Back to School!

Very excited to announce that I have enrolled in nail tech school today!!
I'm really looking forward to improving and advancing my technique, and being able to start a new career in only 10 weeks :)
I start on Monday!

 Here is a nail timeline that I was actually chosen to participate in on Instagram.
I figured I would post it here as well, to show my progress :)
 #1- May 2011, my first real attempt at nail art on my natural nails. 
#2- About 6 or 7 months ago. My natural nails are really weak and

broke so I got acrylics put back on, but decided to give another shot at doing my own nail art. 

#3- One of my biggest challenges still, gradient nails. 

#4- About 3 months ago I learned how to do acrylic layovers & tips.  This is a recent mani that I'm proud of.

Sunday Social

Sunday Social is a fun & simple way to help your readers get to know you a little better.

You can link up with your blog at ashleyscarnivalride or acompletewasteofmakeup and join in on the fun! :)

This week is all about Halloween!  YAY!

1.  What was your favorite Halloween costume as a kid?

I think I was 7 years old.  I can vividly remember my mom's friend making me a Cleopatra costume out of felt and sequins and I think it had some sort of headpiece.

I don't think anyone really knew what I was supposed to be which is understandable because honestly... how many 7 year olds even know who Cleopatra is?  But I thought it was totally awesome!

2.  If you could go back and dress up as anything what would it be?

Two or three years ago I bought a bunch of stuff to make a Jem costume because I absolutely loved that show as a kid, and I have pink hair so that was a no brainer!  

I never got around to sewing it, but I really wish I did!

3.   Favorite costume as an adult?

 Definitely would have to be my dead Marie Antoinette costume from 2 years ago!!

She was executed by guillotine so of course I tried to make it look like my head was cut off :)

 

 Me, my sister on the left, and another Marie Antoinette we met at a bar!

4.  Favorite Halloween candy?

I always hated candy corn as a kid but now it's grown on me and I find it to be oddly addictive.

5.  Favorite Halloween memory?

I don't really have just 1 favorite memory.  

Halloween is my favorite holiday and I've partied almost every year with my sister & our friends. 

6.  What's your favorite scary movie?

I would have to say The Blair Witch Project because it was the first movie where the audience wasn't sure if it was real or not, but all of the trailers suggested it was real footage.  

It was filmed from a first person point of view, which made it seem even more authentic.

We were pretty young when it came out so of course it genuinely scared the crap out of us ...until we found out it was fake!

Versatile Blogger Award

I was given the Versatile Blogger Award by the lovely Lara over at Rocketraptor.blogspot.fi

She has an awesome & interesting blog, you should give it a read!  

Thank you so much Lara!

Here are the rules:

-If you are nominated, you've been awarded the Versatile Blogger award.

  -Thank the person who gave you this award. 

  -Include a link to their blog. 

  -Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you've recently discovered or follow regularly.

-Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award with a link to their blog. 

  -Finally, tell the 7 things about yourself.

 

I'm still a noob in the blogosphere and many of my recently discovered blogger friends have already received the award, so my list is kind of short!
I would like to give the Versatile Blogger award to the following blogs:

shortgirllongisland

The Granny Treatment

The Nailasaurus 

Siren Makeup

Every Day is Your Runway

Flawless Fashionista Styles

* I hope to see you each pay it forward and give the award to other bloggers! *

7 Things About Me:

1.  I just started getting heavily into nail art about 6 months ago & started this blog 5 weeks ago.

2.  I worked as a tattoo artist for about 1 year, but I like body piercing better & have been doing it for almost 10 years.

3.  I didn't learn how to ride a regular bicycle until I was 14.

4.  I met my boyfriend on World of Warcraft (for real! :X)

5. The first movie I ever saw in the theaters was The Little Mermaid.

6.  When I was in high school I really wanted to be a Spanish teacher, but I saw a few of my older friends struggling to find teaching jobs.

7.  I reallllyyyy want a Scottish Fold!  I had a cat for the first 20 years of my life.. but as I've gotten older, for some reason I have become terribly allergic to them!! :(

Fashion Friday: Oscar de la Renta

 Due to last week's Fashion Inspiration post being a huge success..

Me & my fashion blogger bff Cassi from The Granny Treatment have decided to do a weekly collaboration called 

"Fashion Fridays"!

