Rainbows... yes, it's ANOTHER gradient video!

Does anyone remember a nail design I did a couple of years ago that looked like this?

I got quite a few requests for a tutorial on how to achieve this look, but I was never able to capture the process using photographs. Now, however, I have a brand-new tutorial showing you what you need to make your own soft, streaky rainbow! It's coming soon, so let me know if you're interested!

Yea, it's a teaser. Sue me. :D

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Adorable, Sad Kitty Video

Have I ever mentioned that I absolutely love animals? It's true, I am seriously crazy about all sorts of animals- cats and dogs and sloths and penguins and... yea. I'm that person. :D

When I saw this video, I giggled so much. The silly kitty is just standing there, and could jump out at any point. But no, instead he chooses to do this:




Yea, that video has been open on my laptop for DAYS now. I play it whenever I want a giggle, and it works every time!

Poor kitty!

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A New Layniefingers Video Series - Tips & Tricks

Hi! I'm so excited to finally have some new content for everyone! While recording some videos, I realized I have lots of little tips that don't really need a whole 5-10 minute video explaining them. So, I'm going to do these as they come to me and collect them into a playlist of tips and tricks!

This first one is extremely useful, and I use it fairly often! I find that the cotton swabs you buy tend to be large, so when I'm trying to either clean up my cuticle area I take polish off my nails accidentally. Plus, if I make a mistake on my nails, they're entirely too big to do a quick spot removal.

The solution? If you have a toothpick or a bamboo skewer, you can make your own tiny cotton buds for easy cleanup! Watch the video to see how.



Be sure to leave a comment if you find this helpful. Plus, let me know if you have any quick tips you'd like to share or see!

*Edited to add: For those of you who saw the first tweet about this post, I apologize. Apparently, I am still quite a video editing noob and ended up only posting MOST of the video. When I went to add in the annotations at the end, I realized that woops, I messed up. It took about 5 hours to reupload the fixed version... ahhh, my internet sucks. :D

Sometimes the best tools you have are the ones you make!

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Rainbow Zebra- how to do the zebra print

Whew, I finally got this one edited and uploaded! Here's the second half of the rainbow zebra tutorial... Hopefully it makes sense!

I love the metallic sparkle of the left nail. It's sponged over silver, as opposed to the right which is over white.

I love zebras. They're cute!

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A video tutorial on doing a sponged gradient nail!

I got such a great response to the sponged gradient tutorial I did. Unfortunately, quite a few people posted that they didn't quite follow my steps, so I decided the best thing to do was to do a video tutorial! That way, it's clear what I'm doing and when.

Recording the video didn't take all that long, but holy cow did editing it take a long time! Thankfully it didn't make me want to scream or cry this time. I just need more experience editing, which is a good thing. That means you'll get lots more videos to come!



I'm also working on the followup to this video, where I'll show you how to add the zebra stripes. That's actually a pretty doable process, if I can get the energy and the time to shoot it!

Since I'm doing more videos now, why not leave me a comment to let me know what sort of tutorials you'd like to see? I have several planned, but I'm always looking for more ideas.

Thanks for watching, and if you liked this video why not thumb it up and subscribe? It would totally make my day!

Wheee, I'm finally enjoying making videos!.

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Viva la Nails Order Unboxing!

I love getting nail mail! I recently placed an order with Viva la Nails using the gift certificate I won recently. I spent ages trying to pick out what I wanted to order! I finally narrowed down my choices, though, and I'm so excited to see what I got!

Since I was so excited to open my package, I decided to share the fun with you guys. Watch the vid, and get a sneak peek at some of the goodies I'll be using in upcoming nail art!



Some of the items I bought were on clearance, so I can only link you to the category. The rest, though, I'll link directly to the items so you can get your own if you like!

Neon Green Glitter Dust (clearance)
Water Decal Nail Wraps #29
Green Dazzling Sticker Paper
Blue Striping Tape
Silver (holographic) Super Flitter
Crimson Nail Art Feathers
Purple Dazzling Paper

Thanks, Viva la Nails, for hosting such a fun giveaway!

See my disclosure statement for more information.

A Closer Look At KKCenterHK's Water Decals

Whew! I finally get to share my somewhat exciting news! Ok, it's not all that exciting unless you're me, but I'm so pumped I can barely contain myself! It's been a busy weekend...

If you've been a long-time reader here, you know I've been wanting to do videos for a long time. Unfortunately, I kept running into problems- I didn't have a camera, then my camera's video files didn't play nicely with video editors. Once I figured that out, the actual editing of video sent me into near nervous breakdown territory! Finally, once I overcame that obstacle, I found that youtube was chewing up my pretty video and spitting out really icky compressed stuff.

