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 - Card or board game. French cards nailz.

Hello here!

How'z ya doin? I've been waiting for this week to arrive since I discovered 3D molds for acrylic nail art. Am I alone here? Have you ever used them? It's so freakin' easy..! [example]

So yeah, a pretty minimalistic nail art here, just white nails (ChG Snow + Orly Au Champagne) and my 3D acrylic babies that I made in about 5 minutes :)

I went to a party with those and at least they catched everyone's attention :p I am sure not everyone was thrilled with them but I sure was! 

Keep it up!

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.

Color blocking & snake update!

Aloha everybunny!

How's the after-Christmas but before-NewYear's eve time going? I hope it's being terrrrrific for you! :D

Today I have some color blocking to show you, in nude and black. Nothing rare, you'll have seen this a gazillion times, and yet I wanted to have my take at it. Bandwagon b*tch...

Now let me put this down in words: THIS look ROCKS (I say so myself, and shamelessly! That's how much I liked it). 

Went to a party with those talons, got complimented. TONS. And guess what? This is as easy peasy. All you need is some striping tape and one color. Place your tape randomly, avoid making two identical nails, paint, take off the tape and... done. Boom! Magical. Just make sure you wait some time before topcoating: you want your lines clean and perfect. That's about it.

Okay, onto some SNAKE stuff (run!): Discordia shed again, she's grown 10cm in about 6 weeks (I swear! I was astonished and even double checked) and she did it before my eyes. If you're not familiar with snakes, let me point this out: some people have kept the same snake for years and never watched it shed. They tend to prefer intimacy for it. But mine is open-minded, yay!

To celebrate, here are some pictures of my baby-beast freshly shed:

The yellow is starting to peek through her neck, while her body is clearly brown, white around the saddles and grey/pastel brown on the outside. I wonder how she makes those colors look so neat and beautiful together . Maybe I am a weirdo, but I luuuurve this snake.

Hasta la próxima,

M.

Black&Red saran wrap manicure.

Hello Señoritas!

How are you doing? I guess you're all in the christmassy move, buying presents, thinking of outfits and what is most important, manicures. Well, I am. As you already know for New Year's eve I'll be wearing the third of the dresses I posted about, which is black and red. So I've started my trial-error process for choosing the perfect nails to go with it.

This is my first attempt: black and red saran wrap manicure (if you're on the look for a tutorial, I did one here). 

The colors used are Anny Open My Heart (great red jelly) and China Glaze Liquid Leather. 

I really liked the way it turned out BUT considering on New Year's eve the light won't be this intense, I decided to keep looking for something more eye-catching :) Those pictures were taken in indirect sunlight around 13h so you can really tell where there's red and where there's black. But trust me when I say that under artificial lightning or at dawn the manicure looked very dark and maybe a tad too subtle for such an occasion as welcoming a new year.

I'll keep experiencing then ;)

M.

OPI DS Mystery

Buenos días!

How’s this week going? It’s Wednesday already *dance* I just can’t believe it…

For this week I’ve decided to sport the second OPI Designer Series Jenni swapped me, DS Mystery. It’s perfect for fall/winter, it’s vampy and sexy (hello, complimenting myself here!) and quite changing depending on the lightning.

It’s given me a hard time capturing its beauty. It happens to be less dark in some lights, leaning a tad more to a darkened burgundy. The base is (surprisingly) a nearly-black blue, filled with burgundy-brown and copper flakies that totally cover up the base. They have no problem shining; they’re proud but not loud. They are visible enough to evidence it’s not a dull black polish, and that’s what makes this polish on the edge of work-safe and super flattering for a suited up woman, IMO.

I spent a couple of seconds doubting about having this on my nails for a full week at work, considering it might be too dark to please some conservative pupils of this office I work in… And then remembered Chanel featured nothing less than black polish in some of its advertisements (take a look at http://fabricmag.com/fabric-magazine-models/malgosia-bela-for-chanel-beauty/) and went for it. I haven’t had second thoughts since then; it felt only classy to me.

So I am thinking maybe we nail polish lovers end up losing the sight of what is edgy and what isn’t, just because there’s nothing (or almost nothing) we wouldn’t wear. And more so when even the more “conservative” bloggers color-wise can’t help but be astonished by some totally unconventional and non work-safe colors. So I have decided to worry less about what’s on my nails, starting on January 2013, and enjoy every color by making it classy. Boss displeased? No wonder he’ll let me know. And problem solved.

