Fall Stamping with Zoya Yuna

Hello girls! I've been quiet lately because it's hard to blog when I only paint my nails on Sunday evening and lately all my nails have been kinda fails so I didn't feel like taking pics and sharing. Today's nailart turned out OK, though a bit Fall-ish (when Spring just started here lol).

Anyway Istarted with a base of Zoya Yuna, which I got on my recent trip to Santiago last week. I was very drawn to the green-gold shimmer on the bottle, I wish it was more visible on the nail (though I only saw it under artificial light so it may have been more noticieable under sunlight? dunno). Anyway, it was very easy to apply in two coats.

I waited for my base to dry for a bit and then added the stamping using Moyou London's 02 and Maybelline Bold Gold.

Also this was my first time succesfully using my new Moyou London Marshmallow Sticky stamper. I had to was it a couple of times with dishwasher for it to pick up properly and found out that direct pressing on the plate instead of rolling, like I'm used to, worked better for picking up images. also using reaaaally light pressure.

I didn't get the greatest stampig but I think it's more user error, I'll keep using the stamper and will let you know how it goes.

 And here's a macro shot to show off the pretty shimmer (why doesn't it look like this normally?? *shakes fist at invisible shummer*). Also here you can really appreciate my crappy stamping job hah hah.

Anyway I hope you liked it, I'm on the fence about it right now, maybe it'll grow on me.

Have you tried Moyou London's Marshmallow XL stamper? Do you like these super sticky stampers?

Take care and see you on the next post!

Long time, no see!

Hey guys! Wow, I can't believe my last post was waaaay back in January, when I got selected for my current job. With a working schedule of 10hrs a day it's been hard to find time to blog as I used too, mainly because I used to rely in indirect natural light for my pictures (and since I get home at 7-8pm every week day that's no longer possible lol).

Bu the other day I was talking to a friend about how much I missed blogging so I decided to get a proper light and work out some kind of setup for taking pics. And here we are! I can't promise a very regular schedule because I only paint my nails once per week and sometimes it's a big fail lol, but let's see what comes out of this.

I started with a base of Lime Crime Parfait Day, a beautiful pastel medium pink that was opaque in two easy coats. Then I used the dry brush method to add strokes of Essie Play Date and Barry M Green Berry.

Finally I stamped the chevron print with Moyou London Fashionista 05 and Essence's white stamping polish, a recent purchase. I have to say I don't like it as much as Konad Special White, which is what I had been using for years, because it's not as thick, but I'll try leaving it open for a couple hours to thicken up and see if that makes stamping more opaque.

On my accent nails I used a base of Green Berry and then added a dabbed coat of Emily de Molly's A Certain Shade of Green. I think the green and lilac glitters compliment the colors of the dry brush nailart well and I loved this nailart for the week I had it.

And that's it for today. I hope you liked it and my new setup for pictures (though it's still a work in progress...). See you on the next post!

Subtle Stamping Inspired by a Pen

Hi girls! Today I want to share with you a subtle stamped mani that I did a while ago, just before I found a job at an office. In fact I used this polish for the interview and stamped it in the afternoon (then I got called in a couple hours later lol!).

If you've been reading for a while you may know I love writing with fountain pens, it's one of my biggest hobbies along with nail polish. A few months I participated in a nailart contest on instagram from @pensandpolish, which is run by my friend Cheetarah. The subject was doing a manicure inspired by a pen, it was right up my alley and I was so lucky to be chosen winner.

My prize consisted of a fountain pen, the Lamy Al-Star in Champagne, a set of ink cartridges a notebook and a Essie polish (a franken Chee made).

It's here the #pensandpolishgiveaway :) Win this Lamy Al Star Pearl Fountainpen (Limited edition 2013), Essie LimoScene custom mix nailpolish (customized it personally to fit the shimmer of the pen), Pussy Delux Notebook and a pack of Lamy Neon Coral fountainpen cartridges. How to enter: post a picture of your fave fountainpen and nailpolish combo (bonus points if you do a pen, polish and ink combo!), tag it with #pensandpolishgiveaway and tag @pensandpolish in the picture. Winner will be announced on october 12th! Good luck!! #fountainpen #nailpolish #giveaway #girlswithfountainpens #pensandpolish #peninkandpolish #inkandpolish #coral #pearl #lamy #alstar #pussydelux

Una foto publicada por Cheetarah (@pensandpolish) el Oct 2, 2014 at 6:33 PDT

For my mani I used 3 thin coats of the Essie polish, which is a soft-white jelly with a veeeeeery subtle pink shimmer (I can see it in the bottle, but it's impossible to distinguish on my nails). It was very easy to apply and on its own very flattering.

