A traditional french NOTD w/ accent nails

Hola! <3 Gosh, it feels like forever since I've painted my nails because I'm still trying to grow them out a little and using gel polish to prevent any breaks. I loooove how these rockstar manis look but I would hate to cover them up with polish but I also hate not polishing every day!! Ahhh! First world problems, much? lol

So today I want to show you guys a simple (traditional) french I did. I know many of the NB community/nail blogs are not in to french manicures but I honestly don't have a problem with them myself. Yeah...so they kinda make your nails look fake sometimes (since so many acrylic wearers sport a french) but people ask me if my nails are fake as it is all the time, so mehh, whatevs lol They are cute if done right imo! :)

Hola chicas! Ahora les tengo una foto de un french manicure que me hize ya dias. Tengo mas de una semana de no pintarme las uñas porque estoy usando esmalte de gel :) porque quiero que me crezcan un poquito mas las uñas. Espero enseñarles pronto mis rockstar nails que me eh hecho estas ultimas dos veces.

For this french manicure I used Finger Paints - Paper Mache for the tips, and Pro10 - 415 (Pinky Promise) for the nude color all over my nail. The flower design was done with acrylic paint and a dotting tool, the black was also done with acrylic paint and a thin striping brush. The stud in the center is the 2mm gold circular studs from born pretty store.

Hope you are all doing wonderful! Thanks for stopping by <3

Finger Paints : Avante Garde Green

Hi ladies! Quick post today.

Hope you all that celebrate had a safe and happy Halloween! I had a pretty good time carving my pumpkin (I chose to do the mocking jay pin from The Hunger Games this year) and handing out candy dressed up as a strange sugar skull with a wig and cape on lol. Hey, it was literally thrown together in under 10 minutes! :) On to nails!

Finger Paints - Avante Garde Green, 2 coats/capas

 

And what the heck guys...November already?!?! I just can't believe it. Feels like all the end of the year festivities just passed us by a couple of months ago! Anyway, happy November first! <3

Several NOTDs

Before I go on about nails, as many of you already know, the east coast has been hit by Sandy. I hope that any of you in the area are safe! My prayers go out to you all. Having been through my first hurricane four years ago...the stress and hardships that come with a hurricane are all too fresh in my memory and by no means fun at all. :(

So here I have a few random NOTD's that I have in my photobucket. I was so good about editing tons of pictures one night but haven't been good about posting, sorry! Has anyone else been enjoying all the Halloween events and parties?! I have...maybe too much! :) I also apologize for not doing any Halloween mani's...I did one but haven't gotten around to taking it off my camera's memory card. Plus, I have been sporting another glitter gradient gel mani for a few days now because I randomly decided I wanted to let my nails grow out a little...just to be different! (And I'm just dying to take it off! lol) Whew ok...enough rambling!

This here is my first gradient mani. I need to try this again really soon because it looked so awesome! Got tons of compliments even though it wasn't great. :(

I used 2 coats of Sinful Colors - Lavender then sponged on Sinful Colors - Rainstorm on the tips.

This is another one of my terrible pictures and I definitely have to redo this mani. Believe it or not I've been hoarding this picture since early this year. I used an Essence blue with Finger Paints - Twistsed. And OMG I <3 Twisted!

In this picture below was my first time using a magnetic polish. It's the blue one from Icing. I had such an easy time doing this that I went crazy buying all kinds of magnetics thinking they would all be the same. Then I tried doing it again and...ugh...let's just say magnetics and I don't get along very well! lol

Wow...looks like I really like my blues! lol Anyway, hope you enjoyed <3 Until next time!

Gradient Rockstar Nails

Hey loves! A few weeks ago I mentioned taking off a two day old gel mani to swatch the new Sally Hansen Diamond Strength's I found while doing my rounds around the cosmetic area at HEB (a Texas grocery store). It was such an awesome mani and I just found a picture of it in my photobucket! Figured I should post it since I've had a few people coming here looking for scrubbed in glitter manicures!

Hola! Hace unas semanas atrás mencione que me había quitado una manicura de gel después de dos días porque les quería ensenar swatches de los esmaltes Sally Hansen Diamond Strength que encontré en HEB (un super aquí en Texas). Mientras buscaba algo para enseñarles hoy encontré la foto de esa manicura y se las quiero enseñar!

