Winter Holiday Challenge: Festival of Lights

Quick post for the third and bright day of the Winter Holiday Challenge: Festival of Lights!

I chose to keep it simple, but colourful. One coat of Date in the Moonlight (Essence) composed the perfect dark night sky. The silver thread connecting all the lights was striped with Bring On The Snowflakes (Sephora by O.P.I.).

The colourful bulbs were dotted using several different polishes. Red (011), green (067), and orange (028) were Milano, that my grandma bought me in France. Blue was also Essence: Gleam In Blue. Yellow was a no name neon from Salomé on top of Amarelo Pop Art (Colorama). New Lilac (Pure Ice) was imposed chosen by my sister. Also upon her request were Bronze Sculpture (Finger Paints) and Morgan Le Fay (a england). The last touch of sparkly was Na Mira 3D (Impala).

I loved doing this mani. It was probably the quickest I've done in a long time, and it turned out so cute and cheerful! :-)


xoxo

PRIS

Check your balls!

I know, I know, not all of us have balls. Even though my mom swears by mine, sometimes. :-p

This post is to end Movember. The men's health awareness month, when moustaches pop up in the least suspecting faces (including my husband's!) and become an interesting competition of who's the thickest, the fullest, with most body, etc.

Even though Movember focuses specifically on prostate cancer and mental health, my focus here is on testicular cancer. 

First, because it's the most common cancer in males between the age of 15 and 34. Volunteering at Planned Parenthood and working at a university, that's the age group I deal with on a daily basis, specially 18 to 25.

Second, because there's a self exam, equivalent to the strongly advertised self breast exam: touch your balls! Look for lumps, firm masses, nodules. Look for a doctor, if you're in doubt!

Third, because if found early, it's almost a 100% curable! This information came from DreamLoveCure, and you can find tons of websites by googling "touch your balls" or "testicular cancer". 

After a full month of an uneven and sparse pair of "Mo's" and beard ("cause if I'm growing something, I'll grow it all!" hubby said), he was finally about to get rid of it. It was time to celebrate!

And I needed my own Mo' for the photo shoot!

Base was Snow Me White (Sinful Colors) and mo's were Black Expressionism (Finger Paints). I used a dotting tool for the branded one, and a brush for my husband's.

So, are your checking your balls? Are your loved ones checking theirs? ;-)

xoxo

PRIS

French Dots

It felt like a teal day to me. But not just a teal day. More like a minty teal. Hippie Chic (Colorama) and Miss Minty (Gosh) alternated for the mixed look.


But a few days went by and I got bored. And decided to alternate a bit more by adding the French tip using the same colours.


Then, a couple of days later, I needed dots. Light dots repeating colour, dark dots adding metallic shades: Mermaid to Order (Sephora by O.P.I.) and Ocean (Revlon). That's when I realized how similar they were and Patty got a new polish. :-)

I was pretty happy with the colours and the additions I made throughout the week. Specially with the first successful French tip!!


xoxo

PRIS

"This Is Halloween" - Graveyard

We're geting close to the end of the "This Is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge!

As I post twice a week (on Tuesdays and Fridays), my Monday entries have gone live on Tuesdays throughout this Challenge. This means that today's post should've been "Trick or Treat!" (which I'll publish on Friday), but I'm still on yesterday's prompt "Graveyard". (Yeah, I'm anal like that... :-p)

This theme has a bit of sentimental value (polish days?), even though some people may find it weird. Little sis likes cemeteries. Patty likes strolling along the tombstones, reading the inscriptions, admiring the crypts. During family vacations, we've joined her in this sightseeing more than once. It's definitely interesting!

OK, I know there's a difference between cemeteries and graveyards. But Patty likes them both the same, so I couldn't do tombstones on my nails without thinking of her! ;-)

Base colour is two coats of Date in the Moonlight (Essence). It could be a one coater, but I preferred dealing with thinner coats and doing it twice. This polish dries SO quickly!! There's a nice blue shimmer to it, but hubby couldn't see it at all and kept saying it was just a dark grey... 

We didn't do a good job in capturing that shimmer, but I found a great picture by Lola in the Nail Polish Forum, and an awesome post by Les Ongles de Chamallow.

The tombstones were Carbonite (Revlon), which is a great one-coater, and black details were with my go-to black, Black Expressionism (Finger Paints). The sparkly round silver moon was Bring on the Snowflakes (Sephora by O.P.I), and the grass growing over the tombstones was High Line Green (New York Colors). 

The grass-like look was achieved mixing two different shades of green flocking powder I bought in a 4-pack at Michaels. I'd already attempted plush nails before, and failed miserably, but I thought that trying it small could work better. And it did!! :-D

The sparkly glittery addition was Glitter Goblin (China Glaze). I loved the colours on this one, such a Halloweenie combination!!

Have you seen the spooky graveyards the other ladies in the challenge came up with?

xoxo

PRIS

"This Is Halloween" - Jack-O-Lanterns

Another post, another day of our "This Is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge!

For Jack-O-Lanterns, no better way to start than with an orange polish, right? ;-)

To start, two easy coats of Fagulha (Colorama) - that translates from the Portuguese as Spark -, but I would've used a third had I worn it on its own. With a striping brush, I drew the darker lines using Roguish Red (China Glaze). Details in black - eyes, nose, mouth - were either with Black Expressionism (Finger Paints) and dotting tools of different sizes, or with Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black (liked it better this time around).

The theme was Jack-O-LanternS, and that was the excuse I needed to play around with many different pumpkin faces!!

Can't wait to see what else the other ladies in this challenge are gonna come up with!


xoxo

PRIS

"This Is Halloween" - Horror Movies

First day of the This Is Halloween Nail Art Challenge created by Bec from Lacquer Dreams!!

I'm not a big fan of Horror Movies (an euphemism to saying I HATE them!), so there's no movie I actually like. However, Jason was the horror movie icon when I was a kid, and making a Friday the 13 themed nail made sense (hubby's suggestion, I must add).

After getting little sis' input in the design, and hubby's opinion about the first (failed) finished product, I finally reached a result I liked. As much as I can like a Jason mask and lots of blood splatter... :-p

Colours used were Black Expressionism (Finger Paints), Snow Me White (Sinful Colors), and Big Apple Red Creme (New York Color). Dotting tools of all sizes and a toothpick (for the splatter) were my best friends!


I'm happy I managed to do it! Even happier because this was the one I was not really thrilled about, and it turned out fine. Really excited about what's yet to come!

xoxo

PRIS




**UPDATE**

And then we're back to red...

This turn's untried was Doce Orgulho (Risqué).

Not easy to put on, a nightmare to clean up, and a stained and uneven result.

After a few days, I decided to put my dotting tools to work, and try a bunch of different sized dots using Conhaque (Colorama). Looked like a chickenpoxed nail... ;-)


xoxo,

PRIS