20th January, 2012
These were inspired by Mr.Candiipants on Tumblr. She recreated the nails from NCLA that were featured in a “tutorial” on Lucky Magazine. I came across the NCLA nails on Tumblr as well but was also disappointed the so-called tutorial was nothing more than “attach these nail wraps to your nails”. Especially since the design was so beautiful and unique. Oh well, we can do better than that and paint them ourselves!
These are ikat prints, ikat is a dying/weaving technique like tie-dye and is still used in many countries and cultures.
The polishes I used were these, Dearlee 07, Catrice I Scream Peach! and Models Own Nail Art Pen in white and black. The trick with these nails is to paint in thin strokes. It’s a very fun and quick pattern since you don’t have to be perfect. And funnily enough, this is one of the few designs where if you paint your topcoat too quickly and smear the black, it will add to the effect!
22nd December, 2011
I first spotted the needle drag technique on Copy That, Copy Cat’s blog. I was instantly in love! Some time after that I then bumped into Mr.Candiipants’ needle drag nails and her tutorial on Tumblr which I highly recommend you watch!
Keep in mind this is a first attempt! Like with all techniques you need practice to make them perfect. I like how they look so I’ll definitely be trying again and again to master this technique and make more interesting designs.
I used Models Own Peach Puff as a base and China Glaze VIII, a gorgeous aubergine, as contrasting colour.
21st November, 2011
Happy birthday to me! 
Today I turned 20! Finally!!! These are the nails I wore for my birthday. I didn’t know what to do for a looong time, I decided in the end not to go for the popular themes such as glitter or cupcakes but I went for cherry blossoms instead!
I’ve been noticing and admiring the Arizona bottles for a very long time but haven’t had the change to try them up until recently. I chose the prettiest bottle I could find with the iconic Cherry Blossoms with Green Tea and Honey flavour. Now it has to be said I am anything but a fan of Green Tea but girls was this delicious! So refreshing! Cannot wait to try it again.
Now I’ve been meaning to do cherry blossom nails in ages, I’ve tried them a few times but they never really worked for me. I just couldn’t get them right for some reason. This time however I had the Arizona bottle to inspire me. It definitely helped!
Polishes used were:
- China Glaze Re-Freshmint
- China Glaze Rich & Famous
- Models Own Mushroom
- Catrice Absolutely Chinchilly
- China Glaze Snow
The base coat I used is China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat and I am honestly very much in love with it. I can highly recommend it!!! It’s made my manicures last significantly longer! Top coat is Nail Art Sealing Top Coat by Essence.
11th September, 2011
One of my favourite nail artists is Nagi/Disco Nail, a Tokyo based artist. I found out about her work through tumblr, I unfortunately know very little about her since her blog is in Japanese. All I know is that she is a true visionary with intriguing and most of all truly original nail art. Definitely take a look at her work, it’s very inspirational!
This is my recreation of some of her work, a tribute as it were!
Left Hand
Right Hand
What I used: Catrice Snow Motion, Barry M Turquoise, New Look Black, China Glaze Hey Sailor, Models Own Peach Puff, Essence Studio Nails Top Sealer and Born Pretty Store Half Pearls.
It’s honestly one of my most favourite manicures I have ever worn! I loved it so much, I kept staring at the eye – which kept staring back at me! I did feel a bit strange wearing a religious cross on my nails since I’m not religious myself but it does look really amazing.
Owl ring from Primark
15th May, 2011
If you follow me on Facebook (if you don’t you’re missing out!) you may have seen one of these already since I was asking you for more colour combinations. As promised I did an entire series of these dotted manicures! I had so much fun doing these and the best thing is, they’re really easy to do, not to mention fast! You just need a dotting tool or something similar like an old ballpoint pen or a bobby pin.
Base Colour: China Glaze Electric Pinapple. Dots: Barry M Spring Green, American Apparel Army Jacket, Catrice Sir Yes Sir, American Apparel Malibu Green.
Base Colour: Essence You Belong To Me. Dots: Models Own Peach Puff, Barry M Pure Turquoise, China Glaze Below Deck, American Apparel Passport Blue.
Base Colour: Catrice Up In The Air. Dots: H&M Spring Nails in White, Beige, Brown and Blue.
This colour combination with metallic colours was suggested by Amy! Thank you so much Amy for this brilliant suggestion. It looks so amazing in person, it was very hard to capture since metallics are so reflective.
Base Colour: American Apparel Passport Blue. Dots: China Glaze Cheers To You, China Glaze Midnight Kiss, Gemey Gris City, Essence Nothing Else Metals.
Base Colour: Barry M Berry Ice Cream. Dots: Barry M Mushroom, Barry M Dusky Mauve, Barry M Bright Purple, Catrice Plum Play With Me.
Base Colour: Models Own Peach Puff. Dots: American Apparel Army Jacket, American Apparel MacArthur Park, Barry M Bright Purple, China Glaze Below Deck.
