Thank goodness that's over!

So...let's talk about my day, ok?

I woke up at O'God Thirty in the morning, took my shower, got my hair done, and then forgot my makeup so I couldn't finish getting myself ready. I drove by myself three and a half hours in the dark, getting slightly lost to get some gas when I was just a hop, skip and a jump from Greensboro. Thankfully, I made it to the convention center just fine and in time to see each of the opening categories walk the runway.

I was uncharacteristically quiet the entire morning, spending time breathing deeply and trying to not let my nerves get to me. It came time to head to the holding area where we were placed at our table. A ridiculous amount of time later, our time began and I spent the next 45 minutes doing my final nail art design while the judges walked around hovering and nodding. It was easy to ignore them. It was not easy to ignore the people walking around taking pictures while we were working and getting close to our work and giving praise that I had to thank them for.

Thankfully, I finished my design with 5 minutes to spare, which was just enough to set up a professional looking presentation and put some simple jewelry on the mannequin hands. Which was almost all in vane because we ended up walking with our hands to the judging table.

Two or so hours later, it was time to call the winners of all the categories. All in all, my school wracked up. Especially with the big trophy that was given out due to the number of contestants per schools. My friend Marisa got 1st in female haircut and style, which she was super excited about. As for me...I GOT A TROPHY!

But not just ANY trophy...

FIRST PLACE, KIDS!! HECK YEAH!

I can't even BEGIN to tell you guys how tickled I am about this. I got a trophy that is as big as my head! For reals! It's as tall as my head. Which is pretty crazy. And you guys, seriously. The only trophies I've ever gotten in my life were "Good job kid, you played this sport!" trophies and one in 1988 that I won in a costume contest at a bank dressing in a Minnie Mouse costume that my mom made. And now I have a First Place trophy! In a category that I've become seriously interested in.

Yeah. That's right. I won first place.

The final nail design.

DETAILS!

I totally started crying from surprise and happiness at one point. Seriously, I'm so tickled. As I was leaving the venue to get to my car, the male judge (Who looked like he was trying to be David Bowie) stopped me and told me that my design was wonderful and very wearable. It was a pretty surreal moment. On the 3 and a half hour drive back home I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that it was true. I had one first place with a design I came up with on my own.

That trophy is mine and I totally deserve it!

Won't Let My Nerves Get Me.

Or, at least I'm trying to.

I've just spent the last few hours trying to get last minute things done for the competition. Sadly, my friend Kim won't be coming with me, but I'm still trucking on. At least I get like 15 extra minutes of sleep. LOL

While getting my things ready I just remember the competition I did in Myrtle Beach last April and how hectic it all was. There's something comforting about knowing I'm actually going to sleep before this one. Last one I was running on 7 hours of sleep total for three days. I ended up having a mental break down in the middle of doing the fantasy hair competition and started crying. It was not a fun time.

The good news is that I don't feel like that right now. The main thing that I'm nervous about is not having a clock in front of me to see how I'm doing on time and then end up running out of time. My other fear is getting lost on my way to the venue, but thankfully, I have a cell phone with google maps and a Tom-Tom. I think I'll be ok.

But now I must away to finish looking for my battery charger so that I can take pictures tomorrow and to get the rest of my things together. Oh, and finish watching "Into the Woods."

We'll be back to picture filled updates tomorrow, I'm hoping. If not tomorrow, then Sunday!

Yawn.

So, is a hard thing to try and post every single day in your blog. I don't see how the 365 people do this kind of thing! But I'm still trying. And that's got to account for something.

Today, I took my hands into school to show my professors. While we love each individual nail, we all agreed that it was just too much. That's when we decided to simplify the design and go from there. And with that, I went about how I spent the remainder of my day.

First, it took about 30 minutes to get all of the nail polish I had on the nails off. Something I'm not looking forward to do tomorrow in between cleaning things. Once the polish was off, I sat down with Rachel and proceeded to fall in love with the nail file drill thinger. Whatever its called, I flippin love it! My friend Craig was joking around that it was scary for me to be using any type of power tool. To which, I gave him an insane look, revved up the drill, and held back the desire to evil laugh. And then I told him I was good with power tools thanks to the years of building stages.

Once the edges of the acrylics were filed, it was time to paint a base color and let it dry. And then...it was timing time. Thankfully, I made it in about 30-35 minutes, which is great and gives me plenty of time to clean things up a bit. And to be honest, I'm super excited about that. Like, ridiculous excited about that. My fellow students were really supportive and I have so many people that want me to do certain bits on their nails. LOL I think I know how I will be spending my last day of Cosmetology this semester.

