Worksafe Manis - 1) The Subtle Gradient.

Hello everybunny!

A while back I had a manicure crisis because I refrained myself from wearing a lot of colors and combinations on my nails from Monday to Friday. I don't have anything against a plain manicure, they look neat and tidy, but it got boring. I felt I was forced to wear one-color manicures and so it became not a personal option but a sort of obligation. And that's when I became a bad, bad, bad blogger and disappeared on you.

So, as I will have to wear low profile manicures at least 5 days a week for a little while, I decided to start a series of worksafe-yet-funky manicures, for all nail maniacs out there with demanding jobs! The first one in this series is The Subtle Gradient:

I was super duper happy with this one, it's subdued yet girly, and enjoyed wearing it for 5 days in a row. For this, I used Kiko Nude and Illamasqua Loella. Loella is quite sheer and was perfect to create this subtle gradient effect in minutes :)

Have a nice weekend!

M.

Mish Mash Challenge - Around the World. Rising sun manicure. Bohem.

Well hello :)

Super late post for the *Around the World* prompt like 27 weeks ago in the Mish Mash Challenge... 

I give you the rising sun though, that's gotta count for something! 

This gorgeous jewel-like orange is from Kiko's Sugar Mat Collection, and the rising sun silver nails are from Bohem.

I am missing in action and will probably be for a while... Have a nice Christmas :)

M.

French manicure on pointy claws + snake update.

Hey there!

How is your weekend going? I hope you've been able to lay down and relax... I tried my best and I think I overdid it because right now as I am typing I can't figure out whether or not I am fully awake.  Therefore please forgive anything inappropriate that may make its entrance in this post.

Today's manicure, however, is very appropriate (as in conventional). Let aside the shape of my nails -that I can't get enough of-. A french manicure; what can I say in its favor? Let's just acknowledge it's become such a boring noun binomial lately. I am sure you've all seen it a million times and thought: (i) classy, or (ii) slutty. I don't know about you, but for me it all depends in how wide the french tip is.

This one feels a little different to me because of those pointy claws. It adds just a tinge of fiercyness (if that's even a word) to a classic, and I like that. I wore this to a meeting, all lawyered up, and expected the others to see in them a hint that I'm not your everyday lawyer. That there's more to me than just a suit and legalese. Have I succeeded? I will never know. What matters is that the hint was there for anyone to see.

For this I used two coats of Kiko Nude, freehanded the white tips and added one coat of Kiko French Baby Pink. Top coat & go!

Snake update: my new baby has been with me for nearly a month. Just let me tell you she's high maintenance ;) I'm busy taming her down, avoiding her bites and teaching her to eat thawed mice; it's proving hard and requires all my patience and care. But it'll all be worth it if I prevent her from becoming an 8ft monster... For now, she's just the cutest baby snake ever:

Due to her feisty attitude I'm thinking on naming her Furia (Fury, in Spanish). It sounds feminine yet something you wouldn't want to mess with. The Fury. Yay or nay?

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 - 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.

Bohem sterling silver nails in Gothic Bullet. STAND OUT. SHOW OFF.

Hey!

Today's theme is Balanced bold. Some time ago I accidentally met Bohem nails and stalked the site fell in love. I waited until my paycheck was cashed in and then couldn't refrain myself any longer, splurged and found myself with a pair of their sterling silver nails in "bullet" or "gothic bullet". First and foremost, just let me get this out: love their slogan. STAND OUT. SHOW OFF. Just... a huge yes.

Even with that, my first reaction was: meh. There was no indication of their length on Bohem's site (that's bad!) so I expected them to be way shorter. They felt so long compared to my natural nails that it just made my inner symmetry whore cringe. In fact, I had been doubting between the gothic bullet pair and the sterling silver elegant one, finally chosing the first in fear that elegance would make me file my claws. Nope.

Well, it was a sunk cost anyway so... I kept the pair in its amazing translucent packaging, in my nail station, and waited. Grew fonder. Tried them. Photoshooted them:

The sterling silver and the snake make for my badass big-mouthed side, the glitter sandwich for a more subdued and tame version of me. Discordia managed to behave herself and stood almost still which freaked me out a little. You probably can't tell but she was due a shed and her colors were way duller than usual... but nah, I won't go down that path 'cuz the probability that there's a snake lover among you is so slim it only has one side. If you're there though, I'd like to know :)

Those two pictures made their way to the Bohem contest; wish me luck!

What do you think?

M.

Glitter Sandwich! Glitter Bunny Rainbow Sprinkles

Hello there!

I took advantage of my day off yesterday and added some fun to my nails. This post features two firsts for me: first indie polish and first glitter sandwich. Bad blogger, bad polishaholic; I know. But mind you, it's not that I'm late, nah. It's that I take trends at my own pace...

What you're seeing here is a shitload of very well behaved coats:

We've got a base coat, 2 coats of Kiko Nude (what else?), 2 coats of thinned out Rainbow Sprinkles, 2 coats of a translucent Kiko meant for French manicures and one coat of INM Out the Door top coat. BAM! That's a serious nail shield.

And I will leave you with a Snooki gif that I love. Next time I'll get contemptuously asked "hey, what's that on your nails? (the crap is silent)" that's exactly what I'll do:

Take care,

M.

