Tiger nail art

To continue showing my support in the fight against animal cruelty, and to make something decent of my blotchy nails, I painted black tiger stripes. I'm not usually one for having animal prints on my nails (or anywhere), but I like this. I think the purple/pink makes it look feminine. 

Pretty, pretty, pretty =D Too bad it will have to come off tonight or tomorrow because I have been torturing boyfriend the past few weekends by wearing nail polish and he's been a honey about it so he deserves some time with my naked nails. 

Blotchy nail art

*deep sigh* 




*another sigh*


I wanted to do some nail art using one of my new OPI nudes. But, lazy bum that I am, I had no intention of taking my previous mani off. I thought I could just paint over the purple.

I was wrong. 


It got all blotchy and a weird shade of purple like a misty morning over the heathland. These pictures are with two coats of Step Right Up!

Last week, I ran into a sale on polish by Paris Memories. I know this brand to be cheap, but 5 bottles for €5 is nothing! There was only one color I really liked and didn't have yet, so I took it over to the counter and... it took a lot of effort to actually buy it! The sales clerk kept repeating that it was 5 for €5 and that I could take four more bottles for just a few euros. She just couldn't wrap her head around the fact that I only wanted one bottle. 

It's a hot pink and in the bottle, it looks like it has flecks of blueish purple. On the nail, this effect is gone. It's still a beautiful color, but... it's not at all opaque! Here we go again... with two coats, it's still as see-through as glass. After experiencing the nail fail I just described, I decided to just go with it. 

I ran with it and painted a hot pink coat over my weird purplish blotchy nails. And this is what came out of it:

It's a WEIRD color. And still blotchy. But a good kind of blotchy. Like marble or some other special effect. Maybe this will even become a 'thing' :-p Hahaha "Narmai, trendsetter extraordinaire" (totally by accident)

The Paris Memories polish does have a really, REALLY nice shine. I mean, the pictures above are without a topcoat. Very pretty.

Okay, so now give me your honest opinion. As honest as it can get. Do you like it? Would you rather see this in a different color? Would you ever wear it?

And..... GO!

Animal Abuse Awareness nail art

It's Animal Abuse Awareness Week until saturday, and this is an important issue for me so I wanted to tell you something about it. Firstly, I'm wearing purple nails all week, because the color of the ribbon against animal abuse is purple. I care a lot about animals. And I do mean A LOT. They put a smile on my face, make me say 'ahwww' a lot and make me marvel at the miracle of the universe, just by looking at how their fur consist of millions of tiny hairs making a soft surface, how amazingly small or big their paws are and how perfectly coordinated and balanced their movements can be. They are simply amazing. I look at my rats and I feel the love that I have for them, and they find their own way to show their love for me. So for me, it is simply unbelievable why anyone would want to hurt an animal. Some people hit their pets, and some people abuse their pets by overfeeding them. Having a pet in an unsuited environment like a small apartment or a tiny cage can also be considered abuse. Or treating cattle badly (before eating them) or even seeing a wild animal suffer and not doing anything.

In my opinion, animal abuse is a worse thing than sickness. Animal abuse is something that a person chooses to do. Something that we can prevent if we all work together. So please, keep this somewhere in the back of your mind and think about it sometimes, when you see a fat dog with sausages for paws or a pigeon that has been run over and is lying in the gutter waiting for death. Think of the wonderful experiences that animals bring us, and then think about what you can do, like calling animal rescue or making people aware of what they are doing to their animal.

Okay, now on to the nail part of my message!

I didn't have much time, so it's a quicky (nail art wise). It started out as a disaster but I managed to turn it around, even if it was just a little bit. I painted my nails with my lilac/purple, but that turned out darker than I wanted it to. I knew I wanted to do something with paws, but I just couldn't get it visualized in my head how I wanted it. I played around with some ideas, but most took too much time, which I didn't have. I lost so much time debating what to make that I had to hurry up and sponge some darker purple on the tips and make some paws very quickly on my thumbs and ring fingers.

The pics show it a little more blue than it actually is. I wish I had more time to make something better, but for now, this is on my nails.

Opinions in 3... 2... 1....

Fabulous blogger award!

This is a total love fest, especially the last part of the post =D Kelly over at Dysfunctionally Functional thought I deserved this blogger award for having a great blog. I'm not sure if I would call it great, but I think I do okay =D A big hug for the sweetest Kelly, who is an awesome blogger herself!

The rules for accepting the award:

Post the rules on your blog.
Name five of your most fabulous moments, either in real life or in the blogosphere.
Name five things you love.
Name five things you hate.
Pass the ribbon on to five other bloggers. (Leave them a comment to notify them of their win.)


