French Twist

Hello everyone!
I know this blog is mainly a nail art blog, but I decided to throw a hair post in here every now and then.

My hair is in desperate need of a trim.  It's prob 2 months overdue, easily.  The good thing about having curly hair is that no one can tell how badly you need a trim.  I twirl my hair a lot (actually a lot doesn't even come close to how much I twirl it).  I think that has some kind of effect on my hair's damaged state.  So, in order to keep it out of my hands, I decided to do an up do that would make me want to leave it alone.

I tried the french twist.

Being a curly girl, I had to style it when it was wet, otherwise, it would have been close to impossible.
I think it turned out pretty wonderfully, considering it literally took me a matter of minutes and it lasted all day. The best part is that I didn't touch it all day, which it exactly what I was hoping to achieve!  I've been trying to grow it out, so I think putting it out of my reach more often will only improve the condition of my hair.

xoxo
j

New Years Nails?

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. I am getting pretty bored with my nails after a day or 2. I'm already about a quarter of the way through my big acetone bottle. This could get costly...

I wanted to do some kind of New Years nail art, but what I came up with isn't anything out of the ordinary.

For this simple look, I used:
Orly Nail Defense for my base coat;
2 coats of Confetti in Black Tie;
Scotch tape, of course;
Konad plate m3;
Orly Shine (the silver);
and Essie to dry for as my top coat.
Enjoy :)
xoxo j

Christmas nails using scotch tape

I've been looking at a lot of nail art blogs for tips and I came across this one:http://chloesnails.blogspot.com/. Here is where I found out that scotch tape is a staple in the nail art community and here is where I found out that it is scotch tape that makes the perfect french nail.

The marbling I tried turned out ok for my first try, but like I mentioned on that post, some of the red bled into the white and made pink. I didn't want pink and since it wasn't perfect, the peppermint marble nails were very short lived. I still wanted a Christmas theme though. So I created a french tip mani that's Christmas inspired.

With clean nails, I applied two coats of Sally Hansen's You-Gurt Style.

Next I taped off my tips and painted them white using two coats of Finger Paints Paper Mache. After I removed the tape, I used Essie's to dry for as my top coat.

To make it Christmas-like, I taped off the whole white tip and most of the nail above it, leaving only a thin strip above the white tip. I painted that strip with one coat of China Glaze's Ruby Pumps. I removed the tape and painted with another coat of Essie's to dry for.

Here is the result...



I think it's very nice and clean--simple. I really wanted to try using my Konad stamping plates (since I haven't gotten a chance to use them!), but I found that the Finger Paints Paper Mache polish didn't do the job.

Today I did some research and found a few blogs that offer alternatives to Konad's special stamping polishes. I don't remember the blog names, but I promise to give credit where credit is due in the future.

After my research, I bought a suggested polish--Orly's White Tips. This polished was perfect for stamping little white snowflakes from Konad plate m59. The white snowflakes look nice, but I took it a step further and also added red snowflakes using Sally Hansen's Resilient Red, which is another great polish for stamping.

Here's my final result :) I'm quite pleased with it.



Do you have any stamps you just can't get enough of?

xoxo
j

Tame those defiant curls!!

I've been looking for something to help tame these defiant curls. They are very tight, which makes my hair shrink up several inches after it dries. I have been looking for a way to relax them a bit without making much of a commitment. First let me tell you about a real life nightmare that occurred about 3 years ago....

I got a hair straightener for Christmas that year (thank you, self). I was just floored by how my super tight curls were forced straight in 15 minutes. I was obsessed with finally being able to run my fingers through my hair. It was so soft. I got so many compliments. I was in love with my Chi hair straightener and to show my love, not a day went by that I didn't straighten my hair. This must have gone on for 2 weeks.

One day I decided to give it a break and let my curls show their faces again. The only problem was that my old curls didn't show their faces. Instead, these ugly weird curls showed up. They were curly at the top, and stick straight at the bottom. It was absolutely terrible looking. I could continue to straighten my hair to hide my problem, or I could accept it and wait for it to grow out. I chose the second option and it was excruciating. I even resorted to getting a perm to help, but not even a perm could make the straight hair curly. So I just waited and waited. About 2 years later, it had all grown out and my hair was back to normal.

A few weeks ago, I was in Ulta and I came across Organix 14-day straightening. I thought this may be the answer for me, but I need to be sure that this isn't going to create another nightmare. I talked to a sales associate and she assured me that there was no chemical in the solution that would straighten my curls. Good! That's what I was looking for. Not straight--just relaxed.

The instructions are kind of ridiculous which is why I only just used this treatment this week. You have to wash your hair, put the treatment in, blow dry, and flat iron. Then (this is the worst part) you cannot wash your hair/get it wet/pull it back/put any type of dent in it for 48 hours. That's a long time for me.

But I tried it anyway. Day 1--my hair was straighter and softer than it's ever been. I found myself stroking my hair on several occasions. It just felt nice to have soft hair for once. As with any drastic change, I got a lot of compliments. Here is what I looked like on the morning after the treatment (be nice, it was 5am).


On day 2, I woke up and it actually looked even better than Day 1. Not so many fly aways. It looked more tame, but also a little oily and I thought 36 hours was close enough to 48 and I was a little afraid that on the 48th hour I would wash my hair only to find it was ruined again.

