Nibble Files: A Nail Biter's Blog

Another Gradient

2013-08-07T06:42:00.001-04:00

Man, I know. I do a lot of gradients. It's because I'm lazy, and they look good, and there's an absolutely endless amount of color combinations that you can use. They're wonderful. Hugs and rainbow sherbet to the person who invented sponge gradient manis.

For this one, I chose the boldest colors I could find at the time. It ended up being royal blue, purple, and neon pink. I think they look really great together- kind of cohesive- and are super bold, which is what I wanted at the time. Awesome for summer.

Boom. Brights.

Products Used:
Revlon Royal
China Glaze Gothic Lolita
Venique I'm a Sucker for Wedges
Zoya (as base coat) Purity

My last post was in January

2013-08-05T06:58:00.002-04:00

I'm a terrible blogger. I could use the wedding as an excuse... but I won't, because it isn't, and I'll tell you why in a second.

So anyway- I'm married now! That's a thing that happened. But the reason why I won't use that as an excuse is because I started a new blog. And I set a sort-of schedule for myself. And I've been keeing to it (for a couple weeks which yaaaaay better than no weeks). I've posted some of my nail things over there, but mostly it's just a blog about my life. My DIY projects, decorating my home, posts about weddings and things I learned/craft ideas... just a bunch of stuff in general. If you're interested, I'm calling it Happiness Unexamined.

The important part is that I'm going to return to blogging here. I am going to start by back-posting a couple of things from the past in order to give myself some time to catch up, but then I'm hoping to get on a regular schedule here. So. Long, rambly story short- I will be back to posting here, but I will also be posting over there so you can feel free to follow both, one, the other, or none. If it's none, I'm not sure how you are here reading this.

And since I can't make a blog post without any photos- here's a few from the wedding.

All photos were taken by our wonderful photographer, Melissa.

Game Day Nails!

2013-01-06T10:29:00.000-05:00

The skins are in the playoffs so... party like it's the Superbowl! I did some game day nails for the game this afternoon. This was really fun!

Products Used:

China Glaze Merry Berry

Spoiled Designated Driver

Wet n Wild 449C

China Glaze Electrify

Essie As Gold As It Gets

Milani Jewel FX in Gold

LA Colors Art Deco in White

Rainbow Dot Nails

2012-12-31T08:04:00.000-05:00

I've seen this style floating around the Internet lately, and seeing as how I can't let a rainbow pass me by, I decided to give it a shot. I received a set of dotting tools for Christmas- yay!- so this was my first shot at using them! Very cool!

Not too shabby! There's a few things I would do differently next time, but overall I think it was fun and bright and cute for the end of 2012!

Products Used:

LA Girl Matte Black

Zoya America

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lightening

China Glaze Gaga for Green

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Brisk Blue

China Glaze Gothic Lolita

My Christmas Day Nails- Snowflakes and Santas

2012-12-25T21:45:00.000-05:00

Stamps and freehand! I haven't done either in a long, long time. I loved these for Christmas, and my family loved them too! I got an entire set of dotting tools today, so expect some polka dot manis in the future!

Santas!

Bonus Phone Pic:

Products Used:

China Glaze Electric Beat

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Silver Sweep

Essie Pure Pearlfection

BM 14

SH 17

Zoya America

Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Petal Pusher

China Glaze Dance Baby

Wet n Wild 449C

Green and Gold Winter Holiday Mani

2012-12-24T12:58:00.000-05:00

Simple, subtle, lovely! Like gold decorations on a Christmas tree. I needed something quick that I could wear to work, and this was it! I'm loving this deep green- I used a brand I've never used before- something cheap from Target because I was in a hurry. And I was pleasantly surprised! The perfect green for what I wanted.

Products Used:

Sonia Kashuk Emerald City

Essie As Gold As It Gets

NOT a Gradient! Wow! Glitter instead

2012-12-20T06:44:00.000-05:00

A break from gradients for me. This one was especially difficult to capture on camera. I used two red glitters- one micro and one chunky- and the microglitter just did not want to capture on my camera! Trust me though, it was very lovely and I got compliments at work. The different size/shape glitters gave it interest and depth without being too much. Sometimes I feel juvenile in glitter manis- which is fine most of the time! But this one seemed work appropriate, and definitely appropriate for the Holiday season!

