Mich and Myl Nails @ Ortigas Center

If there's one service that I always pay for, it would be pedicures and foot spas. I'm not confident to do my own nails, unfortunately. I do have some polishes at home, but I found that doing my own nails never resulted in something as neat as having it done by the pros.

I'm really delighted that two new nail salons opened up literally just across the street from where I live. I tried the one, Mich and Myl Nails because they had a promo of 30% of all services until August 31 (tomorrow).

The manicure/nail art station. It reminds me of CANS.

The pedicure/foot spa station:

This salon has a lot of materials for nail art. It has more than the average nail salon, IMO. They also do gel/acrylic nails.

I enjoyed their service. I availed of a foot spa (that comes with a pedicure). Unfortunately, though, you'll have to add P50 if you want to use OPI nail polish. I forgot the regular nail polish that they have (the name didn't really ring a bell for me). However, I just bring my own polish since I have several here at home, anyway. I also added some nail art for my big toes:

I'm sorry, I know there's a bit of hair on my foot :P Yes, I'm a hairy girl. 

The whole experience lasted a little over two hours. I have nothing bad to say about their service. Everyone was polite and accomodating. I just wish they had their own restrooms like a lot of other nail salons. I'll be trying another nail salon in the area so stay tune folks!

Mich and Myl Nails is located at Emerald Tower, along the corners of F. Ortigas Jr. and Garnet Road, Ortigas Center, Pasig City

Spotted: Konad Nail Art in Shopwise

Good news for those who've always wanted to try nail art. I spotted this in Konad booth in Shopwise Alabang. According to the multiply site, it's also available in Shopwise Cubao and Pasig. I always prefer going to shops than ordering online so I can see the items for myself and won't have to speculate on sizes, shades, etc. I'm not sure if prices in Shopwise are the same as the prices online. But this is still good news!

My First Experience with Konad Nail Art

This is my first nail art using Konad! My polish color is Orly Catch the Bouquet. I actually took this while I was in the slipper section of SM Megamall. I started out a simple flower design, but hopefully I'll be able to do more complicated designs in the future.

I had to practice this a few times to get it right. The first few times, the design was incomplete so I had to try some more but I finally got it! I tried using my Sally Hansen nail polish for the nail art but yes, as the seller told me, the formula was runny and the design came out pale. I guess I have to stick to the special nail polish unless I can find a brand with that has really thick nail polish. Originally, I wanted the flowers to be silver, however, when I stamped the silver polish onto my nail, the design looked pale. I was disappointed in the silver. The white and black polishes work well, though. I have yet to try the gold polish.

When I finally finished stamping all my nails, I was going to apply a top coat, and to my horror, the design smudged! I had no choice but to do the smudged nail all over again. I waited for another 2 hours for the special nail polish to "dry," but it smudged again, much to my dismay. I redid a lot of my nails because of the smudged designs. Finally, I got the trick to applying the top coat. The brush must not actually touch the design. Apply the top coat on the nail with the right thickness, and brush the polish very lightly. Just enough for the polish to spread around the nail. The polish will act as a barrier between the brush and the design. Once the top coat dries, the design dried as well. However, be careful not to put too much top coat in an effort to avoid contact between the brush and the special polish, or else bubbles will form.

All in all, I think once I learn how to do this better, this will be more enjoyable. It's a little faster than manually drawing the nail art, especially for untalented ones like me. Nail stamping can also be used in combination with manual painting.

My First Attempt at Nail Art, My Konad loot and My Post-Christmas Gift

Okay, around a week ago I posted the nail art pens that I got from Nikki (askmewhats). I finally used them to paint my feet! It's my first attempt ever to do my own nail art and yes, it looks very crudely done (Darn! I should have used the dotting pen instead). Hopefully, with a lot of practice someday I'll be half as good as Nikki. It's a good thing that this is on my feet so it's not so obvious that it isn't perfect or even. Right now, flowers are the only designs I can do. Tee hee!

Anyway, I also bought nail stamping items from Konad. In the picture is a French tip set (with a stamper, scraper, 2 10 ml bottles of nail polish, a demo video and 3 image plates), 2 5 ml nail polishes and 9 image plates. I admit that I got carried away. I hoarded a lot of image plates. The nail polish is expensive! P330 (around $7.6) for 10 ml bottle. It's even more expensive than imported polish Anyway, I'm in the process of testing them. I'll do a review on this stamping set soon.

I also received some goodies from Kanebo from my mom as Post-Christmas gifts.

from left to right: Faircrea White UV Protector SPF 50, Lunasol Brow Styling Mascara and Coffret D'0r Natural Clear Liner.

Remember the review I did on sunblocks? The Faircrea SPF 50 is very similar if not exactly the same as the Tiffa SPF 50. Of all the sunblocks I've tried, this is my favorite!