how i make hearts

Hey guys, so I got asked by a reader how I did the hearts on my heart nails!

So today while bored at work I made a little graphic tutorial in paint!
It's not the best, but you'll get the point!

The first way is the way I tend to do mine. I'll explain them in words!

Version 1:
Step 1 - Make a line with your detail nail art brush, starting in the upper left corner of the heart, and pull downward, ending where you would like the point of your heart to be.
Step 2 - Make a line starting in the right corner of the heart, and go down to meet with the bottom of the heart.
Depending on the shape of your brush this might not work properly. I use a brush like brush C in this image so the tip is a bit rounded and can create the rounds of the hearts easily.
I find this easier/quicker.

Version 2:
Step 1 - Make a dot as the top left portion of your heart, you can use a dotting tool, toothpick, bobby pin, anything. Play with different sized items to get different sized dots.
Step 2 - Make another dot to the right of the first dot, making sure they line up right.
Step 3 - Connect the two dots with a V-shaped section underneath.

I hope this helps! :)

i can't get enough crackle!

Hello to my new followers! I've more than doubled in the last two days.
So delighted :D

Now, I bet everyone is getting sick of seeing crackle, but I am not sick of seeing it on my nails!

(click to enlarge)

It just doesn't get old to me.
I can't wait for Sally's to restock so I can get the rest!

(click to enlarge)

I always like to show both hands for designs like this when every nail is different.

I like trying to figure out different ways to use the crackle and shatter to make it a little more original.

I used:
Wet N Wild Shine - Black Creme
China Glaze - Broken Hearted
China Glaze - Crushed Candy

To get the half-n-half look, I let my base coat fully dry and used some technical tape (sort of like electrical tape - it doesn't stick to nail polish the way scotch tape tends to) to tape off half the nail.
With the tape on, I painted one half with Crushed Candy and took the tape off really quickly before the crackling started.
Then I carefully painted the other half with Broken Hearted, no tape this time so it wouldn't pull off the crackles.
Thick coat of Seche Vite and you're done!

more skittles!

Hello to my 46 new followers (and counting!)
Thank you everyone for following and a big thanks to Trincess at Emerald Sparkled for being inspired enough by my nails to do some like mine :)
I'm flattered!

On to some nails for today.
I wore these last week and got a tonne of compliments on them.
These were inspired by Cosmetic Cupcake's nails, which were inspired by a Japanese nail art magazine. Hah!

(click to enlarge)

Too cute!
I thought I had black stars to do this with, but the wheel I bought that was supposed to have them didn't :(
So I used hearts instead.

Here is a close up of the cluster of stones on my finger, with the heart right-side up.

 

I used:
Wet N Wild Shine - Black Creme and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On, for the polka dot nails. I did the dots with the end of paint brush. (I've got dotting tools ordered from ebay, they should be here in a few weeks.)
The ring finger is OPI - Bring On The Bling from the Burlesque collection.
Index is China Glaze - For Audrey, pinky is Joe Fresh - Faded Violet.
All stones/pearls/etc are from ebay.

:)

china glaze crackle

Even though this stuff wasn't supposed to hit shelves until next week sometime, a bunch of salons here put them out on Thursday!
When I found out, I immediately went to 2 salons in the mall to try and get the ones I wanted, to no avail.
Then I found out that Sally's had put theirs out too! And once I got there, none left!
Thankfully, I have a friend who works at another salon, and she put these babies on hold for me. Last ones too!

I plan on getting the others whenever Sally's gets them restocked. Maybe not the black though, still can't decide if it makes sense to have 2 bottles of Black Shatter and get Black Mesh.

So here is what I did this morning :)

It's crackalackin! Hah!

I think I like this hand better. More smaller crackling.

This is all China Glaze.
I alternated For Audrey and It's Poppin (from the Kicks collection) as a base, and then used Broken Hearted and Crushed Candy for the crackles!

Also, this was a bit inspired by my blog friend, the lovely Leslie!
Check out her post with these polishes here.

I can't wait to get the others.
I think I'm going to be forced into buying every crackle/shatter that comes out. I'm too obsessed.

my favorite nail polishes - part 2

Here is part 2! Top 5 faves!