Now, here is where you would think I would post a picture of the final design like I said I would in the last post.

Well...I'm NOT! HAHAHA!!!!

But that's because I want to wait until after the competition to post it. Not that I think anyone will steal it. I could care less about that. But I'm so tickled with how it all looks that I just want to save it all for a post about the competition.

That, and my head is bothering me, so I think it's about time I pass out for the night. Tomorrow I shall update you all on my recent purchases. :D Because everyone needs to know more on the fact that I really need to join Nail Polish Anonymous.

Gettin' it all ready.

Oh sweet molasses! Things have been crazy lately. I've been trying to get things together at school because this weekend I'm traveling to Greensboro to compete in a competition at the hair show there! I'm entered in the nail art competition and I'll be honest with you guys, I'm pretty nervous about it. Well, today, with the help of the awesome Rachel from school, I was able to do a really decent set of acrylic nails on the mannequin hands to get then ready! She did one hand and I did the other. But I'm still pretty stoked about it.

This is my hand. It's a little lumpy, but you can't really tell until you put polish on it.

Both hands together. There are some imperfections, but it happens. We're gonna hit them with the drill tomorrow...and I'm kind of excited about that!

So, once it was totally decided that I was going to do the competition and I was supplied with the two mannequin hands, next came trying to figure out what I was going to. I sat with my main professor today with my nail portfolio, which is such a work in progress. We went through and narrowed everything down. While I have a pansy that I LOVE and a few really nice beach scenes, It was decided that flowers and beach were commonly used themes in these competitions. So, we moved on to one of my favorite designs...the bow.

I had created a set that I call "Pink, Girlie Punk," which is a set of designs that are pink, white, black, and silver. And, after I looked at them, not that punkish. But whatevs. So, we decided to mess with some of those. I came home, played on the Wii Fit for about 30 minutes, then decided to time myself doing these designs. Because I have to do two hands in 45 minutes. Its kind of nerve wracking if I think about it too much.

So, I get things situated in my recliner, which was my first wrong decision. Next time I time myself, I'm sitting at a table with only the things that I need. Sheesh, what a time I had! It was ridonkulous! I ended up not making time, but I know why and its stuff that can be easily fixed. Once I was done with the hands, I looked a them and thought, "I'm not totally ok with that."

The finished look.

Close up of my favorite nail, the houndstooth.

There just isn't a consistency that I would like, to be honest. I love the houndstooth and the argyle. The bow on the middle finger is also a favorite of mine. I will be doing something with that bow, the houndstooth, and the argyle. I shall have some pictures on that tomorrow.


GOOD NEWS, I have found my camera! Bad news...I have no idea where my battery charger is. This is my life, guys...this is my life every time. But I will have it and my battery charged for the competition and then we can finally move on from the crappy camera phone pictures. The day to rejoice shall be in the near future.

Anything that I was to send out is in the mail. I'm terribly sorry that it has taken this long to get anything out there. I'm getting really tired of life kicking me in my face. I'm about ready to start fighting back.

Also, as I am sure some of you know, the month of November is Nanowrimo. National Novel Writing Month. I'm working on a story myself, though I thought it might be fun to sort of honor Nanowrimo in my blog and make a really conscious effort to write a post a day.

AND! This is what I'm super excited about. The preciously mentioned Rachel from school used to be a nail tech for like...years. AND she's agreed to teach me in her ways. haha She also said I was welcome to video her with doing nails and everything and that I can share it on here. Which, I probably will be doing. I'm also thinking about doing things with reflexology and massages...because hand massages are amazeballs.

But, that's all for now. I'll post the final nail idea for the competition tomorrow.

It's good to be back :D

And then there was a winner.

So...a funny story about this giveaway.

Today I sat down with my mini legal pad and took a tally of all those that entered my giveaway contest. And I have to say, I have been beyond pleased with the outcome. Like, for reals. Every single one of you that entered are beyond amazing and I want to thank you all for not only taking the time to enter, but to share your favorite memories with me. They are truly touching.

Well, once I got the tally, I went about making little slips of paper with everyone's name on them. I was going to use a random number generator, but because I got crazy with the extra entries, I just didn't think that would be very fair for some reason. So, I reverted back to my childhood with door prizes and decided that pulling a name out of a hat was not only going to be more productive, but incredibly fun.

And you know what? It was! :D

So I made slips for every entry (including the extra ones) and threw them all in my roommate's lime green straw cowboy hat. The epicness just never ends.

