Hi!

It's the end of 2014, and the Nail Snail has existed for 1 year and 4 months! Where I live there are about 1.5 hours left until 2015 :)

First, my New Year's Eve nails! I did a really simple negative space/glitter gradient inspired by @dollhousepy!

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Glitter and Be Gay & She Drives Me Crazy

And for a year in review sort of thing, I thought a "most popular posts of the year" sort of thing would be fun :)

On the blog

Most viewed: 

1 // my nail care routine

2 // pineapple nails

3 // floral nails w spring reveries collection

Most commented:

1 // galaxy nails

2 // pineapple nails (again)

3 // tape triangles

Tumblr

1 // eyes

2 // nautical nails

3 // watermelon nails

Instagram

1 // Rousseau/tropical nails
2 // sunset nails
3 // Cath Kidston

What were your favorites out of the designs I did this year?

Hope everyone has a happy, safe, and festive New Year's, and best wishes for 2015! Thanks for being such awesome readers and staying with me through my long hiatuses :)
Thanks for reading!
Lucy xx

Christmas Tree Nails

Hi!

I'm going to be celebrating Christmas today, and I wanted to do a simple and fun Christmas design :) I don't know who the original artist behind these is, but I've been seeing this design everywhere!

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Laughing to the Bank // Nails Inc. Kings Road // Nails Inc. Tate

Merry Christmas to all of you guys that celebrate it, and hope everyone is having a great break!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Houndstooth Nails

Hi!

I know it's been a really long time since I last posted :( I do post on Instagram a little more frequently though so if you have Instagram that might be a better way to get your Nail Snail fix!

Anyways, I've been seeing the houndstooth pattern around a lot recently, and I thought it would be super fun to try on my nails!

I wasn't sure if I could pull it off -- my freehanding is kind of ish -- but it ended up looking fine! As long as you can draw kind of straight lines houndstooth isn't too difficult.

Materials Used
JINsoon Matte Maker // Wet n Wild French White Créme // black acrylic paint // studs from Claire's

I originally intended to do the pattern on all four of my fingers, but it took me so long to do the index and ring I was like "nahhh".

Of course, I had to make these matte.

They look better from a distance :\
The polish on my thumb is Nails Inc Kings Road

I was so sad when these started chipping, they were really fun to paint and wear!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Born Pretty Store Brushes Review

*items in this post were provided for review

Hi!!

It's been awhile, but now I'm on Thanksgiving break so I have time to blog! 

For today's post, the Born Pretty Store was kind enough to send me a set of nail art brushes to review. 

This set contains three striping/detail brushes and one larger flat-topped brush.

These nails are loosely based on a design by Deirdre's Nails. 

Polishes Used
China Glaze First Mate // Essie Blanc // Nails Inc Chelsea Bridge Road

For the half moon section, I outlined it and filled it in with the shortest detail brush. Then I added the curved scallop-y lines with the midsized detail brush, and added the straight lines with the longest brush. I used the wide brush for cleanup.

I was really happy with these brushes! I have been using a set from MASH, but I prefer these. The striping brushes are just the right length, not too long to control but also not so short that the lines come out super thick. Also, I didn't have to trim off any stray hairs!

What I liked most about these was that these brushes have plastic handles so they're OK if you get a little acetone on them, unlike some brushes that have paint handles so if they come into contact with acetone the paint comes off and gets everywhere.

My one complaint was that the wider brush was a little too thin to be used for cleanup for me. I get nail polish everywhere when I paint my nails, so I need a pretty heavy-duty cleanup brush. If you're used to using the ELF concealer brushes or regular paint brushes for cleanup, you might find this one a little too thin. 

But I could see this brush being used for cleanup for neat people or for filling in large spaces!

Overall, I would recommend these brushes  -- all four are only 4.92 USD, and they work great!

And lastly, the Born Pretty Store was kind enough to give me a 10% off coupon code for all of you guys!

Thanks for reading, and happy Thanksgiving to all of you guys who celebrate it!

Lucy xx

Sally Hansen Royal Blush

Hi!

