New Year's Nails!

Hi everyone. Super lazy lately. I must have 432857 pictures on my camera but uploading them and writing a post and yada yada is too much work right now haha. So I'm cheating and showing you my NYE nails that I posted on Instagram. I went to this neat (hipster) party at a nearby venue and it was pretty fun! They had hula hoopers, a couple DJs, go-go dancers, and my favorite part was they also had a tarot reader! So for my $5 admission I got a tarot reading at like 12:30 on New Year's Day! She predicted I will be making changes this year and it's a good year for it, I'll have success, blah blah blah. It was really cool to have that prediction right at the turn of the year! Actually, I also loved that it was called Glitter Ball or something cool like that and they literally sprinkled glitter all over the ground from the parking lot to the front door and said to follow the glitter trail! I was really excited... nobody else was as amused lol!

I started with basic black creme from the Wet n Wild Fast Dry collection (mine is actually Ink Well from the On The Prowl collection but it's the same as any of the other WnW black cremes). I let one coat dry. Then I pulled out my loose glitters I bought on eBay a while back in red, hot pink, orange, gold, lime green, teal, navy, and purple and applied them one by one in a second coat of polish while it was still wet. It was an arduous process but the look was awesome, even my boyfriend really loved these and he asked if I wanted him to take a picture for me for my blog. (Very sweet of him, but obviously he underestimates the number of photos I take of my own hands haha!)

Sorry for the crappy-ish photo quality. I have the iPhone 4 which actually takes surprisingly good photos IMO. Also sorry for the claw which is creepy to some people. Sorry also for the cleanup because I did this and it took an hour and then I had to go because I was late! So there's my first series of blog apologies for the new year! Happy 2013 lol!

xoxo,
Amanda

Lazy 15: Underwater Creatures

Hey all, hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving for those of us who celebrated it yesterday!

I feel exceptionally lazy as I write this so you won't hear much from me. I suck at nail art. I hope someone can figure out what I was going for here... for this look my base color is Diamond Cosmetics Whisper Softly and I used my Migi nail art pens for the design.

Um, in case you can't tell what this blobbiness is, it's supposed to be the bottom of the ocean and fishies. Hey, I never said I was an artist.


xoxo,
Amanda

FYI: Nail Documentary

Hi girls! Happy Monday (?)! Quick post today because I just wanted to share something my friend Julia showed me which I'm sure will be near and dear to all of our hearts. She shared with me a trailer for a documentary about nail art! I haven't seen this yet but thought it was really cool and is just another way that nail polish and art are becoming more mainstream. Here's the trailer:



There's one screenshot I took of a board of nails, one with a bunch of bows and it inspired me! I want to try this soon - and hopefully, it can inspire us all to try out our artistic side since we can only get better with practice! Nail wheels are a great way to try stuff out, which is shown on lots of nail wheels in the trailer. Let me know what you think! I didn't create this, but it seems really apropos :)

xoxo,
Amanda

The Evolution of Man...i.

Oh my god. The title of this post is almost too much for me, even. And I'm the one who wrote it! Also, Merry Christmas to my followers who celebrate! Santa Amanda thinks you've all been very good this year, and she's planning a giveaway for you guys to prove it (hint: it's going to include some fauxnad plates).

So, basically, I have a few transformations of the same mani, and I hope you're ready! I'm going to tell you a story.

Once upon a time, there was a polish named Zoya Kristen. Kristen was a lovely blue-gray pastel creme that covered very well in one coat. Her mommy, Amanda, has been having trouble moisturizing her cuticles and asks that you be kind for these photos. Here's Kristen without flash:

And here she is with flash:

So, although Kristen was very nice all alone, Mommy wanted to add something wintry to her, so she decided to do some snowflakes with her Migi pens.

Unfortunately for the evil witch UNA (untalented at nail art), Mommy's right hand didn't turn out as well as the left, and the snowflakes were removed and Kristen was once again alone until a lovely polish sent by Mommy's friend Jacqui came to the rescue, and her name was Revlon Whimsical:

Whimsical and Kristen spent a lovely day alone together, but Mommy was again seeking a friend for them, so she added some fauxnad snowflakes to make them happy and joyful on this Christmas Day (by the way, no, this isn't my Christmas mani... but it made for good reading...) and to complement the sparse glitter from Whimsical.

So, hopefully you enjoyed my little story. If you skipped over it, that's fine too. I'm apparently feeling very punny and rambly tonight, but I hope you enjoy this mani nonetheless!

xoxo,
Amanda

Christmas Party Nails

Hi everyone! I'm back...ish. I was really behind on Christmas manis and it's just not the same posting them after the holidays, so I guess the deadline inspired me! These are the nails I wore to my work Christmas party, which was kind of a good idea in my head but didn't work out exactly as planned.

