Nail art: pink and white for Breast Cancer Awareness month

I have a new nail art design for you all! I've been crazy busy all summer and didn't have a chance to do anything beauty or blog-related with school and work, but this semester my goal is to be doing a nail design every week (except for when I have interviews). So far, so good! 

As you probably know, it's breast cancer awareness month! I've done a design for BCA every other year (2011, 2013) and this one is no different. I hope you like it! Personally it was one of my favorite designs I've done in awhile (I have a few more that will show up in the next couple of weeks), and super easy. 

The polishes that I used. The white is Essie Pink Diamond, and the pink is Essie Blanc. The nail art pen is from Sally Hansen. If I were to re-do this design, I probably would not have used either of those polishes. They're pretty colors, but Pink Diamond is a frosty pink, so it shows flaws. It took me like 3-4 coats to make it look pretty even. The white was the same way. And the nail art pen was not great, but it was a little bit better than if I was using a striper polish. I got the nail art pen from a friend, so no loss there, but I'm not sure if I'll buy more of the line. 

Onto the design! To do this design, first paint 2-3 coats of Pink Diamond on all nails except for your ring finger. (Like I said, it took me more coats, but just because it wasn't painting evenly for me). Do french tips with the Essie Blanc, either freehand or using a guide if you need to. (I don't have any guides, but it would make it a lot neater.) Paint your ring finger with 2-3 coats of Essie Blanc. After it's dry, use the nail art pen (or a nail art brush and a darker pink) to draw the ribbon. I use Seche Vite as a top coat because I am impatient and don't like to wait for my nails to dry, but definitely wait to put the top coat on your ring finger until the ribbon is mostly dry. I did not, and accidentally dragged the pink around the white polish, and I had to go in with a nail art brush and touch it up. 

And that's it! Like I said, it's a really simple design and you could really do it for any of the cancer ribbons. Next week my design is simple too, but sticking with the Breast Cancer Awareness month theme. 

Nail polish haul

A quick post on the nail polishes that I picked up! On a Facebook group for selling things at my university, there were a couple of girls selling nail polish. I received these three, which was really the main reason that I bought them (both girls threw in a couple of extra polishes, like some "Dior" (I put it in quotes because from the quality, I am not sure how authentic it was) and a random off-brand polish. 

All in all, I got these three polishes and three other polishes, as well as a bonus costume necklace, for $10. Considering that these three alone would retail for around $24, I definitely think it was a steal! Plus, none of these polishes have been used that much, they were basically full. 

I know people who don't like to buy used polishes, but I don't think it's a big deal. If it's thickened, as old nail polish that hasn't been used in awhile often does, Seche makes a great restoring product. If you're really concerned, you could always clean the brushes in Acetone before using it (I have never done that, so don't take my word for it). 

From left to right: Essie Luxeffects in Stroke of Brilliance, OPI All That Razz-Berry, and OPI Tutti Frutti Tonga. 

I'm not sure how I feel about the All That Razz-Berry because I'm not a huge fan of deep purple-reds like that, but the Tutti Frutti Tonga and Stroke of Brilliance are just my type. Expect to see a design with them soon! 

Christmas Nails! Part 1

I am back! I swear, I did not plan on taking so long to return to my blog, but I have a ton of excuses (finals, malfunctioning computer, no time, etc.). However, as you might have noticed, I am revamping the blog and I am planning on doing a ton more posts, so be on the lookout for them!

 Since Christmas is only four days away, I am planning on doing a post of Christmas/winter/holiday-themed nails every day until then!

First up is a super simple and quick design. This manicure, from start-to-finish, only took me about fifteen minutes. (Admittedly, the lines on the french manicure part are not perfect (I have not figured out the trick yet)), but even with touch-up it should not take too long, so it is the perfect design for beginners.

The cast of characters for this design are:

China Glaze Ruby Pumps, Butter London British Racing Green, and Art Deco Gold.



The method: Paint two layers of Ruby Pumps as the base on all five nails, then use a striping brush to paint the Butter London British Racing Green on the nail tips of every finger except the middle finger (I just used a brush from one of my Art Deco polishes).  Using the Art Deco Gold, paint a line between the green and red on each nail.



For the little Christmas tree (which was inspired by a post on my pinterest board, I used the striping brush to paint three triangles on top of each other. When that dried, I used the Art Deco gold to draw a line at the base of each triangle. I could not find any brown nail polish, so I used an Essie (cannot find the bottle... I think it is taupe something) to make a blob to serve as the stump.

So yep, a super simple design that looks amazing and catches the eye (because of all the glitter), and uses Christmas colors!

Tomorrow, I am thinking a snow/snowman design. Stay tuned!

Breast Cancer Awareness Nails

GUISE,

I FINALLY HAVE SOME NEW NAIL ART FOR YOU.



This is just a super quick post because I've been crazy busy lately, but I figured I should update my blog :) I did some nails in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness month. For those of you who don't know/haven't figured it out, I am a student at MSU. If you happen to go there too, want to support the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade, and want a manicure, I'll be auctioning off a manicure at the MSU aKDPHI "Pretty in Pink" Date Auction. It starts at 7 at Erickson Kiva, and all proceeds will go to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade!

