last mani of 2012;

hey~

I decided to share one of the last manis that I sported in 2012. Since I was away for 3 weeks, the mani that I'll be showing was done over a month & a half ago ... o__O I know, I'm so behind on posting; but this is the last mani of 2012 that I have to share .. so it's still not too bad :P


2 coats of China Glaze's Custom Kicks. I used flash in this photo to show the beautiful golden shimmer running through the teal-turquoise polish. Ugh. It's absolutely beautiful but it's sooooo hard to capture on camera. The gold shimmer is more visible irl.


Here is an unnamed, baby bottle of glitter polish from Claire's. It came in a pack with 4 other glitter polishes.




I know, the lighting is off in those two pictures ... but its pretty color accurate on the polish .. and that's all that matters, right? :) Two coats of the Claire's glitter over Custom Kicks. The glitter is a teal-ish, thin jelly base with multi-colored glitters. The jelly over CK dulled out the gold shimmer... but it's ok.

And yea, that's all that I have to share. I'm completely wiped out -- no more manis to share and I don't have time right now to do my nails ... but its alright :P

2012 has been quite a year; it's been one of the best years for me personally. I'm having a bitter-sweet goodbye with 2012, but I'm most definitely looking forward for 2013~ I hope you've had a great year; thanks for sticking with me <3 Have a safe and happy New Year!

Until next year!,
<3KATRINA

i'm back~;

Hi~

I just wanted to say that I'm back from my trip to Thailand. It was such a beautiful, eye-opening, and wonderful experience~ I don't have much to share ... so I'll share a picture of my polish haul --


You can enlarge the picture by clicking on it. All the polishes aren't for me ... just most of them are mine :P

I hope everyone had a great holiday~

That's it for now,
<3KATRINA

off to Thailand!~;

hey~

I just wanted to say that I'll be heading to Thailand tomorrow morning; I'll be back on the 27th.

Have a safe & happy holiday! :D
<3KATRINA

Floral & Baroque Inspired Mani;

hey :)


My mani was inspired by Candice / mrcandiipants~ I used two coats of Barielle's Delicate Dancer and acrylic paint for the design. It's pretty simple & elegant ! ... I looooved this mani so much :D



Ooh, I also want to mention that I got a new camera! --- finally :D

I posted this photo on instagram yesterday when I purchased it. Gahhh, I'm in love with it already :D

Alright, I'll end this post here. I should be packing ... although I know I won't be packing yet :P

Have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Exo - History Outfits Inspired Mani;

hey :)

For today, I wanna share a kpop mani I did a few weeks ago.



-- which was inspired by ...


(click on the picture, it will enlarge)

... and ....



My mani was inspired by Exo's History outfits and the Exo logos. My mani is pretty sloppy & my nails look random ... but if you look at Exo’s group picture closely, you can see the details in their outfits which are what I put onto each design. I almost gave up on my left hand, pointer finger (Kris’ jacket), and my right hand, pointer finger (Tao's ripped sweater) -- but thankfully, I pulled through & finished it cause those are my favorite designs :D Anyway, you can pretty much guess what design goes with who (besides for my design of Lay’s jacket (which is on my left hand pinky), you can't really notice the design cause of the glare ;__; Ooh yea, the designs kind of go in order of where they’re standing in the picture — except I didn't have enough nails to do a design off each member. but yea .. I guess I'm happy about the way it turned out .. :)

Exo is split into two groups -- Exo M, who promotes in China, and Exo K, who promotes in South Korea. History is a catchy song & I love it; both Exo M & Exo K have a version of the song ... so here are the music videos to enjoy~


Exo K


Exo M

Alright, thats it for now~

have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Mmmm! Nail Polish Review;

hi :) I hope you had a great (holiday) weekend~

A few weeks ago, Monique of Mmmm! Nail Polish asked me to review a few of her polishes; of course I couldn't resist. Although Monique isn't working at the moment, she is using some of the profit from selling her nail polishes to send care packages to a soldier in Afghanistan whom she adopted.

