Long time no see..!

Hey there!

How is everyone doing? :) Have I missed much while I was away? I am sure I have, polish trends come and go so fast that a gazillion of 'em have vanished already... I will be all the more surprised when I get back to checking blogs, so it may have been for the better?

For me, nothing has really changed yet everything is new. I needed a time off the blog, off nails, off polish... So much so that I barely have anything to show. Boring! And I get the feeling that I won't post as much. I need to get the mojo slowly back, you know? 

So here's a little something for you, the best I could find in my archives of the past two months (!), a simple color block done with a Lola Make Up polish called Neptune...

So yeah, I just wanted to let you all know I am not dead (yet) and don't plan to be any time soon :) I'll see you around!

Take care,

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Holo. Chained love.

Hey there!

I hope y'all are doing fantastic! :) Today's prompt of the Mish Mash Challenge is holographic. You would think I had a lot of ideas featuring a bunch holo polishes... But I didn't. 

I like holos, but I've never gone crazy about them. The holo trend seemed to pass just near me without getting me all in - my pocket feels relieved. So I decided to slap on the one I never used: Nfu-Oh NFU 66. 

For the "nail art" I used Nailz Craze stamping plate no. 06 and then added some dotted chains... I will not further comment on this as I totally disliked it. Well, this is also about the fails, so there you go!

I have to say I am not in the best nail art period of my life, it's as if my creativity had gone dry. I am just able to lust over other people's work and never seem to get the courage to sit at my table and light up the nailporn demon inside of me. Off I go!

Take care,

M.

Dotted flowericure; flowered dotticure...

Hey hey hey! :)

Today's was a pretty sucky morning in my polish-filled world. It's the third day of my Yes Love hunt, and quite an unsuccessful one, might I add. You see, I went crazy over Illamasqua Scarce and its gorgeous little siblings, but their price and a month and a half of waiting put me off on my quest to complete the collection. Until Yes Love (cheapo chinese brand, I believe) brought a suspiciously similar line to life, that is.

I've seen it pop over a gazillion Spanish blogs on which it is deemed to be an affordable and easy to find collection. I don't know about the first, but I can only f*cking disagree about the second, ladies. It is nowhere to be found in the Barcelona area. I lost three hours looking for it today, and I think I am done with it. I will find it, eventually..!

The nails: that too is brought to y'all after a fail. I attempted some deep V sick nails and obtained some deep V sh*t that I took off immediately. That's what followed:

I will skip the info about the base color because you know it just too well by now, it's become my nail's best friend ;) After that, I used five neons to do the dotted flowers: (from thumb to pinky) China Glaze Sun- Kissed, Tokalon nº2, Kiko nº 336 Electric Blue, Nfu-Oh FS12 and Maybelline Orange Fix. The black is China Glaze Liquid Leather.

That was fun to wear but not my style much, I doubt I would ever wear this again... What about you? Oh, and my questions here are never ambush questions: you can always say no. And I point out "here" because my BF would surely disagree otherwise...

And same thing goes for: what do you think of my new blog title?

Take care,

M.

Superficially Colorful Lacquer in MEDITATIVE

Hello there! :)

One of the good things about Jin's thermal polishes is that you never know what you're going to get color-wise. You choose a color from the collection that seems appropriate to your mood or outfit, but what you're seeing in the bottle is the "cold" version of it; the "hotter" one is still a surprise. Once it's on, the magic happens and... tada: the hot version appears!

If you're feeling the urge to know the color you're putting on beforehand I guess you can heat up the bottle... Well, without putting too much thought on it, I don't suggest to use the microwave unless you want an explosion of color, literally ;) [Okay. I typed this and thought... "I am sure there's someone in this planet that has tried this, filmed this and uploaded it on YouTube". Bingo; there's ALWAYS the dumbass next door. Always: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sznbUpX3y_M]

On to today's star: after showing you a swatch of Jin's creation, Giggly, here's its sibling, Meditative. 

Meditative is a gorgeous shimmery dark teal that turns into a beautilful olive green. The formula was just as perfect as Giggly's; what you're looking at is two coats plus top coat. No. Issues. Whatsoever.

What do you think about it? Are you digging some more swatches of the Mood Swings Collection? I hope so, 'cuz I am loaded guys ;)

Take care,

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Tape.

Howdy Ladies and (hopefully) Gents!

I am late for this entry; what an irony... I was hardly late on the ABChallenge, but now that I'm on holidays it's another story. I was posting on time in my head though, and the 16 ladies before me were ahead of their game, until I realized it was a little too optimistic, and that Wednesday was actually... yesterday. Bravo!