Now, here's the part that I got back a bit and explain something. For those of you that do not know me...well, I can't spell very well. In fact, I'm pretty rubbish at it. In fact, just a few days ago a close friend of mine was picking at me about it over facebook. But I digress.

As I was writing the names on the slips of paper, I looked down every now and then and would see some extra letters here and there. The only thing I could think of was "Oh, Geeze, I hope that this isn't the one I pull because I will take a picture of it and then the entire world will have more proof of the fact that I can't spell!!"

The universe loves having me as its little play thing.


Yup...You're reading that right. I pulled one of the names that I misspelled. To quote one of my best friends "This is my life. This is my life every time."

Anyways! CONGRATS MISTRESS ZOMBIE! :D You are the winner of the Pink Giveaway! I am super excited for you and I shall be contacting you soon for your address.

THANK YOU AGAIN for everyone that entered the contest. I hope you stick around because there is lots more fun things to see and that will be up for grabs later.

Tis the season for giving...away awesome things!

So, in the process of reading and following so many awesome blogs out there, I've stumbled upon other giveaways. Now, I know this is a fairly regular thing out there in the blogging world...but I love how different each one of the giveaways are. It was nice to see that, while some giveaways were for the same thing, the prizes were different. Anyhoo, here are a list of some of the giveaways that I am entering and that I think some of you might be interested in as well.

CLICK ON THE BLOG NAME FOR A LINK TO THE GIVEAWAYS.

Cosmetic Cupcake:

Polished Pink for October Giveaway!

A Breast Cancer Awareness Month Giveaway with amazing prizes, including a nail drier!



The Lacquer Files:

Eyeko Giveaway!
Two giveaways of awesome Eyeko polishes. One is for 8 of their popular polishes and the other is for two of their newest babies. Pretty sweet giveaway, I think.



Imperfectly Painted:

500 Follower Giveaway.
Full of sparkles and duochromes...and what's that I see? MAC BAD FAIRY! AAAAH!



Emerald Sparkled:

1,000 Follower (PLUS Happy Birthday, Blog!)
This amazing person is celebrating such fantastic milestones with a giveaway that lets you basically pick the prize you want in the comments. She has the ENTIRE up and coming holiday collection from China Glaze, a set of Nox Twilight Nail Polishes, or your choice of 5 Konad plates. Freakin' Sweet!



Daily Polish:

Celebrate 365 days of Daily Polish with a giveaway!
Another first and second prize giveaway. But there is so much amazingness up for grabs that I can't even begin to write it all down, so go take a gander.

Guh, I hope to one day have 500 or more followers for these kinds of amazing giveaways. I'm gonna go cross my fingers now. ;)

What goes bump in the night.

I was going to post this last night, but I ended up going to a high school football game with my friend so that she has someone to talk to and hang out with while her daughter ran around the whole night with her friends. And, seeing as how I like to hand out with my friends no matter the venue, I was there. And I was running late, so I didn't get to post it before I left. So, why not post now? :D

I wanted to wait on posting the manicure until it was up on the website, but I decided to compete in Polish Freshie's Halloween Nail art competition. She posted all of the entries and they are seriously awesome. I wish my picture had been better so you could have seen the detailing a whole lot better. Sadly, I didn't make it into the top 3 (Or, top 4 actually). But the ones that did are pretty cool. Voting is going on now, so stop on by and cast your vote.


Here's my entry. I used my awesome hand and nail model Katherine. The design is full moon and silhouettes. The pinky is bats, ring finger is a witch on a broom, the middle finger is a tombstone, the index finger is a cat, and the thumb is a haunted house or church (however you look at it).

Sure, I'm sad I didn't make it in the top four, but I'm super proud of the design. I just wish the picture had been a whole lot better. But soon, my internet friends. Soon the pictures will be better. I promise.

Oh Gurl...I'm TIRED!

Man, OH man! I swear, it feels like I left one week's random drama and bounced right into a new week of drama. But, really, isn't that just like life? If its not one thing, then its the other. And most of the time I just have to remember that its how we deal with things that matters more than what the issues in life actually are.

As it is, yesterday I was given a soft curl at school and let me tell you. Those things can take up your time. For anyone that doesn't know what a soft curl is, its also known as a jerry curl. And to see it in action, watch "Coming to America." Which happened to be the same movie I was quoting in my head the entire time I was working on the man. Yes, man. Men still get this hair style. But it was cool. The dude told me about how he used to play some with the freakin' Harlem Globe Trotters! I mean...WHAT WHAT?! That's pretty amazing, I think.

