// Timeless

Posted on | December 5, 2011 | No Comments

I usually keep my nails short — but they grow so fast that sometimes I have some unintended tip length. This time I decided to utilize it, shaped the tip to gentle almond shape and applied the best nearly black burgundy polish ever — Zoya Casey — to half moon manicure with bare moons. So classic that it looks completely contemporary.

Tips for the removal method for half moons here.

Posted on | December 5, 2011 | No Comments

// Look, shiny!

Posted on | November 10, 2011 | 2 Comments

I guess it is safe to say that the season IT-shoe — Miu Miu glitter boot — will not magically end up to my wardrobe.

Instead I’m painting my nails with the most outrageous glitter polishes there is, this one is Opi Rainbow Connection, multicolor glitter suspended in clear base. I managed to get an opaque surface with two coats — but that did not happen with traditional technique — I pushed the glitter back and forth, arranging it to cover the nail surface. The result is bit chunky, but I don’t mind. I could smooth the surface a bit with topcoat, but I think glitter polishes look best like this — the less there is stuff over the flakes, the better the bling.

In real life this color is less multicolor confetti and more really bright and super reflective silver with occasional color flashes. Definitely a must try for all who do not exactly seek subtlety and understatement from manicures…

Posted on | November 10, 2011 | 2 Comments

// Soft shades

Posted on | July 2, 2011 | No Comments

I’m not huge fan of nude nails, but I have to say that this gray based Mavala polish is a beautiful exception. I guess that the black undertones set this shade apart. Almost the whole Select collection with tinted grays and a black polish, all with subtle shimmer / pearl for very understated dimensional look found their way to my stash… …and oh, that armor ring is from Weekday.

I also got myself this little magical pot of multicolored shimmer — it is MAC Mineralize eye shadow Clarity. The shades blend to an extremely easy-to-use soft, dirty gray, perfect for soft smoky eye for day use or shade color. With damp brush the shade is more intense and the multicolored shimmer really pops.

Posted on | July 2, 2011 | No Comments

// Nail stamping — how to

Posted on | May 29, 2011 | No Comments

So I thought that nail art stuff is not for me… …but a while ago I got myself a set of Konad nail stamping tools and since that I have worn patterned nails now and then. Honestly I’m quite drawn to kawaii little details like that, slightly tacky — yes — but my style is not actually about being cool, cooler, the coolest…

Personally I prefer patterns that cover the whole nail and many of my favorites are patterns with graphic quality, not necessarily huge amount of detail. Tip patterns can look pretty fabulous on long nails — and naturally you can build whole nail designs from single small images, but that is just too much effort for me! Two colors has been enough for me so far — but you can build up the designs gradually, from however many colors you fancy.

There are many image plate manufacturers — a great deal for whole nail designs is Bundle Monster plate set #2. For whole nail designs don’t bother with #1 — the designs are so small that they barely cover baby fingers — but you sure might be interested in smaller images and nail tip designs in this set. The plates are pretty similar to Konads — but very sharp edged. A great thing is that the patterns are carved deeper so these transfer stronger patterns than Konad — be sure to use tissue paper when wiping these, cotton leaves fiber to the sharp edged motifs. Magno nails has Konad-sized round plates as well but their XL plates look pretty special, the whole nail geometric and organic (wow that snakeskin…) patterns have specifically caught my attention. Their ornamental designs are mirrored for both hands, nice! But I have no experience of these.

So, here are few tricks and tips how to make neat and clean prints to your nails. Read more

Posted on | May 29, 2011 | No Comments

// Daylight glow vs. the nighttime glitter

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

I don’t really know why am I so drawn to tacky nail colors. Any neon will do it to me — but I especially love yellow. I love greens, teals, blues and blacks. The recent infatuation… …blindingly sparkly glitter polishes…

The yellow one is Sinful Colors Neon Melon (PITA to use, this is four coat + top coat — but to be fair I haven’t yet encountered easy neon yellow polish), the glitter is Opi Sparkle-icious (or something like that… …I don’t do well with Opi color names).

