Nail Art – Dark Gradient with Metallic Greek Key Pattern

Hi everyone! Sorry about my absence in the past two weeks; I’ve been feeling some “burnout” and felt too exhausted to do nail art/write posts. Anyhow, I’m back with some nail art that I was originally going to post after the second part of my blogiversary thing, but  I’ve been procrastinating on getting that post done so I figured I might as well put this up first.  I’ve been in a rather glum mood recently and the weather’s been nasty, so I’ve been drawn to a lot of dark, moody colors (Julep Elise is my <3) and ultimately decided to try one of the dark-colored nail art ideas that I hadn’t gotten around to. I was inspired by Julep’s metamorphic topcoats to create this (undesirably) subtle dark blue-to-green gradient that I accented with a bit of shiny gold polish in a Greek key pattern. While it didn’t turn out like how I originally intended, I’m still drawn to its dark glamor.

Emi’s Manis Turns 1! Part One

Hi everyone! Today is a pretty special day on the blog because – guess what – it’s my 1 year blogiversary!!! As of today, I’ve been blogging for one whole year, which is completely crazy for me to think about. I’m absolutely thrilled to have made it this far with nail art-ing, and the past year has been so rewarding for me. To celebrate my blogiversary, I’m going to write up two blog posts! Partly because I don’t have time to write one really long post, and also it’d probably be more fun to break it up into two posts anyways. I’m timing this first “reflection” post on the exact day of my blogiversary so that I can commemorate the occasion properly.

I’m trying to remember what was going on in my professional/personal life a year ago, and a LOT has happened between then and now. Ever since May 14th, 2014, there have been an incredible amount of changes and challenges that I’ve had to deal with, and this nail art blog has followed me through all of them. It’s been an activity that entertains me when I’m bored or lonely, a hobby to channel my creativity, an outlet for my frustration, and an awesome way to connect with people with whom I share an interest. When I started out blogging, I didn’t have any clear intentions in mind of what I wanted to accomplish, so I can’t really say how well I met my expectations for myself (other than me succeeding at keeping this blog going for a whole year). I definitely did manage to do quite a lot in the past year, though, so l wrote up a look back at the past year on my blog!

Swatch – Mango Bunny Surprise Bunny #4

Hi everyone! I’ve got a short post today about this cute little indie polish from a brand called Mango Bunny (seriously, how adorable is that name?)! A while ago I saw a swatch of one of their polishes on Instagram (not this one) and I found it so completely mesmerizing that I ended up ordering a bunch of polishes from their Etsy shop, including some “surprise bunny” mystery polishes. I decided to pull out one of them – Surprise Bunny #4 – to wear around for a few days because I was feeling really drawn to the light-blue-with-a-twist thing that this polish is all about.

SquareHue May 2015 Swatches, Comparisons, and Nail Art

Hi everyone! Today I’ve got the SquareHue May 2015 box to show off on the blog! This next installment in the Decades Collection is supposed to represent the 1940s, and I think this box does a really good job of it – the color scheme is strongly reminiscent of a World War II propaganda poster (like Rosie the Riveter). Overall, I got a bold, strong, and somewhat patriotic vibe from this bunch of colors, and so I did this punchy double-layered star design. It’s bold and splashy and I love it! Read on to see all the stuff!

Swatch – Julep Dawnelle

Hi everyone! Before I get going on the subscription box posts for this month (I REALLY want to finish both of them by the end of the month this time!!!), I’ve got a quick swatch of Julep Dawnelle. This insanely sparkly microglitter polish was originally released in the St. Patrick’s Day-themed March 2015 Mystery box (this polish is basically the reason I bought the box), but has since become available for individual purchase. If you’re into dense, full coverage microglitter (I am after I discovered Different Dimension Antheros!), this is definitely a polish to consider because it is SO gorgeous!

Julep April 2015 Swatches, Comparisons, and Nail Art

Hi everyone! Today I have my Julep April 2015 box (Paradise Collection) to show off on the blog (even though I missed the end of the month…again…)! This month’s box was full of brights, and, given how much I love bright colors, I had a lot of fun with this collection. I ended up picking four polishes and, as usual, I swatched them, did a few comparisons, and made some nail art. Since two of the polishes I chose were shimmery blues, I went aquatic with my nail art and did a little seascape with brightly colored fish.