My Garden

Ever since we moved into our new house a couple of years ago, my dad has sparked an interest in gardening. With his stressful days at work as an engineer and a realtor as a side job, things can get really hectic. So I guess this was just a way to relax and calm down, while still being productive- similar to how I craft and paint my nails to calm myself down. It's quite nice to see all the beautiful and colorful flowers all over our house. I just love walking around outside and observing how the flowers and vegetables (we have a vegetable garden in the back) are doing. 

So while they were still fresh, I decided to take a couple of pictures of the flowers:

These are just a few out of the many we have. I made sure to snag a picture of those purple flowers on the top right corner especially for my mom since she really loves those. Unfortunately, the daisies died and the white flowers on the left-hand corner (along with some other flowers) were eaten by some invasive Japanese Beetles that are common in our neighborhood. 

You know, after some tough research about pesticides for my huge paper in my English class, I grew to be very against using harmful chemical pesticides. The other day I saw my dad spraying a whole bottle of pesticides and I felt horrible. Who knows how that's affecting the plants and other species besides the beetles? What if beneficial bugs are dying as well?

But then again, the beetles are beetles and they're killing the plants we tried to hard to grow. 

I wish we could use other alternatives- like spraying oil on the plants or something. From my research I've learned that most oils remove a neurotransmitter from bugs' bodies, causing them to spasm and die. I guess that's a better solution than using pesticides, but it's not as efficient either. 

Well, I just wanted to share my thoughts and ideas with you all. 

Have you been gardening lately? I'd love to see what you've grown. :)

-H.

Rose Garden Nails

Here is a nail design that I did recently. I was just in a super stressed mood Friday and wanted to relax by putting some polish on. After playing around I created this cute design that features roses and buds. My top coat ran out, so I just used a coat of clear polish that has glitter in it. Hoping to buy some Seche Vite soon (and no, I don't believe it will cause birth defects - that's just what the state of California puts on all their labels that have even the smallest trace of lead. In fact, even Starbucks products have that label- What's your take on that?).

I did this design with:
Sinful Colors - Happy Ending
Zoya - Juicy (what I'm holding in the picture)
A pink glitter polish (Sinful Colors, but I forgot the name)
Black Heart (880) - Sally Hansen (to mix with the green to create some shading on the leaves and stem)
White Creme - Wet n' Wild
Kaleidoscope - Wet n' Wild - Wet n' Wild
And a bright pink color to alternate with the Zoya - Juicy polish by Pure Ice

If you're interested in knowing what the other names are of the polishes I didn't remember, please don't hesitate to ask.

Spring Flower Nails Tutorial

1. Paint your nails a creamy purple color besides your ring finger. Here I'm using Tutu Cute by Ulta (and you have to admit that the name itself is too too cute!).

2. Now use a white polish to paint your ring finger. The one I used was Wet n' Wild's French Creme.

3. Here are the things you'll need for this nail design. Instead of a brush you can use a bobby pin or pen for the flowers and a toothpick for details.

4. Create messy dots to represent the flowers on the white base of the ring finger.

5. Now mix the purple with the white polish to create a light purple used for detailing.

6. Draw a swirly design within the flowers, like in the picture.

7. Now take out your green polish and draw 2-3 leaves around the flowers.

8. And lastly, set your design with a shiny topcoat.

Remember that this design can also be done with toothpicks and bobby pins, so don't be bummed by seeing the brush.

Also, play around with it- do the springy flowers on all your nails or on your toes, or even have a different color scheme.

Hope you all try it out! I'd love to see a picture.

XO