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Red Carpet

Priti Polish in Union Jack

Candy Stripes

2012-12-13T08:43:00.000-05:00

The kids really loved this one! It didn't come out exactly as I had planned (I was hoping for more, thinner stripes) because of the thickness of the brushes, but I still think it came out really well! One of the kiddos smelled my nails (and probably would have tried licking them a second later) so I guess I will take that as a success!

P.S. Yup- Another gradient!

Products Used:

Zoya America

Wet n Wild 449C (note to self- unpack the rest of your nailpolishes, it has been 6 months since the move!)

Long Time, No Blog- Winter Gradient

2012-12-11T09:59:00.000-05:00

Wow ok so the last time I posted was in August. I've been awful. Terrible. Working two jobs plus my etsy shop has really been kicking my butt, so much so that I hardly even have time to paint my nails at all, let alone do anything worth blogging about! So I'm hoping to start managing my time a little better and to step my nail game up. The holiday has really inspired me to get crackin- not to mention I am getting MARRIED in 5 months and really need to knock this nail biting habit by then. So here's hoping I kick off and keep this thing going! Starting off with yet another gradient--

Awww yea. It's no secret that I love a good gradient. They're super fast, super easy (minus the cleanup) and they look like you spent a ton of time on them. I got a bunch of compliments today at job #1, so I would consider that a success. Although they chipped after a day and a half- I blame that on super short stubby nails. I really love these colors for winter- I wanted to do silver snowflakes or polka dots on top but I just loved them the way they were. Maybe next time!

Products Used:

Revlon Top Speed Royal

China Glaze Electric Beat
Essie Borrowed and Blue

Monochromatic Ombre/Gradient

2012-08-13T08:52:00.000-04:00

Can't get enough of the gradients! I love black and white so I figured why not do a monochromatic one? I think it looks pretty fantastic... so much so that I might repeat this design, and I never do that. I think this would be great to wear with a little black dress.

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White Out

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement

Zoya Kelly

Wet n Wild Wild Shine in Black Creme

Summer Pastel Arrow/Chevron Manicure

2012-08-11T08:32:00.000-04:00

I got tired of doing dots, so I decided to go with the latest trend- chevron stripes! Except that this one doesn't repeat the pattern, so does that just make it a pointy stripe? Or an arrow? Can a chevron stripe be singular?

Yea I freehanded this and it's pretty obvious, huh?

Products Used:

China Glaze Peachy Keen

China Glaze Sweet Hook

Revlon Minted

Rainbow Dots!

2012-08-09T11:19:00.000-04:00

This one was super simple but still one of my favorite looks when finished! UNFORTUNATELY. The color I chose to use as my base- Stone Cold from China Glaze's Capitol Colors collection- purely exists to make me SO MAD. It is a gorgeous, gorgeous color. It's all metallic and glimmery and gorgeous when matte and even moreso with a top coat. But the formula is so bad! I mentioned it briefly before. but it seriously chips within literal minutes of drying! It doesn't seem to matter what I do- basecoat, no basecoat, top coat, no topcoat, whatever. I look down and then realize that my nails are all chipped up and I just painted then an hour ago. Talk about frustrating! In order to take these photos I had to completely redo my thumb and pointer finger, got back to my computer and realized that the pinky finger was all chipped to hell also! So I just covered up the chips and went to redo the pictures. Bah! China Glaze is probably my favorite brand. But this particular color is just a pain in my side.

Anyway, wow, what a long-winded rant. Onto the photos!

Products Used:
China Glaze Stone Cold
Zoya America
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed
China Glaze Sunshine Pop
China Glaze Gaga for Green
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Brisk Blue
China Glaze Gothic Lolita

Watercolor/Tie-Dye (Picture Heavy)

2012-08-06T08:33:00.000-04:00

Something a little different! I asked the fiance what colors I should use, so credit goes to him. I think they came off super awesome- pastel colors are more like a watercolor, and though this is the exact same effect I feel like these brights make it more like tie-dye! Either way, I'm super obsessed with the way they look, and although I did a pretty crappy job with cleanup, I think this is one of my new favorites (along with gradients). What do you think??