Posted on | January 23, 2011 | 2 Comments

// Mermaid nails

Posted on | June 30, 2010 | 3 Comments

This is officially my favorite nail polish for this summer, Zoya Charla in all its glittery goodness.

I gravitate towards bright nail colors a lot, (teal) greens and oranges being my favorites — but I often stick to creme finish. Glitters are a pain to remove — and the sparkling colors are often more fetching in a bottle than actually on nails. But this is such a delightful exception. Even better in direct sunlight.

Posted on | June 30, 2010 | 3 Comments

// Super summer

Posted on | June 21, 2010 | 4 Comments

To not forget the theme of this blog entirely… …my newest sunnies — white frames at last! I have been hoping to bump into a white pair of Wayfarers in some flea market for a long time now, but got tired for waiting for that to happen. So I went for this sturdy retro design by Super — and don’t feel any regrets. The slightly transparent, jellylike frame is awesome in person, and I really like the clean, heavyweight design. The shipping was a snap from Retrosuperfuture webshop.

Neon orange nails by China Glaze Sun Worshiper. Pain to apply, delightful result. If you like toxic-waste-warning-sign-kind of orange, that is. The image does not give the full retina burning experience of this color — but I have to say that despite of its brightness (or maybe because of that) this color is very kind to my skin tone.

Posted on | June 21, 2010 | 4 Comments

// Wild child

Posted on | May 14, 2010 | 2 Comments

To compensate the unbelievably late spring this year I painted my nails with my favorite green: Color Club Wild Child (oh, the cuticles are in need of cleaning, I see!). I think this is the shade I would call Kelly green — sometimes I see the same shade name applied to more yellow tones, but for me this is the real stuff, a bright shade of green that leans just a bit to blue side. The color is even bit brighter in real life.

This is not the most pigmented polish, four coats was necessary for full opaqueness — on the other hand it is extremely easy and smooth to apply. Like some neon polishes this does not have a shiny finish (but not the full matte effect either), so it needs a brilliant topcoat (or matte one). Overall Color Club quality is very good — and unbeatable in it’s price group (about $2.50).

I could not use nail polishes without fast dry topcoats at all. Without it any manicure over two color coats takes ages to dry and I don’t have patience to wait hours before doing something with my hands. Going to sleep is not an answer, sheet marks…

So far I have experience from these topcoats:

Seche Vite — a super fast, super brilliant topcoat. Many people list this as their favorite. For me it does not really live up it’s hype, although it is good. The negatives are that the stuff goes goopy and thick when there is half a bottle left and needs its own thinner to get it working again — and it is really fast with up to three polish coats, but it often fails with thicker polish layers. The drying action works only on the polish surface and I get dried “foils” over wet polish. They can even slide off from nails but usually I just get an annoying bump to a nail with a slightest contact to some hard surface.

Mavala Mavadry — this is widely available here in supermarkets, and is very comparable to Seche Vite — works really well with one to three coat manicure, thickens gradually and needs a thinner, gives really brilliant surface. But it is extremely incompatible with some nail polish brands (Zoya’s and Orly’s being the worst) giving horrible bubbles when drying out. And the bottle is tiny. But it has been my #1 choice for years because of the availability — and yes, it works well with majority of polishes.

Diamond Cosmetics Super Dry — I think this is not even available in Europe, I got this from my friend. My favorite one! Does not work as fast as Seche or Mavala — but penetrates even the thickest layers of nail polish really well — and has not given me any drying bubbles, ever. My bottle is halfway and there is no noticeable thickening happening at all. I don’t know what I will do when this is finished.

Trind Quick Dry — hmm, this did not work for me, I did not notice any fast drying action at all. Plus the brush is really stiff and easily messes up the actual polish layers.

I have also dried so called drying drops ages ago, and did not actually like the feel of those. Might try them again some day for polishes that don’t need the shine of the regular topcoat.

Essie’s and Orly’s fast drying top coats are on my list for testing. They are available here at local department stores and nail salons — but the prices can be like three folded compared to some international sellers.

Posted on | May 14, 2010 | 2 Comments

// Nail polish what’s next

Posted on | April 19, 2010 | 3 Comments

Shades of white! Forget Chanel… …they will make it maybe next year…

BleachBlack Jizz, will be available from Needsupply (gosh, what kind of traffic will that get for me ).

