Halloweek: Ghost and Googly eyes

HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYBODY!!!

It's finally here, today is actually Halloween! Not that I will notice it other than on my nails, because Halloween is not celebrated here. But I love it and I did do a fun nail art today. I have to say, this might be my favorite art I've ever done and it is really simple.

I have been eyeing the little ghost that Marianne did on her blog, NailpolishSleuth, for quite some time and what better time to try these guys out than Halloween :D

They are easy and fun and you only need a black and white polish and a dotting tool. Even I can do them and that is saying a lot, lol! I did end up having all sorts of trouble, I bumped my hand on the table after applying my white ghost, had bubbles and was just being clumpsy...  but I did manage to get it on my nails and I love it! Look at my little friend:

Isn't that fun and "scary" at the same time? I am already thinking of ways I can get away with this mani when Halloween is over, lol.

I used my favorite black and white polish for this mani, China Glaze Liquid Leather and OPI My boyfriend scales walls. I think I'll try a skittles googly eyes mani later, I think that might be fun too.

Do you celebrate Halloween and what is your favorite thing to do?

X

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Halloweek: Dollish Polish Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake

I am a huge fan of horror movies, I can watch them anytime and I watch all types of horror. When I saw Dollish Polish was releasing a Halloween collection, inspired by horror movies, I was all over that! The entire collection has 8 polishes, but I only got 5 of them, because the other 3 didn't appeal to me. Today I have one of those polishes for you.

Dollish Polish Welcome to Camp Crystal Lake is inspired by Friday the 13th and even though the movie is not one of my favorites, I love this polish! Dollish' description of this polish is spot on:

Inspired by the movie, Friday The 13th, This Navy Blue jelly jammed-packed with hexagon & dots glitters in multi shades of Blue, Silver, and Turquoise giving the illusion of "lake-like" crystal water appearance on your nails, minus the crazy guy in the hockey mask.

I have to admit, this polish is a weird one for me. I normally really don't like sheer polishes, they annoy me and don't look good on my nails. But this one... This is a true jelly base and as a result, it is really sheer. I did 3 coats, and it's still not completely opaque. But, I actually love that about this polish! It looks like a jelly sandwich and fits the name perfectly! It's that perfect lake water color, blue with a hint of green, almost teal, packed with different sized glitter and large round holo glitter. Stunning!

The formula was really nice and it dried fast, but I did have to fish the large round glitter out of the bottle, after 3 coats of polish I had a total of 0 on my nails without fishing... jup... none came out on their own. They do make this polish special, so I think the fishing is definitely a must, but with a result like this, I really didn't mind.

I love this collection and will be showing the other ones I got very soon!

What's your favorite Halloween polish?

X

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Halloweek: China Glaze Bat my Eyes

Day 2 of Halloweek and I have one of the new Monster's Ball polishes for you. I wasn't sure if I wanted this particular polish, but I always love the China Glaze Halloween polishes and I just couldn't imagine not buying any of them this year. I looked at a lot of swatches, but I was afraid it was too much gold for me. When Holly showed it on Instagram, I knew I had to get it!

China Glaze Bat my Eyes is a black jelly base packed with gold glitter and the occasional orange/bronze bar glitter in there. I can't really see the bar glitter on the nail, but I do see orange/bronze flashes and that is what brings this polish alive.

I normally really don't like bar glitter, but because you don't see them on the nail, I'm ok with them in this polish. The formula however is a different story... Because it's so packed with glitter, the polish is really thick and goopy. I wasn't able to paint thin layers on my nails, but had to deal with thicker layers. I think I'm going to add just a few drops of thinner next time, to see if that makes it better.

Don't get me wrong, I was still able to get it on my nails, but it wasn't a breeze. Luckily it dries really fast, even with a thicker coat of polish and it was opaque in 2 coats. You could get away with 1 thick coat, but I just always add the second and it did make it better.

Because of the glitter, it's not a smooth feeling polish, but I found that 1 coat of HK Girl top coat was more than enough. It didn't make it feel completely smooth, but I don't need it to be. Overall, I really like this polish, even with the bad formula. The bronze really makes it pop!

