AliExpress haul #2

Hi guys!

Here I am with the second part of my purchase of AliExpress. The items I bought are arriving now rather slowly, but they are coming from China. So far I received about half of the items, and I ordered a month ago. They state 2-8 weeks for postage, so I will still look out for the postman! :)

Here is the bunch for this post:

The three stamping plates are amazing, and the two stampers I'm very excited to try!

Here are some close pictures from the plates:

This first one is from a collection containing 30 plates. They are advertised as "Konad". Obviously they are not the original ones, but the prints are the same. All the images are amazing, and as you will see I tried a few, they are very good quality, even the very detailed ones. This particular one you can find here.

I bought another one from this collection, as I do love geometric patterns! This plate is from the same seller, here is the link for this one.

The third plate is a plate which I bought from another seller as well... I have to admit, even after several checks and discards I did managed to buy the same item... :) 

I bought this plate for only one image, but I went a bit crazy with that order anyway... The more I think, there might have been fate in my mistake with this order, as the other plate which is the same as this arrived damaged (it has been replaced since). Here is the link to the Cooi plate.

The two stampers I received are amazing! They are both clear stampers, and they are both squishy, but firm.

The first one is a clear jelly stamper in an orange holder:

I recently did a water marble decal for someone, and had to wait a lot until the first decal dried on the stamper, as I haven't had another one. So picked one of these up. They come in a bunch of different fun colours. It is easy to work with, picks up the image very well! Here you can find the link to the item.

The other one is a clear jumbo stamper with a lid, and it also comes in a set with a scraper. 

It was a little bit tricky for me to use the big one first, as I'm not used to have such a huge stamper. However, it picks up the image amazingly, and for me it gives more visibility for placing the picture on the nail. I haven't used it for a whole manicure yet, but can't wait! :)

I had to try the stampers and also the plates, so here are some pictures:

I tried several images from all the plates especially the very detailed ones, as sometimes they can be difficult to pick up. I haven't had a problem with this stamper at all, it picked up every single image for the first time without an issue! I can see it will be used a lot in the future! :)

The jumbo stamper is so much fun! 

I have to practice more, but it definitely gives more freedom regarding the size of the image I can pick up, and also the placement is more visible. This one might be even good for several decals at one time, as the diameter is 3,5 centimetre.

Again, I haven't had any issues with the stamper picking up the images, as you can see I tried some very detailed and fine lined prints. Very happy! :)

For all the images I used Moyra black stamping polish, what you can find on Rainbow Connection's website.

All in all I'm very happy with my purchase! All the plates have amazing images, they are good quality, and easy to use. The edges of some of the plates are very sharp, so please be careful when you use them!

The stampers are bang on as well, can't wait to dig into decal making more often and also challenge myself with images what need really precise placing!

I hope you enjoyed this review! The next haul is just on the way - I'm just waiting for the postman to turn up!

Thank you so much for stopping by! Hope to see you again shortly! Xxx

AliExpress haul #1

Hi guys!

I recently bought a ton of nail stamping related items from AliExpress. I do enjoy browsing in their web shop, and this time I could find a lot of amazing bargains!
I bough 21 items - including stamping plates, stampers, stamping plate holders... - and I only paid £16 for the whole order!! They also offer free international shipping.

Today I received 4 of the ordered items, and they are so great, I wanted to share it with you! I also will give you the link to each and every one.

Here is a quick look on all of them:

I do have a stamping plate holder for the small round plates, but I fell in love with the colour and the floral pattern. I also bought a few little plates, so straight away I ordered two of these holders.

They come in 4 different colours and have pockets for 24 plates. Here is a link to the actual item.

I also got that small round plate with the feline themed pictures. I do have a cat, and love anything with a cat picture on, and this is sooooo cute! Here you can find the plate.

I couldn't wait, I already filled them with my plates, even the little square Bundle Monster plates do fit :)

The other two plates I received are rectangular, and are the same size as a MoYou or BornPrettyStore XL plates. These two are so gorgeous!

