Faded Mint and Pink

I've done a design very similar to this before, but I just love the color combination! It's happy and cheery; it's a big contrast to this winter weather. There has been snow on the ground for the past week, which never happens in Virginia! Not to mention this awful wind that insists on being in your face no matter what direction you turn...

The photo distorted the true color of the polish. It looks brighter and more peachy/minty in person. 

The colors I used were: "Sweetie Pie" by Maybelline, "Mint Candy Apple" and "Marshmallow" both by Essie. 

I used a makeup sponge to get the faded effect. 

Hope you have a happy Thursday! 

Matte About Polka Dots

What? Two posts in less than a week?! Yes, 2013 has a great start but don't think it'll last! Once the semester starts I will posting less, but I will enjoy it while I can.

Polka Dots + Matte =

I love this design! It's so classy and cute. I had a lot of trouble deciding how to paint it. I had the colors I wanted but couldn't decide on a pattern. I tried stripes and (fail) bows at first. The polka dots just fit well with the colors and matte.
Also, I want to point out the subtle gold glitter matte. It's hard to see in the photo.

I used these colors: "Innocent Nude" by Sally Hansen, "White Tip" by Sally Hansen, "Black on Black" by Sinful Colors, "As Gold as it Gets" by Essie, and "Matte About You" by Essie.


Hope you have a super day!

Chevrons

I thought about doing a New Years design, but did not paint them in time! Instead, here is my latest design. Chevrons! I saw several tutorials on how to do chevrons using tape. I used tape for the first layer of polish and then got too lazy to wait for the polish to dry. I forgot that in order to use tape on your nails as a stencil, you need to wait FOREVER for the polish to dry completely. If you don't wait long enough, it'll peel off your tacky nail polish. Eww. Not cute. I got impatient so some of it is free hand since my least favorite part of painting my nails is waiting for it to dry.

So sophisticated! For me, this is a little more plain than usual. I generally like my nails a little more bold. But change is good sometimes!

The tan color is "Sunset Sail" by China Glaze, the maroon color is "Fifth Avenue" by China Glaze and the black is "Black on Black" by Sinful Colors.


I hope you had a great 2012 and have a happy 2013!

Magnetic Fail

When I heard about magnetic nail polish I was curious to try it out. I knew before I tried this that it would not look exactly as the advertisements claim. Regardless, I got Essie's Restyle. So when I finally got a chance to paint my nails I found that it doesn't look like a reptile at all! Ha ha. After I finished it, I found on a blog that it worked best when you hold up the magnet AFTER painting a top coat. I wish I saw that before I painted my nails! For me it would create the pattern nicely, then lose the pattern as it dried. Another thing I had trouble with was hover the magnet over the nails while they were wet. It's hard to get it close enough to activate the magnets without touching your wet nails.

So here is how it turned out on my first try:

The photo doesn't show as much depth as in person, but the pattern looks almost three dimensional.

Although I had a lot of negative things to say about the polish, it isn't that bad! It definitely does not create the exact pattern that it claims to do, but I was impressed by the idea behind it and it sort of worked. If I use this again and it turns out better, I'll create an update about it! I will definitely try applying the top coat before holding the magnet up. That's my biggest tip to those who want to try this.


I had a lovely Christmas and am enjoying my break from classes. Hope you had a great holiday, too and Happy New Year!

Christmas Past

Every year I do Christmas nails. I plan on painting again soon, but for now I have these nails from a two years ago. It's Christmas movie themed! Have you seen these classics?

The first photo has Rudolf, the Abominable Snowman (from Rudolf), the Grinch, and the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree. The thumb photo is a scene from the Nightmare Before Christmas. 

Penguins and Snowflakes

Hooray for procrastination! My motivation to do work right now is sloping downward due to a few factors. For one, I just had an awesome Thanksgiving break from classes. I finally got to go home for a week and saw my family and friends. Second off, the semester is coming to an end. I've worked hard for the past few months and I just want to be done with this semester.

Since I feel like doing nothing and I just got back to school, I painted my nails! It was colder than usual when I arrived back here so I decided it is now appropriate to paint winter theme nails. I've got snowflakes, penguins and glitter! 

Hope you had a lovely Thanksgiving and enjoy the holiday season! :)

Golden Stars

I was at the store and HAD TO get this sheer gold color. It's so pretty! The sheer color is by Essie and is called "As Gold as it Gets". I love it! I layered it over "Innocent Nude" by Sally Hansen. Since I can't handle my nails being one solid color, I had to add stars to it.

Since it has glitter, it looks so much better in person. It has a slight gold shimmer from the top layer.