Monday 11 November 2013

Miss this!

Hello readers!

I am not sure if you miss me - but I surely miss blogging. Ever since my camera got stolen (read the story here) I haven't been able to take good pictures of my nails. I am still painting them and my stash is still growing... If I find a nice, affordable camera I will definitely get back to blogging right away! I thought that my blog would slowly bleed to death but it still gets daily visitors and comments on my ancient posts :). It makes me happy to see that people are still paying attention to my little blog.

What is really weird is that L'Ongleterre had it's first BLOGAVERSARY (or it blogoversary?) and I didn't even get to celebrate! I posted my first nail art on September 25 last year!

Did it ever happen to you that you started a project, were very passionate about it but you all of a sudden just stopped working on it?

I hope to be writing a new post soon!

Eva

p.s: this my current obsession: goodreads.com... who else is on Goodreads? Feel free to add me, we could discuss nail polish and books! Or books about nail polish... :)




Tuesday 13 August 2013

~ Kiko Sugar mat #644 (Sea blue) ~

Hello nail polish lovers! Today I would like to show you one of Kiko's Sugar mat polishes.

Wednesday 7 August 2013

~ This is it 'Siona Island' ~

Hello nail polish lovers :)! Here I am again, with some bad news but a nice polish to show you!

Bumped my index... argh ^^

Wednesday 3 July 2013

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (5) using a technique you haven't tried before (failed)

I was afraid that I was going to fail at this part of the challenge... something I haven't tried before.. when was the last time something went right the first time I tried it? Like I expected.. this manicure is quite a fail. It was supposed to be a spotted water marble... yup...

Monday 24 June 2013

Strangely Transforming Mr Nail polish (#25)

It's been a while since I showed you the purple €1,- Mr Nail polish. This time, I would like to present to you its pretty sister (or brother?); Mr Nail #25.

Saturday 22 June 2013

Budget Love with MAX Peach

I went to Action last week (a very cheap Dutch department store), and I was happy to see that their nail polishes were on sale! I bought three nice shades for €0,39 each (their usual price is €0,59). The first one I'm going to show you is 'Peach'.

Monday 17 June 2013

Born Pretty Store glow in the dark polish

I'm so happy that I'm finally able to write a new blog post again! Today I'm going to show you a polish with a lovely shade and a special quality: it's glow in the dark!

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Under Construction

Yep.. it's that time again.. I'm trying to change the look of my blog but I'm not satisfied yet so there's going to be some changes the next few days :)

Just wanted to warn you, have a nice day! :)


Sunday 9 June 2013

Other uses of nail polish #3

Time for the third edition of other uses of nail polish (here are #1 and #2)! I really like making these posts and I hope you enjoy reading them. I'm sorry about not posting in a while. I was just so busy with studying... and I bet I'm not the only one :) Good luck to everyone who has to do exams of any kind. Now for the nice DIY's!

1) Heres a fun idea for fashionista's who are not afraid to use quite an amount of polish. For a bigger image visit the original post.



Friday 31 May 2013

Soft peachy gradient

Hello there! I want to show you my second attempt at gradient nails today! Last time I used three entirely different shades. This time I wanted to pick shades that were more alike to create a nice, smooth gradient look. 

Tuesday 28 May 2013

Giveaway winner...

The reader who won the polish from the 'a polish I hate..' - post is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats Katrien! I sent you an e-mail! Katrien has a nice blog herself, check it out here. I'm curious what nice nail art she might make using the Maybelline polish :)

I want to thank all others who joined the giveaway. I thought it was an exciting thing to do and I'll probably do it again sometimes!

Sunday 26 May 2013

~ Hema Holographic Bordeaux ~

Hola! Holo in tha house today!



My cousin asked me what I would like as a birthday present and I named the new Hema Holographic polishes. She got me Bordeaux & Copper and I'm so happy with them! Although these don't have the strongest holo effect they are very very pretty and budget friendly, being sold at €3,75.

I took way to many pictures and I was thinking: me having to choose between all these pictures takes more time + energy than you guys scrolling a littttleeee bit more than usually!

