It Only Takes a Spark-le to Start a Fire!

So yeah, yesterday was one of those days that you wish never happened, started, etc. I was one of the 'lucky' people at my company who lost their job yesterday. Sweet, huh?! (if anyone knows of any available awesome jobs in the Vegas area, please let me know!! :-D) I'm trying to look at it as a blessing, there are a ton of roads I could take at this point... I could work at night, and go back to school to get a culinary degree, I could get another graphic job, I could get a bartending or cocktail job, I could work at the casinos... the possibilities are pretty endless. I'm going to turn this situation on it's ass. :-D For today's nails I really wanted to do something fun and sparkly, so I used the new Nubar Sparkles polishes I bought at the International Beauty Show to do an ombre. :) These polishes officially kick ass, I can't stop looking at my hands, they're SO sparkly. I even ended up doing a matching pedicure!! :)



I used 3 coats of Nubar Petunia Sparkle, with Nubar Violet Sparkle sponged on the tip half of the nail. Topped everything off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat to smooth out the glitter coats. :)

So... what should my next endeavor be?

Zoya Perri Vio-Fio

Hello Dear Sweet Nail-art Lovers.
Finally got some inspiration, it is been a while that i made some one stroke nails with acrylic paints. The base color is Zoya Perri - love it - so perfect for sponging and gradient look, and overall just a really nice shade.
I also sponged the ring with this nail polish so it matches color of the nails. I hope you like it.

Spring Daisy Manicure

Hello my Sweet Nail-Art Lovers.
Here is my spring Daisy manicure, which is hand painted with polishes. Quite a rare thing for me those days wit all those stamps and acrylic paints.
I really love how it turned out, kind of simply bu intricate. I used Zoya Dana (flash collection) for the base color and i think this is what helped pull off this manicure. Dana is probably my favorite color from the entire collection - it is very smooth and bright.
I hope you ll enjoy this nail-art

Oh, Quit Your Waning!

So I think I may be tired lately... there are two nights this week so far that I've passed out on the couch, etc. before 8:30 PM! :-P Last night it was about 6:45, and I slept the whole night. That can't be good, right? So much going on lately! Next Friday, I need to make a wedding cake for my friend Jessica's wedding... I'm a little scared because it's the one cake in a person's life they're not likely to forget. :-/ I also need to make some ice cream for class on sunday, I'm thinking Chocolate Cayenne, Fresh Strawberry, and Vanilla Bean. (Banana, too, if I can find ripe bananas at the supermarket). I'm hoping to do a 1-tier practice of the wedding cake on Saturday, and I hope to GOD it looks awesome. lol On the bright side, tomorrow is Friday, and at least over the weekend I won't have to worry too much about work, just personal obligations! :)

Today's nail art was inspired by the phases of the moon, which are: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Las Quarter, Waning Crescent, and Dark. (according to wikipedia.org) As of the time of this blog post, we are nearly at the full moon! :-D I only used TWO colors for this art- black and white! Oh, and by the way, the ring finger on my right hand is new CND Shellac, which would explain why it's not decorated with art.. lol I'm testing their 2-week claim, because if if can stay on me, it'll stay on anyone.





I used American Apparel Hassid
for the background, as well as mixed with American Apparel Cotton for the greys, and also used American Apparel Cotton
to lightly sponge over the base to make 'stars'.

What is going on with this blog? First, all the talk of 'brazilians', and now a Waxing Moon?! :-P (bad joke, I know)

CURRENT MOON

moon phase info

Wet Paint sale on Ideeli!

Hey all!! Just a note to let you know about the Wet Paint Glaze System sale on Ideeli.com today!! Everything is deeply discounted- there is a set of 15 polishes for $50, original price is $150! It's a pretty neat idea, and with those 15 polishes you can create 102 different colors!!



Here is the link! Wet Paint Sale on Ideeli

US Shipping only unfortunately. :(

Picture is from ideeli.com

Oh, How Tacky!

