opposites attract

Oy. Let's just pretend I haven't blogged for an eternity and a half, why don't we? I started my senior year of college and came down with mono all in the same week, so it's been a bit of a rough several weeks for me. However, now I've got schoolwork under control (okay that's a lie buuut...) and my tonsils are no longer the size of grapefruits so I hereby swear to blog like a NORMAL PERSON. A normal blogging person. Which is to say a lot. So don't leave me, please, I LOVE YOU!

All right all right onto the nails--

I love me some serious skittle action. This one was particularly obnoxious and thus beautiful. The white is Essie Marshmallow; light purple is Essie Lilacism; medium purple is OPI Do You Lilac It?; dark purple is NYC 006; gold is Wet n Wild The Gold & The Beautiful; and orange is Sally Hansen Sun Kissed. 

These photos were a huge triumph for me because they were the first successful set taken in my new apartment! Over the summer I was using the skylight in my bathroom for some lovely diffused natural light, and was panicking over how I would take photos once I moved (because my priorities are totally in order...) Thankfully, my apartment has this weird loft thing that isn't good for much (it doesn't even have electrical outlets...seriously, 1970s architects were rull weird) but it does have three lovely windows that make nail painting a breeeeeeeeze.

I'll have posts queued up every other day for the next couple weeks, and also some reader requests to fill! Just try to contain your excitement...

skull candy

I don't know why I felt the impulse to title this "skull candy," because that is the name of a brand that makes horribly tacky headphones, but in my defense this manicure does feature skulls and it's a skittle manicure and skittles = candy so SKULL CANDY IT IS, overpriced rasta-print headphones aside.

Sometimes I start a manicure simply by being drawn to a color combination. This one, as you can see, was pink, black, white, and grey. I wanted clean patterns that played well with the sweet-yet-tough mix of colors. The pink is OPI Mod About You, which I adore and use incessantly despite its patchy formula; the white is China Glaze White on White, the grey is Essence Got A Secret?, and the black is Wet n Wild Black Creme.

I did these nails while watching the movie Party Girl. I'd like to think Parker Posey's character would approve of them. I freehanded the half-moon on my pinky, used a large dotting tool + nail art brush for the skull, a striper brush for my middle finger, a dotting tool for my index finger, and a makeup sponge for my thumb. And I lied--the black on my thumb is Orly Androgynie, which is shimmery, though it unfortunately doesn't show up in this photo.

I should probsss take the time to apologize for the fiftieth time for being the most inconsistent nail blogger ever. I've been painting and photographing my nails, I just...keep forgetting to post them. Which is silly, because I love blogging and I really want this thing to take off and catapult me into a $200k/year blogging gig (cus those totally exist), so I should probably, you know, post regularly. Feel free to yell at me if I start slacking again.

So once again, I have like five manicures queued up to post...which is good, because in eight days I'm leaving to go back to NUEVA YORK so I won't be able to post much. I am so excited, even though the summer weather will eat me alive (me + humidity = dire enemies). Any suggestions for magnificent back-in-the-New-York-groove nail art? Holla atcha girl.

summer mix

I recently required a new (old) car. It's a 1990 Honda Accord and its name is Ron Swanson (aka the Swansonmobile) and up until two days ago, it had no stereo. That meant I was driving around either in awkward silence or using my BlackBerry as speakers...both which were very depressing. However, my very kind and mechanically-minded dad recently installed a new radio so now I can feel slightly less bootleg while driving a car that is older than I am. This is great because I love listening to goofy summery playlists when the weather is nice like this. My latest summer music mix has included Justin Bieber, The Go-Gos, Kid Cudi, Phantogram, and Taking Back Sunday (totally normal grouping of music, right?) So to reflect my summer music mix eclecticness (is that a word? well, now it is), I decided to create a manicure that is equally wacky.

Pinky:
China Glaze Holly-Day
Zoya Tracie
Zoya Kylie 2
Wet n Wild Black Creme


Ring:
China Glaze Shocking Pink
Milani Gold Gems


Middle:
China Glaze White on White
Wet n Wild Black Creme
This nail was inspired by the original Barbie's bathing suit!


