12th October, 2012
A while ago I purchased a bottle of Essence Peel Off Base Coat, not fully aware of what it was and how it worked. The first time I tried it out, I remember saying to my boyfriend “this is weird, it looks like glue and smells like glue”. After some research I found out that it basically IS glue! 
I’m sure some of you have heard of this PVA glue base coat method before. There’s a ton of blogposts about this already but I decided to share my thoughts on it, and a little step-by-step on how it works. If you don’t have access to Essence, you can very easily make your own glue base using PVA glue, also known as School Glue or Elmer’s glue. You will also need some water to thin the glue slightly, and an empty polish bottle for easy application.
Let me walk you through the steps!
First you start by painting one thick layer of glue on your bare nails. Make sure to NOT use a base coat underneath as this will damage your nails once you peel off the glue. I hate painting in thick layers but make sure to do this, as this will make the removal process a lot easier. If your layer of glue is too thin it might not work as well.
Then you wait for about 10 minutes or so to let the base dry. The glue base will dry completely clear! This is a very useful indicator which tells you when you are ready for the next step.
Apply your polish! Glitter works great with this method. I don’t tend to use glitter a lot on my nails since I hate the removal process. Even the foil method wouldn’t convince me to use glitter on my nails. This glue base method definitely has! Bring on the glitter!!! The polishes I used for this gold to silver gradient are:
- Illamasqua – Swinger
- China Glaze – Lighthouse
- Ludurana – Ouro Puro
- China Glaze – Cheers To You
- A England – Merlin
- Essence – Make It Golden
- China Glaze – Blonde Bombshell
- Catrice – Million Dollar Baby
- Essence – Blair
- Essence – Studio Nails Top Sealer
Now, since glue is water based I feared it would soak off completely after taking a bath. The picture above was taken four days after I applied it. You can see there’s a little tip wear, but for the most part my nails remained chip free for four days! Awesome right?
Once you are bored of your manicure or it has chipped, it’s time to remove it! Grab an orange stick and carefully start lifting the edges, pushing the stick underneath the polish. You’ll be amazed at how easy this is! Your polish will come off quickly and easily without any mess! If you are left with a little bit of glue on your nails simply soak them in acetone for a few seconds and swipe it off with a wipe.
Et voilà! All done! Peeling off your nail polish tends to damage your nails, but using the glue base leaves your nails smooth and undamaged. It’s such a hassle-free method. I’m honestly in love with it! Every fan of glitter polishes needs this in their lives!
Have you ever tried this method? Do you like it? Let me know in the comments!
10th October, 2011
When you have over 300 bottles of nail polish it’s hard to keep track of what you own. Sometimes it’s also hard to find what you need especially if you keep them in drawers like I do. I keep my nail polish and supplies in an IKEA Helmer which is a cheap and easy storage solution. Unfortunately it’s become too small and I might need a second one soon but let’s move on…
I used to organize my polishes by brand but right now I keep them by colour. When I’m peering down my drawer it takes a while before I find the polish I need which is a little frustrating sometimes. Especially with nail polish bottles where you just see a solid black circle from above like Catrice bottles. I own about 30 bottles of that brand so it goes without saying that finding the right one takes some time. There’s got to be an easier way!
I’ve seen a few other bloggers and youtubers add swatches or drops of the polish on top of the bottle. I loved the idea but I didn’t want to place nail polish directly on the bottles as it could chip off, and I was afraid darker colours wouldn’t show on a black background. I’m a perfectionist so I also wanted it to be simple but most of all neat. Here’s is what I came up with!
First I was thinking about using the paper circles out of a hole puncher but they’re a bit on the small side and you’d have to glue them down, which might make a mess. In the end I found these, they are circular stickers which you can get in most stationary retailers, the ones I have are 8mm in diameter. They are perfect to stick on top of your bottles! They stay on quite nicely and they’re easy enough to remove if you decide on a different organizational system, something I also wanted to keep in mind. My dream storage solution are the clear wall displays since I think they are gorgeous but to be honest I would need so much of them it would cost me a small fortune.
