Cupcakes! I am a certifiable sugar addict. Among my preferred saccharine indulgences, cupcakes rank near the top, because they are perfect: spongy cake topped with fluffy buttery clouds of frosting designed to mash your face into, and on top of that, they’re CUTE. Cupcakes are genius. Who doesn’t like cupcakes? Probably some people, but those people…
31DC – Day 8: Metallic
I don’t hate this as much as I did when I first painted it. Okay, that was a weak opening. Let me say instead that I was disappointed with this design at first, but it’s grown on me. For Day 8’s Metallic theme, I used two of Essie’s Mirror Metallic polishes – Penny Talk and…
31DC – Day 6: Violet & Day 7: Black and White
I hit some of my highest notes early on in the 31-day challenge. I wanted to try mixing some techniques, and nothing creates a more striking effect than a simple bold lined pattern. Day 6: Violet The base for this design was a “smoosh” of four nail polishes, made by dabbing blobs of polish onto…
31 Day Challenge – Day 4: Green & Day 5: Blue
For the next two days of the 31DC, I decided to try some finer line painting. As you can see from Day 1, I was inadvertently following a nature theme of sorts – fruit, feathers, grains? – so for the blue and green days I tried not to go for the obvious. Characters in color For…
31 Day Challenge – Day 3: Yellow
Corn nails. What can I say about these? Well, they are corn nails. Corn, on my nails. Except painted, not real. That would be gross. Beyond that? I think they speak for themselves. Bring on the corn puns. Go on. BRING ‘EM. Freehanded over China Glaze’s Metro Pollen-tin. Made with love and a soupcon of “why-the-hell-not?”. I really…
The 31 Day Nail Art Challenge – Day 1: Red & Day 2: Orange
Every year the very talented Sarah of Chalkboard Nails puts together a 31-day nail art challenge. Not only do I love any excuse to do nail art, but this sort of marathon challenge really appeals to my 8-time-NaNoWriMo-veteran brain. So obviously I’m all over this. Here’s the gist. Every day throughout September (plus 1) there’s…
Nail art heroes collaboration: update
Hey remember that Instagram collaboration I started where a bunch of us got together and recreated manis from our “nail art heroes”? It’s in its fourth iteration! And this month’s was the biggest yet… View this post on Instagram Here it is… The #nailartheroes collab August edition! This is the biggest collab we've ever had. 18…
New logo
I was graciously invited to paint nails at an upcoming community event. To advertise this on the posters, I needed to come up with a logo, a task completely foreign to me. My use of Photoshop has previously been limited to cropping, and curving that little watermark around my cuticles in photos. Fortunately, I am in possession…
Ever After Polish: Jagged Heart & Sashay
Ever After Polish is a two-woman operation with a devoted fan following and products to back up their stellar reputation. When they were named among the up and coming brands on Peachy Polish’s blog, I decided to indulge in my first two Ever After polishes. I chose two shades with similar forumlas, the dove grey Jagged…
Nail art heroes collaboration
One of my favorite things about the nail art community on Instagram is just how damn much everybody wants to work together. There are mani swaps, where two people recreate one another’s designs, twin/triplet nails, where people create the same look together, and entire challenges with thousands of followers built around a weekly theme. There’s…
The Pond is Lovely, Dark, and Deep
Ah, Across the Universe. You have been a fan favorite for so many years, but at $20 a bottle and 4 coats to opacity, you are not for the faint of heart. Fortunately, I am a stalwart nail addict, and I managed to pick up this beauty during a 50% off sale at Sephora! Across the…
ILNP Reminisce: A radioactive peacock super villain
If you’ve been following me for any length of time, it’s no surprise to you that I love the indie brand ILNP. Like, a lot. Irrationally so. I plan my pre-orders with the giddy, agonized anticipation most people reserve for their weddings. What may surprise you is that I own shockingly few of ILNP’s coveted Ultrachrome polishes….
Marginailia 