Japanese Nail Art ~ Pray for Japan!

I'm sure by now most of you know about the tragedy in Japan that happened March 11th. I've been following the whole thing closely since it happened and its really upsetting to me. I wanted to do some Japanese nail art as a tribute. I got a new white polish since the one I had before was streaky and thick. I bought Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On and it isn't any better. I really need to invest in a good white polish! I used LA Colors Art Deco striper to paint the kanji and Joe Fresh Cherry for the red. The two kanji together mean "Japan" in Japanese. The kanji is prounounced "Nihon".

This whole disaster feels somewhat close to me since I've been involved in Japanese culture all my life. I've mentioned a few times that I'm learning Japanese. Its been going well and I've been making Japanese friends online. I also follow American bloggers living in Japan. When I heard about the earthquake and tsunami I was immediately concerned for all my friends and bloggers/youtubers I follow. Thankfully, they are all safe but things are rough over there.

There is a lot of information out there, some is accurate and some is not. If  you're looking for reliable sources there are links at the end of this post that are helpful. Especially the first link.

http://www.tofugu.com/2011/03/11/the-biggest-earthquake-ever-recorded-japan/ - At the end of this post there are some really good sources of accurate information.

I've heard that the news here is somewhat exaggerated, especially concerning the Fukushima nuclear situation.

If you can please donate to Japan...any amount helps. I don't really have any money to donate but I'm going to see about doing some fundraising at my school. This seems to be the best way to donate:

http://www.google.com/crisisresponse/japanquake2011.html

Peace and Love,
Serena

Spring Stripes

The weather here in Oklahoma has gone from blizzards to 70 degree, spring-like weather. All in one week. The weather is so unpredictable here. I really hope it stays this way for awhile but who knows what the weather will be like next week! This warmer weather has inspired me to wear spring green on my nails.

I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Green With Envy as the base and L.A.Colors Art Deco stripers in purple and green. I've never seen Green With Envy before so I think its new for spring. I've always like Xtreme Wear polish. (I don't like how they spell 'extreme' though..) This one applied nicely in two coats.

Chase said this reminded him of candy. =)

I probably should have waited longer before applying topcoat...the purple stripes smeared a little bit. For Valentine's Day Chase got me something I've needed for a long time....a place to store my nail polish! For some reason I've never been fond of the nail racks you hang on the wall. I wanted something that would give me lots of space (room to grow!) and would be easy to move. Basically its a 3 drawer shelf and it has wheels on the bottom. I'll post pictures of it later, I'm typing this at school right now and I didn't take pictures of it yet. Before this all my polish was in an old Sephora box that was falling apart. The rest that couldn't fit in the Sephora box was scattered about my room and computer desk. =P

Who's ready for spring?
What do you use to store your polish?
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

Nail Fraud Review

About a week ago Nail Fraud posted on their facebook page that they were giving out one free kit to anyone who sent them an email with their name and address. I had seen Nail Fraud on a blog once and wanted to try them out, so I sent in my information. Yesterday I got them in the mail and decided to use them today. I was sent 1 kit which includes 20 nail 'stickers' and an emery board. The instructions say to clean your nails using acetone or polish remover (regardless of whether or not you have polish on) and fit the stickers on your nails. The set comes with different sizes and for the most part I didn't have trouble fitting them onto my nails. It was a bit difficult to line them up straight and get them on your nails smoothly. I did have a few bumps. These decals are stretchy though so you can pull them to conform to your nails. Pulling them can also help take out creases. Here is how mine turned out:

These reminded me a lot of Incoco nail appliques, except these come in fun patterns. I wanted to like these but there are many things that prevent these from becoming an A+ product for me. The sticker started to come up less than an hour in to wearing these, so I put top coat over them and so far they have stayed. (I've been wearing them for about 3 hours now.) Also, they are a bit difficult to apply and not all your nails will come out perfect. I'm not sure if you can see the imperfections in my nails in the picture. (click to enlarge the images) The packaging says they're fast to apply but this product isn't really any quicker than painting your nails. I will probably keep these on until I get bored with them or they start coming off. Without topcoat, these don't last at all. One thing that bothers me about the website is that the leopard pattern on there doesn't match the one I have, which makes me wonder how accurate their product pictures are.

