So I am keeping my Brazil themed nails for the World Cup. This time, I went classic, with the Brazil flag. I used the flag just on my ring finger, as an accent.
Tag Archives: blue
Nails of the week: ten days of nails – green, coral flowery and tie-dye
This post is a bit different. I usually do a new manicure every week, and well, post it – hence the “nails of the week” series name.
Nails of the week – metallic green, blue, mauve marble
I told you I was going to have marbling done on my nails again…
This time, I went for a lighter base, Close, a metallic greenish aqua with some gold hints, then my lovely manicurist in Brazil, Irma, added Dancer, the metallic dark blue and Gaia, the metallic mauve, all from Brazilian brand Naty.
She used the same technique as before (see my previous post), with the wooden stick, and the patterns are really lovely!
I then got my toe nails painted with Gaia – I love it!
Durability was great, and in a few weeks I will try it myself…
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Nails of the week: purple, blue and pink marbling
I will confess straight away. I did not do this myself. This is one of the few manis posted here I haven’t. When I am in Brazil, I always go to the same manicurist. She, however, doesn’t tend to do anything artsy, as her clientele base usually goes for basic colours.
After insisting a bit, she told me she could do the marbling but not with water (“That takes too much time, especially to clean!” Irma said), but mentioned she could do something similar with a stick. Of course, I said yes.
Now, my second confession: I forgot to take down the name or photograph the nail polish colours used. Do-oh.
Basically, she applied purple first and made sure some areas were very saturated with polish. The she generously blobbed pink and blue around the nail and using a wooden stick, mixed the colours in random motions – big circles, tiny ones, waves…. to create the patterns. The secret is not to “stir” too much otherwise the colours will blend. Also, careful not to leave gaps without polish as you “scratch” the nails with the stick!
And this is the result. I really like it. It is different, very detailed and each nail is completely unique! As you can see, my nails are well on their way to recovery since the moving disaster. Yay!
It lasted well – a whole week, no chips, with an ordinary topcoat – I didn’t use Seche Vite there.
I loved this mani so much that have another one on… which will be published next week – and with the names of the nail polishes used!
Rating
Nails of the week – green and purple glitter
click to enlarge
This week I am mourning. For the second time this year I broke a nail. I know, amazing all time record for me; my nails used to flake a lot, thus splitting and breakages were a constant. Somehow, the first six months of this year were great for my talons -not even a single breakage. Second half, not as great – twice, by the “hands” of a spin bike.
Anyway…. I wasn’t so inspired, so went for a “one colour will fix it” kinda mani. I chose Specialittá Hits Phenomena Moonbow, an amazing colour shifting glitter – its goes from green into blues to purple into a warmer fuchsia.
Application was a nightmare. Sadly, this polish has a clear base and it is not super saturated with glitter. I applied Collection 2000’s Bongo Beats (which matched the green shade of glitter) as a base and had to apply, and I kid you not, around six – yes, you heard it – SIX coats of the glitter. It was so difficult to work with, and to make things worse, it is not the quickest drying polish in the world, so there was plenty of gloopiness on the nail as the coats piled up. It looks pretty, got lots of compliments, the colour shifting range is AMAZINGLY STUNNING but seriously, when I finished applying, I was exhausted!
Durability, on the other hand, is great. As expected, it was awful to take off (yes, SIX coats of glitter). I was thinking about buying more of the collection, as the colours are undeniably exquisite but I don’t think I will – I just cannot bring myself to do it again. Gorgeous, but just a bit too much hard work for me.
Rating:
for the looks
for the application (traumatised)
Nails of the week – blue and green gradient
My experimental mood is not over yet, and more than ever, I want to stay away from things I have done before…
So this week I decided to, for the first time, to try a gradient manicure. I went for blue and green – from Kiko in Electric blue and from ColorClub’s Blossoming collection, respectively.
I started by painting all my nails white, as a base, I used Natural Collection’s Nail tip whitener.
After it was dry, I cut a make up sponge and wet it a bit, to make absorb less of the polish. So I applied the green and the blue on the sponge and applied to my nails, as if stamping it, from tone side to the other. I then repeated the process, this time “stamping” more than once, and slightly changing the position of the sponge colours dividing line each time, to make the blending better.
Then I applied a glittery Specialittá Hits Blue Jazz at the tip and a topcoat to finish it off.
It looks great, but not perfect, which bugs me a little bit. I know it is only the first time… but… I’d like it to be flawless. The problems I found were that it was hard to fill the edges. There also was a bit of shrinking and in a couple nails I can see some of the white near my cuticles. The blue “leaked” over my nail so I had to remove it from the inside… a bit of a pain!
Apart from that, I love it. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be and I got better effect better than I thought I would for the first time. So I will definitely be trying again!!!
Rating:
If it was perfect, in terms of finish, it would be a 5-star mani. Next time….
Nails of the week – purples and blues
This has been a weird nail week for me, nothing seemed to make me happy.
