Heart Glitter Nails

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Here's my nail design tutorial inspired by upcoming Valentine's Day. Although, I think you could really wear this anytime, it's so cute! Watch my video below for the tutorial:

Products used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Whirlwind White
Anny Outdoor Style
L'Oréal Fancy Me
Maybelline Deeply in Love
L.A. Colors Art Deco White
Seche Vite

Question: Will you be wearing a Valentine's inspired nail design on February 14th?? Let me know in the comments!

xo, Julia

USA Election Nails Tutorial

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Want to wear a patriotic and fun USA inspired manicure on Election night? Try this one on for size. I got inspired by the American Flag, but added a ballot box on the thumb to pay homage to the election. Whether you're voting for Romney, Obama, or someone else - this nail art is sure to fit the bill.

Get these nails with the help of my tutorial below.

Nail polishes used:

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Whirlwind White
KIKO Nr. 336
Anny Woman in Red
China Glaze Shine
Leighton Denny Miracle Mist Speed-Drying Spray

Review: Anny Summer Collection

Spring is in full swing - summer is just around the corner, and that always puts me in the mood for some fun and bright nail polish colors! Anny has released a brand new collection: Famous Run in Central Park - Spring Time in NY. Just rolls off your tongue, doesn't it? This is actually their summer collection, a bit confusing with Spring time in the collection name. Anyway, names aside, this is a really beautiful collection, with a modern spin on some seasonal classics.

Left to Right: Sunday in Park, Outdoor Style, Ready to Go, Jogging Date, Midtown Skyline, Midnight Run

Sunday Run: A perfect lemon yellow, shimmer finish
Outdoor Style: Mid-toned warm "Barbie" pink, cream finish
Ready to Go: Tomato red-orange with a slight fuchsia shimmer, shimmer finish
Jogging Date: Crimson red with warm bronze shimmer, shimmer finish
Midtown Skyline: Mid-tone dusty blue, cream finish
Midnight Run: Mix of olive, silver and gold, frost finish

Sunday Run went on perfectly smooth and opaque in two coats, an utter rarity for yellow polishes, which often go on unevenly and streak. All but Ready to Go and Midnight Run are 2 coaters, the latter who needed a third coat to reach full opacity.

I absolutely love Anny nailpolishes. The brush is flat and wide, although not as wide as the OPI applicatiors, and the polish lasts a decent amount of time before chipping. They are available for purchase at Douglas in Germany, and now also at Marionnaud in Switzerland. Sorry, no online store yet!

Currently Anny is also running a contest where you could win the entire Anny nail polish collection. You can find an entry code at the Anny display stand at your local Douglas store, then head to their website at www.mein-anny-aufsteller.de/gewinnspiel and enter your code for your chance to win.

You can find out more about Anny nail polishes on their website here.

Which one is your favorite color? What would you wear it with? Share in the comments!

Nude Sparkle Princess Nails

This nail design is perfect when you want your nails to look understated, but not completely unnoticeable. The glitter is neutral colors is a great way to add some sparkle to a nude nail, and you can really play around with this in various colors. I've also tried it with a nude peach color, or a pale pink, and it also looked very pretty. I think these nails would be perfect for prom, a wedding, or any other glam event.

Here's how I did it step by step:

Products

Essence Modern Romance
CND Effects Raspberry Sparkle
Essence nail polish correcting pen
Seche Vite topcoat
LitCosmetics Champagne Wishes glitter
random cosmetic glitter from ebay

Thanks for watching!

OPI Germany Collection (Fall 2012)

OPI is releasing a fall collection based around Germany! I know many of my German readers will be very excited about this. (Although I have to say I wasn't in love with the OPI Swiss collection.) These colors look interesting for fall, there's a couple in there that have definitely caught my eye.

GERMANY L to R: My Very First Knockwurst, Don’t Pretzel My Buttons, Berlin There Done That, Dont Talk Bach to Me, Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!, Schnapps Out of It, Suzi & The 7 Dusseldorfs, Every Month is Oktoberfest, Unfor-greta-bly Blue, Deutche You Want Me Baby, Danke-Shiny Red & German-icure by OPI.

What do you think? Will you be buying any of these?

When KIKO and CND Effects have a baby...