5 Fabulous Moments

1.    When a friend asked me if I wanted to adopt two rats. A friend of her had adopted two

       from yet another friend but she turned out to be allergic. It took some convincing to get 

       my dad to allow it, but my rats have become my very best friends, maybe even like my 

       children.
2.    Graduating (both times, does that count as one?)
3.    When I was having a shopping spree slash sleepover with a friend and she made me 

       rediscover the wonderful world of nail polish! (same friend as nr. 1 by the way, she's

       AWESOME)
4.    Feeling my friendship with my boyfriend (who wasn't my boyfriend back then) develop 

       into more. It was very confusing but also exciting and wonderful.
5.    It didn't feel fabulous at the time, but when I took 6 months off from school to deal with 

       some stuff. I got the time to find myself and it has made me happier and stronger.

5 Things I Love


1.    My ratty friends
2.    Great smells, like the smell of rain or cut grass or my skin after sunbathing (that's not 

       sweat, seriously)
3.    Feeling like I've done something useful
4.    Warmth. I am not a happy person when I'm cold
5.    Nail polish. Especially when it's free =D


5 Things I Hate


1.    People who don't give a damn, whether it's about their spelling or the terrible noise they 

       seem to HAVE to make. There are other people in the world, it's not just you. (7 billion 

       people going "What? Really?")
2.    I don't know which I hate more: cooking or having to eat so many times a day. After 5 

       dry, gritty sandwiches and still being hungry, I'm kind of over the whole eating thing.
3.    Someone kicking or ticking against my chair
4.   Being sick
5.   Being cold


5 Other Bloggers
I would love to give this award to Kelly for being absolutely sweet and great but she already knows how I feel about her, so I'll pay it forward.

Kaki
Melanie
Christine
Jme and Ev
Rainbowify Me

A big hug for these five bloggers, you have all been so sweet to me in some way, I just wanted to say thank you *flashes a dazzling smile that makes your heart light up* (darn, I wish I had a smile like that)

And ofcourse a big hug to all ye who read this, just by being here, you have proven to be the coolest blog readers!

Comic book nails

This weekend, my boyfriend and I got together with some of his friends. They are all kind of nerdy, into fantasy, sci-fi and comic books, so yeah, I fit right in. They once said I'm just an awesome guy in an even more awesome girl's body. His best friend once commented on my corset nails when I put them on Facebook, so I thought I'd surprise him with some amazing nails again. I can't take credit for the design, although I'm not sure who I can give credit to (and yes, that is a banana I'm holding).

My right hand was a little bit less succesful, drawing with my left hand is going a little better every time, but still not as good as the right. 

But uhm... my nails almost got me in trouble in the train. When my card got checked, the guy reacted a bit weird and asked me to grab my card in a certain way. We have electronic cards for travelling by train and bus in the Netherlands, but the system is unbelievably flawed. So I thought there was some kind of problem (it wouldn't be the first time) and I was about to start a rant about the problems I had before. Turns out, the guy just wanted to see my nails *sigh*

My boyfriend's best friend liked the pink nails the best because of the contrast. 

Nail WIN! This is soooo pretty

Do you ever have a mani in mind that you think can never work because it's too elaborate, too much painting by hand? And that it will be a disaster on your right hand because you have to paint with the left? (or reversed for lefties) Just try it once, you might love what you make!

I used Manhattan Fluo Club nr. 92, a very light pink. After applying my base coat, I sponged this pretty pink color on my nails, making sure the polish was thicker towards the tip of the nail. I made a sort of gradient with one color, so the part around the cuticles is my actual nail color. The sponge I used is pretty rough, making a texture. This texture got even more pronounced when I sponged my mattifier onto the pink. 

The texure and gradient on itself isn't very appealing. I continued my design by painting white flower petals onto the pink. Three per nail, with a bit of space between them (or at least I tried). The shape of these really doesn't matter that much. I know I'm a perfectionist and I was almost ready to start all over, but the shape isn't that visible anymore later on. Painting these petals was a bit harder because of the texture. 

I drew black thin lines around the petals, stopping at the end and not completely enveloping the petal. I also made one or two really thin lines within the petals, giving it that creased look. I used my Rimmel London Black Cab and a tiny art brush. I didn't use a striper, due to the simple reason that I don't own one. 

Next, I added some pink stripes to the petals, wherever there was room in between the black lines. It's hard to see the pink because it's not very opaque. I used L'Oreal Paris Ingenuous Rose for this. 

Finally, I put some pink dots on what would be the heart of the flower and added the dotted trails in pink and black. 

I guess I don't need to tell you I didn't use a top coat. That would have counteracted the effect of the mattifier. I love, love, LOVE this effect! The matte backdrop makes the flowers pop and the matte pink looks like I could eat it. I have that with certain nail polish colors or combinations.

