Let's stripe it!

Hey!

I've been MIA, sucked by this amazing pastime called "Work". I'm talking about around 14h a day (1h30 of those for lunch-break) *sigh* 

So on Friday I was tired as hell, how suprising and unexpected is that, huh? Yeah, I'm such a whiny little thing...

On to the manicure now! I received my first striping tape, so I gave it some use. Pros and cons? PRO: it's not as sticky as tape, so you do not need to let your base dry for so long; do not fear to ruin it. I waited 20 minutes (aprox) and had not a single issue. CON: I had trouble obtaining straight lines, but I am sure it would have been easier if I had tried to make horizontal lines. In fact, I had so much trouble that I called for external help... Don't tell.

I used Barry M Pink Flamingo as a base, applied the striping tape and covered most of it with China Glaze First Mate, which is one of my faves of all times. I really don't know why: no shimmer, no spectacular color, no glitter, no nothing. Go figure.

BTW, if you have 5 minutes and would like to read a post that really moved me... go check Ana's: "My five year old likes to wear nail polish and I'm okay with that."

Keep it movin' ladies!

Half Moon manicure

Hey!

I had quite a tiresome week, so I absolutely needed to take some time off and work on a cool manicure to cheer me up for the weekend. And so I did Saturday morning :) I picked up Kiko nº 342 Verde Acqua and Chanel Péridot as playmates. The latter is courtesy of my BF, for he wanted my number 100 polish to be a present from him ^^ 

As you can guess, for I'm not that steady handed, I used regular reinforcement stickers. There are a hundred tutorials out there, however just let me know if you want me to do one specially for you, and I will do so very gladly.

And this morning I added those simple dots. I still don't know if I liked the manicure better without them or not... 

Anyhow, I'm off to a new manicure. I need something transmitting strength and luck, for I have my yearly evaluation this next week, which will determine my (un) continuity in the firm. Big event, yeah.

Keep enjoying your weekend! 

Versatile Blogger Award :)

Hi there,

I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by Narcissistic Nails, so a BIG thank you to her and... Let's see how this works!

The rules go like this [I changed the order, due to my personal priorities...]:

1. Thank the blogger(s) who have nominated you.

2. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your post.

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

4.Nominate 15 fellow bloggers who are relatively new to 

blogging.

5. Let them know that you have nominated them.

So, 7 random facts:

1. My blog is named after my professional specialization, for I'm a criminal lawyer.

2. I am half French, half Spanish.

3. I have worn bare nails in counted occasions since all this madness took me, 5 years ago. I would say approximately 5 days all in all.

4. You have never tasted Crêpes like mine: the recipe passes from mother to daughter generation after generation, through explanations and practice. 

5. I practiced taekwondo for years. I have the blue belt.

6. I just finished Fight Club, by Chuck Palahniuk. I have been reading it with the book in a hand and a highlighter in the other. He's absolutely nuts, but makes some good points. My fave?

"The condom is the glass slipper of our generation. You slip it on when you meet a stranger. You dance all night, then you throw it away. The condom, I mean. Not the stranger".

7. Insomnia and I have been best friends at night for many years. I'm still working on getting rid of her.

No on to the nominations!

I decided I didn't want to put any limit, so I NOMINATE whoever feels like being nominated. Stopping by makes you worth of it, every visit and comment is dear to my heart and keeps me going on. I've learned that this blogging community is about sharing and loving, and you girls (and boys?) really show some love and support! It makes me smile every time :) Let's keep it up, shall we? 

Take care!

Orly Au Champagne

Hey there!

How is your week going so far? 

I'm glad to say that I finally found the color I have been on the look of for years, yay! So, I'm glad to introduce to you Orly Au Champagne, for your viewing pleasure.

It's a white based color, with a subtle white / light blue shimmer that is opaque in TWO coats. Surprising for such a light color? Yes, I agree. And that's exactly the quality I was looking for!

