Here is is with mixed in with a few drops of Color Club Killer Curves, a burgundy creme:

Kind of a meh color, just my personal opinion, so I jazzed it up with some white dots and black confetti hearts. Now it’s kind of Valentine’s-y.

And here it is mixed in a half/half ratio with Milani Charmed, a black base with dark silver glitter. Milani is a drugstore brand in the US, and they are cruelty free. Yay! They can be pretty hit or miss, but some of their stuff is actually pretty unique. Check for sales, though: I remember they’re perpetually buy one get one free, etc.  Otherwise they’re a bit pricey for a drugstore polish.

Now this is more up my alley! The Charmed actually had some warm burgundy/purple in the base which came out when it was mixed with the lighter shimmer in the eyeshadow. I didn’t expect that since it looks like straight black all by itself. It was a nice surprise!

I decided to wear this all day since I liked it so much, so I added some tiny gold studs and a faceted plastic heart jewel. Artsy shot:

Not exactly a spring-y kind of color, but we’re still in the dead of winter anyway, despite all the lightweight clothing I’m seeing in the stores!

I was actually planning on chucking the eyeshadow that I used to make these frankens (wasteful, I know, but I have very limited capacity to send stuff out of Japan), but I think I’ll keep it for future frankens. I hate throwing stuff away, but there’s only so much I can send home. I’m giving away what I can, but unfortunately, the Japanese don’t really do Salvation Army or secondhand goods, so I have to pay to dispose of all my furniture and applicances.  Oddly enough, they even refer to houses as “used.”  I never thought of them in that way before.

Well, all that randomness aside, I hope you guys liked today’s looks. Give it a try and let us know how it turns out!

Case in point: I keep buying eyeshadows. I hardy ever wear them. I’m practically blind and I have to wear Coke-bottle thick glasses. I’m pretty sure you can’t even see my eyes behind them! I do have contacts, but found that I couldn’t wear them all day and stare at a computer screen without my eyes feeling like the Sahara. So…eyeshadow is pretty much wasted on me, yet it draws me in with its glittery goodness.

So, I found another dusty eyeshadow in my drawer- Revlon Diamond Lust  in Starry Pink. I did wear it once, and it looked like I got beat up by a fairy. Pink eyeshadow generally doesn’t work on me, but this one is exactly the color my eyes turn when I have a cold (minus the glitter, of course.)

Luckily….you know what happens next! It made a really nice polish.

I used an eyeshadow brush to loosen the shadow into a silicone baking cup, added some clear polish, and mixed it up. Sweet and simple.

I’m not really a baby pink kind of girl (yes, I know I did buy this polish and I make some pretty frou-frou nails!) but I liked this one. It looks nice and clean. But since I can never leave well enough alone, I added some quick white French tips and a little rose  on the ring finger.

Please forgive the crooked tips, I haven’t had my caffeine fix just yet.

All right, back to cleaning, packing, sorting and all that not-so-fun stuff.

ETA: For more details, check out my Pigment Tutorial 1 and Pigment Tutorial 2.

If you’re using a USB-powered external hard drive (ie, it doesn’t get power from a plug), be very careful not to let your computer go to sleep/shutdown while the drive is plugged in. It can cause data failure if the drive is writing or accessing itself, even if it’s not actively copying files. When the computer goes to sleep or powers down, the drive can lose power while it’s functioning, which can cause data loss. Also, don’t remove the drive without stopping it first, even if the instructions say it’s OK. It’s much safer to stop the device first and it only takes a few seconds. This was something I did not know, and now I do, sadly to the tune of over 10,000 lost photos. I have run recovery software on it to no avail and now have to consult the pros at a horrible cost. I guess the main point is:  back it up TWICE in different locations and don’t rely on external hard drives for long-term storage.

I’m slowly getting back on track. Whatever muscle I pulled gave me a lot of pain from my lower back all the way to my neck, so it’s been also hurting to paint nails for an extended period of time.  Besides the cranky muscle, it’s hard for me to paint when I feel out of sorts and my poor apartment looks like something out of Hoarders because there are boxes and bags everywhere. The move is more difficult than I thought it would be, both physically and mentally. It’s hard to say goodbye to my home of almost 10 years. I left the  US since before 9/11 and have only really been back for visits since. It’s been a long time in years, but also in terms of how much things seem to have changed.

Oh no, I’m giving myself a case of the blues. My plan for today is to drink some Red Bull, pop a couple aspirin, take out some trash, tape up a few more boxes, and make a clear space so I can do something fun for an hour or two without looking at the mess.  Then…bubble bath! It’s um….therapeutic for my sore muscles!

Some of my best art comes out when I’m feeling a little blue, so I hope to have something good to show everyone. I’m thinking…woodblock prints?

