Excited to use my rhinestones from Algeria!

I bought this in Algeria last year for about $6.00US. :-)

2012 Nail recap!

Sorry for the lack of posts this year. I've been doing my nails but not posting them regularly, so here's my cheater catch-up batch of nails that I've done. Keep in mind these are over the last few months, so I'm trying my best to remember what I used but can't really guarantee my accuracy!

January 20, 2012:

Just a quick one, using striping brushes.  SEPHORA by O.P.I in "212-SEPHORA"

I didn't actually intend for this one to come out so abstract, but I got to this mid-way through and  ended up liking the random corner paint job. Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in "Pink Chrome" ($1.00 at Dollar tree!)  covered with OPI in "Ski Teal We Drop" (which I love love love)

This one is by far one of my most favorite nail sets I've ever done, because it's so busy-looking. Huge combination of different colors, including (but probably not limited to, since I'm having some trouble remembering after two months) Black undercoat, China Glaze "Cracked Medallion," Art Club black striping polish, Konad plate m64 with Konad White polish, plus some random rhinestones I had in my nailpolish box. So much fun!

My first gradient! I loved these nails, they were so pretty and they lasted a long time, too. :) Colors included:  China Glaze "718 Watermelon Rind," Orly "Green with Envy," OPI "Ski Teal We Drop," Savvy "Totally Teal" (on sale at Sally's for 1.99! Yay!) and Nicole by OPI "It's up to you." 

Haulin' out! - Sally Beauty Supply

Another haul because I'm so spendy lately. This one's thanks to my Sally Beauty Supply membership. I got a coupon in the mail that said if I spent $25 or more I'd get a free travel flat iron. Technically I already have a flat iron and don't even know how to use THAT one, but my sister had been wanting to try for some time so I used her as an excuse to BUY STUFF. That "buy stuff" should really be in bigger caps and larger font. Anyway, I went around Sally's with my basket and threw this stuff in. This is just the nail stuff I bought (to get to $25 I had to buy some other stuff but since it's not nail-related I thought I'd leave it out of the haul.)

Picker upper for rhinestones, Sally Girl Nail color "812031" and Nail Art clay decals #380275 Blue Denim

1. PICKerr UPerr: You might recall from my attempts at rhine-stoning that they're hard to maneuver when you're using bitty little tweezers to pick 'em up. I may or may not have mentioned that. I really can't remember. Lemme go look. Nope, didn't mention the tweezer difficulty, but here's the post where I tried some rhinestones if you're interested. 
2. Sally Girl silver sprinkles: I call them sprinkles. :) I've been wanting some silver ones for a while now but never really felt the need to go into Sally's and charge .79 cents to my credit card. I love these sprinkles. I have the gold ones and the pink ones too. It's amazing how much they help "busy up" my nails when I'm really in the mood for sparklies.
3. Nail art clay decals: These are so frickin' cute. It probably didn't help that the package is "blue denim" themed so I automatically liked the color scheme. They're so frickin' cute. It includes flowers, butterflies, hearts and feather shapes. I'm really excited to use them. My sister -- the one who loves bunnies and anything "little," really -- could barely handle how cute they are. I let her have one as a gift. It's in her wallet. :D

Birthday Nails

Last Saturday, December 4, was my 27th birthday! Yaaaaay! Here are my birthday nails. This is my first time doing rhinestones.

The rhinestones were actually fun. I've always thought that anything 3D that I put on my nails would really get in the way, and it wasn't ENTIRELY true. I did have a few times when I wanted to scratch my ear and had to force myself not to for fear that I might drop a rhinestone in, but the final verdict is that I like 'em. I wouldn't do it all the time but I like it.

What I used:

• Top and base coat: the usual!
• Blue: Nicole by OPI in "It's up to you" -- 2 coats
• Stamp:
• Konad stamp m64
• Konad white nail polish
• Rhinestones:
• The ones that came in my Konad set that my sister bought me. :) I love you stupid.

Coming up:

Christmas nails and Mini hauls. I bought two new colors from Target that I'll show off, plus I have two more Konad plates coming in the mail. I got some birthday money from my dad and decided to spend it on lots of little things instead of one big thing, so now I'm one happy 27-year-old with DVDs and a cute apron and nail stuff and DVDs on the way. Come in UPS, step on it!