Zoya Kristen + Throwback Mani!

Hey, hi, hello! I hope you're all having a rockin' awesome day. I personally had a really strange day, but that's alright. I got to sit down and do my nails again, so that made up for a lot of things.

So here I am, with a polish that's already been on If Nails Make You Happy twice, but has never had its own post! Which, being one that I love, love, love, seemed a little unfair. It feels like the perfect wintry color, if you're looking to update your nail polish wardrobe for the cold months ahead...it's Zoya Kristen!

Zoya Kristen

Yes, I realize that that's a lot of pictures of the same hand with the same nail polish. But can we stop for a second and take a look at how much Kristen changes color? Every single picture is, I promise, Kristen (even though one of them may look suspiciously like her fraternal twin Megan). And there's no photo editing at all. Kristen is magically somehow whited-out gray, blue, dusty periwinkle-blue, and whatever other colors you want to throw in there at once. I can't even seem to figure out what lighting makes Kristen turn what colors.

Be warned, though, Kristen's application is kind of tricky. She's perfectly opaque and smooth and everything in just two coats...if you're VERY careful. Like Megan, Kristen is thinner and a little runny. There always seems to be a bigger drop of polish on the brush than you'll think there is - I don't usually use the lip of my bottle to wipe too much polish off of the brush, but with Kristen, I had to make sure I did. I've read reviews that said Kristen has a long dry time, but I didn't seem to have a problem with that.

But if the beautiful blue Kristen (alliteration is my favorite literary device) isn't enough for you all alone, which,  this time around, it wasn't for me, there's a lot you can do to spice it up! My VERY FIRST If Nails Make You Happy post had this manicure...and I wanted to revisit it again!

Zoya Kristen with nails inc. Maida Vale

With nails inc. glitter polish Maida Vale "dripping" from my cuticles (ew, gross image? sorry...), I thought that the Kristen combo kind of looked like glittery icicles! (Admittedly, I've never seen a real icicle though.)

Any other twists on Kristen you can think of? Let me know in the comments :)

Stay happy!

Universe Nails Tutorial!

I promised it a while back, and here it is! My step-by-step tutorial for universe nails (which everyone else calls galaxy nails, but I already established look like the universe instead of a galaxy).

What you'll need:

Black creme polish
White creme polish
2 universe-ish colors (really, you can choose any that you want...)
Silver glitter polish (optional)
Plastic wrap
Patience

1. Black. Any black creme will do - I used a drug store brand that I've had for a while. It's getting DREADFULLY goopy, which made application a challenge, but the nice thing about universe nails is that you don't really have to worry about neat application. 

Wet 'n' Wild Black

2. Bits of plastic wrap. While you're waiting for your black to dry (even if you use a fast-dry topcoat over them, you're going to want to wait until they're COMPLETELY dry), get yourself four small pieces of plastic wrap - probably at least two inches long on each side. Bunch the saran wrap pieces up. (Sorry I don't have any pictures...but I think you should be able to figure out how to bunch up a piece of plastic wrap...)

3. Plastic wrap white. Again, I'm sorry I didn't think to take pictures of the plastic wrap process itself! Put a drop of white polish (I used Zoya Purity) on a paper or plastic plate. Dip one of your plastic wrap pieces in the drop of polish, then lightly dab it across your nail in a random kind-of-linear pattern.

You'll probably get some on your fingers and cuticles around your nails - don't worry about that. You can clean it up later!

4. Plastic wrap your first color. Put a drop of your first universe-ish color on the plastic or paper plate, then dip a new piece of plastic wrap in it. Dab it onto your nail, in the same way you did with your white, but use the white as a guideline for where to apply the new color. I used Zoya Gwin here!

See how it follows the white but isn't directly on the white?

5. Plastic wrap your second color. Use the same technique as in step 4 with your other universe-ish color. I used Zoya Trinity for my nails.

If you want, at this point you can dab a silvery or gold foil-ish polish over the white to give a sparkly look...but I kind of forgot to do that last night. (Last time, I used OPI Designer...de Better!) It's not a super noticeable addition, but it does add to the universe-ish look.

