Double Post: "This Is Halloween" - Ghosts & Polish Days: Sentimental

Going into the third day of Bec's "This Is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge, combining it with #SentimentalPolish edition of #PolishDays.

(OK, I know I'm cheating... I just couldn't miss tagging along with Polish Days when I had so many sentimental allusions on my nails!!)

I've been doing my nails (or having them done) on and off since I was 10. I started doing them myself since hubby and I moved to Canada, 3 years ago. Along the years, I always wore sheer polishes, either pink or white, with a few pearl finishes here and there. A little over a year ago, when I last went to Brazil to visit family, I brought some bold and colourful Brazilian shades. And I was hooked! My collection has grown a lot ever since, and my favourite colour is blue, because of Jeans (Colorama), the one that started it all.

All that babbling was to say that nothing more 'Sentimental' than using blue as the background! It was the perfect opportunity to try Tristam (a england), and see its gorgeous holographic, colourful sparkle under the sun. No pictures of that, though...

Going back to the 'Ghosts' theme, a glow-in-the-dark polish was a must. And this was the look I was going for, at first.

For a strong glow effect, Snow Me White (Sinful Colors) was used as the base. This is an amazing white polish for nail art, by the way. Black details were done with Black Expressionism (Finger Paints).  And the Ghoulish Glow (China Glaze) made it all spooky! To spook you all even more, I wrote 'boo' in both English and Portuguese (can we get sentimental again?).

Little sis, Patty, found Emerald Sparkled design of Boo and begged me to do it. This shy ghost from Super Mario was part of our childhood (anyone sensing sentimental once more?), and we still find these ghosts super cute! 

It was only after I had painted my nails with Tristam that I realized I had copied the inspiration to a 'T'. Deniz, if you ever read this, I promise I'm not plagiarizing you! Plus, I think your design is cuter than mine!

Same polishes were used for the Boos, with the addition of Shar Pei (Risqué - Risqué ♥ Dogs) and Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black (which I was not impressed with, by the way).

These little guys looked SUPER cute in the dark!!!

I had so much fun with the ghosts this long weekend!! Everybody was pitching in, giving their feedback, and helping with the pictures. Specially with the 'in the dark' ones. They were a combined effort (and challenge): hubby got the tripod, we turned all the lights off, and Patty was turning the lamp on and off following the photographers instructions. So happy everybody plays along with my craziness! ;-)
One last picture to wrap it up!

I'm already thinking about the next theme for the 'This Is Halloween' Nail Art Challenge. And pretty excited to see what Hannah (the lady behind Polly Polish) is coming up with for the next Polish Days!

xoxo

PRIS

Road Trip!

Hubby wanted to celebrate his birthday with a road trip in our new car. We took a couple of days off and enjoyed our long weekend passing through many little Ontarian towns. Weather wasn't that bad for early spring (this was back in April), with mostly sunny days but still a bit cold. It was kind of frustrating to find most attractions closed, as everything in those little towns opens/starts in May... We did enjoy the trip, though!

When asked which colour I should wear, hubby asked for blue because it's my favourite colour! :-D

Husky (Risqué - Risqué ♥ Dogs collection) is a dusty medium blue. Even though it requires 3 thin layers for full coverage and opacity, it was easy to work with and clean up wasn't bad at all (specially considering it's a blue!).


I loved the colour, and the sun made it look even better on picture!


xoxo,

PRIS

St. Paddy's!

Last St. Patrick's Day, hubby and I were invited for a St. Paddy's potluck. We were told to be creative with green stuff - dishes, outfits, etc. Joe (the host) demanded a green curry meatball prepared by the chef (hubby), and my contribution was worn on my nails. ;-)

Mom called my nails tacky, I had to explain it was St. Paddy's!

The green base coat, Ivy League (Sally Hansen), was opaque in 2 coats. The Gold and The Beautiful (Wet n Wild) was free-handed on the tip, because my attempts with tape were not successful. Luckily, the gold glitter in clear base does not highlight the imperfection.

The rainbow laid on top of Chow Chow (Risqué - Risqué ♥ Dogs collection) was an attempt at a dry marbling. I can't remember all the colours that were used, but it was a bunch of different brands. Which leads me to my lesson learned: use the same brand, so the colour expand equally and the layers of the marble are similar. Not perfect, but I was quite happy with the results!




And there's always a pot of gold at the end of (or under?) the rainbow. To reach full opacity, I used 3-4 coats of the gold glitter. The shamrock was a free-hand design with Ocean (Revlon) following a tutorial.

To complement the nails, I wore a green dress and put on green eye shadow. ;-D

xoxo,

PRIS

Red vs. Blue

That day, I was feeling like wearing red (again!), but for some weird reason, blue ended up on my nails. The light-but-darker-than-sky blue polish, Chow Chow (Risqué - Risqué ♥ Dogs collection), was chosen to match my pajamas. :-p

Texture is kind of watery, running to the cuticles and requiring three coats for perfect coverage. Clean-up, however, was a breeze! I have a major complaint regarding bubbling, though...

