21 Tips About Painting Your Nails

Hello, my name is Cat and I am a nail polish addict. I love nail polish. True story.

In past Cristy and I have shared our favorite nail polish by season, check them out:

Fall 2013

Summer 2013

Fall 2012 part 1

Fall 2012 part 2

As I said, I personally have a minor obsession with nail colors, still don’t believe me? Check out #TipsyTuesday  or #Beauty.

Okay, I think I’m making point clear. I even shared an Easy at Home Manicure and a DIY Nail Strengthener.

Recently, I stumbled upon an article that totally supports my addiction. The article is available on Cosmopolitan.com and was retweeted by Huffington Post, check out the full article, click here.

Here’s a quick recap of “21 Things You Absolutely Must Know About Painting Your Nails.”

1. Three strokes are all you need.
2. Always use base coat.
3. Repurpose your old lip brush to help tidy up the edges of your nail.
4. Find the right white (I would also include the right nude).
5. Stay away from quick-dry nail polish.
6. Swipe on cuticle oil religiously.
7. Hold your hands under cold water post-paint job.
8. Make your neon polish pop.
9. Apply thin, not thick coats of polish.
10. Keep your paint in a cool, dry, dark place aka your fridge.
11. Thin out too-thick nail polish with thinner.
12. Never shake your nail polish.
13. Never cut your cuticles.
14. Only bust out the nippers when you have a hangnail.
15. Never saw your nails back and forth when you file them.
16. Stay away from hot water.
17. Use non-acetone nail polish remover whenever possible.
18. Go for glitter.
19. Use a cotton ball to help remove your glitter polish.
20. Always use three-free polish.
21. Always use a top coat.

What’s nail polish color(s) are you currently addicted to? Lately I’ve been all about greens! Greyish greens and earthy hues.

Thanks for visiting C to C,

CAT

 

Tipsy Tuesday: Pumpkin Nails

Over the weekend I was fortunate enough to participate in a fall tradition – visiting a pumpkin patch. Lemos  farm is located in Half Moon Bay, Calif., not too far from San Francisco. The farm is ideal for little ones because it offers pony rides, it has a mini train that goes on a short ride, and there’s also a hay ride, but we were unable to make because the little ones had a melt-down. Oh, and for those who are a bit older there’s also a haunted house on-site but that was not an option for us. The farm also has goats, chickens, and a little duck pond, which make a fun feeding experience for children.

Like I said, they have a pumpkin patch and they have plenty to choose from. These pumpkins inspired today’s tutorial:

Start off by using an orange nail polish to make a semi wide line through the middle of your nail, start from the mid section to the edge. Then you will follow with two semi wide lines on each side of the middle, start a little lower so you have one tall and two shorter lines.

Then with a dotting tool (or a small fine brush) dip it in a dark color, I am using a forest green, to outline the edge of your pumpkin.

Once the outlines have been defined, add a stem on top of the taller orange line.

Now you should have something similar to this:

I added color to my other two nails without a pumpkin so I would not have naked nails. You can choose to leave then are they are or add color. Depending on how creative you want to get you can also add faces or make them with different colors, totally up to you, let your creativity flow.

Products used:

• Mad About Mango by Revlon
• Tough Art to Follow by Finger Paints
• a small tip dotting tool
• a medium tip dotting tool

Let me know if you re-create these nails.

Hope you enjoy, CAT

Tipsy Tuesday: Black and Orange Halloween Nails

Keeping with the theme of last weeks post and Halloween a few weeks away, here is another nail tutorial.

This one is a simple and easy to do, all you need are an orange and a black sparkly polish.

As you can see, this one is way easy, simple and perfect for any halloween party or gathering.

Once again, let me know if you decide to re-create the look.

Thank you for visiting, CAT

Foto Friday: Flakey Bark

Story behind foto: Lately I have noticed a theme with the fotos I take or is it called my style. Whatever it’s called I like to shoot objects up-close and personal.

Here you have a perfect example – a close-up of a flakey tree bark overlooking a lake. There is something that caught my attention, I ended taking multiple fotos from different angles and then I treated them with varies filter.  Here you have final result.