Would you dare this at work? Are you allowed to wear anything you like?

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. 

Fail mani. Episode 1.

Hao,

How's everything? We're lusting over Friday, right? Unavoidable.

I wanted to complete today's cycle and crown the day with a fail post. I like harmony, in everything. Fail or fly. But I ain't flyin' today. 

That's a manicure I had high hopes in. I started with two coats of China Glaze liquid leather, and decided to go to an official English exam with it, having slept 4 hours. I don't know how I managed to pass, but I do remember the old owl I had as my examiner for the oral test. I think she didn't pay attention to anything I mentionned (share capital, right of first refusal and all that legal english chatter), she kept staring at my hands. At my nails. Either she was entering on a true zensation or she was deeply disapproving. Never mind; I passed.

Black was good but not really my cup of tea. So I decided to fuck it up and slapped one thick coat of pink over it, yay! And I didn't like it, so I kept insisting on having a true "yuck" manicure. You know, there are times when you see you're losing it and you can't help but keep on going. And slam your face on a wall. That's what happened. Metaphorically.

Oh! How about some pink rhinestones to finally kill the mani I had imagined? Well, how about some pink shut the fuck up?! [Hey babe!]

Have you realized even the colors of that first picture are pure distilled crap? 1 up.

Anyhow, what's done is done. And that has sure been joyfully removed!

See you,

M.

Nude, fishnet and roses.

Hey Ladies,

Today I'm going to do a quick post, for it's my first weekend in a month that I'm actually free of work. Or, to be more accurate, that I take for myself and pretend it to be work-free.

I wore that mani for five days a couple of weeks ago. I was in a rush and wasn't even in the mood for a mani. Shame on me. But I was not as agonic as to be ready to wear anything. Or worse: nothing. No.

So I remembered those stickers I had bought at Blanco half price (that is Eur. 2.49 I think) and put them on. It was easy peasy, which I highly appreciated because sincerely I'd start crying otherwise. KO on a Sunday; man, I don't even want to remember the week that followed.

I'd give them a 9/10 overall. The lacking point is because they truly stinked the first day of wear; otherwise I was very happy with them.

Have a wonderful weekend!


M.

Clouds with Péridot

Ladies and Gents,

I hope your weekend rocked in an inversely proportional way compared to mine. I lack time lately, and that makes me value even the time I get to wait for a cab. I tell myself that I wait because I can, and I try to take a deep breathe. It doesn't always work though.

So, I had to choose between my nails and my adored BF this weekend, and I chose him. Thus, I am showing you something I rescued from my archives... It's from last christmas I think. 

I used Nailside's cloud technique, you should give it a go if you haven't tried that yet :) After reflection, I think I prefer to use that as an accent nail and not as a full mani, but it looked pretty good either way. So here it is.

I used China Glaze Sea Spray as a base, Chanel Péridot and China Glaze Liquid Leather. 

You all take care, enjoy the sun, and keep smilin'

X nails and other stuff

Hi Ladies,

Long time no see, I hope this marathon I'm currently living will soon decrease, for I'm startig to feel I really miss my beloved habits... I just want to say, at least it's for a GREAT cause :)

Here is a manicure I quickly did on Sunday, simply taping off the "x" and topping the red with a layer of black. I thought using striping tape would make my "x" almost unnoticeable; I'm glad it wasn't so.

As I didn't have much time, I just added some fun to the manicure I had been rocking all week long. It's Anny Open My Heart, and as you can see it's pretty darn well behaved. Yup, the previous picture was taken after 6 days of wear. Awesome, I say. And, for your viewing pleasure, you have it below on Day 1. It's a jelly, so it's definitely not one of my faves, but it's worth to be in my stash. Humm... what isn't, really?

And lastly, I wanted to share with you an experiment that turned out quite good. I'm craving for a chained manicure, and the sweet lady from Copy That Copy Cat told me she uses jewellery chain. I was quite lost, and didn't find what I was looking for on eBay. I know, I know. How is that even possible?

Well, I didn't want to let go so I just did a random search, and came across that necklace...

Not that I would wear that as a proper necklace. But look closer... Yup. Chain. And perfect for nail art. How cool is that? This remedy costed me about 3 dollars, free shipping. If you're interested, just search for "multi-chain gemstone pendant", and voilà!

I hope you find that messy remedy useful :)

Take care, and be bad!