I started off with one coat of Ulta's The Jungle Look - ONE freakin' coat. Below is no top coat, too, and look how shiny! This color reminds me of Mandy because she's always encouraging me to use it ;)

Then I wanted to add some dots. I decided on silver, but my boyfriend also wanted red... but the red didn't really show up and they just looked black in most lights. You can see it below with the flash that it is red, but the first picture they hardly show up. I made the dots using my Migi nail art pens.

And there you have it, really simple holiday mani. I was going to do this with blue and silver for Hanukkah as well, but I've lost track of all time and haven't... but you can visualize, I'm sure.

xoxo,

Amanda

I'm Not a Nail Artist... Part Three

Hello! How's everyone's day going? Today is my five year anniversary with my boyfriend! I'll be gone for the night to go to my nearest Ulta in Connecticut and just enjoy the sights we don't have in Massachusetts :) Any weekend plans for you guys? I have another nail art attempt today, which didn't turn out horribly but was really much better in my mind. I decided to emulate a Christmas tree, but not drawn on each nail. Instead, I made it so each nail was a part of the tree. For each nail I started with Ulta's The Jungle Look then added some sparkly green from my Migi pens for the branches. Then, I added red candy canes and various colored ornaments to each nail, and a yellow star at the very tip of my middle finger.

I took this picture before top coat because I wanted to see if I liked it better 3D or with topcoat... but the polish wasn't totally dry apparently and smudged to smithereens with top coat, so this is the best way I have to show you. Again, remember I'm no professional and take this as inspiration if you want to improve on it :) What do you guys think of the concept?

xoxo,
Amanda

I'm Not a Nail Artist... Part Two

Hi, I'm back! More nail art! Hopefully you all haven't lost faith in me after the last attempt :/ This one came out much better, but was much simpler. I decided to go for wrapping paper nails. Each nail is themed differently, but I think that made it even more fun! Behold:

For this I used base coats of a basic white, Ulta The Jungle Look, Cult Nails Iconic, and Orly Sweet Peacock. Then I added green and red polka dots on the white, a red bow on the green, green swirls on the red, and silver ribbon on the blue.

This was pretty simple and I liked it a lot! My favorite were the polka dots, they were just so cute! I wish I had done the bow facing out but hindsight is 20/20. Which nail is your favorite?

xoxo,
Amanda

I'm Not a Nail Artist... Part One

Hi gals! Today starts a series of nail art I'm, um, attempting. I decided practice makes perfect and blah blah blah but anyway, I wanted to do some Christmas nail art that perhaps you guys could be inspired by and do better than me. So here we go- part one! I had this idea like enlightenment: it came to me, I thought I was genius... and then found out it's been done a million times before. Oh well, here's my take on Christmas lights.

I started off with a basic white creme and added Orly Winter Wonderland to make some sparkle. Then I used my Migi Nail art pens to make green squiggles, and then the nail art pens in corresponding light colors for the bulbs. These pictures are pre-top coat which is good, since I smudged the heck out of it.

(Remember, I'M NOT A PROFESSIONAL. I don't do nail art very often. Please don't judge me for how poorly this turned out; the concept was so much prettier in my mind.)

Here's a close up of my favorite nail, which is what I wanted the entire concept to turn out like (sorry the picture is fuzzy, my macro wasn't cooperating):

Anyway, it was really simple, and with some practice I'm sure I could do this concept justice. There's lots of other people out there who have done this, so check theirs out too if you need further inspiration!

xoxo,
Amanda

Blue Week Continued: Models Own True Blue

Helloooooo! I have another pretty blue for you today, a color that actually kind of surprised me. You see, when I saw True Blue on the Models Own website, I assumed it would be a squishy creme/jelly, and really (as you'll see soon) it's like a neon finish. A little matte, I guess I'd call it satiny? Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself here...

Ahhh pre-cleanup picture! Don't judge! Don't judge!

