Coral Plaid - Mar 8, 2009

Inspired by Nail Up Magazine. I like this one a lot and I often got a lot of compliments on how cute it was. I should try one like this again...

♥ duration: 60 mins (probably...)

♥ colors/steps:
▪ Orly Bonder
▪ pearly cream color for base color (can't remember what it is.. will have to look)
▪ tip color: Orly Lola
▪ white stripes first, then black stripes surrounding white stripes
▪ gold glitter striperin between the black and white groupings
▪ silver glitter striper for a bit of flash along the manicure line.
▪ set with random pink and white gems and pearls of varying sizes along french manicure line. I opted not to do every fingernail with gems since it looks too heavy for me. So I just chose the ring fingers. All other fingers have silver glitter striper as substitute.

Jenny's Wedding - Oct 3, 2009

I did these ones for Jenny's wedding in San Diego. The whole family was there so it was a lot of fun :) I wore the brown dress I bought from Macy's and I painted my nails magenta! lol :D crazy me.

this is probably one of the most plain things I'd done with my nails in aAAAages.

♥ duration: 25 mins (b/c the gems took a little bit of time to line up properly

♥ colors/steps:

▪ Orly Bonder base coat
▪ 2 coats of OPI's Kinky in Helsinki
▪ 1 row of 5ss Swarovski rhinestones in Fuchsia
▪ 1 stripe of iridescent striper by Art Club
▪ 1 coat Seche Vite

halloween 2009

Yes, I know I picked unconventional Halloween colors. I went for Red instead of Orange. Sometimes pumpkins and bats can be cute, but I just wasn't feeling it. >.<

So I went for this. I normally don't wear just black. But I went for it! :D and yes, only my ring fingernails were red.

♥ duration: 20 mins

♥ colors/steps:
▪ Orly Bonder base coat
▪ black polish - Orly Liquid Vinyl
▪ red polish - OPI I'm Not Really A Waitress
▪ Art Club red glitter striper
▪ Kiss black striper
▪ 7ss Siam Swarovski rhinestones
▪ Seche Vite

pink scallops - Nov 4, 2009

Got the idea for this one out of a Nail Up Mag. It was made to be a light blue sky (base color) and white scalloping to look like clouds. It was cute. :D I was still in pink mode when I did this back in November. :P


♥ duration:25 mins (really simple, really quick, and super cute)


♥ colors/steps:

Orly Bonder base coat, Essie Castaway (pink tips), Kiss white striper, stain glass style nail seals purchased through Rakuten, a nude polish from Orly (label came off) as the base to make my nails look clean, and Seche Vite for top coat.

Below are the steps I took:

girls party

I went to a 9 yr old's birthday party this weekend to do nails for her slumber party. the birthday girl's mom took the photos so I don't have them yet. It was good fun :D

pink quarters

okay so I'm backlogged even in my most recent nails.. But I'm sure no one will notice... (¬.¬)

Another pink one! yes.. can't get enough of that pink I have (OPI's I'll Take The Cake). I was feeling softy and pinky again so this is what I came up with.

♥ duration: 25 mins (was probably watching Psych again)

♥ notes:
▪ I don't think I kept these on that long but they would have lasted a while.
▪ I used a larger gem this time because there was only 1 and it was almost in the middle of my nail.
▪ I designed these with quadrants in mind so here's a link to an image with numbered quadrants for reference.

♥ colors/steps:
▪ 1 coat Orly Bonder
▪ 2 coats OPI I'll Take The Cake
▪ 1 coat of a pearly white (a Winmax I picked up from Daiso)in 1 imaginary quadtrant of my nail. You have to kind of imagine where the lines will go to do this but I think if you don't stray too far out of the imaginary lines, you'll be fine. The glitter striper is forgiving :)
▪ drew 1 line of Kiss silver glitter striper vertically and 1 line horizontally across my nail following where I imagined I wanted to put my quadrants. You'll notice I have the crosspoint off center. so the vertical line is about 1/3 of the way into my nail instead of right in the middle. Just for variety :P And the horizontal line is placed slightly closer to my cuticle rather than right in the middle again.
▪ for kicks, I drew pink vertical pinstripes with Art Club's pastel pink striper in the quadrant (quadrant 4) opposite the pearly white quadrant (quadrant 2)
▪ in between the pink vertical stripes, I used Art Club's iridescent glitter striper to give it some sparkle.
▪ the final touch: 1 7ss Jonquil Swarovski Chrystal at the intersection of the silver glitter stripes adhered with Orly Bonder.
▪ 1 coat Seche Vite

sweet sparkly pink

I liked my new soft pink polish (OPI's I'll Take The Cake) so much that I decided to do another nail set in this color theme. :) pink pink pink! Think Pink! (Has anyone seen Funny Face? There's a cute song about the color Pink in there). This one was really simple.

