I graduated! + a fabulous nail tutorial (kinda)

Note: all pics are seriously out of order until I can get to a desktop to fix. Sorry!

So after a lot of hard work, I now have my B.S. in Human Resource Management. Graduation was yesterday, and I was glad to have Tony, Tristan, my sister Kaitlynn and my cousin Chelsey there to cheer me on.

My big mistake, however, was my choice in shoes. I wore these ridiculously cute gladiator heels that Tony got me the summer before I ran the half marathon, and they tore my feet UP. Ugh. But at least I looked great getting my degree!

Tony, Tristan and I right before I walked :)

So I've been up to my old tricks when it comes to nail art lately and I decided I'd do a mini tutorial on my latest creation. Until now I've copied other tutorials and did simple layering but as of late I've been getting creative. My last few looks:

 Since i started getting interested in nail art and really collecting nail polish shades, I've mostly stuck to single shades, layering sheers, and copyong tutorials.  As of late I've been playing with more gradiants, 3D nail art, and coming up with my own looks and designs.


So without further adieu, my latest nail adventure...step by step.

Since summer started I've been wearing more bright colors.

Normally, I'd use bright shades on my nails too, but this time I wanted to do something in understated colors and more elaborate textures. So I came up with "decadent pearls".



First things first--nail care. I prefer to shape my nails with a file rather than cutting because I think it helps them stay stronger. Once I'm done with that, I use the glass nail file (from Old Navy) to fine touch the ends and make them smooth.

Next, I use a cuticle oil pen on my cuticles and over the whole nail for nourishment. Then I push my nails back with that little pink thing (the technical term is lost on me right now).

I started with a base coat I got from Sally's Beauty Supply. Always use base. I don't really know why, but I do know it just seems to work out better.

Next I used straight white polish. I know a lot of people go for white in the summer and it looks like white out on their nails, but trust me, I'm not done. FYI, if your going to do white, do it right: choose a shade that has a hint of another color. Sally Hansen Complete Manicure has a great selection. Use two coats.

Next is silver. Pour a small amount of polish onto some paper. Using a makeup sponge, dab a corner into the plush and then onto your nail. You want the polish to fade out near the cuticle, so the bottom of the nail is almost all white, and the tips are almost all silver.

I thought that didn't have enough dimension, so I added TGIF from the Katy perry collection for OPI on the silver ONLY.

gets a lot of use!

Then some clear coat..

And finally, the fun part. I ordered these nail art pearls from amazon.com

And picked up some gems from Wal-mart.

Using punk nail glue and tweezers, I basically just got creative. Here's my thumb...

And all the rest of them!

Have fun trying it!

The Many Nail Adventures of BzB

For the past few months, I've been totally into playing around with my nails.  My nail polish collection has grown extensively, and I'm pretty much obsessed with trying new shades and doing different designs on my nails.

I decided to post a collection of all of the things I've managed to photograph so far.  Note, the quality of alot of these photos are ridiculously bad.  I somehow broke my camera, and after procrastinating purchasing a new one, am still waiting for my new one to be shipped to me.  I can't wait!

Many of these photos may be repeats of things I've already posted, but I'm bored, and I wanted to put them all into one clever post.

Bumblebee nails!

I got this idea from BubzBeauty, its a bumblebee on my thumb with the flight pattern on the rest of my fingers.  It was totally effing adorable and perfect for the beginning of spring.  The other hand I had clouds on it, but my clouds turned out like crap, so I didn't bother taking a picture of it.  For the blue, I used Pure Ice in "Splash".  The yellow is Pure Ice in "Excuse Me" and the black is a nail art pen by (guess who) Sally Hansen.  Filled in the white with my white manicure pen, made by... Sally Hansen.  I am all about drugstore polish.  Drugstore anything, really.  I'm no product snob!

More Bumblebee-age, but the flight pattern isn't very visible.  Very sad.  Boooo.

 

My daisy nails!

This was one of my favorites.  I used Sally Hansen's "Shell We Dance" from the Complete Manicure line as the base color, and for the yellow center of the daisy I used Pure Ice's "Excuse Me".  The petals were done with my beloved Sally Hansen french manicure pen--I don't *think* it comes in any other shades, but if it does, I obviously used "pure white".  The green was also Sally Hansen Complete Manicure in "Grass Slipper", and I used a toothpick to make a small line.

I did these in Phoenix, I'm not sure on most of the shades.  I can tell you that the deep red was an OPI shade that belonged to Becca, and I used Sally Hansen's Complete manicure in "Grass Slipper" for the top of the strawberry, but also put this darker green glittery shade over top of it that Becca had.  White dots were achieved with my Sally Hansen French Manicure Pen.

Newspaper nails!

Me playing around with the webcam acting cute :)

This one taken with my cell phone.  Notice how the quality is shit?

For the newspaper nails, I used Sally Hansen complete manicure in "Lavender Cloud".  I wanted an off-white shade that could pass as newsprint but didn't want to go with something that was leaning toward gray and could use later on if I wanted just a simple manicure.

After putting on a couple coats of "Lavender Cloud" I took newspaper clippings and transferred the writing to my nails by putting the clipping on my fingernail and wet the back with a paper towel wad soaked in rubbing alcohol.  After sealing the top with a clear top coat, the newspaper nails were finished. =)

Neon Orange, taken at night with webcam, which explains the ridiculously grainy picture.  I'm wearing a purple nightie.  LOL.

