Whimsical Glitter Mosaic

What could be better for spring than wonderful Revlon Whimsical? How about a glitter mosaic?

What about both!

Shazam!!

Revlon in Whimsical

Layered over Sally Hansen in Whirlwind White

Etude House in Dazzling Purple

Etude House in Dazzling Blue

A glitter  mosaic may be time consuming, but they are super easy to do! Using a toothpick, I places each hex on my nail, alternating between purple and blue. Topped it off with Seche Vite because it was very gritty, and there! 

I wish I could have had Dazzling Pink instead of purple so that it would match Whimsical better but oh well right?

What do you think of mosaic glitter nails?

Also, check out my 200 followers giveaway!

Until next time ^_^  

Summer Neon Ruffian

This week's challenge was a ruffian manicure. 
I kind of like this type of mani. It's easy to do and allows you to show off 2 polishes at once!
They can be a little plain though...

Since I have been in need of summer color, I decided to pair this challenge with some bright neon polishes. I'm getting to that point where wearing neon nail polish makes me feel like a kid :( So it seemed like the ruffian manicure was the best way to wear them without having them be too loud

Funky Fingers in 220 Volts

China Glaze in Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Funky Fingers in Pop Artist

Funky Fingers in Ectoplasmic

China Glaze in Japanes Koi (NEON)

*all topped with Hard Candy Mattely in Love*

Wet n Wild in Black Creme

*topped with Seche Vite*

The best way to get a great looking ruffian is with french manicure guide. You just place them at the base of your nail instead of the tip!

Unfortunately I never have french guides, so these were freehanded.

Check out the other challenges here

Also, don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Until next time ^_^

It's Finally Here- 200 Followers Giveaway!!

It is finally ready :)

Since 200 is a pretty big milestone (to me anyhow) I thought I should celebrate by giving away some polishes that I love!

this isn't a giant giveaway, mostly because money is tight these days but I hope you enjoy what I have rounded up for you.

The Loot

 Zoya Ivanka and Valerie

 China Glaze Luxe and Lush, Recycle, and Fairy Dust

Model's Own Golden Green, Pinky Brown, and Emerald Black

Sinful Colors Green ocean, Pure Ice Heartbreaker, Catrice Dirty Berry

Though I have used each of these polishes, the bottles you will be winning are brand new :) 

on to the rules:

1. This giveaway is open to US and Canada only. This is because shipping internationally can get very tricky with nail polish. If you are located elsewhere but have access to a US or Canada address, then feel free to enter. (On the bright side, I will be holding another giveaway when this one ends that will be open internationally)
2. you must be a public follower of Asa Nisi Masa Nail Spot, either through GFC or Tumblr. I will also accept followers through Bloglovin' but you must send me a screen cap to prove that you are really a follower since there isn't a way for me check otherwise :/
3. Any unfinished entries will be removed. For example, if I ask for a link, and you do not provide one, that particular entry will be removed. 
4. You HAVE to give me a valid email address. This is how I will contact you if you win. You will have 48 hours to reply to my email to claim your prize otherwise I will pick someone else.
5. This giveaway will close on April 15 at 12:01 am

Good luck everyone and thank you for supporting my blog. It means a ton to me :)

Skittle Gradient

First off, I'd like to apologize for being so absent for the past couple of weeks. Things have been pretty hectic at school and I had to get ready for an experiment that started on Saturday. Unfortunately, the experiment was not working out so we had to cancel it :( However! that does mean I have a little more free time then expected.

Here is one of my favorite manis that I have done so far for the Year of Polish challenge.

This was for week 12: Skittle Mani

For this I decided to do a gradient skittle, mostly because I love gradients so much ^_^
I used a few of my new Kleancolor Metallic polishes for this look and they worked great!
The colors are vibrant and (except for yellow of course) they were opaque in 1 coat.

Kleancolor in Metallic Green

Kleancolor in Metallic Aqua

Kleancolor in Metallic Pink

Kleancolor in Metallic Yellow

Kleancolor in MetallicFuschia

Kleancolor in Metallic Orange

To achieve the gradient effect, I simply sponged on the colors and made them overlap a bit. They blended together really nicely and the final effect was like a rainbow of awesome-sauce!

I'm thinking this would make an awesome pedicure.

On another note, according the UPS tracking, I should receive the last of the items for the giveaway tonight. This means that I can finally start this thing!! I will probably be using Rafflecopter this time, but if you have any other suggestions, I am totally open to trying something else!

I was also thinking about doing a stash post where I show you how I have my polish organized. What do you guys think?

Until next time ^_^

St Patrick's day nails

We're now on week 11 of the Year of Polish challenge! This time, we're doing St Patrick's day nails. How surprising I know!

I've never been a big fan of St Patrick's day. Green doesn't really suit me, so I rarely wear it. St Patrick's day was no exception and there was always one annoying kid in school who would actually go around pinching people for it... I'm also not a beer drinker. This leaves this holiday with little for me to actually enjoy. 

