Seashells by the Seashore

Hello guys! Long time no see! How have you been?

My Spanish courses started today, which means I got access to the school's fast wireless and finally got to upload some picturrrrres for my posts. 

Triangularity: Born Pretty rhinestones review

Hey-oh! Welcome to my second review post! Today is the day I'm finally talking about something different than nails (but about nails, too. x)

The heroes of this post are the 4mm rhinestones from Born Pretty store, and should I tell you I was baffled upon seeing them in my package. Thing is, they were sent to me by mistake (instead of round glitter) and there was no way I'd use them in nail art.

So I decided to make a pendant.

Всем привет! Сегодня я наконец-то покажу вам что-то отличное от ногтей (но и ногти тоже. x) А именно, стразы из магазина Born Pretty.

Когда я только достала их из конверта, то несколько растерялась: вместо них должны были прислать круглый глиттер, и для моих ногтей они были слишком велики. 

Поэтому я решила сделать кулон.

Neon Mash-Up: Born Pretty studs review

Hello August, hello everyone! Did you miss me? ;)

My July was loaded with events, none of which I could tell you about because my laptop broke down. :( It tool a while to find a replacement, but now the search is over and I'm finally ready to post anew!

Всем привет, всех с августом! Скучали по мне? ;)

Несмотря на то, что мой Июль был полон событий, рассказать вам о них мне не удалось — в начале месяца сломался мой ноутбук. Найти ему замену оказалось не так просто, но поиск всё же окончен, и я готова к новым постам! 

As you may know, during the last month I've participated in Manimunchkin's nail polish challenge, which ended yesterday. I've managed to complete each day — yay me! — but couldn't write a separate post for each of them because of the technical problems. But fear not, I'm absolutely going to recreate my favourite manis from the challenge and show them here in details! In the meantime, you can see the designs I wore below — they were the ones to cheer me up in this year's cold, moody Summer.

Вчера подошёл к концу лакомарафон у Ани Manimunchkin, в котором я умудрилась добежать до самого финиша — ура-ура! — но из-за технических проблем подробно осветить так и не смогла. Но не волнуйтесь, я обязательно воссоздам свои самые любимые маникюры и напишу про них во всех подробностях. А пока предлагаю посмотреть итоговый коллаж — эти дизайны отлично поднимали мне настроение нынешним неприятно холодным уральским летом. 

And the mani I want to show you today is no exception —  it truly is a hot mess! ;D

И сегодня я покажу вам такой же "тёплый" маникюр — настоящее неоновое месиво! :D 

Sail Away: turquoise nails for 15DNC

Hey-oh!

Приуэт!

As much as I love writing long posts, I will be terse today and let the pictures do the talking. The thing is, my laptop's wifi connector's nearly broken, my tablet's in service because of a pinking charging port, and I'm going to another town for the weekend. All quiiiiiiiiite unexpectedly.

Как бы я ни любила строчить длиннющие посты, сегодня буду краткой и позволю вам просто поглядеть картинки. Дело в том, что у моего ноутбука сломался wi-fi передатчик, планшет отправился в ремонт из-за неисправного зарядочного порта, а сама я еду на выходные в другой город. Всё это, как водится, — этакий нежданчик.

A different galaxy: coral nails for 15DNC

Hi guys! I have two announcements to make!

First, look at my new domain name!!G How awesome is it? I've been going by this nickname for about ten years now, and it was time to finally make it official. I'm yet to transfer my bloglovin' followers and get a pretty email address, but hopefully these issues will be resolved soon. :D

Second, this month is promising to be busy for both the blog and my nails, as I'm participating in the Summer Nail Challenge held by Anna Manimunchkin! I knew I had to take part in it the moment I saw the theme list; not only because it was full of summery awesomeness, but also because half of them coincided with my own to-do mani list. And that's killing two stones with one bird...or something. x)

Today's prompt is one of those happy coincidences: coral nails inspired by my blog's new design, except in a little different colour. It's nebulae design (see my tutorial here), with a bit of a bokeh effect mixed in, done with acrylic paint. Originally, I was aiming to mimic the blog's colour scheme, but it wouldn't work well with the polish I chose. Thus, this part of space is on the orange side.

