Christmas nails!

So I'm very awful and haven't posted anything in a while, but it's not like I have people waiting to read my blogs and freaking out when I haven't done anything. Soo here are some Christmas nails I've done!

The purple ones were done with the Nicole by OPI Merry Must Have Minis set, which I got as a gift. They remind me of Justin Bieber...haha. The bottom picture is of the Sally Hansen nail stickers, which have worked out pretty well this time. My right hand (dominant) looks pretty crappy but overall it's okay!

Glitter Fade Nails

 

OBSESSEDDDD! This is one of my favorite nail arts ever. I'd try to explain it, but you can just watch this video instead: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_QwFf5wvHM it's not mine..but it's pretty much exactly what I did using a few coats of a limited edition Maybelline metallic light purple color that was really sheer and an old OPI limited edition holiday glitter that has like micro-micro fine glitters. 

What's in my Nail Kit!

 Back Row, L to R: OPI Avoplex cuticle oil, Seche Natural clear coat (a kind of sucky matte top coat..I'll use it on my dad), Revlon Clear Fast Drying Top Coat, Sally Hansen Nail Nutrition, Nail Polish thinner from Sally's (use this on goopy/old nail polish), a cheap 3-sided nail buffer, a nail file, Vaseline (for water marbling), a makeup sponge (various uses like gradient nails), cotton ball (really just for removing polish), Q-tip for cleaning up edges. The pink thing was from Bath and Body Works a long time ago and has a cuticle trimmer, nail clippers, cuticle pusher, and a metal nail file that I never use. It also came with nail scissors but I never ever use those. I hate them.

nails inc. magnetic nail polish

 

This stuff is so cool! I love it, and I was so happy it worked. I was skeptical...I mean it just sounded too awesome to work for me. But when I got home last night after a singing at a freezing football game, I came home to find this on my bed (my mom likes to surprise me with little presents..I like it too.) Anyhow, instead of having me explain this to you, watch this super-helpful video! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqas6ym_BuU

Nail Art #9- Sparkles!

Pretty self explanatory. Essie French Affair, with craft glitter on the pointer fingers. So fun!

My New Weird Obsession With Really Short Hair

I don't even know why. I'm pretty sure if I cut my hair like this everyone would think I'm a lesbian, which I am not. 

 

Matte Nail Polish

This summer, I bought a color that I was absolutely obsessed with, but alas, it was a fall color and I couldn't use it. So I finally used it yesterday, and it looked reeeeeally cool. But problem. It's matte. I have no matte top coat. I can't use a topcoat. It chips. Crap. So I use this stuff I bought a few weeks ago to try with it called Seche something or another, and it's a matte "nail treatment," not topcoat. So on top of the Revlon Matte Suede in Emerald City (which they totally stole from Sally Hansen...and the Wizard of Oz...) I put this matte stuff. And now I hate it. I'm really mad. The first picture is with flash, the second is without. I wish I didn't put that on top, but oh wells, you never know. I might put another coat of the polish on tomorrow, since it'll be even more chippy. But I reallllly love the color.

Nail Fail

Like I almost don't even want to talk about this because I hate it so much. I tried (obviously really badly) to do a really cool cosmic-nebula-outer space type thing that I've seen look really awesome before...and it just didn't work. If you do it right, you get a base of a dark color (mine was OPI's Russian Navy) and dab on random colors to make it look like a spacy type scene. I don't even want to list all the colors because it would be a waste of time since it just sucked overall haha. But look at the picture to make you feel better about yourself. 

Two Easy Bracelets

 I'm trying something new by putting the pictures on the left and typing over here...I hope this ends up like I intended. Anyhow, I just made some bracelets this morning. I'm REALLY bad at making jewelry that doesn't involve metal, so these will probably break really soon and the rhinestone one doesn't fit at all.

Supplies for Turquoise Bracelet (all bought at Michael's):
-Turquoise-looking round beads
-Wooden beads 
-Small clear bead
-Stretchy cord
The wooden beads I bought were weird, so I had to saw them into three beads. I cut a length of that clear stretchy stuff to make the bracelet and tied the clear bead onto it to prevent the others from falling off. Then I just strung the beads on and tied a million knots at the end with the hopes that it wouldn't break. Which it will, at some point.

Here's a picture without flash. 