I started it with a colour I was very excited about: Estée Lauder Ultra Violet. The colour in the bottle is stunning, a fine glittery purple base with multi-chrome ranging from dark pink to the greens and yellows.
It was a disappointment, with two coats, there was no sign of the amazing colour effect. It was just a dark plum base with some magenta sparkles, not that this is not pretty, but it was a let down. Application was fine, and durability was ace.
I applied the foil transfer in a nice holographic magenta, but foil transfers rub off too quickly, even with Seche Vite on top! In three days, it looked a bit rubbish and I had to remove it!
Staying close to the purples, I used Color Club Total Mystery, a metallic deep cobalt blue base with magenta sparkles. Application was awful! Colour Club polishes take sooooo long to dry, that I had to redo 4 nails as I got marks on them. I usually never go back to nails just on application, so it was a big pain. Once it is dry, though, it won’t go away – durability is amazing! I then applied the striping tape near the tip, in a similar colour to the foil, a holographic magenta. Again, the tape only lasts a few days, so I knew this one was going soon…
And that is how I ended up with two manis in a week; not that I don’t like doing it; I love! However, I just don’t have enough time, so once a week is just about what I can manage!
So, what do you think about my not-last-longing manicures of the week? Do you use the foil transfer/striping tape? Any tips to make it last?
Rating:
for both, mainly for the art durability let down; otherwise, would give a three star!
Nails of the week: blue and glitter
This week I was going to do a French and half moon manicure using two shades of blue but it didn’t turn out nice. At all. So I removed it all. Decided to stick to the blues but only in alternate colours, with a glitter topcoat – a recurring combo for this blog!
The light blue is no stranger to us; I wore Nails Inc. Oxford in several occasions, but never in more than one nail on each hand. The darker blue is Electric Blue 336 from Kiko; application was smooth, the colour is quit solid and it applies evenly.
I used two coats for both polishes. The topcoat is a pretty transparent base with some holographic coarse glitter and hexagons, that seemed to give the polish a “wet” look. The polish was easy to apply, it has a good amount of glitter in, but as I like a lot of glitter, I had to dip and stir the brush to make sure I picked up a good amount.
I liked the effect; it was very pretty in light, but with direct bright light, it looked a bit weird; it didn’t have colour and on the lighter shade of blue, it seemed something like yellow-ish glue residue (hence the out-of-focus pics, where you can actually see how it looks like). Durability was top; it was still looking great after seven days! But overall, for me, it just lacked oomph.
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Nails of the week – cold tones and silver glitter
A pretty pale mint green dress with silver sequins from Lipsy was my choice to attend a wedding, and I thought I would give myself a manicure to match.
I first thought of contrast, but then decided to go with several cold colours and a sprinkle of glitter to glam it up!
Most of the nail polishes I used are from Nails Inc; the lilac (Cambridge), the blue (Oxford) and the lime (Wimbledon). The green is Anna Hickmann in Vibe and the pale mint green (which is a perfect match for my dress) is H&M in Pear Ice cream.
Have to say that for being creamy colours, all of them were easy to apply and two coats were enough for the a solid finish. I had tried the blue and both greens before, and they didn’t disappoint. The lilac one bubbled a bit, that was annoying; but as it was in the corner of the nail, it didn’t bother me as much as it would normally.
The lime colour is stunning; I must wear it again soon,alone, need to come up with something interesting to use in more extensively!
Then I applied the glitter puff – I am in love with them! This time I used the silver again, but not on the tips but near the cuticles, as I used the gold a couple of weeks back. I am having to hold myself now to buy a bigger set from eBay, damn, they can glam up any manicure!
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Nails of the week -blue and glitter tips
Here I come with another experimental nail creation…
I had spotted Andrea Fullerton’s Georgia Glitter Duo, a pretty set with two glitter puff dusts and a topcoat, a while back but for some reason, forgot about it. What I really liked was the holographic sheen on the gold and silver glitters that came in the set.
So we met again, and I decided to take it, at £6.99 from Superdrug. I had been dying to try this new Ana Hickmann blue nail polish, Rock, which I bought recently, and thought the blue glitter, fading from the tip to the middle of the nail would look fab.
And it does – like a mini winter wonderland! Application of the polish was good, it is quite sheer, more than I expected, but it is good enough on two coats.
The puffs are easy enough to use, although I think I need a small brush to even it out a bit; I did it with my fingers, and was very worried about ruining the polish. Obviously, they are not all the same, and that bothers me a bit, but I am sure that I will improve with practice.
Durability was kind of alright; the glitter rubbed off from my thumb, indicator and middle finger; but I gave it a re-touch five days after doing the manicure, so not too bad. have to say it wasn’t very easy to remove, as expected from glitter! Still, I cannot wait to use the gold one!
You can get a set with five glitter puffs,in varied colours from eBay too, for only £5.
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So Many Lovely Things 