Anyways, in the middle of working on my fella, my main instructor asked me if I had anyone on the books for today and since I didn't she said she was taking me with her and a small group of students to our downtown campus. They were holding a health and wellness fair and in hopes of raising awareness of the cosmetology department and what courses we offer, She wanted us to set up and do express manicures...all day.

I was in charge of getting the products together and offered up my caddy to help transport things. Including a bottle of PURE acetone polish remove that just happened to not be able to lock anymore. That also JUST so happened to spill inside my caddy in my car while I was driving in traffic and couldn't do a thing about it. That also happened to do things to my caddy that I can't even explain other than melt the door to the side and bust up the corner like a pack of cracker in the bottom of your bookbag. You know, when you forget they were in there for a snack and your books pulverize it to the point that its also gotten a hole in it and crap starts spilling out of it? Yeah...that's my caddy. I will have to take pictures of it tomorrow. Anyways, it also melted my white sweatshirt to it and when I pulled it off, black plastic was stuck to it. I'm hoping it isn't too bad and I won't have to get a new sweatshirt for school.

So, after I dealt with THAT tragedy, I had to air out my car through a small crack in my window because the fumes were seriously kicking. It was some rough stuff. We got everything to the sports center downtown, unloaded it all...and then spent the next 4 hours doing nonstop manicures. Seriously, it was like the moment one person got up to leave, I would blink, and someone would be in my chair. It was the definition of crazy sauce. We even had one lady throw a fit because we had to close down before two...you know, so we pack things up. But no. She wasn't having it! She wanted her nails did!

Other than people not being able to take "No, I'm sorry, we are closed to clean up" for an answer, today really kinds of went out without a hitch. Oh, I take that back. We had at least one lady who felt the need to be overly picky and judgmental of the girl giving her a FREE manicure. Tell me, how can a person sit there and get something for free and all the while talk rudely to the person giving them the service? Saying things like "Oh, you don't need those guides to do a french manicure. mmhmm. Well we will just see about that." I mean, how is that even ok? Ugh, I can't even.

But I digress.

So, all in all the day was pretty great. I had a fun time, got to eat at The Fuzzy Peach (an AMAZING Frozen Yogurt bar), and got lots of great recognition for my nail art portfolio (Which I will be sharing here in the next few days). A couple of girls (Who kept circling the tables like vultures waiting for me to be done for the day) got my number to call and make appointments at the school for manicures. Which, I'm pretty stoked about.

I love it when you endure the crazy and are rewarded with that feeling when things in your life slowly seems to start coming into place.

ALSO! Don't forget about my Breast Cancer Awareness Giveaway! I will stop taking contestants on Sunday night at midnight. So get to submitting :D

SHE LIVES! AND there's a give away!

OH Em GEEE! Last week kicked my TAIL!

I had three midterms in a row, lost my debit card to the monster that lives inside my recliner, FINALLY got the smoke detector that was up in Quasimodo's Belfry to stop chirping after over half a year of dealing with it, and pretended to to domestic things though I mostly sat on my butt and played Bubble Popp on facebook. >.> Don't judge me.

As it is, I haven't really did much in the way of manicures the last few days because I haven't been taking my polishes and tools to school. I have some services I need to focus on getting done so I can be done with semester. BUT I will be doing some Halloween manicures in the near future :D I'm pretty stoked about those.

I also spent my Saturday night trying to organize and catalogue my polishes. In the process I realized I owned entirely too much pink polish. And seeing as how this month is Breast Cancer Awareness month, I thought, Why not? So I'm having a Pink themes give away!

Are you excited? I'm excited.

I think it is fairly safe to say that cancer is so common now a days that it would be hard to find one person that didn't know anyone effected by any form of this disease. That's why it is always important to be knowledgeable and do what you can to prevent as soon as possible. So, in an attempt to help raise awareness for Breast Cancer, I'm doing this give away.

The prize will include:
- 6 bottles of Sally Hansen polishes (from left to right):
- Continuous Treatment - Strength.
- Complete Salon Manicure - Dianthus.
- HD Nail Color - Byte.
- HP Nail Color - LCD
- Diamond Strength - Rose Petals.
- Xtreme Wear - Petite Pink
- NYC Pink glitter lip gloss.
- Pink gerber daisy hair clip made by me.
- Pink button earrings made by me.
- KIss brand nail art stickers of pink flowers.

GIVE AWAY RULES:
1. You MUST be a follower of this blog. If you aren't already, then start by clicking that little follow button over there. On the left of the screen. ;)
2. Comment in this post with one of your favorite memories. It can be anything from just something that happened today to a memory with someone you know that has gone through the trials of cancer.
3. Put on a big smile and remember that it is always darkest just before they turn on the lights.
4. Entries will be close at midnight, EST on Sunday, October 24. Winner will be announced on the following Monday.

