Grumpy Cat nails

I’m sorry for the long wait to see my birthday nails, but I hope they are worth the wait J. I was thinking for a long time about what nails I wanted to do to commemorate my 30^th birthday and it wasn’t until a few days before the big day that I finally settled on the design. My fellow nail lover friend Patty is the one who suggested I do Grumpy Cat nails, and I can’t think of better nails to have when turning 30.

I surprised myself with how little flash these nails had but I ended up liking the solid brown next to the designed nails. For this manicure I used Sally Hansen CSM Barracuda, OPI Brisbane Bronze, Aphrodite’s Pink Nightie, and Pompeii Purple, and Orly Liquid Vinyl and White Tips.

Grumpy Cat nails

To create the adorable yet grumpy kitty on my middle finger I used a corner piece of makeup sponge and sponged on the white first. The triangular shape of the sponge helped define her ears. I did two layers of the white before I sponged on the brown; I always forget how much I love this brown!

Nothing says turning 30 like a disgruntled kitty on your middle finger

To get her tiny angry mouth I used my smallest dotting tool and used a stippling method to tap the color on. My original idea was to put a party hat on her but she took so long to do that I didn’t want to risk messing her up. To make it a little more birthday themed I put balloons on my thumb and pinkie. My right hand has balloons on the pinkie, middle, and thumb.

 

I can’t believe I missed her at the state fair

I had this manicure when I went to get a facial after my birthday and I got asked one of my favorite nail questions by the salon lady. She asked if I paint them before I put them on, I’m sure a loser that I love being able to say ‘no, actually they are real’. I hope my birthday nails were worth the wait and that you love Grumpy Cat as much as I do J

Blue Gradient nails

It’s my birthday! But these are not my birthday nails, I know it’s confusing. I write blogs ahead of time and at the time of writing this I haven’t actually even painted my birthday nails, it’s a crazy world we live in and I hope this revelation doesn’t make your mind explode. These are actually the nails I had for my friend’s baby shower, she is having a boy so I figured that blue nails were appropriate. I get so nervous at baby showers, everyone was super nice but I feel like I’m wearing a giant neon sign that says “I don’t like children”. Babies can sense fear, this is a well established fact, and there are always babies at baby showers, they just glare at me with a knowing look. Well, at least my nails looked cute.

This manicure slightly redeemed the sponging disaster that was my last sponging attempt. For this manicure I used Sally Hansen CSM Barracuda, Orly Skinny Dip, and China Glaze Splish Splash. I did a base of the lightest blue (Barracuda) and then sponged the two darker blues on top of that.

Blue Gradient nails

I’m not sure what the mysterious black dots on my index finger are from, if I were forced to guess I would say it is probably mascara. I guess that’s how I roll. I really liked how these turned out, doing a base coat of the lightest color worked out really well, it made the other blues stand out and made it so I had more overall nail coverage than I usually do with gradients.

In case you were wondering this is my favorite hoodie

I’m kinda surprised with how well the pictures turned out, while I was taking them I thought they would be too shiny and not show the color change but I guess camera magic helped me out.

It’s a boy!

These nails ended up being great for the baby shower, much better than the last ones. Congrats on your future baby boy Gayle J

Doodle nails

I’m not a very social person, as evident by the fact that I’m in my PJs writing this blog on a Friday night. Despite my non social nature, I have somehow managed to make plan for every weekend between now and labor day. This is unchartered territory for me; generally my weekends are filled with Netflix, not people. Truth be told some of my plans are more exciting than others; I can’t believe I get to go to Vegas in two weeks! All these plans mean that I have a lot of nail designs to plan out J

I love these nails the longer they are on my hands. They are so cute and fun! For this manicure I used Orly Liquid Vinyl, Lemonade, and White Tips, Sally Hansen CSM Barracuda, and China Glaze Rich & Famous. I have used Barracuda so much since I got it; I think it is officially one of my favorite summer colors.

