Gold with flowers and jewels

-Savvy Golden Honey: One coat
-Konad black with  plate m64
-Rhinestones from Algeria (see previous post)

Excited to use my rhinestones from Algeria!

I bought this in Algeria last year for about $6.00US. :-)

Nail Catch-up #1

Wow I have never fallen this far behind on posting nail photos! Sorry for the quick post. I got a lot of great new nailpolishes over the holiday season. I got some for my birthday, bought some for myself, and even got a whole new box for Christmas. But before I dig into them I really want to get caught up on all the photos I have saved on my computer and my phone. So here they are! Enjoy!

 

 

Pink Purple Gradient

I put on this design a week ago today, and they're still looking really good. Must be the high-quality nail polishes. :) I've gotten a lot of compliments on these over the last week. Feels pretty good!

Ingredients:
Seche Vite Base Coat
Sephora by OPI "Lost Without my GPS"
Finger Paints "It's an Original!"
Nicole by OPI "Razzle Dazzler" (black tips)
Konad Black
Konad Plate m79
Sally Girl 812031
Seche Vite Top Coat

End of April Nails

Check that out, I actually posted a set of nails that I'm currently wearing instead of a "quick update" of nails I forgot to upload. Had a lot of fun with this one, and really happy with how it turned out.

Ingredients:
Seche Clear Base Coat
ORLY 40638 "Green with Envy": 2-3 coats
ORLY 40667 "Green Apple": 2-3 coats
Migi Nails Pen and brush: black for lines, blue for color blocking
Seche Vite Top Coat

Watch out if you try it yourself -- Seche Vite DOES streak the Migi Nail polish. So brush fast and get good coverage the first time!

Inspired by "Nailed It"

On Friday April 13th (dun dun dun) I saw a nail post from BlogNailedIt on Facebook and loved the photo so much I decided to try copying it. I didn't have either one of the nail polishes used in the original so I made up my own. Here's the original photo.

Ingredients:
1. OPI "My Private Jet" -- 2 coats
2. China Glaze Crackle "Oxidized Aqua" -- 1 coat
3. A glitter glue stick from the dollar store for the gold sprinkles
4. Sally Girl "812031" for the silver sprinkles -- 2 coats

That crackle sucks, but it was the closest in color that I could get to the photo -- which apparently isn't a blue color at all, now that I've researched the two polishes that were used. I like these nails, though. I'll wear them for a while.

2012 Nail recap!

Sorry for the lack of posts this year. I've been doing my nails but not posting them regularly, so here's my cheater catch-up batch of nails that I've done. Keep in mind these are over the last few months, so I'm trying my best to remember what I used but can't really guarantee my accuracy!

January 20, 2012:

Just a quick one, using striping brushes.  SEPHORA by O.P.I in "212-SEPHORA"

I didn't actually intend for this one to come out so abstract, but I got to this mid-way through and  ended up liking the random corner paint job. Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in "Pink Chrome" ($1.00 at Dollar tree!)  covered with OPI in "Ski Teal We Drop" (which I love love love)

This one is by far one of my most favorite nail sets I've ever done, because it's so busy-looking. Huge combination of different colors, including (but probably not limited to, since I'm having some trouble remembering after two months) Black undercoat, China Glaze "Cracked Medallion," Art Club black striping polish, Konad plate m64 with Konad White polish, plus some random rhinestones I had in my nailpolish box. So much fun!

My first gradient! I loved these nails, they were so pretty and they lasted a long time, too. :) Colors included:  China Glaze "718 Watermelon Rind," Orly "Green with Envy," OPI "Ski Teal We Drop," Savvy "Totally Teal" (on sale at Sally's for 1.99! Yay!) and Nicole by OPI "It's up to you." 

Christmas 2011

Another quick update

Super quick update - Pink and Green

Super quicky update on my nail blog. Unfortunately I didn't take a picture of my Fourth of July nails, but I don't consider that a huge loss because I didn't really like them (I did them in a super hurry the night before).

But here are some others for you to feast on until the next update! Enjoy!

Migi Nails Take #1

Sorry for the lack of details. These are old designs that I never got around to posting and so I don't remember much about how many coats, drying time, application, etc. Enjoy the pictures! (P.S. the design is based on one of the designs on the back of the Migi Nail Kit box)

County Fair Nail Polish -- Migi Nails!

I went to a neighboring county fair with my dad and brother at the beginning of this month. Didn't plan on buying anything, but I walked through the expo hall and there was this woman selling these nail art pens. She saw me looking and asked if I wanted a nail design, so I went ahead and let her. I happened to have plain nails on, so she had no idea what kind of nail addict I actually am. Anyway, she drew some cute flowers on my right ring finger just by doing some simple dots, and then a "french tip" on my pinky. Not a big fam of the french tip (mostly because I always fake like my tip are longer than they naturally are) but I really liked the pens. Plus they came with a lifetime refill offer, so how can you pass that up?

