Go Pink Wednesday and a self exam tutorial!!!

Good morning ladies!  It is Wednesday again and we have two more Breast Cancer Awareness inspired manicures for you as well as some important information on how to do a self breast exam.

In last week's Go Pink post we stressed the importance of self-breast checks as a front line defense in the early detection of breast cancer. Although breast cancer presents itself more prominently in women over 40, there is still just under 7% of new cases found in younger women. Check your breasts ladies!  Get out your calendars and pick a day each month to follow these steps taken from breastcancer.org.

Step 1: Begin by looking at your breasts in the mirror with your shoulders straight and your arms on your hips.

Here's what you should look for:

• Breasts that are their usual size, shape, and color
• Breasts that are evenly shaped without visible distortion or swelling

If you see any of the following changes, bring them to your doctor's attention:

• Dimpling, puckering, or bulging of the skin
• A nipple that has changed position or an inverted nipple (pushed inward instead of sticking out)
• Redness, soreness, rash, or swelling

Step 2: Now, raise your arms and look for the same changes.

Step 3: While you're at the mirror, look for any signs of fluid coming out of one or both nipples (this could be a watery, milky, or yellow fluid or blood).

Step 4: Next, feel your breasts while lying down, using your right hand to feel your left breast and then your left hand to feel your right breast. Use a firm, smooth touch with the first few finger pads of your hand, keeping the fingers flat and together. Use a circular motion, about the size of a quarter.

Cover the entire breast from top to bottom, side to side — from your collarbone to the top of your abdomen, and from your armpit to your cleavage.

Follow a pattern to be sure that you cover the whole breast. You can begin at the nipple, moving in larger and larger circles until you reach the outer edge of the breast. You can also move your fingers up and down vertically, in rows, as if you were mowing a lawn. This up-and-down approach seems to work best for most women. Be sure to feel all the tissue from the front to the back of your breasts: for the skin and tissue just beneath, use light pressure; use medium pressure for tissue in the middle of your breasts; use firm pressure for the deep tissue in the back. When you've reached the deep tissue, you should be able to feel down to your ribcage.

Step 5: Finally, feel your breasts while you are standing or sitting. Many women find that the easiest way to feel their breasts is when their skin is wet and slippery, so they like to do this step in the shower. Cover your entire breast, using the same hand movements described in Step 4.

Image taken from http://drugline.org/ail/pathography/793/

Image taken from http://drugline.org/ail/pathography/793/

Now that we have all the fun out of the way let's see some nails, shall we?  For Dom's mani this week she used Orly Artificial Sweetener and did a mermaid tail accent nail.  The polishes Dom used for the accent nail were W'n'W  Candy-licious, Sally Hansen Hard to Get, W'n'W Sparked and China Glaze Strawberry Fields. Lastly, Northern Lights holographic top coat was applied to all nails.  

w/ flash

w/o flash

SUNSHINE!!!!

Since we're fast approaching the best holiday of the year, E wanted her pink wednesday mani to be tinted with the holiday... the best idea? DRIP NAILS!!!!

For this mani E used Essie Cascade Cool as the base and butter LONDON Primrose Hill Picnic for the drips. This mani was easier to do than it appears, so check back soon for a tutorial!!

outside in natural, overcast, light

outside in the shade

inside under an Ottlite

We hope you enjoyed the second week in our Breast Cancer Awareness, Go Pink Wednesday mani series!

xo,

 & 

I'M BACK!!! (proof of my A.D.D enclosed)

It has been a while and I really feel like I am so far out of the loop it is not even funny!  Anyone who reads this blog knows that I live in Ohio.  Beautiful Ohio, the home of the Buckeyes and... oh God, that's pretty much where it ends! LOL! Anywho... if you know anyone in Ohio then you know that we got hit with a pretty random, pretty ridiculous storm recently.  Power lines down all over town, food gone bad, no cable, no cell service, no internet and NO AIR CONDITIONING!!!  Ohio was like the foreshadowing armageddon experience that I never wanted!!!  Needless to say, my life has slowly gotten back to "normal".  OH WAIT... I also started a new job.