Might just be me, when I describe a color as 'tasty' or 'edible'. In this case, I think it's because it reminds me of something coated with powdered sugar, certain candies or something. I just can't remember what candy exactly. It's hard to see on the picture but in real life, it's soooo good!

I'm just so happy with my nails!!! I don't know how long I'll keep this design. I might just annoy my boyfriend with it this weekend :-p Yeah, I think I'll do that

My polish dream... no, it's an actual dream

Wow... I had a dream last night about the Gosh Rainbow flaky polish... I'm serious! I dreamed that I was getting an OPI polish with my boyfriend, but we had to wait really long. Then, the sales assistant gave me two polishes to choose from but they were both by cheap brands. She had already made the sale on the cash register because she was sure I was going to buy one. I left my boyfriend behind (I know, so bad of me :-p) and I went to the drug store to get that Gosh because it's so beautiful. I have really weird dreams, like, every night. I remember them most days and was something funny to tell my classmates every day.

Do you ever dream about polish?

Okay, so here's another cute rat

I know how some people strongly dislike rats and although it annoys me to no end to hear people scream when I only mention a rat, here's another rat warning:

*If you don't like rats, don't read this, video included*

But ahwww I just had to share this with you guys! He made me laugh so hard... :-p



You may have read about my new camera. As a result, I've been stalking my rats for three days trying to get the cutest picture. When I woke up this morning, Noah was lying in a kind of awkward position. He likes to groom himself while lying belly-up in a hammock. Underneath him, you can see his black-furred brother Chuck, apparently he didn't mind Noah pushing down on him with his unimaginable ratty weight.

First he has the hiccups, then he does his eye boggling thing. After that, he knaws on his little hand, then looks around a bit and YES! He yawns in the cutest, most adorable way with his paws all sticking out! I've seen this many times but never caught it on tape. Last, but not least, he does his eye boggling thing again.

I've never had any yawn-pictures until tuesday, now I have a yawn-video as well! And eye boggling caught on camera too, wow! I'm sorry about the rotated image but this was the only way I could get my camera to fit in between the cage bars and the cutest rat ever :-p

When a girl gives you flowers...

...kiss her! This is the bouquet I got for my mom. I chose every flower that went in there myself, the lady in the shop was looking at me like I was crazy, apparently it went against everything she'd learned :-p

I started with some orangy yellow gerbera's and then went from there. I also chose light pink roses, yellow uh... other flowers :-p I have no idea what they're called. And some fillers like those simple yet elegant green leaves.

My mom was pleasantly surprised and she said she absolutely loved the color combination. It fits her style perfectly :D She told me that she thinks I picked the sweetest flowers. To which I replied it was for the sweetest mom. Ahwwww she's such a cutie!

Addition to my family!

*Warning: If you don't like cute pet rats, stop reading right here, pictures below*

YAY! IT'S OFFICIAL!

My family is growing! I wrote a rattery a few months ago saying I would love to adopt two little rats. It took a while, but yesterday, the tiny critters were born :D There are 17 rittens born, of which 10 are male. That means two of those will find a home with me and my boys.

I will share pictures with you as soon as I get any. OMG I'm so excited :D My guys are already 1,5 years old, and getting lazier by the day, so a bit of excitement in the cage will do them good.

Oh, and I bought a new camera! These are pics from the internet:

I'm so looking forward to making pretty pictures of my ratties. It's a really good camera: 16 MP, lots of options to customize your settings and it's small and lightweight. And while I was stalking my rats with my new camera, I finally FINALLY caught a yawn on camera!

Okay, so here's a normal picture of the one we call Chuck

He's a black rat with a white belly, but his butt is becoming more brownish over time. He is a smart guy, knows exactly what he wants and likes a god petting now and then, but he's not really the type for long hugs. He's a good brother to the two other rats (who actually are his biological brothers) Noah and Merlijn. 

Noah, the sleepy lazybum above, is a big rat, and I mean BIG. He weighs over 800 grams now, that's about 28 ounces (if I calculated correctly). That's big for an adult male rat, who I'm used to being between 500-600 grams (between 17 and 21 ounces). He's not at all fat, though, it's all muscles in his body. They get a lot of time to run around my bedroom and jump on and off stuff, especially my couch and my bed, so they're very fit. It's important for rats to get plenty room to play, exercise and explore. They can't get bored. 

But I'm drifting off into a speech about proper care, back to my rats! Noah is a bit of a clown, he doesn't think before doing anything, he just jumps without caring where he lands. Mostly that's on his butt. And it looks darn funny :-p He can play a bit rough with his brothers, but he means well and he will always take care of them, groom them, make sure they have enough food and, ofcourse, destroy the hammocks I hang in their cage. 

