The Right Length For You

So after a long time of NOT posting, I finally am uploading a new post.

Tonight I think I want to address proper nail length. Nail length, as do eyebrows, is custom to you and your body/lifestyle. Let me explain.

If you know anything about eyebrows, then you know that your eyebrow shape is custom to how your face is...built i guess would be the right word. You just shape it around the contours of your face. But enough about eyebrows. I might upload a post with pics and all about how I do my eyebrows later on. Since I need to re-do them anyway because I actually do my own eyebrows.

But back to nails....
So, there are many things that can factor in on what is the right nail length for you. Keep in mind this is referring to natural nails only.

If you are always on your phone and texting, Facebooking, Tweeting, or if you are on the computer a lot, then you would probably want to go a more minimalist route. By minimalist, I mean either short like to your finger tip length or barely past it. I personally have an LG Droid Ally aka the ones that came out two years ago that I'm too broke to upgrade from lol. It has a slide out keyboard and a touch screen too. I have longer nails though and it at times is not just difficult but a pain in the ass to use both my slide out and on-screen keyboard. I can use the balls of my thumbs to use the slide out and the on screen key board which, to be honest it isn't always easy to use my on screen like that, or the tips of my nails on the slide out. it makes it more difficult to type. Also, typing on my laptop with longer nails can be annoying. They catch in the tiny spaces in between each key since i have to type with my nails vs my finger tips.

Another thing to factor into the equation is how much you use your hands, and what you use them for. Do you do your hair a lot? Are you always cleaning up/using chemicals?  do you have sensitive skin or dry hands? Chemicals, dry air, season change...things like this can have a drying effect on your nails. therefore making them dry and brittle. especially if you don't use and cuticle oil or lotions and things of that nature.

When you have longer nails, you have problems like stress points to worry about. stress points are the cracks you get at the sides of your nails where you constantly put pressure on them. The longer you keep your nails, the more natural stress points will appear. Once they start cracking, its time to cut them down. Personally, if the crack is too low on the nail, Ill try to patch it until it grows enough for me to comfortably trim the nail.

Things like this are the things that you need to factor in when deciding whether to keep your nails short and sweet, or let them get a little length going on.

Happy holidays guys. I hope you all enjoy the holiday season and have had a good one so far. I am trying to come back more often to post more often so you guys can know whats up and get new posts from me. Thanks :)

Sorry For The Wait...

Hello my loves! First, before I get to the point of this post, I would like to apologize for my absence from the blogging, vlogging and nail art community. I have been having some personal problems lately and took some time off to deal with everything. I'm still resolving some issues, but I am in a better place now then I was a few months ago, so I am so sorry for that.

Now, to nail art news, I have created an email address for you guys to send me love notes and such to :) lol.

No, but seriously, I have made a new special email address just for my nail art community people. I made it for two reasons, one being that if you guys have any requests, questions, would like to be referred to a nail guru I mention, want to send me an email about something you like/didn't like about a post or a video, etc., you can. But please, no weird stuff. I deal with enough weirdos on a daily basis so please don't make me regret making this email address for you guys.

Secondly, I am thinking about selling sets of nails designed by me. So if anyone would like to send me a set that fits you for me to paint for you, that can happen. OR I am also thinking about buying some sets and designing them to sell. This is all still in the beginning stages of happening so I haven't come up with a pricing system yet or anything. I really haven't decided if I am actually going to do this or not yet. And there would be a charge. As much as I would like to do this shit for free, I would eventually run out of product and supplies so, i will have to charge something. PLUS shipping is definitely NOT free, and I do apologize for that. So, if you guys like this idea, go ahead and shoot me an email or a comment on one of my many social networking platforms letting me know what you think.

The email address, finally lol I know I talk a lot, is VNJconfessions@gmail.com

Send me some love soon and let me know whats up and if you guys like my new idea of the designing and selling nail sets.

Much love!! <3

Watch me on YouTube- http://www.youtube.com/user/ViktoriusME?feature=mhee

Follow me on Twitter- @viktoriusME

Follow me on Tumblr- http://vikkiviktorius.tumblr.com/

My 1st Nail Polish Haul

Shout out to my first ever nail polish haul! Yeah!!
AND shout out to my little sister who let me borrow her nails for this too and my AMAZING boyfriend who got me my Muppet polishes :)! Lol.

