To infinity and beyond

I thought a sort of galaxy nails would be suitable for this evening. The black base coat as the black sky and the other colours on my nails are the colours of the firework. You don't see it? No, I don't see it either hahah. Just felt like doing galaxy nails. This nail art made me think of something Buzzz Lightyear from Toy Story always says: to infinity and beyond! So that's how I named this post :p

After I applied the shimmery black colour I used a sponge to apply a green-like colour (Essence - #38 Choose me!). This one is really shimmery so after this step I actually wanted to finish my nails already. They looked like the galaxy already! But I wanted more depth so I applied some soft pink (Catrice - #210 Just married) and light brown (Essence - #33 Just in case) onto my nails. And to finish it I applied the Essence - #38 Choose me! one more time. Be sure the colours you use are transparent enough!

Items used:
Essence - #85 Galactic black
Essence - #33 Just in case
Catrice - #210 Just married
Essence - #38 Choose me!
Piece of sponge

I hope all of you are going to have fun today and tonight. Happy new year!

Imitating animal print

I love this effect with the crackle top coat! I think it's perfect if you want to imitate animal prints :D So if you're feeling lazy, just apply your crackle top coat and you have some awesome nails done! The method is to polish with small diagonal stripes. If you want the prints to be small, don't use too much polish on your brush. And if you want the prints to be bigger (as on the nail of my pinky), then it's okay to have a bigger amount of polish on your brush (:

Items used:
Essence - #33 Just in case
Essence cracking top coat - #01 Crack me! Black

The edge of the sea bottom

I hope all of you had a cosy Christmas time! :D Mine wasn't very special. Christmas is never a big issue in our family. Anyway, these are two Essence swatches I bought yesterday. Buy one and get the second item for half of the price at Kruidvat ^__^ I bought four swatches and I liked the combination of these two swatches. What do you think? I think the gold one is perfect for gradient effects since it's so transparent. This combination makes me think of dark mermaides or the bottom of the sea :p

Items used:
Essence - #77 In style
Essence - #67 Make it golden

Catrice - #550 Marilyn and me

Usually I don't really love red nail polish, but I thought this new shimmer red colour from Catrice was pretty so I bought it. I like how the formula with glitters is like :D

Did you know Catrice changed the brush of their new swatches? I compared the brush of #550 Marilyn and me with #450 Sand Francisco, which is longer part of their collection. The brush is a little bit wider and the edges are less sharp. I think this is a positive change since the new brush is more suitable for applying the nail polish in the area along the cuticles. The brush has round edges, just like our cuticles (: Usually I'm sloppy when I have to do my right hand but when I applied this nail polish on my nails it went pretty well! I hope they are going to apply this brush in more future swatches cause I noticed another new Catrice swatch I have has the 'old' brush.

Merry Christmas! Much love,
Manli, family and Fuji

Gradient crackle

Hi everyone! I felt like using my gold nail polish from Catrice and black cracking top coat from Essence. Using tape I did vertical crackled strokes. The widest at my thumb and getting narrower to the pinky. So... Tomorrow is Christmas already. How are your nails going to look like?

Items used:
Catrice - #650 Goldfinger
Essence cracking top coat - #01 Crack me! Black

Say hi to Fuji

Say hi to our family member, Fuji! We have our little puppy three days now and today I travelled two hours to home just to see him! Unfortunately I have school tomorrow ): So tonight I have to travel back to Rotterdam again. But it's so worth it! He is so tiny and cute.

This little boy is a cross of a Chihuahua and a Jack Russel and he is only two months old. You'll be going to see Fuji more on my blog in the future. More cuteness on my blog it is!!

Falling snow flakes

For this nail art I used a stamping plate from Born Pretty store.  I really like to use their stamping plates because they're easy and the prints are clear. Did you know they now offer stamping plates for only $1.55? Go visit their website here!

The time flies! I simply can't believe we're only one week away from Christmas. Too bad I haven't seen any snow in our country yet. Are you going to celebrate Christmas with presents, food and stuff? Cause I won't ):

Items used:
Gosh - # 547 Blue monday
Essence nail art stampy polish black
Born Pretty stamping plate m59

Tutorial: Snow runway

Tutorial time! You don't necessary have to call these Christmas nails, but it sure can give you the holiday feeling.

Let's get started!
1. Apply a base colour on your nails.

2. Take the brush in the picture below, a piece of paper and white nail polish. Put some nail polish on the piece of paper and dip the middle part of your brush in the polish (not too much!).

3. Apply the brush in the middle of your nail, starting from the top. While sweeping to the bottom you have to make little movements to left, right, left, right, left, right etc. Your nails should look like this:

4. Apply some colour glitters on the white part you want to pair up with the base colour and you're done.

Items used:
Catrice - #250 I sea you!
Essence tip painter white (the polish, not the brush)
Essence nail art twins - #06 Edward
Brush

50 followers giveaway winners!

Thanks for being patient with me! My first giveaway ended two weeks ago and now I'm going to announce the winners :D I want to thank everyone who entered it, although there weren't many people who entered. But in the meantime I reached more than 100 followers. Thank you so much! So who are the lucky ones to win the prizes?