Because, you see, I have some sort of philia towards lacquers-opaque-in-two-coats. Yes, I'm devoted to nailpolish, but not at any cost: I clearly prefer two coaters. One coaters are good aswell, because you can always add another coat :p 

It's the two-coats-only mania, I guess. The thing is that I am such an impatient/clumsy person that I always manage to get an imperfection on my recently polished nails during drying time. It might be the door, the computer's keypad, a little of the cotton pad, my own hair, whatever. Everything seems to be drawn to my nails. That ain't my fault.

What part of doing your nails gives you the hardest time?

Homa Manicure

Ladies,

How was your weekend? Mine has been awesome so far, my BF took me to somewhere special for him, and he wouldn¡t tell me where ^^ so it was a nice ride there, and the place was wonderful! We walked through the mountain until we reached a natural fountain called Cold Fountain in the middle of calmness and vegetation. I was amazed to find such beauty so close to Barcelona.  

Oh, and I also took the opportunity to wear my new helmet, yay!

I initially wanted to give my dotting tools some use, but I was so tired from our walk/ride that my hands were shaking and obtained only a crappy mess. So I changed my mind and settled for a Homa Manicure instead, as seen in Alizarine Claws' blog. It's composed by two colors that you match and mix. Ordered chaos. Sort of.

I used China Glaze Stone Cold and Catrice Pool Party At Night, for I thought it interesting to contrast both the colors and the textures. Anyhow, I don't know if it was due to the fact that I was tired, but I had issues with the application of both polishes. Stone Cold was thick, and dried far too quick so I needed to do a lot more strokes than usual, and then the brush would drag the almost dry polish... Eish. And Pool Party At Night was a nice color, nothing special though, but somehow on the thicker side. So I might have to fix that with some drops of thinner.

I'm not wow'd by the result, but it's nice if you need to do something quick. And I feel like those babies need to be seriously shortened, so I will work on that this afternoon. 

For those who are interested, this is my new astronaut helmet:

Take care!

A little Fowl Play, Love?

Ladies:

That’s what happens when you don’t have time to change your manicure between Monday and Friday: you get bored. Of course, receiving a nail mail makes things even worse.

And let me point out one tiny little thing: if you wish it was Friday not because it’s the beginning of the weekend, but because you can do your nails at last, you’re insane. I AM.

So, I needed to spice things up somehow. The answer is Love, yeah, keep it comin’. What else? The answer is Love… Fowl Play. 

You're looking at Orly's Fowl Play over Anny - The Answer is Love. This little beauty has been eagerly sponged on my tips, and that’s the result. I love it!

Off-topic (feel free to switch that): Today has been quite a tiresome day, for I’ve unleashed my inner beast. The thing is: my roommate decided to start eating my food. Discretely at first and then without any kind of embarrassment. She stated shamelessly: “stolen food tastes better than mine”. Oh, okay then. Makes perfect sense. I guess food became uninteresting, so my skincare products have been the object of such a criminal behaviour lately. I’ve been suspicious for a while and finally got the Revelation this morning. Then she served me some “buts” and “it’s not that serious” in her discourse, and Kraken got free. Darn, there’s no but: you use and eat my stuff repeatedly without my consent = you’re stealing. Am I right? AM I RIGHT? *her unconsciousness of what’s wrong and what’s not just gets me desperate* It’s exhausting.

Anyhow, keep rockin’ it!

Anny - The answer is Love

Ladies,

Here’s the mani that I’m currently wearing: Anny – The Answer is Love. It’s an almost black blue base packed with tons of red, copper and blue shimmer, a true vampy polish. The shimmer is visible in almost every lighting, which makes it really interesting. It’s a one coater, and it does not chip easily at all. I snagged it in a “buy two get one for free” offer and I’m darn glad I did!