I’ve been watching reruns of Locked Up Abroad…and all I can say is that I hope that rhinestones are never against the law. If so, you will definitely see me featured on the show. “Deranged Nail Artist Caught in Largest Swarovski-smuggling  Bust in History.” If I go down, I’m going big! Luckily, I don’t think Swarovskis are about to be declared illegal anytime soon. Phew.

I made these and these to use up some rhinestones so I could purchase more without feeling guilty. It’s Dia De Los Muertos themed.

The nail on the right is a Swarovski bonanza. SS30 size in Pacific Blue Opal ringed with SS12 in Topaz.

A second Day of The Dead Set.

For those of you who are curious how I paint, I use a plastic board with double sided tape.  It’s tricky to get the sides, though, so I’d recommend an actual nail painting stand,  where you can mount the nails individually and access all sides of them.

And some kawaii bombs, since I am still in Japan, after all:

Perfect for those times when you want to feel like a princess. Just make sure you have a Prince Charming to do your dishes, open doors, etc.

And…in other news, I just started a Flickr account to display my past work. It’s here  and I’m populating it very slowly but eventually I would like to show all my nail art, swatches of my commercial polishes, and some frankens, plus some pictures of me might actually sneak in- we’ll see! I’m usually the one taking the photos and I’m a bit photo-shy to boot, though. ETA: Flickr is going to have to go on hold due to a massive hard drive crash! Boo!!

Last of all, my Etsy shop is going to be closed from around Feb. 15 to April 1 (maybe mid-April if my boxes don’t arrive in a timely manner), so for my lovely Etsy customers, if you’d like something, I do recommend ordering soon.

I picked up the latest copy of NailMax the other day and inside I found the winners from the 2011 Tokyo Nail Expo Nail Art competition…

4th Place -

3rd Place -

2nd Place -

And the winner is….

I admit that even I wouldn’t be able to wear these, but as works of art some of them are pretty amazing!

Next Monday is Coming of Age Day in Japan, where there is a ceremony to celebrate anyone who turns 20 this year.  The newly-minted adult ladies wear fancy kimono for the celebration, and I’m painting some kimono-themed nails to celebrate- check back soon to see what’s in store!

I’m hoping 2012 will be a more positive year for me. I’ll be leaving Japan early next year, which is a huge change for me, and then I’m not sure what happens next! Of course it will involve glitter.

But enough ruminating, it’s New Year’s Eve! Time to relax and have some fun.

Here’s a couple of nail ideas for those of you who need some inspiration. (Western) New Year’s Eve is all about the sparkle, so it’s definitely my kind of holiday. But here in Japan, it’s more of a family oriented sort of event. But I always choose the sparklier option whenever I can, so my mani is going to be glittery for sure.

First up:

This set was a bit on the experimental side.  The index finger is a wine glass, but it kind of wound up looking like an hourglass.  (And I haven’t been hitting the champagne, I swear!) I painted the nail white first, then did the outline of the wineglass in black Sharpie marker. I used a gold glitter polish for the champagne, and then filled in the blue area with Orly Instant Artist striping polish and added some little white dots for the fizz.  By the way, the Orly Instant Artist seems to be water-based- don’t franken it with nail polish or you will get a mess.

For the clock on the index finger, I have a neat trick. Do not bother painting a circle, it is very hard to get right. Instead, paint the whole nail white, and add a black French tip at the top and one at the bottom. It doesn’t make a perfect circle but it’s a good representation and passes quite well, I think.

I painted the ring finger in medium blue, then covered it with one coat of white and a coat of gold glitter. While all the coats were wet, I used a toothpick to scratch in “2012.” I was hoping for more contrast, but this is a technique I am experimenting with as I try to work more texture into my nail art.

The pinkie is just a happy party hat with some glitter stripes and dots, with a rhinestone pom-pom.

Next up:

The star of this one is the nail polish! It’s Deborah Lippmann “Forget You,” which is a black jelly with multi-glitter suspended in it. This was practically made for a party. The application was good, and the glitter shows through nicely, but this polish is quite pricey. You could layer a glitter polish over black for a very similar effect.  For those of you in the US, Milani (cruelty free but not 100% vegan) has a multi-glitter polish called “Gems” which I layer with quite often. OPI has a glitterbomb from the Muppets collection too, but they’re not a part of my stash anymore after their acquisition by Coty, since they test on animals.

I added some silver star studs and a couple rhinestones to jazz it up. This would be a good manicure for short-term wear, like a party, because the star studs do tend to snag on clothes and hair unless they are coated with UV gel or a heavy topcoat. Do your nails last!

