Cabin Fever

Hi everyone!
Tonight is (unfortunately) my last post before I'm off to camp! However, you can expect some goodies as soon as I get back. After all, it's only 4 weeks!!
You can, however, look at this post tonight. Hopefully it will tide you over for a while, as I happen to have worked very hard on this, and personally I absolutely love it.
I chose to paint something involving my camp. Because the counselors there are from so many different countries, I decided to paint flag nails! Yesterday I made decals using the plastic bag technique. This involves painting a design onto a plastic bag and waiting for it to dry overnight, then peeling it off and sticking it to your nails. I then painted my nails silver and stuck on the decals. For the base I used Wet and Wild Metallica. Unfortunately, I used so many colors for the flags that I can't remember them all! I am only sure that I used Wet and Wild Ebony Hates Chris, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and Essie Aruba Blue. I did the Hungarian flag on the index finger (which ended up looking a bit like the Italian flag in real life, oops), the Australian flag on the middle finger (my favorite out of all of them, too bad it experienced the most chipping), the British flag on the ring finger, and finally the American flag on the pinky.
The thumb is slightly different. To represent the trusty girls' side sign (appropriately placed right outside of girls' side and covered with girly flowers, peace signs, and hearts), I painted the word "camp" on top, then added a funky flower, peace sign, and a heart at the bottom. I used Simple Pleasures in a bright pink shade for the base coat, then added Wet and Wild Ebony Hates Chris, Sinful Colors Snow Me White, China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard, Essie Bikini So Teeny, and finally OPI InStyle Red.
Here are the nails:

Now for a better view of the thumb:

Sorry for the blurriness, it's so dark where I had to take my photograph, even with extra lights on!
I love these nails, and I hope you do, too. I apologize for the poor cleanup, as my cleanup tools are not doing so well lately. I'll try to fix that when I get back.
Anyway, enjoy this post as it'll be the last one for a while! I can't wait to post again when I get back!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Nyan Nyan Nyan

Hi everyone!
Judging from the title, I assume everyone reading this is already annoyed with or extremely excited about nyan cat's cuteness. I personally LOVE nyan cat, and when several people suggested nyan cat nails, I knew I had to do them (By the way, these are the last of the "catching up" manis, and I will post my final, NEW mani tomorrow before I leave for camp!). I picked out Essie Aruba Blue for the base, then used my new nail art brushes (which finally came) to paint nyan cat using OPI Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh, Wet and Wild Ebony Hates Chris, Wet and Wild Metallica, Nerds Strawberry mixed with Sinful Colors Snow Me White, more Strawberry, and Simple Pleasures peach. Then I (very messily, since there wasn't very much light in the room when I was painting them) striped on some rainbow colors using OPI InStyle Red, Essie Orange-It's Obvious!, Love and Beauty Light Yellow, China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard, Nerds Blueberry, and Sephora by OPI Iris I Was Thinner (thanks for the polish, L!)
Here are the nails (again, sorry for the messiness! The lighting, getting used to the new tools, and the thickening of several polishes made it much harder to paint this time...):

And the thumb, close up:

So, I hope you like these!!!

My next mani, if all goes well, will be based on four different flags and my camp logo (the counselors at my camp are from lots of different countries, and the four I will be painting are the most common places that they come from!). I will also be  testing a technique used to make nail decals. This will make it easier to paint designs and stick them on my nails when they are dry! I have already made the decals, but I will make you wait until tomorrow to see them *mwahahahaha*.

Anyway, enjoy! I can't wait to post tomorrow! Good night!

'Til next time,

Caroline S.

<3

Under the Sea

Hi everyone!
In an attempt to catch up on all my posts, I have been worrying all day that I wouldn't have time to fit in this post. However, I seem to have a bit of free time to post right now, before I go and work some more on my next manicure. This manicure was inspired by mermaid/fish scales, and like the last one it was done before I had gotten my new tools. Because of this, I had to come up with something that I could do with my dotting tools. I decided to do this! It is inspired by the tutorial over at Little Nails. Check out this blog, it is really great!
I used several blues- I believe it was Essie Aruba Blue as a base (which I have been using a lot recently), as well as dots with more Aruba Blue, Wet and Wild Rain Check, Nerds Blueberry, and two or three others that I just can't remember :P
Anyway, here it is!

