The Daily Nail: Reviews!

Hey y'all! I know there are some new readers out there, so I wanted to let all of you lovely nail fiends like myself know that there is also a Review section of The Daily Nail! I know that some of you already know this, but lately, I've been posting more stuff, so there is more to look at! :-D

Now, I know that my nails or cuticles aren't as amazing as the infamous Scrangie, Michelle of All Lacquered Up, or Kelly of Vampy Varnish, but I wanted to focus on stuff like whether the polishes are good for nail art or Konad as well as just nail color, which is something that I found myself wondering when I first started getting into the blogging and serious nail polish hoarding. :-D

Hope that you like what you see, and if you have any suggestions that you'd like to see, please feel free to comment and let me know! :)

You can find the reviews/swatches at http://reviews.thedailynailblog.com!

-M

Swirl Roses

I invited my ex-colleague, who is also my mum's very close friend, Miss Mary, over to my place the other day to get her nails done. She has a really nice nail bed that's long - exactly what I need to practice nail art. Hence, she brought her OPI Polish over and I did a manicure and pedicure for her f.o.c.

I used OPI's Planks A Lot from the latest Pirate's Collection for the base, before swirling the roses with white and purple acrylic paint. I added the leaves with dark green acrylic paint before adding details with light green acrylic paint to give it more depth.

I really liked the outcome of it because it was a vast improvement as compared to the first time I tried swirling roses. Practice makes perfect eh? (:

Miss Mary has a habit of painting the exact same thing for her hands and her feet. Hence, I created a matching set for her toes. Felt bad cause boyfriend dropped by my place and was waiting for me to finish. Miss Mary was so afraid that I'd just forget about her toes. Hahaha.

Tadah! I'm happy with the end product. How about you? How would you rate the design?

Miss Mary will be coming by again on Wednesday to change her design. Stay tuned! (:

Surf's Up, Dude!

My first time in a MAC store EVER was in January 2005, and it was at the Pro Store here in Las Vegas - before I even moved here! I even remember my first eyeshadow that I purchased - Melody! My love affair began way back then, and since, my collection has grown to a ridiculous amount - over 70 full-sized pigments, 5 15-pan palettes full, quads galore, almost every color of fluidliner, and pencils, paints, lipglosses, glasses, sticks, etc. galore. It's a tad ridiculous, honestly. I'm a makeup hoarder, though I've gotten much better about passing up most or all of a new collection, even if it's LE, because generally I have a color that is so close that the layperson wouldn't be able to tell the difference, or because it's merely a repromote in different packaging. :-D (I do fall for them on occasion - can we say Wonder Woman Ruby Woo?!) Needless to say, I fell for the new Surf Baby collection, taking home Short Shorts e/s (I'm forever on the hunt for a Pollen dupe - my fav MAC e/s ever), Surf the Ocean pigment stack, Hangin' Loose nail polish, and Surf Baby! Cheek powder with the amazing gold hibiscus flower on it. The only thing I'm not loving is the pigment stack - SO difficult to work with!! (Was the gold supposed to be mousse-like?)

Anyway, because I LOVE the colors of the packaging and the hibiscus in this collection, I HAD to do a nail design based off it! :) Hope you like it!!

I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with Lotus Herbals in Code Orange for the stripe as well as the hibiscus on the ring finger. For the yellow I used CND Bicycle Yellow, and for the grey/taupe, I used Essie Chinchilly. For the gold on the hibiscus, I used China Glaze Hi-tek. Topped everything off with two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

READY FOR THE BEACH NAILS SUMMER 2011

Woooo hoooo just 2 weeks away from the IBS Las Vegas show. Can't wait to learn some new techniques and purchase some new fun nail stuff!
I created a 3d coconut tree on the thumb and then capped over it with clear. I used beach theme fimo clay from kennickkreations.com on the other nails.

These nails were inspired by an amazing nail tech Nidia Casas. You can view some of her work at nailsbynidia.com

These are reggae inspired.

2 of my favorite things: animal print, and fimo clay dots from oaktreedollshouseminiatures.com










The lighter purple on these nails is a new color I just purchased from the inm collection long ago and far away.

Chanel design nails!

My first attempt at a set of Chanel design nails! Quilted french black tips with the famous double C logo painstakingly hand painted by me using gel. Hehe.

This is a set of sculptured acrylic extension, nail colour painted with gelish (gel nail polish).

Chanel design nails!

My first attempt at a set of Chanel design nails! Quilted french black tips with the famous double C logo painstakingly hand painted by me using gel. Hehe.

This is a set of sculptured acrylic extension, nail colour painted with gelish (gel nail polish).

Some floral lovin'

Can't get enough of these hand painted floral designs... Love it love it love it! It's a pity my left hand cannot paint flowers. SOB.

Nail design from Nail Max! I'm loving the colour combination here. Soft pink shades with pink and purple roses. Awww. Oh and this is Miyake Wong's nails. And yes her skin is flawless and she is still pretty without makeup. JEALOUS MAX.

Nude peach color french tips! YAY! Finally I have some decent nude gel colours. :D

Painted scallop lace on the french line.

Some floral lovin'

Can't get enough of these hand painted floral designs... Love it love it love it! It's a pity my left hand cannot paint flowers. SOB.

Nail design from Nail Max! I'm loving the colour combination here. Soft pink shades with pink and purple roses. Awww. Oh and this is Miyake Wong's nails. And yes her skin is flawless and she is still pretty without makeup. JEALOUS MAX.

Nude peach color french tips! YAY! Finally I have some decent nude gel colours. :D

Painted scallop lace on the french line.

2011 Las Vegas Weekly Awards!

This past Wednesday I was invited to attend an event held by the Las Vegas Weekly, a weekly magazine here in Las Vegas. I was selected as the recipient of the 2011 'Best Blogger' award in the 2011 Weekly awards!! SO exciting!! :) Of course, since I was going to the event, I had to do Las Vegas Weekly nails, so I used one of the copies of when the story about me was in the Weekly last May to work into the manicure. (I was a tad overzealous in getting spare copies to keep, so I had a few issues to spare :-P) Check out the blurb about the award here!

Forgive me for not including my thumb in the picture- I swatched another color over it without thinking before I got around to photographing it. Stupid me. For the texture in the background, I transferred bits of the original article using alcohol onto the white background, then painted the Las Vegas WEEKLY logo over it. :)

My name on the big screen! :)

I used American Apparel Cotton as a base, with Claire's Stiletto for the red, and American Apparel Hassid for the black. Topped it all off with two coats of Seche Vite top coat.

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