Lots of Brazilian ladies (friends, acquaintances, bloggers) complain that their polish is always full of bubbles. I've heard it's from the heat, or because of a windy environment.


Since there's no wind, or high temperatures in the room I do my nails, I thought I was safe. Boy, was I mistaken! Chow Chow bubbled quite a bit (at least for my non-bubbling standards!).

Bubbles or no bubbles, I loved the colour! And I did wear it a few more times ever since. Don't remember being as bothered about the bubbles, but I might've gotten used to that...


xoxo

PRIS

Girls-Only Weekend

Aka, nail care packages AND nail haul!

Lidia finally got here! There was a lot of drama with her visa in the meantime, but we managed to meet in Buffalo, NY and spend the weekend shopping and seeing the falls in Niagara Falls (both NY and ON).

Well aware of my new polish addiction, she brought me some of her favourite shades, including the purple I mentioned last post.

Audrey (Impala)

Gelo (Colorama)

Chic Pele (Colorama)

40 Graus (Colorama)

She also brought me a care package sent by little sister Patty, including some requests and some extras, carefully chosen by her and Babi.

Cobertura Intensificadora da Cor (Colorama)
Fagulha (Colorama)
Star (Risqué)
Chow Chow (Risqué)
Husky (Risqué)
Violeta Acinzentado (Risqué)
Besouro (Risqué)
Chão de Estrelas (Risqué)


To top it all off, I bought a bunch of Revlon's that were on sale for $1 each!

Oh My Magenta

Iced Spices

Fire

Ocean

Black With Envy

Carbonite

Steel-her Heart

This post pays hommage to my three 'sisters'. Patty (birth sister), Lidia (childhood 'sister'), and Babi (other little 'sister').


xoxo

PRIS

Polish Days: Jelly Sandwich

This is my Polish Days debut!

Polish Days is a polish addicts round-up, when a bunch of nail bloggers get together and publish a themed manicure. It's amazingly well organized by Hannah, the lady behind Polly Polish. And today's theme is Jelly Sandwich (#SandwichPD), layering a glittery/flakey coat in between two coats of jelly.

I'll be breaking my polish timeline with this post, and I debated if I should post my first Jelly Sandwich, or the second and most recent one. Even though I absolutely loved the first, it didn't photograph that well. The Jelly effect will be better seen on the manicure I was wearing last week (although the picture is still not great).



I'm going through a colourful phase, and started by alternating "Oh My Magenta" (Revlon) and "Lapiz of Luxury" (Essie). Using the Revlon polish as one of my base layers was my little twist on the sandwich, as it is not a jelly or sheer polish.





The glittery effect was brought by "Big City Dazzle" (New York Color).

The top jelly was an even more colourful experiment. Colours used were "Lapiz of Luxury" (Essie) and "Shar Pei" (Risqué). The layers didn't follow the same alternating pattern as the bottom coats, resulting in 4 different shades. Colours used in each finger are listed below, from bottom to top layer.

Left hand: 

Thumb: LofL, BCD, LofL 

Index finger: OMM, BCD, SP 

Middle finger: LofL, BCD, SP 

Ring finger: OMM, BCD, SP 

Pinky finger: LofL, BCD, LofL

Right hand: 

Thumb: OMM, BCD, SP 

Index finger: LofL, BCD, LofL 

Middle finger: OMM, BCD, LofL 

Ring finger: LofL, BCD, LofL 

Pinky finger: OMM, BCD, SP

I found that Essie's Lapiz of Luxury is not a good polish for Jelly Sandwiches. It is a bit sheer, but not exactly jelly, as it doesn't spread evenly sheer (some opacity can be clearly seen on my right hand middle finger). Shar Pei, on the other hand, is the perfect Jelly layering polish! I loved the purplish effect on top of Lapiz of Luxury (left hand middle finger).

Jelly Sandwiches are a great way of renewing your manicure. What I'll do is put on the base colour and keep it for a day or two. Add the glitter and, a couple of days later, add the jelly coat. That way, I have three different manicures throughout the week. And it's not a lot of effort! ;-)

Since this is Polish Days, you can find lots of other Jelly Sandwiches on several other blogs. Go check 'em out! ;-)

• 
  Alexis
• 
  Alyssa
• 
  Ariane
• 
  Carolina
• 
  Cassie
• 
  Charlotte
• 
  Chiro
• 
  Chrissy
• 
  Christina
• 
  Deborah
• 
  Emily
• 
  Emma
• 
  Esther
• 
  Haitch
• 
  Heidi
• 
  Inky
• 
  Ishah
• 
  Jasmine
• 
  Jen (NPP)
• 
  Jenny
• 
  Julie
• 
  Karine
• 
  Kat
• 
  Keisha
• 
  Kerrie
• 
  Lani
• 
  Laura
• 
  Lynn
• 
  Mara
• 
  Melissa
• 
  Mihaela
• 
  Pris
• 
  Sabine
• 
  Sabrina
• 
  Salla
• 
  Sophia
• 
  Stephanie
• 
  Susy
• 
  Wendy

Interested in taking part in the Polish Days to come?

Polly Polish explains how they work!


xoxo

PRIS