Cebu Blogger Archives | Page 15 of 39

20 Dec

Swatch This – Cinderella by Sinful Colors

Hi all!
I hope this quick swatch post finds you gearing up for a relaxing weekend with family and friends instead of stressing out about last-minute shopping to do before Christmas day. Our family draws names each year for gift giving, so we don’t have a lot of shopping to do, and I was able to get my shopping done without too much stress. Now to bake goodies and wrap the gifts!

If you follow me on Instagram, you have probably already seen this swatch. Here is Cinderella by Sinful Colors (with San San Warm Blue for undies… ya know… because I’m a VNL-aphobe and Cinderella is what I would call a jelly). I love the shimmer in this polish. Pretty isn’t it? It is another perfect shade for the winter season. Despite spending my whole life in the tropics where temperatures are FAR from freezing, I still dream of a white Christmas and to see snow glistening on the ground. Cinderella’s glistening glow just has to suffice for now. Oh well! I’m off to finish some baking. I’ve got chocolate chip pumpkin bread in the oven right now. Yum! Mr. Nailinator even fired up the A/C so we are baking in comfort. Have a great day! Don’t forget to make someone smile. 🙂

20 Dec

Christmas Tree Accent Nail with Bobbie Star Gazer

Nothing says Christmas quite like a pretty tree filled with lights and sparkly baubles and topped with a glittering star. Right?

I wanted to do some Christmas tree nail art this year, but I didn’t really want to have a tree on every nail so I decided to go with an accent nail instead. I started with two coats of NYC Fashion Safari on all my nails and then applied Klean Colors Military Green with a small brush and small strokes to make the tree for the accent. I decked it out with a dotting tool and a glitter star for the topper. For the rest of the nails, I added one coat of Bobbie Star Gazer over the base. Star Gazer was so pretty in the bottle, but I have to admit I was disappointed when I tried it. By itself, it was so faintly pigmented that I’m positive I would have had VNL even after 3 or more coats. The glitter may have been dense enough to cover everything up, but choosing NYC Fashion Safari as my base gave me the color I was looking for and everything ended up alright. Being a VNL-aphobe means I don’t play with jellies very much, but I will have to experiment more to make use of the pretty jellies I do have.

Anyway, this isn’t my best work and I don’t LOVE it like I did my snowflake nails. I’m not a huge fan of nudes on my nails so, honestly, it doesn’t really stand a chance. That being said, it IS cute and I still learned something important: Elmer’s School Glue Gel (the blue stuff) works as a fantastic peel-off base for glitter polish. I squeezed some into an clean polish bottle, applied one thick coat, and let it dry well before applying my polish. I only sported this look for a day before taking it off, so I’m not sure about the wear time.

That’s it for me today. It’s been a long week for me. I hope you are having a great one. Do you use anything as a peel off base for glitter polish? What polish/es have you used recently that looked the bomb in the bottle but bombed when swatched?

12 Dec

Snowflakes on L.A. Colors Aztec Orange

Hey gals!

This has been a great day. My parents arrived today from their few weeks stay in the US and as if having them home safe and sound wasn’t great enough, they carried some epic nail mail with them from the lovely Jacqui of Craftynail (please do go check out her blog). My first nail swap was officially a smashing success! Thank you soooo much Jacqui! I love the polishes you sent… Especially Alcatraz Rocks! Lemming CRUSHED!

It sure felt like Christmas opening up my package from Jacqui and I’ve got a Christmas themed mani to share with you today. Snowflakes! I’m so thrilled with how these turned out. What do you think of my artsy photo? I adore this snowflake ornament my wonderful mother-in-love sent me.

Snowflake stamping over L.A. Colors Aztec Orange

L.A. Colors Aztec Orange with snow stamping and dotting

Yeah, I know there are a lot of snowflake designs going around but I just had to do one of my own.

I started with one coat of Caronia Tea Rose which, by the way, I highly recommend if you are in search of a great red for the holidays. (Note: Don’t confuse Caronia Tea Rose with Chic Tea Rose) I added two thin coats of L.A. Colors Aztec Orange which I received back in July when Pure Beauty came to Cebu for a promotional event. As soon as I laid eyes on it I knew I had to use it for a Christmas mani. Here it is by itself. Isn’t it gorgeous?

