Christmas Nails 2014 Nails #2 - Christmas Stripes

For my second holiday manicure this year, I wanted to go with something simple but festive. I also had to work with only the polishes I brought home with me! I think it turned out really well and I got to take a few sun-lit pictures by the Christmas tree!

Christmas 2014 Nails #1 - Redo of Christmas 2013 Nails

For one of my Christmas manicures this year, I wanted to redo my Christmas manicure from last year to see how much my skills have improved! The top picture above is from Christmas 2013, while the bottom picture is from this year. I had a lot of fun recreating this mani, and it's really encouraging to see that I have definitely made progress!

White and Gold Ruffian Nails

I've been pretty busy finishing up this semester and packing up to head home, but I found a little bit of time to do a quick mani last night. I went with something really simple and with a color scheme I wouldn't normally think of, except I just bought these polishes! I needed a new white since my old ones (NYC - French White Tip & Wet n Wild - French Lace Cream) are getting kind of goopey, and I needed a new gold because my old one (Maybelline Color Show - Bold Gold) is actually running out!

Birchbox December 2014

This review is for the Birchbox from December 2014. Birchbox is a very popular subscription box. It is $10/month for 4-5 beauty and lifestyle samples, which are personalized based on a quiz you take. They seem to stick to the quiz fairly well, though they do state that even if you "dislike" a particular product, you may still get it once a year or so. The great thing about Birchbox is its reward system. You get 10 points for every item you review from your box, as well as a point for every dollar you spend in the Birchbox shop (which includes the purchase of your actual box). You can also get points for referring friends. Every 100 points you accumulate is $10 toward a purchase from the shop, which contains full-sized items, some of which are exclusive to Birchbox. So, it's a pretty inexpensive way to try out products and then use your rewards towards buying the ones you ended up liking or something else entirely.

Sample Society December 2014

This review is for the Sample Society subscription box of December 2014. I was generously gifted a 3 month subscription to the allure Sample Society Box for my birthday (in October). The box costs $15/month + tax and is curated by allure magazine. The box includes 5 deluxe samples of makeup, skincare, hair care, and fragrance items. You also receive a $10 off of $50 coupon each month to use at BeautyBar.com, which is the umbrella company. This is my second box of the subscription.

Simple Holiday Glitter

I decided to do a very simple holiday mani using a glitter I picked up on sale after last year's holiday season. I also went back to a square nail shape with rounded edges just for a change of pace! Here is what I used for this quick, but festive manicure:

Base Coat: Orly Bonder
Polishes: China Glaze - Dandy Lyin' Around
               Sinful Colors - Holiday Rebel
Top Coat: Sally Hansen Insta Dri

I did 3 coats of the white China Glaze polish to make it suitably opaque, then topped with a thin coat of the Sinful Colors glitter. Easy peasy!

Matte Purple Skittle Nails

I couldn't decide on a nail art design last night, so I chose to just pick a color and do "skittles" nails where each nail has a different pattern. I chose 3 shades of purple creme polish, a purple glitter, and a silver to complement all the purple. I liked doing this because I got to practice a few of my basic nail art techniques!

Fall Star-burst Nails

It's been such a long time since I've been able to do my nails! My family came to visit for Thanksgiving, which required a lot of prep, but was a really great time! Once I got back into my routine, I was inspired by a Pinterest post and a new nail polish that I picked up from (where else?) TJ Maxx to make a star-burst type pattern using fall colors.

Zoya Haul and Swatches

I recently took advantage of a "Buy One, Get One + Free Shipping" promotion from Zoya to order some new nail polishes! The sale was for polishes from their Fall 2014 "Entice & Ignite" and "Naturel Deux" Collections. I picked up 4 polishes for $18 - Chantal, Autumn, Remy, and Yuna. I swatched each of these polishes on my nails in the same way: 1 coat of Orly Bonder as a base, two coats of the Zoya polish, and topped with a generous coat of Sally Hansen Insta Dri Topcoat. I tried my best to get all of the pictures in natural light. Please read on to view the details.

Autumn Nails w/ Owl Stamp

Last night I wanted to do a seasonal mani, and I also wanted to do some stamping. I chose a cute little owl design from my Pueen stamping plates, and picked out some autumn colors to go with it. I am not sure how much I like the outcome, just because it generally lacks color. I might add a little orange stamped design on the pinkie nail!

