One Week Until Christmas!!!!

I had originally painted my nails plain blue with a little green box, I'm not sure what I was doing there, but decided it would be the perfect foundation for christmas present nails.

I also got m new zoom lenses for my Pentax k-x in the mail, which seem to be exactly what I was looking for: the ability to take close up pictures without having to crop larger ones...it just looks better :)

 All the polishes I used: L'Oréal's Jet Set to Paris, Essie's Cocktail Bling, Mer-Maid for Each Other by OPI, Orchid by Love and Beauty (F21 nail polish), Let's Talk by Sinful Colors, and Re-Fresh Mint by China Glaze.

Christmas Bokeh Lights

I used Stylenomics, Snap Happy and Beyond Cozy from Essie, and Cleopatra by China Glaze.

I've also been having fun messing around with my camera lately, and decided to make some bokeh filters and see how they work.  I tried triangles, hearts, and elephants and also used the ornament I made.

No filter

Star Filter

Paper Snowflake with Star Filter

Elephants!

An owl my coworker knitted for me :)

Have a good weekend everybody!

Snow and Presents

About a week ago, I received a super duper awesome birthday present.  It was a mug and some nail polish.

Essie Good as Gold and my Crazy Cat Lady mug <3

The nail polish is so pretty!  It's a completely opaque color, and it barely needs two coats so look perfect. I had also recently bought a mini Where's My Chauffeur? and some striping tape.  The results:

I forgot a top coat, so unfortunately they chipped very quickly, but I'm definitely going to do it again because I loved the results.  

It's also been snowing like CRAZY way up here in the Eau C.; almost a foot and a half! 

View from the McIntyre Library

View of the hill from the caf

 Since the caf is above the giant hill, people fight for seats near the windows to count how many people slip on their way up.  Mean, yes, but also something of a tradition.  It's not as bad as I thought, although I've already fallen down a flight of stairs and now have my first battle wounds (or bruises. whatever.) of the season.

Iridescence and Glitter

Oh it's been a long week... Almost time for finals, so these lots of studying to be done, and studying = study breaks = nail polish time :D That's my reasoning, anyways.

I decided to do something with glitter accents, using tape of course.

I used Mer-Maid for Each Other by Nicole and Cleopatra by China Glaze

Neutral Triangle

I feel like it's been such a long time since I last posted! I suppose that's mainly because I haven't been in my room much, and only just uploaded 3 different manicures I did during the past week or so.

I used tape to make the V's on the nails; unfortunately the bottom layer of polish didn't dry very well, so there were some mess-ups I had to deal with. 

I used Blushing by China Glaze and Nothing Else Metals by Essie. 

Nails and Friends

I finally got to see one of my awesome friends, Gabi, before heading off to my grandma's for Thanksgiving, so of course I did her nails.  Unfortunately I didn't have my whole collection with me, so I couldn't do the Galaxy Nails that she wanted :( Still, we had a nice time visiting (and plotting).

Isn't she pretty? :)

I used Turquoise and Caicos by Essie, and Stroke of Brilliance, also by Essie.

Thanks to Gabi for the use of her fingernails!

Matte and Shiny

To create this look, I painted my nails with Black Out by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, painted a matte top coat over it, and use plain clear nail polish to create shiny polka dots.

Birthday Nails

It's time for birthday nails!And they just happened to match my camera strap...

I used Cleopatra by China Glaze, Re-fresh Mint by China Glaze, and Jet Set to Paris by L'Oréal.

Galaxy Nails

A while ago, I saw some awesome nails here, but never felt like actually bothered to try it.   Mine are supposed to look something like this:

pretty pretty!

I used a piece of a dishwashing sponge and dabbed the colors on one at a time before adding the white spots.

I used way to many polishes, so I'm not going to bother to list them all :)

I've also been using my DSLR camera for the pictures in the last few posts, instead of the iPhone, because the resolution is higher.  Let me know which you prefer!

Matte Gradient

I never wrote an update on my Halloween costume, did I? Well, the party was tons of fun and I won the best individual costume prize that I didn't even know about!  So I got a cute little bucket with some candy and stickers as a prize.  I also had some Halloween-y nails:

I used Let's Talk by SinfulColors and Black Lace Creme by N.Y.C. (neither are brands I would recommend, but they were the colors I wanted to use)

Since a gradient of anything (color, sparkle, etc.) seems pretty popular these days, I tried to do something that wasn't too crazy, so I used a soft brown color, gold sparkles, and topped it off with matte top coat.

I used Steel Grey by Rimmel London, Cleopatra by China Glaze and Matte Me Crazy by NYC.

V Nails

I love all those manicures out there that use tape, but it takes so darn long and I usually mess it up.  But I got me a new Essie polish, so I thought it would be a good time to try it out again. The trick is to take the tape off RIGHT AFTER you paint over it, so the polish doesn't get sticky. Isn't it fun? 

I used Jet Set to Paris by L'Oreal and Brazilliant by Essie.

Water Marbling? I think yes.

