08/09/12 - Hawaiian Toes

I don't know why I never got around to posting this before, but back when I did my Roses and Cream nails, I also redid my toes. They still have this design, so I guess it's okay to post it, right? :p

The first picture is right after doing it, and the second is more recently.
These are fun. Two coats of Love&Beauty - Hot Pink on my littler toes stand out and look fun, and that as a base for the big toes with a gradient of Five Star - Hot Red, Brash - Gone Bananas, Love & Beauty - Periwinkle, and Claire's - Flirty/Shy with my black Migi Nail Art Pen on top is just icing to the cake.

Here's a close up of my left big toe.

I added a bird to this one for no particular reason other than I felt like it. The other toe also has the tree and ground, but no bird.

Anyway, I've gotten compliments on these and I like them, so it all works, I'd say! :)

08/25/12 - Neon Holo Burst Nails

Hello!
So I saw this post by Gorgeois and I just had to try it, because it is so amazing. Mine isn't nearly as cool as hers, but it's still attention grabbing and looks lovely in the sun, so, good enough, right?

It's made of things I love - bright, neon, holo, rainbow! Unfortunately it's also made of things I'm not so good at - using tape and getting a smooth gradient out of tantrum-y polishes. Also, for some reason the polish shrunk a bit from the tips. Grumble.

Here's a picture before the holo star bursts.

On my thumb we have a nameless Simply Sweet pink and Love&Beauty - Hot Pink. On my pointer we have Five Star - Hot Red and Milani - Awesome Orange. On my middle we have L&B - Neon Yellow and L&B - Neon Green. On my ring we have a nameless Sugar & Spice teal and Klean Color - Neon Aqua. And on my pinkie we have Santee - Purple and Ultra Pro - Punki Purple. One coat of Orly - Twilight adds some sparkle, then I used tape to layer Glitter Gal - Silver 3D Holo over Nabi - Silver for some holo glittery love.
Here's some close ups:

Also, because of the advice of someone on LHC, I tried a new method of cleaning up. Usually if I get some on my fingers I try to swipe it off with a toothpick while it's still wet, and I take the rest off the next time I take a shower by just picking it off. This time, I bought a cheap angled brush from ELF and dipped it in some acetone remover, and used it along the sides and the cuticle to get cleaner lines. I'll admit, at first I was a little bummed to receive the suggestion since it was already so much better from the beginning, but this method did work very well and gave me clean results right then, and was pretty easy. So I guess I'll keep up with it. :)
Here's a before and after of one of my fingers in particular:

But yup! Here we have it. :)

Swatch Post: Pure Ice - Super Star

Well, I posted my swatch of Claire's - Snowball, knowing that it was near the end of its life and that I'd need a replacement white. And so I found Pure Ice - Super Star.

 Above is just one coat. It almost works, but I went ahead and added a second coat. I'm glad I did, because it's really just lovely.

See? Beautiful! No topcoat or anything. Just two coats of Super Star, being all white and shiny and smooth.

It worked wonderfully as a base for nail art, too. I've only used it so far in my Roses and Cream nails, but it did exactly what I wanted it to do.
I can't really compare it to Snowball, since I keep remembering the ugly thickness of the end of its life instead of when I first got it, but I do think that Super Star is better from what I do remember. It's a very nice white, and I'm glad I have it. :)

08/09/12 - Roses and Cream Nails

Hello all!
True to my last post, I cut my nails and finally painted a new design.

I wanted something kind of delicate and simple in appearances. Something fairly soft. Something that would work well on my nails now that they're a bit shorter. so I decided to finally do a rose design, but I thought it might look cuter as an accent nail design. So voila!

The pink is Tip Toe - Preppy Pink. It's such a cute pink - a perfect bubble gum cheery pink with a bit if shimmer. :) The green is Love & Beauty - Mint Green. The white is Pure Ice - Super Star. And the sparkles (dotted in between the lines) are Sally Hansen - Diamonds.

This last picture is in natural light and shows the sparkles best.

I think these are fun and exactly what I was looking for.
Also, I love that I finally cut my nails. I've never tried to cut them to be the same length - usually I just let them brake and reshape them individually, sometimes cutting the ring or pinkie because those ones always grow pretty long. But this length is great. I love that they're all the same length, and this is long enough to still be useful, but short enough that they feel sturdy and don't gross me out. xP

But yup! By the way, if you have any ideas for designs you'd like me to try, please let me know!

08/06/12 - Miscellaneous Post

Hello! So these are just a few things I wanted to comment on but couldn't quite fit into other posts.

First, this is a sketch I drew before I did my Sea Life Nails with some coloured pencils on cheap terrible quality paper. xD I just wanted to practice drawing some marine life in an easier format before putting it on my nails. It was fun! I need to sketch more often.

Second, I got some henna done while on vacation. I loved it, but it's pretty much gone already. Bummer.  But see, isn't it pretty? I'll have to try to get some of my own henna and try it myself. That sounds so much fun!

Lastly, I'm going to post about my nail growth. I still have the sea life design on my nails. It's been over three weeks! I think that's the longest I've left a design on. Suprisingly, the design itself is holding up really well. However, the nail growth I've gotten is ridiculous! They don't feel that much longer, but there's like a quarter inch from the nail polish to the cuticle.
[ETA: Here's a picture I meant to include when I posted this:

 It astounds me that I managed to go three weeks with this nail growth making my nails look ridiculous, but with only minimal tip wear. Of course, my right hand is a different story - two nails broke and one nail chipped, but overall, this manicure held on surprisingly well.]
 Yeesh! I keep meaning to redo them, but I've been super busy. Only a couple days after I came back from vacation I flew off to college orientation. I'm just recently back from that, and this weekend I'll be off again for a friend's party. Busy! But I'm really looking forward to redoing my nails. I think I have an idea - but first, I think I'm going to cut them all shorter.

Swatch Post: Santee - Sky Blue

Here's a brief swatch post for you. (Sorry, I was out of town again. Should back for a while, though!)
This is two coats of Santee - Sky Blue. It's a lovely frosty sky blue.

I probably could have gone for three, but for what I wanted from it it was fine. To get rid of the slight streakiness, I could have sponged on the last coat. But really, it looks fine. With nail art and top coat over it, it looks just lovely.

See? Pretty!
I've used this before in my Sea Life nails, my Halloween nails, my Peace Sign Jacket nails, and my I Love Neil nails. :)