Nail Art

Coordinate.

Nail Art: Quickie

One of my best friend's stopped by t.h.e. Nail Studio recently for a nail art "quickie", meaning nails in a hurry!

This is what she left with....

Holiday Glam Nails Re-cap

First things first - I hope everyone had a wonderful and happy Christmas! Christmas holds so much meaning for so many different people, cultures....so whatever you believe in, or whatever it means to you, I just hope you were happy.

I made sure to rejoice in the birth of Jesus, as well as do nothing.....ALL.....DAY....LONG.  I chilled out with family the entire day, eating, chatting, watching sports, being festive, etc.  Good, good times.

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As you already know, t.h.e. Nail Studio opened it's doors last weekend for the Glam Nails event, and I must say that it was a hit!

Both days were busy [not to mention fun!], and I want to send a HUGE thank you to everyone who came out and allowed t.h.e. Nail Studio and myself to pamper those precious hands and feet.

Here are a few photos of our happy customers and their beautiful nails!

I'm still waiting for more photos from my friend Brandon, aka EazeeSt.  He took some pretty cool shots, so I hope to get those soon so that I may share them with you.

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*SIDENOTE*

We're re-opening the salon December 31st!  

More details coming after this post!

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Christmas/Holiday Makeup

Christmas is almost here and what a joy! - Christmas is my absolute favorite holiday.  

I love the holiday cheer, the bringing together of family and friends, but most importantly, it is the celebration of Jesus's birth!  If that's not reason to smile and be merry, than I don't know what is.  My family no longer participates in gift exchanges because we feel it is an attempt to distract us from what the day really means to us - remembering the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.  We also feel like it is a Capitalistic ploy! ...but I won't get into that, ha. 

I created my own tradition a few holidays ago, and that tradition is the purchase of  new Christmas toe socks every year!  I can't believe it's December 22, and I haven't bought a pair of toe socks yet.  I must get to Target immediately! 

I also like to decide upon a Christmas makeup look for myself. December 25 is a celebration, and I like to look good for the party.  This year I wanted to do a natural, sultry, sexy look, and I knew that I wanted to wear red lipstick. 

So........this is what I came up with:

How I came up with this look:

I decided that I wanted to do an opulent gold or bronze shade on my lid to give my eyes some sparkle and shine, so I used a M.A.C. pigment in gold.  I used a soft brown shadow in the crease to create a more natural, sultry contour.  I lined my eyes with M.A.C. Powerpoint eyeliner in black. I used Covergirl's LashBlast Fusion Mascara in black. I chose a blush that would give my cheeks a soft splash of color. I lined my lips in M.A.C. Cherry lip liner and used M.A.C. Dubonnet lipstick with a dabble of lip gloss with a silver pearl finish.

The neat thing about this look is that any complexion can wear it and look marvelous!  You can also alternate the shade of red on your lips to create brighter, bolder or more dramatic looks.

Nail Art

I have a lot to share with you, but my time is becoming more and more limited - please forgive me as I play catch up. I have been busy with so much, including: family & friends, Thanksgiving, college education, vacationing, nails, jewelry and some other "hush hush" things i'm working on, but everything is coming into fruition at the right time.

So........

Before leaving for my vacation to Mexico, I decided to test out a method of nail art which I haven't tried before: water marbling. If you aren't familiar with water marbling, the best way to describe it is: a type of nail art that creates swirls in multi-tones by dipping your nails in water.  Sounds kind of crazy, right? - dipping your nails in water? I have seen this method tested many times in a variety of colors, so I figured I give it a try and see what results I get. My trip to Mexico was quickly approaching, so I was inspired by the beaches in Mexico, coral reefs, water, etc.

Here is my first attempt at water marbling my nails:

Not bad, ey? 

[sorry for the sub-par photos - still figuring out how to capture better photos of my nails.]

Let me start off by saying that water marbling isn't the easiest of processes and you must have a little patience in order to do this. 

