Gold, hearts, negative space...

Hey there!

How is everyone? :) 

Today I am showing you the manicure I did last weekend, for a special occasion: I was seeing my lady friends! We're a group of 7 close friends since we were 16. Well, that's when I started hanging out with them, for I am the last addition and some of them know each other since they were 6 months old! After school everyone has traveled a lot & studied abroad so seldom are the occasions when we all or almost all can meet. Last weekend was one of those times, and we managed to get an almost complete get-together (only one of us was missing).  

So I sported some hearts and gold for that special event:

The hearts were freehanded with thinned-out polish :) 

The black and gold nails were done with a Nail Rock gold foil kit I bought in Paris. It's super easy to use, but the gold foil sticks everywhere... literally. If your hands are a little sweaty, it will stick, if you poured a tiny amount of liquid somewhere, it will stick to it, if your tweezers are a little magnetic-y, they will stick... But hey, you have a blanket of gold foil [honest!], so the kit is really worth your money. And in case of emergency, you're covered:

Your thoughts?

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Grey. Baroque buttermilk hills.

Hello there!

Well, super late with this week's Mish Mash Challenge... but I have my nail art mojo back! Or at least I am getting there, I am already on Step 3 of my 12 Step program to Get that Nail Art Flowin'! Haha, well that's just a fancy way of saying that I've been more inspired lately, and it makes me want to celebrate :)

Gray. Today for gray I give you... what I've called and archived as "Baroque doodling over Buttermilk Hills". Check it out:

I knew I had gray week coming soon so I just put on two coats of Anny Buttermilk Hills. Meh. This polish always feels meh to me, girls. It has those tiny teeny pink particles in the bottle, and they just come to die when you slap the polish on your nails. Me no like this. So I just started drawing on my nails with black acrylic paint and improved the whole thing so much *hugging myself*

Oh and guess what? I have this Antique Gallery on my street selling the perfect 27 drawer thing to put my polish on... I am in love. So I entered and asked how much it costed, as it may or may not enter my Christmas whishlist. Well, it definitely didn't pass the cut. It's worth costs €500. Fuck*ng c'mon, dude! "I give you €100, so call me when you don't sell it". I just get the feeling I'm never going to receive the call though...

Have a nice Sunday!

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Faux stone. Diamond mix & match.

Hello there!

I have been fearing this prompt since we started the challenge, and my nightmares became a reality when I attempted to replicate lapis lazuli on my nails and failed just miserably. It didn't even look like abstract lapis lazuli, it was a disgusting mix of blue, gray and gold that got me on my nerves. Of course, I ditched that and started again, with something completely different.

For today's post I used my skills as a lawyer and twisted the prompt's words, put them upside down and then appealed to the interpretation of them that served me the better... be prepared. Do not call it cheating though, call it hability if you please *wink* 

Faux stone. No need to define stone. But faux. Faux means "false" in French, and I am pretty sure it means the same in English. So a false stone? Okay, I give you: a faux diamond! 

Okay, you have to admit I have worked on my little cheat-trick this time... Play on words and all, you guys!

Basically this manicure was a random mix & match that served me quite good for a freehanding practice. No wonder why I failed at imitating the lapis lazuli, I was just a big bum that day. I had to re-do all the nails but the studded one; c'mon! Even the dripping paint! Don't you feel sorry for me? A little?

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Rainbow. Gay pride manicure.

Hey there!

This will be a quick post, because this week is killing me! And NOT softly. I hope you're better off than me ;) And than one of my clients who, after 6h preparing his deposition as a suspect, appeared before the judge and incriminated himself right in the first sentence. Way to go, dude! Way to go... Someone should write some instructions for lawyers with dumbass clients who happen to have ongoing criminal proceedings. Just saying, it's not easy. 

But you're here for rainbow so let's get to it! I decided to make it simple so I just freehanded the rainbow in two of my nails and did a monochrome combination in black and white for the rest. I just regret that I wasn't able to rock those longer, I was quite happy with my striping skills!

