Yellow to Blue Gradient Topped with a Grid Design!

Hey everyone! Today I have a grid-topped gradient to share!

I meant to get this post up yesterday but I guess it's nice to have a bit of a break between my posts like usual! It sounds like there are going to be some volunteer opportunities open to me in a lab at my school which I'm really excited about! In the meantime I've been painting my family's and my nails and playing lots of Mario Party 10! If you follow me on Instagram you'll know I ordered the whole Hoop! There It Is collection from Girly Bits Cosmetics recently. I am beyond excited and it should be here any day now so get ready for either a huge swatch post featuring all eleven polishes or a few posts to break it up a bit!

Anyways, onto the nails!

I started off with two coats of OPI You're So Vain-illa and a coat of top coat. The formula was okay and it wasn't completely opaque at two coats, but it was good enough for the base of a gradient!

Next, I went in with a damp makeup sponge and American Apparel Sunshine State (yellow), American Apparel Cresent Heights (chartreuse) and China Glaze Wait N Sea (blue)! I sponged on two to three layers to get the opacity I wanted.

I like to apply a coat of top coat right after I've finished a gradient to try and blend the colours even further, so that's what I did next.

After that had dried, I went in with American Apparel Hassid and a striping brush from Winstonia Store to do all of the lines. Check out my Instagram if you'd like to see a sped up version of this whole process!

One thick and careful coat of top coat and I was finished! I realized later that these were probably subconsciously inspired by the awesome and hilarious Cynthia of Of Life and Lacquer's chain link fence gradient nails! 

I wore this look for about three days and I really loved doing so! I did these when I should have been studying and they took a decent amount of time so I'm glad I got some wear out of them!

Here is my right hand! I should probably try and find a pose that it is actually good at doing one day :P.

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I have a negative space rose look to get up next so stay tuned! Happy Monday y'all! =)

Purple Gradient Nails Topped with Simple Grey Lines!

Hey everybody! Today I have some simple gradient nails to share!

I feel like it was forever and a day ago that I did these nails, mainly because this was right after I cut my nails and they're already long again! I swear they grow abnormally fast! I should put together another nail care routine post because maybe it's something to do with how I care for them (not that I do anything special).

Anyways, onto the nails!

Here is the gradient base of these nails! I filmed a tutorial for this whole look, so expect to see it very soon on my Instagram!

I applied one coat of American Apparel Dynasty and let that dry. It was such an opaque polish that I could have just stopped there and it would have looked fine! Next, with a damp makeup sponge, I sponged on a line of Dynasty with a line of Sonia Kashuk Jewel Orchid on top. I've done this kind of 'gradient tip as an afterthought' look before, and I always end up really liking it! It's a lot less messy to do it this way as only the tips of your nails and surrounding skin get covered in polish (not your cuticles and other surrounding skin as well).

After a minute or so, I added a coat of top coat (I think I'm going to stop stating Essie Good to Go every time because it's my favourite and I'll always use it) to blend the gradient a little more and protect the look!

I apologize for the tip wear in all of these photos, my nails chip faster when they're super short because I don't always wrap my tips (too messy) and I seem to use my nails as tools more often.

And here we have the finished look! I added these V shapes with a striper brush from Winstonia and Sonia Kashuk Grey Matter!

I quite like this look as it isn't really my style and it's fun to do designs like that sometimes. However, I did find that the V's made my nails look squarer than they actually are, which I wasn't really a fan of.

I did these nails for the WNAC 2015 challenge on Instagram, and I've since done some ikat nails that will be coming to the blog soon!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! What do you guys think of these nails? I'd love to hear in the comments! :)

As a bonus, here is my Cindy (right) hand! Sometimes I forget to take pictures of it but it's always matching my more photogenic hand! :P

Thanks for taking a look guys! Like I said above, I'll be back with some ikat nails soon, but probably a springy watermarble beforehand! Happy Friday y'all! =)

Glittery Aqua to Purple Gradient Nails Featuring B Squared Lacquer Polishes!

Hey everyone! Today I have some gradient nail art to share!

I've been doing better motivation-wise lately and by tomorrow afternoon I'll have written my first midterm in each of my classes. I've felt really good about the other ones I've written and unlike last semester I think I'll do well on all of my first midterms! I've also been tutoring my second cousin in math recently and I'm so happy that it has been going well! He's really understanding things and I'm so glad that I can help with that! What have you guys been up to lately? In nail-related news I got a proper soft box and these are the first pictures I've taken with it. What do you guys think of the pictures? Do they look any different?