What I’m going to say next will probably seem quite far from the nail polish world, but it’s not. Lana Del Rey got me when I first saw her. She has this thing, you don’t exactly know what it is, but it’s there and it draws you to her… I’ve listened to Born to Die over and over and over again, both the song itself and the clip are amazing. Some people think she could be beautiful if it wasn’t for those peculiar lips, but I think they make her even more unique. Let’s embrace our identity signs, I say! Well, then came Blue Jeans, its lyrics and clip. She had done it again. Okay, I’ve heard her sing live and it’s really bad sometimes. You know, I’d like to hear her sing THE song, not that night’s version of it. Oh well…

BUT what I love about her above all is… her nails! Seriously, have you looked at those long fake nails she wears all the time? Mostly with a nude color, gold and red, with chevron tips? It’s so contrasting with her American doll face; it shows there’s some badass attitude there! That’s the image that comes to my mind when I talk about nailporn and manicures that rock.

Do you have any such inspiration?

Stripes, shimmer and Gin

Hi there!


I hope you had a weekend full of laughs and polish! For my part, I went to a Gin masterclass and tasting with some friends, in a pub called Bobby Gin (Barcelona), where the allegedly best bartender in Spain explained us the evolution of Gin while we tasted 8 sorts of it. After that, we had a Gintonic for "dessert" and a lot of good humour. Of course, I had to wear something special for the occasion, so I went for a striped manicure. 

I used 2 coats of N.Y.C. nº 306 for the base, which is a dark blue with purple and gold shimmer that is quite visible in natural light. You can see some purple in my thumb here...

And the stripes were made with Barry M Bright Purple. My BF chose those colours, and I have to say he chose really well! What do you think?

I received some compliments with this manicure, and I truly appreciate them coming from man, for:
1) They spotted it; 2) They liked it; 3) They complimented me out aloud and 4) They asked me how I did it. 
But a lady never reveals her secrets, you know. I like to play it mysterious, hee hee.


Take care!

Kiko Magnetic in Wine Red (703)

Heya!

In my last entry I said I was going to change my plum and gold mani to put on some more conventional lacquer. Well, I hate to say that, but… I lied.

I had Illamasqua Purity in mind, for the only time I tried it I found it was pretty darn horrible to apply and a whiny chipping nasty thing while wearing it. Not good. And even though I don’t like to stay on my first impressions (and more so when it was a bad impression) I grabbed Kiko xx Magnetic Polish instead and dressed my nails with it.

It’s the second time I try a magnetic polish, both were Kiko’s and both have behaved wonderfully. I applied them over a (still wet) base color and did not have a single issue. This one in particular seems to have such a depth it’s like I’m staring at some pond. Ain’t it fascinating?

The only inconvenient I’ve had is that the magnet seems to be a tad too weak, and thus the lines do not reach the edges of my nails. I guess that can work fine with flatter nails, but mine are quite curved so it felt a little like a coitus interruptus. I need to try some other magnets, that’s all :)

A really important quality of this polish is also that it seems to stay in the nails no matter what. I’ve been typing like mad for the past two days and here it is, immutable. Bravo! It will definitely go to my list of 4x4 polishes!

Hope you like it! As always, take care and rock you manicures!

Hypnotizing Gold Sparkles

Well hello there :)

I'm tempted to ask how was your weekend, for it feels like a Sunday for me! Today is Worker's Day in Spain, and we celebrate it... not working. I was supposed to work on Monday, but my boss sent me an email while I was 100m away from my workplace telling me I could take my Monday off, and so I did. Very gladly. Almost eagerly. 

I decided to celebrate it with a new manicure, so I started with two coats of Rimmel Hypnotize, this gorgeous dark plum I bought in Spitalfields Market in London, for a couple of bucks. Ain't it worth it?!

Up for something blingy I added gold tips with IsaDora Gold Sparkles. Simple, yet somehow uncommon :) Loved it!  

So I've been enjoying this the whole day, and I'm sad to say that I'll have to take it off in a couple of hours, in order to put on some worksafe manicure. Sometimes I feel like I disguise myself for work; does that happen to you?

Take care and be good ;)