Thursday, August 30, 2012

CMYK! My Favorite Things Nail Challenge Day 5 "Polka Dots"

Hi everyone!

Sorry my post is a little bit late during the week but I have been overwhelmed by painting projects and my hands never got clean. I'll make a post about those projects at the end of the week!

Today I'm showing my entry for Day 4 of My Favorite Things Nail Challenge, which theme was "polka dots"! I had the idea for this manicure for a looong time ago, at first I thought I was gonna submit it for Chalkboard Nails Dotting Tool Contest!

I was inspired by the pattern we see when we look close to a CMYK printed poster! And I thought this was the occasion to take a try to the newspaper technique ;) On to the pics:


To achieve this look, I applied two coats of OPI - Alpine Snow.
Then I took my colored polishes and I mixed every one with some Seche Restore. I used Rimmel - , OPI - Fly, and.
I grabbed my biggest dotting tool  and started dotting, making sure that the dots were overlaying each others.

For my accent nail, I applied two coats of OPI - Skull & Glossbones.
Then I cut a piece of newspaper, dipped it in medical alcohol and transfer the letters ;)


Did you liked this mani? It is so eye-catching!


You can find more informations on the challenge here: Ohlalapolish's Nail Art Challenge



Have a great day! <3

Candy



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Monday, August 27, 2012

Guest Post at karinea0a.blogspot.com !

Hello!

Recently Karine from karinea0a.blogspot.com contacted me because she was going in vacation and was needing a guest post! I am really honored to be featured on her blog!

You can find my post here (link inside!). Enjoy!

Sneek Peak:


Have a great day!


Candy


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Friday, August 24, 2012

Cheesy! (My Favorite Thing Nail Art Challenge: "My Favorite Food!")

Hi!

Today I'm featuring my attempt at day #4 for My Favorite Things Challenge! We were asked to paint our nails with the theme "Favorite Food. I don't know what my favorite food is, I'll always be really happy if I can eat salmon, but let's admit it, painting a cute little salmon on my nails and say that I do really like to eat that as much as I can is not really correct ;)

So I decided to go with a food I eat everyday and that brightens my meals: cheese! Let's be patriotic!


So, how did I do? Elementary my dear Watson:
Only one coat of my new pale lemon franken, some dots of a darker yellow!
Both polishes are mixtures I did but I would recommend Orly - Lemonade & Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow ;)

I added a little mouse on my accent finger, using my favorite tiny brush, Confetti - Lonesome dove for the grey body, Wet'n Wild - Black Crème for the eyes and OPI - Sparrow me the Drama for the nose and ears ;)


I stole this idea from this girl (link inside!), check her blog even if it's in french! (In fact she posts the sundays on another girl's blog.)

I am really enjoying this challenge, do you?




You can find more informations on the challenge here: Ohlalapolish's Nail Art Challenge



Have a great day! <3

Candy



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Tuesday, August 21, 2012

My Favorite Thing Nail Art Challenge: "My Favorite Animal"

Hello everyone!

Today I am gonna show you a mani including cats! I really do looove cats!

My parents have 3 cats, my bf's mother 3 too and his father 2. And I think in the future months we are gonna adopt one too! I love their grace and their attitude, I love listening to their purr too! And they are really de-stressing when you pet them :)
I am also crazy about zebras, beavers and llama, but I preferred to do only one animal so that this mani doesn't look like a mess!

For this mani I started with two coats of various polishes:
OPI - Skull & Glossbones for my thumbs and ring fingers,
OPI - Sparrow Me The Drama for my index and pinkies,
Stargazer - 237 for my middle fingers.

For my gold blingy nails I added one coat of a F21 polish that looks the twin of LA Colors Color Craze - Goddess (I think they are the same polishes but different labels are printed on the bottles). I layered two more coats of polish: an unnamed baby pink & pale green chunky glitter from Claire's.

For the kitty design, I started by freehanding the global shape with Wet'n Wild Black Crème (isn't that polish in every of my posts?). Then I took my OPI - Alpine snow for the details and I colored the little noses with Sparrow Me The Drama. :)

For my right hand, I used the method of home made stickers for the little cats ;)


I am really in love with this mani, it is very fun and girly but in the same time grey and black look classy together! What do you think?


And now a SURPRISE! I have more pictures about my favorite animals for you! They were made one year ago so sorry for the bad quality of the pics!


For my beaver mani, I started with two coats of Essie - Sew Psyched (<3).
Then I freehanded the beaver with a tiny nail art brush.
I used Essie - Chinchilly for the principal color of the beaver, Sèche - Blanc for the eyes and teeth, a mixture of both for the cheeks and Sally Hansen Insta-Dri - Slick Slate for the details of the cheeks, nose and ears.


