Summer Challenge Day 8: Beach

So, I had lots of ideas for this mani, but I ultimately decided to go a little more abstract and try something new for me - glitter! Not that I'm new to glitter in general, but I have never sprinkled actual glitter onto wet polish. I thought it would be a cool texture for sand, though, so I gave it a shot!

And just for a different view, here's one with flash and a better view of the glitter I used:

The glitter is actually micro glitter I got from Walmart! It came in a pack of 5 colors and it's actually pretty good to use for frankening :] The polishes I used were (from top to bottom) Revlon Dreamer, Essie Trophy Wife, and LA Colors in a tan shade. I stuck the sand to the wet tan polish. My only complaint about this mani is part of what makes it cool is the texture of the sand, so you can't use topcoat - meaning it got messed up in about five minutes. Oh well! Hope everyone had a great weekend :]

Kelly

Wedding Nails

Okay, I had some free time tonight and I actually got through uploading my wedding nails from last weekend...or, actually I guess it was two weekends ago. Oops. Well anyway! I was in my friend's wedding and I knew I wanted to do something pretty with my nails. I asked her what preferences she had, and her only response was "something simple and elegant." Well, I wasn't sure what to make of that, so finding something I felt was appropriate took FOREVER. I finally settled on the following:

Her wedding colors were red and orange (autumn-y colors), so I settled on a firey red base, Revlon's Saucy. I picked that one up recently, and it's a really pretty shade. Then, I wanted something more, so I added a coat of Essie - Shine of the Times (first time using it on an entire mani, and I learned it does not translate well in photos). I took so many photos trying to capture the beauty of Shine of the Times, and failed. Anyway, I added an accent nail with a ring on it - I added a rhinestone (FA at that) and a gold band, which also didn't translate well. I thought it was pretty, but the ring reminded me of Santa's belt, and that just wouldn't do. So after I got home from work, the night before we were scheduled to leave for Akron, I redid the accent nail.

I liked this accent color a lot better. It's from Orly's Dark Shadows collection, it's called Decades of Dysfunction and it's a kind of greyish nude color that worked perfectly with the ring because it didn't take attention away from it but was more interesting looking than a plain, naked nail. Well, I still wasn't happy with the way the shineys were photographing, so my boyfriend snapped this one with his "real" camera while I was driving on the way to the rehearsal dinner, haha!

Finally, in the sun you can at least see the shimmers. I absolutely love Shine of the Times (late to the bandwagon, I know) and I'm sure it will be making a lot more appearances in the future.

Oh, and one more bonus mani because I forgot to post it earlier. On the day I wrecked my car (UGH) I just so happened to be on the way home from a Sally's excursion where I picked up some gems on sale. I bought a couple Nina Professional polishes, which I had never tried before, and I tried one out that night to make myself feel better. It took a lot of coats to get the color it shows in the bottle, but I loved it anyway:

The main color is Nina Pro's Molten Gold, and it really does look like molten gold, especially in person. It's so much prettier in direct sunlight, but I unfortunately didn't get any photos outside. I did my accent nail in Icing's The Golden Age of Glitter (about 4 coats) and I loved it too. It reminds me of Pittsburgh because it's black and gold glitters :} And just because, here's another angle:

Such a pretty polish. I will definitely buy more Nina in the future. It was long-wearing, had a great smooth formula and it was affordable - somewhere around $3/bottle!! That's all I've got for now, I'll be back on Thursday to show off my Summer Song nails ;D

Kelly

Leopard print over gold tips

Hello everyone and happy Friday! I had my first full week of work at my new job, so I am super excited about the weekend. AND last night I took off the shellac (which was much easier than I anticipated, and my nails weren't damaged at all) so I have new nail art to show off! I wanted something in a more neutral tone because my nails have been bright pink for so long, and I looked through my arsenal of nail art pictures that are on my list to try and decided on a leopard design. I saw one with natural-toned leopard print over tan french tips, so I tried to recreate my take on that. These nails came out AWESOME! Unfortunately, pictures don't do it justice, flash or no flash. It's really hard to pick up on the colors and the effect of the leopard print, but oh well - you will have to take my word for it! I took pictures of each step in case anyone wanted to see the process. And, here they are!