...this is their offspring:

What a beautiful baby, don't you think? This is KIKO Nr. 336 as a base, with CND Effects Nr. 561 Sapphire Sparkle on top. I love how the CND Effects polishes just add a bit of pizazz to any cream finish polish, and they work great for layering. This one has an icy blue and purple duochrome. I picked up two of the CND Effects polishes on my recent trip to Vancouver, and I can't wait to try them out with lots of other combinations.

Yup, I changed the shape and length of my nails. I'm starting fresh and I need something low maintenance right now. My nails grow pretty fast, and I like having them short and round sometimes for a change.

I flew in from Vancouver yesterday after a rather pleasant flight - I managed to get a whole middle row to myself on the plane and even got a bit of shut-eye in - but am now rather jet lagged. I went to bed at 8:30pm and woke up this morning at 5am. Nothing like getting up super early and making the most of the day!

Now two brim-filled suitcases await me, ready to be unloaded with laundry to wash, and many beauty products to set aside for a haul video. I recently uploaded a haul of my USA shopping trip with my friend Heather, aka Sokolum79 on Youtube, so make sure to watch it to get a sneak peak of some of the things I purchased. I still bought a lot of other things while in Vancouver, so I may do another one.

I had such a great time in Vancouver with my family, but am now ready to get back into the swing of things and film new videos! Have a stellar day, everyone, and a great weekend! I'm off to the cabin for the weekend to do some skiing in the alps - first time this season. I'm stoked to try out my new boarding pants and jacket from Roxy and Burton to see how well they fare.

How to Remove Glitter Polish

Glitter nail polish. I love how it looks, simply hate taking it off! I go through about a million cotton pads and at least half a bottle of polish remover if I'm going by the traditional method. My arms start to hurt with all the rubbing I have to do. (Um, yes, that sounds so wrong. Haha!)

This is a much simpler method how to remove glitter polish using foil. It's quite popular on nail forums and with nail techs, so why not try it at home next time? It makes the glitter polish just slide right off - rub free! No joke.

Watch the video directly on Youtube.

Sparkly Glitter Christmas Nails

I just love fancy nails at Christmas time, and nothing screams Christmas to me like deep red and gold. I decided to create these sparkly glittery nails, which I think are perfect for the holidays. When I had this on my nails, even my boyfriend commented how Christmasy it looked, and you know how men are about noticing things like nails!

Products:
Nailtek Foundation II
China Glaze Short and Sassy
Essence Nail Art Special Effects Topper in You're A Gold Mine
Cinema Secrets Hollywood Lights glitter in Oscar
Fan nail brush is from ebay
 Seche Vite Topcoat

I hope you enjoy this tutorial! Check out my video below.

Video on Youtube

Mummy Nails for Halloween

Want to mummify your nails for Halloween? Check out my tutorial!

Nailpolish used:

Sally Hansen Whirlwind White
Illamasqua Load
Illamasqua DWS
Illamsqua Throb
China Glaze Classic Camel
L.A. Colors Art Deco in black

Watch directly on Youtube here

Kosmetik Kosmo Binoctium (Chanel Paradoxal Dupe?)

I recently had the opportunity to meet Michaela, better known as Koko on Youtube, at a blogger PR event in Berlin (more on that later.) She gave me some samples of her new cosmetic line Kosmetik Kosmo, and I was really intrigued by one of the nailpolishes from the line, Binoctium. This is supposed to be a dupe of the famous Chanel Paradoxal nailpolish which was released for Fall 2010.

Here I am wearing Binoctium, on my ring finger I also have two brand new yet-to-be-released glitter polishes (Essence Color & Go in Time For Romance and Essence Nail Art Special Effects Topper in It's Purplicious)

I don't have Chanel Paradoxal so I can't make a direct comparison if this is indeed a dead on dupe, but from the pictures I have seen of Paradoxal, I think Binoctium has a slightly weaker purple shine to it and the effect is less intense. But again, that's just my guess. I would describe the color as a gray-aubergine-taupe base (cream finish) with a red-toned purple shimmer effect that shows up more or less depending on the light.

The quality of this polish was medium - it applied a bit streaky and "pulled" the color in some places but after the second coat it was opaque. The bottle is short and stubby (8ml) and was a bit hard to handle, but if you're used to mini polish bottles that shouldn't be an issue. I cannot say anything about the lasting power yet as I haven't worn it long enough, and as I change polish quite frequently this isn't much of an issue for me.

