31 Day Challenge: Day 13

So, I lied. I said I'd have it up the same day as the stripes post, but once again, my internet was acting stupid and I couldn't connect to wifi. I don't know what I'm going to do. Anyway, Day 13 is ANIMAL PRINT, and I didn't want to do something generic, but maybe I did anyway. I googled "Animal print nails" and just browsed 'til I found something I liked, and this is my interpretation:

OPI Alpine Snow

China Glaze Sugar High

LA Colors Art Deco Silver Glitter

Seche Vite Top Coat

All I did was paint my nails white, then freehanded the pink stripes. The zebra was black acrylic paint with a very tiny paintbrush. Then I just used the thin brush that comes with LA Colors Art Deco polishes to stripe glitter along the edges. It was fairly simple to do, and I really like the way it turned out. :) I really don't know what I'm going to do about my internet, though. It's freaking out.

In other news, I am saving up to get a new camera, macro lens, speedlight and table-top lighting system. I hope with this fancy new camera I will be able to take better pictures of everything for you. I really don't like the way any of my pictures with this camera look. I plan to have better product pictures, better macro pictures, and hopefully better makeup pictures. I'll give the names of what I'm saving up for below. 

Well, all for now!

Thanks for reading!

~Emily

Camera: Nikon D5000 (here)

Macro Lens: Nikon AF-S DX (here)

Speedlight: Nikon SB-400 (here)

Table-Top Light System: Mystudio 20 Tabletop Photo Studio Kit (here)

31 Day Challenge: Day 12 and my first franken!

Hello everyone!

Today is Day 12: STRIPES and  at first I wanted to do a matte/shiny stripe combo, however,  it turned out horribly, and I have no idea what I did wrong. After that fail I thought I'd stick to something more basic and fool-proof, so I did what I'm showing you today- something on the nautical side:

I used OPI Alpine Snow as a base, then I used my Migi Nail Art Pen to make the stripes. Now, for those of you who don't know, Migi art pens are so good for nail art that involves making skinny lines, or teeny drawings. Here's a photo of what the tips look like:

image source

See? They are so tiny, and perfect for small nail art. I used my blue one for the stripes, and yes, I know they aren't the best stripes on the planet, but they were freehand and very small. Be gentle! After I made the stripes I went over them with a small brush and Essie Mesmerize to deepen the blue because it wasn't dark enough for me. 

Then on my ring finger I did a red anchor, and here's where the franken comes in. I was originally just going to use China Glaze Salsa, but I kind of wanted a more orangey red, so I thought I'd franken one. I used China Glaze Salsa, and Style Wars, and Orly Terracotta for this, and this is how it came out (I only made a little bit because I knew I'd just be stamping):

I thought it was a really nice orange-red. A little pink, but who cares? I was wrong. I don't know if the stamp (Bundle Monster BM08) was faulty or what, but it was very sheer, and the stamp didn't even pick all the color up. I was disappointed.. So I just used the same brush I was using to paint the stamp-and darken the stripes- and freehanded the anchor, using China Glaze Salsa. 

All in all this manicure was, in my opinion, way more trouble than it was worth. I got the idea for this manicure from here. I want to give credit where credit is due. See you tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

~Emily

EDIT: I'll actually be seeing you later today, I typed this last night, but my computer had a complete freakout and said no battery was detected.. I couldn't figure it out to save my life, but today everything's right again and I have no idea what I did. So, see you later!

Guest Post: Nina Ultra Pro Purple X-ing

The other night my mom asked me to paint her toes purple, and I immediately thought of this. This is such a cool purple. My pictures don't really show it well, but it's a shimmery purple base that's got a ton of holographic glitter. It's so cool in real life! I got mine from Sally's Beauty Supply.

Thanks for reading!

~Emily

31 Day Challenge: Day 11

Today is Day 11: POLKA DOT nails. I had done today's manicure in the past, and I really liked it, so I decided it would be much more fun to do than a boring base-color-and-dot manicure. This is what I came up with:

For this I used:

Silver- China Glaze Cheers To You

Dark Neon Pink- China Glaze Pool Party

Light Neon Pink- China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy

Neon Orange- Color Club Koo Koo Ka Choo

Neon Yellow- China Glaze Yellow Polka Dot Bikini

Neon Green- China Glaze Kiwi-Cool-Ada

Neon Purple- Color Club Mrs. Robinson

I didn't use any topcoat, because I liked the way the semi-matte dots looked against the foil. Hope you enjoyed! See you on Day 12.

Thanks for reading!

~Emily

31 Day Challenge: Day 10

This is the actual manicure for today. Today is Day 10, GRADIENT nails, and I decided to do a sponging manicure, pink to purple. I used all Zoya nail polishes, because they all flowed very well. Light pink, to darker pink, to red-purple, to purple. :)

This is Zoya Lolly, the base for my mani. Two coats, and it's completely opaque. It was smooth and dries very fast, and very matte. I immediately thought of this when I knew I wanted to do a pink to purple gradient, and it also gives me a great, and kind of annoying, earworm for Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, (get your adverbs here...) from School House Rock.

