Pastel Clouds

The ever-amazing Jane at Nailside came up with this cute design awhile back. After seeing so many awesome recreations, I had to try it out myself. I used Sinful Colors Innocent and Confetti Belle of the Ball. I can't remember the white's name. -_-  I use Innocent a lot, if anyone has noticed, but I just picked up Belle of the Ball last week at CVS. I went there because I had heard there were a ton of good sales going on, but I must have heard way too late because they were cleaned out. Either way, I walked away with basically the cheapest polishes I could find in any colors I didn't have 2 of. This lovely purple is one of them. 

While it's fun and cute, I kind of regret the color combination. It didn't look very nice on my skin. Maybe light purples just don't do well for me. My light was creating some crazy glare in these pictures too. I kind of liked the effect, though. 

Thanks for reading!

Not Quite Connect the Dots...

So Lynderella makes everyone squeal with her amazing polishes, but I am too slow and too broke to ever get in on her sales. Connect the Dots is my personal favorite polish of hers - it's perfect for putting over just about any color and creating instant nail art. Nails and Noms has some pretty great swatches of CTD here. I am currently trying to get the supplies to create my own version, but until then I have been using Nubar Black Polka Dot and White Polka Dot to try to create a similar effect. I also recently received China Glaze For Audrey, and thought what better way to show it off for the first time? :)

These pictures were frustrating. For Audrey did not want to photograph for some reason, and I am always awkward using my right hand to take photos. My right hand, which I usually photograph, has a severely broken pointer fingernail. I have some sort of Wolverine healing factor though so I expect it to be full length again in about a week :)

Thanks for reading!

Orly? YA RLY

This is my first and still only Orly polish. Out of all the things that make this polish amazing, I really really love the grip! I am always a little worried I'll drop my nail polish brush while painting and destroy the carpet or splatter it on my work area, this made me feel safe. Hah. The first time I tried to apply Androgynie, it didn't go so well, and I was quite discouraged. Luckily I stumbled across this helpful entry by Polish Insomniac! I still probably didn't leave the bottle upside down long enough, but I got a lot more large glitter this time around. The heavy pigmentation covers up some of the glitter, though, and I gotta say I should have stuck with one coat on some of my nails. On to the pictures...

Good? Bad? Needs more upside down time? Yeah... Anyone have an Androgynie story to share? 

Animal print times with friends!

A few weeks ago I got to see one of my very best friends, Lindsey, and her daughter. We of course had to get in some nail time as we rarely see each other (living on the other side of the country sucks for friendships).

Check out that rock too O.O

Those are Lindsey's nails. I used some amazing Sally Hansen pink she had and also a silver she had. Then just dotted some black in for the outline of the prints. She takes good care of her nails so they were easy to work with, and I'm actually pretty proud of the job I did. After I did her nails, her daughter decided she wanted leopard print too, but I did not end up getting a picture of them :( I also did some stamping which was really fun on tiny little fingers haha She sat really well for her nails though, and I can tell that some day she will be a crazy good nail artist!

So, that was actually my second attempt at leopard print, because I had done the style on myself earlier that week. 

The pink is How I Met Your Magenta. The lighter pink is some off brand I got super cheaply at Ross. Not super good quality but good for small things like blotching pink for leopard print :]

Thanks for reading!

Oh, what a strange (Matte) Magic!

Finally got my hands on some China Glaze Matte Magic over the holidays, and I couldn't be more impressed. Easily the smoothest thing I have ever applied. One quick, stroke, and your nails are completely matte. I experienced no streaks or clumping or oily look afterwards. In fact, even after applying cuticle butter and lotion to my nails, they retained their matte look. I'm absolutely blown away by how easy this was to work with. A pretty quick dry, too! I'd say if you're looking for a brand to go with for a matte top coat, go China Glaze (no they didn't pay me haha, I wish).

I threw that on over Innocent by Sinful Colors that I had done earlier. Despite the matte awesomeness, it was a bit boring for my tastes so I started over and added Nubar's Black Polka Dot to the mix.

This is such an amazing glitter! I was surprised by how much the little hex's stuck to the brush. It's sister, White Polka Dot, I don't feel is as heavily packed with glitter, or maybe I was just applying it wrong. Anyway, take a look!

Before Matte Magic

After Matte Magic

So. Smooth.

And what matte manicure (matte-icure?) would be complete without some glossy tips!

I am pretty much in love with this look. Next time, 3 coats instead of two with the Black Polka Dot!

Thanks for reading!

Consistency is not my middle name + Cute Blog Award!

Due to random illnesses (seriously? food poisoning twice in one week?) I hadn't really been doing much with my nails, or been able to post older photos because that would have required me to forsake my porcelain god. I'm all better now, though, and I'm looking forward to posting more regularly as I actually gain bits of confidence in my work.

A note to the few people that (so far) follow me: I read all of your blogs! I love them! I love the variety and the personality behind each and every one of them. Speaking of awesome bloggers, franken master (seriously, girl has skills) Ashesela over at ArtEvolve tagged me for a Cute Blog Award! This is, in fact, an incredibly cute award. Why haven't I done something like this to my nails yet? #Shitnailaddictsthink (I don't even use twitter, but this was appropriate here)

For this award you:

1. Link back to the person who awarded you

2. Answer the award questions

3. Tell something about yourself that you haven't told anyone on your blog yet

4. Award as many blogs as you think are worthy of this award

5. Make sure to let those you gave this award to know that you awarded them.

The Award Questions:

1. What is your go to makeup product?

- I honestly don't wear make up. I use chapstick? :\ I actually would like to learn how to properly wear make up, but I'm too focused on nail stuff right now worry about it.