This will give you one entry into the contest.

EXTRA ENTRIES:
- One extra entry - link the give away in your twitter and then link to your twitter in a separate comment.
- Two extra entries - Post a link to the give away on your blog, complete with picture of the prize. Then link me to your blog post in a separate comment.

To conclude this post, I leave you with a doll that my roommate, Marie, made.

base

Hoot Hoot!

Ugh, life has taken over and kicked me in the face!

The wedding of my friend Amber went awesome! I will hopefully post some pictures later this week. We all had so much fun and I spent the night before the wedding painting finger and toe nails various shades of red or For Audrey. Which, were the wedding colors. It was a beautiful and fun ceremony, and Willow Smith's song "Whip My Hair" is totally stuck in my head since then.

Then, when I got home, I got bombarded with midterms. I took my practical today and it lasted all day. But I feel pretty good about it. I have two more exams tomorrow and Wednesday. And I'm focusing a bit on getting my services done so that I will be able to graduate for good this semester. Its hard, though. Especially when we aren't getting walk ins as often.

But, I didn't want to leave you guys high and dry for much longer! So I give you more Kat Nails. She and I share a love in owls and so we went with a night theme.





AND I'm getting better at stamps! :D

But for now, I'm off to do some more studying. Until next time!

Ugh with the pause in updating!

Don't worry guys, I haven't forgotten about this blog. Things just came out of no where and smacked me in the face this week. Plus I'm leaving in a few hours for Newport news. ONe of my best friends is getting married! I'll be back on Monday with a post! :D

Polishing More than Nails

I was going to post last night, but its just one thing after the other with Daisy and I've been trying to keep my eye on her. And I was exhausted and totally ready for bed by 7:30. Of course, I didn't actually GO to bed until 10:30 or 11, but that's a story for a different day. Like, the day you feel like being bored, because there isn't much to it.

But, I was able to finish my friend Kim's birthday present. And she LOVED it! I got a wooden tag and on one side I painted a scene I had done on a nail that she loved and was inspired by her daughter (and a little bit of her husband). On the other side, I painted a pineapple and the letter K. You know, so her daughter couldn't try to swipe the necklace lol.



The background is all nail polish and the surf board and details are done with acrylic paint. I used Sally Hansen Blue Me Away for the darker blue, then sponged China Glaze For Audrey over that using a disposable eyeshadow applicator. The sand was done by using the same sponge technique with China Glaze Classic Camel. You can't see the glittery bits, but I added some China Glaze Cowardly Lyin' on top of that for the sparkly sand look.

Here is the necklace next to the nail that was the inspiration.

Here's the back. The pineapple is China Glaze Classic Carmel, the rest is acrylic paint.

I topped both sizes off with two coats each of Seche Vite. I think it came out looking pretty awesome, myself. Once I made the hook for it and slapped it on a chain, I boxed it up all pretty like. Kim LOVED it and I'm rather tickled with it, myself. I'm gonna have to start doing more of these. What do you think?

Opinions, Coveting, and Pedicure

Ok, so, the good news is that Daisy is doing better and can finally keep down food. The bad news is that I think she hurt her back or hind legs today and now just...isn't herself at all. Poor thing. She's had such a rough weekend. And because of that, I have, too. I love that little girl and I feel so bad for her. It makes you just want to cuddle her.

Other than that, let's take a minute to talk about MAC's villains collection that just came out. The colors are amazing and let me just say that ever since I started cosmetology and started watching my friends that do AMAZING makeup (Yeah, I'm looking at you Natawsha and Betsy), I've found a new found love for this company. I aspire to one day own a few things from this brand. I know, a simple aspiration, but at least its easily achievable. And now with this new collection...I want some nail polish!

Mac Formidable

This is the polish I was most excited for. Its a beautiful blue and purple and glittery party for your nails. But, once I saw them in person...well, I wasn't as impressed. Which was sad. Then again, I didn't get to do more than a quick swipe of one layer on my nail, but still. At this point, I figured I wouldn't be wanting any of these polishes.

Mean and Green

Then came Mean and Green. I had no expectations for this one at all...so it was nice when it met them and then exceeded them. Its a neat purple, blue, and green mix that also left me feeling like there was a bit of a rosy shimmer to it. Seriously you guys...pretty for your fingers.