Products used/Productos usados: 

Gelish: Foundation Gel
Gelish: Tiger Blossum (yes...that is how it is spelled on my bottle, maybe it's a typo?)
Gelish: Top It Off, 2 coats.
Large hex glitter was part of a pack I bought on eBay
Artsy Fartsy Glitter: Holo deep red, holo orange and holo gold.
Sensationail: The LED light from the starter kit!

edit: I should mention I was inspired by the user Beesknees67 on Purseforum. She does such lovely gel manis!

make sure you click the picture if you want to see it in more detail! :)

I looooooooove rockstair nails. Have you tried them out?

Some [not so pretty] NOTD's

Hey all!

Today's post is just going to be a compilation of NOTD's that didn't turn out all that great. I'm shocked I even took pictures of these manis but I'm glad I did because it shows me that I have improved a little! :) Yay!

I'm still desperately searching for a nice yellow polish. This one is Kleancolor - Neon Yellow, about 3 coats topped with Spoiled - Pet my Peacock. Ugh, worst yellow polish ever.

Oh, Robin Moses, you make painting on nails look SO easy lol I always feel so motivated after watching her videos and then I get results like these when trying to recreate her manis:

(This is 2 coats of China Glaze - Agro with free-handed acrylic paint 'flowers')

And last but not least, a funky french attempt. I free-handed it so I have to give myself some credit but...

(I honestly don't remember what was used...only that the black is acrylic paint)

Oh! Hold on...found one more terrible picture! This mani was actually awesome IRL. It was lose holographic glitter that I sprinkled over wet polish! :) The camera just never wanted to focus. :(

Thanks for stopping by! xoxo

OPI - Care to Danse?

Hey girlies! Hope you all had a great weekend!

A few months ago I finally caved in and bought most of the OPI Ballet collection. They were untried for so long because 1...I LOVE wearing bright and fun colors and 2...my nails are always stained as a result of that and these colors are so sheer. Eventually there came a day where I was feeling like wearing something delicate and gentle on the eyes and OPI Care to danse? was just what I was needing! I probably should have buffed out the staining on my nails before doing this mani, though (oops, sorry! I promise it didn't show IRL). Along with the OPI's I bought that day were some Jordana glitter polishes that were also untried so I slapped on Jordana - Pixie Pink...and oh man, I was in love. Hope you guys like! <3

Hola! Espero que hayan tenido un feliz fin de semana!

Hace unos meses atrás compre varios colores de la colección Ballet de OPI. Pase mucho tiempo sin usarlos ya que prefiero ponerme colores oscuros o llamativos pero llego el dia en que quise ponerme algo mas suave y el color Care to Danse? fue el color perfecto para el look que queria! Y como jamas puedo dejar algo en paz...le puse un glitter de Jordana que se llama Pixie Pink...creo que esto fue una combinación perfecta! Espero que les guste! <3

OPI - Care to Danse? 3 coats/capas with 1 coat/capa of Jordana - Pixie Pink

NOTD: Essie - Bikini So Teeny

Hey loves! Today I have another polish to show you from the Essie Summer 2012 collection. This light blue polish is called Bikini So Teeny. It is such a pretty blue with subtle shimmer in the bottle...too bad it didn't really translate on the nail. :( Like most of the Essie's I own...I had a little bit of trouble applying this polish but it could just be that I have large nail beds and the brush is so tiny? Not sure, either way the polish is gorgeous!

Hola chicas! Ahora les tengo otro esmalte de la colleccion Summer 2012 de Essie en el color Bikini So Teeny. No se porque la mayoría de mis Essie's, incluyendo este color, me dan problemas cuando me los pongo...talvez es porque la brocha es bien chiquita y mis uñas son largas? No estoy segura, igual...el color esta muy bonito! :)

Essie - Bikini So Teeny, 3 coats/capas.

and I decided I hated how thick and gross it looked (even though I loved the color!) so I stamped it with Essie - Blue Rhapsody (Using a BM plate) and added black dots with a dotting tool.

At the end of it all I still thought it looked messy and took it right off lol. Bad nail day!

Okay girlies...off to do some house work before I paint my nails again. lol :) Thanks for reading! xoxo

Polish Days October : Sentimental

The theme for this month's Polish Days is Sentimental. At first, I have to admit I felt a bit stumped...but as I sat at my desk it became very clear really fast what I had to do!