I used the OB19 stamping plate which is full of Christmas themed images. I purchased mine from My Online Shop and I used the Fab Ur Nails white stamping polish which I won in a giveaway to add the snowflakes. I’m still getting the hang of stamping so it can be hit and miss with some attempts. I used a dotting tool and the same stamping polish to add the dots. With all that has happened in the past couple of months I have quite spaced out about taking pictures of the prizes I won the last few months. I will try to get them up soon. So much to do.

I’ve also included a shot of the freehanded snowflakes I sported last year. I only have one shot of it as I wasn’t blogging yet at that time. I’m sharing in honor of throwback Thursday. Ha! So please bear with the poor quality photo. It’s nice to see how far I have come in the past year in the photo department. (By the way, I also post old manis and some non nail related stuff on my Instagram account. If you want to come check it out, the link is in my sidebar to the right.)

Well, that is it for me for today. I do hope you have a blessed day or evening depending on where you are in this big wide world. Make someone smile today if you can!

10 Dec

Holy Holo Glitter Placement Nails

Hi beauties! Allow me to present to you my first glitter placement mani and I promise you that this WON’T be the last!

Let’s get straight into it, shall we? I used one medium coat of Color Club Harp On It as my base and then I just started adding silver holo glitter pieces that I purchased from Blooming Nail Cebu. I used an orange wood stick to apply the glitter and used clear coat when the polish got too dry for the glitter pieces to stick. I topped it off with 2 coats of topcoat. Don’t look too closely at my placement or you will notice my mistakes. I didn’t even notice them until I saw the pictures. I guess I was just blinded by holo rainbows from Harp On It. Anyway, just enjoy all the sparklies!

It took a bit of time to finish all 10 nails but it was a very easy look to achieve. Just add glitter! It is soooo sparkly and fun to wear. I think it is perfect for a party or perhaps to welcome the New Year. I thought I would only want to wear it a while because it is so flashy but it is growing on me. I wore these to the Best Cebu Blog Awards night on Saturday. I didn’t win in my category but all the winners are very deserving. I still feel like a winner and am honored to have been nominated and to have made it as a finalist. The organizers of the event did a great job and I had a great time. It was fun to meet more bloggers from Cebu. Thank you to everyone who voted for me and who have made this a great first year so far. Y’all rock!

Have a great week!

28 Nov

Best Cebu Blogs Awards 2013

Hey there!

Remember a while back when I told you all about how I had been nominated for a Best Cebu Blogs Award? My heart began to race when I received an email this week telling me that I’m a finalist! I am so full of gratitude to be recognized for my effort and so excited to be a part of the Best Cebu Blogs Awards! Thanks toeveryone everyone who voted for me. I’ll let you know how it goes.I was so reluctant to start this blog at the beginning of this year, but I have NO regrets. I appreciate all my followers and the new friends I have made this past year. Although it has been hard to keep up with two kids, some health issues, the home, and blogging, it has also been so much fun! Your “likes”, shares and comments mean so much to me and I hope to continue to come up with some great designs to share with you. Who knows? Maybe we can change the world in our own little ways as we go along. Check out my last post to see how you can help people in the Philippines.

Thanks Best Cebu Blogs Awards!

About BCBA
Best Cebu Blogs Awards is an annual recognition of bloggers who continue to provide valuable content to their audience and affecting change on other people’s lives. This year, the awarding ceremony will be held on December 7, 2013 at Avalon, Cebu Business Park. This Awards Night will be hosted by Best Cebu Fashion Blogger of 2011, Eden Villarba.

The BCBA is spearheaded by Deutche Atil Mark Monta (the founder) and following bloggers:
Mark Monta of www.cebufitnessblog.com
Agnes Jimenez of www.empressofdrac.com
Bjorn Bernales of www.bjorncebuano.com
Jaysee Pingkian of www.jayseeblabs.me
Gezelle Tapangan of www.geemiz.com
Chanel Imperial of shankybaby.blogspot.com
Eden Villarba of www.chicinthetropics.com