I hope you'll like them!

Take care,

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Flowers. Sort of.

Hello there ladies & ladiezzz!

So this one will be my first cheat of the Mish Mash challenge, and I am making it official and all. Flowers? I had never realised this but I don't really like flowers. I have no flower dress, I have but few flower patterned household items and I can only draw one flower on my nails: roses. And guess what? Not even all roses, but one specific sort... vintage. Fuck me. I drew flames and now all I can draw is flames. Hee hee! At least I can still play on words, I'll check that!

So for today I decided to just doodle something kind of on the verge of flower-y, for it was either that or skipping the week. And that's what I came up with:

Nah, I am not even ashamed of myself. I'll be honest though, not even I can see flowers in there. Maybe it's because I've looked so close into it that I've lost all perspective? 

I've used: Kiko Nude as a base, then one coat of Rainbow Honey 20% Cooler [thank you, Lisa <3] and one coat of a translucent nude by Kiko. When all was dry I freehanded the pattern without putting too much thought into it [see pinky]. Tada!

Yeah... I chopped those talons. It's hard, but I'm doing okay *irony* I just can't wait until I can make them pointy again!

Take care,

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Book. Fight Club Manicure!

Hello there!

This week's prompt of the Mish Mash Challenge (book) had me thinking a lot. I can be the impersonation of contradiction at times, and so when I think of my favourite books I see Jane Austen's work (except for Downtown Abbey) and Chuck Palahniuk's Fight Club. I love how both, in different styles, deepen in the study of human nature and behavior.

But we all know Austen's style: neverending rambles and paragraphs. Even if I have Persuasion's pages highlighted everywhere I couldn't narrow it down to 4 meaningful words. So I moved to my trusted Fight Club; I love how random his writing can seem, and how metaphorical yet direct Palahniuk can be. 

I took my inspiration from a feeling that I know from my rendez-vous with Insomnia late at night... It goes like this:

"I tagged him because the insomnia was on again, and I was in a mood to destroy something beautiful".

 - Chuck Palahniuk, Fight Club.

I had this exact same urge on my worse encounters with insomnia, I was so angry and mad at the world that I entered suicidal mode (not literally). I was ready to blow up everything that mattered because I was exhausted and could not understand my disability to fall asleep. "For years now, I've wanted to fall asleep. The sort of slipping off, the giving up, the falling part of sleep". It's simply genius.

So that's that :) I used Gosh Silver as a base and painted the words with red acrylic paint over a thick coat of clear nail polish that I cut off and "glued" to my nails: quick home-made decals! The drops were painted directly on my nails with acrylics.

Have a nice week & try not to destroy beautiful things...

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Triangle. Pure Ice Wide Awake + new snake!

Hey y'all ;) 

How are my girls? I am super EXCITED today! It has half to do with today's mani, and half with the news coming after the pictures..!

So yeah, I am pretty pleased with my take at freehanding straight lines. I don't know why I gave up being an architect after all, huh? Not knowing what a bearing wall is is nothing compared to being able to freehand straigh lines. But don't let me fool you though, 'cuz today's star is the a gorgeous polish Lisa sent my way: Pure Ice Wide Awake. Check out that shiny glitter!

And just when you thought you were in love with it... Something even cuter catches your attention:

Okay, snake haters: don't ruin my proud mommy moment :'( For the rest: ain't she the most adorable baby snake you've ever seen!? Sorry I am all over the place, but she just made me broke my commitment to myself and to The Boyfriend that I wouldn't buy anything alive at the annual reptile show. I have never been happier in my life to fail miserably at something. 

She is a Vietnamese Beauty Snake (Elaphe Taeniura) and is one month old, aprox. She has quite an attitude at her young age and lets you know when she's not pleased by rattling her tail as if she was saying:

If any of you have a name suggestion, please feel free to let me know! I am looking for something feminine, yet poweful, and if possible reminding of blue (her future adult color).

