NYE Mani

This mani is a bit beaten up and there's some purple from my hair dye but this is what I wore for New Year's Eve 2011:

Gray base is Catrice London's Weather Forecast, silver glitter is Misa Dance Fever, tips are Etude House WH004. I was thinking about changing it for NYE but I didn't end up having enough time. Oh well.

Sephora currently has an offer of an extra 20% off sale items so I just couldn't help myself! Plus I needed to pick up the Nicki Minaj for OPI collection of course.

Tokidoki Pittura Brush Set 24 Karat Edition, Paperself lashes in Deer & Butterfly and Peacock, Urban Decay 24/7 Shadow Pencil Stash, and Nicki Minaj for OPI polishes in Super Bass Shatter, Fly, Did It On Em, Pink Friday, Save Me, and Metallic 4 Life. I love Nicki Minaj and I'm so excited to try out the polishes!

Did you do any damage for New Year's?

Black and Gold Snowflake Mani

Yikes, it's been over a month! Been so busy with finals and the holiday celebrations have begun already. Here's my current mani:

I copied the design from one of my favorite nail blogs, Mini Nail Blog. She did a much better job of course, but I am really happy with the result! I love the conventional snowflakes with the unconventional color scheme. I used American Apparel Hassid as the black base, the white is Chanel Pearl Drop, and gold acrylic paint for the designs. 

Of course, with all the holiday shopping, I had to buy a few things of my own!

This was my Urban Decay haul from actually a while back. I bought two lipsticks in Jilted and Lovechild and they came with the free deluxe lipstick cap! I also bought liquid liners in Radium and Ecstasy, a green matte shadow, an olive green pigment, the Urban Bride set, and some Urban Defense tinted moisturizer. Can't resist a sale!

I bought this OCC Lip Tar set in Nearly Neon on Black Friday. The colors are Harlot, Hoochie, Queen, Beta, and Anime. It also includes their lip brush.

More of my growing lip obsession! I bought Hourglass lipstick in Fever, Nars lipsticks in Red Lizard and Schiap, and MUFE lipstick in #9. I also bought the UD 24/7 Shadow blending brush and used some of my Sephora Beauty Insider points for a deluxe sample of Laura Mercier tinted moisturizer and NARS primer. I also found some NYX matte lipstick in Shocking Pink (not from Sephora), which is supposed to be very similar to MAC Candy Yum Yum (which I missed out on).

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday and gets the stuff they want!

Ghost Mani and Some Shopping!

I've been so busy lately with midterms and papers, whew! Finally have a little time to post.

This mani is a bit late for Halloween but I wanted to share anyway:

This was inspired by a design by Asami. I used China Glaze Frostbite, Sinful Colors black nail art striper polish, and white acrylic paint. My ghosts aren't as good as hers but you get the idea. I added the little gems for a little extra sparkle. Happy belated Halloween!

So what is better for all the school stress than a little retail shopping? Or a lot, actually...

The new Hello Kitty x Tokidoki collection is too cute! I couldn't resist. 

More shopping hauls to come later. Can't resist the sales!

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!

Etude House WH004

This is another of my purchases from Korea from one of my favorite stores there, Etude House. All the packaging is just adorable, and this bottle is no exception. Not only that, but I do love this color!

This is WH004 (from their Bling Bling line of polishes), a beautiful black cream with multi-chrome mini-flakes that mostly look teal and violet, but they show all different colors of the rainbow. As you can see, it didn't quite translate on the nail; it pretty much looks teal, turquoise or violet depending on the angle, but I still love it. I was really lemming Rescue Beauty Lounge's Iconoclast, but this color has fulfilled it. I don't mean to imply that they're dupes (they are so not), but it's a similar idea: black with multicolor shimmer/microglitter/whatever.

The formula was pretty easy to work with, a little bit watery but not bad at all. Drying time was average. I am wearing two coats with top coat and base coat in the picture.

You can find this color on ebay, or maybe gmarket.

Recent Nail Polish Hauls

Bought these in the past ten days or so:

MAC Wonder Woman Spirit of Truth and Obey Me


Hello Kitty Bubble Gum and Purple Sprinkles


pa A113, OPI Black Shatter, Last Friday Night, Teenage Dream, and Castledew Purple Miracle. Here is one coat of each over Hard Candy Sky:

Thumb to pinky: Black Shatter, Purple Miracle, Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night, A113. I will definitely need some practice applying Shatter. Last Friday Night kind of reminds me of Purple Sprinkles, I wonder how they compare?

I love playing with all of these, can't wait to really test them out!

Red/Black Mani with Black Rhinestones

I think this will be my last V Day mani for this year, but it might be my favorite so far!

I used OPI Rock-a-pulco Red! and American Apparel Hassid. Pretty easy to figure out: paint a red base, paint the black parts, add rhinestones, touch up the black parts if necessary, add top coat. I'm not sure the half hearts were such a good idea, it's kind of hard to tell what they are. I skipped them on my right hand:

Either way though, I think it's a very elegant look for Valentine's Day or any special occasion.

