The Birth of The Coffin Nails

The end of August was the birth of my coffin nails. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, they only lasted about two months, but they were fun while I had them. But it just reached a point where I missed my claws, so I pulled out my trusty nail file and filed 'em back to an almond/stiletto shape. That being said, I definitely documented them while they were coffin shaped, especially at the end of August, since I had done some rad henna on myself.

I'm rocking Sure Thing from Revlon in these pictures, with brown henna. Friendly reminder not to use black henna, as that stuff can seriously hurt you.

And a tired faced me showing off my henna and coffin nails as I prepare to move out for school.

So what do you guys think? Coffin nails or almond nails? Let me know!

It's Been Awhile...

So... It's almost been a year... And I could make a million excuses as to why I haven't posted in forever, but really, it just comes down to laziness. And also busy-ness. I went off to college, met new people, had fun, did (lots) of schoolwork, went to concerts, and went to Disney (by myself) on a whim. Very busy. That being said, there has been no shortage of nail art in the time since I last posted, but it's all been posted over on my Instagram rather than here. I want to change that. Time to get back to bloggin'.
I figure to start things off, I'll post one of my most recent designs, and kind of work my way back. Not sure how many of you are reading this, or any of you at all, but here we go.

So I went to a concert last week (I know, big shocker). The band I saw is one I've seen several times, an epic Canadian punk rock group called PUP. Small doggy dog. Now PUP just happened to have released their new album, The Dream Is Over, and in true Nail Guru fashion, I had to paint it.

Here's a close up. It took about 5 hours to paint this. I have no idea how many top coats are on this baby. What I can tell you is that I started with a base of Sure Thing from Revlon, used a ton of acrylic craft paint, and created the fire by using rubbing alcohol compound and Sharpies. More on this in a future post. This was followed by the above mentioned unknown amount of my new fave top coat, the gel nail polish in 01 absolute pure from essence. I've got like 4 bottles of the stuff right now... and it only costs about $3.00. 

And here's a super embarrassing photo of me and this poster both wearing The Dream Is Over... Soooo embarrassing, one of us is going to have to change. 

There you have it: The Dream Is Over by PUP on my nail. It was the best concert I've ever been to... and I've been to a lot... 

See you guys soon with more nails!

Smile!

We all need to remember to smile a little more sometimes, and that's exactly what my current manicure is all about. I decided to find a bunch of famous smiley faces and paint them all over my nails.

So this was supposed to be a full, 10 nail manicure, but the yellow nail polish I bought (Lightening from Sally Hansen) which was on most of my nails chipped off. Like chipped off after one day to the point I didn't even want to try fixing it. Anyways, here are the 3 nails that survived. They just so happen to be my favourite anyways.

My ring finger is the Nirvana logo (which comes as a good time as it was just the 20th anniversary of Kurt Cobain's death. The base is Black Satin from Rimmel, and the logo is yellow acrylic. On my middle finger, I painted the Red John smiley face from the show The Mentalist. The base is White On, and I painted the smiley face with watered down red acrylic. My pointer finger is the Blink-182 logo, and the base is also White On. Then I added a stroke of Plum Seduction from Revlon and Club Prive from L'Oréal, and painted the logo with black acrylic. My thumb said smile, but you couldn't tell if I showed you, because it chipped off after a day.

Hope you guys enjoy! And remember: Smile. Your enemies hate it.

#LLreinvention

I decided to join the Lacquer Legion's monthly challenge, and this month's theme was Reinvention. It took me a while to come up with an idea for this. After all, reinvention can be interpreted in many ways. After much thinking, I finally settled on this: Mermaid scale nails. So how exactly is this reinvention? Well, for 2014, I am reinventing myself as a mermaid. Okay, not actually possible, but still, it'd be cool if I could be a mermaid. I really love the beach and swimming. Unfortunately though, I have to come up for air quite often. And now for the nails.

I am warning you now. This post is filled with MANY photos. I've never really done a holo manicure, so photographing it turned into a fun challenge. Also, some of these photos were included only because the sun shining makes me think of summer. :p On my pinkie and pointer finger, I used two coats of Frostbite from China Glaze, then one coat of Deviantly Daring from China Glaze. On my middle finger and thumb I did a gradient of both colours, and my ring finger is painted with Frostbite. I topped all my nails off with Luxe and Lush from China Glaze, then drew on the scales with my calligraphy pen and India ink.

