Tag: Konad

Stamping Saturdays #13

Stamping Saturdays #13

Hey good morning! I just rolled out of bed, and I remembered that I passed out in the middle of putting this post together last night so here I am blogging before breakfast. I don’t know what time you have to be at work in the morning, but I start at 5 am which means that I am up before 4 am during the week. When I get the chance to sleep in a little, it feels like I am cradled by clouds while angels gently sing me awake. I really wish I could be a morning person, but I will never be happy to wake up before 10 am so I’ll just have to deal with it like everyone else. After work yesterday I went polish shopping which is always a disaster waiting to happen because I want one of everything. Since I liked my first ibd polishes, I decided to pick up a few more to see if the quality is consistent. I ended up purchasing two searing neons that I then decided to use for my Stamping Saturdays mani.

ibd Peony Bouquet and ibd StarburstThis is ibd Peony Bouquet and ibd Starburst. They are even brighter in person if you can imagine that!

ibd Gradient 1ibd Gradient 2I decided to try another gradient now that I have some confidence in doing them. It didn’t turn out as smooth as I had hoped but it looks a lot better than my other efforts. I call this a radioactive sunset!

Konad M84 1Konad M84 2Lastly, I used this start pattern from Konad plate M84 and black special polish to bring it all together. At first I didn’t really like how this turned out, but now I’m really liking it!

What do you think of this mani? Do you have anything fun planned for this weekend? I don’t have any plans yet except maybe to go on a shopping binge since Sephora is having a 15% off sale. Someone please take my wallet away now! Anyway, I hope you like today’s mani and thanks a bunch for stopping by. Have a great day!

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Stamping Saturdays #5

Stamping Saturdays #5

PurchasedMyself

 

 

It has been 5 Saturdays since I started up Stamping Saturdays and I think today we have most of the girls participating so I’m super excited. When I say the girls, I am talking about my girls (no, not those!). The girls are Amy, Siobhan, Frosso, Nicole, Amanda, Jessica and Lesley. While I have only met one of these amazing ladies in person so far (Southern California is still not over the polish destruction that Lesley and I caused), I spend so much time emailing back and forth with them about EVERYTHING. And I mean everything. Stamping Saturdays was just an idea for all of us to do something together without the pressure of a challenge. We’re all pretty relaxed about it, and we post when we can. It’s only fitting that today I have my favorite stamping mani ever. Maybe I’m biased, but I absolutely love how this turned out, so I hope that you all love it too. Let’s take a look at my pictures below so you can be the judge.

OPI Ink Suede aI started out with the delicious OPI Ink Suede. Absolutely breathtaking polish. There are no more words.

Konad M64 1aKonad M64 2aI used Konad M64 and my white special polish to stamp this design. I know that there are a lot of polishes out there that work for stamping, but nothing really beats the white special polish. I find that it stamps so cleanly and crisply that it’s definitely worth the expense. I usually buy my konad polishes on amazon and have always been happy with my purchases.

So what do you think about this design? Do you like it as much as I do? For other awesome designs, make sure to check out the links below, Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you enjoy your weekend.

 



Stamping Saturdays #2

Stamping Saturdays #2

Hey friends. Welcome to our second edition of Stamping Saturdays. I’m strangely proud of myself for not flaking out because that would have been pretty lame considering I started this up. ha! I really loved how my stamping mani came out today so let me show you the base color I started out with…

Nicole by OPI Better After Dark 1aNicole by OPI Better after dark (press sample), called out to me for this week’s mani. I absolutely adore the color and the shimmer is crazy gorgeous. If you didn’t read my initial review, click here because you still have a chance to enter this polish (and a second one) along with a coupon for some free chocolate!

Konad M73aKonad M73bI then used Essie As Gold As It Gets and Konad plate M73 to stamp this image on my nails. I totally love this! All the polishes from Essie’s Mirror Metallics collections stamp really well so I recommend them highly.

So what do you think about this stamping design? I hope you like it as much as I do! I wish I had a little more time today, but I am going to be babysitting my nephew for the first time today! Wish me luck!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays – The Beginning!