If you know me just a little by now, you will know, that I'm a huge geometric lover, so after about 4 hours of browsing I think I bought all the stamping plates with geometric pattern on. Love them! :)

Here is the one I received first:

It is from the Les Cool collection, and it's the number 06. This collection contains 20 plates with stunning variety! I had hard time to chose! :) You can find them all here. My fingers are itching to try these images! :)

At last but not least the BC 08 plate which is a bit of a mixture of everything, but I love all the design, and this is amazing if you don't want to buy 14 different plates! This collection is also 20 plates, so there is a lot to go trough!

All in all I'm very happy about the items I received so far! I ordered them on the 12th of June, so these arrived very quickly from China.

As I could figure it out AliExpress is collection point for small businesses, (it only took me so long to chose the items, as I was compering the prices) and the ordered items are coming from different sellers. So instead of receiving one huge box, the purchase is coming in small packages. Every day a mail day! ;)

I would like to mention that I'm not sponsored by AliExpress in any way, all the products above were purchased with my own money!

I'm so looking forward to receive the rest, and I hope you enjoyed this review! Please let me know in the comments if you would like to more of these kind of posts!


Thank you very much for stopping by, see you soon! Xxx

Magic Rainbow from Starrily - True Magic in the bottle... and a bit of extra stamping

Hi guys and welcome!


I received some stunning nail mail recently (thank you Anita) and I have to admit, I was quiet keen to try this one.

The pictures on the website are stunning, so I couldn't wait!

Here is the end result:

The first coat went on very easily, but I was kind of disappointed, as it was very, very sheer... For some reason I thought this polish will be more than a topper...

I've seen polishes before building up well with the second coat, so I was optimistic:

The second coat did build up nicely and because of the strong holographic is giving the feeling of full opacity, but I was not entirely happy with so I did  third:

There is not a lot of a difference between two and three coats, but it does gives a bit more depth to the polish.

As you can see on the next picture, it is still quiet see trough, but there is so much going on colour wise in the rainbow, that it doesn't leaves a visible nail line.

Here is a macro of the stunning rainbow colourfulness:

It's much more colourful in person, but it was just very difficult to capture all the colours.

Originally I was aiming for stamping as well, so I chose this lovely image from the Sugar Bubbles SB 021 plate, and used Moyra black stamping polish along with my beloved clear stamper (all these items mentioned are available on Rainbow Connection)

All in all I'm very happy with the outcome, I love that the colours are changing with every slight movement of the hand!

I hope you enjoyed this post, and thank you for stopping by! XXx

Green gradient with some fun stamping :)

Hi guys!

I'm back with another gradient! :)

I loved yesterday's design so much, that I wanted to do another one this time with different colours. Here is the end result, but there will be a twist at the end, so stay tuned. :)

As a base coat I used Nailtiques Formula2 to help my nails to recover from the damage caused by the extreme weather change.

Of course the all important liquid latex is always on side to keep cleaning up to a minimum. Love the stuff! :)

For this gradient I used three polishes from OPI. The colours are: Alpine Snow, That's Hula-rious! and My Dogsled is a Hybrid.

Yesterdays slight disaster thought me something, so this time I was actually experimenting with colours, and changed one of the greens as the stamping polish was not quiet visible on it. I like that I changed it, this colour combo is so much more spring-like.

First I applied a layer of the white to help the colours pop.

Using the end of a make up sponge I slowly started to build up the layers of the gradient. I had some issues with the pulling again, but as with so many other nail art this also needs a lot of practice! Not to mention that the application may vary with different brands. OPI did blended better this time than China Glaze with my previous design.

After 3-4 coats of sponging I was happy with the opacity of the colours.

When I was looking trough my stamping plates I instantly fell in love with this image. For some reason it reminds me of lianas from the jungle so actually I choose the green colours after I chose the image. :) Crazy, I know... :)

I would like to mention it here, that I love all the stamping polishes from Esmaltes da Kelly! They are insanely pigmented, the most opaque colours I ever came across, and just a dream to work with. Today I used Helix which is a stunning dark green holographic polish.