Thursday 23 May 2013

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (4) A polish that you grabbed randomly

Soft sunlight
For this part of the 2013 Nail Art Challenge I decided not to grab a random polish but to create a random number and use that to pick a polish from my stash file. I did this because I know that I will never be able to fully randomly grab a polish since not all bottles are the same size/shape. I also didn't want to ruin the order in my Helmer. Anyway, the number I got was:

Wednesday 22 May 2013

Nail Care Essential: Essence Express dry drops

A while ago I wrote about my favourite nail polish remover. Essence does not only make great removers. I love their nail art supplies and polishes, and a product that deserves special attention are the 'express dry drops'. This picture probably shows how much I like this stuff:


That's three finished bottles and two back ups!
I don't know exactly HOW this stuff works... but it works. It doesn't harden your nails faster - it just makes them dry really fast. I like this because by applying these drops, you make sure that no dust, (cat) hair, or small weird fabric-thingies coming of your clothing will stick to your nail polish. Don't you just hate when that happens?? The express dry drops will solve all your problems :). They make your polish dry faster and leave a wet/greasy layer on the top. Everything will just stick onto that layer and you can simply wipe it off. Here is a video I made (I'm sorry about the awkward angle) to show you how well this stuff works:


Thank you Essence, for another great product!


Oh, by the way, I also tried the express dry spray, but I definitely prefer the drops, because
  1. The spray doesn't last as long as the drops.
  2. It's more expensive. The drops cost €1,99 whereas the spray costs  €2,79.
  3. Most of the spray ends up being inside my lungs rather than on my nails.
Do you own any quick drying drops/sprays? 



Saturday 18 May 2013

I'm on Twitter now...

That's right. I never thought this would happen... But I made a Twitter account! My main reason was that I'd love to increase my chances at giveaways (I never win anything and it would be so nice to win something hehe :D). A lot of the times there are extra options like following/sharing on Twitter and Instagram, sometimes these are even mandatory which then made it impossible for me to join the competition.

I am not sure yet how often I will use this or how much I will post, but I'd sure love to follow other nail polish lovers and talk tweet about our obsession!

Find me at https://twitter.com/Ongleterre



Friday 17 May 2013

~ OPI Jinx ~

My sweetest boyfriend gave me the beautiful OPI Jinx for my birthday (I turned 20 yesterday!). We both can't stop staring at it. You have probably already seen a zillion pictures of the OPI bond girls collection... and you probably also read that Jinx looks 'way better in real life' and that everybody just loves it, well, it just won't stop and I hope you haven't had enough of this polish yet, because here are my pictures and opinion of Jinx. Jinx's base seems to be pink/coral, white the shimmer is orange and gold. This combination makes Jinx a lovely, sparkly, bright, coral stunner. I applied two coats. All pictures were taken outside in natural light unless stated otherwise! :)

Thursday 16 May 2013

Spring time flower nails with pictorial

(Without top coat)
I am so happy with this manicureeee :D I hope it will make you happy too! I spotted these awesome nails on Caroline Burke's blog. Thanks Caroline for doing such pretty nail design every time, I copied one of your designs before and now I'm doing it again :)! It seems like a lot of nail art bloggers copy designs from others without sharing the source. I think that's rude so if I like and 'steal' your design I'll always let you know and I hope you do the same with me! Now let's start talk about this manicure, and show you way too many pictures ^^.

Tuesday 14 May 2013

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (3) A polish you hate + GIVEAWAY (of that polish)

That's right people. I decided I dislike this polish so much that I think it deserves a better owner. I'm honestly never going to use it again so I hope somebody out there would like to adopt it! The funny thing is that I also got this from somebody else so this will be a travelling polish! It's already been to Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.

Me no likey...

Saturday 11 May 2013

Other uses of nail polish #2

Click here for the first edition!

Time for a new 'other uses of nail polish'! I found some awesome DIY's :)

1) Making nail decals using craft punches. I found this DIY on this blog.

Mia Secret Pink to Peach - colour changing nail polish :D

 Recently, I somehow came across a lot of pictures and video's of colour changing nail polishes. I own two polishes that change in the sun, one that glows under black light, two glow in the darks and one 'mood polish', that changes with the temperature: Mia Secret 'Pink to Peach'. I realized that I only wore that last one two times max (maybe just once) and I thought: why not give it a try again?

Thursday 9 May 2013

Apple nails with Essence L.O.L and a Born Pretty Store image plate


Who else loves nail art that involves fruit? Fruit makes everything look so happy and nice :). I got a new image plate from Born Pretty that I hadn't tried yet, so I decided to use it for the first time and I picked the image I liked best. I also used my newest Essence polish for the first time. Meet L.O.L, one of the weirdest, most original nail polishes I've ever seen...