Stamping Saturdays – The Beginning!

PurchasedMyself

 

 

One of the things I miss when I do tons of swatching is doing freehand designs and stamping. Stamping will always be my first love because when I first started getting obsessed with doing my own nails, it was the first technique I felt that I mastered. In order to push myself to at least do some stamping once in a while, a few friends and I will be trying to post stamping manicures every Saturday. For now I am feeling pretty enthusiastic about this, and I hope I don’t flake out like I always do. Ha! I think that because it’s only a once a week thing, I won’t be such a weirdo about it. For my first Stamping Saturdays mani, I decided to start with a gorgeous base: Illamasqua Superstition.

Illamasqua Superstitious 1aIllamasqua Superstitious 2Seriously. This is such an amazingly gorgeous polish that it made me want to fall in love with Illamasqua all over again. I don’t know about you, but I was pretty annoyed when they raised their prices to $17 a bottle from $14. Uhm, yeah…no mas Illamasqua for me. I know that $3 isn’t that much and yes, I am that person who buys $30 polish, but such a sudden price hike rubbed me the wrong way. Anyway, I still love this. The formula is like buttah and it has a beautiful squishy quality to it. Then I started to stamp it up.

Illamasqua Superstitious 3aIllamasqua Superstitious 4I’m not going to lie: I am way rusty with stamping so this manicure was kind of a nightmare. I really hate how the black konad special polish streaks like crazy when you top coat it. I actually had to redo the stamping because I smudged it up pretty horribly the first time. This particular image comes from Konad plate M64 in case you were wondering. I tried creating one of the inlinkz thing for this but I gotta be honest: I was way too lazy and I got confused easily. I’m sure the alcohol contributed to that but let’s not focus on that, ok? Once I figure out who and when my girls are posting, I will list their entries below. Edit: I think Amy figured out the linky thing.

So what do you think? Do you like stamping? I am definitely looking forward to doing more of these so make sure that you visit us next Saturday. Thanks so much for stopping by and I will talk to you soon.


Julep Madison

Since it has been unusually cold here in So Cal, I decided to pull out a very un-winter-like polish to brighten my day and get me in the mood for spring. I much prefer winter to summer, but it has been crazy cold by California standards lately so I’m kind of wishing for milder temperatures. What better way to get into a summer mindset than to wear a nice bright neon polish? Well, today I am wearing Julep Madison. I am a big fan of the Julep subscription service especially because of all the goodies that are included in the monthly boxes. You should try it out. If you use my referral link here and enter code JULEPVIP at checkout, you can get your own box for 1 penny! That is a great deal and a very easy and painless way to try out the Julep service.

Julep Madison Swatch

Julep Madison is a pinky coral that dries to a satiny finish. After the first coat, I was a little worried that the formula was too thin and that I would need multiple coats, but it was actually fine once I applied the second coat. You can still see some VNL but that tends to happen with jelly-neon polishes. I really love the way it looks shiny so I ended up applying a coat of Seche Vite–it just looks so squishy!

Julep Madison Konad M63

I then used an image from Konad plate M63 for this ribbon-like twirly design. This makes me think of the ribbons that rhythm gymnasts use and of orange creamsicles which are my favorite summer treats. Ghhaaaa…now I want one so bad right now.

Let me know what you think of Julep Madison and if you like my stamping design. If you’re interested in becoming a Julep Maven for just a penny, don’t forget to use my referral link here and enter the code JULEPVIP. You really can’t beat this offer–nail polish for one cent? Yes, please! I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I will talk to you soon.