So here's the set I got. I had to ask her which one is the most popular because I really couldn't decide, and she recommended the basic set that has all the colors plus black and white. They were also selling the extra pens with glow-in-the-dark polish and clearcoat/rhinestones, normally $10 each but on sale for 2 for $10. So It was a total of $35 for everything.

Still getting the hang of it. It's REALLY tough for my left hand to hold the pen steady, but I'll get it eventually. I love that they're both regular brushes AND intricate pen tips. It will come in handy!

Gap Nail Polish

Showing off my new "grayish lavenderish" color from Gap. The "in" color from earlier this year, apparently. :) I'm sorry I can't give you any more information on this except for the number 11005. I bought it weeks ago and it doesn't have a name! Nice color, though.

Quick update and Hiatus

Sorry folks for the delay. I gave up painting my nails for Lent so I haven't had anything to post. HOWEVER! I forgot to post the last two nail jobs I did so here they are, real quick:

See you after April 24th! Have a beautiful Easter and God Bless!

Valentine Nails 2011

Well so much for me keeping updated! Here's a quick post on my latest Valentine Nails. Enjoy!
Last week:

This week:

(Inspired by Whoa Nails! Valentine Nails -- her design was SO cute I had to try it! )

Happy Valentine's Day!

Mermaid nails

The idea with this one was supposed to be a mermaid-under-the-sea-with-pearls deal. It didn't quite turn out as great as I had hoped but it's still cute. I like the different kinds of blues and greens I made up, and they each have their own unique shimmer too.

Sorry for the messier-than-usual. I ran out of q-tips and cotton pads so I had to do the best clean-up I could with just soap and water. :(

What I used: Unfortunately there was a lot of experimenting with layers so I don't know how many coats of each color I have on each finger. The listed colors are in order of application on each nail.

• Base coat: Avon Smooth Beginnings Base Coat
• Top coat: Seche Vite 
• Pinky: Sally Girl 812047 + Nicole by OPI "It's Up to You" + Konad white w/ plate m27
• Ring finger: Avon mirror shine "Glisten" + ORLY "Green with envy" + Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear "09 Disco Ball" + Konad white w/ plate m60
• Middle finger: Zoya "Pippa" + Sally girl "Luv it" + Konad white w/ plate m79
• Index finger: Sally girl 812047 + ORLY "Green with envy" + Sally girl "Luv it" + Konad white w/ plate m79
• Thumb: Zoya "Pippa" + Sally girl "Luv it" + ORLY "Limelite" + Konad white w/ plate m79

Half-moon manicure

I've hopped on the bandwagon! This week I decided to try to calm myself and continue with the simple designs. What better way to do it than by following the current trend of half-moon manicures!

What I used:

• Base coat: Avon Nail Experts Smooth Beginnings Base Coat
• Gold half-moons: Savvy Nail Lacquer in Golden Honey -- 1 coat
• Blue color: OPI Nail Lacquer in Ski Teal We Drop -- 2 coats, applied over some circular reinforcement label stickers  used as guides
• Top Coat: Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

What I've learned:

• I had no idea what I was doing. First off, you don't paint the moons on afterward. You paint the bottom color over your entire nail, then put the next color on top so that a moon-shaped hole shows the color beneath. This is actually my second try at the same colors in a half-moon manicure because the night before I had done the blue first, then painted on the half-moons by hand. Didn't look so great, even when I slept on it gave myself time to get used to it. 
• Reinforcement labels are key. I suck at drawing the half moon shapes, and the reinforcement label technique worked wonders. The only bad thing is that if you have sensitive, dry fingers like I did the day I painted these, removing the stickers may hurt your skin a little bit. They're permanent stickers so when they stay on, they stay on. (They're not super sticky like duct tape or anything but they still hurt, so I'm throwing that warning at you)
• I still love that color. I love this blue color. Seriously. I want all my clothes to be that color. (not really but you get what I mean)

Haul it in! I love free stuff - Third Haul of 2011

I successfully reached a $25 Amazon.com gift card reward through my Amazon Visa and decided to use it up on some nail stuff I've been wanting for a while now.

I got these from the Amazon seller named "KJ Beauty Store." I have nothing but nice thoughts about them due to this order. Everything went very smoothly. Technically each item that I bought from them had a shipping fee of $2.99 to $3.99 but when I paid for it all together my shipping was only $5.99 total, so that's awesome. Highly recommend KJ Beauty Store on Amazon.com for your Konad needs. 