Some history... I have not worked a real job in over two years.   I have been blessed to be OK financially with my husband working.  Thank God that I was able to take that time because I took care of some pretty serious medical issues as well.  With all of that said, going back to work has been a super huge life transition.  I also left corporate america and am now working with inner city youth!  Talk about shell shock... but, I love it.  What I don't like is waking up at 6am every morning and having to get ready to be pleasant by 8am but, other than that it has been really great!  I never really saw myself working with kids but I love them all and really feel like I am making a difference.  

My kids at work!  Aren't they cute?

With all of that said, I am happy to be back in the land of the living and the world of polish that I love so much!  With all that has been going on I went nearly two whole weeks without polish on my nails!  Last night, however, I couldn't wait to get something fun on them and below is a quick pic of my first real mani in weeks!  I used two coats of OPI Fly and finally used my Sally Hansen Salon effects Polish Strips Zip It!  Hope you like it.

Sally Hansen Salon effects, Zip It! 

Love that OPI Fly!  

Sorry for the A.D.D. post but I had so much to catch you up on!  Let me know what you think about all my crazy!  I love the comments. : )

P.S. There are only a few days left for the insane sale that is going on at Ulta right now!  Don't miss it!  

P.S.S. Don't forget to enter our giveaway!!!!

Half Moon *attempt* mani

I've seen this particular effect a lot lately and while I've always had mixed feelings about it I figured eh why not try it! It might grow on me right? Well I had somewhere to be and I wanted to go with something cute on my nails. So I figured I'd give the half moon a shot...

   
            Items you'll need:

• Two (or more) polish shades
• reinforcement dots ($1 a pack at Wally's)
• Base/Top coats of course
• Q-tips/brush and polish remover for clean up

Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac

Step 1: paint your nails in the color you'd like the lower part up against your nail base. Mine was Sally Hansen - Lacey Lilac. A really beautiful color IRL that did not translate in my photos, sorry. Apply top coat and let dry like normal.

Step 2: Once your nails are dry, stick the reinforcement tabs on where you'd like to block the second polish from going. The less of the tab on your nail the more shallow your "moon" will be. 

**Important** If you're familiar with the tape mani you know that I advise to first stick the tape on your palm to remove a little bit of the stickiness. In THIS particular mani- the half moon mani- do NOT stick the reinforcement tabs on anything but your nails. If you do you'll find that they don't stick and you end up with blurred lines or blobs of paint where you don't want blobs of paint. 

NARS - Koliary

Step 3: Take your second color and paint the rest of your exposed nail. Being slow and methodical be sure to check that the reinforcement tabs are indeed still crisply stuck to your nail and in the edges. If you look at my thumb you can see where there is a blob/non crisp line? Yeah... that's what happens when the tab isn't stuck securely to your nail lol.

Step 4: remove tabs while polish is still wet and polish with top coat... enjoy!

Honestly, my jury is still out on this mani. I had some application issues and just generally felt like I looked silly. I loved these two colors together though. Let me know what you think!!

xo,

Tape Mani Tutorial

Hey lovelies!! So I posted a pic of my notd (nail of the day) about a week or so ago on Instagram [enjeliq] and received a comment on my picture asking if I had thought of doing a tutorial. I honestly had thought about it after I had already finished one hand, but because I was rushing made a couple booboos. You know the type- bump your nail = dent, rush the second coat of paint = not as crisp a line, too much remover on the clean up brush = take extra paint off that you'd rather stay... so yeah... I was not happy. At heart I am a perfectionist and initially my thoughts were oh well, I'll do a tutorial on a mani that turns out better than this. However, when I sent Dom a pic showing her my notd she asked the same thing. At this point I only had the undies for the blue done, so basically the perfect starting point to take some in progress shots... so thank you to the unknowingly combined efforts of a lovely Instagram follower and Dom for this tutorial!

