Blue Bow Nail Art | Favorite Polish

What is your favorite color and favorite nail art design?
Corals, yellows, pinks..... Those are mostly my favorite colors... very girly, very bright and cheerful.  Love happy colors!!! Although it appears that something else is a real favorite, maybe at the moment, maybe have been all along... Blue!  A friend recently help a nail art contest and she asked: "If you could be a nail polish bottle, what would you be and what color."  I answered: Maya by Zoya.  My vanity dictates that I pick a name sake and my current fave color: Coral... So why Blue?

Give Yourself the Perfect Manicure & Fast Polish Drying Secrets

A few weeks ago, I posted a How To on "giving yourself a nice at home nail spa."  Have you tried it? 

After giving yourself a nice at home nail spa, now it's time to prepare your pretty little sassy fingers for more pampering.  Pick your polish colors, your designs, gather your tools.... and now you're ready to paint.  Any tips on getting the perfect manicure?  Of course! Here's some:

The Perfect Manicure in Four Steps
 

Sunset DragonFly | Nature | OMD2 Theme: Signature Design

Is there a design that you make every so often that when others see it they could exclaim: "That is so you!"  When it comes to nail art, I don't know if I found my niche design yet.  Truth be told, I like nude, unassuming colors on my nails.  Perhaps a sheer pink, as in french mani... or a plain, clear coat even!  But what fun is that? So, inspired by this little dragonfly, I present to you kind-of a signature style...

We live close by a park with a pretty little lake in it.  Hubby and I took a long walk a few evenings ago... I really liked the grass that grew on the side of the lake.  It reminds me of the riverbanks back home and the times where my sister and I would play around there and catch some dragon flies.  Okay, she and my other cousins would try to catch it.  I prefer just watching them and admiring their colors... We walked while we watched the sunset grace the skies.  Turning the atmosphere into a parade of yellow to red colors.  What a delight...

Paris Inspired Ombre Nails | HOW TO | Mini-Giveaway

A nail art Ombre of dots and flowers with a touch of Paris... Who would think of Paris and not think of it's Eiffel Tower?  How about add a pink bow to it?

DIY Festival Nail Style | Guestpost

DIY Festival Nail Style: Superdry shows you how to nail it.
Guest Post from Charlotte Corner of Superdry CA

In this Nail Art, I adapted the method from HelloGlossy.com

As the festival season is well under way, we have decided to come up with an oh-so-simple nail guide to help you transform those plain Jane nails into a work of art in just a few easy steps.

The Fox Funky French for OMD2

I bought this pretty little fox from +eBay and it served as my inspiration for my Funky French today. I actually have a fox with gold linings instead of this which has silver.  That was why I had the golden base.  But in the end of my mani, I inadvertently stuck this one instead...  Oh well, I think it still turned out real nice, don't you think?

French Manicure using Fingerpaints Soak-Off Gel Polish {aka Shellac} | HOW TO

"Shellac French Manicure!?!"  I would usually exclaim in horror when one of my friends ask me to do their nails.  "Can you pick something easier?" ... I find french nails scary but please read more to see if I succeeded or not ;) Included in this post is the "step by step" on how I did this french mani using the soak-off gel polish starter kit and LED lamp from FingerPaints ;)  Please read on and don't forget to leave me a message (lol).

Your Own At Home Nail Spa | Nail and Hand Care

On the nails:  2 coats of Audrey by Julep
with pink iridescent hearts and micro-beads.

     Ever wonder why your manicure doesn't seem to last more than a few days? No matter what your manicure is, it would look even better when your hands and cuticles are healthy. Follow these simple steps to healthy, good looking hands and treat yourself to a very inexpensive at home pampering.  You can even play a relaxing spa music while at it ;)

STOP Nail Biting!!!

"How do those nails taste like?"  Asked my grade school teacher out of the blue.  She must have spotted one of my classmates biting their nails.  She paused from the lesson at hand.  "Self confidence is very important.  That's how people would take you seriously.  Even when you are not self-confident, you can fake it.  Nail biting betrays lack of self-esteem.  So don't do it."  She was forceful.  She paused and went back to the lessons.  Didn't give it much thought then.  I personally knew no one with this habit.

Photo credit: Jezebel.com

Those were the days... Today, it seems I see and hear more and more people biting their nails.  Too many that it's almost like a norm. Some even announces it quite proudly that it almost sounds fashionable.  I quickly clench my fist and gently tap my lips with it as I catch myself putting my nails on my mouth.  Being exposed to many who bite their nails is making me unconsciously 'follow their example.' Is there really something wrong with the habit?

