Messy Fishtail Chevrons

Hi all!

Sorry for the later-than-usual post, I've been really distracted doing other things on the computer and kept forgetting to finish editing the pics. I'm sure I kept forgetting because I just don't like these pictures that much but I like the color combo enough to justify posting them.

I started with two coats of China Glaze Tart-y For the Party, then used OPI My Vampire is Buff and L'Oreal Not a Cloud In Sight, all from their respective spring collections, for the chevrons.

Overall, not that bad for a first try from someone deathly afraid of doing freehand, just not as clean as I would like. Both colors I chose for the chevrons required two coats to be opaque and streak free so the layers just kept building up and it looked too lumpy by the end. I do LOVE my pinky though, that's how all the nails should have looked.

Have you tried this technique before? There's a great video tutorial for it on Chalkboard Nails!

Have a great day lovelies! (As great as a Monday could be, anyway).

My Flag - Una Sola Estrella Libre

Hello all!

If you saw my last post, you might know I had no idea what to do on my nails for today's challenge. I never really wanted to do the flag of Puerto Rico because...in all honesty, I find plastering your flag everywhere a little tacky. However, there is a very important point I thought I should comment on so I decided to go ahead and do my little island's flag.

I used Essie Blanc, L'Oreal Jet Set to Paris and Bettina 197. 

You may or may not have heard that Puerto Rico held elections Nov. 6, same as the US. In these elections we also held a plebiscite to determine the country's status. We could either remain a Commonwealth ("independent" but associated to the US) or we could vote to become a state. This has caused some extreme confusion for the media.

To be clear, WE DID NOT VOTE TO BECOME A STATE. In truth, the ballot was designed by the pro-statehood party and the numbers were skewed by people who filled their ballots incorrectly and thus they were not counted. However, these news have hit and a torrential outpour of complaints have surfaced on the internet. People stating why we are not ready to become a state and how we, us little simple good for nothing island people, would be a drain on the US economy.

To these people I have to say, I understand the misconceptions you may have about the puertorrican people. To any other people still not convinced, your loss. We have awesome food.

In my honest opinion, I don't want Puerto Rico to become the 51st state. I'm not 100% content with the current status either but, this way, at least I get to fill my heart with pride when I see our little flag waving in events like the Olympics or major sports.

I'm sorry this was so long and I am truly sorry if I offended anyone as I was offended in the last few days. I really just had to get this out somewhere and you all suffered the brunt of my hurt. Hopefully, things can take a turn for the better now that we got rid of the douche governor we had. I can only hope we didn't replace him with another douche (although that's usually the way these things go).

If you're still here and you got through all that mess up there, thank you for reading my ramblings. Now go see some more pretty flag nails!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner
-Kat at Hooked On Polish
-Diana at Nails By Diana
-Aly at Wonderland Beauty
-Meredith at Perfectly Polished
-Nicole at The Color Republic
-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails
-Cee at Absolutely Cee
-Sam at Polished Art
-Nail Narcotics
-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed
-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches
-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful
-Mixed Mama
-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine
-Patty Greenberg
-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 
-Mari at Nailista
-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 
-Gini at Sassy Paints
-Chameleon Stampede 
-Pam at Nail-E-Glance
-Me, Myself, and Polish 
- Robin Sparkles

31 Day Challenge Day 16 - Tribal

Hey guys!

Tiny bit late on this post, but no big! I had a hellish day yesterday and I just crashed when I got home.

Today's challenge prompt was supposed to be tribal but seeing as I was feeling uninspired and very short on time to actually attempt a complicated tribal mani, I kept it simple but close to the heart again. I chose to do a mani inspired by the indian tribes that were the original residents of Puerto Rico- the taínos. I started with a base of OPI Don't Pretzel My Buttons (a very mannequin hands polish!) and sponged a gradient with L'Oreal Now You Sea Me and a random white polish to simulate the beach. Then, on my pinkie I used a fine tip Sharpie marker and acrylic paint with a striping brush on my ring finger.

The ring finger is the classic taíno depiction of the coquí, our natural little tree frog that sings us to sleep. It's weird, visitors sometimes find the sound annoying but, when I'm traveling I really miss the sound, it's comforting. The smeared sad pinky was a spiral I saw in the image I used for inspiration. My idea was to do their depiction of the sun, but it was a little more complicated than I wanted.

I'm sorry this was short on explanations, I'm pooped as I write this.

As always, make sure to visit the other ladies to see their tribal manis!

-Kimber at Kimber's Lacquer Korner

-Kat at Hooked On Polish

-Diana at Nails By Diana

-Aly at Wonderland Beauty

-Meredith at Perfectly Polished

-Nicole at The Color Republic

-Kate at The Painted Pony Nails

-Cee at Absolutely Cee

-Sam at Polished Art

-Nail Narcotics

-Nicole at Nicole Gets Nailed

-Shelby at Shelby's Swatches

-Stephanie Louise at All Things Beautiful 

-Mixed Mama

-Joanna @ Sweet Polish of Mine

-Patty Greenberg

-Liz and Lisa @ Lozlosa 

-Mari at Nailista 

-Miss L at Beauty by Miss L 

-Gini at Sassy Paints 

-Chameleon Stampede 

-Pam at Nail-E-Glance

-Me, Myself, and Polish 

- Robin Sparkles

Fei Fei is in the Rainy Piccadilly

'Ello ladies!

