Liebster Blog Award.

Heya. I was recently tagged by Lozza Nailed It! - many thanks :)! I've been a little busy, so I haven't responded to this earlier, but now that there's time.. here goes!

Here are the rules:

1. Each person tagged/nominated must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They then must also answer the 11 questions the 'tagger' has set for them.
3. Then they must create 11 more questions to ask the bloggers they have decided to tag.
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post.
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told.
6. There's no tag backs.
Scroll down to the bottom for my questions!

11 Things about me:

1. Despite not being much of an anime fan, I joined a friend of mine to the Abunai convention yesterday, cosplaying a humanised Twilight Sparkle from My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, with my friend as Pinkie Pie.
2. I have rather an obsessive personality. I collect a great deal of things, and nail polish (obviously) is one of them. 
3. I'm a massive science-fiction fan. I'm a Trekkie first, and everything else second.
4. I try to limit the amount of greens, purples and blues I wear on my nails for the sake of variety in my posts, but more often than not fail miserably. 
5. I wish I was more motivated to do the kind of more elaborate nail art I used to do, but at the present it's just not happening.
6. I went to Stanley Kubrick | The Exhibition in the Eye in Amsterdam a short while ago, and was very excited to see original props from A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, 2001: A Space Oddyssey etc.
7. I love playing Guitar Hero. Preferably, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
8.  At present I have 7 bottles of nail polish standing on my desk that I really ought to neatly put away.
9. Good lord how do people get through 11 of these? I'm really boring. There's a model of Chakotay's Val Jean Maquis raider (Star Trek: Voyager) standing on my desk
10. Because I have skinny fingers, I have a really hard time finding affordable rings that fit, so I don't wear them very often.
11. I'm the oldest of four. My younger brother and I (the oldest) are redheads. Our younger sisters are both blonde.

Questions to answer:
1. What is your favourite nail art design that you have ever created?
Probably the Sherlock Holmes one. As is probably apparent to those that read my posts regularly, I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan, so this wasn't a hard choice.

2. What is your Go-To nail polish at the moment?
Hmm. That's a hard one, because I currently have *a lot* of untrieds that I'm attempting to get through. I have a go-to colour, though - when in doubt, go green.

3.What us your biggest pet-hate when it comes to nail art?
Basically, the fact that I'm not ambidextrous. What I do on my left hand, I cannot guarantee I will be able to recreate on my right. I'm a lover of symmetry, but I often don't repeat a design on the nails of my right hand simply because I worry it'll end up looking shoddy as hell.
In other people's nail art, it always bothers me if it's nicely done, and nailbeds are covered in polish. Really, you just spent ages on your nails, can you not clean them up a little before presenting them to the world?

4. How much did your most espensive nail polish cost?
I have polishes of a fairly high retail value - Dior, YSL, etc. - but those were largely given to me by my also nail polish obsessed aunt. The most expensive ones I've bought myself are probably Koh and OPI (~€14).

5. Why did you start blogging?
I love doing detailed nail art which I posted on deviantART, but I wanted to just ramble on about this passion as well, and just swatches have no place on deviantart in my opinion. I needed a place to express all these polish-related thoughts, and blogging allows me to do that without getting any of my friends mad at me for not shutting up about it ;).

6. Do you ever feel guilty about the amount of nail polishes you own?
To be honest - yes, terribly. I have some 150+ polishes, and I once calculated that the value of them would lie above 300 euros. That's absolutely ridiculous. It's selfish vanity and I often feel quite bad for it. I try not to buy so much nail polish anymore, because I have so many already. Yet I mostly fail.
7. Do you have any HTF (Hard To Find) Nail polishes? If so, what are they?
Not to my knowledge.

8. Have you ever been nominated for a blog award before?
Nope! First time.

9. Do you have any tips for new bloggers?
Post regularly and at a set schedule, so people know what to expect.
I do neither of these things; do as I say, not as I do.
10. What is your favourite fashion trend at the moment?
I'm not much of a fashiony person so I honestly wouldn't know what any contemporary fashion trends are.
I've recently embraced the concept of shorts to a degree? Is that still a thing..? God, it's almost September. I don't know!
11. Do you have a polish in your collection that you have never used? If so, name it! :) 
Oh, yeah. Quite a few. I have tons of untrieds. If you go to 'My Stash' there's a lot of polishes I've never tried, really. Workin' on it.

