The Hobbit / Lord of the Rings Nails

Who's excited to see the Hobbit? It premiered last night here in a America, and I was sad that I couldn't make it. I am so excited to get the chance to see it! For anyone who hasn't seen the movies (first of all, you should), these nails represent the ring that the movies are focused on. When the ring gets hot, the Elvish words (Elf language) show up on it. I am not sure what it says; I just looked it up on Google and copied it. To do them, I just got my tiny paintbrush out, dipped it in some OPI brown, and painted them. Bing bang boom, simple as that! Have fun at the movie, I heard it was good :)

Fall/Thanksgiving Nails

Who's excited for Thanksgiving?! I know I am... Especially to gain some weight (long story)!! Anyways, these nails started out as just plain ol' French tips in the copper color, but then I decided to play off that and fade it half way down my nail. Then I of course had to add a design! So, with it being fall, I added some colorful leaves. I don't know about you, but my neighborhood is absolutely gorgeous right now with all the trees dying. Fall is truly beautiful! And it's a great time to look at your life and see what you are thankful for... I am SO thankful for my family, whom I have grown closer with these past couple months. I don't have to worry about bullies anymore because my not-so-little little brother will protect me at school! That's a great feeling. Family is the greatest; keep 'em close! Have a fabulous Thanksgiving, everyone, and don't forget to smile tomorrow, because we all have something to smile about! :)

Seize Hope Nails

HAPPY EPILEPSY AWARENESS MONTH!! This November has been a real treat for me. At my high school, with the help of my friends and classmates, I successfully started epilepsy awareness! All around the halls are little facts about the disorder, and every morning they say something about it on the announcements. On the 16th, we will have a purple-out day, and a couple days ago, I was worried about who would participate. Everyone who I go to school with is 'too cool.' Right? I guess not! All week, every day someone new will message or text me and ask what epilepsy is, what it's like, and when they need to wear purple. Friends, acquaintances, strangers, and even ex-friends are offering their support and understanding. It brings tears to my eyes!! I don't know that I've ever felt SO loved in my whole life. Thank you everyone.

What better way to spread awareness than posting embarrassing pictures of yourself on the internet? That's me, getting my first 48 hour EEG. The first one is me just being awesome, and the second one is the name of the test (Ambulatory Electroencephalography Monitoring Unit, or AEEG). That one is kind of an inside joke that only the people in my second period chemistry class (shout out to Mr. Hanson) would understand... Long story short, I am a whole lot funnier than I think I am. Anyways, an EEG is a test that monitors your brain waves and muscle movements and determines what kind of seizures you're having, when you're having them, and, if you're lucky, why you're having them. I've had three of them--none of them lasting longer than an hour. But with all of the problems I've been having lately, my doctor(s) thought it'd be necessary to hook me up for a longer amount of time. I have 24 leads (wires) on my head and one on my chest, all connected to a little box in a highly fashionable black bag. To top off the look, I am wrapped in a gauze hat. I cannot go to school or do chores. And people bring me free food. JACKPOT. The one thing that really sucks about this is I have to do whatever it takes to have a seizure--AKA go against everything I've taught myself to do over the years. Throw all of it out the window. So I'm not sleeping (and when I do, it's only for a couple of hours) and I'm stressing myself out with homework. But it's all for good reason! The more seizures, the better the results, the better the treatment. I have faith in this test and in my Jesus, and that is all that matters. I have the Lord on my side... Who am I to complain?

One question that I get A LOT is "Are you scared?"

And my answer is always the same, without a thought.

No.

James 1:2-3

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance."

How can I be with a verse like that?

Minnie Mouse Nails

Happy Halloween, everyone! I went as Mini Mouse this year (and YES, I went trick-or-treating, and I'm almost 17...), and I hung out with my friend Kelli who was a cat! It was a pretty fun night just walking around getting free candy. And it wasn't too cold, even though it was raining :) To do these nails, I just did a base red (pink would be cute, too) then used a bobby pin to dot the white on. After that, I used a toothpick to draw little black bows, then finished it off with a sparkly top coat! They look good with just regular top coat, as well. Not including dry time, these probably took me twenty minutes, tops. They are so quick and easy to do!