Here are the beauties that Monique sent to me:

8)

Before I show swatches, I do want to mention that my skin-tone is different in each picture -__- I wanted to show more color-accurate photos of the polish rather than color-accurate photos of my skin .. hahaha. Alright ...

2 coats of Tickle Me by itself, no top coat. From what I can tell, its a clear base with tiny iridescent glitter, tiny white glitters, matte (?) square glitters, and bigger matte mint / lemongrass glitters. The iridescent glitters look like they're glowing in this pictures 8D I did have a to do a bit of fishing for the bigger glitters but this polish applied very well.

1 coat of Tickle Me over 1 coat of Essie's Mesmerize, no top coat. The bigger mint glitters look ... white(?) in this picture .. I'm not sure why. But anyway -- this was my favorite combo. It was absolutely beautiful (!!!!!) in person! :)

2 coats of Tickle Me over 2 coats of Finger Paints' Blissfully Blue + top coat. Absolutely adorable ~!

2 coats of Say Hi To Bob, no top coat -- clear base with lots & lots of tinyyyy burnt orange glitters with bigger yellow hex & square glitters. It does dry kind of matte but it applies well.

1 coat of Say Hi To Bob over 1 coat of OPI's Bullish on OPI, no top coat. Ugh. this was my favorite combo; its a perfect mani for fall. Seriously, pictures do not do justice.

1 coat of Say Hi To Bob over Finger Paints' Calligraphic Calico, no top coat. Pretty but not my favorite combo. See how matte / flat the polish dries? Top coat would've made it shinier but I skipped out on the top coat.

2 coats of I'm Taken + top coat. HOLY CHIZ. ISNT THAT BEAUTIFUL!? Mauve-ish base with a bright green & pink duochrome effect... idk .. I just prefer to call it a shimmer because I usually don't like duochromes ... guess I might be in denial? hahaha :P The duo / shimmer is wayyyyy more noticeable irl, btw. The polish is a bit thick so I suggest applying in thin coats; the color doesn't flatter my skin-tone but I love this polish~

2 coats of Sunny Days + top coat. This was the closest I could get to a color accurate photo -- the polish leans more mustard yellow with bright orange-y / pink duo / shimmer. The shimmer is much more visible irl. Formula on this one is a bit thick too but its definitely easy to work with.

1 coat of Sugarlicious + top coat. OMG. RIGHT!? Olive-y green base with bright  green duo / shimmer. Kinda thick formula as well but thin coats cover very well.

Aren't those beautiful!? I don't know if my swatches did any justice. hahaha Be sure to check out Mmmm! Nail Polish~ and a big thanks to Monique for kindly sending me these polishes to review :)

have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Glitter Gradient Mani From Over A Month Ago;

hi :D



Yes, I did this mani wayyyy over a month ago and I am now just getting around to posting it up. With reviews that need to be posted and other manis I was doing, I completely forgot about this one... :P



It's pretty simple. I think the base is China Glaze's Kinetic Candy ... but honestly, I'm not too sure anymore. The gold glitter is Milani's Gold -- that I know for sure.

I hope your week has started off well; I'll have swatches up some time later this week.

Have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Birds / Swallows / Mui Mui Print Mani;

hey :)

Hope all is well :D A while ago, my friend asked me to do a bird / swallow / Mui Mui print mani for her. I told her to let me practice the design first ... and this was my first attempt:


I posted this picture on instagram (@kahtreenahh). It didn't turn out too bad but I wasn't satisfied yet. I kept practicing the design for a while and decided to try out the design for myself.


The pink is Essie's Beach Party & the gray is China Glaze's Sea Spray. The birds are painted with acrylic paint.


The rhinestones I used are from Born Pretty Store. Nicole sent me the rhinestones a few weeks ago, I finally got to put them to use and I love them! They're about 1.8-1.9 mm ... they're pretty small .. yet they're the perfect size~ They just complete the mani :)


Here is another picture I posted on instagram ... I really like this photo :D

I'm still not satisfied with the mani ... there's something about the design that I don't like; I can't seem to pinpoint it though. Oh well ..