Tape. I love tape. I love it because it's easy to use and it gives straight and perfect lines. Me loves lines. So, of course, by association the love story was all set and done beforehand in my head.

Quoting a series I've been watching recently, "this is my design":

The metallic blue is OPI Swimsuit... Nailed it!, sent to me by the lovely Jenni, the neon green is from Tokalon and the neon pink is Nfu-Oh FS12. As a base for my two accent nails I used Kiko Nude. What else?

Those nails were lucky enough to get to see World War Z; geee I haven't been that excited to see a movie since... since a movie from the Twilight saga. Please don't hold it against me? Liked (though not loved) the movie. It was lacking zombie-nails shots.  

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.

Glequin Mix&Match over Amable Chartreuse (again)

Hello nailporn seekers!

I hope your weekend has been a nice one! I seem to be changing habits, for I've had a whole lot of time to relax and do what had been postponed for too long, plus a whole lotta nothing..! Feels good, I won't deny it.

I have taken my time to re-organize my stash since I found out the cleaning lady is so thorough with her cleaning duties that she cleans my polish shelves. It makes me happy that someone will take care of my babies as much as I do. It really does. What she's not that thorough about is how she organizes the polish after cleaning... And that's just how you find Chanel's Péridot right next to China Glaze First Mate. I challenge any of you (and her), my beloved readers, to find a realistic criteria that could bring those two polishes together in a non-randomly organized stash.

I hope you're not sick of looking at Kiko's Amable Chartreuse. I am conscious it's the third time I am starring it here, and I do promise it's the last. I just couldn't keep this glequin nail art to myself ;) It was such a mood-booster..! That colour does really have something special! And the glequins just popped up, take a look:

This was done last week, and I had a party in mind. But the party turned out to be on an intimate flat roof [in short, that means no light. Karma?], so only one person was able to notice it ;) 

Here's for more exciting news: my giveaway is over, and the winner is...

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Sofia B.! Congratulations, Sofia! I have just sent an email to you, and you have 24h to respond before I pick another winner.

That's all for now!

M.

ABC Challenge: Letter V - V tips over Kiko's Sun Pearl Amable Chartreuse

Howdy!

Well, letter V was an easy one for me... I just love V tips! So on that girly afternoon I talked to you about, my cousin Laure chose a bold yet soft manicure with V tips I am honored to show you today!

I started with two thin coats of Kiko's Sun Pearl lacquer in Amable Chartreuse, then added striping tape and did the tips with a regular black. On the ring finger I freehanded a rose, which helps soften the look and gives a contrastring manicure. Lovely, IMHO.

On a side note, I went to prison yesterday to teach some inmates about fundamental/constritutional rights, and apart from it being a blast... One of the female inmates told me she couldn't stop staring at my nails while I was there, for my polish was amazing. I can't tell you which polish it was (yet), but I promise you'll see in no time. Gee, it made me feel super proud of myself ^^

Have a nice time!

M.

Kiko Sun Pearl collection - Amable Chartreuse (nº 427)

Hello hello ^^

This one has been a sunny weekend here in Barcelona, it seems the summer is finally settling in :) I decided to celebrate that with a gorgeous (and unusual on me) shrek green: Kiko's Amable Chartreuse, from the Sun Pearl Collection.

The color just didn't appeal to me at first, but as the whole collection has such a great coverage I figured I could always use it for nail art. Don't you see this color dripping over a pink or a blue?

I nail arted over it, but I will keep you in the dark with that a little more ;) Amable Chartreuse behaved beautifully: this is two coats + top coat, but one would have been enough on shorter nails, I am sure. As you can see, it has some beautiful golden shimmer in it, which is a little shy if not in contact with direct sunlight. Nothing major, for it adds a lot of depth to the color :) 

What do you think?

If you want it, don't forget to enter my GIVEAWAY!

M.

ABC Challenge: Letter U - Marine, U rock

Hello everybunny!

Ten days ago I spent a weekend with my French family, and it was a blast. Of course, I had taken  a little of my nail gearwith me, and so my cousins (Marine & Laure) and I spent the rainy afternoons home, being girly, chatting and nail-arting :)

For today's installment of the ABC Challenge I am feauturing Marine's nails, of which I have always been secretly jealous [I guess it's not a secret anymore :p]. Marine, U are the star of this post:

For this mani I used two easy coats of Essie Go Overboard as a base. The details were done using another Essie (the name of which I can't remember because it was hers), striping tape and a fine nail art brush. 