I do, however, have a free green shades of polish that rarely get to see the light of day. 

China Glaze in Gaga for Green

Model's Own in Emerald City

Sinful Colors in Green Ocean

Nail Sticker from 8ty8 Beauty

It's kind of hard to see Green Ocean but it is a really pretty green tinted jelly with large blue flakes. It's very thick and hard to apply but it adds a gorgeous effect.

Don't forget to check out the Year of Polish challenge page located below my profile picture to see some upcoming challenges as well as some links to blogs who are also doing this!

What do you think of St Patrick's Day?

Until next time ^_^

CO3 nails

Hello everyone!
I have returned from my trip to Florida. It was quite nice! not as sunny as I would have liked but 100% warmer than Ohio :)
The conference I went to is known as CO3 which stands for Conference on Comparative Cognition. I heard lots of great talks about how smart animals really are. For example, some elephants can learn to use tools to get to food! Bumblebees can make same/different discrimination and extrapolate what they have learned to new stimuli and there has been new evidence of whisper like behavior from cotton top tamarins.

from criver.com

In our lab, we work with black hooded rats (like the one above). I loved Arfblart's idea about neuron nail art, but I think I'm going to save that one for when I go to Neuroscience in the fall :) Thanks Arfblart!! Since this conference is all about the animal mind, I decided to do some rat nails!

Rat/ring finger

China Glaze in Agent Lavender

Milani in Black Magic

Sally Hansen in White On

light pink was made by mixing pink and white polish

Other fingers:

Wet N Wild in Black Creme

Ludurana Aurora Boreal Emocionante

Here it is tilted so you can see how gorgeous Emocionante really is!

It goes from royal blue, to purple and even has some reddish fuchsia flashes. It's amazingness!

What do you think of my little rat? there was hardly any room to add his ears which was unfortunate. 

Since I am a true nail polish addict, I actually brought some remover pads and a bottle of polish with me. After a few days of this, It was time for a change! Since there wasn't much room left in my "liquids" quart bag, I had to bring a small bottle, so I settled on Hits Mari Moon in Cutie pie. Here is a picture a took with my phone (hence the bad quality)

Mari Moons are by far the duochromiest polishes I own. 

Cutie Pie shifts from purple to blue to green.

I'm still waiting on one more shipment before I start this giveaway.Hopefully it will come in soon. I really want to get it started already :D

Until next time ^_^

Polka Dot Skittle Mani

Week 9 of the Year of Polish challenge is all about the polka dots!

I tried a few different things before I finally settled on this look. It's not the most creative but it's really eye catching!

Sally Hansen in Coral Reef

Color Club in Pucci-licious

Orly in Spark

Orly in Green Apple

China Glaze in Aqua Baby

In other news, I hit 200 followers last week so I'm putting together a little giveaway. I'm waiting on a couple more items before I begin though so you can look forward to that :)

I'm also going to a research conference this week which means I probably won't update until I get back. I'm very excited! It's in Melbourne, Florida right on the beach :D This is my very first real, professional conference... And I'm presenting a poster there. Eek! I'm a little nervous but thankfully my presentation is the second day of the conference which means that I get to enjoy the rest of the trip without worry ^_^

Now I need to find the perfect nail art for the occasion... hmm... anyone have any ideas?

Until next time ^_^ 

Awards and stuff

Happy leap day! I thought I would use this extra day to catch up on awards I received that I did not post yet.

The first one I received is from Pinkishbeauty11. She blogs about nails, makeup, and other very interesting things (like tea!). She also has a post on how to do UV gel nails. If you are interested, I definitely recommend you go check it out!

Accepting this award comes with a few rules 

1. Nominate 15 fellow bloggers. 

2. Inform the bloggers of their nomination.

3. Share 7 random facts about yourself.

4. Thank the blogger who nominated you.

5. Add the Versatile Blogger Award picture to your blog post.

Let's start with the 7 random facts shall we?

1. I am a first year student working on getting my Ph.D in behavioral neuroscience at Kent State University. 
2. When I am not in the lab doing research I am either painting my nails or watching old 90's shows on Netflix (currently watching Sliders!!)
3. I love stripes! my closet is comprised of 46% (total guess here...) striped shirts. I prefer classic black and white but there are a few colorful ones in there too :)
4. I'm a sucker for Asian makeup and skin care. Their packaging is always so cute and the shades (of BB cream and such) always match my skin tone perfectly
5. English is not my first language. I spoke only French until I moved to the US when I was 11.
6. I got my very own car as a graduation present last May. The best present ever!
7. I used to keep my hair short but I've been growing it out for the past 2 years. I've decided that I will cut it when  I receive my Masters.