Natural light

Friday 3 May 2013

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (2) A polish that's your favourite

Hello there! It's time for the second part (challenge? stage? what shall I call this?) of the 2013 Nail Art Challenge. It was too hard to pick my ultimately favourite nail polish so I decided to use the favourite that was most recently added to my collection: Catrice Mint Me Up. Beware: this post has a  LOT of pictures.

Monday 29 April 2013

For the Dutchies: Kruidvat nagelfestival!

Kruidvat (Dutch drugstore) is having their 'nagelfestival' (=nail festival) again. This means 1+1 free on most nail products (remover, polish, fake nails and files). I wanted to share this awesome news with my Dutch readers (sorry international readers)!!


1+1 gratis op de meeste nagelproducten! De korting wordt verrekend als 50% korting, wat dus nog voordeliger is dan 1+1 gratis. De actie begint op 30 april.

Saturday 27 April 2013

Nail care essential: Essence nail hardening (and scented!) nail polish remover

Today I'd like to show you one of my nail care essentials: the Essence nail hardening nail polish remover. If you change your nail polish a lot, you can't do without nail polish remover and you probably prefer a cheap one, since it won't last that long. It's best to pick an acetone free one, since it will do less damage to the nails and the skin around them. This nail polish remover is acetone free AND cheap, which makes it just perfect.


What I love about this nail polish remover:
  • It contains castor seed oil
  • It doesn't contain acetone
  • It leaves a really nice scent (strawberry and passion fruit)
  • It works fast
  • It's cheap, €0,99!

Thursday 25 April 2013

Neon zebra/tiger nails

Hello there :)! The weather is getting a little better every day!! Time to take out those neons, I thought.




(More Rawrr-ness after the jump!)

Saturday 20 April 2013

~ Essence Be flowerful ~ ft. hearts (and mini tutorial)

Hello ladies (and gentlemen?)! A few days ago I went to the store to look for the Essence 'Floral Grunge' LE and all products were still there! I bought one of the polishes. It seemed to me like a more pink version of Essie Tart Deco, a polish I would love to own (although I doubt it will look good with my skin).

Soft sunlight
Sunlight

Tuesday 16 April 2013

~ Bourjois Grenadine tonic ~

When I saw this polish on sale (here we go again...) at Etos (Dutch drugstore) I just had to buy it. I had seen it on the internet before and it simply fascinates me!


Saturday 13 April 2013

2013 Nail Art Challenge: (1) A polish you've never used

The 31 day nail challenge. I started it, and I never finished. When I got to the 'black and white' challenge, I just sort of... quit. I don't really like black and white. But... I found a new challenge on the blog Procrasti-nails, made by blog owner Katherine, who did a great job on creating it, thank you Katherine! :) This challenge, the '2013 Nail Art Challenge' has way nicer themes than the 31 DNC and really triggers my imagination and creativity! There's not much creativity involved in this post though, since I simply layered two polishes:

Sunlight

Friday 12 April 2013

Other uses of nail polish #1

Hello precious polishers! Two days ago I was reading a lot about those 'life hack' and 'smart DIY' projects. I love those! Sometimes I start reading posts of that kind and I just can't stop... While looking through all the fun projects I came across some that involved nail polish.

I guess all of my readers own nail polish, so I thought: why not share these ideas with them? They might be helpful. And fun to look at. So here is a post that will become the first in a (small) series of 'other uses of nail polish'-posts. I hope you'll enjoy! (I'm sorry about lying; I wrote that my next post would be part of a challenge... that one will come though - promise!)

1) The first thing I want to share doesn't really involve using nail polish, but it does involve using the concept:



Tuesday 9 April 2013

~ German-icure by OPI ~

Once again, my boyfriend bought me a lovely polish and I am very thankful :). This is a polish from the OPI Germany collection from fall 2012, described as 'the best burgundy shimmer in the business'. Read on to see if that claim has been rightfully made!

Saturday 6 April 2013

~ Mr Nail #20 ~ ft. flakies

Hello dear readers! I was really excited to try one of the Mr Nail polishes I ordered at Alice & Jo, and I'm also excited to show you the swatches because I think this is a great polish, especially for it's price (€1,-!).


Wednesday 3 April 2013

Born Pretty Store giveaway

Born Pretty store is having this huge giveaway on their blog!

They're giving away three sets of prices. All contain new products.


Click here to see the post :)
Good luck to you all!

Tuesday 2 April 2013

~ Essie Cute as a button ~

Hello polish lovers :)!! Two days ago I wanted to paint my nails with one of my favourite polishes: Essie Cute as a button. Unfortunately, I got sick but today I finally applied this lovely shade.