Anyway, a big thanks to Nicole of Born Pretty Store for the rhinestones. Don't forget, you are always more than welcomed to use my coupon code & save 10% off your order when you order from BPS!~ Here's the code is 'KL5X31' :)

Have a great day!,
<3KATRINA

1-2-3 Healthy Nails Starter Kit Review;

hey :)

So, a few weeks ago, Shannon of 1-2-3 Healthy Nails kindly offered me to review the Starter Kit.

Here is what the kit comes with:

1 oz jar of the Healthy Nail Fortifier, a buffing file, a French manicure pencil, and a pencil sharpener.

According to the instructions, you're supposed to use this product for about 2 weeks. You buff your nails once a week, apply the nail fortifier twice a day (once in the morning, once in the evening), and use the french manicure pencil once a day. There is a very informational video here.

Here's a picture of my bare nails before I began using the product:

Gross right? haha. X__X

Here's a picture after I buffed my nails:

Pictures don't do justice on how shiny the buffer made my nails. Obviously buffers are supposed to do that ... but seriously -- my nails were S H I N Y ! 8D It looked like I had top coat on or something, it was ridiculously - amazingly shiny. I loooove that buffer :)

Here's a picture after I applied the fortifier on my nails:

Less shiny but it still looks alright :P The fortifier has a ... different smell. The smell isn't bad and it's definitely bearable. I don't eat oatmeal but the fortifier kind of looks a tiny bit like oatmeal.

I'm very doubtful of products that 'help nails grow stronger' because they don't always work ... but this product -honestly- worked for me. I'm sad that I didn't photograph my right hand because my right hand pointer finger was ripped; after two days of using the fortifier, the rip had completely disappeared. Don't ask me how, because I don't know how it happened, but I was so excited. I didn't really find the pencil necessary, that didn't really do a difference for me .. but besides that ... my nails really did get stronger.


Another case of the product working for me ... I have a really bad case of the 'peel-ys' ... I always peel the nail polish off my nails. Now, we all know that's not a smart thing to do (unless you're using the peel off base coats .. but in this case, I wasn't). My nail was all disgusting -- I peeled off a few layers of my nails :( So, I decided to try the Healthy Nails Set again ... I buffed my nail, applied the fortifier, and then two days later ... BAM! My nail looked so much better!

Don't mind the horrible quality of the pictures, they were taken with my iphone:

Picture 1 - yes, very gross. Proof that you should not peel the nail polish off your nails cause it will damage your nails.
Picture 2 - same night as picture 1. After I buffed my nail & applied the fortifier. You can kind of see a rip at the tip of my pinky nail.
Picture 3 - two nights later; almost all better ! :) I did do a tiny bit of filing on the nail but it still looks much better~ The rip in the nail was less noticeable as well.

There goes two examples of the 1-2-3 Healthy Nails Starter Kit working for me :) I can't guarantee the same results but I do definitely recommend people with weak, brittle, and chipped nails to try it out.

A big thanks to Shannon for the kit; I am definitely going to keep using it. Don't forget to check out the 1-2-3 Healthy Nails site :)

Have a great day!,
<3KATRINA

Giveaway Winners;

hello~

I've received responses from all of the winners, so now I can post up the results;

1] MyMakeupMania / Anastacia Park
2] rock-or-not
3] derpyoppar
4] inflightradi0
5] Lacquer Ninja
6] ayellepea

Congrats to the winners; a big thanks to everyone who participated~

Have a great weekend!,
<3KATRINA

Another Jeremy Lin inspired mani;

heyyy :) Happy Halloween~

I'm going to the Pistons vs Rockets game tonight so I decided to do a(nother) Jeremy Lin inspired mani;

2 coats of OPI's Bullish on OPI & 2 coats of Wet n Wild's French White Creme. the '7' & the 'LIN' was really easy to do, the Rockets logo took a bit more work but I'm happy with they way it turned out :)

Anyway, for those who are going out trick-or-treating tonight, have fun & be safe. If your city is kinda crazy like mine and has decided to push trick-or-treating back until Friday, Nov 2, then ... that's just great. I'm sure there are quite a few kids who will be disappointed. haha Sounds ridiculous, doesn't it? Since people complained that the weather tonight is 'too cold' for kids to be out, the city is allowing people to trick-or-treat on Friday night; for those who still want to t-o-t tonight, they're also more than welcomed to. hahaha Yep, craziness :P

An update on the giveaway: the giveaway is closed. I've contacted the winners and I'm just waiting to hear back from them. Once I've received responses, I'll post up who the winners are.

