Cosmic Blue

I recently purchased Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Cosmic Blue. Out of all the new Sally Hansen's this one looked the most interesting to me. Its a royal blue with small round holographic glitter and stringy bar shaped holographic glitter. This one looks crazy holographic in the bottle, even in shade.

That picture is just in the shade. Judging by the crazy rainbow effect in the bottle you would think (hope) that all of it showed up on the nail. Not exactly. The blue base covers most of the glitter, making it look like you have bumpy blue glitter. A few pieces of glitter show through and show a holographic effect, but not as much as I was wanting.

Capturing the glitter and holographic was difficult, but my pictures turned out accurate. My expectations are a little high though, this colour still looks neat and a several people noticed the holographic effect. It took 3 coats to get this one opaque and I didn't have any application issues. I wish more of the string glitter showed up on the nail, I only got a few pieces to stick.

What do you think of this colour, is it on your wish list?

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Matte Glitter

How is everyone's Friday? I'm writing this post from class because I won't have any time to this evening.  I also took this picture really quick at school before I went in, so its not my best but you get the idea. Since I haven't yet bought any of the China Glaze Halloween colours I decided to wear last years colour, Fortune Teller. Seeing Halloween displays at Walgreens got me in the Halloween spirit. Last year Scrangie showed this colour matte, so I wanted to try it out. Matte glitter looks really cool, I'll have to try this with other glitter polishes! 

I got a few weird looks taking pictures of my nails in front of the school. =P Next post will be Cosmic Blue, because it looks so neat in the bottle and a few of you said you wanted to see that one next. 

Does anyone know of a colour similar to the base colour of Chanel Paradoxal? I'm looking to make a  'Paradoxal but my way' layering combination. Any help is appreciated. =)

Thanks for reading!

Peace and Love,

Serena

Recent purchases and exciting news!

Well, I was going to have a post up today but I just took pictures and they came out horrible. It's very overcast outside. Today ended up being a great day because I actually won a blog giveaway! Smita from My Nailz recently hosted a giveaway and I got an email informing me that I won this afternoon. I'm super excited to get my stuff because I will get to try brands like GOSH and Joe Fresh.

Anyway, I do have some things to show you. I haven't bought any new nail polish in about a month so yesterday I went to Walgreens to see what was new. There were several new displays, mostly Halloween and fall. Also, Wet n Wild was on sale for 79 cents. I got one of the new Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears, Cosmic Blue. It is an electric blue polish with circular and string holographic glitter. Normally I don't care for glitter (I hate removing it.) but I thought this one looked cool. Since Wet n Wild's were 79 cents I picked up Sunny Side Up, a bright orange creme. The second picture is a little blurry, but it shows the holographic glitter better.

Another recent thing I got is this set of Elf polishes. My aunt visited from San Diego not too long ago and brought me this. All three are metallic colours. The first one is named Metallic Blue, the second is Metallic Magenta, and the third is Metallic Orange. (Not very creative names...) Surprisingly the orange intrigues me the most, its a very unusual looking orange. The pictures don't show how interesting these look, the magenta has a blue-purple flash to it and the other two look more interesting in real life.

 

Let me know if any of these new polishes interest you, I always have trouble deciding which to wear first.
Tomorrow I'll have a real post up!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Anchor Nail Art

There's a first time for everything I guess...I actually had to edit one of my photos for this blog. Normally my camera does a great job of capturing what the colours actually look like so all I have to do is crop my photos. I took the photos yesterday right before the sun set, so that's probably why the came out looking off. I took more just now in proper sunlight and they all came out accurate. The last picture in this post is edited, the rest are just cropped.

 I have been in the mood to do freehand nail art lately but I have been lacking ideas. All of a sudden I thought I would do a nautical anchor design. The base colour is China Glaze Frostbite, a glowing electric blue. Then I used LA Colors Art Deco to paint stripes on all my nails except the ring finger. I put a few drops of white polish on a piece of paper and used a small artist detail brush to draw the anchor.

My edited picture shows how this colour looks in shade or indoors. My other pictures are in bright sunlight. I never take pictures indoors because the lighting in my house is horrible. We have dark walls and not enough windows. I hope to do more freehand designs like this, I find them really fun and more rewarding. Duplicating this design on my right hand was not fun though!

On another note, a few days ago I checked my blog email and someone emailed me asking to check out their giveaway. She is giving away several prize packages and for each package there are different ways to enter.  I love watching beauty videos on youtube to get nail inspiration. Here is a link to her channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/LovelysInstinct . Her contest is running until October 19th so you have plenty of time to enter. While we're on the subject of youtube, one of my favourite nail art channels is LOVE4NAILS. She does step by step nail art tutorials every week and she makes everything look so easy. I get a lot of ideas and inspiration from her. If you're interested in learning how to have strong, healthy, long nails she has several videos on that.

Do you watch nail related videos on youtube?
Who do you watch?

