Valentine's Day nail art - it's raining hearts

Hey everyone!

I'm back with Valentine's Day nail art! I think this calls for a round of celebrations. I managed to edit my pictures (tedious work on PicMonkey since I don't have Photoshop installed on this PC), I'm actually posting BEFORE Valentine's Day and this is a fresh design aka I'm still wearing it, haha.

I'm not big on Valentine's Day and wasn't actually going to do any specific design but I've been seeing some V-day nail art contests (?) and decided, what the heck I'll just try to come up with something and if I think it's worthy and if I don't miss the contest entry date, I'll submit my entry.

Okay, anyway, here's what I did:

This is the finished look! I love it! It's so me in the sense that it's so pretty yet imperfect. I don't think I could ever claim to be a perfect nail artist since my lines are usually always slightly off and sometimes I make a smudge or two. And that's fine because I've embraced my imperfections to be kind of like my style.

Here is what I started with:

Thumb: China Glaze - White on White

Index: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields

Middle: Essie - The Girls Are Out

Ring: Orly - Hot Shot (holla, new purchase!)

Little: Love & Beauty - pink

I used two coats of each polish as the base.

Next, I was inspired by a picture of a tree with hearts hanging off it and decided to draw one on my thumb nail. I have no idea why I left my brown nail polish back home and I was bummed when I realized that. I made do with my black nail art pen as the tree trunk and branches.

I used Sally Hansen - Mint Sprint (love this color!) and China Glaze - Salsa and a nail art brush to paint the leaves and hearts respectively. I didn't spend too long on drawing them on. It was more like dab and go. :D

My idea for the other nails was to do rows of hearts and one accent nail with XOXOs on it. I used the black nail art pen to draw the XOs. By now you can already tell that the white hearts on my middle finger are much more prominent. 

That's because I used my white nail art pen to draw them on. I only wanted the white polish as a base for the colors I was going to paint over it so the pen wasn't such a good idea. The polish flowed out and was rather thick and hard to control so I switched over to China Glaze - White on White and a nail art brush.

Then it became a bit of a mess around this part. I envisioned the different shades of red/pink to stand out but they... didn't. Haha. Well, I guess sometimes things don't turn out the way you picture them. I wanted to just leave them be and call it a day but stubborn me wanted to make this design work... So I...

... grabbed the black pen again and outlined all the hearts. Granted the outline wasn't as smooth as it should have been but I'm glad I outlined them. Don't they just pop against the base colors? Yup, then I sealed the designs in with top coat and called it a day.

Here's a close-up of my heart tree. :)

And here is my biggest accomplishment yet, haha. I labeled the polishes in the picture. It took me sooo long to squeeze everything in and align the arrows and stuff but I really wanted to point out the nail polish bottles behind.

I only labeled the red and pink polishes, all of which I used to color the rows of hearts. The rest are my base coat, top coat, Orly - Liquid Vinyl and China Glaze - White on White. Oh, and those are the two brushes I used for the entire design.

Here's a better picture of Essie - The Girls Are Out and Love & Beauty - pink. I had no idea I had so many red/pink polishes. I initially started out with ONE red polish, thinking I wouldn't buy any other reds... Who was I kidding?

And here's a shot of blurry heart-shaped goodness.

This design actually reminds me of a notebook I used to have when I was younger. It was by Happy House and just the cutest notebook with rows of multi-colored hearts.

So what do you think of my Valentine's Day nail art? Good? Meh? Messy? Boring? So spuddylicious? Do you want to try this out? Let me know in the comments! :)

If you have a V-day nail art post, definitely include the link in the comments, I'd love to check it out! If you want to send me a V-day gift, let me know as well, haha. ;)

How will you be celebrating Valentine's Day? Is it a big deal for you or do you just let it slide by? 

Thanks for reading! <3

P.S: All pictures taken with my phone and inside the house.

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!! :)

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

Essie - The Girls Are Out

I have one of my all-time favorite nail polish to show you today. I am so obsessed with this color!!

Essie - The Girls Are Out (Taken with flash)

Essie - The Girls Are Out (taken with flash)

Essie - The Girls Are Out (indirect sunlight)

This is Essie - The Girls Are Out from the Summer 2013 Collection and it is STUNNING. It's not really as pink as shown in my pictures with flash. The third picture, however, is a more accurate depiction of the color.

I usually keep up with new collections through posts from nail bloggers but while I was in the US, I was too busy to check my feed so I completely missed out on any news about new collections. So when I went to Target (I could live in Target, no kidding) and headed over to the nail polish section and I saw this polish, I knew I had to have it.

It's a beautiful shade of soft fuchsia with a touch of silver sparkle. The formula is wonderful, the polish just glides on easily and dries glossy. I used 2 coats in the pictures above for full opacity. The dry time is also faster than other polishes I own. Removal wasn't too bad - some silver shimmer on the skin.

Overall, it's shimmery and whimsical and feminine - I LOVE it!

Do you have The Girls Are Out in your collection or are you going straight out to the store to get this right now? You can only pick one, heehee! 

Thanks for reading!

Party glitter all over Essie - Play Date

Hey everyone, today I have some really cute glitter toppers to show you. Sadly I do not own any of them but I got to try them on my nails and that was good enough for me.

