Fun and Mental Changes

Ok, as promised, here's my Shellac manicure after taking great care to use rubber gloves whenever my hands were in water or I was going to be doing something that was rough on my hands.  I'll start with the before pic.... Welp, they didn't make it the full 14 days, but they made it 11.  And to look at the picture you wouldn't know that they didn't make it because they still look shiny and incredible, but TWO of the nails pictured have some lifting of the product (I marked the lifting areas with arrows.  You can sort of see it in the picture on the ring finger).  The lifting is enough that it's catching on my clothes and being a regular pain in the butt.  So honestly, I probably COULD have gone the full 14 days if I didn't mind a couple of chips in the product here or there.  And truth be told, I've never been able to keep anything on my nails for a full 14 days (even fake nails had a hard time lasting that long) so I'm used to continual cha...

Ok, so yesterday was Labor Day and thankfully my Shellac Tropix manicure made it through the BBQing festivities!!!  Today begins another test!!!  What you see here is CND's Shellac Rubble!!!  THIS TIME I'm shooting for a full 14 day wear.  I picked up some lovely (and quite stylish I might add) rubber cleaning gloves.... I intend to wear these babies whenever I'm working with my hands.... for dishes, yardwork, etc.  I also strategically placed Konad nail art from image plate M36 on only ONE nail to see if the Rubble darkens like the Tropix darkened.  We shall see how long this manicure is going to last me.  Wouldn't that be great if I got MORE than 14 days of wear simply by making this one little change??? Hmmmmmmmm.... this might turn out to be quite an economical experiment!!!  I'll let ya know! :)

Welp.... it has been 8 days EXACTLY!!!!  CND Shellac is supposed to wear for 14 days, but for me, it only makes it to day 8.  And that is fine for me!  Honestly, NOTHING else wears that long or that beautifully... check out that shine (click on pic to enlarge)!!! So the pic above is the exact same Shellac manicure that I wore for the past 8 days.  Day one features a white Konad nail art design (Click HERE for deets).  Day four features a black Konad nail art design from image plate M70 and day 8 is shown with all nail art removed using a non-acetone nail polish remover.  There are a few things to mention: 1)  The Shellac color DID darken over 8 days.  The color variations in the pictures is not a lighting effect.  I don't know why this occurred.  My first thought was it was just because the darker nail art on day 4 was just making the color appear darker.  But once I removed all the nail art on the final day, I did notice the...

Yep.... I am in manicure HEAVEN!!!  I got my nails "Shellaced" yesterday with CND's Tropix Shellac and I LOVE IT!!!  Now I've had Shellac manicures before, but I didn't realize how WONDERFUL this product was until I grabbed my Konad nail art, messed it up, then removed the nail art entirely with non-acetone nail polish remover, reapplied the nail art and NEVER ONCE messed up the nail base Shellac color or lost an ounce of shine!!!  Honestly folks.... isn't that INCREDIBLE????  Now I do want to add for those of you who tune in here on my blog and for those who have not tried a Shellac manicure, this product does not wear the full two weeks (as advertised by the company) on me.  I typically get about 8 good days of wear with Shellac and then it peels and my edges chip a little.  But for me, THAT IS OK!!!  My nails look FABULOUS for 8 solid days and because Shellac has sort of a rubbery feel to it (being a hybrid of polish AND gel), it is very comforta...

So, last week I started my garden (my second one ever!). I found out the hard way that working in the dirt wreaks havoc on natural nails. I am gardening with gloves on this year, but there are just some things (planting seeds and pulling weeds) that are impossible to do with gloves on. This year I made a commitment (wow, really?!? Isn't that a little dramatic? Nah!) to protect my nails until the garden is up and running. I searched last year, long after it was too late , for something to protect my nails and THIS YEAR I think I found it. Thanx to a new friend of mine, who also happens to be a nail technician, I've discovered OPI's Axxium. It is a soak-off sealer for gel nails that MAGICALLY works on polish without puckering or cracking the color below. And let me tell you, I have been through enough gel "polishes", sealers, etc. that ruined the hard work below them to believe that REAL gel topcoats that would work over regular nail polish were probably not in exis...

Wow! These look like a million bucks! I have four gold polishes (more than enough for anyone.... or maybe not! LOL) that are my favies... and here's why! From L to R: Color Club Golden Girl, Zoya Richelle, Essie The Cove Copper, and OPI Golden Rules. My all time favorite gold is the OPI Golden Rules. It goes on silky smooth and two coats is PERFECT. It dries silky as well. Next is Color Club's Golden Girl. Again, it goes on very smooth, but is just a tad bit richer in color than the OPI. My next favorite is Essie The Cove Copper... yah, it's not copper... it's gold. It goes on a little streaky and required three coats to cover completely, but when it dries, it's beautiful. It does have a hint of a copper undertone, but that just makes it an even prettier gold! And last is my new Zoya Richelle. It is a great gold, don't get me wrong. The only reason I listed it as my dead last favorite gold is because it looks like a heavy texture gold that I find very distractin...

They FINALLY arrived!!! I participated in the Zoya polish exchange sending Art of Beauty 12 old bottles of polish in exchange for 12 NEW bottles of Zoya. I got them for FREE, but I had to pay $1.50 per bottle for shipping + postage to mail my old bottles, so I ended up spending about $23 for 12 new bottles of nail polish. Considering these polishes retail for $6-$9 a piece, getting 12 bottles for $23 was a STEAL, and these polish colors are GORGEOUS, natural, formaldehyde free and DBP free. Check em out! The new Zoya Colors from L to R: Jo, Blair, Irene, Emme. I literally slapped two coats on over my gels, so I apologize for how they look. These polishes completely covered the Konad nail stamps in just two coats and are beautiful! Jo has me reeling... I LOVE this color!!! I can't believe that I got all these colors for free by exchanging old bottles of polish... I mean I sent them bottles that I was getting ready to throw away. Most of them were more than half used. Soooo, I excha...