Super Bowl

So I'm not a football person...But my dad is a little bit so just for him I made some Seahawks nails :)

For the eagle thing I made it using some refillable nail art pens.

The thumb is Suzi Says Feng Shui.

The pointer and pinky fingers are Queen Victoria Street

The ring finger is Cotton Candy with Quo by Orly Baby Yellow Instant artist

The middle finger is Suzi Loves Cowboys with Chic Chic Horray 

So this one got a really good reception :)

I love the simplicity of it. I don't usually do mix-matched art I usually prefer the look of one solid pattern, but this one worked really well. I tried to get my family to draw the eagle on my right thumb but they all laughed at me :( So I did it myself probably better than they could have done. 

Christmas Tree Nail Art

So I decided to do some simple but pretty christmas trees. 

To start use a gold or nude like base colour

(I used Revlon's Gold Coin)

To make the trees I used tape to make triangles but you could also use a paint brush. 

Make sure to apply the tape when the base is completely dry.

Then paint the triangles green. 

(I used Icing's Electric Emerald)

 Remove the tape when the green is still wet.

Now time to add some lights to your tree. Grab a glitter or sparkly polish and paint it on the tree.

Now time for the star on the tree. If you have a small decal or gem you can use that or you can just use a small paint dot at the top of the triangle.

Now you're done don't forget to finish with a top coat to protect your design.

Have fun :)

DIY Hand Scrub

So this Christmas I found what I should get for all the girls in my life. I saw a make your own hand scrub video on youtube by cutepolish http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6phnnzno8m4. It inspired me to make some.

So I tried what she made (sugar [exfoliant], olive oil [moisturizer], lemon juice [skin brightener]) but it smelt like greek salad dressing...lol if you don't mind the smell it works well (ie. good for your feet :) ). So I did some research and found coconut oil works. So I bought some essential oils (rosewood bergamont, orange, lavender), coconut oil and some 3/4 cup jars from a local Fields.

Mixing that with sugar worked really well, but I started to notice my hands were a bit dry after using it. So after some more research I found that coconut oil dries the skin a bit... *sigh* and I thought I was done.

So back to the internet...I found that vitamin E oil works as a moisturizer. Vitamin E oil is so weird (and expensive). Its really thick, goopy and a bit sticky. My theory is that it forms a layer on our skin and just traps all the moister from escaping.

So I added this oil to the mixture and after trying it I found that it worked well.

So I decided to go farther and just make it a mini hand spa present :) I had quite a few polishes I had bought that I either didn't like, or I had bought as a present. So I added a polish (for each specific person) and then I went to the Bath and Body Works in my mall and got each one a mini hand lotion.

Muse: Rosewood, Bergamont

Lavender

Orange

So I bought 3 different scents. Each one smelt amazing, personally the orange is the best scent

So depending on which of the 3 scents I used I used a different colour (so I knew which was which)

So then I needed something to scoop it out with. I had a natural hand scrub I had bought from a naturists store and it had this little wooden spoon. I flirted briefly with the idea of getting my dad to help me cut some small bricks of wood and then helping me get started chiseling out the shape.

Luckily my mom is smarter than me and suggested I buy some little serving spoons from Value Village, I went in and found some souvenir spoons instead which I prefer. Since I could try and personalize it to whoever was getting it, like for my grandmother I gave her the spoon with a tiny needlework flower done on the handle and for my best friend one from Ireland since she and one of her friends is sorta trying to plan to go.

So I made 9 separate same yet at the same time individualized mini hand spas
-Best friend 1
-Best friend 2
-Girl Guide Secret Santa
-Work Secret Santa
-Mom
-Honorary Aunt 1
-Grandmother
-Friend
-Honorary Aunt 2

I am very pleased with how this worked out. One told me that their "old lady looking hands are starting to look healthy". That made my day :)

Now if only all my presents could be this awesome...

Lol I really wanted to add some coloring to make it look fun but I didn't want to risk dying peoples hands...

Bloglovin

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/11829179/?claim=apw9u5353e9">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

Some Thoughts

How to save money if you love doing nail art, and where to find.
        Instead of buying the bottles of polish with thin brushes, invest in a tiny tiny paint brush. If you go to your local art store (I fond mine at Opus) and look you will find tiny paint brushes. I got mine for like $6, it looks like it has all of 5 hairs, yet at the same time it almost looks too big. But I find it works amazingly well and it saves me from buying specialty polishes just for the brush which can cause me to have multiple bottles of the same colour. I did find that buying silver striping bottle worked well since it had a longer brush and the small paint brush I have is too small to hold a good amount of glitter.
         If you are looking for a dotting tool and want to buy one, and not just use tooth picks and bobby pins, then you don't need to look far. If you haven't noticed, and you may not if you don't have a scrapbooking friend, scrapbookers use the same tool, but they call it an embosser. So visit your local craft, or better yet scrapbooking, store you should be able to find one. I haven't looked at prices since I use my mom's embosser, but I keep meaning to visit her scrapbooking store.
Other handy tools include

• make up sponges (for ombre)
• straws (create a cool effect)
• toothpicks (small dots and can work in a pinch in replacement of the paint brush)

Wet N' Wild Polishes

Wet N' Wild Polishes

Wet N' Wild, The Nail Zone Collection, Eden. This is a wonderful mint green polish. It goes on smooth the consistency is thin, it's opaque. One of my friends liked it so much she went out to buy one, but couldn't find it. All the ones we looked at were a brighter one and more blue than green.

My Explorations

So recently the Zellers in the mall in my city became a Target, so I thought lets go see what nail polishes they have. This is what I found...

PROS

• Good prices
• lots of products

CONS

• Half the product wasn't there (lots of empty shelves :P )
• Polishes are everywhere (mixed in with matching make-up brands), I would prefer if all the polishes were grouped together for easier looking
• not as much colour variety within some of the brands as Shoppers Drug Mart, but at the same time there were differing ones (I guess this goes half in pro and half in con...)

But $3 Sally Hansen polishes will win over me haha. But I will always go back to Shoppers for their clearance table :)

Hard Candy Polishes

This blue has no name. I really like this one it had an almost holographic look with it's sparkles.

This green looked a lot nicer in the bottle. The gold and silver glitters mixed with the green just don't appeal to me (so I only wear it on my toes). Sorry it looks like crap in this picture I was trying something new. If you want easy polish removal you coat your nails in white glue and let it dry then paint on top of that. So I was trying that plus the polish has gotten quite thick.

Such a beautiful purple. It might be one of my favorites in my collection. It had such a fine sparkle in it that it created an almost holographic look to it.

Pokeball Nails ^__^

So I saw this on a friend's nails and I really wanted to do them since I am going through a very large pokemon phase right now. So pokeball nails...

Start with a white after your base coat.

Using a dotting tool, tape, striping polish and/or a small paint brush colour the top half of your nail red 

Once that is dry using a striping brush or a small paint brush draw a black stripe on the red and white border. The easiest way to make the line straight and uniform is to hold the brush still as you roll your finger

After in the center add a largeish black dot can use a dotting tool, or whatever you like (dotting tool, straight pin on an eraser, tooth pick, bobby pin, pencil...)

once dry add a smaller white dot

And you are done! :)

Icing Polishes

Polishes by Icing

This is Chic Chic Horray from Icing. I find it really smooth. It doesn't streak and it's white white. Works very well for any designs of mine