I went to the dark side… November 14, 2009

… they have cookies!

In other words, I moved over to Blogger and opened a second blog called Rock ‘n’ Nails! Check it out at rocknnails.blogspot.com   ! It’s basically the sequel to this blog, so there won’t be any more posts here. This is the last one.

I think it’s a lot more convenient for you guys this way because it’s easier to follow by using your own Blogger account or Google Friend Connect. It also seems to be easier to use… we’ll see.

Another thing is, I almost finished knitting the bf’s scarf! It has a box pattern and stripes and turned out really nicely so far ^^It just needs about 25 more centimeters and fringe, so it should be done during the next week *happy* Pictures and how-to are coming soon on rocknnails.blogspot.com!

See you soon, and Goodbye WordPress blog!

Old NOTD: Monochrome November 8, 2009

Good afternoon folks!

Here comes the nail art I promised you! It’s quite easy to do, just layering a few colors. I started off with a grey holo and added a topcoat with silver glitter and shimmer particles (both by Vernis a Ongles Eclair, swatches coming soon!) and painted a diagonal striped pattern using black as the base color, and then layering dark grey, light grey and silver foil over it. Mattify, and you’re done!

Originally, I was going for a sort of monochrome rainbow look, but that didn’t really work out imo. Instead, it reminds me of old black and white photography and the molten metal bath I had to use at the lab last semester. When it solidified after finishing the experiment, it looked exactly like this! 😀

Hope you like it! Mata ne!

I’m on Twitter! November 3, 2009

Follow me here: http://twitter.com/Kachihadashi

I think Twitter is a relly nice way to stay updated and to inform others about whats going on around the world. I’ll use it mainly as a sort of feed for this blog, and of course to have a chat with you guys ;D

Oh, and speaking about following, do any of you know how to install the Follow-me-on-Google-Friends-plugin? I tried the way described at the wordpress homepage, copying and pasting HTML-code into a widget folder, and all I got was the code displayed as text in my sidebar 😦 What should I do?

See you soon, with shorter nails and some nail art!

NOTD: Disco Mint! – After-Halloween Mani November 1, 2009

“I will stone you stone you, wrap my arms around you, I will stone you stone you, my little halo!”

Do you recognise the song? It’s “Halo” by Soil (totally NOT Beyonce! 😀 ) and it’s what this polish reminds me of. It feels like having a halo around my hands, and I’m completely stoned by the look right now. If it’s sunny tomorrow, I’ll probably run into poles because I’m looking at my tips all the time xD The pictures don’t capture the whole awesomeness, they are too silvery. In real life, it clearly looks green, like strong mint-flavoured chewing gum.

There is a whole little collection of holos at the drugstore near my university, and I’m definitely planning to get some more! *excited!*

See you soon!

Crazy Japanese GLITTER!

This, ladies and gentlemen, is why I so many people are excited about Japanese nailpolish:

Glitter!  Holographic awesomeness! Both in one! *faints*

Of course, I had to play with my matte topcoat:

Index: Canmake 23. Toxic green glitter. This looks also very cool over black and matte!

Middle: Perfect Nail PNN-16. Purple jelly with lots of different kinds of glitter. Great for layering as well as on it’s own – it totally rocks! Love it with a matte topcoat – it looks like a sequined party dress!

Ring: Vernis a ongles eclair – #15 Snow Dome’s Christmas Tree. It’s the best example of how crappy lighting can ruin the look of a color: When I saw it at the shop, I only  thought “Oh, what a pretty grey-green shimmer. Could be a nice winter color” , but as soon as the sun hits it, it’s a BAM! in-your-face  mint green holo! Mattyfing ruins the holo effect, but it’s still very pretty.

Pinkie: Vernis a ongles eclair – #11 Maharadja Gold dancer. Silver holo packed with gold glitter. It’s even better matte, and the glitter is quite unique to me. It really looks like little pieces of leaf gold! This is so going to be my mani for Christmas and New Years Eve ^_^

Photos of  Snow Dome’s Christmas Tree as a full mani coming up!

Knitting time!

Hello everyone, hope you had a happy Halloween!

It’s starting to get chilly in the evenings, so I started knitting again! This will be a winter scarf soon:

After I finished this one, I’m going to make another scarf for my boyfriend. It’s going to be black with red and white details, to match his Matrix/heavy metal-style black leather coat. I don’t have a real plan about the design yet – it should look cool and manly, but not too plain. Maybe a little knot or braided pattern… do you guys have any ideas?

Have a nice week! ❤

Mad about Matte October 27, 2009

Morning!

Look what I found in at the mall:

Topcoats! I got Sally Hansen Insta Dry and Essie Matte about you, and two glitters. (Three actually, but the third one is for my Elfster girl, so I won’t spoil the surprise 😉 Just this much: it’s pink and silver and totally stunning! ) Swatches and reviews coming soon!