But you have no idea how much time it took me to figure out what I wanted to do. I knew I wanted to use a new nail polish but I after I'd put OPI's My Private Jet on 1 hand and tried a french tip in China Glaze's Cords... I decided my nails were too long for such a dark color. So I took that off. Then I repainted them in China Glaze's It's My Turn. And again, I wasn't feeling the color at all. So I took that off. I kept eyeing my pinks so I decided.. PINK IT IS!



♥ duration: 30 mins (not including the 2 other sets I painted before this one while watching Psych)

♥ notes:
▪ simple is best :D
▪ this was the result at the 3rd attempt at painting my nails last night. lol
▪ this is one of those times I was glad to have a variety of rhinestone colors. But I wish I had more variety in sizes. (my standard is 5ss)

♥ colors/steps:
▪ 1 coat Orly Bonder
▪ 2 coats OPI I'll Take The Cake
▪ 1 coat of pearly white polish (~70% opaque) from Daiso (brand: Winmax) in a line going diagonally across my nail (starting almost halfway down and going upwards towards the other side at ~ a 30 degree angle)
▪ 1 coat of Nailite Inc's Peach Schnapps (mixed with white and other pinks to make it more pinkish and less peachy(starting ~2mm higher than the pearly white layer and going upwards at ~ a 50 degree angle towards the other side)
▪ use Kiss Silver glitter striper to make lines where the 2 colors meet.
▪ 1 dab of Orly Bonder where I want to put the gems (in this case at the base of the white section.
▪ selected 3 gems in the same color range, 1 larger one and 2 smaller ones to place on the dab of Bonder. I used (in various groupings): 7ss Black Diamond, 5ss Crystal Moonlight, 7ss Crystal AB, 5ss Crystal AB, 5ss
Jet.
▪ 2 coats Seche Vite

black and pink argyle

[ backlog May 21, 2009 ]

So I thought I'd mix it up by NOT posting a french manicure-ish style. As I was looking at which backlogged nail set to post, I realized about 80% of my styles are french manicure-like. I think it's because I can wear super bright colors in small amounts that way. :)

So this set was inspired by a set I saw in a previous Nail Up Magazine. I lent them to Marissa so I don't have it on me. But it's the one before the 30th anniversary one and it's full of argyle and plaid styles. Super cute!! The one I saw in the mag was base colored yellow with pink and white argyle, I think. But I like baby pink with black and white :D so that's what I did!





♥ duration: 45 mins (the diamonds took a while.. I need to find a better way to do them)

♥ notes:
▪ I liked this one a lot b/c of the color combo
▪ I don't remember what the base color is! It's a pale pink but I think I mixed 2 colors. or put one deeper pink as a primary color coat then put a ligher/frostier pink on top... maybe? haha~ but I like that you can use pretty much any color as the base color and still match a black and white argyle design :D

♥ colors/steps:
▪ 1 coat Orly Bonder
▪ 2 coats of a baby pink polish
▪ I used a black and a white striper (by Kiss) to paint the diamonds. Make them small (~2-3mm in height) so you can fit 3 top to bottom without running out of room on the nail. But really, size judgement is up to you (and it depends on how much room you have on your nail).
▪ Then I used a gold glitter striper (by Kiss) to make the other lines. I basically drew Xs crossing through the center of the diamond and make the ends of the Xs meet as you draw them. Those lines should also run parallel/perpendicular to the diamonds themselves.
▪ 1 top coat of Orly Won't Chip (not my favorite, but that's what I used").

straight-line french

[ backlog 12.25.08 ]

Another backlog one~ 2 in one night! Gooooo me :D

Really simple design but I like simple. Good for work and good for going out. Best of both worlds, right? I'm not normally a big fan of this type of polish color on my fingers because it makes me think my skin looks sickly pale or something. I'm sure it's all in my mind ^_- I'd done this style before but I just wanted a chance to play with a new nail color :D It's one I picked up at an H&M in Lisbon (I was on an 11 day cruise on RCCL's Independence of the Seas to parts of Europe and the Canary Islands! It was a fantastic trip. Plus I met my honey while on this one ^_-). The color is H&M's Velvet Touch. The price was something like 2 euros so I figured why not, right? ^_^

