The Color Run Splatter Mani

Hola niñas! Hoy quiero compartir una mani muy especial para mi, inspirada en The Color Run, la que se realizó en mi ciudad por primera vez este domingo pasado y en la cual participe. Fue todo un acontecimiento para mí ya que siempre he sido una persona super sedentaria, hasta que empecé a hacer pilates hace unos meses y pensé en desafiarme a mi misma entrenando para correr 5k. Para mi nailart de hoy usé dos capas de Finger Paint Papier Maché como base y luego usé la técnica "splatter" para añadir manchas de colores (básicamente es poner esmalte en una bombilla y soplar fuerte sobre la uña para que caiga la pintura con efecto). Para las manchas usé tres colores: Colorama Amarelo Sol, OPI Flower to Flower y un azul cremoso de Koh. Espero les guste la mani y no olviden pasar después del Read More para ver mis fotos de la corrida :)

Hi guys! Today I want to share with you a nailart I did inspired by a very exciting event, my first ever 5k run! Something like 6 weeks ago I saw a promo for our local version of the very famous The Color Run. And everytime I saw it, I wondered if I could do that. I've always been a very sedentary person, a real couch potato until I picked up Blogilates earlier this year and I was already feeling stronger and healthier.

So I signed up to challenge myself, which means I had 6 weeks to go from not running a block to 5,000mts.

If you want to read more about my running story and see pictures of the actual 5k run click on Read More. If you're here only for the nailart, scroll on!

For my nailart I was inspired by the colorfoul splashes of color that are so characteristic to this run against the white clothing of the runners. And what better way to portray a messy run that with an equally messy nailart technique, so I went for a splatter mani.

I started with two coats of Finger Paints Papier Maché, an easy to work with white creme, as my base. Then I added splashes of color by blowing up paint to my nails using a straw (the splashes get everywhere, so I recommend taping the skin around your nails or using a peel-off basecoat to save on clean up later). The colors I used were: Colorama Amarelo Sol (bright yellow crelly), OPI Flower to Flower (medium cool toned shimmery pink) and a creme baby blue by Koh.

To finish off my mani I topped it all with OPI Matte Top Coat to give it that paint effect. I'm really happy with how this mani turned out as it was my first time attempting the splatter technique.

Now for the fun part, run pics!

Nailart Inspired by a Pen

Hoy les traigo un nailart inspirado por otro de mis hobbies, las estilográficas y el arte. Hace años que uso y colecciono plumas estilográficas y a través de los años que he usado esmaltes a veces por pura coincidencia mis uñas y plumas combinan. Entonces se me ocurrió combinarlos deliberadamente y eso es lo que les presento hoy, un nailart inspirado por una pluma. Como base usé una combinación de Essence Off to Miami y OPI Houston we Have a Purple, para los conejitos Finger Paints Papier Maché y para las flores y detalles esmaltes holográficos de Pupa. Espero les guste, gracias por leer!

Today I want to share with you an idea that's been going around my mind for quite a long time. Other than nail polish, my other hobby is collecting and using fountain pens (and blogging about it too). My fountain pen hobby is older than my nail polish addiction, and over the years I've noticed that sometimes, by chance, my nail polish choices matches my pens in current rotation and this gave me the idea of doing a series of nail arts inspired by them.

This nailart was inspired by a Sailor Calligraphy Brush Pen that my boyfriend got me last year. It is a red plastic body adorned with white bunnies and cherry blossom in metallic colors and gold accents. It's based on the maki-e style that is very popular in Japan and looks very elegant. You can see why I was inmediatly drawn to this pen to recreate, it's just stunning.

My first difficulty was finding a matching base color. Although my collection is extensive, it is very lacking in the red/coral department so I had to get creative to achieve a similar color to the body of the pen. So I started with two coats of Essence Off To Miami! a very bright orangey-coral creme and used one coat of OPI Houston We Have a Purple to tone down the color and make it cooler (since it's a jelly it works well for this purpose).

On my pinky and thumb nails I applied two coats of China Glaze I'm Not Lion as an accent.

Once my base dried I hand-drew the bunnies with Finger Paints Papier Maché using a large dotting tool and a fine striping brush. Then I dabbed in a gold glitter polish (Love & Beauty Gold Rush) in the empty spaces.

Finally I added in my flowers using a silver and a pink holographic polish, for the metallic effect. I used Pupa Holographic Silver and Strawberry with accents of Orly Luxe (my cherry blossoms need some work lol). I also used Pupa Holographic Strawberry to add accent to the bunnies ears and painted the eyes with a dotting tool.

I'm supper happy with how this nailart came out, even if my flowers need some work. Those bunnies are way too cute.

Do you have any hobbies beside nail polish? I'd love to hear about them in the comments :) Thanks for reading!

