Freehand Butterfly Fibromyalgia Awareness Nail Art

Allo polish Pals!

How are you all doing today? Since we're half way through the week, gimme a little update :) I love to know you are all doing well.

Today's nail art is prompted by the weekly challenge over on Tiny Canvas although its also for a really special cause, we are creating awareness nails for Fibromyagia syndrome (Also known as FMS) which is a long term condition that causes pain all over the body and suffers can also experience increased sensitivity to pain, fatigue, muscle stiffness and issues with memory and mood.

I feel like its one of those syndromes that many may not have heard of but for the suffer it is a battle each and every day – in our day to day lives we don't always know or realise what others are going through so awareness is key if we want to be understanding and supportive! :)

If you would like more information on this syndrome please check out this very useful website.

 

Symbols most regularly used for Fibromyagia awareness are butterflies and purple ribbons. I decided to go for the butterflies because while they are beautiful, they are delicate – but they are also very powerful and strong insects so I felt like that was fitting. No matter the pain of the sufferer they are strong because of the challenges they must face each and everyday.

For this manicure I began with a coat of my NYC peel off base coat (ideal when using any gel related products. F.NO do I want to spend 9 hours trying to remove gel ;) Pardon me.

Once this had turned transparent I applied two coats of my Astra purple. Once this had dried I added a coat of BlueSky gel top coat which after cured has the tacky layer, I then pressed some loose glitters on top and sealed again with another layer of top coat. I then proceeded to add my freehand design and completed this manicure with my Pro-FX regular top coat and eventually tried it in matte too.

I have to say.. I am having fun playing with gel products lately, I love how deep the sparkles are when using gel, it seems to encapsulate them!

Have you aware of Fibromyagia? What do you think of my glittery butterfly manicure?

Thank you so much for visiting today, my friends. I hope you have a wonderful day.

I'll be back on Saturday with a little of this to look forward to:

Love,

Ithi

Astra: Fragola (36) - Swatch & Review ★★★★/5

Allo polish Pals!

Great to see you again! Tell me, did you have a wonderful Christmas? I really hope you did. I had a lovely time – being surrounded by my family; I can't forget to mention that being with Mr Bravo and my family at the same time just makes me so entirely happy. I also got really treated with nail polish again, My mum has picked some amazing colours which I am excited to share with you soon!

Now – not long until New Years so I need to cram pack this blog and get my routine back on track! Today I am showing you a polish from Astra Cosmetics – this is a polish my mum picked up for me while in Greece and was an unknown brand to me. This is #36 – or 'Fragola'.

I have to explain to you that I am having nail nightmare without my OPI Nail Envy. I currently have two tears in two nails which I am working on and hoping will grow out fast but here are swatches I prepared before we left for England!

Colour ~ Fragola is a gorgeous deep red with a hint of purple, a beautiful warm Burgundy shade. I have to say it reminds me of red wine, don't you think so too?

Application ~ I didn't know what to expect since I had never tried this brand before but I was pleasantly surprised! Application was dreamy and the dry time was really impressive. I applied two coats pretty fast in between and encountered no problems with streaking or bubbling.

Texture ~ I would describe this polish as a medium consistency, with a crème formula. It dries to a highly glossy and beautiful finish.

★★★★/5 Great first impressions from a brand I was not familiar with – if I am ever capable to expand my Astra collection I would in a heart beat, I love how sophisticated and professional the end result looks and the high gloss finish is just to die for.

Do you like deep shades like this? Have you ever tried Astra Cosmetic's products before?

Have a gorgeous day!

Love

Ithi

Minimal Effort, Freehand Speed Painted Nails.

Allo polish Pals!

How are you today? Just a quick post from me as today is our last day in England – boo. Mr Bravo and I will be travelling back to Holland tomorrow and I think we're both quite bummed about how fast the three weeks has gone. Today is going to be very busy for us, spending time with family and starting to pack up and tonight a Greek take away with my family. I had a few minutes this morning (My sleeping pattern is so good now that I forgot the weekends should be for lie-ins!) to create this manicure which is probably the fastest one I've ever done – that explains the roughness to it, don't kill me for the wonky line work. Another reason I wanted to post today was to say a HUGE thank you to all of you who follow me, this morning I logged into facebook and saw I reached 2,000 likes and I am so grateful! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will see you next week.

Quick, quick! Type fast little fingers! For this manicure I started off with two coats of Astra Cosmetic's '#41 Violet' and followed with OPI's 'Matte top coat'. I then used a mixture of three acrylics to create some straight and diagonal lines and filled a few of them in. I completed by added another layer of matte top coat and added some dots using Barry M's 'Silver Foil'.

What do you think of this manicure? Do you like to play with lined patterns?

I'm off to make the most of today, I hope you all have a fabulous, glitter filled weekend!

See you all next week.

Love

Ithi