Orly - Charged Up with Glitter

Hey guys! If you saw my post on Orly - Charged Up, you'd know that this is my first and favorite jelly polish so far. Isn't the color just mind-blowing?

Well today I've jazzed them up so they look x10 mind-blowing. See for yourself:

Taken with flash

Sorry for flooding my cuticles. My cuticles still aren't in the best shape but we're getting there :D I hope.

Taken with flash

Now comes the fun part. Check that glitter razz out! I heart my China Glaze - Fairy Dust - the name couldn't be more apt!

Here's what the glitter that I layered over the 2 coats of Orly - Charged Up:

• Thumb and ring finger:
• 2 coats of Love & Beauty - Confetti Sprinkle
• Middle finger:
• 2 coats each of Love & Beauty - gold glass flecks and Love & Beauty - gold glitter
• Little finger:
• 1 coat of China Glaze - Fairy Dust

Sealed all the glitter in with Sally Hansen - Insta Dri Top Coat. Let me be the first to tell you that Love & Beauty - Confetti Sprinkle consists of chunky, irregularly-shaped glitter and some of the glitter does curl up so I'd advise pressing them down a little then sealing with top coat.

Taken in the shade

Taken with flash

This is not Orly - Charged Up. This is actually Essie - The Girls Are Out from the Essie Summer Collection 2013 which is a GORGEOUS fuchsia. If you love this color as much as I do, don't worry. I'll show you more pictures in an upcoming post.

So how do you like all that glitter on Orly - Charged Up? Or do you prefer your polishes plain? Or was there not enough glitter for your liking?! I'm a sucker for adding designs and unnecessary glitter; you can admit that you like your nails busy and fancy. :)

Thank you for reading!! :)

Mad mix of glitter skittle nails

Hi everyone! I've got a couple of Christmas nail posts coming soon but for now let me show you a couple of new nail colors and fabulous glitter toppers that I tried at a beauty store the other day.

Remember that time I layered glitter over Essie - Play Date and it was all like shazzam confetti in yo faces?! Okay, a tad bit of exaggeration there but who cares, right? Anyway, today I've got a couple of the same glitters but also moreee!

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Keep in mind that I tried these at the store so I don't know the names of the polishes I tried. I didn't buy any of these polishes because one, according to everyone I ask, I have enough nail polish and two, I really shouldn't spend any more on nail polish. Sad.

On my right hand (pictures above):
Thumb: Sky blue + a combination of circle, bar and micro glitter.
Index: Light green + big and small hexagon glitters in pink, red, green, blue and white.
Middle: Navy blue + black and white square, bar, circle and hexagonal glitter.
Ring: Red orange + multi-colored circle, hexagonal and bar glitter.
Little: Yellow + multi-colored circle, hexagonal and bar glitter.

The color combination of the glitter on my ring and little finger is different so don't mistake them as the same. As you can see, the glitter on my little finger is much more sparse and doesn't spread well.

I really love the glitter on my index finger and that shade of green. So unique!

Taken with flash

On my left hand here, I initially did a floral and stripe nail design which I have yet to post but don't worry, it's coming. I had no intention of layering glitter over the stripes but decided at the last minute that I was going to remove the design on the same day so I would just mess around with the glitter.

Yeah, I know, the glitter looks weird layered over the stripe design but let's just ignore that for now and appreciate how dense the glitter layers are.

As you can see, the glitter on my index finger has bar glitters while my ring finger doesn't. That's because I layered the bar glitter over the first layer of the glitter you see on my ring finger. What a mess, haha!

I also dabbed on gold hexagons randomly onto the my other nails beside the flowers. I'm not sure how I like them but I guess they don't look that bad.

What do you think? Which is your favorite glitter? What glitter polish have you used recently?

Thanks for reading! And in case I forget to post, happy Thanksgiving!!

Ariel from The Little Mermaid Nail Art

Hi guys!! Today I bring you another installment of Disney characters on my nails! After Jane, I was obsessed. I knew I needed to do Ariel because, duh, I heart mermaids and red hair and the ocean and you can check out my mermaid tail nails here and the red version of the mermaid tail here.

PLEASE tell me you love mermaids as much as I do!!

Taken in indirect sunlight

Sorry for the shaky hands!! I didn't manage to draw the lines as straight as I wanted and my eyes were getting tired from aligning the brush and trying to draw the outline.

