Winter Wonderland

Winter Wonderland, so accurately named by my sister.

Butterflies and flowers and snowflakes, because I had a magically butterfly-filled chick-flicky week leading up to Christmas this year. I'd love to dish the details, but a nail blog probably isn't the place for it... haha!

I used my new Avon Mirror Shine in "Glisten." It took two coats to get it like this, and boy are they shiny. Did you know it's difficult to photograph something super shiny with white stickers on it? Good thing I took advantage of our visit to Aveda and their salon with a billion lights. I was redeeming a birthday gift postcard for a free perfume essence in a scent of my choice. And if you must know, I got the oil in Fire Nature #20. :)

What I used:

• Base Coat and Top coat as usual, lots of top coat though
• Color: Avon Mirror Shine Nail Enamel in "Glisten" -- 2 coats.
• Stickers: Random leftover stickers from some sticker sheets in my box. Don't have the labels for them anymore.

Happy New Year!

Another Haul!

Yaay, I am SO official, another HAUL! These are some purchases I made at Sally Beauty Supply after having a crappy school-related meeting where the lady I was talking to wasn't very nice to me. My solution? Starbucks Javachip and Sally nail stuff. Bad mood crisis solved!

From Left to Right:

1. Sally Girl Nail Color #812047: I knew I needed this color for previous nails, but I can't exactly remember what I needed it specifically for. I haven't used it yet, but it should come in handy.
2. Sally Girl Nail Color #812070: Gold confetti circles! This one is so fun. I used it in my last Christmas nail set. Click here to check it out. A little gold flourish without having to stress out too much about it.
3. China Glaze Nail Lacquer with Hardeners in #718 Watermelon Rind 80226: This is the Christmas green I needed. I don't really have greens in my collection, but I needed it for the Christmas Nails. Worked well, but a little more transparent than I was expecting. The nice thing is that I got a Christmas green that I can also use over the rest of the year too. That was the challenge in finding just the right color...
4. China Glaze Matte Magic - Flat Finish Top Coat: This stuff was on the sale rack and I figured I'd go ahead and try it. I haven't tried it myself yet, but my sister loves it. She wants nails that aren't too girly (which is difficult to accomplish) and she wanted a top coat to keep her nails strong, and this stuff is apparently the stuff of miracles for her. She said it started chipping off, but probably because she had already put on base coat and top coat and THEN this stuff, just cause she was excited about it when I brought it home. We're thinking it'll work better if its put on top of a basecoat instead.
5. Cina Stickers: Holiday Cheer: Soooo cutie. Love the reindeer and santa. Used them in my Christmas nail set as mentioned above (clicky here)!

Yay Haul!!

Merry Christmas 2009!

I did a supah christmas theme this week. :)

From left to right: Christmas bow, stocking, present, gingerbread man, candy cane, reindeer (my sister's favorite), snowman, santa, holly, christmas tree.

These took a long time to do, but luckily I've discovered that if you play video games in between coats it can really make the time go by.

Used a LOT of stuff for this one. Here we go.

What I used: (in the order they were applied)

• Base coat - the usual
  
• Gold Dots: Sally Girl Nail Color "#812070" -- 1 coat
• Sparkles:  Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Nail Color in "09 Disco Ball" -- little bit on each nail
  
• Snowflake Stickers: From a pack I bought on eBay. "Professional Nail Sticker" Sinyemei. Cut with a scissors and then applied to the edges of my nails. 
  
• Gold Color: Savvy Nail Lacquer in "Golden Honey 627088" -- 1 stripe across the tip
• White Stripe: OPI Nail Lacquer in "Alpine Snow" -- applied with a toothpick
• Red Stripe: Wet n Wild Nail Color in "Red Red" -- applied with a toothpick
• Green Stripe: China Glaze Nail Lacquer with Hardeners in "718 Watermelon Rind 80226" -- 3 coats across the tips
• Stickers!!! My Favorite part! Cina Nail Creations "Holiday Cheer 133879" and the snowman is from another sheet I got on eBay. 
• Top Coat - the usual -- 2-3 coats.

I love them! They're so busy and crazy, they're awesome.

What I learned:

•  It's difficult to find a green color that I will use for the rest of the year. There are plenty of Christmas greens out there but I didn't want to buy something I'd only use once, so I'm glad I found this China Glaze Watermelon Rind. It's fun and sparkly and should be useful for other nail designs. It's a lot more translucent than I was expecting so it took more coats than expected to make it look solid, but I like it. 
• I had my first experience with using a real nail file that my sister bought as part of a present for my birthday earlier this month. I've been using some little files that were 99 cents for about 10 files? (what seems like a million, I keep finding more) at a grocery store. Thought they were fine, but then this new file from Body Shop is fabulous and gold and makes filing SO smooth and easy and FAST. Who would have thought? Anyway, I'm sold, and I love using the "real" kind of nail file. Yay my sister!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas Nails!

Yaaaay Christmas Nails! I love Christmas. I love the corny songs, getting the same presents every year, even the Christmas junk that I used to hate when I was little and now would love as a Christmas present.
 
These are my favorite nails yet! They look like wrapping paper. Sooooo cutie. I hope they last a LONG time because I'm not gonna wanna get rid of them anytime soon. The idea is thanks to a youtube tutorial and a suggestion from my sister to put snowflakes on red instead of blue. The snowflakes and larger white dots (snowballs) are stickers, the little white flecks are painted on with white nail polish.

Note to self: I need green nail polish. I don't have any green!

What I Used:

• Base Coat: Avon Nail Experts Smooth Beginnings: Base Coat --1 coat? I can't remember if I did a second.
  
• Red: Wet n Wild Rock Solid Nail Lacquer:  #227 "Rockin in Rubies" -- 2 coats plus touch-ups
  
• White specks: OPI Nail Lacquer: "Alpine Snow" -- applied with a #306 Winning Nails by WorldWide Nail Art brush
  
• Stickers: Professional Nail Sticker, Sinyemei Nagel-Kunst from eBay.
  
• Top Coat: Avon Nail Experts UV Gloss Guard: Top Coat -- 2 coats
  
• Drying Agent: Drip Dry by OPI -- 2 drops on each nail
  

What I learned?

My left hand is INCREDIBLE shaky right when it matters, when the brush has white polish on it and it's about to touch my right hand fingernail. I'm steady up until 1 cm away and then BAM shaky shaky shaky. It's kind of nerve-wracking, actually.

ADVENT NAILS!

Happy Beginning of Advent! Here's to the Advent wreath candles.

What I used:

• Base and Top Coat: the usuals
• Purple: Finger Paints #806199 "It's An Original"
• Pink: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails in #28 "Almond Crunch"
• White: OPI Nail Lacquer in "Alpine Snow" 
• Glitter on all nails: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails #09 "Disco Ball"

I'm so close to vacation I can just feel it.
By the way, today's my 26th Birthday. Yay me!

Toodles.

Thanksgiving Nails

School's been busy, so quick updates this week. These are the nails I brought home for Thanksgiving break. (.... last week?! CRAZY!)