Birchbox November 2014

This review is for the Birchbox from November 2014. Birchbox is a very popular subscription box. It is $10/month for 4-5 beauty and lifestyle samples, which are personalized based on a quiz you take. They seem to stick to the quiz fairly well, though they do state that even if you "dislike" a particular product, you may still get it once a year or so. The great thing about Birchbox is its reward system. You get 10 points for every item you review from your box, as well as a point for every dollar you spend in the Birchbox shop (which includes the purchase of your actual box). You can also get points for referring friends. Every 100 points you accumulate is $10 toward a purchase from the shop, which contains full-sized items, some of which are exclusive to Birchbox. So, it's a pretty inexpensive way to try out products and then use your rewards towards buying the ones you ended up liking or something else entirely.

Ipsy November 2014

What a week for beauty boxes! This review is for the Ipsy subscription for the month of November. Ipsy is a monthly subscription box that focuses on makeup with some skincare, hair care, and nail polish products. It's $10/month (+ $.75 for tax (?)) for a small makeup bag plus 5 samples that are influenced by a quiz you take. You can earn Ipsy points for reviewing products, posting things to your facebook, and inviting friends. These points can be redeemed for additional full-sized products.

Simple Accent Dotticure

 

I didn't have too much time to spend on my nails last night, so I went with something really simple, and also got to try out one of my new polishes that I picked up on clearance at Target (yes, I am a clearance shelf junkie). It's a deep green color by Maybelline Color Show, whose polishes I am continually impressed by. Hope you like this short and sweet mani!

Allure Sample Society November 2014

I have a new beauty box to review! I was generously gifted a 3 month subscription to the allure Sample Society Box for my birthday. The box costs $15/month + tax and is curated by allure magazine. The box includes 5 deluxe samples of makeup, skincare, hair care, and fragrance items. You also receive a $10 off of $50 coupon each month to use at BeautyBar.com, which is the umbrella company. I am excited to try out this new subscription!

Fire-y Hand-Placed Glitter Gradient

It was a lazy Friday night of watching movies, so I decided to go with a more time-consuming nail art project. I have always been inspired by the amazing hand-placed glitter art made by the blogger of Polish All the Nails. I have a small selection of hexagonal glitters, and I decided to use red, orange, and yellow glitters to make gradients on each nail. It took some time and patience, but it was actually pretty fun to do while just lazing around watching a movie!

Girly Pink Scented Nails

I have been wanting to try out the Revlon Parfumerie Scented Nail Polish line for awhile now, and I got that chance when I found a couple bottles in the Target Clearance box. I got African Tea Rose, which is a very bright pink color, and Bordeaux, which is a dark red wine color. I was looking for something really simple to do on my nails, so I decided to swatch the African Tea Rose color and add a little glitter for fun.

Pop Art Nails and Costume

It has been a very long time since I have put any effort in on Halloween, but this year, I decided to dress up to help me de-stress from a crazy busy week. I decided to go for a pop-art look inspired by Roy Lichtenstein artwork. As someone without much in-depth art knowledge, I can at least say that his artwork emulates comic book styles and is recognizable by the sharp lines and the use of Ben-Day dots. I did not pick an exact piece of artwork, but rather did an inspired look and leaned heavily on a particular rendition. Of course, being a nail art person, I had to have my nails match the look, so I did a comic book design.

Halloween Pumpkin Carving

I finally got around to carving the pumpkin I picked out on my birthday! I had some friends over and we ate some delicious fall-themed snacks: crepes with apple butter, pumpkin pie, and cupcakes with apple pie filling inside! I also got some Angry Orchard Cinnful Apple Hard Cider to try out, and it was really delicious! I highly recommend it if you are a casual drinker of ciders. I also got a pumpkin carving kit at Kroger that had carving tools as well as sample designs that you could transfer to your pumpkin to guide your carving.

Halloween-Colored Patchwork Nails

It has been awhile! I have been busy with conference travel and writing a paper that is due on Friday, but I managed to sneak in a Halloween mani this week. I was inspired by a tutorial made by The Nailasaurus for "Patchwork Nail Art". I tried to pick Halloween-y colors, though they look more like Mardi Gras colors in these pictures! I don't know why, but I cannot get the pictures to look true to color, but I promise that the yellow is really a mango-ish orange and the green and purple are much deeper in person.

