Sets with Borders

Ok, here's how you make a set with a border (:
put a big bright square from the color section, then put a smaller white square in it.


Then crop your pieces for the edges, and put them behind the white square.

When your border is done, fill in the middle part like a normal set.

When that's done, just delete the bright square, but keep the white one to cover the border edges.
Hopefully this made it a little more clear! Good luck, and if your cropping isn't great yet, keep practicing! (:

Valentine's Nails!

Bobby pin dots, lol.

nail overhaul.

NOTW: Silent Night

About two weeks ago, I decided to paint my nails navy blue for Christmas! I used French Kiss by Pure Ice. Then, in my lovely stocking, there was a ton of awesome nail polishes. One of them was an amazing holo-like glitter top coat: Space Queen by Essence Color & Go.
Here's the blue before the top coat:



Here's the blue with Space Queen. I couldn't get a good picture of the glitter, but it's SO GORGEOUS. The tiny glitter pieces shine pretty much every color when you move your fingers (:

A slightly better picture of the glitter-- you can see the different colors:

I painted my nails on New Year's Eve, too, so I'll post those soon (: They're from the Muppets collections xD

NOTW: Red Snowfall

Well, since I ripped my glitter off, I had to repaint my nails with a new Christmas theme :D
I was talking to my friend in Latin class about nails for like, half an hour, and we were talking about a ton of different techniques, and she suggested sponging. And in wishful-thinking toward a white Christmas for me, I wanted my nails to be snowy (:


I seriously love them. My right hand didn't turn out so well, but the left is perfect, ugh. I can't stop staring at them, as usual. They almost look like they're splatter-painted reeeeally tiny c:
Here's a picture of them when I first painted them, before I cleaned up the edges.

I'm so bad at painting, haha. Here are all the supplies I used. I used NYC in Candy Apple Red as a base, and then used a sponge brush to dab on Sinful Colors in Snow Me White. I put a top coat on my right hand, but it blurred the "snowflakes" and made it look flat. It looks much better without-- sort of textured and defined. I kept my left hand as-is, and it's much better.

Yup. I love this manicure, and I can totally do loads more with this sponging technique (:

Now if it would only snow outside... (;

NOTW: Christmas Glitter.

I needed to do something Christmas-y to my nails last week, and I thought it would be cool to cover them in glitter (: I thought every nail might have been a little overboard, so I painted my nails shiny-white with Pure Ice's Platinum, then put down a thick clear coat on my ring finger and dumped on some red craft-store glitter! I mixed in a little bit of clear and silver glitter, too, then painted another clear coat on top.
Unfortunately, in math class on Friday I accidentally ripped off pretty much the whole nail of glitter on one hand :p So, the glitter nails are no more, but that just gives me an opportunity to paint them again for the holidays!
Oh, and I just ordered ELEVEN new Essence Color & Go mini polishes from Ulta.com, so I'll have a ton of new nail colors in my stocking!

What should I paint them now? (:

I am winter.

I just found a story thing I wrote in February about winter that I totally forgot about.
Seeing as it SNOWED last night for the first time this year, I thought it was appropriate (:

I step out into the glittering unknown. I pull my trapped hat down over my ears and rub my pink cheeks. I am in awe. Even in the treachery and danger that an ice storm, beauty is everywhere. The trees glisten and sway, the sound of their crackling branches resonating for eternities. The ground is sparkling, and each blade of grass is individually coated in a thick ice-shell, encased in the safety of its glass covering, cut off from the outside world. I run my freezing fingers over the smooth, cold wall lining the path. As I tip-toe through this forest, the eerie coolness and prickling air fill me. I become winter. I carry snow with me, and every step, new, fresh ice forms where my boot once treaded.
Though I leave trails of beauty, the frozen death I bring is noticed. Leaves no longer dance from the tall tree limbs; birds no longer sing songs of joy. The leaves now crunch under my feet, the birds only singing of sorrow. Their somber calls rarely pierce the silence, however. Only the echoes of love lost punctuate the fierce, chilling winds. I am winter. And I am not welcome.

That last part is only partly true, because I kind of love winter. Not the cold, but the pretty snow, hot chocolate, cookies, fires, not to mention Christmas!
Alas, I now need to study for exams. I think I might be dead by the time winter break rolls around. Stay cool, kiddos. That shouldn't be a problem (;