The cast of characters:



(From left: Essie Mod Square, Pure Ice Superstar, OPI Princesses Rule, L'Oreal Penthouse Pink, and Art Deco Intense Pink)

The technique: On my thumb, middle, and pinky finger, I used Essie Mod Square, and then I used L'Oreal Penthouse Pink on my pointer and ring finger. Because Art Deco Intense Pink is nearly the same color as Mod Square, I needed it to pop, so I used my white Art Deco brush (not pictured) to draw the ribbon, and then I colored over it with Intense Pink so that it would show up. For my pointer finger, I went simple and used two pink heart rhinestones. On my middle finger, I went simple again and just used a coat of OPI Princesses Rule. On my ring finger, using the Art Deco white and Art Deco Intense Pink, I drew two perpendicular lines of each color. And finally, on my pinky finger, using Art Deco white, I wrote "HOPE."

It's a little messy because I had to do it quickly, but I do love it :)

Stay tuned! I have a ton of catching up to do (now that I'm caught up in school...). Lots of sponsored posts, and I'll probably do a picture dump of Sarahita's nails and Halloween makeup!

`Rakuzen

Purple and black nail design

I'm back~

Finished product design!

I can't believe that I forgot to put this one up. It is by far, one of my favorite designs so far. I did this during exam week, when I had some free time in between studying. This design is super pretty, easy, and eye-catching, and I got a ton of compliments on it.

Two coats of China Glaze Grape Juice in the natural sunlight. 

I used two coats of China Glaze Grape Juice for the base. I bought this color a year ago and never used it, but I brought it to college with me and figured it would work for this design. It definitely did! This color was gorgeous. A little bit darker than the bottle color, and the color had a very nice shimmer.

Cast of characters. From left: My 2-way nail art pen/brush, Essie Ridge Filling Base Coat, and China Glaze Grape Juice.

After I painted the base, I used my two-way black nail art pen to draw the design. I previously used the pen in my flower nail design, and I've been pleasantly surprised at how well it works!

I hope you enjoy! I have a ton of posts that I've been writing, some product reviews. And next for nail art, because my nails have been weak and I've had to constantly stick my hands in bleach water, I'll be doing some gel nails. Also, a list of polishes that I brought with me to college!

Rakuzen

Flowery nails~

Some more nails that I did while preparing for exams. I did fine on them, just in case you were wondering. So doing my nails during the study break may have actually helped? Also it was nice because I haven't had a lot of time to do them throughout the school year.



They look a little messy, but whatever. I had inspiration from a nail art picture that I had in my files, but I don't really know where the source is. Also, I feel like they were a little messy, but they looked fine up close!





For the french mani tips, I used my ArtDeco white striper. I never do french tips, but I figured that since I would do a design on them, it wouldn't matter. (And as you might be able to notice if you look closely, it is kind of sloppy.)

Then I used my black nail art pen/brush to draw the branches. I got it for like, a $1 at Rite-Aid during the after-Halloween sale and used for the first time when I did these nails. I love it!

I used Revlon Impulsive for the purple flowers and Essie Mod square for the pink. First time that I used either polish! Then my Seche Vite as top coat.

Hope you like it and that it inspires you to do nail art! I just got a book about Nail Art in the mail that was sent to me for review, so I'll try a few of the designs and post about the book soon. Stay tuned!

`Rakuzen

Chinese New Year Nails

新年快乐!!!!!!!!

If you can't read Chinese, that says "Happy new year!" in Chinese!

Sunday is the day for the Chinese New Year/Spring Festival. It will officially be the year of the snake! Yay!

In honor of my favorite holiday of ever, I did my nails! This is exciting because it has, unfortunately, been awhile since I've had time to do that. But here's a quick and simple design that I did.



I chose red and gold because they are lucky colors in China. The thumb, middle, and pinky finger are all Zoya Stella. My pointer finger is China Glaze Ruby Pumps because it was glittery and I wanted to see how it looked. It was too dark though, so the rest of the nails I did in Zoya Stella. The glittery gold is Butter London West End Wonderland. Such a perfect gold (both for this design and in general!)



The red and gold design: Paint your nails with base coat (I used Essie's Ridge-Filling base coat), then two coats of your red. Use the gold polish and swipe it diagonally across your nail. It took me about three coats to get the gold to be opaque, but it dried really fast and it is SO glittery and eye catching, especially in the sun!

I had wanted to be able to do more Chinese New Year designs, but I ran short on time. No matter! Chinese New Year lasts for 15 days! So expect at least one more red/gold/Chinese New Year-esque nail design before I move on to Valentine's Day nails! If you're looking for a quick design, I posted a cut-out hearts design last year. I picked up a gorgeous pink Orly at CVS today, so I plan on putting that to good use! (And yes, I realize that I haven't posted any new nail polish purchases. Truth is, I haven't been able to buy nail polish lately because the nearest Rite Aid is kind of far and it's really cold here in Michigan. Oh well, it'll be a good chance to finally use the half of my collection that's been sitting untouched.)

