Liven Up Honey, It Ain't That Bad

I'm back! For the past week or so I've been sticking to plain colors/not taking pictures/taking tests and crap that happens in school apparently? I also checked in at 99 colors for my grand total, pre-no-buy and swatched all my colors and stuff. Here is a color I somehow haven't used yet, Zoya Yara, which I LOVE, with some Born Pretty studs.

I think one of my first purchases post-Lent will be more army greens, I adore this shade, don't get me wrong, but I want a non-glitter one too!

Title: Wait So Long, Trampled By Turtles

I Never Could Get The Hang of Thursdays

I've been wearing Zoya Aurora for the past couple of days and it's SO PRETTY YOU GUYS. Unfortunately I did not take a picture before making them into galaxy nails, woo!

I was getting a teeny bit of tip wear, so I decided to kind of reverse a galaxy mani, colorwise. Since Aurora was already on the bottom, I used an eyeshadow sponge to dab on Sinful Colors Nova around the sides and toward the middle, then Sinful Colors What's Your Name on top and a little further out. Both are dark bases with shimmer in them, so they blended nicely and added some depth. Since I'm pickiest about the "stars" I mixed a couple of drops of Sinful Colors Queen of Beauty with a drop of China Glaze Glistening Snow and a little bit of clear topcoat to thin it out, then dabbed that on as well.  I love how the holo and glitter look, and I wish there was sunlight today so I could get a better pic! A couple of coats of Seche Vite smoothed out the (kind grainy) holo glitter and made it super shiny.

Title: Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Lonely Angel

I ran across Mr. Candiipants' baroque nail art tutorial a couple of weeks ago and have been itching to do my own AND had a couple of new bottles of Xtreme Wear lying around that I picked up before I decided to go on a no-buy for Lent, so I decided to do something with Breezy Blue and Golden-I. Wow, that was a long sentence. Breezy Blue looks like a pale blue creme in the bottle, but has a silver shimmer to it that I didn't notice until it was actually on. Regardless, I like it.

I really like this. It could just be that I'm obsessed with Golden-I (almost a third of the way though my second bottle!) or it could be that this is AWESOME. I used hole-reinforcement stickers to do the line, since I'm horribly unsteady with freehand work, and a combination of my dotting tools and a small paintbrush for the design.

Title from Doctor Who, "The Girl In The Fireplace"

Valentine's Day Water Marble!!

I did another one! AND I only redid like...six of them because I didn't like them. Is that a lot? I'm picky.

Sorry for the sloppy pic, but I had to take it with a self-timer, holding the camera with my chin...don't ask. I used Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Golden-I as my base, and the marble with Julep Delaunay, more Golden-I, Julep Eileen, and Julep Georgia. One coat of Seche Vite and I was good to go!

Valentine's Day Ruffle Manicure

When I saw this tutorial for a ruffle manicure over at Chalkboard Nails, I knew I would have to do my own one day, and that day was today!

Unfortunately, today will also be the day I take it off, due to sloppy floating and a VERY runny red. I'm thinking water marble next? It's so easy to do different things when I only have x amounts of colors to choose from!

From top to bottom I used: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Sonic Bloom, Sephora by OPI And a Cherry on Top, Julep Eileen, Julep Maya, Julep Delaunay, Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Coral Reef, Julep Mischa, Xtreme Wear Golden-I, and Julep Georgia. Some nails I did repeat colors on since my nails are long and I underestimated how many "ruffles" I would need.

Glitter Chevron V-Day Mani

Real quick post-I have to go get an outfit for mah Valentine's date thingy? But I did this yesterday!

I don't know why, but this was stupid hard to photograph. Base is Julep Georgia and chevrons/heart (done with a dotting tool) are a gold glitter Color Club striping polish.

DIY Crystal and Spike Earrings

SO. I went home last weekend and had a chance to bring back some of my crafty stuff, so I whipped up these bad boys yesterday because I had no class AND I wanted something to wear with this awesome army green button down I just got. Unfortunately, the glue was a little too wet, so I didn't wear them on account of not wanting to wear them permanently. BUT HERE THEY ARE:

BAM.

Sorry I'm so excited, but I really, REALLY like these. For steps check after the break!

Seersucker and Roses

So, for all of you out there who don't know this about me, I'm a complete sucker for seersucker. I almost bought a pair of seersucker pants a couple of days ago, but they didn't have my size...and out of my depression came an idea. Julianne, a smoky blue creme that came in my last Maven box, is almost the same blue as the blue on the seersucker shorts I may or may not be wearing right now. This is just a (sloppy) swatch of Julianne, taken in sunlight:

Gorgeous, right? Now look what happens when you add stripes (for optimal seersuckery-ness) and ROSES. 

I know I have atrocious cuticles, but I did do these right before class so...there's my excuse. I've done roses before with a dotting tool, but this time I decided to try freehanding them with a teeny tiny brush I found lurking in my art supplies, and I'm pretty proud of myself. Like always though, my left hand is a little more...abstract. And now here is a gratuitous shot of my nails with my shorts, which are Levi's that I bought maybe two years ago?

So perfect.

p.s. my ring is from Foreverrrr 21!

I Belong With You, You Belong With Me

Updated NOTD from yesterday's plain ol' Julep Rebel:

I did a little bit of a tribal-esque design when I had some downtime before class with my Color Club white striping polish. I did have some drag problems with Rebel, but I'm chalking it up to ridges since I haven't been able to find my dang buffer recently. Look at that, a post two days in a row! Tomorrow I only have one class AND I'm hiding a chip on my middle finger, so there could potentially be a new post tomorrow as well!

Title: Ho Hey, The Lumineers

Can I Still Make A Resolution?

So I realize I've been a horrible blogger lately, but I have excuses! I moved and I started school and I HAVE FRIENDS. I'm still doing my nails every two days, but I'm just not getting around to posting them. I did spend the weekend browsing for inspo on the interwebz, and I PROMISE I will be back with new and potentially exciting things! Here's some Instagram nonsense 'til then:

LOVE this palette. It's my go-to shadow-as-liner palette.

Sally Hansen Golden-I with stripey accents (done with my Color Club striper polish)

My beloved Ariats. Perfect for a beach bonfire, whee!

My Julep Boho Glam February Box-IN LURVE. (plus add-ons!)

Get your own HERE!

Julep Rebel, named after the glorious Rebel Wilson, and a gorgeous holo polish on top of that.

Julep's Oxygen Nail Treatment, on my (never nude) nails.