ZOYA Pixie Dust "Arabella" Niuton Chavez Felix

Last January I discovered I loved glitter. Then came February and I discovered I loved pink on my nails.  March came and I went green. Then on April I went back to pink with a lovely fuchsia from Nubar.

Now for May I had been pondering on getting some glitter again and lo and behold I discovered ZOYA Pixie Dust “Arabella”. It has a wonderful textured finish. There were many firsts for me with this experience. It was my first time trying out ZOYA nail polish. It was my first time trying out textured nail polish. And it was my first time wearing nail polish without a top coat. Turns out wearing this nail polish is something totally different. First of all, you don’t need a base-coat. Just file and prep your nails with some primer. The texture and polish formula adheres to the nail as if you applied a rubberized base-coat. There is also no need for a top coat unless you want a glossy finish which eventually kills the textured effect. I personally do not like crackle textured nail polish finishes, but this texture I absolutely fell in love with.

The textured finish is amazing, just like in the pictures, it resembles and almost feels exactly like the shoe or the ornament in the pictures.

The color is a purple base with saturated bright pink glitter. This is a very intriguing nail polish. You won't grow tired of staring at it, it has a wow factor to it. Pixie dust comes in a variety of colors and I have already picked 5 different shades. I would label “Arabella”  as a “superglam”. It is very hard to dress it down. I mean you can wear it with anything you want, but It screams red carpet, it would be perfect for prom. Just two coats will do just fine for full coverage. 

It has taken some abuse and the polish stays on. I thought that because of the glitter or the textured finish it would not last me more that 3 days, but It has endured more than 8. I have my nails a little longer than usual and even with a bit longer tips and the regular abuse I give them I am happily surprised that it has lasted so long. I even broke an edge of my thumb nail and it did not affect the polish. it stayed on the rest of the nail flawlessly, no cracking. I will give ZOYA “Arabella” a 5 bottle rating. It is my new favorite. Until next time, Happy polishing! #Niuton Chavez Felix

My Kind of French MANicure Niuton Chavez Felix

Hello my fellow polishers! 

If you follow my blog, you may have noticed I was absent for a while. 

My life has had some twists and turns that have absorbed my time quite a bit. All changes, fortunately,  are for the good and advancement of myself. 

Some of these changes are job related and others are spiritual related. But all is more than good. 

Due to these changes I just haven’t been looking to purchase new nail polish shades, so no new swatches have been posted because of that. 

The purpose of the blog was not in any form intended to be a “nail polish review” blog, but somehow, that was the form it took. 

Letting it sit for a while has given me the time to refocus the main objective of this blog. It is OK for men to wear nail polish. 

These last couple of months I have been going to the salon to have my nails done with gel polish. 

I started doing them with gel polish more than anything because I didn't have time to go shopping for nail polish. On occasions where I would go shopping, I just didn't feel enamored of any particular shade I saw at the stores. Everything I saw was very close to something I already had.

One time I went to have my nails done and I saw a very nice pink with blue shimmer polish. When I asked my nail tech to apply it, she told me it was gel polish, so from that point forward, I have been doing gel ever since.

I have always loved shiny top coats, and I have to admit, you can’t beat gel polish for that. Even Seché Vite, which has the best top coat shine for regular polish, can't match gel top coats.

As far as how long it lasts, now that I am wearing longer nails, I am more conscious about them and take better care of how I handle things to avoid breaking a nail. So for me at least, both regular nail polish and gel based nail polish is the same when it comes to how long it lasts. I almost always outgrow them before they chip.

I have always liked french manicures but never did any on my nails because from my point of view, the nails have to be a bit longer for the french to look nice. Also, french manicures look very nice and clean, but a bit boring for my taste. Si I opted to have the french effect with color.  

I have also been experimenting with different color combinations and white tip length.

Nevertheless, I let my nails grow so I could sport a nice french manicure, and let me tell you, unless I need to cut my nails short for some very strong reason, I don't intend to shorten them any time soon.

Letting my nails grow just a bit has been a very pleasant experience for me. They are great for scratching. I just love to scratch my scalp and run my nails thru my hair ( I wear my hair long) and they are fabulous to scratch my back. 

Anyway, I hope you keep coming back to read my blog. I will be posting more, but less often. I will be venturing into other kinds of activities and traits that are considered "female", but that when we start to discern about them, we can come to the clear conclusion that we make them like that, but that there is no real solid reason why they should be that way. We have the power to change things. Of course, nail polish in no exception. Remember, one of the universal immutable laws is that everything is constantly changing. 

In the mean time, Happy Polishing!