♥ duration: 30 mins + a few minutes to pick the colors to use

♥ notes:
▪ So simple, I'd say anyone can do this one.
▪ The gems didn't last long for me for this set b/c again, I didn't put a top coat! Get off my case, people... :P I just didn't know better, at the time! ^_-
▪ If I want my french manicures to look really clean I use sheer & pale colors so that my real nail color doesn't distract from whatever shade I'm using on the tips. (e.g. Orly's Sheer Nude)

♥ colors/steps:
▪ 1 coat Orly Bonder
▪ 1 coat of something sheer by Orly. The label fell off already. >.< but it might actually have been Orly's Sheer Nude.
▪ 1 coat diagonally on the tips from one side to slightly past center of my nail OPI's Sephora polish in "And Then He Said..."
▪ 1 coat diagonally on the tips from the other side to slightly past center of my nail which overlays the other diagonal side in H&M's Velvet Touch
▪ criss-cross Kiss's white striper following the angle of the diagonal layers just painted
▪ 1 dab of Orly Bonder just below where the 2 tip colors meet
▪ 1 7ss Golden Shadow Swarovski rhinestone where you put a dab of Bonder.

white lace

[ backlog 06.15.08 ]

Need to catch up on backlogged nails! So here's another oldie~

Someone at my old ballroom studio had commented that this set would be a great wedding nail set :) This was the first and only time I've done a hand painted lace design. It was quite a bit of work and it still looked a bit messy.




♥ duration: 40 mins - the lace took a while

♥ notes:
▪ really simple in design but manually painting lace is a bit tedious. -_-
▪ I didn't use a good top coat on this one so it didn't last long. :/
▪ I don't think I even own this nail polish color anymore (Colorama Chill The Champagne)

♥ colors/steps:
▪ 1 coat Orly Bonder
▪ 2 coats Maybelline Colorama Chill The Champagne
▪ 1 coat in a diagonal line across the nail (french manicure style) in OPI's Bride's Bouquet
▪ used a small thin brush (this is the one I used prior to getting a thin brush with shorter bristles) dipped in OPI's Bride's Bouquet to make half circles next to the french manicure line
▪ used a bobby pin end (because it has the rubber protective end that's rounded) dipped in OPI's Bride's Bouquet to make the dots for the lace. I have since bought a dotting tool that works just fine and I've gone back to using bobby pins strictly for my hair ^_-

striped & strawberry-d

I really wanted to use my strawberry nail seals so I finally thought of a way (in my head) that would be pretty cute and creative-ish. I just wasn't sure how it'd turn out... and believe me, I've had those days when I was coming up with designs in my head that I just couldn't get done on my nails. they'd always turn up not quite like I imagined.. but I really like this set. (click on photos to enlarge)

♥ duration: 45 mins (2 episodes of Nadesico)

♥ notes:
▪ Love this one. I was thinking I'd do the stripes in white but I thought it might be too much contrast.. grey pin stripes would be nice too, I think :D
▪ Parts of the nail seal curled up a bit after applying a clear coat but I touched that up by applying a teeny bit of Orly Bonder where it was lifting and pressing it down with tweezers while it was tacky. I also used nail clippers to trim the clear bits of nail seal that were flipping up (especially between the strawberries).

♥ colors/steps:
▪ 1 coat Orly Bonder
▪ 3 thin coats OPI I'll Take The Cake
▪ Applied Color Club Pastel Pink striper starting from the middle of the nail and spacing the stripes about 2mm apart until there wasn't room left on my nail.
▪ Apply Pa Nail Collective Nail Seals (strawberries & bees - peta22)
▪ 1 stripe of Art Club crystal glitter striper randomly on each nail between 2 pink stripes.
▪ Set 5ss Light Rose Swarovski Rhinestone on my nail using Orly Bonder as an adhesive.
▪ Fixed lifting corners with Orly Bonder and nail clippers to trim excessive parts.
▪ 2 final coats of Seche Vite

my first haul

haha~ ok i dunno if it's really considered a "haul" since it's only 2 handfuls of polish. but here they are :D

1st picture: I had seen these online and this is my first purchase of China Glaze polishes. Aren't they pretty?? These 3 are from 2 of their collections: OMG & Kaleidoscope. L to R: OMG - BFF, Kaleidoscope - Rated Holographic, Kaleidoscope - It's My Turn.


2nd picture: 1 more China Glaze in Cords from the Retro Diva collection. OPI's My Private Jet & OPI's I'll Take The Cake. I have only a couple of really fine/soft colors.. so I had to add a pale pink to my collection.