So what you do is carefully paint the stickers while they are still on the sheet, if you accidentally mess up and paint outside of the circle, get a brush to clean it up. If you don’t, it will stay attached to the sticker and not make a clean circle. My first few were a bit messy but after a while they needed next to no clean up! You just need a steady hand and some patience. It took me over an hour to paint more than a hundred but I had a lot of fun doing them. Wait for a few hours until they are completely dry and hardened before you stick them on your bottles.
And this is what the end result looks like! It’s so much easier to find what I need now. I only added stickers to bottles with a completely flat cap, none of the China Glaze or bottles that have a name label at the top have a sticker. It wasn’t necessary anyway since you can see the inside of their bottles from above since the caps are smaller. I’m really pleased with how they turned out and I’m certain it will save me lots of time when looking for that one colour I need! 
Would you also be interested to see my storage solution and what I keep in my Helmer drawers? How do you organize your nail polish? Let me know in the comments!
3rd October, 2011
Today I have a Vintage Rose nail art manicure to share with you and a tutorial as well! When creating my new blog theme I came across a print I really loved, I wanted to use it for my blog but it was too busy as a background and demanded a lot of attention. What I did do with it however was create a nail art tutorial inspired by it and for the occasion I have changed my background into said print. It will only stay for a couple of days, once I have a new blog post up my background will be back to normal. (If you’ve visited my blog before and you can’t see the background try deleting your cache)
Here’s what I came up with!
This image is to clarify why I did step 1. I used clear nail tips and I painted them pink first so it would show through on the bottom side. If you have long nails you can simply paint the bottom side of your nails, you should be able to create the same effect.
And if you’d like to recreate this manicure, here is a step-by-step tutorial!
- Step 1: Paint your nails in a hot pink, I used China Glaze Rich & Famous. Please note: this step should be skipped if you are painting on your natural nails!
- Step 2: Paint your nails in a light grey, I used Essence Got A Secret.
- Step 3: I first sponged white acrylic paint over the grey to lighten it and give it a more vintage look, you can skip this. Paint the rough outline of your flowers with a hot pink, I used China Glaze Rich & Famous.
- Step 4: Add shadow with a darker colour, I used an unnamed polish by Claire’s which is similar to Barry M Bright Purple.
- Step 5: Add even more shadow. I mixed the previously used purple by Claire’s with a drop of black.
- Step 6: Draw your stems and leafs with a darker grey. I mixed Essence Got A Secret with Claire’s purple and black.
- Step 7: Add shadow to the leafs and stems. I used a sheer black by 2B in the colour 30.
- Step 8: Time for the finishing touches, add a light pink to the heart of the flowers, I used Catrice Just Married mixed with white. Add a topcoat and you are done! I used Essence Nail Art Sealing Top Coat.
The nail art display finger is from Born Pretty Store, you can find it here.
I really hope you liked this tutorial! I received several requests to make a tutorial and I thought flowers would be something most people will like. A tutorial for flowers is quite useful and interesting since there’s many layers and steps you need to do. Please let me know if you try it out and send me your pictures if you do, and don’t forget to attach a link back to me if you post them on your blog or elsewhere!
3rd June, 2010
This was requested by Laurein, a brown smokey eye look. I decided to make it a really simple look, using just one eyeshadow, something for everyday that won’t take more than a few minutes.
STEP #1
First prime your eyes. Then apply your favourite brown to your eyelids, just right above the crease. I used the sigma 252 brush for packing in lots of eyeshadow. It’s fine if it doesn’t look perfect yet, we still have to blend it out so this step is just applying it evenly all over your lid!
STEP #2
Blend, blend, blend! I used the sigma 224, a fluffy brush is ideal for this.
STEP #3
What I always like to do is use an eyeliner brush and apply some of the eyeshadow just under my bottom lashes from the outer corner to about 3/4 of your lashline. Apply mascara and eyeliner to finish off your look!
STEP #4 (optional)
Add false lashes! I used the Revlon defining lashes, applied them with DUO lash adhesive. (I know I was going to do an entry about false lashes, I might do that later on I’m not sure. Also, you can buy DUO lash adhesive at MAC Counters, just be careful with the one in Antwerp. First time I went there a really nice girl helped me, the others times I had appalling service, very rude staff!)
Hope you liked the look! I used a more warm copper coloured brown to compliment my brown eyes, you can also use a darker colder brown.