6. Glitter! You don't have to do this step either if you're not really into glitter, but you can add stars to your universe by using a silver glitter polish coat over everything. Last time I used NYC Starry Silver Glitter, this time I thought I'd try nails inc. Burlington Arcade.

Wait a minute or so, and then brush on a topcoat!

Once your nails are COMPLETELY dry, it's time to clean up. A lot of people use cotton swabs dipped in acetone remover, but honestly, I just use it as an excuse to take an extra hot shower and rub off all the excess nail polish there. Yeah...I'm not kidding.

The final product?

And if that feels like too much work for you, you can always get a starry sky feeling from just doing a layer of glitter over your black creme! 

(I just put a coat of Burlington Arcade over black on my right hand...I was too tired from Black Friday to do another hand of universe nails...)

Burlington Arcade is part of nails inc.'s collection of Nail Jewelry polishes - I think it also comes in blue, green, and pink - and as far as I know, you can only get nails inc. at Sephora in the United States. It's a cool glitter that's different, and if you're looking for something to make your nails look more holiday-ish as we get closer to Christmas (EEK! YESSSSS!!!), then Nail Jewelry might be something you check out!

Let me know if you try out universe nails yourself - post pics on the blog's Facebook wall so I can see them!

Stay happy :)))

China Glaze Optical Illusion

...yes...I'm back!

While you were all eating Turkey (unless you don't celebrate Thanksgiving...then this is just kind of an awkward moment), my nails were busy recovering from a tragedy that befell them about a week ago! If you're not excited, I've got enough excitement about my nails being back in pretty shape to make up for both of us.

But you don't want to hear about that.

So instead of stories about my Thanksgiving and such, I have swatches of China Glaze's full-coverage glitter Optical Illusion for you!

China Glaze Optical Illusion

Optical Illusion was from a set of glitters that were supposed to be duochrome...apparently we're supposed to see purples and yellows in the mix somewhere, but I just don't get that duochrome feeling. Whatever. I still REALLY like glitters, and Optical Illusion fit the bill. It was perfectly opaque in two coats (yay!), but it had the gritty finish glitter always does (not yay). And it obviously needed foil removal, but that's alright...I've been hearing about a special basecoat that allows you to just PEEL OFF your glitter nail polish when you're done with it, which I think I simply MUST get my hands on soon.

Stay happy!

Miss Me?

FEAR NOT! I'll be back soon! I know you've been anxiously awaiting my next post, probably dying at the edge of your seat, and I'm sorry to have been denying you the wonderful feeling that comes from reading about my nails. I had a little bit of a nail crisis...which is still growing out...but it's almost all resolved by now! Get ready for some exciting posts coming up. Hint #1: more magnetic colors. Hint #2: more glitter. Hint #3: more summer brights.

But for now...even if there's nothing new here to read...

Stay happy!

ANOTHER Attempt at French Nails!

I'm going to make it happen. I really am. I'm so determined to get French nails right that I'm going to do it if it's the last thing I do.

You may all remember my first try with Zoya Tanzy for my tips. It turned out alright enough, but I thought I could do better.

Well, then my mani with Zoya Natty and Kristen happened, and I'll admit - I was pretty discouraged. I went awhile thinking that French manicures were unattainable. Impossible.

And then this week, the new Taylor Swift album came out! And lo and behold, track 15 tells me not to dream impossible dreams. (It's a wonderful, amazing, beautiful, outstanding, sparkling song!)

And since "Starlight" is from the wonderful, amazing, beautiful, outstanding, sparkling album RED, I thought I'd try to fulfill my not-impossible dream with a red-tipped French manicure!

I promise there are a bunch of almost-pretty pictures coming. But I really have to tell this story.

I spent at least forever on my left hand, doing one coat of the red I was using on my tips. It was definitely messy. And then I tried to move on to my right hand, and that was essentially a tragedy - picture a goopy mess of nail polish that won't dry but won't go where it SHOULD go - and I almost gave up. Definitely thought it was the last time I'd ever try to do fancy nails...