And for kicks(who knows if I'll do this later), I took pictures of the bottles and the paint. (click on images to view larger)



**note: Thanks Joni for suggesting to make a note about clicking on the images to view larger ^_-

black lace wedding nails

Since I saw Josh and Maris today (for some decoden fun!) I decided I'm going to be a rebel and post WAY out of order. These are the nails I did for their wedding which I attended on a TUESDAY down in the OC (June 30, 2009). haha~ It was going to be a fun wedding, so I wanted to make fun nails. But of course they'd have to be sophisticated since it was a wedding n all ^_^ I wasn't sure if black would be scary for the wedding.. but I went with it anyway and I thought it actually turned out great. I'm not a fan of ALL black just yet, but I'm okay with the tips ^_^ I like OPI's I Only Drink Champagne b/c it's a really soft but pretty pearly shade of cream. It's one of my more.. neutral and "mature" colors. lol.

♥ duration: 45 mins (15 mins for touch up the night before the wedding)

♥ notes:
▪ I cut the lace in half the long way (which I purchased from Orange Lighthouse). That's just the bottom half with the draped part.
▪ Dark colors are difficult with tips b/c the tips of your nails are the first to chip so it looks really obvious when a black part chips off. -_-
▪ Also, dunno if you'll notice that my index fingers might have some orange-y stains in the detailed pictures.. I went to a crawdad place for dinner the night I arrived in Irvine with friends I stayed with.. as a result, my skin was a tad bit stained. >.<
▪ This set matched the ring my dragi gave me. （*´▽｀*）

♥ colors/steps:
▪ Orly Bonder base coat
▪ 2 coats of OPI's I Only Drink Champagne
▪ Orly's Liquid Vinyl for the tips
▪ Measured (roughly), applied, & trimmed PA Collective Nail Stickers in black lace. I trimmed the lace with nail clippers b/c i can get closer to the edge of my nails than with scissors.
▪ Applied a thin layer of Orly Bonder as a tacky glue for the gems following the line of lace.
▪ Set a row of 5ss Crystal AB Swarovski rhinestones on each of my ring fingers after applying Orly Bonder
▪ 1 coat of Orly's Won't Chip (before I had Seche Vite... also a note about Orly's Won't Chip.. it makes lots of bubbles when being applied-esp around anything raised like gems and stickers so I stopped using it).

Hoorah~ 2nd post down.. 30 something more to go. lol. （￣□￣；）

first nail posting

Inspired by a set seen in Vol. 30 Anniversary ed. of Nail Up Magazine that I picked up from my local Kinokuniya. I'm a big fan of this magazine. They're great at explaining how to do things. Generally, I find that the styles are excessively decorated (as if there's such a thing!) and when I do my version, I tend to tone down the design while attempting to maintain the cuteness of a nail set.

Anyway, the article I found this set in was about "couples nails" - like the girl would have her own girly set, then the guy would have 1 nail done to match. It's actually a cute idea, I think.. but good luck finding a man that's willing to wear sparklies on his nails! (>_<)

Here it is, my first official nail blog nail image post & description to follow:

♥ duration: 30 mins (including drying in between coats)

♥ notes about the look: sweet and elegant. the original design calls for a bright pink 7ss rhinestone in the center of the rhinestone set. I placed a pearl there instead. (because I didn't have a bright pink gem that size)

♥ colors/steps:
▪ Orly Bonder base coat
▪ mixed NailiteInc's Peach Shnapps, OPI's Royal Flush Blush (pearl pink), & OPI's Bride's Bouquet (creme white) all in the Peach Schnapps bottle since it was about 60% full. Applied 2 coats.
▪ Kiss silver striper
▪ 10ss Swarovski hot fix pearls and 5ss/6ss crystal rhinestones from VN that my friends brought home for me.
▪ 2 coats of Sally Hansen Diamond Strength in Flawless (it was on sale at Walgreens) to make the glitter striper feel smooth.
▪ 1 final coat of Seche Vite

Hope this is good enough for a first real post (*^▽^*) time to sleep~ nitenite!

edit: @1:21am omigosh.. haha. I need to leave this thing alone! BUT~ I did get the photo slide show going and added a blog roll :D go mi ^_^~♥

first post!

oookay so I've been meaning to do this for a while.. and finally I've set up a nail blog. It won't be as fancy as other blogs and knowing me, I'll forget about it after a while.. but I have so many nail photos n things. I feel like I should share :D

I also figured this would be good way for me to explain how I do what I do.. when I do it.. Did that make sense?

Anyway! Onwards and upwards!

Welcome to my humble nail blog. \(≧∇≦)/

.. crap.. and i need to decide if I'm going to first post back-logged things I've already done.. or post most recent things and in between, post back-logged items. Probably the latter. but I'm not making promises! I'm a bad blogger (>_<)