Giveaway winner, a few unposted manicures and a very late guest post!

Hey everyone!

Yes, I'm still alive...even though I went through some crappy stuff these past few months, I'm still here. Sorry for the long absence and for leaving in the middle of a giveaway, but I really had a tough time and even had to move twice in less than a month. But I won't bore you with my problems and I'll just stick to the nails and nail polish.

But first, let me just announce the winner of the last giveaway:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats to Diana! I warned her as soon as the giveaway ended, and she already has her prize! I left the blog for a while, but I didn't keep the polishes to myself. :P

Now, I didn't do much on my nails these past 2 months, always a plain colour when I had the time, and didn't take any photos of my nails, until recently, so I'll just show you a couple of photos I took before all the craziness happened, and a couple from this past week, when I started getting back into the nail stuff. Hope you like them!

Dance Legend Optical Illusion and Purple Professional #62, stamped with Moyou Pro #8

Claire's 55171 and Kiko Mirror #616, stamped with Moyou Pro #2 and topped with Kiko 3 in 1 Mat

Purple Professional #63 on index and thump

 Zoya Arizona on pinky

White on middle and ring finger is Flormar P103 and the triangles were made with both the previous colours and also China Glaze Strawberry Fields and Innisfree #65

Layering experiment with O.P.I Every Month is Oktoberfest, Nubar 2010 and Max Factor Fantasy Fire.

Ah! Also, I made a guest post for Cristina a while back, that never saw the light of day here, on my blog. Shame on me...

Click on the image to go to Cristina's blog and find out more!

Aaaaaaand that is it for now! Have a good night, everyone. ^^

You can get addicted to a certain kind of...manicure!

Quick post today, with lots of photos, just to say, YES! I'm definitely addicted to what I'm about to show you. Holos and stamping! *-*

(Let's start with the ugly photos...don't know what happened with my settings in these ones, but yuck! >.<)

Post rapidinho hoje, com muitas fotos, apenas para dizer que, SIM! Estou completamente viciada nisto que tenho para vos mostrar. Holos e carimbos! *-*

(Vamos começar pelas fotos mais feias...não sei o que se passou, com as definiçoes da máquina, nestas fotos, mas yuck! >.<)

Color Club Revvvolution and Eyeko Rain, stamped with KandNail CK-04.

Kiko 399 and O.P.I Schnapps Out Of It, stamped with Fauxnad m83.

Kiko 402 and China Glaze Elephant Walk, stamped with Nailz Craze NC 03.

Color Club Wild at Heart and Ados 55 #72, stamped with DRK-B.

Which one is your favourite? I have to say, mine is the pink and grey, it looked so cute! ^^

Now, if you all excuse me, I'm going to do the same thing with Perfect H6 and Misa Catch a Fling! 

Have a nice sunday!

Qual a vossa preferida? Tenho de dizer que a minha é a rosa e cinza, acho que ficou mesmo fofa!
Agora, se me derem a vossa licença, vou fazer o mesmo com o Perfect H6 e o Misa Catch a Fling! 

Tenham um óptimo domingo! 

31 Days Challenge #17 - Glitter

Before I resume the challenge, I need to apologize to my readers and the girls I was doing this with, as I disappeared without saying a word. You see, I was trying to do my best not to fall behind, to always have a post up every day, but I just couldn't do it...

When I signed up for this, I thought I would have a nice, peaceful summer at my parents house, with lots of time to do my nails, post and, occasionally, have some fun with my friends. Boy...was I wrong! There was always stuff to do here at the house, my mom loves having her dinner parties and needs my help with getting everything ready and on time, friends always want to go out and do stuff and when I'm home with some time, there's always someone asking, "Raquel, can you do my nails?"...Other than that, I still had to find time to do other things I like (reading, playing, chating with my friend Leticia, who suffered with all this too, since I had so little computer time), and still spend some time with my boyfriend. It was all too much for me, something had to give, and that was my own nails and blog. I had every mani ready, up until day 24, but couldn't bring myself to just post it, and after that, I completely quit! Also, my nails got so weak from all the painting and removing that they started to break...So, I filled my nails down, as short as I could, and went nail polish free until yesterday.