And last:

One of my personal favorites! Color Club Magic Attraction. It is a pain to get off, but for a blingy event, it’s worth it! It’s pretty jazzy all on its own and is smooth with a coat of Seche, but since it’s New Years, I decided to go with a couple of rhinestone embellishments:

Some acrylic rhinestones- it is New Year’s after all! Glue them on with nail glue and then coat with a clear topcoat. They won’t last more than a day or two, but it’s a fun look for a party.

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope 2012 will be a wonderful year filled with all good things! <3

TiNS (I don’t know why they write it that way either!) are glitter-bomb polishes made in Japan by Estessimo Takara. Unfortunately, I don’t have any good leads on where they can be purchased outside of Japan, and even domestically, they run around $15/bottle, so if you see them on Ebay for $20, it’s not really that much of a markup, I’m afraid. I’ll keep my eyes out for websites that ship overseas, but nail polish is tricky since it can’t go by air, so most companies just don’t bother.

Anyway, here’s some glitter swatches from my TiNS swatch wheel to get us all feeling sparkly! Some of the names are hilarious, and they tend to put “the” in front of everything, but the colors are knockouts.

So there’s a few of my glitter-bombs. I’m thinking of maybe using ‘The Gear Top Traveller’ for my New Year’s manicure. It’s a Dragon Year according to the Eastern calendar, so that may make a nice base for a green dragon. I’m still working on a couple ideas though! Any colors you guys are partial to?

First up, French tip Santa hat!

I used China Glaze 5 Golden rings as the base color. Paint a thin white curved line across the nail wherever you want the bottom of the hat to be, then fill in with red all the way to the tip of the nail.  After it’s dry (or paint very carefully to avoid smudging!), paint a  thin red triangle and add a white pom-pom dot on the bottom with a dotting tool Cute and easy!

Next up: Tangled Christmas Lights.

This one has a few more steps in it, but is not too difficult.

I made a translucent green color and added some sparkle (Milani Gems and Kleancolor Afternoon picnic) together to give me a glittery green base. You can also easily paint a green base and layer a sparkle polish over it.  From there, add a snakey green line with dark green paint, polish or even a Sharpie marker. This will be the wire for the lights.

Next, paint the lightbulbs in kind of an almond shape using white polish or paint. This will make them stand out against the darker green. Once the white is dry, paint over the white with the color of your choice. You can outline the bulbs with a nail art pen or marker if you like. (Permanent markers work well, but can stain nails. They work best for a short time). Add topcoat, and voila! I added some round silver confetti because, well, you know how I like shiny stuff!

And last up, Candy Canes!

This one is recycled, and there are quite a lot of variations on it, but I always have fun with it!

Paint a white base and add a glittery white shimmer if you want (I used Misa Honeybunch). From there, add a wide red line wherever you like- it doesn’t have to be straight! Striping polish or a thin brush is a must for this design, since using a regular polish brush will be very tricky. Add a thin red line on either side of the wide red line, then add a dashed line to finish it off. Try not to nibble!

I hope you enjoyed these few holiday ideas and that everyone is having a nice holiday so far!

The base color is Misa Throw Me Something Purple Please (I LOVE this color) with a topcoat of China Glaze Golden Enchantment, a gold microglitter. I painted on a menorah, a dreidel, and a Star of David. I did some gold coins on the thumb, but I smudged them. Boo!

For seasonal nail art that’s only going to be worn a day or two, I recommend acrylic paints. They’re not the most durable, but they definitely provide the best ‘pop’ of color for maximum contrast.  I painted all the items in white acrylic paint first, using a small brush, and then went over them with nail polish. For example, the candle flames show up pretty well, because they were painted in white and layered with yellow polish. But if I’d just used the yellow polish, they would have been much harder to see.

If you use acrylic paint, a good solid topcoat is a must. I used my trusty old Seche Vite.  Some topcoats can turn a white shade to yellow, though, so do a little test first.

So, happy Hanukkah to everyone celebrating it!

This is a long way of saying I’m sorry for not posting more holiday goodies! But for today, here’s a nice festive nail art idea- Holly and Plaid.

For the plaid, you will need some striping nail art polishes- the type with a thin brush. If you don’t have any, you can just use a cheap thin paintbrush dipped in a bottle of polish to make the plaid. Clean it really well between colors so you don’t contaminate your polishes. But if you like nail art, it can be really useful to have a few striping polishes.  I used Color Club Art Club stripers and one random Japanese dollar store art polish.

Here’s how to do it! Click to make it larger.

If you’re not up for doing all your nails, just do a couple plaid ones for accents. You can use any colors for the plaid or base, but it looks best if the base is lighter and has fairly good contrast with your plaid colors.

Fa la la! Up tomorrow: Chanukkah nails!