Colorful Dots on White

Hello anyone who still might be lurking! I know I've been gone a while, but I really felt the urge to post my mani today. Hopefully it's a sign I might be ready to return for good, but we'll see. I haven't been doing nail art much; I've been busy at work and school and combating some serious fatigue. Hopefully things will be calmer from here until I move (if I move, which depends on what happens after I graduate...scary), since I'm going part-time at school, and work is not as crazy anymore.

Anywhos, I also got a new camera, which has the option of manual settings. I think it's a great improvement over the last camera, and I love the amount of control I have over my pictures. So far, the colors look more true, and the pictures are sharper. I'm still working out some kinks though.

On to the main event: the manicure! Today I have a dotted mani on white base. It's simple, but it IS the first nail art I've done in months now. I love how colorful and fun it looks, and it was perfect for Easter. I don't really celebrate Easter, but I did hang out with some friends today and the weather was beautiful.

Honestly, I think it photographs a little better than I think it looks. With white polishes, I always get super self-conscious about my serious ridges. But here, it actually looks okay :) The technique is simple, just paint on the base color of your choice, and grab two dotting tools in a medium size and a small size. I actually think I should have gone with a beige base instead of a stark white, so I'll keep that in mind for next time.

Leave any thoughts in the comments! Happy Sunday :)

Colors Used:

Base: WNW - White Cream (2 coats)

Pink: Zoya - Shelby

Yellow: Zoya - Creamy

Green: Color Club - La Petite Mint-Sieur

Blue: Zoya - Rocky

Purple: China Glaze - Lotus Begin

157. Zoya - Payton

Hello hello!  Quick post for you guys today.  This is Payton from Zoya's winter line.  It's such a beautiful, rich plum color that doesn't lean too blue or too red.  The holographic sparkle in Payton is the same as in Zoya's other winter polishes, and it's quite beautiful here.  This is 3 thin, easy-to-control coats :)

156. Zoya - Dream

Hello everyone and happy new year!  Okay so I'm kind of late.  But it's the thought that counts, right? xP  Well, here is my first mani of 2013.  I've been busy trying to make good changes in my life, so nails have definitely taken a back seat.  But I still definitely enjoy them and do them when I need to unwind.

Zoya Dream, from this year's holiday collection, is a wonderfully deep blue with holographic glitter in it.  This looks as if it could be a family member of Storm, Aurora, and Blaze from last year's holiday collection!  I'm glad for the renewal of this sort of finish because I absolutely adored it last year as well.  This color is also a welcome addition because it's such a rich-looking color.  I LOVE it on my nails.  I was actually saying on my IG page that this color reminds me of Elsa from Frozen (I have been totally obsessed with that movie as of late).  It's so elegant and regal, just like Elsa!

The formula was very nice, not too thick and flowed easily on my nails.  I used 3 coats for this swatch, although you could probably get away with 2 thicker coats.  However, the wear time seemed pitiful...it's only been 2 days, and there is very noticeable tipwear.  Oh well, I love this color so much, I'll deal with it :)

Something a Little Festive

Again, apologizing for the sporadic posts.  =___=  This quarter was unexpectedly hard, and a class *cough*art*cough* took up way more time than I expected.  I didn't even really do nails all that much.

Hopefully *fingers crossed*, I can get back to doing my nails :)  Now that most of my classes are over, I'm finding myself with a little more time to pamper myself.  Here's something I put on a couple days ago:

I got this idea from The Nail Network.  I love it because it's festive and perfect for the holiday season without being too garish.

Colors Used:

OPI - Don't Burst My Bubble

China Glaze - Holly Day

Zoya - Ziv

That's it from me!  I'm hoping to have another little something else up for you guys soon!

31DC2013: Day 6 - Purple

I know, I know...I said I would try to keep up with the challenge, and here I am at the end, and I haven't even done 1 week's worth of challenges.  Well, today I have one last design I managed to do on time.  I actually had forgotten that my boyfriend and I planned to go on a trip earlier this month, so I couldn't do my nails while I was away.

Here are my purple nails.  I managed to keep these nails perfect throughout the vacation, which as many of you know is near impossible to do!  By the time I took these off, you could see a good half a centimeter of growth at the base, but very minimal tipwear :)  Proud of my wear time on these.