I will be posting the challenge again, 1 mani a day, and hopefully, when I'm done with the photos I have ready, my nails will be back in good shape and lenght. Now, let's move on with the subject.

For day 17, I went with a sloppy glitter gradient, this mani suffered from my lack of time. xD Apart from the sloppy gradient, I did an awful clean up job, sorry about that.

The polishes used are China Glaze Make Some Noise and Essence Make It Golden.

PS - I haven't been saying much about the nail polishes I have been using, as these challenge post aren't meant to be reviews, but if I have some trouble with the formula or application I will say so in the post, if not, assume it all went well. xD

31 Days Challenge #11 - #16

I'm still alive!

Sorry for not posting since last friday, but it has been a crazy week since then! On saturday we had a party at night and I had to do my mom's make-up and nails, my make-up and nails and another friend's nails, no time left for posting...then on sunday I had to help that same friend, as she was in the process of moving. So, my nails have been bare since last sunday. I don't even remember the last time they were naked for so long! xD

As you can imagine, I had a lot to catch up to, and today was literally nails day!

This will be a looooong post, so get ready and don't say I didn't warn you.

#11 Polka Dots

For this I used China Glaze L8R G8R (that I got from Anna's blogsale) and Nubar Reclaim.

#12 Stripes

This was done with Gosh Forest Green, Gosh Early Green and some striping tape.

#13 Animal Print

Uh oh...leopard print again! But this time it was all hand made, no stamping involved. For this, I used Orly Nite Owl, Leticia Well #146 and Kiss Nail Art in black.

#14 Flowers

Flowers aren't really my thing, but I guess I did ok on these. I used Kiko 339 for the base colour, Gosh Bubble Gum and Risqué Pink Fluor for the flowers, and Gosh Forest Floor and Gosh Early Green for the leaves.

#15 Delicate Print

Boy, this one was tough...I didn't really know what to do and this was my 3rd try at this, as I wasn't happy with the other 2. Here I used Essence Modern Romance stamped with Essence Stampy Polish in silver and my DRK-B.

#16 Tribal Print

My favourite ones from today! I had never done any tribal nails, but these were so simple and fun to do and I love the final result.
I used a nude, once again (must be on a nude kind of day), this time it was Essence Hazelnut Cream Pie. The blue stripe is China Glaze For Audrey and the white was all done with Kiss Nail Art in white, obviously. :P

 

Ufff, finally over! It's really a bad idea to fall behind on these challenges, I know I wont be doing it again.  :P

Oh, the sparkles!

I finally got my hands on one of my favourite glitters of all time, China Glaze Atlantis! It's such a stunning teal jelly with lots of holographic glitter in it. It can be a pain to apply, but the end result is amazing.

I wore it on it's own, with no base colour, and this was opaque in 3 coats. I had to use 2 coats of Seche Vite to even out all the glitter, and it could still use a 3rd one, but I was tired and wanted to sleep, so I just let it be, I don't mind if my nail polish isn't completely smooth, it doesn't really bother me.

Here are some photos of it:

I really love glitters in a jelly base like this, that can be layered or used on its own, but I only have this one. Any recommendations? 

Having Fun with Water Marble

And we're back to our usual schedule, which means you'll only get 2-3 posts a week. Blogging every day stresses me out, it's just too much to handle. xD

Today I want to show you my first time with a complete manicure made with water marble. I used to do it just on my accent nail, because it was just so annoying to do it right...I guess I was using the wrong brand of nail polish for it, this time I tried it with O.P.I Fly and China Glaze For Audrey and it was so much easier! Had no problem with the colours spreading in the water or drying too fast! It all went great and here is the result:

Loved it and I'll definitely be doing this again when I have some time.