My pretty boy Merlijn is a lazy bum too, but he sure likes his hugs! I like to pick him up when he's been napping, he's so soft and warm and relaxed. He likes to be scratched behind the ear, he turns soft when I do that. He's a sweety pie who grooms anything he gets into his little paws, including my fingers. He grabs them tightly and doens't let go until I'm clean by his standards. They never bite, though. They know perfectly that that's not allowed, it's like they know that hurts. When one of them accidentally bit me a little bit when I woke him up, I thought I saw him flinch. They're really the sweetest pets, they're like my cute little kids and I love them to bits. 

They also like attention waaaaay too much. Look at their little faces in the picture below. This was last night, they know they each get a hug before I go to bed. 

Since we're on the topic of pets, I wanted to show you my parrot. He's actually not really mine, he's my parent's parrot, but I'm like his mate. Unlike my rats, Bart (that's his name) will bite if he doesn't like or trust you. And he bites HARD. He likes me, I can do anything with him. Yesterday, he stuck his head through the opening of the feeder (he broke the feeder a few years ago) and let me pet his head with my whole hand, all the way to his wings. Nobody is allowed to do that, except me. I really have a special bond with this cutiepie :D

So these are my pets, the sweetest and cutest I have ever known. But doesn't every pet owner say that about their pets?

Some experimenting never hurt anyone...

... or did it? I used fake nails for this, so I could keep my current nail art on. I've been seeing these pictures of caviar nail art as well as plenty of do-it-yourself low-cost solutions, all the while wondering how it would feel. So I grabbed some of my craft supplies and made four test nails.

The pink one is very pretty. It's a little bit over the top maybe, it looks sweet enough to burn a hole in your teeth, but I like it. The green one is one I might wear. I've got this in red, blue and silver too, but I think I'd be too afraid that the sprinkles would come off. There's also the problem of the sprinkles not spreading evenly. Me being a perfectionist, I just couldn't stand it. The purple nail is very extravagant. The tip is sprinkled with something I can only describe as glass shards. With a topcoat over it, it's not as sharp anymore, but I'd call it unfit to wear for real. 

And the last nail, the blue one, is so nice but also weird. It looks edible, like a blackberry. I don't know if these are known outside of the Netherlands, but it looks like these candies that come in a bag of 'Engelse drop'. It's an anice flavored candy, so that's what I think about when I see this nail. Unfortunately, I didn't have much of these sprinkles. After making this nail, they're all used up. 

Which one of these nails is your favorite? Would you wear any nail art that would feel uncomfortable, just because you think it's pretty?

Glitter gradient

For the next couple of days, I wanted something really flashy on my nails. I have a neat manicure planned for later this week, when I have to go on exam. But neat is also boring, so I thought my new polish Rainbow Apparition would make a nice gradient. First, I painted my nails two coats of the L'Oreal Paris Ingenuous Rose. It's not really opaque after two coats, but that wasn't necessary for the gradient I had in mind. 

Daylight

Flash

The flash always adds some blue to the picture, but I think none of my pictures really show the true color of this polish. The first one comes really close though. 

I'm having a lazy day, I did the gradient by applying thin coats, each one staying closer to the tip of the nail. 

Flash

Daylight

Both polishes have that handy fan brush that makes it possible to paint your nails in two strokes or less. It really makes it easier to get a smooth surface. The L'Oreal polish isn't very opaque, but it dries fast enough to make a third coat not too much trouble. 

Challenge - Week 5

First of all: wow! I can't believe it's been five weeks already! I thought I would feel limited in my choice of polishes but the colors go really well together. This time, I made a kind of seaweed-like design (or flames, whatever you want to see in them). I had some school stuff to wrap up, some of which was formal, so I didn't want my nails to be too flashy. Okay, they're purple, maybe a little bit flashy, but I'm still me :D I just can't help but be colorful!

I lined up all my tools and polishes and settled in for a good movie with the best parents ever. On the couch. With them filling my glass with water. And not complaining about the polish smell. Like I said, best parents ever! (click on the pictures for a better view)

Using flash

After applying a base coat, I painted my nails a pretty purple from a bottle of Paris Memories. The color is somewhere between the flash and the no-flash photo. Using a tiny brush (I just use one I bought at a crafts store), I drew some lines from my cuticles up to about 2/3 of my nail. I used Luminelle Mauve Captivant by Yves Rocher. Some wiggly lines are shorter and I tried to make them cross in front of eachother like seaweed does. For the extra wow-effect, I sponged some purple glitter from Essence Season of Extremes We Are All Bright onto the base of the seaweed. The glitter reminds me of sand flying up from the bottom of the sea.

The design is a bit hard to see. With natural light on it and while wiggling my fingers a bit, you can clearly see the 'seaweed' lighting up and it's so pretty! I like my free hand nail art better than the stickers or (in the future) stamping. I can't draw to save my life, but it comes to my nails I like to think of myself as an artist. 

What is your preferred nail art technique?