Back from the dead!

Wow, I haven't posted on here in a LONG time.  I've been traveling, and busy with work.  Buuuut!  I'm back.  Woot.  Needless to say, I've gone through a bunch of different nails in that time period, so maybe I'll just show you pics of everything I have gone through and then come back and write about them later, if more detail is needed ;)

Let's start with my Father's Day nails!  These were special to me, because I really miss my dad.  He lives across the world and so I haven't seen him in...3 or 4 years :-/  Scary right?  Anyway, I did Sierra Leone flag nails in honor of him for Father's Day.

Then, being super-excited for Eclipse to come out, I went vampy for a good couple of weeks.  This is a blatant rip-off of Polish Hoarder Disorder (PHD)'s blog (hers were staggeringly better than mine :) ), but I really loved the look and thought it would be perfect for my vampire-themed pre-Eclipse bonanza.  This was a really frustrating look to achieve, because the color had a lot of bleed.  I used my Scotch tape trick to cover up the edges, but it didn't work super-well and I had to use nail polish remover on a Q-tip to really carefully clean them up.  It didn't fully work on some of them, so I filled in that little gap with nude-looking polish.  Oh well, I thought they looked cool in the end!

Then I went on to peacock-esque nails!  I started these with a totally different look in mind, but they kind of evolved into this.  I used light purple on the full nail, then used a dark vampy color to fill in a smaller area.  I wore it like that for a day, and decided it needed something more, so I added the mint green color and BAM!  They looked MUCH better.  Needless to say, it took longer than usual to get this polish off since there ended up being so many layers!

Lastly, I am now at the striped phase!  I've been dying to try those Art Deco nail pens and I found a ton of them at the 99 cent store while visiting my mom!  I thought stripes would be the perfect test.  They turned out great!  Definitely a good buy - I know I'll be using them a ton in the future!  I've gotten tons of compliments on these.  They definitely feel really unique.

Oh!  While I was in AZ visiting my mom, she let me do her nails!  She's never let me do them before, but after a little convincing - I got to them.  I tried using Silk Wraps on them as well, as she is often saying her nails aren't very strong.  I haven't used them before, but have really been wanting to test them out.  They are VERY cool.  And not visible at all if you smooth them out properly.  I expected her nails not to chip for a while, but she does dishes a lot, so they chipped after a few days.  Sigh.  Oh well, I thought they turned out great!  I used one of those tiny Sally Beauty Supply polishes.  It was a nice color (like a deep red) and then I stamped one of my Faux-nads onto her index fingernails with white.

Hope you enjoy!

P.S. Sorry for the quality of the pics - they were all taken with my phone ;)

Matte About You

Helloooooo!
As I said before, I'm a fan of this matte nailpolish business.  I went to the store to get another adorable polish bottle, but instead stumbled upon a great gem - Essie's 'Matte About You' top coat!  From what I can tell, this is incredible!  It takes any polish you have on, and by just putting on a simple coat of this top coat, it turns your nail polish matte!  It seems this could save anyone a fortune in nail polish, because you don't have to buy the specific matte colors you're after - all you have to do is slap a little of this on!

I used that light blue Essie color that I'm just obsessed with right now, put a simple little nail sticker decal on it, and finished with the Matte About You top coat - voíla!  These nails made me pretty hungry though.  Do they look like cake to anyone else???  MMMMM.

Sorry the quality isn't 100% and the color isn't EXACTLY like the real thing, I took these pics with my phone.

B-day/Anniversary fun!

Wow - took a bit of a break from writing anything as you can see.  I've been extremely busy, and extremely exhausted :(  I had so much energy there for a while but for whatever reason I now feel...defeated?  Wrecked?  Something...

