Purple sand

Hi all!

This weekend I was playing around with some of my new polishes. I wore a "try-out" mani Saturday, but changed it yesterday to what I will be showing you today.

First, the polishes I settled on in the end are:

From left to right:

• KIKO - 378 (light plum)
• KIKO - 331 (violet)
• P2 - Sand style 060 strict

I found the names of the polishes on KIKO's website, they are not mentioned on the bottles though. I do love both colours, I am a purple loving girl. I have a lot of very dark purples, but I do lack some lighter coloured purple cremes, so these two were a welcome addition to my stash.

I am wearing 2 coats of 378 (light plum) on my middle finger and ring finger. The name description is spot on, it is a lovely plum purple. The formula is lovely, it dries quickly. Ignore the bump on my ring finger, I managed to bump my base coat before it was completely dry.

On my index finger and pinky I am wearing 2 coats of 331 (violet). On my pinky I could have gotten away with 1 coat to be honest.

I did a gradient with P2 060 strict, the sand style polish. This one is packed with glitter as you can see. It is also very dense, doing the gradient was not easy and I perhaps should have diluted it a bit with a clear polish. I am not certain on the colour, it is not grey, it is not lilac, but somewhere in between. It goes very well with the purple shades, but I am curious how the colour will be if I'd paired it with black for example.

I am wearing just one coat of P2 060 strict on my thumb. Yes, it is that opaque. The texture looks rougher than it actually was. It felt smooth, not at all like the sand paper surface it appears to mimic. I am not wearing any top coat in order to keep the texture of the polish.

Removing was a bit more work because of all the glitter. Creme texture polishes are easier to remove than this one. Drenching a cotton pad in acetone (or nail polish remover if you prefer) and keeping it on your nails for a few minutes does help. All in all I enjoyed wearing this.

Berlin shop log

I'm back from sunny and warm Berlin. It's nice to be home again! I did splurge on nail polish... which means I have lots of goodies to show you. I visited the dm (drogerie markt) to get my hands on some P2 polishes. Actually I visited several... because I wanted the complete Sand style collection, there are dm's all over Berlin, so that was actually very easy. Of course the last dm I entered had the entire collection complete... Figures. All the sand style polishes were € 1,95.

From left to right:

• P2 sand style - 010 adorable
• P2 sand style - 020 lovesome
• P2 sand style - 030 seductive

From left to right:

• P2 sand style - 040 illegal
• P2 sand style - 050 confidential
• P2 sand style - 060 strict

I also got a holo top coat for € 1,75, it made me very curious. And some cuticle cream for € 2,95.

From left to right:

• P2 Glamorous Finish - holo top coat 040 just fantastic!
• P2 Apricot Cuticle Cream

What I also did was look at any limited editions they had around, sometimes discounted old LE's for Catrice and Essence. I did find a few I liked and I also picked up a bottle that will be discontinued soon half price. I paid € 2 each for the Catrice LE Matchpoint polishes.

From left to right:

• Catrice LE Matchpoint - C03 Rockby
• Catrice LE Matchpoint - C01 Team Lucky Mustards
• Catrice - 34 Squeeze Me

Essence Limited Edition at the time was Tribal Summer, which won't be coming to The Netherlands as far as I know. I picked up the last 3 I could find for € 1,55 each. From left to right:

• Essence LE Tribal Summer - 02 INTI INKA
• Essence LE Tribal Summer - 01 WAKA-WAKA
• Essence LE Tribal Summer - 04 TIPI YA YEAH

When I visited the Potsdamer Platz Arkaden (a mall) I nearly squealed when I noticed they had a KIKO shop! And best part was... most nail polishes were on sale for € 1,50 each! KIKO also has a texture finish range, called Sugar Mat. I got a couple of those (some colours were already sold out unfortunately) and some normal polishes as well. I tried to hold back... I could have bought their entire range of lovely colours. Unfortunately KIKO only gives numbers to their polishes, not names. These are my first KIKO polishes, we do not have a KIKO store here in The Netherlands. They do in other European countries, you can check where here.