Did you pick up any of the Monster's Ball polishes?

X

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Mani Monday's: Halloween

I have been looking forward to this weeks theme for ages! I love Halloween and am totally dissapointed that we don't celebrate this holiday here. I love watching scary movies, the costumes, the kids that dress up in the most adorable (and shockingly gruesome) costumes. Nothing beats a five-year old dressed as Freddy Krueger or Edward Scissorhands!

So to make the most of this weeks theme, I decided not to just do Halloween for Mani Monday's, but do an entire week of Halloween inspired mani's: It's Halloweek on DarknTwistyNails!!!

To start this week, I have another attempt at nail art and I actually think it turned out ok. It's dark, twisty and Halloweenie (is that even a word?)

When I think of Halloween, I think of carved out pumpkins, blood, horror movies, vampires, zombies and all that kind of wonderfull things. For this mani I got inspired by vampires. Teeth, blood, crucifixes, heartbeat... I ran with it and made a fun nail art. I used just a few polishes for this art:

My boyfriend scales walls, Liquid Leather, Vermillion and OMG

I used a nail art brush to create some teeth and blood droplets for the vampire mouth on my middle finger, a crucifix  on my ring finger with OMG and a blood red heart on my pinky finger. I have golden stars for the night sky on my pointer, but I realized you can't actually see that in my pictures... Note to self: get all nails in shot next time!

 

Do you love Halloween as much as I do? What is your favorite thing about it?

 

X

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Empties #1 Beauty and nail polish stuff

I love watching empties video's on Youtube and I seem to have been collection mine for a while now, even though I don't do video's... So I thought, why not do an empties blog post? I can't be the only one who likes to hear (or read) all the mini reviews on peoples trash, lol. So here is mine!

First up: skin care. I have very weird skin... extremely dry in some places, but I still tend to get pimples in those dry patches. I usually can't use the same moisturizer for more than a year before it starts to break me out again. So I'm very picky with what I put on my face.

 L'Oreal Skin Perfection sample. As I mentioned, I have really weird skin. So before buying a new moisturizer, I usually ask for a sample, so I can test it to see how my skin reacts to it. This was really nice. It hydrates my skin, making it nice and soft and didn't cause me to break out. So I bought the full size version.


Full size L'Oreal Skin Perfection

The one thing that is a stable in my routine is my make-up remover. I use the Etos brand eye and lip make-up remover (Etos is a Dutch drug store). It's very gentle and even removes waterproof make-up. And it's cheap. This bottle lasts me for about 4-5 months and I paid € 2.89 for it.

Kruidvat Q10 eye cream. This is another little gem in my opinion. It's very hydrating, reduces dark circles and puffiness. This little tube lasted me for 6 months and only set me back € 2,49! Can't beat that!

Diadermine night cream. I used this up a while ago, but never gotten around to throwing it away. I liked it, but it wasn't exceptionally good. Just an average moisturizing night cream.

Diadermine make-u remover wipes. Oh... my... god!!! These were awefull!!! They did take off my make-up really well, but they stung my face like nobody's business! I hated them! And the worst part? I bought them on sale, buy 2 get 2 free, so I'm stuck with 3 more packs!

Philosophy Hope in a jar for dry skin. I LOVE this cream, love, love, love it! It made my skin feel so soft and smooth, no dryness, no break outs, just soft, hydrated skin. I scraped the last bit out of the jar and almost cried a little when it was gone, because this baby is € 40 and I just couldn't afford to spend that much on a moisturizer right now.

Philosophy Hands of Hope. Great hand cream, really enjoyed it, but soooo expensive! For a full review, click here.

Make-up items. I use a lot of different brands, drugstore and high end on my face, but I don't tend to use up a lot... Whenever I throw away a foundation, eye shadow or lipstick, it's usually because its just getting to old and gross. But this time I actually used up everything!

Maybelline The Falsies Flared mascara in black. My favorite mascara, I love everything about it! The brush is curved and thin, it defines my lashes, gives me lenght and volume and it's really black. The only bad thing is that it starts to flake a little when it's almost gone.

