Tiger Pride!

So, as you may know, I'm currently a college student, and I study at DePauw. I don't get a lot of time to blog, but I do sure take a lot of time doing my nails! I see it as my own personal time to myself. It's a break from the stress of being a student. However, I really do love it here and I thought a cool way to show my DePauw pride was (of course ;] ) by doing a mani!
Since our mascot is a tiger, I did tiger print and a growling mouth on my pinky and thumb. For my index finger, I did a kind of university block letter D. I attempted to recreate the silhouette of a building on campus on the newer logo that they've been using on my middle finger. This took a really long time, and I know I could have perfected it even further, but I'm pretty pleased with the way it turned out. Finally, no mani is entirely complete without glitter, so I used a fine silver glitter polish underneath a chunky gold and  small/medium black glitter on my ring finger. And now on to the mani! :]

And for reference, here's a picture of the logo. 

Polishes used: Sinful Colors Snow Me White, Black on Black, Pull Over, Vacation Time, Pure Ice Beware, China Glaze Cross Iron 360, LA Girl Glitter Addict Uninhibited, and then a random chunky gold glitter from PacSun :P

Let me know what you guys think! :]

Cult Nails Toxic Seaweed

Today I've got a mani that I  had on a few weeks ago, when I got my shipment of Cult Nails' Toxic Seaweed. Since it's part of the Let's Get Nekkid Collection, I decided to pair it with a nude half moon. I used 10 Moonlight as the base color, then Revlon Emerald so that Toxic Seaweed would really pop and also so I could conserve it, as it is a limited edition polish.

I absoulely loved this polish and couldn't stop looking at my hands! I felt terrible when it came for a new mani too, I had such minimal tip wear. Maria makes some really incredible polishes with such a good quality. I hope she keeps crankin' 'em out! The upcoming collections look promising. Can't wait!

Have a fab day, thanks for reading :]

Julep Leighton and China Glaze Marry a Millionaire

Soooooo for this post I've got two gorgeous polishes that aren't new, but new to me using them! Hahaha. I've had them for a while and decided to use them both since I hadn't before.

After a base of OPI Nail Envy, I used two coats of Julep Leighton. This is a beautiful silver chrome that applied very nicely, despite the brushstrokes which I can overlook because of the awesome finish of this polish.

Then I added China Glaze Marry a Millionaire in a gradient starting from my cuticle. It was like beauty flowing off the brush. I absolutely love this glitter! It was a little difficult to photograph, though, and get all the colors in. Removal was also kind of difficult, but oh well because it's so beautiful.

Thanks for reading! <3

Hard Candy Beetle and Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black

Eeeee it's my second post! I'm not really into Valentine's day manis, other than the kind of anti-Valentine's  one the other day. Soooo I decided to do a layering idea that popped into my head the other day, Kleancolor Chunky Black Holo over Hard Candy Beetle.

Beetle is a really pretty multichrome that shifts from burgundyish purple (what a description :P) to an olive green. I used three coats for depth, but you might be able to get away with two thick coats. I'll probably layer it over black next time I use it.

OPI Nail Envy base, three coats Beetle

Please excuse my super dry and red cuticles! Winter wreaks havoc on my hands.  :C

Then comes the fun layering part! I added two coats Kleancolor Chunky Holo Black, which applies like a dream. I didn't have to worry about distributing the glitter evenly across the nail by hand or getting the glitter off the brush at all. It just flowed out like a nice little glitter stream, hahah. :] The blackened base did something I wasn't quite expecting. It made Beetle look way more purple than it does on its own.

OPI Nail Envy Base, three coats Beetle, two coats Chunky Holo Black

Like I said, winter dries out my skin so bad and I forgot to apply moisturizer before photographing. I would take more today so my skin would look better, but after my frivolous night last night all my nails had been ruined, lololol. So expect another post soon with my next mani! :D

Thanks for reading!

First post!

Soooo I decided to do it. To start blogging. I guess I'll start off with a little bit about myself!

I'm Kalen, and I'm currently a sophomore in college studying Psychology and French. I started being really interested in nail art in October 2010, and it's just snowballed since then. Here's a picture of one of the first manis I ever attempted...

March, 2011

You can see how I had never really heard of a bottle hold or cleanup or anything really... I just liked to paint and do art and not really care about anything else. I just kind of did stuff on my own. But then, I started noticing a lot of really awesome blogs of women who post some really amazing work. I started caring more and more about the health and care of my nails outside just doing nail art. I also became more and more addicted to polish! I had no idea how many awesome brands and kinds of lacquers there are out there. I'm really glad I got into when I did, especially with all the amazing frankens and indie brands that are stealing the spotlight.
So, with all of this exposure to the world of nail polish and nail art, I would like to think I've grown a lot.  Here's the mani I'm sporting now for Valentine's Day.

February 7, 2012
Pointer and pinky: Sinful Colors Boom Boom,  Color Club Candy Cane
Middle: Snow Me White, Be My Valentine, Savage,  Black on Black, all Sinful Colors
Ring: Sinful Colors Snow Me White, 10 Moonlight, Sinful Colors Black on Black
Thumb: Black on Black, Snow Me White, both Sinful Colors
All: Base coat of OPI Nail Envy and topped with Revlon Extra Life No Chip Top Coat

So I'm still not as good as a lot of bloggers out there, but I personally see a lot of progress! I don't have a lot of time or resources to blog too seriously, but I just wanted a place to post the products of my hobby. :] I might do a few posts on makeup or something every once in a while. I'm just going to go ahead and see where this blog takes me!

Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think, and feel free to ask me any questions you might have!

-Kalen