 I proceeded by adding Zoya Gilda to Lolly when it was completely dry. This intensified the bright pink of Lolly by like, ten times. You can't tell from the pictures, but it does. I love this. I'd wear it everyday in the summertime.

 Next I taped off my nails, (like with water marbling, just less carefully) to prevent the polish getting on my cuticles while sponging.

This is the finished product. I sponged Zoya Alegra, Valerie, and Mimi one at a time in that order. Alegra was lowest down on my nail, Valerie higher, and Mimi more towards the tip. I really like this, too. It's not exactly how I pictured it in my mind, but nothing ever is. I still think it's super-cool. Love.

Thanks for reading! See you on day 11!

~Emily

31 Day Challenge: Day 9

So, this manicure was supposed to be for a couple days ago, so I'll be doing two posts tonight, Day 9 and Day 10.

Day 9 is RAINBOW nails and this is what I came up with: :)

the brush I used to make the tiny lines

The above polishes are:

• Red: China Glaze Salsa
• Orange: Essie Vermillionaire
• Yellow-Orange: Wet 'n Wild Sunny Side Up
• Yellow: China Glaze Happy-Go-Lucky
• Yellow-Green: Zoya Mitzi
• Green: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Going Green
• Blue-Green: Orly Blue Collar
• Blue: Essie Mesmerize
• Violet: China Glaze Grape Pop
• Sparkles: China Glaze Fairy Dust

I made the lines with the small brush above and then just topped the entire thing with Fairy Dust. 

Thanks for reading!

~Emily

Quick Looks: Tropical Getaway!

Hey everyone!

Today I have a bright, fun makeup look to show you using my BH Cosmetics 120 palette, 1st edition.This is what I came up with:

Everything I used is on the diagram above, please click on the photo to enlarge it, I didn't realize you couldn't read the words. :( I really liked this look. It was fairly easy to do, and it's worn all day. :) 

Eyes:

BH Cosmetics 120 palette 1st edition

Urban Decay Liquid Liner- Perversion

Benefit They're Real Mascara

Loreal HIP Gel Eyeliner- Black (waterline)

Hope you liked this, I'll keep doing this when I remember, lol. 

Thanks for reading!

~Emily

31 Day Challenge: Day 8

Hey everyone. 

I've been home sick for two days now, and I figured it was time to do this post. I'm too lazy for my own good. It's not going to be a very exciting post, but hey, I'm sick. 

Day 8 is METALLIC nails and here's what I used:

Mr. Wrong is a mostly grey/purple base foil with blue and gold flakes mixed in. It's super sparkly when the sun hits it, and I could wear this all winter. I get tons of compliments when I wear it. A definite must-buy. Hard Candy nail polishes are available at Walmart. That's the only place I've seen them. Until tomorrow! I'm really excited for the next day. I'm doing the mani tonight! :)

Thanks for reading

~Emily

Quick Looks: Piiiiink!

I've decided to go ahead and start doing makeup looks, because I love them. I'm starting a new series, "Quick Looks" for the things I do for school, or real quick one day. The first one is very simple and easy to achieve:

All this is is liquid eyeliner, mascara, and bold pink lips.

Eyes:

Urban Decay Liquid Liner in Perversion

Benefit They're Real! Mascara

Lips:

EOS Lip Balm Sphere

Revlon Just Bitten Lipstain in Passion

Covergirl Lip Perfection Lipstick in Spellbound

A random Japanese lipgloss, that I have no idea how to say, or type or anything. it says Jewel Fever on it so... Here's what it looks like:

It's just a medium pink gloss, with gold shimmer flecks in it. Very basic, very pretty. I like it! Thanks mom! :) All for now. 

Thanks for reading!

~Emily

And now for something completely unrelated...

So the other day I was shopping with my mom at Kroger and decided I'd like to try and dye some of my hair purple! I found some temporary hair dye and took it home to try. This is what I got:

  This is Streekers Temporary Hair Color, in purple. It comes in a little cone shaped bottle, and it has a doe-foot applicator. It's immediately very watery, and kind of runny. The way you apply it to your hair is just brushing it on, like with lipgloss. This is the color I got:

Purple. Now, I have very dark brown hair, so this would definitely work better on blonde hair, or highlights. I had to really pack it on to get this color. This WILL stain your hands, and anything else it touches while the dye is wet. Trust me. I'd know...

 ...hands...

 ...forehead..

...the back of my neck...

Anything. All in all, it gets an iffy review from me. I wouldn't use this again, but it's perfect if you only want quick hair color for one night! It washes out after the first shampoo. 

Thanks for reading!

~Emily