For this simple zebra design, I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Chrome - Champagne Pearl.
Then I added the stamping zebra design that can be found on the plate m57 using Konad Special Black.

Did you like those old manis? Which animal mani do you prefer?
I might need to come out with a llama design now ;)




You can find more informations on the challenge here: Ohlalapolish's Nail Art Challenge



Have a great day! <3

Candy



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Monday, August 20, 2012

Sephora nail patchs! (N°06 Impeccable Beige)


Hello everyone!

Today I hoped I'd show you a really delicate lacey mani, that I planned to do for this wedding I went to this weekend. I needed to do my sister's nails and my mother's nails before mine (in order not to ruin my own mani), but they decided it was time to go before I was able to start my nails!

I was happy I planned to go with nail patchs because it is quick to do, but this was my first try. I ruined at least 4 nails because I had put a basecoat before and the patch were automatically sticking to it and I wasn't able to take the time to put the patch in the right position. So I scrapped some off, and put some other ones on top of the mess I did when I was scrapping >< OMG it was so frustrating!

Without the fact that I had no chance to do it right I am pretty amazed with those patchs so I decided to take pics after all and show you guys! I never put the lace stickers I planned to because I wanted to keep them for a a better basecolor application.


So I grabbed those patchs in sale (-70%) in January, because the normal price is really high.
The shade is N°06 Impeccable Beige.

Underwear:
These patchs are told to be 100% nail polish and the instructions tell us to apply it to a naked nail without any base/topcoat.
I planned to apply just my nail care product (Mavala - Scientifique) but I'd damaged my nail with my razor the afternoon before. So I decided to apply a base after all. I don't think that is a good or bad idea, the patchs are nail polish but it is not gonna stain or harm your body so much because a lot of chemicals are already evaporated. If you apply a basecoat it can smooth the surface of your nail and hide imperfections, but you're gonna have only one try to put the patch in the right position!

I also think that  it'll last longer if there is no basecoat, their own time of wear is two weeks (tested by my friend!), I think tha tif you add a basecoat, it'll las the weartime of the basecoat.
I'd say that if your nails are badly damaged, or that you'll put some topcoat on top of the patch, apply a base.

Quality:

I am really pleased with the quality of these patchs. They are really soft so (if you don't forget to peel the protective plastic like me first) they adapt themselves to the shape of the nail, you can really manage to apply they crease-free!

I cannot really test the wear time, but as I said, my friend had them for two weeks and she removed them because of the nail growth! With my own experience of two days, I did a lot of things including swimming by the sea and putting my hands in the sand and I have no tipwear of chips at all!

For the shape and cut of the patchs, I am really really pleased with the shape but sadly I can see a little pressed outline that pops up with the metallic texture of this color. If I had the time I think I would have re-cut the patch.

Hopefully on this picture you don't really see how bad my index was...

There was no clean up to do, and no smell or dry time. It can last a really long time and can be applied in any place.The patchs also have a good length and they can fit long nails.For a metallic shade like this one, there is no problem of brush strokes!

I think this product is a really good one! The only problem for me is the price (around 10€=12$). I think I'd never bought this without the sale price.

However it can be a really good solution if you're feeling lazy or go on vacation. It does also exist in seasonal colors and patterns!

Are you tempted to try it? Did you already tried it? Let me know what you think please! :)

xoxo

Candy <3


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Friday, August 17, 2012

My Favorite Thing Nail Art Challenge: "My Favorite Nail Polish"

Hi everyone!

Today is day 2 of the challenge, so I did something using my favorite nail polish: OPI - DS Extravagance!


I wanted to avoid overload so that I could really enjoy it, so I decided to go for a frame manicure!



I started with two coats of my favorite polish and I outlined it with Wet'n Wild - Black Crème and I added two little studs on my accent nail :)


I found this mani very classy, did you like it?



You can find more informations on the challenge here: Ohlalapolish's Nail Art Challenge



Have a great day! <3

Candy



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Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Shredded Purple (My Favorite Thing Nail Art Challenge: "My Favorite Color!")

Hi everyone! :)

Today is the first day of a challenge I decided to join! Our post today needed to be our favorite color! As some may know, I always preferred purple! Purple jeans, nail polish (of course), eye makeup, pencils...

For this nail art, I wanted to use several purple nail polishes, here is the result:


To achieve this design, I started with 3 or 4 coats of Estée Lauder - White Petal. (Yes thats a lot but I did not found out a way to apply it smooth enough for my taste...)