EDIT: OMFG! I’m wearing a mani with Insta Dry since yesterday afternoon and added a coat of Matte about You a few hours ago and my mani starts to flake off in this exact moment! Maybe it’s because I combined the two topcoats? Or maybe it’s the fact that I forgot basecoat, or the crappy but pretty dollar store polish? No idea, but the chip is huge! Looks kinda cool though, like an extravagant french tip:

Here is my first (still undamaged) matte mani: Mermaid blue/green with shimmer. Doesn’t it look totally awesome? I love that it’s not completely wallpaint-matte but still has this somehow velvety look to it. Purty!

Lol, this looks so photoshopped! xD   —  Can you see the shimmer?

See you very soon, right after redoing my nails!

Art deco insprired snowy nails October 21, 2009

Hi!

Today, I finally got to play with the nail art stripers I promised in the last post! They are from the dollar store, I believe the brand is called “Crayon art nail”. I have four: Black, white, red and blue glitter. The bottles are pretty much like a liquid eyeliner bottle, small and easy to handle. The brushes are great, they are felt tips rather than real brushes with bristles. That way, it’s nice and easy to make dots of various sizes and even lines. Perfect for rookies like me ;D

Application was decent, except for the glitter, which didn’t spread nicely at all. To get an even, glittery line, I had to either apply several coats or dab it on instead of drawing. Both ways, it will end up looking like chunks of glitter glue on my nails. The others were good, though, opaque in one to two coats and not gloopy.Of course I had to play with them:

It’s a black french tip and white dots on the grey shimmery Pa polish from last time. It reminds me of huge snowflakes ^^

Another pretty cool aspect about them is that they all are water-soluable! (again, except for the glitter) That way, you can just play around and try things and simply wash it off if you don’t like it instead of removing and redoing your whole manicure. Just two tips to remember: Don’t forget to use topcoat afterwards and stay away from water, exspecially hot water, until everything is completely, 150% dry.

Overall, I’m pretty impressed with these, considering that they are made by a no-name brand and cost only a dollar. If you are in Japan or planning to come and would like to try some nail art, this is definitely a good point to start!

More designs coming, well, maybe not soon, but there will be a few!

Have a nice week! ❤

Finding a girls’ paradise…

… under Kyoto station! It’s called Porta and it’s a HUGE underground shopping mall. They have everything there, from shoes to clothes, accessory and cosmetics and food. Give me enough money and water and I’ll spend the entire next  typhoon season down there 😀

Originally, I only planned to buy an electronic dictionary and case, but of course I couldn’t resist and also got these beauties:

Black lace earrings (these are actually from another shop^^), a super cute owl shaped watch and of course: Nailpolish! I got one Canmake (the baby blue) and three Pas. I didn’t wear any of those as a full mani yet, but boy do I love Pa! The color range is AH-MAY-ZING! They have a ton of gorgeous blues, greens and over-the-top glitters,  exactly what I missed in Germany. Drying time is OK, too, even without topcoat. Canmake seems to be really cool, too, also a nice color range and dries slightly slower than the Pas. I think I’ll get some more of these. Only downside are the names of the polishes. They are numbers

Swatches!

Index: Pa A6. Lavender pearl with subtle blue flash. Not as great as the other ones, it’s too sheer for my liking and makes my nails look dirty, and it bubbled. It could be a nice topper, though…

Middle: Pa A32. Forest green creme, almost opaque in three coats.  It’s my second favourite of the bunch, it reminds me of a cool breeze under some trees on a hot summer day. This would probably look great matte, but I don’t have a matte topcoat to show you.

Ring: Awesome gunmetal grey shimmer! Or is it glassflecked? A little foily? No idea. I haven’t seen this kind of finish ever before. It really looks like steel, or a car in a gangster movie. Looove it! And it’s opaque in one coat, you only need two if you absolutely can’t stand the slightest hint of visible nail line.

Pinkie: Canmake 13. Baby blue creme, a bit more vibrant in real life. This one was a tiny bit streaky, but I was good to go after three coats. It makes my skin look a little red, but it’s pretty enough to ignore that.

Aaaand I finally got around trying the stripers from the 100yen store! Review is coming soon!

Bye for now! ❤

Funny Japanese Stuff: Alphabet song October 18, 2009

Hi!

Here’s the next part of the Funny And/Or Interesting Things That I Found In Japan series! Most of you probably know the song that we used to sing in primary school to memorize the alphabet, right? This is a really nice ska version of it, written and performed by the Japanese band Doberman:

EDIT: Recently, some bloggers from the Netherlands got sued for copyright infringement because they embedded Youtube videos in their blog posts. It’s kinda stupid IMO, punishing people for making free (!) advertising for the music companies by giving new and little known bands and artists the attention they deserve. But it seems to be the law and I don’t want to be drawn to court for it, so here’s how to listen to Doberman’s alphabet song:

Go to youtube.com and search for this: doberman アルファベット  . You can copy and paste the second word. Take the first result. There are lots of other good songs by this band in the similar videos. Most of them are better than this one 😉 For some  of my favourites, insert one of these after “doberman”:  赤い太陽，月，車掌は寝転んだまま，or Leap for Joy.

Have fun!

Mata ne!