First I painted some gold tips on. I liked gold better than the tan I saw done on Google, so I went with Revlon's Copper Penny. I actually freehanded these! I thought they turned out pretty well for freehanding. So that was step one.

Then, I used NYC Canal Street to randomly dab on some dots for the leopard spots. Again, the camera doesn't really do this color justice, it's a dark, rusty red/brown that looks perfect with the gold. 

Last, I outlined the spots with Sinful Colors Nail Art in Time Off with messy, broken lines, and added in some random black dots to complete the look! Honestly, this looks WAY cooler in person. I might try to get some better pictures when my boyfriend gets home from work with the good camera :] So what do you think?? Suggestions/constructive criticism welcome! I don't have the steadiest hand, so it was really difficult to outline the spots on my right hand since my left is so clumsy. That's all for now - hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Kelly

So much going on!

First of all, I apologize for being such a horrible blogger and I hope to be better with it as soon as I take off this stupid shellac! First I was home in PA for 2 weeks working a ton of hours at the hospital, and then directly after I came back to Dayton I had to leave again for a bachelorette party weekend, and since then I've been terribly sick, and also I've started working two jobs! I got the shellac done after the bachelorette party. Don't get me wrong, it's really pretty, I'm glad I got it to see what it's like. I had a Groupon for it so it was $9 instead of the original $38, and I wanted to see what it was all about. Mostly I didn't believe any kind of polish would last 2 weeks without a chip - my nails chip like crazy usually. But, I have to say it's been 10 days today and not a SINGLE chip - very cool! Here's a picture the day after I got it.

I am too lazy to take more pictures right now, but I can honestly say that after 10 full days, washing dishes, even picking at it like I always do - it looks completely the same. HOWEVER - I don't think this was for me, at least not as into nail art as I am right now. It's been torture to not be able to try new colors and designs! I've done my toes but it's not the same! Anyway, onto other stuff.

I had vowed to make June my no-buy month because I spent SO much in May. So, it's now June 13th...can we all have a moment of silence for June-no-buy-month? It died today...RIP.

It all started when I had to go to Walgreen's for prescriptions. I finally had a doctor's appt today because I've been sick since I came home from Put-in-Bay a little over a week ago. I had a 101 fever for a couple days, horrible cough, pain when I breathe or swallow any food or drink, and I can't hear out of my left ear and it hurts - turns out it's pneumonia! Plus a bad ear infection. I've never had it before but I can't wait to feel better - it's been really hard to work while I feel this bad. Anyways, so of course I was at Walgreen's picking up my prescriptions and they had certain shades of Essie on sale for $4!! HALF off the usual $8 price.

Okay, the one on the left I bought a while ago and it wasn't on sale. But oh well! The other three were half off. From left to right: Light, Bazooka, She's Picture Perfect, and No More Film.

Well, then I had a couple coupons, so I figured since June no-buy month had died anyway, why not??

I had a coupon for $2 off Revlon, PLUS when I got to Rite Aid, they were BOGO half off! From left to right: Mysterious, Dreamer, Smoldering, and Saucy. I can't wait to try these :D

I had a coupon for $1 off Julie G, and I loved this gorgeous neon pink - it's called Oh Em Gee! Sinful was on sale so picked up a new Snow Me White and a new color - Fiji. I decided to give Chameleon ONE more try and hope this formula is better because this color (Waltz) was really pretty. And the last one, Julep in Alfre was FREE with a voucher I got in my June maven box (see below)!

I got Lauren and Claire for my polish colors, and they came with cute matching Pixie Sticks, which Nick ate, haha. I am also super excited to try the Daylight Defense face and hand cream, it sounds like a great daily face lotion to switch to, but I'm having major face issues lately so I have to wait until that clears up.

