Monday, December 23, 2013

Christmas nails: Fairy Dust and Xmas tree

Hi everyone! I've got more Christmas nail art for you. I'm really big on the red-and-white theme this year. And minimalism is another main theme for my Christmas nails. No idea why but I think it's fun to switch things up. Last year I was all for fun prints and complex designs and multiple colors.

You could do this nail design if you don't have much time to spend on drawing details or if you just want a simple accent nail.

Taken with flash

Taken with flash
Here are the polishes I used:
China Glaze - Salsa
China Glaze - Fairy Dust
A white nail art pen

Easy enough, right? First I used two coats of China Glaze - Salsa for the base. I'm sure you'll agree with me that China Glaze - Salsa is such a pretty red. Every time I reach for a red polish, I end up picking China Glaze - Salsa. I might have to get myself a spare bottle at the rate I'm using it.

Next I used one coat of China Glaze - Fairy Dust. Fairy Dust adds such a magical glow. It sparkles and I swear you can almost picture Tinkerbell from Peter Pan showering all her pixie dust onto your nails. ;)

For the accent nail, I just used my white nail art pen to draw the tree. I didn't spend much time perfecting it which is why it turned out a bit wonky but hey, snow on trees aren't perfectly balanced, are they?

What do you think of this easy Christmas nail art design? What part of Christmas inspires your nail art? What color theme are you loving for Christmas this year? Tell me all about it in the comments section. Run out and get a glitter polish now. ;)

Thanks for reading! <3

Friday, December 20, 2013

Christmas nails: Santa's helpers

Hey, hey, what do you know? 5 more days till Christmas and I've got the perfect holiday nail art to show you. Today's nail art is a recreation of the Christmas nails that IHaveACupcake did. Here's the link to her video.

I did these nails last year and I really wanted to do them again this year just to see if there's any improvement. Please excuse the bad angling of my hand, the poor lighting and smearing of polish (yeah, I had a horrible top coat that really didn't do much).

Taken indoors

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken with flash
As you can see, I used 7 colors but I can't remember exactly which polishes I used. I do know that I used China Glaze - Turned Up Turquoise, The Face Shop - BR602 (brown), a black nail art pen and a white nail art pen.

I did this design using the tips and ends of skewer sticks only. Not too shabby, if I may say so myself. How hard was it to complete a design using only skewers? Not too difficult.. just that it requires a lot of patience. I believe I once said that nail art has helped increase my patience level. It's true, haha. I used to devote a lot of time and hard work - still do but less since I have a couple of proper tools these days.

Don't give up on your nail art no matter what level you're at. You can do this and learn to embrace the imperfections of your nail art. I would say it's worth it. Don't forget to take breaks in between though. I think it's important to let your nails breathe and grow out once in a while.

I hope you like my recreation of this nail art. Tell me which design is your favorite and if you've ever done Christmas nail art recreations by other nail art bloggers.

Thanks for reading and have a lovely day!

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

Christmas nails: a string of lights

Hey everyone. I've got more Christmas nail art for you today.

Lately I've been feeling uninspired to do my nails. I've got quite a bit going on in my life at the moment so it's been busy and I haven't felt like sitting down to do my nails even though at one point it was the thing that helped me relax. I hope to get back into the swing of things soon but we'll see, right?

Anyway, in the meantime, don't worry, I still have nail art to show you. Today's design is one that has been on my nail art wishlist - a string of Christmas lights! I LOVE seeing Christmas lights - it gives everything a magical look and reminds me of Disneyland during the holiday season.

Taken with flash
Hmm... how I got white polish onto my skin is a good question... Haha, let's just say I really lacked control when I was painting them.

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken in indirect sunlight

I used a black nail art pen to draw the wire first then I blobbed on the lights using a nail art brush.

The nail polish I used:
China Glaze - Salsa
China Glaze - Frostbite
Sally Hansen -  Emerald City
Orly - Charged Up
Orly - Glowstick
China Glaze - White on White (base color)

This design, as with the most of the other designs I've done, was really easy and I believe anyone can do it too. If you're looking for a cute Christmas design to wear this holiday season, I hope you'll give this a try. I love when I find easy designs that turn out well. That's the fun in nail art for me - simple but beautiful creations that anyone else can do.

What do you think of Christmas lights? Are they a must-have in your house for Christmas? What kind of Christmas lights do you hang? Ever tried Christmas lights nail art? I'd love to see them!

Thank you for reading!

