NOTW: Shimmer Gradient

...and I'm back.

Sorry about the very long delay. (So much for having summer to catch up on blog posts).  Every time I even thought about posting a blog, the idea of me typing on a  Sunday afternoon in between doing physics homework over the internet and analyzing rhetorical pieces for English just made me want to take a nap.  

With less than a month till school starts, I am getting back on track, starting with getting my typing skills up and running with nail blog posts.  

This week's notw screams summer.  If you aren't familiar with this color by now, I'll give you a break since it has been over two months.  This is Finger Paints "Drawn to this Shade."  This really is my go to color for all year long.

Sunlight

I just used Seche Clear base coat and two coats of FP for the base color.  Then, I used a torn makeup sponge and Orly Luxe to create the shimmer gradient and smoothed it out with Seche Vite top coat.

A while ago I tried to do this nail effect but failed and ended up just do a sponged shimmer all over the nail.  Click here to view that one!  I managed to keep the shimmer on the upper half to third of the nail, and I really like the way it turned out.

Shade

The red hue it produces in the shaded picture is a little more orange in real life.  However, the following pictures more accurately capture the coral hue of Drawn to this Shade.  I really could have only used one more picture, but the shimmer from Luxe is just so eye catching.

What I am about to say may sound familiar, but I am serious this time.  I have more posts to come, both soon and frequently.  Seriously, I have about 7 or 8 drafts with pictures all ready to go.

Until next time <3

How To: Color Blocking

Good evening everyone!

Tonight I am going to share with you all a how-to post on how I made the color blocked accent nail from my last post: NOTW Perfect Peach.

Oh and FYI, if you are reading this post late Saturday night, look outside.  The moon is the brightest that it has been this year, and probably for a couple of years.  The sky literally looks blueish purple where I live.


So back to nails.

Step 1: Paint your nails a solid white color.  (I had to use white because these colors were very sheer when applied just to the bare nail.)  Then use a black striper to create a bunch of little sections.  

The thing I don't like about this design is that it kind of looks 

like I was trying to make a star and then messed up, 

which I wasn't.  So just be careful that the design looks varied,

like in the first picture.

Step 2:  Fill in one or two spaces with one color.  I just used the tip of a small bobby pin.  Take the nail polish brush out of the bottle and just dip the bobby pin into the brush.  I tried to put dots on paper, but I think dipping the pin directly into the polish is easier.

Step 3: Repeat step 2 until all the spaces are filled.  Be careful not to get any color right next to each other.  Here's a link to the post of the swatches from this color collection along with the names.

In this picture, I have actually two different oranges on.
The space on the top right and the space on the
bottom left is the color I painted the rest of my nails
in the last post.

Here is the pink color.

The red-orange color.

And finally the yellow.

Just take a cotton swab dipped in nail polish remover to clean up around the edges.

Overall, I like the way this nail turned out.  If it didn't look so much like a star, I think I would have liked it better.  The funny thing is that I like my accent nail on my left hand.  I'm left handed, so I thought my right hand wouldn't make the design look as pretty since it was my non-dominant hand. But I really like the effect, so I had to include a picture:

This nail design is really simple.  I even think it would look great as a design for all the nails, but I'm just too lazy and impatient to sit through and paint all of them like that.

Comment below if you like the design or if you have any questions.

See you all later <3

P.S.  I did my friend's nails yesterday for tonight's prom.  I wish I had taken a picture because it was this really pretty gold and white water marble with glitter sparkles.  Maybe later on this year I'll do it on my nails and show it to you all.  It was just that pretty.  So look forward about a month or two for that one.  But I will be doing another water marble design either for this upcoming week or the next.  I don't know...with finals and AP exams,  I'll try to find time.  Okay, this really is the end of this post.

NOTW: Perfect Peach

Happy Monday Night!

If you all looked at my post yesterday about my Ulta purchase, you already have a sneak preview for the nails I am about to show you all.  If not, here's a link to yesterday's post, or you can just keep on reading.

Sunlight

I think this type of nail design is called color blocking, but it my version may be different because they sections are not really blocks.  But anyway, I was really excited about this.  Like I said yesterday, I am finally glad I found my perfect orange.  This is Tu-Lip Service by Ulta.  It's a glittery orange-peach that has a little bit of a gold hue to it in some lights and in the bottle.

Shade

For this notw, I have two coats of Tu-Lip Service "wedged"     between Seche Clear (basecoat) and Seche Vite (topcoat).  The color really is pretty opaque, but when the sunlight hits it plus the use of my camera, it does look like the smile line is showing a little on my index and pinky fingers.  But it's hardly noticeable in real life.




