Baking

Cupcakes? On a Nail Blog?

9:47:00 PM

Yup, you're seeing right.  I'm posting a recipe on my nail blog.  Why?  Well, these are the most amazing cupcakes I've ever tasted in my life, and the best part is, they're vegan!!  Sure, they aren't the healthiest for you, but they're healthier than the cinnabun cake I was going to make which called for 2 and 1/2 sticks of butter.  The only thing that makes this recipe vegan is that instead of using buttermilk, they use a mixture of rice milk/vinegar to make an equivalent of buttermilk.  See the note in the recipe if you want more info on this.

Not only is baking vegan healthier, to me, it's ten times easier than cracking open the eggs and all that jazz.  Plus, they're free of the most common allergens of dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, and eggs, which is an added plus for those with allergies.  Everyone who I have ever baked a vegan recipe for before has NEVER known the difference until I told them.  I always wait to see the reaction, then go "So, can you tell those are vegan?"  My chocolate chip cookies are the bomb, just saying.

Please excuse the photo, it is a webcam shot since my camera is dead as a doorknob and I was too lazy to charge it.  Plus, by the time it's charged, I think these will be gone :).  I credit Pinterest with this recipe.  Sadly, the link which the recipe led me to had no author or anything, but whoever originally made them, you're awesome.


Recipe this way....

Flowers

Sweet as a Rose

12:00:00 AM

Well hello everyone!  It's been about a week since I updated with a new manicure.  Thank you to the lovely Ryan over at Dream a Little Dream of Polish for her awesome guest post.  The butterflies were amazing!!!! <3

Spring time is officially here and I'm about 99% positive that there will be no more snow.  I have been seeing numerous gorgeous pastel polishes and have been rather jealous since I only own two.  Miss Gabi (@RubyStein79) got an amazing Revlon Mint green which I was extremely jealous of.  You should ask to see her Mint Chevron nails she painted, they're awesome.

I looked everywhere for the polish, and of course the only bottle I could find was all crusted up like someone used it and returned it.  Right when I was about to cave and purchase an expensive Orly Mint, I hit the polish jackpot.  Funky Fingers Nail Polishes, three for five dollars, and best part, they're Color Club.  Both are made by Forsythe and if you compare the bottles side by side, the colors are IDENTICAL.

I purchased three and had to use two of them right away on a design I have never successfully done since I did not own the right colors.  This design was an adorable vintage rose design which I saw on Pinterest.

Time for the mani!  Please excuse my cuticles and wrinkly hands lol.

Sun Shot 1
Sun Shot 2
Sun Shot 3
 Shade Shot 1
Shade Shot 2

Colors Used:

  • Rose Nails
    • Base 
      • Funky Fingers - Mrs. Mint
    • Roses
      • Funky Fingers - Queen Cupcake
      • Sinful Colors - Luminary
      • Sinful Colors - HD Nails
  • Striped Nails
    • Base
      • Funky Fingers - Queen Cupcake
    • Stripes
      • Color Club White Striper
This was my first time using my striper.  I've had it for awhile now, but I never really understood how to use it.  It was such a thin brush and every time I tried it, I could never get the polish to evenly spread out on the nail.  I think this is my best attempt at it, and you know what, kind of love that thing.  It was so much easier than toothpicking on the lines.  A few swipes, and bam, done.  Thanks to all the youtube nail art tutorials I've watched that have shown me how to properly use one.

The roses were rather easy to apply.  I watched how CutePolish did hers and did a similar technique.  I dotted on the pink, then with a toothpick added the little circular designs, then the leaves.

I am in love with these nails and can't stop looking at them.  They're so girly, springy, and vintage all in the same mani.  I will be attempting more rose nail art designs in the near future (thank you Pinterest), so be prepared.

What do all you lovelies think?? Do you have a favorite vintage manicure or favorite pastel polish?