I used a bajillion polishes to do this design (okay I only have that many bottles, not even close to 100) but I managed to compile the list:

Thumb:

• China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss
• China Glaze - Salsa
• China Glaze - First Mate
• China Glaze - White on White
• Orly - Liquid Vinyl 
• Love & Beauty - milky white
• The Face Shop - BR802

You can see the rest of the designs in the pictures below:

Index:

• 2 coats of China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss as a base
• The Face Shop - PP401 and a random purple polish for the shell top
• Sally Hansen - Lickety Split Lime and Sally Hansen - Mint Sprint for the tail

Middle:

• 2 coats of (my drying) Revlon Top Speed - Yellow as a base
• The Face Shop - BL602 for the stripes

Ring:

• 2 coats of The Face Shop - BL602 as a base
• Sponged on a gradient of China Glaze - First Mate, The Face Shop - BL602 and Love & Beauty - baby blue
• Used The Face Shop - YL702 and a striper brush to draw the moon

Little:

• 2 coats of Love & Beauty -  baby blue for the base
• Sponged on a gradient of The Face Shop - BL602
• Used a striper brush, Sally Hansen - Mint Sprint and The Face Shop -  to create the bed of corals.

Taken in indirect sunlight

From left to right: Ariel's bikini top and tail, Flounder's scales, the reflection of the moon minus Ariel sitting on the rock ala the picture at the top of the post, and finally the bed of corals that symbolize Ariel's home.

Taken with flash

Taken with retro filter

Taken in indirect sunlight

I did all five nails in an hour which is a vast improvement from spending an hour on solo Jane on my thumbnail.

I'm pleased at how her eyes, nose and skin tone turned out... And I love the other designs so much!

BUT I'm not sure I managed to capture the true expression of Ariel here which saddens me because I want to do my favorite mermaid justice. My Ariel is more like meh, not frickin' impressed while the real Ariel is like hmmm, I wonder what's above the sea...

None of my red polishes match her bright red hair so I had to stick with China Glaze - Salsa though now come to think of it I should've used the red-pink polish.

What do you think though? How are these nails for a second attempt at doing semi-realistic painting?? Does it look okay, passable, so-so? Would you have me redo these nails? (I would) Or do you like them? -hopeful- Do you prefer my Jane nails or this set of Ariel nails?

Check out my Jane Porter nails here! If you have any Disney princess nail art requests, I'd love to hear them and take them into consideration. <3

Thanks for reading!
x

Glitter gradient nails with Purr-fect Plum and Salsa

Hi, friends!

I've got gradient nails to show you today. They're really easy and the best part is having fun with different color combinations.

I did these gradient nails on a whim and look at how pretty they turned out. If you're going to an event and have no time or no idea what nail design to do, I'd definitely recommend glitter gradient nails. I didn't use the sponging method. Read on to find out how I did the gradient effect.

Taken with flash

On my left hand, I used China Glaze - Purr-fect Plum and The Face Shop - purple glitter (sorry, I can't find the code on their site). For the accent nail I used China Glaze - First Mate and some glitter polish but I can't remember the exact polish I used. I think it might be China Glaze - Fairy Dust but since it's not holographic, I might be wrong.

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

On my right hand, I used China Glaze - Salsa and did the gradient with China Glaze - Ruby Pumps. The red glitter really blended with Salsa which is a creme polish so it came out really pretty. For the accent nail, again I used China Glaze - First Mate and that unknown glitter.

How I did these gradient nails:

1. First I put on 2 coats of the creme polish and let that dry.
2. Then I scraped off the excess glitter polish from the brush on the inside of the bottle, allowing only the slightest polish on the brush.
3. Then I dabbed on the glitter from the middle of my nail to the tip, making sure there is more concentration of glitter near the tip to create the gradient effect.
4. I repeated step 2 and 3 until I was satisfied with my gradient.
5. I sealed my design with Sally Hansen - Insta Dri top coat.

I hope you try this design out! Gradient glitter really does step your nails up a class so it'd be perfect to wear to a wedding or a Christmas party.

Let me know what you think of these nails in the comment box. Are they too flashy? Do you like them? Have you tried gradient nails with glitter polish before? What color combinations would you use?

Thanks for reading!