Next is the lovely blog award that I received from Jun at Modpolish. Her blog is also pretty new but she has some really cool nail art that she has put up. For example, her Static Funk mani is out of this world! 

The rules are: 

1. Link back to the person you got it from 

2. Tell seven things about yourself

3. Give the award to ten bloggers

I've already listed 7 things so I'm just going to say: refer to above list :)

Lastly I received the Butterfly Award, also from Jun at Modpolish. 

The rules are: 

1. Link back to the person who gave you the award

2. Answer the following questions

3. Award to other bloggers and let them know

The questions: 

1. What's your favourite song? 

I don't think I have one favorite song... Some days I feel like listening to my AsiaJam mix cd and my favorite song might by Chu~♥ by f(x). The next I could be feeling a little bleh and my go to song would be La tête haute by Les Cowboys Fringant. The I could be feeling relaxed and I would want to listen to something like Crystalized by the XX. I don't have a favorite song, just stuff I really like and stuff I don't really like :)

2. What's your favourite dessert? 

fudgy brownies. Hot. With ice cream. yeah.....

3. What's your favourite pet? 

My boyfriend and I have 3 cats and I love them all very dearly. However, I would have to say that I have a slight inclination for Mallory. Mostly because he is such a grouch and usually in a bad mood. I love being able to make him purr, it's like taming a dangerous animal! Check out the franken I created in honor him here

4. Black or White?

Grey has so much more depth....

5. What's your biggest fear? 

being stabbed in the back. Literally. I remember watching this segment on America's Most Wanted where they talked about a boy who was stabbed in the back and was paralyzed. He just laid there for hours, unable to do anything. That really terrified me. Now when someone touches my lower back, it tenses up and starts to hurt. True Story.

6. What's your best feature?

my jovial personality! hahaha

7. What's your everyday attitude? 

what needs to get done will get done. I learned this in one of my econ classes in college. Time is a scarce resource and there are unlimited activities which will consume it. However, the ones that need it the most will get it :)

8. What is perfection?

My wonderful man. He isn't perfect, but he is perfect for me :)

9. What is your guilty pleasure?

Korean dramas >_< they are so good! Boys over Flowers? That is the most wonderful love story I have ever heard.

Nominating time!! Here I am going for quality over quantity :)

• Iroshi Windwalker of It's Just a Hobby
• Mich and Jayo of The Polish Well
• nevorpurify
• Jackieee of Pamperd With Polish
• Miranda of Arfblart

Until next time ^_^

Vintage Mani

There are a couple of variations on how people interpreted this weeks Year of Polish theme: "Vintage" mani

It thought it was referring to the kind of manicures that were done in the olden days, where the tip and the half moon were left polish free. Which you can see in this vintage Cutex ad from the late '30s.

Even though this was my original intention, such a manicure was not going to work with my stubby nails. I barely have a free edge to leave polish free! Since that was not going to work, I decided to a vintage pattern mani! My poor little nails could handle that one!

I looked around the internet for some neat vintage patterns and came across this gorgeous wallpaper from the early 1800's

from http://www.historicnewengland.org

and "recreated" it using tape and stamping

Essie in Turquoise and Caicos

Sally Hansen in Wet Cement

Konad Special polish in White

Konad stamping plate M71

I really fudged the index finger but otherwise, I think my stamping has improved a lot. I remember the first time I tried stamping >_< it was a disaster! haha!

Don't forget to check out my Year of Polish page to see past nail art and future themes as well as to discover some great nail artists who are also doing this challenge.

Anyhow, maybe one day I will try the vintage manicure that is in the Cutex ad above. I just have to keep my nails from breaking! with that, I am off to moisturize :)

Has your nail length ever kept you from doing a manicure you had in mind?

Until next time ^_^

Poppies Mani

Hey everyone!

These nails are inspired by a video tutorial I saw on YouTube 2-3 years ago. I can't remember the name of the user and I wasn't able to find the video, so if this mani looks familiar and you know who the original artist is, please let me know! 

The weather in Ohio has been quite blah and I was in need of some brightness! 

Pure Ice in Unzip Me

Sally Hansen in Bubblegum Pink

China Glaze in Gothic Lolita

Sally Hansen in So Poppy

SinfulColors in Cloud 9

Black acrylic paint

The colors used in this "poppies" mani were inspired by Spring Poppies 1 by Susan Hazard. It's a very pretty painting!

This mani works best if you use polishes with the same finish. Here I had all shimmers. It just keeps the busyness of the pattern from being too overwhelming...

I attempted a water color nail here using the same colors. Unfortunately the brush I used was very small so it didn't have quite the intended effect but I find it quite interesting.

Also here is some pic spam of my international swaps

Mavala Black Diamond, Model's Own Mystic Mauve, W7 Metallic Venus. Marks and Spencers Rainbow, MaxFactor Fantasy Fire

Fantasy Fire Close Up

So much GOSH! Names below.

Until next time ^_^