However, if you're looking for an inexpensive alternative to a color close to Chanel Paradoxal, this might be a very good alternative. Binoctium costs 3.99 Euro + delivery and can be purchased at the Kosmetik Kosmo online shop (website in German, limited countries of delivery.)

P2 - Pink it Up!

I love this nail polish. These pictures were taken in artificial light at night but I just wanted to take a quick snap. I love this color, it's a warm medium pink cream. It's not super original by any means but I don't have any pinks like this in my collection actually!

P2 is a German drugstore cosmetic brand that is unfortunately not available in Switzerland (yet.) They have a really wide range of colors in their nail polish range, also bright and fun colors. I'm heading to Germany soon and I might have to pick up a few more of these as they are so cheap. Can't say much about the lasting power of these yet but to be honest it's not a big factor for me as I change my polish so frequently anyway. Oh I also filed my nails down a bit, they were getting ridiculously long.

What's on your nails right now? What colors have you been rocking a lot this summer?

French Manicure DIY

There are many ways how you can do a French manicure on your nails, but this is how I do mine. It's simple, and no messing with tape. You need a steady hand, but practice makes perfect, as they say!

What I used:


Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat
Nivea 04 Turbo Nude
Sally Hansen Whirlwind White
Seche Vite top coat
Essence nail corrector pen

Want to know how to do it? Watch my video tutorial on Youtube!

My Summer Nailpolish Picks

Summer nailpolishes are so much fun! I love incorporating bright colors to my look by wearing them on my nails. Here's some of my top picks, as swatches on the nailwheel I'm holding.

Left to right:
Essie - Topless and Barefoot
Orly - Lemonade
China Glaze - Japanese Koi
Eyeko - Coral Polish
Models Own - Raspberry Crush
Illamasqua - Collide
Illamasqua - Jo-Mina
China Glaze - For Audrey
Barry M - Cyan Blue
Orly - Halley's Comet
H and M - Hunt Me Down

Watch the video directly on Youtube!

Model's Own Raspberry Crush

I love this bright raspberry color of nail polish! It's not red, it's not pink, it's perfectly raspberry - something in between. The formula is very smooth and opaque in two coats with a lovely cream finish. I just love this for spring and especially for summer when I want to go for a punch of color on my nails. Model's Own is a UK drugstore brand, but is available for order on their website  (rather high shipping costs, I ordered mine during a sale) and some limited shades also also available from Asos.

What's on your nails right now? Share in comments. :)

Army Green Nails courtesy of H&M

I'm really loving this nailpolish color by H&M called "Hunt Me Down", a very fitting name indeed. My local H&M doesn't carry the accessories and cosmetics, but recently I was in a bigger city with a huge H&M and I finally had a chance to check out the polishes. I was pleasantly surprised at the color variety, especially with the more unique colors that are available. I bought this one and one other one to try out (a sparkly blue shade) because I have color dupes for most of the others, but I couldn't resist this army green. The polish is on the thicker side, meaning it's opaque in one coat, but I applied a second coat just for a smoother more perfect finish. It's a nice dirty grey-green shade without leaning to the brown-olive side.

Do you have any nailpolishes from H&M? What do you think of them?

Orly Gumdrop

It's been very spring-like weather here lately, all the snow has melted and the sun has been out with clear blue skies recently too. I'm looking forward to spring, so I've been digging out my spring collection nail polishes from last year. This is Orly Gumdrop from spring 2010. It's a bit more minty in real life, not quite as blue, but it's hard to photography it color accurately.

I should post more nail polish swatches, lately I've gotten out of the habit as I used to post them a lot more frequently, so I will make an effort to change that.

YAY SPRING!

Illamasqua Load

I had no idea that I would love this color so much from Illamasqua, but I do! "Load" is the perfect butter cream color on my nails. It's so much more flattering than wearing a stark white on your nails, and if this contained little brown specks in it, it would look exactly like a homemade vanilla custard. Load is from the new Throb collection from Illamasqua, released for Valentine's Day. It applies a bit thicker than other Illamasqua polishes, but is very opaque in two coats.

This will be the perfect color for me as I'm heading up to our cabin today in the mountains. Quite looking forward to some rest and relaxation, going out to dinner tonight at a restaurant in the resort town, then probably going skiing on Sunday. The weather prognosis looks good and there's been a fresh snow fall this week, so I hope it will be lovely on the slopes!