MAC Bad Fairy

I am coveting this polish like nobody's business! Seeing this color in person and putting it on my nail...You guys, I'm seroiusly thinking that it is ok to spend more than six dollars on a nail polish. I'm looking at my bank account wondering if I can budget in a $12 polish. That's like...4 bottles of polish from my beauty supply store. If I get this, this means no China Glaze for a few days. But OMG it would be so worth it. But, hey, if any of you love me enough to get it for me (because I'm the definition of subtle), then please, don't let me stop you. ;)

Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure

I have been seeing this polish everywhere on the blogs, but I've been seeing it in posts from like, May. And due to the fact that it's October? Yeah, I might not be getting this polish anytime soon. BUT if any of you out there happen to see it, PLEASE get me a bottle and I will pay you back.


Also, in my reading of blogs, I've learned of a brand of nail polish that so many people of singing high praises. Zoya polish offers a huge line of colors and now offers spooning. Which means you can order a spoon, which is a painted plastic nail with the color you wanted to see. These spoons are 50 cents, BUT you can apply that money spent on the spoons to your nail polish order, which is pretty cool. Here's their website for you to look around. I really kind of want their Crystal polish.

Nubar has various sets of Two Way Nail Art Pens, of which, I want them all. These are awesome because if you top the top, you get a neat pen like tip. Then, if you unscrew the top, its a nail art striper brush. Which is pretty awesome.


So that's my coveting list and my opinions on the MAC polishes in their villains collection. Now, I shall leave you with a picture that my friend Kim took over the summer of pedicure on a client I had. Its a simple pink color with pink and purple plaid and hearts.

The icing on the cupcake

Man, oh Man! This week has been INSANE! For anyone that's watched the weather channel recently, you'll have heard of the ridonkulous amount of rain that took over the east coast, especially Wilmington! Monday we set a record for highest amount of rainfall not including a hurricane. Well, by yesterday, we even broke the record that included a hurricane! That was was Floyd, which I was told, was pretty rough. Thankfully, all we had was rain and some wind every now and then. BUT MAN! That rain was pretty consistent. I kind of forgot what the sun even looked like until it decided to show up about ten minutes before it set in for the night. Though, I have to admit, the yellow washed that world had for those brief sunny minutes was pretty awesome. So now its drying up outside this weekend, just in time for the rain to start again on Monday. I'm just hoping it doesn't flood the entire city like it was trying to do this week!

Then, on top of the need to build an arc, yesterday I came home to find my dog had unzipped my bookbag, and ate a good amount of stuff that puppies are not suppose to eat. Obviously this point was emphasized with the poor girl being sick just about all night and this morning. Finally, I took her to the vet this morning and now she's sleeping it all off. Poor baby. But today she seems to be doing a little better. Sleeping off the meds they gave her, mostly.



So yeah, add in school and you get the reason as to why I didn't post the last two days. Well, that's a lie. Wednesday I didn't post because I was exhausted and didn't want to risk making another post that might not make too much sense like the Crayola Nail Art Post. And yesterday I was worrying over Daisy. ANYWHO, how about a little icing on the top of the cupcake that has been my last few days.

I was going to include these photos in the Crayola post, but when I started falling asleep while typing I realized that maybe they should go in a separate post. So here we have it! My friend Kat loves for me to paint her nails at school. She also loves cupcakes and walking around going "nom nom nom." Basically, she's my favorite Mexican even. So, in honor of two of her favorite things, we came up with a design for her nails! As per usual lately, these were taken with my cell phone because I suck at finding where I last put my new camera. (BTW, mom, you didn't just read that bit. I know exactly where my camera is >.>) These pictures were also taken about a week and a half after I painted them to begin with, so there's a bit of growth and chipping.


Tipi and Daisy like to cuddle and spoon. Daisy's the little flufly one. She's a sweetheart. So is Tipi.



NOM NOM NOM! Her index, middle, and ring finger all say Nom is a curvy font while her pink is suppose to represent sprinkles. I can't remember which polishes I used, but I know they are all China Glaze. I know the ring finger was Peachy Keen.


CUPCAKE! This one has Sally Hansen as the base color, The China Glaze on the middle finger as icing, and China Glaze Classic Camel at the cake part. I'll edit this post later with the rel names and the links.

I love how this ended up looking. And Kay was seriously rocking it out. Also, I feel the need to point out that her nails are real, too. And they could claw a stripper's eyes out.

I took these pictures before she took her polish off so I could give her a second manicure that was nocturnally inspired. You'll see pictures of that manicure sooner than you think. Now, if you will excuse me, I'm gonna to cuddle my sick puppy, clean the kitchen, and look for my camera.

