2015 --> 2016 Nails

Hello all!  I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve and that your 2016 has been great so far :)

The first thing I did this year was throw up because of how much I ate and drank.  So.  Lesson for the kids out there:  your stomach isn't as great of a mixologist as you think it should be.  And hydrochloric acid is the last thing you want to deal with when entering a new year.

These are the nails that I wore to my friend's party :) I swear the only reason why I go to parties now is to promote myself or have others promote me.  It's not very effective.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb, Ring, & Pinky - Alexis by Julep; dots made using a dotting tool and Ellis by Julep
• Pointer & Middle - Ellis by Julep; pattern made using Moroccan Nail Stencils by vinyl boutique and sponged over with Maya by Julep
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

I promise the nail stencil looks really cool and the only reason you aren't fully able to see how cool it is in my photos is because I chose the wrong colors.  But later I'll show you a more detailed look at the stencil (with different colors and I won't mess up then).

But for now, here's a closer look at the stencil.  In this shot, you can sort of appreciate the stencil pattern and the holographic nail polish.

Stop.  Stare.  Marvel.  Thank you.

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm back to my round/oval nails!  Square nails were fun, but they were hard to maintain, and since I spend most of my time at work not maintaining nails, I decided it would be best to revert back to the classic round/oval shape.  Plus now my nails won't chip on the corners (because no corners haha) so I won't be so frustrated with my nails.

I hope you guys have a wonderful day!  And here's to a marvelous 2016 for all of us!!

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 :)

Ice & Snow

Hello all!  As I write this, I am being informed that there is quite a scary winter storm approaching.  By "scary", I really mean "blizzard-like conditions" and I'm actually honestly not sure whether going to work is gonna be worth it.

So my nails reflect the ice and snow that will soon be all over this freaking place.  Give me my fuzzy socks, my warm gloves, and hot chocolate pronto.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb, Ring, & Pinky - What a Broad by Sephora by OPI; ice imitated via silver foil purchased from rue21
• Ponter & Middle - Endless Blue by Sinful Colors; stamped with iced silver by b.m.c. using SH202 plate by Shany Cosmetics
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

What happened was as I was taking more pictures, my camera decided to run out of battery :o then I charged my camera, and I was charging said camera, my nails got scratched and chipped.

But still, even having 2 good pictures beats having no pictures to show.

It's cold enough to start wearing socks to sleep o.o hopefully the cold doesn't get to the best of me.

That's all for me for today.  I hope you all stay warm wherever you are!! :)

Triforce Heroes Nail Art

Hello all!  If you've been following Nintendo at all lately, you would know that they just released a new game for the Nintendo 3DS.  I played a demo of said game.  Triforce Heroes is so cute :) it has the art style of Link Between Worlds, and the online multiplayer co-op is truly a test of patience, skill, and achievement through limited communication.  If you have the 3DS, I would recommend you buy the game!

I too shall buy the game...after I finish Majora's Mask...uh...

But this isn't a post to review video games.  This is a post to show off the nail art that I made to celebrate the launch of the game! :D

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Base Color - Alexis by Julep
• Triforce Colors - good as gold by essie, Nadia by Julep, Ruby Ruby by Sinful Colors, Endless Blue by Sinful Colors, Happy Ending by Sinful Colors; decals made with Double Duty Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

I like how that picture makes the blue pop.  I was also really surprised that my camera was able to capture the purple.  Granted, I'm in direct sunlight, but cameras are notorious for losing the ability to can when it comes to the color purple.

I think I increased the saturation on my camera just by a little bit for this picture.  Maybe.  I forget.  But I'm really happy with this manicure :) for once, nail decals started to make sense to me and they didn't stick out so much in the photos, if even at all.  I used about 3 layers of top coat for the nails that had the decals, so I think the extra layers did the trick.

Hopefully I finish Majora's Mask soon so I can buy and play Triforce Heroes!  The reason why I haven't bought the game yet is because if I did, I know I would completely ignore Majora's Mask and only play Triforce Heroes, and it's a travesty because I'm so close to beating the game.

But why does Majora's Mask have to be so scary and stressful ;_;

Anyways, that's all for now.  I hope I'll be able to post another set of nails soon! :) But until then, I hope you have a wonderful day!