Monday, December 9, 2013

Christmas nails: white winter wonderland

Hi everyone! Today I have a pretty winter wonderland themed nail design to show you. This is my recreation of the Christmas nails Alice from One Nail To Rule Them All did. I fell in love with the simple intricacy of the design and had to recreate it. I hope you like how mine turned out:

Taken with flash

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken with flash

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken indoors
I LOVE it! I recently watched Frozen (you should too) and this reminds me a bit of the snowy mountains.

I actually did this design last year so I can't really remember what the blue base polish is but the rest of the design was made using my black and white nail art pens. I also added a layer of micro glitter polish to add a bit of holiday sparkle.

I think this Christmas design is one of my favorite recreations yet! Just looking at these nails makes me want to belt out Christmas tunes.

What's your favorite kind of Christmas nail art?

Thanks for reading and here's to walking in a winter wonderland! ;)

Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Christmas nails: waterfall nail art

Hi friends! It's December so that can only mean Christmas nail art! Yup, that's right. I'm kickstarting my Christmas nail art posts starting from today.

Today I bring you some super fun Christmas nail art. I first saw the phrase 'waterfall nail art' on The Nailasaurus's nail art blog and love it. It's such a simple design.. but to be honest, I was intimidated. I wanted so badly to try it but my fear of messing it up kept me from trying until only very recently.

I picked up my thin striper brush the other day and plunged right in without giving myself time to think, what if my waterfall nails turn out to be an unrecognizable splotch of polish? Haha, yes, building my confidence, one nail design at a time.

Here's how my waterfall nail art turned out:

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken under sunlight
Pretty, right? They weren't as hard as I thought! I really enjoyed flicking my brush downward. I'm usually quite 'heavy-handed' so I was afraid I might not be able to drag the polish as far as I wanted but I did it. :D

Well, yeah, some lines are slightly bent but I blame it on my brush that's getting stiff and out of shape.

The colors I picked are definitely Christmas-y! I love it. The polishes I used are China Glaze - Ruby Pumps, a green glitter polish and Sally Hansen - Silver Sweep.

Does this design remind you of a waterfall? Would you try this design for Christmas? What colors are you loving for Christmas this year?

Thank you for reading. :)

Friday, November 29, 2013

Orly - Charged Up with Glitter

Hey guys! If you saw my post on Orly - Charged Up, you'd know that this is my first and favorite jelly polish so far. Isn't the color just mind-blowing?

Well today I've jazzed them up so they look x10 mind-blowing. See for yourself:

Taken with flash
Sorry for flooding my cuticles. My cuticles still aren't in the best shape but we're getting there :D I hope.
Taken with flash
Now comes the fun part. Check that glitter razz out! I heart my China Glaze - Fairy Dust - the name couldn't be more apt!

Here's what the glitter that I layered over the 2 coats of Orly - Charged Up:
  • Thumb and ring finger:
    • 2 coats of Love & Beauty - Confetti Sprinkle
  • Middle finger:
    • 2 coats each of Love & Beauty - gold glass flecks and Love & Beauty - gold glitter
  • Little finger:
    • 1 coat of China Glaze - Fairy Dust
Sealed all the glitter in with Sally Hansen - Insta Dri Top Coat. Let me be the first to tell you that Love & Beauty - Confetti Sprinkle consists of chunky, irregularly-shaped glitter and some of the glitter does curl up so I'd advise pressing them down a little then sealing with top coat.
Taken in the shade

Taken with flash
This is not Orly - Charged Up. This is actually Essie - The Girls Are Out from the Essie Summer Collection 2013 which is a GORGEOUS fuchsia. If you love this color as much as I do, don't worry. I'll show you more pictures in an upcoming post.

So how do you like all that glitter on Orly - Charged Up? Or do you prefer your polishes plain? Or was there not enough glitter for your liking?! I'm a sucker for adding designs and unnecessary glitter; you can admit that you like your nails busy and fancy. :)

Thank you for reading!! :)

Monday, November 25, 2013

Mad mix of glitter skittle nails

Hi everyone! I've got a couple of Christmas nail posts coming soon but for now let me show you a couple of new nail colors and fabulous glitter toppers that I tried at a beauty store the other day.

Remember that time I layered glitter over Essie - Play Date and it was all like shazzam confetti in yo faces?! Okay, a tad bit of exaggeration there but who cares, right? Anyway, today I've got a couple of the same glitters but also moreee!

Taken with flash

Taken with flash

Taken with flash
Keep in mind that I tried these at the store so I don't know the names of the polishes I tried. I didn't buy any of these polishes because one, according to everyone I ask, I have enough nail polish and two, I really shouldn't spend any more on nail polish. Sad.

