2012.11.22 - slender nails and flowers

Here's some of my recent nail art.

For Halloween this year, I decided to do something that had been trending more recently: Slender Man. I started out by making a simple gradient of grey on my nails. Then I added the dark silhouettes of trees, and finally I added Slender Man reaching forward to grab his victim. I got this design from thissss video; this wasn't an original idea. c: She is super talented though and it was really fun duplicating her art.  

This was the first design I did at the University of Washington. I decided it was finally time to do my nails again, but I didn't have time to look up any cool ideas. I ended up doing a really simple flower and vine pattern, but I rather liked the way it looked. It reminds me of the holiday season for some reason...

Lastly, this design is actually from a while ago. I believe I did this one over the summer. Those flowers would probably be much more impressive if I had painted them, but they are just pressed flowers. I got the idea from a youtube video, went out and picked some tiny flowers, pressed them for a week or so, and plastered them to my nails. I didn't think about the fact that they would brown after a while, which they did. After having them on my nails for around a week, the edges of the petals began to brown and I was forced to remove this design! It was definitely worth trying though and would be a great way to get a beautiful design in no time at all!

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and I am thankful for all of you coming to check out my page. Come back soon to see more nail art and outfits!

AprilLily

2012.09.07 - updates!

I'm backkk! And I'm on YouTube!! I've recently been inspired to start blogging again. I think I'll have a lot more time now that I'm out of high school; it was senior exams that made me stop blogging months ago. I've been carrying my camera with me everywhere and trying to snap photos of myself and my surroundings on a daily basis. 

I'm starting my first year of college at the University of Washington in a couple weeks, so I decided that through this big transition, I wanted to keep better records of my experiences. I've always been one of those people that loves keeping a journal and taking pictures to remember everything. I thought the easiest way for me to do this would be to start a personal blog, as well! I had been wanting to for a while, and finally set aside a bit of time to get it up and running. Check it out here if you're interested. It only has a few posts at this time, but I will be updating it pretty often, so come back soon to see more! 

I'm very excited to be back and will be posting new outfits and fashion tips soon, so stay tuned for those. For the time being, check out my first YouTube video! It's a little shaky, but hopefully I'll get the hang of filming myself soon. I probably won't update my YouTube channel as often as I do my personal blog (or this one), but I will attempt to upload videos regularly. 

Thanks for sticking with me through my hiatus, and come back soon to see more! 

AprilLily

2012.03.26 - my little pony

floral dress - Nordstrom Rack
paisley top - Nordstrom Rack
dark blue sweater - thrifted
cream camisole - American Eagle
horse necklace - keychain charm from I don't know where..
black ribbed tights - mom
woven oxfords - Marshall's

So, I've been sick for the past week and staying home from school. That means no new outfits recently, but I'll be able to post all the pictures I have waiting from previous outfits.

Lots of patterns and colors in this outfit, but I think it worked because everything was dark and saturated in color except for the middle layer, which only peaked out a bit.

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll be trying to recuperate and will post my last outfit pictures for you. Check back soon for that and new outfits finally!
AprilLily

2012.03.14 - catch up

Another catch-up outfit today. I'm downstairs today because I didn't feel like wearing my shoes upstairs after walking around in the rain. 

shirt - Costco
belt - Alleykat
skirt - thrifted
tights - Forever21
socks - Daiso
oxfords - NordstromRack

Nothing to interesting here; I did pin up my bangs though because I slept on them weirdly or something. I only have one more old outfit to post, then I'll start taking pictures again for new outfits. I haven't been all that inspired lately due to school stuff, crappy colleges not giving me any financial aid, and being sick again (and hoping I'm not getting other people sick). Also, my grandma came back to the states from China, so I've been helping my mom keep her entertained.

I'm dog-sitting for my mom's friend again this week, as well, so I might post some pictures of Chelsea and my doggy playing.

