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!

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! :)

Breast Cancer Awareness Mani

Hola niñas! Hoy les traigo un nailart que hice por el Día de la Prevención del Cáncer de Mamas, el que se conmemoró el pasado 19 de Octubre, y por la Corrida por la Vida a la que asistí ese día. Como inspiración tome una de mis mas recientes compritas, el Hare Flight of the Flamingos, que usé en mi meñique. En mi dedo medio y anular hice un jelly sandwich con un rosa pastel y un glitter dorado sobre el cual estampé usando la placa BM-321 y un esmalte Mundo de Uñas (Mexican Pink, que misteriosamente cambió de color cuando le puse topcoat jaja). En mi índice (y pulgar, que no se ve en la foto) hice una "pond mani" que es básicamente un jelly sandwich repetitivo, usando You Drive me Coconuts de China Glaze y Papier Maché de Finger Paints (inspirado de este post de Adventures in Acetone). En fin espero les haya gustado, al final les dejo también una foto de la corrida, estrenando mi nuevo look. Gracias por leer!

Hello girls! Today I have a Breast Cancer Awareness to share with you, that I did recently for the BCA Running event that I attended on Sunday Oct. 19th. Let's go to the mani, then.

My new Hare was the inspiration for the mani, which I used for an accent on my pinkie. On my middle and ring finger I did a jelly sandwich with a sheer pastel pink and a gold glitter then stamped using BM 321 and Mundo de Uñas Mexican Pink (which interesting enough turned into a neon pink when I topcoated with Gelous). Finally on my ring finger I did a pond dotticure inspired by this one from Adventures in Acetone, using China Glaze You Drive me Coconuts and Finger Paints Papier Maché.

Overall, I'm really happy how this turned out. At first I was a bit bummed I didn't have a matching stamping polish, but then my MdU suddenly changed color with Gelous and it was a perfect match. Happy accident :) I haven't noticed this change of color with my usual topcoat (Essence Better than Gel Top Sealer).

The Running for Life event was my fourth 5k event. I'm still struggling to run the whole way, but getting better everyday. This was the first event I managed to convince a friend to attend with me, so yay for running buddies! Also new haircut, you like?

Anyway I hope you enjoyed today's post. Thanks for reading and see you in my next post!

Random Nailart Spam #3

Hola chicas! Hoy traigo la tercera versión del potpurrí de nailarts que he hecho en las últimas semanas. Debajo de cada foto dejaré los detalles, espero les gusten, gracias por leer!

Heeeey guys, how are you doing? Today I bring you another edition of nailarts I didn't have enough pictures of to make a full post. Today's edition is mostly stamping, so on we go!

For this one I used NCLA Cookies and gold as my base, then stamped using Esteé Lauder Midnight Metal and the Pueen Buffet 59 plate. The accent is Colors by Llarowe Delirious.

Here I used ILNP Princeton, a minty blue/green soft holographic shade, as my base and stamped over it with Gals GA37 with Mundo de Uñas Purple.

 This one was for a nailart contest that I sadly didn't win, but I liked it so I thought I'd share it with you too. Base for the nailart was Model's Own Purple Blue and hand painted my little fox with Zoya Arizona, Finger Paints Papier Maché and a couple accents with Colorama Black. The sparkly accents are donde with Model's Own Southern Lights.
Finally, here's a mani I did with one of my favorite collections, the OPI Euro Centrale. The gradient was done with OPI You're Such a Budapest and Can't Find my Czechbook. The accent on mi pinkie is 3 coats of OY-Another Polish Joke and finally for the decal I used My Vampire is Buff as a base and did the decal with BM-401 plate and colored in with the other 3 colors. This was my first ever succesful decal, yay!

And that's it, hope you liked them. I think my personal favorite is the last one :) Thanks for reading and see you soon!

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!

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!

