Metallic Clouds

I've seen the cloud mani pop up on almost every nail blog out there. It's cute and simple, it doesn't ever require any nail art tools! How much easier could it be?

Regardless, I had never actually done one for myself. I just admired them from across my glassy computer screen. Well no more!

Orly in Sweet Peacock

Barry M in Foil Effects 319

Kleancolors in Metallic Fuschia

That wasn't so hard was it? so why did it take me so long to do it? Well, I'm going to have to say that it's probably because I have been a lazy slacker. Haha!

Regardless, there it is, and I love it! You'll probably be seeing a few interpretations of this design in different colors in the future. Just because it is so pretty....

Have you ever slacked off on an otherwise easy peasy project?

Until next time ^_^

When in doubt, galaxies!

Hello everyone!

I have been kind of in a nail rut... I keep going back to my standard gradient nails and although I really like them, I don't want to overflow you lovely readers with a million different gradient combinations! To get me motivated again, I decided to try a mani that I had really been hesitant about doing: the galaxy nails!

I know you have seen a million and one of these already but I've never had the heart to try them before. As pretty as they are, they also look really difficult to make. You have to make sure you are getting the right color balance and that you are actually making a galaxy shape... I've never had any kind of of formal training, so this seemed like a lot of work and something I would probably just end up taking off because they looked like blobs... you know what I mean?

Anyhow, I pulled out my trusty cardboard and made a few attempts at it before moving on to my tiny nail canvases. I found it was best to start out larger and then later on go back and redefine the shapes with darker polish around the edges. It was pretty time consuming but since I hadn't played with polish like this in a while, I had some fun. After I made a few "examples" I started on my actual nails! I decided to make blueish galaxies and some pinkish ones as well for variety.

Left hand!

Right hand!

I'm actually very proud of how they turned out! so here are a few more picture of them ^_^

I decided not to list the polishes I used because there are so many of them, but I did take a picture of them all for you!

see, I told you there were a lot! the few glitter toppers that I used are also not pictured since I added them afterwards...

Also, one thing I did differently then a lot of other galaxy nails out there is I decided to make my dotted stars silver instead of white. I found the white stars to look just a little too... bright? anyhow, other than that, I used the small eye-makeup sponge applicators and a lot of pictures for NASA to create the different shapes.

alright well that is all for now friends! Have you ever tried galaxy nails before? what did you think of them?

Until next time ^_^

Get your Sailor Stripes

Hello everyone!

Red, white, and blue nails are everywhere today thanks to Memorial Day. 

Here is a little sailor spin on the popular colors :)

Revlon in Royal

China Glaze in Hey Sailor

Zoya in Ibiza (blue stripe)

Generic white striper

Gold striping tape from Ebay

I need to work on my striper polish skills. I have a really hard time making straight lines with it. Maybe it is because my nails are really curved so I get is straight on the middle part, but then I have to go back and fill in the sides. That always messes me up! and since I love stripes so much, I am always thinking of ways to incorporate them into my nails.... oh well, practice will make perfect, right? or maybe I am doomed to have funky stripes for the rest of my life...

What is your favorite way to wear red, white, and blue?

Until next time ^_^

Dot on Dot- it's time for spring!

The weather is finally turning here on gloomy Ohio and that means my pastel polishes are making their yearly debut :)

The mani I am showing you today is actually from last spring but they went so well with the weather that I decided to show it to you anyway!

2-layered dots

This was inspired by a pottery painting technique from my local "Paint your own Pottery" place. The worker was showing us different project ideas and painting style when she showed us something that looked a lot like the plate below:

Image from http://claytopiaerie.com/

I love dots and I love color. Bada bing, I was sold!
Anyhow, I wore this mani for a few hours before I decided it needed more layers!
Cue the 3-layered dots:

I can't quite remember all the polishes I used but I do know that the little dots were made with the Kleancolor metallics collection. The pastels probably came from the China Glaze Up and Away collection... If you are interested in knowing the exact name for a polish, feel free to drop me an email and I'll do my best to find out what it is :)

So that's it for today! Do you ever get inspiration from the most random things?

Until next time ^_^

Barbie Princess Nails

Hi gang!

today I have a mani that is a little bit out of my comfort zone. I like cute girly stuff but I usually try to keep it simple. Not today!

I call these my Barbie Princess nails :)
I didn't want to go too much over the top so I "toned it down" by making the rest a glittery french tip.

Gosh in Wild Lilac

SinfulColors in Pink Forever

Essence in Space Queen

Pearly hearts from the Born Pretty Store

1mm Rhinestones from Ebay

Here is a picture of the little kit from the Born Pretty Store that the pearly hearts came in. As you can see, it also has a little bow decal and some larger round pearls. 