(For your information, "The Last Time" is definitely my favorite track from the new album. Get it. Now.)

But I said to myself, No, Natalie! You can do this! So I went back to my left hand, managed to fix all my mistakes, did my right hand without it looking borderline awful, and got up to show my sister (who, by the way, did not even care). Of course, on the way back, I ran into my desk and messed up one of my nails...

After painstakingly removing the messed up nail polish without messing up any of my OTHER nails (okay, admittedly a few of my nails have particles of cotton ball stuck to them), I moved on to my favorite step of every manicure - topcoat.

FAVORITE STEP NO LONGER. Stupid topcoat smudged up a couple of my nails...

Whatever.

Anyway, I think it's a major improvement over last time, albeit multiple failures throughout the entire manicure process. And a few gross smears of red from my topcoat. 

It's not TOO bad, is it? I'll get there. It definitely looks better than my last attempt, at least...

My sheer base was Essie Hi Maintenance, and the red tips were China Glaze Ruby Pumps (which is currently in a battle with Zoya Elisa for my favorite red nail polish). 

What color combo should I try for my NEXT French combo? Have you mastered the art of French tip manicures?

Stay happy!

Zoya Megan

Does it make you really excited when you find things that have your name? 'Cause I just get so pumped. I'm literally so excited to find another object in the universe named Natalie, because it just makes me feel super special...

Unfortunately, I don't have a nail polish named Natalie. I do, however, have one that stole my sister's name: Zoya Megan! (Except my sister spells it Meagan, with an extra A. In case you really wanted to know.)

Megan is from Zoya's "Feel" collection (Winter 2011-2012, I think) and is an almost white, purple-grey color. Or, because obviously I can't describe colors very well myself, "a full coverage, taupe gray cream", as stated by the Zoya website. I'd tell you how accurate that description of color was...if I knew what taupe was.

But anyway, you don't want to read about my vocabulary (or lack thereof). Here's Megan:

Zoya Megan

Even though not all of these pictures are the greatest, I picked them because they clearly show one of Megan's major color qualities: she changes colors like CRAZY. Sometimes she looks straight up gray, sometimes she's almost white, and then sometimes a little bit of purple sneaks in. It's confusing.

Whatever. Megan is a perfect winter color! She's a little bit streaky, so I'd say unless you're careful, you need three coats of her. And she might look a little funky with my skin tone...but, as I'm starting to notice, a LOT of things look funky with my skin tone. I like Megan anyways.

Are you ready for winter colors? Still enjoying the fall ones? Or are you like me - always stuck in summer nail polish mode?

Stay happy!

nails inc. Whitehall

I LOVE MAGNETIC NAIL POLISH!

Considering this is at least my third post about magnetic nails, I thought I should make sure anyone who still didn't know that...knew.

Anyway, today's magical magnetic color is nails inc. Whitehall, a GORGEOUS teal! Here's Whitehall, before the magnetic effect:

nails inc. Whitehall, no magnet

The top picture is more color accurate...but isn't Whitehall super pretty even without the magnetic-ify-ing?! Now here's Whitehall after the magnet:

nails inc. Whitehall, magnetized

ISN'T IT COOL! Out of all the magnetics I've used, Whitehall is probably my favorite color. I don't think I've seen a brand with this exact teal, either (there's SO many silvers and purples and blues now...). It reminds me of peacocks! I don't know about you, but if I can get my nails to look like peacocks...I'm happy.

As per the usual with the nails inc. polishes, Whitehall had perfect formula and was perfectly opaque in the one coat that's shown above. The magnetic nail polishes have a wider brush than the regular nails inc. ones - I think it's to make fast application easier so that the magnet can be applied sooner - which I LOVE.

STILL on the fence about the whole magnetic nail thing? Or if you've already tried them out, have you found any more creative ways to use the magnetic nail polishes? Let me know!

Stay happy :)