I think another really cool thing about this nail polish (well all of the Ulta minis) is that it is the perfect size.  I have always complained about OPI's minis and that they are extremely tiny.  But these cuties are 7ml.  They have the perfect brush as well.  I feel like it's one of the nail polish bottles that allows you to get all the nail color out, and minis are especially hard to do that with.  Not this one.  I mean, if Ulta sold all their polishes this size for like $1.50 or $2.00 my nail polish collection would probably have three times as many nail colors as it does now.

As much as I like the little bottle, this color really is pretty enough for a full bottle.  But until Ulta makes one, I guess it's just me and the little guy for now.

Oh, and lest I forget my accent nail.
I took step by step pictures on how I did it; however, this is already a really long post, and I am kinda tired and still have history work to do, so I will post a tutorial later on this week.

But if you still want more nail polish designs, just check out some of my other posts in the archive section on the right side of my blog.

Here are some more pictures of this week's mani:

Sunlight

Shade

Ulta Skittle Nails

Hey Everyone,

It is Sunday!  Yesterday I got up really early in the morning to drive two hours to perform a three minute song for a state competition.  As tired as I was, I drove all the way back.  But when we got back in the city, my mother and I decided to stop at Oberweis to buy some ice cream.  So anyway, long story short, I decided to stop at Ulta.  I had $3.50 off coupon for a while now and decided to use it.

Here's what I bought:

This is a five pack mini nail polish called "In Bloom."  The colors are exactly what I have been wanting.  I cannot tell you how long I have been looking for a perfect orange.  These are the perfect colors for summer!

Four of the five colors are glitters and one is an opaque orangish-coral.  This colors are  (in left to right): Snap-Dragon Me Down, Voted Most Poppy-ulur, In a Daisy, Tu-lip Service, and Fleur-ever Yours).

All the glitters are pretty sheer, so for my skittles swatch, I decided to layer them over one coat of Opi's Alpine Snow.  I just have a tiny bottle of the white polish, so the white coating underneath the base color is not well done, but I didn't plan to leave this on all day.  Actually I have a new design on now.  So yeah, I apologize for the terrible nail job I did. 

Here is a sneak preview for the nail design I have on my nails now, and what I will be sharing with everyone tomorrow:

"Color Blocking"

Look for tomorrow's post for the full manicure!

Until then, <3

NOTW: Bright, Red, and Sparkly

I am really excited about the polish on my nails for this week.  My last nails were Water Marble, a play of off Gradient, and Ombre nails.  So for this week, I just wanted something bright, sparkly, fun, and girly.   And this is what I came up with: 

Taken on a beautiful April afternoon

The base color is this jelly red by Bon Bon which my parents probably bought for me when I was like 7 (this just proves, nail polishes really don't go bad).  So I don't have a name for it.  But it basically is just your regular red, except I think more pigmented.  And of course I used Seche's base and top coats to start and finish off this nail look.

On top I added one coat of Orly-Shine on Crazy Diamond.  I love this nail effect.  It is so easy to apply.  You don't have to worry about applying the sparkles in a specific way, just paint it on there like a normal nail polish and it surely will look amazing.  

The first picture above was taken when the camera was focused, and that is about the only time you will not see the sparkles in this Orly nail polish not sparkling.  Even indoors, the sparkles will catch some light and will just glisten.  The picture directly above was taken out of focused, but is the best visual representation for how the sparkles look in real life.  Can't you just see how awesome that sparkle looks in the bottle?

I think the best thing about this nail polish was that is was free.  I had one of those Seventeen magazine coupons that allowed me to get a free Orly nail polish from Ulta, but only from a selected assortment.  However, when I went there, the Ulta didn't have the correct options.  So the lady there just gave me this one!  I guess some of the best things in life manicures are free.

Until next time <3

NOTW: Water Marble

Three days in a row, tic-tac-toe!  Yes, I have posted three days in a row.  What an accomplishment.

  

Anyway, I have a water marble design to share with you all today. 

Water marble in natural sunlight

I wore this on my nails for about two and a half weeks (I didn't have to take it off and certainly didn't have time to repaint them).  I have absolutely found water marbling to be really cool, but never got around to trying it...until now!  Hope you all like the final result!

Here are all the materials I used.  