This is me in my costume, nails included :) I had a red jacket as well, it was just too warm inside to wear it.

PS: I'm sorry for the lack of nail designs these past couple months. I am having a ton of problems keeping my epilepsy under control, and I don't have very steady hands anymore. I will keep you all posted with how that is all going (through nail designs, of course!) and I could definitely use some thoughts and prayers :) Thanks guys!

Homecoming Nails

So, my school's Homecoming was this weekend! Aaand it was great. I went with the best people ever, and I seriously could not have asked for a better first-high-school-dance experience (yup, I'm a Junior and that was my first dance). I somehow managed to get a date, after several attempts, as did all of my friends, and that is one thing that made it so awesome! And we went as friends, so it wasn't awkward :) Anyways, nails. I designed these based on my dress, and they kinda sorta match. I will post a picture below, along with a little blurb about my wonderful (FRIEND) date of mine!

So... That's me and my date, for those of you who don't know me! And for those of you who have not read my blog before, I am epileptic, meaning I have chronic seizures (you can read my full story on that here and here). Something very special about this kid, Tanner, is that he also has seizures! In this picture, I am recovering from a pretty bad seizure in which I bit my tongue and I felt like I was hit by bus for a few days. I am so thankful that I was able to go with someone like me, though, because it meant that I didn't need to feel bad when I needed to sit down outside every couple minutes because he was asking to do the same thing, too. Throughout the night, we stuck by each others sides, and that is the greatest feeling in the world. To know that I am not alone, and to know that I am not ruining someone's night by asking them to sit out with me. Neither of us can say that we really understand what the other is going through, just because our seizures are so different, but we at least both know what it feels like to lose control. Literally. I say that his seizures are worse than mine (and he'd fight me on that one...), but he is the strongest person I know. It takes so much for me to face the day sometimes, and he always wakes up with a smile on his face, ready to tackle whatever it is inside him that is taking him away from reality. I am so honored that I got to go with him to Homecoming. We kept an eye out for each other, and I know I will continue to do so. Tanner, I am so happy we are friends, and I will be praying for you!
(Oh, yeah, that sign we're holding says, 'Our doctors say we have chronic seizures .... We say we have chronic awesomeness :)' )

Rose Nails

These nails kind of remind me of wallpaper you'd find at you grandma's house. And I love it. I'm girl and I love flowers and pink, okay? It may look complicated to do, but really, it's simple. All you do is paint the bottom coat (preferably something light, like pink or blue), and then add those little white dots with a bobby pin. Next, you use a bobby pin to add red dots (in varying sizes), and then use a toothpick to make little pink lines inside those red dots. The lines don't have to be in any particular pattern--just make them curve here and there. Then you take a light green and make the leaves with a toothpick. If you want to add more dimension, you can go over the leaves with a darker shade, like I did. Add a topcoat, and voila, you're done! Enjoy.

Sunset Nails

These nails happened by accident. I wanted to do a mountain range (with a sunset in the background), and instead of starting the fade of pink from the base of my nails, I started it at the tip. If that makes any sense at all. But anyways, after I realized my mistake, I just decided to fade the pink to orange then to yellow. Then I just whipped out my handy-dandy toothpick and painted those palm trees and birds. To do the fading I used a make up sponge that I cut into a small triangle. I would dab it in some nail polish then sponge it onto my nail. Pretty simple. I am overall happy with my accidental results!

Checkered Nails

Believe it or not, these nails are super easy. The only hard part is finding out the right places to put the big dots (the ones that have pink on them), but that isn't difficult at all! First, you do the big dots without the pink. I start at the base of my nails with two dots and then I go up from there. The trick to finding the right placement is to always have straight lines diagonally and horizontally.  After that, I connect the dots with smaller dots and then add the pink on top. It's so easy because all it is is a bunch of dots! Good luck trying it :)

Batman Nails

Nananananana BATMAN!! As some of you may know (if you live in America), the premiere of The Dark Knight Rises is tomorrow night! I must say, I was very excited to do these nails because superhero nails seem to be a real hit. I apologize if you were excited to see some Spiderman nails (the movie came out a couple weeks ago)--I spur the moment ended up going to the premiere and didn't have time to do a design. But maybe I'll do them later! Anyways, I'm pretty proud of these nails, and I hope you enjoy them and the movie! (Oh, and if you can't tell, the thing on my fore finger is actually a person. It's Bane, the main villain in the movie).