Butter London “Disco Biscuit” Niuton Chavez Felix

Even though we are just finishing February, I wanted to express the feeling of this beautiful month. The month of Aquarius. The unconventional. The month of Love.

I was browsing thru Pinterest and came across a photograph of a swatch from Butter London “Disco Biscuit” and I was awe struck.

Only one other nail polish color has moved me so much as this one, and that was Chanel “Taboo”. This is my first time wearing hot pink nail polish and I have to say, I love it. I have pale pink shirts and pink ties, but aside from the light pink base used for french manicures, this is my first pink nail polish. The first thing I just loved about this polish were the blue sparkles that it has. The contrast of the blue with the hot pink of the base, works extremely well.

This is my first Butter London nail polish, so aside from the color, I did not know what to expect. The verdict for me is not so great. The color is very thin, I usually apply 3 coats of polish, but this was so thin that I had to apply 5 coats on top of the base coat for the color to really come through like you see it on the bottle.  That poses a problem because there is not enough time for the polish to dry and the later coats become chewy. Three coats definitely wont cut it unless you are ok with partial coverage. The square bottle is ok to hold and the brush is fairly decent. Color is absolutely wonderful if you can get full coverage. One of the things I noticed is that the polish dries to a mate finish, so if you like mate finish you will love it. I opted to apply high shine Seche Vite high gloss top coat. All in all, I ended up with mixed feelings about this polish. The color is extremely beautiful but the quality of the polish itself  is not as good as the color. The mate finish was also unexpected. Color wise it is a keeper, but it is definitely nothing I would buy again. If I had to give this a rating, I would give it just 3 bottles. Until next time, happy polishing!

Orly - "Haute Red" Niuton Chavez Felix

First and foremost……

In the spirit of the holiday festivities, I decided on red nail polish for this post.  This is Orly’s “Haute Red” nail polish. It is a classic. Even though it’s not gel based, this cream color base spreads like butter on the nail.

Orly now makes most of it’s color’s on both gel and regular nail polish, so it you like this red and would like it on gel, it is available.

Before I tried this color, I had an old favorite on, “red velvet” by Cherimoya with a couple of accented nails using Orly “Lux”.

There is something about red nail polish that is so cool to look at. Personally it feels empowering. So many reds out there that it is impossible to name them all. I have my own share and the stash keeps growing. 

Just to finalize this post, I would like to make a point on the poll results so far. Close to half of the poll respondents, 46% do not care what people might think. Kudos to all those who live happy and do not live by what others think. But it seems that FEAR is still a big factor on why men don’t wear nail polish. Close to 35% of poll respondents are still afraid of what people might say. Just 18% of respondents don’t want to be labeled as something they are not, which is a valid reason, but still, falls into the “what might others think or say” category. 

I say go for it! and make it a new years resolution to live your life to the fullest and fearlessly. If you fall into that 35% or even that 18% bracket, and would like to wear nail polish, go ahead, you will never look back and I guarantee you will feel empowered.

Happy Polishing!

ESSIE "CROCADILLY" Niuton Chavez Felix

It has been a while since I posted, sorry for that, but I have been a little tied up at work. But hey, here I am, still kicking. 

I am currently wearing a very nice shade from ESSIE. This is actually the first time I give ESSIE a try and I have to say, I absolutely love this color.

I like to wear deep greens this time of year. When I first saw this shade on the shelf of my local Walgreen’s I thought it was a dark metallic grey. It is from ESSIE's Snakeskin magnetic collection.
This is the kind of polish that has metal on it so you can put a magnet to it. The name is “Crocadilly” and like the name suggests, it is a dark crockadile green with a metallic overtone.

I have to say, I like it very much. This has to be my favorite olive green to date. The fact that this is has metal in it actually serves it better because the consistency of the polish is so much nicer, it kind of glides smoothly when you apply it. I really didn’t care to put the magnet effect over the polish, which it is like a snakeskin or crocodile skin effect, but without the effect, it looks metallic.  I really picked it for the color from the bottle, not for the effect, and let me tell you, when I finished applying it.... WOW!

I like it so much that it has been almost a month since I first tried it on and I have done my nails twice now with the same color, which is very rare for me. 

I love greens because I can wear them with mustard colors, blacks, khaki, greens, browns, etc., perfect for the fall/winter season.

I really don’t know if it is the metal formula, but the only thing I noticed and I did not like about this polish is that it chipped a bit after just 6 days. I usually prep my nails and polish lasts on me for at least 10 to 12 days without chipping, but for whatever reason, this polish chipped way before, never the less, I give it 4 out of 5 bottles as a rating. If you like magnet polishes, you are going to love this, If you like dark green’s you are going to love this too. If you ask me, this is a must for any avid nail polish addict's collection. Until next time!

