Hi!

If you exist in the real world, you will probably have heard about the 2016 presidential election by now. Though I can't vote, I've been following along pretty avidly.

In honor of the big day, I had to do nail art in support of my candidate.

My lines are kinda shaky...oops :(

I'm a bit apprehensive about tonight's results but I guess it's time to let the people decide. 

Have you guys been following this election? Any thoughts?

Thanks for reading!!

Lucy xx

Landscape Nail Art & Tutorial

Hi!

After a long hiatus, I'm back with some quick landscape nail art!

These were really fast to do -- just a simple sponge gradient as a base, then I painted the details on top.

Because it's summer and I was feeling extra motivated, I also put together a quick tutorial. The video quality isn't that great because I filmed it with my iPhone, but you get the general idea! 

Also, I'm looking for more great nail artists to follow. Any suggestions? Please comment below!!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy

Messy Floral

Hi everyone!

Once again, I've taken an unexpectedly long break between blog posts :( I just finished up my junior year of high school, which was pretty crazy -- but now that I'm on summer break I should have more time for nail art!

These nails were a simple and fun exercise in freehanding inspired by Nina Nailed It's tutorial. To be honest, I wanted to recreate her look exactly (it's gorgeous!), but my freehanding skills weren't up to par.

Either way, it was really nice to have the time to do my nails again!

Hopefully I'll have time in the next few weeks to post more and catch up on all of your blog posts that I've missed!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

NYE 2016 Nails

Hi!

10...9...8...7...6...5...4...3...2...1... HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Just kidding, I know it's January 3rd! But since I just did these nails I'm feeling pretty festive.

Glitter seems so NYE (I used it on 2014's NYE nails too!). I used JINsoon Obsidian to add glitter to this manicure (I've swatched it here).

The design on my thumbnail is the party emoji, which is always on my most-used emoji list ;)

How were your New Year's Eves? 

Best wishes for 2016, and thanks for reading!!

Lucy xx

Cactus Nail Art

Hi!!

I feel like I just published a post, time is going so fast. I'm trying to get back into the habit of doing nail art most weekends though! 

This weekend I did a simple little cactus design.

Polishes used: Deborah Lippmann Tiptoe Through the Tulips, Deborah Lippmann Laughin' to the Bank, and white acrylic paint 

I feel really bad about not posting more and I'm gonna try to post more regularly for the rest of this school year at least!

Thanks for reading!! 

Lucy xx

Hot Plants Nail Art

Hi!

It's August, but where I live it's still SO hot! Of course, I was inspired to do some hot nail art.

I used the dry-brush technique to do the background, then used a small detailing brush to paint the plants.

I love painting long nails, but I hate the feeling of having long nails :( Do any of you guys feel the same way??

Thanks for reading!!

Lucy xx

Lizard Nail Art & Tutorial

Hi!

I had a lot of free time today so of course I decided to do my nails! I don't remember how I came up with the idea of doing lizards, but my first reaction was that it would be insanely hard. I decided to give it a try anyways and it actually wasn't hard at all! 

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Fake It Til You Make It | Essie Blanc | Julep Fiore | acrylic paints

I also made a tutorial!

(link)

I hope your summers are amazing! I've been sleeping in until noon every day and lazing around the house, hahaha.

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Lemon Grid Nail Art & Tutorial

Hi!

It's about time for fresh stuff on the blog! Today I have some fun lemon grid nail art and a even a video tutorial to go with it!

Polishes Used
Essie Blanc | acrylic paints

And the tutorial!! (my first video tutorial ever!!) If you guys wanna like and subscribe, that would be cool!

Hope you guys like this fun design, thank you for reading!!
Lucy xx

Creamy Dreamy Floral Recreation

Hi!!

I've been feeling kind of uninspired recently, but checking on my favorite nail art blogs always helps! Lacqueerisa always does gorgeous designs, I really loved her "creamy dreamy floral" manicure from a few months back so I decided to recreate it.

Polishes Used
JINsoon Poppy Blue || acrylic paints

What are your favorite sources of nail art inspiration?

Thanks for reading!! 

Lucy xx 

Houndstooth Nails

Hi!

I know it's been a really long time since I last posted :( I do post on Instagram a little more frequently though so if you have Instagram that might be a better way to get your Nail Snail fix!