This is NOT always an easy or quick nail art technique, so please do not stop trying if it doesn't turn out as lovely as you'd like. It has taken me at least 10 times doing tape manis to get anywhere close to having them turn out nice. I started when I saw a picture on this blog that came up from a random nail art type Google search. I honestly didn't need to read a tutorial once I saw the tape. It was like a lightbulb went off in my head! Through trial and error I've come up with the way that *I* do my tape manis. That doesn't mean that you won't come up with your own version too, but I hope that this is a starting point of sorts for you too. Just please don't stop trying!! This is seriously an endless tool of awesomeness!! Harness the power!! :D

Top pic L to R: Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away!, Color Club - Sky High, Nicole by OPI - Save the 1st Dance,
Seche Vite Scotch Tape, X-Acto craft Scissors

What you'll need:

• Tape (Scotch tape/satin finish/giftwrap tape is my personal fave)
• Scissors or Craft/Scrapbooking shape scissors (just remember the larger the scissors the harder it'll be to do tiny cuts and nails are only so big)
• Nail polish remover
• Qtips or brush for clean up
• Papertowel or some other surface to get dirty/protect your work table
• Base/Top coats
• Nail polish color(s)
• and, last but not least, AN IDEA!! :)

Step 1: Rip off a strip of tape. I am a more is more type of person in this particular area... so I usually rip off a strip about 2 or 3 inches.

Now, if you're using craft scissors like I did this time, you'll need to lay the tape to where it is half hanging out/off of the side like in the photo. You need the tape to still have "structural integrity" once you take it off the scissors so if you cut too much into the middle and there isn't enough left it'll just rip into pieces. I hope this makes sense... trial and error people ;)

Step 1a: Once you've cut your tape in the desired design place it on your palm once. This helps to make the tape just a SMIDGE less sticky and will help in the removal process later. (I colored the edge of the tape with a sharpie to show you the edge of what I cut- this is not a necessary step- was purely for visual)

Step 2: For this mani I wanted to use some really shiny/metallic colors and on a recent purchase I picked up Sky High from Color Club's Take Wing collection. While it is absolutely beautiful it is a bit sheer and I didn't honestly have time to wait for 3 or so layers to dry before doing my tape mani. So I used Sally Hansen - Blue Me Away! as undies (1 coat) and then slapped the Sky High (1 coat) on top. These two were perfect together and it was oodles faster!

Step 2a: TOP COAT! lol this is very important... if you have time, apply your regular top coat. If not, apply a fast dry top coat, I personally like Seche Vite. ***IMPORTANT*** your top coat has to be dry before you lay down any tape... so seriously let it dry, give it a couple mins or you'll regret it and there is no do cover up other than complete re-do.

Step 3: Apply your tape in the manor of which you'd like the other color/effect to be on your nail. Remember, the tape is just a guide to give you a crisp edge to your design. I wanted mine to be on the side or angled on my nail. 

Step 3a: Paint the exposed area with your color/effect. If it appears thin and not opaque enough do a second layer immediately.

Final Step *Not Pictured* REMOVE! :D Remove the tape while the paint/effect is still wet! If it dries too much you'll run the risk of the underneath part (that is still damp) not being crisp and the top layer that is slightly drier pulling away with the tape. The result (I've totally done this) is a weird and ugly smear that is not fixable other than starting over from scratch. 

And ta-da! You're done! Again, this isn't one of my fave tape manis but it is a fun effect. My faves are the shredded look. You can view photos of other tape manis in our Facebook page HERE! Don't forget to send us some pictures of your tape manis!! We love seeing your manis too! Oh, and be sure to like our Facebook page to keep in the loop of all our happenings and to see lots more pictures!

Good luck and happy taping!

Tape Mani... Finally!!!

It has been a while since E first told me about the "tape mani".   This fun nail art technique using tape to create really nice sharp edges or shapes on your nails was something that has alluded me for a while now!!! I mean, it sounds so complicated, but she said it wasn't! How can this be? It's tape! I mean, she has pulled off some really cute mani's using this method and always told me that I should try it.  My patience level is not quite where E's is and she seems to get some really cool things done that I just cannot get my head around!  LOL!  "Just try and try again" she always tells me.  So I figured the other day while we were skype-ing I would try and see what I could come up with.

I already had a nice base of Wet n Wild - Through the Grapevine on my nails, so next I got out my little scissors and just started cutting some little strips of tape. Trying to place them on my nails evenly was a different story.  I will say that this was actually a fun mani to do.  It really didn't take that long and I really like the fact that it wasn't too messy.  So here is what I came up with... I hope you like it and please keep in mind this was my first time!  LOL!  I will continue to "try and try again" and hopefully, if I'm very patient and lucky, I will be able to use this trick to do many more interesting mani's in the future.  