A little background/facts on my nail art today: I was born and raised in California. Grew up in the Bay Area! <3 I love where I'm from and wish I was still living there. Unfortunately my parents had personal problems and decided they had to move away from them...to a new state...and that state being Texas (ugh!...no offense to any of you Texans reading this! lol) Although I have grown to accept Texas...I would leave to California in a heartbeat if I had the chance. Therefore...the whole thing is a pretty sensitive subject for me because I left what felt like my entire life behind and had little choice in changing that (health problems, etc.).

Whew! Okay, on to my entry for Polish Days: October!

Thumb: The California state flag [Used FP - Paper Mache + acrylic paint, Konaded the Star]

Index: 49ers logo...my favorite (american) football team from San Francisco. [Used SC - Hot Hot Heat + acrylic paints]

Middle: Mickey Mouse heads that represent Disney Land! [Used FP - Black Expressionism + acrylic paint and dotting tool]

Ring: 510 is the area code I lived in for most of my life. [Used SH XW Blue Away! + acrylic paint]

Pinky: And finally...the logo for the San Francisco Giants...my favorite MLB team :) [Used FP - Black Expressionism + acrylic paint]

Here are the nails in more detail...and I did add in the text for the California flag with PS...there is no way I could write out "California Republic" with a brush that small! lol :) 

Thank you so much for checking this out! Can't wait to see everyone's designs/nails :) You can check them out below. Happy Tuesday!

NOTD x 2!

Hey there! Today I have a super quick post because I'm getting ready to head to bed (I pulled an all-nighter...again lol) but didn't want to do so without first showing you guys something! So here we go...

Hola! Ahora les tengo un post super corto porque en unos minutos me voy para la camita a dormir! No pude dormir en toda la noche por estar viendo videos en el internet jaja pero hoy si me retiro! Pero primero...los NOTD!

First up is Essie - Mojito Madness, 2 coats/capas.

and with glitter...OPI - Fresh Frog of Bel Air

and an old pink NOTD for BCA, China Glaze - Dance Baby:

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday! <3

OPI - My Very First Knockwurst

Hi all! I'm so sorry to have randomly disappeared on you all. I have spent most of my days since my last update totally freaking out over a broken molar I got on Friday. My biggest concern in this whole situation (aside from the money and pain, and only then it is a really far second/third) is my extreme anxiety/fear I have of the dentist. Silly, I know. Needless to say the situation has pushed me over the edge...so apologies in advance if I take another unannounced leave around here. :( I have still been doing my nails every day with my blog in mind. :) Sorry for all the personal nonsense...on with the NOTD

For the first day of October, seeing as how it is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I decided to kick it off with OPI - My Very First Knockwurst. The formula on this was just as good as Don't Pretzel My Buttons...great coverage with just two coats. Then I busted out my Martha Stewart Glitter and The Best Glue Ever and painted on some random stripes and added some light purple glitter. Big fail...looked better IRL than in picture but it was still kinda weird looking...lol took it off like an hour later! :)

Hola chicas! Discúlpenme por haberme desaparecido unos días. El viernes mientras estaba comiendo me quebré una muela. Desafortunadamente, me da muchísimo miedo ir al dentista y me eh pasado todo este tiempo deprimida y desesperada porque no se como le voy hacer! Por favor mandenme unas buenas vibras porque lo voy a necesitar! Jajaja :) 

Como el mes de Octubre es el mes de prevención del cáncer de los senos, decidí empesar el mes con un esmalte rosado. Para este NOTD use OPI - My Very First Knockwurst que salio con la colección de OPI Alemania. Luego, le puse un poquito de glitter en las puntas...que en realidad no me gusto como quedo pero ni modooo... :)

OPI - My Very First Knockwurst, 2 coats/capas.

Hope you have all been great! :) xoxo

Some past NOTD's

Hi all! How are you guys doing? Great, I hope! :) Today I have two past NOTD's to show you. I never got around to uploading them because every now and then I go out of town and I just got back in today. I decided to take a break from getting stuff put away to upload :) So here we go...

