Kiko 396 + Farewell

Hello Ladies,

Today I am showing you a mani that lightened my state of mind when I was literally waiting for my nails to grow, 0.0000001 cm at a time. Kiko nº 396 (Bright Peacock). I'd venture to say that this polish is the opposite of Chanel's Péridot: a metallic teal that shifts to gold. Gorgeous. I own both of them and I must say I prefer this one, at least on me, for Péridot's gold does not suit my skintone *sob*

Indoors, indirect sunlight

Outdoors, direct sunlight

Farewell is a word that I loved from the first time I read it in Charlotte Brontë's Jane Eyre, even if I didn't even knew what it meant. So this is a farewell; but a little one :) As you read these lines I am leaving for one week holidays with The Boyfriend, seeking total relax, good food and a lot of sun. We're doing 641 km in his motorbike, in a two-step trip. My arse will hurt like it never did before, but at least my nails are safe in this adventure. And I'll wear my gorgeous helmet... I just can't wait to be gone.

I'll be back in 8 days, hopefully with some new nail polish (it's unlikely) and a few good pictures of my trip! 'Til then be bad, be bold, be brave (sounds like one of Illamasqua's slogans, ain't that right?). 

M.

Essence peel off base coat review

Señoritas,

TGIF *a shitload of emphasis added*

Today's post is dedicated to the best base coat ever invented. Just like that. 

Essence has released a peel off base coat. You are supposed to apply it before your polish (wow), keep your mani for as long as you wish and then... gently peel the whole thing off instead of using a regular polish remover. Sounds shitty? It's not! I directly thought: glitter. Yeah babe, that's it. Let's proceed.

Welcome the Star of the post.

Apply a thick coat of base coat.

While drying the base coat becomes clear.

Essence recommends to wait 10 minutes for it to be completely dry. Hint: it should be completely clear.

Put on your nail polish and wear it as long as desired. I felt brave enough to put on Milani's one coat glitter in whichever color or name it is for the first time in one year. I am a coward 364 days a year, but sometimes I take my day off...

Fun part: peel that b*tch off! Easy!

See, that base coat has a huge potential in my opinion. Now my big question is: will this start to peel easily? Because if so... this won't be brilliant anymore. My mani is not over until I say it is over. I fear this will start peeling off whenever it suits it best; that would not be fun.
Anyhow, it would still be okay for one night out or a special occasion, feel me? I'd do anything not to remove a glittery  mani myself. ANYTHING. 
Would you give it a go?
_

It's time to get serious now. There's this whole cultural phenomenon going on around here lately; I am sure some of you will have already heard about it. For the ones who don't, the story is like so: in a little town called Borja (Spain) there was this granny called Cecilia Giménez. She was a full-time unoccupied person, and we all know this is a desperating situation. She went to mass assiduously, and day after day kept seing this painting in the church, called Ecce Homo. It had been a great painting, but two centruies' existence had torn it apart. 

One day, a wonderful idea popped into her head: she decided to restorate it. Oh, sorry, did I write "restorate"? Big mistake, I wanted to say "destroyed". Who will believe that for achieving this blasphemy work she only used watercolors, huh? Take a look:

Cecilia Giménez is in shock, and has agreed to cooperate with the authorities in order to determine the exact materials she used, to facilitate their removal. I can't tell you how much I laughed with this true story. Now, people are signing a petition so that the Ecce Homo is not restored to its former state, because in their opinion this version is much more XXIst century. 

I don't know for you guys, but I call this ART MURDERING.

Take care!

M.

Lola Make up Berrylicious - Fishtail nailart and Koi tattoo.

Hey there!

How are you doing? For my part, I have my eyes fixed on Friday, when I'll be on holidays for two entire weeks. I hardly know what to do with so much time, but I'll sort that out. I guess trying to tick some of the things I have on my To Do List will be fun. AND of course I will be out of Barcelona one week: escapade with The Boyfriend.

So that is the mani I wore last week at work (yeah I am daring like that). I used two coats of Lola Make Up in Berrylicious which has a gorgeous jelly finish, and then added Zoya Meg and China Glaze First Mate in the accent nails. That fishtail design can be done freehanding, but as I still suck at that I used two reinforcement stickers instead.

Here's a close up of Lola Make up bottle:

Great value for money, I think I had this on sale at half its price, so around Eur. 2. That color can stand on its own for sure, I just have this urge to avoid plain manis lately. It comes from within; the inner monster of the so called nail art, huh?

Oh, and before I leave I just wanted to show you what The Boyfriend did to me:

I love Koi fishes, and if I was bold enough I would definitely get a whole back tattoo with them. I would also have to figure out how to include a little Ganesh on it, ya' know the indian divinity. The thing is... I have a hate relationship with things "forever". It's not about commitment, don't get me wrong. It's about reality. Things just end up in nothing, broken. So why pretend it is not so? (Yeah, I am sure a shrink would find a lot of smart inputs about my personality here. If you are one, please feel free to proceed).

