A England - Saint George

Yesterday, I had to work at one of our customer's office, so I had to have classy nails.
In my last order on Bec & Ongles there were some A England nail polishes I was waiting for!
But let me tell you about my new base first. It's not a new product, but I bought it only a few weeks ago. It's OPI Ridge Filler. Once you apply this base on your nails, you'll immediately notice the difference. It gives your nails an uniform surface, on which you can apply whatever nail polish you want. I've been trying it with different brands and each time, the polishes I applied over it stuck to my nail like never before. I love it and I advise you to give it a try!

Let's now talk about the polish I've been waiting for which is Saint George from A England. I have an OPI which looks almost the same, but there's not comparison to make here. Saint George is way more pigmented, and has way more dimension. When you put your nails in the sun, you're just sparkling, really!!

But no more talking let's see the pictures :

I've seen pictures from Odile Sacoche which made me want to get Tristam from the same brand! I already have Avalon which is a magnificient purple that I'll show later ;) 

Did you try these A England nail polishes?? What did you think about it? Are there any colors you would advise me to buy?

Bundle Monster - 2012 New Set of Stamping Plates

Hi there!

I'm just writing this quick post to tell those of you who are addicted to stamping, that Bundle Monster has launched its third set of 25 stamping plates on their website : Bundle Monster !


The 25pc set costs 21,99$ and the shipping fees depend on the country where you want them to be shipped.
For instance, shipping to France will only cost 4$.

So here's what they look like (the pics are from their website) :

And here are the detailed views :

Are you going to order this set? Or have you already placed your order?
Do you think that I've already placed my order? :D

Tutorial - Water Marble

Here is my first tutorial on Water Marbling. I tried my best to explain through pictures the big steps to achieve a nice water marble design on your nails.

For this tutorial, I'm only going to use 2 colors : a bright pink and a purple. For water marbling, I only use cheap nail polishes.

Let's begin!

Step 1 : First, start with your base color. I usually do a white base. Sometimes, I take one of the colors of the marbling as a base and that's what I've done here. So I did a pink base. You can add a coat of fast drying top coat, it's as you like. I did one. 

Step 2 : Prepare your tools. Try to put together everything you'll need because you don't want to mess your designs once you've started! I always have two cups filled with water (one for backup :D), some orange sticks and some Q-tips. I also put some paper towel under my filled cups so there won't be any mess around!  You also should prepare your polishes and open them, it'll help you go faster in the next steps.

Step 3 : Prepare your hands and your nails. Wrapping your fingers with scotch tape will ease the cleaning step. I put a first piece of tape around my finger along the roots of my nails, and one other piece around the sides of my nails but also under my nails. Looking sexy, right? :D 

Step 4 : You can start dropping the colors. You should test your polishes prior to starting a water marble, just to see those which will work, and those which won't. You'll also see how fast they dry once on the water. I bought these 2 polishes for only a few dollars each and they're dedicated for water marbling. 

Step 5 : To create your design use an orange stick. Do not start from the first circle, always start from the second of the third one. It'll keep you from destroying your design. Lightly drag the polish into the design you want. Always clean your orange stick before dragging again, or you may have some rally unpleasant results. The little excess of polish that gets on the stick can mess your design.

Step 6 : You can now dip your finger into the water. Try to put your nail as horizontally as possible before dipping it into the water. 

Step 7 : With your other hand, grab a Q-tip and remove the excess of polish that's left on the surface of the water. By doing this, you won't ruin the design printed on your nails when guetting your nails out of the water.

Here's my first finger :

Step 8 : You can now repeat steps 4 and 5 and dip your second nails into the water.

Second nail achieved!

Step 9 : You can also dip two or three fingers together. As long as you dip them horizontally, and that you have the design you want, you will get something nice.

Step 10 : You can now repeat steps 4 and 5 and dip your thumb into the water. You should always do your thumb alone, it's easier. 

 

Step 11 : You can now remove all the tape. Be careful to not remove some of the design while removing the tape! Be gentle!

Step 12 : Let's clean! As you can see, there's not much left to be cleaned. You can now finish with a top coat.

And here's the final result :

What do you thing about it? Are you going to try it if you haven't already?