I've been really into nude shades lately -- they always look so classy! Unfortunately, finding a nude that matches my skin tone has been a struggle :(

I recently tried out Sally Hansen Royal Blush. I don't think it matches my skin tone very well -- it's a little too warm and pink/orange-y. It looks more bluish in the bottle than it does on the nail, I hate when polishes trick me like that!

It still is a pretty color, though, so I decided to keep it on and do a simple glitter gradient.

Polishes Used
China Glaze Fairy Dust // Deborah Lippmann When Lightning Strikes // Sally Hansen Royal Blush

This is the first of Sally Hansen's higher-end "complete salon manicure" polishes I've tried. I really like the wider brush (although I know a lot of people prefer a thinner brush), but in terms of formula, wear time, etc. it seemed pretty similar to any other drugstore polish. 

However, the big plus for me is that these come in a wider range of shades than, say, Wet n' Wild or the Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear line. They have a lot of nice nude and pastel colors that are hard to find among cheaper polishes.

(For reference, cheaper Sally Hansen polishes are usually around $4-5, while these are around $7-9)

I like this polish, but I feel like it's not quite right. I guess I'll have to continue with my quest for the perfect nude shade! Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Galaxy Nails

Hi!

I'm back from the accidental hiatus (for like the 4th time, oops) with some galaxy nail art!!

I did these so long ago I completely forgot what polishes I used, oops :// 

These were super fun to do! Almost every nail blogger has done some sort of galaxy nails but they always turn out so unique!

Also, galaxy nails were my first post. I tried to do a tutorial, hahaha...... So many things about my first post make me laugh. At least I can say I've improved, right?

I've just scheduled a lot of posts, so you should be seeing my nails around more regularly :)

Thanks for reading!!

Lucy xx

Nails Inc. Kensington High Street

Hi!

Like every nail art blogger (I think), I'm trying to get through a pretty big pile of unused polishes! I thought this polish, Nails Inc Kensington High Street, was a gorgeous rich color for fall. *note: the name of the polish wasn't written on the bottle, but I'm 99% sure it's Kensington High Street based on some online searches!

Polishes Used:
Nails Inc Kensington High Street | Zoya Maria Luisa | striping tape

I love the color, but I did have some trouble with the polish staining my cuticles (every single red-toned polish seems to do that!). It also took FOREVER to dry and I had to do four coats to completely cover my nail line. However, this polish stayed on my nails with minimal chipping for two weeks!

On my thumb I added Zoya Maria Luisa. Isn't it gorgeous?

Now time to go back to finding implicit derivates!! 

Thanks for reading & bearing with me through my erratic posting schedule!

Lucy xx

More Florals

Hi!

I've been loving floral nail art lately. Last week I did a retro floral pattern, this week I did another simple floral pattern! I don't know, they're just so easy to do and they look so cute.

Polishes Used
China Glaze First Mate | Deborah Lippmann Build Me Up Buttercup & Spring Buds | JINsoon Tea Rose | white acrylic paint

This pattern wasn't really inspired by everything, I just picked out a few colors I thought would look good together and went with the flow! I'm not really sure how to describe these (thus the post title, "More Florals" haha).

I really love First Mate (it's been on the blog twice before: once with studs, once nautically). It's kind of a dusty navy creme, with perfect application! It'll definitely be one of my go-to colors this fall.

Do any of you guys have a nail art pattern/style that you've been loving lately? And what have been your favorite fall nail polish shades?

Thanks for reading!
Lucy xx

P.S. if you've been liking my floral designs, you can browse my floral nails tag!

Retro Flowers

Hi!

Oooops, I haven't posted in almost a month! I had a bunch of stuff to do in the beginning of the year (I'm running a couple of clubs at my school, went to a national debate tournament, and skipped a level of Spanish!) but now I should be back on track. I'm attempting a less ambitious posting schedule: once per week instead of twice. I wish I could post more, but school and extracurriculars take precedence over nail art :(

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Don't Stop Believing & She Drives Me Crazy | JINsoon Tea Rose & French Lilac | Urban Outfitters unnamed gray

These were inspired by a design created by iheartnails (here's her blog). I decided to change mine up a little for a more modern sort of vibe.