2. What was your favorite fashion trend of 2011?

- I know nail art got really big, so we'll go with that because I might as well live in Latveria when it comes to fashion. 

3. What is your favorite dessert?

- First, I must ask Ashesela: What is polish cheesecake please?! That already sounds amazing because I imagine it involves a pierogie somehow! I like strawberry cheesecake. A lot. 

4. Favourite color?

- Green (Yes, I will own every green nail polish)

5. What is your middle name?

- Lee

6. What was the last song that you listened to?

- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmsbHGEB6UU&ob=av2e

7. Cats or dogs?

- Both (No need to change this >^.^<)

Something about myself that you don't know:

Hmmm... my dream is to create the most epic She-Ra nail art design ever. 

Yep!

I tag:

KKNails

Heidi Schwartz

LittleRedLoves

GretalRabbit

Polished Mess 

Everyone else has received it multiple times... so I won't spam you guys.

Next time, THERE WILL BE POLISH PICS! Thanks for reading!

Glitter Badge!

Who doesn't love glitter?! Sad people, that's who. I was one of those sad people, then I tried some good quality glitters full of hexagonal goodness and fell in love. Milani - Gems (a dupe of Deborah Lippmann's Happy Birthday and O.P.I.'s Rainbow Connection) is one of those glitter polishes that makes you instantly drool.  This manicure was actually the closest thing I did to a Christmas manicure and it just so happened to be right around the time I got this badge (yes, it was forever ago). The lovely Ashesela of ArtEvolve tagged me in this award, and now I must tag four people as well. But first, the pictures!

Flash!

I probably could have done another coat just for more even coverage, but I wanted the green to show through a bit since it was supposed to be a Christmas style after all! The rules of this badge say I have to tag 4 people to show off their favorite glitter polish as well, I choose...

Polished Mess

The Thing I Like Now

Dannidoo Nails

Starlight Radiance

Every awesome person I follow (and more that I don't) deserve this award though. Glitters can be a pain to work with and remove, anyone who can do it deserves at the very least a little internet high five!

Seasons Schmeasons (Poolside Party Time!)

I don't care if it is snowing outside, I just got China Glaze's Poolside collection, and I wanted to play with it! Water marbling really did seem like the best idea. So, I threw on a coat of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White Out and used almost all of the colors to create my second (semi) successful attempt at marbling! I am pretty satisfied. I know water marbling is something that takes practice and determination, so I'm trying not to get upset with myself before I have perfected a technique that works for me.

Poolside Collection

Weird. I thought I had more pictures. I did this while away from home, and by the time I got back to photograph it, it looked a mess. Either way, dammit, I water marbled and it didn't totally suck! WOO!

Colors used:
Pool Party (pink)
Sun Worshipper (orange)
Yellow Polka Dot Bikini
Kiwi Cool-Ada 
Towel Boy Toy (blue)

Can't really see much of the blue.

Well for a first post back after almost a month, this was pretty crappy! I ended up not going to China, but took a mental vacation from all things anyway. So, I did some random manicures that I plan on posting about, and I read some blogs, but I didn't do much else. Hopefully I will get back in the swing of things quickly and get my butt in gear to do some awesome nail things. Woo :)

Leaving today!

So I haven't been around much because I've been busy panicking and packing. On Christmas morning local time, I will get to Beijing! Wee! Uhhh and SCARY! Pretty sure culture shock is going to be crazy. I leave in 3 hours. I actually had a couple posts I wanted to get done, but completely fell behind due to oversleeping and have no time left. At least I'll have a couple ready when I get back!

Also, when I get back GIVEAWAY TIME. Of course I have so few followers that I will have to have some sort of "reblogging" required. If it gets up to around 50, this giveaway will be huge and awesome :) I'll be doing it through tumblr too - the more exposure the better! Most of the giveaway will probably be crazy awesome stuff I find in China, if that comes up short, though, I'll make up for it with some equally awesome products from here.

Back to packing! I will so miss reading everyone's blogs while I'm gone :( I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season!

The beauty that is Chunky Holo Black

I'm convinced that over any color Kleancolor's Chunky Holo Black would be instant nail art. It's also incredibly easy to apply which is always a plus for newbies like myself. I threw it over Color Mates - Cabernet which came in a cheap set I found at Big Lots. I gotta say, I was against the crappy gift sets after a few bad experiences, but now I realize they do usually at least make really good bases for awesome glitters, flakies, or other awesome color enhancing polishes. Here are the pictures, which as always do not do any sort of justice to the manicure itself :(

No idea why it looks so lumpy in some of these photos.. it was quite smooth :)

And that's that! Cabernet is actually a really awesome color on its own. I wish I had taken a few photos. The application was poor though so it might not have been very impressive anyway. If anyone has any manicure suggestions for before I leave I can try to fit them in! I should be gone within the week! Ahhh! So crazy!

Thanks for reading!