Then I stamped over it with Wet n' Wild Steel the Spotlight which is a gold-silver foil with kinda resembles the color of the pen, using my Moyou London Artist 02 plate.

Overall this was such a subtle mani that I didn't feel the need to change it even though I started my new position on the next day. It wore super well, around 5 days with mininal tipwear.

And here we have a small writing sample using the items from my prize. I paired the Champagne pen with the Lamy Neon Coral ink cartridge which makes for a very fun combination, in my opinion. I used a 1.1mm italic nib to get some line variation and show off the color better.

Anyway I hope you enjoyed reading today's post and thanks again to Cheetarah for chosing me as winner to this amazing giveaway :D

Nordic Stamping

Hi girls! Today I wanted to share with you my latest stamping nailart. I know my nails are super short and ugly right now, but I love blogging too much and I hope you don't mind the shorties for a while. Anyway, let's get to it :)

I recently got the Pueen Buffet plates from a friend and a little before I got the OPI Nordic minis so I thought about using them together for a mani. I've been obsessed with the Buffet plates since my friend got them so it was time I had my own set lol.

I started with a gradient base of Do You Have This Color in Stock-holm? and My Dogsled is a Hybrid, which were the two shades that mainly caught my attention from this set and I was so glad both were included in the mini kit, yay!

Then I left this to dry for a bit before stamping over it with a silver chrome polish fom a local brand and the Pueen 59 plate from the Buffet set.

Overall I'm really happy with this mani, even though it's not very summery (funny how that happens). These two colors from OPI Nordic's collection go so well together and the silver stamping adds something to it.

Thanks for reading!

Cosmic Orchid

Hola niñas! Últimamente no he andado con muchas ganas de hacer nailart así que ultimamente escojo esmaltes que por sí solos son interesantes y no necesitan nada más. Hoy les traigo una combinación de Emily de Molly Cosmic Forces (jelly con glitter morado) y Radiant Orchid de Smitten Polish (holográfico fucsia-morado). Es una bonita combinación y me acompañó por varios días así que bien, me gustó :) Gracias por leer!

Hi girls! Today I bring you one of the manis I wore in these past few weeks. I haven't been much inspired to do nailart (except for my graduation nails) so I went with some polishes that are pretty much amazing on their own.

The first polish I knew I wanted to use was Emily de Molly cosmic forces. I got this polish on my first every Llarowe order and I don't know why I hadn't shared it before, it's stunning though kinda tricky to apply. Cosmic Forces is a dark purple jelly base filled with silver, purple and magenta glitter but the main protagonist here are the large lavender circles.

On it's own is opaque in 2-3 coats but it's kinda hard to get a good glitter distribution and I had to fish out the circles and apply them to the nail with a toothpick. However, it's really pretty and the final result is worth the effot.

I decided to pair Cosmic Forces with my recently arrived Smitten Polish Radiant Orchid, which is a purple leaning fuchsia shade with a strong holographic effect (which of course you can't see here because sunlight didn't want to cooperate with my pictures, argh).

Overall I really liked how these two indies looked together and they made for a fun mani for a few days.

Thanks for reading!

Top 5 Manis from 2014

Hey girls! As you know, I'm on a kind of hiatus because of my short nails, but I saw someone on Instagram posting their favorite manis of 2014 and thought it'd be a great idea for a post, so here we are. Today I'm going to share with you my favorite manis from this years that is almost gone now, some are here because of the skill put into them and the result and some were added because of sentimental value. So, in no particular order, here we go!