Index:
American Apparel American Denim
China Glaze White on White


Thumb:
Wet n Wild Black Creme
Urban Outfitters Purple Glitter

I used a dotting tool for my pinky, index, and thumb, and a striping tool for my middle finger. I really love skittle nails because they're a great way to try out different designs, especially ones that are too time consuming to do on all your nails (like the watermelon design).

Now, we'll see how long this manicure lasts...my nails have been getting super beat from doing dishes at home and at work. What's that you say? Buy some rubber gloves? But that, my friend, would require effort...thanks for the suggestion, though ;)

neon skittle tips

So...it's finals week. I have about eight bajillion pages to write in way too few days. I am probably going to die. I have absolutely no time to do anything fun or eat or bathe or breathe so naturally, I have been painting my nails instead of, you know, doing homework like a responsible person. (Sorry, Mom.)

Anyway, I really liked this manicure in theory, but next time I will definitely be more patient because as you can see, this turned out really lumpy. This is due in part to using an old bottle of Seche Vite that was super thick and sticky, but also because I was impatient and layered on all the polishes too thickly.

I started with like five coats of OPI Skull & Glossbones. It's such a cool ghostly grey-beige (greige?) but the formula absolutely sucks. I haven't seen any other bloggers complain about it so perhaps I got a screwy bottle, but the formula is very thin and runny and I ended up with a ton of bald patches.

I freehanded the colorful tips because there were so many layers of Skull & Glossbones, I didn't think it would hold up under tape. From left to right, the colors I used for the tips are:

Zoya Kylie 2
Sally Hansen Sunkissed
Zoya Robyn
Confetti Green with Envy
OPI Do You Lilac It?

I really love the combination of neutral + super brights and I guess that's like, totally in this season, or something. What are your favorite obnoxiously bright polish colors? I'm digging anything eye-searing as of late.

I have a few more manicures sitting in my queue but I probably won't get around to them until I'm done with all this damned schoolwork...so stay tuned!

funky skittle

Here's some nail art lingo for ya: a "skittle" manicure is when every nail is painted something different. I love actual Skittles (especially the Crazy Cores...I could eat those by the pound) and I love skittle manicures just as much. They're great for when you can't decide on just one pattern, or have a few new polishes you want to try out, which was the case in this manicure. I pulled the blue, purple, hot pink, and multi-colored glitter polishes out of my "untrieds" stash for this.

Pinky: base of Essence Lime Up! with polka dots of China Glaze White on White.
Ring: base of an unnamed blue microglitter from Urban Outfitters with the anchor freehanded using white acrylic paint.
Middle: base of China Glaze Shocking Pink topped with Milani Gems FX.
Index: base of China Glaze Lemon Fizz with flowers in Milani Classic, Wet n Wild Dreamy Poppy, and China Glaze Holly-Day.
Thumb: base of unnamed purple microglitter from Urban Outfitters with the basketweave pattern freehanded using white acrylic paint.


Pro tip: when using neon polishes (like Shocking Pink) or yellow polishes (like Lemon Fizz) always start with a base coat of white polish. That way you'll only need two coats of your neon or your yellow for full coverage--without a white base, you'll need at least four or five coats, which is a waste of time and polish!

I speak for the trees!

It's no secret that The Lorax is one of my favorite books. My parents raised me on Dr. Seuss and my love continues til today--I even used to wear a ring with the Lorax on it, and I have a copy of the book on my bookshelf at school, sandwiched between a psychology textbook and Christophrt Hitchens' Letters to a Young Contrarian. Anyway, when I was home for spring break, my mom and I had a movie and dinner date to go see The Lorax movie. I've absolutely hated all other Seuss movies (except the 1960s cartoons, of course), so I was a little nervous, but I LOVED it. I may or may not have cried multiple times...shhhh.

For this manicure I started with a base of Zoya Robyn, the most lovely electric blue with an awesome formula. My thumb is OPI Skull and Glossbones and my ring finger is Sally Hansen Sunkissed. All the nail art was freehanded using a small paintbrush. The yellow is China Glaze Lemon Fizz, the pink is Wet n Wild Dreamy Poppy, and the green is Confetti Green with Envy. Because I forgot to pack a black creme polish, I had to use OPI My Private Jet for the outlines, which wasn't ideal but it got the job done, I suppose.

Anyway, I loved this manicure so much. If you have any recommendations for book (or movie)-themed manicures, let me know in the comments!