Hola chicas! Como están? Espero muy bien! :) Ahora les tengo dos NOTD's. Pase los últimos tres días fuera de mi casa pero ya volví y decidí dejar de guardar mis cosas para mientras para enseñarles esto! :)

My first jelly sandwich ever! New York Summer - Hot Atomic Red with OPI - Gettin' Miss Piggy With It layered in. (Decided to add a layer of Gettin' Miss Piggy With It at the end...wish I hadn't, but it still looked cool! Can't wait to try this again!)

and a not so pretty nail art. Got bored and drew some random lines with acrylic paint. This is 2 coats of Essie - Tart Deco.

Thanks for reading! <3

OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons + Nail Art

Hi! Hope you are all having a lovely weekend! I've been pretty busy with the family, which has been a nice change...so sorry for disappearing for a few days! After swatching/wearing all those foily Sally Hansen's I decided I was in need of a palate cleanser. I took a look in my neutral drawer and saw that I still had OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons untried and I've been dying to put it on! I was hoping it would be my perfect 'mannequin hands' polish but not quite...I still thought it was a pretty polish though! The formula on this was amazing and it took 2 coats to get it to look even.

Hola! Espero que estén disfrutando de el fin de semana! Discúlpenme por haber faltado unos dias por aquí...e pasado un poco ocupada pero ya volví! :) Después de haberme puesto los Sally Hansen's decidí ponerme un color neutral para cambiar un poco las cosas. Y termine escogiendo OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons para mi NOTD...y luego le puse un poquito de nail art! Espero les guste! Besitos!

OPI - Don't Pretzel My Buttons, 2 coats/capas.

and some random nail art using hex glitter and studs:

Sally Hansen - Tender Teal (270)

Here is the last of the 3 polishes I bought from the new Sally Hansen Diamond Strength LE collection. Tender Teal. This color is so pretty...but like with the rest of these I was not able to capture the awesomeness in a picture. Booo. :(

The formula on all three of the polishes I bought from this collection is good. A little on the thick side but manageable. As with All Aglow, this polish covered the nail beautifully in 2 coats. It looks even prettier with Revlon - Royal underneath but for swatch purposes I left that out today. Okay...on to the pictures!

Ahora les tengo el ultimo de los esmaltes que compre de la colección limitada de Sally Hansen Diamond Strength. El color que les voy a mostrar hoy es Tender Teal. Este color esta precioso pero me costo mucho tomarle fotos! Tendrán que confiar en mi cuando les digo que estos colores están bellos! :) Besos!

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - Tender Teal, 2 coats/capas [natural light/luz natural]

Not a great picture but it really glows like this!

Cell phone picture but pretty close to what it looks like IRL:

and more bad pics to show the duochrome effect:

Bottle comparison between SH DS Tender Teal and SH HD Laser:

And an attempt at showing the color difference on the nail between the two:

and a random swatch picture:

L to R:

Tender Teal (2 coats), 1 coat of Tender Teal over black, Tender Teal (2 coats), 1 coat of Tender Teal over Revlon Royal.

Whew! Can you tell I struggled with these? lol It's okay...it was worth it. Hope it was helpful to some of you! <3

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - All Aglow (280)

Hi guys! <3 I have another swatch of one of the new Sally Hansen Diamond Strength polishes! I decided to put on All Aglow today. It's a gorgeous red based purple foil polish. Sadly, in these pictures, it came out looking kind of like Zoya - Mimi, but it's different! Think of Orly Bubbly Bombshell's color with more purple in it and with a FOIL finish, not glitter! :) Or Essence - Break Through but with a foil finish. The application on this polish was great. I achieved full coverage with 2 coats and dried fairly quick with my SV.

Hola! <3 Ahora les tengo otro swatch de unos de los nuevos colores de la linea Diamond Strength de Sally Hansen. El color que me puse hoy se llama All Aglow. Trate tomar una foto que les iba enseñar bien el color pero no pude! Este color se parece mucho a Essence - Break Through pero este es un color como...metallico? "Foil". Disculpenme! No se como se le dice en Español! :) Bueno...espero que les guste!

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength - All Aglow (280), 2 coats.

 

a bad picture I took trying to capture the true color:

 and a quick comparison swatch that I wasn't going to post because it still isn't showing the colors right! lol

L to R:

Zoya Mimi, 1 coat All Aglow over black, 2 coats of All Aglow, 1 coat of All Aglow over Essence Break Through

Planning on running out to get the rest of these because they are on sale right now at HEB! They are so pretty! :) Hope you all are having a great Wednesday!