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On (base)

Zoya America

China Glaze Dance Baby

Revlon Royal

5 Minute Mani: Simple Stripes (creamsicle again!)

2012-08-04T16:09:00.003-04:00

Something about a pastel-ish orange paired with white is just so, so summery to me. It has to be the association with Creamsicles. Anyway, here's a super quick mani that I wore to a baseball game last night- got complimented by the girl at the counter when I went and got some nachos, so you know they're good ;)

Products Used:

China Glaze Peachy Keen

LA Colors Art Deco in White

Quick Neutral/Neon Polka Dot Mani

2012-07-28T09:38:00.001-04:00

I figured I probably shouldn't do ANOTHER gradient even if I love them to death, so I went another direction. I was gifted a nail dotting tool by one of my friends so I figured I'd give that a shot. I've been using toothpicks for the past, I dunno, 26 years when I need to make dots on my nails, so I thought the dotting tool would just make it that much easier. Lo and behold, I kinda suck at nail dotting tools. I am sooo not used to it- but I think this is just going to be one of those practice makes perfect deals.

Products Used:
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement
China Glaze Sunshine Pop
China Glaze Fuchsia Fanatic

Another Gradient- Creamsicle

2012-07-25T08:10:00.000-04:00

I loved the last one so much that I did another one! I asked the fiance "brights or pastels?" and he said pastels, so I chose some lighter-but still summery- colors. My dad said it looks like a creamsicle, and the waitress when we had dinner said she loved my nails and asked to see them- so I think I would call this a success! Officially in love with the idea of gradient manicures now.

Products Used:

China Glaze Peachy Keen

Essie Borrowed & Blue

Tropical Brights Gradient

2012-07-21T19:41:00.000-04:00

Every now and then I get into a super rut with my nails. Usually when I'm super stressed out about something. This one started with our move, and hasn't ended yet. With moving in, unpacking, applying for jobs, having job interviews... My nails have really taken a beating. As have my poor cuticles. In these times of crisis, there's really only one way to get myself back on top of my game- I have to spend a long time doing something cool with my nails (here is just one example). Normally I try to do something freehand, or water marble. It's time consuming and (usually) looks pretty awesome, and knowing that I spent a lot of time and effort on a certain design is the ONLY thing that can override my need to nibble when I'm stressed. So this morning I spent two hours (yup) doing my nails with a pretty sweet, tropical bright gradient mani. It took so long because I used a white base coat first, and then redid my entire left hand because I didn't like the way it turned out. Plus, cleanup was just awful. But anyway, enough with the words and the sad stories- onto the pics!

I really needed these brights today- you can see the

rain droplets in the picture!

Products Used:

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in White Out (basecoat)

Orly Fabulous Flamingo

Zoya America

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Sun Kissed

4th of July mani for the beach

2012-07-02T10:10:00.000-04:00

Me and the fiance and the fam are headed to the ocean this week. I figure this mani won't last all the way till the 4th, but I'll bring polish to do another one when it chips off. I thought this turned out pretty cute- like a little soldier's outfit or something. For last year's mani check out this link.

Products Used:

Zoya America

Revlon Royal

LA Colors Art Deco in White

Orly Ingenue and Alabaster Verve

2012-06-30T16:33:00.000-04:00

I recently posted a swatch of Orly's Alabaster Verve. I don't have a lot of Orly polish in my collection, so when I was at the store I went ahead and got myself three bottles. I also purchased Ingenue, when was labelled with a little "new" ring around it but really isn't new- it's from the winter/holiday collection. It is a pink based loaded up with tiny, shimmery gold glitter. It is also basically identical to a bunch of other polishes floating around, but I don't own any of those and this was on sale so into my bin it went, and onto my fingers. I love it layered over Alabaster Verve. This is two coasts AV and one coat of Ingenue with Seche Vite as a top coat.

I'm really not a fan of gold. I'm much more of a silver/white gold person as far as personal taste goes. However, my skin tone disagrees- gold looks pretty great on me (if I do say so myself, heeey!). I love this color with my skin tone!