#5: Color Club - Wild At Heart
This color is a fairly recent addition to my collection and I am very happy about it.
I found the Wild At Heart 7 piece set at Winners randomly (I also got Poptastic and Untamed Luxury there a few months ago.) I immediatly put this color on and was in love.
This is a dark purple shade, that in certain lights is very holographic.
The holo leans towards red/orange/yellow but can also show cooler tones depending on the light.
3 coats for full opacity, 2 maybe if you are really careful. This polish also dries really quickly!

#4: OPI - Absolutely Alice
This is from the Alice In Wonderland collection. I somehow lucked into getting this and its counterpart, Mad as a Hatter, in a local drug store long after they had been released and people in the states were sad about it being all gone.
I originally went there for MAAH, and Alice was there too. These were my first OPI's, so I was a little weary of the price, but I ended up buying both because I figured I would regret it if I passed it up.
I am so happy I didn't leave her behind!
The application on these isn't the easiest, you need 3 thick coats for full coverage, and it is a bitch to get this out of your cuticles when you clean up, but I think the hassle is worth the gorgeous royal blue glitter.
Even after the 6 glitters came out for burlesque, this is still my favorite. (runner ups? Bring on the Bling, Show It And Glow It)

#3: LA Colors Color Craze - Sea Siren
I bought this color at a local clothing store, it caught my eye on the counter as I was checking out.
I had no idea it was going to be as gorgeous as it is!
Totally opaque in one amazing coat.
Gorgeous turquoise polish with turquoise shimmer.
If I could find another bottle of this, I would buy it instantly, but in the few stores around that sell Color Craze I have never seen a second bottle. (And I have been looking. A lot.)

#2: Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure - Trouble Maker
This is something I picked up just because I love the name. (Weezer, anyone?)
And I ended up falling in love.
This is a dark purple creme. Beautiful application, totally opaque in 2 easy coats.
I'm also kinda fond of the brush in these polishes, it is really easy to use.
I love this color so much I could wear it over and over with no art!
(The nail I painted this on had bumps in it, I promise it's not the polish!)

#1: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Power Pink
Yes, my all time favorite nail polish is one that costs $2 at Walmart.
I actually have three bottles of this just in case they stop carrying it.
This is the only nail polish I have multiples of! (Except for Wet N Wild - Black Creme for my konad and Black Shatter, so this is my only real color that I have multiples of.)
I just think it is the perfect pink. It is a medium pink, not too hot, not too cool, with really really subtle pink shimmer. You basically can only see the shimmer in the bottle or when it is used as a mani alone. I use this so often. I love it. Worth the $2 for sure.
The application is good too - this is two coats.

 

Okay, that's all!
Surprised by my top 10? Love my top 10?

I think my favorite colors to wear are pretty evident, haha!

my favorite nail polishes - part 1

I thought long and hard about this because I really wanted to do this post.
I feel like I could be leaving some of my babies out, and I changed one last night, and I feel like one is out of order because my love for it has grown, however, I'm sure it could never be perfect!

So with no further ado, #10-6 of my favorite nail polishes.

 #10: China Glaze - For Audrey.
This was the late addition to the group.
I used this in the mani I did last night and remembered how beautiful it is.
Tiffany blue creme, nothing more to say than that! Applies in 2 easy coats.
I think I will be wearing this a lot this spring.

#9: China Glaze - Spontaneous
This is a medium-light purple creme.
This color is an exact dupe for a Claires polish I wore all through junior high and probably even before that. Since then, the Claires one has been too thick and even polish thinner won't help it, so when I found Spontaneous I was delighted!
3 coats for perfect opacity.

#8: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!
This is the brightest blue I own. This is a simple bright blue creme, almost opaque in one coat! This is 2 just to be sure.
I use this a lot in different ways, I might need to get a second bottle eventually.
I have a lot of shades like this but most are shimmery, however I prefer it in creme.

 #7: OPI - Ski Teal We Drop
I got this for my birthday!
I used to strictly wear black nail polish in high school, and this is a good color for those days when I want dark nails but not fully black.
This is a really dark navy creme that in certain lights leans teal, and I think it looks really good on short nails especially.
If you're really careful you can get away with 2 coats, but usually I need three.

