Karen & Erica's 2012 Birthday Party

September 15, 2012

This year, it was a sit down Surf and Turf dinner + Hello Kitty + Tonic Bags and Shoes + Polished Inthecity Nail Art PARTY!!!!

I'm still on a high over it! Jor-el bought 18 pieces of 14-16 oz. steaks for all of us to feast on!!! If you've seen them in real life, you'd be flabbergasted! :-O

Thank you Chef Jor-el Soyangco for our plated surf and turf grilled steak and prawns with a siding of mashed potatoes and our smoked salmon with kesong puti salad in blueberry vinaigrette!

Thank you Chef Nicco Santos for our watercress and spinach soup, mushroom and truffle cream sauce pasta, and our late night salpicao!

We even hired a waiter to serve and bus out our plates! How cool is that?! :)

It was so sad we didn't have pictures of the food though!! All I have is this picture of the leftovers with the boys. :(

I got Erica black Lydias from Tonic Bags and Shoes for her birthday! I wore my platinum ones, while Anne wore her gold ones. All thanks to the ever-talented Kim Chupeco!! We love your work!!! <3

Our friends, Kali and Rach, got us these really cool Hello Kitty glasses! Now, I have 4 in my collection!!

Took this the day after the party, with my new Hello Kitty glasses! :)

The night progressed with the girls doing their nails for each other. :) It was so much fun!!! Look at the smiles on our faces! After trying it out themselves, my friends realized how easy it was to do! The night was shortlived and I'm still hoping that I can invite them over to the house for another round!

Nail Art #1: Kate Spade Dippin' Dots for Kali

with China Glaze Peachy Keen, China Glaze For Audrey, and Orly Pixy Stix

Nail Art #2: Fun Nerds Dots for Shirley

with Orly Spark, Orly Rage, Orly Pixy Stix, China Glaze Peachy Keen, and China Glaze For Audrey

Nail Art #3: Silver Accents over Pink for Elaine
with some Orly pink polish and Wet 'n' Wild Wizard

Nail Art #4: Sponged tips for Erica
with Orly Rage layered on Essie Sand Tropez

Nail Art #5: Aztec Nails for Kacy
with OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, L'Oreal Electric Pink Creme, and Sassy Nail Art in black

Nail Art #6: Paul Smith Stripes for Kim Lee

with Sassy Nail Art in black, red, and Orange striped over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

Nail Art #7: Black Swan sponged tips over silver foil for Jeelai
with Wet 'n' Wild in Creme Noir over some silver polish

The last 3 to leave, with yours truly. You can see the full post about my cupcake nails here. :)

Can you believe it?!?! 7 nail art designs all in one day! Phew! Perhaps I can retire at this point! Haha Who am I kidding?!?!

But before I end this post, I'd like to share with you my favorite picture of them all! It was an honor to have our first ZESh baby, Kirk, attend his first ZESh party!!! I'm a proud Auntie!! :) Isn't he just adorable? <3 Calling Kirb and Vince, please bring Kirk more often! Anne and Hans, bring Ethan next time too, okay? :)

Celebrating love and friendship on our 28th! Of course, a little bit of nail polish and Hello Kitty wouldn't hurt too! :)

Have a great Wednesday to all of you!!

 

Dotted Nails--Dippin' Dotted, that is!

My friend surprised me over last week's long weekend with a pack of goodies--dotting tools!

I immediately searched for a design that would give these tools justice. I looked for pegs and stumbled upon Chalkboard Nails' nail art dotting contest. There were so many pretty entries, I had a hard time choosing! I don't know who actually won the contest, but my personal pick is monkeybuttsmomma's Dippin' Dots nail art!

The inspiration is the revolutionary ice cream brand Dippin' Dots--"the unique, futuristic and fun way to eat ice cream!" I fell in love with this design right away! Banana Split is also my favorite flavor! Sadly, I don't have any yellows in my stash and couldn't replicate this color combo. And what's a banana split without the banana???

So here's my take on it.

This looks like a yummy jelly!

Close up shot

I settled with 4 colors that looked good together. I don't think they resemble any of the Dippin' Dots flavors though. From left to right, I used OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, Orly Country Club Khaki, China Glaze For Audrey, and L'Oreal Steel Colour Hard Core Creme.

Here are earlier variations that i tried.

I can't wait to try this again with a new combo. It's so easy, you can do it yourself!! Trust me!

Here are the simple steps:
1. Put on a base coat. I used Orly Bonder.
2. Choose 2 or more colors of polish. If you don't have a dotting tool, just get a hair/bobby pin and dot away! Make random dots all over the nail, interchanging the different colors of polish. They don't have to be evenly spaced. The more sporadic, the better!
3. Finish with a top coat. I used Seche Vite dry fast top coat.

Easy peasy? Easy peasy!

Be prepared to be a head turner! :) This design catches a looot of attention. I wore this to the office with my red blazer and people greeted my nails right away! Haha! Such nice compliments too! My husband thinks that my nails look like they have sticker on them though. I can't tell if that's a good thing or a bad thing. :)

Now, I said that it's easy to do, but I didn't say it was fast! (You've been warned.) The challenge about not having a base color is that you have to fill the whole nail with just dots. And I found it nicer to layer different colors randomly versus doing all the dots 1 color at a time (which is kind of how I did it). But it's really fun to do! Don't be discouraged if you don't like how it looks after a few dots or a few nails! You have to see it in its entirety.

Don't they just look fun and playful? :)

Before I removed my polish, I played around with some finishes to see if they would improve the overall design. The Orly Matte Top coat stood out and I realized that the matte finish really looks good with this manicure!! It almost looks like the real Dippin' Dots ice cream in its frozen state. Nom nom nom. :)

Now, if only I could take a shot with a cup of Dippin' Dots!! Crave. I think I'll go have some this weekend. :)

I'm taking a break from all the dots after this manicure. I'm excited to show you what's next!!

See you then!