Nail Polish Strips, Part 2: Halloween/Gothy (/Birthday)

It's been quite a while since my last post... A lot has happened/been happening... I lost inspiration; I was in a dark place; I wasn't motivated to do anything, let alone my nails... But being that this is my birth-month (once again), and I was still feeling "emo/gothy," I thought I'd muster up some energy to do something... :P

I decided to use some old nail polish strips that I bought ages ago... They are by Sally Hansen, called "Numbskull." I decided to make it into a "gothic lolita" theme, so I decided to draw some roses around the cuticle, and put a red heart on the ring finger. I used Sephora by OPI's "Sample Sale" for the bright red, "Leaf Him at the Altar" for the green, and Essie's "Masquerade Belle" for the dark red roses. I used a white striper and a light pink polish to draw the swirlies inside the roses.

For my toes, I thought I'd continue the theme, but keep it really simple. I used Butter London's "The Black Knight" as a base. I wanted a black color but not just plain black. This one has flecks of blue and red in it, so it's kind of a "party" color (for my birthday)... :P I'm not a fan of "Nightmare Before Christmas," but I like the look of Jack Skellington's suit, and it also kind of reminded me of the book "Night Circus" (which I still need to finish...), so I thought I'd draw some white stripes on the big toes, to bring the Halloween/Birthday theme together...

Well, this year, I'm honored to have a couple of new friends help me celebrate my birthday next week, so in a sense, it's better than the past couple of years... ;) Hopefully, it's a start for better things coming... :)

Nail Polish Strips

So, I've been seeing a few of these "newspaper nail art" on Pinterest, and I saw one with some roses, like a "Parisian theme", so I thought I'd create my own version. ;)

I thought I would make it like in the olden days where street vendors would wrap the flowers in newspaper (I think... LOL), so I thought of making the newspaper part like a french manicure. I decided to use those nail polish strips for the effect, but I couldn't find one that was exactly like newspaper print, so I got the next closest thing.

I used Sally Hansen's Salon Effects "Love Letter" nail polish strips. I cut them in a chevron shape to make it look like the edges of the newspaper. And since I only needed to cover half my nail, I was able to use one strip for two nails. As always, for the base I used Vinylux in "Lavishly Loved" and for the clear part, I thought I'd add a little shimmer with Revlon Moon Candy's "Orbit". After I laid down the "Love Letter" chevron strips, I drew on some roses with Essie's "Cute as a Button", and added a few light pink buds, and leaves with China Glaze's "Aquadelic". After I coated the whole nail with regular shiny top coat, I used a matte top coat over the "paper" part for added effect. I think it came out pretty nice, even though it doesn't exactly look like newspaper print, but I can imagine that maybe it was a newspaper from medieval times, or maybe it's actually wrapped with a love letter or some song lyrics... ;)

For my toe nails, I also used some nail polish strips I bought a long time ago from Sephora.

I thought I'd used this cherry design for summer. Since my toes nails are small, I used one strip for 2-3 nails. I kind of wanted to make it look kitschy or like fabric, so I thought I'd add an edging like a "scalloped trimming" or a "pom-pom trimming" with Essie's "Cute as a Button". The dotting didn't come out as clear as I wanted to, but I still think it came out cute. ;)

Spring Flowers, Floating Petals

I've been feeling a little better recently, so I thought I'd put a little more effort into my nails this month. It's kind of a "re-do" of my previous nail art, but with a little more detail.

Like always, I used Vinylux as my "base coat", and I used essie's "Go Ginza" as the base color. It's a really pretty petal-color, that reminds me of cherry blossoms. I had some dried flowers, so I plucked the petals and and placed them on like they were floating in the air. Then I added Nails Inc.'s "Westbourne Gardens" to add a little 'bling' and some movement.

The picture is not that great, but for my toes I decided to make it look like petals floating in the sky. The base color is Sephora by OPI's "Havana Dreams" and I touched it up with Nails Inc.'s "Covent Garden Mews" and "Columbia Road". It's hard to see since my toe nails are so small... :P But I thought that I'd match my toes and my hands this time, as I rarely do... ;)

Spring/ Cherry Blossom nail art

So, I'm not feeling so great now... (I'm guessing it's because of my treatment for my "illness"...) But I needed to do something for March, and I got some new nail polish by Nails Inc. so I thought I'd use that.

I wanted to portray the cherry blossom trees full in bloom, with the petals floating in the air... First I used Vinylux's "Lavishly Loved" as a base, like usual. Then I scattered Nails Inc.'s "Covent Garden Mews", to mimic the trees and cherry blossoms. Then over and around it, I scattered "Westbourne Gardens" to add a little 'bling' and to mimic the petals floating.

It's a little abstract, I guess, and it's not really my best work... (Probably the most 'random' nail art I've done so far...) :P  But, it's something a little Spring-y, even though it's still a little cold outside... ;)

Valentine's Sweets nail art

I was actually feeling really lazy recently (maybe it's because of my "illness"), but I thought I should at least make my nails pretty before I visit my family in a few days, so I just kind of did something quick and simple...

The base is, of course, Vinylux: "Cake Pop" for the pink nails, and "Lavishly Loved" for the others. The thumb is a heart jelly ("thumbprint") cookie, using Sally Hansen's "Perky Pink" (as seen in my hand) and OPI's Tints "Be Magentale with Me" to make it pinker. I used Zoya's Pixie Dust "Godiva" to make the outer cookie part. I made the chocolate bar with OPI's Liquid Sand "What Wizardry is This?". I tried different methods of making the grooves for the chocolate bar, but in the end, pressing down with a business card actually worked the best. I actually got the idea from IHaveACupcake's youtube video. :) The icing/syrup nail is made with The Face Shop's "Strawberry Yogurt" and the OPI Tint over it. The heart glitter is also from The Face Shop, and I added some gold glitter from Sephora by OPI's "Only Gold For Me" top coat.

I kind of retraced my old cupcake nail art, making the cookie and chocolate. ;) I actually had other ideas for the "heart glitter" nails, but as I was not feeling up to it, I decided to just do the ones that I really wanted to do: the chocolate bar, and the jelly cookie. ;) It could've come out a little better than I wanted, but at least I was able to realize my imaginations...

I had no prior ideas for my toe nails, so I just kind of "winged it" with a "Candy Shop" theme...

I had gotten a Ciate "Fun Fair" polish, in the Sephora Fukubukuro that I got this New Year's. It's a cute pop color, and I thought it would be perfect for a "Candy Shop" theme, so I used that with OPI's "Alpine Snow" and put a gold glitter from Sephora by OPI's "Only Gold For Me" on each of the little toes, and I used a white striper on the big toe. It's cute for an "impromptu" nail art, and I like it. :) (Sorry the pic quality is not so good... It was getting late, so the lighting was pretty bad, and my camera lens is a bit scratched... :P )

All of this "candy stuff" always makes me think of the songs: "Candy Girl" by New Edition, and "Candy" by Mandy Moore... (Google it, kids!) ;)