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

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

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

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

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

Topcoat Review: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Topcoat

Recently I have been using Sally Hansen Insta Dri top coat. Ever since my Seche Vite began to thicken and bubble I decided to start trying different less hyped topcoats. I went to Walgreens specifically to purchase a yellow polish and saw a display of Insta Dri colours. Each colour was packaged with a free Insta Dri topcoat so I picked the package that contained Lightening. I wasn't sure this topcoat would be as quick drying as Seche Vite, but I was pleasantly surprised. It dried just as fast and had a similar shiny, glass like finish. This topcoat isn't as good for nail art and konad; the big brush makes it easier to smear nail art no matter how hard you try to prevent it.

The biggest downside to this topcoat is it gets thick, stringy, and bubbles. I started noticing this when the topcoat got down to where the word "Dri" is on the bottle. Karen (Frazzle and Aniploish) told me that nail polish thinner can remedy this issue. I'll probably be purchasing some for not only my topcoats but a few bottles of polish I own that could use thinning. All things considered, this topcoat is pretty good. I bought this at Walgreens and it costs around 3-4 dollars.Walgreens has sales on these periodically so sometimes they can be found for cheaper. Walmart and other drugstores also sell this line. This topcoat works perfectly to use before nail art. I usually put a layer of topcoat on before doing nail art/konad to make sure the base colour is completely dry.

Pros: Dries quickly, inexpensive, can be found at Walmart and drugstores, gives a smooth, glassy finish.
Cons: Smears nail art and konad, thickens up towards the bottom of the bottle.

This would be a great topcoat for someone who didn't do nail art frequently, or for use before nail art. I wasn't expecting much out of this and was surprised at how well it worked. It also didn't thicken up as quickly as Seche Vite so you can get lots of use out of it before you need to add thinner. I have already picked out a new topcoat which I will review once I have used it for awhile. Before I review anything I will always use it for three weeks or use half the bottle, whichever comes first. I've already been using it for a week but its too soon to say anything yet.

If you have any ideas of a topcoat I could try out to review let me know! (Especially if you know or have heard that it is good for nail art.)

Have you tried this topcoat? What do you think of it?
Peace and Love,
Serena

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

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