Have a great weekend :)

Models Own Haul

At the end of August I hauled some Model's Own polishes when the company was having a 50% off sale. Model's Own is a British nail polish brand that I'd read a lot about online and had seen lots of pictures of their colourful shades. So when the 50% sale came and went, I decided to take advantage. Here are some swatches of my haul, along with some other polishes.

Left to Right: Eyeko Rain polish, Eyeko Saucy polish, (blank)
The next one are from Models Own: Magenta Pearl, Pink Punch, Raspberry Crush, Disco Mix, Feeling Blue, Purple Gray, Green Tea, Barry M Spring Green

Same color wheel snapped outdoors in the shade. My favorites are Purple Gray, Disco Mix and Magenta Pearl.

The Models Own polishes cost £5 full price, but sometimes the website has sales or special deals. I think these are a bargain if you can buy them directly in UK shops, but not really worth it if you have to pay full price and the overpriced international shipping fee (£9.95 flat rate worldwide shipping outside the UK and a minimum order of £20) I'm sorry, but for that price I'd rather buy from Barry M, who also ship worldwide with more affordable rates and who also have great, inexpensive nail polish in lots of colors. My haul was worth it because the polishes were 50% off, but I wouldn't pay full price for them. They are just drugstore quality and nowadays, many drugstore brands make colorful polishes. At the end of the day, while I like the colours, my curiosity has been satisfied and I probably won't be ordering any more. The polishes do apply very nicely, and almost all (except for Pink Punch and Disco Mix) were opaque in two coats.

Where to buy:
http://www.modelsownit.com/
http://www.asos.com/ (very limited range)

Eyeko:
http://www.eyeko.com/eyeko-products-nails-c-21_27.html

Illamasqua Nail Quills competition

Illamasqua and MissChievous.tv are teaming up to give away one pair of their hot new nail quills. If you haven't seen these already, check out this picture of me wearing them, with Illamasqua Scorn nailpolish on my other fingers.

These are handmade, limited edition glue on nail talons with a a silver foil tip, designed by Mike Pocock. They also come packaged and presented in a beautiful jewelry box, which is great for storage in between use.

Head over to Illamasqua's website and enter to win in the competition, so that you too might have the chance to try these out! The contest is open worldwide.

http://www.illamasqua.com/missc/

Now my thoughts on these:

My first impression was great, they look really hot on the nails, reminiscent of the vampire Armand in Interview with the Vampire. Illamasqua Scorn semi-matte nail varnish is the perfect shade to wear with these at it looks exactly like the black part of the nail quills. (You could also wear them with other colors of course, but the nail quills will remain black.)

There are a few things I wanted to mention though. Judging from the pictures on the website, I assumed that the tip was made of solid metal, like a real quill, attached to the false nail. Unfortunately, this was not the case; the silver part of the quills is just a silver foil that has been cut to size and wrapped around the tip. This worries me because I wonder how long such material will actually keep its shape before wear and tear, or before it somehow comes undone.

The other issue I had with these is that according to the Illamasqua instructional video on how to apply and remove them, it was recommended to dribble some acetone-free remover down the side of the nail quill, wedging it with a wood stick. I did this just as in the video, only to realize afterwards while cleaning them from the inside that the remover actually stained and removed some of the color from the top of the quills! Now the silver foil of my quills has some small but noticeable chemical stains on it, and the black varnish has dent marks, and has even been removed completely on some edges. Luckily, Scorn is a perfect match, so I will try to repaint the black to make them look nice again. But that was a big surprise that the recommended method of removal actually caused damage to the quills. I don't know if they just used nail varnish to paint the false nail, maybe they should have used some sort of lacquer or paint that is completely resistant to remover? I guess I will have to be more careful next time.

But overall, these are a really unique and fun nail accessory that are sure to be a hit with a lot of people, especially those that follow various sub-culture trends. At £35 GBP they are a pricey bit of fun, but then again, anything handmade with a limited amount of production is bound to have its price.

Holiday Giftwrap Nail art tutorial

 

Aren't these nails just so festive and perfect for the holidays? I got so many compliments from people when I wore these nails, asking me what nail salon I go to. Nail salon?? Pshaw! Get out some brushes and let the creative juices flow.

Products used:

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Ruby Pumps nailpolish
Essence Tip Painter in White
rhinestones (craft store)
Seche Vite topcoat