#6: Katy Perry for OPI - Teenage Dream
This color is a recent addition to my collection and has immediately gone into my top favorites.
As I said just a few weeks ago, this is an amazing sheer light pink base filled with light pink glitter and larger holographic silver round glitter.
I just stare at this when I wear it. 
This is the one I was talking about in the beginning when I said something is out of order. I think this should be closer to the top.

There you have it!
Do we have any favorite in common yet?

green zebra

I know I said I was going to post the first half of my 10 favorite polishes post today, but while doing my nails last night I realized I had left out an important polish.
So I need to add a new one (and take pictures!)
I'll do it tomorrow and post it then!

So for today I have some simple nail art for you.
I'm running out of my archive of photos to post each day!

Look at those short nails! They used to be this short all the time.
Sadly they are almost this short right now.

The polish seen here is an unnamed one from Ardene.
The first coat was SUPER sheer, and I assumed it would take 4+ coats for full opacity, but somehow, this was only 2 coats!
It was a strange, strange polish.

I used Bundle Monster plate BM16 for the zebra design. I think this zebra image is a lot more zebra-y than the konad one!

Favorite polishes tomorrow. I promise!

icing - blackout

I wasn't going to post this until sometime tomorrow (technically later today, it is 12:30am) however I just couldn't wait any longer.
I bought this today.

This is from Icing, it's called Blackout.
Black holographic.
In love.

I will swatch this next time I get a chance! (Maybe tomorrow. However it will be on a nail wheel because my nails are tiny sad nubs right now. I cut them off.)

That's all! Sweet dreams!

hearts hearts hearts

I have nail art for you today, not just swatches! Haha.
These were the nails I wanted to do for valentines but was tooooo busy with school, so I did them this weekend.

Adorable!
They were inspired by my sheets which can be seen in the background.
Those sheets are one of my favorite possessions. So cute!
(In case you have now fallen in love as much as I did, they are Tommy Hilfiger and I got mine at Winners but you can get them online also.)

Look! I even did my right hand!

The cuteness overwhelms me.

I used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Sun Kissed (orange)
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away! (light blue)
Ardene - Royal Blue (darker, purple-y blue)
Sally Hansen Insta Dry - Lickety Split Lime
Sally Hansen Insta Dry - Presto Pink (lighter pink)
Orly - Blushing Bud (dark pink)
And a thick coat of Seche Vite.

Sadly, yesterday when closing my car door I broke the middle nail on my right hand beyond repair.
I now have one little nub. A super short nub.
It feels funny having 9 nails and one nub so I might end up cutting them all off before the night is out.

Starting tomorrow, I'm going to do a 2-part post of my 10 favorite polishes!
Keep an eye out for that!

rimmel 60 seconds - night before - swatch and review

(Third post today technically but those were last night and now it is noon so whatevs.)

A few days ago I posted this bottle picture:

And we all wondered what it would look like on the nail.
Find out after the jump!

teal & hidden treasure!

So my most faithful reader, Jess, wondered what Hidden Treasure would look like over teal.
Ask and you shall receive!

Pretty!
Left to right: LA Colors Color Craze - Sea Siren, Atomic, and OPI - Ski Teal We Drop.
I don't see how Ski Teal We Drop is actually teal, but it's in the name, so I included it!

The hidden treasure kinda got lost against the lighter colors. It was hard to get this picture and it wasn't visible IRL unless you turn your nails around to reflect different lights.
When I could see it, it was lovely!

Here is how it looked most of the time.

Pretty much always visible on the darker color but not so much on the others.

Did that satisfy you, Jess? I hope so!

wet n wild fast dry swatches

Hi! I finished my exams! I'm free!
That is why I haven't blogged in almost 2 full days. (In my defense this post WAS started before midnight.)
Yesterday was all study and since then I've been just relaxing.
So, to make up for it, I did a lot of swatching today!

First I have three new polishes from Wet N Wild to show you.

Swatches and review after the jump!

fifty followers! thank you!

This post is to say thank you to all of my 50 followers!! Hahaha.
I can't believe I got to 50 this quickly. One month and 2 days!

Today I have some half-and-half nails to show you!

