Happy Birthday to me + St. Patrick's Day inspired mani

Greetings to all the Irish community on the web & everyone else who celebrates St Patrick's!

Today is my birthday. Strangely (and sadly) I might not do anything special, no celebration, no cake, no going out; not sure about gifts either.  I'm going to stay home, probably catching up on my favorite tv shows and scheduling posts.

Anyway, here is the mani inspired by this festive occasion!  I used quite a few nail polishes and some acrylic paints too.

outdoors, no flash

indoors, no flash

my favorite part was the design on my thumb

What I used:

pinky

Avon Jade, white acrylic paint, Sinful Colors Innocent & Exotic Green.

ring finger

Sinful Colors Cinderella, Kleancolor Chunky Holo Teal, rhinestones to simulate a rainbow.

middle finger

Sinful Colors Cinderella, Kleancolor Chunky Holo Teal, black acrylic paint topped with China Glaze Agro and gold round glitters to simulate a pot of gold.

index

Avon Jade, green and green glitter acrylic paints.

thumb

Bettina Ortencia, Kleancolor Holo Yellow, green acrylic paint glitter, Orly Monster Mash and heart shaped glitters to simulate a clover.

At last! manicure time

Finals and other things kept me away from my nail polishes for a while, think I only wore base coat for almost two months.  Two weeks ago I had the chance to break the naked nails curse.  

Went for stamping, contrasting glitter and a star.  I know the stamping work looks sloppy, I'm out of shape.

What I used:
Bettina Ortencia (base)
China Glaze Tinsel Town & Old Navy Glimerick Scintillant (ring finger)
Kleancolor Metallic Aqua (stamping)
Bundle Monster Plate BM 201

As you read this post, I might be experiencing the first day at my clinical practice.  Wish me luck :)

Collective Haul: CVS, Sallys & Local Beauty Supply

Since mid March I've been haulin' too much nail related things, specially nail polishes.  Think I should not get any new ones...I'll try not to, I'll try  ;)

Here is a mix of things I got at CVS, Sallys and a local beauty supply called "Cosmos"

CVS: their polish remover: since I started stamping, noticed I might need acetone in industrial quantities! lol  Also got NYC white cream (for stamping) and Spoiled Pet My Peacock

I went with my sister-in-law to a new (to us) Sally's location and where surprised at how big the store was!  They had 4 clearance sections from which I got the Let It Snow kit $1.25 (Blue Years Eve & Snow Globe), Some like it Haute $1, California Mango cuticle gel $.69.  The only thing I got regular price was Lux & Lush from The Hunger Games collection. It was $5.99 but in my receipt it said $4.  Now I wish I got Harvest Moon and Riveting since I've seen them in other Sallys at $6-$7

Local beauty supply: Bettina Metallic Copper $1.99, SuperNail thinner $2.25, Color Club Magic Atraction $1.99 and Kiss Wear cuticle remover $1.95

Days before, one of my aunts got this Color Clubs at the same beauty supply. She got them to get her toes skittle-ed, but because she rarely wears colors like this; she gave them to me :D This are my first! CC

Sorry, the picture was taken at night with my phone

Psychedelic scene, warhol, koo-koo cachoo, edie, trippie hippie, wild at heart

Later last week, I went back to another Sallys location and got some more polishes and nail wheels.  The crackle polishes where an impulse buy motivated by how cheap they where; think they where not even a dollar!

Sparkle TopCoat, Purple Crackle, Blue Crackle, Galaxy Girl, Champagne Bubbles, Dreamsicle, Haute Metal

first franken + bonus mess

I read a post from Amanda Panda that lead me to Rebeca likes nails blog on instructions how to create a franken to dupe Deborah Lippmann's Glitter is in the air polish. I love the original polish but right now is way out of my $$$ league, so custom dupe sounded great and a lot of fun. I read the instructions several times, checked what I needed and it looked very daring to dupe Glitter is in the air, but not impossible. I did it and while it didn't turned out as pretty as Amanda and Rebeca's version, I was quite pleased to be my first time making frankens :)

Didn't exactly measured anything, just added - shacked - tested and kept tweaking it until I got something of my liking. I need to add more clear polish or thinner because I went crazy with the glitter and its too thick, but like I said, its OK to be my first and super fun! :)

what I used:
Wet n Wild party of five glitter
Sallys mini glitter polish - no name
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in white out
Bettina: clear (not shown), pink and purple polish

the result:


 


I didn't applied it neatly because I was just trying it out, but you can appreciate the results






 now the bonus! while emptying polish bottles to use them on this project...something went horribly wrong...


almost cried...almost...but I screamed & cursed like crazy LoL

New nail polishes

After removing my acrylic nails I've been into polishes. Here are the most recent ones I got at Walmart [$1.89] from a brand called Bettina. I'm not sure if they are sold outside Puerto Rico. On this brand if the color doesn't belong to an specific collection they are called by numbers only.

from L to R: Aqua and Purple, both from the Art Deco Collection and 197

To see Aqua in action check The Beauty Vlogadiaries post

These are very creamy, glossy and usually very opaque; 2 coats are enough. I've been using this polishes since I was a kid [ I'm 28!] but think they have been around for a little longer.  Now I'm wearing 197 and loving it! is a creamy gray shade with a blue undertone.  I took a picture but my camera totally alters the real color :( so I'm not posting it.  They have a collection called Candy and I want them all! Pics here and here

Bettina recently launched their makeup line that includes eyeshadows, brushes, blush, lipsticks, glosses, eyeliners, etc.  I have 2 of their eyeshadows, have to admit I was surprised with their good pigmentation.

The same day I got the polishes also decided to buy their eyelashes [$2.99-ish?]  I've never used eyelashes, just waiting for patience to learn how to apply them lol.