First winner gets...

1. Born Pretty's nail art foil stickers, military print

2. Mini Hello Kitty comb

3. Essence nail art stickers

4. A small photo frame 

Jasmin

Second winners gets...

1. Born Pretty's nail art foil stickers, swirl-ish pattern in 2 colours

2. Mini Minnie Mouse comb
3. Essence nail art stickers
4. A small photo frame

Bebe

Congratulations girls! I'm going to send you an email for your address so I can ship the prizes (:

Review: Andrelon's new products for straight hair

In this blogpost I already introduced you to a review I would write about Andrélons new products for straight hair. Well, here it is!

I was so happy that I could review these products for straight hair because my hair isn't like most typical Asian hair (read: super straight). My hair has got actually lots of waves sometimes. Whenever I use my straightener my hair won't stay straight long enough. It would become wavy a few hours later already. Soooo I was very excited about these products and if they would actually work on my hair!

I applied the products in my hair (except for the hairspray of course lol) before using my straightener. It's a straightener that won't get very hot.

The heat protector
In my opinion this product isn't very different from the other heat protectors from Andrélon, for example the heat protector of the damage and care line. I actually don't have the feeling that this product makes my hair straighter eventhough you could expect this since it's a special heat protector for straight hair. I do believe the product protects my hair from heat, treats my hair and gives my hair optimum condition. But I don't think it's any more different than the other Andrélon heat protectors. Of course a heat protector is always usefull when using a hairdryer and/or straightener . But I don't want to recommend this specific heat protector since it's as good as other heat protectors.

Mousse
This product prevents fuzzy and static hair, protects your hair against heat and gives your dry and damaged hair more volume and care. I used this product together with the heat protector before using my straightener. My hair is never fuzzy so I can't say anything about that. But it did prevented static hair. In this cold weather it's normal that hair gets static regularly because it's cold outside and warm inside. But I didn't had this problem! I was really happy about this because I just hate static hair =.= My hair comes till my butt so it's pretty heavy, even the mousse couldn't solve the problem. Eventhough it wasn't stated on the bottle of the mousse.. It did keep my hair straight! The next morning it was still as straight as the previous day. Remember I said my hair gets wavy after a few hours already when I don't use products while straightening? Awesome right? :D My hair does get oily faster because of the mousse but that's okay with me. I don't recommend the heat protector but I do recommend the mousse since it got many functions.

Hairspray
And finally the hairspray! This product prevents static hair and provides extra reinforcement. I find the spray not too harsh and your hair won't feel sticky. I didn't need the hairspray because the mousse was enough to keep my hair straight. I do recommend this product when your hair is very stubborn.

First picture: After straightening using the heat protector and mousse. Look how straight it is *___* My hair is never like this when I don't straight it.
Second picture: My hair the next morning after getting out of bed. Still as straight as the previous day.

These products are available in Dutch drugstores, such as Kruidvat and Etos.

Black scars on it

... It reminds me of Chucky O:

Items used:
Catrice - #320 Back to black
Essence matte tip painter - #01 Berlin story (I love Berlin collection)

Dark sky filled with stars

The pictures don't show it well but the glitters are actually gold! I love this combination of denim jeans blue and gold glitters. And it surprises me that the glitters are so easy to remove. Glitters usually are a pain in the ass if it comes to removing them -__-

Definitely going to use this special topper from Essence for Christmas themed nails. Stay tuned for Christmas & Winter nail art :D

Items used:
Essence - #04 Buddy bear
Essence special effect topper - #06 You're a gold mine

London's weather forecast

Lately I prefer one coloured nails with a special top coat (glitter, matte, cracking etc) because I simply don't have much time to spend on nail art boehoe T__T

The base colour I used is one of my favourites. It's a dark colour but it has a warm appearance.

Items used:
Catrice - #280 London's weather forecast
Essence glitter nail hardener

Floral stamping

My testweek is over yayy! It wasn't my best week though. Anyway, I have time again but I just broke the nail of my middle finger ): of both my hands! Cryyyy T__T

It's been a long time since I got short round nails. I cut all my nails short so all my nails are even. I really have to get used to it. I found it hard to decorate short nails but I think stamping is the best option. It's easy and you won't find a problem of the stamping print being too small for your whole nail. I guess you'll mostly find nail art for short nails in the next weeks until they've grown long again.

Items used:
Gosh - #003 Groovy grey (special edition)
Essence nail art stampy polish black
Born Pretty stamping plate m73

So what would you like to see on short nails?

Edit: A visitor asked me what nail polish I use for stamping plates. I use these Essence swatches which are specially for stamping purposes. Essence is an European make-up brand and is sold in de Dutch local stores. I don't have experience with any other stamping polish from other brands and I'm pretty satisfied with this brand.

Preview: Andrelon's new products for straight hair

Andrelon is a popular shampoo brand founded by a Dutch hair dresser and has a wide range of hair products. They have products for all hair types. Straight, curled, weak, damaged, you name it!

And guess what! I got chosen to try their new products. Two weeks ago I got these three bottles in the mail. A heat protector, mousse and hairspray for achieving straight hair!