I'm not even going to try to explain how I made the rhinestone bracelet, I didn't even do it right haha. It's way too small because I never measure anything like I'm supposed to. And my camera was dead, so I couldn't take pictures of the process. So here's what I got my inspiration from: http://honestlywtf.com/diy/diy-wrap-bracelet/

Nail Art #8- Dots!

 The polishes I used.

I started with a really crappy thick base coat of white which has now developed tiny bubbles because I was impatient and applied it badly. Then I used my teeny paintbrush to add circles and added even tinier dots all around the larger dots. I got too impatient and didn't clean them up before posting..oh wells.

Nail Art #7- Bolts

This was super easy so I won't even explain much. All I did was draw a thick stripe of purple, then a thick stripe of blue. After all that dried, I drew a thin lightning bolt shape in silver. I went back later on and extended the blue so it looked better...that doesn't make sense but I can't explain it any better than that haha.

Bible Verse Painting

 

I was at Michael's the other day, and I finally got the big 7 (I think) pack of canvases that I'd been eyeing for basically forever. I chose the square ones because I made the mistake of asking my mom's opinion when really I wanted the rectangle ones, but oh well. So I got it home and wasn't sure what I was going to do with all of them, but I figured that at some point in my lifetime I'd find something to do with them (plus I had a coupon, so really I HAD to buy them.) 

I've had this idea for a while, so I decided I'd give it a try. I started out by picking my colors and doing some mixing on my palette. Then I just got to work painting random stripes all over the background so it was pretty much covered. I didn't intend for this to be perfect, and it's not, so that's good. I just did what I wanted to do and created this kind of cool multicolored background. Then I got the darkest/brightest color I'd made and drew a cross as the picture in the background, and detailed the edges with a few strokes of white. Then after everything dried completely, I wrote one of my favorite Bible verses in Sharpie. 

1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 and 1 Corinthians 13:13

I'd really like to do this again with the same general idea: stroke-y background, main solid picture, and verse or quote. It was almost too easy and really fun :)

Nail Art #6- Roses

My cuticles look really nasty in this picture, my apologies. And I had some trouble with the blue because it's about 10 years old , so they don't look that great. But I've been wanting to do roses for a long time now and It was the best blue I could find that I already had that matched the picture in my head.

So I just painted my nails a few coats of blue so it was completely opaque, then let it dry completely. Later on, I did some pink dots using the end of a paintbrush. Then before the pink could dry all the way, I went back with the paintbrush end of the paintbrush (?) and swirled in some white. Finally, I used the paintbrush to draw little "leaves." I think it's really cute and sweet, but some people probably think they look nothing like roses, because they don't really. But I know what they're supposed to be!

Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips

A while back I used the Sally Hansen Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips (a little longer name, please?) in Girl Flower. I LOVED them and the design and everything about them except how hard it was to get them perfectly on (definitely a perfectionist here.) Recently, I did the nail strips in Fly With Me. This time was not so fun, and it was probably mostly my fault. It was a lot harder this time to get them perfectly on my nail with no bare nail exposed, so I'd have the sides completely messed up. It's hard to explain, but if you have a lot of patience I'd go for them. If not, stay away from these things. I think they're like $11? Maybe... anyhow..

Nail Art #5 4th of July Water Marble

Here's my water marbled nails for the 4th of July! I used a sparkly red color that I can't remember the name of to save my life, and Sephora's Opening Night.

Sparrow Headband

Whenever I go to Michael's, I sometimes just make impulse buys. I saw this blue sparrow iron-on applique, and I had to have it. It is so cute!! But then...I had no idea what to do with it. So....

 I made a headband! I got a plain black elastic headband that I already had laying around...

 

And I use a hot glue gun...

 

 And I glued the sparrow to the headband.

 Here's a detailed picture of the sparrow. I'd post a picture of me wearing the headband...but no. You can make this headband with any iron on patch you have! It's super easy and really cute.

Nail Polish Quality Experiment

 

Thumb: China Glaze-For Audrey

Pointer: Essie-Mesmerize (or Mezmerised...I've seen it both?)

Middle Finger: Claire's Cosmetics- Light Blue Irridescent

Ring Finger: Sally Hansen- Marine Scene

Pinky: OPI- What's With the Cattitude?

I painted every nail exactly the same, and I tested them to see which one was the best!

China Glaze: This one held up pretty well for a thumb (meaning I text with my thumb a lot.) There was just some moderate chipping on the edges, but nothing too bad.

