Tricolor Braid

Hello all!  I hope you are all doing well :)

It's not the catchiest title, but it captures the essence of what I painted on my nails.

I got my flu shot today, so my left arm is going to be sore tomorrow ;_; however, my left arm is the arm I use the least in my lab work so I think I'll be good to go tomorrow.

But also the meteorologist predicts blizzard-like conditions so it's possible that I get a snow day tomorrow.  A snow day!  I haven't had one of those in like 8 years now.

Regardless of my sore arm and the cold weather, here are my nails:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb & Pinky - Julep by Julep
• Pointer & Middle - My Vampire is Buff by OPI as the base color; braid segments separated out using striping tape and filled in using a striping brush and Hocus Pocus by Formula X, Lainey by Julep, Mia by Julep
• Ring - Ellis by Julep
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

The color on my ring finger is my first holographic polish!  I'm finally joining the craze - slowly but surely.  Julep calls it a "liquid holographic" polish.  I'm not sure if liquid is really the right word for this color, but it is very addicting to look at in real life.  If I didn't have to wear gloves at work I'm pretty sure I would be focusing all my time and attention on this one polish, rather than on the blood samples that need to be tested for antibodies linked to diabetes...

I actually painted my nails over the course of 2 days.  The first day, I just put down all the base color on my nails and after my nails dried, I went to bed.  Then the second day, I finished the design with the braid pattern.  I would have done this all in one day but for some reason I thought that splitting the design creation would be easier.  I was right.

Look at those crisp, clean lines.

With this colder weather, I wonder how my cuticles and skin will change.  I haven't steadily lived in Colorado for over 4 years now, so I have no idea how my skin is going to deal with the transition from fall to dead winter.  Goodness.

I hope you are all warmer than I am.  That's all I have to say for now, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Talk to you soon :)

Arches

So I've been away for a really long time, and now that I have a full-time job, my free time is really limited.  I'm basically gone for 12 hours a day on Mondays - Fridays (yay long commutes), and when I get home, I'm very exhausted.  However, I do have other interests outside of nail art, so I must be very intentional with how I spend my free time.

Sometimes I play video games.  Sometimes I color.  Recently though, my priority has been shifted to making birthday cards for friends.  And when I have the time and the inspiration, I paint my nails.

Sorry in advance if this blog is not as active as you would have hoped.

Here is my most recent manicure:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Base Colors - In the Lime Light by China Glaze, Shrimply Devine by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, aruba blue by essie, & Tribeca Silver by NYC
• Top Coats - Out the Door by inm & Matte Me Crazy by NYC
• Tools used - striping tape

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

I've been watching a lot of nail artists work their magic on instagram.  The general trend for multi-layer designs is to seal the bottom layers with a fast drying top coat first, and then continue onto the rest of the design.  It's such a simple yet genius concept!  I wish I really had considered that sooner.  It would have made my other nail art less time-consuming, or even allowed me more time to make more intricate designs!

The world of nail art is fast evolving, and I'm really enjoying seeing all these different designs and techniques surface :)

I am currently thinking up new designs, so hopefully I get around to painting my nails again soon!  Additionally, I have a shipment of polish coming from Julep and another one from Sephora which should arrive soon...very excited for nail mail :D

That's all for now.  Have a wonderful day, my friends! :)

Beach Day Fun Day! Nails

Hello all!  I apologize for my absence - it was caused by a plethora of events that all snowballed into each other and here I am, finally with the right sense of mind and enough decency to get back into blogging.

OH ALSO!  I got featured in a blog recently :) the blog owner likes to showcase the bare nails (and base coated nails) of nail artists.  It was really awesome to know that someone found my blog and contacted me for a feature :) anyways, you can find pictures of my bare naked nails here and my bare naked nails with base coat here :) additionally, click here to check out the rest of Natalia's blog!

So after my last post, my sister came to visit me for her spring break, so it was like I enjoyed spring break all over again.  Then my boyfriend broke up with me (so he's my first ex now; how odd), so I had to deal with all the emotions that came with that.  But don't worry you guys - I'm in a better place now, and every day I'm healing and finding more and more things to be thankful for every single day :) And then finals week happened, so I was "studying" for my "exam".  After finals week was graduation, which was boring, exciting, and hectic.  I got to spend time with my family so that was nice.  And after graduation, I had to move things out of my old apartment and into my new apartment (just subleasing for the summer), and also I've been applying to jobs.

I also bought a pet bunny! :D

But in the meantime, I have been painting my nails regularly.  If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my nail art.  However, I haven't been posting because of all the messiness that I had just described.

So here I am, making a post again after disappearing from the face of the internet.  I went to the beach recently, and I love the beach because I'm originally from Colorado, and they have no beaches there.  I like how I can just sit on the soft, warm sand and stare at the ocean and...it's so timeless.  There is something so soothing about staring at a wide expanse of water and realizing that in the end, everything is going to be okay.  I may be dealing with a lot of problems, but I will get through this.

It was a nice day at the beach though.  Here are the nails I had on for that day:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Thumb, Ring, & Pinky - Nadia by Julep & Shrimply Devine by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure; gradient made using a make-up sponge
• Pointer & Middle - Kimberly by Julep, Too Yacht to Handle by China Glaze, good as gold by essie, & neon orange square stud from BornPrettyStore; polish was sectioned off using striping tape and gold line was added using a striping brush and stud was placed on using top coat
• Top Coat - Top Coat by Out the Door

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

So since I have a better grip on myself mentally and emotionally now, I will be posting about the nail art that I have created previously during my period of recession/dormancy.  I may or may not also be doing collaborations with other bloggers, so just keep an eye out :)

And as always, thank you for taking the time out of your day to read this post.  I really do appreciate all of you!

Geometric Negative

Hello again, friends!  I hope you all had a lovely week :) I have one more week of classes left in this semester, which is great!  But it also means finals are soon going to gnash me in between their teeth.  It's a shame I'm indigestible.  I can't be devoured by the trials of the world.

I decided to try something new this time, so I present to you the following:

Negative space on my nails! :O Yeah, I'm stepping out in new waters right now.  These nails were also loosely inspired by one of my friend's hair.  Her hair is dark black with blue streaks, and if you catch it in the perfect light, it's crazy beautiful :) I wish I had hair streaks, but seeing as how I have problems with my hair falling out...maybe it's not worth it.

Read more about these nails after the jump!