Sally Hansen - Blue Frosting (230)

The SO and I decided we were going to make some bison burgers and so we headed out to HEB to buy the stuff yesterday. And anytime I go to HEB I *have* to take a quick look around the cosmetics area...and I found a new display of Sally Hansen Diamond Strengths. For $3.27 I knew I was going to have to take a few...so I picked up Blue Frosting (a light blue shimmer with pink/purple flash), Tender Teal (a blue shimmer with purple flash) and All Aglow (a purple shimmer with a hint of gold flash...but doesn't really show on the nail).

I even took off my second Gelish mani after two days to do some swaches for you all but they just would not photograph well! :( I haven't edited the rest of the pictures so for now I'll leave you with my NOTD using Blue Frosting.

Ayer fui a la tienda con mi novio porque queríamos hacer hamburguesas ahora. Cuando voy a la tienda siempre paso por la área de los cosméticos y encontré unos nuevos esmaltes de Sally Hansen! Los colores que compre son Blue Frosting, All Aglow y Tender Teal.

Trate de hacer unos swatches pero las fotos no me salían bien! :( Para mientras las dejo con mi NOTD usando el esmalte Blue Frosting!

Sally Hansen XW - Pacific Blue, 2 coats with 1 coat of Sally Hansen DS Blue Frosting

 Sorry for the horrible pictures...and as always, thanks for reading! <3

Kleancolor - Holo Blue

Sorry I haven't posted much. I'm still wearing my 'rockstar nails'. :( And it's totally killing me...I want to change my mani already! Maybe I'll paint over it today and see how it looks. :) I'm thinking I should try a jelly sandwich...seeing as how I've never done one before!

In the meantime...since I still have the same mani that was in my last post...I dug up a super pretty NOTfew months ago to show you! So here we go...take a look at the beautiful Holo Blue by Kleancolor!

Hola chicas! Todavía ando la manicura de el post pasado (porque es de gel y trato de dejármelo puesto por lo menos una semana). Pero no las quería dejar sin nada que ver! Me puse a buscar entre mis fotos y encontré una foto de uno de mis esmaltes favoritos que es de Kleancolor. Este color que les voy a mostrar se llama Holo Blue y me puse una capa encima de Essence - Forever Mine. Espero les guste!

This is 1 coat of Kleancolor - Holo Blue over Essence - Forever Mine from the Denim Wanted collection.

Again, as with any glittery polish...these pictures did not do this polish combination justice! It was so beautiful, sparkly, and jelly-like almost! Got tons of compliments on this one. If you don't own the Kleancolor Holo's...you need to get them because they are stunning in person!

Este esmalte es precioso y lastima que en foto no se ve como se miraba en persona!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you all have a great Thursday! <3 

Rockstar nails: Silver holo

Hey girlies! Hope you all have had a great weekend! (Or at least a better one than I did.) I've been at home in bed for most of it because I've been feeling pretty awful. :( but I'm getting better! :)

Anyway, as I removed my geometric mani a few days ago I was reminded of the many breaks I had on several nails. I probably could have gotten away with just polishing them as usual but I really didn't want to risk any of them breaking off completely (I can't stand having ridiculously uneven nails!)...so I made the difficult decision to give myself a gel manicure for reinforcement purposes as I've never really had much luck with the tea bag method of repairing a nail.

I know I can still paint over this and remove it with non-acetone but I feel like it looks chunky when I do that. It's okay though...I prefer chunky over broken nails! Anyway...to make myself like it a little more...I went for glitter...and lot's of it! These are my 'Rockstar Nails':

Hola chicas! Espero que estén disfrutando del fin de semana. Yo pase casi todo el dia en la cama porque no me sentía bien. Pero ya ando mejor... :)

El Jueves después de quitarme la manicura que andaba decidí hacerme una manicura con esmalte de gel porque tengo varias uñas quebradas y quería evitar que se me quiebren mas. Entonces aquí les tengo mis uñas al estilo 'Rockstar'. 

 I used the Gelish Foundation base, polish in Vegas Nights with WnW Fantasy Makers silver holo glitter scrubbed in, and two coats of Gelish Top it Off.

and a random video I shot for fun. Wasn't meant to be posted but after looking at the pictures...I realized they didn't do this mani justice. It's the only way to show how shiny and sparkly this is!

Hope you all enjoy they rest of your weekend! xoxo