Spring Green

Wow, I didn't really plan to take such a long break from blogging. At first I stopped posting due to being busy with finals and high school graduation. Once you get out of the habit of doing something it can be hard to get back in.

Before I start rambling too much I'll start with what's on my nails at the moment! (Since that is the purpose of this blog after all..)

Click on the pictures to see them in more detail. I started this manicure off with Sally Hansen Green With Envy, a pretty lime creme. It covered in almost one coat and was pretty easy to apply. I layered OPI Simply Smashing over it, a yellow green tennis ball colour. It was part of the first Serena Williams set.

I like the way this layering combination looks in the shade better than in the sunlight. Taking pictures in the shade was also more comfortable since its about 100 degrees here!

A lot has happened since I last posted so I wanted to give an update on that. I graduated high school in May, went on vacation to California after that and had my 18th birthday June 17th. I recently enrolled in a college in my hometown. I have no idea what I want to do after college; I'm going for an English major.

Other than going on vacation with my family, this summer I've been spending time with my boyfriend and learning Japanese. I've always wanted to learn a second language and Japanese is one I've always loved. I like the way it sounds and the way the written language looks. I think I've made pretty good progress with my learning, especially with all the time I've had this summer.

Peace and Love,
Serena

Iridescent Shatter

こんにちは!

 I got OPI Black Shatter a few weeks ago and I was thinking of something fun to do with it. The week before last I tried shatter over one of the OPI Texas "sorbets" and I didn't really like the way it looked. I wanted something really cool to put under it and I finally thought of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure. I put China Glaze Four Leaf Clover on first, then put Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure over it. Hidden Treasure is one of my favourite polishes because it transforms any colour. I especially like it over green and purple. Lastly, I put OPI Black Shatter on top of it all.

As always, you can click on the pictures to make them bigger! (I also think they look better in full size.)

Unfortunately, Hidden Treasure isn't available anymore but Nubar 2010 is pretty  much an exact match. I love how the yellow and green shows through the shatter effect.  I still haven't checked out the China Glaze Crackle polishes yet but I like the look of the white, grey and purple one. It seems like crackle polishes are the big thing lately. I really like the look of it but I have a feeling its going to be way overdone.

Do you have Black Shatter? (Or any other crackle polishes)
How do you feel about the crackle trend?

Peace and Love,
Serena

First Manicure of the New Year - OPI The Show Must Go On

Happy (late) New Year! How has it been so far? Mine has been pretty good. I got a set a Burlesque minis for Christmas and the one that appealed to me the most was 'The Show Must Go On'. Its a pretty red-ish pink that shifts orange in certain ligthing. It looks gorgeous and unfortunately I wasn't able to capture how cool it really is. That's partially because I waited too long and partially because colours like this can be tricky to photograph.

I took the picture with China Glaze Peppermint Cuticle Oil since its hard to take pictures with the mini bottles. I recommend checking your Sally's clearance section; I found tons of discounted polishes at mine, especially ones from holiday collections. I also picked up this cuticle oil since they had a whole container full of them for .99 cents each. I actually really like it and the peppermint smell is nice.

On an entirely different subject...I have some cute pictures to show you! When I asked my boyfriend Chase what he wanted for Christmas the only thing he said he wanted was a kitten. So I got him one. He is so cute but don't let that fool you...he's a troublemaker as well! It was nearly impossible to take pictures of him. Most of them came out blurry. He even tried to attack the camera.

His name is Riku and he was about 8 weeks old when we got him. He's so small he gets in to everything but he is so adorable you can't be mad at him.
Once again, Happy New Years! Have you made any New Year's resolutions?
Peace and Love,
Serena

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

Autumn Leaves

The first time I ever did this layering combination was last summer, in May. I thought it looked perfect for fall and I recently remembered it. I love Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, it transforms any colour and looks different depending on the base. Unfortunately, Hidden Treasure is discontinued, but you can buy GOSH Rainbow or Nubar 2010 to create the same look. Nfu-Oh might have a similar colour as well but I'm not sure. The base colour in this one is OPI Jade Is The New Black, one of my all time favourite greens.

This combination actually looks best in the shade, which is why the effect isn't as obvious in the last picture.

On an unrelated note, I've been thinking about creating a facebook profile or page specifically for this blog. I thought it would be cool to get to talk to you more often, get your feedback on things, etc. I would like some opinions on this though.. Should I make a facebook profile or a facebook page? There are pros and cons to both but I'm leaning more towards the actual profile. I feel it would be more interactive that way. On the other hand, if I made a page I wouldn't have to log in to another profile all the time. I could still be logged on to my personal facebook page, all I would have to do is visit the page when I want to post something. Either way, let me know which one you think I should do!

