My Glass Nail File

Readers, this is my beautiful glass nail file that use every time I do my nails.

My mother bought this at one of those craft fairs four or five years ago.  (I think it was $3, which compared to the prices now, is not a lot for a file).  At the time, I really wasn't that into nail polish, so I didn't pay any attention to it.  But a couple years ago, my mother suggested I use this for when I shape my nails.  Now it pains me---I literally cringe---every time I don't get to use this nail file. 

Basically, it's your regular glass file.  One side is more gritty (rougher) than the other, but I can't remember which.  I mostly just use the one with the diamonds on them because I can grip it better.    After I take off the previous nail polish, most of the time I wash my hands in warm, soapy water and go straight to filing my nails.  I don't know if that is the healthiest way to do it, but it works for me.  If it's been while since I clipped my nails, then I go ahead and take some clippers and then file.

I haven't been a fan of any other shape than the round nail look.  I did try a squarish shape (for pictures click here!) but it really wasn't even that different.  Almond nails always look cool, but I'm a little to conservative to try that look, so I just stick to basic shape of my cuticle and smile line.

All in all, this is THE BEST file that I have ever used, and I'm sure other glass files will produce the same results.  What is your favorite finger nail file?

P.S.  Connect Four!  This is my fourth post in a row, and I am really excited about that.

P.P.S.  There's a sneak peak of my NOTW for this week in that last photo.  So look for that one tomorrow (if I have any brain power left after I take the ACT).

NOTW: Sponged Gold and Berry

Happy Friday.  I think this post managed to make it within three weeks of the last, so I'm getting better.  Lately it's been so busy with school that I really only painted my nails twice in the last two months.  So even if I wanted to post more often, I wouldn't have anything to talk about.

But on a higher note, I am going to be posting more regularly.  I have realized that when I don't have a pretty perfect nail polish on my nails, I begin to pick at it during class and then become distracted.  Yeah, sometimes I get distracted from staring at the pretty nail color a day after I paint them, but it's not as bad as literally picking the color from my nails.  So really look for some more frequent posts, I'm serious this time.

For today's Nails of the Week (that were worn three weeks ago), I have a sponged on nail design.  I started off with two coats of Ulta's Fushiamania.   I then took a makeup sponge and sponged on Orly's Luxe over top.  At first I was going to do sort of a fade going up the nail, but I decided to just sponge the gold on the entire nail.  I actually like my right better, but I took this pictures about 4 days after I painted them, and the right hand had a few chips.

However, the chips obviously weren't that bad since I continued to wear this polish for the rest of that week and the next.  I had two test coming up, a debate for English, two papers to write and a presentation for Physics.  My life is complicated...like everyone else's.

Sorry the picture is so dark.  It almost makes my hands look dead.  But I needed to hurry up and take a picture of my nails before any more chips happened and it wasn't very sunny outside at the time.  The homemade berry color is more vibrant and "poppy" in real life, and the gold glitter on top sparkles more in the sunlight.

SIDENOTE: I actually darkened Fushiamania with a good few pours of black nail polish because it looked too similar to China Glaze's Make an Entrance.  (Click here to see a NOTW of Make an Entrance)

I just cut a triangular piece from a round makeup sponge.

Apply the nail polish directly onto the corner of the
torn makeup sponge for best results.

Overall, this is a pretty fool-proof nail design.  If you are tired of the same plain nails, certainly give this a try.  All you need is a base color, a glitter nail polish, and a old makeup sponge.  I seriously got this one from my mother who bought it about 15 years ago, not even joking.

I promise promise promise that I will post more frequently.  I didn't have school today, so I might even post another nail of the week from last week, or maybe start on some of the "Other Tales" that my blog name suggests I will have.  Guess you'll just have to come back to see what the next post will be.  And yes, that just rhymed =]

NOTW---Ombré Nails

Hey Everyone!


This is my first post with my new blog title: "Nails and Tales,"  And I thought I would start it off with some Ombre Nails of the Week.  I know this trend has been going around for a while.  It took a lot of convincing myself to try this look because I never am one to wear different color nail polish colors on my nails without some type of design.  But I am glad that I tried this because I am absolutely loving it.

The main color I used for this design is China Glaze-Make an Entrance (located on my ring finger) and then added drops of white and black to form the different hues on the rest of the fingers and thumb.  I only used one coat of color in between Seche Vite base and top coats.  

I kept this design on for one week, as I normally do.  But I easily could have worn this look for at least another three or four days because it did not chip at all.  If you all are thinking about trying the ombré look, hurry up fast before this fad runs out.

NOTW---Tribal Art

Update: I'm not sure why I forgot to upload these nails, I did them about a month ago.  But I still wanted to share them with you.  I have two more that I need to upload, so be on the lookout for those.