And I actually planned this color specifically to support a local team, so I added some random polka dots with my Migi pens (what I affectionately call "nail art" because it's about all I'm capable of so far) once that was dry and attempted some cleanup:

With topcoat and nail art :)

Warning: this polish stains ya! (For evidence, please see my middle finger in the picture above.) You gotta be careful, but it's a pretty polish! I'm not sure it's one of my favorites, but it was worth trying out and I didn't hate it (although the team lost so that was a bummer). What do you think of True Blue?

xoxo,
Amanda

Models Own Purple Poppy Updated

Hey, speedy post today. I didn't have any time to change manis this week because of work, so I wore Purple Poppy foreverrrr. I decided to add little dots with my Migi pens to spruce it up, but I wasn't overly impressed. I like the idea but the colors are very blah to me, but anyways... here's proof, I'm practicing my nail art!

xoxo,
Amanda

Migi Nail Art Pens

Hey guys and gals! I'm going back to work today and not so happy :( i wish i could be on vacation always! Oh well. Today I have for you a recent purchase from the Big E last week, Migi Nail Art pens. I stopped because they were doing free nail art and my friend, Nikki, wanted some and I ended up buying the kit. It came with 4 double sided nail art pens:

I got the silver package which includes red, pink, orange, yellow, green, blue, black and white. There are four or five other sets that include various other colors (neons, pastels, etc.) but I decided to get the basic one for now.

Here's a look at the pens:

All put together

Separated in half for the two separate colors

The tip of the pen side

You can also open it and it comes with a brush so you can paint as well!

One of my designs: be gentle! I'm still learning and just wanted to show what the pens can do!

Pretty basic nail art pens, but it was such a good deal (to me)! For $25, I got the pen set I just showed you, this cool zipper bag thing, and the best part: free polish replacements for life. That's right. If I use up my black, I can order a black. If I use up any or all of them, I can replace them all. If I decide I want a color from another kit, I can order it free of charge! All I pay is $2.99 for shipping and I can order up to two colors per day. I've already ordered four new colors, and I'm just waiting for them to come in now!

Overall, I think this is a pretty great set! Even if it had been $25 for the pens and the bag, not bad; but the free refills?! Sold! What do you ladies think? If you want to buy these, you can buy online at miginailart.com and shipping is free right now!

xoxo,
Amanda

Golden Rose Holo, China Glaze Harmony, and Bundle Monster

Hi ladies! How is everyone doing? Here in Massachusetts, we're recovering from a string of tornadoes (you read that right, tornadoes) that destroyed many towns and cities in our state. It's been a tough road, especially since us Massachusettsians are not at all prepared for tornadoes, so it's a big shock on top of all the devastation. Ok, enough of the heavy...

Funny that I'm writing this post because Rachel Marie just posted the same line of polishes a few hours ago! I actually wore this about a week ago, but it only lasted one day because I stupidly smudged them about an hour after painting them and when you have 200+ nail polishes, you don't usually feel like taking polish off to put the same color back on when there are so many options!

Anyway, here is Golden Rose Paris 109, a light purple holo.

 I couldn't accurately show you the color of this and the holo if I tried all day, but it was really nice on. Golden Rose is a Turkish brand with a branch here in the US. Their polishes are super cheap, shipping was quick, and customer service is awesome. One thing though: these polishes smell. I'm not convinced this brand is big 3 free, but it seems like with the good holos, they never are. Sigh.

Next up is China Glaze Harmony, an older polish that I ordered online a while back. I must say, this polish applied like butter. Probably the best application experience I have had in a long time, maybe ever! Color was awesome too and I loved the metallic finish. Why three fingers in this post? My pointer had a HUGE chip in it. Meaning half the polish was missing. Far too embarassing to post here, so instead you get an awkward three finger pose!

Next up: I got the new Bundle Monster plates! I was on a no-buy after my vacation but these are just too irrestible. Plus, I figured anything that might make me touch up old manis and find old polishes interesting is a good investment for not buying new polishes. Right? Here they all are with the blue film they put on them to protect them.

If you have the originals, you'll know the first round the film was clear and people often forgot to remove it. These are much more noticeable and much easier to take off.

 Since Harmony had majorly chipped off one nail and I was going to remove it, I decided to fool around with some of the designs I was more excited about. (There's a lot more, but I'll spare you!)

 Swirls, one of my favorite patterns! And I must say, these plates have a much larger size to the full-nail patterns, this fit really easily without the hassle of double stamping.

 These were a surprise that I really liked them after I saw a picture my twitter friend posted of these. Very cool, geometric pattern that almost reminds me of the shatter/crackle topcoats.

And finally, not to sound too pluggy, but if you're reading this, leave a comment! You can also find me on twitter - Amanda_NPE. I love talking to readers and checking out new blogs. And if you read regularly, please share me with a friend. It's nice to have readers out there with a common interest.

xoxo,
Amanda

Nail Art for Dummies

Hi ladies! We just got hit with a major storm here in Massachusetts (about 18 inches of snow!) so I'm going to be in all day. The good news is that means I'll probably be doing manis, playing with nail art, and taking pictures :) Today I thought I'd show you guys my guide of "Nail Art for Dummies". You see, I have the artistic talent of... a snail. I can manage maybe some lines on my nails with a nail art pen, and that's about it. What's a girl to do?!

