Visit to Larinha!

Paulinha is one of my good Brazilian friends here in Canada. We worked together for quite a while, but we haven't seen each other that often lately. Life gets in the way, plus her new role in life takes up all her time!! :-)

Back in June we had Lara's baby shower, Paula's baby girl who was born late August. This mani was inspired by Larinha's room decor for the event. The violet base was Audrey (Impala). The lilac used for the flower, the rattle, and the light dots was It's Hippo to be Square (Sephora by O.P.I.). For the toes, and the darker purple details, the chosen one was Violeta Acinzentado (Risqué).

I made the flower with a small brush, maybe using some king of one-stroke technique? The rattle and dots were done mainly with a dotting tool.

To match it all, the outfit was a purple dress. It was summer after all! ;-)

Even though the baby shower is long gone, the 20th of November was the day I paid them a longer afternoon visit, and it was the first time I held Larinha! I know I looked clumsy, 'cause Paulinha was worried about her little girl's neck. :-p

Thinking of going again soon!

xoxo

PRIS

"This Is Halloween" - Gradient

Here I am, cheating once again... :p

For the 'Gradient' edition of Bec's "This Is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge, I'm showing a mani I made on Patty, my 'little' sister. She has really beautiful nails, by the way!

It all began when she posted an ombré nails tutorial on my facebook wall, saying I should make one of those. I'd already tried it before (twice!), and wasn't successful. But I said she could be my guinea pig this time around!



She asked for a blue gradient, but with the challenge in mind I said it had to be Halloween-ie colours. I wanted black and orange, but all she'd let me do was a purple-ish nail art. Coming from a person who doesn't like flashy, different, it was good enough!

I used the sponging technique, without any base colour, just the base coat. The lightest lilac, which barely shows on most nails, was a Milano with no name, only a number (007). Another of the Italian polishes my grandma sent me from Paris... The darker lilac was Audrey (Impala), followed by a grey-ish violet, Violeta Acinzentado (Risqué), and completed by a dark starry night Chão de Estrelas (Risqué).

When Patty accepted the purple gradient, she had an agenda! As an exchange student at Bishop's University, she was showing some school pride by wearing a purple mani! :-)

Purple and school pride have really made her dive deep into the bright and colourful world of nail polish. I'm dragging her to the dark side!! ;-)


As I'm posting a day late, I've already seen some of the other ladies' designs. Amazing!! :-)


xoxo

PRIS

"This Is Halloween" - Marblenails

Now we're on to the second day of the "This Is Halloween" Nail Art Challenge!!

After the complex and intricate design of the Horror Movie challenge, marble nails were a breeze! ;-)

I tried once again the dry marble technique that I used for St. Paddy's rainbow. Based on that experience, all polishes were from the same brand: Colorama. Colours were Rock (black), Eterno (aubergine), Fagulha (orange), and Violeta (violet).

I wasn't overly impressed with the results: a bit messy, clean-up wasn't very effective... But I loved the colours!!! They were very Halloween-y, in my opinion!

xoxo

PRIS

Easter Mani

Once again, gotta remind you that I haven't been blogging in real time. This mani was done back in April, for Easter Sunday.

I chose some pastel colours that I had in my Sephora by O.P.I. minis assortment, and the details were made with a dotting tool.

The base colour was "Natural Environ-Mint", a light pastel blue matching my pajamas!

I was surprised with the result, because I did expect more of a green/minty colour...
As any light pastel colour, this baby blue required 3 layers for full coverage and no streaks.
The lighter outer dots are Dear Diary, a baby peachy pink creme. The purple dots in the middle were seen before: "It's Hippo To Be Square".

The bright orangey metallic dots and the zigzag pattern were "How Cute Is That?".