Tada!  

Dotting Tool, Sally Hansen White On, Wet'n'Wild Through the Grapevine, I Need a Refresh-Mint & Club Havana

Not bad for my first attempt... I hope!

Skittles and Stamping... eat them up YUM!

Last weekend I was practicing stamping with my new Bundle Monster stamping plates and accidentally did a somewhat cute mani lol. I say somewhat because I'm still learning and some of the stamps didn't quite come out as clear as I wanted. But ya live and learn and I'm determined to not only conquer this but find out which of my "regular" polishes are good for stamping!

L to R: Sally Hansen - White On, Revlon - Passionate Pink, Revlon - Rich Raspberry,  Essie - Play Date, Revlon - Coastal Surf, Sally Hansen - Lickety-Split Lime, Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat
Bottom Row: Konad Stamper, Bundle Monster Plate BM - 208 and Konad Scraper

First I put down 2 coats of Sally Hansen - White On as a base coat on both hands. Then I put the colors in the order that you see them in the photo for my Skittle color look. I don't believe there is any real order but I put the colors usually in some sort of gradient arrangement because I'm OCD lol.

LEFT HAND

So I stamped my left hand first with the stamp design at the top of the plate if you hold it so the number is at the bottom. I thought it looked cool but pretty much everyone I showed it to had a luke warm sort of "ehh it could be better" reaction. Oh well... sometimes what you like isn't the popular choice!

RIGHT HAND

On my right hand I used the stamp design at the left if you hold it so the number is at the bottom. This hand is the hand that stamped crapily. Yup I said crapily lol. I don't know if it was my choice in design or my abilities or both but I was kinda bummed. Now, I will say that everyone I showed this to liked it a lot lol. So I guess there's no accounting for taste amongst my friends *wink*

I've been trying to make some healthier eating choices and cutting out candy has been one of the hardest choices. Not that I eat candy all the time or anything like that, but I have a couple that I just love. They are sort of just- part of my history? Does that make sense? Skittles are one of them, M & Ms of course, Now & Laters, Starburst, and then chocolate as a whole lol. I love color and am one of those weirdos that will separate things into color groups or make pictures with the colored candy. Dom used to give me so much hell when we worked together lol. Anyways, doing the Skittles manis are fun, cute and well, I guess you could say I'm still having my candy and none of the side effects!

 Hope you feel inspired to try your own Skittles mani or even check out some stamping- it is definitely a fun and creative way to show some individuality in your everyday look.

P.S. Can ya spot the big boo-boo in my stamping colors? lol

Dollish Polish... Bringin' the heat! Bringin' the funk!

Yup! This lady has got some hot products! Bringin' the funk for those that need a little more pep in their step and a polish to those that could use a good... POLISHING!!

For those of you that have been living under  a rock in the world of Indie polish, she's the Host with the most! Dollish Polish makes and sells her own brand of fun in bottles of varnish and glitter. I know it may seem as though I am overly amped up, but truly I have fallen head over heals in love with her polish. My first time in I bought four; my initial excitement and everything involved with seeing them for the first time live and not Memorex can be read in my recent post, Nail Mail and an Epic Fail. But lets get on with the show and review these babies!

"Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe"

The first polish I used of course was Does Barry Manilow know you raid his wardrobe. I was so excited and eager that I honestly couldn't wait for the glitter to mix up well, so please excuse my eager polish job. Believe me the polish is way more awesome than my iPhone and my eager beaver polishing show in the following photograph. 

Don't worry- this beautiful polish will be making a very very quick return in some future mani's I've already got ideas for...

2 coats, no undies!

"He slimed me!"

Next up I painted my nails with He slimed me! This particular polish is so awesome I don't know if I have enough interesting adjectives to do it justice. However, I'll put it this way... If you've ever imagined what slime or specifically Slimer (from Ghostbusters) and his slime looked or felt like, this polish is that. Litterally it is the varnish equivalent of what I can imagine it being like. Wait a second though- before you jump to the wrong conclusion, I love and adore Slimer. I love the Ghostbusters movies and the way that the movies, characters and dialogue have impacted our culture. That being said, there really could be no higher praise for He slimed me. Honestly if I could afford it I would buy bottles to just give out to people that needed a funny, sunny pick me up. 