This is how it looked after I washed it on the morning of Day 2.



Verdict: I'm going to give it another day. It was rainy/humid here today so I didn't really get an accurate look at how my hair turned out. I'll report back tomorrow. It did not do anything, I mean anything, to my hair. It's still just as curly as it was pre-treatment. Sigh....I guess I'll just have to keep looking for ways to tame the beast.
xoxo
j

My first attempt at marbling. Eeek!

This week I tried marbling for the first time. Follow me for this journey....

It's the week of Christmas and I've seen so many candy cane striped nails online, but I wanted something a little different. I thought a peppermint type marbling would look really neat. I needed some guidance, and found this YouTube video to guide me. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0e81_n30y4

First, I got my work area ready. I flipped over the top of a shoe box and put all my supplies on it. I cut a paper cup in half and filled it about half way with room temperature bottled water, got my polishes together (which I'll list below) and unscrewed the tops of each, and grabbed a pencil and a roll of scotch tape.



I painted my nails in 2 coats of Sally Hansen You-Gurt Style. It's very sheer, but I wanted some type of base.



Next, I put in a drop of Finger Paints in Paper Mache. I followed that by a drop of Sally Hansen's Resilient Red. I continued doing this until there were several rings of red and white polish. Here's a pic of my mess up. I ended up getting rid of this water and starting again. I found it easier to actually touch the surface of the water with the brush rather than just letting the polish drip in.



I took my pencil and anchored the polish to the side and used a up-down up-down type motion to create a striped look.

I taped around my nails with scotch tape. Much easier for cleaning up.

I dipped 2-3 fingers in at a time. The tricky part is that they all need to hit the water at the same time. So I did that as best as I could, then gathered up all the excess polish with the tip of my pencil and then lifted my nails out of the water.

I repeated the process of putting in rings of polish, swirling, and dipping my nails in until I was done. I ended with my Essie to dry for top coat. This is my end result...



So there you have it. Not too bad for my first time! I did notice that the red bled into the white on some nails and it gave the impression of Valentine's Day instead of Christmas, but overall, I think the technique is neat and there are so many possibilities of polish combos. Practice makes perfect, right?

The next time I try this, I'll try to document the process a little better, but that you tube video tutorial at the top of the post is spot on.

How was your first time marbling--success or epic fail?

xoxo
j

A sock in my hair?! What the...

Hi everyone!

Like I mentioned before, I'm obsessed with Pinterest. On Pinterest I noticed several pins about a "sock bun." I thought it sounded interesting, and since I have been looking for a way to soften these tight, fiery curls, I decided to give it a try.

I followed the instructions and made my sock into a donut shape by cutting off the toe and rolling it. I put my dry hair into a high pony tail. I dampened my pony tail and put a small amount of mousse in it. I put my donut shaped sock at the base of my pony, then brought it up to the end of my pony tail and began rolling it down with my hair inside. I followed the instructions by sleeping with my hair like this.

Pros--My bun is normally pretty puny. This gave me a nice full looking bun. If I were to wear my hair in a bun, I would certainly use this sock method.

Cons--It just didn't work for me. When I unrolled my hair/sock this morning, it just didn't look great. This may be because my hair is only a little longer than shoulder length and because my curly hair is defiant.

I'll continue my search for a natural curl softener/relaxer...

xo
j

Winter Frost

Happy Wednesday!

The day before yesterday I decided to get started with a design. Since it's winter, that is the theme I was going for. I wanted my nails to appear frosted. Remember--this was my first attempt :)



Now here's how I created this...
3 coats of Essie's Buy Me A Cameo over my entire nail
1 coat of Orly's Shine On Crazy Diamond over my entire nail
2 coats of Sally Hansens Gem Crush in Glitz Gal on the bottom half of my nail
3 coats of Essie's to dry for (top coat) on my entire nail


Sure, it looks nice, but it was my first try. After about 24 hours I decided how I would improve it. I didn't really like the glitter on top of a metallic polish so I changed it and here's what I came up with.




For this second try, all I did was use Essie's Sand Tropez instead of Essie's Buy Me A Cameo. I also tweaked the darker glitter by using a reverse gradient technique (duh, why didn't I think of this the first time)? This technique is simple--instead of paining the nail top to bottom, I painted the nail from bottom to top. The result is darker glitter at the bottom of the nail that slowly fades upward.

Second time's a charm :)

I hope you all enjoyed my first design and are inspired to create a winter frost nail of your own!

xo
j

My 1st day

So yesterday I hopped on the Pinterest wagon. Basically, I was/am amazed by how many creative ideas were out there and more amazed at how organized and central they all are. You can find anything you ever wanted there. Want to learn how to braid your hair? BOOM! It's on Pinterest. Want to make your own art for your walls? BOOM! It's on Pinterest. Want to send a funny but clever quote to your bff? BOOM it's on Pinterest.

It was only a matter of time before someone not so crafty (that's me!) was inspired to take part in some of these DIY activities. Since I have been completely obsessed with nail polish since I could only buy it with my school lunch money, I decided to start there.

I hope you all enjoy my creations!