 

China Glaze Draped In Velvet

Hello there! The weather is pretty kick ass in So Cal today: it’s sunny but chilly and really windy. It’s the perfect weather for staying in bed all day but that’s not happening today. I actually overslept today even though I am always up fairly early so of course today was the day that I was going to get an early call from my new employer to interview me in French. Nice. I probably made a horrible impression since I sounded like I was groggy and  tired. Maybe I’m coming down with something. If I am going to get the flu, I hope I get it now so that I can be ok by the time I start my new job in another week. Remember how I was saying that I’ve been super lucky lately? Well, last night I was in a conference call with my fellow Latina Lifestyle Bloggers, and I won a raffle for a ticket to attend the Third Annual National Lifestyle Blogger Conference & Junket!!! I was super excited about this because I really wanted to go but the ticket is a few hundred dollars and I just couldn’t swing that with the whole not working part. Well, I am super duper excited to attend this conference and hope that I learn tons of new stuff. Blogging has become a passion for me, and I really hope that I can continue to grow my blog and that you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Moving on to the nail polish, I have China Glaze Draped In Velvet to share with you today:

collage1

China Glaze Draped in Velvet is from the 2006 We Adorn You Collection which obviously pre-dates my polish obsession. This color is like a magenta, blue leaning, shimmery purple. The formula was pretty decent like most China Glaze polishes. I can’t say that I’m blown away by this color but it’s nice.collage2

I then took out my Layla holo in Flash Black and used Konad Plate M63 to stamp this design. I really like how this turned out because it looks all swirly and almost whimsical.

Sorry to keep it short today but my friend is patiently waiting for me to finish up this post so we can go grab some lunch! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Butter London Marrow

You know when you realize that you are waaaayyyy too old to be staying up all night? That was me last night. I wasn’t really planning on doing anything, but my friend called me and we ended up going out to karaoke. After we sang a bunch of embarrassing songs (I sang Justin Bieber’s Boyfriend…don’t say it), we went to a Vietnamese restaurant; I should have had some pho since it was wicked cold. After that, we went to another place for coffee and before we knew it, it was 3 am and I was basically a zombie. I remember the days when I used to stay out all night, sleep for a couple of hours and then head to class without even blinking. Ahhh…to be in my early 20’s again! The sun has set on those days, hasn’t it? Don’t get me wrong–I had a lot of fun, but it’s not something I can do a regular basis.  So…what did I decided to do with my nails today? I slapped on another untried: Butter London Marrow.

Butter London Marrow CollageThis is such a strange polish! I don’t know if I just really love it of I’m just trying to figure out what it is about it that is confusing me. I think I sound a little nuts right now, right? With all the purple polishes in my life, I think this one is rather unique in my stash. I normally don’t have anything to complain about when it comes to the Butter London formula, but this one was not what I was expecting. It is so pigmented that I figured it wouldn’t take more than 2 coats, but I had to apply a third thick coat because I had some bald spots even though I waited for each coat to dry.

Butter London Marrow Konad M64

It feels like it’s been forever since I’ve done a plain and simple manicure. Somehow I feel that my nails are boring when I’m not stamping or beddazling the crap out of them. Here I used a design from Konad plate M64 and stamped with Wet N Wild I Can’t Stand Up Straight. I then used Wet N Wild French White Cream  and a dotting tool to apply the white dots.

So what do you think of Butter London Marrow? Do you like the final stamped/dotted design? Well, I hope you’re enjoying your weekend, and we will talk soon!

On ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur…

The very first book in French that I ever read is Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s Le Petit Prince. I was 14 years old and my French teacher was trying to slowly introduce us into reading something a little more complicated than our grammar books.  If you’ve never read this deceptively simple little book, I strongly recommend that you go out and get yourself a copy. Although it is a “children’s book,” it speaks to us adults on a different level. Even the most jaded and hardened amongst us will see that the story and ideas behind The Little Prince will remind us that too often we let ourselves get wrapped up in things that don’t really matter in the grand scheme of things. Sometimes the most simple of things are truly the most important. Before I show you my mani, here are the polishes and items I used to create my manicure:

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The polishes I used are all from Sation: Dance With The Drummer, Down and Dirty Flirty, Strumming My Nails and Lemon Pearl.  I am going to have to do a review of all of these polishes individually because they are gorgeous. I think I have found my new favorite white…it was seriously perfection.