Since she is the fashion savvy one, she will be choosing the designer and collection.

I will then choose 5 different items from the collection and recreate them as nail art :)

This week's inspiration is Oscar de la Renta's Fall 2012 Runway Collection

 Here are the swatches I used as my inspiration:

 

 Fall 2012, Look #48

 

Fall 2012, Look #3 

 Fall 2012, Look #13

 

Fall 2012, Look #17

 Fall 2012, Look #24

If there are any runway collections you'd like to see turned into nail art, 

leave a comment for me here or for Cassi over at The Granny Treatment!

Inspirations

I always love to see other peoples manis that were inspired by Bad Luck Barbie.

The latest comes from Finnish blogger & total sweetheart Lara over at  Rocketraptor.blogspot.fi

She was inspired by the Blood Drip tutorial, but instead of red she used green so it looks like dripping goo!

I love it!

Thank you so much for sharing, you rock Lara! :)

Pattern: Argyle!

Argyle patterned kawaii style nails with 3D acrylic bow :)

I did these using Essie "Lilacism", black acrylic and striper brush & glitter nail art striper.

Keep in Touch!

I decided to make a FB page for my nail art.

Bad Luck Barbie Facebook Page

Click the link above and "Like" the page to stay connected through FB :)

Tutorial Tuesday: Blood Drip Nails (Perfect for Halloween!)

This week's tutorial is for Blood Drip nails.

I wanted to do something simple yet spooky so you can try it out for Halloween.

These nails are popping up everywhere, and I can see why!  They are the perfect combination of scary & sexy.

I've seen them done dripping down from the cuticle or dripping from the tip of the nail.

I chose to do it dripping from the tip of the nails so it looks like I just clawed someone :)

How To Choose Colors For This Design:

I've seen this commonly done with clear coat as the base color and only using red polish, but I chose to use a neutral base color.  Either way, it looks great.

Suggested Materials:

ANY brand is fine, listed below are the ones used for this particular mani

- Base coat - Seche Clear

- Top coat - Seche Vite

- Base color - Essie "Sand Tropez"

- Any brand of red nail art striping brush - I used red acrylic paint & striping brush
- Nail dotting tool (optional)

- A clean, small paintbrush or cotton swabs, for cleaning the cuticles afterwards (optional)

- Nail polish remover (optional)

Before You Begin Painting Your Design:

These steps are optional, but definitely recommended!

- Put down some paper towels in your work area, in case of any spills.

- Be sure to remove any old nail polish.

- Gently file nails into desired shape and remove any ridges with a buffer.

- Push back cuticles with a cuticle pusher or orange wood stick and trim if desired.

- Apply a base coat to protect from potential staining from color polish; wait for it to dry completely.

 Step 1:

Apply 2 coats of base color and allow to dry.

 Step 2:
You have a few options here.
You can either use a nail dotting tool, the edge of a regular polish brush or a nail striping brush.
Using any of these methods, make a few large dots across the top half of your nail.
Varying sizes works best!

 Step 3:
Using the nail art striping brush, begin to round out your dots and pull them towards the end of the nail, making an elongated teardrop shape.
Try to keep these lines fairly thin if you can.

 Step 4:
If you are comfortable enough working with the nail art striping brush, you can make smaller teardrops in between the larger ones.
If you're not great at using the striping brush, you can skip this step :)

 Step 5:
Using the nail art striping brush, begin to connect the elongated lines of the teardrop shapes.
I did this by making a U shape that connected from line to line.

Step 6:
 Fill in the rest of the tip of the nail with red.

Step 7: (Forgot to take a picture!)

This final step is completely optional, but it will really help to achieve a neat & clean looking mani.

You can use either a small paintbrush or cotton swab, dip it in nail polish remover, and use it to remove any excess polish on your cuticles and skin.

Be careful not to use too much remover, otherwise you will risk ruining your design.

Finish off with your favorite top coat and you're done!

For all past Tutorials click here!

The Face Behind the Nails!

I know it's not nail related but I dyed my hair the other night and I love it so much, I thought I'd share it with you!

For those of you who don't know me, I've had bright pink hair for 8 or 9 years.

I've never ever changed it!  Always the same cut & color.