But I need to give credit where it's deserved! What you're looking at is the result of team-working: Marine for the nails and patience, Laure for the thumb's cute lace and me for the rest ^^ Yay for family, for such a beautiful model and for a great afternoon!

Take care!

M.

ABC Challenge: Letter R - Rhinestones + Essence That's what I mint!

Hey!

Long time no see, huh? BUT I couldn't miss my weekly rendez-vous with you and the lovely ladies participating in the ABC Challenge, riiiight? :)

So here I am, and I promise no cheating today. Letter R stands for rhinestones:

I have to say I loved wearing this manicure. Simple. Clean. Fresh. Elegant. And a little à la Audrey Hepburn; that's what I like to think, at least. 

The base is two easy coats of Essence That's what I mint! I swear the polish was calling me from the stand, like the mermaids singing to Odysseus... except that I am way prettier and that I wasn't tied to a mast... So I succumbed to temptation. Very gladly, I have to say, because it was on sale. WIN!

Take care!

M.

Kiko Sun Pearl Nail Lacquer nº 428 River Green

Hello my fellow polishaholics!

I am here today with the second polish of the new Sun Pearl lacquers recently released by Kiko. And let me tell you, I am very excited about this collection so far! I may get me the two I am missing sooner than later ;)

Today's post features this amazing turquoise green called River Green. Jusr like its sibling, I could have gotten away with only one coat, but I did two because my religion compels me to. 

My thoughts on this one are clear: I've been loving every second I have worn it. What about you?

M.

Holiday manicure. First attempt at vintage freehanded roses.

Hey there!

Happy easter ^^ I hope you enjoyed your time. I did a whole lot of nothing and it felt darn good. The Boyfriend and I spent four days near the beach, far from Barcelona where not even work can reach you... Jeeze, I can't believe it's over!

I thought I'd be productive and fill in my archives with pretty pictures of intricated nail art, but you're looking at the one manicure I've done during these holidays. Whatever, I am proud of it. It was my first time freehanding vintage roses. Heck, it was my first time freehanding anything on my nails! 

Voilà:

For this manicure I've used Kiko Celebration LE in Blush as a base, and then added some fun as follows:

- the pink dots and the darker pink on the roses is Kiko Celebration LE in Pearly Pink Iguana [I doubt that morph of iguana actually exists, but that name makes it sound just like the ultimate lizard!]

- my middle finger and the dots on my pinky have been done using Cina Glaze Sun-Kissed

- the darker part of the leaves are done with Sfera Mariana

- the lighter pink and green were obtained by mixing the color with Kiko Blush

Whatcha say?

Now that gave me a good kick to keep on going with freehanding stuff, and I wonder what should I attempt next. Mind you, before you give me any suggestion... I get frustrated quite easily. Hence, replicating Magritte's Golconde or Las Meninas by Velazquez is out of the question. For now. I am sure we'll find a lot of interesting things to disfigure in between *evil laugh*

Take care,

M.

ABC Challenge: Letter J - Jade, King of Greens + Illamasqua adventure

Hello Ladies,

We've got a rendez-vous with letter J this week, for which I chose another one of my back-ups: Catrice's jade polish King of Greens. Yes. I have been a lame, lame lawyer. I got lost into the oceans of papers I need to read, review and summarize and when I found myself in front of my stash I just couldn't find anything more interesting than my new Kiko Mirror effect in Lavender. Fitting that in letter J felt too much like cheating, so I raped my archives once more ;)

Another shimmery beauty. Flawless aplication. Yet I confess I am completely out of love, so I'll let the pictures do the talking. 

Let's move to the obvious and undeniable evidence of my bad luck, "recently" proved by my last purchase to Illamasqua. Yup, remember the sales? Back in January? Right then! I dedided to indulge myself and acquire three Illamasqua beauties that I am still waiting on. It all started when the Queen of England decided (yeah, right. She personally did. *irony*) to pass a new law regarding the exporting of hazardous items from England to other European countries, right in the middle of the post-Christmas sales. Optimum timing, you'll see. Hazardous shit, I was saying. Ya' know, cocaine, dynamite, guns, nail polish. That sort of things we should all work to erradicate from the surface of the earth. But whatever, no one informed Illamasqua and its fellow companies of the passing of such law (bad!) and when the royal mail service detected hazardous parcels it considered more advisable to destroy them than to return them to the sender (very bad!). Illamasqua informed me that my parcel had been destroyed for the first time.