Summer Nails (November 2014)

I loved this mani because of the combination of colors and the matte neon glitter just scream summer to me, which is probably my favorite season. It's also the first mani where I used my new Topa Topa plates and loved how they stamp, plus Freckles by Polish me Silly is one of my favorites glitters ever.

Watercolor Birds (October 2014)

During this year I experimented a lot with stamping, using the decal and leadlight techniques, and here is my favorite experiment from the year. The background stampin sandwiched between a sheer polish and the OPI Sheer Tints made a beautiful watercolored kind of background for the black stamping, done with Moyou London's Mother Nature 02 plate, that I had been "lemming" for so many months.

The Color Run Splatter Mani (August 2014)

This is one of the mani I included because of sentimental reasons, although I do love the final result too. I did this one to conmemorate my first 5k participation, which was The Color Run. Since then I've been constantly training for the 5k (still can't run the whole way, but getting there!) and I've attended a few more running events. Picking up running is one of the best things that happened to me during this year, it's a great stress reliever :)

Nailart Inspired by a Pen (August 2014)

 I think this one is my favorite mani because of the level of skill it required, as it was all handpainted. Also because it combines two of my biggest hobbies currently: nail polish and fountain pens :) I love writing letter and journaling with different combinations of fountain pens and ink, there's something just so charming about those pens. I love the colorful ones, which can be hard to find, and this one with the bunnies is one of my favorites ever.

Happy Easter! (April 2014)

Finally, another one that was included for sentimental reasons. This was my Easter Day mani and it wouldn't mean so much if it wasn't because I did this one of my first meet-up with my nail polish buddy Ann. We found eachother by chance on a Facebook group ad quickly became close friends due to our mutual interest in nail polish, specially indies. She's been a constant inspiration and support and made my 2014 more awesome, so yay for friendship :)

And that's it! I hope you liked my little recap and I look forward to sharing more new mani with you in 2015! (I have an old one programmed to publish in a few days, but after that, I'll be posting new manis)

Thanks for reading and have a happy and safe New Year celebration! :)

Christmas Pudding Nails

Hey girls! I didn't mean for my christmas nailart series to only consists of two post but sadly, things happen. And the thing that happened to me was that I got a temporary position for a department store that just finished yesterday :) It was a great chance for me since I've never worked retail before and I learnt a lot, but my nails took a real hit, now I'm sporting super nubs and waiting for them to recovery a little before sharing manis again. Until that happens I have one last Christmas mani to share with you.

For this nailart I wanted to use all or most of the shades from the Lime Crime Les Desserts collection, which is one of my favorite collections of all time, and since those remind me of sweets I thought of doing a drip nailart combined with some mistletoe for a kind of non-traditional Christmas pudding look.

From my index to pinkie we have, as base: Parfait Day, Once in a Blue Mousse and Lavendiary. For the drip part I used Milky Ways and for the mistletoe Pastelchio and China Glaze Strawberry Fields.

I hope you all had a beautiful Christmas Days with your loved ones and hopefully Santa brought you lots of nail polishes to play with :)

Thanks for reading!

Nail Mail: Julep and stamping plates

Hey girls! How are you doing, getting into the holiday spirit yet? Today I have some nail mail to share with you. These are small buys that I did with some friends from a local group within a span of a few weeks. We live in different cities so when we do group buys we pile it up a bit and then the other girls ship us our stuff (which is cheaper than paying separate international shippings). And look who's making another appearance on the blog, my Pom named Puchi (pronounced Poo-she)

We are big fans of stamping in my group so when the girls wanted to order Sugar Bubbles and Vivid Lacquer I jumped at the opportunity to try some myself. I got SB022 and SB025. You know I love japanese patterns and the kokeshis were so cute! I also want to do a mani with the lady blowing the dandelion seeds, it was really popular on stamping groups a while ago. Then we ordered Vivid Lacquer of which I got VL024 and VL028 (steampunk patterns!)

And then I got some polishes too. These are my first Julep plus a new addition to my Butter London collection. The polishes are (L-R): Kimberly, Love, Kayla and Chuffed (the new version).

Anyway, I look forward to sharing these with you soon, maybe for January since I already decided to dedicate December to winter/christmas nailar :)

Thanks for reading!