I've never tried water marbling successfully, it usually ended up as a massive glob of goo on my finger nail.  Only this time, I found that if you keep your nail underwater until you whisk away the rest of the polish on the surface of the water, your nail only picks up one coat of polish and it looks pretty coooll :)

Unfortunately, I used Vikings colors, something I didn't notice until I was completely done with both of my hands.  I hate football.  All football.  I don't discriminate.  Here's a good video, although it's not a classic marble pattern.

I also had a couple of spaces on my nails that didn't get covered by the polish, so I just filled them in with a bit of gold glitter polish.

I used Let's Talk by Sinful Colors, Sunshine by Avon, and Cleopatra by China Glaze.

Micro-lending Rocks!

So over the past couple of years, I've been trying to consistently lend money through a website, Kiva, to individuals around the world.  It's really an awesome cause and a wonderful feeling when you are able to reloan the money once it's repaid.  Kiva's mission statement is:

"We are a non-profit organization with a mission to 

connect people through lending to alleviate poverty. 

Leveraging the internet and a worldwide network of

microfinance institutions, Kiva lets individuals lend as

little as $25 to help create opportunity around the world."

Sound pretty good, right? So far, I've lent to 3 people.

It's an amazing organization, and if you ever need to, you can withdraw your money once it's been repaid (but who would ever want to do that?).  

Halloween

Halloween is super fun, mainly because of the free candy and thinking about funny things to be.  Like a horse and a bayonet, or a binder full of women, but I'm going to be a crazy cat lady, like this:

This picture is totally my inspiration.  I've got it all planned out, the robe is all set, I have some grey hair spray, and of course, stuffed cats.

But Halloween also means cool nail polish:

On the left, I used Sunset by Icing, the dollar store black, and a black crackle coat from Maurice's. On the right I used Black Out by Sally Hansen, white from the dollar store, Matte me Crazy from NYC, Burgundy Flirt by Rimmel, and Cleopatra by China Glaze.

Sparklies!

So I've never been very into sparkly stuff, but I've been loving glittery nail polish lately, and finally ordered some Essie stuff that's pretty awesome.

Both base coats are Nothing Else Metals by Essie, and the glitter on the left is some Milani stuff I borrowed, and on the right is Stroke of Brilliance by Essie.

The base coat here is a sort of brownish grey by Rimmel (I think it's called Steel) and on top is Stroke of Brilliance by Essie.

Do you like sparkly stuff? Or does it make you feel too much like a disco ball?

Spots, spots, spots!

Here are a couple old nail polish ideas that I did earlier in the semester, but they're still fun. Dotting is a lot easier than it may seem, I use either a paper clip or a mechanical pencil, and I break off the lead after I'm done.

Sorry about the picture quality.  This one's Gunmetal by Sally Hansen
and a beige color by Forever 21.

Here's my new favorite polish; Stylenomics by Essie.
And the little orange spots are Milani nail polish.

Eyeball Polish

So there are 6 days until Halloween, and I'm getting pretty excited.  Small children in costumes will be trick-or-treating in the dorm, and I'll be dressing up as a crazy cat lady.  So in honor of Halloween, I painted a mini pumpkin and my nails!

I love baby pumpkins.  And "The Casual Vacancy" by JK Rowling.

OMG EYEBALLS

HALLOWEEN OVERLOAD

The polish I used was Fatigued by Sonia Kashuk, Burgundy Flirt by Rimmel, and black and white dollar store stripers.

Sunshine & Rain

Aren't these colors awesome? They're so bright and springy.  I used the end of a paperclip to make the little dots (you can also use a mechanical pencil and break off the tip of the lead after you use it) and those dotter tools are a bit of a waste of money in my opinion.

...................................................................................................................................................................

The polishes I used were Sunshine by Avon and a mini nail polish I got somewhere.

Something else, too. Can anyone enlighten me as to what small, barkless dogs are? It's definitely not a word, since SpellCheck doesn't recognize it.

Amazing Art by Irina Vinnik

So I love art.  Not really "modern" art (aka. this was painted my my two year old child), but almost anything other than that sort of stuff.  Line drawings are some of my favorite:

Antique Botanical by Irina Vinnik
irinavinnik.com

Isn't this amazing? It's a mix of ink or pen work and photoshop.  All of her art is absolutely fabulous, so seriously, check it out. 

Black, White and Teal

What? More nail polish already? Yes, fool, of course.  I love that stuff.

I love that tealy-sky-blue color, but the polish, Gorgeous by SinfulColors, is a brand I have sworn never to buy again.  It used to be the go-to nail polish because it's so cheap, but the cheapness does not make  up for the 48 hour drying time.  I really wouldn't recommend it, but at least it's a nice color.

I used Gorgeous by SinfulColors and LA Colors Art Deco nail stripers in black and white (a great find from the dollar store).

Spots and Stripes

So I'm obsessed with nail polish.

I do my nails almost every day because I have the bad habit of picking my nail polish off as soon as it chips, or when I'm in a boring lecture.

This is more accurate in terms of color.

This pic is brighter than in real life, but it showed the contrast better.

For this guy here, I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in 405 Coral Reef, Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens in Chartreuse and Violet, light pink and spring green crappy nail polishes that dry at a glacial rate, my Quick Dry Top Coat by Revlon (amazing), and my handy dandy Sally Hansen nailgrowth Miracle.