A Nightmare on My Street

Today's nails are simple, but they are because I'm going to see Nightmare on Elm Street tonight... YES! (at a drive-in, no less- awesome!!) Should be a good time- I love the drive-in, I love scary movies, and I love movie popcorn. lol I also think that I love this red polish color... it shows a VNL with 2 coats, but the color is pretty much the perfect vixen red. :) I did today's nails to look like the sweater that Freddy Krueger wears in the movies. :-D



I used China Glaze High Maintenance as a base, with American Apparel Hunter for the stripes.

Tell 'em Freddy sent ya!

No Bones About It

Hi everyone! Today's nails are for the skateboarders that I'm hanging out with tonight....Chris, Mark, Chuck, etc. I did the BONES Wheels logo. :) I hope they dig em!! (I get to meet Hank the puppy and eat grilled brats, too----these guys are the kings of grilling!) :-D YUM!

Inspiration:


Nails:


I used American Apparel Hassid as a base, with China Glaze Millennium for the logo. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat for the brang new wheel shine. :-D

Lotsa gel nails!

Sorry for the lack of updates my dear girls! Was away for 5 days last week and I've been packed with appts since my return. Anyway, gel nails pics for now.


Red french with black diamonds.
Gel overlay on natural nails. French design looks nicer on long nail beds. :)

Red + black. My favourite!

Spring/Summer 2010 design! Floral prints are love! I'm addicted to light denims and florals these days. hehe.

Gel extension. Florals are hand painted.

Purple nails. Glitter sprinkles and crystals along the french line. Lines are drawn using white gel. Gel extension.

Dual tone purple glitter gradation. Supa glossy!
I'm loving the mini twin hearts on her middle fingers and thumbs!

Sweetness!

Gel overlay on her natural nails.

Next post will be on bridal nails! ;D

Lotsa gel nails!

Sorry for the lack of updates my dear girls! Was away for 5 days last week and I've been packed with appts since my return. Anyway, gel nails pics for now.


Red french with black diamonds.
Gel overlay on natural nails. French design looks nicer on long nail beds. :)

Red + black. My favourite!

Spring/Summer 2010 design! Floral prints are love! I'm addicted to light denims and florals these days. hehe.

Gel extension. Florals are hand painted.

Purple nails. Glitter sprinkles and crystals along the french line. Lines are drawn using white gel. Gel extension.

Dual tone purple glitter gradation. Supa glossy!
I'm loving the mini twin hearts on her middle fingers and thumbs!

Sweetness!

Gel overlay on her natural nails.

Next post will be on bridal nails! ;D

Flower Power

Hi! Today's nails were inspired by where I went today and what I did- my sister went up to Mt. Charleston and saw all the amazing views and plants and SNOW! :) I even made a mini-snowman :-D There were tons of awesome cactus flowers and normal flowers and the views were, as always, spectacular. :) I also bought the new American Apparel polishes (yes, all 5), I skipped the top coat because I'm such a seche vite devotee, but I tried the tester in the store, and it dried relatively quickly, and held up the glossy coat until today, so I can't say too much bad about it. :) I used one of the new polishes, Esprit for today's manicure, and while I'll give a more in-depth review in a day or two, I love it, it was opaque in two coats, was a tad problematic to apply, but that could just be where I was applying (near a semi-open window), so I'll have to swatch it again to get a true experience.



I used American Apparel Esprit as a base, with China Glaze Grape Pop applied with Konad Plate m66, then I dabbed a dot of Nubar Violet Sparkle to the center of one of the flowers. Topped it all of with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.


And here are some pictures from today! :) There are more, I just don't have time tonight to get them all edited! (some are panoramas!)

Matte Top Coats Compared

Hi guys! If you love matte nail polish, you're bound to love matte top coats. I love these because you can transform any polish into a hot matte finish. There are many to chose from, even with different finishes, so let's compare the few I have!

