Guest post for Oooh Shinies

Hello everyone, I'm proud to tell you that the lovely and talented Bregje from Oooh Shinies has asked me to make a guest post for her blog, of course I said yes! :)
So head over to Oooh Shinies for the complete post or click here.

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Explosions with China Glaze Jitterbug

Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing great. I am :) As I mentioned before, I'm busy with school at the moment. My first days have been hectic and already pretty tough, but I'm enjoying it and it's good to finally feel like I belong somewhere, after years of not knowing what I was supposed to do with my life. Yay, me, haha. So this week's been busy, but one day I got home a little earlier and it was even still light enough outside so I could take these pictures you're looking at. I was wearing OPI's Big Apple Red, a stunning, superglossy red jelly. But the next day it chipped on one of my nails, so I covered it by using the explosion design and China Glaze Jitterbug. I adore that polish, it's supergreat for tape manis and the shimmer spices up any mani in a cool, elegant way. Have a great night and see you soon :)

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Explosions with OPI Absolutely Alice

Hi everyone! For today I have another explosion mani to show you. It's such a fun design, so I'm still experimenting with it, using different colors and finishes.

Here I used OPI's Absolutely Alice for the design, on top of Wet 'n Wild Blue Moon and with a matt topcoat afterwards. Normally I wouldn't pick a glitter as a layering color for tape manis, because they often need several coats to cover. But those of you who own a few OPI glitters, know how dense they can be, which is also the case with Absolutely Alice. I only used one coat of it and I'm still surprised by how crisp the design came out. Another benefit of this polish, being a glitter, is it doesn't 'bleed' when I go over it with my topcoat, like with some cremes. Nice! All the OPI glitters are stunning in my opinion, whether used alone or combined with other polishes. And apparently they're also perfect for tape manis ^^ So I'll definitely use them again for future tape adventures to add some magic to my nails... See you later!

In case you'd like to create this look yourself,

check out the tutorial for tips and tricks. 

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Gold explosions

Hi everyone! For today I want to show you an explosion mani. I had already worn China Glaze For Audrey a whole day and the next morning I decided to add someting special, using tape. I wanted to pick a gold to go with For Audrey and usually I'll just grab my favorite gold 2030 from China Glaze, but then I stumbled upon H&M's Golden Treasure, which I actually thought was better for this mani because it's darker, so it creates a bigger contrast with the soft blue then 2030 would have. I'm happy with the end result, but when I see blues and gold together, it's hard for me not to haha. Love those colors together :) Thanks for watching and have a nice day!

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Explosion accent nails

Hi guys! I hope you're all doing fine. For today's post I have explosion accent nails to show you, looking familiar? I made the tutorial for the explosion design while doing this mani, killing two birds with one stone ;-) On my accent fingers I used OPI Dim Sum Plum as my pink base color, I absolutely love that it's a one coater and how fast drying it is. The black is Color Club Where's The Soiree? and the silver China Glaze Millenium. A pink as bright as Dim Sum Plum would rock next to a cobalt blue just as bright, so I used Barry M's Cobalt Blue (duh!) for the rest of my nails. I really liked the final look, though I had to keep my whole outfit some what calmer to keep my nails the center of attention haha. So if you'd like to recreate this look yourself, don't forget to check out the tutorial for tips. Have a nice day everyone!

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Tutorial: Explosion design tape mani

Hi everyone, welcome to my 'explosion' shape tutorial! The first time I used this design was in my 4th of July mani, representing fireworks. You loved it and requested a tutorial, so here it is :) The taping technique I use for it is similar to the zigzag pattern, so it's not very hard but it does require some patience because there are two taping sessions. So to make the time this design takes reasonable, I recommend using one-coaters or a fast drying topcoat. Let's get started!

Start with the base color you like (if necessary with a basecoat underneath) and let it dry completely. To speed up the drying process you can apply a fast drying topcoat. The one I sometimes use is Seche Vite, which enables me to place the tape strips on my nails after about 10 minutes.

Now cut some triangles out of tape to make the 'explosion' shape. The way I do it is by first cutting off a little piece of the tape roll which I then cut in half diagonally, like shown in the picture(s).
Of course you can do the cutting before step 1, I personally like to cut the strips while I let my base color dry. But I have to be careful then, otherwise the tape might get stuck to my nails and ruin the polish. So admittedly, it is safer to start with cutting before applying the base color. However, if you've learned how to cut the tape without having it touch your polished nails, it can save you a lot of time.

Now place the triangles one by one, next to each other on one corner of the nail, in a slight curve. This will create the 'explosion' shape. It's your choice to make the shape at the cuticles or the tip, however my experience is that it's a lot easier near the tip, like shown in the picture. Because that way you're polishing away from the tape, reducing the chance of polish seeping underneath. Also you don't have to reckon with cuticles nearby.
Make sure all the pieces of tape are completely stuck to the nail, if not use your finger or a tweezer to push them down and if needed reattach them.

