2015 --> 2016 Nails

Hello all!  I hope you all had a wonderful New Year's Eve and that your 2016 has been great so far :)

The first thing I did this year was throw up because of how much I ate and drank.  So.  Lesson for the kids out there:  your stomach isn't as great of a mixologist as you think it should be.  And hydrochloric acid is the last thing you want to deal with when entering a new year.

These are the nails that I wore to my friend's party :) I swear the only reason why I go to parties now is to promote myself or have others promote me.  It's not very effective.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Thumb, Ring, & Pinky - Alexis by Julep; dots made using a dotting tool and Ellis by Julep
• Pointer & Middle - Ellis by Julep; pattern made using Moroccan Nail Stencils by vinyl boutique and sponged over with Maya by Julep
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

I promise the nail stencil looks really cool and the only reason you aren't fully able to see how cool it is in my photos is because I chose the wrong colors.  But later I'll show you a more detailed look at the stencil (with different colors and I won't mess up then).

But for now, here's a closer look at the stencil.  In this shot, you can sort of appreciate the stencil pattern and the holographic nail polish.

Stop.  Stare.  Marvel.  Thank you.

Also, if you haven't noticed yet, I'm back to my round/oval nails!  Square nails were fun, but they were hard to maintain, and since I spend most of my time at work not maintaining nails, I decided it would be best to revert back to the classic round/oval shape.  Plus now my nails won't chip on the corners (because no corners haha) so I won't be so frustrated with my nails.

I hope you guys have a wonderful day!  And here's to a marvelous 2016 for all of us!!

Time to Get Spoopy!

I'm actually not that into Halloween nail art.  Lately, I've been seeing a lot of artists on Instagram recreate looks that are very scary and spooky.

Why do y'all taunt the dead now ._.

So here are my nails that I wore to show that I have some Halloween spirit in me.  Like the innocent Halloween spirit.  Like the Halloween spirit of the older sister who dresses up as Queen Elsa and forces the younger sister to be Princess Anna even though the younger sister probably wants to be Queen Elsa but she's just gotta let it go.  That type of innocent Halloween spirit.

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Bonder by ORLY
• Base Color - Surreal by Formula X
• Middle & Pointer - applied a coat of Out the Door by inm to help speed up drying time, then stamped Bunny by Julep over Honeycomb Stencils by vinyl boutique
• Top Coat - Blast Off by Formula X, then Matte Me Crazy by NYC

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

As you can see, I'm experimenting with different poses.  It seems like I'm not satisfied with my work lately, so hopefully I can find solace with my photos now.

Here is a close up shot of the stencil pattern on my nail, just in case you wanted to see how amazing and intricate and clean nail vinyls can be!

BOOM.  HONEYCOMBS.  FOR THE BEES.  THEY MAKE THE HONEY.

Also, I've been featured several times in Natalia Tera's blog.  Her blog is a form of nail art, but not what you would expect.  Rather than painting her own nails and showcasing such, she requests nail artists to send in photos of their bare nails and their bare nails + base/top coat.  It's an art form all of its own.  Here is a link to her blog:

http://nataliateranails.blogspot.com/

Please go check out her blog!  And extra kudos to you if you find my nails :)

And lastly, it seems there is enough interest for me to start an actual Facebook page for my blog (shocking, I know...), and I will get on it.  Just not right now.  My personal life is a little bit crazy at the moment, but right now my plan is to have the page up and running by January 1, 2016!!  So please stay tuned for more :)

That's all for now!  I hope you all have a wonderful day :D

Alopecia Awareness Nails

Once upon a time, there was a younger me who was going through the typical angst that is puberty and I seriously was mad at God for making it so that I had alopecia.  I was like 100% sure He had a hand in it (maybe He does, maybe He doesn't).  I so wished that this condition was embodied within someone else and not in me.

But God works in interesting ways to bless His people.  I don't wake up thanking Him for my alopecia, but I do finally appreciate how it has shifted the way I perceive my own body image.  My church also prayed for me over the course of 5 years.  I remember that final doctor's visit where the doctor told me that I didn't need to continue using whatever solution I was using at that time, because my hair has grown back at an immensely faster rate than he had expected.

Throughout college, there were times when God seemed so far away, but I would have to remind myself that I was living proof of His miracle.  My hair is proof of His miracle.  Of course, college stress meant that I would have occasional flare ups and lose hair time and time again, but that hair always grew back.  My hair isn't dense and thick.  It's pretty thin, but yo I'm thankful.  However, I have like 1.2 eyebrows.

Of course, those antibodies still exist in my blood (as far as I'm concerned...haven't been tested since), which means I technically still have alopecia.  It would be cool if we could cure alopecia, but since it's an autoimmune disease, that would be quite the challenge.  How does one selectively target antibodies??  Granted, I wouldn't need such a cure because I feel pretty confident in my condition, but for those people out there who do have alopecia and do want a cure...that would be nice for them.

Anyways, September is Alopecia Awareness Month, with the awareness being the color blue for some reason.  So here is my contribution to the awareness:

For this manicure:

• Base Coat - Double Duty Strengthening Base & Top Coat by Sally Hansen
• Thumb, Ring, & Pinky - aruba blue by essie; glitter gradient made using a makeup sponge and Portia by Julep
• Pointer & Middle - Shelly by Julep; used Fishnet Stencil from Vinyl Boutique and stamped gradient over it using Jeanne by Julep, Endless Blue by Sinful Colors, & Char by Julep
• Top Coat - Out the Door by inm

Approximate Completion Time: 2 hours

Surprise, surprise - the top coat dries quickly, which makes the vinyls easier to use.  Nail vinyls are pretty legit.  I remember seeing them for the first time a few years ago and I was like "this is a cool concept but it's never gonna catch on".  I was wrong.  This is also how I felt about Vine, Snapchat, the Nintendo WiiU, etc.

Clearly I have been wrong on more than one occasion.  I can own up to that.