NEON NAILS!!  I saw these colors at Walgreens and became absolutely obsessed with summer just around the corner.  The shades were from the Sinful Colors collection, and although I was tempted to go with the neon pink and green I saw, I decided to switch things up and picked up orange and yellow.  On my fingernails I obviously put the orange, the shade's called "Summer Peach".  The yellow was on my toes, but I don't usually take a picture of my toenail shades.  If your interested, its a highlighter yellow color and called "Neon Melon".  Just be sure to use a white base shade to make the colors really pop.

 

I saw the OPI Katy Perry collection while at my local grocery store and absolutely had to have all of the colors!  They came in a collection of four and for $15 I couldn't resist.  (They are pretty little bottles, but I've always found that they go a long way-- I still have my mini- OPI Mad As A Hatter).  This is my cell phone capturing "Teenage Dream".  The quality, as usual, sucks.  It took about three coats on top of white to get it opaque enough, but I absolutely adored the pale pink glitter shade.

Better shot of Teenage Dream nails

Being complimented with a big green cocktail ring

Last Friday Night - my new favorite from the collection!

Here I used my Sally Hansen "Lavender Cloud" and put two coats of the OPI Katy Perry series "Teenage Dream" on top.  The result is a really whimsical fairy-dust like shade that I can't stop staring at!  Its a really bright blue glittery color in the bottle, but with the super-pale lavender color on the bottom, I feel like a fairy princess.

I'll be testing out the rest of the OPI Katy Perry series once this starts to chip off.  The ones I have left are "Not Like the Movies" and "The One That Got Away".  Can't wait to try them!

Until then--

I got a new kitty!!!!!!!!!!

His name is Louie and he's the CUTEST thing!  A week before our three year anniversary Tony told me that he was planning on surprising me with a kitten!  Only he couldn't keep it a secret anymore he was just that excited.  He showed me the kitten that he was looking at on Craigslist and I was so pumped!

So Tony emailed them and we didn't hear back the rest of the night.  The next morning when I looked at the posting on Craigslist it was GONE.  SO SAD!  I seriously thought I was going to cry and almost did (pregnancy horomones), and then shortly thereafter we got the email from them saying that unfortunately the kitten had already found a home.  I was so crushed.

That very day we started looking online at the Humane Society website for our area to look into the kittens they had available.  Right away I noticed they had a litter of young kittens that were dropped off late April that were part orange part white and so adorable!  They had video's posted of them too and they looked so cuddly and cute!  So we went to the Humane Society to play with them and see if we liked any of them.  When we looked online there were three orange kittens left, but when we got there, there was just one!  He was curled up asleep next to a gray and white kitten, and there were two darker tiger stripped kittens that were going wild trying to get into our laps!  Both of those kittens had nasty colds though, and I didn't like how desperate for attention they were already acting.

We woke up the orange and white guy and played with him a bit, and he seemed to be a bit playful and sleepy at the same time, but an overall sweetheart!  We also looked at the older cats and played with the other kittens, but as soon as we had played with the orange and white kitten, we knew we had found the perfect guy for us!

So we adopted him and brought him home, and put him into the spare room to get him acclimated before we released him to deal with Zuma, who can be quite testy at times.  We also brought him home with a slight runny eye so we knew he would probably develop a "kitty cold" as well like the other kittens in his area had.  I took him to the vet the next day and ensured that he didn't have any fatal diseases and to make sure his cold was just a cold.  The vet said he should be fine within a few weeks but if he started to get sick, to call them to get him some antibiotics.  So far he's been happy and playful, and eats a ton.

The first night, he was really needy, crying all the time and obviously scared of his new home.  By the second night, after his vet visit, we introduced him to Zuma, who wasn't impressed at first, but then slowly warmed up to him, and now they play great!  She is always letting him know who the Queen is though, and doesn't let him forget it!

So, without further ado... Louie!

Asleep on the cat tower that Zuma never uses, believe me she wanted to use it as soon as he started to though!

Good morning!  See his runny eye?  Poor thing!  Hope his cold clears up soon.

Tony is doing something to get his attention...

But now attention is focused back on mommy!

Sleeping on the kitchen chair, one of his favorite places

So innocent looking!

After his first night home.  He cried SO much that I had to bring blankets and pillows into his room and sleep on the floor with him to get him to stop crying.  The next night he slept with us, and by the next night Zuma was being nice to him, so he was able to sleep in his cat bed in the living room.

FEATHER TOY!

Crashed out on Tony's chest, they are quite the buddies.

Zuma cleaning him, until she noticed that someone saw her being nice and promptly vacated the scene.

Here are the very limited pictures I took in AZ.  Tony took a few on our hike but he has yet to upload them or post them up for me, so I'll probably post those later.

In front of this fountain scene in my sexy blue dress :P

Awkward cuddling, lolol

And the bump emerges.  Funny thing about this picture is that i had a print made from Snapfish and they COMPLETELY cut off Tony's head in it!  So irritating, he's tall, but not THAT tall!

My pale ass displaying my badass new earrings from this cute store at Fashion Square in Scottsdale.

And because I'm starting to feel lazy, my newest nail shots. They are newspaper nails!  I got the idea from an article a friend posted on Facebook.  Basically you paint your nails any light color (I picked a VERY pale purple color called purple cloud by Sally Hansen Manicure) and then take newspaper clippings, (obviously you need to use small clippings or your going to have this HUGE newspaper wrapped around your nail, and soak tissue or a cotton ball in rubbing alcohol and put it on the back of the newspaper and the print will just transfer off onto your nail!  Its backwards of course, but looks really cool.  Just don't forget to put a clear topcoat on it or you'll smear newsprint all over yourself.

Far away...

Closer look!  With an attempt to cover the remainder of a nasty preggo zit I got on my chin.  LOL

Both hands!  Still covering the offending blemish on my face. :)

Well, that's all I have until now.

Until then-- (whenever then is)