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I also used three stamping plates and Konad stamping polishes in yellow, red and green. I used the black stripping polish for the details in drawing The Little Prince as well as the Winstonia nail art brush. The plates I used are: Konad M84 for the stars, Mash 36 for the rose and Mash 33 for the shooting stars.

collage1

I started out by painting my nails with the base colors. As I said before, these colors are amazing–super buttery and smooth. Second, I stamped my three nails with the star designs and the rose before I moved on to my middle finger. I seriously redid that nail about 4 times–I just could not get The Little Prince to look right which kind of shocked me considering how simple the drawing is.

collage2

I took these pictures out in direct sunlight so the colors warmed up a bit, but I liked how they turned out nonetheless.  I think that out of all the manicures I have done over the past year, this is the one I am most proud of not only because of the cuteness factor but because I adore The Little Prince.

Let me know what you think about this mani…and it better be positive or else we’re going to have some problems. 😛 Just kidding…sort of. I’ve been in a very bad mood lately, and I think I just realized that it’s due to all the bottled up anger coming from the situation with the mooch. Have you read The Little Prince? Anyway…thanks for checking in with me today, and I will talk to you soon!

P.S. In case anyone was wondering, the title of this post comes from one of my favorite lines in this book: “Voici mon secret. Il est très simple: on ne voit bien qu’avec le cœur. L’essentiel est invisible pour les yeux.”

“Here is my secret. It is very simple: One sees clearly only with the heart. What is essential is invisible to the eye.”

 

Disclosure: All Sation polishes and the Winstonia Store brush were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR. All other products featured in this post were purchased by me.  For more information, please refer to my disclosure policy tab.

 

China Glaze I’m Not Bitter

I wasn’t planning on doing any blogging for a while for a few reasons, but I decided to just throw that idea out the window because I realized that whenever I am stressed or having a rough time, I can usually just escape into the color-filled world of nail polish for a while. All of my current problems/stressors have solutions. Every single one of them. I think that it’s important to remind yourself that most problems have solutions because we always need a healthy dose of perspective in our lives. I was looking through my stash and decided to use one of my untrieds: China Glaze I’m Not Bitter.

China Glaze I'm Not Bitter

China Glaze I’m Not Bitter is another scorching red from the 2005 Voodoo, That U Do Collection. I can’t tell you enough how amazing this shimmery and glowy red is. It applies like a dream, and it is the perfect one-coater!! Unfortunately, this polish was discontinued long ago, but the good news is that it is still available online at a few online retailers. And in case you were wondering, the formula is NOT big 3 free. China Glaze describes this as a beet red shimmer, and that is a perfect description.

Dwight Beets

Being that Christmas is less than 2 weeks away, I decided to make this a festive type of manicure.

China Glaze I'm Not Bitter Konad M79 I used a design from Konad plate M79 and Konad special white polish. I don’t know about you, but this looks like pretty wrapping paper. I always enjoy wrapping presents, don’t you?

China Glaze I'm Not Bitter Konad M79 Hex Holo GlitterBecause I wanted a little more bling, I applied silver holographic hex glitter over the dots. It doesn’t look that interesting under these lighting conditions, but it looks amazing under sunlight when all the holo shines.

On a previous post, I wrote about New Year’s Resolutions and the like. I’m not really making any but I do have a few goals for next year. I stumbled upon a blog about travel last night and all of a sudden I was so bummed out because I haven’t been on a trip in eons. (Btw, the travel blog I mentioned is called Traveling Latina and she is hosting a giveaway for a $25 Walmart gc so check it out!) I spent my early 20’s pretty much going anywhere I wanted to because I spent a year studying abroad and then ended up working for the airlines for a few years after that. The one place I would kill to go to right now is Florence. Looking back, I think I have made about 10 separate trips to Florence and I never tire of it. Maybe it’s because I am a huge lover of Renaissance art and architecture, but it’s probably more due to the fact that it was the first city in Italy that I ever visited. When I think back on that first trip, I always laugh because it was really a comedy of errors. Daniel and I had finished up the semester and he called me to see what I was going to do that night. I told him that I wanted to take a trip and he said he would come with me so we packed a bag and an hour later we were at the train station looking at all the scheduled departures. We had no idea where to go so we just took the next available train which was going to Italy. I won’t get into all the shenanigans that happened during our stay in Florence because, frankly, it’s embarrassing. When we were ready to leave, we randomly decided to go visit our friend who was in Aix-en-Provence for the year…well, that was another nightmare. We had to take multiple trains to get to Aix. Since our train was delayed in Milan, we almost missed our train going to Marseille. Daniel never forgets how we were running like maniacs through the station trying to make the train which was about to depart. By the time we made it to the platform, it had started to pull away so we literally did a miraculous flying leap onto a moving train. Why we didn’t kill ourselves right then and there, I will never know. I wish that had been the end of our mishaps, but then something else happened: my wallet was stolen.

