Watermelon nail art

Hey guys! Today I want to show you one of the first few nail art designs that I started out doing - watermelon nails!! They're really easy to do and you don't even need any proper tools. When I just started out, I had no tools whatsoever, not even an orange stick. My only tools back then were skewer sticks and toothpicks so you can totally make do with those if you have them.

This is not my first attempt at watermelon nails, #357 would sound about right. Just kidding. This is possibly my 6/7th time doing these nails. They are so fun to do and if you mess up, well, keep on trying.

I only have 2 decent pictures (yes, I'm a great photographer):

Taken with flash

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

I used Love & Beauty - Red, Sally Hansen - Lickety Split Lime, China Glaze - White on White and a black nail art pen.

I may or may not have tried to cover some booboos that I made on my nails, hehe. 

So you want to know how I did these nails?

Okay, first I painted two coats of red polish and waited for them to dry. Then I taped about half an inch from the tip and painted one thick coat of Lickety Split Lime and peeled the tape off quickly. Using a striper brush and White on White, I created that white line between the red and green polish. Finally, I used a large dotting tool to create the watermelon seeds.

I might have been over-enthusiastic when dotting on the seeds which is why they turned out bigger than I intended them to be. >< My lines are uneven but I'm proud of all my nail art imperfections and you should be too. Perfect? Pfft, ain't nobody got time for that ;)

Have you done watermelon nails before? Did you like how they turned out? Would you try doing watermelon nails if you've never done them before? Who likes watermelons in general? I know I do.

Thanks for reading! You are awesome!

Liebster Award - first ever blog award

Guess what, guys?! I've been nominated by the lovely Lacquered Stash for the Liebster Award! I have been seeing this go round and I'm so excited that someone likes my blog enough to nominate me! :D Thank you so much!

Okay so the rules are: when you are nominated you are meant to:
1. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
2. Answer 11 questions given by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 more bloggers with less than 200 followers
4. And then write them 11 questions to answer.

11 random facts about me:
You can check out random facts about me here and here.

Here are the questions asked:
1. What is your favorite polish?
I would have to say either China Glaze - Strawberry Fields or China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise.

2. What is your favorite technique to use?
Hmm, this is a tough one. I can't just go with one... I'm loving saran wrap nails and simple dots and these mermaid nails.

3. What mani are you planning for the next holiday?
Oh my god this is so exciting!!! I love Christmas nails!! I can't wait! I don't know what I'll be doing but Christmas nails are my top priority.

4. What is your favorite top coat?
I would have to say Seche Vite because it does the trick FAST and seals in the layers SO well but the fact that it's not 3-free is a problem though. I do like Sally Hansen's top coats.

5. What is your favorite tool to use when doing freehand nail design?

These two brushes for sure. I'm just sad that the second brush is beginning to go all soft and bristly. You can even see it in the picture above. Since I don't have a backup brush or a store where I can get a brush like this, I'm thinking that freehand designs have to be put on hold.

6. What time of day do you do your mani's?
Mmm, it depends but mostly in the afternoon or evening. When I surprised my sister with my Bioshock Infinite nails (so proud of them!), I did them in the morning before she came home from school.

7. What technique have you not tried yet that you would like to?
Water marbling, I think. I tried it once and failed horribly. I have been too scared to try ever since. Any tips?

8. What is the biggest challenge you've faced writing your blog?
I think getting readers. On this blog and my main blog, I think the biggest challenge is getting loyal readers. But now I try not to think too much of the numbers (stats and followers). I love writing and blogging is my outlet. Now I try to think that if in the process people happen to stumble on my blogs and like what I write about, then that's a bonus and welcome aboard!

9. What do you use for your base coat?
I alternate between Sally Hansen Complete Care 4-N-1 Extra Moisturizer Treatment. (that's a mouthful and I had to Google for the full name), Sally Hansen Double Duty Base and Top Coat, and Orly Bonder Rubberized Basecoat (I do think that the Bonder makes my nails peel though).

10. What lotion or oil do you use for your cuticle care?
Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream (some of you might think that this is high overrated but it is amazing for your cuticles and I don't find the smell strong at all) and The Body Shop Body Oil, Pink Grapefruit, 3.3 Fluid Ounce which can be used on skin and hair to moisturize. The grapefruit oil smells amazing and doesn't stay slippery for too long.