From left: Konad Black Nail polish and Yellow Nail polish, Konad OneTouch Remover bottle, and Double-sided Konad Stamp set

1. Polishes: I have been wanting to print a vivid black print onto my nails ever since I started working with Konad but none of my black nail polishes ever quite did the trick. Konad's expensive though, so I couldn't just go and use $8 to buy a simple black nail polish. Good thing I got these for free! The yellow one was one that I bought on the fly, because I knew I wanted another color but wasn't really sure which one. I can see myself doing some yellow stamping on a dark base color. That'd be cool. Bumble bee nails, anyone? I'm excited.
2. Bottle: I was really happy to find that Konad makes these because for the past few weeks I've been wanting a bottle with a push top like this one. I considered getting one from Sephora. My sister is a regular reviewer on there so she reads reviews on a lot of products and she actually told me that their bottles are kinda iffy -- like I'd have to buy one and make sure it works and then keep exchanging it until I get a good one. Not really worth my trouble, plus $11 bucks for a plastic bottle? I even looked through Target and Walmart because I vaguely remember using a toner (that didn't work well on me- was it Almay?) that had that kind of dispenser on the bottle. I figured the drugstore product would coast me about $5ish and I could just dump out what's inside and keep the bottle. But no luck. Really glad I found this on eBay and then got it for free on Amazon. It works wonderfully and will surely come in handy.
3. Double Stamper set: I've been wanting this for a long time too! Mostly because I thought it would be smaller, actually. :| But it turns out that having a bigger stamp is pretty convenient for me because I have large hands for a girl, and this one is more comfortable to hold than the one that came with the set that my sister bought me. I think it will really come in handy to have two scrapers too, because I noticed that sometimes I get polish buildup while I'm doing my nails and I have to stop and clean it off -- which kinda puts me at risk for getting cotton lint on my newly painted nails. Or maybe I'm just making up excuses for using my gift card on something like this. Either way... I'm happy I have it. :)

Till next time. Comin' up: Half-moon manicure /slash/ reverse-French manicure!

Haulin' out! - Sally Beauty Supply

Another haul because I'm so spendy lately. This one's thanks to my Sally Beauty Supply membership. I got a coupon in the mail that said if I spent $25 or more I'd get a free travel flat iron. Technically I already have a flat iron and don't even know how to use THAT one, but my sister had been wanting to try for some time so I used her as an excuse to BUY STUFF. That "buy stuff" should really be in bigger caps and larger font. Anyway, I went around Sally's with my basket and threw this stuff in. This is just the nail stuff I bought (to get to $25 I had to buy some other stuff but since it's not nail-related I thought I'd leave it out of the haul.)

Picker upper for rhinestones, Sally Girl Nail color "812031" and Nail Art clay decals #380275 Blue Denim

1. PICKerr UPerr: You might recall from my attempts at rhine-stoning that they're hard to maneuver when you're using bitty little tweezers to pick 'em up. I may or may not have mentioned that. I really can't remember. Lemme go look. Nope, didn't mention the tweezer difficulty, but here's the post where I tried some rhinestones if you're interested. 
2. Sally Girl silver sprinkles: I call them sprinkles. :) I've been wanting some silver ones for a while now but never really felt the need to go into Sally's and charge .79 cents to my credit card. I love these sprinkles. I have the gold ones and the pink ones too. It's amazing how much they help "busy up" my nails when I'm really in the mood for sparklies.
3. Nail art clay decals: These are so frickin' cute. It probably didn't help that the package is "blue denim" themed so I automatically liked the color scheme. They're so frickin' cute. It includes flowers, butterflies, hearts and feather shapes. I'm really excited to use them. My sister -- the one who loves bunnies and anything "little," really -- could barely handle how cute they are. I let her have one as a gift. It's in her wallet. :D

Lagomuffin cameo + Purple swirlies + Avon order

My sister, who writes awesome blogs as lagomuffin here on blogger, is making  a cameo this week. :) She's a fan of plain, simple nails and has awesomely long fingernails that would probably look ghetto if she grew them out and filed them like I do. She's got my mom's hands. She likes doing single colors, MAYBE a top coat, sometimes both a top and base coat if she happens to be using my stuff. (By the way, most of my color choices are too loud for her taste... har har). I am still working on getting her to at least stamp ONE nail one of these days.

And Tissa the pookie is making a cameo in the cameo. Yes, she's laying on pretty, cutesy tissue paper.

My sister, lagomuffin, and Tissa the pookie.

Here are some nails from a couple weeks ago. I love this purple.

What I used:

• The usual basecoat and topcoat
• Base purple: Sephora by OPI --"What a Broad"
• Stamped swirlies: 
• Konad m64 stamp plate; color: 
• Finger Paints Nail Color --"It's an Original" 
• Ring finger accent: 
• Konad m53 stamp plate;
• Savvy Nail Lacquer --"Golden Honey #627088"

I really liked how the two purples looked with each other so I only stamped a gold accent on the ring finger.

And congratulations, I finally finished my first bottles of nail polish! I had to make another order of Avon Top coat and Base Coat because the ones I'm using are pretty goopy now. That, and they're really low and the polish only fills the bottle to the very tip of the brush. So, yay Avon! I have good timing, apparently, because both $6.00 bottles were on sale for $3.99. That basically equaled out to "free" shipping by the time I checked out, which is awesome considering I SO would have paid $6.00 for each bottle if I had the option of buying them in a store. Excellent.

No nail updates until I get those bottles in the mail, though. Till next time, folks.