Hallo-WEDNESDAY! - I'm Going to Let it Slide

Welcome to the spooky, the creepy, the gory and terrifying Hallo-Wednesday!

Every Wednesday from now until Halloween (which is on a Wednesday!!) I'll be posting a Halloween-themed nail design. A tutorial will follow the design, but will generally be on Thursday or Friday of the same week. :D

First up is EVERY nail maven's horror- smudged nails!?  Ok, so these are 'smudged' on purpose!

The inspiration for this design actually happened by accident! I hastily painted my nails (neglecting to allow proper drying time between coats) and then slapping on fast-drying top coat. This made my top coat of polish dry fast, but the others underneath were still wet, and thus very smudgeable! Well, I went to touch one lightly to test it for dryness, it smudged, and the sliding/melting skin technique was born. :D

Hope you guys like it! :D

I used:

Blood:

American Apparel Downtown LA
Barielle Unravelled Rust
American Apparel Hassid

Flesh:

Zoya Avery
Zoya Flowie


Basecoat: Cult Nails Get it On
Topcoat:  Seche Vite

It puts the lotion on the skin...

Bring that Bling!

Every once in a while, I feel like doing something that doesn't involve a nail art brush and several colors, and today/tonight was one of those times. In a twist of perfect fate, the bronze nail art jewels that Maria of Cult Nails sent in that fantabulous care package a while back inspired me to do a black and bronze gem-encrusted manicure. Figuring that all 10 nails might be a tad over the top, I decided to paint my fingertips with black polish, and do ring finger and thumb accent nails. Just enough bling to satisfy my need for sparkle at the end of two very mentally taxing days. I know I'm not generally one to wear glued on nail accessories/gems/whatnot, but this idea got in my head and I just couldn't shake it, so I went for it. I had tiny black Swarovski crystals left over from my Vegas showgirl Halloween costume a few years ago, and luckily I kept them- who knew that instead of ending up on my boobs, they'd end up on my nails?

The black I used for this manicure was also a Cult Nails product- Nevermore. I know I rave about American Apparel Hassid, and while I'll still keep that one around for my nail art, this Cult Nails polish will replace it for full nail coverage. :D This manicure was ONE. COAT, and it dried glossy as all hell. Now I have to figure out what to do with my 10 remaining bottles of Hassid. :-D More nail art?

I should mention that the bronze gems are far brighter in person, I just could NOT get a good picture of them!

I used:

Black: Cult Nails Nevermore
Multi-sized Bronze rhinestones from Cult Nails
Jet 7s Swarovski crystals

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Quoth the raven, bling some more!

Tick...Tick...Tick...Tick...BOOM!

Happy Monday, and welcome to my NEW weekly feature—Moonicure Monday!

Every Monday, I am going to do a half-moon manicure, but with my spin on it. This could mean funky colors, shapes, treatments–anything goes! I have so many ideas already! I have done half-moon manicures in the past (obviously), but I was never really stoked on them until I changed my nail shape. My epiphany? Half-moon manicures are awesome when mixed with oval nails! (My apologies if you disagree, you MAAAAY want to skip Mondays for the unforeseeable future.)

This inaugural Moonicure Monday design takes the half-moon shape, but adds a little twist... a little spark of something extra, if you will. I hope you (to borrow a phrase from the 90's? 00s?) think they're da bomb. (dot com?)

I used:

Dark Grey: Nubar Stronghold
Black: American Apparel Hassid
Light Grey: Nubar Marble Tower
Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Orange: CND Electric Orange
Yellow: Cult Nails Feel Me Up
Orange Sparkle: China Glaze Riveting
Orange crystal in the center of each spark

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Bright Meets Blah

Sometimes I just start a manicure with a color scheme in mind, and let things develop as I paint. Sure, manicures like this generally take way more time than even some of the more complicated ones (surprising, right?), but I like to do them every so often because it's fun to see what happens. I hope you guys don't mind! :D I actually really like how this turned out- and I think I might do a full manicure of just mix-and-match half moons.

