Grunge Nails ☆

How was everyone's holiday? I had a good one. On Christmas Eve I spent time with family and Christmas day I just spent time with my boyfriend, sister and parents. I got 3 OPI mini sets for Christmas: Go Goth, Swiss, and Burlesque. For this manicure I used Obscurity (a matte black) and Lucerne-tainly Look Marvelous. (a sparkly gunmetal grey).

I tried to make a gradient effect with the gunmetal grey colour but it didn't turn out exactly like I pictured. I still like it though, its very grunge looking. We didn't have any makeup sponges so I used a semi-fluffy craft brush and patted the grey on top of the matte black. 

It only took 2 coats of the matte black to be opaque. I was pretty impressed with it, normally I have trouble with matte polishes. I also didn't have as much trouble with the mini bottles as I normally do. They haven't changed or anything, I guess my application must have improved. I think Lucern-tainly Look Marvelous would look spectacular on its own with top coat. Lightly applied here it doesn't look too glittery but in the bottle it flashes blue and pink sparkles. 

My mom got me a really neat nail file for Christmas and so far I love it. It works so much better than emery boards and I even like it better than the glass and crystal files. After I use it for awhile I might review it if you're interested. Its a little pricey ($28) so I'll let you know if I think its worth purchasing.

What did you get for Christmas? How was your holiday?
Peace and Love,
Serena

Happy Holidays! (Red and Silver Nail Art)

I can't believe its Christmas Eve tomorrow...time flies! I'm not much of a holiday nail person, but I wanted to use some festive colours.I used 3 coats China Glaze Thunderbird as the base and then painted silver X's on my nails with L.A. Colors Art Deco silver striper.

I wish the sun would have come out today! I took these pictures this morning before going out for sushi with my aunt. She is the only one who will go with me so I'm glad she is back in town. =) I'm thinking about changing the layout of my blog after the new year...any ideas on colours I should use?

I'm really hoping to get some neat nail art stuff for Christmas this year. What's on your wishlist?

Peace, Love, and Happy Holidays!
Serena

Christmas Confetti

Yay! Finally I have a new blog post. =) I've been waiting to use China Glaze Party Hearty since the last week of October, when I first purchased it. I wanted to wait until closer to Christmas to wear it. I'm not really a seasonal person. Last Christmas I was wearing neon green. This colour has been layered over emerald green, silver, gold, white, black, and red by other bloggers so I wanted to think of something different. I chose to layer it over Joe Fresh Mint, a pretty mint green. It took three coats to become opaque. I painted one coat of Party Hearty, then touched up a few areas that didn't have as much glitter. It wasn't as gritty as I thought it would be but it definitely needs topcoat. 

My mom bought that cute violin ornament you see in the last picture. Both me and my sister play the violin. I love this combination, I wasn't sure if it would look good but I've received several compliments on it. I have a feeling it will be my only Christmas manicure. I'm just not in to doing seasonal stuff. I do whatever I get inspired to do. 

I need recommendations for a really moisturizing cuticle oil/hand cream. I already have dry skin and it is getting really bad in this cold weather. Solar Oil hasn't been working for me ever since it got cold.Thankfully it hasn't snowed yet!

I was tagged today by (Squoval)iscious! with an award/questions tag. I was surprised to find I wasn't following her yet! She has some really beautiful designs on her blog and I am thankful she tagged me.

1. Why did you create the blog?
I had been reading nail blogs for a year and finally decided I wanted to create one too. I liked the idea of sharing my manicures and I was just getting in to nail art too. The community is my favourite part; I love receiving feedback from the comments.

2. What kind of blogs do you follow?
Mostly nail and beauty blogs. I am following a few random blogs, like a Beatles photo blog and a couple blogs about Japan.

3. Do you have a favorite make-up brand?
I'm not much in to makeup but I do like Fyrinnae. I love smaller companies because they always seem to have excellent customer service and unique products. Their products are often cheaper as well.