Anyways, I've been seeing the houndstooth pattern around a lot recently, and I thought it would be super fun to try on my nails!

I wasn't sure if I could pull it off -- my freehanding is kind of ish -- but it ended up looking fine! As long as you can draw kind of straight lines houndstooth isn't too difficult.

Materials Used
JINsoon Matte Maker // Wet n Wild French White Créme // black acrylic paint // studs from Claire's

I originally intended to do the pattern on all four of my fingers, but it took me so long to do the index and ring I was like "nahhh".

Of course, I had to make these matte.

They look better from a distance :\
The polish on my thumb is Nails Inc Kings Road

I was so sad when these started chipping, they were really fun to paint and wear!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Born Pretty Store Brushes Review

*items in this post were provided for review

Hi!!

It's been awhile, but now I'm on Thanksgiving break so I have time to blog! 

For today's post, the Born Pretty Store was kind enough to send me a set of nail art brushes to review. 

This set contains three striping/detail brushes and one larger flat-topped brush.

These nails are loosely based on a design by Deirdre's Nails. 

Polishes Used
China Glaze First Mate // Essie Blanc // Nails Inc Chelsea Bridge Road

For the half moon section, I outlined it and filled it in with the shortest detail brush. Then I added the curved scallop-y lines with the midsized detail brush, and added the straight lines with the longest brush. I used the wide brush for cleanup.

I was really happy with these brushes! I have been using a set from MASH, but I prefer these. The striping brushes are just the right length, not too long to control but also not so short that the lines come out super thick. Also, I didn't have to trim off any stray hairs!

What I liked most about these was that these brushes have plastic handles so they're OK if you get a little acetone on them, unlike some brushes that have paint handles so if they come into contact with acetone the paint comes off and gets everywhere.

My one complaint was that the wider brush was a little too thin to be used for cleanup for me. I get nail polish everywhere when I paint my nails, so I need a pretty heavy-duty cleanup brush. If you're used to using the ELF concealer brushes or regular paint brushes for cleanup, you might find this one a little too thin. 

But I could see this brush being used for cleanup for neat people or for filling in large spaces!

Overall, I would recommend these brushes  -- all four are only 4.92 USD, and they work great!

And lastly, the Born Pretty Store was kind enough to give me a 10% off coupon code for all of you guys!

Thanks for reading, and happy Thanksgiving to all of you guys who celebrate it!

Lucy xx

Galaxy Nails

Hi!

I'm back from the accidental hiatus (for like the 4th time, oops) with some galaxy nail art!!

I did these so long ago I completely forgot what polishes I used, oops :// 

These were super fun to do! Almost every nail blogger has done some sort of galaxy nails but they always turn out so unique!

Also, galaxy nails were my first post. I tried to do a tutorial, hahaha...... So many things about my first post make me laugh. At least I can say I've improved, right?

I've just scheduled a lot of posts, so you should be seeing my nails around more regularly :)

Thanks for reading!!

Lucy xx

More Florals

Hi!

I've been loving floral nail art lately. Last week I did a retro floral pattern, this week I did another simple floral pattern! I don't know, they're just so easy to do and they look so cute.

Polishes Used
China Glaze First Mate | Deborah Lippmann Build Me Up Buttercup & Spring Buds | JINsoon Tea Rose | white acrylic paint

This pattern wasn't really inspired by everything, I just picked out a few colors I thought would look good together and went with the flow! I'm not really sure how to describe these (thus the post title, "More Florals" haha).

I really love First Mate (it's been on the blog twice before: once with studs, once nautically). It's kind of a dusty navy creme, with perfect application! It'll definitely be one of my go-to colors this fall.

Do any of you guys have a nail art pattern/style that you've been loving lately? And what have been your favorite fall nail polish shades?

Thanks for reading!
Lucy xx

P.S. if you've been liking my floral designs, you can browse my floral nails tag!

Retro Flowers

Hi!

Oooops, I haven't posted in almost a month! I had a bunch of stuff to do in the beginning of the year (I'm running a couple of clubs at my school, went to a national debate tournament, and skipped a level of Spanish!) but now I should be back on track. I'm attempting a less ambitious posting schedule: once per week instead of twice. I wish I could post more, but school and extracurriculars take precedence over nail art :(

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Don't Stop Believing & She Drives Me Crazy | JINsoon Tea Rose & French Lilac | Urban Outfitters unnamed gray

These were inspired by a design created by iheartnails (here's her blog). I decided to change mine up a little for a more modern sort of vibe.