Happy Thanks Giving and Happy Polishing!

OPI "Alpine White" Niuton Chavez Felix

We just had a monster heat wave where I live and thought about going all white on my nail polish. I had already begun my transition to fall colors, when I realized that I had not worn white before. 

I am not a big fan of very bright colors, and that might have something to do with that, but white is one color that I like very much. Like black, it can be elegant and casual at the same time. It will look cool at the beach and chic at the night club.

At first it was the weather that got me in the mood for all white, it is very hot right now, but after I pondered at it a bit, I got inspired by two of my favorite movie franchises, star wars, and star trek. 

All white inspires cleanliness, futuristic landscapes and a high sense of style. Just look at the stormtrooper, the rebel ship deck and the Enterprise. Clean, modern, futuristic, elegant.

 For this post, my five year old daughter wanted to get into the act. She had her tiny toes and fingers done in a french mani with some flower decorations. She just loves that I wear polish and she also likes to wear polish. It is mom that won’t let her do it often, maybe on some long weekends or on vacation because of school. Anyway, she likes when daddy and her can wear the same color.

For this endeavor I picked OPI’s “Alpine White” that I used for a previous nail design. Like all OPI colors I have tried before, this is pro grade. Nice streak free application and three coats and a top coat will cover like gel. If you prep the nail with a buff and you use primer and a base coat, you nails with last two to three weeks. So if your neck of the woods is also going thru a heat wave, or you want to try something stylish, you can go all white for the remainder of summer which is just days away, or you can also wear it thru the fall and winter. Until next time, Happy Polishing!

Deprogram your Mind and Empower Yourself

For centuries, men have been programmed not to show “soft emotions”.  We are taught that men showing their feminine side makes them vulnerable. This is just “conditioning”. It is totally quite the oposite. It makes us stronger human beings. 

Gender expression is more widely accepted now thank’s in part to the equality movement that has stirred the collective consciousness of humanity toward that end, as well as the scientific community that has looked deeper into the gender issue and now have scientific proof to back it up. 

Humanity is maturing. At least many humans are, others are still resisting the inevitable, a few are regressing. The fact that humanity is starting to understand that sex, sexuality and gender as well as gender expression are totally different things, gives  more widely acceptance of some behavior in men doing what used to be considered female only activities or conducts. The same can be said with women doing what was for a long time considered male only activities and conducts.

We now understand that the sex we were born into has nothing to do with our sexuality,  and that sexuality has nothing to do with gender identification or gender expression. Although there can be so many combinations it can sometimes get confusing and that is why we have to educate ourselves.  

There are so many sex, sexuality, gender identity and gender expression combinations possible that it is pointless for me  to name them all right now. I just know that at the end of the day what really counts, it’s the fact that we are all human beings, and that in itself is above ethnic race, citizenship, profession, sexuality, sex, gender identity, political or religious beliefs.

This leads me to conclude that being a heterosexual male gender identified man who thrives on a patriarchal state of being and uses his left side of the brain (male side) more than his right side (female side), or a heterosexual female gender identified woman who thrives on the matriarchal state and uses her right side of the brain (female side) more actively than her left side (male side), are both out of balance human beings. They are the total oposites, the end of both spectrums, macho and feminist.

Let me explain. The perfect balance, and the way I have concluded humanity is heading as we evolve , will be balanced male or female with both gender identities and a balanced gender expression (androgynous) that embraces both patriarcal and matriarcal states of being and will be proficient in using 100% of both sides of our brains. 

I understand that sex and sexuality are genetic traits, even gender identity, but gender expression up to this point in humanity could be conditioning because we are wrongly taught to suppress our gender identity if it does not fall in the same category as the sex we are born into.  If we are born male, we are expected to “act like a boy/man”. If we are born female, we are expected to “act like a girl/woman”. 

Please stop to analyze and think this. What is acting? Acting is the ability to transform into a convincing character in front of an audience to a degree that the audience no longer sees the actor as a performer but a completely different being, thus, “acting like a man” or “acting like a woman” is not being true to yourself, it is just playing a role to convince someone or some group about what they think who you are. But what about how you feel, what you think, how you identify? Why do we have to act out an identity that is not our own?

As you can see from the graphic I devised to try to explain it all, using myself just as an example,  I identify as a heterosexual  male who is to a certain degree female gender identified (the yellow dot). Why? Well Because I am very logical and analytical (my male side). I enjoy Art and consider myself very creative (my female side) while at the same time,

I love meditating and I lean more into the altered state of consciousness rather than the dogma. I also like to do some things that are considered female and I am very comfortable with that because I know who I am.