And since I haven't matteified anything in forever, I decided to add a matte top coat (I used my favorite, JINsoon Matte Maker)

These were so simple and fun to do! I hope you guys like them, and forgive me for being gone for so long :)

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Tribal & Guilty Pleasure

Hi!

Once again, I've merged two themes into one for the August nail art challenge! Here's day 22: tribal and day 25: guilty pleasure.

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Build Me Up Buttercup | OPI My Vampire is Buff | Wet n Wild French White Créme | acrylic paint

Nail art is my guilty pleasure, so I decided to paint fingers on my nails! The yellow background and the skin color I used are kind of hard to see in these photos, but in real life they're more distinct.

I recreated the tribal pattern from Chalkboard Nails' Cosmoprof nails :)

This is supposed to be a nail polish brush and the neck of a polish bottle... not sure this came out too well!

What's your guilty pleasure? I feel like I spend so much time on nail art that if I "wasted" time on something else too I'd never get anything done!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

French Tips & Saran Wrap

Hi!

Oops, I've fallen a little behind with the August nail art challenge! I'm playing catch-up by merging two themes into one manicure :)

This one is day 17: french tip and day 20: saran wrap! This post is going to be really quick as this was a really simple design that took about 20 minutes.

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Blue Orchid, Flowers in Her Hair, Spring Buds, & Tiptoe Through the Tulips | Nails Inc Chelsea Bridge Road

Now for the saran wrap part:

I've never had success with the saran wrap technique, and this was no exception. It just looks kind of dirty... anybody have any tips?

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Day 14: Pineapples

Hi!

I'm still keeping up with the Californails Totally Doable I-Have-a-Life Challenge, kind of -- this one is a couple days late because I just got back from Maine a couple days ago!

Pineapple nails have popped up everywhere lately, and I love it! I think they're just so cute and summery. 

Here are some that are too good not to share:

// Paper Thin Nails - here and here //

// Wondrously Polished - here (+ tutorial) //

I've been thinking about what design to do all of vacation (I'm that obsessed, haha); I was drawing out little diagrams on the plane and the lady sitting next to me probably thought I was crazy!

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Blue Orchid, Walking on Sunshine & Whip It || JINsoon Poppy Blue || Wet n Wild French White Creme & Tickled Pink || brown & yellow acrylic paint

These were really fun to do, and I'm pretty pleased with the end result! Now that I've gotten back into gradients I want to use them in every manicure, they're so fun!!

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx

Day 11: Tropical

Hi!

Today is day 11 of Californails' Totally Doable I Have a Life nail art challenge! So far I've managed to post on time for all the days, which makes me surprised and proud :) Today's theme is tropical.

I'm sure you've seen about a billion different versions of this design, so I don't have much to say haha!

Polishes Used:
Deborah Lippmann Walking on Sunshine | JINsoon Blue Iris & Tea Rose | Wet n Wild Black Creme | black acrylic paint

I haven't done a gradient in a long time, I forgot how fun they are!

I've had so much fun wearing this design, hope you guys liked it!

Thanks for reading!
Lucy xx

Gladiolus Nails

Hi!

Today's prompt for the Californails August nail art challenge is 'gladiolus', the August birth flower. I didn't know what gladiolus looked like at first, and when I looked it up I knew there was no way I'd be able to paint them realistically on my nails. Since their petals kind of fade from color to color, I decided to do flowers using the one-stroke technique.

Polishes Used
Deborah Lippmann Don't Stop Believin | Urban Outfitters unnamed grey | Wet n Wild Black Creme | red & yellow acrylic paint

 These don't really call gladiolus to mind, but they are pretty, so I'm happy!

This is a scheduled post -- as you read this, I'm on vacation in Maine! I don't know if I'll have Internet yet, and I'll be pretty busy doing all the stuff one does in Maine so I might not be able to approve and respond to comments until I come back :-) 

Thanks for reading!

Lucy xx