Provoking Memories of my Childhood...Product Review

So, I thought about putting these pictures into two separate posts...but I don't want to. I took to pictures today at school and now I want the rest of the world to partake in their horrible cell phone quality.

I seriously need to find my camera that is buried somewhere under mounds of headbands that I've been working on in my spare time. This is my life.

As it is, though, I have my very first product review! How do you like THEM apples? :D

So, while I'm naively scouring my local stores in hopes of finding a rogue Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, I happened to find an entirely different kind of hidden treasure. Wilmington is so huge that it found the need for two different Wal-Marts. Let me tell you, as a child born and raised in the coal mountains of Virginia, I'm not used to the concept of having more than one Wal-Mart in the same city. It just boggles the mind. We have two in our county, yes. But that's county wide! This is city wide. I'm amazed at the doubles we have here, to be honest. But I digress.

When I lived back in Virginia, it was an inside joke with my family that all of my money went to Wal-Mart. Which, wasn't so much a joke as it was...well, completely and totally the truth. So, you would think I would be excited to move to a place that had two Wal-Marts. Well, I'm not! Because the Wal-Mart with the best selection in crafts, electronics, beauty, and pharmacy is also the same once that makes me irrationally angry just thinking about it as I suppress the almost uncontrollable urge to jab my rat tail comb from class into someone's eyeball. I'm a ball of sunshine and daisies, really.

That being said, I ended up going to this Wal-Mart with my roommate last weekend and that's when I spotted this little gem.



Yes, A Crayola brand nail art pen. Don't worry, I laughed too. I even made fun of it as I stood in the isle. I just couldn't understand the concept of a crayola nail art pen! I mean, really? Who saw this one coming? Well, once I got done making fun of the poor pens, I started doing that shifty eye thing. You know, that one we all do when we are trying to do something without someone seeing for fear of being made fun of. And then I snatched the white pen.



And I have to say, this nail art pen is pretty impressive! I know I'm still new to the scene and all, but of the nail art pens that I have used. I'm pretty smitten with this one. The hold is so easy and its almost like drawing on your nails with a marker.



The packaging called this an ultra fine point and it really is. Look how nice that tip is! I seriously loved the tip of this marker. It was much more sharp than Sally Hansen's nail art pens and was easy to hold onto. I really enjoyed playing around with it.

I found that the actual medium that came from the marker was not as watery or thin as most white nail art pens that I've tried in the past. Plus, you didn't have the urge to continue to push in the tip and you worked. In fact, the medium just almost flowed off of the tip. It was really nice. AND it dried fast!



Honestly, I loved this thing. And not just because the whole idea of it just provoked memories from my childhood to ran around in my mind. My favorite part about it, though, is that it came with a little page of fingers with nails on them for you to be able to deisgn ideas on. Seriously, you guys! This is the first time I have EVER found a nail design template! Of course, it doesn't really help that the nails are tiny and that there isn't really a lot of room to get overly detailed.

so what do I think? I think we have a winner on out hands.

Totally Pwned Me

You guuuuuuuys! Stamping your nails is haaaard!

I just got beaten by shiny metal disks and rubber tipped stampers! How his this POSSIBLE?!

Well, I'll tell you how it's possible...This whole stamping process is REALLY going to take some getting used to.


The main reason I even got the stamps was because its ridonkulously hard for me to paint my right hand. Even applying nail polish sometimes is questionable. Basically, every time I even put a brush of any kind in my left hand, it turns me into that guy from Scary Movie 2 and the entire time I'm working I can't help but go "Its my STRONG hand" over and over again in my head. So, yeah. I got some stamps.

I ordered the bundle monster stamps and the designs on them are awesome. My ability to use them, not so much. BUT I'm working on it! Because the plates don't come with a stamper, I purchased the Konad double sided stamper and scraper from amazon, which I thought was a good deal. I then proceeded to play with them for about an hour and half or longer before finally working on my own nails.

Please excuse the bad quality. My nails were wet and I didn't want to mess them up looking for my camera. But, yeah, here's my plates on the table along with my base coat, four bottles of China Glaze, and used cotton rounds in a plastic bag on the ground.

Finally, I decided to used one of my favorite colors, China Glaze For Audrey. Which, I have to say, I'm concerned for this color. Last time I was at Sally's, I didn't see a spot for this color anymore in their China Glaze display. I'm gonna have to check Cosmo Prof asap and get another bottle, just in case. The top is China Glaze Jitterbug, from their vintage vixen collection. I then top coated it with Seche Vite.



