Spring Transition Nails

Why is it still winter?

Whose idea was this?

I'm ready for spring, but I didn't want my nails to be aggressively spring.  So I created a more edgy/hip spring look.  It's a little bit rough and unrefined, but the weather right now doesn't call for the softer spring looks yet.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb & Pinky - Tribeca Silver by NYC with silver glitter from Shades of the Season
• Pointer & Middle - Bunny by Julep; then I sponged on 24/7 by Sinful Colors, Mellow Yellow & Lacey Lilac by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Aquatic by L.A. Colors, & Too Yacht to Handle by China Glaze; then I added a coat of Hidden Treasure by Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure; I finished with Jewel Sticker by MODI x UNISTELLA
• Ring - Erin by Julep
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

If you look closely, I'm missing a pearl from the nail art sticker on my middle finger.  Oops.  It still looks cute even if the pearl is missing though.

Every day I wish for warmer weather, so my nail art is probably going to reflect my wish.  Spring can't come soon enough!

That's all for now.  Stay safe and stay warm y'all.

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! :)

Blue French Tip

Hello all!  I know I haven't posted in a while, but I actually did paint my nails at least once before this post but I didn't have the time to blog about it because it was Thanksgiving and I was busy eating/shopping/being lazy...ah yes, the American dream.

Anyways, here are my nails for now :)

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Base Color - mademoiselle by essie
• Tip Colors - Jeanne by Julep & Tribeca Silver by NYC; blue part was freehanded, and silver part was painted on using a nail art striper brush
• Stamp - BM-020 stamp plate by Bundle Monster used with special white polish by Konad
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

French manicures are actually easier for me to paint on other than on myself.  When I paint my own nails, I often get caught up in the design and forget to take that step back so as to make sure my nails are even.  But when I paint on others I can easily step back and assess my progress.

I got to test out my new UberChic mat for nail art and large sticky stampers for this design.  The mat is amazing (so innovative yet so simple!) and the sticky stamper is too much fun.  I maybe spent a good 5 minutes just touching the stamping head and marveling at how sticky it was.  It's like touching jello.

I got home an hour early today so now I'm really confused as to what to do with my extra hour of free time...I honestly might just spend it playing Splatoon.

Well that's all I have to say for today.  Please stay safe, and I'll be back in about a week, plus or minus a few days.

Yeah :D

Pusheen the Cat Nails

Hello all!  Today I have Pusheen nails to show you :)

Pusheen the Cat is the cute, cartoon cat whose adventures and other silliness have been captured by Claire Belton.  Please visit http://www.pusheen.com/ on a daily basis as a way to bring a smile to your face daily! :)

But actually the reason why I painted Pusheen the Cat on my nails is because a friend of mine had requested them, and I was like "yeah why not".  This conversation happened back in the earlier parts of summer.  It's now November.  But let it be said that I am a keeper of my word, no matter how long it takes for my words and promises to be kept.

If you don't love Pusheen the Cat, you're wrong.  Fact.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb & Pinky - Erin by Julep; stamped with Special White Polish by Konad & iced silver by Bundle Monster using the stamping plate BM-019 BY Bundle Monster
• Pointer - Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam by Sephora by OPI; Pusheen the Cat face details done with a thin striping brush and Janae by Julep
• Middle & Ring - Mint Sorbet by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear; nail decals made using Double Duty Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen, Penelope & Janae by Julep, & I Gotta Blush on You & Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam by Sephora by OPI; nail decals stuck on using Out the Door by inm
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

I confess that I did quite a bit of photo editing for these pictures.  The reason is because I messed up and trapped a lot of air bubbles underneath the nail decals :( so I decided to smooth over those air bubbles the best I could while editing.

And somehow that triggered minor strains of trypophobia in me.  I'm normally not reactive to trypophobia but seeing holes in my nail polish made me feel a little bit uneasy.  Anyways, for those of you with that condition, I saved y'all from an attack.  And please don't Google image search trypophobia because good Lord you will not sleep well tonight.

