Philippine Independence Day Nails

 

I've always wanted to do Philippine related nail art but I understand how people could get really sensitive nowadays!  So I try my best to do representations instead!  I picked the Philippine Flag colors and drew 3 stars and Sun with 8 rays.

I hope you like this!  

Polishes used:

1. Base and Top Coat by Barry M  All-in-One Nail Hardener
2. Blue shade - Orly It's Britney Bitch
3. Red Shade: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Red Handed
4. Yellow - GirlStuff Nail Polish in Lemon
5. White - Revlon Gel Envy in Sure Thing

Happy Philippine Independence Day to my fellow Filipinos!

Keep smilin'

Stay happy!

 

Nail Art Tutorial: Purple Dainty Nails

My love for nail art never fades.  It has been more than 10 years ago when I started "trying" to do nail art using random tools as there wasn't a lot of options back then!  

I stopped doing nail art after getting pregnant, giving birth, breastfeeding then my schedule goes extremely busy from looking after each milestones of my son I almost never wear polish anymore!

Today, even with a little time on hand before I go to bed, that's the best time for me to schedule a quick nail art with the help of my ever supportive hubby who helps me grab things or open up polish bottles as you all know --- Girls are weakest with wet polish on! :D

I am getting back to my MOJO so here you go!  Another installment of my Nail Art Tutorial!  I hope you enjoyed watching the quick #AMWIGtv as well!



Products used ---

• Girlstuff Nail Hardener
• Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Polish in Boho-a-go-go
• Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Polish in Plush Blush
• Sally Hansen Top Coat
• Girlstuff French Tip
• Girlstuff Mircale Top Coat

Continue to watch full video!

Nail Art Tutorial: Sweet Fimo Nails (For Kids and Kids At Heart!)

Fimo nails started in the AMW household quite early!  It was year 2009 when I ordered online and had Mr. AMW manually cut them for me (Read FIMO CLAY HERE)

I've done several nail art designs featuring the Post Cut Fimo Clay here ---

Fruit Salad Nails

Fruity Fimo Nails

Summer with Fimo Nails

And expect me to share more because, Girlstuff came up with pre-cut Fimo Polymer Clay and they are even cuter than ever!  So my nail art design is inspired by the cute clay and Kyle can't get enough of these!

Step 1:
Apply a base coat to protect your nails.  Apply 2 coats of Sally Hansen Miracle Gel in shade Tipsy Gypsy.

Are You Ready for Summer Nails?

I have been obsessed with Nail Polishes for the past 2 decades!  Yes, I was in-the-know with what's-hot and what's-not for the digits as early as Freshman High!  Of course, we weren't allowed to wear polishes back then but I remembered getting really exciting during summer season as I can freely experiment on different shades of polishes on all 10 fingers!  (Yes, I tried wearing 10 different colors for 10 fingers!)  Who says I am conservative?  :P

One of the first polish brand I've tried is Caronia, and I'm happy to say, they are coming up with better colors and BETTER finish!  The Caronia Popsicle Collection reminds me so much of my favorite ...uhm.. Popsicle!  I may not be off to a beach this summer or enjoy travel with friends like I normally do, that doesn't mean I can't enjoy the heat!  How? By adding a pop of color on my n ails!

L-R Caronia Brain Freeze, Lemon Cool, Peach Perfect and Tequila Sunrise

All four shades are obviously inspired by the shades of summer --- ice cream and happy food!  There are 2 glossy finish and 2 matte finish!  Tequila Sunrise and Brain Freeze are matte finish while the rest are glossy!  I personally love Peach Perfect on days I want to look "chill" while if i want to add a pop of color, I'd go for Brain Freeze!  

Christmas Gift Ideas for Colleagues

Every Christmas season, the company I work for would prepare for Exchange Gift and the fun starts even before the gift-exchanging itself! The fun starts at Creating your own screen name (from Local actors/actresses to cartoon names, etc...) to the whole guessing game of who picked who!