For this weeks "Nails of the Week" I have decided to go bigger than I ever have before.  I was a little puzzled as to what I should do with my nails this week.  Last week I did a bright pink with silver and black criss-cross lines over top with silver and black flowers on the middle fingers (sorry I don't have a picture).

So this week I was planning on doing just a plain design with maybe a shimmer polish. BUT, I just recently discovered pinterest.com and as I was searching through their nails section, I found this design:   

http://weheartit.com/entry/7873474/via/ashleypola

As you can see, I modified the pointer and pinkie a lot, while I just changed a little on the thumb because that detail was just a little to detailed for me to handle.

Left Hand (I'm left handed so I think I did a pretty
good job with my right hand)

For this design I used Orly- Luxe, OPI- You Don't Know Jacques, and OPI-Arctic Snow, along with a black and white striper.  As difficult as this design may look, it was very easy if you just focus one detail at a time.  I hope some of you will try this design in the future.  If you do, please comment below and let me know how it went.

Until next time <3

Nails of the Week! (Coral)

Alright, so I am really excited about this weeks nails.  I hadn't worn this color for a while only because I was trying out some of the newer polishes I had purchased during the spring.  However, when presented with the question of what nail polish to go with this week, I dug this out of the bottom of my nail case and slapped it on my nails (well, precisely painted it).  I purchased this polish at Sally's a little over a year ago, and it still looks awesome.  This polish is Drawn to this Shade by Finger Paints!

Drawn to this Shade
by Finger Paints

I'm not sure why the Finger Paints brand isn't as popular as China Glaze or even Orly because I believe that the nail polish is just as good, if not better than CG.  The brush size is medium, which is nice, but I really like the formula consistency.  To me, CG's nail polishes are a little watery and are very sheer.  But with this nail polish, it wasn't too watery and came out to be opaque in only two coats.

If there was one thing I would complain about this specific nail color, it would be the fact that the color doesn't always appear the same way in different lighting.  I know this is true for most nail polish colors, but especially with corals.  When in the wrong lighting, my nails look bright orange and does not compliment my skin tones at all.  With sunlight in the daytime, the color is a very pretty color. Luckily I was finally able to capture the real color of my nail polish on camera. It took me a few tries, though.

Nails of the Week!

For nails this week, I decided to go with another polish with a glossy finish as opposed to an opaque solid color like last week.  (For that post click here!)  This is Chantilly Peach by Orly.  The Orly brand is really good, I have four polishes from them and would not mind getting another.  The brush is the perfect size, not too fat and not too skinny, and the rubber top makes the polish easy to open.  As far as the color of this nail polish goes, I was a little concerned about it because at Sally's, where I bought it, a sheer subtle color wasn't really what I was looking for.  But I thought the color was really pretty and elegant looking so I went ahead and bought it.

It really isn't that sheer.  With one coat you can see the smile line on your
nails, but two coats (which is what I did) the color is really opaque and matches the color in the bottle perfectly.  Unfortunately, I got those ugly tiny bubbles/bumps on my nails either because 1) I shook the bottle too much, you really should roll it in between your palms or
2) the ceiling fan caused the polish to dry while I was still applying the coat.

Either way, this nail polish is really pretty.  It's one of those polishes that you can wear in the summer or the fall that goes with practically any outfit.  It not too stand-out of a color, which in my case is beneficial since I have those ugly bubbles =]

NAILS!!! NAILS!!! NAILS!!!

I love nail polish!  Something I should have put on my Summer To-Do list is paint my nails because I have done this every week.  Why?  Let's stretch out our wings and fly back to last December.  New Years Eve actually, I made a resolution, I always do.  But this one I actually followed through with: Paint my nails every week a different color.

At first this was hard to do, I had a good amount of nail polish, but they were all winter colors (colors, lookout for a blog on that too), and when April rolls around, what am I to do?  So I went shopping.  I got a whole bunch of colors and have been painting my nails ever since.


So back to what this post was originally going to be about, I'm going to post a picture of my nails every week so that if you like them, you can get the nail color.  And if not, it's still a good way for me to keep track.  That's another thing about me, I always like to see the positive in situations.  This is not saying that I'm those people that are too happy and annoy everybody like that lady on that episode of Grey's Anatomy who was way too happy and her husband was going crazy about it.

Yes? No? Do you know what I'm talking about?  It doesn't really matter, all I'm trying to say is that I look at the good and bad parts of situations, but then eventually only focus on the good.  This post is starting to turn into a rant, and is causing me to waste time.  Success, I think yes (that rhymed) =]

Here are my nails from last week!
Ulta: Scene Steel-er

 

And this week:
China Glaze: Make An Entrance

more pinkish in real life
taken by iPod

Stay tuned for more pics next week!