Woven Nails

I tried this design a couple months ago on my toes (whenever I'm not sure if I can do a design, I test it on my feet), and it went pretty good. So when I start to them on my fingers I'm like PSHHH. I can do this. Wrong! It was really hard! I started with a red base coat (color compliments by Daniel and Alyssa--thanks, the color was gorgeous) then I broke out my white and did some stripes. Easy? Yeah. Now the hard part--figuring out where to put those darn lines. My downfall here was not making the stripes far enough part so I didn't really have enough room to make the little lines. My suggestion is if you want to make these nails, look it up on YouTube...

Fourth of July Nails

Happy 4th of July! I obviously had to do a nail design that fit the holiday, so here they are! The thumb is the flag (and if you didn't know that...), the index is just some jewels, the middle is a failed attempt at stars, the fore finger is a heart made out of dots (which I think was pretty creative the way I did it), and the pinky is a failed attempt at a firework. Overall, I am not very proud of these nails. But I love the idea! Have fun watching fireworks and eating food :)

Crescent Manicure

Again, this is my first design in a while. And it's sort of plain. But that's okay! This manicure is so in in the nail polish world... The crescents have taken the place of the French and the one finger that is different from the rest (usually on the fore or ring finger) is also very stylish. That's it! Have a good day :)

British/One Direction Nails

Sorry for not blogging in forever! The truth is, I've been pretty busy (because I got a job and I was studying for school), and the one time I did my nails this past month, I left my camera at a friends house. So. Here we are! I finally got around to doing my nails again. I chose to do One Direction nails because I am a teenage girl and I like them. For anyone who doesn't know, they are a British boy band who got famous from the X-Factor in 2010. They are actually talented singers and that's why I like them. Oh, and they're all extremely attractive (except Louis Tomlinson, who looks like my dad). There is Harry Styles (sounds like a fake name, right?), Liam Payne, Zayn Malik, and Niall Horan. Niall is not British --he is actually Irish. I was planning on doing an Irish flag on one of my nails for him, but I spaced out and forgot to make one of my nails white (if you want to do these nails with the Irish flag, it's just three vertical lines: green, white, then orange). I promise I'll do my nails more often! Have a great summer :)

The Avengers Nails

       I'm going to the premiere of The Avengers tomorrow! So of course I had to do a nail design on it. For anyone who does not know, The Avengers is a comic about all these superheroes that get together to fight. I looked it up to see all of the superheroes in it (thinking there'd only be 5 or 6), and there was about 1,000,000 people on it. So I picked the main ones that I saw in the commercials. Starting on the thumb, I did Hulk (which I am particularly proud of--it involved shading and mixing colors), then Captain America, Black Widow, Iron Man, and Thor. Thor is kinda lame because it's hard to make a hammer look cool on nails.
       In other news, tomorrow is my best friend's 16th birthday! She is easily one of the best friends I've ever had ever. We've been friends since 8th grade, but this year (10th grade) we really became close. Whenever her dad is gone for business, she stays at my house, and she's one of the only people I could have over to my house for two weeks and not get sick of. It's so nice to have a friend that doesn't start any drama, always makes me laugh for the stupidest reasons, and says she'll pray for me when I'm having a crappy day. We're gonna have a fabulous time at the premiere tomorrow for her birthday! Love you, Alyssa <3

Simple Sparkle Nails

My nails broke, so I am limited to doing short nail designs for a little bit! But that's a good opportunity for me to show designs that my friends and family can do who don't have strong nails. This one is VERY do-able. A boy could probably do it. All it is is a pearl colored base coat with a sparkly color (mine is from OPI) painted two-thirds of the way down the nail. To make it look a little faded, I did a thin coat down to the two-thirds mark then did a few more layers, each one getting closer and closer to the tip. It's definitely not as intricate as I usually do, but I'm digging it! It'll be nice to have short, simple nails for a little bit :) Try this one out; it's really easy!