Nailart Spam #2

Uff, no planeaba publicar dos posts recopilatorios seguidos, pero he estado tan poco inspirada en pintar mis uñas y sacar fotos, que me cuesta encontrar una foto decente, menos voy a tener 3 para un post completo. Así que las dejo con una muestra de lo que he usado ultimamente en mis uñas, casualmente son 3 looks que se enfocan en usar diferentes tonos de una misma colección. Los detalles iran debajo de cada foto, espero les guste y gracias por leer! :)

Wow. Sorry guys, I didn't plan on writing 2 of these kind of posts in a row, but I've been uninspired to blog about my nails lately and when I take pictures I hardly find one that I like, let alone 3 for a full blog post for one mani. I also recently broke a nail on a trip and filed them all down, so that's not helping my motivation either :( Anyway I hope you like some of my latest attempts at nailart and I hope to be back with a full post soon.

This one was an experiment with a holo gradient and I used three shades from the Color Club Halo Hues: Eternal Beauty, Miss Bliss and Cosmic Fate. On the accent I stamped with Cici and Sisi #12 with Konad Black and a bit of dotted Nails Inc Baker Street.

Next my Hipster Nails with one of my new Moyou London plates! For the watercolor background I used three shades from the China Glaze Sunsational Jellies collection: You Drive me Coconuts, Are you Jelly? and Keepin' it Teal and followed this tutorial for the effect. Then I stamped with the Moyou Hipster 08 plate and Konad Special White.

Not my best stamping but I'm happy by how completely hipster this mani turned out.

Some freehanded nailart inspired by MrCandiipants using the OPI Euro Centrale collection. For the base I used My Vampire is Buff and for the lines I used the colors that came in the mini kit: Cant' Find My Czechbook, Suzy's Hungary Again, You're such a Budapest and OY-Another Polish Joke (plus a random navy blue we can pretend it's Eurso Euro *wink wink*).

Finally, for this look I used two Picture Polish shades: Imperial and Douceur (from the 2013 Collaborative Shades) and then stamped over them with Essie Penny Talk and Pueen 72 (from the Buffet collection)

And that's it for today's edition of what's been on my nails lately :) I just realized that all of these focus on using several shades of one collection, which is something I like to do, even though I don't usually get a lot of shades from one collection (unless they come in minis).

Do you own a full collection of polish? I do, but only two: the Lime Crime Les Dessert shades (loved those colors) and the China Glaze Sunsational Jellies (because, jellies! lol).

Random Nailart Spam

Hola niñas! Hoy les traigo un popurrí de nail art que he hecho en los últimos meses y que no me convencieron mucho para sacarles más de una foto. Detalles de cada mani irán abajo de la foto correspondiente.

Hello girls! Today's post is an assortment of manis that I've done these past couple weeks that were a little bit too sloppy to take more than picture of them for a full post. Still, some of them are kinda cute and I enjoyed them while I had them on.

This first mani is the oldest and was my first ever attempt at stamping with a squishy stamper. I used Ninja Polish Passion Shift for the base and stamped using Moyou London Suki 04 plate with Konad Special Black polish. Oh, my cuticles were in a sorry state then :/

This mani was for a challenge on a Facebook group, the theme was "gradient", plain and simple. I used Lime Crime Once in a Blue Mousse and Pastelchio for my gradient ad added the stamping with BM 423 and Konad Special Black since I had just received this replacement plate

This one was also for the weekly nailart challenge from the Facebook group, we were to try newspaper nails, I decided to take a spin on it taking some inspiration from a makeup bag I saw in a store that same week (it had the newspaper print on the outside and a beautiful blue lining and a red hearts print). I used Finger Paints Papier Maché and this Koh Baby Blue polish as bases, then transferred the newspaper print (following this tutorial) and added freehanded hearts with a dotting tool and Zoya Sooki. Crappiest hearts ever, lol.

Finally, this was my take on the Adventures in Stamping Sunday weekly challenge, it's also is my first skittlette. As bases I used: China Glaze I Herd That, ILNP Undenied and OPI Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI? Then I stamped with Konad Special Black using BM 205 and BM 424.

And that's it. I hope you liked these, even though they're not my best for many reasons, I still liked them (even if I only liked *the idea* of them and would like to redo them sometime).