Alright, well, be safe & enjoy yourselves~

Have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Velvet Mani with BPS Pink Flocking Powder;

Ok, so it's more of a mauve-dusty rose-kind-of-pink, but its still pink and its still pretty :P

hi :)

I hope things are going well~ Almost half way done with the week, yay :D I hope everyone on the East-coast is doing well; I'm in the Mid-West (Michigan) and the winds & the cold here are pretty crazy. For today, I wanted to share the velvet mani I did some time last week. I received pink flocking powder from Born Pretty Store recently.

Here's what I used for the mani:

(Approximately) 13g of flocking powder (per description by BPS), The Face Shop's PK108 (which I received from my good friends of Chibi Nails, Jade & Xin Yi), tweezers, and a brush. The pink flocking powder package comes with the flocking powder, tweezer, and brush.


A swatch of PK108; it does come out a little darker on nails than how it looks in the bottle. It's a beautiful mauve color, here is one coat of PK108 for perfection :)




I don't know why my hands look ridiculously dry & gross, but I swear, they're not that dry and gross T__T

If you're wondering how I applied the flocking powder:
1) Base coat + 1 coat of PK108.
2) Applied top coat, and while it is still wet, I used the tweezers to grab some flocking powder & gently dropped the flocking powder over my nail.
3) Once the nail is covered and the top coat is dried, I used the brush to sweep off the excess powder and clean up (the brush was really handy).

I honestly didn't think I would like velvet nails ... but I'm glad I gave it a shot cause I loooove em :D Of course, they don't exactly last long enough, I enjoyed them. Once the flocking powder is wet, it doesn't look as pretty so I took my mani off after a day. I'm sure it could've lasted another day or two but that was just my preference.

Again, a big thanks to Nicole of Born Pretty Store for the flocking powder. Don't forget, you are always more than welcomed to use my coupon code & save 10% off your order when you order from BPS!~ Here's the code is 'KL5X31' :)

Lastly, my giveaway ends tomorrow~ Feel free to enter if you haven't yet.

Alright, that's it for now. Be safe~

Have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Glow-in-the-dark Cute Frankenstein + Drippy Nails;

hey~~ :)

So, I'm excited to share this mani with you cause ... I actually like it. :D It's still a few days before Halloween, but I have another non-Halloween mani planned for Halloween ... so I decided to do a Halloween mani a bit early :P (Wow. Could I have used 'Halloween' enough in that sentence? hahaha.)


For the the base of Frankenstein & for the drips, I used OPI's Who The Shrek Are You? (you can still see the Shrek-color green around the edges of the drips) and then I painted Serum No 5's Day Glow over it. I previously swatched Day Glow here if you want to check it out. For Frankenstein, I free-handed the details with a black nail polish.


Here's the mani .. glowing in the dark~ You gotta give it a second for your eyes to readjust ... hahaha. It's weird because the mani would only 'glow' in certain dim lightings. When I was in the complete dark, it wasn't glowing very well. /shrugs. I don't know .. but I still love it :P


Another picture, obviously not color accurate, but I really like it. I posted this on instagram (@kahtreenahh) yesterday after I finished the mani.

Anyway, the weekend is just around the corner. Hope the rest of your week goes well :)

Have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Another Floral Mani;

hi :)

Today, I have another floral mani to share~


I did this mani a while back so im not sure which colors I used. For sure my base is Orly's Pure Porcelain with white stripes what I used acrylic paint to draw.