Chris and I went to Mahabalipuram this weekend to grab some gifts for him to take home when he visits, and on the way, we stopped to talk to his surfing buddies in Kovallam. I'm pretty excited, when my sister comes, we're both going to take surfing lessons! (I'm also slightly terrified because neither of us can swim) How cool is it that we're going to surf for the first time in the Indian Ocean?! I'm pretty stoked, its going to be an amazing experience! I'm also pretty excited for all the other things that we have been planning to do when she gets here- we're going to visit the Taj Mahal in Agra, stay at an elephant preserve in Jaipur, and tons of other stuff we haven't decided yet! I'm excited to finally see the country I've been living in for almost the past year. I'm totally going to pick up one of those curly toed pairs of leather shoes (and probably a million other things!).

Anyway, the nails. Yes, the nails. I have an array of half-moons, stripes, and dottiness in a bright-meets-blah color scheme for you today!

I used:

Dark Grey: Nubar Stronghold
Light Grey: Nubar Marble Tower
Yellow: CND Bicycle Yellow
Turquoise: Zoya Robyn

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat

Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Under My Umbrella-ella-ella

Imagine lounging comfortably on your couch innocently watching reruns of Season 1 of Grey's Anatomy, when all of the sudden—the cable goes out!? CRASH! BOOM! CRACK! FLASH! What? Where did that come from?! Five minutes ago there wasn't a cloud in the sky! Yeah well, welcome to monsoon season in India. I swear to god there is a switch somewhere 'upstairs' that someone flicks to change the weather here. It goes from pleasant weather to booming thunder that you can feel in your guts and lightning that looks like strobe lights–shall we call it strobe lightning?!

I know, I know. Another weather-related nail design, but Reader Rita said I HAD to do it since I mentioned it, and who am I to be a tease?! This design makes me smile when I see it, and I'm glad that I did it!

What's the weather look like where you live?

I used:

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Red Shadow: CND Bloodline
Red Highlight: China Glaze Hey Sailor + Zoya Arizona
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Yellow Shadow: Zoya Arizona
Yellow Highlight: American Apparel Manila + Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Blue: MAC Breezy
Blue Shadow: Cult Nails Time Traveler
Blue Highlight: American Apparel American Denim + Cult Nails Time Traveler
Green: CND Green Scene
Green Shadow: CND Green Scene + Cult Nails Time Traveler
Green Highlight: CND Green Scene + Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Dark Brown: China Glaze Mahogany Magic
Tan: Essie Brooch the Subject + American Apparel Manila
Light Blue: American Apparel American Denim
Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat
Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Who else finds it ironic that I took a picture of these nails on a sunny day? (I swear it was a crazy storm last night!)

Sun and Moons

Well it seems to be Weather Week here at TDN, not sure how that happened, but I keep thinking of weather related nail art ideas! I have one more in my head, I'm debating whether to post it, or hold on to the idea for a bit. What do you guys think? Wait? Don't wait? Eh, maybe I'll see if the weather event that inspired it actually happens. Sound like a deal? Well OK then!

Today's nail art is (obviously) suns. Get this though- they're also, what for it—MOONS. Get it? Nerdtastical.

I used:

Blue: American Apparel American Denim
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Light Orange: Zoya Arizona
Medium Orange: Jesse's Girl Beauty Guru

Topcoat: Seche Vite topcoat
Basecoat: Seche Vite basecoat

Falling For Fall

Well, August is swiftly approaching its end, and the warm days of summer will be long behind us (well, you) soon. The cool, crisp mornings of fall are on their way, and I have to say that I'm completely jealous of those of you lucky enough to enjoy it. Fall is my absolute favorite season, and since I moved to Vegas, and then India, I haven't really gotten to enjoy it. I miss the warm scent of burning leaves in the air, the tartness of warm apple cider on my tongue, and the crisp blue skies of autumn. I know it's a month or so away, but it's already on my mind, especially seeing all the fall nail collections coming out. Growing up in the woods in Michigan, there was no shortage of Autumn experience, from the greenery-lined gravel roads of summer becoming ablaze with the flame of fall leaves, all red and orange and yellow, to the chill that forced a sweater over your shivering shoulders at night. I loved it all, still do.