I've also started using liquid latex barriers around my nails every time I paint them.  It really helps with the clean up (yay reduced clean up).  On the one hand, the nail art community can very easily go back to our old clean up routines, but on the other hand, acetone is a harsh cleaning agent so do we really want to expose our biological systems to that?  No.

I've read the MSD form for acetone too many times now.

That's all from me for now.  I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I'll be posting again soon!  But until then, stay safe, eat good food, play video games, etc.

You do you.

Time to Get Spoopy!

I'm actually not that into Halloween nail art.  Lately, I've been seeing a lot of artists on Instagram recreate looks that are very scary and spooky.

Why do y'all taunt the dead now ._.

So here are my nails that I wore to show that I have some Halloween spirit in me.  Like the innocent Halloween spirit.  Like the Halloween spirit of the older sister who dresses up as Queen Elsa and forces the younger sister to be Princess Anna even though the younger sister probably wants to be Queen Elsa but she's just gotta let it go.  That type of innocent Halloween spirit.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Base Color - Surreal by Formula X
• Middle & Pointer - applied a coat of Out the Door by inm to help speed up drying time, then stamped Bunny by Julep over Honeycomb Stencils by vinyl boutique
• Top Coat - Blast Off by Formula X, then Matte Me Crazy by NYC

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

As you can see, I'm experimenting with different poses.  It seems like I'm not satisfied with my work lately, so hopefully I can find solace with my photos now.

Here is a close up shot of the stencil pattern on my nail, just in case you wanted to see how amazing and intricate and clean nail vinyls can be!

BOOM.  HONEYCOMBS.  FOR THE BEES.  THEY MAKE THE HONEY.

Also, I've been featured several times in Natalia Tera's blog.  Her blog is a form of nail art, but not what you would expect.  Rather than painting her own nails and showcasing such, she requests nail artists to send in photos of their bare nails and their bare nails + base/top coat.  It's an art form all of its own.  Here is a link to her blog:

http://nataliateranails.blogspot.com/

Please go check out her blog!  And extra kudos to you if you find my nails :)

And lastly, it seems there is enough interest for me to start an actual Facebook page for my blog (shocking, I know...), and I will get on it.  Just not right now.  My personal life is a little bit crazy at the moment, but right now my plan is to have the page up and running by January 1, 2016!!  So please stay tuned for more :)

That's all for now!  I hope you all have a wonderful day :D

Independence Day Nails

Hello all!  This is odd for me; I usually don't post this often.  But here I am, a Permanent Resident dwelling on this American soil.

Happy birthday, America.  It's been 239 years since your birth and you've come a long way.  Still got a long ways to go, but I'm sort of happy that some positive changes have been made so far.

Here are my Independence Day nails for this year :)

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Double Duty Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen
• Thumb, Ring, & Pinky - Bunny by Julep & Molly by Julep; stripes made using transparent tape
• Pointer & Middle - Char by Julep & Bunny by Julep; dotted star made using a dotting tool
• Top Coat - Double Duty Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

This deep blue polish is a perfect polish because the color is amazing AND it's opaque in one coat.  ONE COAT.  ONE COAT WONDER ALERT.

Anyways, have a festive 4th of July!  Remember to drink responsibly, drive sober, and anything you say can and will be used against you.

Nintendo Nails / Legend of Zelda Nails

Hello all!  I hope you are all as hyped as I am for this year's E3!  :D  If you're not...don't worry about it.  Just video game things being presented.  If that's not your cup of tea...well, if that's not your cup of tea, how the heck do you de-stress and fall into a new world?