DIY Nail Polish Rack

Hola niñas! Hoy quiero compartir un proyecto relacionado con el hobby de los esmaltes, porque con tantas botellas de esmaltes de uñas, obviamente necesitamos donde guardarlas, no? Personalmente guardo la mayor parte de mi colección en un cajón de mi escritorio, pero ya me estaba quedando muy justo y tenía muchos esmaltes dando vueltas por ahí. Después de ver varias ideas en Pinteres y saber más o menos lo que quería, le dije a mi pololo si me ayudaba con la construcción de una repisa para esmaltes (porque soy ñurda para esas cosas). El proyecto es muy económico, ya que solamente necesitamos un listón de 1"x2"x3.2m, 2 tarugos estriados de 91x10 y algunos tornillos, para un valor de total de aproximadamente $10.000. Mi repisa tiene dos niveles, unos de aproximdamente 100cms y el segundo que está dividido en dos secciones de 50cms. Decidí poner mis marcas favoritas en la repisa: OPI, Zoya y China Glaze, aparte de algunos sets.

Hello girls! Today I want to share with you my latest nail polish project. Back when I started my collection I told myself that I'd limit myself to one drawer of my desk, but three years later my drawer is overflowing and I needed a nice way to store and display part of my collection to make room in my drawer.

Fortunately DIY Nail Polish Racks are a very popular topic on Pinterest, so I had plenty of resources for inspiration and tutorials. I knew I wanted a small rack because most of the wall space in my room is being used already. Also, I knew that having something to keep bottles from falling was essential, since I live in a seismic area.

Once I had a good idea of what I wanted I talked with my boyfriend and he offered to build the thing (yay!). As for materials, this was a very cheap project since we only needed a wooden lath (1"x2"x3.2mts) and a thin round stick plus screws and it totalled around $20 (I had paint and varnish at home).

We really recommend using screws and not nails (ironically) to hold the rack, we think this will make it much more resistant to the weight of the polishes.

I can't tell you much about the construction process, since it was made by my boyfriend, but I think this was relatively easy for him, because he only needed a couple hours from his day off to finish it. Then we brought it to where I live so I could paint it and finish it off.
At home, the first thing I did was sand the wood to a smooth even finish. Then I painted it with the a matte medium blue latex paint. I used two coats of paint, left it to dry outside for several hours then added clear varnish and left it to dry overnight.

Overall, I'm really happy with how my rack turned out and looks in my bedroom. Obviously, the best part was choosing what polishes to put in it and how to arrange it. 

As you can see the rack is made of two levels: the top level measures 100cms and then the second level is divided in two 50cms sections. 

I ended up choosing to display the brands I had more polishes from: China Glaze, OPI and Zoya. Then I also chose to display some of my sets and special polishes.

This is how the rack looks in my bedroom. I love that hedgehog cushion :)

How do you store your polishes? Have you built yourself a nail polish rack? Thanks for reading!

Inspiration is Everwhere NOTD

Hola chiquillas! Hoy les traigo la muestra fehaciente de que la inspiración está en todos lados. El nailart de hoy está inspirado en... mi pijama! Siempre me ha gustado la combinación de colores y líneas que tiene así que ayer me decidí y llevé el diseño a mis uñas. Como base usé a-england Galahad y Finger Paints Papier Maché. Para las franjitas de color de los accent usé Essence Miss Lavender, Essie Splash of Grenadine, Galahad y Orly Gumdrop.

Hello girs! Today I bring you a mani that I did to prove that you can truly find inspiration everywhere. Today's nailart was inspired by... my pj's! I have a fleece striped pajamas that is my favorite for the winter time, and I've always loved the color combo and the stripes together and I always thought "wow, this could make a cool nailart!". So finally yesterday I got to translate the design to my nails.

As a base I used a-england Galahad, except on my accent nails for which I used Finger Paints Papier Maché. Galahad is very easy to work with and almost applies itself on my nails, but my Papier Maché is kinda old and thick and gloopy so it was a bit more difficult to apply (couldn't find my thinner).

For the stripes on the accents I used four colors: Essence Miss Lavender, Essie Splash of Grenadine, a-england Galahad and Orly Gumdrop. I waited for the base color to dry thoroughly (which was a challenge, I am very impatient with nailart lol) then I applied little bits of striping tape and filled in between the tape with my colors. Then I removed the tape inmediatly.

However, my lines were not so crisp and clean so I went over them with a striping brush. But they look fine from a distance so... success!

Overall, I am very happy with the end result I got even though the process was incredibly a bit frustrating. Tape manicures are supposed to be super easy, right? But whenever possible I prefer to recreate the effect with a brush, no one is going to be inspecting my nails with a magnifying glass, right? ;)

Thanks for reading!