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!

Sinful Colors Nirvana & Nailtini Millionaire

Hi there!
Besides looking for a steady job, I've been trying to stop procrastinating when it comes to crop & watermark pictures.  I love to blog but the picture part gets a bit annoying when you take 10,000 pics but you barely like one or two :(

In Puerto Rico, Spring & Summer is basically the same thing.  The seasons call for bright colors, but I can't help reach for something darker and rich like Nirvana!  I love how with colors like Nirvana you can go from elegant to sexy in a minute.

While looking for ideas on how to pair Millionaire with another polish, I came across this Chalkboard Nails look and decided to replicate it.

In real life Nirvana is darker than how it looks on this pictures

I'm thinking next time I'll pair Millionaire with China Glaze Trendsetter...What do you think?

At Home Nail Care 101: Everyone is doing it

Economy is tough for pretty much everyone.  As someone who used to get her nails done at a salon for about 10+ years; nowadays that seems more like a think-twice splurge than a bi-weekly "I deserve it" luxury.  Gladly, with the vast array of brands with products catered to at-home nail care and at very affordable prices, you can have pretty nails all year long; not only on special occasions.

I'm not a trained manicurist, but while blogging I discovered a whole world of articles, videos and photo tutorials that have helped me take care of my nails and hopefully after reading this, you will be inspired too. :)

Prep & Prime

Before painting your nails, you want them (and your hands) in the best shape possible.

Hand cream:

Keeping them moisturized and soft will make your manicure stand out even more.  There is no need to spend a fortune.  There are a lot of good and inexpensive hand creams in the market, there are even some specialized in helping moisture and nourish your nails and cuticles.  Choose a cream depending on your necessities   If you are outdoors a lot, consider a hand cream with SPF.  If you are going through menopause or suffering from hypothyroidism  you might be having issues with itchy / dry skin; in this case a cream with coconut oil, cucumber extract, Shea Butter, lavender or oatmeal will be great.  This step is easy because for most of us is part of our daily routine.
If on daily basis you use harsh chemicals or have to get your hands constantly in water; using gloves will reduce the damage to your nails and hands.

Clipping, filing and cutting

Cuticles: Unless you are a trained tech, don't cut your cuticles.  You could end up with a deep cut and an infection could occur; this is specially dangerous for diabetics.  Instead, use a cuticle remover cream (Sally Hansen has really good ones) or just submerge your hands in warm water for a couple minutes and then push them back with a soft cuticle pusher - mine are from Walgreens and cost less than a dollar! Other products used to maintain cuticles: cuticle oil or balms.

For your feet: You can do pretty much the same to remove cuticles and calluses.  If you don't own a foot spa, just fill a plastic tub with warm water, add your favorite liquid soap, add 1 or 2 cups of vinegar or lemon juice and soak your feet for a while.  Its acidity will soften dead skin and will be easier to remove.  Use a pumice stone to remove dead skin.  After that you could use a foot scrub to make skin feel even smoother.


Nail Files:  When purchasing nail files, ask or choose the ones with a fine-grit (240/180 grit); designed for natural nails.  Coarse grit files are for artificial nails because their material is really tough.  Since natural nails are softer and delicate, using a file with a coarse-grit grade or a metallic one with damage them.

Filing: Many techs recommend to file your nails from the edges to the center and in one direction, not in a saw motion that could make them prone to peeling.

Buffing:  Buffing is good, but in moderation. Buffing will help getting rid of ridges, imperfections and if you don't want to wear nail polish at all, using a 4-way buffer you will have natural shiny nails.

Base Coat

Base Coats protect you nails against daily wear and if you decide to paint them, helps like a bonding agent between your nail and the polish, also helps with a smooth application.

There are tons of base coats in the market and I'm sure you could find something that might look like it was designed specially for you!  Whether your concern is making them stronger, getting rid of yellow stains, ridges, make them grow faster or stop peeling or biting  there is a base coat for that.  Again, Sally Hansen has a wide array of product for this matter.

Top Coat

Top Coat ads extra shine to your manicure and helps it last longer.  Again, as base coats; there are many types and brands of top coats.  You can choose the one you like based on their efficiency, price or if the product offers any other extra benefits, like strengthening.

NOTE: sometimes, nail peeling isn't just due to improper care.  It could be attributed to factors like: changes in weather or climate, nail infections,  medications, dietary problems or a disease.  I have peeling issues due to dietary & thyroid issues.  If you try an over the counter product for peeling nails and you don't see improvement, I recommend to consult your physician.

Sinful Colors: Super Star

I promised to reduce the amount of glitter polishes in my collection, but this Sinful Colors got me; is kind of a perfect combo! :)
Superstar is a super pretty blue jelly with purple and aqua glitter.  In my experience, jelly glitters become somewhat difficult to manege when applying the second coat but this one was the exception.  

3 coats of Super Star over China Glaze Blue Years Eve
no topcoat

Rainbow Gradient with Kleancolor Metallics

I think gradients have become my favorite kind of manicure!

outdoor, no flash

the sun was insanely bright and hot!

indoors with flash

What I used:

Kleancolor Pink Lady (base)

Kleancolor Metallic Pink, Purple, Aqua & Green (gradient colors)

Tools:

Makeup sponge wedge

Kleancolor: Pastel Purple

To me, is very difficult to get into pastel shades. Whether is clothes, accessories  makeup, nail polish; I don't like how they look on me.  I love everything spring but can't make myself to wear a color like this, even when I think is pretty.