The texture polishes with shimmer, from left to right:

• KIKO - 644 Sea Blue
• KIKO - 643 Spring Green
• KIKO - 639 Golden Mandarin
• KIKO - 645 Burgundy

Plain texture polishes, from left to right:

• KIKO - 637 Turquoise
• KIKO - 636 Mint
• KIKO - 638 Taupe
• KIKO - 632 True Red

Their standard range, from left to right:

• KIKO - 343 Spring Green
• KIKO - 388 Caribbean Green
• KIKO - 300 Pearly Malachite Green
• KIKO - 378 Light Plum
• KIKO - 331 Violet

I also bought a few eye pencils in shades I did not have yet.

Two P2 ones:

• P2 perfect look kajal - 100 green
• P2 perfect look kajal - 130 lavender

And two KIKO ones:

• KIKO smart eye pencil 813 Aquamarine
• KIKO smart eye pencil 804 Mauve

I did wear some of the textured polishes while I was in Berlin, the texture is very fine and does not annoy me at all. After I got home (which a huge delay due to a delayed train and a missed connection) I quickly put on some colour before I had to dash off again for family visits. I only got round to taking pictures today, after 2 days of wearing. So here's a quick peek:

This is KIKO 300, 2 coats with top coat. I wore this as accent nails on my ring finger and thumb.

The textured KIKO 637, 2 coats, no top coat.

And because I was curious I quickly added the P2 holo top coat, picture shows with 1 coat in sunlight.

And with 2 coats. It is more a holo glitter top coat and it gives a scattered holo effect. It is nice, but I still want a few good linear holographic polishes to satisfy my holo hunger.

Orange Leopard

I am currently in Berlin, so this post was scheduled beforehand. 

One of the easiest nail art techniques is a leopard pattern. It is rather simple to do and looks nice. The colour possibilities are also endless. I've done pastel leopard nails once, and as an accent nail in purple as well. Today my base are the orange polishes I showed you last time. I used a few polishes and a dotting tool.

From left to right:

• Catrice - 04 Orange-Utan
• Catrice - 690/19 Fred Said Red
• Rimmel 60 Seconds - 800 Black Out
• Dotting tool

First you paint your nails in the colour of your choice, I alternated between the two oranges.

Next I used my dotting tool to apply dots on my nails. Don't worry if the dots are not perfect circles, in fact, it is better if they aren't! You can use the end of a needle, or a toothpick if you do not have any dotting tools. You can buy a set of 5 dotting tools on eBay for €1,15/£0,99 (no shipping costs) though.

I decided to go for a full leopard on my thumb and ring finger and a french manicure leopard on the tips of my other fingers. On the nails I had Orange-Utan as a base, I made spots with Fred Said Red and vice versa.

Next I used my dotting tools and black polish to make outlines around the dots. Anywhere I felt was a bit empty I just added a small black spot. Once everything was dry I added my HK Girl top coat.

The good thing about a leopard design is that it does not matter much how the spots look like. They don't have the be alike at all. It looks difficult, but it really is not. I also like the french mani nails like this, it is different, but fun. It would probably look more like a proper french mani if the spots were smaller or my nails longer, but who cares?

Catrice - Orange-Utan & Fred Said Red

I am currently in Berlin, so this post was scheduled beforehand.

In my shoplog I showed you that I had bought Catrice's Orange-Utan. A lovely orange creme. I didn't have an orange polish yet, shame on me! It should be a staple colour being Dutch *winks*.
I do have Fred Said Red, which is an orangy red creme, or a reddish orange creme, whichever you prefer. To me it is more orange, so the name is not that fitting in my opinion.

From left to right:

• Catrice - 04 Orange-Utan
• Catrice - 690/19 Fred Said Red

My Fred Said Red is from the old collection (690), but this is one of the colours that is still available and has a new 2 digit number (19).

As you can see this time my camera played nice and showed the colours properly. Both colours go well together, could be nice in a gradient with a yellow and a real red.

Both polishes go on lovely, I'm wearing 3 coats in all pictures. I do love simple cremes, they are perfect for nail art. I am wearing Fred Said Red on my index and ring finger, and Orange-Utan on my middle finger and pinky.

