Gel Nails.. #thisjusthappened.

Yes, you read it here. I finally gave in and got a gel manicure. I think after a week of non-stop craziness with the girls I nanny for, it was well deserved, and cheap to boot!

The process was very relaxing, I didn't feel rushed to pick a color, and they said I picked a color that was good for my skin tone.
When I sat down, the lady who did my nails was named Tina and she said I had very nice nails and they were smooth and had a nice shape (THANK YOU NAIL ENVY). At first I thought maybe she was being nice for a tip, but then she said to my boss, who goes there every 2 weeks, very bluntly that her nails looked very bad (she was right, they were a hot mess). After that I knew she was speaking her mind, and not buttering me up for a tip.

She shaped them in the "squval" shape, and neatened my cuticles. And applied the base gel coat, it went in the lamp for about a minute and then applied the color which is called A GRAPE FIT by OPI. I knew I wanted something purple when I walked in, and they had a ton of purples to choose from. I love this color so much I think I may get the nail polish version of it, its a bit darker then planks a lot from them, which I own. Basically it was a base protective coat, 2 coats of A GRAPE FIT, and then  top coat that was cured in an UV Lamp. I know there is a ton of OMG they are bad for you, so I didn't go in there, with no idea about the risks. But I plan on making this a special occasion thing. Yeah I know.. I know.. Overall the whole process took about 20 minutes. I also had a hand massage as well. It was heaven.  So overall, a wonderful experience :)

Brown and Gold Studded Mani

Hi everyone!

How was your weekend? I'm back with a Street Wear swatch, and a new mani!

Sorry about the bad picture.. I just couldn't get a good one this time. This is something I came up with a little inspiration from my Japanese manicure book, and my first experiment with 3D nail parts. They used blue polish, jewels, and they didn't do the all glitter on two fingers look (I had to change it somehow!) but I wound up liking this look much more.

The base color is Street Wear Forbidden that I got from Erika last year for my birthday. I've been dying to use this gorgeous color in a manicure for a while, but I had to wait for the right idea. This color is so amazing, it is a reddish brown with gold shimmer in it (though it's hard to see in the picture.)

Then I did a graidient look with the gold glitter from my Beauty World Champagne Nail Cocktail kit, then used my dot art tool to dot two different sizes of Beauty World bronze dots, and finally I added gold colored studs on the ends. I sealed it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

Brown and Gold Studded Mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

What do you think?

Spring pink pedi

Yay, it's finally starting to feel like spring!!

Spring pink pedi, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

I've been avoiding pedicures for a looong time, mostly due to the fact that I haven't had a salon pedicure since December and because of that, my feet were looking pretty scary.
I had some time today and decided to give one a shot myself.

The main color is a no-name hot pink pearly polish. For the big toe I painted the upper corners with NYC Polyester Pink Creme, put Broadway Nail Art stickers on the border of the two colors, and topped it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

It's Wednesday, and I'm wearing pink!

Hi everyone, happy Wednesday!! I actually have an older mani and swatch to post, but I thought I'd post this one first since it's Wednesday, and well, I so happen to be wearing pink!

First the good news: The Japanese school that I will be attending isn't just a Japanese school, it isn't even just a language school. They offer all sorts of programs in the arts, which just so happens to include-are you ready for it-classes for Japanese manicures! The best part is- the regular class is about $10, and one class per month FREE for students! What does this all mean? Well I have a chance to become professional in Japanese nail art, SQUEE!

Ok so back to the manicure. Yoshi just got me a book on Japanese manicure tips and tricks (still learning some of the Japanese terms yet for this stuff) and I saw a relatively easy tutorial for marbling (well, much easier than water marbling anyway, and less messy) so I decided to try it.

First, here's a swatch of NYC Long Wearing Polyester Pink Creme #108A. Just like the other NYC polishes, it took four coats to get an even color, but it is a nice shade:

Now the mani. This is my first attempt at a marble manicure, so forgive me if it isn't super-awesome :p

First Marble Mani, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.
For the base color I used NYC Long Wearing Polyester Pink Creme #108A. I used Visee Glamorous Sparkle #10(I still can't find my fine brush, so I used a toothpick..) for the glitter half moons on my nails. Half moons are really big here. For the actual marbling, I used NYC Long Wearing French White Tip #134 and Revlon Limited Edition Diamonds Are Forever. I topped it off with Coffret D'or gel topcoat.

Thanks for reading!

Japanese Nail Cocktail Champagne gradient gel manicure

Japanese Nail Cocktail Champagne gradient manicure, a photo by KitaRei on Flickr.

I love the name of this product!

I snagged the last of this set at Claire's in Osaka over the weekend. It is a really cute gel-look gradient manicure kit, made by a company called Beauty world. It's fairly easy to do (just have to remember to apply all colors when the polish is wet or it won't blend) but the only thing the outside dries fast but the under coats take a long time to dry.

This set is called Champagne. It comes with three colors, a pinky-beige, a sparkly bronze, and a gold glitter with big and small glitter pieces. You can't really tell in the picture, but the base color is more pink than it looks. There are other color sets as well, which if I see get restocked I may consider getting, as they are really cute.

Another plus to this is the company puts money towards each purchase for breast cancer research, which can be seen on the bottom of the box in the picture.

I have a good idea for Wednesday manis. I'll have it started next week, since I had already done this mani when I thought of it.

I see we're at 99 followers! This is awesome. Only one more to go till we hit the big 1-0-0 and celebrate! Thanks everyone, we wouldn't be what we are without all of you :)

Week 2 in recovery (Renee)

While at home recovering, (and let me tell you, it gets old FAST) I decided to give myself another manicure (it's amazing how nail polish chips off, even when you aren't being super active!). Disclaimer: any resemblance of this manicure to anyone's, living or dead, is strictly coincidental ^_~
It's my first time doing such an intricate design, but since nail design is HUGE in Japan, I decided to try it for myself (trust me, it gets SUPER crazy here, including 3D plastic objects and other things). My design is much tamer, though I have to take a pic of the nails I bought on here sometime.

I started with a Jordana salon formula in frosted pink that I had totally forgotten about. What's nice about this polish is it contains the powder of actual pearls (or so the label states) which gives it a natural and pretty pearly sheen.
Next, I used Maybelline Express Finish Glitters (remember those?) in Mandarin Mars to put on the tips in a triangle twist on the french manicure design. I have some more Maybelline Express colors, I just need that polish reviver and I'll be busting them out ::winks at Erika::
Then I put dots of NYC polyester pink on the tips, and above I painted hearts. They may look like the same color, but they're not, the middle is red and the two sides are dark pink.
Finally, as gel nails are really popular here, I used a gel-look topcoat from Japanese brand Coffret D'or, mabe by Kanebo (though it's hard to see in the pic.)

To make my designs, I use a nail brush that I bought here for the equivalent of a whole dollar! Even better, the brush actually comes apart and snaps into itself, making it much more portable.
The lighting in the pic is casting some weird dark shadows on my fingers..0_0

I'll be back again soon with beauty tips!