I'm a creature of habit and I usually am scared of major changes, so this was a big deal for me!

 

My boyfriend & I went out to dinner and our waiter said I look like a fabulous unicorn.

I looooove unicorns, so that made me very happy! :)

What do you think?

Sunday Social

Sunday Social is a fun & simple way to help your readers get to know you a little better.

You can link up with your blog at ashleyscarnivalride and join in on the fun! :)

1.  What do you value most in life?
Definitely my family, and my close friends who basically are family as well.
Even though I live far away from NY now, if any of them needed me I'd help them out in any way I could.

2.  What do you think is the greatest invention in your lifetime and why?
 I believe it's the greatest and the worst - the internet.
Although it was invented before I was born, it only got extremely popular in the 90s.
It's great because you can find literally ANYTHING if you search hard enough.
It's easier to keep in touch with old friends and relatives.
You can have your own business, website, blog, etc.
It's easier to learn & do research.
However, it's also very detrimental to society.
I feel like the internet has desensitized people, especially the younger generations.
Some teenagers are just so disconnected from the real world.  They don't know how to empathize with real human emotions, hence the increase in cyberbullying.
 They're glued to their laptop or smartphone and say & do things without even thinking of the real life repercussions.

3.  What do you think is the secret to a good life?
Balance.  Everything in moderation.
It's okay to be cranky once in a while.  Or to eat chocolate or play videogames or go on  Facebook..
Whatever your vice is, but don't let it take over your whole life.
Even out the good and the bad.

4.  What would you most like to be remembered for when you're gone?
 Always being honest and trying to be there for my friends & family when they need me the most.

5.  What accomplishment in your life are you most proud of?
I'm proud of the fact that I've never had anything handed to me.
My mom didn't have much money when I was growing up, and I moved out when I was 19.
I managed to make a good life for myself and be successful at anything I put my mind to.
Everything I've done, I have accomplished on my own without anyone's help.

6.  If a movie was made about your life, who would you want to play you?
 I think Kat Dennings or Emma Stone.
They're both funny, sarcastic and kinda badass but still approachable & I can relate to that!

Theme: Super Kawaii!

I did these nails last night for a contest on Instagram (btw, follow me! @BadLuckBarbie)

The theme was Super Kawaii!  Kawaii actually means "cute" in Japanese ^_^

I did my favorite Sanrio characters!

I used nail polish and acrylic paint with nail art brushes.  They took about 4 hours.

Say hello to Keroppi, Monkichi, Badtz-Maru, Hello Kitty and Pochacco!!

I love them all!

Which one is your favorite?

Fashion Forward: Shoshanna

My best friend, Cassi, is really into fashion.

 We were recently talking about all of the awesome nail art that was seen during this year's New York Fashion Week.  She works for a department store clothing label, and she had the great idea to take some of the fabric prints from their Shoshanna Fall 2012 collection and paint them on my nails!

I used a combination of nail polish and acrylic paint, matte & glossy topcoats to do these designs.
Here's what I came up with:

 I cropped small swatches of the patterns I used, so you can see for comparison:

Sandra dress

 Heidi dress

 Double Crepe Trina dress

 Janelle dress

Sequin Tara dress

I personally am a big fan of fashion-inspired nails. 

Especially since I don't own any fashion forward clothing, at least my nails can be trendy!!

Tutorial Tuesday: Zebra Print

This week's featured tutorial, by popular request, is zebra print.

How To Choose Colors For This Design:

Typically bright or lighter colors work best as the base.  Anything that the black stripes will show up well against.  I also chose to do an accent nail with silver sparkles, but that's totally optional!

Suggested Materials:

ANY brand is fine, listed below are the ones used for this particular mani

- Base coat - Seche Clear

- Top coat - Seche Vite

- Base color - Sinful Colors "Fusion Neon"

- Any brand of black nail art striping brush
- Accent nail color - Opi "Crown Me Already!" (optional)

- A clean, small paintbrush or cotton swabs, for cleaning the cuticles afterwards (optional)

- Nail polish remover (optional)

Before You Begin Painting Your Design:

These steps are optional, but definitely recommended!

- Put down some paper towels in your work area, in case of any spills.

- Be sure to remove any old nail polish.

- Gently file nails into desired shape and remove any ridges with a buffer.

