Mark of Athena

Athens! The city where the Parthenon perches atop the Acropolis! Since I'm and art nerd you know I can't help put put some art history in here, so skip over this to the nail art if it doesn't interest you :). The city of Athens was named after the Greek goddess Athena, as many people know. Athena was the goddess of wisdom and military tactics. She was also an eternal maiden, meaning she remained a virgin. When she had children they were literally a brain child, they came out of her head (like how she came out of Zeus's head) as a gift to the men she admired. This earned her the name Athena Parthenos: Virgin Athena. The Athenians held modesty and virginity as important traits in a woman, so this is why they not only named their city after her (which in mythology was a scorn on Poseidon and is why Poseidon and Athena hate each other) but the Parthenon gets it's name from her too. It is a temple to her, after all. The Parthenon used to have a large marble and gold gilded statue of Athena, but it was stolen by the Romans and lost forever. In mythology it is called the Mark of Athena, and is considered when the power of the west shifted from the Greeks to the Romans. It is said that Athena in her Greek and Roman form (Minerva) would task her demigod children with finding her lost mark to regain her powers (the Romans had made her much less powerful and admired). They always ended up dying in some way or getting lost forever, because what's a Greek Tragedy without the tragedy? Another symbol for Athena was the owl, characterized for it's wisdom. So that is what I have painted on my nails.

This owl was actually inspired by the sweater made by Evelina Barry, one of my favorite Youtubers. You can check out her diy video here.

I used:

Maybelline Onyx Rush

Sally Hansen Brisk Blue

Sally Hansen Cobalt Blue 

Essie In  the Cab-ana

Venique Rolling Tides

Swords and Shields

Anybody here watch Merlin? I just finished the series, and I'm missing it sooo much already. So it was easy to come up with a medieval look, based on all the shields that the knights use.

I used:

Sally Hansen Sliver Sweep

Sally Hansen Co-balt Blue

Maybelline Bold

NYC Chelsea

Sally Hansen Pronto Purple

Venique Rolling Tides

What a Stud

You must be tired of my pun titles xD. Anyways, my studs from Polish Me To Go arrived yesterday and I had to play with them. Instead of posting spererate posts for each look I thought I would just put them all here together.

For the first one I used OPI Suzi and the 7 Düsseldorfs as a base. I kept this one really simple because I was going out with friends to First Friday last night and didn't have much time for something elaborate, and the stud is quite large. I also photographed this last night with my parent's camera, which annoys the hell out of me. I can't get it to focus and there's seemingly no way to turn off the flash, resulting in an odd photo quality. Anyways, I really like this stud  and it stayed on with just one coat of topcoat applied under it. I used this method with all of the studs or I just stuck them directly onto the wet polish, they hold on really well and don't sit too awkwardly on the nail. 

Yay my camera was charged for usage again for the rest of the photos! I really like the gold and pink in this one, it seems girly yet professional in a way. I think that using silver would have detracted from the look. I used NYC Pink Promenade as a base here.

Like how I only did accent nails? It seems to be my thing. I always think that accessories make the outfit and I guess an accent nail is the accessory of nail art. I used Venique Rolling tides as a base.

Also with the studs came some little rhinepebbles, which I totally wasn't expecting and was a nice surprise. What was really great about this set is that it came with a great variety of studs, enough of them to do actual designs (where some I've seen come with like three of each kind), and it didn't cost me a fortune. I think in total I payed four bucks for them with shipping and handling. Great quality too, AND they arrived super fast! Anyways before I start sounding like an ad campaign lets get back to the actual nail art. I really loved this one, the pink polish and rhinepebbles made in girly but the studs toughned it up, things I like to do in my everyday wardrobe. Like I'll wear a really frilly flowery dress and put it with a leather jacket and boots. The base color here was Essie Tart Deco, a new fave of mine. Oh, and it didn't show very much in the picture but the rhinepebbles glitter little rainbows in the light, how great is that?

