Ming Dynasty

My nails were bugging the hell out of me, so I cut and filed them down tonight. Whew! Much better. I decided to pretty them up afterwards and went with a Ming vase motif, which I've wanted to do ever since I got a hold of this really nice blue from Pure Ice; the name escapes me at the moments, oops. Anyway, I'm pretty pleased with how these turned out since I kinda flew through 'em. I just used the Pure Ice blue, which I need to find the name for, and a white creme polish. Simple.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

I wish these would have photographed better.. they look so pretty IRL. Anyway, I based these on a christmas ornament my grandmother(on my dad's side) used to have. It was a frosty white, traditional orb ornament, white blue glitter snowflakes all over it. I loved it.

Polishes used:
Pure Ice, A List
Orly, Halley's Comet

One of the new polishes I got was A List.. it's a really pretty pearly white with the faintest tinge of baby blue. It's pretty opaque, but you have to be careful because it can show brushstrokes. Otherwise, I really like it.

Killjoys, make some noise!

Since I'm absolutely in love with My Chemical Romance's new album Danger Days, I decided to do some nails inspired by it. Most of it is taken from aspects of Party Poison's costume. I like how the Dead Pegasus turned out, the rest is okay. I was feeling kinda crampy, so I rushed it. Either way, still pretty cool.

Polishes used:
Essie, Licorice
Orly, Halley's Comet
Sally Hansen, Cherry Red
Sally Hansen, White On
Sally Hansen, Lightening
Nicole by OPI, Loyalty to Royalty
China Glaze, Atlantis
Sally Hansen, Blue Me Away!
Sinful Colors, All About You

I was messing around, and ended up putting two coats of Sinful's All About You over two coats of Nicole by OPI's Loyalty to Royalty. I thought it looked neat.


That's it for me. Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

Lace nails

I've always wanted to do lace appliques on my nails, but I never have lace! I improvised by using a black mesh, glueing it on, and detailing lacey kinda patterns over it. I threw on some rhinestones to make it shiny for the holidays. I'm not totally pleased, but it's alright I guess. :)

Polishes used:
China Glaze, For Audrey
Essie, Licorice
Mesh and rhinestones

On a sad note, I tore my poor pointer finger nail almost in half.. I managed to patch it ghetto style, because I didn't want short nails for thanksgiving. :( Bah! Stupid nails. You're more trouble than you're worth sometimes. But yeah.. that's why my nail might look wonky in pictures, sorry.

Hayao Miyazaki tribute nails

I absolutely adore Hayao Miyazaki and Studio Ghibli films. Not only are they stunning works of art in my opinion, but they're very touching, relatable, and bring up important issues, especially concerning the environment. I've been wanting to do nails from one of the films for a while, so I ended up choosing three: My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away, and Howl's Moving Castle. For once, I'm incredibly pleased with how these turned out, and I didn't have to redo any of them. I hope they last for a while, I love them. :)

I'm too tired to include a polish list since I used so many.. bad nail blogger, bad.

Why yes, I'm a geek.

Okay okay, after my earlier post, I somehow managed to get the inspiration and energy to do something with my poor nails. It's a bit sloppy, but it's been awhile. This is a total geek manicure; it's based on the pattern of an anime character's kimono(Sesshoumaru from Inuyasha, for those curious). Yeah yeah, I'm weird, but I always thought his kimonos were super pretty. I tacked on a pearl I got just to test the durability. My mom really loves this for some reason, haha.

Polishes used:

Sally Hansen, White On

Sally Hansen, Cherry Red

I also tried out one of my new glitters and I LOVE the results.

It was hard to get a picture, but it's quite sparkly. Reminds me of ruby slippers. That's two coats of the unnamed Wet N Wild red glitter over Cherry Red.

Viva vacation

My aunt is going on a secret vacation for her birthday, so I did her nails as a present. She wanted something bright and kinda beachy. She had to pick someone up from the airport, so I didn't do serious designs on every nail because it would've taken too long. I like the sunsets I did, I wasn't sure how to do them, but I think they turned out pretty nice. I also gave her a pedi with pink and blue that turned out really cute. I hope she has fun on her trip! :)

Sugar Skulls

Experimenting with halloweenish stuff once again.. I love sugar skulls. I have one sitting on my nightstand right now. They're just so pretty and fun looking. And my mom really loves them too, so I decided to give them a shot. I'm not entirely happy with them, but I needed the practice since I've been slacking lately. I need new brushes! Argh. Oh, they also glow in the dark, but I couldn't get a picture, sadly.

