Swatch: Lovely Moon Collection

*BEWARE: PICTURE HEAVY POST*

So for Christmas this year I received The Lovely Moon Collection from my amazing parents.

The Lovely Moon Collection is a collection from a lovely indie blogger Maggy of Daily Lacquer.

This is her Etsy shop.
This is her blog.
This is her Facebook.

I definitely recommend checking out both.

Anyway, The Lovely Moon collection is based on the most awesome old school anime, Sailor Moon. I love Sailor Moon. I grew up with her as my role model. FYI, the Sailor Moon displayed in the English dub is a ditz. The Sailor Moon in the original graphic novels is THE most bad-ass, strong, caring, eccentric woman. Each bottle is jam-packed with glitter shapes of hearts, crescent moons, stars, bars, hexes, and tiny things.

SO MUCH GLITTER.

From left to right:

Usagi, Moon Kitty, Ami, Rei, Makoto, Minako

Click Read More to see the rest of these lovelies!

Day 10: Native Plant

So it was native plant day.

I don't really know of that many native plants in California.

So.. I twisted the rule on this one a bit... I did the native plant of the last place I lived.

I used to live in Japan, so.... I did cherry blossoms. I love love love cherry blossoms. And I got to test out a new stamping polish.

So for my base I used Sally Hansen Diamond Strength's Lavender Marquis. The cherry blossoms were MoYous special black stamping polish and Konad plate s9.

Day 9: Inspired by your location

So this was inspired by your location. 

I did my bedroom!

My walls are a light lavender color. On part of the wall, I have a cherry blossom tree decal in deep violet purple and dark brown. 

So on my nails I have attempted to re-create that look. 

My base was Finger Paint's Silver Sculpture. The flowers were Sally Hansen Diamond Strength's All Aglow. The branches and bird like thing was Orly's Buried Alive.

Day 8: Polka Dots

This day was polka dots. 

I wanted to do something a bit different, so I did a cluster gradient of polka dots.

I started with Sally Hansen Diamond Strength's Something Blue as my base. For the polka dots, I used Finger Paint's Black Expressionism, then Milani's Silver Dazzle, and finally Essence's Grey-t to Be Here.

I thought The end result was lovely. 

Day 7: Black and White

OMG! I am sorry for the onslaught of late posts! But here is the start!

So this was for black and white day. I saw this cute picture and I knew I had to do it at some point.

It is a pretty simple design, but absolutely cute.

I used Finger Paint's Black Expressionism as my base and Island Girl's Pineapple Plantation.

Alive!

Hey guys!

I've missed you all soo much!

I'm alive. I just finished all my finals yesterday! And now I am catching on nail art and swatches. i have about half of the days that I missed done. I should be able to post everything before Christmas!

:)

Thank you all for being patient. I love guys so much! Look out for just a ton of posts!

Holly Jolly Holiday Tag

So lovely Ann of Nailovelogy tagged me in this holiday tagging post! :) Seems fun, so let's do it! 

And everyone who is patiently waiting for nail art.... I AM ALL OUT OF ACETONE! I HAVE NO CAR/MONEY SO PLEASE BE PATIENT!  I all sorts of sad since I have no more acetone...but I was productive in organizing my stash!

Anyway, on to the lovely tagging questions!

1. Do you start your Christmas shopping on Black Friday or wait until the last minute?
I started early. I started shopping for my sis around September. Since then, I've just been gradually buying thing thing for everyone I love. 

2. If you could be in any Christmas movie what would it be?
The Polar Express! I was just watching it about an hour ago. I would love to meet Santa and his elves!


3. Which do you like better: Christmas Eve or Christmas Day?Christmas Day. I get to relax with my family, eat, and just spread a lot of love with everyone!

4. When does your family put up your Christmas tree and who decorates it? 
Our tree usually goes up before my birthday in November. My dad sets it up. My mom, my sis, and I decorate! 
5. White lights or colored lights?
It depends. I want my tree to have white lights, but I want the outside to have lots of fun colorful lights. 

6. Are you guilty of peeking at your presents or do you like the surprise?
When I was younger, yes. I would always happen to find them by accident. However, I really like being surprised. 

7. Would you rather live in a gingerbread house or in Santa's Workshop?
Oh no... I can't decide! Can't I just live in Santa's Workshop that's made out of gingerbread?