Happy Chinese New Year!

Depression + Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Two updates in one week?

I forewent one of my last nail designs so that I could post these (just finished them yesterday).



This one is using a regular shiny topcoat.



And this one uses Essie Matte About You (just because I love the look of it... no real purpose.

I chose green and pink for this week because green is the color for Depression Awareness Month, which is October, and pink is for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, which is also in October. To raise awareness, I'll be wearing these nails for a week and posting a picture of them in Soompi and on my Facebook and Twitter. For every comment (either on Facebook or my blog), "like," (Facebook) "thumbs up" (Soompi) "retweet" (Twitter) and new follower I get from this post, I will donate $0.50 to the Avon Breast Cancer Crusade Foundation, and $0.50 to Hope for Depression Research Foundation. I'm also hoping to get together a giveaway of Pink items to be given away by the end of the month.

I used OPI Jade Is the New Black as the base, three coats for each. Then I used my pink striper polish to draw the design. The thumb nail is kind of random, the pointer finger is supposed to be the Breast Cancer ribbon, the middle finger is just a cross, the ring finger is a french manicure with lines, and the pinky finger says HOPE.

I really love these, and I'm glad that I can actually do my nails for a reason this time, instead of just for fun. (:

(Also, the picture turned out fine!! Now if only I could actually get a good picture, with clean up, without tip wear (need to thin out my Seche Vite... it's getting goopy and dragging my nail polish back)

July 4th

Happy Independence Day to my American readers! :)

I went out to Beauty First in Ann Arbor today, and got a lovely surprise. Three OPI nail polishes and one Essie polish for the price of $20.



From left to right: Essie Matte About You Top Coat, OPI Stranger Tides from the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection, OPI Here Today, Aragorn Tomorrow, and OPI RapidDry Top Coat.

I don't know if the OPI Here Today, Aragorn Tomorrow is the matte version, which is what I was actually looking for (but the salesperson didn't really know what I was talking about. She also probably thought I was a freak for knowing the exact name and release date.), but even if it's not, the non-matte is pretty too. The Essie was on sale for $2 (!!!), regular price $10. Both OPI polishes were regularly priced at $8.50, but with the purchase of two OPI's I got the top coat for free.

Doesn't the beauty of it all make you want to cry? It makes me want to cry xD Coming soon will be swatches of Stranger Tides and Here Today, Aragorn Tomorrow. For work, I'm not allowed to have bright colors, so we'll see what I can do.

Have a good holiday!

Essie & OPI

YAY! Happy Memorial Day!

I went out of town today, and picked up a wheel of rhinestones from Michaels to use in nail art. It's not very big, which is good since I'm just using it as a test, and I got it for around $2 ?



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Also...
I bought my first OPI nail polish! My sister referred me to the only place in the mall that sold OPI, so I went to check it out. I was hoping to get Absolutely Alice from OPI's Alice in Wonderland collection, because pictures make it look gorgeous, but they only had Off With Her Red. Right now I'm more into dark colors, so I didn't get it.

Then I saw they had part of the Hong Kong collection! I had just looked at swatches of that online (Thank goodness). They didn't have two of the colors I wanted the most-- Dim Sum Plum and Jade Is the New Black. Just "A Good Man-Darin Is Hard to Find," "Pearl of Wisdom," "Chopsticking to my story," and "Hot and Spicy."

Which was disappointing, because those were all the colors that I didn't want D: Ah, well. They had "Suzi Says Feng Shui," so I bought it. $8.50! But I hear the price is worth it, in OPI's case.



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Sorry it's so blurry-- I'm super amateur at picture taking, and it's late. Plus, this was the photo that stayed closest to the bottle's color.

Moving on, I also bought my first Essie from the same store! My only prior experience with Essie was from my older sister. She bought me a "MegaMini Jewels" gift set with four colors-- red, two pinks, and a white. I touched it once or twice, but the color was too light for my tastes, so she ended up taking it back for herself. But I also heard Essie was a good brand, so I splurged and spent $8 on it (the highest I've ever paid for nail polish is $4 for Sally Hansen).

I didn't really look at many swatches for Essie, so I didn't want to buy a color and end up hating it and wasting my money. So I bought "Mint Candy Apple." The bottle was surprisingly big, so I'm excited to use it.



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Once again, sorry for the bad quality. And the posters in the background xD Last year I went through a HUGE Jonas Brothers fangirl phase. I grew out of it though, but I'm too lazy to take down all the posters, so I have their old pictures everywhere in my room.

And finally, my nails for the week.



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I followed this tutorial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wX_STg1ZsjQ

It didn't come out flawless because I didn't have the right tools, but it's pretty close to the model picture.

I used Sinful Colors Mint Apple, which is a beautiful color. I really like it though! And a petites' black polish that I don't remember the name of.

This week is exam week, so I'll be (trying) studying all week. Then I'm off for summer! What kinds of colors do you recommend for summer?