Moyou 30k Recap

Back in the first week of November Moyou London announced yet another nailart contest on their Instagram account in honor of hitting 30,000 followers. The challenge was to upload a nailart inspired by a character from Alice in Wonderland, each week during November. This obviously seemed more manageable than the Rainbow Challenge, which was a daily thing, so of course I had to try my hand at it.

Today I'll be sharing with you my four entries for this challenge (which you might already seen if you follow me on Instagram).

First week was inspired by the Queen of Hearts. I was inspired by the design of the character from the classic Disney movie and added some partially painted white roses. I used mainly the Pro 04 plate with a little addition of Fashionista 05 and Topa Topa 04. As bases I used OPI My Vampire is Buff, Sparitual Spellbound and Colorama Amarelo Sol. For stamping I used Konad Black, White and Spellbound,

The next week was dedicated to the White Rabbit. I don't have any rabbit or clock images from Moyou so I had to get creative to get close to the theme. I used an image from Kaleidoscope 02 and free handed some arms to turn the image into a clock. I also used Hipster 02 for the bowtie and patterns from the Tourist 07 plate as backgrouds, everything else is freehanded.

Third week was dedicated to the Mad Hatter. I drew inspiration mainly from the character from the Tim Burton film portrayed by Johnny Depp by representing different parts of his outfit on my nails.  On my index I depicted the hat, with the baroque pattern and peacock feathers, on my middle nail I represented the bowtie. Then I added the famous 10/6 by hand painting and a hat pattern. For this nailart I used Tourist 07, Artist 02 and Hipster 02 plates.

And finally, we have Alice! I used mainly pastel yellow, light blue, black and white for this soft and cute nailart. I represented Alice herself, her outfit and parts of her journey in my entry. I used Artist 02 for Alice's face (which I painted in as a stamping decal) and for the backgroud swirls on my ring finger, Hipster 02 for the bow and hair in my index and the tea cup in my ring finger and Pro 04 for the roses.

Overall, I'm not really happy with how many of these turned out. Even though I had some nice ideas (like turning the Kaleidoscope image into a clock) my execution wasn't the best as I kinda rushes my manis because I didn't get any inspiration until the last minute. Honestly, at some times it felt more like a chore than a fun thing. However, I love my Alice mani because of the color scheme and how the stamping turned out, I think I did well in representing the character too.

Do you participate in nail art competitions? I try to participate in Moyou's contests whenever I have the chance, even though I haven't won anything -so far- I like that it makes me *really* look at my plates to come up with ways to acommodate the theme. 

Thanks for reading and see you on my next post!

Cardinal and jerseys

Hola niñas! Hoy les traigo un nailart invernal para ponernos a tono con las fiestas (aunque hace un calor de locos jaja). De bases usé Barry M Gelly Elderberry y Sparitual Spellbound y estampé los copos de nieve con la placa QA58 y para el diseño de jersey ocupé la placa Naliz Craze NC02, ambos estampados con Konad White. El glitter blanco con rojo es OPI Bearest of Them All. Y el pajarito cardenal fue pintado a mano. Y eso, simple y sencillo :) Espero les haya gustado y nos leemos en mi próximo nailart navideño!

Hi girls! Today I have my first Winter/Christmas nailart of the season. Where I live it's hard to get into the holiday spirit because Christmas for me it's in summer and instead of hot chocolate all I want to drink is icea tea.

NOT that Ice T

So I usually don't even think of Christmas until the day before when it's too late and too hectic to think of nail art, so this year I'm dedicating the whole month of December to wintery and jolly manis.

I knew I wanted to do light blue, red and white so I started with two coats of Barry M Gelly Elderberry which is a beautiful dusty medium blue that goes on perfectly and is opaque in two coats. To my pinky and ring fingernails I applied OPI Bearest of them All which is white micro glitter with red hexes in a clear base and Lynnderella Love Lace & Lilacs to my middle nail. On my index I used Sparitual Spellbound, a red microglitter jelly.

Then it was stamping time! I used QA58 for the snowflakes and Nailz Craze NC02 for the jersey print, both stamped with Konad Special White.

