Painting the Roses Red

They say spring is here, but I have a hard time believing it..Here in Athens the weather has a different opinion! It's a little cold for the season and at times it tends to be cloudy..So I decided I had enough of that and wanted to bring spring back..And where else? My nails of course!

A few days ago during a class at nail school, our teacher showed us different types of easy yet eye-catching patterns. I instantly fell in love with this vintage floral design and so I had to recreate it and share it with you. It's too beautiful to keep it all for myself!!

For this design I used a black polish for the backround and the rest is all acrylic paint. I started off with white and red paint for the flower shapes and put in the details with those same colors and pink as well. I added some green leaves and to finish the pattern I used some light blue to make tiny daisies and a little bit of yellow for the dots inside. Finally, I sealed it with a fast drying topcoat to protect the acrylic paint from coming off and of course to make them nice and shiny!

I really love this and I can't wait to try it in more color combinations!! If you have any suggestions feel free to leave comments. :)

Polishes used:

Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat

Orly - Liquid Vinyl

Orly Sec 'N Dry Quick-Dry Topcoat

OPI My Voice Is A Little Norse Swatch

In the past posts I showed you swatches of all the creamy colors in the mini Nordic Collection and today I have a swatch of "My Voice is a Little Norse", the only glitter polish in there. I was never really a big glitter fan, but the past year something's happened to me and I'm so excited to share this one with you. I think it's gorgeous!!

This is a holographic glitter in a very sheer grey base. It gives a good coverage compared to other glitter polishes I own and in the pictures I have three coats on. Although I think you'd need to apply it with a sponge in order to get a more opaque result. As for the texture, it's a bit gritty and when it comes to topcoat I'd say it's very thirsty! LOL. In the swatch I've used two coats of a fast drying topcoat and you can still see and feel the texture. You'll need at least three coats of topcoat for a smooth look. Either way, textured or not, I love it!!

Normally, I would only wear glitter polish as an accent on my nails, but I really like how this looks on a full hand. Maybe because of the grey-ish base? I don't know! It's just hypnotizing!!

I also took pictures of it over "How Great Is Your Dane?". This is only one coat of "My Voice is a Little Norse" and one coat of topcoat as well.

Polishes used:

Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat
OPI - "My Voice is a Little Norse"
Orly Sec 'N Dry Quick-Dry Topcoat

OPI How Great Is Your Dane? Swatch

Today I'm back with a swatch of OPI's "How Great Is Your Dane?", which was in the mini Nordic Collection. It is a creamy dark brown polish that leans more on the grey side. The past years I've been loving brown polishes especially for fall and winter and this one is definitely different from all the others that I own.

As for the formula, I simply loved it!! I think it was the easiest to apply from all three creamy colors in the mini collection and you can get full coverage with only two coats. Seriously I have nothing bad to say about this little guy! I'm impressed!

Have any of you tried this color? Let me know what you think. :)

Polishes used:

Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat

OPI - How Great Is Your Dane?

Orly Sec 'N Dry Quick-Dry Topcoat

My First Award! | Marvel Comics Nail Art

Happy March everyone!

I couldn't be more excited, first of all because spring is finally here and second of all because this month started in the most amazing way for me. 

The Greek "Les Nouvelles Esthetiques Spa" magazine was hosting the Live Nail Chic 2015 competition, with the theme "Gourmet & Gateau" and two Inbox Nail Art competions as well. The first one involved flat nail art designs, with the theme "Comics", in which I participated and the second inbox competition involved 3D nail art, with the theme "Greek Mythology".

So yesterday was the big day, the awards! I won second place! In a National competition! I still can't believe it! I was so nervous about the results, my heart felt like it was pounding out of my chest and I was all shaky. But in the end I was happier than ever! It was truly the most amazing experience I've ever had until now and I really wanted to share some pictures of my work with you.

Here's a picture of my award, my medal and trophy along with my entry for the competition. My precious! LOL!!

 I took the tips outside the box where I originally had them to take better pictures of the full set for you to see and some close-up pictures as well.

They were also kind enough to give away some goodie bags to all the winners. These were the products inside mine and they also included a Hair Styling Seminar from the Greek beauty school "Atelier de Beaute" and a set of 4 issues from the Greek nail magazine "ΝΥΧΙΑ". What else can a girl ask for?

This whole process was very creative and challenging for me and I feel very proud and grateful. I'm definitely looking forward to more competitions in the future.

I hope you like it and feel free to leave any comments. :)