I didn't leave my nails looking like this, I used this as a base for nail art. I'll show you what I did in my next post!

Nude & Rude meets black

I am currently in Berlin, so this post was scheduled beforehand.

As promised, here is some nail art using Nude & Rude as a base! I decided to go for mix of different nails, just to show you some possibilities. First the main polishes I used:

 

From left to right:

• Catrice - Hip Trip C05 Nude & Rude
• Glisten&Glow H K Girl top coat
• Rimmel 60 seconds - 800 Black Out
• Essence nail art stampy polish - 002 stamp me! black

I also used some other tools:

• Velvet powder black
• Striping tape
• Square nail studs 3 mm

And I used my Gals Princess Set plate GA15 as well.

I started out with a base of Nude & Rude, 3 coats with top coat. It is essential that this is dry before you stamp over it or use striping tape. Mine dried overnight. Apply striping tape in the pattern you want. I decided to go with simple this time.

You have to make sure the tape is stuck to your nails, especially on the edges. I normally run a nail along it to press it down. When you cross your striping tape, be sure to remember which one you applied first. You have to remove the piece of tape you applied last first. Apply polish to the area you want covered in another colour. Remove the tape while the polish is still wet!
On my pinky I decided to use the velvet powder. I simply used tweezers to press it on the wet nailpolish. Once that had dried you can brush the excess of fluff off with a brush.
I used my HK Girl top coat before applying the studs. It is easiest to place studs when you pick them up with tweezers and place them in the wet top coat.

Of course I did not add top coat on my pinky.

On my ring finger I stamped with the black Rimmel polish, on my index finger I used the Essence stampy polish. You can clearly see a difference between them. The Essence stampy one is much blacker.

I liked this look, although I also could have done a black tipped French manicure on the stamped fingers and a single stud. I think that would have looked nice as well.

I really like using striping tape and studs. I got those cheaply on eBay for only a few euros. The studs I got came in a small bag with 1000 pieces, I had to hold myself in not to get all the different shapes available. You can get striping tape in different quantities. I got a set of 30 different ones myself. I have not used them as an accent yet, just as a tool for creating shapes like I did in this manicure.

Nude & Rude versus My Café Au Lait At Nôtre-Dame

I am currently in Berlin, so this post was scheduled beforehand.

Don't you love discounted nail polish? I sure do! Most Kruidvat have the tendency to put old Catrice polishes in a sale for €1 each. I bought a lot of old collection polishes that way, including one of the nudes I am showing you today. And I recently picked up the Hip Trip nude for €1 as well, just after the Glamazona LE got into stores.

From left to right:

• Catrice Hip Trip LE - C05 Nude & Rude
• Catrice - 030/06 My Café Au Lait At Nôtre-Dame

The Café Au Lait nude is a polish that is in the old collection that was numbered with a 3 digit number and it is in the current collection with a 2 digit number. This nude will be discontinued in September together with a few other polishes and other Catrice products. For the full list go here.

First let's start with Nude & Rude, the lightest nude of the two.

I used 3 coats in all the pictures and Essence Better Than Gel Nails top sealer fast dry.

It is a very pale nude that I would not wear alone myself, but it does make a good base for nail art. I wouldn't wear any nude on it's own though, too boring for me. I'm not a very extravert person, but I do like my nails to stand out *winks*.

Next is My Café Au Lait At Nôtre-Dame, the darker nude.

Again I am wearing 3 coats, there is still a bit of visible nail line. If you use this as a base for nail art, that won't matter much. It does not bother me much at all.

This nude is much warmer and darker, and it is nearly a perfect match for my skintone. I have worn this with a feather pattern stamped in black. It was a cute manicure.

I like both of these nudes, but I don't think I would need more than these two. Catrice has 6 different nudes at the moment, some very pearly white. I'm not inclined to get them all, but the other nudes might suit someone else better. As I mentioned I think a nude is a good base for nail art, especially combined with black. I will show you something I did with Nude & Rude in my next post.