Dance Legend: The Knight

Hello everyone!

Dance Legend is a Russian brand that seem to make all kinds of nail polish. If it has been made, they make it too. If it hasn't been made, they make it. When I first heard about this brand, I'd never seen a franken collection before, and the caviar polish was also new to me. Interesting to see what this brand will do next. I couldn't find any information about animal testing, so I emailed them. And they wrote that they don't do animal testing! I hope we can trust their answer.

The Knight is a multichrome that goes from blue to gold, or is it copper? It's a no longer available limited edition polish from the Camelon collection.

I expected a full size bottle of maybe the most beautiful multichrome ever. When my tiny (6,5 ml.) mini bottle arrived, I panicked, and I tried to order one more. I knew it was limited edition, but I couldn't decide which extra bottle to buy, so I went to bed. Next day it was sold out! I waited for a very good reason to wear it. One evening in June, I was going to watch a ballet, and tried the Knight on, and it went right in on my top 20 list. I had to wait for day 2 to take the photos, and the polish had some scratch marks. But without any back up bottle on my way, I just couldn't take it off and reapply it. I didn't want to waste this polish... After I found a bottle on eBay, I wish I had better photos though...

As you see on the first picture below, this polish is like a camelon. Here is has picked up the surrounding green and yellow color, like a mirror:

Reflecting the surrounding green and yellow

To my surprise, this is what the cotton looks like when removing this polish. Where did all that gold go?

Do you love this polish as much as I do?


Lani

Norway Nails Nail Art Diabetes Awareness Contest Entry (2013)

Hello everyone!

This was my entry for the Norway Nails Nail Art Diabetes Awareness Contest in 2013. As you might have seen on facebook, I didn't win. You can see the winner manicure here. :-) I'm going to write a little about diabetes, and give you some links. Just click on the blue words if you want to know more. To read about this nail art, scroll down.

This is is a part of what Wenche, from Norway Nails (sells indie nail polish), wrote about why she chose to host this nail art contest:

"In october last year I were diagnosed with Diabetes 2 - the 14th of November are the World Diabetes day. I think it's important to spread awareness around this disease and how to prevent getting it and to manage it if you already got it. 

So - I'm putting up a nail art contest that will run from today until the 13th of november."

(I hope it's ok that i added the links above.)

Very short about diabetes:

Diabetes is a serious illness. It has to do with too little production of insulin or that insulin cannot be processed, and the glucose level gets too high. If you have diabetes, you can get many other deceases later in your life, if the long-term glucose levels are high. One thing you have to pay close attention to is wounds, because wounds can take longer to heal if you suffer from diabetes. There are very many types of diabetes.

These 3 are the main types of diabetes:

Type 1 is the most serious, and you will need injections with insulin to stay alive. Luckily the insulin pen was invented, and that made it much easier to regulate the insulin level and it allows people to be more free regarding to what they can eat, and they no longer have to stay on a very strict diet. Many get it early in life, and that can be a challenge. I still remember how my friend cried when she had to get her injections when she was a child. It can also be a challenge for adolescents to stay on a very strict diet and to not be able to party like their friends.

Type 2 diabetes is the most common (90%), and it often affects people who are overweight. Many can get well by simply loosing weight. This type of diabetes can in many cases be prevented by living a healthy life and maintaining a normal weight. But people in the world are getting bigger and bigger, and that makes diabetes a huge problem worldwide. 

Gestational diabetes (GDM) affects 25% of all pregnant women. Although many get well after giving birth, it's important to be aware of it, because it can lead to complications for both child and mother.

What you should do:

Be aware of the symptoms.

Get your glucose level checked every year. Remember to not eat the day you take the test. This can be measured in urin or a blodtest. And ask for both a glucose test and a HbA1c test (measures long term glucose level).

Be aware of the risk factors.

I also found this link: How Does Obesity Cause Type 2 Diabetes?

About the nails:

I wanted to use LilypadLacquer: Blueberry, a blue jelly, because blue is the color for diabetes awareness. And because I got it as a free sample when I bought something from Norway Nails. And because making a "stampwich" was the weekly challenge in a stamping group back then. I used images with a curve going up and down, like the glucose level.

Products used:

LilypadLacquer: Blueberry
Emily de Molly: Belissima
Konad SN White
MoYou London: Suki Collection 08

What I did:

This was a year ago, so I don't remember exactly how many layers of the jelly I used, but I stamped between the coats of the blue jelly. On the thumb I put glitter between the layers. So this is a glitter sandwich and my first jelly stampwich. Emily de Molly describes the glitter in Bellissima as "Holographic silver, matte pink and holographic lavender dots and hexes". It has a clear base, and the silver and pastel colored glitter is perfect for jelly sandwiches. The stamping wasn't perfect, so I used a brush and white to try to make it perfect.

I bought the jelly and the glitter from Norway Nails.

Everything is 50% off if you use the code BLACK on Norway Nails tomorrow; Friday the 28th of November 2014! (00.01- 23.59. CET) She has international shipping. If you want to try the Norwegian brand Linda Johansen, I recommend Razzle Dazzle and Lilac Lilly.


Lani

#31Nails2014 #10 Favorite Movie - stamping nail art

Hello everyone!

It was difficult to decide which movie I like best, and that's one of the reasons why I didn't complete the 31 Day challenge... So now I tried to narrow it down to the movies I've seen most times; The Wedding Date, National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, the first Harry Potter movie, Avatar, the Back to the Future Trilogy I & II & III, but I couldn't pick only one of the Back to the Future movies... I chose "The Wedding Date" because it's a movie that makes me smile. I remember a day when I was very sad, and I sat down and watched it 3 times. It's very funny, romantic, a little sad sometimes, the actors are doing a fantastic job, and it has a happy ending. :-) If you see it, notice that Kat has the same mum that you might know as Charlie and Allan's mum in Two and a half men.