Yeah, the picture is bad and you can't hardly see the image. Its one of the issues that I'm having, actually. Its almost like my images aren't as noticeable as I would like. Maybe I'm still having issues with color choices, I don't really know. I think I just need to do more research on using these plates. Anyone out there have some suggestions or links to blogs that focus on Konad and other nail stamping plates that I might have missed?

Believe me, it will be greatly appreciated!

Getting off on the right foot...er....hand.

So, I figured it would be a good idea to get this blog started with a quick shot of something I did last week. I'm not so good at doing things on my own hands due to the fact that I'm totally a righty, so my left hand looks great and my right...looks like a kindergarten art project after the macaroni fell off in the transit home on the school bus. How many times have we all had THAT happen, eh?

So, after spending my Tuesday giving one of my best friends at school a simple french tip manicure with pineapples on her ring finger, I decided that it was time for me to do something on my own nails. It was nice to look down and see these cuties while giving a facial to a client that came right before our front desk closed shop for the day. But whatevs, I got my final facial credit and I'm good to go with the bottom half of my service sheet.




I apologize for the horrible quality of this photo. I took it with my cell phone and then uploaded it to blogger...which almost always murks up photos, I've notice. Anyhoo, let's focus on the cute. Cookies and Milk! :D I tried to make it look like my thumb and ring finger were bitten into. I think I succeeded. Seriously, you guys. These are the cutest nails I've ever sported myself.

Base Coat - Color Club Stuck on You
Base Color - China Glaze - For Audrey
Cookies - China Glaze - Classic Camel
Chocolate Chips and outline - China Glaze - Ingrid
Milk - Sally Hansen Salon - All the White Stuff
Glass - OPI - Breathe Life
Glass Outline - China Glaze - Recycle

As you can tell, I rather enjoy China Glaze. I'm not ashamed to admit that.

I feel the need to add that when I made the glasses of milk, I painted the milk first, then did a layer of OPI over it and a little above the line left from the white. That way it really looked like the liquid was inside. I really am sorry that the picture isn't all too good. I have a few people at the school that want me to do this on them sometime in the near future, so maybe I can get a better picture then.

Anyways, thanks for looking! There will be more tomorrow, I'm sure.

I Totally Nailed it...Did You?

Yeah, Yeah, Yeah. I know all about how I have a crafting blog that is few and far between in the ways of actually posting. But I think that's because its hard for me to really focus on something to post about. There's too much going on that I want to do with that blog that I just...I get overwhelmed.

BUT, this blog is one that I've had a few people ask me to do and seeing as how I'm a people pleaser? DONE and DONE!

So, here we have it, my loves. Sayra has started up a nail blog. And let me tell you, coming up with a name for a nail blog when there are already a ridonkulous amount out there is HARD. I never really expected there to be so many nail blogs! But, sure enough, there they be. Thankfully, with the help of one of my best friends, Rachel, we came up with Totally Nailed It, which was soooo me. Mostly because that's something that I yell out from time to time. Plus, there's the fact that abbreviated, it is TNI which is close to TMI and it makes me giggle a little.

Now, I hear some of you asking out there "What makes YOUR nail blog different from any other nail blog out there?" Well...not much if it is dealing with nails. Mostly it is something I really want to do and showcase some of the work that I've been doing lately. But then there is the fact that I've really gotten into nail art more than anything else. Will there be swatches on this site? Yup. But its not just about what the colors look like. I wanna also focus on what you can do with those colors. And I'm going to take a bit of a trip into the world of Frankenpolishing as well. Not to mention product reviews here and there.

But the biggest things about this blog will also be sharing with others as I learn myself.

You see, for those of you out there that don't know me, I'm in cosmetology school. I'm just about to finish this semester, which is pretty exciting. But this summer, during my third of four semesters, I discovered that my mother was right and I should have listened to her in High School (man, its sometimes hard to admit when your mother is right. Sigh.). Yeah, I should have taken the nail tech classes at our Vo-Tech school. But I didn't and now I find out, 8 years later that I friggin love nails. I love painting them, doing manicures with the massages, Heck, Even pedicures aren't that bad! I love doing anything with brush work, so right now, all of my nail designs are entirely hand painted. And those will definitely be shared on here.

But I don't feel well rounded until I truly learn how to apply fake nails properly, which is a place that I am lacking in skill. So, I figured that while I was learning, I could share my knowledge and maybe teach someone else out there.

That's my plan, Stan. A blog that informs, maybe teaches a bit, and inspires. And, I'm pretty excited about this.