These ended up being a little bigger than I anticipated. I knew the shapes would stick off a bit but I wasn't expecting the little heart and round pearls to be quite so large. I ended up having to add some extra topcoat under my white heart to give it a more stable base. Maybe it's because I have very curved nails. Perhaps someone with a flatter nail would not have any issues with this.
Regardless, I was pleasantly surprised at how well they stayed on! I used Seche Vite to stick them on and they lasted through 2 bedtimes and a shower before one finally snapped off (after running my hands through my hair...) I didn't think they would make it more than 12 hours so that was pretty nice!

If you want to get yourself one of these little kits, you can find them at the Born Pretty Store for under $5 with free shipping! Just click the picture to be taken directly to the product page.
As always, you can use my coupon code to get 10% off your order :)

Have you ever received an online order, only to be surprised by what the item *actually* looks like?

Until next time ^_^


*The product in this post was provided to me for honest review. Please see my disclosure policy for more information*

Funky Feather French

Today I have for you a funky french and feather mani!

I had just purchased a little bag of colored craft feathers and really wanted to try it out. Since it was my first time working with the material (feathers!) I decided to only use 1 per hand so that if it looked horrible, I would only have to worry about fixing 2 fingers :)

To my surprise, these things were super easy to work with. The hardest part is trimming the feather to fit your nail. Once that's done, the rest is easy peasy!

Franken (made by myself) in Lady Finger

Blue glitter that I seriously cannot remember the name of...

Craft feathers from Hobby Lobby

 I used a green and a blue feather, just to test out different shades. I liked how the green feather matched my funky french but preferred the coverage with the blue feather.

Here's how I did my feather mani:

1. select a feather large enough to cover your who nail

2. trim the bottom into a rounded shape to match and fit your nail shape

3. paint your nail a nude color (if you have a very dense feather, you can probably skip this)

4. wait for the nude polish to dry and then apply a thick layer of topcoat

5. quickly place your feather and apply LIGHT pressure. Too much and you risk your nude polish seeping through the feather

6. trim the tip so that you don't have extra feathery bits hanging from your nail

7. apply another thick later of topcoat!

there may be an easier way to do this, but this method worked well for me. The feathers stayed on as long as the rest of my polish. After a couple of days, I did find myself peeling little feather strips but by then, my tips were starting to show signs of wear...

What do you think of feather accent nails?

Until next time ^_^

Color Wave Fiesta!

Hi everyone!

I miss blogging. I really do. Time has become such a precious commodity since school started. It's been hard to find the time to paint my nails, much less post about it. I am sorry I haven't been around as much, but I am sure that you can all understand :) Im not going to promise to post once a week because I have no idea if I will be able to do that but I will try to pop in once in a while. Quality over quantity!

I know it's Halloween time and most posts right now have something to do with Halloween manis so if you are looking for that, feel free to take a gander at my previous posts : Monsters Inc, Halloween on Purpose, and Halloween Ruffian.

Today, I wanted to show you all this pretty stripey mani I made using only the China Glaze electropop collection.

Zig-zag stripes are not as easy to do as I thought they would be! This really reminds me of the Fiestas we used to have in High School Spanish class. Pinata, anyone?

Have you ever made a mani using polishes from only 1 collection?

Until next time ^_^

Ombre Stripes

Week 23 of the Year of Polish challenge- Ombre Mani

I saw a mani very similar to this on Tumblr not too long ago and thought it would make a nice alternative to the normal Ombre manis

Plus, as you have probably noticed, I have been in a very colorful mood for a while now so the thought of sticking to different shades of the same color was not very exciting.

This striped ombre was very easy to do and it is a nice alternative for nail-fanatics who just do not happen to have 5 complementing shades of polish!

Sally Hansen in White On

YELLOW

Sally Hansen in Yellow Kitty

Orly in Spark

China Glaze in Solar Power

PURPLE

China Glaze in Agent Lavender

Fresh Paint in Blackberry Smoothie

China Glaze in Grape Pop

GREEN

China Glaze in Refresh-mint

China Glaze in Gaga for Green

Zoya in Envy

BLUE

China Glaze in Kinetic Candy

Sally Hansen in Brisk Blue

Barry M in Indigo

PINK

SinfulColors in Pink Forever

NYC in Pink Promenade Creme (old version)

China Glaze in Fuchsia Fanatic

A nice white base and paint on a stripe of each color. Add a topcoat to blend everything nicely and bam! A stripey rainbow!

Alrighty then! I'll be leaving for a summer vacation on Sunday so I will be taking a little break from posting. I'll try and log on to show you what my vacation mani looks like first though :) I'm planning on using some Jamberry Nail shields since they last for so long!

Until next time ^_^

Paint Splatters!

Last week's theme for the Year of Polish challenge was a splatter mani. Since I just made a true splatter mani for the earth day theme, I thought I would take a different spin on this one by making "controlled" splatters.