And since I haven't matteified anything in forever, I decided to add a matte top coat (I used my favorite, JINsoon Matte Maker)

These were so simple and fun to do! I hope you guys like them, and forgive me for being gone for so long :)

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Tribal & Guilty Pleasure

Hi!

Once again, I've merged two themes into one for the August nail art challenge! Here's day 22: tribal and day 25: guilty pleasure.

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Build Me Up Buttercup | OPI My Vampire is Buff | Wet n Wild French White Créme | acrylic paint

Nail art is my guilty pleasure, so I decided to paint fingers on my nails! The yellow background and the skin color I used are kind of hard to see in these photos, but in real life they're more distinct.

I recreated the tribal pattern from Chalkboard Nails' Cosmoprof nails :)

This is supposed to be a nail polish brush and the neck of a polish bottle... not sure this came out too well!

What's your guilty pleasure? I feel like I spend so much time on nail art that if I "wasted" time on something else too I'd never get anything done!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Day 14: Pineapples

Hi!

I'm still keeping up with the Californails Totally Doable I-Have-a-Life Challenge, kind of -- this one is a couple days late because I just got back from Maine a couple days ago!

Pineapple nails have popped up everywhere lately, and I love it! I think they're just so cute and summery. 

Here are some that are too good not to share:

// Paper Thin Nails - here and here //

// Wondrously Polished - here (+ tutorial) //

I've been thinking about what design to do all of vacation (I'm that obsessed, haha); I was drawing out little diagrams on the plane and the lady sitting next to me probably thought I was crazy!

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Blue Orchid, Walking on Sunshine & Whip It || JINsoon Poppy Blue || Wet n Wild French White Creme & Tickled Pink || brown & yellow acrylic paint

These were really fun to do, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result! Now that I've gotten back into gradients I want to use them in every manicure, they're so fun!!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Day 11: Tropical

Hi!

Today is day 11 of Californails' Totally Doable I Have a Life nail art challenge! So far I've managed to post on time for all the days, which makes me surprised and proud :) Today's theme is tropical.

I'm sure you've seen about a billion different versions of this design, so I don't have much to say haha!

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Walking on Sunshine | JINsoon Blue Iris & Tea Rose | Wet n Wild Black Creme | black acrylic paint

I haven't done a gradient in a long time, I forgot how fun they are!

I've had so much fun wearing this design, hope you guys liked it!

Thanks for reading!
Lucy xx

Ikat Nails, Take 2

Hi!

First, it was my first blogiversary on August 1st! The first year was a blast, the nail art community is so friendly and supportive. I never thought I would make it this far! A huge thank you to all of you guys -- I would have quit by now if it weren't for all the sweet comments!

I thought about recreating some old designs I did, but the first few designs I did weren't too inspiring, so I'm letting my blogiversary pass quietly. If you guys want to go laugh at my first post (it was pretty...well, I've improved a lot) you can find it here. 

I do have something a little special though! Since I haven't been posting very regularly lately (the last couple of months I've only posted 4-5 times?!?), this month I decided to try my first nail art challenge to motivate myself to get back on schedule! I chose to do the "Totally Doable I Have a Life! Challenge" run by Californails. It has a couple prompts for every week, which fits my schedule perfectly!

The first prompt is "classy", but as I hadn't posted my gold summer nails on Instagram yet I decided to cheat a little and use those for the classy prompt. Now it's time for ikat!

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Walking on Sunshine, She Drives Me Crazy, Video Killed the Radio Star, Whip It | Wet n Wild French White Creme | black acrylic paint

I went a little wild with the colors I chose. I did stick to shades in the same collection, though (Deborah Lippmann's 80's Rewind collection). I feel like you can't go wrong with polishes from the same collection -- they were curated so that they all match each other, right?

This ain't my first time at the rodeo -- I've tried ikat nails one other time, 7 months ago! I really liked the colors I used the first time, but I think the ikat pattern came out better this time. And my photo quality has decidedly improved :-)

Thanks again for an amazing first year of blogging! It isn't always easy to balance school, extracurriculars, and nail art blogging, but it is so worth it.

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx