Dotting!

Hey everyone! So, it's our last night of vacation and we're just relaxing at the condo, and I came across this photo I took of a mani I forgot to post! So, figured I'd do that now. The week before we left for vacation I tried out my new dotting tool set using the red and black polishes that came with the set, which I got from Meijer in Dayton. Here is what my playing around resulted in:

It ended up looking like a ladybug, that really wasn't my intention haha but I loved it nonetheless. And I got TONS of compliments on it at work and even at the store! For the accent nail, I tried the V Gap technique I saw on Nailside and it was actually super easy and I LOVE the look! I will definitely be trying these with different colors in the future - the possibilities for color combos are endless. Anyways, my overall verdict on these dotting tools I picked up are that they do seem to create cleaner, more even dotting patterns than I've been able to get with bobby pins or toothpicks. Maybe it's just my technique, but I'm glad I got the tool and I hope to pick up some for bigger and smaller dots in the future!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, tomorrow we begin the long trek back to Ohio, BOO! :/

Kelly

Major Sale Alert!!!

Hello everyone - I am currently in an EXCELLENT mood because I discovered an awesome sale that I had to share with you guys! The story is, I went grocery shopping and realized on my way home that I forgot lemons, so I just stopped at Meijer, this grocery store that was on my way home. I usually never go there because the groceries are overpriced, but I thought it's just lemons so why not? Of course, I was there, so I had to check out the polishes, right? I was ASTOUNDED. They had so many quality brands - more than I've ever seen at a grocery store - EVER!! They had all the usuals (Revlon etc) but I also saw huge displays of OPI, Essie, CND, Nailtiques, Color Club, and more. The wall of polishes stopped me in my tracks and I pinched myself and thought, Am I dreaming? Here's what I saw in only ONE of the FOUR aisles.

And you see all those orange stickers? ALL on sale. CND $6,25 each, Nailtiques $5, Color Club $1.99, Revlon $3.99, Rimmel Lasting Finish 30% off $3.95, and I'm sure there's more. They also had a really cool brand of polish called Studio M that I had never heard of before. It came in a ton of awesomely gorgeous colors and for only $2 a bottle!! I was in heaven. I limited myself as best as I could, but I ended up walking away with 15 bottles of polish, mostly Color Club, a nail art dotting set (finally got a dotting tool)...AND lemons - all for only $45.

Happy girl right here.

The Studio M polishes I picked up. LMK if anyone is interested in colors and I will list them.

Color Clubs. I finally picked up the polishes from the Take Wing collection that I've been wanting for months now. And for 1.99 each! Ah, I'm still so excited, can you tell? Haha. So - my point is, if you've got a Meijer near you, check it out! They have definitely redeemed themselves in my book and I'll probably be making regular stops there now...sorry, Rent, Food and Bills. :D

Kelly

This addiction is honestly getting out of hand...

Well, I just updated my inventory (I think the fact that I even have an "inventory" shows that I have a problem) and I'm now up to 146 polishes! It's hard to resist when I keep finding so many cool sales, but I seriously need to limit my spending for a while. Anyway, I thought I'd update with my District 4 set I've been talking about, so here's that:

I borrowed from a couple District 4 designs I've seen online and tried my best at recreating them. I'm not thrilled about it, but only because they're sloppy - I think if I tried again after more practice, I'd be satisfied. The first I did an ocean-inspired blue glitter gradient, and that one is probably my favorite. The ring finger, which is hard to see in this AWFUL lighting, is my take on a gorgeous net design I saw done by Theodora at Red Hair and Black Nail Polish. The other three I saw here, and though I tried my best to imitate them, they were harder than they look! I especially want to redo the coral "4". I do love how the trident nail turned out because of the matte finish of the background (Sinful Colors - Savage) contrasted with the sparkly gold (Sinful Colors Nail Art - Flower Girl). Questions on colors just ask - I forget at the moment but it wouldn't be hard for me to figure it out if someone were curious! :]

In other news, my first Julep box came in the mail the other day! Overall, I was really happy with the three polishes I got. I apparently fit into the "It Girl" style profile, and I received the colors Helena, Mandy and Heather (in that order in the above photo). So far, I've only tried Heather and I really like it. I think it took two coats to get the color shown in the bottle, which I thought was great considering how shimmery it is. Can't wait to try the other two, I think they're perfect for summer!

Here is my current pedi. We were getting ready to go out and celebrate finishing grad school and I wanted something appropriate for the summery weather and the celebratory mood of the evening! SO I tried a trick I saw online somewhere to make my own "dotting tool" using a bobby pin and it actually worked pretty well! That being said, most of my toenails are too small for this so I think next time I will try it on my fingers or with less colors, but I've overall been getting tons of compliments on them :]

And lastly...