I wasn't happy... but finally after years of longing and working and trying to make sense of things, I have finally figured it out! Well, actually, my husband figured it out, and helped show me what to do, but I had the good sense to marry him, so I'm still claiming this one! So, here's my first almost-awesome video! Let's take a look at how to use these super-awesome water decals from KKCenterHK!



I've got a couple of photos of the nails I did, as well... and again, I got bubbles. I should have used the new topcoat instead of the old thick one, but live and learn. :D

So yay! Now that I've got the how down, hopefully I can start working on video tutorials for fun stuff! I'm so excited that I actually didn't sleep last night... I love what I do!

Some products in this post were provided for consideration.

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Video editing when you're a moron.

Handwritten on the nearest thing within reach- a priority mail box.

You know, I'm a pretty tech-savvy person. I've been able to learn new technology, I've built my own computer years ago before I used laptops. I worked as a radio DJ and actually spliced tape to create perfectly-timed clips. I've made Flash video and motion graphics.

So why the [expletive deleted] is video editing so hard for my brain to grasp? Seriously, this ish is melting my brain and it's making me irate. I don't know why I'm so stubborn but I definitely am. When there's something I want to do but I can't?

Well... it's not pretty. So here I am with several videos worth of material filmed and me getting more and more angry, wanting to just move forward and get it stuck into my brain. But it's not like something you can read a quick tutorial on and understand.

No, the only way (at least for me) to get it is to DO it. This started out with me opening After Effects and getting confused, then closing it. My husband tried to work with me, since he's pretty good with After Effects, but that just resulted in screaming and tears. Then I spent several times opening After Effects, screaming at it and crying because I felt so stupid, and then closing it again.

Are you seeing a pattern here? Because I was, for sure. There were entirely too many tears involved for something as stupid as video editing. And we're talking months of this.

I'm past the tears, and I've got a video almost ready to go, except that I'm determined to put a voiceover on it, because it's boring as hell without it. That's right, I'm a masochist, but I AM LEARNING THIS.

Video to come. Eventually. Maybe, if I don't choke someone first.

My sanity was not provided by any manufacturer for consideration.
I would love to review some, if anyone has any to spare.

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Misted Paths: An Experiment in Monochrome

OMFGPonies, I feel SO accomplished! I know, I know, it's just a video, but I've figured out how to combine my photos, animated tutorials, and video footage into cute videos for YouTube! That makes me super happy, and also means I'll be doing lots more video soon! But let me get to the good stuff...

What you're looking at is Wet and Wild's Grey's Anatomy. Have I mentioned I love this polish? It's got such an understated glow to it that only shows up in certain circumstances. I could write for ages about this polish, but that's a post for another day!

However, for this design I put on three or four coats of Grey's Anatomy so that it would be opaque. Then I used topcoat to adhere black rhinestones onto the nail in swirly patterns. For some reason, this made me think of cobblestone paths that twisted away in a morning's mist.

Also, these rhinestones came from Viva la Nails. I love them, and find myself reaching for them often. They're perfect for making eyes- add a big dot of white polish and then drop one of these tiny stones into place, and you've suddenly got an eye with a LOT of character!

Yea, I read WAY too much fantasy. Don't judge, 'k?

My favorite part of this, though, would have to be the video that my husband helped me put together. Granted, I could sit here and fiddle with it for another week or two but I wanted to just get it posted so I can move on to other videos. So, let me share with you my new intro and outtro, as well as my first YouTube tutorial!

 

Let me know what you think about this design. Would you wear it? Is it just a bit too much? Is it not nearly enough? Talk to me!

Til next time!

Rhinestones were provided by Viva la Nails for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Nail Art in Britney Spears' New Video "I Wanna Go"

I'm not sure if you've heard about this, so let me break the news: Britney Spears has a new video out. Whether you like it or not, she was wearing some interesting nail polish in it!

I must have spent an hour watching the video, hitting pause, capturing images. I finally figured out what she was wearing, and it made me laugh. It's a very simple look-white thumbs, black pointer fingers, red middle fingers, white ring fingers, and black pinkies. Very bold and graphic, it's a fun look that goes well with her outfit and the video.

Feel free to watch the video for yourself. It's cute, if you like that sort of thing. It'll be stuck in my head for a week now!

 

Til next time!

If it weren't for YouTube, I'd never see videos at all!

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