Vintage Roses...ish

Hola! Hoy les traigo un nailart que para mí es como medio fail, pero es la primera vez que lo hago así que digamos que echando a perder se aprende jajaja. Hace poco me uní a un grupo de esmalteadictas chilenas en Facebook y todos los domingos se plantea un "desafío", el de la semana pasada era hacer un nailart con flores "vintage" y esta es mi versión. Como base usé Etienne Half Creme y las rosas fueron hechas con OPI Flower to Flower, Finger Paints Papier Maché y Essence Viva la Green, añadí además unos puntitos en dorado con Color Show Bold Gold. Para mi dedo índice usé de base Orly Gumdrop y realicé el estampado con Bold Gold y la placa BM-407.

Hi girls! I recently joined a Facebook group for local nail fanatics (locals as in, from my same country) and each Sunday we have a challenge, which is usually a technique. For the past week the challenge was doing a mani with these kind of vintage roses. It was my first time trying and, while it's far from perfect, I kinda like it.

I started with a base of a local polish, Etienne Half Creme, which is a pale pink kinda jelly polish that is opaque in 2 thick coats (but I still had to be careful not to drag the polish and end with bald spots). For the roses I used a dotting tool and a fine nailart brush and the following nail polish colors: OPI Flower to Flower (darker pink), Finger Paints Papier Maché (highlights) and Essence Viva la Green (leaves). I also added some small dots in gold with Maybelline Color Show in Bold Gold

I also did an accent nail with some stamping. As a base for my accent I used Orly Gumdrop, which is a blue-green creme that it's a bit thick and opaque in 2 coats. I waited for it to dry, while I did the roses on the rest on my nails, and then stamped using the cameo image from BM-407 (from the Create Your Own collection) and Bold Gold. Sadly my nails are super tiny, so not all the pretty details of the stamp fitted on it.

Overall I'm happy with the result, the color combination is really sweet and girly, but I hope to improve my skills on the roses for the next time. From a distance, they look cute :)

Thanks for reading, I hope you liked today's nailart.

Geometric Nails

Hola niñas, como están? Espero que muy bien y abrigadas :) Hoy les traigo un nailart geométrico usando este holográfico turquesa precioso que me enviaron hace un tiempo de Brasil. El efecto holo era mucho más intenso en la vida real y no lo pude capturar para nada con la cámara, en parte porque le puse capa protectora y eso como que mata el efecto. Usé dos capas de Finger Paints Papier Maché como base y sobre eso pinté los triángulos con Impala Realize Tudo Prismático y finalmente agregué las líneas doradas con Maybelline Color Show Bold Gold.

Hey girls! How are you doing? I hope summer is treating you well, here it's definitely getting colder brrr. But I'm lucky to live in a city that still sees a lot of sunshine during Fall and Winter, so I have a holographic gometric nail art to show with you today.

I started by using two coats of Finger Paints Papier Maché as my base. Then I used Impala Realize Tudo which is a lovely scattered turquoise holo (it is much more holo IRL, but I used top coat to protect my design and that kinda killed the effect, sigh). Finally I used Maybelline Color Show in Bold Gold to add the golden lines and finish off the design.

Overall, I'm really happy with the result. When I finished, I realized it reminded me a lot of my favorite character from my favorite TV show from back when I was 14-15, Magic Knight Rayearth. It was a magical girl show where three high school girls are transported to a different world they have to save by becoming the legendary Magic Knights.

Umi Ryuuzaki was the water knight, so she always used turquoise and blue, in adittion to gold and white, in her outfits. It was a happy coincidence and it brought me back to my early highschool years.