Anyhow, he had this dream where my back was covered by such a tattoo and decided to recreate it. We weren't even together yet, and he already dreamed about me. That's the nº1 fact that needed to be stated, of course. Well then, the design has been created by him from zero. Ain't it GORGEOUS?!

Have you noticed those fishes' beautiful eyes? Man, I am drop dead. 

M. 

It's GIVEAWAY time!

Haaaai!

I hit 100 followers just some hours ago, and I am madly happy about it. I will spare you the history class ("Ladies and Gents, welcome. When I started this blog...") which would have been very short anyways, because I don't pretend to fool anyone: I am a newborn blogger. But the truth is that I can't throw a giveaway without thanking you all, and telling you how I feel about this adventure in a nutshell. If you're shamelessly and exclusively interested in the free polish, I don't blame you. You can freely proceed to apply in the form below. For the ones who care a little more for the personal aspect of blogging, fear not! I will be concise :)

This project started as an ephemeral attempt at making something of my own, without much confidence but with spare eagerness. I didn't expect anything in particular and I was therefore many times surprized  in the good way. I've gotten to know some of you through commmenting back and forth, and the addition of this personal factor to the great nail polish base is what makes this adventure very special and dear to me. You make me smile continually, through your comments and blog entries. You certainly show some love.

For all this, THANK YOU. I wish you the best of luck!

This giveaway is open internationally, starting today. It will remain open until the 2nd September. There will be only one winner, to whom I will send all the goodies. 

Here are some close ups of the prize:

Kiko nº389 (Mint Milk) - Kiko nº319 (Light Dove) - Kiko nº283 (Dark Coral Pink)

Kiko nº 401 (Holographic - Peacock green)

Flormar magnetic polish in dark blue

Flormar magnetic polish in green

Flormar magnetic polish in violet

a Rafflecopter giveaway
I want this giveaway to be ON FIRE! So good luck, and again: gracias.

M.

We need to talk.

Ladies,

How are you all doing? I have to admit I am a bit disoriented for I had my day off yesterday and I my brain has assumed it's Monday today. I will be more than happy tomorrow, the weekend will be there much sooner than expected. Who said a two-day week? Sign me up. NOW.

I am not currently sporting the mani I am showing you today; I have to say I enjoyed it very much and would have loved to wear it a little longer. But the situation is like so: I have reached a point in absurdity where I am so desperate to take advantage of the free time I have that I rush for trying new polish-related things and end up taking fun manis off far too soon. Oh well. I never know when my free time is to vanish again, so I play around as much as I can. That helps feed my blog, so I guess it's not that bad. It just feels like coitus interruptus at times.

You are looking at two coats of Sinful Colors Let's Talk over a coat of white, which I stamped with Gosh Silver and Konad. Now you can already tell that color is quite in-your-face, but my camera was very reluctant to capture the color accurately... So I called The Boyfriend for help and we photoshopped a little one of the pictures, so that this post is not really misleading. Here's a closer glimpse of the color:

I'm off showing the Criminal Code some love [that sentence might be totally senseless for you, if so just pretend you never red it], take care of yourselves.

M.

Kiko Holographic grey

Hey there!

I just wanted to show you the polish I am currently rocking at work; it might be no news for you, but this is my first holo ever. I thought it would be somehow shitty, and I couln't be more wrong. I love this stuff, seriously!

This is the first time I show both my hands / nails in their true to life state: post-moving out. It could also be named post apocalyptical nails, slightly exaggerating the whole thing. The nail on my middle finger (left hand) has already broken two times, and it's been recently the turn of my index finger (right hand) - all I have to say to my nails is: if I had wanted asymmetric nails I would be the happiest woman in the world but hey, guess what? I just want my nails to be perfect. F*ck me, right?!

Well Ladies, happy monday. Do not get discouraged for Friday is on its way already!

M.

Audrey has been hypnotized here!

Señoritas!

I hope you're enjoying a big ice cream wherever you are; I certainly will right after posting this beauty. Now enter Cult Nails Hypnotize me over two coats of the legenday China Glaze For Audrey.

I am sorry to say I haven't been able to capture the glittery awesomeness of this baby, so for once let's let the words really do the talking. Hypnotize me is a very light and translucid green base packed with tons of green and blue glitter. Its beauty comes from the fact that it shines even in the shade and reflects every tiny bit of light. The first picture has been taken indoors, with indirect sunlight.

The picture above has been taken at the office (yeah, no comments) when the sun was hitting the glitter through the window.

And here's a close up of the babe, so you can see how the blue glitter really does stand out for a crazy glittery attraction.

I was lusting over some pictures of Yun, The Polish Hideout the other day (yeah, Yun I might be your official stalker :p) and I know I'll be near dying when OPI DS Indulgence comes out. It's impossible to acquire it over here without having to pay a huge price, and I thought I could offer myself to do a swap before tracking it down like mad in eBay. So this is just a shot, an offer in the air, in hopes someone will be interested in swapping me over DS Indulgence. I will swap back anything you ask me *drama added* 

If you are interested in anything I can offer just email me :) 

Have a great day and show some attitude!