1. Finger Paints-Drawn to this Shade (you'd think I didn't have any other nail polish since this about my 5th post involving FP, but i just think it's sooo pretty)
2. KISS White Nail Striper
3. (Distorted) bobby pin
4. A cup of SmartWater at room temperature

I'm not all that sure if the "room temperature" part is a huge must.  This was the first time I tried and it worked, but the room I was in was a little cold.  I probably could have drank the water and it wouldn't have tasted too bad, temp rise.  I started off by painting my nails with OPI Chip Skip and Seche Clear base coat followed by one coat of Finger Paints.

Next, I taped off my nail.  I'm sure if you're reading this post, you have already heard about how to tape off your nail for a water marble design.  I just used clear Scotch tape.

This is just a picture of my left index finger after I nudged from attempting to put the tape on my right hand fingers.  So, make sure your base color is completely dry.  It didn't really show up that much in the final result, but I still knew.  And that's what matters, right? 

Here is a picture of alternating coral and white rings in the water.  It spread pretty nicely and the polish was easy to design with. So happy I didn't have to experiment with a whole bunch like I've read about people doing.  Yay for luck!

This was just right after I had applied Seche Vite top coat, so there is still nail polish around my nail bed and on the cuticle left from after I took the tape off.  But, as you can see in the first photo, everything turned out all fine and dandy =]

Until next time (which will hopefully be tomorrow, because then that would make it four in a row *connect four*)

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: Stamped Flowers

Well, this is just a typical Kendra post: three weeks late.
Yes, I did this nail design right before my spring break, which was two weeks ago.  I think it was a Friday night and I had not yet decided what to put on my nails for the upcoming week. I then remembered the nail art stamping kit I purchased from Ross and decided to use it.

Here's what I came up with:

I specifically used the Salon Express Nail Kit (yes, the one advertised on T,V, all the time).  Honestly, I would prefer to have Konad or BundleMonster, but this was cheaper and easier to find.  It works pretty well too.  There were just two things that I was a little frustrated about. 1) The tool that you use to remove the excess nail polish scratches the nail plate (as you can see below) and 2) the full prints the nail plate comes with don't cover the entire nail.  I might try and show you something with the full nail designs, but I'm still working on one.

Used old gift card instead of scraper

 I used OPI Cajun Shrimp for the base color.  I am convinced that this is a close dupe for Finger Paints Drawn to this Shade (I have a nail design with that on my nails now, expect that in three weeks too, I guess, lol).  I'll probably do some swatches to show how similar the two are.
The white and black flowers are just polish from my nail stripers.

Flower is the top left one

So what did I learn from this:

1. Cheap nail kit at Ross ($6.95, I think)
2. Don't use the nail scraper provided
3. Don't expect grand results from the cheap
4. DO the white flowers first so that they don't have black residue left from the black flower (unless you want to clean after every use...but I'm just too lazy for that)

Nails From Three Weeks Ago!

Okay, so yet again I have discovered another picture in my queue of some nails I did three weeks ago.

These were both fun and annoying to do. I always like the nail designs that require attention to detail, and these do. The only thing is that my white striper was a little thick and I couldn't get the lines as precise as I wanted them. But I think they turned out pretty well.

Oh and another downside, it was pretty late when I decided to paint my nails, so late that I only had time to paint the right hand with the design and leave the left hand with just the background color. But it made for a cool balance and I was too tied to take it off.

I used Finger Paints-Drawn to this Shade and a white striper.

If you do want to try this design, make sure you have a thin liner and enough time to completely finish it.

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

NOTW-Valentine's Day

Yes, it is early Thursday morning, but I did paint my nails last week for that special holiday that was on Tuesday. I used OPI Arctic Snow and OPI Big Apple Red, alternating in each finger and then painted the opposite colored dots. In was really easy and I think made for a cute, simple design.

This holiday was a little different because my brother was away at college, so it was just my mother and I. But he still sent us a card and my mother and I had some gifts for each other. And at school, even though I'm in 11th grade, one of my classes had those candy boxes. You know, the ones where people walk around and slip a valentine in them.

Overalls it was a good day. Tell me how yours went!

Extra NOTW!

As I was flipping through my photos on my iPod, I stumbled across this nail art design from my first week of school way back in August. I really liked this design but I guess I just didn't bother posting the final result.

I just did the diagonal stripes on the thumb and ring fingers, leaving the other three fingers a solid coraly-orange colors. For this design I used Finger Paints-Drawn to this Shade and silver and white stripers. The color is more coral pink, I have a good photo of just a plain manicure on an earlier post "Nails of the Week-Coral!!!"