I can't believe my sister is 21 now.  I feel so old!  Anyway, we had so much fun while she was out here in LA for her birthday!  I think it was just right, as far as 21st birthdays go.  Besides, I'm too over the hill now to really rage like a 21 year old ;)  j/k.  At midnight on her birthday, we took her to this bar called Busby's down the street (what we thought was a sports bar but turned out to be a full-on club) for a birthday shot.  Keep in mind, Anthony and I had been drinking wine all night.  She got in for free since it was her bday (woot!), and we went straight to the bar.  She had a birthday cake shot an Anthony and I had tequila shots.  Then, I don't know what possessed us but then she and I had Long Island Iced Teas and Anthony had a Gin & Tonic.  Sigh.  Needless to say, we did not go gently into that dark night.

We woke up the next morning hazy and tired, so we then went to get breakfast at the place that has the best pancakes in the u.s. (literally), Du-par's.  My sister took a nap all afternoon, then we watched a Bridezillas marathon - how is that show so addictive??  Since it was her actual birthday, we did go out to the Sunset Strip, but we only had a glass of wine each.  But, she was able to see our favorite lounge out here, Boa, and then we took her to Saddle Ranch to see some crazy drunk people fall off the mechanical bull.  Good times.

This was the same day as our 6 year anniversary!  Anthony got me the prettiest bracelet, as well as a box to put my jewelry in (I'm kind of a mess).  I <3<3<3 it!  All-in-all, despite the fact that we were all hungover, we all had a great time!

On to the most important part of all - the nails ;)  I gave my sister some special 21st bday nails - martini glass manicure!  I was jealous that she got to have the fun nails ;)  I did 2 colors - white on one half and blue on the other.  Honestly, it's been so long that I don't even remember the names of the colors I used - I think they were both Essie.  Then, I used my handy Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen to draw the martini glasses.  Lastly, I added a tiny green dot for the olives in the middle of the glasses, and finished up with a handy-dandy top coat.  Hope you like them!

Mine were a new experience for me.  Matte nail polish is all the rage, but I've never tried it.  You'll know exactly why I got this polish when you see the bottle - it's like a tiny little paint can!  Super cute!  AAAAnyway, when you use a matte polish, you can't use a base or topcoat - this was tough for me, because I always use my 'Hard As Nails' polish as my basecoat.  Oh well.  So, I used the matte polish and I must say - I'm really intrigued with the look of it!  It's so different and unique.  Of course, I never have simple nails, so I had to add more to them.  I used this light blue color from Essie that I just looove to make tiny round shapes to fill in the top part.  I don't know how to explain that, but I'll let the pictures explain for themselves.  Enjoy!  :)

I'll be back later on to go through the other nail looks I've failed to post on here in my absence!

Water Marbling Bonanza!

Happy Saturday, Everyone!  I'm only just writing about these nails now (I painted them like this days ago and they have since changed), because it's been an insanely busy week.  Whoops!

It is also my sister's 21st birthday and my 6 year anniversary with my bf Anthony!  Yay!  :)  I'm going to give my sister a special 21st bday manicure and will post pics later.  But for now, you get to see my water marbling fun!

I absolutely LOVE this technique, and highly recommend it for anyone looking to do something truly unique to their nails.  Has anyone else tried this before?  Would love to hear tips and tricks on it.

First of all, you want to have everything near you when you do this one.  You need:

-Cup, Jar, or container full of room temperature water (make sure it is not cold - the polish will dry too quickly!)
-Toothpicks
-Paper towels/cotton balls/etc.
-Desired nail polish colors
-Cuticle oil, scotch tape, or vaseline
-nail polish remover

Prep your nails with a base coat.  Once this is done, you want to put the cuticle oil/scotch tape/or vaseline on your fingers outside of the nail.  This will help you to clean the excess nail polish off your fingers.

Next, drop your nail polish colors one at a time into the room temperature water.  Don't overdo it - a drop at a time is just fine.  Pour single drops of each color, one on top of the other, until you have what you want.  Take a toothpick and run it through the drops of nailpolish to create a marbled effect.

Here comes the fun part!  Take your finger and dip it into the water on the part of the design you like best.  Use a toothpick to clear out the excess polish from the jar, and remove your finger - Voíla!  Marbled nails!  Use your polish remover to get any extra stuff off of your fingers ;)

Apply a top coat and you are set!  Enjoy!