look really closely you can see the raindrops behind the bamboo leaves ;) I'll try and be more brave the next time :)

The base is the magical Butter London Disco Biscuit. The raindrops are from a MoYou plate called Tourist Collection-05 (the London plate). Polish used is By K Pink Dahlia. Second layer of stamping is from another MoYou plate, Suki Collection-06 and Essie Nothing Else Metals.

I like the result. The double stamping gives the manicure a sort of 3D-effect. I will definitely do layering stamping manicures again!

How do you like this manicure?

Have you tried double stamping?

Blue Butterfly Wing Nails

Here is another butterfly wing manicure! This time they are blue glitter wings and they turned out so pretty! Perfect for Nail Art Sunday! :D

The base is Viva la Diva's Moonlight Lady which gives them such depth and life! I've stamped the wing pattern with MoYou London plate Pro Collection-07 and Essie No Place Like Chrome. Then I just dotted on some white dots with Barry M Matte White.

How do you like my butterfly wing nails?

United in Grey: Essie Cashmere Bathrobe - swatches and review

Time for another great grey polish for the United in Grey event in order to raise the awareness of brain cancer. This time it's an Essie polish from the For The Twill Of It Collection released in 2013.

This is not your ordinary grey because this one contains beautiful micro glitter!

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Cream with micro glitter.

Number of coats: Two.

Formula: Very good formula! Easy to apply and self leveling.

Brush: Thin and straight cut.

Top Coat: Yes. 

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. 

Grade: 3+/5

How do you like Cashmere Bathrobe?

An InLinkz Link-up

Dandelion Stampicure Nails

My duochrome week is over and I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Today it's Nail Art Sunday and because of the election to the European Parliament which also is today the theme for today is "The EU Election".

When I first saw the theme I thought I'd never come up with something fun and beautiful but pretty fast I came up with an idea. I had some stamping plates I've been meaning to try for quite a while and these would be perfect!

Now an explanation for you non-Swedish readers :) In Sweden we have a political party called "Miljopartiet" (a direct translation would be like "The Environment Party"). Their logo is a yellow Dandelion on a green background. I changed it to gold and with a twist of course ;)

The base is the wonderful Rampage from Illamasqua and I've used MoYou plate Pro Collection-06 and Essie Good As Gold to make the pattern.

I love the result! But it wasn't that straight forward this time… I had to redo the middle and pinkie (on the photo hand of course!) from scratch TWICE!!! Aaarrrgghhhh! The tiny pattern was tricky to pick up. Delicate patterns dry so fast you have to be really quick. Anyway, it was worth all the effort :)

How do you like my Dandelion manicure?

New arrivals haul

A few days ago I got a parcel full of new beauties from USA! Nine new friends moved in :)

For the first time I going to give OPI's Nail Envy a try. The Essies are mainly for stamping. The rest is for pure pleasure ;)

As per usual a family picture first and then closer pics ;) Enjoy!

China Glaze OMG a UFO, Misa High Brow

Essie Nothing Else Metals, Essie No Place Like Chrome

Essie Penny Talk, Essie Good as Gold

OPI AmazON…AmazOFF, OPI Original Nail Envy

Did you see anything you liked?

Which are your best stamping polishes?

Inspired by a red leather jacket nail art

Happy Easter everyone! For today's Nail Art Sunday I've got a nail art for you which is inspired by a picture of a gold studded leather jacket. I think it's pretty obvious once you've seen the pics ;)

The base is the wonderful The Sky Is The Limit from By K. The dots aka "studs" are made with dotting tools and Essie Good As Gold. I used the same gold polish to make the zipper with Bundle Monster plate BM-202.

I used a top coat on the zipper nail so the stamp would last but I didn't use a top coat on the stud nails in order to enhance the texture and the feeling of studs.

How do you like this manicure?

Blue Metallic Rose Manicure

What could be more suiting for a florist like me than rose nails?! :)

The base is one of my absolute favorite blue creams - H&M Blue My Mind. The print is from MoYou plate Pro Collection 07 and I've used Essie Blue Rhapsody.

The result is subtle but beautiful. I was very happy with this nail art!

How do you like this rose manicure?

Essie Parka Perfect - swatches and review

I love grey polishes and this one is no exception! It ticked all my boxes being a one-coater with an excellent formula and a wide rounded fan brush!

The only negative is that the silver/green/purple micro glitter, visible in the bottle, don't follow out on the nail. You can only see it if you extremely closely at the nails.

GOOD TO KNOW:

Type of polish: Cream.

Number of coats: One!

Formula: Just perfect!

Brush: A wide rounded fan brush.

Top Coat: Yes. 

Color accuracy in pictures: Accurate. 

Grade: 4/5

Due to the glitter failure I can't give this polish a 5 but it's an excellent grey anyway with amazing qualities!

How do you like Parka Perfect?

Valentine Love Letter Nail Art

Happy Valentine's Day to all of you!

As a florist I'm working my a-- of today so this is a scheduled post. At work this is a totally crazy but fun day. I think it's touching that so many people want to buy flowers for their near and dear ones today! <3

I've got a special Valentine manicure to show you today! Of course ;) I call it Love Letter Nail Art because in my head this stamp is a steaming love letter and I have enhanced that by stamping on a bunch of red hearts too ;) This is actually my first layering stamping! I think it turned out pretty well actually.

The base is Rimmel Barmy Blue (loooooove it!!!). The letter stamp is from Moyou Princess Collection-11 and I've used Essie Blue Rhapsody. The small hearts are made with Konad plate m3 and Zoya Posh.

I'm joining both Valentine Polish Week and and Polish Alcoholic's Valentine's Day Nail Art Contest with this manicure. Click on the links to see the others participants!

How do you like this nail art?

How are you spending your Valentine's Day?