A Homer-un?

Wow. you guys almost got a nail design that I hated, but I managed to finish this one under the gun with 5 min to spare. I was having a 'bad nail day' today and despite painting for 3 hours, nothing I did was satisfactory. Finally, I came up with this design, which was inspired by a few comments on the Flintstone's post about 'interactive' nail design. This one lets you have Homer say different phrases!

I used American Apparel Manila as a base for Homer, Color Club Best Dressed List for his stubble, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for his eyes, American Apparel Hassid to outline, and Zoya Yummy for the background. For the speech bubble nails. I used Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the black, then for the backgrounds, I used Essie Foot Loose for the pinky, CND Electric Orange for the ring, Zoya Yummy for the middle, and Pure Ice Wild Thing for the index. Two coats of Seche Vite top coat topped it off!

One stroke preatyness

Hello My Sweet Nail art Lovers.
Here is my my nail art from last week, i was working really hard to make this manicure, and i believe it turned great. Unluckily pics dint turned very well, these light paints always gets invisible by the flash of the camera.
Anyway i recently got some more paints, and planning to do more hand painted manicures. I hope you ll enjoy this one.

Halloween is coming fast!! So I decided to try some of my oranges....

Rarely do I wear orange polish, okay scratch that, I've never worn a full mani of orange, yet when I look in my drawers, I see quit a few, *shrugs*. What better time to try these, than Halloween, which btw, is my all time FAVE holiday to celebrate! The first one I grabbed is an unamed OPI, that my sister gave me a while ago. Well I asked the experts on MUA, and they said it is Osaka To Me Orange, and I believe they are right.

OPI Osaka To Me Orange, tell me this isn't just the best Halloween orange?!!?

and just because I can't leave any mani alone, I added China Glaze's Dreamsicle over top. I actually really liked this look!

I was then asked to layer the China Glaze Dreamsicle over a black. When I did, I gasped, it was BEAUTIFUL and so unexpected. I had no idea, all those colors were in there!!

Petites Color Fever......

I love me some Petites! I purchased these at a local Rite-Aid a few months ago, and you have to see the AMAZING colors, these have. Application doesn't get much smoother, and all were only 2 coats. They are so bright!! They area still available in my area, and cost about $1.99, which is a little much, considering they are half the size of regular polishes, and are drugstore. Oh well, color beats the price.

This is Wild plum. Such a glowy bright fun purple!

Rasberry Ice, Do you see how bright this is!?!? This would make a great pedi!

Last of all is Black Diamond, I wish I was able to get a better picture in the sun, this is very holo in real life!!!

I say, get these if you can. Honestly, these colors are sooo bright!!!

Who Nicole by OPI really should have teamed up with

Adam Lambert nail polish

What the Blieb?!

A few days ago I read about Nicole by OPI's newest collection inspired by Justin Bieber. While I'm all for collaborations, I nearly choked on my drink when I found out. Why? The kid doesn't even wear nail polish! If Nicole by OPI would've wanted to rock it with a hot male singer, that's current, talented AND infatuated with nail polish, Adam Lambert would've been an excellent pick. But of course I'm biased, being the fangirl that I am.

Why didn't anyone tell me about quick drying top coat?!

Don't mess with my nails!

Adam Lambert doesn't shy away from wearing make up and nail polish. He likes to wear dark colors and is often spotted wearing Black Onyx, Russian Navy and Yoga-ta Get This Blue by OPI. See why he and OPI should get it on? Adam tells us he likes to do his own nails and he prefers his nail polish to be chipped. Boys will be boys.. There was even a rumor - that was debunked quickly - that claimed Adam lashed out on a fan when he was waiting for his nail polish to dry, when somebody grabbed him and ruined his nails. Hilarious.

Shiiiiny

Two tough guys discussing nail polish

Dear Adam, if you don't want to be Nicole's nail polish muse, would you at least be mine?

Image credits: Robin Roemer & National Post

Adam Lambert nail polish

Adam Lambert nail polish

Adam Lambert nail polish

Adam Lambert nail polish

Meet The Beatles!

Ok, so yesterday I did John Lennon nails in honor of his birthday today, and while I was thinking about those nails, I decided that I REEAAALLLLY wanted to do the Beatles nails that I have had on my list to do! I've always been a huge Beatles fan, amongst other 'oldies' tunes... in fact, I pretty much listened only to oldies stations until I was about 16 or 17! I love ALL of the Beatles albums, but Abbey Road is definitely my favorite, and my favorite Beatle is Paul, even though Ringo is pretty funny to watch. Favorite Beatles song? Has to be 'A Day in the Life', I love that song, in fact, it's one of my favorite songs of any group/artist! Also LOVE the Jeff Beck version, do yourself a favor and check it out, it's badasstastical. Anyway, I digress...to the nails! I think I need longer nails though (even though they're borderline too long already) so I can fit the ENTIRE Beatles logo on them without squishing- or cutting off part of the 'B'.

I used American Apparel Summer Peach as a base on the band member nails, American Apparel Hassid for the outline and hair, Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the eyes and teeth. For the Paul nail, I used Zoya Yummy for his collar, and Pure Ice Wild Thing for the background, for Ringo, I used Zoya Robyn in the background, for John, I used Essie Foot Loose in the background, and for George, I used CND Electric Orange for the background. For 'The Beatles' logo, I used American Apparel Hassid as a base, with Sally Hansen Professional Lavender Cloud for the logo. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

And somebody spoke and I went into a dream...Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Sexay Scarlet Funky French....