Why do I say all of this? Simply because this mental conditioning (if you are male you have to be macho and if you are female you have to be girly)  is mostly just that, conditioning, and it has to stop in order for humanity to evolve.

For the human being that does not realize this, there will be suffering and internal conflict until he/she realizes and accepts the truth about themselves. Mostly because that suffering will be driven by fear of the unknown more than anything else.  Humanity is coming full circle after millennia and are coming to terms with the fact that we are all one gender, just like before we are born into this physical realm. We are all human spirited perfectly  balanced beings, and we all have very powerful traits that are inherently genderless.

Our collective consciousness creates our reality, and that is why we have been seeing so much change in the world lately. The violence, the prejudice, the hate, they are all reactions out of fear of the unknown, out of fear for change. The more we know, the less we fear, the less we fear, the more we thrive.

As humans we are mentally conditioned and we are put in a box, we are compartmentalized by the will of others. It is time for us as humans to be truly free. 

Many human beings think they are free, but they are really not, it is just an illusion, because they are slaves, but they just do not realize it. They do not take time to analyze, to think and realize they are enslaved to a set or rules imposed by someones ideals, good or bad, but nevertheless not our own but someone else's. 

They are enslaved by debt, enslaved by society, enslaved by doctrine, enslaved by their own ignorance.

We do not have to limit ourselves, we can embrace and act upon both states, feminine and masculine, that will make us better human beings. We have the capacity for that and so much more. As human beings, our faulty conditioning by others interests is holding us back on our path to evolution.

¿So what has all this have to do with men wearing nail polish? Everything…..

The only thing keeping men from wearing nail polish is ignorance and fear. Fear is a negative emotion of a future event. We can choose to embrace or reject fear. The future does not exist, so fear does not exist. We create our own future with our present.

Free your mind, explore the possibilities, think, analyze and act upon your conclusions without fear. Follow your heart, it never fails to show you the right path. Be true to yourself and you will find the truth within. What do you think?

Minty Fresh Creme Color Niuton Chavez Felix

Hello my fellow polishers! With Spring in full Swing, I got inspired to do the minty theme. 

I rarely go for bright colored polishes, but lately I just got bored with the dark jewel toned or metallics and have been diving in to more creme based lighter tones. Why limit ourselves? Last month I did a very nice blue from L.A. Colors called “Aquatic” and this time I dove into a bit brighter tone, although not neon like. I was at my local Walmart and I found this color in a big display full of all kinds of colors. They were just $2 so I picked four tones, a nice dark blue, a nice lavender, a pretty purple and this minty color. I just could not resist.

The only drawback is that these bottles of paint do not have names to the colors, which is something I really like to have fun with. I have a strong suspicion that these nail polishes are from O.P.I. and are just rebranded to sell in bulk because the bottle is suspiciously similar to O.P.I.’s, and the consistency of the polish as well as the brush are eerie similar. This particular color also looks very much like OPI “Gargantuan Grape”. 

This minty green branded “Premium” Nail Lacquer looks very nice, although it is a bright color, somehow it does not “jump at you”, it’s a subtle bright tone. 

It goes very well with white, black, brown and jeans, as with multi colored spring/summer shirts.

I think it can be worn elegantly if you “dress it up” with a nice silk scarf and a nice white spring jacket. All in all, I think it was a steal.

If you see these “Premium” branded nail polishes at your local Walmart, do not hesitate to get some, they are definitely a steal. Hope you get some and happy polishing!

Nail Polish on Men it totally wrong. Niuton Chavez Felix

I think it all a matter of personality and style. It is not wrong for men to use/wear nail polish as it is not wrong for women to use men's razors to remove hair from their legs. Another example would be, women who like to wear big men’s watches, or women who like to accessorize with men’s dog tags. Do those make them less of a woman? No! The only thing is that society in general tends to be more forgiving to women than to men on these issues. But the point here is, what is wrong? Child molesting, murder, stealing, spouse abuse, animal  cruelty, and I can go on and on, but men wearing nail polish? I don’t think so. Again, the way you wear it has a lot to do with how it is perceived. 