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Hypnotize- Purple and Lime Green Konad

Hello! I don't know about you, but I'm happy its a three day weekend this week. =) Today I have a konad manicure using China Glaze Grape Pop, China Glaze Limelight, and Konad Special Polish Black. I wasn't sure what colours I wanted to paint my nails so I posted on facebook asking for recommendations. The first response I got was purple and lime green. I've seen people do one nail a different colour than the rest so I decided to try that. I chose Limelight as the accent colour and Grape Pop for the rest of my nails. Then I did a Konad design using plate S06. This design looks really funky and hypnotizing.

I've had a lot of people start noticing my nails lately. Just yesterday when I was picking up Chinese food for dinner the girl at the register asked me about them, and before long the whole wait staff wanted to see them. I have a hard time explaining Konad, or any other type of nail art stuff. Most people don't get the terms "image plate", "striper brush", "dotting tool", or "konad". I try my hardest to explain it but sometimes I feel ridiculous. Does anyone else run in to that problem? When I had my Pikachu manicure on the cash register at Hot Topic asked if I did the lines on my nails using a toothpick. (I'm terrible at using a toothpick..even when it comes to dotting!) I've been thinking about doing a post sharing my nail art/konad tips and what tools I use.. Would that be interesting to you? Let me know! =)

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Blue Diagonal Nails

Today's manicure is a simple one. I decided to try a diagonal two colour look, using blue. The first colour I used is OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui, a dusty blue. Next to other blues it leans a little blue green. Then I did a diagonal side-swipe using China Glaze Up All Night, a dark navy blue that looks almost black unless you're in bright lighting. Up All Night looks like a creme indoors as well but in the sun it is noticeably shimmery. I think I did a pretty good job doing a straight line with a regular polish brush. This is really easy to do so if you want to try something different with your nails but don't have konad or can't do freehand this would be good for you.

I have no idea why I took that picture with the Dasani water bottle. Maybe I should try to find something random that matches my nails every time I take pictures! If you wanted to you could use a nail art striper brush to do this, but I don't like painting large areas with them. I'm starting to get inspiration, I don't know what was up with me last week. Reading other blogs and watching nail art videos on youtube has helped tremendously. I have 59 followers as of right now, which is amazing to me. I know this sounds cliche but I wasn't expecting so many followers in such a short amount of time. I really enjoy blogging and reading all of your comments, so thank you! 

Peace and Love,

Serena

Argyle Konad

Hello everyone, and happy Friday! This week has been a long one for me so I'm really glad for the weekend. My boyfriend got a new apartment this week so I'll be busy this weekend helping him move. A few days ago I removed my Pikachu manicure and was unsure of what to do with my nails. Unfortunately I've been lacking inspiration lately.. Anyway, the day I wanted to redo my nails also happened to be the day of an Orchestra concert. So I grabbed a colour that I knew wouldn't be tough to apply: Misa Dying Love. (Shimmery charcoal black) I didn't have time to do much else but I did experiment layering CND Effects Amethyst Sparkle over my thumb and I liked the way it looked. When I got back I layered the CND over it and did a quick Konad design. I'm not sure about this design, it definitely isn't my best, though it is really noticeable. The design overshadows the gorgeous colour underneath, which I don't love. Not only that, I was having terrible Konad luck that night.  These pictures don't even show the gorgeous purple sparkle.. You couldn't even tell I was originally wearing a black polish after I layered the CND over it.

I'll be redoing my nails tonight, hopefully I will have better luck this time. Sorry this post sounds depressing...I really didn't intend it too! Saturday will be very busy for me so expect a new post Sunday or Monday. Do any of you have any nail art ideas? Colour combos? Inspire me! =)

Here is something completely off topic, but I thought I would share it anyway.. My kitty Misty! I always get the urge to take picture of her but as soon as I get out the camera she won't stay still. I've had her for almost 3 years now, she was a Christmas present to me from my boyfriend Chase.

I guess she's camera shy...

Thanks for reading!

Peace and Love,
Serena

Pikachu inspired manicure! =]

"I want to be, the very best..like no one ever was. To catch them was my real test, to train them is my cause.."

When I was in elementary school, I loved Pokèmon. I had the cards, the games, the movies, everything. And even though I'm a senior in high school now, I still have a soft spot for anything Pokèmon related. So today I have a Pikachu inspired manicure. I was having a bad/sick day when I painted my nails, so the application is a bit sloppy...not to mention the formula of the polish wasn't amazing either. I probably should have gone for something more simple considering how sick I felt. Anyway, the base yellow colour is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening. It was a fairly opaque polish but it was too streaky and uneven to work. Some nails have 2 coats, others have 3. I got this yellow because it was mentioned to me in the comments of my last post, it was easily available, and Walgreens had this particular colour wrapped with a free Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat. (I was really pleased with how quickly this topcoat dried, I'm trying to find another quick dry top coat because my bottle of Seche Vite is getting way too thick and stringy.)

