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!

Oldie but Goodie

Hi everyone! How are you all doing? Today I'm sharing a very summery mani featuring one of my favorite nail polishes ever, top 20 material for me. It might not be because it's super interesting, but it has a special place in my heart as it was one of the first nail polishes I ever owned.

Today I'm showing you two coats of OPI Flower to Flower with one dabbed coat of Lynnderella Connect the Dots.

I don't know what is it with summer that makes me want to bust out all my pink colors. This week is OPI's Flower to Flower from the Summer Flutter collection (Summer 2010). Flower to Flower is a bubblegum pink with some pretty silver shimmer (it looks like a shimmery version of OPI Strawberry Margarita)

To spice it up a bit I took out my Connect the Dots by Lynnderella, which I had not used much since "the drama". Connect the Dots is a mix of black and white glitter in several sizes and shapes in a clear base.

I've had this combo on the back of my head for a while. For some reason I thought Connect the Dots would look really cool over pink. And it does! I love the look :)

Glitters look awesome under macro, don't they?

I don't tend to consciously follow seasons with my nail polish (since it's sunny most of the year here I can rock holos even on winter), but you'll probably be seeing more bright manis from me. I just love happy colors for summer.

What's your favorite summer shade?

PS: Please excuse my tipwear, I had been wearing this mani for a day when I took pics. Also, ack, macro is not gentle with my cutes *sad*

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!

The very hungry glitter

Hi guys! Phew, it's been a while, huh? Sorry for the hiatus, lots of things happening. I'm currently attending my last semester of my Graphic Design undergrad, and working on my thesis project. Also, I broke a nail on my 'swatching' hand, it was the saddest nub ever, and I didn't feel like painting my nails or taking pics of them for a while.

But, my nails are slowly growing back to their old self, and today I finally felt like taking pics of my mani :)

Today's mani is a glitterbomb from China Glaze's fall collection On Safari named I Herd That, which was sent to me by the love Eileen aka The Sneakerette.

 I Herd That is one of the two glitters from this collection (I also have the other one, I'm not Lion) and it's a warmer shade, mainly with gold, copper and tiny bits of holographic micro glitter.

 I Herd That was very easy to work with and was practically opaque in 2 coats. I did 3 on these swatches because I had a tiny bit of VNL. It is a very hungry glitter though (therefore the title of this post), I needed 2 coats of Gelous and top coat to smooth it out. Still, it's really worth it.

And for funsies, here's a last macro shot of the amazing tiny pieces of glitter. Do you like this kind of shots? I recently got a macro add-on for my camera and thought it'd be fun to add a macro shots to my posts from now on.

And that's it. Thank you for reading and keeping up with me. I don't know how often I'll be posting, but I hope to write you again very soon!

Wear Purple Day

Hi girls! Today I want to share with you my first HARE polish, which I used today in honor of Wear Purple Day. Apparently this month I'm all about supporting causes.

Wear it Purple exists in order to help GLBTIQ (gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer) youth at risk. Run by students, we aim to stop the ignorance, bullying and suicides.

I look forward to having a society that doesn't discriminate based on who you choose to share your life with or how you want to run your life. Seriously, life is too short for hate. I also look forward to have marriage equality in my country.

That said, for my purple mani I busted off two untrieds from my stash: Essence Passion for Fashion and HARE Why so Igneus? (my first HARE! *yay*).

Funny though, when editing the pics I noticed my bottle had a glittery 'stain', but not from my polish. It proves the true handmade nature of these polishes and doesn't bother me :)

HARE Why So Igneus? is a mix of green and purple in a sheer purple jelly base. The largest pieces of glitter are square, but there's also mini hex and micro glitter. Since it's pretty sheer -and I wanted to save the precioussss- I layered it over Essence Passion for Fashion, which is a very bright blue toned purple, applies really nicely and it's opaque and shiny in two coats (I'm tempted to say it's a bit jelly-ish, but not totally).

This is one -dabbed- coat of Why so Igneus? over two coats of Passion for Fashion. I love how the green glitter shine from the base. The glitters spreaded nicely and there was no need for 'fishing' them out of the bottle.

Overall, I was really happy with my experience with HARE, all from buying to actually wearing the polish. I bought directly from Nicole on one of her Etsy sales/restocks, and it wasn't as hectic/chaotic as I though it'd be. Her polishes are also available at Llarowe.com now, so it's even easier to get your hands on them (I know because I have a 2nd one on the way hahahah).

And don't forget to show your support to the LGBTIQ community by wearing purple today. Have a great weekend!

a-england sisters

Hi girls! Several weeks ago Adina from a-england polishes held a wonderful promo and I used the chance to add two new beauties from this brand to my collection.

I had heard many wonderful things of the scattered holos from a-england (and had personally witnessed their magic with Ascalon). I wanted one of the scattered holos from their first collection, but I couldn't decide which (they looked so close!). So I ordered both in the hope that, after trying them, it'd be easier to choose just one to keep.

So after some weeks of wait I got Lady of the Lake (purple) and Tristam (blue) on the mail. At first I was a little disappointed because on the bottle both colors look extremely close.

So I swatched it on my nails in the hopes that the difference would translate better. All the pics are 2 coats of nail polish, plus base coat and topcoat (using it didn't dull the holo effect).

First we have Lady of the Lake which is a dusty purple with a subtle scattered holo effect.

Then came Tristam, a dark blue with the same scattered holo.

These pictures were taken in direct sunlight in the hopes of capturing the holo, while staying color accurate. I'm awful at it though, these polishes look a million times better in person. The holo effect is really evident in sunlight and adds a nice depth to the colors.

Both Lady of The Lake and Tristam were a dream to apply, like I've come to expect from all a-englands they're just flawless. I even got to wear them for almost a week with only minor tipwear and a tiny chip on one finger.

So, are you wondering which one I kept? After wearing them for days I decided it's worth to keep both, at least for the time being. I couldn't decide on a favorite from this pair of 'sister' polishes.

Have you tried a-england? They are a bit pricey but well worth it, in my opinion, because of their formula and unique colors (plus Adina offers free international shipping).

Mani for a Purpose: PCOS Awareness

Hi girls! Today I want to share a special mani I did for a blog hop. Norelis from Fierce Makeup and Nails proposed this idea to spread awareness for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome also known as PCOS, a disease that has personally affected her, as it does to thousands of women.

But what is PCOS? From Pub Med Health

Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition in which a woman has an imbalance of a female sex hormones. This may lead to menstrual cycle changes, cysts in the ovaries, trouble getting pregnant, and other health changes.

PCOS can present different symptoms on women, some are:

• Significant weight gain
• Facial hair increase
• Blood sugar problems
• Insulin intolerance
• Significant hair loss
• Depression and anxiety
• Infertility
• Cysts
• Excessive blood loss
• Irregular or extreme menstrual cycles

For this cause some nail bloggers united by creating teal and white manis, the colors for the PCOS Awareness.

I started with a-england Galahad a beautiful dusty teal that barely needs 2 coats to be opaque (I think you can get away with one thick coat, but I do mine thin, so I did two).

Then I added a coat of Lynnderella Love, Lace & Lilacs, with a little bit of dabbing for better glitter placement. I liked how it looked over this different color base, with its mix of opaque white and iridescent glitter it almost looks like snow falling.

It's a very simple mani but I found the effect really cute. Don't forget to visit the other bloggers participating and go teal for September! :)