Pink mermaid tail nail art

Hey guys! I've got a surprise for you today. I did promise to show you these nails in my Liebster Award post. I know that post was in September but hey, October was for Halloween nail art so perfectly justified, right? Haha, maybe but anyway...

Since I received such overwhelming love for the mermaid tail nails that I did two months ago, I decided to do another version but this time in shades of red. I myself LOVED the mermaid nails that I did and was so excited that you all loved it too.

I was sitting around wondering what next to do for my nail design when it clicked in my head. I can do mermaid nails in shades of red! The image in my head was so pretty so I knew I had to do them.

Here are the pictures!

Taken with flash

This picture was taken after applying one coat each of polish to my nails so that is why you can see some patchiness.

The colors I used were:

• Thumb: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
• Index: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
• Middle: Essie - The Girls Are Out
• Ring: The Face Shop - PP401 (pink rose gold)
• Little: The Face Shop - Lovely Me:ex Hongdae Pink

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Then I used my black nail art pen to create the scales. I think this time around I made the scales around the same size so that's good.

A bit of blurry goodness?

Taken with flash

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

Taken with flash

The finished look! Again, I didn't do scales for my thumb nail. :D I alternated all the pink polishes to color the scales. Oh, and I also used Love & Beauty - gold glass flecks and Love & Beauty - gold glitter for some scales to give it a glowy golden look.

Taken with flash

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken in the shade (yes, I was going for an 'under the sunlight' picture but failed)

Taken in sunlight (this didn't turn out quite right either but oh well)

Taken in sunlight

Taken between rays of sunlight (this was a mid-morning shot so you can see how soft the light is)

Taken indoors

And here's a picture of some polish that I spilled while doing these nails. I am a klutz. -_-

Aren't these mermaid nails GORGEOUS?! They are so much more sparkly in real!

They're actually not as tedious as you might think. Drawing the scales probably requires the most effort but filling the scales with color is my favorite part. Oh, and they also don't have to be perfect because from afar they look fabulous just the same.

I'd love to try them with a different color scheme next time. Maybe green? If I can gather enough different green polishes, haha.

Do you love these nails?! Do you love mermaids like I do? Do you prefer this version or the first version of my mermaid tail nails? Tell me in the comments, I'd LOVE to know.

Also, it seems like I'm still getting hits on my Bioshock nail art (I bet my sister is so proud of me)... maybe it's time to do another Booker and Elizabeth-themed nail design?! Which picture would you have me use as inspiration?

By the way, are you liking the bigger pictures or do you prefer them smaller?

Thank you so much for reading! xx

Glittery fall leaves nail art

Hey everyone!

It's November and I've got awesome fall nail art for you today!! This nail art idea came from a random google search for fall nail art ideas. I really wasn't feeling most of them but then I saw a leaf design, which I'll show at the bottom of this post, and really liked it.

I hope you'll like it as much as I do, especially the eggshell base color which I LOVE. Okay, the glittery leaves are also really pretty but I just love the base color. I haven't used it since last Christmas and I'm surprised it wasn't as gunky as I thought it would be when I broke it out to use.

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

This wonderful eggshell-colored polish is simply known as Eggshell. Cute name, right? That's the only thing written on the label on the bottom of the bottle ><

Taken indoors under  yellow lighting

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

I used my handy nail art brush to draw the leaves and the tree. Don't you love how the tree turned out with all its eye-catching glitter leaves?

The polish I used for the tree and leaves are:
China Glaze - Ruby Pumps
Random glitter green polish
Random gold polish
The Face Shop - BR601

Haha, yes, I'm aware that I've got quite a few nameless polishes. I sealed the design in with Sally Hansen - Insta Dri Top Coat.

Taken with flash

Taken in indirect sunlight

These are the nails I was inspired by. Clearly the white on the leaves are less obvious and look better that way but my nail art pen was spilling so I couldn't quite control the flow.

Inspired by these nails

What do you think of my spin on the fall leaves nail art? To me, they turned out really pretty and I'm really glad I used glitter polishes for the leaves. Glitter is always fun and in designs like this, very festive.

Show me some pictures of the fall foliage where you live! I'd love to see them. If you did nails based on fall foliage, send me the link!

Thank you for reading!

P.S: I apologize for not having time to check out my usual must-read blogs (that's yours!). I've been busy and I don't think things are slowing down anytime soon. When they do, expect me to be back on your blogs and commenting :)