Wednesday 27 March 2013

New: Ciaté chalkboard nails


Did you see this yet?


Maybe you did but I really wanted to share this! After caviar, foil and velvet kits Ciaté launches this 'chalkboard nail' kit. It contains a black base colour, four chalk pens and a mattifying top coat.

I think this is pretty awesome but I wonder if there is a way to recreate this without having to buy this kit... Any ideas? (:

Norwegian Bad Boys That Surf (sounds good right?)

Hey guys! I'm sorry if this is getting boring - but here is another blue manicure! I treated myself at H&M yesterday and bought two new nail polishes, a cute coral one and the one I'm using today: Norwegian Sky. I keep thinking it's called Norwegian Wood because of The Beatles and Haruki Murakami... Anyway, it's very pretty :).

Sunday 24 March 2013

~ Barry M Ridley Road ~

I OWN RIDLEY ROAD!! Yay :D! I was so excited when my Alice & Jo package arrived! Here is a nice introductional picture:


Natural light

Monday 18 March 2013

My first attempt at gradient nails...

And I think they look pretty cool!! They're not the super-smooth-colour-fading-kind, but I'll try those sometime soon.. with orange/red or.. we'll see! :) For now, I'll be rocking these lilac, pink and mint nails.

Saturday 16 March 2013

Google Reader discontinued

I guess most of you already read this somewhere, but google reader won't be with us anymore as of July 1, 2013. I don't think this will affect Google Friend Connect, so if you follow my blog through GFG nothing is going to change.

If you DO use Google Reader, you can follow me in a lot of other ways, which are in the right sidebar of my blog:
1. Hellocotton. Also a very fun way to find new blogs and communicate with other bloggers. I love Hellocotton's tracking option, where you can view blogposts about stuff you like, also from people you don't follow yet.
2. Bloglovin'. Just super useful! Bloglovin' has a special option now, you can import blogs from Google Reader when you go to your Bloglovin' account settings.
3. RSS. Just pick a different reader than Google Reader ;)
4. Google Friend Connect, to be found in the sidebar (if I'm right about the fact that nothing is changing there)
5. And finally: e-mail. Subscription box is in the sidebar.

I guess Bloglovin' is the best option because it lets you import all your blogs :)

Do you guys have a favorite way of following blogs? I think I like Bloglovin' the best.

Finally, to make this post more fun: here is a very cute and funny pinguïn video:


Tuesday 12 March 2013

Blue Bows on Berries

Hello ladies (and guys? Perhaps?)! Here is another berry manicure ^^. It might not feel like spring yet but me and my nails are just pretending it does :). Today I felt like wearing a polish from the Fruity limited edition by Essence. This LE is from last year and I still love it. Back then I got this indie-brand kind of feel when I saw this polishes, because of their spare glitter. Not very drugstor-y. I used three coats of 'Mashed Berries'. I don't mind that this one needs more layers - the sheerness really gives you that fruit smoothie-like feeling. They look so delicious... and I love how the glitter peeks through the various layers like in a jelly sandwich. I hope you like it too :)



Sunday 10 March 2013

Win OPI, Sayuri and nail art essentials!

Hello dear readers!! I really wanted to tell you that I updated the giveaway page!

I found some awesome giveaways running right now, mostly international, including a giveaway of the 'Oz the great and powerful' collection by OPI and a choice of five polishes by Sayuri (a relatively new brand). I just wanted to share this, and good luck to you all! 



Have a nice day! (:




Thursday 7 March 2013

~ Apple Berry Smoothie ~

I knew I wanted one of Rimmel's new 'Cocktail Colours in a flash' polishes (they were on sale!YAY!), but it was kind of hard to pick one... I'm glad I chose 'apple berry smoothie' though, it is so pretty! It has the perfect 'average blue' shade... not very special but still not boring (grrreaaat description haha)!

Tuesday 5 March 2013

Marc Jacobs polish preview


This is a picture of the nail polish for the upcoming make up collection by Marc Jacobs and Sephora.





http://www.styleite.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/marc-jacobs-nail-polish-1.png 
Don't those bottles just look awesome? Must be hard to flip the brush around though (something I do when there is polish left on the other side of the brush)...

Sunday 3 March 2013

Cute? Check!

Hello nail polish lovers (: Spring seems to be coming and so today I really really felt like wearing pastels! So I grabbed my NYC mint macaroon polish and stamped a golden checker print on the top. The result? A very cute pastel manicure: