Be Mine Nails

So, I'm sorry for going AWOL for a few days. The winter guard had a competition this weekend which took up 99.9% of my time. I will try to post more often! Today I have my first Valentine's Day nails for you. These I did early in February just to get myself ready for the season of love. I used two colors I received from Julep: a cream color and a pink with rose gold shimmer. I also used a light purple for the roses and green for the leaves. I used lots of shades of red/purple for the index fingers. It might be hard to read on here but the index fingers say love many times; the thumbs say Be Mine; the pinkies and middle fingers are stripes and the the ring fingers are roses. I used nail art brushes for basically everything in this design.

Portal Nails

For all you Portal fans out there, these are some Portal inspired nails per request of my girlfriend. The thumbs make the man running through the portals; the index fingers are turret eyes; the middle fingers are companion cubes; the ring fingers are slices of cake (that is, of course, a lie); and the pinkies are the aperture symbol. I did most of it with a nail art brush, though I did the dot in the turret eye with a dotting tool. +1 this if you're a portal fan (or if you just like the nails)!

My Christmas Nails

These are the nails I had for Christmas! Though they aren't quite as extravagent as the last Christmas nails I posted, sometimes simple is better. For these, I used a two kinds of gold, green, red, and white. All the fingers except the ring finger have what's called a fish scale pattern. For this, I used a dotting tool and alternated colors. The ring finger is just stripes for which I used a nail art brush. Simple, yet classy!

Intermission: Kayla :)

I thought it might be time for another mini intermission from nails! Per her request, this one is about my girlfriend, Kayla. She's super awesome in all ways and I love her very much. She also has a blog so if you get a chance you should check it out. We've been together for almost 4 years (crazy, right?) We live together here in Indiana after being long distance for almost 3 years. For anyone who is currently in a long distance relationship, it is hard, but it CAN work! Anyway, check back for more nails!

Christmas Nails

This is a manicure I did for my fellow spinner for Christmas. It was time consuming, but totally worth it! I didn't have the nail polish collection I have now, so the thumbs (Mr. and Mrs. Clause) are a little tan. The ring finger on the top is a Christmas cat and the ring finger on the bottom is a reindeer. The pinkies are both Christmas trees. The index finger on top has snowmen (one of my favorites) and the middle finger has candy canes (another favorite). On the bottom, the index finger has snow flakes and the middle finger is a present. The colors are pretty self-explanatory. As for the tools, I used nail brushes for all the thin lines and dotting tools for all the eyes, noses, and ornaments on the trees. She seemed pretty happy with the end result, as was I!

Cut-Out Nails

These are cut-out geometric nails. They're a little messy in the picture, but after the edges cleared up they looked super cool. For these, I used a nail art brush to put in all the black. I used black, blue, purple, and white polish. The parts with no polish just has base and top coat. I personally really like this style. My favorites are the middle, ring, and pinkie fingers in the top picture. Sorry for the smudge on the thumb!

Circus Nails

Here are some nails on the more cartoony side. I briefly mentioned this before, but I'm in the Purdue Color Guard and each year for Halloween we have a themed practice. This past year's theme was circus and these were the nails that matched. The thumb is a tent, the index finger is a clown, the middle finger is an elephant, the ring finger is a lion, and the pinkie is an acrobat in a bright green jumpsuit. Most of these were done with nail art brushes though the hair on the clown was done with a dotting tool. The colors are pretty self explanatory. There's red, black, purple, a light brown and dark brown, green, and light blue. I'll confess this now: I am very much NOT ambidextrous so 9.9 times out of 10 my left hand will look better than my right (since I'm righ-handed). Anyway, I hope you like these! 

Jigglypuff Nails

So for Halloween, my girlfriend decided to go as a Pokemon trainer and I went as a Jigglypuff. Of course I couldn't go out without some awesome nails to match my costume! The top picture is my costume and the bottom is of my nails. Unfortunately, while making my ears, I accidentally caught my middle finger with the permanent marker. That's why there's a random line extending from the frowny mouth. Sorry I don't have a picture of my other hand (it was the same). I forgot to take one! This look was also pretty easy. I used several coats of a very sheer pink as the base color. Then I used a nail art brush with black for the mouths. I used dotting tools with white and blue for the eyes. For the pokeball, I used white and red for the base. I used a nail art brush for the black line and a dotting tool for the white ball in the middle. I hope you all like them, Pokemon fans and not!

My Julep Collection (So Far)

As I said in the last post, I absolutely love Julep! Here's a picture of all the polishes I've acquired from Julep since I started in November. They're my favorite polishes in my collection!