I'm back! And on East Coast time!

2012-06-28T19:25:00.000-04:00

Our adventure is over, we are all moved in. My nails are little nubbins (surprise surprise) after a whole ton of stressful events but I'm trying to get myself back on track. Once my crafting space is all set up, I'll be able to get some nail polish racks up and going and then we will really be in business. For now, just a quick swatch of a new (to me) color.

This is Orly's Alabaster Verve. It's a perfect dusty pink and it has a hint of silvery shimmer. It's perfect for work without being boring.

My ridges are pretty bad, huh?

Lovely!

Movin Mani- Metallic Purple Vintage Plate

2012-06-07T10:46:00.000-04:00

Maybe I mentioned this before... I can't quite remember... but fiance and I are moving! We are heading across the country from lovely Oregon where I've been going to school for the past 3.5 years to my hometown in Maryland. We head off on Saturday morning to drive across with our dog. It's going to be an adventure for sure, and while I packed the majority of my nail polish a few weeks ago, I kept my favorites until the very end... and just packed them today. But have no fear, I kept out a select few bottles... and my stamping plates... for the drive!

We packed the computers today, so please bear with me and my iPhone pics that will simply have to do for the next ~1.5 weeks. Also I packed these bottles... doh.... so once again we have me making my very best Claw hand. And I also don't remember the name of one of the polishes or which plate number I used. Useless, I know, but I thought this design was cute so I just had to share anyway.

This design reminds me of vintage china plates that my grandmother has. I think my mom might have them in blue... but I used metallic purple and I think it looks lovely!

icky dry cuticles, yuck yuck yuck!!

Products Used:

OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls

China Glaze (ack I forgot!!!)

Fire!!!

2012-05-28T13:12:00.000-04:00

I saw this design floating around and I decided to try my shot at it... I decided to use Zoya's America (my absolute favorite red) to go along with China Glaze's Electrify. I love how it came out, it's probably one of my most favorite designs ever.

Products Used:

Zoya America

China Glaze Electrify

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black

Pastel Glitter- 2 Weeks of China Glaze

2012-05-26T13:09:00.002-04:00

Whoops, this post is late! I had some parent meetings so I decided to go fairly subtle. I just found these gorgeous Wet n Wild glitters at the store and scooped up a couple so I decided to put one over China Glaze Oxygen! I had a hard time capturing the gorgeousness of the glitter but I think you get the idea!!

As a side note, my nails feel so nice! I don't feel that they're growing particularly quickly, but they look nice! Too bad I ruined my experiment by biting them all off when thinking about graduation.

Products Used:

China Glaze Oxygen

Wet n Wild Coloricon in Speak When Spoken To

Grey and Chunky Purple- 2 Weeks of China Glaze

2012-05-14T10:26:00.000-04:00

This one was spur of the moment. My friend came over so I did her nails, and then I decided to do mine too. I had to remove my turquoise one, and then I grabbed Stone Cold because the last time I tried it, it chipped by the next day and I didn't even get to enjoy it. I seem to have that problem with matte-type polishes. So I put on Stone Cold, which I love in theory, and then threw on yet another Milani glitter. I really like the effect- it's shimmery, and I love the dark grey with the purple. Yum!

Products Used:

China Glaze Stone Cold

Milani #581 Lavender

Turquoise Mermaid Nails- 2 Weeks of China Glaze

2012-05-12T18:21:00.002-04:00

Well I haven't noticed my nails growing any quicker or anything, but they seem to have gained some strength. A couple broke right when i started, but now they're all down to about the same length, and maybe it's wishful thinking but something seems to be happening! Yay!

I picked up this neon in the store the other day and immediately came home and put it on. Then I found the perfect glitter compliment to it. I got tons of compliments on this color... I wore it to class, and a lot of my friends commented on how bright the color was, and how much they liked it. It's a great color for summer! It's definitely a neon... goes on basically sheer (this is two coats over a coat of white) and dried matte.

In the pictures this looks a little more Tiffany blue than turquoise. It's pretty robin's egg blue, but it's BRIGHT.

Products used:

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise (neon)

Milani #582 Teal