Pros: Fun patterns, relatively easy to apply once you get the hang of it, comes with more than needed in case you mess up.
Cons: Only available on their website, $12 for one application, inaccurate pictures,  requires topcoat to last for more than an hour.

I'm not really sure if I recommend these or not. They are pricey and I wasn't impressed with the wear (before I applied topcoat) but they are kind of fun and the designs are cute. I'm curious how they compare to Incoco so I might test those out as well. The only reason I haven't yet is because their colour selection (in my local Walgreens) is really unimpressive. I will have a final verdict on the wear of these at the beginning of my next post.

I have been so busy lately with finals, research papers, the holidays, etc. I haven't been able to post two times a week as usual and I haven't been commenting on other blogs either. I will probably only post once a week until Winter Break starts. (December 17th) I can't wait to be off school again...these essays are killing me! >.<

Have you tried Nail Fraud or Incoco? What did you think of them? Do you think they're worth the money? Let me know what you think.

Peace and Love,
Serena

Plum Plaid Nail Art

I love plaid patterns. I can't believe its taken me this long to do plaid on my nails. I used Essence Plum Perfect as a base and used LA Colors Art Deco polishes for the stripes. The sun is setting even earlier now...I did this design immediately when I got home and rushed to take pictures. Unfortunately, I forgot to charge my camera so I almost missed daylight. I charged it enough to where I could take some picture though.

I'm really happy with the way this turned out. There are only 5 lines on each nail: a silver one slightly off centered, a white one on one side, a black one on the other side, and two stripes across the whole nail.

I'm working on a post soon about nail art and the tools I use. I'll probably keep this design on for awhile. Sorry about the lack of posts lately, school and life in general has gotten busier. I can't wait for Thanksgiving Break! I reached 100 followers not too long ago and I just want to say thanks to all of you. When I first started I wasn't sure if anyone would read my blog.

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Breast Cancer Awareness- Pink Ribbon Nail Art

I meant to post this a few days ago but I've been really busy lately. I had a huge essay on medieval times due. Anyway, I wanted to do a Breast Cancer Awareness manicure before October is over. I really liked this manicure, it is simple but people still realized what it stood for. I used Elf Metallic Pink for the base colour and L.A. Colors Art Deco Baby Pink for the dots. There are a variety of things you can use as a dotting tool, but I used a pencil for this manicure. Elf Metallic Pink was perfect in two coats and is a bright pink with a slight blue flash. It didn't have any brushstrokes and application was smooth.

This picture was taken after about 4-5 days of wear and this polish really held up well. I wore it without topcoat for 2 days and I didn't get any chips or tip wear. By day five I did get tip wear but it wasn't horrible. Pretty impressive for a polish that is only one dollar!

Here are a few facts about breast cancer:

• Ninety-six percent of women who find and treat breast cancer early will be cancer-free after five years. 
• You are never too young to develop breast cancer! Breast Self-Exam should begin by the age of twenty. 

• Approximately 1400 cases of breast cancer will be diagnosed in men in 2000 and 400 of those men will die.

I was surprised by the last fact. Most people don't think about men getting breast cancer!

Thanks for reading!
Peace and Love,
Serena

Weird Ghost

I've been loving the fall weather lately, but I don't like how early the sun starts setting! I rely on outdoor pictures so I guess I'm going to have to alter the way I take pictures for this blog. I might start taking pictures on my lunch hour before I go to tech school. Either way, I'll figure it out. Anyway, a few days ago I did a black and white ghost design. First I used GOSH Black Passion on all my nails, except the ring finger.  I painted the ring finger white using Pure Ice Superstar. Using a pencil, I made a dotted x on my pointer, middle, pinky finger, and thumb. Using LA Colors Art Deco Black and a craft store brush, I painted the eyes and mouth of the ghost on the ring finger.