Now that I'm working from home, I'm missing all office gift-giving but that won't stop me from sharing my Christmas gift ideas!  And I'm picking products ranging from Php500.00-Php1,000.00.

For the Kikay Colleague

Ah, the easiest Exchange Gift Recipient in my dictionary!  It takes one to know one --- 'nuff said!  But if you're not Kikay or you're probably a guy who chanced upon this post, well, here are some gift ideas you  may give to your "Kikay" Colleague.

If you see her into eyeliner, purchase the limited edition K-Palette Rose Scented 1Day Tattoo Liner priced at Php795.00!  She'll love this!

 

If she is into lip products, you may go for ---

Askmewhats Reviews: Sally Hansen Base and Top Coat

UPDATE: I have tested this on my 2nd polish and today is the "5th day" mark and I started to see my pinkie fingernail chipped a bit. So it's tested 2x! Instead of having my polish chipped on the 2nd-3rd day, it prolongs the life of my polish for an additional 2 days! :D

Sally Hansen Says ---

As a Base Coat - Double Duty moisturizes and hydrates nails withPanthenol - strenghtening Pro-Vitamin B5. It smooths the nail surface and improves nail color adherence for longer-lasting results.

As a Top Coat - Double Duty protects nails with Nylon, a proven nail-building hardener. Nails are shielded with a hard, shiny, chip-resistant finish.

Double Duty gives you more perfect manicures and stronger, more beautiful nails!

Askmewhats Says ---

Pros

• 2-in-1 product? Who doesn't love?
• Sally Hansen nylon brush, I always love their brush
  
• I've used this as a base coat for my "Devil Loves Gold" Nails , minimizes yellow nails hmm..let's say 2%? lol but really, for such dark nail polish I've used, it really helps minimize jaundice nails
• I am in a work that needs full day of typing, and trust me, I type really hard! (ask my colleagues), nail polish especially the pinky finger chips after 2 days , with Sally Hansen as a Top Coat, it lasts 4 days CHIP FREE!!! Afterwards, it starts to chip but not as much as regular top coat
  
• I can't say anything about the strengthening property of this polish as my nails are strong and hard to start with *knocks on wood*
  

Cons

• definitely not CHIP FREE polish but prolongs the life of the polish
  

Overall Tips

• Always shake gently
• Always apply to clean dry nails
  
• For base coat, I prefer to apply just one coat instead of 2
• For top coat, I prefer to apply a regular clear polish first and top with this Double Duty Top Coat (it works better this way)
• Apply as top coat not only the nail itself but also the tips of your nails
  

Will I repurchase?

Yes

Where did I purchase and how much?

I bought mine at the Robinson's Place for Php335.75 (approx $6.80)


Hope this review helps you nail addicts out there!
I learned that taking care of your nails is just like taking care of your skin!
You can't have lovely nails without the right products
especially if you do mani and pedis regularly!
Take care!

Askmewhats Reviews: Sally Hansen Dry Kwik Nail Color Dryer

A nail enthusiast like me aside from prettifying my nails likes to make sure I prettify beautifully and of course, at a shortest time possible! I still want some QT (Quality Time) with my family you know?

Let's talk about MANICURE!

Maximum time spent for cleaning my nails = 10 minutes
Maximum time spent for nail art = 10 minutes
Drying time? = 1 hour + (before I can really move around)

Not good right? That's why I have to do something about it!!! That's when I laid my eyes on this....

All I can see at the store was DRY KWIK!
Who would say no to this right?
(I did 3x, and after research and further thinking, I cave in!)

** Sold at Sally Hansen Counters for Php299.75 (approx $6.50)

A closer look on the brush
(click to enlarge)

Sally Hansen Dry Kwik Says ---

Ingredients: mineral oil, octyl epoxidized soybean oil, cyclopentasiloxane

You have

• Wet nail color and messy manicures
• nail color smudges, smears and scuffs

You want

• Dry nail color now!

