Fourth of July Mani!

Hello Everyone!

It's been a while since I painted my nails and it just so happened to be July 4th. I'm not used to doing something so festive, but I figured why not.

The Mani is plain and simple. Nothing too special (I can't draw for my life, so the nail art idea just went right out the window).

 I was originally going to use the glitter from the OPI Mariah Carey collection, but that didn't happen. It was just.. so bad. I ended up switching to the Zoya one that I hauled ages ago.

Hehe.. the Julep one didn't fit in the group photo, so it got its own shot. The name (Molly) rubbed off too.. sorry!

 I started off with this Mani:

Trying out a hand position (position? not sure what to call it). We'll have to see if this "position" works out.  I wanted something sparkly on my nails so I ended up going with Zoya Ginessa (instead of the OPI one). 

Zoya Ginessa on the ring finger. 

I probably could have left it like that (above), but just decided to paint the rest with the Zoya polish. I ended up with this: 

Much more sparkly and somewhat more fitting for July 4th. Oh, I almost forgot: 2 coats on all polishes and one coat on the Zoya one (2 coats on China Glaze as a base).

Thanks for reading and Have a great rest of the week!

Mint Sorbet and Teddy Girl Swatch and Review

Hello~

Spring means pastels~ and lots of pollen.. I love pastel colors, so today I have a very simple pastel NOTD. 

Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet is my favorite mint polish, and butter London Teddy Girl is slowly becoming my favorite pastel pink polish... Swatches and quick reviews coming up!

I used two coats for each polish. Natural light.

Artificial light.

Yummy.. Who else likes castella?

Sorry I forgot bottle shots, but Mint Sorbet is from the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line. Teddy Girl is from, well, butter London. 

Mint Sorbet: This is your very basic mint creme polish. I love the color and the formula. It's smooth, non-streaky, and opaque in two coats. Since this is from Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line, the brushes are nice to work with, at least for me. Plus the brush is very long, which I feel gives much more control when painting. I highly recommend this polish! It's such a pretty mint color~

Teddy Girl: For a creme pastel pink polish, the formula is pretty good. I've had much worse. T_T Teddy Girl is opaque in two coats, and is slightly streaky the first coat but it's fine because the second coat evens everything out. Of course, butter London polishes are always very nice~ The brushes are smaller, like Essie brushes, which I feel are good for their formulas. This may be slightly runny, but for a pastel pink, you can't get much better. :P

If I could, I would wear pastel colors everyday.. I'm still looking for a pastel yellow that doesn't stain my nails!! T^T

Oh by the way, I officially committed to my future university today. It feels sort of weird knowing that I'll be somewhere else for the next four years. I committed too late to find a roommate among my friends, so I just did the random roommate. Hopefully my future roommate is nice and doesn't smoke or bring people over! Because I like peace and quiet when I study... My friend told me to either choose two of the following: a social life, good grades, or sleep. I think I'll choose good grades and sleep.... T_T I mean, pshhh... a social life.....? ToT I'm afraid I won't have time to do any nail art... Maybe just simple solid colors... wahh.... first world problems.

'Til next time~

Tropical Skittle Nails

Hello~

Today I have some skittle-ish nails that remind me of something tropical. :D Very simple; no nail art. Just painting nails... I'm getting a bit lazy these days..

All the colors went on very well~ such pretty colors.... ^o^

Under natural light

Under artificial light

I most likely used two coats of each polish... I'm sorry I don't remember.... T^T

L-R: Modi Glam Nails Fruits Punch, Sinful Colors Pistache, butter LONDON Macbeth

Quick Reviews:

Modi Glam Nails Fruits Punch- Of course, there's some engrish, but anyways, I love this color so much~ It's one of those shades I've been looking for forever!! It's a peachy-cantaloupe pastel shade, and I think it's a crelly. The formula is opaque in two coats, and there's no streaking or anything. Only downside is that it stains the nails a bit..

Sinful Colors Pistache- I think I reviewed this before, but it's a nice neon pistachio creme. The formula is super thick and gloppy, but it's opaque in two coats, so it's manageable. It's a unique color, so it's worth the pain haha..

butter london Macbeth- Of course, the formula is amazing and flawless and opaque in two coats. I would call this a coral creme, with a cooler tone to it. Very pretty summer color and amazing formula~

Yayy I've been accepted into two more colleges this week~ yay! Now I gotta wait for my main ones to come out in April..... T_T

Happy Pi Day!! We had a food day in math today and I ate sooooo much plus I ate a cheeseburger and fries during lunch too.... T_T So good... I'm craving those waffles in Asia where they put ice cream on top and drizzle it with choco syrup... Oh or Mojo crepes.... yum!!! >_<

'Til next time~

Holiday Mani with OPI Mariah Carey 2013 Holiday Collection

Hello hello!