THIS. TOOK. FOREVER. OMG. I really really wanted to do a stud flower but they just would not sit right. And then you can't scoot them around because it smears the polish -__-. It's my fault for being a perfectionist, but I wanted it to be just so, and after a gazillion (ok three) tries I got it perfectly ^-^. I think due to the effort this is my fave look. Base color is Maybelline Green With Envy.

So tell me guys, what was your fave look? And have I convinced you to try studs if you already haven't?

Roomies

I finished cleaning my room earlier than expected, so I figured I would do another challenged day just cause :P Whatever number this one is, its animal print. So I used my five roomies as a reference.

So I'll start off with the nail art, then explain each nail in order.

My thumbnail is inspired by my five-year-old German Shepard Max. Very creative name. At around age two his nose started turning pink, and progressed more and more as he ages, I think he licks his nose so much he rubs off the black.

Max is unimpressed with my attempts to photograph him.

Next is my fish Barbie who hid at the back of the tank the entire time. You'll just have to take my word that she's pink with gold stripes

This is Zack, he's about a year old I believe. I found him as a baby in my garage curled up under the recycling bins. He used to scare the crap out of mom, but now she's gotten used to him. He spends his days sleeping,digging, and eating crickets. Which is really fun to watch because he does little pushups and wriggles his tail before striking.

 This is Oedipus Rex and he is a camera hog, I think he was fascinated by the camera's flash. Whenever I would try and get a picture of the other fish he would swim in front and block them out. I won him at a carnival, and I learned later that all of the other fish they had there died because they had used the school's water, whereas when I got him I switched out the water he was in for bottled water cause I thought it would be better. Apparently it was cause here he is three months later.

Showing off.

Lastly was Elvis, my blue fish with gold stripes. He was camera shy too, and you can see Barbie to the side a bit too. And Oedipus camera hogging again.

I used:

Sally Hansen Black Out

Midgi Hot Pink Pen

Venique Hot Date

Maybelline Bold Gold

Sally Hansen Bold Buff

Clair's Black Nail Art Pen

NYC Spring Street

Venique Rolling Tides

(EDIT: I forgot to mention I have a cat named Angel, but she lives with my Uncle since we found out my younger brother is allergic :'(. I get to see her often though and she always come running up to me mewing ^-^. Hopefully when I'm older I can have her live with me.)

Pretty in Pink

Hello my lovelies, how was your first day of 2013? Mine was wonderfully lazy, watched lots of Dr. Who. While watching the mad man and his blue box I cranked out this look for you :)

Today when I thought about doing a manicure I thought, "PINK!" What better way to start the year, very first manicure being pink. So with pink in mind I took a look-see at the 31 Day Contest to see if pink could work with the next challenge, and I thought day ten's gradient criteria would be lovely. I stamped houndstooth over it to give it more spunk and ta-da! I'd say 2013 is off to a good start.

I used:

Essie We're In This Together

Venique Hot Date

Sally Hansen Black Out
BM-322

Notice the watermark? I finely figured out how to make a decent one without photoshop, seeing as I don't have photoshop. It makes me feel more, official is a good word ^-^. I also feel very accomplished for pushing myself to finely get it done too. So what manicure did you start the year off with?

Venique- Rolling Tides

Our next polish also comes from my new friend Venique, and I think the name is very fitting. Except instead of rolling tides it reminds me more of a mermaids tail, see why after the jump.

Again Venique did not disappoint with a fantastic color. Shown here is two thin coats of the polish.

This picture actually captured the greeny-blue shimmer that made me think of mermaid tails ^-^

Venique- Hot Date

Before we get started I just wanted to give a shout-out to my little brother who gave me all of these lovely polishes <3. For the first swatch of the night we have Venique's Hot Date. I've never heard of this brand before, and I was very happy with the results.

Please excuse my short pinky nail, it ripped opening presents and I'm to stubborn to cut the rest short to match xP. I LOVE this pink, and I'm not just saying that because I love pink religiously. It has such a pretty shimmer to it that didnt quite pick up on camera, and great formula. Dried relatively fast, applied easily, very nice.

Final thought: I would definitely recommend this polish, and I'll be looking out for more Venique polishes in the future :)