Shimmer Polish - Cassandra

Press Sample

Hi my lovely readers,

I have another Shimmer polish for you today. Today it's Cassandra's turn.

  

Cassandra is a stunning frosty white iridescent glitter mix in a clear base. It's sparkles so much! It's a must have! Cassandra will look beautiful over any base color. 

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

Thanks for reading!

Shimmer Polish - Jovie

Press Sample

Today's Shimmer Polish beauty is Jovie. This polish is so beautiful and so sparkly!

 

 Jovie is a pink opalescent/holographic mix of hex glitters with a clear base. I chose the base colors very carefully because I really wanted to bring all the sparkles out. The brown/nude gradient really made Jovie shine! 

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

Thanks for reading!

Hello Kitty Halloween 2.0

Hi everyone,

Last year I did my first Halloween mani and the theme was none other than my favorite: Hello Kitty! You can check it here.So this year I had to paint her again, which I did... Not only once, but 4 times!!!

I really love how the HK turned out. But I had 2 small issues: 

1 - I chose a way too dark blue shade for the gradient (Color Club Blue-topia). The black costumes don't really stand out. Too bad!

2 - The orange paint I have didn't really give me the opaqueness I was hoping for. As you can see the pumpkin costume (on my pinky), the dark base color is kind of showing thru the paint. This brings me back to issue #1 above.

Leaving those little issues out, my HK are pretty cute, right?! ;-)

Happy Halloween to all of you!!

Thanks for reading!

Rica - Oh, Minnie!

Hi everyone,

Sorry that I've been MIA. My cat Cookie brought home 2 baby mice that luckily weren't hurt at all. They still had their eyes closed, so I had to nurse them or they wouldn't make it. So for the past few days I've been waking up every 2 hours round the clock to feed them. Their eyes finally opened and the babies have been weaned, so they can eat now on their own. If you want to see pictures of my baby mice, check my personal instagram account. 

Coincidentally, I had Minnie Mouse on my nails!  

The polish used on my index and pinky is Rica Oh, Minnie! For the gradient background, I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and Essie Play Date. The Minnie was painted free hand using acrylic paints.

Oh, Minnie! has a pink-lilac base color with white, pink and silver holographic hexes in different sizes. And tons of mouse holo glitters. This one required less fishing than Real Girls Wear Mickey Ears. The swatch above shows 3 thin coats of Oh, Minnie! on its own. 

Here's a macro bottle shot of Oh, Minnie!

I hope you like it!

Thanks for reading!

Lush Lacquer Neons [Picture Heavy!!!]

Hi everyone,

Since last Saturday was officially the last day of summer, I'd like to start Fall by saying good-bye to Summer with these super gorgeous neon glitter polishes by Lush Lacquer.

Starting with Freckles, which is a mix of neon small hexes in the colors: pink, green, purple, orange, yellow and blue. The base is clear, so you can wear it over any color! For the swatch below I applied 1 coat of Freckles over China Glaze White Out.

And here's a macro bottle shot of Freckles:

And you know what is even more awesome?! The glitters glow under UV light!!!! 

Here's a bottle shot under UV light. Awesome, isn't it?

This next beauty is Clowning Around. I think it's the most popular Lush Lacquer neon shade. It's a sister polish to Freckles. It has the same colors of neon glitters, but in larger sizes. In the swatch below I'm wearing 1 coat of Clowning Around over China Glaze White Out.

Here's a macro bottle shot of Clowning Around:

And this one, like all neon colors, glows under UV light too!!!!

And another stunning bottle shot under UV light:

And last but not least, Haywire:

Haywire has the same mix of neon glitters as Clowning Around plus a bunch of neon bars as well! The base is white, and it'll take you at least 2 coats to get full opacity. In the swatch above I only applied 2 coats.

Here's a macro bottle shot:

This too glows under UV light!

And finally a bottle shot under UV light:

For the gradient I had on my ring finger, I used 3 of the China Glaze's Poolside collection neon shades: Yellow Polka Dot Bikini, Pool Party and Towel Boy Toy.

I hope you like them as much as I do!

Thanks for reading!!! 

Shimmer - Astrid

Press Sample

Hi my lovelies,

Today I would like you to meet Astrid!