(If you don't feel like reading all of this, feel free to just click the pictures and look thru the swatches, OR here is the video on this haul!)



Ok, so first, let me start out with my usual disclaimer. I paid for four of these products with my own money. Two of them were paid for and given to me as gifts by my amazing boyfriend who got lost in Ulta just for me :). BUT either way, they were paid for with our own money and not sent to me for free. These products were ones that I have been wanting to purchase because I love the colors (or Kolors haha) in these collections and am not sponsored by these companies and did not receive them for free (well, from the companies anyway lol).

Allsrighty then, here are all of the polishes


Close up on the Kardashian Kolors Collection by Nicole by O.P.I.



Close up on the Muppets Collection polishes by O.P.I.


So, now for some swatches of them. I'll start with the Kardashian Kolors.


First off, this is "Sealed With A Kris". Keep in mind, these are all two coats (unless otherwise specified) no base, no top coat.




This polish is a really pretty matte deep red color no shimmers at all. Perfect for the holidays coming up or any other special occasions.

Next, "Kourt Is Red-y for A Pedi"




This one is also a matte polish and is a brighter red. I would almost go as far as to call it a ketchup red. Not in the gaudy way but in the bright and noticeable enough way. I would use it the way you would use a coral type color.

I also bought "Kendall On the Catwalk" and "Khloe had A Little Lam-Lam".
"Kendall On the Catwalk" is a really pretty blue glitter with silver, purple and a tiny bit of green glitters in it as well. "Khloe had A Little Lam-Lam" is a dark blue that's also matte. Not quite a navy blue but just shy of a midnight blue. These two colors also work gorgeously together. One thin coat of "Khloe had A Little Lam-Lam" with a thin coat of "Kendall On the Catwalk" and you have a perfectly blinged out nail look.

"Khloe Had A Little Lam-Lam"





"Kendall On the Catwalk"




Both of them together



Next, are the Muppet polishes. I have "Meep Meep Meep" (Professor Beaker's color) and "Designer DeBetter" (the fabulous Ms. Piggy of course).

"Designer DeBetter" is a silver with a few copper and pink shimmers in it. Its very pretty and light catching.





"Meep Meep Meep" is almost a pointsetta red with red and pink shimmers in it. Another polish that is great for the holidays!





Well, thats all for now my lovelies. Sorry for the long post today, but it was my first haul post. I'll eventually work out the kinks and get into my groove on how to do these better and hopefully shorter for you guys :)

Have We No More Freedom of Speech?

I'll probably get like tracked by the government for posting a blog about this. Or maybe even forced to take this post down, But while we still have SOME SMALL form of freedom of speech on the Internet left, I'll inform those of you who are still in-aware of the happenings happening now.

I was planning on doing a nail polish haul/swatches post tonight, but this is way more important to me right now.

Basically to sum up a long and wordy story, the government is trying to interfere and shut down/ban/whatever you wish to call it many of the websites we love for copyright infringement.

Now, I don't agree with or believe in piracy, but web sites like Google, YouTube, our beloved Blogger, Tumbler, etc. are at risk from this new bill. Not everyone who uses these sites illegally downloads content and shit on these sites. This is something that affects everyone from Gamers to Gurus to the people who are just trying to find the lyrics to their favorite songs to sing along with Lady Gaga and Nicki Minaj on the radio.

There are ways for you to stop this stupid nonsense from happening. Here is a link to a website where you can sign a petition saying that you disagree with this dumbass bill http://americancensorship.org/
Just enter the information asked for and hit send. Also, if you scroll down the page you can find more information as well. Of course you could also Google it (while you still can).

Here are some links to some sites that explain exactly whats going on.
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/15040016780/sopaprotect-ip-would-be-hideously-bad-video-gamers.shtml

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protect_IP_Act

http://www.brookings.edu/papers/2011/1115_cybersecurity_friedman.aspx

Basically just look up Protect IP Act.

It effects people with domain names, people who look up help on games, people who blog, YouTubers, Bloggers, people who use Google for the news, People who go online because the Government won't fund libraries in their city anymore. If you don't agree with this ridiculous unnecessary act that not only interferes with our privacy, but out freedom of speech as well, then do your part and click on that first link so your voice can be heard.

