Alternative Art

So today, since I haven't decided what to do for a mani yet, I thought I would share some of my own art. I love doing nails because it's like a different form of art. I also write poetry, short stories, paint, dye hair and get tattoos. It's all art to me even though I haven't done some of those things in a while. When I have the resources to do hair and get tattoos I'll be sure to include them here. So for today I'd like to show you all some of my body art!

This is my first when I turned 18, it says my name in my native language on my left wrist. I actually wrote it down for the artist and he just replicated it. Now I'll never forget! It was actually free because I came on my birthday to get it. I went to Second 2 None but when I went back home I learned that they went out of  business. It's a shame because they were really nice.

 A few days after my birthday I went back to Second 2 None to get this Phoenix on my left shoulder. I came up with the French phrase underneath it as well which reads "Vivant Encore" It means "Live Again" rather obvious since Phoenixes never die, they always come to live again, being born out of their own ashes. It was about $180 (including tip). I decided on getting a Phoenix because it the essence of my being, I continually reinvent myself and rise from all my obstacles. Why the phrase in French? It's a passionate language, someday which I hope to learn fluently.

Then about a year later I went to Diablo Rojo near where I used to live in the city and finally got two Koi Fish in the Pisces formation. Being the epitome of a Pisces I decided it was fitting also, I chose the fish to compliment the colors of my Phoenix. This one was about $180 as well. The French phrase underneath reads "Espirit Immortel" which means "Immortal Spirit". Since I'm a firm believer in reincarnation, (thus the Phoenix as well) it just made sense to me that I'd be a Pisces in spirit forever. Enough of that though, here is a pic!

Those are all the tattoos I have for now. When I have more money I'll start the hunt for prices and artists to do my next tattoos. Now I'm off to figure out what new mani I want to try today.

- Tulip

Caught Up

So today I finally get to post up my current mani! Only after I show you the mani's my sisters and mom have been modeling all week. Last weekend was S's birthday and I decided I would give her nothing less than an awesome manicure for her birthday. With that I ended up giving all my sisters mani's as well as my mom.

I wish I could tell you what the exact name was for the NYC deep purple color that was her base coat. It was a gorgeous almost duo chrome color, a dark purple with a pink shine. The marble on top is my Pure Ice Wild Thing used with some unnamed brand of clear. Needless to say this turned out perfect for a birthday mani!

I tried to get B to stand still long enough to snap a few pics of her marble mani. I used Wild Thing and Milani Purple Passion and some frosty blue color by Love My Nails, I really don't know the names of the polishes they have at home. It turned out pretty awesome though.

On K's nails I marbled with Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away! Once again Wild Thing was a favorite for my sisters. The red is something by Love My Nails. Unfortunately K never knows how to sit still and always ends up smudging something so her nails aren't exactly pristine. They're still pretty amazing though and the colors are gorgeous together.

I also did my mom's nails for the first time and unfortunately my mom is even worse than K, she is ALWAYS unsatisfied with whatever I do and cant sit still long enough to not smudge every single one of her nails. I used Milani's Pink Out Loud as the base coat and Pure Ice Really Rio for the slight orange in there and I'm pretty sure the blue was Pure Ice Calypso. Here is my attempt to capture a shot of her nails before she did something horrendous to them.

It was easier to just get both of her hands in one shot instead of taking two since she was soo immersed in her TV show. I didn't get to do my marble until Monday, so here is the mani I've been wearing all week! I have on Orly Pixie Dust from the Once Upon A Time collection as my base coat. It was such a sparkly beautiful grey that I had to have it when I saw it, I also bought Enchanted Forest but that will be swatched for another time. Here it is in all it's glory.

Then I used Love My Nails Rasberry for a marble with the Pixie Dust. I did a slightly different style to this marble, just sort of experimenting I guess. It turned out suitable enough. Then I sealed and smoothed everything out with my NYC. It's starting to chip today, so you can bet that I'm gonna be taking it off soon and I'll have a new mani before the weekend is over. Here it is!