Today's nail art is to bring a little autumn to my humidity-filled existence. :)

I used:

White: American Apparel Cotton
Dark Brown: Barielle Unraveled Rust
Medium Brown: China Glaze Mahogany Magic
Burgundy: CND Bloodline
Mustard: Barielle Aura Angora
Camel: American Apparel Trenchcoat
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Bright Orange: CND Electric Orange
Medium Orange: Jesse's Girl Beauty Guru
Red-Orange: American Apparel Lopez Canyon
Copper: China Glaze Harvest Moon
Metallic Gold: ORLY Solid Gold
Topcoat: Seche Vite

What's your favorite season?

For the Record...

I remember as a kid, my sister and I hunted in our parent's attic for interesting stuff when we were bored. One day we came across my mom's record collection. Unfortunately, my mom has questionable taste in music, so her record collection consisted of what seemed like a BILLION Neil Diamond records, a Jesus Christ Superstar record, a Bill Cosby record, a record that I can only remember one of the songs off of (Happy Together by The Turtles), and one gem—The Beatles HELP! album. The only other record that my house sheltered was an awesome Captain Kangaroo tune that belonged to my sister. :-P  I always ALWAYS look at records when I go to antique stores, simply because I love the album art. I don't own a working record player, though I think Chris might (somewhere?).

I thought record nail art might be fun, with the brightly-colored labels and whatnot, so here goes!

I used:

Black - American Apparel Hassid
Green - Sally Hansen Grass Slipper
Red - China Glaze Hey Sailor
Yellow - American Apparel Manila
Orange - CND Electric Orange
Aqua - American Apparel The Valley
Topcoat - Seche Vite

Striped With Sophistication

I loooove sales. Love them. I love the thrill, the hunt, the attack. Why is this relevant, you ask? Well, let me tell you! Recently, I received an email in my Inbox like I'm sure several of you did, informing me of a Surprise Sale at Kate Spade. I love Kate Spade. I love the bright colors, the patterns, the simplicity. How could I pass up just a little peek? I couldn't, of course. I mean, for all intents and purposes, I'm broke. (I need to tell myself this so I can manage to save money—something that's hard for me!) :) Anyway, I did sneak a little peek, and while my (Kate Spade) wallet can sigh a little sigh of relief because I didn't buy anything, I came away from the website with some inspiration for a few new nail art ideas! :) Some are color combinations, some are patterns, some just made something else click in my head that was completely unrelated. So you're thinking, 'Hey Melissa...get to the point.' Right? OK, OK! Sheesh! :-D

Today's nail art was actually a color combination that I was inspired by. I thought it looked classy and elegant, but it had that awesome pop of color that I love so damn much! Well anywhoo- here ya go:

I used:

Camel - American Apparel Trenchcoat

Black - American Apparel Hassid

Orange - CND Electric Orange

Topcoat - Seche Vite

Galaxy Nails! Nail Art Tutorial

Ok, so I have no idea who started the AWESOME Galaxy nail trend, but I'd love to shake her/his star-covered hand! (EDIT: Apparently it was Nails by Asami, which is no longer a site?!) This nail design LOOKS hard, but it's so easy it's ridiculous- you really can't screw up. The best part is? BECAUSE it looks so difficult, your friends will marvel at your nail art talents, and strangers will incessantly compliment your damn fine nails. :-D (You may even get a comment or two like the one in my tutorial video! :-D)

You can paint plain galaxy nails, or you can add the 'half moon' like I did in my previous post! :D Snazzy!

Hey, baby. Are you a satellite? Because I looked at your nails and said "Hubble Hubble"

It Was Elementary, Dear Watson! Nail Art Tutorial

What?! Another Back to School tutorial?! Dang, if I keep this up, you're going to be super ready for school days to start, and no apples for those teachers will be required! :D

Today I did a tutorial geared more toward the younger kids and the parents of younger kids- something you either loved or loathed - Manuscript writing! :D This tutorial is based off of the It Was Elementary, Dear Watson! design I did a while back.

What do you think? Is it teacher's pet material or does it deserve a detention!?