I hope you all enjoyed March and have an even better April! Thanks for stopping by and remember to follow to see more.
AprilLily

2012.03.013 - plain

sweater - mom
shorts - diy cut from childhood jeans
pink tights - mom
earrings - ForLove21
ankle boots - NordstromRack

A really simple outfit this day, but I rather liked changing it up with some minimalism. It was another comfort-over-fashion day. I didn't really pick the most flattering clothes; light tights make legs look larger and sweaters are shapeless. The black shorts, however, slimmed my hips (hopefully). I'm most self-conscious of my hips and upper thighs, so I usually cover up those bits with my skirts and dresses. I've been working on bettering my exercise and eating habits, though. If I can keep it up, I should be able to reach my goal level of "tone-ness" by shorts season.

There isn't really much to say about this outfit, so I'll leave you with a short post. I hope you enjoyed this and come back for more soon!
AprilLily

2012.03.12 - ruffles

I've been gone for quite a while, but I'm finally back! I'll probably have some spotty posting habits until June because of school finals and IB exams. ): I'm trying to keep updating my blog occasionally though so I don't drop it completely. It's always so hard to start blogging again after a break from it. 

ruffle dress - AlleyKat

blue velvet button-down - thrifted originally from The Limited

navy tights - mom

pink camisole - Costco

ring - mom

This outfit was from back when it was a bit colder and I started it out with the shirt because of its warmth. 

This dress is one of those pieces that I reach for when I have no idea what to wear. It seems to match pretty well with many cardigans and jackets that I have, which makes it easy to style. It has interesting details other than the voluminous ruffles such as the pearl buttons and leather straps. I wore this out shopping once and a female cashier told me that she had purchased the same dress in a little boutique in California. I've always wanted to find unique articles of clothing in those boutiques and I thought it was pretty cool that my dress was sold in shops like that even though I didn't purchase it there. 

I just wanted to put up a quick outfit post to make some progress on old outfits I have pictures of. I haven't really taken pictures of outfits recently because I don't want too many to pile up. I also got a new camera and am trying to figure out how best to take pictures of my outfits. Now that it is finally starting to warm up (a tiny bit) here in Washington, I will probably be taking more pictures outside! I can't wait for better quality photos and lighting. 

I hope you all are enjoying the beginning of Spring and better weather! I will post again soon, so check back for new stuff.

AprilLily

Nail Art - Galaxy

So instead of another outfit today, I have a quick nail art post. I love galaxy prints and had seen this tutorial from cutepolish (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EMgt4_jW5U&ob=av3e) on youtube a while ago. I was waiting for my nails to grow out a bit more to try it. I modified the colors a bit to fit my taste more, but the basic idea is the same.

black polish with white sponged on

yellow and pink sponged on top of the white

purple and blue sponged and white spots added

glitter polish added

final result with top coat

polishes in order of used:

Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat - Sally Hansen
Black Creme - Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine
French White Creme - Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine
Auriga - Sinful Colors
pale pink (no name) - Amera
Wing it Wine Creme - NYC
Blue Moon - Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine
Kaleidoscope - Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine
Clear - Revlon

If I were to do this again, I would probably make the nebulae more defined. I would add more of the blue polish to add more cool tones. The dominant feel was warm because of the yellow and  pink.

I was really happy with the way they came out and they were surprisingly easy. They were very quick to do; if I had been working constantly (I worked throughout an afternoon while doing other things) it probably would have only taken 30 minutes or less.

It's also a nice design because it doesn't require many layers. Most of my nail designs end up having so many layers that they want to chip very quickly. I only used one medium layer of black for the base because the Wet'n'Wild black is super opaque. My nails are still in perfect condition after about five days, but I am going to add another layer of top coat to keep them nice longer.

On another note, the Base & Top Coat from Sally Hansen is an amazing base coat, but is pretty weak as a top coat. It is not glossy at all and doesn't seem to offer much protection on top. I like for my top coats to be really shiny and leave a smooth, glass-like surface. I love using Revlon's clear polish for a top coat. Revlon has great quality polishes that always seem to have the perfect finish.

If you have any questions on how to do this tutorial that aren't answered here or in cutepolish's video, leave a comment below! Thanks for checking out my post and follow for more nail art posts.
AprilLily