Doodle nails

It took me a few tries before I got the black lines the right thickness, that is why the yellow flower on my ring finger is a bit wonky. I ended up using the smallest dotting tool I had, I think the end of a toothpick would work well too if you didn’t have dotting tools.

They are just so much fun!

Sponging these made me remember how much I love the look of sponged nails; I really need to come up with more ideas so I get to sponge more. I’ll have to get on the interwebs and do some searching J Even though these nails are really colorful, I feel like they aren’t as gaudy as some of the other designs I’ve done.

I love them so much you get three pictures

I broke a thumb nail a couple of days after I painted these and ended up having to cut all my nails. As much as I liked this design on my long nails, I think I liked it even better on my little stumpy nails, so I guess there is a silver lining to the break.

Disney's Up nails

It isn’t very often that my family all gets together. We had the opportunity to all get together this weekend though to celebrate my parents’ 35^th anniversary and had a blast. In good Minnesota fashion there was way too much food, including an entire table of desserts. I parked myself right next to that table of deliciousness with my beer in hand and had myself a grand time. I have seven nieces and nephews on that side of the family; they are almost their own baseball team, although I’m not sure how well a 3 month old would be able to handle a baseball. It’s awesome to see all my brothers as dads, growing up they had the unspoken rule that they could tease me all they wanted but no one else better try it, and it is just cool to see them protecting their kids now.

I thought it would be cool to do nails for a love story since these were the nails I had at the anniversary party. I love the movie Up, it has such a cute love story (and yes it always makes me cry). For this manicure I used a crap ton of colors, Orly Lemonade, Mayhem Mentality, White Tips, and Skinny Dip, OPI You’re Such a Budapest, China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise, Mahogany Magic, and Pool Party, and Sally Hansen CSM Barracuda.

Disney's Up nails

I was very pleased with how these nails turned out. I wish I would have made the balloon strings a little darker, but besides that I’m very happy. These are the first nails I’ve ever done that I modified the design for my right hand, I just put clouds on my right thumb since the house was so hard to do in the first place.

The house is far from perfect but still pretty cute

I was really bummed when people didn’t immediately recognize what the design was supposed to be, but it was pretty cool when someone did. The nails were a big hit at the party and I got a lot of “you do that yourself?!?!” which I love. Overall I would say these were a success J

Starfish nails

My best friend Jackie is getting married next month, which means I get to go to Vegas with my sister. I don’t think I’ve been so excited for a wedding since my wedding. I just booked the hotel and it is finally feeling close. I’ve only been to Vegas once before (also with Jackie) and we had a blast. I think it is kinda funny that the two trips I’m taking this year are to Vegas and Disney World, I’m a diverse lady J. I don’t know what nails I’ll do for Vegas but I’m sure they need to be very sparkly and super gaudy; I shouldn’t have a problem with that.

For some reason I decided I needed beachy nails and I got to say, I’m loving these nails. For this manicure I used Sally Hansen CSM Barracuda, China Glaze Itty, Bitty & Gritty, and Orly Prelude to a Kiss. When I used the China Glaze last time I hated it but it for this manicure it worked so well for my starfish. I love the different textures on my nails!

Starfish nails

These nails are just fun, they are bright and beachy and I really love them. I can’t get over how great the starfish turned out. They were a little tricky to do but only because as the paint dried it was really hard to put on so I had to work fast. My shells are just ok, I did the shape of them pretty well but the lines just look weird. I think I should have made the lines thinner and made the shells bigger so I could do more lines.

Now I want to do Patrick the starfish nails

I originally got the light blue for Cinderella nails but after using it for these nails I’m super happy I got it. It’s such a pretty blue! I love the Sally Hansen CSM brush too; it’s very wide which works great for my nails since I have quite a bit of surface to cover. I don’t think it would be a good brand/brush if you had small nails unless you really like getting messy. Hope you enjoyed my starfish nails as much as I do J