Today I finally get to show you the epic haul I did that made me go on a no buy! I've been waiting forever for the stuff I ordered to arrive but the post office that sorts all the mail here has been sucking lately, as said by my mailman, so everything has taken longer. Either way, they're finally here, safe and sound!

For the nails, I'm sporting L'Oreal Rainy Piccadilly which is part of their LE collection out in stores now. It's a deep navy blue, so perfect for fall. Then, because I felt like it and the bottle was right there, I layered Zoya Fei Fei on top. Fei Fei really is beautiful and very unique. Beware though, the flecks will get everywhere and be impossible to remove.

Since I have so many pics to share, I placed them under the jump so let's go! (There was a kids show where they would draw something and be able to jump into it. Maybe Blue's Clues?)

Yellow Can-Pattern Stamping

Happy father's day to all of you that celebrate it! I personally celebrate "my mom was a good father('s) day" and "older brother is closest thing I have to a father('s) day", so to all of you with unconventional families, happy day to you too!

Nothing super exciting here, just a fun experiment I had to try. I'm reaching into the vault of unposted manis for this one. "The Vault" is just manis I didn't post for some reason. Nothing wrong with 'em, just didn't love them so you never saw them.

Months ago I was at my mother-in-law's house and she had this cute little yellow can with a blue pattern that caught my attention and I realized I could recreate it with my stamping plates and so I did. I used Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow and L'Oreal Jet Set to Paris and random plate to stamp with. Either Red Angel or Bundle Monster since those are the only ones I have.

Like I said, nothing wrong, just didn't love it so I never got around to posting it.

Also, you might have noticed/read on other blogs about the problem with the malware warnings. I haven't had a warning yet and I hope none of you guys have either! I did a scan on the site and took down my blogroll for the time being just to be extra safe. 

Not a lot more to say, I'm headed to the beach to eat a LOT of food with the fam. Have a good Sunday everyone!

A Window Into My Soul

Wee Friday!

I'm excited for this weekend, if everything goes right and the weather isn't a total bitch, I'm going on a boat this Sunday! I love boating, I practically grew up on the beach around water and boats and I used to work on jet skis so, needless to say, I miss the water sometimes.

I totally forgot what I was going to write because I saw a commercial for some (probably crappy) restaurant with some awesome shots of a delicious guacamole and tacos and now I'm hungry. Oh :(

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this mani y'all! I've been seeing thess around for a while, Hema did a beautiful interpretation on her blog, Rainbow Nails , the master Sarah at Chalkboard Nails also did a kicking neon one recently, but it was Cee from Absolutely Cee who encouraged me and mentioned that it was actually easier than I thought so I gave them a try. Whaddaya know, they're within my (limited) range of abilities! I present to you my window nails. They're also called frame nails, border nails and other stuff I think, but this is my blog and I like 'window nails'.

They're definitely not perfect by any means and I managed to smudge the pinky during the picture taking process but I really like them! I used Bettina Green Apple for the base and L'Oreal Check Me Out for the middle part. I had read that to do these the easiest is to paint your base first, then tape your tips and paint your center, obviously not taking it all the way to the cuticle. I'm too impatient though so I just did the center then went over the tips again with the green. If your polish is too dense you might want to consider taping lest you make your tips look fat.

In summary, I liked this color combo a lot more than I thought I would. For some reason the pink looked darker or more burnt (if that makes sense) and the green looked almost neon in some shots. So yay for late night experiments that work out!

Thank you for looking and have a great start-of-the weekend !

L'Oreal Jet Set to Paris Swatches for Autism Awareness and a Challenge!

'Ello! Happy friday!

Let's keep the blue ball rolling for Autism Awareness month. If you have a moment I encourage you to read about Autism at the Autism Speaks website and my previous post as well for some additional information. You can also check Kimber's Lacquer Korner for even more info and other bloggers participating.

Now, polish time!

Sorry you can see my lamp. It was just too damn shiny for my camera.

Jet Set to Paris is a beautiful blue (TARDIS, I believe?) creme. Application was flawless, it had a good consistency, went where I wanted and didn't pool my cuticles. As a bonus, it didn't stain when I removed it! I really hate polishes that give me smurf fingers. So much so that I will stop using it on the spot. Shown above are two coats, but if I remember correctly, it looked great at just one coat too.

Tomorrow I'm going to be joining Mateja yet again for a challenge! This time around it's a Spring themed challenge and the rules kind of have me a little fuzzy still but we shall see, I think it's going to be good! If you're interested in joining, or just want some more information about the challenge please do the clicky here.

See you tomorrow with a pretty pastel spring mani!