Back to the Basics

Lately things have been a bit hectic for me.  Mostly just been seriously busy, and the up and downs of drama.  Who wants that right?!  Well I barely have time to do any nail art or it has been no motivation.  Awhile ago I was able to actually sit down and relax around my nail polish.  I went back to the basics and did a simple leopard print.  

• ORLY Bonder for base coat
• Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
• Illamasqua Nomad
• Illamasqua Prosperity
• Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Color Disturbia
• Black Acrylic Paint

The gold flakes on my ring finger are from BornPrettyStore, and I honestly love these things!  One of my best friend Emily, sent me a few a while back and I ended up buying more sheets!  They are just so simple to use!  You get twelve containers that are filled with gold orange green sort of foil sheets.  They cost only $6.28!  Don't forget you could use my code "LARJ61" to get a 10% off your purchase!

So there you have it that's what is on my nails at the moment.  What do you have on your nails?  What have you been up to?  

Thank you for stopping by my blog and I hope you have a wonderful day!

Splatter LOVEEE!

I will always love splatter nails.  They are seriously my go to nail look when I have no idea what I want to do on my nails.  I ended up sponging some neon polishes on my nails and manipulated it about with a clear polish allowed it to dry before doing a straw splatter over it.  For my accent nail it was just a simple sponge gradient with acrylic paint, and I placed a square stud that I received from BornPrettyStore.  You could see my review for that product: here.

Swirlin' about in the Polish

Today I decided to mess around some more with needle drag or no water marble technique, whichever way you think is best to call it.  I had this urge to toss some glitter upon it as well.  My motivation for nail art lately has been really...lacking.  Have you ever had those moments?

To my wonderful followers who celebrate Thanksgiving, I would like to say I hope you have a wonderful one and get your grub on!  For those of you who are going to be doing some Black Friday shopping at the stores, stay safe!  You know how crazy some people could get.  I will be doing my shopping in the comfort of my own home this year.  For some reason I am just not feeling the sales this year & I am not even sure why.

Well anyways since it's been a bit busy lately, I decided just to do something super simple on my nails.

I ended up just doing a simple gem marble sponge on the base and then did a very quick jaguar print over them.  You could find the tutorial for the gem sponge marble technique: HERE.

• Milani High Speed Fast Dry Nail Lacquer White on the Spot
• Maybelline Color Show Downtown Brown
• Sinful Colors Boogie Nights
• Black Acrylic Paint
• Orly Bonder
• Seche Vite top coat 

So there you have it super simple since it's going to be a busy day. 

Sorry for the quick post but wanted to say "Happy Thanksgiving" to those who check out my blog <3 

Hope you have a great one and good luck shopping!!

Nail Art & Acetone? Why not?!

So this week I used acetone (nail polish remover) to manipulate the nail polish upon my hands.  I finally got around to doing the acetone watercolor nails that I has been on my list for awhile now, and revisited my acid grunge nails as well.

If you are unsure what watercolor nails using nail polish remover is, you could watch a quick tutorial of it: CLICKIE

At first I knew I wanted to do acid grunge nails for sure, but I wasn't sure what colors to use for the watercolor ones.  I kept looking at my nail polishes switching back and forth.  I eventually came to terms and went "K neon polishes it is!"

Marbled away

My nails at the moment were one of those I got lazy and irritated.  I was suppose to do water marble nails and for some reason it just would not go the way I planned it.  The colors I picked would normally work nicely, but when I dipped in my finger it was just horrible!  Put it this way it combined to look grey...I have no clue!  I normally do water marbles fine, but that day was just terrible.  So I decided to just do a dry marble or some know it as a no-water marble.  It's where you basically use a needle/toothpick/etc and drag the nail polish around.  

And even at that I still was not happy with it.  I am being uber picky and lazy at the moment. 

Review: KKCenterHk - N.NAIL Water Decals Pirate Skull

Today my nails are sporting a water nail decal sheet that I received from KKCentherHk.  It's an N.NAIL Water Decals Pirate Skulls [WDBLE373].  I decided the pirate skulls would be nice since Halloween is just around the corner, and my son loves pirates.

Nails: Tape it up!

So today's nails were based off of tape manis.  I have not done a tape mani for so long nor have I used my striping tape much.  So why not?

I decided to follow two tutorials from Nailside her laser, and and abstract 80's, but changed it to my liking.  She really does wonders when it comes to tape manicures!

Nails done: Spun Sugar Mess Around

So I decided to mess around with the spun sugar look again.  I actually did them twice in one day cause I wasn't feeling the first look I did.  If you're curious how to do a spun sugar nails look you could check my tutorial section, or look up YouTube videos of it.

For the first look that I did I decided to try out the fan gradients, which I thought was pretty neat and interesting.  

• Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Color I Need a Refresh-mint
• Wet n Wild Megalast Nail Color Candy-licious
• Wet n Wild Wild Shine Fashionista Lisa

But for some reason I just was not feeling it.  So I decided to do another spun sugar look.

Nails: Just splattering around

Yesterday I decided to do a splatter scene but combine it with some other nail art techniques.  I did two fingers with toothbrush splatter over a white base color, and the other two and thumb a straw splatter over a gem sponge marble technique.  You could find the tutorial here.

At first I attempted a spray paint splatter where you use a spray bottle and dilute some droplets of nail polish with thinner and spritz it on your nails, but I honestly had no patience.