The day I wore this polish it wasn't meant to impress, I was just eager to try it (much like Barry's polish job lol). While I painted my nails before getting ready for an appointment I was talking to Dom via Skype and discussing the blog and other life things. She also likes He slimed me, so I kept showing her coat after coat what it looked like. I remember telling her "it is just SOOO pretty and SOOO fun, I just can't stop putting layers on!". He slimed me! can be worn alone and in my opinion 3 good coats would achieve an awesomely slime-rific appearance, however I was in the "zone"and wanted to see what it'd look like with just one more, and another and well just one more maybe... I lost track of how many coats I put on, but I'm going to estimate that it was about 5 or 6. Way more than I needed but it just kept getting prettier and prettier lol. I received several compliments and even referred 2 people to Dolly's shop on Etsy. 

**UPDATE 4/14/12: According to a post on Dolly's FB page "He Slimed Me!" will be moving to the Acetone Vault... so get your polish while its available people!!!

Crappy lighting and an iPhone don't do this polish/ picture justice!

"I'll have what she's having"

The same day I received my polish I didn't want to wait to put on the beautiful and multi-faceted I'll have what she's having. I also really wanted to see it alone. I can't wait for an opportunity to try out a really cool hot pink I recently picked up, but this time around I held off and put on 3 coats of I'll have what she's having alone. I never thought I'd love a PINK glitter as much as I love this one. I am NOT a "pink" girl. However, since this polish was delivered to my door I have purchased 5 different pinks including a neon and a crackle lol. I have SOOO many ideas for I'll have what she's having its nuts! Every time I look at it I find more facets to it. At first it has this soft pink base and pink glitter- sort of a "stock" ya know? But then some light shifts and WAIT! Is that? Why YES it IS flecks of a darker pink, almost fuchsia and possibly some more very very fine pink glitter along with the soft rose of the "main" glitter.

I'm just going to be honest and direct here... this line is from the scene in When Harry Met Sally and Sally is educating Harry in the fine art of a faked orgasm... in the middle of a busy diner! The scene is seriously epic and one of the funniest in the history of motion pictures (in my opinion at least!). The line is spoken by a woman in the diner ordering her meal. A little trivia, that woman was no actress! She was director Rob Reiner's mother! Also, just because the video is hilarious, here is a LINK to see Billy Crystal on John Stewart relating a funny story about the filming of the famous orgasm scene (skip to about 6mins to just see that part if you don't want to watch the whole vid).

Sorry... I'll get back on track! Sorry I get so wrapped up talking about movies. So just like He slimed me! this polish is exactly what I can imagine it to look like to live up to it's name. Honestly, a woman's orgasm... hmm sparkly, pretty, pink, multi-faceted and in a lovely sheer pink base? Check, check, check, check annnnnd CHECK! HA! Well done, Dolly, well done! Bravo!! I'm cheering from my seat asking to have what she's having!! 

Sorry I didn't get a better photograph, but just like the others- I have BIG plans BIG BIG plans for this lovely... you'll be seeing it again and believe me you'll fall in love with it just like I have. I promise you, it's definitely worth the purchase. The glitter doesn't need placement, it spreads nicely and honestly it's leagues better than some of the other glitters I've purchased that were supposed to be so great and wonderful.

3 coats, no undies!

"I wanna do bad things to you" 

I have a confession... I don't watch... True Blood. *GASP* *insert shocked face here* I know I know. What self-respecing Vampire literature loving woman doesn't watch that show!? I want to, I just refuse to pay HBO prices. It sucks (hahaha) everyone always talking about a show I have no clue about. So for this purchase it was purely because it caught my eye as an exceptionally beautiful red glitter. This was my first red glitter purchase ever. The previous red glitters in my stash are all fine and micro glitter with a dark red base, so truly it is a polish with glitter in it, not a glitter. Therefore I was really excited about this purchase because oddly enough, a good red glitter is hard to come by. I wanna do bad things to you is exceptionally pretty. It is jam packed with glitter and not just any glitter either! Beautiful sparkly round ultra red glitter, some tiny flecks of more red glitter and some other glitter that shifts purple! What an awesome addition to any bling-tastic mani! Of course like any glitter- especially such a dense glitter you have the not so fun task of clean up and removal. I swear glitter can be such a meanie sometimes! In closing I would definitely brave the clean up and removal for this beautiful concoction. It truly is the cat's pajamas for any red lover- especially a red GLITTER lover!!