(click to enlarge)

I had just gotten this wallet when I did these nails, so it was my inspiration!

First I painted my full nails with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White Out! and then I taped off the top half and stamped the zebra image from Bundle Monster BM 16 with LA Colors Art Deco Black.
Then I painted the top half with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Power Pink, and finally made a line between the two halfs with Art Deco Black.

I think I might revisit these nails soon :)


I also wanna show a cute polish I picked up a few days ago that I haven't tried yet, but looks awesome in the bottle.

This is Rimmel 60 Seconds in Night Before .
I hope it looks that way on the nail! I'll try it out soon.
I got this polish on sale too, $3.99!

Thanks again everyone!

another gradient zebra!

Well seeing as everyone loved the gradient zebra nails from the other day, I have another set to show you!
This was the first gradient I ever tried, and I wasn't great at stamping at the time, so I missed the tips of a few nails, hahaha.

(click to enlarge)

Not too bad for a first try!
Now that I have a new camera, I should redo this combo and get nicer pictures.

This is all Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Mellow Yellow, Going Green and Blue Me Away (which isn't very blue sponged over the green.)
I stamped the zebra print from BM16 with an unnamed black. (This was before I found the magic of Wet'n'Wild black.)

Yesterday's exams went well. One more tomorrow night and I'm done my exams! (Sadly yes, I have an exam on a Saturday night.)

more shatter? okay!

I'm totally obsessed with shatter. Obsessed.
I know it is selling out everywhere so when I found a second bottle at a salon here a few nights ago, I bought a back up bottle.
Yesterday while I was studying at work (my job is really slack) I did my nails.

(click to enlarge)

This is OPI Black Shatter (of course) over Icing's Mint 2 Be.
I really like this shade of mint, it is a little bit brighter than the other popular ones by China Glaze and Revlon.

(click to enlarge)

On this hand I accidentally did too thin of a coat of Shatter on my index finger, so it doesn't match the others! Haha.

I've noticed that the lip of my Shatter bottle is getting all crusty and some of the hardened bits are coming off onto my brush, so to clean it I dipped a Q-tip in acetone and quickly wiped around the lip and the sides of the bottle.
It helped a lot! I imagine I'll have to do this every couple of uses.

2 exams today. Wish me luck!
I can't wait for this week to be over.

gradient zebra!

I got 200 views today while I was at work! Where are you viewers finding me from? I can't figure it out!
Hahaha. I like knowing why a bunch of people suddenly found me.


Today I'm going to post some nails similar to my first post/favorite nails, but with a different animal print.
These were done quite a few months ago and the combo stuck with me and eventually led to my favorite nails (with a bit of a twist.)

(click to enlarge)

The darker blue over the pink did made a purple area, as you can see, but there is no purple polish involved! That was one of the tweaks that I did with the favorite nails version.

For these nails I used:
-Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Power Pink
-LA Colors Color Craze - Static Electricity
-Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Blue Me Away!
-Wet n Wild - Black Creme (stamp from Bundle Monster image plate BM16)
-A cosmetic sponge to add on each color

Every time I see this color gradient I can't stop staring at it!

glitter overload

Today I am cranky and it is snowing and raining and I have to do a presentation in school.
So in attempt to cheer myself up, I'm going to post a really old mani I did, full of glitter.

(click to enlarge)

Some of the polishes I used were old un-named ones, but besides those I used 2 Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear  glitters - Rockstar Pink and Shooting Star, and LA Colors Art Deco Silver Glitter.
I sponged on the glitter in different areas over black.
I made it matte with Icing's Matte About You top coat.

I don't want to go to school :( boo hoo

hidden treasure

Of all the talks today about the new OPI collection and pirate's treasure, I decided to post a picture of Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure!

I know this is something we've all seen, but this is my favorite combo.

This is over Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Going Green.
I lucked into getting a bottle of this LONG after people everywhere were wishing they hadn't missed it in their towns.
I even saw at least 5 bottles after I bought mine, and I wish I had have bought some spares because I could have sold them or swapped them!

I'm not even a huge fan of it, for some reason, but I'm happy it's part of my collection.

nails boss/cakeball boss?