When looking for inspiring Easter manis, I came across Kelsie's Nail Files' matte design (her bunny is the cutest little thing!). A matte top coat (Cobertura Fosca da Cor - Colorama) was a great change after a couple of days. I thought the matte Easter Eggs were a better match than the glossy ones!! :-)

How cute is that? ;-)


xoxo

PRIS

Patty's 2nd swatch

Later in the week, I decided to swatch another of Patty's requests. I tried Besouro (Risqué) in one hand to see how it looked and take pictures. I ended up staying like that for a couple of days, but nobody noticed. :-p

Beetle (Besouro) was easy to apply and clean. It's a purple metallic duochrome, reflecting purple and green. Really nice shimmer, even caught a work colleague's attention, who asked me which one it was.

Unfortunately, no sun to help with the pictures once again.... :-(

xoxo


PRIS

Patty's Swatch

One of the polishes my sister sent me was Violeta Acinzentado (Risqué). She asked me to wear it next time so she could see how it was. So here I am, swatching it for her!

I put it on top of my previous mani (did I mention how much I like that??), and it was a very opaque, dense, and pigmented colour. I might've been able to get away with only one coat, but as usual, second coat was used to correct mistakes. It's that shiny with NO top coat!

Even though it was easy to apply, I can't say the same about clean-up. As any dark and pigmented colour, cleaning was a pain!

Hubby said it looked brown, and we didn't manage to get a decent picture, with the pink/violet shimmer (ring finger shows a bit of such shimmer). I needed a sunny day for the pictures, but there were none in sight...

Next time I'll apply a thinner coat. Maybe that'll help with the shimmer. And it'll definitely help with drying time. It took forever to dry, and I woke up with sheet stamps, in spite of having waited at least 3 hours before I went to bed! Luckily, that could be solved with a nice top coat! ;-)

xoxo


PRIS

Lidia's take

Lidia liked my purple homage! :-)
But she also wasn't thrilled with the colours themselves. The lilac was too bright, and the glittery too sparkly. She mentioned that her favourite purples are 'closed' ones, and she'd brought me one of them, Audrey (Impala)!

And what better way of trying it out then layering it on top of my lilac mani (that I hadn't really enjoyed since day one)? Audrey was opaque in one coat, as far as I can remember.

I'm a big fan of this coat on top of coat technique. It gives me a chance to change my mani every couple of days quickly! :-)



xoxo

PRIS

My childhood best friend came for a visit!

My first trip back home, since I moved, was in the Winter of 2010/2011 (towards the sunny south hemisphere!). Not only did we get to spend the holidays with our families, it was also my birthday!

Not only mine...

<flashback>

Lidia was born 2 days before me. And that coincidence might've been what kept us close during our whole childhood. We met on our first day of kindergarten, back when we were 4 years old, and we were classmates for only two years. Life drifted us apart: different schools, different neighbourhoods, different friends and social circles, but our birthdays were sacred. We used to spend almost a week together every december, having sleepovers.

Then there was a really loooong sleepover. We were roommates during our first year at university. It ended up not being the best arrangement, and the day we split our stuff up felt like a weird divorce. That weirdness lasted for a bit, but then it was gone. We meet every now and then (less and less often, due to the geographic distance), and exchange emails every couple of months.  Yet, it feels like no time has gone by. Except for the fact that we're getting older... :-p

</flashback>

...I was there (in Brazil) for Lidia's birthday as well (back in December 2010). One of her birthday gifts was a cute beauty kit with a couple of lilac/purple polishes. Yes, I'm getting to the polish part!

Lidia planned her first vacation to North America, and a stop north of the border was mandatory! ;-)

With her lilac polishes in mind, I wore two Sephora by O.P.I. polishes: "It's Hippo to be Square" as the base, and "I Don't Bite" sponged on the accent nails.

I wasn't very pleased with the result. First because the ombré sponging was not ombré at all! I still haven't mastered the sponging technique, and at the time I knew even less tricks than I know today... Second, the lilac polish was not easy to work with. Streaky, dragging, just like a white or any pale creme colour. To top it off, lilac is not my colour at all! :-p

I did like the purple glittery one, though. You can definitely fell the glitter, but a top coat works wonders!!

And what was Lidia's take on this one? I'll let you know soon enough... ;-)


xoxo

PRIS