Jun19
Jun16
The Best is Yet to Come
I love my dad. He has always been there for me. When I had pneumonia in both lungs my first week of college, he drove straight through the night to be with me in the hospital. He’s the kind of dad whose sage advice is peppered with jokes. He loves me for who I am and supports me in following my dreams. He is the kind of dad who rubs your tummy when you are sick, who points out real and imagined stains on your shirt, who believes in you. My dad is a true optimist – he’s been through a lot in his life, and despite it all, he believes with his whole heart that “the best is yet to come.” I’m inclined to agree. He is a peach-plum, and I love him! Here’s to you, Zorro! Happy Father’s Day. XOXO SWAK 32.
My Dad absolutely loves to sail! There’s nothing like heading out on the water on a clear day – nothing but bright skies overhead, waves all around you, a pack of peanut butter crackers, and a bottle of diet Peach Snapple. That’s the good life, if you ask me. I love sailing with my dad!
In case you don’t know my dad, I guess I could tell you about the nails. I started with a base of Sinful Colors Snow Me White, and did a standard gradient using a sponge and Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue, Pacific Blue, Blue Me Away!, Essie Sweet Talker, and Snow Me White again. I used a dotting tool to create the clouds by adding large dots near each other. The boat sails were made with a small nail art brush and Snow Me White. I topped the sails off with China Glaze Fairy Dust for some shine.
Happy Father’s Day to all the great dads out there!
Jun8
Half moon gradient
I’ve seen so many bloggers review a product called Liquid Palisade (check out the Nailasaurus review). I never do reviews, and this isn’t a review… but I was totally convinced to buy this product – and it’s a pretty cool tool! I have a hunch that plain old Elmer’s Glue would do the same thing. Basically, you paint the Liquid Palisade around your cuticles to protect your skin when doing gradients (I think you can use it to do French manicures, too). When it dries, you just paint your nails as usual, and peel the dried product off – and you don’t get tons of polish on your skin! I was particularly excited to do a gradient using glitter or a foil finish – usually, when that kind of polish gets on your skin, it is impossible to clean off! I always end up with tiny glitter particles all over my fingers.
I also used the Liquid Palisade to create the half moon shape. It’s pretty cool stuff! I used China Glaze First Mate and Zoya Ziv for the gradient, and sponged it directly on the nail. My cousin Rachel wore navy and gold to my wedding, and I’m so into that color combination! After I peeled off the Liquid Palisade, I had very little clean up to do – just a bit here and there where I had sponged onto my finger. I used a black It’s So Easy striper to outline the moons, and used topcoat to attach gold studs. All followed with a thick coat of Seche Vite.
All in all, I like this manicure! I’ve been wearing so many neons and pastels lately, that it’s nice to have a deeper color. Navy and gold is such a pretty combination! I think Ziv was a little… chunky? for a smooth gradient. I have some other foils and glitters that I could try next time.
Yay! Thanks for reading, friends!
Jun4
Shiny Sand
I wore a Liquid Sand polish once before – I really like the whole texture thing, but it’s hard to add on art, and that’s what I’m all about! I’ve seen a lot of pictures of what happens when you add topcoat, and I thought I’d give that a try. It kind of defeats the entire purpose of textured polish, but they have such incredible sparkle and shine! I’ve been incredibly busy this week (I. am. so. exhausted), so this was a quick and easy one.
This is two coats of OPI Get Your Number and 2-3 coats of Seche Vite to smooth everything out. Look at how shiny and squishy that blue is! I used an It’s So Easy striper to add the lines. I did my accent nail before I had smoothed everything out, so my lines were really bumpy (duh!) because of all that texture. How DO they make the sand of Liquid Sand, anyways? Because I needed so much topcoat, this ended up being a bit too thick for my preferences. It looks a little goopy or something.
I seriously love the amount of sparkle packed in there. It’s so pretty! You can also see that I’m experimenting with nail shape. I usually keep my nails in a squoval shape (that’s square with rounded edges), but I’m interested in round nails, or even stilettos (though I don’t want to hurt anybody). I’m not sure I did such a good job with this shape.
Look at that shine! Love it. What do you think? Do you like textured polishes? Or do you prefer a glossy finish?
May30
Sponge-icure
Sorry for the lack of posts, friends. I am slowly reentering my normal orbit post-wedding! It’s been a bit strange to get back to normal – but work, laundry, job searching, and honeymoon planning didn’t wait. And as they say, the show must go on. It’s been so fun to look back at the pictures our friends took (yay hashtag #hannahthan2013), and some of the videos, too!
Anyways. I use a lot of sponges for gradients, but when I saw this Mr Candiipants mani using a regular kitchen sponge (well, she used a natural sponge) I thought it would be fun to experiment with something more porous.
Mine are definitely different than Mr. Candiipants’ – but I love these! They are so interesting and textured and cool. She did a more sparse pattern, which is also awesome, and I will definitely have to try out. But, yeah, super cool! I used a regular kitchen sponge that I cut up into pieces. It has those big holes, and that made for some interesting splotches.
I started with a base of OPI Did You ‘Ear About Van Gogh? and then used my kitchen sponge to layer on Zoya Pippa, Essie Watermelon, an orange striper from H&M (called Orange), and Butter London Blagger. I sealed it all in with a coat of Seche Vite.
May23
Wedding Nails Revealed
I got married! It was an absolutely amazing weekend – I loved everything about it. It was happy and joyous and just wonderful. I smiled so much that my mouth ached, I danced until I was sore, and I celebrated with the love of my life! I am so incredibly lucky to be surrounded by friends and family, and I got to bask in the glow of their support. It was truly unforgettable.
AND NOW I’M MARRIED!
I will share some pictures when I get them from the photographer, but for now, here is a picture of me getting ready, taken by my dear friend Ellie. I love this picture – I feel like you can just see how happy I am!
You can’t really see my nails in this picture. And believe it or not, I didn’t even think to take any pictures. I know, I know, what kind of blogger am I, even?!?! But luckily, my friend Shirah snapped an iphone pic of my pink gradient.
I actually had decided to go with the gold floral stamped on top, but I never found the time to finish! In the end, even without the stamping, I loved this manicure. It was sweet and simple, but still interesting, and kind of subtle. Plus – it’s pink!
May18
Guest Post from Base Coat Top Coat!
Hey everybody! I’m off at wedding weekend celebrations but the amazing Kelly from Base Coat Top Coat has an awesome guest post for you today!! She’s so amazing and talented, be sure to check out her blog!
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Hi all! I’m Kelly from Base Coat Top Coat! It’s been so chilly and overcast in NY lately so i needed a little brighting up with this vintage two-toned floral inspired design, i call it Half and Half! Thank you Hannah for inviting me to guest post and a big, big congratulations on your nuptials!!!! 
To create this look I used Love & Beauty – pink/gold, Sally Hansen – white on, O.P.I. – pink flamenco, O.P.I. – who the shrek are you?, American Apparel – mount royal, Nicole By O.P.I. – hit the lights, Love & Beauty – light orange, O.P.I. – i juggle…men, Seche Vite, and Seche Clear.
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Thank you so much, Kelly, for this absolutely gorgeous, springy manicure! It’s so bright and fun!