ANYWAYS so that's the update on what I've been doing lately. My doctor recommended that I rest and take it easy, but I have been working one job part-time and I start the second one tomorrow which sounds like it's going to be eight hour shifts so I'm going to be doing twelve hour days starting next week. Plus my part-time job is a lot of driving which takes up extra time and gas. :/ OH, not to mention my friend is getting married next weekend so I need to hurry up and get better fast!! Hopefully I will update soon with some swatches or nail art, this shellac is coming off either tonight or tomorrow I can't resist anymore! Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather for me since I really can't, haha.


Kelly

Hauls...

Yes, I finally got the pictures I took with my boyfriend's camera so that means...a galaxy tutorial will be up soon! But, since I have to go shopping and I have to work tonight, that one will have to wait since it will take me a while to type up. Today, I have an update of my last few hauls (as of, like, three weeks ago so I've bought a lot more polishes since these) and some of my latest designs. I had a few coupons or needed certain colors so here are a lot of the polishes I've gotten recently:

I think I grouped these together because I either bought them or got them in the mail on the same day. I had a coupon for BOGO half off Revlon at Rite Aid so I picked up these two - Copper Penny and Whimsical. I had seen a lot of people talking about Whimsical so I was excited to get it - haven't tried it yet! Then, I heard about this free $20 basically, at bloom.com and I made good use of it by getting an awesome basecoat - Zoya Anchor, and then two pretty polishes - Zoya - Jem, and Essie - Shine of the Times. From what I can tell, Shine of the Times is another must-have, and so far, I can see why. I just tested it on one finger at some point, over green and it was absolutely gorgeous.

Some spring colors I picked up, I don't have them next to me at the moment so not sure of the names right now, but you get the idea. That purple Pure Ice has so many colors in it, I love it!

Some new Wet n Wilds - can't remember the first one, but the Fastdrys are from left to right, 9.0.2.1.Orange, Gray's Anatomy, then How I Met Your Magenta, and last Party of Five Glitters.

New Sally Hansens. I got the first one because I went to try to paint a Pokemon nail set and realized I had no lime green. That grey Xtreme Wear must have been broken open or something because it is really thick and lumpy and it was all dried around the lid when I opened it, but of course I didn't save the receipt. It's too bad because it's an awesome flat grey. I'm sure I'll buy it again. The blue and green came in a two-pack for ONE DOLLAR at the Dollar Tree! :} And those last three Diamond Shines, especially the glitters - I'm in love. I showed the pink one, Ring-a-Ding, in an earlier post.

I went to the mall intending to buy...something else, I can't even remember what! I left with this. The four on the ends are from Forever 21. They had some really interesting colors and they were pretty cheap. Plus I think I was hungry when I was shopping and they're mostly all named after good (i.e. sherbet, mint chip, etc). The middle three are from Icing. I haven't tried the mood one, but it was on clearance, so I thought why not? And the other two were pretty glitters. I've tried the rainbow confetti one, and it's great! The black and gold one reminds me of Pittsburgh, so that's why I picked it up.

A bunch of new NYCs. The first two came in another two-pack at the Dollar Tree, then there's Bowery Black (I fell in love with it because it's such an interesting color, it's not really quite black), then Matte Topcoat, Flat Iron Green (I believe) and Big City Dazzle.

I think that's it for now. I've bought more since then but don't feel like doing another one of these, haha. I have some new nail designs that I've been working on that I will probably put up tomorrow since this post was so picture-heavy. I'm excited to try some of these out still! :] I hope everyone has a great Memorial Day!!


Kelly

Here's what I've been doing lately..

So, like I mentioned before I haven't updated in forever because the tutorial I made and my last few hauls are on my boyfriend's camera. But I have some updates on the rest of what I've been doing lately! I finished school the first week of May and finished my practicum the week after. So I didn't have a whole lot of time to do anything super creative with my nails. I've been doing a lot of gradients 1)to practice new techniques and 2)because they're quick and easy and I like them! So here are a few I've done in the past couple weeks!