Black n' Red

This is definitely one of the most simple nail looks that I have ever done. Literally the only thing more simple would be if I just painted my nails one solid color, which I was going to do, but you guys know me, I couldn't leave it just like that! So, I'm here to tell you about this simple nail look that turned out better than I planned for it to.



So, here is the story behind why my nails are so short. (If you don't feel like reading this part and my rant, feel free to skip down to the next paragraph, OR where you see the pic of the products used and go from there, I won't mind.) A very rude man decided to snatch his credit card from me at work because we no longer carry something that he really liked and was mad. Because of this, my middle finger nail on my right hand was clipped on the weak side and broke almost straight across. So, I had to cut my nails and find a quick fix for them polish wise until I had a chance to get my claws on some on the new Muppet nail polish from the new collection at Ulta, WHICH I will have a post on later. I also will have a post on the nail design that I had before the mean man broke my nail. And just for the record, I am not one of those girls that's like "OMFG i like broke an effing nail" I definitely wouldn't have cared as much if I hadn't just done them the night BEFORE lol. I was actually trying to decide whether to cut them or not and I guess I got my answer!

Ok, so I wanted something simple just to hold me over until I got my Muppet polish and I had painted them black and decided to put a thin coat of red glitter over them. When I did this, I didn't think that they looked that great and i didn't think that I was going to upload a post about them because they were so simple that I thought it was pointless. But people were actually asking me what kind of polish it was and how I did it so, here goes!

Here are my products used.



***DISCLAIMER***
I paid for all the products used with my own money. I use these products because I like them and I feel like they fit this nail look the best. I am not sponsored by these companies in any way.

base coat- Salon Sciences Fiberglass Networks
BLACK- Revlon Black Lingerie
GLITTER- Sephora by O.P.I. What's Your Poison
top coat- Salon Sciences Instant Artificials

What I did first was to put one coat of my base coat on my nails. Since they were short and I didn't have a free edge I only put one kind of thin coat on. When you have short nails, and you don't have a free edge, you don't have a way to seal your polish and your design in which ends up just making your polish pile up on your nails. If you have ever put too many layers of nail polish on your nails and ended up peeling off the polish because it was too much and too thick, you know what I mean.


The nest thing that I did was to put two thin coats of the black polish on. Revlon polishes tend to be thin (in my personal experience of course) and as I mentioned in my previous paragraph (see nail polish peeling), you want to avoid thick coats of polish. Be careful if you do have a thinner polish. They have a tendency to run like water off of the brush and off of your nail and onto your cuticle/skin.


***(TIP! If you do get polish on your skin, you can use a Q-tip soaked in acetone/nail polish remover or a paintbrush dipped in acetone/nail polish remover and take the polish off of the sides or wherever it is you don't want it. Just make sure that your careful to not get it on your design! You don't want to mess up all your hard work or even worse, have to start over!)***

I was originally going to leave my nails like this just plain regular solid black, but I couldn't leave it like that so I decided to add a thin coat of red glitter polish on top. Just one thin coat though (see previous paragraph on peeling). Every things better when you add glitter!


Last step, after the polish was completely dry, add one thin coat of top coat!


This polish look is very simple but the effect in the light is so pretty. Especially when its darker and you cant really see the black you just get some of the red shimmer catching the light. I hope you guys liked my simple nail look and give it a shot! Its good for fall because of the darker colors and you could even do a brown instead of black if you wanted. Let your creativity loose!

My Alternative, Unique and Ghetto Nail Art Tools

***My video on this matter***


Good nail art tools can be pretty expensive and there are so many that it adds up quick fast and in a hurry. So, I find my own ways of..."creating" nail art tools of my own. So, today I decided to go ahead and talk about the things that I like to use instead of normal tools.

One of the most commonly used items in nail art is the nail dotting pen. I've seen them for as cheap as $4.00+ shipping for a set on sites like eBay, all the way to as expensive as $10-$15 dollars for a set. Well, what I like to use instead of the traditional nail dotting pen is an open bobby pin. You can buy a pack of like 100 bobby pins at places like Wal-Mart, Target and Walgreens for under a dollar and its not like you need to worry about if you buy the right color if your using it only for nail art. I personally buy the ones that match my hair color only because I like to pin my bangs up so its a win win for me!