Nails: Gradient Spun Sugar

Today's nails were inspired by friend Sarah, also known as Chalkboard Nails.  She had done a nail design based off of a dress by Betsey Johnson during NYFW.  You could read more about it at her blog.  She had a nice framed sponged base, and did  the spun sugar technique over it.  I have seen the technique before, but never attempted it; always wanted to try it out.  Sarah's post of it was the push I needed!

As I was doing the spun sugar on my nails I quickly realized I wanted cotton candy!  Not just any cotton candy, the ones you get at fairs, amusement parks, etc.  It brought me back to when I was little waiting in line as the person was twirling the stick thingy in the machine to swoop up the cotton candy.  And you would see the sugar strings stick against the glass/plastic shield.

The spun sugar technique isn't as difficult as it seems at all, and I found it pretty fun to do.  May be a bit time consuming, but well worth it in the end.

Nails: Take a trip with me to outer-space!

Come with me and travel outer-space as I take you on a journey of my galaxy nails!

Today's nails were inspired by my lovely friends : Emily and Christina.  I am so glad I met these two really.  They inspire me in so many ways be it nails makeup or just grabbing a bite to eat.  I could always count on them for a laugh.  So make sure to check out their blogs:

• Very Emily
• Starlett Approved

They recently both did a galaxy drip, that as soon as I saw them I loved it!  I knew I had to do a galaxy mani since I haven't done for awhile, and not to mention they are always a blast to make. 

Review: KKCenterHk - N.NAIL 5 Pieces Resin Brown Ice Lollies Nail Art Decorations [N.NAIL-DRN181]

Hello lovelies, and how are you all doing?  Today I am here to share with you an item I had received from KKCenterHk.

N.Nail 5 Pieces Resin Brown Ice Lollies Nail Art Decorations [DRN181]

These are resin brown ice lollies [DRN181], which comes in a set of five.  How cute are these?  As soon as I saw these I knew already what I wanted to do, which was an ice cream candy sort of theme. 

Nails done: Lei you down!

So this week I bring to you another Hawaiian based theme.  My focus was the lovely hibiscus and plumeria found around that beautiful tropical island.  It helped give me the time to practice up on my floral more.  I still have a hard time doing them but I would like to believe that I am getting better at it.  I never really liked doing flowers for some reason.  I think it has to do with my non-girly side really.

Nails done: Aloha `oe, aloha `oe

Aloha `oe, aloha `oe
E ke onaona noho i ka lipo
One fond embrace,
A ho`i a`e au
Until we meet again

Translation:

Farewell to you, farewell to you

The charming one who dwells in the shaded bowers

One fond embrace,

'Ere I depart

Until we meet again

 So by the title you could already tell that this was my sort of Hawaiian tropical theme.  I recently found an old outfits and leis in my closest that was from when I use to do Polynesian dancing with my Auntie Bennett when I was eight years old.  Gosh that was so long ago!  haha let's leave those kiddie pictures of me off the net LOL. 

It began bringing back memories of traveling and how beautiful the islands were.  From Hawaii to Guam to the Philippines.  Cherish the memories you have.

When things don't go as planned but still come out AWESOME!

Originally I wanted to do a look of a bunch of neons on one nail, but then I realized I had executed it wrong.  So basically said "Bump it," and continued going on in a different direction.  I still love how this neon gradient splatter came out.  I always loved a neon base with black nail polish splatter over it.  Just gives that OH feeling!
Before I go on about this, here is a tutorial of how to do them.

They came out wonderful, despite things not going as planned.  But that happens and you just got to make the best of it.

Nails! Waking up to the sunrise!

So last week I was inspired to do sunrise nails.  I have done them before but I always mixed it up with different looks for each nail.  This time I decided I wanted to keep it all the same just to try something different.  Sadly I didn't keep these on that long.  Life of a nail lover!  

I always loved sunrises and sunsets, because they never get old to gaze out.  Just for that little moment I feel relaxed.

Oh nails, Y U SO SHORT?!

So last week I mentioned in my post I mentioned that I had to cut down my nails.  A few have seen these already on my quick shot upon Instagram.  I decided to make an actual post of it. 

It'll take some time to get use to short nails again, but hopefully they speed up in growth like they normally do. 

Double slap those nails! But they're done!

First off I would like to say thank you to all of those who follow or check out my blog.  Greatly appreciate it.  Second off, if you do my tutorials, or I give you inspiration please note it.  So I could check it out.  Lately I found two people who actually took my tutorials changed some words in it, but still copied exactly what I did.  :( That sort of ticked me off.  So like I say "Give credit when due!  If someone inspired you to do something, let it be known!"  Though there are times when great minds think alike, which in case high five to you!  But when it's to a T, yeah...that gets my engines going a bit... 

So sorry about that I had to get it off my chest!

Well I have been doing my nails on and off.  Just haven't really been taking pictures of it.  But they have been done!  I'll post two pictures of what I have done lately.

Inspired by my girl Emily: Look + Nails done

So this post is way over due!  A while back one of my fave nail girls, Emily, sent me a picture of a colorful pastel look she did.  I asked her about the colors, and asked if I could do a spin of it.  Of course she said go for it.  Gotta love this girl!
I have actually done this look two times, trying to make it look right on my eyes.  I changed it a little bit on how she originally did it.
So my first take was done with BH Cosmetics' 88 Cool Matte Palette.

I couldn't find my brown liner for this one (still no clue where it went), so I grabbed a cheapo liner from my kit, and it didn't even show on the tight line at all BOO!  It just didn't come out right at all on my eyes.
I gave it a few days before I tried again.  The second time around I loved how it came out!