Here's a pink and gold gradient I did before my last day of work because the weather was beautiful and I felt like doing something sunny! The colors are Wet n Wild Fast Dry - How I Met Your Magenta and Revlon - Copper Penny. For my accent nail I just added a couple coats of Sally Hansen's Diamond Strength in Multi-Faceted - which I LOVE! It's a chunky black, blue and silver glitter. Anyway, for this gradient, I did a few (I think 3) coats of the Wet n Wild, then I started at the tip and painted layers of the Revlon, painting gradually more and more of the nail each time and staggering it a bit so it wasn't straight across. This would have been easier if the Revlon wasn't so opaque - it was definitely a 1-coater which I didn't know at the time.

Another angle. I really loved this mani!

This is a mani I did last week when I was getting ready to come back home to Pennsylvania to work for a couple of weeks. Again I felt summer and wanted something super bright. For this gradient, I tried a tutorial that I found at thenailasaurus.com. The picture really doesn't do it justice because of the flash - the graduation was much more subtle and cool looking than it appears to be here. I got a lot of compliments on this mani, and I liked this sponging technique better than the one I tried in my FA at gradients. I switched up my accent nail because I got a few more bumps than normal on my pointer fingers for some reason! I added a couple coats of this pretty confetti-ish glitter I got from Icing, the name is escaping me right now. The colors here are Sinful Colors - Tangerine (something or other) and Sally Hansen X-treme Colors in Pacific Blue.

And lastly, like I said I came home and since I don't have a lot of money for presents, I told my mom she could pick any mani she wanted and I would do her nails for her. She picked "tie-dye" which I begrudgingly agreed to even though as I've said before water marbling and I are not best friends. She wanted bright colors, which turned out kind of pastel over a white basecoat but she was happy. Here it is!

Mother's day mani :] It came out better than I hoped it would but I still think my swirling technique still needs work! Anyway, that's basically what I've been up to lately, more updates soon when I get my pictures off the camera. Hope everyone's summers are starting out wonderful! Mine has been full of work but I am thinking of the paycheck...  ;]



Kelly

Water Marble Wednesday!

Okay, I have to say that maybe I didn't give water marbling enough of a chance. I hated it the first time because I could not get it perfect and I also just didn't like how it came out. I think I've realized what it wasn't I didn't like about it after some experimentation. I'm just much more a fan of bright colors and I didn't like the pastel-y tones that came out, SO I've practiced with layering a bit and I like it much more! When it came out too light or I wasn't crazy about the swirl pattern, I let it dry and did another layer. This was I was able to get some great colors and some really unique patterns. So here it is, my second real attempt at water marbling!

Left hand

Right hand

Better shot of the patterns on the left hand.

Colors I ultimately used. I used Candied Violet by C for a base, it's a gorgeous white with a pale, pale lavender tone - hard to describe but so pretty. It was one of those gems that I found in my mom's old polish collection and I don't think this brand even exists anymore but I plan to use the hell out of it until it's gone!Actually all the colors I used were old finds, so it's doubtful these exist anymore, but I'm sure dupes could be found easily. Anyway that was the base, and the four colors I ended up settling on were Revlon - Bronze Beam (copperish), Wet n Wild - Denim Chrome (dark purpley blue), PRO Nailcare - 1000 Watt (bright pink), and Revlon Street Wear - Next Dimension (shimmery teal). I really liked how it turned out and I found that the Revlon actually marbled beautifully! I think in future marbles I'll try more Revlon polishes because the formula just seems great for it. Only thing I'm not crazy about is how the base shows through sometimes around the cuticle depending on how I put my nail in the water. I really tried to make sure it was all submerged but apparently I didn't get it all, but that's my only real complaint. Oh well - hopefully next time it will be even better :]

Kelly