TJ Maxx Haul + Simple Triangle Nail Design + Pumpkin Patch

On Saturday night, I decided to stop by TJ Maxx since I always have good luck with nail polish deals there, and I decided to treat myself for my birthday! It also helps that my boyfriend is quite the enabler and will sift through all of the colors with me. I would consider this a pretty successful haul!

Ipsy October 2014

 

This review is for the Ipsy subscription for the month of October. Ipsy is a monthly subscription box that focuses on makeup with some skincare, hair care, and nail polish products. It's $10/month (+ $.75 for tax (?)) for a small makeup bag plus 5 samples that are influenced by a quiz you take. You can earn Ipsy points for reviewing products, posting things to your facebook, and inviting friends. These points can be redeemed for additional full-sized products.

Deep Blue and Silver Half-moons

 

I am back in nail art business! My nails are looking pretty healthy and I am excited to get back into making designs. This weekend is Duke Homecoming and also my birthday, so I wanted to do some fun things, starting with going to the Homecoming reception and dance tonight. I picked out a dress to wear that I got a few years ago at Express. It's mostly dark blue with black on one shoulder, so I did my nails in blue to match with a silver sparkly half-moon to accent the color. I love dressing up and being fancy, so I am very excited!

Swatch: Deborah Lippmann - Good Girl Gone Bad

I'm taking a short break from intricate nail art, but I wanted to have some nice nails for a small conference yesterday, so I decided to try out one of my new nail polishes on it's own. I got this full-sized Deborah Lippmann in the color Good Girl Gone Bad in the Sephora Favorites Glitz and Glam Sampler.The Sephora Favorites samplers can be a good way to try out some popular high-end products without completely breaking the bank.

Birchbox October 2014

This review is for the Birchbox from October 2014. Birchbox is a very popular subscription box. It is $10/month for 4-5 beauty and lifestyle samples, which are personalized based on a quiz you take. They seem to stick to the quiz fairly well, though they do state that even if you "dislike" a particular product, you may still get it once a year or so. The great thing about Birchbox is its reward system. You get 10 points for every item you review from your box, as well as a point for every dollar you spend in the Birchbox shop (which includes the purchase of your actual box). You can also get points for referring friends. Every 100 points you accumulate is $10 toward a purchase from the shop, which contains full-sized items, some of which are exclusive to Birchbox. So, it's a pretty inexpensive way to try out products and then use your rewards towards buying the ones you ended up liking or something else entirely.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #31 - Honor Nails You Love

It's finally here! The last challenge and I am only 9 days late! I decided to honor the post that first got me interested in the blog Chalkboard Nails, which is also the blog that inspired me to do the 31 Day Challenge. I always love Sarah's posts, and she makes such great designs! I followed her tutorial for making "distressed nails", which is very simple to do but looks really cool.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #30 - Inspired by a Tutorial

For this challenge, I followed a tutorial that I found through reddit for doing plaid nails. I have tried doing a plaid design before and it just utterly failed, so I was really excited to see such an easy tutorial with nice results! The one I first saw was done with shades of gray, and I really liked the monochromatic look, so I decided to do shades of brown.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #29 - Inspired by (the) Supernatural

So, I interpreted this challenge a little loosely, and instead of being inspired by the supernatural, I chose to base my nail art on the TV show Supernatural. I don't think that's officially cheating because the whole point of the show is supernatural creatures and events! I based each of my nails on a title card from different Supernatural seasons.

Glitter Gradient on a Friend

My friend and labmate really liked my pinkie nail from my Day #24 nails, so we took a break from lab work one day to have lunch and do her nails. I used the same polishes from my nails, but I put the glitter on a little more thickly at the base to create a stronger gradient. I think the colors pop so nicely against her skin tone, and she received a lot of compliments! I even did her daughter's nails to match a few days later!

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #28 - Inspired by a Flag

Better late than never! I will hopefully be finishing up the challenge in the next couple of days. I am impressed with myself that I didn't fall too far behind until the last week of the challenge.

Anyway, here are my nails that are inspired by a flag. This theme was kind of weird since I didn't really want to go with patriotic American flag nails, but I didn't really have a reason to pick another flag. So, I took my boyfriend's suggestion and painted the Taiwanese flag, since that is special to him.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #27 - Inspired by Artwork

For this theme, I based my nail art on the artwork of Leonid Afremov. I do not know much about art at all, but his oil paintings have always visually appealed to me because of how there are so many swatches of different colors that come together to make a scene. I based my nail art specifically on his painting "Farewell to Anger".

