Happy Easter! (Dotting Tool-Crazy)

Hi! Hi! Hi! I might have gone into the Easter candy stash a little early, which is why this might be a little jumpy! (Hehe, jumpy...like a bunny!)

But anyways. My nails today were kind of all over the place too...I was thinking Easter eggs, and then I couldn't figure out how to do those exactly, so I tried to kind of pull it off...

Whatever. Here's what happened!!

Yeah...like I said, I was definitely all over the place here. I think since I realized that I know how to use a dotting tool, I decided that I have to go bonkers with my set of five different sizes. My index finger is particularly...I don't even know. And then as if the multitude of ill-placed dots wasn't enough, I felt the need to use a holographic glitter topcoat...

It's cool. At least now I have a full year to get actually good at dotting and using nail art brushes and such before I have to try to do Easter nails again...we'll see how the holidays in between go.

But...oh yeah! Happy Easter to everyone who celebrates it. And everyone who doesn't! Because even if you don't celebrate it, doesn't mean you should have an awful day or anything. In other words, everyone just have an awesome day, okay?

Stay happy!

nails inc. Haymarket...in Disguise!!

Well, hello there!!

As it's my Spring Break this week, I can imagine, you would imagine that I've had hours to dedicate to delightfully fancy nail art! Unfortunately, I've been incredibly busy (or have I? I'm not sure...it's one of those weeks where I feel like I'm always doing something but I haven't really done anything at all...trippy...) and I've really only had time to do my nails a couple times!

Anyway, I was just going to do some plain manicures, but then I filed my nails a hair too short and decided my nails didn't look like mine any more. So, of course, the natural reaction was to give it a full blown disguise. Here's what happened...

This is nails inc. Haymarket with...well, like I said, a disguise on the accent finger! Sorry the colors look a little off...my hands always look incredibly red with this kind of greenish-bluish-tealish-whateverish color!

How do you like the incognito look? 

Stay happy!

Happy First Day of Spring!

Yes! Even if it doesn't feel like it - even if it's pouring rain or cloudy out or, if you live in an extra-unfortunate place, snowing - today was the first day of Spring! To celebrate, I've done some pretty Spring-y nails...or at least I think they are. Take a look and be the judge yourself!

If you're curious, the colors I used were...

Zoya Yummy (blue), Zoya Purity (white), Zoya Ivanka (sparkly green...you can't really see her that much), Orly Green Apple (light green creme), some sketchy Sinful Colors yellow (sorry...I think I rubbed the name off awhile ago...), and Zoya Dominique (red)

Now, as I've made ferociously clear before, I'm quite frightened of doing nail art on my right hand...so I just stuck with some simple clouds there:

I could only manage one picture...you'd be surprised how hard it is to take a picture of your right hand with your left hand if you're right-handed! (Wows...you might have to read that sentence twice before it makes sense...)

Anyways, happy Spring! Here's to the warm, sunny days to come...

Stay happy!

Everything's Better with Glitter!

Hey there!

So yesterday I mentioned that I wasn't feeling too hot...well, I'm still not in perfect condition, but I figured the least I could do was make sure my nails looked nice. Using Julep Joan (which was covered in yesterday's post) as my base color, I added a glitter gradient with e.l.f. Golden Goddess, a mini topper that I found at Target on clearance for $0.89 (no joke!).

Golden Goddess literally blows my mind. I can't believe how lucky I was to have found her...I've never seen another bottle when I've checked Target's clearance (which I do regularly now...don't judge me!). I don't know if you can see in the picture, but the gold hex glitters aren't just gold - they're holographic! Maybe sometime soon I'll do another mani using Golden Goddess to try to capture all of her awesomeness.

While writing this post, I realized that these nails look a lot more sophisticated - or elegant, maybe? - than a lot of my other manicures. I personally think I like doing bright, fun nail art over something more toned-down like this...what do you think? 

Stay happy!

Julep Joan plus Freedom Polymer Topcoat

Hello there!

To be honest, today I'm feeling a little under the weather, so I don't have the energy to pester you with a [not-so] exciting detailing of my day...so here's Julep Joan, from the February "It Girl" Julep Maven box!

Joan is a dark raspberry (not red, not purple...but not actually magenta) almost-jelly shade with little coppery-golden flecks in it. (If you're wondering, yes, that is the full extent of my descriptive skills....please don't judge me.) Her formula is literally PERFECT - shown above is two normal coats. In either January or February, Julep introduced new brushes to their polishes that were flatter and wider than the old ones - and let me say these brushes are also...literally PERFECT. The polish spreads perfectly and evenly, and...AAAH! I'm just so in love with the Julep formula and brushes and opacity and...yeah. Everything.

Anyone who ended up getting their February Maven box also got a free gift - Julep's new topcoat, Freedom. Freedom is a quick-dry polymer topcoat that's supposed to give polishes a gel-like finish.