Not to forget about the clear stamper from Rainbow Connection, which quickly became my favourite, and I use it all the time!

I did a quick clean up, and applied a topcoat. Ta-dah, the beautiful green crazyness is alive! I really really love it!!! :)

After having the shiny version on for a day, I just applied a matte topcoat. I don't understand why I was not using any of that stuff before! I'm loving the effect!

If you are wondering, I used Fab Ur Nails FUN16 plate for the stamping also available at RC :)

All in all I absolutely enjoyed doing this gradient, and I already got the next one in my mind! :)

Please let me know in the comments if you want to see a tutorial how I do a gradient, as I'm playing with the idea to make some videos for you as well.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and thank you so much for stopping by! Xxx

Contribution to the ME/CFS & Fibro Awareness

Hi guys!

Here I have my manicure to share with you for the ME/CFS & Fibro Awareness day:

May 12th has been designated as International Awareness Day for Chronic Immunological and Neurological Diseases (CIND) since 1992. The CIND illnesses include Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Fibromyalgia (FM), Gulf War Syndrome (GWS) and Multiple Chemical Sensitivity (MCS).

May 12th was chosen as it is the birthday of Florence Nightingale. She was believed to have suffered from ME/CFS. If you want to know more about the cause or the illnesses, visit this website: http://www.may12th.org/

I am a member of an awesome nail polish loving community, and one day Becca from A Certain Becca Nails and Kirsty from FairyTales Nails created a Facebook page to spread the word and make more people aware of this day and the illnesses behind.

As I suffered from a non-visible illness a few years ago I know how important it is to share the information with more and more people.

This form of contribution was also amazing, as we could chose to come up with a manicure themed by the awarenesses colours blue and purple, and also their symbols of butterflies and the ribbon.

I knew I wanted to do a gradient, so I choose a white, a light purple and a dark purple.

All three colours are from China Glaze: White on White, Lotus Begin and Mix and Mingle. I protected my skin around my nails with liquid latex and used a make up sponge to slowly build up the layers of polishes. They did not blend that well, and the sponge picked up some of the polish from the previous layer, but the end result is pretty good. 

After a quick clean up I applied a topcoat to smooth out the lumps and bumps from the sponge.

I was not sure what colour to stamp with, so I tried EDKs Andromeda, but it was not showing as much as I wanted. Eventually I went for black, but definitely will experiment with colours more in the future.

After I finished stamping, cleaned a bit again, and started to apply topcoat to my pinky, and thought, hey, this would look amazing in matte. So I grabbed my OPI matte topcoat, what instantly smeared my design on my ring finger... Grrrr... Lesson learned! Guys, be careful if you are using OPI's matte topcoat, and maybe apply your regular topcoat before using it to avoid any smearing!

I had difficulties with the stamping, although I use the polish and the stampers regularly, so it might be the plate, or the fact, that my sliding door is open in the living room :)

I have to admit, I like it even better than I thought I will, so even if it takes time and patience, I'm just about to start another one! :)

Here is the end result:

All in all I'm very happy with it, and convinced myself to do more gradients in the future!

I hope you liked this post, and thank you for stopping by! Xxx

Blue and white water marble manicure for Karen

Hi guys! :)

Here I have a very exciting post for you!

I had the pleasure to spend time with my friend Karen and after a hard day of shopping some nail polish, visiting Lush and going trough my collection of polishes, we decided, that I do a manicure for her.

I kind of knew what she will go for, but as she was the guest, I let her choose the method and also the polishes.
We both do love water marble, and I definitely enjoy it even more if I can do it for someone else!

She choose two shades of blue from Colors by Llarowe - Soccer Mum and CBL Addicts Blue Me Away - and also a white (I used my trusted White on White from China Glaze).
I decided to do a chevron design on her nails.