Kiko no. 372 Nude - swatch, review and nail art!

Hey you!

I hope your weekend is being amazing :) I went for a calm one because I have some important stuff to decide, and I wanted to have all the time in the world to go over my ideas again and again, just to make sure I still agree with myself... And I do, for now at least!

It was about time that I swatched Kiko 372 Nude for you, because I have been praising it over and over again throughout the summer. This is the best nude I have found so far to match my pale skin, which makes pale pinks and browns look just nasty. I think Kiko Nude has passed the test. However, if you think it makes me look undead please let me know. I am counting on your polish-oriented, charitable and straight-forward opinions here, don't let me down!

Kiko Nude is really easy to apply and dries fast. This is two coats + TC; no wonder why it has become my fave "blank canvas" to nail art over (and with). And that's how Kiko Nude became the first polish in my whole collection to have a back-up ;)

From top to bottom, you can find the neon tape manicure here, the Nails Craze stamping here, the dotted flowers here, the work-safe saran wrap here and the neon arrows here :)

If you're into this polish (or any other, for that matter) you may be interested in their current sale... all polishes are at Eur. 1.5 except the Laser nail lacquers and the Fast Dry collection.

Take care,

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.

Mish Mash Challenge - A technique you have never tried before. Newspaper nails & a dandelion...

Hey there!

How are you doing? I hope you're ON for today's installment of the Mish Mash Challenge, which involves a "technique you have never tried before". I love this theme; I want this challenge, along with my artist inner self, to push me to do new things, better things... 

Believe it or not, I had never tried newspaper nails before. This blog has been running for over a year now (d'uh... I missed my own bloggiversary, but my battle with remembering dates is a lost one so let's just move on), and this week's topic has been a great push. Of course, I watched some tutorials on YouTube and took good note of Lisa's newsprint nailz, and this is what happened:

Long story short, at first what happened is a whole lot of nothing. No transfer of characters + ruined polish, that's what I got. So I decided to keep ruining the left hand's polish by trying other ways to transfer the darn text to my claws. Clear polish? Nope. Alcohol? Nope. Clear polish and alcohol? Not yet. Plain water? YES!

Then started again: 2 coats of China Glaze For Audrey + 1 coat of Kiko's Sparkling Touch topper. Let that dry and transfer the text. Any text may work, but I decided to teach my nails some tolerance by transferring an article about the persisting homophobia in France (and Europe in general). Why not?

It lacked something more, so I made good use of my Nailz Craze stamping plate NC01 and its beautiful dandelion design... Voilà!

I was so happy with the result that I sent a picture of them to The Boyfriend right away with a simple text: "Getting artsy. Like it or not?". Except I didn't really send it to The Boyfriend, but to Girona's airport. It wasn't even watermarked... *laugh* NEXT!

Take care,

M.

Do not forget to take a look at the other ladies' posts:

Mish Mash Challenge - Metallic. Foil nails.

Hey there!

For today's theme, Metallic, I decided to give a second chance to Foil. My previous try was so lousy that I didn't even take a picture of it. I was nervous and felt like I needed it to come out nicely, just for the life of me. Well guess what? It didn't. At all. See, for me nail art is like cooking; I have to feel good to achieve something nice. And self-imposed pressure makes me look like a mix between E.T. and a kraken. Like so: 

Whatever. I tried to nail-art with foil again, after taking some kind of psychotropic drug like pure holidays, and here's what came out:

What I like about this is that the pink seems to have chipped in a way that lets the gold underneath peek out, when it's actually the other way around. My brains are known to make weird associations, and when I look at manicures like this all I see is Terminator's face, half ripped off with his true machine self saying hi. Am I a weirdo? Just... don't answer that.

I bought the foil off eBay for almost nothing (five foils for less than Eur. 2, shipping included), and this one was the gold holographic one. The base color is from Kiko's new collection, Quick Dry nº 808 Pearly Watermelon Pink. Now let me say this: I was darn scared to put it on after reading some negative reviews of its siblings, but this is just ONE coat of Pearly Watermelon Pink! Colour me impressed!

If you want to try this method, here's a useful tutorial by ChrissyAi. It's really as simple as that :)

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.

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.

Work-safe Saran Wrap Manicure

Howdy & HAPPY FRIDAY!

This is one happy day: the day I am starting three whole weeks of holidays. -- The Three Holy Weeks -- I will head to Collioure (France) tomorrow with The Boyfriend, but intend to spend the hottest hours of the day being creative and exploring the nail art world I have been unwillingly neglecting for far too long!

Today's post is my take at a soft and classy manicure wearable at work: a pink and nude saran wrap! Proved to be work-safe: when remarked this week, they have been complimented on :) I was gratified with an "oh wow, your nails match your dress. I am positively impressed. Ah? And you do them yourself? Well, I admire you!". EGO-BOOST.

The ingredients are: two coats of Kiko 372 Nude (of which I bought a back-up just today. My first back-up bottle ever; and that must be worth something!) and one coat of Astor Tickle my Triangle, saran-wrapped, if that's even an expression.

Off I go then, take care!

M.