- Push back cuticles with a cuticle pusher or orange wood stick and trim if desired.

- Apply a base coat to protect from potential staining from color polish; wait for it to dry completely.

 Step 1:

Apply 2 coats of base color and allow to dry.

 Step 2:

Using the nail art striping brush, start from the outer edge of the nail and pull a line inwards.

The line should be thicker on the outer edge and thinner towards the middle.

I also find it easier to start in the middle of the nail and work outwards, this way you don't run out of room quickly.

 Step 3:

Using alternating directions, begin to pull lines above and below the first stripe.

If you want to, you can just repeat these steps until the nail is done.

If you are comfortable working with the striping brush, proceed to the next step. 

 Step 4:

To make your zebra print look a little more realistic, you can start varying your stripes.

You can do some imperfect sideways V or Y stripes, or pull some stripes completely across the nail.

 Step 5:

Continue working towards the top and bottom edges, using slightly smaller and shorter lines, until the nail is full.

 Step 6:

This final step is completely optional, but it will really help to achieve a neat & clean looking mani.

You can use either a small paintbrush or cotton swab, dip it in nail polish remover, and use it to remove any excess polish on your cuticles and skin.

Be careful not to use too much remover, otherwise you will risk ruining your design.

 Finish off with a top coat, and you're done!

For all past Tutorials click here

Sunday Social

Sunday Social is a fun & simple way to help your readers get to know you a little better.

You can link up with your blog at ashleyscarnivalride and join in on the fun! :)

1.  Favorite childhood book?

I had so many, but the very first book I can vividly remember being my favorite is The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

image via

2. Favorite book lately?

My favorite recent books would have to be the first 3 books from A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R. R. Martin;  A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings & A Storm of Swords.  I literally could not put my Kindle down while reading these.  These are the books that the popular HBO tv, Game of Thrones, show is based off of.

image via

3. Book you wish you could live in?

I guess I'm a big kid at heart.. it would be ANY Dr. Seuss book.  

I absolutely love his bright, colorful illustrations & I love the fact that each story has a great life lesson to be learned.

4. If you could be any character from a book, who would it be and why?

 I would want to be Brandy Alexander, a character from Chuck Palahniuk's Invisible Monsters

 Brandy Alexander, or Queen Supreme as she refers to herself, is a fabulous and completely insane tranny.
Her character is a crazy bitch, but something about her is just so fierce and inspiring.
She does whatever she wants, whenever she wants.

You'd probably have to read the book to understand her completely.

5. Favorite book turned movie?

Definitely Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk.  

I hate to say it, but I may have liked the movie better than the book.

Brad Pitt & Ed Norton may have had something to do with that.

image via

6. Favorite magazines? 

Not to sound like a snob but I don't really read magazines ever.
They're too full of advertisements and other mindless b.s.

Halloween Themed Nails: Nightmare Before Christmas!

The Nightmare Before Christmas is one of my absolute favorite movies, so I've been wanting to do these nails for a while.

Being a bit of a perfectionist, I knew it'd be time consuming so I kept putting it off.

After 2 hour of painting & a matte topcoat, they're finally done!

 I did Jack & Sally together in the graveyard, Jack, Sally, Zero, Zero's grave stone/doghouse, Lock, Shock, Barrel in their masks, Oogie Boogie, and of course the bug in the cage that gets fed to him!

Florida Livin'

FINALLY found & unpacked my nail stuff, so I can start polishing again! Yay!

Today, I decided share some pictures from my new life in Fort Myers, Florida :)

On the drive down, we spent the night at South of the Border, South Carolina.  It's a quirky little town established just south of the Carolina border in 1949.  It's got a cool vintage vibe and there's lots of fun stuff to see & do.

Cracker Barrel in Savannah, Georgia.  I loooove this place and I wanted to stop here because I wasn't sure if we had one in Ft. Myers (and we do!!!)

 A double rainbow near the beach in Ft. Myers

 Sanibel Island, a small island near Ft. Myers.  It is famous for its huge variety of seashells that wash up on the beaches.

 The clouds here are unreal.  They look so close, you feel like you could reach up and touch them!

 Pretty pink hibiscus in my friend's garden.

Took my new cruiser for a ride through the park :)