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.

Bluetiful 51.

Mid-week post! :)

Today I am showing you the combo I rocked this weekend, for it was quite a social weekend and I felt the urge to show off. I'm kidding; but I have a reputation to mantain :p

As you can see I used Essence I'm Bluetiful as a base and topped it off with Nfu-Oh 51, courtesy of my dearest Jin (to my knowledge this Nfu-Oh 51 is the revisited version; Jin will correct me if I am wrong). As you can see, the contrast was pretty obvious, and so were the gorgeous flakies of Nfu-Oh 51! I saw mostly pink, but it shifted to green and blue in some angles :) Amazing! Sadly, I wasn't able to capture those colors in my pictures...

I am still a fan of symmetry (I had the same design on both hands) but I've come to love the mix'n'match manis like this one, where each finger sports a different design. How do you like it?

And BTW, I noticed this mani accidentallty matched EXACTLY the blue dress I was wearing on Saturday night! Check it out:

Yay! ^^ I enjoyed this one a lot! 

M.

Essence - I'm bluetiful

Hey ho!

How are you all doing? I just realized we're in mid November already, time does fly. That brings to mind something my mother used to tell me as a child, at the end of my summer holidays, when I started feeling the urge to go back to school. She said: "make the most of every moment, for time goes by and you don't even notice... And you'll see, it gets even faster when you're an adult". I'm not saying I am an adult already (hee hee) but I know now she was right, for entire weeks pass in the blink of an eye.

Anyhow, after granny's ramblings here is Essence - I'm bluetiful! It's a gorgeous periwinkle blue with big chunks of silver particles scattered all around. This is two coats + top coat.

The base color is gorgeous, I can't have enough of those. But as you see, the silver particles are huge. Too big for my taste, So in summary: I am no fan of this one. I'd rather they were smaller and subtler... This gives like a "dirty" effect to the polish in my opinion. I'll pass!

Remember: tic toc, tic toc! ;) Enjoy your time, Ladies!

M.

Breast Cancer awareness month. Pink manicure nº 5

Heeeeello!

Quick post again, I've been busy as hell! Those are the nails I was rocking until an hour ago. I was in the mood for a delicate and sweet thing (yeah, for a contrast) so I tried a nude from Essence's new collection, Cotton Candy. 

I was super impressed at first! Great opacity (this is two coats) and drying time. It changed me from Dior Ivory, and seemed a cheap and nice solution. BUT this beauty has turned into a nightmare when air bubbles started appearing after a day of wear underneath the first coat of polish. While in court today a part of it lifted and came off completely, just as if it was a false nail. So thanks Essence, I spent the rest of the morning with my hands in my pockets. So appropriate.

Have a great end of the week!

M.

Manicure party :)

Hey there,

This Monday's morning has been somewhat different at my place: my lady friends came over for a little manicure party, and we had a really sweet time ^^

I have to say they all made very wise choices, and that I am very happy with their performance at hand modeling, yay! Take a look at the cool designs they took home with them:

(Clockwise) Carolina, Iris, me and Marta

Those are the recipes:

Carolina - 1 coat of Flormar nºM109 + 2 coats of China Glaze Ahoy! + some flowers stamped in white with Konad and a rhinestone in the middle.

Iris - 2 coats of Catrice Heavy Metalilac + some polka dots done with Essence Fall for me.

Marta - 2 coats of Zoya Dove + striping tape and one coat of Kiko nº343 Spring Green.

So, how do you like them? Which one is your favourite?

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.

The Blues

Ladies,

Here's the thing. I was quite satisfied with my sponged manicure, so I really didn't feel like taking it all off. I just need to have the time to enjoy my manis some more at times, but when Monday is in its way I just surrender to work-safe (but still cute) polishes. My yearly evaluation has passed, it went fairly good (I'm a tiny bit proud, hee hee) and I'm heading to the department I belong in a little more than two months. I know, it's awkward, but I'm just a tourist here in Business Law Department. And I say it's time to rock the place some more. They can be so dusty...

So I simply taped a line in the center of my nail with the oh-so-loyal striping tape, and painted over it with Essence's Into the Dark (from the Vampire's Love Collection). I thought its silver shimmer would match my base color (CG Sea Spray), and it most certainly did.

What do you think about that? Yay or nay?

Take care!

Astor Green Forest + Essence Confetti Circus + Matte

Hi there!

Yesterday was such a great day! One of my friends turns a year wiser tomorrow and had planned on doing something special and different than our oh-so-cozy meeting for coffee, chocolate and cake or its night version with dinner and drinks. So we all went a little out of our comfort box and... had a Tuppersex! Only girls, and focused on playing in couple.

I thought I would need something bright and bold on my nails, so I applied two coats of Astor Laque Deluxe in Forest Green. 

Now, I have mixed feelings towards this polish: the brush really sucks, and the formula is slightly thicker than it should be. But nothing major. On the other side, it's a one coater and dries amazingly fast! And the colour... Watcha say? 

I then added one coat of Essence Circus Confetti + a coat of SV.

Look at that in the sun!

Last touch: 1 coat of mattifier. Voilà!

I agree with you, the matte effect is not that visible. This mattifier from Fairwind seems to be a little shy, but it's okay with me for I'm initiating to the matte world.

The Tuppersex was so much fun! We spent almost 3 hours genuinely laughing and each one of us bought at least two things! I totally recommend this if you want to have fun and are new to the world of sex toys & co. We had a session for beginners, but it is possible to have a much more “pro” counsel, depending on how adventurous you are ;)

Take care =)