Hi everyone!!! I hope that this lovely April day finds you well ( and not wind-blown, like here in Vegas!! lol) Today's nails were inspired by something at work- my cork board!! :) I thought it'd be something different, and plus, when I did the dinosaur nails the other day, I thought the background looked like cork, so I thought I'd used that idea as a design! :)



I used MAC Abalone Shell (I wish I'd picked up multiples of this- I <3 it), with Zoya Dea pretty heavily sponged over it, then topped with CND Super Matte, which BTW isn't MATTE AT ALL!?!?!?, don't get it. After that failed, I went to my go-to matte topcoat, Essie Matte About You. Next, for the thumb tacks, I used CND Green Scene, American Apparel Downtown L.A. for the red tack, Pure Ice French Kiss for the blue tack, American Apparel Poppy for the orange tack, and CND Bicycle Yellow for the yellow tack. I mixed each with American Apparel Cotton to highlight, and American Apparel Hassid to shade, except the yellow tack, which I mixed American Apparel Poppy with to shade. for the metal part of the tack, I used American Apparel Hassid mixed with China Glaze Millennium. FOr the items tacked up, I used American Apparel Cotton for the white, American Apparel Hassid for the black, and American Apparel Downtown L.A. for the red. For the shadows of the tack on each nail, I used a mix of topcoat andAmerican Apparel Hassid. Topped the tacks off with a coat of Seche Vite top coat, being careful not to get any on the matte portion of the nail.

Totally tack-y, right?!

And, as a bonus sneak peek into part of the giveaway prize.... (hand screened by yours truly)

Finish it up! 25 different nail polish finishes

Hi guys! How is everybody doing? I've been very busy lately (and that includes having a playdate with my mom, Natasja, Michelle from TheLacquerFiles and Daphne from Nailswatches. It was so much fun, I've never seen so many polishes at once, they even danced around in my head while I was trying to sleep!).

Anyway! since I've lost a lot of swatches thanks to my evil evil MacBook, I didn't really have decent material to post here. But hopefully I can make up for it with this post, since it took a LOT of time ;-). For today I decided to put together an overview of all finishes that are available nowadays. Please let me know if I forgot one!

A creme is one of the most popular finishes we know. This is just a plain color without any glitter, shimmer, etc added to it. The finish is glossy and smooth.	A jelly is just like a creme, but the main difference is the substance: more jelly-like. They tend to be sheer but they make up for it by being xtremely glossy.	The shimmer finish is a colored base with shimmer added to it, most of the times that color is silver but we're seeing contrasting colors more often.	Glass flecked polishes look like they contain small glass particles, often mixed in a jelly base. The finish is very smooth, yet sparkly.	You could say neon describes color, not finish. But most neons do have a particular finish, very bright colors that often dry semi-matte.
A frost is a very fine shimmery polish with obvious bruststrokes. These kind of finishes are losing popularity and mostly seen in older polishes.	The pearl finish is quite similar to the frost finish, but it has a more pearly sheen to it.	Foil polishes often have a metallic base color with very fine glitter added to it. The finish is very smooth yet sparkly.	Metallic finishes make your nails appear like metal. Metallic polishes are especially popular in copper, gold or silver.	Glitter is one of most flashiest finishes. These glitters are often put in a jelly base. The amount of glitter can vary a lot. Sometimes you'll need top coat to smoothen the surface.
Mostly glitter in a clear base so they're often used as a top coat. String glitter consists out of glitters in rectangular shapes, often in silver or iridiscent colors.	Just as string glitter, these are mostly used as a top coat. The glitters in this clear base are round shaped.	Another glitter top coat, but with glitter in the shape of squares.	A very popular glitter shape: hex or hexagonal. These are very popular and more common these days. Often used in regular glitter polish as well.	This is a very special glitter top coat, in this picture you see stars, but there are also glitter top coats containing hearts and diamonds (rhombus).
This finish dries completely matte, no shine whatsoever. These dry quickly and sometimes end up being streaky. Handlotion is to be avoided because it decreases the matte effect.	Satin finishes end up matte as well, but not entirely matte. There is still a slight shine, but not enough to classify it as glossy.	Just like mattes, suedes are completely matte. Suedes contain shimmer though, so that's what sets them apart from regular mattes.	Holographic polishes contain rainbow colored glitter, which changes color on the reflection of light. This finish is very obvious in sun light.	Holographic glitter in a different color base. The glitter is often more sparse and while it does change color upon different light, there is no rainbow effect to be seen.
Flakie polishes consist out of a jelly base with very fine opal (often duochrome) particles in it. They're mostly used for layering as the jelly base is often sheer.	Duochrome polishes change color on the reflection of light. True duochromes are very obvious and often show 2 colors, but sometimes even more.	This finish is often confused with duochrome or shimmer. An iridiscent finish is a color that flashes a different color. These are not obvious enough to be a duochrome.	This is a half transparent finish, often used in French manicures to show off the white tips. A lot of sheers are salmon, nude or pink.	This is a strange and not that well known finish. A water finish resembles the characteristics of a jelly, but is less opaque.

