Mani Monday: Matte Camo Nail Art in Honor of the Soldiers

A little more love can't be bad for anyone

It is already the 10th day of firefight in Zamboanga City. A lot of people wounded. Innocent children killed. Families displaced from their homes. Whoever wins this fight, the people will surely lose. 

Someday, I wish that pride will be the only thing wounded in people and innocent children are killed with tickles and laughter and families are displaced from their homes for better ones. Someday, I wish we don't need to send our young valiant men to fight with other men because of ideals bigger than them. Ideals they sometimes do not agree with or even understand.

But seeing these things happening now, that someday seems a little too far. Until then, we should give honor to the men and women who stand guard so that we can sleep peacefully in our homes, the men and women who risk being away from their families so that we could be with ours and the men and women who took the bullet and died so that we can walk the streets without fear.

We do not and must not condone any form of warfare but if it is inevitable, we do and must give honor to the men and women who are courageous enough to face it so that we don't have to.

 

How to do this mani?

1. Make a DIY matte top coat. It is super easy make! Just mix cornstarch in your clear polish.

How much cornstarch? (rhymes. wow)

- Well, it was trial and error for me. But I think I ended up with 2 parts clear polish, 1 part cornstarch.

2. Then, paint your nails black except for the ring finger.

3. While waiting for the other fingers to dry, make the camo on the ring finger.

4. After you finished doing the camo, your other fingers will mostly be dry. It is time to apply your DIY matte top coat. The consistency is thicker than usual and you might need to add a little more solvent. Don't worry about the creases though because they will dry flat. I used two coats of the DIY matte top coat for all the fingers for this mani.

5. Finally, using the black polish, I painted diagonal lines over the now matte black nails for that beautiful contrast between matte and glossy.

   

Whenever the thought of how bad and unfair life is creeps on me, I say to myself "Someone died so that you can live." I think of the pain that someone's family might be experiencing now and how I am demeaning their pain by not being happy with my life. Then, I will come to the realization that "Someone gave his life up for me, might as well make it worth his while"

Mani Monday: Glittery Red

Last June 20 was my father's 48th birthday. In celebration, my mom and dad cooked the best kare-kare and best palabok in the world. It was a small celebration with just my aunts, uncles and cousins.

Pose for the pic Ate Anne!

After the kalderos of the best palabok and the best kare-kare in the world were scraped to the bottom, my kikay ninang, Ninang Cel (the gorgeous sexy lady who also brought the J. Co donuts. Haha) and first SL, Ate Anne suggested that we clean and paint our nails.
Yay it's Mani Monday time!
This week's Mani Monday is red with dots of silver glitter and the reverse for the accent nail.
And, another thing to note, this is the first time that the mani on my right hand is better than that on my left hand!
Maybe with a little practice, I can make both hands better!

Yay for Mani Mondays!
Yay for more practice!

Mani Monday: Independence Day Mani

Mabuhay ang Kalayaan ng Pilipinas!

This infamous phrase was shouted by Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo in the balcony of an ancestral house in Kawit, Cavite on June 12, 1898. It concluded the centuries long fight and struggle from Spain.
That day was also the debut of our national flag sewn by Marcela Agoncillo.



This is the inspiration for this week's Mani Monday.



For a country, independence means being able to protect its people and their welfare while being able maintain good relations with other countries.
For a person, independence means being able to make your own decisions and being able to stand by it.

So now, the inevitable question: is the Philippines an independent country?
Maybe not yet. I think we are still in the middle rung of the ladder to independence. An independent country is comprised of independent people bonded by a common love to their motherland.

So until every Filipino can say with his head raised with pride, "Ako'y isang Pinoy sa puso't diwa!", the Philippines will be one person shy from being independent.

Mani Monday: Lace-y Black

It's been a very busy week for me. Deadlines. Deadlines. Deadlines. Well, I promised myself I will not let work-related stress invade my blog so let's move on from that.

So, this week's Mani Monday is drawn in black lace over SanSan Precious Platinum and Klik Colorless.

Mani Monday: Lace-y Black Nail Art

For each nail, I painted the diagonal half  with the Precious Platinum and the other half with Colorless.
Then, once dry, I drew on them with Permanent Marker.
I, then, topped it with more colorless. I should've skipped this step though because the mark of the marker cracked and the nail polish bubbled.

Oh well, lesson learned.

 I actually am getting the hang of doing my nails every Sunday for my Mani Monday. Maybe next time I will post step by step instructions with pictures (once I get my new camera!).

I cannot say the same for the rest of the week though (YET). But I will try my very best!

Mani Monday: Italian Nude

It's Mani Monday once again!
I found a nail polish from Klik named Italian Nude. Do Italians really turn this pink when they are nude? Haha.

I decided to pair with an equally sexy color, Caronia Black Satin with a dot of SanSan Pink.

I came up with this design:


Writing this now, I realized it looked like a gothic Santa hat. Haha.

For my toes, I didn't want to be all matchy-matchy but I used the same color scheme. My toes are teeny tiny. Taping was a bit difficult but a success nonetheless.
Here is the result:

My toes look like piggies. Haha. But I'm proud of them. They look like baby toes. Haha

Yay for another Mani Monday!

Mani Mondays: Summer Nostalgia

With the rains starting to pour every few days or so, I can't help but feel nostalgic for summer. This summer has been filled with a lot of new adventures, fun thrills, heartbreaks and realizations. I just don't want it to end yet!

So this week's Mani Monday is all about summer.

I used Caronia Sweet Surprise, Caronia Stellar, Caronia Sunkissed and Caress Mango.

For the yellow base, I brushed alternate layers of Caronia Sweet Surprise and Caress Mango. It gave my nails a very sunny look. I then dotted the tips with Caronia Sunkissed in the center surrounded by three dots of Caronia Stellar. Here is the end product:

It is pretty simple to make. Perfect for a quick summer fix.