Nails of the week: nude and red

Yes, you read it right. I have nude on my nails at the moment. Yes, I also thought this day would never come… but I had a nail emergency: I came back from holidays, was going out the day after, had to be at work and had no time to sort out my nails. The previous mani was past its prime and I had to take it off… so came up with a quick fix: wear a base coat and do a red french manicure. But I loved it so much that I decided to do it properly, and they ended up being my new years’ eve manicure!

So I used Nails Inc Basil Street, a lovely nude that applies beautifully – no streaks and a solid coverage with two coats. Then I applied Colorama’s Tapete Vermelho on the tips to create the French manicure.

I am in love with this look – it is simple and so effortlessly elegant… a classic with a very little twist.

Durability has been great, seven full days – I did have a breakage, now both my thumbs are far from perfect (one is awful, hence being missed from the photos).

What do you think? I love French manis, really do… planning my next one already!

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Nails of the week – holographic black with silver French

Oh, the French manis… I cannot stay away from them for too long! I just find them so elegant – and quite simple to do!

Recently, I received a little haul I did in Brazil; I bought the polishes from Specialittá’s website and got them delivered to my friend’s mum home. My friend was about to come to London, so she kindly brought them to me!

I love this brand’s polishes; they apply well, have great colours and the durability is fantastic.

With this one, is no different – I am wearing a holo from their No Olimpo range, in Zeus which is a dark graphite/black. The colour is super pretty, the effect has great depth and it comes through under different lighting, which is more than I can say for others holos I wore in the past.

Most pictures were taken with flash, to show the best of its holo goodness… the one in the bottom left hand side corner was taken on natural light, so still a pretty good show there.

While one coat is quite sheer, two will do for great coverage, but I used three coats. I them applied Barry M foil effects in Silver to create the French manicure. I finished it off with Seche Vite top coat. The gloss finish is amazing; it looks sooooo shiny and perfect! And after 10 days it is still pretty much intact!

Very happy with this mani!!!

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Nails of the week – orange with gold French

A couple of weeks back I went to the Cointreau rendez-vous and as part of the activities, I had a mini manicure. The colours available or varying shades of – you guessed – oranges, including corals.

I had my nails painted a lovely shade, but being particular about how they get painted, they didn’t last 24 hours on my hands. However, I decided to keep within the colour scheme and painted my nails this lovely shade of orange-coral from Impala, called Twenty Years. On top, I applied Max Factor’s Bronze, for a gold shimmer.

Two days later, I applied a gold French manicure, using Barry M foil effects nail polish.

I have to say the colours complemented each other very well. The Impala polish was quite opaque with two coats; the Bronze on top delivered the right amount of golden shimmer. Application was smooth, and durability great, even with the French.

Overall, a cute look.

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Nails of the week – warm tones with gold French manicure

Once again, I went a bit colour crazy! I have so many lovely nail polishes, that sometimes is super hard to choose just one, so I decided to do a warm colour palette – from yellow to red.

The polishes I used were :

Yellow: H&M summer sunrise
Orange: Impala aleixo
Lighter pink: Impala confeti
Darker pink: Miss Sporty number 130
Red: Colorama 40 graus
Gold: Barry M effects foil gold

I had used the yellow and the red before, in fact, this red is one of my favourites. I found the orange a bit sheer, still with two coats; the darker and lighter pink were alright, application was smooth for all. Durability was surprisingly long, as

I tend to wear off my French manicure by typing; when I removed, seven days after applying, I felt it could’ve gone for longer! Ace!

I am really into French manis nowadays!

This is a very bold look, but I don’t think it interfered with my clothes or was too out there for eyes to pop; people usually noticed (and complimented!) after looking carefully and closer. I absolutely love the colours combination – and I am dying to do a cold colours one… we shall see!

I had a friend at home, so she also left with a slight more demure creation of mine; a purple and lilac French manicure, using a lilac from Miss Sporty and Collection 2000’s purple rain.

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Nails of the week: Silver holographic with black French manicure

When I prematurely removed the lovely giraffe foils, I gave my nails a rare breathing day and decided to do a silver holographic and black French I had been wanting to do for quite a while.

I used the beautiful Color Club Worth the Risque, which I wore on its own a while back. I encountered the same problems as before… which I had forgotten about: it takes ages to dry and scratches pretty easily; as I paint my nails in the evening, I had to wait a whole day before feeling safe to use the strips to do the French mani, then I applied my reliable Barry M’s black and a topcoat (which is the saving grace for the Color Club polish).

Have to say, apart from the pain to achieve, I am very happy with it, and once it is in, it lasts; durability is great, 8 whole days in great state (a very minor re-touch to one of the black tips)!

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Nails of the week – multicoloured French manicure

Well, I have spring on my mind so this week I decided to go all out. YES, all out.

Not only I painted one nail a different colour but I also added French manicure on them, in contrasting colours.

And you know what? I really like it. It is a bit different, it is a bit out there, and a bit brave. I wasn’t sure to start with, but they grew on me and managed to stay for a whole week.

To achieve the look, I painted each nail using a H&M nail polish kit; for a mere £2.99 you get four summer proof shades – bright pink, yellow, mint green and purple. As I have five fingers (!) I added a pastel blue, the gorgeous Nails Inc in Oxford Street.

I mentioned the Nails Inc one before, so if you want to know more about it, check here. I was very surprised with the H&M ones – quality was good and 2 coats gave a great coverage, even for the lighter shade, the mint green – I encountered bad quality creamy coloured polish that offers an awful coverage, full of streaks, so this was a very pleasant surprise.

I then waited two hours and applied French manicure stickers which I bought from eBay, but had never used before. I applied a contrasting colour in the same order a applied them on my nails – and voilá!

Durability was ok. French is not the most durable type of manicure, as the attention – and all the rubbing – is at the tip. However, it lasted well for five days. On the sixth day, I re-touched the tips… and it was actually passable, until my next manicure.

I am very pleased I took the plunge and ventured into something different!

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