Onto the nails!

I started off with three coats of OPI My Vampire is Buff and a coat of top coat (Essie Good to Go). I love MViB for the colour but I really dislike the formula. Even three average to slightly thick and careful coats won't get this polish opaque on all of my nails. I wanted to use it as a base for nail art in a way that would let it show through, but then I just ended up sponging over it and covering it completely :P.

A day or two later was when I did the gradient. I painted a thick stripe of B Squared Lacquer All Aboard and one of Purple Unicorns beside that on a dampened sponge. I sponged on three layers of the colours, making sure to paint more polish onto the sponge between each nail.

I then decided it was missing something so I slapped on a coat of OPI Pirouette My Whistle followed by a coat of top coat. I did a whole lot of cleanup and I was done!

What do you guys think of these nails? I thought they came out a little too subtle and pale but now that I look at the pictures I don't think so as much. Let me know!

Thanks so much for having a look everyone! I think this will be the week that I start posting twice a week, so I'll be back with some green viney/brainish nails on Thursday! Happy Monday! =)

Wedding Nails Roundup Number One Featuring a Green Floral Double Gradient!

Hey everyone! Today I have five manis that four other people and I wore to a wedding last weekend!

I'm getting really scared about school starting soon guys! I'm transferring to university from college and it's so much bigger and it's stressing me out. I went in today to get my student card/bus pass and I really don't know my way around at all :P. I might bus there before school starts to know where I get off my bus and where the buildings I have classes in are in relation to the bus stop. Maybe that will make me less nervous about going there, here's hoping! Anyways, onto the nails!

These are the bride's mother's nails that kind of look like opals! The base is OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and the fancy top coat is Essie Shine of the Times as you may have guessed!

Next up we have the bride herself's nails! The base is Revlon Jaded and the glitter polish is OPI In True Stefani Fashion.

Here we have my mom's nails wearing just two easy coats of OPI Chocolate Moose!

Next we have my grandma's nails! I do her nails really often and for any special occasion she has coming up and it's always so fun! Here she's wearing American Apparel Coney Island with Black Sheep Lacquer Forbidden Fruit on top!

My grandma came by later that day to get her nails done so she didn't make it into this cute picture and I didn't even think to put my hand in!

Lastly, we have my own nails as I'm sure you can tell! As usual, these are inspired by the lovely MrCandiipants!

I started off with two coats of OPI Stranger Tides and allowed that to dry. Next I sponged Revlon Spanish Moss on the tips of my nail (not that and Stranger Tides as I wasn't really going for a smooth gradient look). I then went in with OPI OPI... Eurso Euro and a small nail art brush for the petals, followed by OPI Fiercely Fiona and a dotting tool for the flower centres.

After that had dried I gave my nails a spray of hairspray and let that dry before applying my top coat (Essie Good to Go)! The more I looked at these when I wore them and the more I look at them now the more I like them; I wasn't totally sure about them at first.

What do you guys think of these five nail looks? Do you like the look of the almost double gradient, with the sponging and the flower concentration? I really do and I want to play around with this idea some more!

Thanks so much for having a look everyone! We're on a little road trip on our way to another wedding which should be fun! I brought polish so I might do another wedding post like this with my mom's, sister's and my nails very soon! Happy Friday! =)

Peachy Yellow to Pink Gradient!

Hey everyone! Today I have a peachy gradient to share!

Whew, it feels like I've been so busy lately! I've fallen very behind in reading blog posts from the lovely ladies I follow, and clearly I haven't been blogging myself lately! My family has three weddings to go to in the next three weekends and all four of us will be taking pictures or videos at least two of them! So things are getting a little crazy leading up to our first wedding in two days.

In addition to taking pictures I'm also the nail girl for many people going to these different weddings! For the wedding this weekend (in other words, tomorrow) I'm doing the bride's, her mother's, my grandma's, and probably my mom's, my sister's and my nails! I'll be sure to take pictures and I think I'll do a blog post about them! Anyways, onto these nails!

To start I applied two thickish coats of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls and a coat of top coat (Essie Good to Go). The next day I painted stripes of OPI I Just Can't Cope-a-cabana, Essie Tart Deco, and Essie Cute as a Button on a damp makeup sponge, and sponged one to two coats on all of my nails. I applied one more coat of top coat and I was done!