Polishes used:
Sally Hansen, White On
Essie, Haute As Hello
Essie, Lilacism
Essie, Mint Candy Apple
Sally Hansen, Lightening
Sally Hansen, Blue Blast
Sally Hansen, Lively Lilac
Essie, Licorice
Sally Hansen, Mint Sprint
OPI, Who The Shrek Are You?
Sinful Colors, Cloud 9
Red acrylic paint

So long summer

I couldn't resist and had to use my new polish. I wanted something bright and cheery since it's been cold and gray here this week. I used Essie's Haute As Hello as the base and I looooooooooove it! It's such a gorgeous cheery color. As with all Essie pastel's I have, it needed 3 coats, but application wasn't as bad as usual. I used Essie's Turquoise & Caicos, and Mint Candy Apple for the accents, plus some yellow acrylic paint. Really simple for me, I know. I just don't have the energy for complicated nails all the time!

Like my rings? I got the big butterfly at a convention in Atlanta, at a booth with lots of weird rings. I loved how over the top it was. The one on my thumb belonged to my grandmother. It's set with a real moonstone. It has a matching bracelet but I never wear it, sadly. Anyway, enjoy!

Also.. if anyone can get me a bottle of Milani's Dress Maker, I'll trade/pay you for it. It's like a fucking unicorn around here.

Intergalactic nails

Ugh.. I wrote a big post up on this, but blogger ate it. :| So I'll just say this was a result of experimentation, boredom, and lots of cursing. I don't like it, but I don't hate it.

Polishes used:
Sally Hansen, Blazing Blue
Sally Hansen, White On
Sally Hansen, Mint Sprint
Sally Hansen, Back to the Fuchsia
Sally Hansen, Yellow Kitty
Sally Hansen, Lightening
Sally Hansen, Lively Lilac
Sally Hansen, Blue Blast
Milani, Diamond Dazzle
Sinful Colors, Hottie
Sinful Colors, Cloud 9


Also, I'm considering painting some sets of acrylics and selling them, or doing a giveaway.. what designs of mine would you guys be interested in, if any?

This is halloween.. early!

Anddd I'm back! Since I've been feeling a bit better, I decided to give nail art another shot. It's been getting cold and fall-ish outside, so I thought I'd practice doing something halloween-ish.

My favorite is the candy-corn design, which is weird since it was the easiest. I'm probably going to do a full manicure of that design for halloween. I didn't think this turned out too bad since it's been awhile since I've done anything major on my nails. :)

Polishes used:
Essie, Licorice
Sinful Colors, Cloud 9
Sally Hansen, Lightening
Sally Hansen, Yellow Kitty
Sally Hansen, Blazing Blue
Nicole by OPI, Pitch-Black Glimmer
Sally Hansen, White On
Sally Hansen, Wet Cement
OPI, Who The Shrek Are You?

More van Gogh

I've always loved van Gogh. His paintings are just so beautiful and have such depth. Since I've already done his Starry Night piece, I decided to do his Wheat Field with Cypresses painting because I love the colors. I'm fairly pleased with how they turned out, especially the brightness of the colors. I'm hoping they'll last a while, too.. I can usually get a good five or six days out of a manicure with minimum to no chipping.

Also, I'm excited to be getting some new polishes thanks to a trade with fellow nail enthusiast Lynn. :) Atlantis! <3 Oh goodness I'm so excited. I'll admit, one of the main reasons I wanted CG's Atlantis was because of my love for Stargate Atlantis.. nerd power represent.

Mehndi nails

I love mehndi. I think it's an absolutely beautiful art form. Sadly, I'm really bad at trying to mimic it, but I did my best.. I probably should've used better contrasting colors, but I wanted it bright because my nails have been dark lately. So.. there you go.

I updated my trading post. I'm super tight on cash now because I'm going to Atlanta in September for my birthday.. no new pretties for me, for a while.