GOSH Black Passion is a soft charcoal black with fine silver shimmer. It looks extremely similar to Misa Dying Love, but not exactly alike. It applied almost perfectly in one coat, I used two out of habit. Pure Ice Superstar is the white I used...and I hate it. Its chalky, streaky, thick, and takes 4 coats to smooth out! I don't recommend it. I bought it because I needed a white polish quickly for some nail art awhile back. This is the first time I have used it on its own though. Normally I just use it for nail art. It works fine for that! 

I've got a few different kinds of posts coming up soon. One of my ideas was to do a post about nail art. I'll cover tools, where to buy them, a few tips, and sources for inspiration. (Like tutorials, blogs, etc.) The  second thing I will be posting soon is a quick dry topcoat review. I am thinking about doing several quick dry topcoat reviews because I want to try several different ones and find the perfect one for me. I want one that dries quickly, isn't too thick, won't smear nail art, and doesn't get unbearably thick halfway through. Seche Vite works great, but I need to thin it out half way through the bottle. Seche Vite is also kind of expensive, considering I use a lot of topcoat. The one I am going to review is one I have almost used all the way up. I won't do a review of anything unless I've either used half of the product or I've been using it for at least a few weeks. I just bought a new topcoat to try out so in about a month we'll see how I feel about this one. I won't say what it is until I review it.. 

Thanks for reading! =)

Peace and Love,

Serena

A nail art tribute to my kitties!

I appreciate all the support and comments I received in my last post! I've been doing well, much better than I thought I would. I read over my last post and realized it had some verb tense issues. I originally wrote that post before she passed, on Friday. I planned to post it before we had her put to sleep but couldn't find the pictures. (Turns out I was looking on the wrong flash drive!) Then I put the pictures in the post I had written but didn't fix the verb tenses. Just wanted to clear that up, I didn't really proofread that post at all.

 Friday night I was really upset and I wanted to take my mind off things so I did this manicure with paw prints. The base is Misa Cherry Topping and the paw print was done using a thin artist brush dipped in black polish. Cherry Topping has a jelly finish but is opaque in 3 coats.

I thought it would be appropriate to take pictures of my nails with Misty but cats aren't always cooperative in front of a camera. I did manage to get one decent shot though.

Maybe she likes to be viewed from the side? =P And here is a mess up one, just for fun. My nails are out of focus...

Once again, thanks for all the sweet comments. =)
Thanks for reading!
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

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

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

Polka Dot Nail Art using Nubar Nail Art Pen

Hello! I meant to post this Saturday but I actually had a somewhat busy weekend. I wanted to do something simple so I used the Nubar Nail Art pen to do a polka dot manicure. I really like these nail art pens, they have a pen tip for dotting and fine details, and a thin brush for lines. I have two of these nail art pens, one is navy blue and the other is blue-green. Here are pictures of one of my nail art pens: (I took a picture of the blue green one because it's easier to see the label on it.)

 You can get these on Nubar's website here: http://www.bynubar.com/store/index.php?p=home . They are $7 each. On the bottom under the label there is a small needle you can use if your pen tip gets clogged up. I have seen similar nail art pens at Claire's for five dollars but I don't have any to compare.

Anyway, now onto the manicure! The base colour I used is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Pacific Blue. It was very opaque and almost perfect in one coat, I did two. Then I used my Nubar Nail Art pen to paint the dots. The pen tip is perfect for dotting but make sure your base colour is completely dry. Also, wait a good 20 or so minutes before putting on topcoat because you could smear your design.

I have been wearing this for 3 days when I took this so excuse the bit of wear. Have you tried Nubar's Nail Art Pens, or Claire's?
Peace and Love,
Serena