8. Tell us your Christmas Eve traditions!
Lounging around the house with family. Later in the evening we would got to church then around midnight we would open our presents so that we can sleep in the next morning.

9. If you could be under the mistletoe with anyone who would it be?
You know who you are. 

10. What tops your tree?
A pretty angel.

11. Can you name the 12 days of Christmas?
From the song? Yes. Sort of. We'll see. 

12. Have you ever gone Christmas caroling?
I have not. I would love to though!

13. Do you countdown to Christmas? If so, how many days are left?
I haven't been counting down because of finals... but I will continue it soon. So, basically I have no idea. 
14. What are some foods and treats you can count on having every holiday season?
I wanna try eggnog! I haven't tried it yet. Oh! During the holidays, I always look forward to honey-baked hams!  

15. How has Christmas kept its magic for you as you've grown older?
It will always be magical. This is the time of year where I can be a little kid. As long as I'm with my loved ones and we leave cookies for Santa, then it will always be magical. 

Now let me tag some other lovelies!

• Jessie of Nailed it NZ
• Anjali of From L&P to English Tea
• Sarah of Ask the Beauty Editor

Alright! So that's all for now lovelies! I will try and get acetone tomorrow and do some posts!

Love you guys see you then!

An Award!

Oh my goodness! An award for me? Thank you so much!

Thank you Chop Suey and Loz! This was a lovely surprise from my vacation!

For those of you might not be aware of what this is (I was not aware until about 10 minutes ago) it is an award for up and coming bloggers. 

The Rules:

• You have to state 11 random facts about yourself
• You have to answer the 11 Q’s asked by the person who nominated you; and
• You have to tag 11 new blogs that have less than 200 followers and ask 11 Q’s of your own, and no tag backs!

Alright! So here are 11 lovely facts about myself:

1. I love baking cookies, cupcakes, and anything sweet.
2. Video games are my thing. Especially games like Soul Calibur.
3. I pretend to be Sailor Moon when no one is watching.
4. I eat pretty healthy for a college student, but sweets and desserts are my weakness.
5. I am a Navy brat.
6. I lived in Japan for about 3 1/2 years. I miss it so much.
7. I own just as many books as I do nail polishes.
8. I can speak a little bit of Spanish, Tagalog, Japanese.
9. When no one is home, I belt out singing in my loud soprano voice.
10. I love babies and babies love me.
11. I am currently vice president of two clubs this semester at my school. 

Whew! I had to think about some of those. Anyway, here are the questions from Chop Suey of Chop Suey Nails!

1. What is the manicure you are most proud of? It would have to be my manicure for the "inspired by your country" day of the Take Two challenge. Although it was one of the simplest manicures I've done, It was one of the cleanest manicures I've done ever. I did not have to clean up my nails since they were clean already. 
2. What is your favourite style of polish - ie glitter, creme, jelly, holo etc My favorite style of polish... is all  of them! Don't make me choose! Please? I love them all! They're my babies!
3. Who are your favourite nail bloggers? Some of my favorite nail bloggers are Nailed It NZ, The Scholarly Nail, and Nail Polish Wars.
4. How will you be spending Christmas Day? With my family. Just something simple. I will more than likely be going to work too. 
5. What do you want for Christmas? More nail polishes. Especially indie brands! 
6. How long have you been blogging for? I've been blogging since September 30th of 2012.
7. Why did you start your blog? I wanted to share my love of nail polish with other. I wanted to document what I have too so that I don't buy doubles. I want to find people who enjoy it as much as I do. 
8. If you had to choose only ONE beauty product, what would it be? Nail Polish. 
9. What is your favourite style of music? I love all types of music, but country music is something i prefer just a little bit more.
10. Chocolate or Vanilla? Neither. Strawberry!
11. Have you been sucked into Pinterest yet? A little. I go on there occasionally to get inspiration for my nails.

And here are my ones from Loz of Polish and Patterns!

