The Nightmare Before Christmas. Also before October..

As much as I love my PCOS Awareness nails, I got tired of them fast and was dying to start my Halloween manicures. I tried to just get away with painting Jack and Sally on my nail wheel, but they turned out really well...... So I HAD to put them on my hands.

The Nightmare Before Christmas! Nails! :D

Here's my right hand, that I'm actually quite proud of. I did my right hand at school, and wasn't able to upload a picture until after work. So there is a bit of tip wear.

And then there's my kitty cat, Skye. She sniffed my hand after the picture and didn't quite like the smell. She got close, sniffed, and pulled back right away. :c

For anyone wondering, I take my pictures (now at least) sitting on the kitchen floor over a white binder. The best lighting in the house is in the kitchen, so it only makes sense because I'm tired of these yellowy ugh lights. 

For this mani I used:

• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
• e.l.f.'s 'Mango Madness'
• Maybelline's Color Show 'Impeccable Greys'
• Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear 'Lacey Lilac'
• Maybelline's Color Show 'Porcelain Party'
• Essie's 'No More Film'
• Zoya's 'Wednesday'
• Butter London's 'Scoundrel'
• Stripe Rite: Red (6), Black (1), and White (5) (I believe the numbers are the colors' identification).
• Seche` Vite

And then I realized... PCOS Awareness month!

One day after doing more leaves on my nails, I realized that this was the last week of September. That means the last week of official PCOS awareness! People should always be aware.... But September is like, the official month.. So yeah. I took off my fall leaves and replaced them with PCOS awareness ribbons.

PCOS: Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

I do have PCOS, which isn't all that bad as it sounds, but that doesn't mean it's all that good either. It's where the eggs don't fertilize properly and my estrogen levels aren't correct, so the egg attaches itself to the ovaries and is considered a cyst. The gynocologist said I have about 12 or less on each ovary. Basically, I have heavier, crampier periods. I have less chance of becoming pregnant, which is nice now since I'm 19 but will be quite depressing when I'm ready to have kids. I grow darker, coarser hair in unwanted areas, such as my belly. The hair grows as if it were a guy's stomach, but it's still peachy and short (not like a manly carpet, but it is noticeable). The hair grows in the opposite direction it should be (female version of a snail trail), and I do have a few hairs that are as dark as the hair on my head. I believe I grow more hairs in my pubic region as well. That's all my symptoms, as far as I'm aware. And birth control is supposed to level my hormones out. When I want to have kids, I stop the birth control (obviously) and take fertility pills.

For now.. I shave my belly and tweeze the dark hairs out. And one day, laser hair removal is going to happen. c:

For this mani I used:

• China Glaze's Strong Adhesion Base Coat
• Sally Hansen's Smooth and Perfect 'Air'
• Finger Paints' 'Laugh My Art Off'
• Finger Paints' 'Easel-y Entertained'
• ORLY's 'Spazmatic'
• Stripe Rites: (Cerulean looking) Blue, and Dark (Navy-ish) blue
• Seche` Vite

More leaves for the Fall because I didn't really know what to do.

These fall leaves are just filling up my time until the Halloween manicures start. Oh mannnnnn Halloween. I have so many great plans. >:3

For this mani I used:

• China Glaze's Strong Adhesion Base Coat
• China Glaze's 'Liquid Leather'
• Essie's 'Shine of the Times'
• Stripe Rites: red, yellow, and black
• Sinful Colors' 'Flower Girl'
• Seche` Vite

China Care Package Received!

Many moons ago on Reddit, I stumbled across a post by chaosisorder. It was a picture of a nail store in China. It made me all giddy, and posted that she should send out some Chinese care packages. However, when I say this stuff, I don't expect it to happen. But it did! It did happen, and I did receive my care package!

Success! It didn't arrive as goop! Thank you so much, Chaos! I might not get started right away cause I'm ADD with nail art projects, but I will definitely be using all these foreign goodies in the near and far future! :D

There were also some painting brushes that I forgot to photograph!

 A book that I can't read but thankfully has step by step pictures showing me what to do. <3

Finally some striping tape! I can't believe I haven't gotten myself any yet. And nail sticker things! I'm most excited about the ones that look like little mirrors for your nails (they're at the bottom of the picture).

A.. HOLO GLITTER. AHHH. <3

Also the cutest little baby bottle of Seche` Vite I've ever seen.

And here's Luke swatting and biting the tape.

Welcoming the season of Fall!

I'm here today with some gradients and some freehand leaves to celebrate the upcoming Fall season. However, I'm in Texas. So it feels like Fall cause all I'm used to is hot, sweat inducing weather. Funny that I mention that.. Because the weather is gonna heat up by the weekend. So it's gonna be more Summer again than Fall weather.

I didn't take a picture of my right hand, but it actually turned out really nice. So for those wondering, this is a design possible for both hands! All you need is a steady hand and patience. It didn't turn out perfect though, I mean, the stems were a little thick and wobbly but other than that the leaves turned out great. :D

You'll have to pardon the fact that in the close up, I have kitty fur and lint on my fingers. I pet my kitty cat before the pictures and wiped my hands off best I could.. But that stuff STAYS where it wants. :(

For this mani I used:

• China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat
• Butter London 'Pink Ribbon'
• Orly 'It's Up to Blue'
• Orly 'Liquid Vinyl'
• Wet n' Wild 'Mauve Frost'
• Stripe Rite White and Gold
• Seche` Vite

Metallic gold, glitter gradient.. Glitter.. Shimmer.. OWLS!

I totally ripped these from SuPa nails. But they were just too cute to pass up. I only really borrowed the owl design. The glitter gradient and metallic magic is my business! To make it not completely 100% copied.