4. And a favorite clothing brand?
Not brand conscious at all! I can't really think of too many brands, I just wear what I like.

5. What make-up products are essential for you?
Lip Balm, mascara, lip gloss, sunscreen. I only wear eye makeup occasionally when I feel like it!

6. What's your favorite colour?
Purple or teal.

7. What's your favorite perfume?
I don't have a specific one. I like fresh scents like lemon, mint, cucumber. On the other hand, I enjoy fruity scents too. I really like most scents except sugary, vanilla, and cookie type scents.

8. What's the film you liked the most?
Ehh...I don't know. xD

9. What countries would you like to go?
I've already been to Germany and Austria but I would LOVE to go again. I also want to visit South Korea, Australia, the UK, and Japan. 

I tag/award Starving Nail Addict! I love her designs. =) 

I realized I haven't updated my blog link list in awhile so I am going to do that now. There are a lot of blogs I need to add to it. Also, I checked to make sure I am following everyone who is following me. If you follow me or comment on here I will most likley check out your blog and follow. 

It's nice to post again...thanks for reading!

Peace and Love,

Serena.

Update: Time flies when you're writing essays!

Essay + Finals= no posts. I can't believe how long its been since I posted anything! I have been seriously swamped with school work, essays, etc. that I haven't had an extra time to blog. I haven't even been commenting on blogs as I usually do. December 17th is my last days of school for this semester so I will get back in to the swing of things then! I wanted to do this quick update just to apologize and let all of you know what was going on. If you're interested in more random details about my life and what has been going on the last few weeks, keep reading. If not, I will have a relevant post up Sunday or Monday! The picture has absolutely nothing to do with this post. I added it in for two reasons: 1. It accurately depicts what has been going on inside my mind (pure chaos) and 2. I can't write a post without adding pictures.

Procrastinating my online class was not a good idea. Most of the insane work I have been doing lately has been my online Government class. It's a semester long course and is required for graduation in the state of Oklahoma. I had to take it online because my schedule couldn't fit another class. My schedule is like this: 1st hour: Orchestra, 2nd hour: Math of Finance, 3rd hour: Chemistry, 4th hour: British Literature. Next I have lunch then I go to a technical/vocational school in my area. I take a class called "Graphic Communications" which includes graphic arts/design, photography, printing, page layout, screen printing, typography, and bindery. We learn Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, and a little bit of Dreamweaver, Flash, and Fireworks. So long story short, due to Orchestra and my Graphic Arts class I didn't have time to take Government at school. At this point I really want to avoid online classes. The particular program they use for online classes is irritating. I have a teacher overlooking my course who grades projects and essays. She also has to unlock tests for me. I'm not sure why she has to do that...my counselor mentioned something about students skipping the essays and assignments and just doing the tests. My response to that is: wouldn't you fail the class if you skipped all the work and just did the tests? I have never in my life taken a class that had so many reports and essays. In total I have written 7 essays for this class in one semester. 1,000 word essays on Feudalism, Open Door policy, the U.S. Senate, political parties, etc. Another thing that irritated me about this online class is that when I submitted my essay it entered it in as a zero until it was graded by the teacher. The first time I turned in an essay I freaked out because my grade dropped from an A to D. I wish it would have just marked it as N/A or something like that until it was graded.

Besides my Government class I had a six to eight page research report for English, worth 1000 points. I got it done, it wasn't too bad and I am confident I did well on it. I won't know for awhile though, seeing as she has probably one hundred of them to grade. I procrastinated more than I should have on it but in the end it got done. I can't believe the first semester of my senior year is almost over. Time flies when you're writing essays having fun!

Congratulations if you read this far, sorry for rambling/complaining about my life. I'm more than ready for Christmas break, hopefully I will have time to post more often then.

Since I actually I have some free time right now I'm going to relax, comment on some blogs and do something fun!
Peace and Love,
Serena