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.

Black and gold glitter gradient nails

Hey everyone! It's been two weeks since the New Year but since I haven't blogged since last year, I'm just going to go ahead and say Happy New Year, everyone! I hope you've been doing well. I'm sorry for not blogging (or scheduling posts ahead). I hope to get back to blogging here soon.

I'm going to show you some nails that are super easy to do and perfect for a fancy event. I've done these nails quite a few times for fancy dinners when I don't have time because this look is really easy to achieve and looks pretty darned good.

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

What you need: a creme polish, a glitter polish, a base coat and a top coat.

What I used: Sally Hansen - 4 in 1 Complete Care base coat, Orly - Liquid Vinyl, Love & Beauty - gold glitter and Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat.

First, use a base coat (especially if you're going to be wearing a dark nail polish because you really don't want to have unsightly stained nails). Then paint two coats of creme polish. Using your gold glitter polish, scrape off most of the polish then dab the tip of your nail with the polish. What you want to achieve is sparse glitter distribution that will build up with the next coat. Repeat the dabbing until you get the look that you want. Use a top coat and you're good to go.

Gradient nails are super fun and easy. You can make them funky or fancy. I didn't use the sponge gradient method here because glitter doesn't really dab on that well.

I hope you like these nails and give them a go.

Thanks for reading and sticking around! :)

Christmas nails: a string of lights

Hey everyone. I've got more Christmas nail art for you today.

Lately I've been feeling uninspired to do my nails. I've got quite a bit going on in my life at the moment so it's been busy and I haven't felt like sitting down to do my nails even though at one point it was the thing that helped me relax. I hope to get back into the swing of things soon but we'll see, right?

Anyway, in the meantime, don't worry, I still have nail art to show you. Today's design is one that has been on my nail art wishlist - a string of Christmas lights! I LOVE seeing Christmas lights - it gives everything a magical look and reminds me of Disneyland during the holiday season.

Taken with flash

Hmm... how I got white polish onto my skin is a good question... Haha, let's just say I really lacked control when I was painting them.

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken in indirect sunlight

I used a black nail art pen to draw the wire first then I blobbed on the lights using a nail art brush.

The nail polish I used:
China Glaze - Salsa
China Glaze - Frostbite
Sally Hansen -  Emerald City
Orly - Charged Up
Orly - Glowstick
China Glaze - White on White (base color)

This design, as with the most of the other designs I've done, was really easy and I believe anyone can do it too. If you're looking for a cute Christmas design to wear this holiday season, I hope you'll give this a try. I love when I find easy designs that turn out well. That's the fun in nail art for me - simple but beautiful creations that anyone else can do.

What do you think of Christmas lights? Are they a must-have in your house for Christmas? What kind of Christmas lights do you hang? Ever tried Christmas lights nail art? I'd love to see them!

Thank you for reading!

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!! :)

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

Orly - Charged Up

Who loves jelly polish? I do! Isn't jelly polish the best?! I wish I had more.

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

This is Orly - Charged Up. It's a purple jelly polish that is so stunning and lovely. This would also be my first real jelly polish so I was pleasantly surprised when I put this on and realized that it was jelly. Mmm, squishable-looking polish. Here I'm wearing 2 coats of Orly - Charged Up - first coat was streaky, the second cleared that right up.

The photos were taken with flash and somehow the bottom two came out brighter than expected. The more accurate color for Orly - Charged Up would be in the first and second picture. It's not too dark even though I saw other people's swatches of this and the color seemed darker.

Love Orly's rubberized grip bottle cap - makes the painting process so much steadier. Not too sure I like the brush though.

I'm officially a fan of purple jellies. Are you? Here are some nail designs that I did with Orly - Charged Up: saran wrap nails, rainbow drip nails and my beloved Parachute nail art. 

Thanks for reading! :)

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! :)