Well I hope you enjoyed my lengthy lamenting on Dollish Polish! Keep your eyeballs peeled for these to make some appearances in upcoming posts! Don't forget to leave me some love and comment below!

Easter copy cat attack!

So this is just a quick post to show my daughter's Easter nails... I promised her I would lol. Basically when Julep posted their DIY Nail art of the day on April 6th I had an epiphany! Finally a cute Easter nail that I could do on my daughter's very very tiny nails!! YAY!! You can see their post here just scroll down a couple. Below is my finished copy cat version.

Pinky to Thumb: Essie - Play Date, NYC - Lexington Yellow,
 China Glaze - Rose Among Thorns, Revlon - Coastal Surf

In between and not so pretty! LOL Updated art, Pinky to Index finger: China Glaze Luxe & Lush, Sally Hansen - White On, China Glaze - Liquid Leather, NYC - Spring Street, Sally Hansen - White On & China Glaze - Fairy Dust

Finished!

Schwagin' Nail Mail

Let me start by giving a bit of background information.  Like most little girls, I have loved nail polish since I can remember.  My obsession with nails really kicked into high gear when I was about 15 years old and acrylic nails became super popular.  I had a really tight knit group of friends and we would go and get our nails done weekly at the local nail shop.  We would try to top each other with style and length, at times getting a bit out of control.  When you're 15 years old trying to keep up with whats hot, it can become expensive.  Even $10 a week on a balance and polish became a bit much!  

One of my girls; who was obviously paying more attention at the nail shop than the rest of us, had the bright idea to go to Sally's and buy all of the products that the nail techs used on us. She quickly figured out how to do our nails at home instead! From that point on we became guinea pigs in Kim's quest to save us money and be creative.

After some mishaps, Kim quickly became a pretty good basement nail tech and we always had the best nails around.  To sum it up, as soon as we graduated high school Kim went and got her nail tech license.  And, as they say, the rest is history.  

So now the story of my day begins.  I got up like any other day and decided that I needed to run to my favorite stores and check out what was new or on sale in the world of polish.  I hit up a few of my local Sally's and an Ulta store to pick up some great new colors. The entire time I was shopping I had E on the phone, as usual, looking up polish swatches and helping me shop from 5 states away.

A good start to my day, but not even close to what was coming up next! I finally finished shopping and headed home. The whole time I was thinking about my haul from this mornings trip.  So, I pull up to the house and wait! What do I see?! A BIG BOX ON MY FRONT STEP ADDRESSED TO ME!! The address section of the box was in handwriting that I knew, and it said KIMMIE!

Why is this so exciting you ask?  Well, I knew right away that my girl, Kimmie Kyees, had sent me a care package.  Immediately I called E back; she was possibly more excited that I was at the posibility of what was inside the box! LOL

Anyways, I'll just get straight to it.  Inside the box was NAIL POLISH and NAIL TREATMENTS and and an entire set of GEL POLISHES INCLUDING THE UV LIGHT!!!  (insert hallelujah chorus with angels singing back up)

So, below you will find pictures of all my goodies that Kimmie sent me including the upcoming line of SPARITUAL Gold Collection due out in May.

Please share in my joy while you look at these pics!

Everything that was in the box!

Red Carpet Nails Gel Polish Pro Kit + Gel Polish

What seems to be the entire line of Wet'n'Wild Wild Shine Polish

Wet'n'Wild Megalast Polish

Orly Mini's and Kimmie Kyees & Elegant Touch Nail Creations

drumroll please...

SPARITUALS new Gold Collection, due in May 2012

Keep and eye out because I will be swatching and reviewing these soon!  

Needless to say my day was already great but now it's awesome! I have even more nail trickery to get myself into!  Good thing Kimmie sent me some awesome nail care products too! The amount of remover these nails are going to be subjected to in the next week or so is going to be insane!