I apologize for the messiness on several of the fingers. It took such a long time to do, and it really wasn't like anything I had ever done before. In the end, I didn't want to take it off and restart before photographing it.
I had this on for about a week (whoa, that's probably the longest I've ever had on one mani since forever!), and I experienced no chipping. That's right, not even a little.
I kind of like this, but in order to do it again and like it better I'd need to practice more. If I did this, I would probably like it a whole lot!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

You're Toxic

Hi everyone!
I am soooo sorry for neglecting the blog... my computer broke and it took about a week to get it fixed. When I finally got it back, I was so busy that I just didn't have time to post. However, I now have this post as well as three manis lined up and at least 1-2 more coming (yay)!
This mani is a bit plain, as my tools recently went all wacky and they started to fray so much that I couldn't do anything with them. Because of this, I had to choose between using a sponge or dotting tools (or both) while I waited for my new brushes to come.
As you will see from this next picture, I chose to do a gradient with my sponge. I used Wet and Wild Ebony Hates Chris (two coats) as a base, and China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard on the tip.
Here are the nails:

 The picture doesn't do them justice-- they actually looked very good in real life! However, I'm sure that  I would be capable of creating a much better gradient than this if the colors I used were similar.
I hope you like them! Again, I'm very sorry for the delay. I will try to post as often as possible until I leave for camp this sunday. Enjoy!
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Flor-all The Nails!

Hi everyone!
I am so sorry for not posting for so long... I have been away on a school trip all over the south of the U.S. for five days, and I have not had my computer let alone internet. Fortunately, I am back and basically done with school, so I will be posting as much as possible before I go away to camp. Before the trip, I decided to paint my nails with a design that was based off of the dress I brought on the trip for one place that we went. I used Did You 'Ear About Van Gogh as a base, then I painted an accent nail with a floral pattern that almost matched the pattern on the dress (except for the leaves). I then painted bows onto the tips of the rest of the nails. For the outlines of everything, I used Wet and Wild Ebony Hates Chris. I used an assortment of different colors for the flowers and the bows, including Essence A Lovely Secret (I need to find more of this stuff!), OPI InStyle Red mixed with Essie Little Brown Dress, a pink shade from Simple Pleasures, and several Wet and Wild colors that I just can't remember. Here are the nails:

Sorry about the mess around the cuticles... I just didn't have time to photograph them, as I had to wake up relatively early the next morning in order to catch the flight to Atlanta. However, these held up relatively well for the five days I have worn them. I only noticed mild to normal tip wear on them, and I saw no large amounts of chipping. Also, the topcoat I used made them shinier and stronger, though it unfortunately put some streaks in the black polish.
Here is a comparison shot with the dress:

The bows have nothing to do with the dress, I just thought they were cute. However, I think that the floral does have a resemblance to the dress, though it is very simplified.
Do you like it? Do you have any other suggestions? The most likely design coming up next will be inspired by Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee.
I hope you like these nails, and sorry for the long wait! This time will be filled with periods of tightly packed posts and no posts at all, since I will be away for half the summer and spending the other half painting as often as possible! Keep reading for more posts.
'Til next time,
Caroline S.
<3

Girls Acting I-Katty

Hi everyone!
I'm really sorry I have been taking so long in between each post lately... I feel like I've been neglecting the blog! I've had finals, field day, and packing to do--I'm leaving for a 5-day school trip to Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee tomorrow morning. Fortunately, I have two manicures lined up that I have been trying to find time to post, and here is the first one (unfortunately, the second won't be posted until next weekend). I decided to do ikat print nails after looking at posts on Mr. Candiipants (over and over and over again). I love her blog, and I really think you should check it out! She does some really detailed designs, and I love her floral prints. I decided to base my design off of her ikat tutorial. I would follow her, but I don't have a tumblr (yet!!!). I used my new shade, Essie Bikini So Teeny, as a base coat. It is a beautiful periwinkle blue, and it has a relatively good formula. Unfortunately, I noticed a lot of bubbles in it. This may be since I was carrying it around in my bag for so long! I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White as a base for the print (though I may have gotten carried away with the number of blobs). I then used a striper to blob on some Simple Pleasures peach colored polish. Finally, I made little strokes using Wet and Wild Ebony Hates Chris and topped it off with my new favorite topcoat, which comes from Indulge Beauty. I only have a tiny amount left, and I can't find it in stores! If anyone knows where to buy this, please let me know :)
Here are the finished nails (without topcoat):

Here is a closeup (with topcoat):

I hope you like them! Sorry about the cleanup, by the way... The black polish is really hard to clean without getting all over the place.

I also bought some new nail polishes, Essie As Gold As It Gets and Jordana Quick Dry Topcoat (AGAIG was on my wish list, and I have been looking for more topcoats to review).

I might have to get new nail art brushes soon, since mine are already fraying and are in poor shape. Oh, well... Amazon gift card, here I come!

'Til next time (which will be in about 5-6 days--sorry!!!),

Caroline S.

<3