OPI Nordic Collection Nail Art – Fall Foliage

Hi everyone! It’s autumn! Yay! I think this is the first time I’ve ever been excited about summer transitioning into fall; I have always associated autumn with the start of school, making me dislike the season as a consequence, but I think I’ve finally gotten rid of that feeling since I no longer have a summer break that I have to drag my feet from. Fall actually seems appealing now: brightly colored leaves, the upcoming gingerbread lattes, Halloween, Thanksgiving, apple season…fun stuff! Summer was pretty saturated with things to do, and, even though I had a blast, I think I’m ready to move on. Even though autumn is shaping up to be a pretty busy time of year for me work-wise, I think I’ll have enough delicious gingerbread lattes to savor while powering through (and enjoying myself along the way)!

So today I have some seasonal nail art to show my excitement for the beginning of fall! In my last post, I mentioned having a “Star Trek Manicure Party” with my sister, where I brought the entire OPI Nordic Fall/Winter 2014 collection along so that we could both paint our nails. My manicure used a whopping seven colors – mostly browns and pinks – to create a design of a tree with golden leaves and clusters of pink berries (like the tree in my family’s front yard). Check it out:

Reflection Post – My Julep Blog Feature and Star Trek Manicure Party

Hi everyone! Instead of posting nail art today (well, actually, I have another nail art post that I’ll get ready right after this one), I have a reflection post about a few exciting nail-related things that happened to me in the past week!

First, I have some fabulous news! Remember this manicure? With the gilded leaves? That featured some September colors from Julep? Well, as I usually do, I put a photo on Instagram:

But unlike how things usually happen with my blog/Instagram, Emi’s Manis kind of…exploded.

Julep September 2014 Maven Swatches, Comparisons, and Nail Art

Julep September 2014 Gilded Leaves Nail Art

Hi everyone! I’ve got a big post today featuring polishes from the September 2014 Julep Maven collection (Art Walk). I swatched all the colors I picked and then combined them into nail art. That’s kind of becoming a “thing” on my blog with the Julep Maven colors I’ve been picking…you know, nail art with all the colors. This month, I picked the It Girl box because it was the only one with colors I liked and didn’t have dupes for. It was kind of astonishing that I was so decisive about picking; usually, I pick a box quickly but I have a hard time choosing polishes to add on. For this month, I was FOR SURE picking It Girl only. It helped that the beauty product in all the other boxes was a lip crayon, which I couldn’t see myself using at all.

The colors Julep had for this month were mostly cremes, which was a bit underwhelming to me. Considering how much I’ve enjoyed the shimmers, metallic foils, and glitters from Julep that I’ve tried in the past (here’s looking at you, Phoebe), I keep hoping for more of those finishes instead of cremes. I feel like there’s a lot more room for innovation and outside-of-the-box colors with non-creme finishes, since there’s only so much you can do with solid colors. At least the It Girl colors from this month filled some gaps in my collection, and I was pretty excited about the gold (Mahima). Plus, there was one satin finish polish in the box (Ryan) that I was curious to try. Anyways, on with the swatches!

Julep “Family” Vintage Rose Vines Nail Art – Starring My Family

Hi everyone! I’ve got a very special manicure to show off today: these lovely vintage-looking rose vines. Look closely to find the hidden message:

Yes, that’s right, this manicure is about my family! I took advantage of the fact that Julep gives their nail polishes women’s names, and acquired a bunch of the colors with the names of my family members. The ones I have here are all from my maternal side of the family, since Julep doesn’t have many names from my paternal side. When I looked at the colors all together, I came up with the vintage rose vines idea and it was perfect! At first, I was worried that the colors would be too disharmonious to look good as nail art, but in this design they look awesome together – kind of an antique look. Plus, the vines allowed me to spell out words on my nails (left: “family”, right: “love”), which was what I really wanted to do. It’s also very appropriate that these are rose vines, since my maternal great-grandmother was named Rose.

Disney Series – Frozen Queen Elsa Glittery Snowflakes

Hi everyone! I finally got around to finishing my series of Disney-inspired nail art, which was prompted by a trip my friends and I took to Disneyland in July! A while ago, I offered to give each of my friends, plus myself, a manicure inspired by a Disney character of their choice before the trip – 5 designs in total. Unfortunately, I only managed to get three of the five planned designs done on their/my nails before heading off to Disneyland. But I’m featuring them all on myself on this blog because they’re all amazing (hence the series)! Previous designs were based on:

1. Minnie Mouse
2. Prince John from Robin Hood
3. Tangled sun design
4. Princess Anna from Frozen

 

In my last Disney Series post (Princess Anna), I said that the final manicure of the series was going to be about Queen Elsa from Frozen. Because how could you not do super glittery and shiny Queen Elsa nails? Think of the opportunities! Plus, she’s the trendiest thing Disney has come out with in recent history, so it’s almost a given that I was going to ride the seemingly unstoppable Frozen train for a little bit. So here they are:

Rose-Colored Subtle Gradient French Tips with Zoya and Wet n Wild

Hi everyone! I have some really simple nail art for today: gradient French tips with rosy colors. The past week has been really hectic for me due to two unexpected family emergencies, and me trying to catch up on work. This means I haven’t had as much time for nail art as I would have liked, which is why I left my previous manicure on for 6 days instead of the 3-4 I usually do. With simple nail art, though, I can still do something slightly more than a solid color. Hence this stuff with muted, rosy colors Zoya Rue and Wet n Wild Sophisticated Lady. At the end of this post, I’ve got a short review of the Urban Outfitters White Rose perfumed topcoat, which I put over this manicure. Check it out:

Swatch – Urban Outfitters Pistol

Hi everyone! I have a swatch today of Urban Outfitters Pistol: a smoky, purple-toned neutral polish with a subtle red-brown shimmer that comes out in direct light. This color needs a lot of descriptors because it is really peculiar, in a good way. Usually I shy away from neutrals, but I’ve worn this for almost a week without being tired of it yet. On the contrary – I’m completely smitten! It’s plushy and soft-looking, like animal fur, and feels luxurious and sophisticated.