Thursday, September 30, 2010

Pan-African colors NOTD

This mani was inspired by the colors of the Ethiopian flag, I sponged on red, yellow, green and black on the ring finger and thumb and used “Orly “Iron Butterfly” (another matte that I like shiny) on the rest of the nails.

And, no, I'm not Ethiopian, I just love this color combo!


Revlon "Ruby Ribbon"

Another new Revlon matte that I picked up is “Ruby Ribbon.” Here it is with topcoat. The next day I added one of the Sally Hansen HD polishes. I forget the name, but it’s the pink one with purple and blue shimmer.


I'm not sure if I like this layering combo, but I left it on for a few days. I think I'm getting lazier with my nails!


A bonus pic of me (wearing ruby ribbon) holding my hubby's hand. I was feeling kinda artistic while we waited at the longest red light ever! (It looked better in my head... haha!)

Revlon "Fire Fox"

This is Revlon “Fire Fox.” It’s a bright sparkly red that dries matte. I put a topcoat on and stamped a swirly design in gold. I really like matte polishes, mostly because of the fast drying time. It seems I always add a topcoat though. Here it brings out the shimmer!


With flash!


Loreal "Imperial Plum"

I've been away from the computer a lot this week, but I've still been painting my nails, and they've been growing!

This is Loreal “Imperial Plum” It looks like a more of a really dark brown, than a plum to me though. I stamped some roses with Orly “ Rage” and topped it all with Revlon Glimmer Gloss.







Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Blog Awards


I'm not sure how these blog awards are supposed to work, but I got my first two!

This is the "Ten things I like" tag from the lovely "Enamel Girl." She is also my fellow hair and nail fanatic friend on LHCF!



10 random things I like at the moment are:
  1. My husband Jeremy: Yup I'm still madly in love with him :)
  2. Working weekends: It's great to have less people in the nurses station.
  3. Dexter season 4 via Netflix: OMG its awesome, we have only 3 episodes left!
  4. Babies: I think the "baby bug" bit me. Maybe next year ;)
  5. Fitting into smaller clothes: I've lost like 20 lbs the past few months and feel better than I have in a while
  6. Planet Fitness: The reason I've lost weight!
  7. Coworkers that love nail polish as much as I do: I have another "random act of kindness" to post soon!
  8. My mom: I really miss talking to her
  9. My longer nails: I haven't had a nail break in a few weeks (I'm sure I totally jinxed it just now.)
  10. Getting my hair flat ironed: I hate doing it myself.

This is the Sunshine Award from Budget Beauty Goddess. Make sure you check out her blog!
I'm not going to tag people, because I'm sure everyone has seen these floating around the web, but I do want to say thanks to everyone who stops by to look and comment on my blog!!!! I appreciate all your kind words!

OPI Teal/Green water marble NOTD

This is a mani that lasted much longer than expected, almost 5 days! I topped OPI “Jade is the New Black” with OPI “Catch Me In Your Net” using a sponge. On the ring fingers I tried water marbeling again using the above 2 colors along with silver and white. I love how this turned out!







Borghese "Nero Magico"

Ahh, today was weird at work, but tolerable. I like when I have time to focus more on the patients and their famlies families. (I love having 4 nurses!) Anyway I found this quote that kind of summarizes how I want to handle challenging situations. Seems easy enough, haha!

So this is a mani from last week: Borghese “Nero Magico,” a black polish with lots of silver glitter, that I think is supposed to dry matte. I put a top coat on because the glitter made it so bumpy after 2 coats. By the way, I love Borghese’s flat brushes! They make application so much easier!




I'll keep this color in mind for my Halloween plans.

Work vent...

This is just a little off topic vent...

I don't know what’s been up with me lately, but work has been a little more “anxiety provoking” than usual. I absolutely love my job and career choice (I’m a psychiatric RN) but I feel like I’m doing too much “extra.” Anyway, I am actually nervous about work tomorrow because I’m afraid my manager is going to complain about my overtime again. (Jeremy says I need to tell her to provide the tools for the unit that would make make the issues in the following rant resolved, but I really am too nervous!)

This may really weird and naïve but I find it hard to just go to work, assess patients, give meds, chart and leave. I get too bogged down in the many challenges and opportunities that occur in any given shift. It’s like when I see something wrong with a process I have to try to fix it. It’s mostly an “information” issue with me. I want everyone to know what’s going on, and who they need to talk to in order to get their needs met. And I like things to be pretty, or at least organized. I want our floor to have the best possible patient care and staff satisfaction. I’ve only been working there 10 months, but I can almost feel the enthusiasm being drained out of me. I have a notebook that I write in constantly during work, because I cant go an entire shift without thinking of things that could either make my job easier, make the unit look more professional or improve communication to patients and staff. Getting information to patients faster, and in a way they can understand is another passion of mine. (yes besides nail polish) I know I will see all the changes and ideas I think of happen eventually. Some are already in place. I just don't want to get ambivalent like many others there. More on this boring topic later, haha! By the way, thank you Shirley for all of your support; it really means a lot!


Lots more nail pics coming up very soon!!!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

"Blue Blast" and 1st Water Marble!

This is my first attempt at a water marble manicure. I used a white polish as a base on the ring fingers, and then just started mixing colors and experimenting with designs. I will definitely be trying water marbling again! The rest of the fingers are Sally Hanen “Blue Blast” topped with China Glaze Wireless Top Coat.






Friday, September 3, 2010

Classic French Tip NOTD

I used French tip guides, white polish and nail stickers! (no base color)


Thursday, September 2, 2010

Orly "Retro Red"



Wet n Wild “Prowler”

I got this tiny bottle from WnW’s new vampy/Halloween collection. It seems some of their bottles are getting smaller. $1.99 for 0.29 oz. Hmm. Anyway, “Prowler” is black with purple glitter. This is 2 coats, and 2 coats of top coat., because it dries kind of matte and bumpy.



With flash
"Prowler" without top coat

Santigold NOTD

I got this CD by Santigold yesterday and absolutely love it! It came out in 2008, I’m late I know) Its like a mix of hip-hop, techno, reggae and rock. I am horrible at describing music, but check her out for yourself! She sounds a little like another favorite artist of mine, MIA. My NOTD was inspired by the gold and gray in the cover. (hence the over the top gold vomit explosion on my thumb and ring finger, haha!)


I used Sally Hansen “Wet Cement,” On the ring finger and thumb I used OPI “Glitzerland” and gold foil. Then I used LA Splash “Sparkling Gold.”




Here is a better picture of her.