As you can probably tell there are some differences between the four. Let's break it down a bit:

	P2 - Matte Top Coat (€1,55 / $1,95 for 8ml / .27 Fl. Oz.) This one has the most satin finish of the bunch. The substance is a bit cloudy, which you definitely can tell by looking at the nail. You could say it dulls the color a bit. Application is pretty smooth! This top coat is not that easily available since P2 is a German brand, but it is relatively the cheapest of the four. Drying time: slowest of the four, definitely needs a couple of minutes. Wear: Chipped after 3 days.
	ManGlaze - Matte-Astrophe (€10,43 / $13,13 for ?) Like everything ManGlaze, this one is special! Matte-Astrophe has a crackle effect (not always), which you either love or hate. (Most likely to happen when you apply the top coat when your nail polish isn't fully dry yet). Application is seriously the best, smooth, thin and not streaky. Mattest of the bunch. Drying time: pretty quick, 30-60 seconds. Wear: Turns satin after 3 or 4 days, no chipping, will start to wear down around the edges.
	China Glaze - Matte Magic (€5,16 / $6,50 for 9,6ml / .325 Fl. Oz.) Matte Magic has a truly flat finish, no shine or effect. This one's a bit thick though, which affects the application. Drying time: super quick, 15-30 seconds. Wear: Turns satin after 1 or 2 days, no chipping, will start to wear down around the edges.
	Essie - Matte About You (€7,94 / $10,- for 15ml / .5 Fl. Oz.) This one goes on super smooth, isn't thick and isn't as cloudy as Matte Magic. The color wasn't affected as much either, which is a big plus! Drying time: super quick, 15-30 seconds. Wear: Turns satin after 3 or 4 days, no chipping, will start to wear down around the edges. Common problem: after a while it's possible you'll find white specks in the polish.
Please note, wear can be different for everyone, depending on body chemistry and activities during the day

If I had to pick only one, I'd choose Essie's Matte About You. Matte Magic is a bit too thick for my taste and the one by P2 is way too satin. I love love love Matte-Astrophe though, but I'm not always in the mood for crazy crackle ;-).
So Matte About You it is, application and wear is really good. And, not totally unimportant, it respects the original color the most. Funnily enough I don't own this one myself yet, Daphne from www.nailswatches.com lend me hers, so I was able to this comparison, thank you Daph!!

So, when I'm running out of Matte Magic, I'm going to order Essie MAY myself.
If you're happen to be Dutch, I have some good news for you! Hema just released their own matte top coat, I'm so excited. Unfortunately I couldn't find it in the stores I've been too, but I've seen swatches, and it sure looks promising.

Well this was it already, thanks so much for reading and have a great day -
Michèle

Working For Peanuts?

Hey all!! Today is LION KING!!!! My parents were kick-ass enough to treat us to Lion King tickets. How awesome is that?! Thanks mom and dad!! :) I saw it shortly after it came here to Las Vegas, but still, very very excited to see it again- it was incredible!!! Not sure what our agenda is today, but I'm sure it'll will be fun regardless, its been really awesome to have my sister here!! Anyway, to the nails- today they're Charlie Brown nails! :) I tried to make the zig zags look wavy and squiggly like they do in the comic strips. :-D



I used American Apparel Manila as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the zig-zags. Topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat. Some question has been raised about why I use 2 coats, and the reason why I do this is because it gives a much glassier, smoother finish. Otherwise, you still see the ridge of the different layers of polish used to create a design. :)

She Bangs

At least my fingertips do! ;) Today's nails are simple (even though they were a pain to do because the design would NOT stick to the matte- which I finally top-coated) Today has been a less ambitious day with my sister, we went to Trader Joe's - her first time!! We also went to REI and one of the outlet malls, tonight we are going to the other outlets, Casa Don Juan, and either the Eiffel Tower or Stratosphere tower at night. :-D



I used OPI for Sephora What's a Tire Jack? Matte as a base, with China Glaze Millennium applied with Konad Plate s5. I topped it off with a coat of Seche Vite top coat because the stupid gun wouldn't stick to the matte. I had to redo them in the 5 minutes it took to find my camera. *argh*

Gives a whole meaning to 'finger guns', eh?