THE PROCESS:

First you have to paint your nails and let them dry.  Then you have to choose another color or colors for the water marbling.  After you have your color selections, you must add drops of each color in the water, swirl it with a toothpick, then dip your finger into the water. Once you remove your finger from the water, the clean-up begins.

When you remove your finger from the water, your finger is just a mess! There is  polish all over your fingers and edges, so a lot of clean up is required in order to have pretty water marbled nails. I added some jewel embellishements to my nails to add a little "flavor" and make them "pop" a bit more, which really added to the design as a whole.

WATER MARBLING POSITIVES:

1. Pretty, unique nails

2. Lots of color options to create a variety of designs

3. Endless possibilities

WATER MARBLING NEGATIVES:

1. Messiness

2. Lots of clean up required [including cotton, polish remover and q-tips]

3. Time consuming

 Would I do water marbling nail art again? Probably. 

Would I recommend you giving water marbling a try? Why not! 

Practice makes perfect, and with practice comes skills.  I do, however, recommend doing this in an area of your home with space, just in case things get a little messy.  For the parents out there, find a kid-free zone -trust me. Kids love doing creative things with their parents, especially things that look fun, messy and colorful. You've been warned, lol.

Photoshoot

Peek-a-boo

I see you.....

Photographed by: Anthony Collins

Make-up, Hairstyling & Nail art by: Aja Eskandar

Nail Art: T.H.E. Nail Studio

I worked an event last Saturday for a new nail salon opening in Los Angeles called T.H.E. Nail Studio and had a blast! The owner is a beautiful, hard working woman by the name of Dayna Wade who has a wonderful vision for her nail salon which is opening within the next few months.  There were lovely people there, artwork, h'ordeuvres, cocktails, raffles, a manicurist doing Minx nails and myself doing nail art.

I mingled a bit....

Then set up shop to do nail designs....

Fun stuff! 

I will continue to keep you updated on the progress of the salon, appointments, future events, etc.

Photoshoot

Lost In The Jungle

"Los Angeles, what is that?" [she asked]

She wasn't even from Earth,

dropped off in the "jungles" of L.A.

She was lost.

[to be continued....]

 Photographed by: Sidfly

Make-up by: Aja Eskandar

Styling by: Yoko + Lennon

Happy Halloween!

Halloween Nail Art #4: Life Of The Party!

It is now day four of this week long nail art challenge, and this has been a lot of fun so far! I hope that you are enjoying seeing a new idea everyday, maybe even something you may want to try yourself. 

I initially thought that after three days of doing this that I may be pressed for ideas, but in my meditative quiet time last night, today's theme came to me.  I randomly started thinking about Charlie Brown and The Peanuts gang in "The Great Pumpkin"....[if you haven't watched this, please do - it's a classic!]

The Peanuts gang make it to a Halloween party, and that's what triggered the idea. I decided that I wanted to do a design based off of things you might see at a Halloween party!

 

You'll definitely see pumpkins at a Halloween party, and maybe even bob for apples.  If it's a goooood party, you may see a coffin of some kind for show, and you know there will be candy corn!  Lastly, there WILL be party people willing to party ALL, NIGHT, LONG...aka my partied out Frankenstein [those are bags under his eyes]

Hope you like!

Halloween Nail Art #3: Goofy Ghosts

Today's nail art was a little challenging and the design didn't exactlyyy come out the way I anticipated, but I still like it!  I came up with the idea to do "goofy ghosts", but after I finished with the designs, my ghosts aren't so goofy - more like disco, slightly scary ghosts, which is still cool with me!

Halloween Nail Art #2: All Eyes On Me

"All Eyes On Me"

Halloween Nail Art #1: There Will Be Blood!

Halloween is almost here, and I think it's only right that I do a Halloween themed nail design every day this week!  This is the first design of the week.....

 "There Will Be Blood !!!"