The design was simple: I painted one coat of the base lilac color, then I freehanded a diagonal tip using the dark purple.  Finally, I used a striper brush to brush on the gold (it looks like silver, but it really is gold).

Colors Used:

Sally Hansen - Grape Race

China Glaze - Grape Pop

Sally Hansen - Golden-I

31DC2013: Day 5 - Blue

Hey guys!  Glad that I managed to get this mani in before the night was over.  I'll keep this post short since I have to leave the house now!  I love these two colors together, they both have lovely shimmer :)

This pic best shows the shimmer

Colors Used:

Essence - I Love Bad Boys

Essence Date in the Moonlight

Day 4 - Green

Alright, here is day 4's mani, based off the color green.  I'm quite happy with the result :)  This mani is based off of the Nailsaurus'  waterfall mani.  This was really quite easy to do; I basically painted the base color, and then semi-randomly placed the stripes of the different colors at the base of my nail with a striper brush. I love how it looks on the nail!  It reminds me of grass or hula skirts.

Colors used:

Zoya - Jacqueline

Essie - Navigate Her

Essie - Mojito Madness

American Apparel - Hunter

As a reminder, these are the challenges for the rest of the month.  Stay tuned for tomorrow's post!

First Nail Post in a Long Time! #31DC2013

I'm excited to say that I have many pictures ready to post and talk about!  And just to let you know, I haven't been slacking on the 31 Day Challenge, either.  I've just been a bit too occupied to actually post the pictures.

So I present days 1-3 of the 31 Day Challenge :)

Here's day 1's mani.  I didn't have a design in mind, and I didn't want to just go with straight red color (I want to challenge myself!), so I decided to practice my stamping!  Not too shabby, since I don't often stamp.

Colors used:

Zoya - Rehka

Color Club - Cosmic Fate

This is day 2's mani.  I decided to keep practicing my stamping, since it's such a useful technique in nail art.  You can see that this stamping didn't turn out as nice looking...I guess this color combination wasn't as forgiving as the last one.

Colors used:

Zoya - Arizona

American Apparel - Hassid

Lastly, I present day 3's mani.  One more day of practicing my stamping.  You can see that this one is much better than the last one.  The lines are much clearer and the pattern transferred entirely.  I'm so proud of these; I couldn't stop looking at them!  I was very excited about this one, since giraffes are awesome and I love them.  :)  I love the effect that the subtle print gives off.

Colors used:

Sally Hansen Insta-dry - Man-go Team!

Zoya - Pippa

That's it for this post.  Don't worry, I have the next mani done.  I haven't fallen behind yet!  I just didn't want to jam too much into my first post back.  Plus, these 3 kind of group nicely together since they're all stamping.  So keep alert for the next mani sometime tonight :)

31 Day Challenge: Attempt 2!

I saw this on Chalkboard Nails today and I really want to give this a try!  It'd be a good way to get back into doing my nails and challenging myself (and getting back into blogging :D)  So look forward to it!  I know I am.

Random Ramblings of a Chemist.

Random thought:  As a chemist, I find myself dealing with large amounts of toluene on a daily basis.  I use it as a solvent for the HPLC (a way to purify chemicals) quite often.  It kind of amuses me to see "toluene free" on polish bottles now.  It's also amusing how I can distinguish the specific scent of toluene now. :P

Sorry, no actual nail porn today guys :(  Hopefully everyone who's reading this has had a good summer so far (and my condolences to those who've already started school).

I've been very busy trying to balance my job, lab internship, getting back into working out, and studying for GREs.  I'm also working through some possible health issues, so bear with me :(   I've been feeling pretty exhausted at the end of each day, and sadly, I'm not sure why.  I've been doing my nails (hardly a day goes by where they're unpainted), but I haven't had the time or motivation to take decent pictures of them.

Hopefully posting little blurbs on my blog from time to time will help me ease back into blogging.  I do miss it...

Until I do get back to blogging, see what's on my nails on my instagram! Yes, I have an instagram now...who would have thought?  I'm actually kind of embarrassed about it.  Follow me @dennieesnails :)