Happy Merry Christmas!! Yayy we still have 10-ish minutes of Christmas left here.. :P

I hope you guys had an amazing holiday season so far. Today, I woke up pretty late, opened presents with the family, and then went out to eat Chinese food for dinner. The restaurant was packed! Sort of surprising but not at the same time.. 

Anyways, here's a simple mani using polishes from the OPI Mariah Carey 2013 Holiday Collection! This collection has been out for a while, but some stores may still have some of the polishes left. The red is All I Want for Christmas (is OPI) and the glitter is My Favorite Ornament. 

I used one coat, but I could have gone with two for the glitter.

I love the colors.. ^_^ Puts me in a holiday mood.

If I used two coats instead of one for the glitter, you probably wouldn't see the visible nail line as much..

L-R: All I Want for Christmas (is OPI), My Favorite Ornament

All I Want for Christmas (is OPI): I love this color! It's the perfect, classic red creme with a great formula. It might be a little thin for some, but for me, it went on smoothly and evenly. It makes your fingers look very elegant. :D

My Favorite Ornament: This is a very pretty champagne glitter; perfect for the holidays. The formula was even and applied with no problems.

Anyways, ahh 2013 is already almost over! Christmas was great this year, and I hope you guys had a wonderful Christmas as well. I actually spent most of the day writing college essays, but it's ok! It's almost over! :D I love winter break.. but my favorite season would have to be fall. The sky is just so darn pretty during fall. I literally sometimes just stare at the sky for a few minutes.. ><

Happy Holidays! and 'til next time!

butter London Yummy Mummy Swatch and Review

Hello everyone!

Ahh 10 days till Christmas! Can't wait..! Whenever I hear holiday music, I feel all happy and it feels like Christmas is very soon. 

Here's a quick NOTD from a few weeks ago. butter London Yummy Mummy is a shimmery nude beige that looks very nice on some skin tones. On my skin tone it was just alright; nothing too flattering. I really like the color though, and the formula was excellent as well. I mean, it's butter London. :P

I used two coats. (sorry for the awkward pose derp) Accent nail is Essie Licorice. I tried hehe..

The shimmer is very fine, but noticeable. You can also see some visible nail lines, so if you want to avoid those, a third coat would do the trick.

Such a pretty color.. ^_^

Application was smooth: no streaks and such, and with 2 coats, the color was fairly opaque. The formula was sort of thin, so a third coat would ensure full opacity. 

The color is so pretty and elegant. :D A nice fall color in my opinion. Hehe I always like painting my nails mannequin nail colors, because if I make a few blips here and there, it's not as noticeable because the color sort of blends in with the color of your skin and nail bed. 

Ahh I had my last All-State audition today. I think it went ok, but you never know.. ._. And my early decision college results come out soon as well.. ahhh I hope I make both of them! But even if I don't make any of them, I can't lose hope. but that would be so sad.. D: I'll try to stay strong.. >_<

'Til next time!

NOTD: OPI Red/pink liquid sands

Hello!

Ahh I just spent nearly an hour watermarking pictures, and I'm still not done. T^T So behind!! Why do I procrastinate on everything.. 

Anyways, here's a NOTD from a couple of weeks ago.. OPI Jinx is from the Bond Girls collection, and OPI The Impossible is from the Mariah Carey collection.. from spring I think. I actually already compared these with OPI Magazine Cover Mouse (another red liquid sand) and talked about liquid sands in general in this post during the summer. 

L-R: OPI Jinx, OPI The Impossible

Jinx is more coral/orange, while The Impossible is more of a cool-toned pink with glitters and stars!

I painted my pinky and pointer finger with The Impossible, and the rest with Jinx.

I tried applying some top coat on my pinky, and it came out to be very squishy looking. I love it. :D (Excuse the horrible painting.. I guess I got lazy.. T-T)

This really shows the texture in my opinion. I tried for quite a while to fish out a star from The Impossible, but no, it never happened. D:

This is after nearly a week of wear. As long as you don't put on a thin coat, they wear pretty well! Even better with top coat of course. (bad lighting, sorry >_<;;)

It's actually a four-day weekend for us here! There's no school next Monday or Tuesday. Yay I can finally finish Common App and other apps.. and essays! The deadline is 10/15 though so I'm in big trouble..

'Til next time!

NOTD: Pastel nails

Hello~

Here is a pastel mani that I did a few weeks ago. No nail art; just solid colors. I like the color combo though; it's sort of summery... even though it's pastels, which is generally for spring. I got some compliments though! :D

 I'm trying to use all of my polishes at least once, so that's why I try to do as many color combos as I can.

