Nail Tutorials.

It has been.. a little over a year since I did nail tutorials. I have hardly been buying nail magazines as well >< (My mom always tells me to buy then in Taiwan because they're cheaper, but I didn't get a chance to the last time I went!) I bought a few at BookOff in NY.. But I've hardly been doing them. Saying school and cosplays don't give me enough time to do them would be a half lie. But, nail art is still one of my passions. So.

I've decided to 'attempt' to invest more time into them like I said I would do in my New Year's resolutions. So the other day I was thinking of nail tutorials I could do. And I figured since it's the beginning of April, that usually means prom season! Actually.. Maybe it's May, I'm not really sure. My prom was in June, which is already pretty late, so.. yeah.

I have 3 looks in mind. For short nails, long squarish nails, and long oval shaped nails. One look will be more simple but party/glam look, another more elegant, and last just.. "blinged out," as opposed to the standard 'French nails.' Someone wanted me to upload a tutorial for what I did for my prom. But I also spent hours on them, so.. I sort of never did that tutorial.

I hope you can understand why.. OTL

Haha this was when I was really into nails! I don't want to ever give that up.

2011 Cosplay Plans Update

Soo my cosplay plans changed a little. I'm still doing Yuna, Ringo, and Miku. I may not do Ciel Phantomhive anymore. I decided not to because Black Butler is still very popular so there will be 9483578495 Kuroshitsuji cosplayers.. I'd rather be one of the few people cosplaying a certain character. It's more fun that way haha. If there are so many of the same cosplay, unless yours is one of the best of them all, it'll just be looking at the same thing. So I have 3 new ideas. I also figure that if I go to Otakon next year, I need 3 epic cosplays xD

One is Zhen Ji from Dynasty Warriors 6. She's one of the few female characters you can actually play in the game. She resides in the Kingdom of Cao, and her husband is Cao Pi. (hehe one of my favorite male characters) She's one of my favorite female characters. Sun Shang Xiang being my first of course.

Anyways, I was on Skype with one of my friends I met from AnimeNEXT. Somehow we got to the topic of Dynasty Warriors 6. He wanted to cosplay as Cao Pi and I said I'd cosplay as Zhen Ji (I like her outfit anyways ^^).

So we're going to do that for Otakon 2011, unless my other two cosplays I have planned fall through, then AnimeNEXT 2011!

The next cosplay idea I have is a Sakura one from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. I have to finish reading that actually.. But the storyline breaks my heart, even though I partially know what happens in the end, but still! I love the idea of a Sakura x Syaoran storyline.

This one is in the making actually, I'll most likely have this one for AnimeNEXT as well. I already began making the dress portion of it last night for no reason xD I just wanted to see if I could actually do it.

It's actually coming out pretty decent actually. It's long and flowy :D The only problem I have is that.. I didn't use a pattern when I made it. I sort of took a piece of fabric and started snipping and sewing away. Soo.. we'll see how it comes out in the end! ^^ If it works, I'll use it, if not, then I won't.



Last but not least! I wanted to do another cosplay, where the character had sort of a baby face or looked like a child. Mainly because.. I'll only look like a 12 year old for so long xDD Don't worry I'm not that young.. but I get that a lot hahaa, so I figure do all the children looking one before my face matures and I don't look like that anymore..

So I decided to do a Chii cosplay. I've always wanted to cosplay as Chii. There's one Chii cosplay that I make, it's my dream cosplay. But! My skill level isn't there yet.. So I don't want to make it at the moment. This is her from Tsubasa Chronicles, hence the animal-like ears. I'm probably just going to do her persocom ears.

As sad as it is to say, this is one of her simpler ones xD I love a lot of her other outfits, but they're lolita-esque, so many of them are poofy, and I don't really know how to make the cosplay round like that.. And it doesn't help that I don't have a dress form either.. D: There is one other one I really want to do, but the way the picture is drawn, it makes no sense.

I really love this one, I like the idea of Chii as a princess, she looks really cute and elegant. But! This would only make sense to me if the opening was in the front, but the way the picture is drawn, it's open in the back. That and if it were opened that way, you can't have a petticoat. Without a petticoat, the dress wouldn't poof. Without a poof, it wouldn't be much of a princess dress.

