Tricolor Braid

Hello all!  I hope you are all doing well :)

It's not the catchiest title, but it captures the essence of what I painted on my nails.

I got my flu shot today, so my left arm is going to be sore tomorrow ;_; however, my left arm is the arm I use the least in my lab work so I think I'll be good to go tomorrow.

But also the meteorologist predicts blizzard-like conditions so it's possible that I get a snow day tomorrow.  A snow day!  I haven't had one of those in like 8 years now.

Regardless of my sore arm and the cold weather, here are my nails:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb & Pinky - Julep by Julep
• Pointer & Middle - My Vampire is Buff by OPI as the base color; braid segments separated out using striping tape and filled in using a striping brush and Hocus Pocus by Formula X, Lainey by Julep, Mia by Julep
• Ring - Ellis by Julep
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

The color on my ring finger is my first holographic polish!  I'm finally joining the craze - slowly but surely.  Julep calls it a "liquid holographic" polish.  I'm not sure if liquid is really the right word for this color, but it is very addicting to look at in real life.  If I didn't have to wear gloves at work I'm pretty sure I would be focusing all my time and attention on this one polish, rather than on the blood samples that need to be tested for antibodies linked to diabetes...

I actually painted my nails over the course of 2 days.  The first day, I just put down all the base color on my nails and after my nails dried, I went to bed.  Then the second day, I finished the design with the braid pattern.  I would have done this all in one day but for some reason I thought that splitting the design creation would be easier.  I was right.

Look at those crisp, clean lines.

With this colder weather, I wonder how my cuticles and skin will change.  I haven't steadily lived in Colorado for over 4 years now, so I have no idea how my skin is going to deal with the transition from fall to dead winter.  Goodness.

I hope you are all warmer than I am.  That's all I have to say for now, and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Talk to you soon :)

Ice & Snow

Hello all!  As I write this, I am being informed that there is quite a scary winter storm approaching.  By "scary", I really mean "blizzard-like conditions" and I'm actually honestly not sure whether going to work is gonna be worth it.

So my nails reflect the ice and snow that will soon be all over this freaking place.  Give me my fuzzy socks, my warm gloves, and hot chocolate pronto.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb, Ring, & Pinky - What a Broad by Sephora by OPI; ice imitated via silver foil purchased from rue21
• Ponter & Middle - Endless Blue by Sinful Colors; stamped with iced silver by b.m.c. using SH202 plate by Shany Cosmetics
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

What happened was as I was taking more pictures, my camera decided to run out of battery :o then I charged my camera, and I was charging said camera, my nails got scratched and chipped.

But still, even having 2 good pictures beats having no pictures to show.

It's cold enough to start wearing socks to sleep o.o hopefully the cold doesn't get to the best of me.

That's all for me for today.  I hope you all stay warm wherever you are!! :)

Pusheen the Cat Nails

Hello all!  Today I have Pusheen nails to show you :)

Pusheen the Cat is the cute, cartoon cat whose adventures and other silliness have been captured by Claire Belton.  Please visit http://www.pusheen.com/ on a daily basis as a way to bring a smile to your face daily! :)

But actually the reason why I painted Pusheen the Cat on my nails is because a friend of mine had requested them, and I was like "yeah why not".  This conversation happened back in the earlier parts of summer.  It's now November.  But let it be said that I am a keeper of my word, no matter how long it takes for my words and promises to be kept.

If you don't love Pusheen the Cat, you're wrong.  Fact.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb & Pinky - Erin by Julep; stamped with Special White Polish by Konad & iced silver by Bundle Monster using the stamping plate BM-019 BY Bundle Monster
• Pointer - Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam by Sephora by OPI; Pusheen the Cat face details done with a thin striping brush and Janae by Julep
• Middle & Ring - Mint Sorbet by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear; nail decals made using Double Duty Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen, Penelope & Janae by Julep, & I Gotta Blush on You & Frankly, I Don't Give A-dam by Sephora by OPI; nail decals stuck on using Out the Door by inm
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 1.5 hours

I confess that I did quite a bit of photo editing for these pictures.  The reason is because I messed up and trapped a lot of air bubbles underneath the nail decals :( so I decided to smooth over those air bubbles the best I could while editing.

And somehow that triggered minor strains of trypophobia in me.  I'm normally not reactive to trypophobia but seeing holes in my nail polish made me feel a little bit uneasy.  Anyways, for those of you with that condition, I saved y'all from an attack.  And please don't Google image search trypophobia because good Lord you will not sleep well tonight.

I've also started using liquid latex barriers around my nails every time I paint them.  It really helps with the clean up (yay reduced clean up).  On the one hand, the nail art community can very easily go back to our old clean up routines, but on the other hand, acetone is a harsh cleaning agent so do we really want to expose our biological systems to that?  No.

I've read the MSD form for acetone too many times now.

That's all from me for now.  I hope you all have a wonderful week, and I'll be posting again soon!  But until then, stay safe, eat good food, play video games, etc.

You do you.