Image from BleachBlack.

And a great budget option: Color Club Who Are You Wearing with very cool gray and mauve tinge. Try eBay for this. Image from awesome Scrangie — she has the best polish pictures — and the girl swatches like there’s no tomorrow…

Posted on | April 19, 2010 | 3 Comments

// Give me the half moon manicure

Posted on | March 6, 2010 | 5 Comments

I truly am a low-maintenance girl — but I do love make-up and thus I’m occasionally exceeding the normal daily maintenance level just because I like to work with color. To be honest I’m not that much into nail art (too little impact with too much fuss — although I somehow like those tiny and often tacky nail decorations), but I do experiment sometimes with the classic manicure variations: french and half moon mani.

With half moons I prefer the traditional look where the bottom of the nail bed is left bare although my nails are not ideal for that. My own half moon is tiny and thus I get a funky double moon effect. But the double polish effect is very difficult to achieve in a way that the result looks tidy — but I have found a decent method for the bare moon.

Personally I dislike all sticker guide methods for half moons and french manicures, the guides always leak and make the edge untidy and undefined. I have been practising the freehand method and it works… …for my left hand when I can use my right hand for the job (yes, I’m right handed). The overall best routine in my opinion is the removal method, you can use a brush and nail polish remover to create the half moon shape — or perfect tip shape for french manis. Of course this method has some limitations: the color you want to shape is always the first one against the nail bed. In french manis I actually prefer that order — but to get the best half moon effect for my nails I would like to have a coat of white or nude polish underneath a dark contrast color.

For this kind of look pick a good pigmented polish, you need to achieve the desired opaqueness level with maximum of two coats — preferably with just one, a curved tip bush (width should be 1 cm or just a bit under, it helps if the brush is dense and soft), effective nail polish remover or acetone, and vaseline or some natural plant based butter. And naturally you can layer a clear topcoat or some neat effect polish (glitter, opal, sheer color/shimmer) on top of everything.

Cover your cuticles carefully with vaseline (this time I was not too careful with this — thus parts of my cuticles have a greenish tint). You can now apply a basecoat if you want to, I did not because I feel that this method works the better the less there is stuff on my nail when I start removing. Apply the main color, note that you don’t need to aim to a perfect cuticle line for this — actually it is better if you do leave the bottom middle of the nail bed unpainted — the color is definitely easier to remove when there is not too much of it. Let the polish dry.

Now pour some acetone or effective nail polish remover to a small cup and place a cotton pad or some tissue paper next to it. Dip the brush to the acetone, brush it gently to the cup edge so that it is not dripping and place it flat to the nail bed bottom and let the brush tip to create the shape. Let it be there just few seconds so that the polish dissolves. Now use gentle curved motions sideways to remove the polish from the half moon area. Tap the brush against the cotton pad or tissue paper when it needs cleaning. Repeat the routine for all nails. If the color is really pigmented you might need to clean the brush thoroughly after creating the basic shape and make another round just to clean the residues. Add a top coat, if you want to, let it dry. Wash your hands and use some lotion — the remover dries the cuticles.

The polish I used for this is NFU Oh 570 — a gorgeous teal jellylike color. Although I prefer almost all my polishes opaque, this one makes an exception, I really love the color after the first coat when it is still quite sheer and the green tint in it is accentuated (in the bottle this color looks just plain navy blue). Somehow this reminds me of some beautiful Chinese laquered items. The brush I used is GOSH synthetic eyeshadow brush — an excellent tool for this purpose. Note that in the image you can see only side of it — but actually the tip shape is perfect for making the curvy shapes of nail tips and half moons.

Posted on | March 6, 2010 | 5 Comments

About

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Contact: kamicha (a) gmail dot com

I'm especially interested in young designers creations, non-established labels and indie fashion. So if you have something interesting to show, feel free to contact!

You can find Finnish design from both specific and some outfit posts - but both are tagged.

You might be also interested in DIY posts, How-to posts, DIY ideas - or my adventures in Etsy =).

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