... Well, guess that's it for now. Hope your week starts out great :)

Ooh, don't forget about my giveaway! It ends next week .. so if you haven't checked it out, please feel free to~

Have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Beast - Beautiful Night mv inspired mani;

Hi~

Here is a mani that I did a little over a month ago, can't believe that I'm now just getting around to posting it up on here.


As the title of this post and the mani suggests, this is my Beast - 아름다운 밤이야 [Beautiful Night] mv inspired mani~ Beast made a comeback over two months ago with this new song; it's so catchy & fun.

Here is the music video if you want to watch it--


If you're like me, you want everything with English subtitles ... here is a link :P And if you're new to kpop ... yes -- there's more to kpop than Psy & Gangnam Style, but big ups to Psy for bringing kpop over to the States & causing a crazy madness :)

That's it for now, I hope your week has been good thus far~

Have a great day!,
<3KATRINA

Julep Floral Nails;

hi :)

very recently, Alexandria of Julep contacted me and kindly offered to include me in her Sunday Manicure Series. theres two parts to the Sunday Manicure Series -- the first part is the interview, where Alexandria asks a few questions to get to know the blogger / nail art..ist[?] and the second part is a tutorial that the blogger creates. Alexandria also let me pick Julep's Susie, Kate, & O Canada! to base my tutorial around.


Susie is a beautiful pale, sky blue, Kate is a white polish with a very subtle iridescent shimmer, and O Canada! is a red + iridescent glitter polish. sad to say that this photo is not color accurate.

here is a step by step tutorial--


if you want to check out my feature on Julep's Sunday Manicure Series, here is the link :) a big thanks to Alexandria again~

have a good one!,
<3KATRINA

Katrina is having a GIVEAWAY!!~ :)

hi! and yes .. you read correctly ...



YAY ! :) so~ there are 6 prizes - the first prize was sponsored .. the rest of the prizes were purchased by me~ all of the polishes are brand new, unused. and ... yea ... lets get to the prizes, shall we? :D







prize 1: a $30 coupon code to shop at Born Pretty Store, a great website for nail art supplies and much more ! this prize is generously sponsored by Born Pretty Store -- thanks Nicole :)











prize 2: Wet n Wild's Club Havana [its actually a bit more orange, a lot less red irl), China Glaze's Glitter Goblin, & Sally Hanson Salon Effects Nail Polish Strips in Skinny Jeans.













prize 3: Barielle's Sand--al Chic, Sinful Color's Cinderella, & Studio M's Magic Attraction.
















prize 4: Sinful Colors' Green Ocean, Revlon's Whimsical, & Ulta's Oh!.













prize 5: Cover Girl's Candy Corn, OPI's Stranger Tides, Forever 21 -- Love & Beauty's Light Green [the sticker/tag fell off this polish btw], & Kiss' Tip & Toe Art Stickers.












prize 6: Sinful Colors' Nail Junkie, China Glaze's Jolly Holly, Wet n Wild's I Need A Refresh-Mint, & Revlon's Nail Lace stickers in Midnight Seduction.








the giveaway is opened internationally. the giveaway will start Tuesday, October 9th, eastern time, and end Tuesday, October 30, eastern time. * there will be up to 6 winners who will be chosen through random.org ; the winners will be announced a day or two after the giveaway has ended -- the winners will have 48 hours to respond to my email or else i will choose a new winner.

the rules:

the following 3 rules are manditory:
1] you must be following me - - whether it is through GFC, Bloglovin, email subcriptions, Nail Art Tumblr, and/or Personal Tumblr.
2] leave your username that you're following me under.
3] leave your email address -- so i can contact you in case you win.

the following 2 rules are optional, these count as extra entries:
4] 'like' Katrina's Nail Blog on Facebook.
5] follow @kahtreenahh on instagram.

*please note that anyone who comments my blog regularly will receive an extra entry! :) i know that i hardly comment other blogs and im really bad at replying to comments .. but im thankful for the few comments i've been receiving lately <3

ok! its as simple as that :) fill out the form below and you're entered in the giveaway! good luck :D





again, a big thanks to Born Pretty Store for sponsoring the $30 coupon code~

have a great day!,
♥KATRINA