If you’ve never really been on a train for a long trip, you’re really missing out because it’s just such a cool experience. Daniel and I ended up in a 6 person compartment by ourselves so we were just enjoying getting some rest. He decided to go to the dining cart and left me alone while I slept. I was startled awake and I saw a kid walking out of our compartment and I asked him what he was doing. He mumbled that he was looking to see if there were any empty seats but he kept walking out.I was so groggy that I didn’t think much of it so I went back to sleep. When we finally got to Marseille, I wanted to buy something to eat and that’s when I realized that my wallet was gone. I was fuming and poor Daniel got to experience my misplaced wrath because I blamed him for leaving me alone while I slept since I suspected that kid stole my wallet. We had to catch one last train from Marseille to Aix which was just less than 30 minutes away. When we finally got to Aix it was late at night and the train station was about to close. I told Daniel to call our friend since we didn’t have her address. He didn’t have her phone number because his phone’s battery had died and he forgot the charger. The train station closes and we are kicked out into the street with our loaded backpacks and me without any money. I was tired, annoyed and on the verge of tears when our friend walked by the train station with a couple of her friends. It was the most random thing ever so all things ended up well.

So why did I blab on and on for eons about Italy and traveling? Because one of the things I am looking forward to next year is to go on a trip to Italy. I don’t know how I’m going to do it. I may have to sell my soul to the devil for it, but I will go on my trip!!!! What are some of your favorite travel destinations? Thanks for stopping by and talk to you later!

P.S. Have you entered my giveaway? This is the last week so don’t miss out on the chance to win some awesome prizes!

Disclosure: All items featured in this post were purchased by me.

 

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 29: Art Inspired Nails

Today was kind of a fun day for me when it came to deciding what to do for this challenge. I am a huge lover of art in general–painting, sculpture, architecture. I have a soft spot for the Renaissance which explains why Florence is probably my favorite city in the world–it’s like a love song to the Renaissance. One of my favorite paintings resides at the Uffizi Galleries: La Nascita di Venere by Botticelli.

I wish I had more time today because I might have attempted to recreate parts of this painting…that would have been awesome. Anyway, I was searching some of my favorite painters such as Picasso, Magritte, Dali, Renoir and Da Vinci for some inspiration. I don’t know how I ended up settling on Jackson Pollock, but I’m glad I did because I do like how my nails turned out.

Jackson Pollock Inspired Nails

Read below to see how I created this manicure.

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls Swatch     OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls Swatch

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Let me tell you that I love this polish because it’s just such an interesting color. It’s obviously not a pure white which I really like. I had heard so many positive things about this polish so I am glad that it did not disappoint. I had to apply 3 thin coats, but I think it would be ok with 2 thickish coats.

I really wanted to try the traditional splatter technique with a straw or brush, but I just didn’t have enough time this morning so I went ahead and used the splatter design from Konad plate M70.

OPI My Broyfriend Scales Walls Konad M70          OPI My Broyfriend Scales Walls Konad M70

I used all the different colors and stamped them all over each other on my nails. Doesn’t this remind you of a Jackson Pollock painting?

Well, there are only 2 more challenges left so thanks for sticking with us through this loooooonnnnngggg process. 🙂 Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s nails over at Polish Me, Please!

Aaaaaaannnnndddd…don’t forget to check out my blog sale. I am going to add more polishes tonight so take advantage of the 20% off sale. 🙂 Talk to you later!