Animal Mani

Tiger Tutorial

7:00:00 PM

I have always wanted to create tutorials for my nail designs.  When I first started this blog, I wanted to not only share my nail art but inspire others to attempt some as well!  As my blog is growing and I'm gaining more followers, I thought now would be a great time to start.  So here goes nothing!

Here is how I am going to lay out the posts: first will be the manicure I'm doing the tutorial for, then the tutorial picture, with directions following.

For my first tutorial, I decided to do my  tiger manicure.  The tiger mani I feel is one that everyone knows me for since it is my TwitterFacebook, and Google Friend Connect picture.  If you don't know which manicure I'm talking about, here is the picture from the mani when I first posted it back in February.  In total, this manicure took me about 45 minutes for both hands.


And now for my little photoshopped clip arted tutorial!


Free Hand Tiger Design:
  1. Start with a base coat of your favorite orange polish.  For mine, I used Zoya Lianne.
  2. With a toothpick, start stippling on black wavy lines with a black polish.  I start at the base of the nail and work my way towards the tip.  I also start from the outer edge and move my way in.
  3. Add little connecting lines from the other lines to fill in the gaps and create more of a animal look.
  4. Let dry and finish with a top coat.
Free Hand Tiger Faces:
  1. Start with a base coat of your favorite orange polish.
  2. With your favorite white polish, paint on the circular head.  If you do not feel comfortable paiting on the head, you can use the dotting tool to outline and fill the rest in.  The head goes at the tip of the nail.
  3. With a dotting tool, add the eyes with a white polish.  If you do not have a dotting tool, a tooth pick will work the same.
  4. With the dotting tool (or tooth pick), add the black on the eyes, nose, and whiskers.  With a tooth pick, stipple on the mouth.
  5. With a tooth pick, add tiger lines as you did for the tiger design on the other nails.
  6. Let dry, and finish with a top coat.


Alright, I want your opinions. Should I do more tutorials like this? Was I clear? Are there more things I should include direction wise?? What other tutorials would you like to see?

<3

Guest Post

"...for you have become a Butterfly"

1:57:00 PM

Hey there y'all! Ryan here from the blog Dream A Little Dream Of Polish (Now Nail'd in the South)!!! I am so honored to be doing a guest post here for Alaina and her amazing nail art blog! I hope I don't let her and you, her readers, down!  I've been wanting to try butterfly wing nail art ever since 1st seeing it on Pinterest.  And even more special and exciting for me to do my 1st really intricate nail art attempt as a guest post for my AARM sister! **inside joke** between some other good blogger girlfriends & I who are about to do a 7 day challenge together.  Anywho, here's some of the original pics I pinned that inspired me:




I loved both of the colors these nail artists used and especially loved the gradual ombre gradient of colors on the right: from pink to purple.  For my butterfly wings nails, I chose to use Orly "Lollipop" & Zoya "Charisma" for the ombre base colors and Revlon ColorStay "Stiletto" for the black lines & OPI "Alpine Snow for the white dots.  I'm not super happy with the results...I don't have precision artist painting skills, so mine don't like anything these others :( I tried my very best to make good clean fine lines, but it's no joke you need hands of a brain surgeon to do these.  They were also extremely time-consuming! They took about 3.5 hours while watching some True Blood Season 4...this was also my first time to use my new dotting tool! So without further ado, on with the show!

 I'm a little disappointed with the application/formula of Zoya "Charisma" and it dried a lot darker than the bottle.  I am really sad about that because in the bottle it looks like a neon magenta.







"Butterfly", by Mariah Carey
One of the anthems of my pre-teen years in the 90's (1997)

This is really not my best mani and maybe I should give up on intricate freehand nail art....proof that i need some stamping plates already & maybe just stick with stuff like that ;D Anyways, I can't thank the lovely sweet Alaina for letting me do a guest post on her awesome blog! What do y'all think of this? Do you think you would want to try nail art like this??  If you're a neurosurgeon, I say GO FOR IT! :D Thanks for checking it out! Follow me on my blog, on My Pinterest, on Instagram: RyCoBra and also on Twitter!  Until next time! Stay classy....