Bobby Pins also work as a way to pick up individual rhinestones for nail designs. But, if I'm trying to be more precise with the rhinestone I'm trying to pick up, especially the smaller ones, I like to (CAREFULLY!!!) use an open safety pin. I repeat, CAREFULLY! You just dip it in a little bit of top coat and grab a rhinestone and place it on the desired area on the nail that you want. You can buy packs of 100+ safety pins at not only the previous places mentioned in my last paragraph, but at the dollar store. Buy a pack, use some for nail art and the rest for all of your safety pin needs. This is WAY cheaper than going out and buying a tool made special for picking up rhinestones. If your dealing with a huge rhinestone that a bobby pin/safety pin wont hold, feel free to use tweezers. You should also use tweezers if your using things like pieces of gold foil or the dried flowers. As for nail beads, I haven't used them yet but when I do, I'm not sure what I'll use.

If I need to do a design where I'm doing a design with something like leopard spots, I like to use something like paper to put a drop of polish on it and dip my paintbrush in that (I'll get to those later). But paper can leak polish thru and make it stick to the surface I'm working on so I like to use index cards. Their thick enough so that the polish doesn't leak thru and I can buy a pack of 100 at one of the previously mentioned places above for a couple dollars.

Instead of spending a lot of money on special nail art brushes, I like to buy a big pack of normal paintbrushes at Wal-Mart and cut them down to size. I learned how to do this thanks to the fabulous Robin Moses who shows you how to cut them in this video riiiight here...

I also like to use regular flat top brushes to clean the excess polish from the sides of my fingers when I'm done with my design.

The Nail polish remover that I like to use is the kind that comes in a little jar that you stick your fingers in and swirl them around and the polish comes out that way. When it's time to get a new jar of remover, I like to keep the old jar and use it to clean my brushes. Kind of like the way that you keep a cup of water next to you when your painting on a canvas and you need to clean your brushes. They only cost a couple of dollars at (again I refer you to one of the previous paragraphs) one of the previously mentioned places. The way that I tell if I need to get a new one is when your nails start to come out discolored like the color of the nail polish remover. If you like, you can even empty out the jar and put some from the bottle in there. I like to do that with one of them that I kept that has bristles instead of a sponge.

So, that's my post on my alternative, unique, and some may call, ghetto nail art tools. I hope you guys can find this helpful, and if you have the actual tools and DON'T find this helpful, thanks for reading anyway and now you have some tips for if (nail gods forbid) one of your tools breaks and you need a last minuet alternative. Obviously, these are for the people that do their own nail art like me because I'm sure if you work in an actual salon, you have the good stuff. Enjoy!

FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER! @viktoriusME or http://twitter.com/#!/viktoriusME
CHECK OUT MY YOUTUBE! http://www.youtube.com/user/ViktoriusME?feature=mhee

Happy painting!

Rachaels Pandas

I've been neglecting my blog a bit this past week I do apologize. Ok, so one of my best friends likes pandas a lot and Sailor Moon to. I was planning on doing some Sailor Moon nails on her but my navy polish decided to commit suicide down the stairs so I had to come up with another idea for her so I decided on pandas.

Here they are

I was inspired by a panda nail tutorial done by Cutepolish on YouTube Here is the link for anyone interested. Shes Amazing.



Ok, so here are the products used


***DISCLAIMER***
I paid for all of these products on my own with my own money. I am in no way Sponsored by these companies nor did I receive these for free. I just use them because I like them best and for this tutorial.

base coat- Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network
WHITE- China Glaze White on White
BLACK- Revlon Black Lingerie
RED- China Glaze Rose Among Thorns
GLITTER- China Glaze Carnival Lights
top coat- Salon Sciences Instant Artificials
and
a paintbrush but you could use an open bobby pin as well

The first step to the pandas was to use a base coat. Since Rays nails are short, I only used one thin coat of base coat. I find that thicker coats of polish on short nails dont always end up well and tend to peel off easier especially if they are too short to seal the free edge. So, thinner coats will definitely be your friend if you have short nails.


