Ponyo nails

Shortly after doing my Totoro nails, I got an itch to tackle another Studio Ghibli film! Ponyo is such a sweet story with a charming take on the story of the little mermaid. Ponyo is so cute and expressive as a goldfish/tadpole/chicken-legged thing! Unfortunately there aren't any little creatures in Ponyo that are relatively easy for me to paint, like little totoros and makkuro kurosukes. So instead I opted for a more abstract look. I hope you can tell which nail is for what :D

The thumb and little finger are easy; it's Ponyo and all her sisters! If I were to do this again, I'd put a little more effort into the background instead of just a solid colour. The ring finger is Sosuke with his bowl cut, yellow shirt, and dark green-grey shorts. The middle finger is Ponyo with her rusty-coloured hair, pink dress, and bloomers, although the mop of hair kind of blends into the pink too much. The index finger is Fujimoto's striped suit and cravat :>

Polishes used:

• China Glaze For Audrey (base turquoise colour on little finger and thumb)
• Lise Watier Chic Tartan (deep khaki for Sosuke's "shorts")
• Essie Too Taboo (bright fuchsia for triangle on index finger)
• Clinique Summer in the City (bright coral pink for Ponyo's dress)
• Clinique 70° and Sunny (yellow block on ring finger)
• Clinique Splish Splash (blue striping for index finger)
• OPI Alpine Snow (base white for middle and index fingers)
• acrylic paints (skin, hair, and dress for the schools of Ponyos; hair for middle finger Ponyo)
• Black liquid acrylic (black stripe on ring finger)

As always, it was fun to do and a good learning experience. I wonder what I should do next? Spirited Away?

Lazy summer wear

Hello, new favourite summer find: lululemon's Salty Swim dress is intended as a swim cover up, but I took one look at its low armholes and drapey, criss-cross back, and thought, yup I am going to live in you this summer. It was on sale when I picked it up and it's not available anymore though (sorry!)

It's so lightweight and breezy. I'm wearing an aerie bikini top underneath since the low cut of the arm holes and back exposes quite a bit of whatever I choose to wear underneath. It works out anyway; I wear bikini tops a lot in the summer instead of proper bras because sweating in a bra feels super gross.

This is my lazy person's summer outfit; I am a lazy person. Most of the time I don't even do up the buckles on the straps of my sandals--I just let them flap around while I walk. I'm going to Hawaii in October and will probably be throwing this dress/hat/bikini/bag on a lot, both on and off the beach.

By the way, tons of blackberries along that path in the park. A lot of them were out of reach (too high up/too deep into the prickly bushes) or guarded by spiders (it's a miracle I didn't run away crying). I am bad at picking blackberries and most of the ones I picked were sour D:

It's almost the end of August! Go to the beach, go swimming at the lake, do all the things you promised yourself you'd do before the weather cools down!

Clinique #FaceForward: Sneak Peek + Nail Art

The lovely folks over at Clinique recently sent over a few new skin care products. Even though I am absolutely buried under skin care products to work through, I am super excited to try them because Clinique has been on their A game for new products. The iconic yellow lotion is now available as Dramatically Different Moisturizing Cream for more intense hydration, and there are some new masks to play with: Pore Refining Solutions Charcoal Mask, Even Better Brightening Moisture Mask, and Turnaround Revitalizing Instant Facial.

Last month, Clinique launched their #FaceForward global campaign, which celebrates passionate, daring women and their aspirations. Clinique is encouraging us to ask ourselves, if you could give your future self any advice, what would it be? and share the answers over Twitter. (Not sure what kind of lofty goals I can create for myself though, considering I'm struggling as it is just to establish regular sleeping patterns @__@) In any case, I was charmed by the cute, playful drawings on the accompanying campaign postcards. Of course that means...

Nail art time!

I took a few elements from the card and doodled on my nails while binge-watching Scandal on Netflix.

Are you getting tired of white base nails yet? Sorry, not sorry; white is the perfect base for anything and I'll never get sick of it. I used Sephora Formula X White Matter, with Layla Ceramic Effect CE84 Yellow Submarine for the stars, Clinique Pinkini for the heart, lipstick, and lips, and black liquid acrylic ink.