Anyway, I hope you liked today's post. I've been working more on nailart lately, sometimes sucessfully, sometimes it's a complete fail. And I'm gonna share it all with you, so be prepared ;)

Neons in Fall

Hola chiquillas! Como están? Espero que muy bien. El nailarts de hoy es como raro, porque a pesar de que a algunas el Otoño les llegó de sopetón con lluvia y todo, acá en el Norte el clima sigue bien veraniego xD Por eso este finde tuve ganas de usar mis colores flúor de la colección Sunsational Jellies, que son esmaltes translúcidos que se dan para efectos como degradado o "glitter sandwich" (básicamente es poner una capa de glitter entre dos de un esmalte "jelly", para que se vea como que el glitter flota en el color base). Usé You Drive me Coconuts y Isle See you Later para el degradé y Lynnderella Connect the Dots como glitter (hay un esmalte muy parecido de Color Show que también les puede servir). Espero les haya gustado este nailart de extensión del verano jajaja.

While technically it is Fall on my side of the world, it hardly looks like my city got the memo. The weather is still warm and sunny for the most part, so for the weekend I was in the mood for some neons.

Back in January I got the Sunsational Jellies pack from China Glaze, and today I feature two of the polishes that come in that set.

As a base I used one coat of You Drive me Coconuts, then I added a dabbed coat of Lynnderella Connect the Dots and to finish off the base, one more coat of YDMC. Then I used several coats of Isle See you Later, one of the sheerest polishes from this collection, to make the gradient (following this idea from rebecca likes nails)

I've tried almost all the Jellies at some point since January and I've got to say, You Drive me Coconuts is one of my favorites so far. The formula was super easy to work with and it would have been opaque on its own in two coats. It's a super bright neon pink that freaked my camera, so I went for digital color correction to give you an idea of how it looks. It's eye-searing in real life.

Isle See You Later would have been a huge disappointment had I not know before hand that it'd be almost useless on its own because it's so hopelessly sheer, but thanks to bloggers who are inmensely creative I can still make use of it in gradients, watercolor manis or as a topper for a similar colored base. Points for the effort ISYL.

Lynnderella Connect the Dots is an old favorite. I got it before every brand on the market released a black and white glitter and that's why I went with it. I hold no special love for the brand. I should have waited, now there's a local option available for $4, Meh.

Aaanyway. I used Essence's Peel Off Basecoat for this mani so it was easy peasy to remove (specially after we bathed our dog today, it popped right off).

And that's it. Thanks for keeping up with me! I'm currently trying to get ready for my final thesis presentation (due late April), get my butt to work in a portfolio/resumé AND looking for freelancing jobs. It's been a hectic time :)

Galaxy nails

Hola chicas! Hoy les traigo un nailart de uñas galácticas que hice. Sin embargo, fue casi imposible sacarle fotos decentes, por eso solo hay una en este post. Es muy sencillo hacer este nailart, sólo se necesita una esponja cortada en pequeños trozos para ir aplicando el color más precisamente (yo usé una esponja de cocina brutalmente mutilada con una tijera jajaja). Creo que la parte más díficil es elegir qué colores de esmalte usar. Espero les guste, gracias por leer :)

Hi girls! Today I bring you my first galaxy nails manicure. I'm really happy with how this turned out, even though I'm already thinking of ways to improve them for the next time I do one.

Galaxy nails are basically made by sponging several different polishes and adding white dots, or glitter (or both, in my case) to create a cosmic-like art.

Sadly, this was impossible to photograph, I don't know why, so you only get one shot of this. Sorry! :(

For the base I painted two coats of Essence Galactic Black, a shimmery black from their old collection. Then over it I sponged several colors to create the nebulas, always starting with Finger Paints Papier Maché so the other colors would show better:

Essence Passion for Fashion and Jordana Silky Purple for the purple nebulae
Essence Viva la Green and A-England Galahad for the green nebulae

Finally, I added some dots with a dotting tool and Papier Maché and topped it all off with a sparkly holographic glitter top coat (Etienne Disco Glitter, which is a mix of micro and hex holo glitter, similar to China Glaze Techno).