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

It's a Mermaid? It's a Butterfly?? It's a Comet???

Hello! The base colour for today's manicure is OPI Catch Me In Your Net. As most of you probably know there are two known dupes for this colour: Zoya Charla and Orly Halley's Comet. When I first saw Zoya Charla I thought it was a really beautiful, unique polish so it surprises me that two dupes have shown up for it. All You Desire has a great comparison of all three of these polishes so check that out  here. Before I show the manicure I want to explain the title. Zoya Charla instantly reminded me of a mermaid when I first saw swatches of it. Then when the OPI Summer Flutter collection came out, OPI compared it to a butterfly. Now with the Orly Comic FX Collection it's a comet! Since these colours are really close dupes the Orly seems to be the cheapest option if you purchase it on Transdesign. Catch Me In Your Net took 3 coats to become opaque and it is really beautiful, in shade and in sunlight. Of course I can't leave any polish untouched, so I applied a konad design to it. I was afraid the konad might overshadow the pretty base but I really like this design.

I used Konad plate S06 and Konad White Special Polish. I'm getting better at centering the designs but I need to get better at stamping my pinkie nail. I'm going to Kansas City this weekend so I won't be back until Monday. Also, school is starting for me soon (I'll be a senior in high school) so bare with me because for the next week or so I will be busier than usual. Soon I will get adjusted in to my school schedule and I hope to start posting more often. I really enjoy blogging and hearing all of your comments. Thanks to all of you who are following me, I appreciate it!

What do you all think of all the Zoya Charla dupes out there? Which one do you have/want?
Peace and Love,
Serena

Polish that changes in the sun?

I decided to try out the Del Sol nail polish I purchased a while back. (I got this one at the Del Sol store in Virginia Beach.) I'm not new to Del Sol's nail polishes, a few years ago my mom brought some back for me from San Diego. The one I purchased is a warm hot pink with a bit of gold shimmer in it. In the sun, it turns to a warm purple with gold shimmer. The name of this particular one is Girl's Night Out. I have been thinking of various layering combinations lately and I decided I wanted to try OPI Stars in My Eyes over this one. I didn't even think about if it would change the way the colour looked in the sun, but for the most part it didn't. Here is what the polish looks like indoors: (Excuse the bad indoor picture, I'm not so good at taking pictures indoors..)

And outdoors, it looks like this:

You can get Del Sol nail polishes on there website here: http://www.delsol.com/store/Accessories___Nail_Polish?Args=&page_number=1  If you live close to a Del Sol store I recommend buying it there so you can see the colours in person. (And its cheaper to buy them in store.) They are 8 dollars in store and 10 dollars plus shipping online. These polishes are really fun but the formula is thick and they take longer to dry than most polishes. I have two more of these so if you're interested in seeing more let me know.
Layering the OPI over the konad was probably a bad idea because it smeared the design, but I still like it. I really want to do more layering so I will have another layering experiment up soon.

Peace and Love,
Serena

OPI What's With The Cattitude? + Konad M73

Konad take two! This is my second attempt at doing some Konad designs on my nails and I am really pleased with how I did. This is only my second attempt at Konad and I decided to try a full nail design. First I painted my nails with OPI What's With The Cattitude?, a pastel-ish sky blue. In my photos it appears much brighter for some reason. I find that odd because these pictures were taken outdoors in stormy weather. The indoor picture is more colour accurate but still slightly off. Anyway, then I used Konad White Special nail polish and stamped a flowery design with plate M73.

Like I said earlier I am really happy with how this turned out. I didn't expect my second attempt to turn out this well. Its not perfect by any means but I still like it! The Konad design effectively masked the horrible application of this polish. I don't think its OPI's formula that is at fault, I think it is the brushes on the OPI minis. I've never had good luck applying with them. When my nails dry they do look slightly better though.

 Do any of you have any nail polish storage tips? I have about 70 or so nail polishes and my current storage is not working. A few bottles of nail polish are just lying around because I don't have a place for them. Right now the majority of my polishes are in an old Sephora box that was lying around the house. Back when I had about 20 or so polishes I thought it would work great. Currently I think it is holding 65 nail polishes, which is way more than I thought I could squeeze in there! If you have any storage suggestions I would really appreciate them.

Peace and Love,
Serena