Be sure to check the other challenge ladies' awesome manicures!

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Cold. Ice cream nails + Glitter Bunny Krazy Straws!

Hey there, nice nails! :)

This week's theme of the Mish Mash Challenge is cold. Throw in some summer and bam! you have it: ice cream nails! 

I've had this idea since back then when I was still on holidays, ages ago, when I was still a careless person... okay, maybe not that long ago, let's say a month. Exactly when I ripped off my pinky nail and clipped my claws off - back to the good ol' "you always want what you can't have" story. Since I had this stupid idea that you need long nails for sporting an ice cream manicure I just waited and waited until I couldn't wait anymore. It turns out I waited too much and my scoops are huge... how's that for an impatient person? Well, please be my judge. And don't be merciful.

For once I nail arted directly using nail polish, but the list is endless and there's no point mentionning the whole list in here unless you want me to, in which case your wish is my command. What is worth mentionning is the awesome glitter I covered my pinky, index and thumb with: Glitter Bunny Krazy Straws! I learned the hard way you HAVE TO thin indies before you slap them on: this bugger bubbled just like a jacuzzi; my bad. But damn! Isn't it just gorgeous?! *getting emotional*

And next up I've got a question for you. Do you like unnatural hair colors? I am talking blue, pink and purple dye here:

If so, would you wear them? 'Cuz I am wanting to. Desperately. Right now I can't; I don't think I'd encourage lawyer-client confidence, but I plan to in a near future. I would love to hear your thoughts! 
And hey, if it's "NO" just say so. This question has not been thrown in here so you can all tell me how great an idea it is, if it isn't ;) I just love honesty, for some strange reason...
Bla bla bla -- WOULD YOU?

Thanks in advance for your reaction!

Be bad,

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Hot. Fire nails!

Hello there!

I hope you're having a nice week 'cuz today this blog is ON FIRE! :) Yup, today's Mish Mash Challenge theme is hot and... what can be hotter than fire? [pffff, The Boyfriend of course!]

As I can't really draw a person (and it honestly never crossed my mind to draw a hot guy on my nails) I decided to go for some burning hell flame nail art:

I thought I'd spend two lives painting those but I managed to get them done in 1h, trial and error included; picture me pleased! 

For this I used two coats of OPI Lucern-tainly Look Marvelous, which is a stunning metallic grey that I'll wear again despite of its ridiculous-slash-neverending name. On top of it I drew the flame shapes with white acrylic paint and filled them in with white to make the colors pop. I then painted the flames with red, dark orange, orange, light orange and yellow acrylic paint that I mixed myself on the go. Add the studs, and the look is complete!

How do you like this?

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Music. Cassette nail art!

Hey hey hey!

How's the week going? I hope everyone here is wanting to party 'cuz todays theme is... Music!

I don't favor any particular singer or music band, probably because my mental health state of mind varies a lot; so much so that I am thinking on using the Richter scale to rate my mood swings. 

Whatever; I use music as my therapy and so I have come to stock a shitload of music in my player, basically prepared to counteract each and every of my states of mind [Author's note: it works!]. Choosing one of them songs was a no go, so I finally set my mind in some vintage-y cassette nail art!

I searched inspiration on YouTube and guess who had already done not one but two cassette nail art videos? Yup, the extraordinary Robin Moses! I seriously love watching her videos. She's amazingly nuts, and so spontaneous that you get the impression of being in her salon. 

So here's my take:

I had so much fun doing these! And I am pretty proud of myself; I had decided to take advantage of my holidays to improve my freehanding skills, and I guess I did :)

Ingredients: The base color is Kiko no. 338 Light Lavender (two coats) and the dots are Zoya Zuza (teal), China Glaze Heli-Yum (hot pink) and Kiko no. 356 Melon (orange). The cassette has been entirely done with acrylic paints and a teeny tiny nail art brush.

What do you think?