Anyways, this past Sunday (14 June 2015), I was able to fill up my entire day with Nintendo-related events.  In the morning, I lined up at LA Live to get a Nintendo wristband for the Nintendo World Championships, which took place that afternoon.  During the evening, I attended the Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses - Master Quest concert at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, also in Los Angeles.  It was a Sunday fun day Nintendo day for me!  On a side note - special wristbands were given to people who cosplayed, so that they were able to sit closer to the front and therefore have an increased likelihood of being on camera during the filming of the event.  I got a special wristband for wearing a Legend of Zelda themed shirt.  I really don't think that counts as cosplay, but I'm not complaining.  You can find me smiling and pointing at the camera for a few glorious seconds in the full-length recording of the Nintendo World Championships :)

My nails were dressed for the occasion.  On my left hand, we have my Nintendo-themed nails:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Colors - Bunny by Julep, Ruby Ruby by Sinful Colors
• Tools - dotting tool
• Top Coat - Top Coat by Out the Door

Approximate Completion Time:  1.5 hours

I often think about that one video of that kid getting a Nintendo 64 console on Christmas and freaking out about it.  I feel the same about Nintendo.

And then, on my right hand, we have my Legend of Zelda themed nails - specifically, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Base Color - Fiore by Julep
• Thumb (Triforce) - Nadia by Julep, good as gold by essie; design made using a striper brush
• Pointer (Kokiri Emerald) - Happy Ending by Sinful Colors, green glitter by Shades of the Season, good as gold by essie; design made using a dotting tool and a striper brush
• Middle (Goron Ruby) - Ruby Ruby by Sinful Colors, red glitter by Shades of the Season, good as gold by essie; design made using a striper brush
• Ring (Zora Sapphire) - Endless Blue by Sinful Colors, blue glitter by Shades of the Season, good as gold by essie; design made using a dotting tool and a striper brush
• Pinky (Navi) - Char by Julep, Endless Blue by Sinful Colors, Jeanne by Julep, Shelly by Julep; design made using a dotting tool and a striper brush
• Top Coat - Top Coat by Out the Door

Approximate Completion Time:  1.5 hours

You can tell that posing with my dominant hand and taking pictures with my non-dominant hand is definitely not my forte.  And especially since I had to do a weird pose to make all five of my digits visible!

The key for doing these nails is to make DIY nail art stickers!  :)  If there is any interest for a tutorial on how to do that, let me know.  I mean, alternatively, you can look it up on the internet, because literally that is what the internet is capable of - it is a world wide web full of information in every corner.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.  I'm currently still in the process of getting life figured out (read that as "applying for jobs and trying to function as a normal adult"), so that takes up a huge portion of my time.  So sorry.  Actually just kidding I'm not sorry.  I need a job.  Student loans are not kind o.o

I hope you all have a wonderful day! :)

Disneyland Nails

Hello all!  I had a wonderful 2 days at Disneyland this past weekend.  My friends and I visited both parks and I drank alcoholic beverages for the first time in a Disney park.  This is what it feels like to be an adult.

Anyways, I had these super amazing nails, but alas only one cast member complimented my nails.  And also this mom and her teenage daughter.  But that's it.  In a park full of thousands of people and millions of diseases, only 3 people noticed.  I'm okay.  I'm not bitter at all.  I painted my nails for me, not for others.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Thumb - Mellow Yellow by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Mickey Mouse head made with Black Out by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear and a dotting tool
• Pointer & Ring - Molly by Julep, white dots made with Snow Me White by Sinful Colors and a dotting tool
• Middle - Molly by Julep, Black Out by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, & Snow Me White by Sinful Colors
• Pinky - Mellow Yellow by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, stamped with noir black by b.m.c. and SH 214
• Top Coat - Top Coat by Out the Door

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

Sorry for that blurry pic.  One day I will take good photos again, but I took this while extremely tired.  Also nail polish clean up takes a long time sometimes.  Some people hate the smell of nail polish and acetone - I think I'm addicted to it now.  It makes me feel comfortable.  Maybe this is shortening my life span.

Anyways, that's all for now.  Disneyland was fun.  I got pink eye from it but it's mostly gone now.  Yay!

Inspired by: OR/AS and Smash WiiU

It's happening, you guys!  It's finally finally happening!  SMASH WIIU IS COMING OUT TONIGHT AT MIDNIGHT AND GUESS WHO'S GONNA BE PLAYING IT TONIGHT?  ME.  And also maybe some of you.  And maybe some of you others prefer to play Omega Ruby or Alpha Sapphire.  All personal choice.