The next several photos were taken underwater to bring out the different colours in the polishes.

Of course I had to bring out some shells and coral for the mermaid scale nails.

These have to be my favourite photos, just because of the sun shining. They make me think of summer and being at the beach. 

I hope you guys enjoy! And hopefully, the summer sun will be here soon!

Lest We Forget...

Today, November 11th, is Remembrance Day; a day to remember all of those who have and are serving in a war. In honour of today, I painted something that truly represents remembering.

A simple poppy. The base is White On from Sally Hansen, and the poppy is all acrylic. At some point today, try to take a moment to remember all of those who have served. 

Lest We Forget

Flick Off! (the lights that is...)

I'm serious guys. Flick off those lights, save some energy and celebrate Earth Day! Here's my mani (on a Monday, since I hope to have a new post for you guys every Monday now), to celebrate Earth Day!

The ring finger is a base of Frostbite from China Glaze. Then I painted the heart shape with black acrylic, followed by the pieces of land on the Earth with green acrylic. For the other nails, I used a base of Black Satin from Rimmel. I then layered on white acrylic, Love Nails from Sinful Colors, and Tomorrow Never Dies from OPI to achieve the galaxy effect. I finished off with the some stars, and there you go, my Earth Day, galaxy manicure.

Enjoy!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 3, Yellow

It took me a while to come up with something yellow for my day 3 design. And then it hit me. Why not use something from one of my favourite songs, which happens to have yellow in the title? So, I painted the yellow submarine from the Beatles song, Yellow Submarine. The yellow polish is Art Nouv-Yellow from Finger paints. It's a pretty shimmery yellow, but it's really sheer. It took two coats of White On from Sally Hansen with four coats of Art Nouv-Yellow to get good coverage. The submarine is painted with acrylics.

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31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 2, Orange

For day 2, I decided to paint orange slices at the tips of my nails. The orange is Sun Kissed from Sally Hansen and the white is acrylic.

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31 Day Nail Art Challenge --- Day 1, Red

I've decided to start a nail art challenge. However, it won't be exactly 31 days. It'll take more days most likely, since school is starting up soon. But, I will eventually complete all the challenges, even if I'm breaking the rules. :p

Anyways, here's day 1.

 So, I know technically, it's a nail art challenge. But it's been a busy weekend, so I went for the easy route by just painting a single colour.

The red is Gypsy Queen by Misa. It's a yellow under-toned red, while I normally prefer blue under-toned reds, but this one is really nice. The formula is awesome and goes on perfectly. I used two coats of Gypsy Queen, but it would have been fine after one. 

Stay tuned for day 2!

Starfish on the Beach

My latest nail design: starfish on the beach!

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The blue (Sinful Colors's Love Nails) is the water, along with some clear glitter. Then the "sand" is Essence Sweet as Candy and the starfish are with a Migi nail pen.

Nail Tips and Tricks

Gorgeous nails are easy to come by if you follow the right rules. Here are my top tips and tricks for beautiful, healthy nails.

1. Moisturize
Moisturizing your cuticles is key to having strong nails. Aim for applying cuticle oil or creme nightly. I like Burt's Bees Cuticle Creme and Sally Hansen Vitamin E Nail & Cuticle Oil.

2. Push Back the Cuticle

After soaking your fingers in water for about 5 to 10 minutes, *gently* push back your cuticles. Do not clip the cuticles, as this can cause infection and trauma to the nail bed.

3. File, Don't Cut

Filing nails is much better, as clipping can cause tiny breaks and trauma to the nail bed. Aim for filing your nails once a week. I like Revlon's files. They come in lots of different colours, designs, and grit sizes.

4. Buffing

Buffing your nails helps to create a smooth surface for painting. It also allows for smooth looking nails without polish. Buff *gently* every one to two weeks. Do not overbuff. I like the Mambo 3 Way Buffer, which has different grit sizes.

5. Fix It

If you have a crack in your nail that cannot be filed or buffed away, carefully apply some nail glue on it. This will stop it from catching on clothing, etc. Gently buff the area, and your nail is good to go. I like Nailene Brush On Glue.

Minnie and Mickey Mouse

Here's a tutorial for you on Mickey and Minnie Mouse nails.