Next step was to make a circular shape with the white polish. This is to make the pandas head. It doesnt have to be perfect because we still need to add the ears and (for the girl) a bow. As long as you can tell its a circle-ish shape, your good.


After the pandas head shape has been done and completely dries, the next step is to add the first layer of the eyes, the ears and the noses. We decided to make one of the pandas a girl so, we gave all of them black noses except for two, one on each hand. They got red noses.



After the first layer of the eyes dried, it was time to add the whites of the pandas eyes.


Then I added the bows for the red nose girl pandas.


After the design completely dried, I used a thin coat of my favorite top coat to protect the little pandas.


As always, AND if your nails are long enough, make sure that you put at least one coat of each polish on your free edges to protect your nail art. And put at least one thin coat of top coat on your nails if they are short. A good top coat will work wonders for you and your nail art.

Also, these are simply the colors I used because we were making traditional pandas. So, if you want to get creative and make different crazy colored pandas, feel free to do so. Art is in the eye of the beholder and nail art even more so because they are your nails. So if you LOVE the color purple and want the pandas to have purple eyes instead of black, go for it and more power to you! Your nails and your nail art should be what you love no matter what.

That Super Bass

As many people have, I have joined the Nicki Minaj bandwagon recently. But thats only because I now understand her and her concept of her different personalities and that thats why she makes the different voices and faces and what not.

SO, that being said, I decided to honor Nicki with my Super Bass inspired nails.

Sooo here are my materials used. I know the pics bright, I'm sorry :/ and of COURSE I'll go into detail.


****PRODUCTS USED*****
**DISCLAIMER**
I paid for all of these products with MY OWN money. I am Not sponsored by these companies NOR did I receive them for free.

(Base Coat) Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network
(WHITE) China Glaze - White On White
(PINK) China Glaze - Rich & Famous
(NUDE) Sally Hansen - Innocent Nude
(PINK) Love My Nails - Rose Garden
(PINK STRIPER) Kiss Nail Art Paint - Beach Paint
(GREEN) Sinful Colors Professionals - Irish Green
(GLITTER) China Glaze - Carnival Lights
(Top Coat) Salon Sciences Instant Artificials
a paintbrush
a safety pin (be careful NOT to stab yourself please!)

1. Since my nails are long again, I am utilizing my base coat too keep them strong, long and healthy. For this I am using my Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network. Use two coats of this to give your nails the added strength of fiberglass. Be sure to get your free edge too!

2. When my base coat dried, I put down all of my base colors so that they had time to dry. On my thumbs, I put two coats of China Glaze White On White. On my pointer, middle and pinky fingers I put two coats of China Glaze Rich & Famous. On my ring fingers, I used just one coat of Sally Hansen Innocent Nude, on all your fingers except your ring fingers, make sure that you use two THIN coats not two thick coats.


3. Going back to the thumbs, which should have had time to dry by now (make sure they are 10000000% dry before moving on to this step!) I took my paint brush to use for the giraffe print. All that I did was dip the paint brush into the lighter pink, Love My Nails Rose Garden and start making random geometric shapes to resemble giraffe print. My advice, just make like rounded rectangle-ish shapes and then once you do that, add the rest of your shapes to fit around the rest. be sure to randomize it in shapes, placement and size for the best effect :)


4. On the ring fingers, I had to make splatter looking things to represent the part of the video when shes in the pink pool with the green wig splashing the pink water on the guy. I used my Beach Pink Kiss Nail Art to do the pink splatters which represented the water. Then I dipped my paintbrush in the Sinful Colors Irish Green to make the green splatters which represented her green wig. To add some color, I dipped the safety pin into the China Glaze Carnival Lights and just added some random dots of pink glitter to add some shine.


5. After all of this, add two coats of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials for that strong acrylic-like hold.


Make sure that all the free edges of the nails have been coated at least once with each product that you use to protect your design.

ZOMBIES!!! And Other Stuff

So last night, as I was searching for Halloween stuff online, I randomly got the idea to do some zombie themed nails in the spirit of Halloween (which just so happens to be my favorite holiday!)

I had recently (recently being like...3 weeks ago haha) been to Walgreen's and bought a green Sinful Colors polish from their Halloween display that they had up and I have been trying to think of a way to use it and yesterday it hit me, zombie nails!