Be sure to thank Nintendo at some point tonight.

In honor of this amazing time of my life, I painted my nails to match the occasion:

Yes yes.  The perfect conglomeration of Pokemon and Smash.  I'm really excited.

Oh and guess what!  I decided to change my blog again.  A lot of my designs involve multiple nail polish colors, and since I'm rarely at home with my polishes, it's hard for me to recall exactly what colors I've used.  So until I'm set in a more regular pattern (aka post-graduation probably), I will not be listing the polishes I've used.

If you want to learn about a specific polish, just message me or comment on the post.  But this is really it for now.

SETTLE IT IN SMASH!!

Anniversary Nails

I recently got to celebrate my 3 year anniversary with my boyfriend.  We went to a French American restaurant that was both quaint and semi-formal, so my nails had to match.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paint
• Base Color - My Vampire is Buff by OPI
• Stamp Color - white by Konad
• Stamp Plate - SH 211 by Shany Cosmetics
• Studs - black half pearls from Claire's
• Top Coat - Top Coat by Out the Door

Approximate Completion Time: 1 hour - 1.5 hours

It's a very subtle design, which is good, because I need some subtle designs to balance out my crazy colorful other designs.  I have some of those coming up for y'all real soon!

But until then, stay safe and stay classy :)

Deep

Hello all!  While you're out enjoying life, please keep safety as your top priority and remember that life indeed is futile.  There was an unfortunate event here and it's been a grim reminder to me how fleeting my existence really is.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Base Color - Angela by Julep
• Stamp Color - White by Konad
• Dotting Color - Snow Me White by Sinful Colors
• Top Coat - Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen
• Stamp Plates Used - SH 208 & SH 223
• Tools Used - dotting tool

The base color sends off these vibes of something that's mesmerizing and mournful.  I took a photo with flash to see if it had more dimension:

Mesmerizing and mournful.  I'm also listening to Zelda's Lullaby right now and it kinda fits the theme...

Thanks for reading my blog today!  I hope you have a wonderful day, and stay safe please! :)

Nail Snap: Happy Independence Day!

Since it's Independence Day, I don't find it necessary to write a lengthy post.

Happy American Independence Day to all my American readers! :)

For this manicure:

Nail polishes used:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Base Colors - Snow Me White by Sinful Colors, Endless Blue by Sinful Colors, Molly by Julep
• Stamped Colors - White by Konad, aruba blue by essie
• Top Coat - Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen

Stamp plates used:

• SH 211
• SH 214
• SH 218

I will be enjoying some American food and watching American fireworks today while hanging out with my American friends.

I hope you all have a wonderful day today, whether or not you do celebrate the holiday :) I will see you in my next post!

Water Park Fun

Hello all!  I was going to upload this post sooner, but one thing led to another and now I'm finally able to do so, after making one thing of 10x native gel buffer and wiping down the legs of at least 100 chairs, maybe more.  I'm a strong woman.

I went to a water park yesterday with my boyfriend and some other friends :) my nails kinda match my swimsuit, but it's not too obvious...the water park was fun though!  For the first time in my life, I didn't have to carry all the tubes and stuff by myself.  This is what true love is - your significant other stepping up to carry all the tubes for the rides.  Just kidding.  True love is other things too, but for the sake of time we won't get into that.

We also got Dippin' Dots ice cream!  I love their ice cream.  I would eat it all day if my wallet didn't stop me.

Here's what my nails looked like for the event:

I know my nails look bumpy, but those bumpy things are actually just sparkles.  Now I know better than to try to photograph sparkles in direct sunlight.  I made my mistake.  I can own up to it.  I will live.  I will learn.  I will grow stronger.

Read on to find out more! :)

Summer Polka

Hello all!  How has your summer been so far?  And for any readers in the southern hemisphere, how is winter so far?  Please let me know in the comments section below :) every day is a busy day for me!  I wake up early, I go to work, I go to sleep early.  I think this is what it's like to have a real job, and I'm not sure if I'm ready to make that commitment with reality.