How did I start wearing nail polish and why? Niuton Chavez Felix

I have always liked pampering. I absolutely love a deep massage, I like having facials done and I like having manicures and pedicures done.  The last two, I have been doing for the past 10 years regularly. Some people like to call a man who likes these things a metrosexual, I personally do not like labels. When I first started doing pedicures, I did not wear nail polish. I have been wearing nail polish for the past 5 years and colored nail polish for the past 4. So here is how it all started for me. One day, when I was having a pedicure done, the nail tech asked me If I wanted clear nail “protector” and I said yes. Ah, the word “protector” suckered me in. Like all males, I was programed by society that “polish is for girls”, so most probably if the nail tech had asked me if I wanted “clear nail polish” most surely I would have answered NO immediately.  My feet looked so good clean and shiny, that from that day forward, I always had clear polish applied to my toes. I liked the way my nails were shiny, like any new shiny thing would look. Then, one day talking to a female friend of mine, I saw her nails with a french style manicure and I asked her what was that color called, which she responded “nude with clear topcoat and a white tip”. I liked the way her nails looked, so clean and defined that I thought to myself, “I think I will give that a try”. So the next time I went to have my manicure and pedicure, I told the nail tech to please give me a french manicure and pedicure minus the white tips. So she applied a “baby pink” color to my nails with a clear top coat. From that point forward, I was officially hooked to nail polish. 

This is Sally Hansen's "Unbreakable Heart"

I had been wearing french style nails minus the white tips for some time when I came across a very cool color that I liked from china glaze called “diamond black”, when I saw it, without thinking about it much I reached for it and bought it. Then I applied it to the nails of one of my toes just to see how it looked. I was amazed at how cool my toenails looked in color and how cool my feet looked with colored nails. Then I removed it, and applied the usual baby pink. Not being a regular color wearing person up to that point, It was hard for me to have my nails done by myself, so I though, If they looked so good after being done by me (all out of line) how would they look if a professional nail tech did them?. So my next trip to the salon was with my bottle of nail polish at hand. When the nail tech asked me If I wanted the regular french I immediately pulled out the dark nail polish and she gave me a weird look. She said, are you sure you want this color applied on your toes? So I said YES IT'S NO JOKE! . She went on and applied it on my toes, when she finished, she looked up at me and said “you know something? Your feet look really cool, that color suits you very well”.  That day, I had french applied to my hands, so I wore color on my toes only. When I got home and my wife looked at my feet, she was very upset. She was ok with me wearing clear or french, but somehow, she was not ok with me wearing darks. She even told me,  “you look like an EMO boy and you are 45 years old” “next thing I will see is you wearing it on your hands too” which I immediately responded “NO, THAT WILL NEVER HAPPEN”. Yeah right, as the saying goes, “never say never”. 

A few days later, I had forgotten that my toenails were colored, and I stepped out in sandals to the local supermarket. When I got back, my wife told me, “did you go out in sandals?”, that’s when it hit me that I had my colored toes exposed for everyone to see and ABSOLUTELY NOTHING HAPPENED. No comments, no weird looks from people and no good  compliments either. It was as if I had them with no polish whatsoever. And that's when it hit me, It was not the fact that a man wears nail polish, it is all about how you wear it, how confident you are wearing it, how bold you are and how secure of a person you are. 

Why do I do it? This is the simplest of answers, JUST BECAUSE I LIKE IT. I like the way my hands and feet look when my nails are colored. If you think about it, we all look at our hands and toes much more than we are conscious of, like 95% of the time we spend doing things, we look at ourselves, our bodies, be it our legs, knees, face, hands, feet, etc. heck, I guess the only body part we don’t look at frequently is our backside. Let me give you examples; Driving? We look constantly at our hands. Taking a shower? We look at our feet and hands. Walking? We look at our feet (if you wear sandals of course). Writing checks? Hands, Sunbathing? Feet. Cooking? Hands. I think you get the picture right? So as a personal preference, I like the way my hands and feet look much more with colored nails than with plain unpolished nails. 

A couple of months later, I went to the salon and had the nail tech apply the same color on both my feet and hands. That gave me a sense of empowerment when I did it. Suddenly, I felt different from all the other men around me. I felt sexy in a way, because I discovered Women were paying more attention to me than the other guys around me. Of course not all women, but certainly more than before. And this was not the “attention for the wrong reasons” kind either, It was that feel good, honest and here’s a little boost to your ego attention. I started to receive positive comments like “good for you, I wish my man had the guts to do that”, or “what a really nice color, I wish my feet were as good looking as yours”. I have also received comments like “I like your sense of individuality” and “You pull it off nicely”. Of course, there is the other side of the spectrum too, bad comments will also come from ignorant people, like “are you gay”? or the most stupid of all comments, “you look like a girl” or “nail polish is only for ladies”. What my personal experience has shown me is that it is a 50-50 thing. 50% of people will NOT like it, 50% of people will NOT comment. 50% of people will give you a compliment and 50% of people will bash you or give you “the look”. 50% will consider it NOT NORMAL, and 50% will tell you WHAT EVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT. But, the most important thing for me at least, is that I do it for me, not to please others, but to please myself.