The red came out a bit more coral-like in the pictures, but it's darker IRL. I wish I weren't so bad at taking pictures, it's such a pretty color. It's a frost, but it's not very brushstroke-y and there's a lot of depth. The shimmer really adds to the elegance of the mani and overall it's one of the best reds I've ever used. Here's a slightly better representation of the color:


Single or not, hope you all have a great V Day!

Punk Hello Kitty Mani

Who doesn't love Hello Kitty? I sure do!

Very simple mani made with HK water decals on a base of Diamond Cosmetics Starry Night, a black with subtle silver glass flecks. I wasn't quite sure at first what base color would be appropriate, but with the punk theme, black seems like the obvious choice. I thought it would look too cheesy, but I actually really like it! The decals were too big for my nails, so I carefully cut them up. I accidentally put the HK head upside-down, though, D'oh!

Now that I've tried them, I prefer water decals to stickers because they are thinner. It makes it easier to mold them to the nail and cover them with top coat. Stickers sometimes stick out at the edges because they don't bend as easily, but they can be more 3D than decals. Water decals are also easier to cut into pieces if they are too big (or you just prefer them that way).

You can buy the decals from this ebay seller: hello2happiness

Color Club Red Velvet

I felt like doing a vampy color, and this did not disappoint!

It's a black base with lots of red glitter. I know this color is not unique, but I've never tried one like it before so it's new to me! Very goth, mysterious, and glow-y. Plus, the name is so sexy and fun! The formula was good, it actually reminds me of Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes--applies almost like a matte polish, first coat is streaky, average-to-slightly-quicker drying time. With careful application you can definitely get away with two coats, but I used three. I think I will have to remember this one for Halloween next year!

I also wanted to do a quick preview of the Hard Candy matte top coat:

Left to right: with Seche Vite, without top coat, with HC matte top coat
As you can see, it's a bit more matte than a satin/leathery finish, but not quite as matte as some true matte polishes. I will have to do a more extensive review another time. On another note, look at the effect that Seche Vite (or any top coat) has! Besides adding a glossy finish, it really gives depth to the color.

Color Club can be found at some Bed Bath and Beyond locations, as well as several websites. This one was part of a (very cheap!) set I found at Ross, though, so go take a look!

Masquerade Nails

So I guess these aren't really Halloween nails, but my BF and I are going to a Venetian masquerade-themed party tonight, so we bought some masks. I wanted to do a mani that matched the mask, so this is what I came up with:

The pink part is Zoya Lola with Diamond Cosmetics Pink Flaminglo on top, then Sinful Colors Nail Art in Time Off and American Apparel Hassid on the lunula, topped with black rhinestones. I originally thought that the glitter from Flaminglo would add some interest, but I think it made the look a bit over the top. Lola is bright and fun enough; I think the look would have looked more elegant without the glitter. I also thought it would be cool to have glow-in-the-dark nails, but it seems like the effect is pretty weak.

I used the nail art polish to outline a curve, then painted a line of top coat to use as glue. Seche Vite is made to permeate the layers of polish underneath, so it softens the polish enough to press the rhinestones into the layers. Then I filled in the lunula with Hassid b/c I found it easier to use than the brush that the nail art polish came with. Topped everything off with a thick layer of Seche Vite and it all seems very secure. I think next time I will try not to paint over the rhinestones, though, because now you can't see the facets and they look like little balls instead of gems. Luckily, the ball look kind of works with the mask.


Happy Halloween!

Halloween Nails!

This post is a bit late (since Halloween is in a few days), but both designs are super easy to do!
Here's the super simple one:

Just some stickers over a sparkly orange polish, Zoya Sienna. I like using all black stickers so it looks more cohesive, even though each sticker is different. I also alternated words with pictures so that there was a good mix of both; too many words looks too busy and all pictures looks too simple in my opinion. This one was inspired by one of Asami's designs.

This one takes a bit more time, but is still pretty easy:

I used Sinful Colors Nail Art polish in Time Off for the stripes. This time I used white/gold stickers so they'd stand out against both background colors. I also alternated stars with the words instead of random pictures because I thought the stars would look a little less busy.

Hope this gives you some ideas!

Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm

Hello everyone from Vegas! It's my first time here in maybe 20 years or so, and to celebrate I wanted to do something sparkly. I decided to try out my first holo:








Diamond Cosmetics Chainmail Charm! It's even more sparkly and holographic in the sun, I can't stop looking at it! The base is kind of a dark, brownish gray and in the shade it looks like there is silver microglitter, but of course in the light it has that holographic rainbow effect. Love it!

The formula on this was okay, a bit runny but not too hard to work with. I am wearing three thin coats, but I think a lot of people could do with two.

I cut my nails and I'm still getting used to the length and shape, but I think I like it!