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