I wore these nails for a crazy amount of time; eight days for the white base and a week for the gradient! See how busy I've been? :P These pictures were taken on day four of the gradient, and even on day seven there was only tip wear to the point of seeing the white base, not my nail!

Thanks so much for reading everyone! What do you think of these nails? I'd love to hear in the comments! I have a gorgeous textured polish to share with you very soon! Happy Thursday! =)

Red Gradient Topped with Jessica 18K Gold Leaf Top Coat and Gold Studs & Mini Trip Update!

Hello my lovely readers, long time no talk! Today I have an elegant red gradient look topped with a gold leaf top coat and gold studs to share!

I know I said I wouldn't take a month-long hiatus while on this trip but I have taken a bit of one none the less! We have been out for most of the day just about every day since we got here, so we've been quite busy! I had gotten very used to doing hardly anything most days back at home, so it has taken me some time to adjust and get back into blogging.

My sister and I came over here with about ten pounds of room to spare between the two of us and we've (read: I've) bought a decent amount of clothes already :P. The good news is, we can leave things like pads, acetone and shampoo with the friend we're staying with to free up some weight in our luggage. The other good news is that I'm very happy with what I've already bought and I've decided on just getting a few more things and I've been sticking with it! I'll also be getting presents for people and picking up some Swiss chocolate (obviously!) so hopefully we won't have to bring another suitcase home!

Before we get onto the nails I thought I'd insert a picture of Anna (the friend we're staying with) and I, hopefully you guys can get an idea of how beautiful Switzerland is from the background! This post is turning into a trip update as well as a nail art post haha, maybe I'll add that to the title! I'm the shorter one on the left in case you didn't know!

Anyways, for this look I started off with one easy coat of a red jelly-leaning crelly polish, OPI Red Hot Rio. For being a jelly/crelly this polish was inexplicably opaque. It didn't quite reach opacity in one coat, but that was good enough for me because I knew I was going to sponge some Deborah Lippmann Jessa on the tips!

After that had dried a little I applied/dabbed on one thickish coat of Jessica 18K Gold Leaf Top Coat. There are not many flakes per clear base in this polish but I actually like the subtle sprinkling one coat gives!

Lastly, I applied some gold round studs that I got off of eBay or Amazon a while ago followed by a coat of top coat!

I felt very classy and fancy wearing these nails which isn't exactly my style so they were fun to wear!

What do you guys think about these nails or how gorgeous Switzerland is? I'd love to hear in the comments!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! I have one more Born Pretty Store review post to get up so keep an eye out for that! Happy Monday! =)

Red and Purple Gradient and Half Moon Heart Nail Art!

Yo yo yo my people! Today I have some gradient and half moon heart (?) nail art to share!

So I do this thing where I clean my room every few months and it's a disaster a few days after said cleanings. This time though, I added a real bed to my bedroom (I used to sleep on a mattress on the floor because it's really comfy, quiet if you toss and turn and easy to move around). Now that I have a bed my room feels more like a proper bedroom, and I think it's helping me keep and want to keep it clean. It's like my room had too chill of a vibe before or something.

I'm mostly only mentioning it because it's helping me feel motivated about a lot of other things. I have always struggled with motivation for school, cleaning and anything else really. Now I'm thinking up cute things to put in my room and feeling motivated to blog, dress like I would if I was actually going out everyday, etc. I haven't even been wearing a bra lately because I usually stay home and just can't be bothered. This was supposed to sound positive because it is haha! Anyways, onto the nails!

I started with a base of two coats of American Apparel Poppy and a coat of top coat (because I wasn't going to jazz it up with nail art until the next day)! Poppy can easily be a one-coater but I wasn't being overly careful. The next day I went in with Essie DJ Play that Song for the half moon hearts and Poppy, American Apparel Angeline (a one-coater dark pink creme, swatch and review here) and DJ Play that Song on a wet makeup sponge for the gradient nails! I finished with a coat of Dollish Polish Putting on the Ritzzz! for the gradient nails and a coat of top coat on all of the nails.

What do you guys think of these nails? I'd love to know in the comments!

Thanks so much for taking a look everyone! Does anyone else struggle with keeping their room tidy or motivation in general? I'll be back with a massive swatch spam post very soon! Happy Wednesday! =)