Polishes used:
OPI, Rumple's Wiggin'
Essie, Mint Candy Apple
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Back to the Fuchsia
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Mint Sprint
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Fairy Teal
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Yellow Kitty
Pure Ice, Wild Thing
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast

Gundam Wing

You know, I'm not ashamed of the fact that I enjoy certain anime. And Gundam Wing? One of my all-time favorites. It reminds me of being a kid and hanging out with my friends, watching it after school in their basement sharing a big-ass pizza. I met a lot of cool people through this show, and I'm sick of everyone automatically bashing people who watch anime. If it's still cool and hip to watch and enjoy shows like Rocko's Modern Life and Rugrats and Spongebob, why can't I be allowed to enjoy the few anime series I watch? Okay, enough with the soapbox. I just really like how these turned out, especially Wing Zero and the feathers.

Polishes used:
Nicole by Opi, Loyalty to Royalty
Milani, Diamond Dazzle
OPI, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blazing Blue
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Gray by Gray
Pure Ice, Wild Thing
Brown, red and black acrylic paint
Some franken polishes

Simplicity

Sometimes, I just don't feel like doing something complicated. These were inspired by Tiffany boxes, though the color doesn't match.. I can't find For Audrey anywhere! Still, I thought they were pretty. I haven't felt like doing much because my sinuses are killing me lately. Anyway, I absolutely love Essie's Mint Candy Apple, even though I hate their formula. It's such a nice summery color. And it matches well with my toes, which are painted in OPI's Rumple's Wiggin' this week. I'm in a pastel mood.

Polishes used:
Essie, Mint Candy Apple
OPI, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Pedal to the Metal

Aladdin Sane

I've been wanting to do these for a while, and I just finally got around to it. I love Bowie, and I have a huge poster of the Aladdin Sane cover on my bedroom door, so I used that as inspiration. I really like how they turned out. For some reason, I'm partial to the dot design overall.

Polishes used:
OPI, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Back to the Fuchsia
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast
Ulta, Holiday in Turqs&Caicos
OPI, Rumple's Wiggin'
OPI, Who the Shrek Are You?
OPI, The "It" Color

In other news, I'm looking to sign up for a cosmo class so I can get certified and work at my brother's friend's salon. Fingers crossed.

Harry Potter

I was feeling quite nostalgic, and these were the result. I used to love Harry Potter, and while I still like it, I'm not a huge fan like I was when I was younger. These were kind of a trial and error thing. I REALLY need new brushes, my current ones are falling apart and it makes it harder to get smooth lines and shapes. Anyway.. I wasn't entirely happy with these so I took them off right away. I did like the snitch, though.

For the record, I'm totally a Slytherin.

Polishes used:
OPI, Alpine Snow
OPI, The "It" Color
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast
Nicole by OPI, Loyalty to Royalty
Sally Hanse Xtreme Wear, Cherry Red
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Going Green
Sally Hanson Complete Salon, Gray by Gray
Brown acrylic paint
Black nail art pen

Mmm, summer fruit.

Current nails. I wanted something simple but bright, so I just went with watermelons and strawberries for summer. I went to Ulta yesterday and the salesgirl loved them.

Polishes:
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Back to the Fuchsia
Pure Ice, Wild Thing
Sally Hansen Insta-Dry, Lightening
Opi, Alpine Snow
Black nail art pen
I forgot the name of the darker green, but I'll find it and edit it in.

Like I said, I went to Ulta the other day too, and snagged some new polishes. A few are ones I got earlier this week.



Polishes:
Nicole by Opi, Loyalty to Royalty
Opi, The "It" Color
Opi, Rumple's Wiggin'
Opi, Who The Shrek Are You?
Ulta, Holiday in Turqs Caicos
Sally Hanson Complete Salon, Hidden Treasure (I got two of these, finally!)
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Back to the Fuschia
Essie, Mint Candy Apple

I've used the Fuchsia and Hidden treasure already, and I love them both. The formula for the Complete Salon line is so smooth. The Hidden Treasure looks amazing over any polish, though it's hard to get a proper picture of, at least with my shitty camera.

As the world falls down..