Excuse the flaws, like cotton sticking around, messy clean up and air bubbles (those darn air bubbles!!) All in all, it turned out pretty nice. It was an interesting experiment. So now, let's see what I come up with this weekend for next weeks mani! Until later my lacquer lovers!

- Tulip

Never Too Much Polish

So today, here are a few of my mani's that I've had before starting this blog.

I called this funky french "Appletini" Base coat is Milani Green Glow which was a very sheer and shimmery lime green. It took about 5 coats to get it looking anything like the pictures. After it was nice and dry I used a little scotch tape to make my tips and put on Milani's Ruby Jewels. I also used Ruby Jewels as my pedi but I have a huge fear of my own feet so I don't think I'll ever take pictures of that for this blog. It's a gorgeous glittery red and it was good enough with just one coat. Here is my "Appletini" manicure.

After this mani I decided to try out the Ruffian look that I had been reading about. For the base coat I used Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away! It's such a lovely bright blue, it's even my current pedi.  I used Sally Hansen's Xtreme Wear Hot Magenta as an accent color which was a beautiful bright and shimmery pink. For the contrast color on top I used Milani Silver Dazzle. What can I say about Silver Dazzle? It was AMAZING out in the sun. I should have taken pics of it sparkling outside. It was highly distracting, definitely don't wear it if you're going to be doing a lot of driving in the day time. The only thing I didn't like about it was so chunky but luckily a double coat of my trusty NYC Extra Shiny Top Coat fixed that up. For a first attempt at Ruffian it went alright minus the flaws I felt that were glaringly obvious to me. I'm not an expert at cleaning up yet either.

The SHXW Blue Me Away! was really tough on my nails with the staining, so when I put on my new base coat for my new marble mani you could see through it a little. I wasn't too worried since I'd be covering it up with a marble anyway. Also, ignore the impressions on the polish, apparently I fell asleep before it dried. Here is my base coat, Milani's Pink Out Loud and it's frosty, shimmery goodness.

I did a marble on top of this using Milani's Purple Passion (shimmery and frosty just like Pink Out Loud and Green Glow) Pure Ice's Calypso (another shimmery and frosty blue) along with Pink Out Loud.

After this mani I put on Pure Ice's Wild Thing which I would definitely consider a jelly, very thick and great with just one coat.

On top of this I used Wild Thing, Pure Ice's frosty yellow Unzip Me and Pure Ice's other frosty orange, Really Rio.

It seemed to me that Unzip Me sort of blended with Really Rio and Wild Thing because I couldn't really see it come through too well. Regardless of that disappointment, K thought this marble reminded her of Sunflowers, I just labeled it Orange Lime in my pile of pics. For some reason I wasn't completely satisfied with this mani, I felt like it needed something more, so I pulled out my Pure Ice Don't You Wish. It was just enough of a sparkly glitter to make me feel immediately better about my mani. Good decision making skills!

Tomorrow I will I get to show you guys the current mani's my sisters and my mom have been sporting this week as well as mine! Around Sunday night I'll probably take off my current mani and do something different. I wish I had more money to buy new polish but there are still plenty of other marbles yet to be created! So until tomorrow my lacquer lovers!

- Tulip

Serving My Siblings

So it's become a habit for me that every time I go back home I do manicures for my siblings, this set of pictures are the manicures that I did the first time around I went home. I wish I could tell you what polish I used to do their marbling but I don't remember the names. Some of the brands I used were Sally Hansen, Love My Nails and Milani, NYC.

B's Nails:

K's Nails:

S's Nails:

      

Last but not least, I also did my nails that same weekend after taking off my Sally Hansen HD Laser marble.

I know for the base coat I used Sally Hansen's French Tip for the marble itself I cannot recall the names but they were Love My Nails polishes. I dubbed this one "Tye Dye Swirl"

Tomorrow I'll be sure to show you some of the other marbles I did before I finally, finally get to my current mani (probably by Friday). Until tomorrow my lacquer lovers!

- Tulip