While looking through my stash, I realized just how many reds I have. This used to be my go to color. Well this bright red stuck out, and since I had yet to try it, I did. It's by Wet N' Wild, and it's called Scarlet Red. This was only 2 coats, and great application.

Then of course, I wanted to see what some black tips would look like. For some reason this mani reminds me of a great pair of night out on the town, stilettos.

Okay, after looking back in my pics, I have done this color combo before, LOL. Here is one I did, that hasn't been posted yet

I used Forever 21's Red, so much prettier in real life.

and here it is with s black tip























Note To Self: Do different combos!! : P

Guiltfree Glam: B3F FTW!

"What is B3F?" is a question I find almost daily in my inbox, so for today I've got a little writeup on the matter. I always redirect everyone to this awesome post by All Lacquered Up, since I'm no chemist AT ALL, but the requests kept coming, so bear with me. I won't get into all the bad stuff certain ingredients can do, as I don't want to have people panicking!

B3F wha?

What are B3F or Big 3 Free nail polishes anyway? These are polishes that are free from Formaldehyde, DBP & Toluene. Formaldehyde in its pure form is a colorless gas. Formaldehyde is anti bacterial and acts as an anti dissolvant and improves adhesion. DBP or Dibutyl phthalate is used as a plasticizer which should keep surfaces smooth and unbreakable. Toluene is a substance that keeps your polish liquid.

Why?

Each of these ingredients have certain dangers attached to them. There is still debate over whether these are actually harmful: usually these ingredients only trip you up when you're exposed to huge amounts during a longer period of time or when they are being incinerated. However, long term consequences are still unknown and there are many people who suffer from allergic reactions from these substances. Formaldehyde is hardly used these days, except in hardeners/strengtheners. You might want to give those a body check. A product from Formaldehyde, called Formaldehyde Resin, is more often used nowadays, I'm not entirely sure about that one, but it's considered safe by the FDA. If you're allergic to Formaldehyde you might be allergic to the resin as well though.

Just a marketing tool?

I know a lot of people don't care at all, but better safe than sorry goes a long way. I know I don't want to to cause unnecessary harm to my health. Why risk it if there are plenty alternatives - especially when you're pregnant or breastfeeding! Maybe the fuzz is a little overblown and I do think a lot of brands are using this as a clever marketing tool, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.
A lot of older polishes are not B3F, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that companies still choose to produce nail polish the oblivious way. For example: Models Own polishes are still crammed with Toluene. Why?! I know producing non B3F polish is a lot cheaper than its healthy alternative, but the price of Models Own polishes ($8 each, where Nubar costs &7.49 & Zoya $7 each) hardly reflects that. It does take some companies a while to get their new formula to work, but practice makes perfect right?

Brands

You can check the labels to see whether your nail polish is B3F, but brands like Nubar, Zoya, SpaRitual, Orly, Chanel, RBL, Lippmann, Revlon, Del Sol (as pictured above), newer Misa, China Glaze and OPI are definitely B3F. However, some of these still contain Formaldehyde Resin.

I hope this was helpful and thanks so much for stopping by!
- With love, Michèle

Sources: Cosmeticsinfo.org, Wikipedia

Borghese Stellar Notte

I'm proud to say that this was actually my very first Borghese. I was hesitant to buy any, simply because I just can't stand the old style looking bottles. I'm a modern girl, and these just don't fit. Until I saw this duochromed girl in a display. I just love having color options from 1 polish. This is purple, blue, teal and a hint of green, which I had a hard time capturing.

War is Over! (If You Want it)

He was part of the British Invasion, one of those mop-tops from Liverpool that we all know and (whether you are too hardcore to admit it or not<---you know who you are) LOVE. There isn't a person today that hasn't heard of John Lennon or The Beatles, and the awesome that springs from them. Did you know that there is a little known bootleg album called 'A Toot and a Snore in '74' which is the only known recording where Lennon and McCartney played together after the breakup of The Beatles. The album was recorded during Lennon's 'lost weekend', the 18 months he was separated from Ono and was living with his former assistant, May Pang. Also on the album were Linda McCartney, Stevie Wonder (at one point Lennon asks, "You wanna snort, Steve? A toot? It's goin' round", in reference to cocaine), Harry Nilsson, May Pang, Bobby Keys, and Jesse Ed Davis. It's definitely an interesting album if you can snag it. (and if you're a Lennon fan) I have to say though, one Lennon song that I will ALWAYS love, Christmastime or not, is 'Happy Xmas (War is Over)'. I <3 that song. The title lyric is based off a poster campaign that John and Yoko did in 1969 in protest of the Vietnam War. Yoko's Official Flickr has the posters in several different languages available for download HERE. Plus- if they don't have your language- all you have to do it translate that phrase into your language and email them, and they'll make it!

In honor of what would have been Lennon's 70th birthday tomorrow (Oct. 9), I did the IMAGINE cover on my nails today! <---So you guys can do it for tomorrow!!

 I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with American Apparel Hassid for the black, Essie Foot Loose for the hot pink hair. CND Electric Orange for the orange hair, Color Club Ms. Socialite for the mouth, Pure Ice Wild Thing for the nose, ALDO Sea You in Ibiza for the left side of the glasses, and a mix of ALDO Sea You in Ibiza and Essie Foot Loose for the right side of the glasses. Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Imagine.