Well, here are my solutions, my "cheat sheet" for nail art for the artistically challenged:

1. Fimo sticks:

So as I showed you the other day, these are fimo sticks (also called fimo canes, nail art sticks/canes, etc.) in the process of being cut for use. You can see the full stick on the left, the small slices I already cut up, and my razorblade on the right for cutting. I started cutting these up and, I kid you not, I have a blister on my hand from it. It's work to cut these tiny little pieces! But, as you can see, the results are great (and cute)!

Fimo sticks are available online, you can buy them through Amazon.com pretty cheap, usually sold in bundles of 25-100. Bundle Monster (more on them in a bit!) sells 100 sticks for $17.99 with free shipping, which is the deal I decided on with my gift card. Once they arrive, they are flexible and can be cut into small pieces. It requires a little force, but it can be done! To make them softer, you can dip them in warm water, but that can warp the designs, so you really need to cut the whole stick once you do that. You can also buy pre-cut fimo designs, but they tend to run you a bit more money and you get much less (usually about $5 per 100 little decorations).

The next challenge for me was storage. What do I store these tiny little nail designs in? I checked around at craft stores and the small containers were 10 for $5, and would not have fit all the designs, even if I mixed them together. So my creative solution?:

I decided to use a pill organizer. You know, those things that you can buy at the pharmacy that have days and times listed to put your pills in for the week, so you can keep track of what to take at what time? Well, at $4.14 at Walmart, this pill organizer was the perfect solution! (Can't say I'm not creative!)

Here are some of my fimo sticks, all cut up. I've been busy! I decided to color code them by "type". Top row is fruits, and weird designs on the end that I don't intend to use. The second row is flowers (3 different kinds mixed into each compartment). Third row is (currently) butterflies and hearts. The bottom row is for holidays and I have one little compartment of clown fish on the left. So far I have Halloween, Valentine's Day, snow flakes, birthday, and Easter.

To attach these, you can either imbed them in gel or acrylic nails or stick them in wet polish on natural nails. For natural nails, the thinner they are, the better. They're more flexible when they're thin, so you can contour them to your nail. You can also use nail glue to apply them to real or fake nails.

2. Nail Stickers: 

On the left, I have nail stickers. We have all used these since we were little girls. Very simple: unpeel from backing, stick onto nail. Voila! Easy and self-explanatory. I got these from Transdesign.com for about $2, but they are available pretty much everywhere (Walmart, Sallys, etc.).

3. Nail Sprinkles

(On the right in the picture above in the round containers)

These are much like fimo decorations in that they are small, slightly flexible, and you can stick them right into nail polish or gel/acrylic, or glue them on. These are white holo stars (top) and holo silver hearts (bottom). I got these at Sally's, where they run about $3 for the small containers. However, Dollarnailart.com also has them for, what else, $1. I can't vouch for how big the containers of those are since I haven't ordered from there yet, but I can say they are currently having a buy one get one free sale on heart shaped designs until February 14th - go snatch some up!

The only downside to these are their inflexibility. I have used them on my nails before and despite clear polish and sticking them in wet polish, they weren't bendable and so the edges stuck up from my nail. This resulted in losing some of them overnight, and then many more the following day. They look really cool, but they don't last very long (especially if they are pointy) unless you can contour them to your nail.

4. Finally, Konad/Fauxnad: 

I'm sure many of you are familiar with Konad plates. They are small metal plates with designs imprinted on them, so you can apply polish, scrape off the excess, and use a soft stamper to transfer the design from the plate onto your nail. If anyone would like further explanation, please let me know!

These are the Bundle Monster plates, available on Amazon.com for $17.99 (free shipping). Great deal to get a ton of designs (I believe it includes 21 plates). Now, lots of other companies have caught on and these plates are available all over the place in a variety of patterns. Original Konad plates cost about $5-6 each, but lots of places have them cheaper or in larger bundles with similar patterns to the Konad plates. Check out WowSoCool.com, BornPretty.com, Transdesign.com, and Amazon.com for some examples (and if you know of any other places, let me know so I can link them too!).

For me, I had trouble storing them. What to do with tiny metal plates with sharp edges that I didn't want to scratch? As you can see above, I borrowed some of my nephew's trading card sheets (the ones you stick in a binder to display/collect) and slid them in - they fit perfectly and it protects them well. I fold them in third and store them that way. The only downside is that they slide out fairly easily, so if you happen to hold the sheet upside down, you can get pelted with sharp metal disks!

So what do you ladies think? Any other suggestions or ideas? There are also foils out there, but I have yet to try those since I've heard they really only last a couple hours or so. Water marbling is also an option but that might require a whole new post...

xoxo,

Amanda