If you need further information, don't hesitate, I may have forgotten some details :)

Have a nice day <3

The Sunday Nail Battle - Snow White

So here I am for what became the traditional sunday routine, The Sunday Nail Battle!!

This week's theme is Snow White and it was chosen by OdileSacoche and 10tubes, authors of this concept :)

What I like about this sunday battle, is that each week, we have to think about what we're going to suggest.

When I think about Snow White it reminds me a lot of things from my childhood. But it also reminds me of the magical world of Disney, which I love. Did you notice how life seems so peaceful, how people are so happy when they're at Disneyland ? Magic!

So back to the battle!! I started with a white base. Then I took a black felt-tip pen and draw what looks like the silhouette of Snow White. I've seen something similar on the web and I love it! Then, I took OPI's Big Apple Red, circumstantially perfect, and with a dotting tool I added an apple and some details.

Then as Snow White's silhouette was nice in black, I chose to do some of her dress detailing on my blank nails. And here's the result :

What do you think about it? 

As we're talking about Snow White, I wanted to know if some of you went to see Snow White and the Huntsman. I wanted to see it until I heard it got pretty bad reviews ... I've already seen and liked movies that  got bad reviews but would you advise me to see it anyway?

Have a nice sunday ! <3

OPI - Black Spotted

Hi :)

Did you hear about this Black Spotted polish from OPI? It hasn't been released everywhere but here in France we have it !! For once we have something that's cool and exclusive! So glad!

I bought mine from Sephora's website as I didn't manage to find it in stores...

When I swatched it for the first time, I had mixed feelings. I didn't know if I was liking to like it or not.

My first advice to you is to properly select the base you're going to use before applying it. If you want something discrete go for a dark colored base, but if you want the little spotted designs to show, go for a light and shiny base.

This polish, contrary to the Black Shatter from the same brand, is very fluid and is very easy to apply. It's also easy to apply a really thin coat. As written on the little note which goes with the polish : "Apply a VERY THIN coat over completely dry lacquer. Finish with Top Coat". And really the thinner the coat will be, better the result will be. I tried it with I'm Not Really A Waitress as a base :

As I wasn't convinced with the result, I tried to try it with Good As Gold from Essie. 

And this time not only I loved it, but I realized how much potential it has! I can't tell you how much I like this new polish! I'm definitely going to swatch it on different bases, and I'll show you the pictures, just to see what goes with this magic thing!

I like it better than the shatter one. What do you think about it? Are you going to buy it when it is available? For those of you who could buy it, did you like it? From what I know, unfortunately, it won't be available in the US...

I'll be back soon :) 

Essie - Mirror Metallics

As I told you on sunday, I was really inspired by the triangle nails thing. 

I recently bought two polishes from Essie's collection Mirror Metallics. I don't know about you, but personnally, I was only attracted to Nothing Else Metals and Good as Gold. I don't really like the other ones. When I went to the store to get them I swatched the other colors from the collection, but my first feeling was totally the good one. So I bought the two colors I wanted =)

The first polish I wanted to play with is the Nothing Else Metals one, with it's pinkish reflects. 

I hesitated between doing some stamping, or something triangle related, and I chose triangles!

I don't regret buying them at all. They're really easy to apply, and they're opaque with only one coat. As always, I did two coats, but I didn't need it!

They're so pigmented that I'm sure they'll be great for stamping. This is definitely a good buy!!

Did you buy any of these colors? What are the ones you prefer?

xoxo 

Cubic Nails

I recently discovered that I had lost my M73 stamping plate. I don't think it's lost, I'm sure that my cat stole it from me to give his paws a nice stamped manicure while I'm at work! 

So I re-bought it on a french Konad retailer's website which is Bec & Ongles and where the prices are almost the same (cheaper in fact) as on Konad's website konadnailart.com. And no fake Konad on this site, guaranteed !

Here's the design I chose to stamp on my nails :

If Bec & Ongles doesn't ship to your country, do not hesitate to contact them, maybe they'll find a solution :) Currently they ship to France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland and Spain :)

And as I told you, I don't know why but I'm sure my cat can be held responsible for the missing plate!!