dark floral

My mom's co-worker gave her a few samples of Jamberry nail stickers and I just had to try them out. They were super easy to apply and I loved this dark floral pattern which I wore with my favorite dark red nail polish. They didn't last as long as I hoped, although my mom's fared much better. I found that the "top coat" sort of layer, a clear plastic-y layer, started peeling at the edges within a few days. I am terrible about picking at things so of course I made it worse and ended up peeling off the whole damn thing. I figured I'd just throw some regular topcoat on once the clear layer was peeled off but I didn't do it right away and the colored stickers started wearing off. Like within an hour of peeling off that weird clear layer my nails were totally sad looking. I was super bummed. I might try Jamberry nail wraps again, but I'd be careful to not pick and peel them and keep a clear coat handy to fix them up!

a note: I haven't blogged in ages because I haven't felt inspired to do so but I miss it and am going to try to get back into the swing of things. fingers crossed I'll be around more regularly!

minty moon

I'm loving half moon manis lately, especially in weird, non-traditional colors. This one was OPI Gargantuan Green Grape with Sally Hansen Wedding Glitters. I used Seche Vite topcoat and ORLY Bonder base and it has lasted an entire week and still looks decent which is amazing for me. I must be really hard on my hands because my nails almost always start chipping around day 3 but this combo holding up impressively!

rainbow dotty nails

sally hansen - lacey lilac, ulta - celebutante, loreal - not a cloud in sight, l.a. colors - (no name blue), sally hansen - pretty in hot pink, revlon - frankly scarlet, revlon - eclectic, sinful colors - rise and shine, revlon - peachy, essie - meet me at sunset

Oh my gosh, this was the most fun manicure I think I've ever done. Even after it had chipped beyond ignoring (I'm really bad about removing my nail polish when it starts to look raggedy), I was still getting compliments every day. Super easy too! I picked out five pairs of polish colors, a light and dark shade of a similar color and painted two coats of the lighter color and then dotted on the darker color with a toothpick with the tip broken off to be less pointy. I've also used bobby pins for dots before, so look around and see what would make nice sized dots. No need for a special dotting tool! I still can't believe I have enough polish colors for a design like this. I did realize I have a few holes in my collection. Pinks and greens are kind of scarce or funky, so I picked up a cheap bright/light pink (the one I used was a little too hot pink in my opinion) and a basic light green. A lot of my older polish has shimmer which I am not so into these days.

I couldn't stop myself from editing this picture with LINE camera. LINE is a chat app that is really popular in Asia (I think) and I started using it while I was in Japan. There's a lot of games and other fun apps that go with it, including the most ridiculously fun photo editor. I love all the silly stickers and decided to bling this one up. You may see more pictures like this in the future because I find it endlessly entertaining.

seafoam and silver

revlon jaded, sally hansen xtreme wear celeb city, seche vite top coat

Here's a closer up shot of nails you may have noticed in my post on Tuesday. I've been really into painting my nails lately, but I don't like to just paint them one solid, boring color. Last week it was triangle tips, and now we have silver on seafoam. I use tape on designs like this and I've found that the type of tape frame shops use for securing artwork to a mat works really well and doesn't hurt the base color. It's called Micropore tape and I buy it at work. You do have to peel it off right away though, as the color can seep through the tape.

and the fog finally lifts

As I was walking across the parking lot on my lunch break to pick up my takeout, I glanced up and saw this. Sometimes you just have to stop and go "dang, life is pretty." That may not be the most poetic reaction, but I'm just glad I notice these things, you know? It's a stop and smell the roses kind of thing, you sort of have to put some effort into it. There's times where I try not to be constantly snapping pictures, but I think the urge to document helps me look around, and see what's really there. I get weird looks and comments sometimes from people passing me by while I take pictures in a parking lot, or of a puddle, or whatever. But I just feel kind of bad for them, because they're not seeing it.

  sweater - icelandica (reykjavik), chambray shirt - thrifted from the little boys section, chiffon skirt & belt & tights - target, boots - thrifted, crystal pendant - diy, nails - ulta bam-blue-zled & revlon fashionista w/ seche vite topcoat

I also managed to snap a few detail shots of what I wore today. I haven't been able to get full outfit pictures because I lost my damn camera. And my whole purse. Quite awhile ago, actually, but I thought maybe it was just hidden under all the junk in my car. I finally cleaned that out and no. Not there. I could kick myself. I checked a couple places, but seriously, it's been ages. So that sucks. But I do really like this outfit. It's very textural, with the fuzzy wool and light chiffon. Lastly, I finally perfected the triangle manicure, which I love and first saw on The Dainty Squid. Kaylah has some killer nail art! When I did my nails last night, I thought the base color was a mid grey but it turns out it's kind of a denim-y blue. The triangle color is a dark teal, which I loooove.