Space Nails

This picture doesn't do this design much justice. The glare doesn't let the true colors shine through! In real life, they're even moore gorgeous, just take my word for it ;) I've seen a couple of these designs online and my mom has been bothering me to do them, and I finally got the perfect colors to do it! I started with a black base color then used a make up foam thing to smudge some white nail polish on in a swirling fashion, just so that the other colors that weren't quite as dark as the black would show through. Next, I used a new color by Orly that looks like a space color (there's really no other way to describe it), metallic brown, pink, blue, and olive. Then I used my bobby pins and some silver to make a couple stars here and there. To finish it off I did a sparkly top coat called Northern Lights (could it be any more perfect?) and there was perfection!

Easter Nails

Happy Easter, everybody! Easter, besides reminding me of Jesus, reminds me of eggs and little chicks. So that's what I painted! Whenever the fam and I dye eggs we always do pastel colors (and so does everyone else), so I picked out all my pastel colors and got started. I did French tips with all of the colors besides yellow, as you can see. Again, to do French tip, all you have to do is paint the color half way down your nail, wait for it to dry, then use an eye shadow make-up brush dipped in 100% acetone then wipe it off to the desired place. Easy as pie! Then for the lil' chick I used a toothpick to make a little zig zag border then I just used the regular brush to fill it in. To finish it off, I used a toothpick to make the beak and bobby pins to make the eyes. And of course, you ALWAYS put top coat on French tips, otherwise it looks really dumb. Keep it classy and put some top coat on!

He Loves Me Not Nails

Spring is FINALLY in the air! Today it was very nice and sunny, and I wanted to do something bright and springy. There's always those movies (and don't lie--we've all done it at some point), where the main girl picks up a daisy and plucks the petals off muttering 'He loves me...' then 'He loves me not...' Rumor has it is that when you have plucked every petal and you are left with only the stem, that is how your man feels about you. He loves you or he loves you not. All according to a daisy. Who comes up with this? Anyways, I started with a baby blue, painted the white on with a little brush, used a bobby pin to make the yellow dots, and outlined everything in black. After using a tooth pick to write the words, I looked at my nails and they looked bland. So I added the red hearts and outlined them in black, too. Perfect!

Purple Day Nails

Did you know that 1% of the world's population has some form of epilepsy? Or that there are dozens of different types of epilepsy, and over 40 different types of seizures?  Most people don't. It is one of the most misunderstood disorders even though 1 in 3 adults knows someone who has it. Seizures can be very serious--but they can also be controlled. 75% of people with epilepsy have controlled their epilepsy enough to the point that they can live normal lives. It's not something that you ever get used to, but it's something that becomes normal enough that you begin to not notice it very much. I designed these nails in hopes of somewhat capturing my seizure experience (even though that's definitely impossible), which you can read more on here. But I think I did pretty good. It shows that it's confusing and jumbled, but I can also turn it into something beautiful. It's full of sharp edges, and it definitely isn't graceful, but maybe I can conquer it. Maybe, just maybe, I can make it beautiful, and maybe I can help other's living with epilepsy, too. Every March 26th is Purple Day (or Epilepsy Awareness Day). It is internationally recognized, but not very many people know about it. Someday, I want to wake up and see a WAVE of purple, but that can't happen until the word is spread. Do you think you could help me do that? Tell your friends, tell your family, wear something purple, post it on facebook... Let's just all do SOMETHING. Type in epilepsy into Google. Learn something new in honor of those fighting!

