Subdued Spring Nail Art (I'm back!)

Wow, somebody should have warned me that the end of my senior year would be so busy. I really can't wait until this year is over! In addition to school stuff I have been working hard learning Japanese. =D  Hopefully I can get back to a regular schedule of blogging....I really miss it and I feel bad when I can't post. I also miss reading and commenting on other blogs.

Anyway, enough excuses...on the the real post.

I wanted to wear Zoya Kelly on it own this time since last time I wore it the colour was completely changed by China Glaze Lighthouse. When I first got it I thought about doing white Konad on it. This time I did. I used a flower patter on the tips of my nails. I tried to get it to stamp diagonally but I stamped it straight for the most part.

Zoya Kelly is one of my favourite nail polishes. It goes on smooth and its almost opaque in one coat. Zoya's brushes are also easy to use. I have heard that some people have problems with Zoya with quick dry topcoats but I have never had a problem with that. Wear time isn't any better or worse than most other polishes. I use Orly Ridgefiller base coat and China Glaze Fast Forward topcoat.

Its been awhile since I blogged so how is everyone? Are you as busy as I am this time of year? Any interesting new collections being released soon? Fill me in!

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

Joe Fresh Cherry Konad

No matter what shade of red I wear I always think it looks odd on me. I used to hate red nail polish and I would refuse to wear it. Now, I don't mind it so much. I didn't like it so much on its own so I stamped a circular patten to the tips of my nails using plate S06. The design even matches the polish bottle.

This is the first Joe Fresh polish I have used, and I had no problems with it. Its a jelly so it took 3 coats to cover. The brush is wide and flat so application is easy. I can't believe Thanksgiving and Christmas are going to be here soon, which also means the school semester will be over soon. I have a feeling my senior year will go by really quickly once the new year starts. I'm already seeing Christmas displays out! Personally, I think Christmas displays should wait until after Thanksgiving.

I appreciate all the interesting feedback regarding the Rush topcoat review. It just goes to show that not all products work for everybody. Speaking of feedback, does anyone have any nail art ideas? Unfortunately I've been lacking inspiration lately. I've also been busy with school stuff too. Let me know in the comments if you do!

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

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