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1. You need assorted nail polish, a dotter (dotting tool, toothpicks, pins, pencils, etc.), tape or hole punch reinforcements and scissors.

2. Prep your nails. Apply a base of black (Black Satin from Rimmel London) for Mickey and white (Whirlwind White from Sally Hansen Insta-Dri) for Minnie.

3. When fully dry, apply tape or reinforcements to create a half moon mani. Apply red (Wocka Wocka from OPI).

4. Using a dotting tool, apply two yellow (Migi nail pens) dots for Mickey's buttons. Apply white dots for Minnie's polka dot dress. Add bows for Minnie.

Nail Stickers: Go Wild!

I love making my own nail stickers, but I don't do it much. They're easy to make, and look really good. My latest were some zebra print ones. And I made a tutorial to go with them.

1. You need a plastic baggy, assorted nail polish, an exacto knife or scissors.

2. Apply nail polish to a plastic bag. I used Black Satin (Rimmel London), Ogre-the-Top Blue (OPI), I layered Gold Coin (Revlon) and Amazon's Flash (Loreal Paris) and a black striper (It's So Easy Stripe Right) for the stripes.

3. Next, after allowing your stickers to dry, either peel them off and cut them with scissors or use an exacto knife to cut out the shapes.

4. Go wild! Apply them to your nail however you want! The silver is silver acrylic craft paint. 

Migi Nails and Happy [Belated] Easter!

So, I know Easter is long gone, but that doesn't mean I can't post my Easter nails/cakes/eggs etc. now.

To begin, Migi Nail Art on Facebook had a nail contest. You had to decorate an egg and your nails with Migi Nail art pens (if you haven't seen them, go to http://www.miginailart.com/). Here are my designs.

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I also made an Easter cake.

This is from this year, and the flowers are hand made. I wasn't as happy with it as I would have hoped, but no big deal. It's vanilla cake with a lemon buttercream.

This is last year's cake. I hand made the flowers then too. It's a pumpkin chocolate chip cake (it might sound weird, but it's delicious and one of the few cakes I'll eat!) with cream cheese buttercream.

And finally, happy belated Easter!

Cherry Blossoms

1. Prep your nails. Then paint on at least two coats of a base colour (I used Revlon Pink Lingerie).

2. Next, paint on the tree branches. ** I sponged on and faded out some white on top of the pink. This is optional. You don't have to do this.

3. Paint in the blossoms in a darker pink colour.

4. Finally, shade and highlight the blossoms and add in the centers with black. Clear coat.

May the Odds Be Ever in Your Favour...

I figured that with a Hunger Games collection colour on my nails, I had to "dress it up" Hunger Games style. So I decided to start by painting the capitol seal on my pinkie. On my ring finger of course, is the famous Mockingjay pin. The middle finger shows the designs from the Hunger Games book covers and the pointer finger is the district 12 seal with a flower. The designs were done using acrylic paints.

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flash

sunlight

Nail Art Tutorial: Rainbow Stripes/Triangles

This has to be the easiest nail art ever. It requires absolutely no skill, so those of you who say you'll never be able to do nail art, here you go.

Row One (left to right): Pink Lingerie (Revlon Top Speed), Presto Pink (Sally Hansen Insta-Dri), Hot Pink Migi Nail Art Pen (neon set). Row Two: Magenta Migi Nail Art Pen (neon set), Midnight Plum (Avon), Deep Purple Migi Nail Art Pen (neon set), Secret Peri-Wink-Le (China Glaze), Ogre the Top Blue (OPI), Blue Away (Sally Hansen Insta Dri). Row Three: Chillax (Sally Girl).

Start by taking a small plastic bag (sandwich or freezer bag) and painting nail polish on to it. Let this dry for a couple of minutes and apply another coat (keep adding coats until the polish is opaque). Do this first so that it will have time to dry. I recommend about an hour drying time on this.

While the polish is drying on the bag, prep your nails. Start with a good base coat (I like China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat), then follow with at least two coats of your base colour (I used the famous, "For Audrey" from China Glaze).

Once your polish on the bag is dry enough to peel off, either gently cut (with an exacto-knife) triangle shapes into the polish or peel it off and use scissors to cut it.

Then, press the triangles onto your nail in a cool design, like below. Finish with a top-coat, and you're done.

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