What was your favorite thing about the first day of school? I always loved wearing new clothes, and using new school supplies. *NERD ALERT*

I've Gotta Go No. 2! Nail Art Tutorial

So I hear it's Back to School time!  Man, is it happening earlier and earlier now, or is my memory shot? I could swear that we didn't usually start school til after Labor Day back when I was a kid? Well anyway- my oldness aside, I've got a fun Back to School nail art tutorial for you today!

This one is based off of the I've Gotta Go No. 2! design I did a few years ago. Look out for another Back to School themed tutorial soon!

Also- I've recently upgraded my method of filming tutorials- I'd love to know what you think! :)

Are you looking forward to going back to school (or your kids going back to school?)

Indian Flag Nail Art Tutorial!

You may know that I've been living in India for the past 9 months, and today is India's Independence Day! I could hardly do this Flags of the World tour and not include my current home, right? I figured that today of all days would be the perfect day to post it, too.

There's more to India than curry, saris, and Hinduism. I'll be the first to admit that this country is sometimes maddening, but to balance out the madness are some of the most kind, generous, and generally selfless people I've ever met.

In addition to my Indian flag, nail art tutorial, I wore a saree/sari to work yesterday! (We didn't have work today) I felt awkward and exposed all day, and have a whole new respect for the Indian women that choose to wear saris on a regular basis. I rewarded myself with wearing jeans today. :D My friend Sheba was an absolute godsend, since there was no way I could wrap this thing alone- every time I tried, it looked like a giant slate blue diaper.

At the beginning of the day- Jasmine flowers in my hair, bindi on, all put together. :D

My friend Diana fussing over my pleats to make sure they looked right :D

My friend Sheba fussing over my pleats at the end of the day before having pic taken again. Stupid things kept coming untucked.

The back view. I love the pallu (the hanging piece) of this sari- all gold and copper metallic threads. so pretty!

Spotted!

After some of the recent designs I've done, I wanted to keep it simple today. Super simple. This design was inspired by an interesting invitation fold where 4 semi-circles come together to make a cool looking center. The best part about this design is that is entirely done with a dotting tool! But wait–you don't have a dotting tool? How about a toothpick? Maybe a pin? A nail? Anything with a small, round tip can work! Easy stuff.

Another thing that is nice about this design is that it can be done in a zillion different color combinations if you don't like grey, purple, lime, hot pink, and turquoise! :D (But, let's be realistic- who doesn't like those colors?! Maybe not necessarily in this combination, but still! :-D)

I used:

Grey: Nubar Stronghold

Purple: American Apparel Imperial Purple

Lime Green: Sally Hansen Grass Slipper

Hot Pink: Zoya Lara

Turquoise: Zoya Robyn

Topcoat: Seche Vite

Disclosure: All Zoya links in this post are Zoya Love links, and points earned when you click on them, start an account, and make a purchase go directly back to you— as Giveaways!! :)

Jamaican Flag Nail Art Tutorial, mon.

Feel the Rhythm!
Feel the Rhyme!
Get on up,
it's NAIL ART TIME!

Ha ha, how could I do a post about Jamaica and not include a Cool Runnings reference?! I freakin' love that movie. lol

Of course, lots of good things are related to Jamaica... Marley, reggae, ska, amazing athletes, the movie Cocktail (Champagne- perfume going in, sewage coming out), Ian Fleming (he lived there), jerk chicken, Red Stripe... need I go on? No? Ok. Well in that case, here's my Jamaican Flag Nail Art Tutorial for your viewing enjoyment. (I hope?)

You want to kiss my egg?
I'm not kissing no egg.
Suit yourself.

That's a Wrap!

First off, thanks for the suggestions (and compliments) for my tutorials! I'm glad that you guys are liking them. I'll do everything I can to take your suggestions and use them to influence my future tutorials! Keep those suggestions coming though- don't be shy, I can take it! Don't forget- there's something in it for YOU too! :)

I work in an office, and our dress code by U.S. standards is pretty casual. Common attire is polo shirts and jeans, though the women usually wear kurtas (a type of tunic) with leggings or salwar (loose, pajama-y pants). I often wear kurtas with jeans, but when I don't, I wear cute, work-appropriate tops. Today my top, though bright-colored, felt a little plain, so I threw on one of my favorite scarves...I've had it for years, and it made the trip to India with me. I initially bought it because of the bold graphic print and the color combination, but it's grown to be somewhat of a frequent accessory in my wardrobe. Anyway, when looking at it today, I felt the desire to do a nail art design inspired by the print of the fabric. It's not the same, but it uses similar colors and patterns. The best part about this design? It almost exclusively uses a dotting tool to make the design, I only used the nail art brush in a few places!

