My latest purchases: Avon Top Coat, Drip Dry by OPI

Avon Nail Experts: UV Gloss Guard Top Coat

I really love this stuff. It's a lot thinner than my previous topcoat by Nailene and it never leaves little bubbles on my nails. That, and I love how it makes my nails look like they don't have a top coat on. I prefer that to having a clear layer floating on top of the colored nail polish.

I bought it from Avon through Amazon: Here's the link if you're curious. $3.99 + 5.99 shipping, but I pretty much got it for free since I opened up an Amazon Credit Card and will be getting a $30 credit back on my bill. Yay freebies!

Drip Dry by OPI: Lacquer Drying Drops

Previously I've used Sephora by OPI Nail Colour Drying Drops but that was $14 (plus shipping if I didn't have access to a store... which I don't, during the school year). Instead I found the next best thing on eBay, from the seller jenbyk for $6.99 + $1.95 shipping, which ended up being super fast.

So far, no complaints. It works the same as the non-sephora affiliated drying drops, and I'm guessing it's the same product but with a different label. I like it.

Evil ghost nails

 It's amazing how fast October whizzes by. Wasn't I just saying I'm excited for having multiple weeks of Halloween Theme nails? And now November is right around the corner.

Before anything else, can I just say... I love the new topcoat I got from Avon. It's awesome and perfect.

What I used:

• Base Coat: Avon Nail Experts Smooth Beginnings Base Coat -- 2 coats
• Color on Orange Nails: 
• OPI Nail Lacquer in "In My Back Pocket" -- 3 coats, maybe? This stuff is really thin. 
•  Nicole by OPI in "Razzle Dazzler" -- 1-2 coats.
• Color on Yellow Nails: Sephora by OPI Nail Colour in "Cab Fare" -- 3 coats minimum. 
• Stickers: Professional Nail Stickers by Sinyemei. These stickers came from three different sheets (ghosts, bluish stars, white stars) I wish I could give you more info on them but they don't say much on the packaging. 
• Glitter: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in "09 Disco Ball"
• Top Coat: Avon Nail Experts UV Gloss Guard Top Coat -- 2 coats. 
• Drying Agent: Drip Dry by OPI Lacquer Drying Drops -- 1-2 Drops per nail.

These nails feel really comfortable, compare to the last few weeks. Maybe it's the way I filed them or something, but they seem much more wearable. That, and I can still use my thumbs to type on my phone without pressing down more buttons than I need to. I have the LG Xenon w/ the pull-out qwerty keyboard so sometimes square ends can really make it difficult to text...

Okay that's it for Halloween, I guess! Till next time!

Halloween themes continue! Cats and pumpkins and stars.

Super excited about these halloween stickers I got on ebay. :) They're so much fun.

• Base Coat: Avon Nail Experts Smooth Beginnings Base Coat -- 2 coats
• Tips: Nicole by OPI in "Razzle Dazzle" -- 2 coats
• Stickers: Professional Nail Sticker by Singyemei, taken from 3 different sheets
• Glitter: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in "09 Disco Ball" -- 1 half-coat
• Top Coat: Avon Nail Experts UV Gloss Guard Top Coat -- 2 coats (NEW purchase!)
  

 Love to top coat. No bubbles anymore. Yay!

Halloween Nails continued...

Quick update on this one because I forgot to upload my photo!

October Week 2 -- spider webs!

Shoutout to my cat ZETA who unintentionally makes her debut today!

Inspired by a tutorial I found on Youtube here:

 Halloween Nails Tutorial - by fumsmusings

I really liked the spiderweb design she made, so I added it to what I thought were already finished nails. I had ordered some halloween nail stickers off eBay, and, being upset that they hadn't arrived yet, my original plan was to do some plain orange with black tips. I dunno, some sort of spite fit because the stickers weren't here yet. Wouldn't have proven anything to anyone, wouldn't have done anything, really.

But anyway, I got done with the orange, then I put on some yellow to make it an "ooooo shimmery!" kind of look, and then my black tips came out okay. So... I felt like adding more.

Then I looked online for halloween nail tutorials, and t's amazing how many tutorials out there and it's even MORE amazing how IMPOSSIBLE it would be for my non-dominant hand to even TRY anything these tutorials suggest. Plus, a lot of them are tutorials on how to draw on a fake nail that's not attached to anything. And sure, anyone can do that. But when they're your own nails and they're attached to your hands already, you can't exactly follow a "Learn how to draw a Frankenstein" tutorial 10 times in a row.

Anyway, the youtube link again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTGVp2YOYQ4 See for yourself!

I like my nails now. No more spiteful plain nails!

What I used:

• Base Coat: Avon Nail Experts Smooth Beginnings Base Coat -- 1 coat
• First color: OPI Nail Lacquer in "In My Back Pocket" -- 3 coats
• Shimmer: Sephora by OPI Nail Colour in "Cab Fare" -- 1 thin coat
• Tips: Sally Girl Nail Color in "Poser" -- 2 coats
• Spider webs: Petites in "French White 417" -
• Applied with Nail Brush: Winning Nails by Worldwide #306 Nail Art
• Top Coat: Nailene Acrylic Strong Topcoat -- 1 coat
• Drying Aid: Sephora by OPI Nail Colour Drying Drops

What I Noticed:
I'm pretty sure you can use any kind of thin brush to paint designs. No need to shell out the money for an official nail brush, since it just gets coated with nail polish anyway.

This was my first time freehand drawing on my own nails. I know 1) for SURE I am right-handed and 2) thin lines are hard to make with frickin' nail polish and 3) I feel like I oughta try this more often!