Fancy Friday #92: Valentines Day

This is a very old post that somehow never got released from my draft section and as far as I can see I have another couple of posts I never got out flying - so here is #finallyoutofdraft post:

Trying to play catch-up and have a lot of posts to cover so they will be less wordy than what is normal for me.

As the title suggest this was my Valentine's mani. Since Valentine's Day is a relatively new phenomenon here in Denmark I don't "celebrate" it, but do manis for challenges because they usually take me a bit out of my comfort zone - and I've always appreciated when that happens :D.

I used Darling Diva's two Valentine's Day Duos that were released in 2014 and were gifted to me by Carrie Lynn, the owner, in a secret Galentine's Swap I did last year.

One duo is pink based with a crelly called Love of My Life and a glitter topper called That New Love Feel, the other duo is black based with a charcoal jelly holo called Hide and Go Eff Yourself and a glitter topper called Batshit Crazy Ex.

13 Days of January Nail Art Challenge #4: Monochromatic

Whoah, life got in the way of my blogging...

One colour, several hues is what I best can describe this challenge as - and that made me do a sideways blue gradient.

Totally forgot to take a picture of the finished gradient before I stamped.

But this is the final result:

I used Elevation Alphubel, The Nail Junkie Bluebonnet and Darling Diva Blue Diamond

For the lace detail I used Messy Mansion plate 44 and used Rica Whiteout as stamping colour.

I hope you all liked this, I am actually quite pleased with it. I ambeginning to feel more confident doing nail art and have an increasing number of manis that I really like.

See you soon,

Marie-Luise

Darling Diva Polish the Opals Collection part 2: Teal and Sea Moss Green

Second part of the Darling Diva Opals are the beautiful and quite Me colours Teal and Sea Moss Green.

First up is Sea Moss Green, a quite stunning rich green that had me thinking of the lake at Hogwarts that Harry dives in to for the second Tri-Wizard Tournament challenge.

Packed with the same iridescent mylar flakes and sea blue hex glitters as the two previous polishes, here they are in a moss green jelly like polish base that delivers a sense of deep lakes surrounded with greenery, with lilypads flowing around hiding a more sinister deep. I am totally in love with this polish.

This base is like the first two, very jelly like so I used three very thin layers to reach this opacity. It was a bit on the thick side but definitely not too unmanageble.

Remember to let it dry between layers so not to drag the flakes through the polish. And remember that these polishes eat top coat for breakfast so you need a glitter tamer like Gelous or several layers of top coat to get an even surface.

Second is Teal Opal - the name really gives it away :D, a teal blue jelly polish that also need three thin layers for this particular look. As with the green there was some thickness to the polish and if you want to be sure to get a more manageable consistency you could add a few drops of thinner.

Surprisingly enough it has a very delicate feel to it when on your nails which I really didn't expect when I saw it in the bottle.

Since the flakes and glitters are more in-tone in this than in Sea Moss Green it doesn't come off as interesting as the partner but it has its own beauty to it.

It is amazing how the jelly base give the polishes the look of the flakes being suspended in several layers on your nail - an absolutely unique look that I don't think I have in my collection. The only thing near this is my Cult Nails Clairvoyant but I haven't worn it in a long time and I don't recall it as giving off quite the same effect.

Darling Diva Polishes can be purchased at Llarowe, Norway Nails, Edgy Polish, and in Carrie's own BigCartel shop.

You can follow Darling Diva on Facebook, twitter, and Instagram.

These polishes were sent to me for my honest review.

Darling Diva Polish The Opals collection part 1: Blue and Violet

It is not often I do specific reviews but I was so fortunate to get Darling Diva Polish's Opal collection through the door for your viewing pleasure and boy are these polishes one stunner after the other. Due to my not being able to kill my darlings I've had to seperate the collection in to three posts, with the blue and violet Opals as the first ones.

Blue Opal is a light sky blue polish jam packed with iridiscent mylar flakes, sea blue and iridescent hex glitters, and micro glitter that catches the light in the most crazy way and give an insane depth to the polish. These swatches are three thin layers without undies.

There is a feel of looking down through water - it really blew me away, I don't think I've ever had that sense with a mylar flake polish before. I have to say I tried it with white undies but I prefer it by far without, the translucent character that I love so much in this polish is lost when you use a base colour.

It has to be said it was a little on thick side (but nothing a little thinner can't help you with) so I had to be rather careful and use thin layers to ease application - and remember since the mylar flakes are rather coarse they tend to drag through the polish so you need a light hand. Furthermore I also used my trusted glitter tamer, Gelous, so the polish didn't look too rough.

And you get this very soft and delicate feel from it when it is in indirect sunlight.

Look at that layering of the flakes...Awesome!!

Violet Opal is Blue Opal's daring and evil twin. The mylar flakes and hex glitters are the same as in Blue Opal but in this violet base the character changes 180 degrees.

This is a bold statement type of polish that had my oggling my own nails every 5 minutes.

The consistancy of Violet Opal was almost the same as Blue Opal but it was a little bit more temperamental to work with so I had to use VERY thin layers not to get too much drag. I used three layers for this look but they can be opaque with two regular layers.

Remember to let layers dry COMPLETELY before applying the next or you will risk the mylar flakes drag through your already painted nails.

I must say I love these polishes - they are totally unique in my collection. They may need to be handled precisely and with care, but all the more enjoyment to be had from the gorgeousness adorning your nails!!!

Darling Diva Polishes can be purchased at Llarowe, Norway Nails, Edgy Polish, and in Carrie's own BigCartel shop.

You can follow Darling Diva on Facebook, twitter, and Instagram.

These polishes were sent to me for my honest review.

Fancy Friday #44: Guess Who I am (Fastelavn)

It was all about dressing up and face paint in the little house hold last week. It was Fastelavn last sunday, the Danish version of Mardi Gras, Fastlovend, Pancake Day...basically the beginning of the Christian fasting.

We(the children) dress up, eat a pastry called Fastelavnsboller (they are YUMMI) and beat the cat out of the barrel: the equivalent of a piñata is beaten to pieces and candy showers the little ones. A white barrel with a pictogram of a cat on it signifying the olden tradition where a living black cat was put in there and the villagers joining in the rather ghastly beating which was supposed to chase evil away...I tell you we were some fierce mofos back then :D

And here is the mani I was sporting last weekend - Liv was dressed as a zebra and Silja as a bride with pink beads painted on her forehead. Thus I did my nails to match their costumes:

I painted their nails as well. Liv had zebra nails and Silja chose to wear Darling Diva Pink Diamond with Silver Diamond stamped flowers.

Pardon the black streaks but I was painting zebra stripes on Liv's costume with acrylic paint and realised I'd gotten some on my nails :D

For some strange reason I dotted the wrong way :D

You can still visit the other girls to check out their manis though their Fastelavn nails won't be the first post you'll see.

Fastelavnsneglene fra sidste uge nåede jeg altså ikke at lægge op, ligesom denne uges Fælles Fredag indlæg også er forsinket. Men der sker meget familierelateret i det lille hjem for tiden, som kræver min fulde opmærksomhed :). 

Her er de altså og er lavet som et match til pigernes fastelavnsudklædning. Liv var klædt ud som zebra og Silja var brud med indiskinspirerede perlerækker i  pink malet i panden. Jeg har dog fået vendt prikkerne på mine negle den forkerte vej :D