Black & White Lace

Now that Dancing with the Stars is over, I find I have a lot more time on Mondays.  It's odd.

But with my free time, I get to paint my nails (and blog about them, of course!), play with makeup, and play video games!  That's the life of the typical millenial, aka me.

For my nails now, I've had the idea in my head for about a week, but it was in bits and pieces and not a complete thought.  I'm so glad I got it all out on my nails though.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Base Colors - unnamed magenta shimmer & unnamed pale fuchsia shimmer by Shades of the Season
• Stamping - used special white polish by Konad & noir black by b.m.c. using stamp plate BM-021 by Bundle Monster
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

The stamping was harder than I expected because the stamp image I chose had a large fill space for polish, and I wasn't used to how much polish I had to use and how precisely I had to pick up the image (or else it would smear).

But these are all good experiences to have!

It's getting closer to Christmas and New Year's...so my next few nails will be outrageously festive.  I realize these nails are a little bit too delicate for the storm that is the holidays that will soon be upon us.

This is all I have for now.  Stay warm out there friends, and I'll see you next time! :)

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 :)

Interrupted Stardust

Hello!  After much running around and trying to get my life sorted out, I am back in sunny Los Angeles (and I got a sunburn basically as soon as I came back ;_; why).  My life still isn't sorted out, but that's okay because I at least got to paint my nails!

Everything is better with a set of new nails:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Thumb & Pinky - Lainey by Julep, neon blue stud from BornPrettyStore
• Pointer & Ring - Lainey by Julep & Corinne by Julep; stripes made using striping tape
• Middle - Corinne by Julep
• Top Coat - Top Coat by Out the Door

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

The beige/sand color is a textured polish which Julep has appropriately dubbed as a "Stardust Finish".  It's different from a sand finish because the polish is also sparkly...like stardust.  I mean technically sand is also sparkly.  I know because I've gone to the beach at least once before.

There's just something about this color combination...

Well my life still isn't 100% together, but I mean I'm only like 22 and I still have time.  So although I am internally freaking out, I am also taking the time to enjoy it each step of the way :) 

Okay that is all for now.  Thanks for reading this post and I hope you have a wonderful day! :)

Inspired by a Box

Despite how much I do not like French manicures, they really do help with clipping nails evenly.  Just keep that in mind.

So in Chinese/Taiwanese culture, we have these interesting little snacks called "pineapple cakes".  The outside is like a soft shortbread cookie, and the inside is like compacted pineapple jam.  The cakes themselves are about the size of a normal thing of correcting tape.  It's a very odd snack.  I don't go crazy over them.  If I was at a party and all they had were pineapple cakes, I wouldn't really eat them unless if I was actually hungry.

But anyways, I was at a Bible study recently and someone brought some, which was cool, but oh my gosh the box it came with was so beautiful!  Here is a picture of the box (taken by my boyfriend on his phone):

And here is a picture of my nail art inspired by this very box!

Yeah :D more on the manicure after the jump!