Tuesday, October 30, 2012

31 Days Nail Art Challenge - Day 2: Orange

Hello,

I liked my Red Nails so much that I kept them on for a week!

Then it was time for the Orange nails. A few days ago I got the China Glaze Anchors Away mini bottles, and it included Life Preserver, a really nice orange that looked familiar. When I looked through my collection I noticed it looked very similar to my OPI Call Me Gwen-Ever; and they are indeed almost the same.

The photos don't do them justice and no matter what I did they looked much darker and more saturated in photos than in real life. I painted my left hand nails with OPI and my right hand nails with China Glaze. I kept them on for a couple of days before adding a gold glitter tip.

Let's have a look at the photos:

OPI Call Me Gwen-Ever
China Glaze Life Preserver

OPI With Glitter Tips
China Glaze With Glitter Tips

I found the glitter tips to be kind of sharp even though I really like the way they look. So I wouldn't be keeping them on for long.

Next in line is YELLOW nails!

Thursday, October 18, 2012

31 Days Nail Art Challenge - Day 1: Red

Hello Blog Land,

As promised this is the first day of the nail art challenge and I have to say, it took me a while to decide what to do. Of all the colors in my polish collection, I only have maybe 5 red polishes! I was so surprised when I noticed that.

Anyways, here is today's nails:

Indoor - No Flash
Outside - Sunlight
I used the taping method and 3 of my reds. The 2 lighter reds are from nameless bottles and the tips are China Glaze Prey Tell.

Then I felt it was missing something (maybe those striping tapes I've been eying on eBay?) so I used nail stickers I had and this is what my nails look like now:

Indoor - Sunlight
 I really like the way these turned out, and looking forward to tomorrow's ORANGE nails!

What about you? What do your favorite red nails look like?


Wednesday, October 17, 2012

31 Days Nail Art Challenge

Hey Everyone,

For a while now I have been thinking of starting the 31 days nail art challenge, and now I finally have the proper time to do it! For those of you  not familiar with this challenge, this is it:

Basically, it's a list of themes put together by someone to use as inspiration for nail art. How it is interpreted is totally up to to every individual taking up the challenge.

For those of us into nail art, it is so easy to start finding it difficult to decide what to do with our nails and what color to paint them! It was only a few days ago when in one sitting I pained my nails 5 different times because it was so hard to choose. So I hope this challenge helps inspire me and maybe it will inspire you as well!

Tomorrow's post will be... RED Nails!

Stay Tuned

Sunday, March 25, 2012

Persian New Year, Spring Equinox, and Some Traditions...


Year Of The Dragon
Hi Everyone,

 The Afternoon of March 20th (13:14 Singapore time to be exact) marked the turn of a new year and the Spring Equinox thus marking the first day of the first month of the Persian Calendar.

"Norouz" meaning New Day, has been celebrated in Iran and some neighboring countries for over 2000 years as the beginning of spring and the hope for a new and better life in the coming year.

 The following section of Wikipedia on Noruz perfectly explains Haft Sīn, the traditional spread prepared  well in advance to celebrate the new year:

"Haft Sîn or the seven 'S's is a major traditional table setting of Noruz, the traditional Iranian spring celebration.Today the haft sin table includes seven specific items starting with the letter 'S' or Sīn (س) in the Persian alphabet. The seven elements of Life, namely Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Plants, Animals, and Human, are represented.
They also have Astrological correlations to five planets Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Sun and Moon. The Haft Sin has evolved over time, but has kept its symbolism. Traditionally, families attempt to set as beautiful a Haft Sīn table as they can, as it is not only of traditional and spiritual value, but also noticed by visitors during Noruz visitations and is a reflection of their good taste.

The original 7 items of haft-sin symbolized seven of the Zoroastrian yazatas such as ātar and asmān. The term was originally called haft-chin, to place seven. These items are Mirror symbolizing Sky, Apple symbolizing Earth, Candles symbolizing Fire, Golab rose water symbolizing Water, Sabzeh wheat, or barley sprouts symbolizing Plants, Goldfish symbolizing Animals, Painted Eggs symbolizing Humans and Fertility.

The Haft Sīn items are:
  • sabzeh - wheat, barley or lentil sprouts growing in a dish - symbolizing rebirth
  • samanu - a sweet pudding made from wheat germ - symbolizing affluence
  • senjed - the dried fruit of the oleaster tree - symbolizing love
  • sīr - garlic - symbolizing medicine
  • sīb - apples - symbolizing beauty and health
  • somaq - sumac berries - symbolizing (the color of) sunrise
  • serkeh - vinegar - symbolizing age and patience.
My Angry Bird Sabzeh <3
 Other items on the table may include:
  • Sonbol - Hyacinth (plant)
  • Sekkeh - Coins - representative of wealth
  • traditional Iranian pastries such as baghlava, toot, naan-nokhodchi
  • Aajeel - dried nuts, berries and raisins
  • lit candles (enlightenment and happiness)
  • a mirror (symbolizing cleanness and honesty)
  • decorated eggs, sometimes one for each member of the family (fertility)
  • a bowl of water with goldfish (life within life, and the sign of Pisces which the sun is leaving). As an essential object of the Noruz table, this goldfish is also "very ancient and meaningful" and with Zoroastrian connection.
  • rosewater, believed to have magical cleansing powers
  • the national colors, for a patriotic touch
  • a holy book (e.g., the Avesta, Qur'an,or Kitáb-i-Aqdas) and/or a poetry book (almost always either the Shahnameh or the Divan of Hafiz)"
This was our first Norouz together as a married couple, and even though away from home I had some trouble finding some of the S's, I still tried my best to put together a Haft Sin as pretty and complete as possible!

Our Haft-Sin
These are our painted/decorated eggs - Done by Moi!

Our Bad-ass Ninja Turtles Eggs - Done by Hubby!


Happy New Year Everyone! May this year bring us happiness, prosperity, health, wealth and peace!

Elmo Accent Nails!

Hi Everyone,

So last night, after changing my nail polish for the 10th time, I finally settled on these:


Elmo is my sister's favorite character so this one is dedicated to her! The next design will be Cookie Monster, my favorite.

In other news, Taylor from Rejoice Nail Art is holding a nail art competition "Accent Nails" and this is my submission! So exciting! I hope I win!

Wish me luck!

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Arrival of The Dotting Tools!

Hi Guys,

I ordered dotting tools (set of 5) on ebay for less than 1$ (!!!!) and they arrived after about 10 days. I was so excited to try it out, and here is the result:

Matte Purple With Silver Dots

Tuesday, February 21, 2012

It's Been A While - Updates From The Last Few Months

Ni Hao Guys!

It's been a while since my last post, I have been very busy settling in our new home.

My parents visited during the winter break with my siblings and we had a great time. I really needed that! We also went back home for new year and to attend a wedding.

I am also proud to announce that hubby and I started our Mandarin lessons and attended our first Chinese New Year Celebrations! Great fireworks and we managed to sit through the whole thing in very heavy rain!


We have also adopted the cutest cat! Her name is Belle and she is 4 years old:


I have also managed to quadruple my nail polish collection in less than a month! But that is a topic for another post.

Until then, stay safe and happy!