Instead of splattering by putting polish on by blowing with a straw, I created some paint splatters using a dotting tool.
The polishes I uses were inspired by Jenna Froggy. When I saw her splatter mani using metallic polishes I knew I had to try it as well :D

Wet N Wild in Black Creme

KleanColor in Metallic Green

KleanColor in Metallic Yellow

KleanColor in Metallic Fuschia

KleanColor in Metallic Pink

Orly in Sweet Peacock 

My splatters did not end up looking especially splattery. Some of them look  more like flowers no? but I loved the colors!

Until next time ^_^

Abstract flowers

Week 19- Floral mani

The first thing I thought of with this theme is roses, but I'm not very good at making the swirly roses.... I've tried them before, but to me they just looked like blobs. When other make them, they look so pretty! so I found some different inspiration... I recreated a floral mani I saw on beautopia ((click here for her design!)

I changed the colors a bit to brighten it up and I am not as handy with a striper brush as she is but overall, these looked much more flowery than any swirly rose mani I could have done!

OPI in Fly

China Glaze in Make Some Noise

Color Club in Pucci-licious

Orly in Spark

China Glaze in Gaga for Green

details done with a 2-way nail art pen

I really love how bright this is! I think this would make a great pattern on a tank top :) I would totally wear it

This might now be my go-to flower design!!

Don't forget to check out past challenges as well as other bloggers who are doing this challenge by clicking on the Year of Polish page.

Do you have a favorite floral design?

Until next time ^_^

Rocko's Modern Life!

Since things were so busy last week at school, I'll be playing catch-up for a while...
Last week's challenge from the Year of Polish was cartoon nails. There are a lot of cartoons I like, or liked as a kid anyhow :) One of which that stands out is Rocko's Modern Life

Any of you watch that show before? it is so odd. I used to love it when I was younger. So many pretty colors!!
This mani was also inspired by one I found on Pinterest. It doesn't say who the original artist was only that it was found on the tumblr: 90'sareallthat

This is what I did:

I was going to write "Rocko's Modern Life" on the thumb but I quickly realized that I was not skilled enough for something like that yet >_<

Also! here is the inspiration from Pinterest:

I used way too many colors in this mani to list them all, but if there is a particular color that you would like to know about, you can ask me about it :)
So that's it for today! I'll be working on my Floral manifor week 19 of the challenge tonight, so I will probably post it up tomorrow.

Until next time ^_^

Stripes inspired by a Mug

This week's theme for the Year of Polish challenge was stripes.
Easy peasy! I love stripes!!

Not too long ago, I came across this mug on Print and Pattern's blog

And I loved how cute it was! so here is my take on this beautiful mug :)

Sally Hansen in White Tip

China Glaze in Lemon Fizz

China Glaze in Peachy Keen

China Glaze in Kinetic Candy

China Glaze in Agent Lavender

China Glaze in Re-Fresh Mint

Milani in Black Magic

1.5mm Rhinestones

Check out my Year of Polish Challenge page to see past themes and also take some time to look at bloggers who are doing this challenge as well!

Also, don't forget to enter my 200 followers giveaway :)

Where do you usually find your inspiration?

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 ^_^

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 ^_^

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 ^_^

Corset Nails

Welcome to week 8 of the Year of Polish challenge!

Corset Mani

I had seen a few of these on other people's blogs before. They are usually composed of 2 swipes of color on either side of the nail and are connected by a lace that crisscrosses between the 2 (just like my ring finger). So that's what I was going to do!

However, as I was browsing some other blogger's pages, I came across Nail Stories: Hearty Half Moons and they reminded me of the top of a corset! I thought they were so pretty that I had to try it out for this week's challenge!

As you can see, I did the traditional corset nail on my ring finger, but I used Nail Stories "curtain nails" on the rest of my fingers. To make them look corset-ier I added some frillies and bows :)

This mani was super easy to do! For the corset tops, you just need to do 2 quick swipes from side to middle. They don't have to be super straight since you can fix it with the frillies. Then using a migi pen, make little bouncy half circles along the edge and do a quick bow in the center.
The corset back is made up of 2 semi circle swipes of each side of the nail. Make a few dots, those will be the eyelets. Then using your migi pen (or even a striping brush) crisscross the lines.

Easy peasy!

What I used

Base- Franken Lady Fingers

Corset- Essie in Sassy Satchel

Eyelets- GOSH in Silver

Lace and frillies- Migi Nail Art pen in Shimmering White

I've never been able to find the right shade of nude for me so I ended up making my own... It's the closest I have ever come to true mannequin hands!
All you need to make your own nude polish is a lot of white, a dash of brown, some yellow, and a hint of red. If you have darker skin tone, add more brown. If you have cool undertones, more red.
I'm very pale with warm undertones so I needed a lot of yellow and only a little brown :)

Don't forget to check out my Year of Polish page to see other bloggers who are undertaking this challenge as well as to check out past manis and future challenges!

Until next time ^_^