Then I painted some scotch tape using several purple nail polishes:
Stargazer - 235
OPI - DS Extravagance
Debby - 91
Milani - Jewel FX Lavender + OPI - Houston we have a purple
Orly - Charged Up
Miss Cop - Vernis Pop Fluo n°6
OPI - Planks a lot

When they were all dry, I cut them with scissors in square and triangle pieces. I only had so stick them on and my nails were ready for topcoat!


I like how this design looks kind of a shredded glitter nail polish but is very rich. I like that it is modren but quite delicate :)

Do you like it? Let me know if you try this design out! :)



You can find more informations on the challenge here: Ohlalapolish's Nail Art Challenge



Have a great day and great polishes! <3

Candy



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Sunday, August 12, 2012

Lacey mint

Hello everyone!

Today I have a post from the vault to show you (again!).
I did this last summer when I received my big fauxnad plate (copy of the big plate A by Konad).



After applying my base coat, I did a diagonal french tip in a minty color using Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mint Sorbet.

Then I stamped a full design (that can also be found in m70) just in the french tip area, and lined it with a lace strip image (that can also be found in m71). I used Konad special polish in White.


I find this mani really delicate and fresh, do you like it?

Have a great day!



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Thursday, August 9, 2012

Liebster Award!

Hey!

No nail pictures for now, but I have an exciting post! I have been nominated for the Liebster Award from Frenchie of Frenchie's Fairyland! Thank you!





Before I start, here are the rules of Liebster Award:
1. Each person tagged must post 11 things about themselves.
2. They must also answer the 11 questions that the "tagger" has set for them. 
3. They must create 11 more questions to ask bloggers they have decided to tag. 
4. They must then choose 11 bloggers with less than 200 followers and tag them in their post. 
5. These lucky bloggers must then be told. 
6. There's no tag backs. 


So here are the questions Frenchie asked me:

1. What's your favourite colour? (see nice and easy to start!) 
Purple!

2. If you could be any animal, what would it be and why? 
I would like to be a cat! Free and agile, and having a silky-smooth hair! :)

3. Who or what inspires you? 
About nail-art inspiration? I like clothes patterns, and I'm a lover of colors, they inspire me a lot by themselves, being deep or fresh or delicate, every color has a personality and that inspires me for decorating my nails!
Let's go on about "who?". My boyfriend has really interesting ideas sometimes, and he whispered me a lot of my innovative designs!

 Into the nail community, Mr Candiipants gives me a lot of inspiration, and with her creativity, she makes me want to search for a new way to see my nail art. I love Ran Nail Design for her precision in painting details and intricate patterns, Madeline Poole for her way to new trends with her cool nail art. Stephanie from So Long Kitty was the one who showed me the harmony we can found in a manicure with different nails on the same hand. Nekonotsume was the one who attired me deep in the nail art thing, because of the elegance of her designs and her mastery of water marbling!
OK now I need to start a blog roll lol!

For more nail art that inspires me, go on my Pinterest board about Nail Art.

4. What is your favourite book and why? 
Do I have a favorite book? I must say I recently read a book named The Whispered, by Donato Carrisi and it was quite catching! I liked the Hunger Games series too.
But I must say the serie that I really loved was A Series of Unfortunate Events by Brett Helquist. These are really good books and when I read them they were from the library and I told myself that when I'll be grown up I'll have to own the entire collection in a pretty library!

5. What's your favourite drink? (alcoholic or non, your choice!) 
Something I really reach for is the cocktail named White Russian. But unfortunately it is a drink that makes you drunk before you notice, it tastes quite innocuous!

6. If you could make your own nail polish brand, what would you call it and why? 
I already though of that when I made a list of my stash, because I mixed some frankens ;) I called them Candy Cats, because of my name (Candice) and the sweetness of candy, and obviously because I love cats ;)


7. What nail polish do you have on right now? (pictures please!) 
They are shown in the post below, but here is a reminder ;)








8. What's your favourite manicure that you've ever done? 
I think it's my peacock manicure, I was really impressed that I could achieve it, and I thank Robin Moses for her tutorial!






9. What's been your favourite polish buy? 
I think my favorite nail polish buy was in fact my most expensive nail polish: OPI - DS Extravagance! I bought it back in January, in France. It was in sale and it was the first time I saw some DS polishes in a store! This one was a pretty deap color and it was in sale! But can you imagine the price? it was 17€ (21$) instead of 20€50 (25$). Yes 25$ is a normal price for a DS polish here... I was quite excited for this buy, and in fact DS Extravagance is still my favorite polish!
Funny fact: back in June I found two bottle of it at another sale: 6€50 (8$) per bottle!