Astrid is a mix of opalescent, holographic and amethyst hex glitter in different sizes. Like all other Shimmer Polish I have tried so far, Astrid applies effortlessly and is packed with glitter. You'll get plenty of shimmer and sparkle in just one coat. For the swatch above I applied one thick coat of Astrid over a gradient using Illamasqua Jo'mina, OPI You're Such a Budapest and OPI Alpine Snow. 

Shimmer Polish can be purchased directly through Shimmer's website or through her Etsy store. Each Shimmer Polish shade sells for $12 a bottle + shipping. Worldwide shipping is available.

Thank you all for reading! 

Press Sample

Penélope Luz - Lucky Fairy

Hi everyone,

look what I have for you today! It's another beauty created by Penélope Luz. If you are not familiar with Penélope Luz, let me explain it to you. Penélope Luz is a Brazilian indie nail polish brand that was created exactly a year ago (August 2012), but it was only recently that I've become acquainted to this brand, thanks to a wonderful lady from Brazil! (Pri, THANK YOU!!!)

So here it is: Lucky Fairy! I must say this picture does not do this polish enough justice... It's so much more sparkly IRL! It's gorgeous!!! For the gradient, I used Catrice Hugo Moss, Kiko #296 and Color Club Twiggie. I must say I was surprised that I did not have any shade of green in between Hugo Moss and #296!!! So this gradient isn't much what I expected. But hey, now I have a new quest: buy more shades of green nail polish!!! ;-)

Now back to PL Lucky Fairy... Look at this bottle shot! It's impossible not to like it, unless you don't like glitter at all... or green.... 

Lucky Fairy is a green jelly base with tons of different sized hexes in green, gold, black and some black squares in between. It's stunning! And it feels pretty smooth on the nails. I only applied 1 coat of INM Out the Door top coat and I'm good to go! 

If you like this Penélope Luz, I'm pretty sure you'll like these 2 others I've swatched before: Sarcasm and Tendresse.

Thanks for reading and 'til next time! XX

OPI - Couture de Minnie

Hello everyone,

I'd like to show you the mani I had on for my birthday last week. Some of you have already seen it on Instagram, but here it is for those who haven't. 

I've had the OPI - Couture de Minnie polishes for quite some time, but had never used them. So I thought my birthday was a perfect occasion to get the polishes out of my Helmer and have them on my nails!

The collection consists of 5 shades, but for this mani I used 4 of them. For my thumb, index and pinkie I applied 2 coats of Magazine Cover Mouse, which is a gorgeous Liquid Sand polish. For the middle and ring fingers I did a gradient using a makeup sponge, using the same technique I used for this tutorial. I used A Definite Moust-Have and Chic from Ears to Tail, both from the Couture de Minnie collection, and OPI Alpine Snow.  Then I topped the middle finger with one thin coat of Minnie Style and painted the Minnie on my ring finger with acrylic paint and a fine detail brush.

As you'll notice, my bottle of Minnie Style has white square glitter in it! It looks like OPI added (by mistake or not?) the leftover white square glitter from Lights of Emerald City in this batch. I don't mind it at all! Minnie Style looks way cooler this way! Don't you think?

And here's a closeup of Magazine Cover Mouse:

I hope you like it and I wish you all a wonderful week!

Thanks for reading! XX

Pokémon

Hello again!

Last week the super talented @RachelSequoia invited me to join her and @LexieJade to create a Bestie Triplet Pokémon mani. The idea was that each one of us would create a different Pokémon mani. So here's the design I created:

I must say Pokémon is not really my generation, so I had to Google some Pokémon stuff and I asked my friend for help. I found this super cute drawing of Vulpix and Cubone, which I found perfect for the challenge! 

Photo credit: Ximerika

Here are all three designs:

Mix & Match: Denim, Gradient and Leopard Print

Hi everyone,

I'd like to share with you another denim mani I did for a contest on IG. 

For this mani I applied that same denim technique I showed you before in this tutorial. And here's the tutorial for the gradient nails and leopard print:

1. Paint your nails with a white polish and let it fully dry;

2. Apply striping tape diagonally (or any way you like) to your nails;

3. Apply the pastel nail polishes directly onto the sponge. The polishes I used are Lime Crime Once in a Blue Mousse, Crema de Limon and Parfait Day;

4. Dab the sponge over your nails.

5. Remove the striping tape and let your gradient dry and add some dots of neon polish on one of the sides of the stripes. The dots don't have to be perfect. The polishes used here are China Glaze Towel Boy Toy, Kiwi Cool-ada and Pool Party;

6. With the brush and the black acrylic paint, outline the neon dots to create the leopard print. Apply top coat and voilà! 