For the cardinal I did a nail art decal. Basically, I applied some topcoat on a ziploc bag and hand painted my design over it. Then, when it was fully dry, I carefully peeled off the design from the bag and stuck it to my nail, finished it off with a layer of topcoat and you can't hardly tell it wasn't painted directly. I loved this technique for doing free handed art, no more worries about painting with my non dominant hand!

Overal, I'm really happy with how this turned out, the color combination is cute and feels very winter-y to me. I don't know if cardinals wear jerseys, but these two images looked good together to me, so I went with it lol. Anyway I hope you liked it too and see you on my next post!

Nail Mail: ILNP Sale

Hi girls! Today I want to share with you some polishes I got from ILNP but I want to share it with you in a special way, in the style of Polish Hound Cait's Mail Time posts, where she takes pics of her incoming mail with her dog, Ham. I've been reading her blog for a while now and her posts with Ham are some of my favorites so I tried to do the same with my Pom (which didn't like to sit still for pics, so this was a real challenge LOL).

I placed this order during the last ILNP sale which happened around the first week of November. Some days later I got the shipping notice and from there, it was only a matter of patience. My polishes arrived finally on November 30th (which was odd, I never get mail on a Sunday). My new polishes came wrapped in the ILNP tissue paper and bubble-wrapped together inside.

I ordered mostly holos since I could never set my mind on the multichromes, but it's OK I already have some of them and I've been wanting a light blue and medium blue holo.

I ended up ordering (L-R): Music Box, Peace (H), Summer Stargazing and Atomic Sherbert. I'm in love with Music Box and Summer Stargazing, and look forward to wearing those. I'm a bit disappointed with Atomic Sherbert as I thought it'd be a bright orange holo, but it's still pretty.

I look forward to sharing with you manis featuring these shades in the future. Also, did you like the inclusion of my pup in these posts?

Thanks for reading!

Graduation Nails

Hola niñas! Hoy les traigo un nailart simplecito que hice con motivo de mi titulación profesional, la que se llevó a cabo el pasado Miércoles. Sí, oficialmente, soy Diseñadora Gráfica :D Para empezar usé dos capas de Essie Chinchilly y agregué un degradado con Essence Galactic Black para luego añadir finalmente unos triangulitos metálicos en la base de la uña. La verdad debería haber usado cintas pero estaba apurada asi que lo hice a mano y por eso mis líneas no quedaron muy rectas, pero se ven bien de lejos jajaja.

Hi girls! Today I want to share with you a simple freehanded nailart I did for my graduation, which was this past Wednesday.

I started with a base of two coats of Essie Chinchilly (one of my favorite neutrals ever) then added a small gradient with a makeup sponge and Essence Galactic Black and to finish it off I aded a triangle at the base of my nails with Wet n' Wild Steel the Spotlight, which I also used as an accent on my pinky and thumb.

I really liked how this came out, it's very simple and elegant and it went well with my dress. Speaking of, here's a picture of me from that day

Thanks for reading and see you in the next post! :)

Summer Nails

Hola niñas! Hoy les traigo un nailart estampado un poco adelantado a la estación jajaja. De bases usé Barry M Gelly en Green Berry y Emily de Molly Setting Sun (un precioso coral con efecto holográfico). Luego sobre la base de Green Berry agregué una capa de Polish Me Silly Freckles, un topper surtido de glitters neon en distintos tamaños y colores. Luego agregué el estampado con los esmaltes Mundo de Uñas Aqua y un coral que mezclé usando Geranio y Rosa Mexicano. Los dos diseños estampados son de la placa Topa Topa TP01, una marca francesa indie que hace placas con diseños preciosos y que encargué hace poco. En fin, espero les haya gustado y muchas gracias por leer!

Though we're in the middle of spring where I live, I have summer on my mind. Specially since I recently received my new Topa Topa plates, one of which features some fun and summery designs. I took like a million pics of this mani and loved them all, which hasn't happened since I lost my old softbox. I had the hardest time narrowing down the pics for this post. After months of struggling, it seems like I finally found a setting that works for my pictures, yay! Anyway, on to the mani.

