[ABC Nails] D is for Depend

Hello hello! Time for another [ABC Nails] with my friends Maggie and Rosana.

One of the best things about challenges like these, is that they make you use those nail polishes that have been patiently waiting for their turn, inside an helmer's drawer. That is the case of this Depend #2036. I've had it for almost a year, and if it wasn't for the challenge, I wouldn't pick it up anytime soon, and that is a huuuuge mistake, because it is GORGEOUS! I'll just leave you with the photos:

Olá olá! É dia de mais um ABC das unhas com a Maggie e a Rosana.

Uma das melhores coisas destes desafios é que eles quase nos obrigam a pegar naqueles vernizes que estão encafuados numa gaveta de helmer, a aguardar, pacientemente, a sua vez de serem usados. É o caso deste Depend #2036. Tenho-o há quase um ano, e se não fosse pelo desafio, acho que não pegaria nele nem tão cedo, o que seria um enoooorme erro, porque ele é LINDO! Vou deixar-vos com as fotos:

The photos are looking different from my usual set up, but I'm at my parents at the moment, and this is the best I can do here. The first photos were taken under direct sunlight and the last one in the shade.

I had to use 3 coats, it is a bit on the sheer side, and even though it looked good with just 2 coats, I felt like I needed a 3rd one to seal in the colour. I used it by itself for the first couple of days, and then I wanted to spice things up with a tape mani.

As fotos estão com uma aparência diferente do costume, mas estou em casa dos meus pais de momento, e isto foi o melhor que consegui. As primeiras fotos foram tiradas debaixo do sol e a última à sombra.

Tive de usar 3 camadas de verniz, o Depend é um bocado para o ralinho, e apesar de parecer decente só com 2 camadas, senti necessidade de dar uma terceira para fechar bem a cor. Usei-o sozinho por 2 dias e depois decidi "apimentar" a coisa e fazer uma manicure com o auxilio de fitinhas de nail art.

The base colour I used, on those 2 nails, was a gift from Rosana. It's a lovely dusty mint, and it's from a brand that I had never heard of before. It is called Aqua Leaf and the brand is Astor.

I love how the manicure came up, even though it was a lot of work! I'm a perfectionist while placing the striping tape, so these are always very time consuming to me. I did some other designs on my right hand, but the photo turned out so crappy that I'm kind of embarrased to share...Well, just bare in mind that I had to hold my camera upside down, and with my left hand to take this. It turned out all wrong! And those colours, omg!? xD

A cor de base que usei para a nail art foi um presente da Rosana. É um menta acinzentado e é de uma marca que nunca tinha ouvido falar antes. O verniz chama-se Aqua Leaf e a marca é Astor.
Adorei o resultado final da mani! Sou muito perfeccionista a colocar as fitinhas, por isso demoro sempre imenso tempo a fazer este tipo de manicure. Fiz uns padrões diferentes na minha mão direita, mas a foto saiu tão mal, tão mal que até fico com vergonha de mostrar...Bem, apenas tenham em mente que a foto teve de ser tirada com a máquina de pernas para baixo e com a mão esquerda. Ficou péssima! E estas cores, meu deus?! xD

This is it for today, don't forget to check out which brands the other girls chose, the links are at the beginning of the post.
I'll be back home this saturday, so you can expect a post from me then, or on sunday.
Have a nice week!

Por hoje é tudo, não se esqueçam de ir ver que marcas escolheram as outras meninas, os links estão no inicio do post.
Estarei de volta a casa no sábado, podem esperar um post meu neste dia, ou então no domingo.
Tenham uma boa semana!

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. ^^

Argyle pattern with Purple Professional #8

Finally some time to post! Been busy busy lately, with my internship and the 2 reports that won't write themselves, unfortunatelly... But lets not talk about that!

The nail polish I'll be showing you today, is one of the 2 that I got from Purple Professional for Christmas, and I was so very lucky to get it...I wasn't here when my package came (was at my parent's for the holidays), and it was sent back to them, but Purple was kind enough to get it shipped right back to me, I didn't even had time to email them explaining what happened, so here's a big thanks for Purple Professional!

This one is #8, a pink toned burgundy that I immediately fell in love with! This brand never ceases to amaze me, they have wide range of gorgeous cremes and their formula is always spot on. Easy to apply and to clean, doesn't drag, won't flood your cuticules and they have great shine (you'll have to believe in me in this one, as I already have top coat on the photos). I used 2 coats here, but 1 was enough, it had great pigmentation and coverage. Another thing I love in these, and I don't think I'd mentioned it before, is their brush. It's flat and soft and so easy to work with!

I paired it together with Innisfree #65 and did an argyle pattern with it, using some striping tape.

Finalmente um tempinho para postar! Tenho andado ocupadita ultimamente, com o estágio e com os 2 relatórios que, infelizmente, não se escrevem sozinhos...Mas não falemos de coisas tristes!

O verniz que vos venho mostrar hoje, é um de dois enviados pela Purple Professional, durante o Natal e que eu tive muita sorte em ter recebido...Não estava por cá quando mos foram enviados, estava em casa de meus pais durante as férias, e por isso foi enviado de volta ao remetente, mas a Purple foi muito atenciosa, e reenviou-me o pacotinho sem sequer eu ter tido tempo para explicar-lhes o sucedido, por isso aqui fica o meu muito obrigada.