To take my mind off of these things, I painted my nails with a palette of colors that my boyfriend helped me choose hu hu hu :)

I'm going to be straying away from my traditional white background for my nail art pics.  Half of the reason is so I can keep the pics new and fresh - now you get to see nail colors in direct sunlight or with a different background color so as to give you more perspectives of colors.  The other half of the reason is because I'm always out and about now, and if I want to keep blogging, I have to be able to take pictures in these conditions so that I'm not putting a strain on the time I get to spend with others.

But back to the nails!  Read on after the jump to find out more :)

Soft Punk

Hello everyone!  I hope you are all doing great :) I know I'm posting this on Father's Day, but uh...holidays don't affect my posting schedule.  But if you're a father or if you have a father, go celebrate him.  Thank him for creating you.  And he'll probably thank you for his own tax benefits or something.  I'm still too young to understand parenthood.

But anyways, today I am bringing you these nails:

I think "soft punk" is an appropriate way to describe these nails...I really just wanted to stamp something onto my nails, and this is the end result.

Read on to find out more about this manicure! :)

Praisin' and Blazin'

Happy Easter, everyone!  And also Happy 420 :) and it's also Hitler's birthday.  Maybe it's your birthday too...?  Anyways, lots of festivities associated with this date and holiday.

I've been doing some searching, and according to this site here, the next time that Easter will land on an April 20th isn't until 2025, so I took advantage of this coincidence now, and I bring you this:

Easter themes and marijuana themes - all rolled into one manicure! :D

OKAY QUICK NOTE:  I do not smoke marijuana, nor do I have plans to.  Whether you do or not is up to you - I keep my hands out of this.

These nails were fun to do - read up more after the jump! :)

Dangling Flowers

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

My school semester is slowly coming to an end...which is great, because after that I get to go home and see my family and come back to do research, but also not great because it also means finals are coming up and I'm not ready for that commitment.  That said, my motivation to do things is also lacking.  That can't be good.

Anyways, here are my nails:

They're very loosely inspired by some flowers I found outside of the chemistry building at my school.  The building has terrible memories of organic chemistry, but at least the flowers look nice.  This is what they look like:

Read more about this manicure after the jump! :)

Nail Snap: Nautical Nails

I'll be out on the ocean starting tomorrow, sailing toward a wonderful little island that isn't Hawai'i.  I painted my nails to kinda match the theme of my life for such an adventure :)

Additionally, keep in mind that any inquiries will have to be put on hold until I come back!

Not exactly a true nautical nails, but I'm pretty sure I got the colors right.

For this manicure:

Nail polishes used:

• Base Coat - Base Coat by Finger Paints
• Colors Used - Nan by Julep, Char by Julep, and Snow Me White by Sinful Colors
• Top Coat - Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen

Hopefully I stay afloat while I sail on the lovelies of schooners.  I hope you all have a wonderful day! :)

Interrupted Gradient

Hello friends!  Haven't talked to any of you in a while.  Haven't seen any of you in a while.  Haven't seen sunlight for a while either.  But in the meantime, I have been going through several series of existential crises so that has been fun.

Here are my nails:

Like the name suggests, it consists of a gradient that has been interrupted.  Much like how midterms are interrupting my peaceful state of mind.  Merp derp.

More on this manicure after the jump!

2014 St. Patrick's Day Nails

Hello everybody!  I hope you are all doing well and that you're sober enough to read this blog post :) actually I don't know how alcohol works.  I still haven't had any alcoholic drinks.  I don't even know my preferences in taste or my tolerance.  I'm a weak, confused, and misled soul.

But enough about my soul.  Here are my nails for today!

I'm wearing a lot of green on my nails, but none on my body.  But it's spring break right now, so really, who's going to pinch me?  Besides, you shouldn't pinch me.  I bruise really easily.  It's not fun.

Read more about my nails after the jump!