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #26 - Inspired by a Pattern

For the "Inspired by a Pattern" theme, I chose to be inspired by a maxi dress I have, one of the few that isn't too long for me. I think it's really unique because the front of the dress has a stripe pattern that is kind of braided, while the back of the dress has all horizontal stripes.

Happy First Adoption Day, Chester!

Today is the first anniversary of bringing home Chester from the shelter! He was our very first bunny and he completely captured our hearts! When we first got him, his fur was all brown and coarse due to his malnutrition, but now he is all black and silky. He also has his lovely wife Pepper to keep him company. The shelter guessed that he was around 2 years when we got him, so we are going to call this Chester's 3rd birthday! We gave him some pineapple, which is one of his favorite sweet treats, to celebrate. HAPPY 3RD BIRTHDAY CHESTER! =3

Walmart Beauty Box Fall 2014

For those of you who don't know, Walmart has recently come out with a beauty box of their own. It's $5 for each box, and they are reportedly going to come out every "season", so four times a year. They don't give out really any information about the quantity or specific products except that they will be beauty products, but for $5 I was willing to give it a chance.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #25 - Inspired by Fashion

I am not someone who pays attention all that much to fashion, so to get inspiration, I browsed one of my Us Weekly magazines that I somehow get delivered every week for free (no idea how, I never asked for it!). There, I found out that one of the new fashion trend is "perforated leather".

Where Have I Been for Five Days?

So, I have been pretty busy (in a fun way!) since Wednesday, and I thought I would give a little update about that.

On Thursday evening, I had the privilege of seeing one of my favorite bands for the second time: OK Go! The show was amazing. They are very charismatic performers and really enjoy getting personally involved with the audience. The show featured a few sessions of Q&A with audience members, Damien making his way into the crowd to play a few songs, Tim crowd surfing (by request), recording the audience making drum sounds and using them as the background track for a song, and inviting people up on stage to dance to the final song (which I got to do!!). Oh and Damien and Tim performed a scene from Les Miserables while Andy had some instrument trouble. All in all, a great show.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #24 - Inspired by a Book

Unfortunately, I have gotten pretty behind on this nail challenge. I completed these "Inspired by a Book" nails on Wednesday the 24th, but since then I have been quite busy! More on that in another post.

The book, or rather series of books, that I was inspired by is called "His Dark Materials" by Philip Pullman, otherwise known as the "Golden Compass" series. This is a young adult series about parallel universes, an elementary particle called "Dust", and a girl who must save all of the universes from the loss of this Dust with the help of some wonderful and diverse companions. It is actually quite a controversial series, as it portrays religion (specifically Christianity) in a very negative light. The series is a wonderful example of a fantasy story with elements of science fiction, while also touching on serious scientific and theological topics. I really enjoy Pullman's development and growth of the characters, and admire his ability to write such a heart-wrenching story ending. I highly recommend the series for young adults and old adults alike.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #23 - Inspired by a Movie

The movie I decided to use as inspiration for this mani is "Spirited Away". It is a very popular animated film from a well-known Japanese film maker and animator, Hayao Miyazaki. If you haven't seen one of his movies, I very highly recommend checking them out! Spirited Away is about a young girl who ends up getting trapped in the spirit world and must help out her new friend and her parents before she is able to leave. It's a cute, but sometimes frightening, coming of age story with an eccentric cast of characters. I decided to paint a few of these characters onto my nails.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #22 - Inspired by a Song

These "inspired by" challenges are really going to test my creativity and also encourage me to practice some more detailed designs, which I am excited about! The theme for Day #22 is "Inspired by a Song". The song I chose to take as my inspiration is called "Folding Chair" by Regina Spektor.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #21 - Inspired by a Color

The theme for Day #21 was "Inspired by a Color", which I took to mean to take inspiration from a nail polish color. Since we never had a theme for pink, I decided to take inspiration from the name of a pink glitter polish I have: LA Colors - Sparkling Jellyfish. I really like the polish as it is, but I thought I would try to make my own version of a sparkling jellyfish.

31 Day Nail Art Challenge: Day #20 - Water Marble

Water marbling: it can go so wrong, or it can go so so right. This is a very tricky technique, even for experienced nail artists. There are tons of blog posts providing tips and tricks for water marbling, and I will share a few that got me through this mani. This is my second attempt at water marbling, and while it doesn't look as fancy as some others I have seen, I am pretty proud of the results.