Dodgers French

They were giving out Dodgers Hello Kitty plushes a couple weeks ago so I had to go, of course. I did my sister's nails for the game.

It was a collaboration between us, both the design and the work. She did the lettering, I did everything else. The blue tips were done with Blue from Love & Beauty (Forever 21) and red glitter heart was done with Milani Red Sparkle. The letters were done with acrylic paint and we added some jewels and I did a 3D acrylic blue bow. She added Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure and an iridescent glitter polish on top for some extra sparkle.

Go Dodgers! :)

Purple Tips and Lunula (with Bling and Bow!)

Finally, I had some time to do some proper nail art! Here was my inspiration:

Unfortunately, I still need quite a bit of practice when it comes to doing ruffles. Here are some of my practice attempts:

Getting there, but definitely not there yet. So, I decided to tweak the design a bit. I started out with Orly Bonder base coat and then, alternating tips and lunulas, did two coats of Essie Lilacism and Catrice Plum Play With Me (less red IRL).

Then I added rhinestones, a tiny pop ball chain, and a couple acrylic bows:

Ta-da! My bows still need a bit of work but I'm happy with the look overall. Obviously not the same as the picture but I still think it's super cute and got lots of compliments! Now I'm all ready for the weekend.

Chanel Paradoxal

*Sigh* So, as I said before, I haven't had much time to do my nails lately so I've been mostly sticking to solid colors. I do have some time on weekends though so hopefully I can still do some more interesting stuff.

Anyway, I can't believe I hadn't tried this color yet! I guess I was waiting for fall to come around before wearing it.

(Ignore the bubble on my ring finger.) It's a really interesting purple-y brown, I love how it kind of shifts between both colors. There's also a very subtle purple shimmer, most of the time it's invisible but I think in certain lights it makes the polish lean a bit more purple. I've found that Chanel formulas are kind of hit and miss but this one is a definite hit. It went on smoothly and evenly, very easy to control, perfect consistency. I am wearing two coats in the picture. I know some people have issues with staying power when it comes to Chanel polishes but I guess I'm just one of those people whose body chemistry happens to work with them. I even put Seche Vite on top (mixing 3-free and non-3-free) and after almost a week of pretty intense wear and tear there's only some tip wear and a bit of chipping on the thumbs. I didn't used to be the type to care about how long polishes lasted because I would just change mine every few days but because of my new time constraints it's something that does matter to me.

For some weird reason I am up at 7:30 a.m. on my short day (only five hours of school as opposed to eight). Back to bed!

Navy/Pink with Hearts

Blah, been so busy with school lately! I'm a full-time student x2 so I don't have as much time to do my nails. I'm trying to make some time, though. It's a hobby of mine and I do it to relax. I did find out that my esthetician class allows pretty much anything on your nails as long as the polish isn't chipped and your nails are short, yay! 

Anyway, here's what I've had on my nails recently, first pic is from a magazine. Please ignore the tip wear, these were taken a couple days after I did my nails (oh, and a couple pieces of glitter are missing!).

I tried using the little gold bullion beads but it was too difficult, the beads and glue were getting everywhere. It would have been a lot easier to use a tiny pop ball chain but I don't have one (yet). So, I thought some hex glitter would be a pretty good substitute. Also, in the magazine it looks like they used both pink and a peachy color, but I thought it would be a little too random-looking. It ends up looking pretty random anyway but I actually got lots of compliments (I think people like hearts!). The navy blue jelly is Nfu-oh 119, the pink is Essie Neo Whimsical. I do really like the contrast of the navy and pink, I'll have to keep that in mind.

Black and White Op Art Mani

I recently started school and I thought it would be fun to do something special for the first day. Here is the design I wanted to try:

Op art! It kind of reminds me of one of those Escher poster you see in every dorm room (including mine back in the day). I've wanted to do this one for a while now and it's not as hard as it looks! If you look closely, basically every nail is painted in three sections. To get started, I did one coat of base coat and then taped off the first sections:

Next, I painted them either white or black:

I then added the stripes, pulled off the tape, then taped off the second sections:

Again, I painted a white base and then added stripes. For the second section, you have to be careful not to paint over the first section too much, as the tape only protects the tips of the nails, not the part that has already been painted.

Peel off the tape:

No need to tape off the third section, just be careful not to paint over the second sections:

Add stripes:

This is what is looks like after some clean-up:

I don't have any pyramid studs so I finished it off with clear and black square rhinestones instead. They're unnecessary though, I think I'll skip them next time. Add some top coat and you're done! Here's the finished product:

I used American Apparel Hassid for the big black sections and MAC Vestral White and Sinful Colors Time Off (their black striper polish) for the stripes. I wouldn't recommend either of these. If you can, choose a one-coat white (I've heard Sally Hansen Whirlwind White from the Insta-Dri line is good) and my own striper brush. I found that the one that came with the Sinful Colors polish was really messy. The polish itself was also a bit thick, it might have been easier to use acrylic paint instead. I know better for the next time I do it but I still think it's pretty cool!