Beyond nail polish

Hola chicas! He estado pensando en expandir un poco mi blog, que hasta ahora ha sido exclusivamente de esmaltes y nail-art. Pero con mi afición a los esmaltes nació el interés por el maquillaje. No es que sea experta ni nada, pero me encantaría compartir este viaje de aprendizaje con ustedes, así que voy a empezar a postear reviews o "looks" ocasionalmente. Aún estoy trabajando en los detalles técnicos (porque sacarse fotos una misma con una dSLR no es tan fácil como parece jajaja) pero ya tengo algo listo para el próximo post, así que estén atentas por favor. Muchas gracias por leer!

Hi guys! Sorry it's been a bit quiet here. I am still doing my nails, but since it's winter, they're not in the best shape and I feel kinda ashamed to take pics (last post took forever to get done). Anyway, today's post is to let you know that I've been thinking about branching out this blog to other types of makeup beyond nail polish.

A couple years back I bit my nails very hard and had really low self-esteem.  Letting my nails grow changed all that and, thanks to my love for nail polish, I started looking at other kinds of makeup. I am by no means an expert, but I'm always learning and I'd like to share my learning process with you guys.

I'm still working on the technical side of it. Taking self-portraits with a dSLR is not as easy as one might think LOL. But I already have something ready for my next post, so please stay tuned. Thanks for reading!

Butter London Knackered

Hola chicas! Hoy les traigo el último de los Butter London que recibí a finales de Enero (ufff!!). Butter London es una marca de esmaltes proveniente de USA, B3F y cruelty-free. Knackered es un color tornasol verde-violeta con partículas holográficas y una base ligeramente tintada, pero que no es opaco por sí mismo (por lo que use Victoriana, de la misma marca, como base). Actualmente estos esmaltes no es posible conseguirlos en Chile -hasta donde yo sé-, pero en USA lo venden en tiendas como ULTA, Sephora y Nordstrom.

Hello girls! Today I bring the last of the Butter Londons I received way back in January. Knackered is a green-violet duochrome with holographic glitters in a sheer, tinted base. Or in Butter London's words (from their site): "A sheer, twinkling oyster shade flecked with micro glitter particles. This duochrome nail lacquer is sure to please"

I took so much in taking pics of this polish because I really had a hard time finding the perfect base for it. I tried black, indigo blue, silver, dark grey, medium and dark teal, etc. While all those combinations were really pretty, none satisfied my wish for it to look on my nails like it did in the bottle. In my frustration I asked Makeup Up Alley's Nail Board for suggestions and someone recommended Victoriana. And behold, it's perfect!

For this pictures I used one coat of Knackered over two coats of Victoriana along with my regular favorites: Essence Studio Nails 24/7 Nail Base and Better Than Gel Nails Top Sealer.

This polish reminded me a lot of Ascalon in the sense that it's never boring. While in the shade/indoors the duochrome is very eye-catching and visible and then, when you're outside in the sun, the holo sparkles and the violet shift catch you by surprise so it's never boring. Also both are violet-to-green duochromes with holographic sparkles, but Ascalon's base is much more gray and opaque and the holographic effect is a little more linear.

The holographic sparkle was a bit shy on my pictures because we barely had any sunshine the day I took these, but is very visible under direct daylight.

Blurry shot to show sparkle -sorta

Anyway I hope you liked this combination and give Knackered a second chance if it's frustrating you as much as it did to me.

What's the polish you've had more trouble with but you were determined to make work?

I have a surprise for my next post, so stay tuned. Hint: it's not about nail polish! Until then, take care and thanks for reading~