Fire/Hunger Games Nails

To a lot of people looking at this picture right now, they're probably thinking, 'Cool, those look like fire!' But there are other people out there who see these and automatically associate them with the Hunger Games (like me whenever I see anything fire related). And for all those die-hard fans like myself, you probably remember that when Katniss first enters the arena, she looks down and realizes that her fire nails are chipping (the horror!). Her prep team painted them as fire for her interview with the ever-so-fabulous Caesar Flickerman. So, me being me, I recreated them! I started with the fire colors--I faded an orange color (that is from China Glaze's Hunger Games Collection, and it's absolutely gorgeous) and a yellow onto a white base. Then I just used my handy dandy toothpick and did the black. To make them extra special I added a glitter top coat and two gems! So Hunger Games-esque. And for anyone who hasn't read the Hunger Games, you need to. It's the best thing that will ever happen to you. Okay, just kidding (or am I?). Anyways, Happy Hunger Games, everyone! The world will be watching <3

Pac-Man Nails

I had like a MILLION people request me to do this design. Why, I do not know, but they are pretty cute! After my last design, I hit an 'uninspired' period, and I didn't do a nail design for like two weeks. But the other day, I broke out my nail polish and got started on this. After I finished the last blue ghost (or whatever the heck that thing is) and I was going to start the pac-man on the thumb, I ran out of black :O. But crisis averted! Today my friend Hannah lent me her black, and I was able to finish :) Hope you like it!

Pink Bow Tie Nails

I'm in love with this design :) I was going for something simple, so I use pastel colors (nude and light pink), and it turned out way better than I expected! Classy and simple. I've realized that when I do light colors, I need to start with a white base otherwise the color isn't opaque and you can see my nails through it. Ew! So I did that, painted the nude color on, then made another white base in the shape of the bows. I waited for it to dry then added the light pink on top and outlined it in black. Voila, all done!

Matte Black Zebra Nails

The design itself isn't much, but I really wanted to try something with my new nail polish! It's called matte black and I got it on Amazon by Zoya. You can get it by other brands, too. It has no shine like normal polish, so when you add normal polish on top, it makes it stand out. So adding the same color to it is subtle, but I like it!

Valentine's Day Nails

Everyone's had those heart shaped candies on Valentine's Day... So why not paint them? I had to buy all new pastel colors (except the purple--I borrowed that from a friend) in order to do this design, but I'm glad I did because they're adorable colors! On the ring finger it says QT pie, but I messed up the Q and the little line is on the wrong side. But that's okay, it's really hard to write words upside down, and that's the only mistake I made ;) Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!

Fish Scale Nails

I am on my high school swim team, and varsity districts are coming up so I figured I would do a themed nail design! I decided to do intricate fish scales. I was going to do a blue M on my ring finger, but I spaced out and started doing the wrong colors. So this is what the outcome is! I faded light blue and light green together (which was really hard for some reason, I kept messing up), then I used a toothpick to draw the scales on. That's it! Good luck at districts, Celts :)

Epilepsy Awareness Nails

In case you can't tell, the ribbons on my nails are purple, and purple represents epilepsy. Today my nails have a very special meaning, and I'd like to tell the story of my personal journey with epilepsy. So here we go...

I was diagnosed with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy in April of last year after I had a grand-mal (big) seizure for the first time. What I didn't know was that I'd been having seizures for years before that. I was scared to find out that there are over 40 different types of seizures, and I have three different kinds.

The main type that I have are myoclonic, which means 'jerking' and they effect the top part of my body. I used to have them every morning in sixth grade, and they continued all the way up until my diagnosis. Each individual seizure lasts a couple seconds, but I was having them for up to a half an hour everyday. I had always thought they were normal; everyone has those jerks when they're tired, right? I guess not.

The worst part about the myoclonic episodes are that I'm conscious and I know what's going on. I can feel them coming because I have 'auras' (something that warns me when a seizure is about to happen), but by the time the aura comes it's too late to do anything. Part of my seizures are that I feel extreme fear throughout the episode, and it makes me scream, whimper, and cry sometimes when they happen. I've never seen myself have one, but when I have a serious one I can feel my eyes roll back and my arms and chin come into my chest and twitch. It's painful and scary, but once it's over, it's over, and I can go on with the rest of my day.

Something that surprises people is that I am not triggered by flashing lights. In fact, flashing lights are one of the least common triggers for people with epilepsy. I am triggered by sleep deprivation, air deprivation, and strong emotions.