Maybelline The Rocket mascara in black. When I first started using this mascara, I didn't like it at all! I hated the big ass brush and I got mascara everywhere. So I started layering it with my Falsies mascara and that worked really well! It gave me long, defined, voluminous lashes and I started to like the Rocket. When I finished The Falsies, I just used the Rocket and that gave my pretty much the same result. Love it! Have allready repurchased :D

E.L.F. Cosmetics eye lash curler. Ok curler, but it pinched a little and at the end it started to pull out my lashes... Time to go!

Catrice Prime and Fine Face Primer. Did an ok job, but that smell... I can't get used to it. It smells like peaches, but in a chemical kinda way... not nice and it lingers. Even though it's a cheap primer (€ 4,99) I won't repurchase.

L'Oreal Nude Magique BB Cream for light skin. Can you say carrot? Enough said...

Urban Decay Primer Potion. Great stuff! Would repurchase, but Sephora decided to close all their shops here and that was the only place I could get UD products... big bummer...

Dior Addict lipstick in 222. This is the first time ever I finished a lipstick. I actually scraped out the last bits with a lipbrush, because I loved it so much. It's a brownish, nude color with a lot of shine. It was the perfect nude color for me, my lips but much, much better. I am looking all over for this baby, but Dior decided to take this color out of production... Of course, story of my life!

L'eau D'issey Florale by Issey Miyake. Really nice perfume, fresh, clean and a little fruity, but not to sweet. I got this as a gift from my in-laws and I really enjoyed it.

And now, the nailpolish stuff... I always finish 1-2 bottles of nail polish remover each month, but when I finish a bottle, I stuff my used cotton balls in it, so I didn't take a picture of it. I didn't think you needed to see that.

Can you tell I like my Seche Vite, lol?
I was cleaning out my nail drawer and discovered a load of empty SV bottles. I ment to poor them all together and try to use some of it, but it's just to goopy. That's the reason I'm currently trying a new topcoat. I just feel like I throw away so much product...

CND Stickey base coat. My favorite base coat. I tried a different one, but that wasn't a succes... click here for my horror story. After that, I quickly went back to my trusty and much loved stickey base coat.

Essence Studio Nails base coat. I've had this for so long and never use it anymore. It was just time to say goodby. Nothing wrong with it, I just like my Stickey better.

Bourjois nail polish remover pot. I like this product, but it gets dirty so fast and when it does, it stains my nails... Just not worth the pricetag when I can get my Essence remover for € 2.39 and I like it better.

And finally, I used up 2 Bath and Body Works votive candles.

I love B&BW candles, but I can only get the baby ones, because of the shipping. I burned Marshmallow Fireside and Bonfire Maplewood this past month and I love these scents! If anyone can send me the three wick versions for these candels without me having to pay around $ 50 for shipping alone, please let me know!

T'hat's it for now, I hope you enjoyed reading about my trash, lol.
What are your favorite video's/ posts to read about?

X




 

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Essie After school boy blazer

I think you all know by now I love my dark colors. So when I saw the For the Twill of it Essie collection, I was really happy! I picked up 2 polishes immediately and left the polish that this collection was named after in the store. (Everybody keeps telling me I need it, because it's gorgeous, but it's just not my thing...)

I've already shown you Cashmere Bathrobe, and today I have the other polish to show you. Essie After School Boy Blazer is a deep dark navy cream. Nothing special about it, just a gorgeous vampy blue.

The thing that makes this polish really good, besides the stunning color, is the formula. It's opaque in 2 thin coats, but if you're in a hurry, you could get away with just 1 thick coat (although I would always recommend doing 2 thin ones). It dries fast and the consistency is really nice. It dries extremely glossy, just the way I like my polish!

2 coats After school boy blazer

It almost looks black, but you can still tell it's navy and I like these types of colors a lot. Especially in fall and winter.

What is your favorite dark polish and did you pick up any of the Essie For the Twill of it polishes?

X

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Colors by Llarowe Billy Jean

Billie Jean is not my lover, she's just a girl who claims that
I am the one, but the kid is not my son!
She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son.

 

I think everybody knows this song by the King of Pop and can sing along. I love it, it happens to be one of my favorite Michael Jackson songs.