I also thought that I'd show you my toes, even though I abhor my feet. (I have wonky feet, the scar(s) you may see are from surgery I had as a teenager- fun fact, I still have a screw in my foot! I just thought the idea of bacon on my 'piggies' was funny. Please don't judge my hideous foot! lol



:-D

How to: Happy Cuticles!

Hi everyone! I've done a lot of swatching today, but my MacBook failed on me AGAIN :-(. I got it up and running again but most of my recent files are gone. I've been swatching some great colors by American Apparel, Diamond Cosmetics and Eyeko. So expect those soon, after I redid them, lol!
Since I don't have anything nice to show you, I figured I'd write about another subject I'm getting a lot of questions about, cuticle care. I've always had awful looking cuticles and after trying a lot of things, this is my routine now:

1. To cut or not to cut? A lot of people pick, or bite or cut their cuticles, using clippers or scissors. Please don't! I'm a firm believer of the no cutting regime, and I'll tell you why. Cuticles are a very important part of the nail growth cycle, when you tick them off, you're bound to see this reflect in your nail growth. Cuticles serve as a natural barrier to bacteria and fungus. If you fiddle with this too much, you'll lose this protection. And not too mention the risk of nasty infections that can lead to permanent nail damage. Yikes. If you insist on doing this, make sure you use sterile tools. As you can see in this very old picture, I, admittedly, used to cut mine too. You can see how annoyed they look, but I just didn't know how to care for them.	Sad cuticles :-(
Nfu Oh Cuticle Remover	2. Get rid of it After soaking in warm water, simply push back your cuticles with an orange stick or cuticle pusher. Be careful though, or you'll end up with damage anyway. Now, I've raved about this before, but I love love love Nfu Oh's Cuticle remover. I use this religiously and it makes a huge difference! There are different kinds of cuticle removers out there, the ones that just soften your cuticle and the ones that actually work. The latter are the so called A.H.A removers. Alpha Hydroxy Acids are natural exfoliators that dissolve and slough away dry, dead skin. Some other A.H.A. cuticle removers are CND Cuticle Eraser or OPI Avoplex Exfoliating Cuticle Treatment. Just apply the stuff on the cuticle and move an orange stick along the cuticle and watch the gunk come off!
3. Moisturize! Another huge part of taking care of your cuticles, is hydration. In order to keep them supple and healthy, you need to keep them hydrated. If I'm slacking, I'll notice this right away. There are a lot of products out there that promise moisturized cuticles, but I'm very picky. There are balms, oils, creams, butters, you name it. I think we're seeing oils the most and funnily enough I like these the least. They often contain mineral oil and they seem to dry out my cuticles even more. The product I'm using a LOT is Lemony Flutter by Lush. It does contain oils but probably in the right conjunction, because this stuff is miraculous. Every night before I go to bed, I slap this on and I wake up with super soft cuticles.	Lemony Flutter by Lush
Happy cuticle :-)	4. What do you do? So, that's all there is to it actually! Step away from the clippers & nippers, get a good cuticle remover and moisturize like there's no tomorrow. Some lovely Brazilian readers told me it's common for them to cut the cuticles, so I'm really curious to see how many of you are doing this: Do you cut your cuticles? No! Yes! Yes, but I'm not going to anymore    pollcode.com free polls

So now you know all about how I keep my cuticles happy, I hope this was helpful! Thanks for reading and I'll see you soon!
- Michèle

Oh La la!

Hey all!! Today was the first day my sister was in town, and boy did we pack it in!! I introduced her to In N Out for lunch, Grimaldi's (best pizza ever) for dinner, we saw the BODIES exhibit, the CSI Exhibit, and the Shark Reef, she won $21 on a Star Wars slot machine, and we went to Anthony Cools (so funny I had tears running down my face and my throat and face hurt from laughing so hard). Anyway, the final stop was the Anthony Cools show at Paris, so I did Paris themed nails!! I wanted to do a loose interpretation of the Eiffel tower...



I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the Eiffel towers and 'Bonjour!'. For the red stripe, I used China Glaze Salsa and for the blue, I used Pure Ice French Kiss. Topped it off with two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

à bientôt! :-)