Take care,

M.

Neon arrows

Hey there!

I hope everyone here is extra fine :) I am finishing my first week off work and it feels SO good so far..! Collioure was a cozy-love trip; exactly what I needed to plug off from my job. My corporative Blackberry was down so I didn't even care about it... 56 mails awaited me when crossing the border with Spain. Whatever, they can still wait a couple of weeks, 'cuz ain't nobody got time for that!

Today's mani has been on my to do list for quite a while now; Geee, I am enjoying these sick stiletto nailz of mine... Neon arrows!

I used my trusted and loved Kiko Nude as a base and then hand-painted the arrows with a neon green and a bright blue that I don't have handy so... I am afraid no details are available today about them. If you're interested just let me know and I will shed some light on it ;)

The arrows were dead-easy to do, and more so because I wanted a "handmade look" rather than perfectly shaped and symmetrical lines, so I was vaaaaaary pleased with those :) Eye-catching for sure...

On holidays, shit happens too: on my last day in Collioure I broke my pinky nail... badly. Basically, it was rip open in the middle, where the nail was still above my flesh: ouch! I managed to make it last for another day (unbelievable luck here, thanks Karma!) and then just... added three thin layers of super glue (Loctite) and savagely solved the problem.What? I saw a chick use nail glue on YouTube so I thought that might work just as good, and it does! :D We'll see how much longer will this nail survive... Wanna bet?

Take care,

M.

Heart tips over Superficially Colorful Lacquer in GIGGLY

Howdy!

Let's follow up with Superficially Colorful Lacquer in Giggly, shall we? I found this polish to be so lovely as its creator, Jin, so I tried my hand at some textured heart-tips:

Heart tips, that's something I could not really do with oval nails; and I was dying to! I think they are so cute! I stopped at two accent nails per hand because I don't use to be all-in when it comes to a girly girly manicure. It's just that I naturally give this image of a smiling harmless young lady and I prefer not to give more circumstantial evidence in this regard. Basically because the image people get and my true self just don't match. 

Well, just a couple of weeks ago I ordered a Coca light and the waitress asked me for my ID. I am still traumatized.

- Excuse me?

- Your ID... I mean, you look so young.

- For what?

- For the beer you ordered?

- What beer? I ordered a Coca light..! 

For Christ's sake, I am f*cking 24 years old! Having been a criminal lawyer in practice for 2 years is obviously not phisically marking. I hate when this happens. Just imagine when it happens in Court! 

Although I have to admit it has made my work quite easy sometimes... *evil smile* Never ever judge someone by her looks. Never.

Back to the cute heartsies... They have been done with OPI Pussy Galore, the manageability of which surprised me. For a textured polish, it behaved very well: it did not get textured right on the heart's borders, you know? When it has to be nice, smooth and curvy.

Hope you like them! I am off enjoying my last day in France!

Take care & be bad,

M.

Bunny up! - Mr. & Ms. Bunny

Hey there!

Yesterday was the perfect day for doing nothing. I went from the bed to my sofa, from my sofa to a rocking chair... and from there to my nail polish station! 

As the madness lowers drastically at work - I guess the judges are on holidays or just too busy thinking about them [can't blame 'em] - my creativity is gradually coming back! Hurray for that :D

So I took my chance at freehanding bunnies, and that's the result:

Please welcome bunnies 3 and 4. Their two predecessors passed out due to deformity. Weird eyes, really. I couldn't do symmetric eyes for the life of me because the white base wasn't even; until I thought to dilute the acrylic paint or paint the face with regular white polish. 

Mrs. Bunny is done with polish (China Glaze Snow) and Mr. Bunny is done with watered acrylic paint. All details have also been done with acrylic paint.

I want to give credit where it's due, but I can't find the source of this tutorial that I used:

And for those of you who pay attention to details... The base color is one coat of Essie Go Overboard + one coat of Sfera Mariana. Quite nice!

Take care, darlings!

M.