I used:

Brown: Zoya Codie
White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Pink: Zoya Lara
Turquoise: butter LONDON Artful Dodger
Green: Sally Hansen Grass Slipper
Topcoat: Seche Vite

A Dash to the Finish Line

So I know I've been posting a lot of tutorials lately, and not as much nail art, so I decided to post something other than a flag today!! :-D  (Speaking of, are there any that you want to see? I have a few requests already, but I'll get to them!  :) )

It always amazes me how designs change even while I'm painting them. This design originated as dashes of all the same length in white over black, with an occasional red accent dash. It eventually evolved to different lengths of white dashes on back creating a wave-ish pattern with no red. Finally, I added color to each nail, making a sort of rolling gradient across the dashes. In retrospect, I wish I would've stuck to one color family for the entire manicure, instead of a different one on each nail. The orange and blue nails were my favorites...maybe I could've done an orange palette with a blue accent nail? (or vice versa?) Maybe next time?

I used:

Black: American Apparel Hassid
White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On
Dark Orange: CND Electric Orange
Medium Orange: Zoya Arizona
Yellow: American Apparel Manila
Dark Green: American Apparel Hunter
Medium Green: CND Green Scene
Light Green: Sally Hansen Grass Slipper
Dark Teal: American Apparel Peacock
Medium Teal: Zoya Robyn
Light Blue: American Apparel American Denim
Dark Purple: Zoya Pinta
Medium Purple: American Apparel Imperial Purple
Light Purple: American Apparel L Esprit
Dark Red: CND Bloodline
Bright Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor
Pink: Zoya Shelby
Topcoat: Seche Vite

Finnish Flag Nail Art Tutorial!

I'll be honest, I can count the number of things I know about Finland on one of my hands. I know that metal band Lordi is from there (and I saw them in concert in Vegas, and they're cah-razy. Impressive show though), there are 35 species of mosquitos (and I thought India was bad), the capital is Helsinki, and the flag is blue and white. There, that's it, and I still have my thumb remaining. Oh! One more- Finland looks beautiful; the pictures I've seen are simply stunning.

I actually got TWO requests for the flag of Finland- so here you go! :-D

Get it, Finnish(ed)?!

German Flag Nail Art Tutorial!

Sauerkraut! Wiener Schnitzel! Beer!

In my trip around the world via nail art tutorials, I'm visiting Germany today! With my heritage being part German, I of course had to do the German flag, even though it's an easy one! Yay for tape manicures! (and finally figuring them out!)

Man, sauerkraut sounds soooooooo good. It's one of my favorite foods, I could eat it every day... cold, warm, hot, with sausage, plain, on chili cheese dogs, bratwurst, however you wanna serve it up. :-D

Fun fact: During WWI, it was called Liberty Cabbage in the US due to fear that Americans would reject a product with a German name. Freedom fries, anyone?

Easy as eins, zwei, drei.

Wherever the Chips May Fall

My nails are FUZZY!!!

I can't take credit for the fuzzy part- I was inspired by Jen over at The Polishaholic blog! The rest of the inspiration for this nail art came from being homesick, and from being bummed about missing out on CosmoProf North America right now in Las Vegas with all my other blogger friends!! *BUMMED*

In honor of all the lovely bloggin' ladies in Vegas right now, I made Vegas poker nails!!  I used green flocking for the felt, and poker chips to make the half-moons!

I used:

Green: CND Green Scene

Yellow: American Apparel Manila

Red: China Glaze Hey Sailor

Blue: MAC Breezy Blue

Black: American Apparel Hassid

White: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On

Topcoat: Seche Vite

Next year.