I started with a base of Barry M Green Berry on all my nails, except for my index. Green Berry is a very bright blue-green (slighly leaning toward the green territory) creme that was easy to apply and opaque in two coats. I really love this shade of green and it kinda reminded me of Picture Polish Chillax.

For my accent I used two coats of Emily de Molly Setting Sun. This is a coral shade with a soft holographic effect. It goes on very well and is opaque in two coats.

Then I added a coat of one of my favorite glitter polishes to the Green Berry base, Polish me Silly Freckles which is an assortment of neon hexagonal glitters in different sizes and colors in a clear base. It's a great topper for neons and neutrals alike, love it <3 br="">

Then came the stamping part. I used my Mundo de Uñas stamping polishes, but I didn't have a coral color to stamp with, so I mixed my own with Mexican Pink and Geranium to create a shade similar to Setting Sun. On my accent nails I simply stamped using MdU Aqua.

Both the hibiscus image and leaves are from the Topa Topa TP01 plate. The plate is very well etched and picking up the image was no problem.

Overall, I'm extremely happy with how this turned out. I seriously can't stop looking at my nails. The combination of coral and aqua looks so bright and summery it just makes me happy. Althoug I really prefer how my accent nail came out so you'll probably see that as a full mani at some point.

Thanks for reading!

Hare Flight of the Flamingos

Hola niñas! Hoy les traigo el segundo Hare que adquirí en mi último pedido de Etsy y que aún no había compartido con ustedes. Este es Flight of the Flamingos y es una base jelly de color beige llena de glitters rosados neon y un toque de glitter dorado (además hay un shimmer dorado que aparece en la foto macro). Es muy fácil de aplicar, con 3 capas finas logré que fuera totalmente opaco. Simplemente, me encanta! :)

Hi girls! Today I bring you the second Hare I got on the latest restock of Nicole's Etsy Store, of which you already got a peek of from my BCA mani from a couple weeks back,

Fligh of the Flamingos was part of the Tropics are Calling collection from Summer 2013. It is a light beige crelly base, that leans slightly pink with my skintone, filled with neon pink and gold glitters. It was very easy to apply, with good glitter pay off and opaque in 3 thin coats.

The assortments of glitters is interesting and balanced, neon pink is the predominant color with large hexagonal and square glitter and medium hex, which is complemented by a sprinkle of tiny hexagonal gold glitter and a golden shimmer that I noticed only in the macro shots (nice surprise though!).

Overall, I'm really happy with this one. The gold and neon pink glitter go so well together and the light base just ties in everything together so beautifully. I'm looking forward to what she'll be releasing next to add to my collection :)

Halloween Stamped Nailart

Hola chicas! Hoy les traigo un nailart de Halloween que usé la semana pasada. En general no hago nailarts para las fiestas y menos para Halloween porque no es muy popular donde vivo, pero tuve un chispazo de inspiración así que hice uno rápidito. De base hice un degradé con holográficos (como no tengo un holo naranja hice uno mezclando Zoya Arizona, Hits Hefesto y OPI I'm never Ambarassed). Luego estampé con Konad Special Black y la placa Cheeky Happy Holidays y ta-dá! Nailart de Halloween. Se supone que son murcielágos, pero más parecen rayas de zebras jajaja.

Hello girls! Today I have for you a quick Halloween nailart I put together. I usually don't do seasonal nailart, specially Halloween because it isn't very popular in my country, but I had a spark of inspiration and decided to go with it.

I wanted to do an orange to magenta holo gradient, but since I own no orange holos (I know, blasphemy!) I decided to franken-layer one. So, I started with a base of two coats of Zoya Arizona, added Hits Hefest for the holo sparkle and then finished it with a thin coat of OPI I'm Never Ambarassed. Then I added Smitten Polish's Radiant Orchid to the tips using a makeup sponge.

The mani up to this point was already very Hallowen-y to me, but I decided to add some black stamping to it. So I went to browse through my plate collection, and choose the bat print for the Cheeky Happy Holidays jumbo plate.

Overall, I'm happy with how it turned out even though it's not really obvious these are bats, because my nails are so tiny, this looks more like halloween zebra print, lol.

Did you wear any Halloween nailart this past weekend? Would love to read about it in the comments :)