Pink Glamour and Glitter (Featuring Julep's Ava, Yumi and Paris)

Pink Glamour and Glitter 

Featuring Julep's Ava, Yumi and Paris

Solid Color Nail Art: "Shades of Gold" (Carrie Underwood Collection from Nicole By OPI)

Carrie Underwood from Nicole by OPI
SHADES OF GOLD

Nail art designs can range from simple to complicated, easy and fast to difficult and time consuming.  A great nail art though doesn't have to involve a lot of time nor fancy tools.  Solid color manicures can satisfy the nail art craving too.

Solid color manicure can also be made interesting, quite fun and unique.  This is a very easy design.  Still, undeniably chic ;)  The trick is combing several complimenting colors instead of painting all the nails one color.

In this manicure I combined, Lips Dripping Honey (glitter), Carrie'd Away (gold) and Sing You Like a Bee (white with gold dominant tones.)  I applied topcoat only to the glitter to smoothen out the surface.  The two others colors had an interesting texture to it but not quite as rough as regular textured-polishes.

The finish is very pretty without the topcoat, but that makes the polish more vulnerable to wear and tear... Hence, If you want the mani to last longer, topcoat is a great idea and reapply it every 2-3 days.
Finish up your easy nail art with a complimenting knuckle ring or stick a nail jewelry to it...  I thought my Eiffel Towel cellphone decor looked great with the gold tones... So... why not?

Related Post:

 LUX - Zoya's Magical Pixie Dust 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Candy Dandy - Nicole by OPI

Roughles {Ruffles} By Nicole by OPI

How To: Safely Remove Soak-off Gel Polish (2 methods)

"How to Safely Remove Your Soak-off Gel Polish"

How long does your manicure last?

 

How long does your manicure last?  

 Mine usually last for 4 days without chipping, gone on the fifth day.  I usually don't pay much attention because I want to paint my nails again... This time, I wanted to know just how long my mani could last... I broke the record and passed 6 days... here are some pictures :) ~ Some tips at the end of this blog ;)

Here's how the fresh manicure looks...
since I did this in the morning, this would be DAY 1

Here's some chores I performed today for reference on how hard this manicure worked.
Day 1 was an easy day,
usual tidying up of the house, dishwashing (i do this everyday ;),
and some beauty routines including nighly mini-facial and washing my hair.

DAY 2
Still looking great.
Chores include the same as yesterday's plus
handwashing about 10 pieces of delicate clothing.
BTW, i use hand-gloves when doing dishes or washing clothes ;)

DAY 4
Today I re-applied glitters on the middle finger
and clear top coat on the rest ;)
Out and about includes shopping... plus the usual.
Made stew for dinner :)  Mani still looking great!

DAY 5
Impressive huh?
Usually by today, my manicure would have been chipped to half of the are of the finger.
That is without the re-application of top-coat.
This time, still looking awesome at day five...
My nail growth isn't very noticeable yet, but when I removed the polish the next day,
my nails have grown a lot longer!
I think they still look nice because I use cuticle oil every night,
and hand-cream everytime I wash my hands ;)

I wonder if my mani lasted even longer if I re-applied the top-coat before going to the waterpark... :)
I was just too happy that I passed 5 days, I did not even think of it...
I could have patched up the chip and wore it longer since the rest of the nails are still looking great?
hmmm... the what if's, hahaha....

DAY 6
Baby-sitting day for my niece (6 yrs old) and nephew (2 yrs old) for the whole day.  Besides the usual activities, there's hiking to the park, playing in the park and the water sprinkler too...  The polish on my pointer finger (right hand) peeled off, the rest was still looking great.  Since I had one chipped, I started peeling off the rest, then it looked unpleasant ;( ~ bad, don't peel your mani, lol... must remove it properly... ~  Ok, so this mani retired at the end of the 6th day... that breaks my record of 5 days!

This is what helped my mani last up to 6 days:

* Applied basecoat to clean, dry nails before the color, and applied top-coat after.
* Cleaned out polish that got into my cuticles and skin before drying.  I find that if I do not do this, the excess polish cause lifting (peeling).
* Capped the tips of my nails when applying the polish. (I make sure I brush some polish on the tips of my finger nails too to seal it.
* Applied cuticle oil every night and hand-cream everytime I wash my hands.  Having healthy cuticles makes your manicure look better.
* And of course, I don't use my nails as tools.  I try to treat them gently and use gloves whenever I can.

Want to make your manicure last even longer?

* Try using Julep's Polymer Top Coat
* Even better, paint your favorite polish in between a gel polish base coat and top-coat (fondly called gelly-sandwich).  This may make your manicure last for up to a week.
* And the winner?  Wear your manicure for up to 14 days if you use gel-polish or shellac (but there's a price to pay... hahaha)

How do you make your manicure last longer?