On my right hand (pictures above):
Thumb: Sky blue + a combination of circle, bar and micro glitter.
Index: Light green + big and small hexagon glitters in pink, red, green, blue and white.
Middle: Navy blue + black and white square, bar, circle and hexagonal glitter.
Ring: Red orange + multi-colored circle, hexagonal and bar glitter.
Little: Yellow + multi-colored circle, hexagonal and bar glitter.

The color combination of the glitter on my ring and little finger is different so don't mistake them as the same. As you can see, the glitter on my little finger is much more sparse and doesn't spread well.

I really love the glitter on my index finger and that shade of green. So unique!

Taken with flash
On my left hand here, I initially did a floral and stripe nail design which I have yet to post but don't worry, it's coming. I had no intention of layering glitter over the stripes but decided at the last minute that I was going to remove the design on the same day so I would just mess around with the glitter.

Yeah, I know, the glitter looks weird layered over the stripe design but let's just ignore that for now and appreciate how dense the glitter layers are.

As you can see, the glitter on my index finger has bar glitters while my ring finger doesn't. That's because I layered the bar glitter over the first layer of the glitter you see on my ring finger. What a mess, haha!

I also dabbed on gold hexagons randomly onto the my other nails beside the flowers. I'm not sure how I like them but I guess they don't look that bad.

What do you think? Which is your favorite glitter? What glitter polish have you used recently?

Thanks for reading! And in case I forget to post, happy Thanksgiving!!

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Ariel from The Little Mermaid Nail Art

Hi guys!! Today I bring you another installment of Disney characters on my nails! After Jane, I was obsessed. I knew I needed to do Ariel because, duh, I heart mermaids and red hair and the ocean and you can check out my mermaid tail nails here and the red version of the mermaid tail here.

PLEASE tell me you love mermaids as much as I do!!













Taken in indirect sunlight
Sorry for the shaky hands!! I didn't manage to draw the lines as straight as I wanted and my eyes were getting tired from aligning the brush and trying to draw the outline.

I used a bajillion polishes to do this design (okay I only have that many bottles, not even close to 100) but I managed to compile the list:

Thumb:
  • China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss
  • China Glaze - Salsa
  • China Glaze - First Mate
  • China Glaze - White on White
  • Orly - Liquid Vinyl 
  • Love & Beauty - milky white
  • The Face Shop - BR802
You can see the rest of the designs in the pictures below:

Index:
  • 2 coats of China Glaze - Kalahari Kiss as a base
  • The Face Shop - PP401 and a random purple polish for the shell top
  • Sally Hansen - Lickety Split Lime and Sally Hansen - Mint Sprint for the tail
Middle:
  • 2 coats of (my drying) Revlon Top Speed - Yellow as a base
  • The Face Shop - BL602 for the stripes
Ring:
  • 2 coats of The Face Shop - BL602 as a base
  • Sponged on a gradient of China Glaze - First Mate, The Face Shop - BL602 and Love & Beauty - baby blue
  • Used The Face Shop - YL702 and a striper brush to draw the moon
Little:
  • 2 coats of Love & Beauty -  baby blue for the base
  • Sponged on a gradient of The Face Shop - BL602
  • Used a striper brush, Sally Hansen - Mint Sprint and The Face Shop -  to create the bed of corals.

Taken in indirect sunlight
From left to right: Ariel's bikini top and tail, Flounder's scales, the reflection of the moon minus Ariel sitting on the rock ala the picture at the top of the post, and finally the bed of corals that symbolize Ariel's home.

Taken with flash
Taken with retro filter

Taken in indirect sunlight



I did all five nails in an hour which is a vast improvement from spending an hour on solo Jane on my thumbnail.

I'm pleased at how her eyes, nose and skin tone turned out... And I love the other designs so much!

BUT I'm not sure I managed to capture the true expression of Ariel here which saddens me because I want to do my favorite mermaid justice. My Ariel is more like meh, not frickin' impressed while the real Ariel is like hmmm, I wonder what's above the sea...

None of my red polishes match her bright red hair so I had to stick with China Glaze - Salsa though now come to think of it I should've used the red-pink polish.

What do you think though? How are these nails for a second attempt at doing semi-realistic painting?? Does it look okay, passable, so-so? Would you have me redo these nails? (I would) Or do you like them? -hopeful- Do you prefer my Jane nails or this set of Ariel nails?