Which is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below!
20th March, 2011
Yesterday my tweet read: “Just did the cutest spring manicure ever and my pictures turned out ah-ma-zing. I’m chuffed! I blame the sunshine.”
So here it is! My spring manicure! I’m so in love with it, words just can’t describe it. Also really love how my pictures turned out. I did one indoors with natural sunlight and one outdoors between the grass, though our lawn is mostly moss nowadays, oops.
- Models Own Beth’s Blue
- White nail art pen
- Silver glitter nail art pen
- China Glaze Rich & Famous
- China Glaze Snow
- China Glaze Starboard
I need your opinion:
As you may (or may not) have noticed, my watermark has a different font in these pictures. If would love it if you guys could give me some feedback on whether you like the old font or the new font. To make things easier for you I put a poll on the left side of my blog so you can simply cast a vote. If the majority prefers the old font I will stick to that, if not I will use this new one instead! Thank you!
My poll has now been removed! Thanks so much for all your votes, everyone chose the new font so I’m sticking to the new one! 
That was my choice too so glad to know you all agree.
21st February, 2011
I’ve been meaning to post this entry ages ago, oops. Seeing as I have been ill for the past week (started as a cold but now I have tonsillitis 
) I haven’t exactly been able to make blogposts so this seemed like the perfect time to post this as I have another models own post coming up soon. Enjoy!
On my London wishlist was the brand Models Own, unfortunately I completely forgot about it and didn’t pick up any while I was there. After some research I found that River Island stocks Models Own, and we only recently got our own River Island in Antwerp so while I was there I finally bought a few bottles!
Not only did they have Models Own polish they also stocked the WAH Nails nail art pens! I’ve been drooling over these on the WAH Nails blog so I was beyond excited when I bumped into these!
This is the nail art pen in close up, it has a fine tip at the top and if you screw open the bottle there’s a fine brush inside. They were €8 each. (kinda expensive since I bought 38 nail art pens on ebay for only €14 a few weeks later, meh!)
Now here are the Models Own nailpolishes I was able to pick up:
Models Own – Mushroom. A really nice greyish colour, it’s slightly lighter in person.
Models Own – Vintage Pink. Yum, here’s another fix for my dusty/dirty rose addiction. This shade is slightly lighter and more blueish in person, my swatches turned out a little dark it seems…
Models Own – Peach Puff. What an adorable name! I added half moons with the Models Own white nail art pen. Half moons are always so elegant! Peach Puff is such a great colour, I really love nudes and peaches, this one is a bit of both so it’s bound to win!
Here I added a black line with the black Models Own nail art pen. This was such a pain to paint! Eek! Definitely skip this step if you don’t have steady hands.
Conclusion: I’m definitely liking Models Own, they have some really interesting and fun shades. However I’m not hugely blown away by their formula, they still use toluene (a solvent) in their polishes which makes them smell kinda rank so that is a bit disappointing seeing as they don’t come at the cheapest of prices. They retail at €6,50 at River Island, the nail art pens are €8.
22nd December, 2010
#1: Matte black French with gold tips.
I’m in love with this manicure, it’s so much fun! I thought even though it’s not your typical Christmas manicure, it’s still quite festive! This would be amazing as a new years eve manicure.
I used Essence I Love My Jeans (denim wanted collection), Essence matte topcoat to dull out the black and added French tips with China Glaze Midnight Kiss.
#2: Pink Christmas bows.
This is my new favourite manicure! It’s so adorable!!!! I should have put this picture upside down cause the bows are the wrong way round but you get the idea! Inspired by Christmas gift wrappers. Also, I can’t believe how long my nails are! Loving it!
I used Catrice Just Married as a base, used a black nail art pen (Models Own nail art pen) to paint the bows and China Glaze Cheers To You for details.
14th December, 2010
This is my purple/brown collection! My favourites are 10, 16, 17, 19 and 21. This nail wheel got slightly cluttered since I bought more purples after I painted it but you get the idea!
- Etos Effect nails
- Claire’s – nameless
- Catrice – Poison Me, Poison You
- Hema – 179
- China Glaze – First-Class Ticket
- Claire’s – nameless
- Essence Show Your Feet – Purple Magic
- H&M – Fashionista
- GOSH – 571 Wild Lilac
- H&M – Get a Rose 4 Me
- Guerlain – Rose Caprice (discontinued)
- Models Own – Mushroom
- MNY – 549
- Gemey – 68 Not Orange (discontinued)
- Barry M – Mushroom
- Barry M – Dusky Mauve
- Barry M – Berry Icecream
- Barry M – Bright Purple
- China Glaze – VIII
- China Glaze – Spontaneous
- China Glaze – Light As Air
Here are all the bottles lined up in the same order as above. (Missing in this picture is 19, China Glaze – VIII)
Also see: Colour Series: Green (updated!!!)