If I can figure out how to do this one then I will. ^^ Oh CLAMP.. You and your gravity defying clothing.. >< But yeah.. these are my new cosplay plans.. So I'll end up having to do.. 6 cosplays next year?? o_O

I'm hoping to finish Yuna before next weekend.. Miku is pretty much done. Ringo is an easy one. Then there's these three.. xD Zhen Ji will probably be the hardest. Sakura, I pretty much have the base dress done. Chii.. I may just do a circle dress for the one.. Not sure yet..haha

Cherry Blossom Festival

It's spring! .. Sort of .. It's been insanely cold recently.. But anyways, my parents and I went to the Cherry Blossom Festival today! I wanted to wear the kimono my mother made me, but it was just too cold today. Instead I wore a nice dress I have ^-^

A lot of the flowers had fallen by this time. But.. the trees away from the festival were still blooming.. Which kind of makes no sense.. xD But they were beautiful!

I had my palm read. Does anyone believe in that? They weren't "professional" but it was still fun. The lady told me that I need to have more self confidence and that I should be more stubborn in the sense that I shouldn't give up so easily. Both true, but it's broad.

Afterwards, we saw a taiko performance. It was beautiful! Ah, those girls had such energy. I want to try it now hahaa. One day.. Ah, feeling tiring so I will cut this post short. Some pictures!

-Kawaii Riceball

Updates

I need to begin updating more often.. The school year is almost over! It passed so quickly, only 3 more weeks left, then finals and summer! Haven't made a tutorial in a while now @___@ I have the horrible habit of picking at my nails. They were nice and long and now they are short again ><

Cosplay Update
I will be going to AnimeNext! And cosplaying of course! I'm not sure if I'll be getting a table yet, but hopefully I do! ^^ So the cosplay plan is;

     Friday- Kurama from Yu Yu Hakusho, and my friend's boyfriend will be cosplaying as Hiei.
     Saturday- Pichu from Pokemon, my roomie and her best friend are Plusle and Minun, my friend and her boyfriend (the same one cosplaying as Hiei) are cosplaying as Raichu and Pikachu respectively.
     Sunday- This one is up in the air. It's either Maka from Soul Eater or Rikku from Final Fantasy X-2. Maka is easy to do since I have a similar skirt and Rikku.. I like her hair xD But my mom wasn't too keen on the idea because she wears a bikini top.

I will be making my own cosplays! Well.. with the help of my mom xD She said it's practice since I'm going into Fashion Design in the fall. I'm going to use that as an excuse for her to let me cosplay as Rikku.. xD Hopefully, if I can, I want to join the Hall Cosplay Contest. I want to do one for Friday and one for Saturday, but then I can't use the Maka cosplay since most of the stuff won't be made..

School Update
I will be attending Philadelphia University next year for fashion design! I'm excited ^^ If I can, I'm going to take classes during the summer at FIT. Hmm.. I think that's it for this section :P

Blog Life-Youtube
Ahh slacking off here.. Need to work on this more often!

Hobby Life
So I've been working on charms for some time now. Haven't been working on nail art as much as I'd like to, but ahh school work.. x____x If you want to check out what I've made, go to my deviantart! Hopefully I can sell them at conventions. I originally wanted to sell them online, but that's kind of shaky at the moment.. But if anyone wants a commission, send me a message! ^^

MIA?

Wahhh! I’m so angry at myself for not blogging for a month.. >< I realized that taking 5 classes was probably not the best idea in the world.. Starting to feel stressed from the school work.. Midterms are coming up.. Well I have one this friday.. D; Still have to study some more! Umm.. what else.. I hate neglecting mah nail artttt >< My painting class.. which is something I love.. isn’t turning out like how I expected it.. Well, it’s oil painting and I’ve never done oil painting before.. The techniques are completely different from acrylics so it’s hard to get used to.. Especially with no prior training.. But yeah.. More nail tutorials to come!

LuxuriousNails on YouTube has a contest that’s ending at the beginning of March. I’ve been meaning to submit something. I had the idea to do a Hello Kitty inspired tutorial xD Hopefully after midterms are over, I will be able to make more tutorials! I’m also working on my shop so I can sell nails and charms! Check out some of my work on my deviantArt! Umm.. Yeah that’s also I can think of for an update..

AnimeNext is just around the corner!! Well.. it’s not until June but time flies! I hope I can get a table by then.. If not.. I’ll just be there cosplaying! So far I’m cosplaying as Pichu, Yuffie (Advent Children), and… not 100% sure about the last one.. If I can’t think of anything, then it’ll be Taiwan for Hetalia. Or maybe I’ll just do another Final Fantasy character.. I wanted to cosplay as Yuna, summoner outfit, but I feel like that’s so overdone nowadays.. xD So who knows!



That’s the unfinished product! But you get the idea xD

Happy New Year! Resolutions?