Okay now, admittedly, this is the point I hate about being tagged - tagging others. I'm always afraid I'll just be annoying people. So uh, apologies in advance if you have no interest in doing this; I'm hardly forcing you.
Leviosa Nails
NailTalk
My World
Polish Art Addiction
Pandora's Nails
We Heart Nailpolish
Nailopedia
That's uh, that's gonna be it from me. I am choosing to completely ignore the ''tag others' criteria. I don't actually know all that many blogs, and a few of these are Dutch, so for your convenience, the questions; bilingually!

Questions for you:

1. How did your interest in nail polish begin?
2. Did you think it would go 'as far' as it did?
3. What do those around you think of your interest in nail polish?
4. When you're not blogging, what's your favourite thing to do? 
5. Do you prefer elaborate designs or simple and stylish manicures?
6. Have you ever considered giving up blogging? Why did you stick with it?
7. Are there any polishes in your collection you have an emotional connection to? If so, why?
8. What's the longest you can go without doing your nails?
9. What's the highest amount you're willing to spend on any single bottle of polish?
10. Is there a style of nail art you've always been dying to try, but haven't dared (for whichever reason)?
11. Which polish is your ultimate must-have?

Vragen voor jou:

1. Hoe is je interesse in nagellak begonnen?
2. Heb je ooit gedacht dat het 'zo ver' zou gaan?
3. Wat denken de mensen om je heen van je interesse in nagellak?
4. Wat is je favoriete activiteit buiten het bloggen?
5. Heb je liever uitgebreide ontwerpen, of simpel en stylish nail art?
6. Heb je er ooit over nagedacht het bloggen op te geven? Waarom bleef je het toch doen?
7. Zijn er lakken in je verzameling waarmee je een emotionele connectie hebt? Zo ja, waarom?
8. Hoe lang kun je gaan zonder je nagels te doen?
9. Wat is het hoogste bedrag dat je bereid bent uit te gevan aan één flesje nagellak?
10. Is er een stijl van nail art die je altijd al hebt willen proberen, maar nooit hebt aangedurfd (voor welke reden dan ook?)
11. Welke nagellak is jouw ultieme must-have?

Essence - Cotton Candy

I found myself at the cosmetics aisle, ogling all the Essence polishes in their pretty new bottles. I rationalised buying one with "but I've never tried a nude polish!". So here it is; Essence Nude Glam '03 - Cotton Candy'.

I'm really liking the new bottles!
And I love the detail of the 'E' on top! Really makes it uniquely identifiable, which is always a good thing in brand marketing. Admittedly though, it also brings up associations with De Efteling.

8 ml as opposed to their regular 5, which is nice, I suppose. Can't say too much about it because I don't think I've ever actually finished an Essence polish..

The brush is definitely an improvement in my book; it now leans more to the flat, rounded brush thing we were already used to from Catrice polishes and the like. For me, the grip on the brush is better as well.
Makes application smoother and it's easier to apply the polish more neatly. Good move, Essence!

In the end, though, I don't think nudes are really my thing. Don't get me wrong - this polish is a fine one and I have no complaints about the application, generally. I just happen to think nudes look better on shorter nails, and I simply prefer having mine long. On long nails, you see too much nail shining through. I'm really a stickler for complete and total opaqueness in my polishes, so anything sheer just makes me cringe. In shorter nails it wouldn't be so visible/painfully obvious.

 So.. to summarise the mixed feeling -
I like this polish,

I just don't like this polish on me.

Another one of those.

This is my 50th post! Woohoo!

I say 'Another one of those' because this is another what I refer to as a half rhombus mani (also called a v-gap and several other things but I think half rhombus sounds about 20% cooler.). I really love them. This is the fourth I've done, I think. On we go!