Este é o nº8, um verniz num tom rosado de borgonha, pelo qual eu me apaixonei imediatamente! É uma marca que nunca pára de me surpreender, têm uma grande gama de vernizes cremosos e a fórmula dos que já experimentei é sempre perfeita. Fáceis de aplicar e de limpar, não arrastam, não se acumulam em volta das cutículas e têm bastante brilho (neste ponto vão ter de acreditar nas minhas palavras, porque nas fotos já tenho top coat). Usei 2 camadas deste verniz, mas uma seria suficiente, já que possui uma óptima pigmentação e poder de cobertura. Outra coisa que adoro nestes vernizes, e que não sei se já referi, é o pincel. É achatado, muito macio e é extremamente fácil de trabalhar com ele!

Usei-o juntamente com Innisfree nº65, e com a ajuda de fitinha de nail art, desenhei um padrão de argyle (como raio se chama isto em português? o_O).

I have to say, these were a lot of work!! I don't think I'll be using any striping tape in the next few weeks. I have to recover from the trauma first, but I do love the outcome, at least I feel like it was worth all the lost time and the frustration of trying to get it right. Only thing I wasn't happy with, is that Seche Vite changed the colour of the tape, it was copper, not golden...Oh well, still looks good, though! :P

Devo dizer que isto deu uma trabalheira do caraças!! Acho que não me apanham a mexer em fitinhas de nail art nem tão cedo. Primeiro tenho de recuperar do trauma, apesar de adorar o resultado final, ao menos acho que valeu a pena todo o tempo perdido e toda a frustração de tentar com que isto ficasse perfeitinho. A única coisa que não achei muita piada, foi ao facto do Seche Vite ter mudado a cor da fitinha, era cobre e não dourada...mas paciência, ainda acho que ficou bonito! :P

(This was sent for review) 

My Christmas Nails

Hey everyone!
Finally, I managed to come here and post what I wore on my nails during Christmas. I said I wanted something simple and easy to do, and even though this doesn't look very simple, I can guarantee it was really easy and quick!
I started with 2 coats of Nubar Vino and 2 coats of Marylins #19 on my accent nail. After it dried completely, I stamped in gold some poinsettia flowers on my index with the DRK-B plate, did a very fast gradient on my middle and thumb nails (tutorial here),  a christmas tree on my ring nail (tutorial here), and added some stripes to my pinky using striping tape to get my lines to look as perfect as possible. 

Olá minha gente!
Finalmente consegui vir cá para vos mostrar as minhas unhas deste natal. Já vos tinha dito que queria fazer algo simples e rápido, e apesar da manicure parecer algo complexa, posso assegurar-vos que foi muito fácil e rápido de se fazer!
Comecei com 2 camadas de Nubar Vino e 2 camadas do Marylins #19 no meu anelar. Depois de tudo bem sequinho, carimbei no indicador, a dourado, umas poinsétias da placa DRK-B, nos dedos médio e polegar fiz um gradiente rápido (tutorial aqui), no anelar desenhei uma árvore de natal (tutorial aqui), e no mindinho fiz umas risquinhas com ajuda de fitinhas de nail art, de forma a que as minhas linhas ficassem o mais perfeitas possivel.

Marylins #19
Nubar Verde
Nubar Vino

I didn't get any nail polishes for christmas, all I got was the camera that I've been using since november, a new cell phone and some pyjamas. Can't really complain, those were all great gifts, but I would have loved if someone had remembered what I love to get the most... What about you guys? Did you get any nail polish under your christmas tree?

Não recebi nem um vernizinho este natal, só recebi a máquina fotográfica que tenho usado desde novembro, um telemóvel novo e um pijama. Não me posso queixar, foram óptimos presentes, mas gostava que alguém se tivesse lembrado do que mais gosto de receber... E vocês? Tiveram algum verniz debaixo da vossa árvore de natal? 

Yes Love L006 with some stripes!

Yes Love...now there's a brand I never paid much attention to...They're only sold in chinese stores and that made me think they're no good! I only had one other nail polish from this brand (that I showed HERE, in a guest post), and I only bought it because I loved the colour and because I was convinced this is a spanish brand. WRONG!! This really is a chinese brand. I noticed on the label that it says "Imported by Spain", followed by "Made in P.R.C", which means People's Republic of China. But does that mean it's a bad product? Not so sure...The truth is that most people think like that because of the cheap prices over at the chinese stores, but so far, I have no complains...

Last time I went shopping, I stopped at one of these said stores and I was blown away...Oh so many pretty colours, I wanted them ALL! I even had to ask my boyfriend to take me away, or I'd go crazy! xD Well, I managed to leave the store with only 6 nail polishes, and one wasn't even for myself, I did good, didn't I? =P
Oh, I forgot to mention that these nail polishes only cost 1€! That's another reason why they're so hard to resist... :S

Ok, the first one I tried out was L006, a lovely green, with a bit of blue on it's formula (at least I think so, I'm bad at describing colours). Application on this one was easy breezy, it has really good pigmentation (it was almost perfect with 1 coat, but I still used 2), it dried really fast and it shines a lot on it's on! You'll see that from the photos I took, with no topcoat for the first time.

Then I decided to spice things up with something different and add a little shine to it, so I picked up my Essence Choose Me and this is what I came up with:

Stripes! It looks so cool, I don't think the photos capture how awesome this really looks, but boy...I don't know if I'll be doing this again, it's too much work! These were done with striping tape and it took me 3-4h to do a complete mani like this (or even more, not sure...), I think this is the most time I spent on my nails...

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