Here is the end result, but if you want to know how I (we) did it, just keep reading! :)

We were talking about forever that I might do her nails once we have enough time, so this was a kind of: ok, it's 5pm, but let's do it! :)

Unfortunately I had to take her beautiful Lilypad Lacquer off... :(

First I started with a nice basic manicure shaping and filing her nails. I also removed the cuticles around which were not invited to the party! As a base coat I used my beloved Stuck on Blu from Glisten & Glow.

Actually I love her nails, they are long, strong, beautiful and healthy! :)

Until the one coat of Soccer Mum was drying, I quickly applied some liquid latex to keep cleaning up to a minimum, and started to build the bulls eye. :)

Here is a picture of one of the dips:

Yes, it is awkward, and required a lot of coordination from both of us, but we had such a good laugh!

After her hand was done it looked like a big mess, but if you ever try water marble and got this result, don't be afraid, it will come out just amazing!!!

May I just mention it here, that she started to cement her face in a huge smile, and behaved like a kid in the candy store, what was the biggest compliment for me!!!

Eventually I stopped torturing her, and cleaned up the mess I created, and gave her a shiny topcoat.

I have to admit, this is one of my most loved water marbles I ever did for someone else!!!

I really hope sweetheart, that you do enjoy your beautiful nails for a long time, and hope to see you again soon!!! :)

As some of you might know, Colors by Llarowe is my favourite Indie brand, and I love the fact that Leah Ann's polishes are not just stunning, they apply like a dream, and even the holographic ones are great for water marble!!!

I absolutely enjoyed doing this design, and I hope that there is lot more to come! )


Thank you very much for stopping buy, and I hope you enjoyed this post! Xxx

Arabian by piCture pOlish

Hi guys! Here I am with another stunning polish. As some of you know, I love red nail polish and besides Pirates of Penzance from CBL as a favourite I constantly try to expand my collection.

When this polish came out last year I thought, yes! my prayers have been heard! For some reason I never ordered it... I know... Crazy chick here... :)

Finally I bought it in March!
Actually I have to admit when I first had it in my hand, I thought I don't like it. It has a different kind of glitter in in then other PP's, it has gold, red and a blue-ish micro glitter in it. What... In a red polish... :(
As I'm slowly working trough the mountain of polishes from last month, I tried this one the other night, and was blown away. That blue glitter does not transfers to the nail, so I just couldn't stop repeat: "Wow!"

Let's see this pretty in action. This is Arabian by piCture pOlish

As I'm trying more and more of my polishes, I kind of start to know which brand I like, and these little bottles are really growing to me very fast!

Here is a bottle shot, hopefully you can see all the glitter madness in it!

I love the brush! It's not the widest, but it's not the smallest either. It's perfect width for any nail type, and it's also long! Very, very easy to work with!!

The first coat went on like a dream! It's not patchy, not streaky, self levels itself and I would say depending on the application, this could be a one coater!!! :)

It is a stunning bright red with an added extra! The second coat did not disappoint, and deepened the colour a little bit.

Originally I wanted to do a red nail with black stamping, so got my gear out, and the fun began!

The first problem I had was to choose the image I will stamp on. If you have a lot of stamping plates as I do, you know what I'm talking about! :)

The second issue I had was the cotton pads... I run out of my trusted one, and opened the back up, which was another brand and it's cheaper. When you go trough a lot of these, well you may look for cheaper alternatives. Let me tell you, don't do that! Ever! It says 100% Cotton, but feels like plastic. It's slippery, doesn't absorbs, and leaves all the lints everywhere. It's the crappiest crap I ever came across... :(

Anyway, I choose a plate and started stamping...

After the second nail I understood why people are doing test stamping before they go to the actual nail. Well, I'm lazy, and it was already 10pm, so messed up a few fingers and was growling about my stupidity.

I forgot to make a picture before cleaning, but here is the end result:

Originally I wanted to mattify this mani, but it was too late in the night...

Here is a macro of the finished mani (my inner perfectionist is screaming now as it is not flawless)

All in all I love Arabian, it's a gorgeous true red sparkling polish! I'm very happy to have it in my collection. With the stamping I'm not that happy, so might change it tonight...

I hope you liked this post, and thank you for stopping by! Xxx