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to everyone! It feels like the more we move on in the future, the more things we lose. Well of course there are things we gain. There has to be balance in the world, right? When one door closes, another opens. Let’s close the door to our past and forget the tears, pain, hate, and regrets. Forgive and forget those who have wronged you. Never forget the good memories from our loved ones and open the door to the future. Brush aside petty arguments and hate and embrace the future. Open the door to new beginnings and a fresh start. Forget your troubles as the next day is a new day to start over.

Now that I’m done with my.. speech.. Does anyone do resolutions anymore? I always thought about doing them every year, but I never got around to actually doing them, or I’d forget. I want to make resolutions. Face it, I’m not getting any younger.. haha just kidding.. What I mean is. Life flies by so quickly. We always say things like live life to the fullest. How many people actually do it? Of course, sometimes there are circumstances that do not allow us to pursue what we want to. But, why live the rest of your life wondering ‘what if?’ I don’t want to look back one day when I’m too incapacitated to do anything about it and wonder why I didn’t do this or that. Who wants to live a life of regret? Of course there are things we do that we regret, but does that mean we should continue living life this way? No! We should continue each day.

For example, (actually this is going to turn into a rant,) but I’ve always wanted to have a blog. Nothing was stopping me. I’ve had.. I would say at least three separate blogs, not including livejournals and such. But none of them have ever lasted. No more of such behavior! The only things stopping me was I’d procrastinate or be lazy about it. Also, I’ve always wanted to be good/better at nail art, and sell my nail art. I’ve made several impressive sets for myself for several occasions.. but.. that’s as far as I got. There are a bunch others but.. I’m going to write a list of resolutions. We’ll see how far I get through them xD

1. Update my blog/Youtube/deviantArt more.
2. Work on my nail art.
3. Work on charms/jewelry.
4. Open an online store to sell such so I can earn money for said cosplays.
5. Umm.. get into art school.
6. Learn how to use photoshop.. the real way..
7. Master[/or close to it] Japanese
8. Learn to sew to make cosplays.
9. Learn how to play the guitar (kekeke) Actually that one’s kind of random..
10. Draw more.

These aren’t in any specific of importance or anything. They’re just in order of when I think of them.
Wahh which reminds me. I’m probably/hopefully (actually more of a most likely) going to be transfering to an art school. I don’t think Biology is really working for me. I thought about it, like I’d love to help animals, and save animals from oil spills and such.. But that’s as far as it goes. I feel like that’s kind of volunteer work. (Omg if it really is tell me where I can sign up ) At the same time, I feel like nail art and jewelry, those are more hobby-type. I could see myself doing it in the future, but probably not as a career. More like a side-job.. ish.. Umm.. During my senior year, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I mean who really knows what they want to do nowadays? Unless you’re like my brother who has had his mind set since he was old enough to think haha.

I’ve always had a knack for art. I love art. But at first my parents said I couldn’t do art.. and then I guess they changed their minds later. I know it’s not going to be easy. Then again, nothing is really that simple. But I’m actually excited about picking my colleges for once. I have looked at 13 so far. I don’t want to go too far from home though. I’m going to stay on the east coast hahaa. There’s only one school that I REALLY want to get into.. -gasp- could it be.. my.. top school/choice? Whatever they call it. I never had one of those senior year. I was kind of .. well I didn’t really care. To be honest, my dad picked my colleges. I mean he does that to help.. but no.. I really didn’t care to the point that I applied for whatever colleges my dad picked. But this time, I’m in control. Of course, my mom is helping me because she works in the fashion.. industry? Is that the right word? Well she’s more skilled in that area. So she’s been helping me by suggesting a few schools/checking out the schools I picked and such.

One of the main.. things (perks?).. that I’m looking for in the colleges are the study abroad programs. Of course I’m not going to go to a horrible school if they have a great study abroad program! But I really want to study abroad in Japan. Wahh! I have really really wanted to for the longest time! >< And my main choice has a program where you can study art in Japan That’s a 2 for. I’m really excited actually.. and this has become an unusually long post. I congratulate anyone who manages or has the patience to read it all xD Why don’t I just do art at my current college you may ask? I have no idea.. Haha just kidding, my current school’s program doesn’t let me study abroad in Japan for art.

I’m still not 100% sure what I want to do though. But I’m most likely going to go for either Graphic Design or Fashion Design. But most of the high fashion districts are in Europe.. so.. meh.. I don’t know! hahaa and I’d have fun just knowing how to sew so I can make cosplay costumes or my own clothes.. hahaa. OH I can add that to my resolutions! Okay my list looks good/somewhat reasonable ^-^

If anyone knows of a good art school that has a good art program (& study abroad program) in the east coast area, please tell me! ^^ Again, I hope everyone had a happy holiday week/end! :]