Silver Shards on a Subtle Gradient

Hello!  If you follow me on Instagram, you know that recently I made the life-changing decision to change from my usual oval nail shape to my current square nail shape.  I'll be keeping my square nails for at least a year to see what it's like throughout the year.  Maybe even longer.

If you don't follow me on Instagram...why not?  You should :)

But without further ado, here is my first nail art design on my square nails!

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Double Duty Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen
• Thumb, Pointer, & Pinky - Laree by Julep
• Middle & Ring - Char by Julep, Alexis by Julep, & Glenda by Julep; gradient made using a make-up sponge
• Top Coat - Double Duty Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

Even I can't see the gradient that well in real life, unless if I'm intentionally looking for it.  Also, this is the first time I've used crackle/shatter nail polish.  I remember when they were first introduced and people went CRAZY over them (back in 2011??) and now here I am, 4 years later, finally jumping on the hype train.  But the hype train has already up and left.  There's only one person on the train and that's me.

Remember how I said that I still had older posts to upload?  Well if you happen to see me flaunting oval nails in any future posts (during the next year), just know that those are from my stash of old posts that I need to upload.  I am not switching from oval to square to oval to square.  I'm just late to this function.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.  I hope you all have a wonderful day! :D

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!

Valentine's Day Nails

Hmm yes I am quite excellent at posting things late.

As I had mentioned before, I didn't want to do the reds and pinks for Valentine's Day this year.  I instead went for a completely different color palette (which paired perfectly with my outfit, so don't worry):

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Thumb - Alexis by Julep, Björk by Julep, white half pearl from Claire's
• Pointer & Ring - Tribeca Silver by NYC
• Middle - Endless Blue by Sinful Colors, What a Broad by Sephora by OPI, stamped with iced silver by b.m.c. & BM-023 by Bundle Monster
• Pinky - aruba blue by essie, Björk by Julep, white half pearl from Claire's
• Top Coat - Top Coat by Out the Door

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

So take that, reds and pinks.  Gotta step aside for something cool and hip.

And that's all I have to say for now, really.  Stay safe because we'll meet again soon! :)

Become

Hello all!  So I've been thinking...something must go.  I want to continue blogging, but I also want to experience so many things while I'm still young.  So the thing that must go is my old blogging style.  Say good bye to long posts, long paragraphs, and long explanations!  From now on, I will do my best to keep everything short - no more clicking that "read more" button to read more!

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Base Colors - Mint Sorbet by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Alexis by Julep
• Stripe Color - good as gold by essie
• Top Coat - Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen
• Tools Used - tape, striper brush

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

Sweet, short, simple, concise.  It's going to be the new theme of my blog.  I hope you all have a wonderful day!  Thank you so much for reading my blog :) I will see you in my next post!

Inspired by the Libraries

Hello all!  As some of you may or may not know (probably may not...since I didn't talk about this much), I recently entered a competition that was put on by the libraries at my school.  For the competition, participants had to submit an original piece of art that was inspired by the libraries at my school.  The pieces are then judged (by a board of judges, I presume), and the winner will receive $300.

So being the person that I am, of course I did nail art inspired by the libraries:

I think I have gone off the deep end of nail art...but read more about the nail art after the jump!

Sochi Olympics 2014

Hello everyone!  Happy last day of Olympics!  Some people won.  Some people didn't win.  Life goes on as usual.

Today's nail art is inspired by the costumes worn by the women figure skaters - specifically, from the short program.  Here is a shot of my nails:

I'm not gonna lie - these nails were so fun to paint!  It's one of those rare times that I get to be creative.  Also, because each nail is different, this post is going to a tad bit longer than usual, so please bear with me!

More on the nails after the jump :)

Contrast Boldly

Hello friends!  I hope you guys are all doing wonderful :) meanwhile, school is going...it's going.  BUT I'M WORKING IN A RESEARCH LAB NOW SO THAT'S EXCITING BECAUSE SCIENCE CAN I GET AN "AMEN"?

But for now, here is a shot of my nails!

Yeah colors that are not the same!  Oh, and let's not forget that little flower that's resting on my ring finger!  I shall tell you more about this manicure after the jump :)