10. What are your hobbies? (other than anything nail related!) 
Hmm I must say I spend too much time cooking! I like to cook and find new recipes! But I like to much to eat the results and this passion begins to be bad for my weight!
I am happy if I can craft, sew or do things myself (DIY) ;)
I must say I'm really interested in my studies: 3D image creation! But I'm quite unconfident of my ideas :s

11. What made you decide to start blogging?
At first, I really wanted to keep a track of my nail art, so I took pictures. But then I decided the normal thing to do was to share it and hear back about them ;) It was quite natural to do it, even if it takes some time ;)

Now onto the 11 quick facts about me:

 1- Most important thing: I am really unconfident.
 2- I'm french but I'm writing my blog in English!
 3- I've never tried caviar nails but they don't look appealing to me!
 4- I have a caffeine addiction (but of course I do not digest it well :/ )
 5- I miss singing so I think I'll smuggle in the university of music's choir this year ;)
 6- I adore Asian Food!
 7- I'm always late...
 8- ... so I rarely have the time to put makeup!
 9- I would like to travel the world.
10- Recently I've been wanting to try henna tattooing :)
11- If you read through this whole bunch of text, you're someone who makes me happy :)

Now here are the name of the bloggers I nominate for this Liebster Award:


Now here are the question I am asking them:

 1- What first put you into nail art?
 2- When did you started?
 3- What is the most beautiful manicure you've ever seen? The first that comes in your mind, don't think about this question more than 2 minutes ;)
 4- What's your favorite color?
 5- What's your favorite nail art technique?
 6- What's the brand of which you own the most nail polishes?
 7- What's an untried technique/trend you want to try soon?
 8- What's the polish you spent the most money on?
 9- Have you ever mixed your own nail polish?
10- How mani nail polishes do you own?
11- What's you're favorite (cooking) recipe?



Thank you again Frenchie for giving me this Award! :)


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Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Zig zags fade = Missoni nail art! (+ Tutorial!)

Hello Everyone!

Today I have a post that almost doesn't look like a gradient, but original idea for this nails was a gradient. I wanted to do a stripe fade à la Mr Candiipants, but using zigzags instead of straight lines.

Then I realised my design was more like a Missoni pattern:


I wouldn't advise a special base color for this type of mani. In fact I used a random light blue (from a Forever 21 set) for a first coat of opacity. Then using every time a zigzag pattern with my tiny art brush, I covered it completely with different colors (from the cuticules to the edge):

OPI - Dutch'Ya Just Love OPI?
Miss Cop - Vernis Pop Fluo n°6
Forever 21 - Unnamed light purple from a set
Sephora - Jacuzzi Bubbles
Essie - Navigate Her
OPI - Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window
E. Pinaud - Chocolat



I am really happy with this manicure, but it took quite a long time to do the left hand: I had not time left to do zig zags on my right hand, so I did a skittle mani with the first 5 colors ;)
Sadly because I was late my right hand nails have been damage so I don't if I'm gonna enjoy this mani a long time :/

Do you like it?

Happy polishing to you ;)

_________________________________________________________________________________

I just finished a tutorial for this design, this is my first youtube video!


I hope you'll like it! :)


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Saturday, August 4, 2012

Saran Wrapped & framed nails

Hello everyone!

Last summer I bought a nail polish in a kind of a dollar store here in France but I never used it! It was quite a good brand and an interesting color but many not enough extravagant so that I'd wear it before today. I was thinking that I should use it these days and then I had a pretty good idea for this metallic polish: saran wrap! Maybe you don't know this technique but it's quite recent and trendy, so I'd planned to do it soon.

I thought it was a great idea to combine both the metallic polish and the technique that I wanted to try :) I added a framed accent nail to stay in the idea of first try & trendy techniques ;)

Enough talking:



So the nail polish I talked about is.... Biguine Makeup - Typhon Vert (n°6167) ! Here I applied 2 coats of it. As for every metallic polish the brush can leave strokes but you can control that if you're careful ;)

When the metallic polish was really dry, I applied one coat of Wet'n Wild Wild Shine - Black Crème. And when it was still wet, I dabbed over the nail a little ball made with a piece a plastic bag, creating the effect of saran wrap.

For the accent nail I just took a thin art brush and outlined the nail with Black Crème. I added a crystal rhinestone from Mellow Nail Art using my topcoat :)




I wanted to give a try to this new designs/techniques and I was really pleased with the results! I was really surprised how much I loved it! And a plus is that it was really easy to do on both hands!

Let me know if you are trying this look, I'll be happy to see the results! ;)

Have a wonderful day painting your nails!


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