How it works

• easy brush-on formula makes nail color dry to the touch in just one minute.
• Helps prevent smudges and smears, without dulling the shine.
• Moisturizes and nourishes cuticles

You'll Get

• A flawless manicure in just minutes!

Askmewhats says ---

Pros

• the brush is easy to use, very thin and smooth!
• my nail color lasts longer
• nail color is shiny
• dries pretty quick! Definitely a minute!
• though the ingredient is OIL, it doesn't have this really bad OILY feeling that I hate
• Salon tested and dermatologist tested!
  

Cons

• NONE

Overall

Sally Hansen has a more expensive version of a 30 second quick dry for double the price! I've been thinking back and forth and I thought, if I can wait for an hour in the past, 1 minute is nothing! I'm glad I bought this as this really works well for me. Of course, I don't go doing hardcore chores after a minute of applying this Quik Dry, but I definitely see major improvement of drier polish! I don't know if it's just me, but my work entails me to TYPE the whole day!!! I usually have my pinky fingernail chip after 2 days. This time, with the Sally Hansen Dry Kwik, it started to chip after 5 days! That's a huge improvement! I will continuously use this and I will get back to you guys for any changes!


Tips

• Apply nail color as usual, you HAVE to wait for a minute before you apply the Sally Hansen Quik Dry with light strokes.
• Apply Quik Dry on your nails and also on the cuticles and surrounding skin.
• When polish gets completely dry, massage the remaining oil into cuticles to moisturize.
  

Will I repurchase?

YES! Definitely!

True to what I said in the past, you can use whatever nail polish you want and it doesn't have to be expensive. But if you want to make your polish lasts longer, always invest a really good top coat so you don't have to redo your polish or feel frustrated!

Let's all paint the town "Colorful"
By starting to PAINT OUR NAILS! *winks*

Nail Art Tutorial: MAC's "Cult of Cherry" Nails

Everyone's raving and talking about the MAC's Cult of Cherry Collection. I wanted to share my "Cult of Cherry" phenomena, so I've created something "Cherry" related :D
(again, I am no expert in any way or form, I am just someone who loves painting my own nails, or try to *winks*)

Step 1:

Paint your nails with any colors you want as a base. I chose mine in Platinum color.

Step 2:

Wait for a couple of minutes to let it dry for a bit. I've applied 2 coats.

Step 3:

With a reddish nail art pen, create 2 dots (as cherries). You don't have to make the dots perfect as cherries in real life aren't perfect, right?

Step 4:

Create dots in all 5 fingers so you don't have to open and close the nail art pen (which will cause the product to dry up)

Step 5:

Create twigs with a brown color, in my case, I don't have brown colored nail art pen, so I've used black instead. Create a twig with V shape connecting the 2 cherries.

Step 6:

Again, do it in all 5 fingernails!

Step 7:

Using a green nail art pen, create a leaf, going in any direction you want. Your choice. Your masterpiece :D

Step 8:

Top it with clear nail polish. Blowdry the polish on one hand first before you proceed in doing the other fingers. Make sure to let it completely dry before you ruin your nail art while doing the other hand!

Cherry-fic! Here's a simple Cherry Nails tutorial for you guys to try it out :)

Before I end this post, let me share to you a lovely shirt my hubby bought for me!
Made me smile....I am so childish..but who cares?


Shirt made by the company called "WHATEVER!" check out their shirts. A lot of cool prints and cute ones as well! Click to enlarge and see how cute they are! My favorite is the "You Rock! You Rule!" red shirt!

Still afraid to try on nail art?
Do not be, life is too short to be scared :D

P.S. A lot of my readers asked me regarding the 2 Way Nail Art Pen set.
I've found a very nice supplier and will probably sell them in good affordable price! (via Multiply)
I will let you guys know when the stocks arrive! Soon! :D

Want to see how Cherry nails was professionally done?
Smile and say "Cherry Nails!"