Seems every weekend I'm baking something different!
This week I made cake balls for the first time for my friend and fellow nails enthusiast, Susan.
They came out wicked, if I do say so myself.

If you aren't familliar with cake balls, they are little balls of mushed up cake and icing, dipped in chocolate.
A.K.A. sweetness overload.

As per my last baking post, here are the nails I wore to the party!

(click to enlarge)

This is China Glaze - Frostbite, stamped from Konad m60 with China Glaze - Millennium.
I put a rhinestone on the middle fingers but they were sorta lost in the stamping.

Frostbite is gorgeous, if you like blue, don't hesitate to get this! It is a bit darker blue IRL but every bit as luminous.

I'm off to study all day!

futurama

I have a silly post for you today.
I did these nails as an entry to a competition, haha.

(click to enlarge)

As soon as I did these I took the letters off, but I kept Zoidberg and Bender for a few days!

(click to enlarge)

I quite liked little Bender.

I used:
-LA Colors Art Deco Black for character detail
-China Glaze Recycle for Bender
-Ardene no-name pink and NYC no-name orange mixed together for Zoidberg
-No name red and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow over Xtreme Wear White On for the letters, and White On for the eyes, mixed with a little Mellow Yellow for Bender's.
-Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away, Ocean View and Marine Scene, with a no-name blue, for the background.
I did this all with tiny brushes and toothpicks!

oldie but goodie

I have an older picture for you today!
This is probably the manicure that made me realize "wow, I am good at this!"

(click to enlarge)

 I used 3 Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear polishes - Power Pink, Mellow Yellow, and Sun Kissed.
Then I did the leopard with LA Colors Art Deco Black.

I might have to revisit these soon :)

One exam down, 3 to go, plus lots of assignments.
After I'm done everything (the 24th), I promise to have some special posts!

plaid plaid plaid

Today I have some impressive nails to show you.
They required such a steady hand that I didn't even bother to do these on my right hand! Hahah.
Someday, I am to have a plaid mani as awesome as this on all fingers.

This design was inspired by WAH nails, I basically copied some plaid nails I had seen there because they were just so beautiful.

(click to enlarge)

Doesn't my Christmas tree make a nice background?

I used:
-Orly - Candy Cane Lane (red)
-China Glaze - Recycle (grey)
-Sally Hansen Advanced Hard As Nails - Myth (nude)
-Wet N Wild Shine - Black Creme

I used a really long striper brush to create the very skinny and straight lines.

Perhaps as a reward to myself after finishing the last of my midterm hell on the 19th I'll recreate these with new colors and try to do it on both hands!

big bows

Again, quick post today.
I have so much school work in the next two weeks I don't even think I'll have time to change my polish.

I wore these nails a few weeks ago and while I loved the design, the green wasn't really "me."

(click to enlarge)

This is Sally Hansen Insta Dry in Lickety-Split Lime.
It applied really nicely but like I said, just not exactly my kind of color.
I stamped the large bow from Konad m59 and the dotty line thing from Bundle Monster BM11 with my usual, Wet N Wild Black Creme, and added some rhinestones from ebay!

I hope to find some time to post nails while I am super busy studying, but I apologize in advance if I don't get one done every day!

valentines

Quick post today, tooooooo much school work to do.

Here are some nails I did that weren't exactly for Valentines day (I wore them last week) but fit the theme!
So I thought I would show them now to give some inspiration for v-day.

(click to enlarge)

This is Joe Fresh Faded Violet.

I used a striper brush to add lines with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On, and a detail brush for the heart with Wet N Wild Black Creme.

The black pearl came from a pearl set I got on ebay.

These were a little too girly for my taste, so I didn't wear them too long.

one of my other loves

So you already know I love nails, and baking.
But I have another true love.

The Chicago Blackhawks.
This miniature Stanley Cup has been on the mantle in my living room since they won the cup last season, haha!
This mani was done not too long after the win, and I thought it would be a good way to showcase two of my loves.

This is one of my favorite gradients, it blended so well that I didn't even put anything over it.
This is LA Colors Color Craze Nuclear Energy with Icing's Purple PJ's for the gradient.
The Icing polish is really dark in the bottle, but it is actually quite sheer and makes for a nice polish for sponging on.