So when I heard Llarowe was doing a tribute to Michael Jackson, I knew I wanted this one! When I saw the first swatches of it, I was over the moon, one of my favorite songs was my all time favorite color polish!!!

 

Colors by Llarowe Billy Jean is a deep, vampy red crelly with a gorgeous subtle gold shimmer. It even seems to shimmer to green in the bottle, but I can't really see that on the nail. 

This is my kind of color! Deep, dark and vampy. Absolutely stunning. But what makes me reach for this polish every time is the formula. It's perfect! I love the cap and the brush of the CbL bottles and the polish itself flows on the nail with ease. Opaque in 2 thin coats and fast drying... I love it! It does dry a little bit less shiny than I would like, but that is easily fixed with a topcoat. And after a layer of HK Girl... oh boy... be prepared to be blown away!

I have no words... I'm in awe of this polish, it's just that gorgeous! I think this stunner deserves a couple more pictures, just because a picture says more than a thousand words.

All I can say is: well done Llarowe, well done!

Do you own any of the Michael Jackson polishes and what is your favorite song?

X


X

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China Glaze Riveting

Today's polish is one that I absolutely love! It's impossible for me to have a top 10, but if I did, this would 100% be in it. I love everything about it, the color, the finish, the formula, everything!

China Glaze Riveting is released as part of the 2012 Hunger Games collection. This particular polish represents district 3 - Technology. It's an bright orange glass fleck, almost a flaky polish with a golden shimmer running through it. It looks like fire on your nails!

I bought this when it came out and I have worn it a lot! Just look at my bottle shot, can you see the line, just above the China Glaze logo? That's how much I've used it. Every time somebody asks which China Glaze polish is an absolute must have, I give them Riveting.

Although it is bright orange, not a color a lot of people like, I strongly recommend trying it (we did a group order when I got this and my friend did an unboxing video for us. When she pulled this one out, here reaction was: "Wow, now THAT's orange!"). Everybody I recommended it to that tries it, really likes it.

2 coats Riveting

Isn't that stunning! The formula is really nice, it flows on the nail and it dries super fast. Just look at that golden shimmer, how gorgeous is that? I really can't say enough good things about this polish!

 

If you don't own this one yet, you need to go out and get it!

X

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Mani Monday's: Gradient

Happy Monday everybody! This weeks theme is Gradient. I love a nice gradient nail, I think it always looks so colorful and fun. But, I have to admit, I've never done a gradient myself. Why not you ask? Well... to be honest... I have no clue! It looks fairly easy and you don't need a lot of tools or time to get a fun effect, but I just haven't tried it before. That is why I like Mani Monday's so much, the fact that it makes me do things I haven't tried before. Sometimes with a very nice result and sometimes with a not so nice result...

Today's mani is... not bad, but not good either. I think it's ok, it could have been a lot better and a lot more fun and colorfull. I think I used the wrong polish for this and the colors turned out a little bland and boring... not at all what I was going for... but better luck next time!

I started off with an opaque base, I used China Glaze Pelican Grey for this.

I then opted for a blue gradient, because I love a blue nail and wanted someting vibrant on my nails. I used Essie Lapiz of Luxury, China Glaze Splish Splash and Dorothy Who?

When I was done with the gradient, it looked extremely boring, so I added some sparkle. I mean, sparkle is always a good thing, right? I choose my antrax pigment polish for this.

This is the finished result... Unfortunately the color from Dorothy got sucked into the sponge completely and I was left with just a silver glitter... not bad, but not what I was going for at all... oh well... lesson learned!

 

I don't think it looks bad, but it does make me look a little pasty. If Dorothy would have stayed the nice dark blue it is in it bottle, it would have been a completely different, much better look for me.

What are your favorite polishes to use for a gradient?

X

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Powder Perfect Goodies!

A few weeks ago, I stumbled across an indie make-up brand and fell in love! Powder Perfect is an Australian brand, created bij Jacinta. They create handmade cosmetics from luxury ingredients. Their products include organic lipstick, cuticle balm and nail polish. Of course I was all over the nailpolish, but due to the harsh shipping conditions on nail polish, Powder Perfect doesn't ship polish internationally.