Hunting for the perfect grunge

Hey guys!

Всем привет!

I got great news for you! Linkin Park, who are my absolutely favourite band, have recently released a new album! Naturally, I had to celebrate this occasion in the best traditions of nail art — by doing a badass band-inspired manicure!

А у меня для вас отличные новости! У моей самой любимой группы со славным названием Linkin Park недавно вышел новый альбом! Разумеется, я должна была отметить сиё событие, и сделать это решила в лучших традициях нейл-арта — крутым фанатским маникюром! 

I like a little shop

Ladies and gentlemen, this is your shitty blogger speaking! How you doin'?

I'm back from my three-month Valencian stay, during which I've been keeping a healthy diet of 100mb of tablet internet a day, hence the lull. Deprived of heavy browsing I spent that time on travelling the country, learning Spanish (anyone wants to chat??), taking a milliard of photos and, of course, buying stuff. And the latter is what I’ll be talking about today.


Дамы и господа, говорит ваш никчёмный блоггер! Как ваше ничего?

Я наконец-то вернулась на родину, пробыв три месяца в Валенсии, где из всего интернета на мою долю приходилось по 100мб в день. Да и то планшетных. Что, собственно, и привело к такому затишью. Зато в освободившееся от компьютера время я успела попутешествовать, поучить язык (кто хочет поболтать со мной по-испански??), сделать миллион фотографий и, разумеется, накупить всякой всячины. О которой сегодня и пойдёт речь.

Crash into the Picture Polish Ocean

Please understand 

This isn't just goodbye 

This is I can't stand you 

This is where the road crashed into the ocean 

It rises all around me 

And now we're barely breathing 

A thousand faces we'll choose to ignore

No, It Isn't — (+44)

Have I ever told you how much I love putting my favourite songs' lyrics into um, everything? Because I sure do. They don't have to do anything with the topic, it might as well be just one matching word in there. This time the lyrics were taken off the top of my head and the word in question was...the name of a polish.

Yep, so much for the diversity of my posts.

But shooting painted nails isn't as easy as it may seem, just like any other kind of photography. Why would anyone think it is. Why would I think it is. Which I did, judging by the folders worth of poor digital (heh, heh) snaps.

So I finally decided to try and put some proper work into it. Besides, the weather was on my side: the sky was covered in one light uniform cloud which served as a nature's softbox. I threw together a simple set-up consisting of white wove paper and my trademark desktop camera stand. You can see it here. Then I've taken half a hundred pictures of my differently crooked fingers with various objects seized in them. Let's take a look at the best ones, shall we? :D

Picture Polish Ocean, along with its three other blue brothers, became one of my first indie polishes. It has a turquoise blue jelly base scattered with holographic flakes. Their holo-ness is rather timid, but they still sparkle nicely. You can wear this polish on its own or layer over, say, white or mint to tweak the hue. :)

Spacey nails tutorial

Oooh look! It's a post!

And it's about nails again! 8D

But worry not, it's a good one. So good, in fact, that when I posted this tutorial on deviantART, it became one of my most popular works in mere days. I figured it wouldn't hurt to share it here as well. What is more, this technique can be used on basically anything — shoes, clothes, starships...nails are just one humble example.

Here's what you'll need to create your very own little piece of galaxy:

• Base coat 
• Colour polish 
• Top Coat 
• Non-toxic acrylic paint 
• Nail polish remover (NPR) 
• Water 

• Sponge 
• Toothpicks 
• Small fine brush 
• Piece of cotton 
• Palette (jar lid, piece of foil...) 
• Nail file 

A little remark about the photos in this tutorial: I took them on a short and gloomy winter afternoon with not the best of my set-ups, so please forgive the lighting. But hey, at least they are clickable for full size.

Now, let's begin!

1. Start with base coat to prevent staining and extend your mani's life. Apply polish of your choice — any colour and finish you like. I chose Orly La Playa, a navy blue creme that went opaque in one coat and is an old favourite of mine.