11. How much planning goes into your mani and how much of it is spur of the moment?
Most of them are spur of the moment but for the more detailed nails like my Jane Porter and Parachute - Overnight nails, I did take some time to plan out what would go where.

12. What polish do you think everyone should have in their collection?
Hmm... either China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise (you're beginning to see how much I love this polish, aren't you?) or Essie - Play Date.

11 bloggers that I nominate:
To be honest, I think I'm the last one to receive this award. However, I am aware that every day there are new bloggers so here's what I'm going to do: If you're new to the blogging community and you happen to be here (at my humble blog), please feel free to accept this award and say that I nominated you. :) If you do accept this award, remember to leave a comment so that I can read your answers and check out your blog.

11 questions to ask:
Since I am horribly lazy and poor at thinking of questions on the fly, I'mma bring the questions from my Sunshine Award and use them here. Don't judge, lol.

1. How many languages do you speak? If you could learn one new language, which would it be?
2. What is your favorite book from your childhood?
3. Who would you say influenced you the most in your life?
4. What is the first concert you ever went to? If you have never been, whose concert would you attend?
5. What is your favorite kind of pie?
6. Tell me about something strange/funny/awkward that you have done or has happened to you before.
7. Do you paint your nails? If yes, how often? If no, why not? If you're a guy, have you ever painted your nails before?
8. What are some songs that you can’t get sick of?
9. What is something (can be anything) that you used to hate but grew to love?
10. What do you find overrated and why?
11. What is your favorite Disney movie?

Well, that was fun and easier than answering the Sunshine Award, haha. For getting to the end of my post without skipping any parts (but I wouldn't know now, would I? ;)), here's a sneak peek of a future nail post:

Looks like fun, right? :D

Thanks for reading! Love you guys!

*This post contains affiliate links. Any commissions made will go into my college fund. Thank you! :)

Rainbow drip nail art (with tutorial, kind of)

Hey everyone! Today I have a super fun nail design that was inspired by Karla. I saw her drippy nails and decided to do my spin on it this week.

Taken indoors at my poorly lit table where I do my nails :P

Here's a picture of the colors I used - only the dots; the swatches were done a while ago. From red to purple:

• China Glaze - Salsa
• A random orange polish
• Orly - Glowstick
• Sally Hansen - Lickety Lime Split
• Essie - Naughty Nautical
• Orly - Snowcone
• The Face Shop - BL602
• Orly - Charged Up

How I did these nails (I did them a little differently from Karla):

1. Use a base coat (please, it's important to use a base coat if you want to protect your nails from ugly staining)
2. Paint two coats of white polish; I used China Glaze - White on White.
3. Put a blob of polish (you might be thinking, what a waste and yes, it is kind of a waste) on a piece of scrap paper/hard paper/cardboard/whatever you want to put it on.
4. Use a dotting tool/toothpick/end of a pen/end of a skewer/whatever qualifies as a dotting tool and create a random dot on your nail.
5. If there isn't enough polish on your dotting tool, dip it into the main blob and create a downwards line from the small dot. You don't have to drag it all the way down to the tip of your nail. Now you have a 'spore' (think enoki mushrooms).
6. Make another 'spore' beside your first spore at a different height.
7. Connect the two spores at the base, making sure to make a U-shape connector and fill in the polish at the tip of the nail.
8. Make however many spores your nail can fill and finish with top coat.

Here is my, um, attempt at showing you how it's actually done on the nail... using Paint. Haha, I'm sorry, I should have done a step-by-step like Karla did.

(My sister claims that my tutorial is cool... Well... if you say so, haha!)

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken under sunlight

Taken with flash

You can't see Glowstick because Orly wasn't lying when they labeled it as neon. It's blinding. I'm sorry for the terrible flash pictures. I need to build myself a light box stat!

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

I've always wanted to do these nails but some other design would always distract me and steer me away from doing this. So glad I saw this on Karla's blog.

How do you like my drippy nails?? Ever done them yourself? What color combos did you use? Would you try this? Inspired to do this for Halloween?

Thanks, as always, for reading! :)