VIVA MEXICO! NAIL ART

Hola Chicas!

September is approaching and some of you know but others may not, but September is "Mes Patrio" which translates to "Patriotic Month" and we celebrate a few important dates such as Mexican Independence Day and I want to celebrate my country's beautiful and rich culture thru nail art.
I haven't planned a specific number of manicures but I will try to cram in as many as my time and schedule allows and that is why I decided to start a bit early in case I fall behind in the coming weeks.

So for the first look I wanted to use my brand new MoYou Explorer plate, I started collecting all plates with Mexican motives as I could find and this is one of my favs.

What I used:

• Cosmetic Arts in Taupe; base 2 coats. This one has no name, is a taupe with a barely there shimmer.
• MDU Papirus; for stamping.
• MoYou London Explorer 01 plate.
• Kleancolor Sea Ice; hair piece detail.
• Kleancolor Metallic Red; piercing and hair piece detail.
• Fine nail art brush.
• Franken glitter topper; 1 coat. The finish of this topper is very subtle but it adds an extra sparkle under the light.

Once my base dried I stamped the  "Tlatoani" on my middle finger (the little guy you see in the far left upper corner) -Tlatoani means "speaker" in Nahuatl and it was a highly respected term, given to rulers or Aztec kings- end of the cultural brake... and on my ring finger  the actual "speech" symbol.

To give it a bit of color and represent better the beauty of Aztec Codex I painted the hair piece and piercings with a fine nail art brush and top coat.

I'm very happy with this mani, I have so much more ideas to honor my heritage with nail art. I hope you like it!
Nos vemos!!



NAIL CHALLEN COLLABORATIVE - TEA PARTY ROSE GARDENS

Hola Chicas!

For the 4^th and last look of the Tea Party theme I did another simple stamped design. The base color is a shade I picked from Walmart, not a huge pink fan and just grabbed this one because it was dirt cheap and it wouldn't be a tragedy if I ended up hating it.

The inspiration behind the look are English rose gardens and those super lush and girly tea parties. It reminds me of summer afternoons at my in-laws eating scones and custard slices. And Tea Parties are close to my heart as well, as I chose to have one for my bridal shower with roses, exotic teas, vintage tea cups and even top hats!

I had a lot of fun with this theme and also I had the chance to play with new plates and some others that haven’t been used.

What I used:

• Equate in Pink; base 2 coats. The colors don’t have a name, but for $1 you can’t grumble. Fully opaque in 2 coats,  formula easy to work with, dried considerably fast and hasn’t chip after 4 days!! It’s quite thick in consistence, will have to try if they’re good for stamping.

•  Kleancolor Red; for stamping. Another KC that is super good for stamping, consistent formula. This one is one of fav reds (along with Rimmel’s Double Decker Red) and even better now that I know it can be used to stamp.

•  MoYou London Mother Nature’s 05 plate; from the vines I just picked the roses and stamped one by one. MoYou, you got my heart (and my money!) There is not a single negative thing to say about MoYou plates, if you’re into stamping you must have them.

•  Barry M Treasure Chest; accent nail, 2 coats. This one from the Aquarium Collection, my husband picked it for me and had it in the untried box because I have a Kleancolor that is pretty much the same. It is a gold flake glitter in clear base but Barry M’s is superior, both are really heavy loaded and no need to fish around for the bits but I did notice that Barry M’s formula is a bit thicker (which makes the glitter to suspend better, KC tends to go to the bottom) than KC and dries a lot faster (and doesn't have the KC characteristic stinkyness). So KC is now on the de-stash box.

•  NOPI Quick Dry topcoat

Phew that was a rather long post-review, haven’t done that in quite a while and well, that’s it for the last Tea Party mani!

Gracias for stopping by.

Nos vemos!

MANI MONDAY- FLORAL

Hola Chicas!

Hope you all had a great weekend. For today's mani Monday I have a fresh floral, this look was created for the Adventures In Stamping (AIS) Sunday Challenge, that consisted of creating a mani stamped over a yellow base.

What I used:

• Bissu in Canarias; base 2 coats.
• MDU White; stamping.
• Pueen Encore SE04B
• Green Glitter
• Pink polish
• Nail Art brush
• Gold beads

After painting the base and let it dry, I stamped with MDU in white using the bit of the flowers and then colored them with pink polish (you can use acrylic paints as well) and a bit of glitter to make out leaves. As the final touch I added some gold micro beads (or caviar beads) to accent the flowers in the center, top coat and done.

I really liked the way it turned out, the colors compliment each other despite of yellow being a color characterized for being a bit difficult to work with.

