take deux: pastel gradient nails

Guys, I'm in love.

Well yes, with Christian, my kitties, cooking, and Big Time Rush, but besides those.
I'm in love with gradient nails. Especially these. I mean, pat on the goddamn back, Clara. These are awesome.

I used the technique outlined in my last post but with a little twist. I first did 1 coat of my base color, the light pink, then sponged a gradient of light blue to pink on top of that. It made for a flawless, smooth, perfectly transitioning gradient.

Yes, I'm proud.

I'm dreaming up all the color combos I can using this technique. Mint to lilac, orange to purple, blue to red.... I'm excited! I used:

Color Club Take Me To Your Chateau
OPI Do You Lilac It?
Essie French Affair

Damn. These photos make my heart go pitter-pat. I think I'll go change my current mani right now...

tutorial: gradient/ombre nails

Ah, such impatience the period of almost-summer and end-of-the-semester brings. Being stuck in limbo where you know your work is almost over, but you still have finals to finish. It's like waking up on a sunny morning, getting out of bed, and getting punched in the face. Yeah. Well, I'm in that period where I'll find anything to do besides study. Besides, why study now if you can study the day before the final? I retain information better that way, anyways. ;)

So when I saw a picture of a gradient manicure, I thought, "Wow! Looks time consuming! Challenge accepted!". And I did it. I've posted a lot of different color combinations of this mani on Instagram. But here's how I do it!

Gather up your cast and crew. Take the makeup sponge and run it under some water for a sec, then squeeze out the excess (preferably in a towel - it'll help it be more dry). Try to stick to 3 to 4 shades, and choose shades that will transition into one another easily. If you need help, think of ROYGBIV. And note: I like to have my lightest color be a jelly polish because I find it really blends in nicely with the natural nail. From here, apply base coat as usual.
Polishes used (L to R):
OPI Dutch Tulips
Essie Vermillionaire
Zoya Maya
China Glaze Pink Underground

Paint somewhat thin strips of each polish on the now damp sponge. Try to overlap each color slightly.

Bounce the sponge up and down on some paper. This will help take off the excess polish, and it also helps blend the colors a bit.

Then press the sponge on your nail (darkest color at the tip). Bounce it up and down a bit, like you did on the paper. It will be very sheer. If you want more a of 'stain', you could leave it at this, but I prefer bolder colors so I like to let the nail dry for a bit, and then take the sponge (without having added any more color) and continue dabbing it on my nail. So basically, I like to 'build up' the color.

Repeat steps 2-4 on all nails.

This is how your nails should look right now.

Clean up the cuticles with acetone.

Apply topcoat (it helps blend the colors even more) and you're done! Beautiful!

Thanks for looking. Check out my instagram (claralhotak) to see the other color combinations I've done!

hair today, gone tomorrow

The above is obviously a pun. An extremely relevant pun. This post happens to be about hair. See, I posted yesterday. I posted today. So I'm a little overwhelmed. My "posting" page hasn't had this much traffic for a year or so. Oops. So yeah, I'll definitely be gone tomorrow. And the day after that...

But yes, I'm here for today.

Only because I had some people asking for a post about my hair. And by some, I mean 1. (Hi Sarah!) It was peer pressure, man. I felt so pressured to post this. So after a day of school, archery practice, baking, and shopping, I took pictures of my hair and uploaded them and even made a freakin' 300+ frame GIF. Three hundred goddamn frames. I think my computer system now has PTSD.

So yeah. Hope you enjoy ;)


Now that I got that picture out of the way, shall we continue?

My hair has always been fine. I'm talking baby soft, can't-even-hold-a-bobby-pin, braids-thin-as-sticks fine. Over the years I've come to enjoy it. Especially after a brief stint with Biotin. Shudder.

So I don't use a lot of products on my hair. I wash it at night, and let it dry overnight. I use:

The BedHeads were a duo I bought at Costco for $20. It smells like pineapples. I love pineapples.
The John Frieda I use to 'brighten' my hair a bit. I'm definitely not a blonde, but I feel that this makes my hair a bit more golden. This smells like melons and chamomile.
The red John Frieda I use as a deep conditioner. It makes my hair sssoooo sssooofffttt and it smells like Abercrombie perfume. Not that I own any.. or anything.. arg.


Do you like my condescending face? Yeah, me either. It looks like this most of the time.

I brush/style my hair in the morning. I touch a blowdryer maybe once a year. A flat iron more often. And a curling iron the most. I found this Zoe clampless iron at my TJ Maxx for around $15. It came with 3 interchangeable barrels, each different sizes. I love it.



My hair color is another thing. I don't really do anything with it. When I was younger I dabbled in semi-permanent dyes. But I stopped when Christian told me he preferred natural over any other color. So I made peace.
It wasn't even that hard. My hair is magical in the sunlight. It almost looks like gold.


Length wise, my hair is pretty long. It often doesn't feel that way because of the fine texture of it, but it goes past the, uh, boob region. Texture wise, I've never considered my hair to have much of a texture. I always called it 'nothing' textured. It wasn't straight, wavy, or curly. It still isn't. These pictures after after a day of playing with my hair, tossing it into topknots, ponytails, and buns, 2 bike rides, and many ends of archery. So don't be fooled.


I guess I have a natural ombre thing going on. Sweet.


And Sarah asked for a kitty. Here you go. Though I must warn you, cuteness can kill...



Anyways. Posting 2 days in a row is having its toll on me. I need to go hibernate for another month.
See you later!

strawberry limeade.. or something like that

After a week or so of horrible, rainy weather, the Bay Area finally got some sunshine this weekend. So, I felt like doing some summery makeup! The berry pinks and hint of lime in this look make me reminisce of strawberry limeade... not that I've ever had one or anything. That sounds like something Sonic would carry. But I do not live near a Sonic. And that ramble was pointless.

face-
Maybelline concealer
MSFN Medium
Dainty

eyes-
NYX Milk
Sweet & Punchy
Rose pigment
Petal Worship
Cranberry
Sketch
Brule
Solar White
Carbon (to set liner)
Eyeko grafitti eyeliner pen
L'oreal Telescopic mascara

lips-
Lollipop Loving (my favorite l/s ever!)

my life in instagram photos

Zoya Avril / Essie Licorice

China Glaze High Hopes / Essie Licorice / Orly Gumdrop

Chocolate macarons filled with peanut butter ganache

China Glaze Gothic Lolita

OPI Overexposed in South Beach

OPI Pedal Faster Suzi / OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam

OPI Big Apple Red / Essie Licorice

China Glaze Bare if you Dare

Essie Wicked

Chocolate macarons filled with a Chambord strawberry buttercream

China Glaze FYI

If you want to follow me on Instagram, my username is claralhotak. Thanks for looking :)