***DISCLAIMER***
The products I am about to list are ones that I have purchased with MY OWN money. I am in no way shape or form sponsored by these companies, nor did I receive them for free.

Products Used:
RED - China Glaze - Rose Among Thorns (Neon)
GREEN - Sinful Colors Professional - Irish Green
RED GLITTER - Sephora by OPI - What's Your Poison?
BLUE - Kiss Nail Art Paint - Pearl Blue
TOP COAT - Salon Sciences Instant Artificials Protect



So, here is how I did them.

1. USUALLY I do use a base coat but its a fiberglass one that I only use when my nails start getting long as an added form of strength. I know that base coats are important and protect your natural nails, provide a "base" or "foundation" for your nail polish (kind of like eyeshadow primer for you make up girls out there) and help avoid stains/discoloration and what not, but I dont really put too much into them personally.

2. I first decided to do a reverse french manicure with the red and green. When I first purchased the green, I tried it out and found out that it is EXTREMELY sheer so I knew going into this that I would need to think of a way to work around that. Since they are zombie nails, I decided to put the red (Rose Among Thorns China Glaze) first and just painted a small half moon on the bottom of my nails for the reverse french part. since they were zombie themed, I didn't put too much emphasis on perfection. i only did one coat of the red.

3. On top of the red, I put two coats of green (Sinful Colors Irish Green). This over the red made it look like a weird warped red color, perfect for the zombie virus theme I had going :).

4. Since I am ALL ABOUT the bling and the glamor, I decided to put a thin coat of the red glitter (Sephora by OPI What's Your Poison?) over the red that was showing through the green. It still let a bit of the original red show through, but added a bit of sparkle at the same time. Who said zombies can't be glamorous? hahaha...(ew)

5. After that, I decided to put like...stitches I guess you would call it too because it looked a bit strange with just the red and green and besides, were trying to go for Halloween, NOT Christmas, thats a whole different blog and nail design right there. For this I just used the blue nail art polish and the brush that comes with it (Kiss Nail Art Paint Pearl Blue). I know that this can make it more Frankenstein-ish...but I decided on zombies so whatever I ended up doing to them, no matter what, they were going to be zombies.

6. I had to go to work so I had to wait until I got home to top coat. which can be a very dangerous move. I always use the same one, my Instant Artificials by Salon Sciences. I am in LOVE with this product. I used to use it as a base coat actually but now I use it as a top coat. It adds a nice shine to my nails and adds the strength of acrylic to them as well. love love love it.

So, my finished product looked something like this...


I hopefully, will be able to upload a video on this and how I did it so that I'm not just attempting to talk you through it. Because if your anything like me, you learn better by watching.

Confessions of a Nail Junkie...

Hi, I'm Vikki. First off, let me start my intro by saying that I am in NO way shape or form a licensed nail tech, NOR am i sponsored by anyone. Everything that I know and do is all from being self taught by either trial and error or the internet, mainly YouTube. And the products that I use are ones that I have bought with MY OWN money. This blog will be dedicated to all things nail art related and of course some rants here and there too about whatever happened to be on my mind that day.

Now, on to more about myself. I am a 19 year old multi racial woman born and raised in Miami Florida (shout out to the 305 :D) but now I live in Chattanooga Tennessee which is....quite..different to say the least. I love to draw and paint and recently was inspired to start blogging about my painting and nail stuff by some of the people I follow on YouTube. I also have my own YouTube channel and will be uploading some of my own tutorials on there shortly. But for now, I'm starting out with just this blog. I will be uploading pictures and what not on here and then my tutorials on my YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/ViktoriusME(<----there's the link to it). I also have a Facebook but I dont really have anything on there nail related yet... Well no let me correct myself, I have some pics uploaded but that is all that is there.

I enjoy doing nails very much and hopefully will become a certified nail tech one day. I update my twitter more often than I do my Facebook about my nail stuff http://twitter.com/#!/viktoriusME so go ahead and follow me there if you would like ;)

Thank you for taking the time to read this and be sure to keep checking back here or on my channel to see my new stuff :)
I havent uploaded any videos yet but I will tweet and update the blog when I do!