Have you tried galaxy nails? Link me your manis in the comments, I'd love to see what you've done. Thanks for reading! :)

Oldies but Goodies

Hola chicas! Hoy traigo un nailart bien sencillito hecho solamente con una herramienta: cinta adhesiva, o scotch (específicamente el de 3M que viene en un empaque verde). Simplemente apliqué una base de OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui y, cuando estuvo bien seco (pero "seco seco" jajaja) enmascaré unas partes con scotch y pinté dos capitas de Orly Ingenue. Bueno, bonito y barato. Espero les guste! :)

Hi guys! How have you been? I hope Spring (or Fall) is treating you well. Today I bring you a very simple tape mani with two of my favorite nail polishes of all time, OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui (from the Hong Kong collection from a few years back) and Orly Ingenue (from 2012's Holiday collection). So let's get to it~

To start, I applied 2 easy coats of OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui over OPI Natural Nail Base Coat. This is probably my favorite blue ever, and I own a lot of blue nail polishes. It's also the first polish I ever ordered online, so it has a special place in my heart.

In order for tape manis to work properly you need your base color to be really dry before moving on to applying the second color. I leave the color as is for a day and, on the second day, apply the tape to be extra sure.

So, I masked out the sides of my base with scotch tape, so it'd form a triangle through the middle of my nail, and then applied Orly Ingenue in two thickish coats (I only left it dry for a few seconds before applying my second coat, was just building opacity). Then I removed the tape right away as I've found that removing the tape as soon as possible gives the best results for neater lines.

The I topped it off with OPI's Top Coat and some Essence quick-drying drops and I was good to go!

I hoped you liked this mani, thanks for staying with me. Have you tried tape manis? What is your favorite design with tape?

Pastel Leopard Print

Hi guys! How are you doing? I'm still stressing over finals over here (Need. Summer. Break..) but still squeezing in some time for manis. Since it's summer I haven't been feeling very Christmass-y (we haven't even put out decorations), so today's mani is nothing at all holiday-related, but still cute (if I do say so myself).

Today's mani started because I wanted to combine Essie Splash of Grenadine and Lapis of Luxury. I've always loved how these two shades look together, no surprise since they were both released in the same collection (Essie Resort 2010, the only collection I wish I had whole *sigh*).

Also, I've been wanting to try out a leopard print manicure, and one thing lead to another...

The base of my manicure is two coats of Splash of Grenadine in almost all my nails. As an accent, I painted three coats of Lapis of Luxury on my index and thumb. Of these two, Lapis of Luxury has the trickier formula, but it's not impossible to work with.

I used a dotting tool for the spots: with one end I added some spots of Splash of Grenadine over the nails painted with blue and after that was dry I used the other end to add the black spots with Essence Galactic Black.

Overall, I loved this look and it was really simple to do the spots. I look forward to make a full leopard mani next time.

What's your favorite nail art look? Share it on the comments :)

Thanks for reading!

Punk Gradient

Hi all! How are you doing? I'm doing fine, but busy. I'm really close to the end of the semester, so it gets really chaotic really fast. Also, not fun, but my last final is on December 28th. Boo.

Anyway, on to more fun topics. Today I have a gradient mani to share with you. Gradients are my favorite way to extend the life of a mani, in cases I don't have time to change my current one, but I already grew bored of it.

Today's mani started with China Glaze Strawberry Fields (which was my first nail polish reviewed here). I love this pink glassfleck and it's a perfect shade for summer (which already got here!).

But I couldn't leave it alone and in less that a day I added a gradient with Essence Galactic Black (it's a shimmery black, but the shimmer is almost invisible in real life). It seemed a little plain so I thought: "Uhm, what can I use to brighten this up?"

Glitter, of course!

The glitter is Love & Beauty Crystal/Multi by Forever 21 (don't we all love the creativity of F21's polishes?). This was also sent to me by the awesome Eileen (since there are no F21 in my country). I loved this polish because the polish is shredded in irregular bits instead of a regular shape, it's really unique in my opinion.

For creating the glitter gradient I just carefully dabbed over the color gradient. I called this "punk gradient" because, somehow, the shredded glitters and the color scheme reminds me of Daft Punk. Yeah, I don't even know how my mind works.

On the macro you can appreciate the irregular shredded glitter and the pastel colors. I really liked this mani and would like to recreate it sometime.

What was the latest mani that you just loved?

Thanks for reading!