For the zig zag lines I used L.A. Colors Art Deco in black. As you can see, my pointer finger looks really messy...which is due to the brush having a few stray hairs. Once I cut them down my lines became smoother. The red dots on the side were made using another Art Deco, in red glitter. The black lines and the red glitter dots smeared a bit with top coat, but that could be avoided if you're more cautious. I really love the concept of this manicure and surprisingly several people noticed my nails and made the connection with Pikachu. I'd really like to do this manicure again someday, only with a better yellow and when I'm not sick. I feel so weird wearing yellow polish though...I kept looking at my nails in disbelief. I've never worn yellow before! Here is one last "bonus" picture:

What do you think of this design? Have you used Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri topcoat? I'd really love to know what other quick dry topcoats people use...I've tried many that don't live up to their claims. I think I'll be doing a 'skittle' type manicure soon, one I thought of while trying out different layering combinations on paper. =)

Thanks for reading!!

Peace and Love,
Serena

Dragon Scales

School starting has been so busy..I hope to post 2-3 times a week soon though. I did a pretty interesting konad manicure a few days ago but I waited until yesterday evening to take pictures so there is some wear showing in the pictures. I have no idea how I came up with this idea but I knew what colours I wanted to use so I went for it. Looking at it today I thought it looked like dragon scales so that's where the title comes from. The base colour I used is Misa Toxic Seduction, a gorgeous dark emerald green that doesn't look black in dim lighting or indoors. It looks pretty indoors but amazing in sunlight. I used an odd scale-y geometric pattern on the tips only using China Glaze Millennium. I can't remember what plate this is but when I get home I'll update this post.

The picture with the Misa bottle is a bit washed out, it was taken in direct sunlight. I absolutely love this colour, it's one of my favourite green polishes. (and I own lots of green polish!) It applies perfectly, just like all the others Misa's I own. It took two coats to become opaque.

Months ago I ordered from Fyrinnae and as soon as I tried the products I thought I should post a review and swatches of what I got. Well, its been almost a month and I still haven't done that. So sometime within the next week expect to see that. It will be kind of weird for me to write something non nail related but I felt these products were worth talking about. Here is a teaser:

Isn't it gorgeous? I love blue green colours! =) This colour looks much better in real life, I hope I am able to capture them well in my review.

One last thing: I need recommendations for a good yellow polish. One that applies well and goes on opaque. I would prefer it to be a mostly creme finish, but its okay if it has some very subtle shimmer. Here is a link to the colour I'm looking for: http://www.kijo.no/wp-content/uploads/pikachu-1zcp1gl.jpg
(Yes I know it's Pikachu, but that was the only thing I could think of that matches what kind yellow I want.)
One catch though, it must be able to be found at Sally's, Walgreens, Wal Mart, or Claires. Those are the only places around where I live that I can get polish. I have a nail art design I want to do and I need a yellow polish for it. (I do not have a yellow nail polish, warm colours are sparse in my collection..) This design in particular has been in my head since before I even started this blog so I am anxious to get it done. It was one of my first ideas and it doesn't involve the use of Konad. =)

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Scherer Chameleon Blue Sky Duochrome

Today was my first day of school and things went pretty well. I can't believe it's my senior year! I had to cut my nails shorter since I'm in the school orchestra and its impossible to play the violin well with long nails. I was a bit sad at first but I think they still look good. I know this sounds weird but I keep them a little longer on my right hand because I can grip the violin bow better that way. But my left hand has to be short so I can press down on the strings and use vibrato. Anyway, I painted my nails with a polish I bought at Rite Aid before I even started this blog. It's by a brand called Scherer and they call their polishes 'Chameleon'. They all have a pretty strong duochrome, colour changing effect, almost similar to mood rings. This one is called Scherer Chameleon Blue Sky. The name doesn't really fit because blue isn't really the dominant colour in this and it shows up more in the bottle than on the nail.

The application on this polish was horrible...it dried so quickly that it was difficult to apply cleanly and it streaked. I got it to look decent once I figured out how to work the formula. I also encountered bubbling and major brush strokes. The brush didn't fan out very well either, which also contributed to the brush strokes. Despite all the issues I still think its pretty and an interesting polish. It is also fairly cheap so if you really like colours like this and can deal with the formula this is a fun polish to wear. From far away you don't notice the imperfections so much. The colour changing effect is just as noticeable indoors as it is outdoors. I found these at Rite Aid and I believe they were 2 or 3 dollars. I have a few more of these I might try out...I hope the formula on the others is a bit easier to work with but I'm not expecting much. 

The last two pictures I'm holding my crab apple tree that is in my front yard. I heard from one of my neighbors (who has lived in my neighborhood for a long time) that this tree has been there as long as she could remember. I've never eaten one of the crab apples but one of my friends did a while ago and told me they were sour. This tree blooms bright pink during spring, the petals almost resemble cherry blossoms. 

What do you think of this Chameleon polish? Have you seen or tried these? 

Peace and Love,

Serena