Thank you for visiting, CAT

 

 

Tipsy Tuesday: Easy Halloween Nails

Here in the U.S. we have this interesting “holiday” called Halloween which we celebrate on Oct. 31. Halloween is fun for all ages. When I was little we used to go out Trick-or-treating where we would dress up in our costumes and go around the neighborhood asking for candy from our neighbors. As I got older, especially in college, we dressed up in more “elaborative” costumes and attended Halloween parties where we no longer asked for candy, but perhaps something on the rocks with a splash of something (aka adult beverages).

Moving on, over the next few weeks before Halloween I will be featuring some themed nail tutorials. Here’s the first of them.

I started with a black base color by Milani.

Then I added an orange color to the edge of my nails to make it a Halloween manicure.

Here you have the final look – a Halloween take on your average French Manicure. I think this look is very cute and simple, perfect for the office.

Products used: “Mad About Mango” by Revlon and “Black Magic” by Milani.

Let me know if you decide to recreate this look.

Thanks for visiting, CAT.

Imitation

“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
— Charles Caleb Colton

A few days back I saw a featured mani on @Julepmaven (Julep, a monthly nail polish and other beauty products subscription) on Instagram and I loved it so much I had to recreate the look. The original design was created by @libedon (aka The Polished Fox).

The design is pretty simple and easy to recreate, but I specially love the color combination. The polishes I used are: “Natural” by Love & Beauty (Forever 21 nail polish line), and “Man Hunt” by China Glaze.

What do you think, you like?

Also. feel free to follow me on Intagram @Kitty5289.

Thanks for visiting, CAT.

 

Foto Friday: Black and White

Story behind foto: Let’s get personal here. Something you should know about me is that I really (I mean really) like black and white photos.  At times when I am shooting photos or looking at an object I immediately think “wow, this would look amazing in black and white!” And here you have it, my thought (at the moment) now in actuality – a black and white foto. As I was taking photos from different angles and using multiple settings on my little point-and-shoot camera I thought this tree stump would look amazing in black and white.

What do you think? Are you a fan of black and white photos?

Let me know what you have to say.

Enjoy, CAT

Foto Friday: California Capitol Building And Museum

Story behind foto:

Several weeks ago I had the pleasure of attending an event which took place at the California Capitol Building, in Sacramento.  The building serves as a museum and the state’s working area of the government. When visiting the Capitol you can explore the history of the state by browsing around the museum, or overlook the Senate Chamber floor during an actual proceeding.

The building is surrounded by the beautiful Capitol Park made up of gorgeous lawns, flower gardens, trees and memorials. The park measures 40 acres and it spans twelve city blocks – it is HUGE! If you ever visit the area take a walk around the Capitol Park and take-in the beauty that surrounds you.

-CAT

Foie Gras by China Glaze

I recently purchased several nail polish from Sally’s Beauty Store that were on clearance. Here is one of my favorites – Foie Gras by China Glaze from their Hunger Games collection.

Foie Gras is a milky, dark chocolate, brown which is a fantastic color for fall and I am sure I will be wearing it quite often.

What colors do you like for the fall?

-Cat

Foto Friday: Do You Volunteer And Why?

Story behind foto:

Today’s post is a little different. I would love hear from YOU. I want to know if you volunteer in your community, and if so, why? What do you do, how long have you been volunteering, lessons you have learned because of it, and what’s your favorite part about it?  Volunteering is something that I really believe and enjoy, how about you?

You see, last weekend was my first time volunteering in this new community of mine and I had such a great time. I was part of a small group made up of co-workers, we participated in a large annual community clean-up day where we helped beautify (aka pick up trash) a trail that runs a long a large river that goes thru the valley where I now live.

The foto was taken toward the end of the morning, a few hours into the clean-up event. My group and I had finished cleaning up one portion of the bike trail and moved on to another side, right off the trail there was a huge, I mean HUGE bush of green vines full of bright colored flower. I could not help myself and I had to take several foto’s, here’s one. The event was awesome! I had a great time contributing to the well-being of the parkway, but I must say I loved the nature aspects. I loved walking around the trails and exploring a new area. It felt so go to get out early in the morning, walk around, mingle with others, but at the same time knowing that I was contributing to a greater cause – the well-being and health of the parkway, and all the little critters and animals that live in that area.

So, once again, why do you volunteer?

-CAT