I used to have straight hair when I was younger. But the older I got, the less straight my hair got ): I always have to fix this issue with a straightener but it never last long. So I'm really excited to review these and I'm curious of how they will work on my hair.

Before the end of this month I'll be posting a review of these products so stay tuned!

Elegant autumn

I was inspirated by a photo I saw at Weheartit. After applying the base colour I applied some golden glitter nail polish in the corner with a sponge. After that I drew the leaves and I completed the design with some glitters in the corner of the leaves :D

I'd love to do a tutorial for this but next week is test week ): so that means.. study study study. Wish me good luck! I will need it.

Items used:
Catrice - #330 Absolutely chinchilly!
Catrice - #650 Goldfinger
Essence nail art magnetics - #03 Magic wand!
Flower - brown (bought in Hong Kong)
Essence nail art glitter topper - #02 Shiny star
Sponge
Tip painter

Catrice - #380 Forget-me-not!

I just had to make a blogpost about this swatch! This purple shade is so intense, glittery and outstanding. I think this is the most outstanding colour I ever had.

I applied Catrice matt top coat over it because I found it TOO intense. Well, it's much better this way haha. I don't really like too outstanding colours but I think this is very suitable for Halloween.

Go for the Forget-me-not! if you want your nails to stand out!

Interrupted in the jungle

Hi! How have you been? I apologize for not updating my blog for the whole week. There happened a lot last week and I couldn't find the time to blog. Today is the first day I could do my nails again. It has been too long! How I did my nails today? I don't know how I came up with this design. While I was busy with them I thought 'okay, this is going to be such a fail ò___ó'! But to my surprise it's pretty okay.

Please leave a comment and tell me what nail art you love to see! With your help I can improve the content of my blog for everyone. Thanks!

Items used:
Essence - #38 Choose me!
Essence matt top coat
Essence matt black tip painter (I love Berlin collection)
Toothpick

Don't forget to enter my 50 followers giveaway if you haven't yet. Have a nice weekend (:

50 followers giveaway! (closed)

 

I'm happy to announce my first giveaway! A small giveaway to celebrate reaching 50 followers and to thank my readers for visiting & following my blog ♥

I know 50 isn't a big amount but it does mean a lot to me. My blog is only 6 months online now and I was afraid people wouldn't be interested enough in my blog because of the little blogposts. So I'm really happy with this amount of followers ♥ I hope my blog can grow as big as how some blogs are right now. Thanks for your support!

What are the prizes?
Because I mostly write about nail art some prizes are nail art related of course. The items are from my (current) favourite nail art brands/shops. And you can get little cute stuff too. I will choose 2 winners because it sucks to choose just 1 winner while probably many many people will enter the giveaway. So the chance to win is bigger!

First winner gets...

1. Born Pretty's nail art foil stickers, military print

2. Mini Hello Kitty comb

3. Essence nail art stickers

4. A small photo frame 

Second winners gets...

1. Born Pretty's nail art foil stickers, swirl-ish pattern in 2 colours

2. Mini Minnie Mouse comb
3. Essence nail art stickers
4. A small photo frame

What are the rules?

1. You must be a follower of my blog with Google Friend Connect. New followers are welcome! (+1)

2. Leave a comment with your name, valid email address and what you like to see on my blog.

What to do for extra entries?

1. Follow me with Bloglovin' and like this post. (+1)

2. Blog about this giveaway in its own blogpost and link back to this post. (+2)

3. Let people know about my giveaway using the photo (in the top of this post) of the prizes in your sidebar and link back to this post. (+1) 

Example of a comment
Name: Manli
Email address: manli.tang93 at gmail dot com

1. I'm a follower of your blog with GFC
2. I follow you with Bloglovin' and liked this post
3. I blogged about this giveaway and linked back to this post here -paste url-
4. Your giveaway is in my sidebar

I love to see more beauty related topics other than nail art.

The giveaway is open for all international readers and I will choose the winners randomly. You can enter till Friday 25 November and I will announce & contact the winners in the weekend.

Good luck!

This giveaway is NOT sponsored by a company. The items are bought with my own money.

Tutorial: Rilakkuma nails

My cousin showed my sisters and me her nails with this design and I found it very cute. It's also simple to do so I decided to do a tutorial for you!

Let's get started!

1. Choose a brown colour similiar to Rilakkuma and choose a yellow colour for the bird.

2. Make an oval with white nail polish for the Rilakkuma and use orange nail polish for the bird. Since birds have a beak you have to make it different than Rilakkuma's nose. I used a very thin brush to make a rough outline and filled it in.

3. Take your dotting tool and add the eyes. Stay close to the white oval!

4. Now use the small side of the dotting tool to add the nose. The bird has 2 dots. 

5. Use your thin brush again to add 2 little stripes under the nose of Rilakkuma. Finished!

Items used:
Paris memories brown nail polish (from the market)
Catrice - #010 Don't feed the birds
Catrice - #170 I scream peach!
Essence - #68 Perfectly true
Essence - #85 Galactic black
Long thin brush
Dotting tool