Pfew I think I got them all! *wipes off forehead*. I hope you liked this post, what's your favorite finish?
Thanks so much for reading and till next time!
- Michèle

I'd Like the Brazilian, Please!

OH MY GOODNESS! For those of you that are new to the blog- WELCOME, or bem-vindos!! (I hope that translated correctly on Google Translate! lol) I am SO excited and thrilled from the HUGE HUGE HUGE response on my blog yesterday from the country of Brazil! I received 112,000 page views yesterday!! (thats about two-thirds of what I generally get in a MONTH!) So in honor of all my awesome new readers- I give you today's nail design- the Brazilian flag. :) Obrigado!!!



I used CND Green Scene as a base, used tape to tape off the diamond shape, painted CND Bicycle Yellow, then removed the tape. For the blue, I freehanded a circle with Pure Ice French Kiss, then used Sally Hansen All the White Stuff for the white band across it, as well as little dots (for the stars). I also used CND Green Scene to paint little squiggles for the words Ordem e Progresso ("Order and Progress"), since I can't paint letters that small. :-D Topped it all off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Thank you to all my new readers, Brazilian, American, or whatever country you're from!! You rock, and I appreciate you!!

BTW- keep an eye out for a giveaway in the next few days- I was planning to have one for 1500 followers, but the follower count went up by 100 in a day, so I wasn't ready for it! lol Still finishing part of the prizes, and figuring out what the contest rules should be!! :)

Finally - Zoya Spakle

Zoya Sparkle is a a collection made of unique and very sparkle colors that are just so exciting and beautiful, so here are some pictures and some nail designs with those lacquers.

Nidhi
Gilda
Alegra
Charla
Ivanka
Mimi

Splat!

Happy monday!!! It's *bleepin* hot here today in sunny Las Vegas, and definitely doesn't feel like April should. :-D Today's design is simple again, I got home late after the show last night, and was too tired to do anything intricate, but I still dig the color combo- Flip Flop Fantasy is positively retina-searing, the picture doesn't do it justice! :) I'm sitting at my desk right now having a 'Flip Flop Fantasy'... wishing I was at home sitting in the shade wearing flip flops, my comfy jeans, and a t-shirt!! No such luck, it's a work day! The play last night was fantastic, and if any of you should get the chance to see 'Confessions of a Mormon Boy', I'd highly recommend it. It's hilarious, entertaining, charming, and heart-wrenching all wrapped into one story.



I used China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy as a base, with MAC Showy applied by dipping the end of a straw in the bottle of polish, then aiming it at the nail, and forcefully blowing air through the straw to splatter it. I topped it off with 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat.

Flippety flop! (I think it's about nap time for this redhead- why can't we have siestas here in the US?)

More gel nails...

I've been doing lots and lots of gel nails lately. It's the trend now I guess? 

Pink tips and crystals and ready made roses. This shade of pink gel color is my most popular pink! 

This is not overly sweet. I like!

Gel overlay on her natural nails. A proper overlay must not be too thin or too thick, and of cos the structure and surface of the gel nail must not be bumpy. It took me some time to understand the importance of this, and also how to create a smooth surface gel nail cos gel is not easy to control. This is also a reason why I feel that going to a nail school is important. Check out my school, Pink Room, if you're keen to learn.

Summer colors. Crushed shells inlay.

Blue, green and yellow crushed shells. Refreshing!