My current mani! After the galaxy and all the things I've been trying, I felt like my nails needed a breather so I left them basically naked all weekend. Well, not exactly naked, they had a pale pink basecoat. But today I wanted to add something to them so I tried a new polish I got over the weekend. I usually never buy Sally Hansen Diamond Shine because I felt they were too expensive, but I saw two of these jewel overcoats (see below) that I just could not pass up. The one in the picture is called "Ring-a-Ding" and the other I bought is called "Multi-faceted" and it is a gorgeous chunky glitter with pieces of black, silver, and blue sparkles. I thought when Ring-a-Ding was added to that pale pink base, it ended up being a classy yet eyecatching look. I'll definitely consider buying more of these jewel topcoats in the future! It's great when you're rushed for time and still want to feel pretty. :]

Plans for this week - trying out some of the MANY new polishes I got over the weekend, including maybe the Matte topcoat by NYC I picked up, maybe the Saran Wrap technique, or one of two new gradient techniques I saw described online. Now that classes are over, I'm feeling ambitious ;]


Kelly

Update! Some new designs :]

My first attempt at water marbling did not go well AT ALL. I got so angry and frustrated and almost gave up altogether! I ended up taking it all off and trying again, and the second time it worked better but I still don't love it at all. I think it's mostly that I didn't use a base color, I just used clear base coat, so that would probably help alot. I used a black, pink and blue and I think without a base color the black just ended up looking grey. These are still not totally cleaned up, even though I used tape, but I figured I'd put it up anyway. I like how a couple of them turned out, but definitely would need more practice - if I can find the patience.

I also wanted to practice some designs on some artificial nails since I had some time this weekend. Well, I made some time - I really should be studying for a final and writing a take home final that are happening this week but I wanted some stress relief instead. So, here are some things I came up with!

My FA at argyle sucked. I've practiced a bit and improved a little since I did this, but I do like the colors so I thought I"d put it up anyway. I just need to make cleaner angles with the diamonds and criss-cross the x's a bit more. By the time I got to the pinky I just didn't care anymore :p
Then at the bottom, I tried a few things I've seen online in my searches. First is an attempt at plaid - I kind of like it, though it will need some cleaning up with practice. The second is just a two-tone with a dotting pattern (used a toothpick). Lastly I decided to attempt the feather-y design I saw done by the lovely Theodora (I hope she doesn't mind I tested it out)! Overall, I like how it came out but hers was much better!

Here I made a bug set! I've seen various bug-related designs while Googling, so I decided to put some together and make a set. I did a ladybug, a bee, a butterfly wing, an interpretation of the color of a beetle I saw online (it's an iridescent greenish purpleish that doesn't translate well in pictures), and a black widow (a sparkly dark red hourglass on a black background). Overall I really like them. I think my butterfly wing has improved a TON since the last one so hopefully I will just keep getting better :]

And, last but not least, my little shoes! I'm honestly not sure where I saw this idea, cause I've come across it several times, but I really really like it. I think they're adorable and the colors can really be played around with to fit any season, mood, etc. I felt like being bright and summery for mine! And I'm too lazy right now to list all the colors I used in the above posts, etc but if anyone is curious just ask!


So that's all for now - I finish up with finals on Wednesday and only have about a week and a half of work left so should have a bit more free time in the near future - hopefully that means I will be able to try some new techniques! I bought some new brushes today and I've been wanting to try a galaxy manicure so stay tuned for updates. Thanks for reading :]

Kelly

First post showing my first few attempts!

First, just a bit of background. I'm currently a graduate student working towards my Master's in Clinical Psychology. Definitely a stressful time in my life, but I'm almost done! However, just because school is ending doesn't mean stress is - I've been trying (and failing) to find a job for months, questioning where to live, how to proceed since my degree is basically a glorified, very expensive piece of toilet paper, etc. Long story short, I was at the end of my rope - feeling depressed, anxious, irritable and just overall very worn down. One night while Facebook creeping (one of my strongest skills), I saw some photos of hand-painted nail art and loved it. After that, I started Googling like mad and that was the beginning of the end (of my financial security). I started trying to essentially copy some techniques I saw using how-to videos, etc. It didn't hurt (help?) that Sinful polish has been on sale at Rite Aid pretty much constantly. Painting different designs on my nails and focusing on that has been such a great stress reliever I've been amazed. When I had a huge paper due that was weighing on me, taking some time out to paint a couple of nails helps me chill enough to regain focus again. Or, I use it as something to look forward to when studying or doing assignments, for example - read two more articles and then I get to paint 2 nails. It's been a lifesaver. I've seen so many great nail blogs that have given me the inspiration for designs, I decided to document my progression. That being said - DISCLAIMER*** - I am not a professional by any means and I am literally just learning how to do this stuff. My first attempts are seriously shaky and my hopes are that someday I'll look back on this and see just how far I've come. Another hope is that other people just starting out with nail art will see that you have to start somewhere, and let it serve as motivation to keep going even when you suck! Well that's about all, I think I'll add just my very first new attempts at some different designs. Most of these pictures are going to be taken with my phone camera, so I will try my best but it may not be great. Any comments, ideas, suggestions - I'd appreciate the input but please be respectful! Hope you like my blog!

Peacock - my very first attempt! Also my FA at leopard.

Sloppy tiger stripes (I was still getting the hang of that) and I didn't know what gradient was yet, so I just tried fading the three colors together using clear - didn't work that well! Also a strawberry, which I smudged in the stem, and black with multi-color dots.

My actual nails, my FA at using tape to make clean lines/stripes. I used blue and gold, but the gold got bubbles in it so I tried to cover that up by using a gold glitter. Overall, for just starting out I liked the look of it. I'll try it again with different colors once I get better.

Purple houndstooth - still really shaky but the more I do it, the better it gets. I spent all day yesterday trying to perfect this pattern using the stripes/lines/checkers method I've seen online but just couldn't get it. Eventually I just realized that free-handing the squares and going from there was much easier and had much better results. Still pretty sloppy but overall I love this pattern!