Next up, Illamasqua had to speedily resend all those destroyed parcels, and I am guessing they probably ran out of stock with something I had bought, for they took a good month to ship the package again. I am not blaming them at all, I can just imagine how costly this must have been for the brand. So, at the end of February my package was sent to me again. With a private company, this time, which assured Illamasqua they would send the packages following Her Majesty's new rules. Bullshit. Illamasqua just contacted me yesterday: my package has been destroyed a second time. Made my day.

Illamasqua needs to re-send everything for the third time, at its own expense. Again. They informed all the customers affected by this that they would send everything in "express delivery", and sent us a 20 pounds vaucher. 

Okay, so my bad luck has been scientifically proven by this series of events beyond all reasonable doubt. 

And seriously now; from Illamasqua's perspective, this implies a shitload of negative accounting stuff that I honestly  don't think they should be responsible for, and I am feeling sorry for a brand that I have come to value because it stands out for imperfection and uniqueness in this fake and impersonal world we live in. Thus, I don't think I will let my greed aggravate their situation by using the vaucher I have been sent. I need to think about it. Any thoughts?

Have a nice day!

M.

Check out below what the other ladies have come up with for letter J :)

IsaDora Beetle Green

Hey there!

It's awesome how time flies when you're doing nothing. But for once, I have the time and that makes me smile like a little kid. Or should I say it makes the kiddo inside of me smile? Never mind.

What I have for you today is IsaDora Beetle Green, and it's amazing. I love this kind of emerald greens, and surprizingly enough I have only one. Why? I don't know, maybe I was waiting for the perfect one ;) Anyhow, I find it most appropriate for the season, don't ya?

And today I went to the World Press Photo 2012 exposition with The Boyfriend, and enjoyed it a lot. I like art, and paintings are good. But photography is simply great. One picture caught my eye (and my slightly feminist heart): Inna Shevchenko is an Ukranian feminist who fights in top-less, she's provocative, she's bold, she's strong and she stands for a cause I can only acclaim: equality. Here's she:

I'll welcome 2013 in the same position if I remember to do so... What will you do when the clock strikes 00:01?

Happy new year & thank you, again.

M.

Dior Waterlily. A walk through a rose garden...

Hello there!

This is a quick post for I am writing this right before flying to a Flamenco Night with my lady friends. I am not a huge fan of it, but I figured it's just because I've never listened to good live flamenco music. So I hope anyways, which is exactly why I am giving it a chance tonight! 

This weekend has been quite calm polish-wise. I've been enjoying a relaxing full manicure: Dior Waterlily. I first saw this beauty over at Jin's and instantly fell in love with it. I was a little out of budget already, so waited till I was rich again (what a joke!) and went for it. But it had been retired from sale some days before! I cried on the inside, and played my charms over the Dior lady. A week after, she had found it still un-retired in another store and had it brought to Barcelona. 1 up!

I only used two coats plus top coat here. And let me tell ya': this polish is exactly what I expect a Dior to be. Perfect formula, drying time and scent! Yes, it's a rose scented polish. Adorable! Have a peek at that subtle shimmer..! I am positive on this: I will be wearing Waterlily a few more times!

What do you think?

M. 

Mix 'n Match

Heeeeeellow,

Today I am showing you the mani I've been rocking all this weekend, of which I can't help but be a little proud of. I had my afternoon off on Friday and unvoluntarily dedicated most of it to doing my nails. Seriously, I think I've never spent so many time on nail art EVER, and it was quite a lot of fun! I should do it more often. Take a look:

So I took a look at my inspiration archive and could not make my mind on one single design so... I picked five of them and made some sort of mix and match with them! I need to credit The Daily Nail for the index design, it's totally hers; it's so cool but time-consuming... If you try it out (you should!) as part of a manicure I totally recommend to start with it, because you'll need to wait some time between stages, so you can proceed with the rest of the manicure while building this design up.

I had a party on Friday night and some people were like: "what?! YOU did that?!" [re-thinking about it I'd answer "yeah, I can do more than procedural writs, awesome right?"] and "nah, those nails aren't yours"; even my mother felt the urge to take my hands on picture this morning. It feels daaaaaamn nice! If I was a cat right now, I'd purr badly.

Sadly, I have to take them off because tomorrow is Monday already *sobs* so I needed to immortalize them (sort of) in my little bloggy :) Hope you like them!

Recipe:

- Index: China Glaze Sea Spray, China Glaze Liquid Leather and Kiko nº 383.

- Middle: Gosh Silver, Flormar nº 385.

- Ring: China Glaze Snow, China Glaze Liquid Leather, Orly Green Apple, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, China Glaze Heli-Yum.

- Pinky: Essie Armed & Ready, IsaDora Gold Sparkles.

M.