My favorite movie of all time is, hands down, Labyrinth. David Bowie's package in tighty-tights and overabundant glitter? Come on, who doesn't love this movie. I tried to do some Labyrinth-inspired nails, and this was the result. I was overall pretty happy with them, except the peach/crystal ball nail. My favorite is the owl/feather one. When I was done, I thought they needed a little something, so I dug around and found some leftover jewels from when I did my nails for prom in like.. 2005. I tossed them on since I they reminded my of Jareth's crystal balls, and surprisingly, they stayed on for like a week and didn't chip.

Polishes:
Opi, Teal the Cows Come Home
Opi, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blazing Blue
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Jumpin' Jade
Pure Ice, Wild Thing
Milani, Diamond Dazzle
Brown and red acrylic paint

Paisley

I love love love these nails. This is kind of my go-to design when I'm lazy or don't know what else to do, because it's easy and I can use all kinds of color combos. This is also the most popular design when I do nails for friends or family. That purple is one of my favorite colors, too.

Polishes:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lively Lilac
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Fairy Teal
Opi, Alpine Snow

Butterfly Wings

This was an okay experiment, I suppose. I wanted something nice for the summery weather we'd been having, so I figured hey, butterflies. I like how the purple and blue one turned out, but that's it. Next time around I'll try a different angle, I think. I ended up taking this off two days later because I was having problems with my middle nail peeling and cracking. My middle nails hate me, I swear..

Polishes:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lively Lilac
Opi, Alpine Snow
Milani, Purple Passion
Black nail art pen
Some frankening/mixing to get lighter shades.

Starry Night, take 2

So, this was my second attempt at doing Starry Night, and I thought it turned out much better this time around. This is probably one of my favorite designs to do just because it's very eye-catching and I always receive lovely compliments on it. I was able to do it much must this time around as well, since I knew what I was doing and what colors I needed.

Polishes:
Opi, Teal the Cows Come Home
Opi, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blazing Blue
Black nail art pen

Owls!

I don't have much to say about this. I like owls, they're such cute little buggers. Rushed to get this done before a doctor appointment.. she thought they were funny.

Polishes:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lively Lilac
Pure Ice, Wild Thing
Opi, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Fairy Teal
Milani, Purple Passion
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Pedal to the Medal
Black nail art pen

To boldy go..

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am a huge Trekkie. I adore Star Trek in all forms. I even have a uniform, that is how much I love Star Trek. When it occured to me I hadn't thought to do Trek nails, I immediately got on with this. I love these nails, I don't give a damn what anyone says. I'd like to do another set with the rank stripes sometime in the future.

Polishes:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blazing blue
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Gray by Gray
Opi, Alpine Snow
Milani, Diamond Dazzle
Sally Hansen Salon, Shooting Star
Black nail art pen
All other colors were frankened on the spot

How To Train Your Dragon!

It's no secret that I love kid movies. And dragons. And fantasy in general. These nails were begging to be done after I saw the movie. I kept it pretty simple because I was feeling pretty lazy(what else is new?). I only did two of Toothless, then some random swirly viking-y designs. I used a little glitter to try and give Toothless a scaly appearance, but if I did this again, I'd probably skip it.

Polishes:
Pure Ice, Wild Thing
Sally Hansen Complete Salon, Gray by Gray
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blue Blast
Opi, Alpine Snow
Sinful Colors, Irish Green
Milani, Diamond Dazzle
Brown Acrylic paint
Black nail art pen

The Scream

After my Starry Night nails, I decided I wanted to do another painting. My mom suggested The Scream by Edvard Munch, and I said, that fits my mood most days, why not. Again, I had no real approach other than attacking my nails with polish and acrylics. I'm still super proud of how they turned out, I got a lot of compliments on them. They required a lot of blending to get certain shades, which was a bit of a pain.

Polishes:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Opi, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Insta-Dry, Blazing Blue
Brown and red acrylic paint
Black nail art pen

Starry Night, take 1

Ah, my proudest moment.. I got bored with simplicity and wanted to do something more complicated. My solution? Attempt to re-create one of my favorite paintings, Van Gogh's Starry Night. I wasn't entirely sure how to approach it, so I just kind of went for it and attacked my nails with polish. This was the first attempt; I have a second attempt I did recent that looks much better, but I still like this version as well. I got mad compliments on them.

Polish:
Opi, Teal the Cows Come Home
Opi, Alpine Snow
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Lightening
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri, Blazing Blue
Black nail art pen