M.

Heavy Metalilac

Well hey!

I've seen my followers' counter going up quite quick this week, so I would like to welcome all my new followers :) I am also more thankful every day to the people I keep commenting back and forth with. You all feed my blog and my heart. I'll be doing a giveaway whenever I reach 100, if I ever do, so stay tuned for that!

I'm really satisfied with my week so far, I've been working 100% on a project that I have with the Criminal Law Department at my firm: we're working on a new edition of the Criminal Code where each and every article has its own case laws properly systematized. It's a huge work and needs to be ready to be printed from the 1st October. I'll have my name printed at the back of the book and all... I can't wait!

Well, as I am a heavy worker right now, I thought it was a great occasion to show you Catrice's Heavy Metalilac. 

I'll try not to go crazy and all while describing this, but OH MY GOD! And I assure you this pictures don't do the polish any justice, it's much more vibrant and bright in live. As it had already happened before, I found the consistency a little too thick, but a couple of drops of thinner have done a miracle, and now I just feel unbound and unlimited pleasure while thinking of this polish. A true nail polish orgasm, that's what it is. 

It makes me think of Lil Wayne's lyrics: "Got on my knees and asked my lord to keep me clear from the devil 'cuz [feel free to choose an end]" (On Fire).

It's Metalilac. Heavy Metalilac. Remember that name.

M.

Sweet polka dots in short nails

Hey there!

Today I'll show you the first mani I wore after the war (moving out) and after shortening my nails. Those of you who have stopped by more than once will notice I've changed my posing hand. And, oh-surprise! the background. Yeah, collateral damages of changing one's home.

You're looking at two coats of Orly Au Champagne (have you noticed THAT shimmer in the pictures? Take a closer look!) and some simple dots added with China Glaze Sweet Hook. It was girly and soft, and I have to admit I liked how the short nails looked on me, I guess I like the change. I'll patiently wait until they grow long again.

Have a nice week :)

M.

Saran wrap Manicure Tutorial

Hey!

The sweet Jin from Superficially Colorful requested that I did a tutorial for the Saran wrap Manicure, and as her wish is my command, here it is. This is my first photo tutorial ever, so I would be very grateful if you could leave your input; I'm thinking "what was good? what was crap? how could I improve the thing?" and anything in between :)

Fist things first: What do you need?

I'm sure you will have everything you need at hand; only note that you will need as many pieces of saran wrap as nails you intend to enhance. This implies that you will work on a previous dry base, usually another nail polish, or even your dry transparent base coat. If you are using a fast dry top coat, you don't need to wait for a long time; 15-20 minutes would be enough.

1. Make the Saran wrap balls

I'd recommend to prepare the saran wrap balls before starting the whole process, and keep them at hand. You still will have to tighten them up right before using them, but having them already half prepared will help. As for how to do the balls, feel free to do them as you please, but take care not to have uniform surfaces. I'd say the sloppier the better.

2. Paint a thick coat of polish over your base

You already master this step so there's no need of explanations. Unless you are super woman, avoid fast drying polishes in this step, for the sake of the next one.

3. Press the saran wrap on the wet polish

The only important thing here is that you have to do it quick, so that the second polish is still wet and can adhere to the saran wrap. The effect will be more dramatic if you press the ball harder to your nail than if you do it softly. Also, feel free to press the saran wrap on the nails as many times as you need to get the effect you are looking for. Anyhow, avoid pressing the wrap twice in the same exact spot, unless you want to take out much more color; doing so can create a gap of color rather evident.

You should end up with a result more or less like so:

Note that one saran wrap ball can be used two times by undoing it and redoing it while taking care the polish is placed inside of it. That can help if you do not have enough wrap, you are willing to help the planet by wasting less of it or your cat has fancied playing with some of your pre-prepared balls.

4. Clean up

After finishing one hand, proceed to clean up and seal it with fast drying top coat. Wait for five minutes and do the other hand. Voilà.

Final result:

I hope you found this tutorial somewhat helpful and fun. I'll be waiting to see your Saran wrap manicures around! 

M.

Girly french manicure

Hey!

It's obvious I'm on holidays: two posts in a week, yay! My nails suck right now, and every time I stare at them I just want to cry. First world women problems. I spent one entire day disassembling my furniture and carrying it up and down, and another entire day reassembling the furniture and placing it where I thought it belonged in my new appartment. Add a lot of dust to the equation and you will obtain ten tortured nails. I had spent quite a lot of time shortening them before such ordeal, but apparently it wasn't enough *sobs* So while I pamper them and transform them into ten long and healthy nails, I will post some pictures from my archive of un-posted manis.

This french one is from a little while back; I used Sally Hasen Insta Dry Petal Pusher (two coats) and Zoya Kimber for the tips. I just needed to cover that nasty nail line...

I'm not trying to make you girls jealous, but I will be spending 1h15 in the hands of a skilled masseur this afternoon, in order to relax and de-stress. I can't wait!

Keep it up, we're Thursday already! One day to go for freedom.

M.