Because UV light can do funky things to nail polishes (at least that's what I'm assuming), Freedom comes in an opaque black bottle.

Freedom is kind of a weird topcoat for me. Sure, it was dry to the touch in a couple minutes and it's fairly un-dentable now a few hours later, which is exactly what a fast-dry topcoat is supposed to do...but Freedom has an EXTREMELY thin formula. I'm not just talking it feels thin compared to, say, Seche Vite; I'm saying Freedom is SO thin it's practically like...water? It makes Out the Door topcoat look thick, which, if you've used OTD, you'll know is pretty preposterous. 

Because Freedom is so thin, Joan kind of ate her up. (Wow...don't read that one out of context; it looks a little psychotic!) The gold flecks in Joan aren't even that prominent, but their texture still shows through a coat of Freedom. You can actually see in the first picture of Joan on this post that Freedom doesn't leave a completely smooth finish! For some people, that's all fine and dandy; for me, though, I need my manicure to be perfectly smooth...I'll probably use Freedom more over creme finish polishes because she does dry nicely and have the same great brush as the other Julep polishes, but I can't see myself using Freedom on anything but a creme.

Interested in becoming a Maven? Sign up on the Julep website here! Each month is $19.99 for a box full of goodies - my last one included three nail polishes, Freedom topcoat, an eyelash curler (no joke!), and chocolate (also, no joke!!). It's an amazing deal if you like the nail polishes in your box, considering one Julep polish regularly sells for $14. The great thing about the Maven program is that it's not binding at all - you can skip or cancel any month you like with no penalty! 

Have you tried any Julep products? Let me know!

Stay happy :)

Wave Tutorial!

Hey guys! Earlier this week I posted some nails I'd done with a wave pattern, promising I'd reveal how to do it later...well, now is later, so let's get this tutorial going, yeah?

You'll need:

Tape (regular tape works...I have a feeling duct tape or packing tape would ruin your mani in general)
Craft scissors (for the wave pattern, the wave-patterned scissors, obviously)
Nail polish (do I really need to say this one?)

First, paint your base color and let it dry. I loveloveloved the design that I had on already, so I just decided to keep that and do the wave pattern over it. Then, using your craft scissors, cut small pieces of tape (a little more than an inch long) in half with your craft scissors.

Then stick it on your nail! You can do one nail at a time, like I'm showing in this tutorial, or you can do them all at once. Whatever you prefer works! For this design, I wanted my wave pattern centered, but obviously you can put the tape wherever you want on your nail.

Once your tape is SECURELY stuck to your nail (make sure there aren't any air bubbles around the edge of the tape, or your lines won't be as crisp!), paint a coat of your second nail polish over it.

Usually with tape manicures, you're going to want to rip the tape of RIGHT AWAY after you paint over it - this guarantees you'll have a clear line. However, if your nail polish is a little sheer, wait for the first coat to [almost] dry, then do one more thick coat of your polish over it. Rip it off after that - do it fast! Peeling the tape off slowly leaves time for polish to slide around or peel off or...just a bunch of things that you don't want to happen.

See? Clear, crisp wave line! Finish the rest of your nails the same way, then once you're sure that the last layer of nail polish is dry, add topcoat to seal in your super easy (but super cool-looking) new design!

Isn't it cute? I think it looks so happy! Of course, you could do the same manicure with depressing colors and I'm sure it wouldn't be quite as happy...why you'd do depressing nails, though, I don't really know. More pictures below for anyone who's obsessed with this mani and just wants to stare at it all day!

Nice and simple! Let me know if you try this technique yourself, and be sure to post pictures on the If Nails Make You Happy Facebook page!

Stay happy :)

Pink(ish) and White Dotticure!

Helloooo, readers! I hope you're having an absolutely marvelous day - I know I am! It's Saturday, it's sunny (where I live, at least), and I got some of the best news of my life this weekend: I got into college! To celebrate, I have one of my favorite manicures that I've ever done for you guys today!

(Okay, truth time - I didn't do these nails in celebration; I did them while waiting for admissions decisions to be published, hoping it would take my mind off things. Unfortunately - or fortunately? - these nails didn't take as much time or effort as I thought they would...)

If you're looking to recreate this look, I used Essie Cute as a Button as my base color and a dotting tool to add Zoya Purity polka dots on top. For those of you new to dotting tools (word of warning - I've only used mine couple times, too!), I think it's easiest to start with a symmetrical pattern like this! Let me know if you'd ever like a whole post dedicated to dotting - I definitely think that might be a post worth doing!

I personally lovelovelove this manicure to death. I don't know why; maybe it's because I can't usually get my nails to look so...cute. Whatever. What other creative designs have you tried out with dotting tools?

Stay happy!