Bettina Ocean + Update

Hi there, long time no post!
In my defense, I have a good excuse.  As I mentioned before, I've been -desperately- looking for job and my payers where finally answered.  Last week I started in a new job.  I'll be on probationary term for 3 months and if everything goes well, it will be permanent. 
Please keep me in your prayers! :)

Now to the polish: here is what I wore on my nails a couple weeks ago
Bettina Ocean with some studs I got at Icing.  I took the picture 4 days latter, so that is why the gold stud is a bit peeled.

I have many more manis ready, pictures just needs to be cropped and watermarked, but I'm waking up at 4am to get ready for work and then getting back home at about 5:30 pm so I'm too tired to work with them.
Think once I finish with Pueen's Love Elements and Gals Fairy set, I'll be on track again.

Until next lovelies!

Subtle animal print manicure

Animal print is fun, kicky, sexy and it can be delicate too!

What I used:
Bettina French3 (base)
Bettina Marshmallow (stamping)
Sinful Colors Starfish (accent nail)
Bundle Monster bm-223
rhinestones

Couple ol' manis

More from the random hidden files on my computer  ;)

This mani was inspired in a campaign to raise awareness about animal abuse

What I used:

Bettina Purple

China Glaze Tinsel Town

Color Club Snow flakes

KleanColor Metallic Purple

no name lavender polish

white acrylic paint

dotting tool

 Birthday Mani

I wasn't feeling great, so I went very simple on my nails

What I used:

China Glaze Fast Track, Running in Circles, Atlantis

Sally Hansen ColorQuick pen in Green Chrome

Bundle Monster bm-209

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.

Simple Glitter French

In preparation for Valentine's Day, I was overwhelmed by the amount of ideas floating on the net on how to do my nails.  After too much thought, I just opted for the simple but glittery route doing a French manicure using Orly Halo. I did my toes in the same fashion and they look super cute! Didn't took pictures of my pedi because -pet peeve alert!!! - I hate people looking at my feet.

Halo (2012 Naughty or Nice Collection) is a very neat glitter because it perfectly mixes gold and silver

Green Sponged & Jeweled Manicure

Oh my! I'm on a roll experimenting with the different techniques to do my nails.
There are so many blog, YouTube, Fb pages, Instagram, Pinterest and what not accounts dedicated solely to nail art that every time I see a picture I'm like "Hell yeah, I'm gonna do that!"  LoL

I kept in mind St Patrick's theme to give some love to my green nail polish stash

Used Sinful Colors Beau Khaki as the base color.  Then sponged China Glaze Agro, Kleancolor Metallic Green & Holo Green.  The final touch where the green rectangle rhinestones in the middle finger.  

FC Barcelona Inspired Nails

I got a kit of acrylic paints for Christmas

And while free hand is not my thing, I'm willing to practice.
The FC Barcelona (Barca) is my favorite soccer team I was inspired on their emblem for this design.  Besides the fact that I'm their fan, it proves that freehand is not my thing! LoL

index finger

WnW I Red a Good Book as base. Used a fine nail art  brush to draw vertical lines using Sinful Colors Hot Spot.  Added blue pentagon glitters between the lines.

middle finger

Kleancolor White as base. Using a fine nail art brush to trace a cross and then filled it with red acrylic paint.  Also layered another red acrylic paint that had glitter over the cross and some clear glitter over the white areas (not a good choice)

ring finger

China Glaze Solar Power as base.  Used a fine nail art  brush to draw vertical lines with red acrylic paint.

pinky finger

Sinful Colors Hot Spot as base.  Used a fine nail art  brush to draw vertical lines with white acrylic paint and added black studs (white stripes & black studs to represent the soccer ball)

Sinful Colors: Exotic Green

Exotic Green is a beautiful shade of Jade. Not to bright, just perfect! In terms of finish, is a mix between jelly and creme; which makes application a dream.  Even tho I don't frequently wear green nail polish, think it does suits me very well and this shade is one of my favorites.
Within my stash, Sinful Colors makes the best greens :)

*with flash*

Neutral? Shinny? Animal Print? A mani with all of the above

When doing my nails, I rarely have a clear, specific idea in my mind.  It all start debating the base color; then it develops into layering shimmery top coats, placing glitters, stamping and God knows what else.  An interest in just not having my nails naked ends up in a mild-bling-on manicure :)

I love this combination because it can be subtle but doing something slightly different in each hand, makes it fun at the same time!

Left Hand

Right Hand

Fast Track

Fast Track

What I Used:
- Color Club Soft Chiffon
- Serena Sparkling Rose
- China Glaze Fast Track (middle finger, right hand)
- Kleancolor Coffee Addict (for stamping)
- gold hexagon glitters
- Bunder Monster plate BM-221

Vacation Mani: Sally Hansen Peachy Keen + Spoiled Jewel Heist

Its a scary thing being away from my nail stuff for 10 days.  While on vacation had to decide for something quick [that would dry on my way to the airport] and glittery [of course!], yet simple but cute.

I took these pictures with my phone about 3 days later.  It wasn't that cold but as you can see, my hands took quite a beating. No mater how much hand cream I piled up, they where dry, specially around the nails.  

Don't know if the fact that I was sick & taking antibiotics had something to do with it?

Still, the polish hold up very well.  I took it out on my last day, but just out of boredom.

what kind of manicure do you choose when on vacation?

Happy Valentines! + a Silver, Pink & Red Mani

Hope everyone is having a lovely day with family, friends or love interest ;)

What I Used:
- China Glaze Silver Lining
- Wet n Wild wild shine Tickled Pink
- Wet n Wild megalast I Red a Good Book
- white & red acrylic paints to outline the triangles
- stripper brush

China Glaze No Plain Jane + stripes & a bow

Here is another polish from the Bohemian Collection.  To me, the name does not go along with the shade, because it is the Plain Jane from all.  Still, its a pretty metallic purple.  It is more on the sheer side; I did 2 coats and after taking the pictures thought I should have done one more.  Next time I'll layer it over black or grey to see if it pumps the duochrome properties.

To make it a tad more fancy, added a lil' something using my striping tape.  On my ring finger only made a thin line with Color Club Wild at Heart . Then inverted the pattern using and adding Kleancolor Grand Finale [holo bar glitter] in the middle.

cute blue bow ring from Forever21 :)

China Glaze: Rare & Radiant

Rare & Radiant was part of the Bohemian Collection and since I saw the first swatches that appeared over the net, this one was my favorite.
Is a beautiful and strong duochrome. The golden and green flashes are -in my opinion - stunning; I'm sad that my camera wasn't able to catch all its beauty and that the blue flashes that shows in the bottle wouldn't show once on nails.  The formula is great, providing almost full coverage with one coat.

Stamping: Floral Over White

Here is my first time wearing white nail polish and I'm loving it!  Had to apply 3 and in some nails 4 coats of white because it was looking patchy, but this polish dries fast and has the perfect consistency.

My intention was go to simple: white with a glittery accent nail. I liked it, but stamping it was so tempting! 

It took me a couple ours get me used to it, but then I couldn't stop staring at my nails :) 

What I used:
NYC French White Tip (base)
China Glaze Prism (ring finger)
Color Club Hot Like Lava (stamping)
Bundle Monster BM - 221
blue pentagon glitters