Halloween Nails

So I discovered this AMAZING website called Julep a couple months back and I have been obsessed ever since! For only $20 per month, you get at least 2 nail polish colors worth $14 each along with other presents. It's the most amazing thing ever! Anyway, these nails are courtesy of presents from Julep. My girlfriend got me the mystery Halloween box, and inside there were these cool nail decals. You just cut them out, put them in water, and then removed the back and placed them on your nail. They were super cool, but they rubbed off really easily. You can mostly tell where the stickers are on my fingers, but if you want to know specifically, just ask. Some of them I combined, like the hat and legs were originally separate as were the spider and the web.  I think my favorite is the pinkie in the lower picture!

Tiger Stripe Nails

These are some fun nails I painted to start off the semester! Though I was originally going for zebra stripes, I think they look more like tiger stripes (still a cool stripe). This look was super simple. I started off with a white base. Then I used nail art brushes I got from Amazon to paint on the different colored stripes. The brushes I have aren't really my favorite because they tend to get really stiff after I clean them. I'm going to play around with some different cleaning methods and brushes. Once I have one nailed down, I'll post a link on here. 

My Kitteh!

So I thought every now and then I would throw in a couple pictures of one of my other loves: MY KITTEH!! This is Tiny Tiger. He's now 6 months old, but in this picture (the day we adopted him) he is only 4 months old. He is super cute and cuddly and playful and everything that is wonderful. Anyway, enjoy the mini nail intermission!

Minion Nails

These are some of my favorite nails EVER! I absolutely love the movie Despicable Me so I thought, what better things to have on your nails than minions? I got a ton of feedback from these and I hope you all like them too. The one frustration I have with these is the smudge on my index finger. I guess I bumped into something while they were still tacky. Oh well! What can you do? Anyway, for these I used a yellow base, a royal blue for their jump suits, and black, silver, red and white for the other details. To get the eyes, and mouths, I used dotting tools I got from amazon. 

School Spirit Nails

Here are some nails oozing school spirit! I did these to support my school in the Purdue vs. Illinois football game. There's a classic block P on the thumb, black and gold gradients on the index, middle, and pinkie fingers, and I used black crackle over a gold base on the ring finger to mix it up a bit. Go Boilers!

Purple Houndstooth Nails

Here are some nails I did to try out the houndstooth pattern on my ring finger. There's also a purple to gold gradient on my other fingers. It was my first time with houndstooth. This design was also done before I had any of my nail art brushes so the design was done with a toothpick. Not my finest work, but I think if I try it again, it'll come out pretty good! 

Vampire Diaries Nails

This is a manicure I did for my best friend and roommate from Purdue. While I spend my time obsessing over nail polish, she spends hers on Vampire Diaries. The picture is a little small, but one thumb says Vampire and the other thumb says Diaries. These were done before I had a lot of my tools, so the words aren't that legible anyway. The other nails are vampire teeth, hearts, and the D+E since Kacie is a Delena fan. Don't ask me anything about the show because all I know is what she's told me. On second thought, I probably know the whole plot! (She tells me about it A LOT, haha.) Anyway, sorry for the small picture! I'm working on getting a better camera for my nail art.

Galaxy Nails

Here are the first nails I have ever documented. This is a manicure I actually did for my best friend when she came to visit. These are called galaxy nails and for this look, I started with a black base. Then I used a makeup sponge to dab on the white "galaxy" and then to dab on blue, green, and pink over top. Finally, I covered it with a coat of sparkles to make it look like there were stars. I was nervous to try these considering this was my first attempt at galaxy nails, but now they're some of my favorites!

About Me

Hello, all! I decided to try this whole blog thing so we'll see how I do. Next to my kitten and my girlfriend, nail polish is my biggest love. Some would say I'm even a bit...what's the word... obsessed :P I know I'm not the best, but I thought it'd be nice to share my work and get some feedback. Maybe I can even inspire a few blooming nail artists myself! I've been painting my nails for as long as I can remember, but I've been taking a more serious approach for about 5 months now. Anyway, let me tell you a little bit about myself outside of the world of nails. My name is Casey and I'm a sophomore at Purdue University. Though it gets difficult to balance school, color guard, and playing with my adorable kitty, I always find time to paint my nails. Why nails, you may ask? Well the most dedicated nail buffs wouldn't dare ask such a question. But for those that did, here it is: I'm not the most fit person so cute clothes aren't really my forte. My feet are pretty weird too, so I can't really be obsessed with shoes. I figured the one thing I could have that always look good are my nails! Anyway, enough about me. I'll start posting some pictures of my nails. I hope you enjoy!