And to see how my left hand talent turns out... We'll say, I get a left handed A for effort. c:

Also,  I had some interesting bubbles show up. These pictures are taken on day 2.

 

For this mani I used:

• China Glaze Base Coat
• China Glaze 'Passion'
• Sinful Colors 'Flower Girl'
• Revlon 'Gold Coast'
• Stripe Rite Black
• Maybelline Color Show 'Porcelain Party'
• Butter London 'West End Wonderland'
• Seche` Vite

Butter London BOGO sale at ULTA.

(Scroll through my adventure story for pictures)

So I have been waiting like, two weeks for this day to come. I had always been thinking, 'September 10th, September 10h, September 10th.... Butter London BOGO....' Oh man, I was way too excited for this event.
The previous week or two before I had been there for the $2 ULTA polish but decided to get carried away and buy some China Glaze for B2G1 and another brand of polish I forget what brand at the moment.. Then I went to the Butter London display to get an idea of what I wanted. One of the workers shared her excitement for the event and how she was in dire need of Lovely Jubbly from the fall collection. She also told me to get there as soon as they open because by the end of the day, all the good colors would probably be gone. 

ULTA opens at 10:00am.

I didn't exactly believe that people would be so crazy about Butter London that the best colors would be gone by the end of the day, but boy was I wrong. I completely underestimated her.

I have class Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. And since the 10th was Monday, I had to plan out my day. I have a break from 9:25am to 10:40am, I figured I would go during that time. I mean, what else would I do with my time?

So I drive to ULTA, park and all that good jazz. I pick up my Philosophy book and read over the part I was absent for and wait for the ULTA doors to open. As I'm waiting, and reading (sort of), I look around and notice other people sitting in their cars in front of ULTA with me. I thought to myself with complete disregard of others' schedules, "They can't possibly be waiting for Butter London. I'm the only one crazy enough to do this. Who would wake up so early for this anyways? I'm already awake so it only makes sense!"

But they were. We were all waiting for the doors to open. And when they finally did, I made my way up there to join the rest of the early birds to find them all crowding the Butter London display.

Also, while walking into the store, I ran into the employee girl that I spoke with previously about Butter London. She was with her boyfriend. He was the one that would buy her nail polish because employees weren't allowed to buy until after 4:00pm.

So here I am, picking colors out and having a blast. I decide that I will have 8 Butter Londons. With 6 in my hands, I learn that there's a limit of 4 per customer. My heart sank.

The girl told me that I should make her boyfriend buy me the other 4 while I buy the first 4. I gladly took this offer. I bought my 4 with my debit card, and gave him $40 to buy the other 4.

And boy was I happy. FUCK YOU ULTA! I HAVE 8 BUTTER LONDONS

U MAD

 

Pink Ribbon

West End Wonderland

The Full Monty

Teddy Girl

Knackered

Blagger

Gobsmacked

The Black Knight

Gobsmacked (2 coats), The Black Knight (3 coats), Blagger (1 coat), West End Wonderland (1 coat), The Full Monty (1 coat)

The three in the middle: Teddy Girl (1 coat), Pink Ribbon (2 coats), Knackered (3 coats)

Zipper nails! With tutorial!

These almost make me feel like I have Louboutin nails. Or kinky latex fetish costume nails.

Scroll down for the tutorial! 

They're pretty cool I guess, but lately I've been having like... Really bad nail art block. I want to wash these off already. It's crazy. @___@

For this mani I used:

• China Glaze Base Coat
• Butter London 'Snog'
• OPI 'Black Onyx'
• Stripe Rite silver and black (to fix mistakes and sharpen the zip sides)
• Essie's Top Coat 'Good To Go' 

I think I put the top coat on too soon, as it dragged around the sparkles from the silver.. But the silver and gold Stripe Rites take forever to dry! It's crazy because the black Stripe Rite dries after I blink.

 Zippers Tutorial
Remember to clean as you go!

Step 1: Paint your accent nails red. Or whatever color you want. And whatever accent nails you want. Also, those are my natural nails.. They are yellowed and gross looking because I've been painting my nails for about a straight year. I don't give them a chance to breathe. I also rip my polish off instead of soaking them off with acetone. I hate the way cotton balls feel and refuse to touch them.

Step 2: Add the black to the other nails.

Step 3: Add the.. Zipper sides.. We can pretend it's a jacket. Add the jacket to the accent nails! My ring finger nail came out a bit wobbly, so I had to fix it with the Stripe Rite.

Step 4: Zip that shit up! For this you'll patiently dab little silver lines along the sides and down the middle. Then add a zipper. You can color it in fully then go back and add black dots in it to give it a real zipper-like effect.

Step 5: No picture. But you'll add zippers to the black nails that go straight up because those jackets aren't unzipped. :D

And that's it! Zipper nails!

Grayscale Fishtail Braids.

So I was late to the fishtail braids party, but I finally made it. And then, I didn't like them too much. Neither did my boyfriend. Or my kitchen manager at work, Jorge. 

I only took one picture though. I really don't like them. I don't know why. Other girls did.. Probably because no one else around me can really do what I do without going to a salon. And even then a salon probably wouldn't do it.
Anyways.. I took them off already. I'll upload what I covered them up with later. ;)

I used for this mani:

• China Glaze Base Coat
• Maybelline's Color Show 'Porcelain Party'
• Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear 'Wet Cement' (used as a base coat for the glitter)
• Love My Nails 'Milky Way'
• Stripe Rite's black, silver, and white
• Essie's Top Coat 'Good to Go'