It's Dior '903 - Black Ink', which is a dark blue that in most light - as implied - looks basically black.
Not the world's neatest mani, but I'm content with it. Only one layer of Black Ink over a lighter polish, so it doesn't look totally black. After years of wearing mostly black nail polish, I now rarely do.

Would you look at that stunning blue shimmer? It looks MARVELOUS out in the sun, it really does.
Deep, dark polishes really look their best in the brightest sun, don't you think? A little ironic perhaps, but I'll roll with it.

The polish underneath, however, I'm not so happy about. It's '04 - The Dawn is Broken' from Essence's Vampire's Love LE. I had an unfair prejudice against this polish to begin with because I don't care for Twilight in the slightest, and the dislike turned somewhat justified when it turned out I don't like this polish. At all.
Yuck. It looks gritty and it reminds me of cement. I sort of like the general idea of the polish, but it just doesn't look right. Largely hidden under the Dior polish I don't mind it so much, though. Still think I won't be using it again any time soon.

Small Shoplog

Heya!
I have on occasion been described as somebody that buys too many things. I probably am. Ordinarily, nail polish, books and DVDs - but here some other things I thought I'd share!

This necklace. Isn't it beautiful? I'm really very fond of old-timey, Victorian-looking things. I like this necklace because it's subtly steampunk, but still very much something you can wear on a daily basis without looking out of place. This is just something I stumbled upon in a shop I've been visiting since I was about 12 or so, and if you want one (or one like it - there's a variety) you can order them online at Dominia.

 

Yeah, yeah, August is almost halfway over and she still buys a pair of shorts. For long periods of time I was very strongly opposed against the idea of wearing shorts. Then I fell in love with this pair. The colour is just absolutely beautiful and I had to have them. I briefly despaired seeing they only had S and L left (figuring one would be too small and the other much too big) but I fit in the S with room to spare so I got my shorts after all! 

I am seriously lacking in trousers on which the zipper isn't broken, so, yeah. Haven't taken the tags off. Still unsure about whether to return them or not.

I guess I'm still a goth kid at heart? I've always wanted a pair of these. Doubt I'll actually where them much.. but who knows? Maybe when it gets colder, but not cold enough for proper gloves. Or Halloween.

Slay'er.

Frooommmm... March or so? Essence Vampire's Love LE '01 - Gold Old Buffy' with some gold crosses because just the polish job bored me a bit.
Old picture, old polish, boring post, but I still had the picture around.

I'm Blue...

...Da ba dee.. sorry. I'm a child of the 90's. This Eiffel 65 song is so deeply ingrained into my subconscious I am never, ever going to be able to rid myself of it. I've tried avoiding it as a title until now, but what the hey.

Here we have a layering experiment that looks like a lighter shade, budget version of Midnight Blue. If you think that's somehow a good thing, I would actually recommend just handing out the money for Midnight Blue.
This 2True polish was an untried, and I have a few polishes from this budget brand that I'm really very pleased with, but this isn't one of them. It would have taken a gajillion layers to get even the slightest hint of opaqueness, so I grabbed the Miss Sporty polish to give it a foundation to build on. It's not that clear in the pictures, but you can still see a lot of nail shining through. Ah well, can't win 'em all.

So shiny, though!

Fes & Santiago

Heya. I haven't blogged in a while and I apologise - I've gotten a job, spent time with my boyfriend, and unfortunately nearly every polish job I've worn recently has backfired on me, or crackled before my lazy butt got around to taking any photographs. So here to slightly redeem myself, I am finally writing up a post swatching these two W.I.C. polishes, Fes (left; after the city in Morocco) and Santiago (right; after the city in Chile).

I wasn't in the mood for nail art that took time, but thought a single colour would be a bit boring.. so, trying out these untrieds - here we go!

As you can see, Santiago retains a slight sheerness even after (if memory serves) three or so coats. It's not incredibly problematic in this polish, and looks good generally despite this. In all, I don't think it's really my colour to be honest, but it's a fine enough polish in itself.

Now, personally, I really like Fes. There's something about the appearance of texture there that I am loving so, so much. It reminds me, oddly enough, of carpets. It's not really very shimmery, but still has some depth to it, by lack of better description. I like it!

What do you think of these two?