L-R: Sally Hansen I Pink I Can, China Glaze Peachy Keen, Revlon Buttercup

Surprisingly, all of these polishes had fairly good formulas for pastels. I only had to use two coats, and everything evened out. The Revlon Buttercup has a much more opaque finish than my hello kitty banana cream polish. Man, my love for pastels just never dies.. I'm actually wearing a different pastel mani right now. >.< I'll post it soon! 

'Til next time!

Star Manicure!

Hello~

Today I have a delayed star mani. I've been in a starry mood lately. :P 

This designed turned out to be much more holiday-ish than I planned.. ahaha

I painted these with my non dominant hand, so there's a bit non-star like :P

I used one coat of everything. 

before top coat

Après top coat

L-R: Timbleberry, Pistache, and generic acrylic paints

Overall, I really like painting details with acrylic paints a lot more than nail polish! Probably because it's just a lot easier because the paints don't dry as quickly or bleed like nail polish does.. I gotta keep practicing though!

I just finished half of my summer French hw, so I'm still a bit in my French-y mood.. T.T After 6 hours of nonstop French hw, my brain is fried...ahaha well I guess these are the consequences of procrastination.. D:

Anyways, look forward to a cute mani soon! Hopefully my nails don't break before I paint them again!

'Til next time!

Kpop Nails: BoA's Starry French Nails

Hello muffins!

Today I have a manicure that Korean singer BoA wore in one of her music videos! It was in her music video for Hurricane Venus. It's a very electronic, catchy song~ 

Here's a screenshot I took of her nails. I used this for reference.

Voila! As you can see my nails weren't as long as BoA's, so I had to adjust the sizes of the designs. Nonetheless, it's a partial success in my book. :D

It was my first time using acrylic paints for the black and white nail art. 

It took me a while, but it was fun! I used one coat of everything.

L-R: Sinful Colors Sugar Rush, Julep Parker, Orly Butterfiles, Sephora by OPI Is it Payday Yet?, Sally Hansen CSM Buttercup

I used generic acrylic paints from my local crafts store. 

Overall, I'm happy with this mani! It was very colorful and fun to paint. I need a lot more practice, but hey, my freehanding didn't turn out as bad as I thought it would! Next time, I'll remember to take pictures so I can show a tutorial. :D 

'Til next time!

Manicure experiments

Hello~

Ever since I saw this picture of a girl's nails with a lavender base and red french tips, I've always wanted to recreate it. I tried back last year here with Essie's To buy or not to buy as the base color, but it was so streaky so I used Sally Hansen's Lacey Lilac this time instead. 

Well... Lacey Lilac was too blue... It made Essie's Clambake look too blood red. This wasn't the look I was going for, but oh well I can try again next time!

Thumb: jelly sandwich with OPI Living Daylights and Essence Cotton Candy

Slanted French tips L-R: Sinful Colors Orange Cream, Island Coral, Beautiful Girl (The mint part was Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet.)

Pinky: jelly sandwich with OPI Minnie Style and OPI I Theadora You

So I fixed that hand ASAP into this. I was experimenting with which pink base would look best against the mint green tip. These were inspired by Minzy from 2NE1. I saw her have something similar in some episode of 2NE1 TV. I used tons of different colors to see which combo would look the best. 

Pretty good for me cause I can't freehand anything!

My first jelly sandwiches.. I kinda like the one on the pinky rather than the thumb. Sorry for not cleaning the edges! T-T

'Til next time!~

NOTD: China Glaze Cirque du Soleil Mani!

Hi guys~

This is just a quick NOTD post. I finally got around to using the nail polish I bought from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil collection! I still want It's a Trap-eze! :P

Sorry for the messiness.. I should start clean up before I take the pictures..

From L-R: NYC Grand Central Station, CG Surreal Appeal, CG Hanging in the Balance, CG Whirled Away

I used one coat of Hanging in the Balance and Whirled Away, and two coats for Surreal Appeal.

Surreal Appeal is really pretty; it's slightly thick but nothing that a few drops of thinner can't fix. 

Hanging in the Balance is really pretty too, and very saturated with color; it's actually a lot more dark blue in person! 

Whirled Away is an interesting glitter; hard to get it on the nail evenly, and hard to get off unless you use the foil method to remove nail polish. 

If you look closely at my pointer finger in the above picture, you can see that as I was trying to evenly disperse the glitter polish, I smeared the blue polish underneath it, hence the blue-ish tint over the white glitter. 

Overall, I really like these colors from the collection. They're so bright and fun! Maybe it's because I'm weak for blues and corals and pinks.. and interesting glitters.. T_T

'Til next time!