1. What languages can you speak? I can speak Japanese, English and a little Tagalog.
2. What colour hair do you have? Black or dark brown. It depends on the light.
3. Cats or Dogs? Both! They're so cute!
4. Do you 'do' New Year Resolutions? I try to. 
5. If so... what is your number one for 2013? Losing weight. I'll be going on a trip with my family in the summer so I want to look good. 
6. Favourite nail art - Stamping? Freehand? Plain coloured mani etc? It all depends on what I want to do that day. I would like to get better at free-handed designs. 
7. Your favourite polish colour? Purple. 
8. Have you ever traveled abroad? Yes. I've been to the Philippines and Japan. 
9. Summer or Winter? Winter.
10. Tea or Coffee? (or Milo/Hot Chocolate!) Coffee!!
11. If you could invite ANYONE for dinner to your house who would it be and why? Sailor Moon. I want to learn how to be sailor scout and see what it would be like to rule a kingdom. 

So that is me! :) And here are some lovelies that deserve this award too!

1. Rose of Every Little Polish
2. Anjali of L&P to English tea
3. Shannon of Somewhere over the polish rainbow
4. Elissa of Lissa's Polish Addiction
5. Nicole of Nicole Gets Nailed
6. Nail-ology of Nailovelogy
7. Sarah of Ask the Beauty Editor
8. Mel of Mel my issta
9. Phoenix Nails
10. Danielle of Totally Nailed
11. Rashini of The Nail Obsession 

And here are my question for you guys!

1. About how many is in your stash? 
2. Books or movies?
3. Favorite cartoon character?
4. Are you a brand snob with your polishes?
5. If so, what are your favorite brands?
6. Favorite indie brand?
7. How do you store your polishes?
8. What is a quirky hobby of yours outside of polishes?
9. What is the polish that you really want, but hard to find?
10. If you you could trade places with anyone for a day, who would it be and why?
11. What is your favorite food?

Yaaay! Thank you again guys! and let's support all the lovely bloggers out there!

My challenge Delay

Hey guys!

So I will be posting the black and white, polka dot, and location challenge on Monday.

I'm on a mini vacation with my family this week to celebrate my Mom's birthday! :)

I'll see you guys on Monday!

*edit* Okay, it is the week before/of finals! Check back Thursday night for a sudden mass posting of everything I've missed!

Day 6: Animal

Ah! Sorry for posting so late!!

So today is animal day! I couldn't get inspired by any animal really... so instead I just copied an oldie but goody from the last 31 day challenge. I did the leopard spots again but using a blue theme.

So on to the colors! I used Orly's Aspen as my base. The spots were Sation's Blue Suede and Finger Paint's Black Expressionism.

Day 5: Cartoon Theme

So for today's challenge, I did my most favorite anime/cartoon ever.

SAILOR MOON!

I love love love Sailor Moon. She was and still is my idol growing up. I love her more in the books than the anime because the anime does not show great character development. Naoko Takeuchi shows Sailor Moon mature gracefully with each novel. Although, the anime did have some good moments. HERE is a link to one of my favorite Sailor Moon movies.

Anyway, on to my nails. I used a lot of colors. So I'll start with the picture first.

Day 4: Flowers

So today was the flower day!

I don't know why, but I always have a great idea for flowers. The idea never comes out as lovely as I'd like on my nails.

In light of the Christmas season, I did poinsettia style nails. I used a base of Essie's No Place Like Chrome. The flowers were a combination of Essie's E! Live From the Red Carpet, Sally Hansen Extreme Wear's Mellow Yellow, and Wet N Wild's SaGreena the Teenage Witch.

Here they are!

Day 3: Inspired by your country

So it is inspired by your country day.

 I admit that I found this kind of difficult. It is hard to be inspired by America. When I think of the U.S. it is hard to look past the obese, fried chicken, and 'murica jokes.

 So I kinda did the challenge a little differently today.

 I did it as "inspired by your state" instead. I live in southern California. The first thing I think of are beaches. So I did a lovely beach inspired manicure. I used Zoya's Zuza for the water and Sally Hansen Gem Crush's Big Money for the beach. I put little pink gems where the water meets the sand to represent seashells.

 This manicure screams California!

Day 2: Flag Nails

Hey everybody!

Today I have some lovely flag nails.

I chose Niger for today's challenge because, of a project I had in high school.

I used Island Girl's Pineapple Plantation as my base. Sally Hansen Diamond Strength's Moonlit Dance and Finger Paint's Sketch N Etch were the stripes. I used a dotting tool for the center.

Day 1: Inspired by a band

Here we are again folks! Time for the 31 day Take Two challenge! For more info visit Nailed It: NZ!

First let me share with you the challenges:

Awesome, huh?

Anyway, on to my nails,