The movie is from 2005, but if you have access to VH1, you can watch it on TV December 5th and 6th.

I was going to show you a trailer, but I think it shows too much of what happens. So I'll just leave you with a list of the products I used:

Duri Rejuvacote (base coat)
Color Club: #997 Over the Moon - blue
LilypadLacquer: Purple People Eater - purple
Picture Polish: Bridget - red
Pretty Serious: 88MPH - aluminium
XL stamper
Konad: SN Black - stamping polish
MoYou London: Comics Collection - 05 (love couple)
MoYou London: Roxy Collection - 07 (man)
Bundle Monster: BM - 421 (film)
Seche Vite

I bought the Color Club polish on eBay. The other 3 were bought from Norway Nails.

I tried to do "Favorite Movie Nails", but it turned into "Favorite MovieS Nails" instead. As you see I used 88MPH on my pinkie, which is inspired by the car/ time machine in the Back to the Future trilogy, and I'm a big fan, so I had to include it. And I used Bridget on my ring finger, which was inspired by the Bridget Jones movies. The colors are also symbolic. The color blue is used a lot in the Wedding Date, but also in Avatar. And purple is maybe my favorite color, but...  ...I'm going to try to stop writing now....

Last year in the Norway Nails giveaway, I was also asked what my favourite movie is, and then I answered "Midnignt in Paris" which I love, and it's one of the best movies I've seen. But I've only seen it twice... and it would be difficult to try to paint the amazing poster...

Now I'm very curious. What's your favorite movie? And which movie is the best movie ever?

Lani

#52WPNMC - BROWN - Caramel Apple Nails - inspired by @polishpdxnails - #31Nails2014 Day 13: DRIP & Day 31: Recreate someone else's mani

Hello everyone!

This is supposed to look like red, green and yellow apples with caramel. I've never tasted caramel apples, but I love caramel, and when I saw a photo of  @polishpdxnails' Caramel Apple Nails, I wanted to try too. I had bought a caramel colored polish, and I should have done it then, when my nails were super short, and looked more like round apples.

With Seche Vite over the "caramel"

This nail art is for 3 challenges:

*BROWN is the theme for this week in the 52 Day challenge: The 52 Week PICK N MIX Challenge (#52WPNMC).

*And DRIP was the theme for Day 13 in the 31 Day challenge I tried to do in January: Nails Magazine's 31 Days of Nail Art Challenge 2014 (#31Nails2014). Better late than never, right?

*And #31Nails2014 Day 31: Recreate someone else's mani. @polishpdxnails' Caramel Apple Nails lookes more like the picture below, so I kind of made my own version.

Products used:

Base:
OPI: My Boyfriend Scales Walls - white
Yes Love: #007 - pastel green (pinkie & index finger)
Yes Love: #008 - yellow/ pastel orange (thumb & middle finger)
Yes Love: F21 - pastel coral (ring finger)

For the rough gradient:
Fan brush & non woven swabs
A stamping plate as pallette
GOSH: 610 Blissful - red
H&M: Amazon - bright green
Gina Tricot: #17 Aspen gold - yellow
HEMA: #443 - pastel yellow
HK Girl top coat
GOSH #600 Matte Effect top coat

For the caramel drip:
OPI: Going My Way Or Norway - pastel brown
Seche Vite top coat

The Yes Love nail polish was bought on the Friday market in Mogan, Gran Canaria. It was only 1 Euro for each! :-)

Lani

An InLinkz Link-up

#52WPNMC - Domestic Animals - Water decals

Hello everyone!

I've been looking forward to this theme because I had planned to make pet nails; horse-, dog-, cat-, or rabbit nails. These are all "domestic animals", which was the theme in the 52 week challenge before we made "wild animals". This turned out a little more childish than planned... so I made it even more girly... and added hearts... and glitter... and ended up with too much glitter...

The animals and hearts are all water decals that I've bought from Born Pretty Store. The green nail polish is H&M Amazon. You can see it swatched below, and how this manicure evolved:

H&M Amazon is a bright medium green. This is 2 easy coats.

Then I made a gradient with H&M Mint Madness, a pastel green, and applied top coat before using the water decals. I used different top coats to avoid problems.

I didn't like the gradient, so I covered it with Orly Sparkling Garbage. I made a test on the thumb, and found out that I shouldn't cover the water decals. I think I used H&M Pink bling bling over the entire nail.

So I used a dotting tool and Sparkling Garbage on the other fingers.

And then I covered everything with INM Northern Lights instead of the bigger Orly glitter:

Ott- Lite

fluorescent light

LED lamp

When should I have stopped? 

I didn't want to lie and say; "I'm 9!" or that "I work with animals/ children" or explain about the 52 Day Challenge..., in case someone saw it, so I didn't wear this for very long.

Lani

#52WPNMC - Yellow Roses - freehand nail art - BB's Autumn Challenge

Hello everyone!

"Yellow" is one of the themes in the 52 Week PICK N MIX Challenge this week, but I made this when "yellow" was the theme in the Blogger Bragger Autumn Nail Art Challenge. The base is Deborah Lippmann: Flowers In Her Hair, and the yellow roses and the leafs are painted with acrylic craft paint and a toothpick. Some photos are taken before I added INM Northern Lights, and some are with the holo microglitter. So this is a mint and yellow version of my Vintage Flowers nails.

One photo of how I made this:

The finished nail art:

I've used this polish before, for my LIVE ♥ laugh ♥ love nails.

Thank you for visiting my blog!


Lani

An InLinkz Link-up