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

Burberry Christmas

My sister lovingly titled this one, although I can't take credit for the design because its taken from another blog tutorial. If you recognize it and you know where it came from, please tell me so I can give them proper credit!

Another quick update

Sorry for lack of updates!

The lack of updates if for good reason though -- I have a full time job now. :) Yay!

I'm posting some quick updates of nails I've done over the last few months.

Thank you, St. Expeditus

Special thanks to St. Expeditus, the saint of urgent cases and for prompt solutions! These nails say "St. Expeditus" if you read them all the way across and are supposed to resemble a mountain landscape with a yellow sky. Or it's just abstract art, if you can't see it.

Go St. X!

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!

Memorial Day Nails 2011

Quick update on my Memorial Day Nails. The cashier at Food Maxx liked them. :) Happy Memorial Day, everyone! Inspired by Enamel Girl's Memorial Day nails from last year.

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)

Konad Addict's Apothica Giveaway

Oooo freebies! Yum yum yum!

konadnails.blogspot.com is holding a $50 Apothica gift card giveaway, and posting a blog on this topic gets me three extra entries. I would love to win a nail contest/giveaway one of these days! Check out her konad designs, and take a look at www.Apothica.com while you're at it too!

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.

Pink Candy Stripes

Not a big fan of this one, but it's stayed on longer than I had intended to keep it, so I must like it a little more than I thought. First time trying the SoEasy StripeRite polish. Yet more fun tools to get the hang of! Sorry, didn't pay attention to how many coats of each color I used. :(

What I used: 

• Avon Smooth Beginnings
• Wet n Wild: Wild Shine Nail Color: "Blazed"
• Sephora by O.P.I.: "Lost Without My GPS"
• SoEasy StripeRite: #698520 
• Sally Girl #812005 (pink sprinkle dots)
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

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!

Orly Limelite Experiment

I really should sell konad. I must have introduced about 5 cashier ladies to the concept of nail stamping just by having my nails done. Today's nails were complimented by the nice post office lady who always has nice makeup on. I remember mailing something to my sister in a Sephora box (it wasn't makeup, I was just re-using the packaging) and she said something along the lines of "Oooo I love Sephora!!" I've told her before that her makeup is cute. She makes my sister and me want work at the post office because she's always so cute and friendly.

Yesterday I went to mail something and she goes "Ooo I like your nails. Where did you get them done?" and I told her I did them myself. Then I told her it's a stamp, and you just paint the background color and they you roll the stamp on top. She was so interested, so I told her the name "konad" (along with the spelling, because everyone who asks me about it has never heard of it) and that she should look it up. She goes "I'm excited! I'm going to look it up tonight." 

So I've converted another one. :) Like I said, I really should sell konad, that way I can just hand over a business card and have them buy from me. It's so tempting to tell them my blog address but I don't wanna seem all full of myself like "Oh, you like my nails, look at ALLLLLL my nails on my blog!?!?" or something like that. My plan is that I"ll ask her about it next time. 

What I used:

• Base coat: Avon smooth beginnings (whoops, forgot to put it in the picture!)
• Base color: Savvy Nail Lacquer in "French Sheer White" -- 2 coats
• Blue: Orly "Limelite" -- 3 coats (yes, three!)
• Stamp:
• Konad black polish + konad plate m64
• Top Coat: Seche Vite top coat

What I learned:

I really had to layer that Orly on to get it to show up. I actually experimented with putting it straight onto my nail but since it's so clear I went with the white base, which helped. Oh, and I followed the advice of Polish Hoarder Disorder who kindly answered an email I sent her about keeping the polish so clean and tidy. Slower painting and detail touch-ups... worked like a charm. :) That and I also tried painting further away from my cuticles than I normally do. 

Evil Ruby Slippers plus no video tutorial

I originally had grand plans to upload this one with a video tutorial on my youtube channel and everything... but my computer can't really handle it. I recorded the video clips with my new digital camera that takes really good resolution video and apparently when I open all the clips in Windows Live Movie Maker I get glitches and all these little icons pop up on my status bar next to my desktop clock. So... nevermind.

I call them Evil Ruby Slippers because they're red and sparkley but in a villainous sort of way. ;)

What I used:

• Basecoat: Avon smooth beginnings base coat
• Base: OPI "My Private Jet" -- 1 coat
• Top: Forever 21 in "brick"
• Stamp:
• Konad black polish
• Konad nail plate m64
• Top Coat:
• Seche Vite -- 1 coat because it doesn't blur my Konad polish
• Avon UV Gloos guard top coat: as an extra top coat just cause I wanna!

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