Check out my Jane Porter nails here! If you have any Disney princess nail art requests, I'd love to hear them and take them into consideration. <3

Thanks for reading!
x

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Glitter gradient nails with Purr-fect Plum and Salsa

Hi, friends!

I've got gradient nails to show you today. They're really easy and the best part is having fun with different color combinations.

I did these gradient nails on a whim and look at how pretty they turned out. If you're going to an event and have no time or no idea what nail design to do, I'd definitely recommend glitter gradient nails. I didn't use the sponging method. Read on to find out how I did the gradient effect.

Taken with flash
On my left hand, I used China Glaze - Purr-fect Plum and The Face Shop - purple glitter (sorry, I can't find the code on their site). For the accent nail I used China Glaze - First Mate and some glitter polish but I can't remember the exact polish I used. I think it might be China Glaze - Fairy Dust but since it's not holographic, I might be wrong.

Taken with flash

Taken with flash
On my right hand, I used China Glaze - Salsa and did the gradient with China Glaze - Ruby Pumps. The red glitter really blended with Salsa which is a creme polish so it came out really pretty. For the accent nail, again I used China Glaze - First Mate and that unknown glitter.

How I did these gradient nails:

  1. First I put on 2 coats of the creme polish and let that dry.
  2. Then I scraped off the excess glitter polish from the brush on the inside of the bottle, allowing only the slightest polish on the brush.
  3. Then I dabbed on the glitter from the middle of my nail to the tip, making sure there is more concentration of glitter near the tip to create the gradient effect.
  4. I repeated step 2 and 3 until I was satisfied with my gradient.
  5. I sealed my design with Sally Hansen - Insta Dri top coat.

I hope you try this design out! Gradient glitter really does step your nails up a class so it'd be perfect to wear to a wedding or a Christmas party.

Let me know what you think of these nails in the comment box. Are they too flashy? Do you like them? Have you tried gradient nails with glitter polish before? What color combinations would you use?

Thanks for reading!

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Pink mermaid tail nail art

Hey guys! I've got a surprise for you today. I did promise to show you these nails in my Liebster Award post. I know that post was in September but hey, October was for Halloween nail art so perfectly justified, right? Haha, maybe but anyway...

Since I received such overwhelming love for the mermaid tail nails that I did two months ago, I decided to do another version but this time in shades of red. I myself LOVED the mermaid nails that I did and was so excited that you all loved it too.

I was sitting around wondering what next to do for my nail design when it clicked in my head. I can do mermaid nails in shades of red! The image in my head was so pretty so I knew I had to do them.

Here are the pictures!

Taken with flash
This picture was taken after applying one coat each of polish to my nails so that is why you can see some patchiness.

The colors I used were:
  • Thumb: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
  • Index: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
  • Middle: Essie - The Girls Are Out
  • Ring: The Face Shop - PP401 (pink rose gold)
  • Little: The Face Shop - Lovely Me:ex Hongdae Pink

Taken with flash

Taken with flash
Then I used my black nail art pen to create the scales. I think this time around I made the scales around the same size so that's good.

A bit of blurry goodness?

Taken with flash

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken indoors under yellow lighting

Taken with flash
The finished look! Again, I didn't do scales for my thumb nail. :D I alternated all the pink polishes to color the scales. Oh, and I also used Love & Beauty - gold glass flecks and Love & Beauty - gold glitter for some scales to give it a glowy golden look.

Taken with flash

Taken in indirect sunlight

Taken in the shade (yes, I was going for an 'under the sunlight' picture but failed)

Taken in sunlight (this didn't turn out quite right either but oh well)

Taken in sunlight

Taken between rays of sunlight (this was a mid-morning shot so you can see how soft the light is)

Taken indoors
And here's a picture of some polish that I spilled while doing these nails. I am a klutz. -_-

Aren't these mermaid nails GORGEOUS?! They are so much more sparkly in real!

They're actually not as tedious as you might think. Drawing the scales probably requires the most effort but filling the scales with color is my favorite part. Oh, and they also don't have to be perfect because from afar they look fabulous just the same.

I'd love to try them with a different color scheme next time. Maybe green? If I can gather enough different green polishes, haha.

Do you love these nails?! Do you love mermaids like I do? Do you prefer this version or the first version of my mermaid tail nails? Tell me in the comments, I'd LOVE to know.

Also, it seems like I'm still getting hits on my Bioshock nail art (I bet my sister is so proud of me)... maybe it's time to do another Booker and Elizabeth-themed nail design?! Which picture would you have me use as inspiration?

By the way, are you liking the bigger pictures or do you prefer them smaller?

Thank you so much for reading! xx