I don't have the names of any of these glitters :( I walked into a store randomly and they had a nail polish testing section (awesome!) so I layered them over my nails that were painted with Essie - Play Date and they turned out brilliant.

Taken in sunlight

Taken with flash

• Little finger: a black and white glitter mix (bar, square, circle and hexagonal glitter)
• Ring finger: red and purple bar glitter
• Middle finger: a mix of glitter in multiple shapes and colors (red, blue, purple, silver, turquoise, white in squares, circles, bars and hexagons)
• Index finger: a mix of red, dark and light blue, purple bar glitter and a rare gold hexagon.

I love them all; I can't seem to pick just one! Also, isn't Essie - Play Date the best color to layer glitter over?

Which is your favorite glitter mix?

Thanks for reading!

Don't forget to follow me on Twitter and Bloglovin!

Shades of red nail polish

Hey guys! So I used to think that red polish looked kinda tacky because I used to see a lot of people wearing chipped red polish (why, I don't know lol). Well, I take that right back... or rather, I'll amend my statement. Red polish is awesome!

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

• Thumb: China Glaze - Infra Red
• Index: China Glaze - Ruby Pumps
• Middle: China Glaze - Salsa
• Ring: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
• Little: Essie - The Girls Are Out

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken indoors

Taken indoors (poor lighting, I'm sorry)

Hmm, Strawberry Fields looks a little orange in these pictures but I assure you that it's as pink as pink can get.

Taken with flash

Some blurry goodness, anyone?

Which is your favorite polish out of these five? Red nail polish - yay or nay?

Thanks so much for reading!

Mystical saran wrap nail art

Here's my first attempt at saran wrap nails. Yup, I've been attempting lots of different nail art so lots of firsts for me.

I actually saw this design months ago but forgot about it until recently when I came across this video and liked how doable it was. I also saw Jen from ThePolishaholic's submission for the Picture Polish contest after I did these nails and I really loved her saran wrap mani color combo. I might try it next time.

I was fascinated by the fact that there was something readily available in the kitchen that could be used for nail art. Needless to say, I got the cling wrap and tore off a huge piece and happily trotted to my desk where I began to work on this super easy and fun design.

Taken in natural sunlight

Taken in natural sunlight

This design is so easy to achieve - almost effortless and if you dab off too much polish, you can always go over with another coat. How to achieve this look: paint your base color, let it dry, paint over with another color, quickly scrunch up a ball of saran wrap and dab lightly over the wet polish. Or of course if you prefer to see how it's done, you can always watch the video.

I used The Face Shop - GR501 (light blue) as the base for my thumb, index, middle and little finger and The Face Shop - PP402 (pink) as the base for my ring finger. Then I used the pink on top of the four fingers and blue for the middle finger.

I did use Essie - The Girls Are Out to layer over my thumb. I really liked the shimmer!! But I thought it was too dark and I didn't want to waste the polish by dabbing most of it away so I switched and used the other pink.

Taken in natural sunlight

Here I used Essie - Play Date as the base and The Face Shop - PP402 (pink) as the base for the ring finger. Then I used Orly - Charged Up to layer over Play Date and Sally Hansen - Mint Sprint over the pink polish.

I'm not too sure I liked the accent nail since it was a lot darker than I expected and didn't quite complement the purple nails.

I asked my sister whether I should layer glitter over my nails and her reply was: I will always choose glitter over non-glitter. That was that. I layered China Glaze - Fairy Dust over my nails.

Do you like these saran wrap nails with glitter or without? Would you try saran wrap nails?

Thanks for reading!

Essie - Play Date

Hey guys! Today I have Essie - Play Date to show you.

Taken in natural sunlight (under shade)

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Essie - Play Date is a soft purple creme polish which is more beautiful in real life than in pictures. It is just the perfect summer color. The formula is excellent and the application was smooth. It's almost a 1-coater but I used 2 coats.
I know it looks like a pastel in the pictures taken with flash but it's not.

Honestly, if I had to pick one color that I would wear throughout the entire summer, I would have to say Essie - Play Date. I saw this question somewhere and I wondered if I could ever just go with one. After putting this on my fingers AND toes, I have found my perfect summer polish.

Here's a bonus pic of me wearing Play Date on my toes.

Do you have Play Date? Do you like it?

Thanks for reading! :)

Essie - Naughty Nautical

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken in sunlight

This is Essie - Naughty Nautical and like the other Essie polishes that I have, this one is a keeper. It's from the Summer Collection 2013 and you just have to have it!! I'm so glad I was around in the US long enough to pick this up.

Anything that has the word nautical or is nautical-related, I'll most likely love it. I'm a huge fan of the ocean and ports and harbors and anchors and surfing and beach-going... you get the point. Not that I actually know how to surf but I wish I lived close enough to any kind of beach to learn how to.

I digress. I'm wearing 2 coats of Naughty Nautical, the formula and flow of polish are a dream, and the color is described perfectly on the Essie site as 'marine blue-green shimmer'. It's not an easy color to capture - the color leans towards green indoors and is wonderfully lighter under light (like shown in the pictures above).

I've been wearing this color a lot! It's the perfect blue-green polish to add to your collection. Please let this polish be put on the permanent line. It's too good a polish to not be sold anymore.

Hope you like this color as much as I do and thanks for reading!