I had my hart set on a polish, so I contacted Jacinta and as she was more than happy to help me out. She let me know she was willing to ship polish to me, but only at my own risk, which I think is fair enough. So I placed my order.

I have to say, the shipping costs were extremely reasonable and I was stunned at how fast it arrived at my doorstep. I placed on order on a Monday and I received my package 8 days later, just 8 days from Australia to Europe! Now that's impressive!

I opened my package immediately and pulled out all these goodies:

2 Cuticle balms, 2 nailpolishes and 2 lipsticks. I absolutely love the packaging. Simple but playfull. I especially think it's funny that I ordered 2 cuticle balms, Raspberry and Orange and that my raspberry is actually in the orange packaging and Orange is in the pink packaging.

The lipsticks are organic and vegan and they are extremely creamy. I love how they feel on my lips, rich and soft and I think they actually hydrate my lips. These lipsticks are nicely pigmented, but a little on the sheer side for me since my lips are quite dark. I apply just one good layer when I go to work and add  a couple of layers to intesify the color for my evening look.

Dark Paradise and Fireside

Dark Paradise is a magenta lipstick with a purple undertone, perfect for pale skinned people like myself.

Fireside is a brick red lipstick. It reminds me of fall leaves and I think it's the perfect fall color. I have been wearing this non stop since I got it, I just can't get enough!

The cuticle balms are called Cute-icle balms for a reason. Just look at them, aren't they the cutest things you've ever seen? They come in silver tins, with a cute colored sticker. I have 2 scents and I really like them both. I can't stop sniffing my hands when I've applied them. They feel rich and buttery and do a good job at keeping my cuticles nice and soft.

Raspberry and Orange

And now for the, in my book, main attraction: the nailpolish! I have just one for you today, Downworlder (the other one and the raspberry cuticle balm are for a friend of mine, so unfortunately I have to part with those...).

Downworlder is part of the Shadowhunter collection and is a blue jelly base filled with blue, teal and silver glitters and hex holo glitter. The hex holo glitter makes it look like you're under water, so gorgeous! The formula is spot on. No need to fish for glitter, they come out easily and distribute evenly on the nail. This polish is opaque in just 2 coats and dries really fast. It does dry a little on the dull side, as most glitters tend to do, but that is easily fixed with a shiny top coat.

Just look at that gorgeousness! I wish the sun would come out, because it's so much more stunning in real life, but I just can't get it to show up in my pictures because of the dreary weather...

The brush is very nice to work with, it looked a little shorter than the average brush, but it didn't give me any problems, it made glitter application very easy. Overall, I'm very impressed and am allready thinking about my next order. Powder Perfect has some really nice Halloween polishes that I'm dying to get my hands on, I would definitely recommend checking out the Etsy store, website or Facebookpage.

Are you familiar with this brand and what is your favorite "undiscovered" indie brand?

X

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OPI Call me Gwen-ever

I have been doing a lot of fall manicures lately and a stable color I used was a gorgeous dusty orange cream. I think this is fall in a bottle when you want a bit of a brighter color and I grab this a lot this time of year.

OPI Call me Gwen-ever was part of the 2012 Spiderman collection. It's, like I said, a dusty orange cream. I really like orange polish, I wear bright, neon, glitter, shimmer and every other orange polish you can think of,  but if you don't like bright, in your face orange, than this polish might be the one for you.

This is, in my book, the perfect fall color. It reminds me of the leaves, just before they turn brown. The formula is not bad, it's a little streaky, but levels out nicely on the nail. It's opaque in 2 - 3 thin coats and dries fast.

3 coats Gwen, 1 coat HK Girl
The bubbles aren't bubbles at all, but I took these pictures outside... in the rain... couldn't escape the raindrops...

I think this is an orange that will suit a lot of skintones and it's even appropriate for the office. I got so many nice complements on my manicure when I wore this, totally didn't expect that, because it's so demure. I even had to write the name of this polish down for a total stranger when I was buying groceries, because she never thought of orange as a color to wear on her nails, but this looked spectacular! (her words, but, well, I do agree!)

What do you think about orange nails and what is your favorite orange polish?

X

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