Thanks for reading!

African Sunset version 2.0

Hi everyone,

I have decided to recreate an old favorite nail art of mine - the African Sunset, so I could enter an instagram contest hosted by @stylish_mom. So I came up with the African Sunset version 2.0.

I used a couple of shades of red, orange and yellow to create a gradient for the sunset background. Then I freehand painted the animals and trees using black acrylic paint.

I did this version slightly different from the previous one. I painted the same animals - the giraffe and the elephant, but two of each this time. I kinda like this version a little more than the first one. :-) What do you think?

I hope you all liked it!

Thanks for reading!

Penélope Luz - Tendresse

Hi everyone,

yesterday I received an awesome nail mail from Brazil, which included a bunch of gorgeous Penélope Luz polishes. Those who follow me on Instagram or Facebook already saw the beauties, but if you missed the post, just click here!

So today, I'd like to show you the first one I picked for this post: it's Tendresse!

First I did a gradient with OPI - You're such a Budapest and Essence - That's What I Mint!, then I applied one thin coat of Penélope Luz - Tendresse. I personally LOVE the result!

Tendresse has a milky base full of magenta and light pink squares, different sizes of green, aqua, silver and magenta hex glitters and tiny squares in magenta, aqua, green and light pink plus lots of tiny shimmer. You can see for yourself in the macro shot below:

Stunning, isn't it?! ;) I can't wait to try the other 12 Penélope Luz I received!!!

Thanks for reading!

Lime Crime Rainbow Gradient

Hi everyone,

I posted this rainbow pedi picture on Instagram last week.

I was so happy with how it turned out and everyone liked it so much that I had to match my nails with my toes!

I used all the Lime Crime Les Dessert d'Antoinette nail polishes, with the exception of Milky Ways, for this rainbow gradient.

And here is my hands/feet combo:

I hope you liked it! Thanks for reading and 'til next time!

St. Patrick's Day

Hello everyone,

I hope you had a great weekend and a nice St. Patrick's day! We don't really celebrate it over here, but I wanted to do a St. Patrik's Day mani to get into to the festive mood anyway.

Nothing fancy or difficult this time. All I did was a sponged gradient using Zoya Envy and Shawn, then topped with gLORIous 22K Gold Leaf top coat.

I hope you liked it and thanks for reading! 

Good Ol' Gradient

Hello dear readers,

it's also been a while since my last gradient nails. I missed it! Today's post is gonna be short and simple: just a good ol' gradient mani!

Polishes used:

Kiko 376 Candy Pink (lighter shade)

Kiko 360 Strawberry Pink (darker shade)

Pretty & Polished Sand Art

Hello everyone!

Today's mani was inspired by this gorgeous mani from Colores de Carol. Carolina used the brush to apply Sand Art to create a very delicate gradient effect, but I used the sponge instead and loaded it with glitter, resulting in a rougher effect.

It's very hard to see in the pictures, but before applying Sand Art, I also sponged the tips with a darker green to create a gradient effect. 

Polishes  used:

Color Club Twiggie

Color Club Edie 

Pretty & Polished Sand Art

OPI Black Spotted (and gradient again!)

Hello again everybody!

Look at what I have to show you today: it's OPI Black Spotted!!! It's part of the Amazing Spiderman collection and a Sephora France exclusive. It's a very nice polish to work with. It works similarly to the good old crackle polish: you apply over a dry polish and you wait for the effect to form. Only difference is that Spotted doesn't crackle, it forms spots, as the name suggests and as you can see in the pictures. It somehow reminds me of the effect of mixing oil to water, if you know what I mean. :-) I'll let the pictures do the talk here!

The thinner the coat of Black Spotted, the more spots you'll get. And the thicker the coat, the larger and less dense the spots will be. I've read in other blogs that if you apply top coat over Black Spotted it'll peel off. Well, that didn't happen to me. I finished it off with top coat and it stayed on my nails for 4 or 5 days, with no chips and no peeling. I only removed it because I wanted something else on my nails. 

So now, let me show you the "underwear" for Black Spotted: it's gradient once again! ;-)

Polishes used:

Kiko #356 Melon

Kiko #389 Mint Milk

Kiko #333 Brilliant Violet