Pastel Purple is a bit darker in person and almost completely opaque in one coat, but the consistency is very thick so I had to go over with a second coat to make it look even and smoother.

Sinful Colors: Endless Blue

I Purchased this color because judging from the way it looked on the bottle I didn't had anything like it.  I was like "meh, never know when I'm going to need something like this and its only $.99"
I'm so glad I got it! Its the most beautiful royal blue I've seen.

In person, is opaque enough with two coats but when taking pictures with flash, you can see some nail line.  Did 3 coats on my middle finger and the nail line was gone.  Like with any color as pigmented as this, I would recommend applying a thin layer of white polish first to minimize staining. 

Happy Easter to all my Peeps! :)

Whether you celebrate Easter or not; I think pretty much everyone loves Peeps.

Cute, colorful, innocent looking sweet marshmallow pillows!...ok, you got it, I love Peeps!

I submitted this design to The Sparkle Queen's Spring Nail Art Contest

Would mean a lot! to me if you clicked here and Like my design

Think I should have done their eyes smaller and a bit more separated, they look stunted hahaha.

What I Used:

no name lilac & mint nail polish (base)

acrylic paints: yellow, orange, white green, black, pink & blue

nail art brushes & dotting tool

Sinful Colors Winterberry, stamped with Truth or Dare

Winterberry is a beautiful color but didn't look good by itself on me, yet, didn't want t take it off.  Then I remember one of the members (Aasta M) in the SC facebook group posted a mani using Truth or Dare for stamping.  Gave it a try and loved the outcome, I couldn't stop looking at my nails :)

Truth or Dare is an awesome option for stamping.  The consistency is perfect and its pigmented enough that looks good even over medium dark shades like Winterberry. 

Sinful Colors: Winterberry

I got Winterberry during the last Walgreens sale on Sinful Colors.
This is a beautiful gray-ish plum shade with silver shimmer.  Application was a really nice, opaque in two coats and no streaks.  Despite the silver shimmer, its not frosty.

Kleancolor Party Fever over Sinful Colors Savage Gone Matte

After my first try at matte nails I wanted to keep experimenting.  Just when I was looking for inspiration, Noelia from Its not my life anymore did this super cute & fun mani

Here is my take

I choose Savage because I didn't like how the glitter looked over any of the red polishes I own.  After a couple trials, this was the winner to pair with Party Fever

China Glaze Immortal + Finger Paints Flecked Matte

This manicure story starts with regrets:
I regret not jumping on the matte nails bandwagon before.  I regret not trying to put a matte topcoat over flakies or glitter before.  It feels like my nails life have been boring all this time...dramatic much? hahaha

After swatching CG Immortal, decided to layer Finger Paints Flecked over it.  It looked meh! but I was doing my nails at night but thought it would look better in daylight.  Anyway, decided to give the Hard Candy Matte topcoat a try and I love the results!

After the matte experience I was so inspired that couldn't let my nails alone.  Ended up messing them with a horrible stamping job.  I think that stamping over it would have look really cool, but a different pattern would have worked better. Here used Bundle Monster BM-221

As for the Hard Candy topcoat, it works really nice in terms of the finish and the fast it dries.  Couldn't say much about how long it last before it starts to chip because I took it off the next day.  There are noticeable brush mark on the first pictures.  Its my first time using it, so I don't know if the issue is the brush or the way I'm managing it but I'll keep experimenting.

China Glaze: Immortal

With this shade you can wear work-appropriate nails and have a little fun too!

China Glaze Immortal (from the Halloween 2012 Collection) its a medium grey with subtle pink, blue and purple shimmer.  The application was really nice.  The only down side I could find is that it needs 3 coats to achieve full opacity.  I'm impatient when it comes to wait for my nails to dry.  But since the color is so pretty, the shimmer gives the gray that cute touch, still makes nails look elegant; I can see myself learning to be patient and wearing it quite often :)

The shimmer is lovely! and its stand out more in person, but not to the point of being flashy.

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.

Sally Hansen: Salon Complete Manicure in All Fired Up

All Fired Up is the perfect cherry tomato shade.  Red (or any variant of it) is timeless, a classic and this shade particularly would be perfect for summer - both hands & toes -

It has a great formula; opaque in two coats and a shinny & smooth finish.

I imagine it would look gorgeous with some golden studs or a copper/bronze stamping over it.

daylight, with flash

daylight, no flash

Revlon: Carbonite

I found Carbonite at Walgreens on a clearance bin.  This was one of those polish purchases when I'm going with the intention of restock makeup essentials (foundation, London-Soho Beauty Sponge, falsies glue, etc) but this lonely polish was looking at me with sad eyes and it was less than $2.....

This metallic dark grey with silver and gold shimmer is a keeper.  Application was opaque-in-one-coat great, good formula, dries fast and an excellent for stamping.

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

Sinful Colors: Beau Khaki

Here is another good green option for St Patrick's; a creamy and elegant dusty green.

The name its odd, but the color is lovely!