Essie: This was surprisingly AWFUL! It was easily the most chippy. It chipped on not only the tips, but at the bottom of my nail, too. In it's defense, it was on my pointer finger, which gets used a lot...but this is my left hand!

Claire's: I knew it wasn't going to do well even before I put it on. I just wanted it to compare the others to. It was also pretty bubbly and really sheer, but I do really like the color! It's a nice summery color if you don't mind it leaving really quickly. 

Sally Hansen: This was definitely the winner. It held up the best out of all of them, even after about 2 weeks. I was surprised! But it was kind of bubbly, too. But most of my nails were and I think it's because I did them outside. I don't know what that has to do with anything but I think it made it bubbly!

OPI: This is the second place, NOT surprisingly! OPI is like the most popular salon line, and for a good reason! I like OPI because it's pretty thick, and the brush is wide (which means you need less coats and brush strokes.)

Perfect Manicure/Pedicure

Here's a picture of my disgusting foot. It's really nasty and ugly, but whatever. Start with clean nails with nothing on them...

And fingernails with my awkwardly long ring fingernail...

These are all the supplies I used. Essie nail polish; Revlon topcoat; OPI cuticle oil; a set of cuticle clippers, nail clippers, nail file, and cuticle pusher backer thingy that I got years ago from Bath and Body Works; a 4-sided nail buffer/filer from Sally Beauty Supply; and a nail file!

Basically, I just cut my nails straight across and filed them down to the shape I like, which is a squoval...meaning straight across the top and slightly rounded on the edges, but not too much rounded to avoid a nasty ingrown nail. For my feet, I used a pumice stone because they were really disgusting and needed it.

Then I  buffed my nails a lot, because I have a lot of ridges in my nails but I like them to be smooth.

After that, I put cuticle oil on my cuticles, and pushed them back. I washed and dried my hands, and I did the hugest bad thing you can do to your nails, and I cut my cuticles off. I just wanted to, because it looks better. But it is bad. So don't do it.

Finally, I did a base coat, 2 coats of polish, and a topcoat. TA DA

Notice how my nail is bleeding...that's what happens when you clip your cuticles. The color is Essie-Fair Game

  

I didn't clean up my nails before this, but you can take a Q-tip and nail polish remover and clean up the edges.

Essie- French Affair

Deathly Hallows Necklace

 I made this necklace today because I saw it on another website where it was for sale for $18. And while that's a reasonable price, I realized  I had everything to make one myself and it would be exactly the same and just as good! So I rolled out some black Sculpey (or whatever it's called...this wasn't in the package anymore) clay and cut it into a triangle. I baked it for maybe 12-15 minutes at 250 degrees. After I let it cool, I drew the symbol on with a silver Sharpie. Then I glued on a wrapped loop (look up basic jewelry making) and put on a chain, attacked a hook thingy and VOILA!!! Really easy.

Nail Art #4- Nautical Summer Nails

 All the supplies: base/topcoat, blue nail polish, red nail polish, nail polish remover, paintbrushes. There's other things in this picture, but I didn't end up using them...

 Colors

 Started out by painting my nails all white...

 

Then I added red and blue stripes with a thin paintbrush...they aren't great but who really cares?

 This is my favorite! I added a little anchor in red on my blue thumb :) soo cute!

Sally Hansen Crackle

I just used the new Sally Hansen Crackle overcoat in Fractured Foil, which is a silver glitter nail polish that cracks when it dries. It's pretty cool, but I wish it crackled more than it did. There's too much silver on my nails, and it's not the prettiest silver I've ever seen. But all in all, it was pretty fun to watch it crack..if you're into that kind of stuff...

Baby Felt Owl

 First, I did a rough sketch of the owl on a piece of paper.

 And dennn, I used the "template" to cut 2 owls out of white felt.

 Then I glued 2 rounded pieces of fabric (one floral fabric, one blue felt) for "wings" I guess. I also glued a little purple triangle to it's head...not really sure what it is, but it makes it look like an owl to me. I also glued on buttons for eyes and another tiny triangle (not shown) for a nose. All of this can be sewn on, but since it was so small and I was in a hurry, I just used permanent fabric glue

 Then I cut the fabric "wings" to fit the body, and whip stitched all around to make it look imperfect.

Finally, fill the inside with poly-fill or cotton or whatever!