Then apply your first layering color with a thin coat and carefully peel off the pieces of tape right away. Try to peel them off individually, if you can, because most of the time your design will come out neater this way.
Then let the design dry for a while, use a fast drying topcoat to quicken the drying if needed.

When the polish is entirely dry, you can start the taping process once again with your second layering color. Only this time place the triangles a bit more towards the tip, covering up part of the first layering color like shown in the picture. Apply your second layering polish and remove the tape strips as soon as possible.

At last apply your topcoat, clean up and you're done! Don't forget to moisterize your cuticles afterwards, because the tape can really dry out your skin!
Use this design for a full mani or cute accent nails. When you're going for a full mani, you can do the design on different spots on each nail for a playful look (example here.)

Finally some useful tips:

• For my tape manis, all I use is regular stationery tape. But you might prefer something else, so just experiment with different sorts of tape to figure out what works best for you.
• For your base color you can use any polish you like, however one-coaters will allow you to place the tape much sooner because those are usually fast drying. Of course you can also quicken the drying of polishes that require several coats to cover, by applying a fast drying topcoat. (I use Seche Vite). 
• Your layering color(s) can be either a one- or two-coater. Because you've already applied a base color, most polishes that usually take two coats to cover now will do with one.
• Though I mention cutting the tape strips as step 2, I admit it is safer to cut before applying the base color. However, if you've learned how to cut the tape without having it touch your polished nails, it can save you a lot of time.
• You might want to leave the cut strips somewhere else than the edge of your desk/table, to prevent them from getting stuck to the surface while you're busy. You do not want to have to peel them off with your freshly painted claws!
• Apply your top color in one thin (but opaque) coat, this will create crisper lines.
• When you're removing the tape strips, try to remove them individually, if you can, because most of the time your design will come out neater this way
• Using tweezers to remove the tape strips can prevent your freshly painted nails from getting smudged.
• It's not always necessary to start all over if you've messed up your design, often a little touch-up with a nailart brush can solve the problem.
• If you want to use a matt topcoat, use a regular one underneath. My experience with matt topcoats is that they smudge the design very easily, even when it's completely dry. Applying a normal topcoat first will prevent that.
• Moisterize your cuticles afterwards, because the tape can really dry out your skin!
• You can practice this tutorial on your old mani that you applied a day (or more) before. If you succeed, you've got yourself a fresh mani, otherwise you were going to remove it anyway!
• If you feel like this design is too time-consuming for a full mani, you can also use it for an accent nail (or two).
• Have fun and practice makes perfect ;)

I would absolutely love to see your attempt on my design, so feel free to leave a link to your creation in the comment section!

Polishes I used in this post are OPI Dim Sum Plum, Color Club Where's The Soiree? and China Glaze Millenium.

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Blue explosion

Hi guys :) Yesterday I showed you a lovely blue from Essence, Let's Get Lost. As I mentioned in that post, Let's Get Lost is a one-coater and therefore fast-drying, which is perfect if you want to use it as your base color for tape manis. So that's exactly what I did here. After the blue base color was dry, I cut some triangles out of tape to create the 'explosion' shape, which I used before in my 4th of July nails. Then I applied my favorite black creme over the tape, Color Club Where's The Soiree? and pulled of the pieces of tape right away and let it dry. I repeated this on each finger, but after I was finished, I still felt like something was missing. So I added another color, H&M Coral Summer (the lighter blue) and that fitted the bill :)
While making this mani I somehow kept thinking about how I would name this post, 'blue explosion'. And one thing led to another and before I knew it I was singing Black Eyed Peas' Boom, Boom, Pow all day long... "I got that boom boom pow!" My apologies if you are singing it with me now hahah. Have a nice day!

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4th of July nails

Hello everyone! For today's post I made 4th of July nails for my American readers. Holidays are always a fun theme for manis, so I was very excited to do some nail art for Independence Day, eventhough I do not celebrate it myself. The look is clearly inspired by the American flag, albeit with subtle changes, and tape was my #1 tool. I really couldn't have made the designs without it.
In total I used four different polishes: a red from Etos (Dutch drugstore), China Glaze's 2030 as my gold, First Mate as the blue base color and for the white stripes I used China Glaze Millenium, which is a silver. I picked a silver instead of a white because I thought it would pop more. But also because I didn't want the stripes to look too much like a candy cane or a Christmas elf ;) As mentioned earlier, tape was my magic helper in this little project. I used it to create both the stripes and big star shapes, which are supposed to be stylized fireworks, can you tell? ;)

To make the firework shapes I basically used the same technique as the one for the zigzag pattern, only I started at one corner of the tip, working my way back to the beginning of the nail (at the cuticles). So I started with the blue, then the gold on top and finally I applied the red. If you don't know what I'm talking about, just visit the tutorial for the zigzag pattern and hopefully it will all make sense then :)
Of course our flag wouldn't be complete without stars, so I added those afterwards with a (nameless) stamping plate from Essence.

I hope you guys like my first 4th of July nails and that they may have even inspired you to make a cute mani for monday :) Thanks for reading!

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