Hope you girls like it, thanks for stopping by.
Nos vemos!

THE NAIL CHALLENGE COLLABORATIVE- CHERRY BLOSSOM

Hola chicas!

I cracked on the 3rd look last night and manged to take 1 pic before wiping it off because I did not like at all.

It started with the base shifting color to a very milky-chalky silver that looks just horrid to me, can't even meausre how much I hated it. So it's gone straight to the de-satsh pile.

Here it is, look # 3 for the Tea Party theme: Cherry Blossoms, inspired by fine China Pottery.

What I used:

• Kleancolor Unforgetable Memories; base 2 coats.
• MDU # 43; for stamping.
• Born Pretty store plate M66
• Kleancolor Love for Pudding; to paint over the flowers.
• Kleancolor Mudpie Sparkle; coloring the branches.
• Nail art brush.

Now it wasn't THAT bad, it all went to hell when I put the top coat on, it just went silver. If you look at the bottle it's like a pearly powder blue and Mudpie Sparkle is one of my fav polishes because it has tiny particles of holo that shine crazy and it looked very nice with the branches and flowers colored I have no idea why or how the base reacted with the topcoat to make it shift like that.

Feel free to comments. Has any polish has totally shifted on your nails when top coat applied?

Nos vemos!

DINOSAUR CLAWS

Hola Chicas!

My husband and baby boy have come back from their trip to UK, and as my boy loves dinosaurs I wanted to welcome him back home with a fun mani.

What I used:

• Pure Ice Bikini; base 2 coats.
• Winstonia plate W220
• No name polish in Lavender; dots.
• No name polish in Green; dots.
• Dotting tool

What you think? I liked a lot the way it turn out fun and sweet and my baby boy loved looking at my nails.
Nos vemos!

THE NAIL CHALLENGE COLLABORATIVE - MEXICAN TEA PARTY!

Hola Chicas!

Today I have look #2 for August’s Challenge which is “Tea Party”. My inspiration for this look is Talavera, for those who don’t know what it is, Talavera is a type of pottery crafted in the region of Puebla, Mexico and is very traditional and coveted; only crafted by a handful of specialized workshops and with very strict characteristics in the way is styled and made.

 I remember Talavera tiles, jugs, plates and trays and a very particular Tea set I saw once at an exhibit and I knew I wanted re create that for this theme because they are a beautiful art form and very representative of my country and its folk art.

What I used:

• NOPI Yoga Then Yogurth; base, 2 coats.
• MDU Black; for stamping.
• Kleancolor Teal Envy
• Kleancolor Berry Burst
• Bissu Folklore Mexicano
• Born Pretty store plate D14
• Nail art brush
• Color Club Matte Top Coat

It took a bit of time to achieve this look; I used the leadlight technique for the first time and I love the way it turned out. After 2 coats of Yoga then Yogurth I applied a fast dry top coat and then stamped with MDU and started painting the details with a super fine nail art brush, let dry and then applied matte top coat to give a vintage feel to the look.

I made some decals as well but I was too impatient to wait for them to dry, will save them for next time :)
Here's some pics to give you and idea of Talavera and where my inspiration came from.

 Hope you girls like it.

Nos vemos!

THE NAIL CHALLENGE COLLABORATIVE- AUGUST: TEA PARTY #1 - THE MAD HATTER'S TEA PARTY

Hola Chicas,

Is another month a new theme was voted for August: TEA PARTY!
When the theme was voted a new straight away I wanted to do something "mad hatte-ry" trust me, it looked a lot better in head.
But hey, I have another 3 chances!

What I used:

• Color Club Angel Kiss; base, 2 coats.
• Kleancolor True Purple; stamping.
• Republic Nail Cold Gel TC.
• Pueen Encore Set SE01A
• Winstonia W215
• Winstonia W117
• Winstonia nail decal; clock detail.

I like how the stamping came out but not so much the whole look.
What you think?

Nos vemos!!

PEACHY PETALS

Hola chicas!

I finally received my Pueen Encore Set and I couldn't wait more to play with it. This mani is just a simple one to test the images on these beautiful plates.

What I used:

• China Glaze in Peachy Keen; base 2 coats.
• Kleancolor in Neon Fuschia; for stamping.
• Pueen Encore Set SE02A
• NOPI Quick Dry Top Coat.

What can I say about the Encore plates? I'm smitten, this is by far the most beautiful set of plates I own, all the images stamp super crispy and they make very easy to work with normal polishes because the engraving has depth I haven't seen in another sets. So if you are curious about stamping

And you want to get your first set GET THIS ONE!

Thanks for stopping by !

Nos vemos!!