I am now on medication and the seizures are much more controlled, but I still feel handicapped by the stereotypes that society has given me. There are days that I feel like it's holding me back, but I've learned that this disorder is a gift. Who's to tell me that I can't be the next da Vinci of nail art? Or that I can't light the world on fire like Alfred Noble? Who knows, maybe I'll rule the world like Caesar and they'll make a statue of me like Alexander the Great. There's no reason that I can't because all of the people above have made history and done incredible things, even though they all had epilepsy, too. Over the course of the year, I've learned that I am Hailey, and I have epilepsy. But epilepsy does not have me. I am living day by day, seizing each one as I go.

Japanese Inspired Nails

These nails were surprisingly simple--all I did was pick a light base coat then use my tiny paintbrush to do the rest! To find the japanese characters, I just looked online. There were some pretty cool ones, but I only wanted to do two so that they would stand out on my nails rather than just all be the same thing. The thumb one means "love" and the middle one means "God." Not only are they beautiful characters, they have beautiful meanings. The cherry blossoms are simple and they make the black letters really pop. For the base coat--I chose this adorable light green, which I love, but I'm sure it would good with light pink, too! To finish off the job I added a sparkly/shimmery top coat.

Make A Wish Nails

These nails are so easy and so adorable! They seriously took me like two minutes (not including drying time). All I needed was a light base color, black, white, a tiny paintbrush, and a bobby pin. For the black stem and white lines I used my paintbrush. No need for it to be perfect; I just made little random slashes. For the little black dot on top of the stem I used a bobby pin, but you could probably do that with the paintbrush as well! Super fast, super easy, and super cute!

Playing Card Nails

Starting on the thumb is the King of Hearts then the Ace of Spades, the Four of Diamonds, the Queen of Hearts, and the Two of Clubs. This design is very intricate and just this one hand took me a whole hour!!! The only tools I used were the super tiny brush and the bobby pin. There's no way to really explain how I did it besides saying that I found a picture online and tried to copy it... It's not the best. But practice makes perfect, especially in nail art! So keep on trying :)

Nail Art For Dummies

These are the basics you need for making nail art and designs. Not all of it is a necessity, but everything really helps if you're interested in trying nail art!

The polishes in the bottles are French Tip white by Orly and a simple top coat. I added the white to this picture not because I use it in every design, but because it is reeally important to buy French Tip white rather than just plain white. French Tip white is the only kind of white that shows up opaque on nails. It is not only found in Orly, though. There are plenty of other brands that carry it!

Right above the polish bottles there is a toothpick and an opened up bobby pin. I use the toothpick for really tiny dots, like the dots in my Rainbow Nails design. The bobby pin I use for making slightly larger dots, like in the Cupcake Nails.

Next to that is the foam I referred to in my Faded Zebra Nails. As you can see, I painted one purple stripe, then one blue stripe on top. Then I simply pressed it like a stamp onto my nails (with a white base color painted on them) then patted it a little until it looked blended. Simple as that!

Then there are five paintbrushes/dotters. The swirly designed sticks are the dotters. They are basically just super fancy toothpicks and bobby pins made specifically for nail art. They aren't a necessity if you have some toothpicks and bobby pins lying around! Under those are my paintbrushes. The one directly below is my super tiny brush, and I use that in designs like the Birthmas Nails. Under that is another tiny brush that is a little bigger. I use that one for zebra print. The last paint brush is for french tips and cleaning. I always manage to get paint on my skin, so after I'm done designing, I just dip that brush in nail polish remover and brush the mistakes away!

Under everything is a little piece of cardboard. When you dip your nail polish onto the cardboard it doesn't soak through like a piece of paper or a paper towel.

These are the absolute basics (minus the dotters and foam) for nail art! I hope this helps for anyone interested in trying this out :)

Cheetah Print Nails

These nails are super simple and easy. Cheetah print is never exact, so there's a lot of room for error. I just painted my nails a bright pink base color, dotted the white dots simply with the nail polish brush (no bobby pin needed--there's no need for it to be that perfect), then used a bobby pin to outline the white with the black. Sometimes I'd put a little C shape around it, others I'd put one line on each side. Really, it's just abstract, and no one can tell if you mess up :) so try it out if you're interested in nail art, because this design is really easy!!