Bye Bye Love

I love my nails… really I do.
But…. I was sitting at my desk yesterday and typing.  All of a sudden I just got an OVERWHELMING urge to just chop my nails off.

They were kinda in the way.  :-/

So, I did.  And though I might miss them, they are gone. For now. 🙂

 

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  “Kiss Me On My Tulips” – OPI

 

Back to some “regular” polish.  And faster typing speed.  And productivity from not being so dainty and prissy with my hands.  LOL

At least for a little while.

 

 

classics

I felt creatively stumped the past week. I was absolutely lazy too… ended up polishing my nails three different colors.

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kinda random but they were all in the same family so it probably looked purposeful. it wasn’t.

 

and since I am not quite ready to cut my nails off yet, I couldn’t pin down any nail art that excited me enough to polish….

then. this happened.

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i can never deny the call for a french manicure. I love this look. especially at this nail length. but of course, I couldn’t be too standard. I tossed in a black tip or two in there. 🙂

 

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No chip, of course.  It’s gotta last.  *fingers crossed*  🙂

Big Day Today!!

This day has been a GREAT one… and I haven’t even taken lunch yet.  lol  I can’t wait to see what else this day brings!

After waking up an hour and a half late and subsequently arriving that late as well (to the day job, lol … I was greeted with tons of congratulatory messages from friends and family!!

THEN, Rachel (from TopCoatIt) alerted me to another wonderful suprise!!  PUBLISHED on “365 days of Nail Art” Blog !!!

YIPPEEEEEE!!!!!  Check it out with the link below :-).

Bright Stripe Nails

Announcing…

Email Announcement

‘Like’ us on Facebook www.facebook.com/Polish2Times

Book your appointment at www.styleseat.com/Polish2Times


So, I know I’ve been pretty negligent in blogging…. but as you can see, I’ve been busy.  Lol. 

And I’m exhausted.  All my creative energy is drained, and I need to re-up.

I’m excited and anxious… and just trying to stay calm!!!  Smile This will definitely be a ride.  Hope you’ll join me… and stay tuned.

p.s.  my nails feel even more neglected than the blog.  I promise to pay more attention to both in just a second. 

Stop Thief!

Even as a relatively new blogger on the scene, I know that you need to give credit for ownership. If it ain’t yours, you need to cite your source!!!

Most folks aren’t asking for money, they just don’t want you thieving their work!!!! That “copy and paste” function is in rampant use in the blogosphere…which explains prolific watermarking efforts. It still surprised me that a well-known company would do it.

My fellow nail polish blogger and new Twitter friend Swatch And Learn had the misfortune of having her photos printed without permission by Sinful Colors.

Her story is HERE.

And then The Swatch-A-Holic’s story is HERE.

It’s really a backhanded compliment.  “Your work is so incredible that I want to use it for everyone to see and give compliments, but not to you…. I want the compliments for myself.  You aren’t worth the recognition.”  

Ridiculous.   

If it’s a good idea or a great photo….FROM SOMEONE ELSE….. don’t claim it as your own.  It’s tacky.  Disrespectful. Deceitful. Shady.  

End rant.

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It’s the Little Things

My sister is the best!    She stopped by this afternoon and brought me the cutest little automatic nail dryer.

It’s adorable.  It would be even cuter if the air blew from the little monkey’s mouth… but the air actually blows from a space at the monkey’s “neck”??  I love it already. 

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Now I need to do my nails tonight so that I can use it.

Thanks Shelle Shelle!!! Smile

polish collection

I think I have finally organized my “workspace” for my polish. Smile  Here’s where I sit to unwind and paint.

 

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I purchased a nail polish rack from the beauty supply store for my desk – I think it was $23 (maybe $28?? don’t remember)… should hold 60 bottles but because OPI polishes are “fat” only 11 fit on each level, but 12 Sinful Colors fit on each, so I managed to fit 59 bottles on this rack.

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Last night someone asked me how many polishes I owned.  I didn’t really know…. so at the time I said maybe about 100.  So today I counted…. the ones that were out…. and not including the nail art polishes…. nor including basecoats and top coats:

165. 

That sounds like too many…. but it doesn’t even seem like that much when I’m sitting in front of them.  It does, however, explain why I don’t mind doing my nails basically every day though. lol.

Here’s where I keep the other bottles and more nail art supplies.  I have to keep everything in view and easily accessible. 

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I found the cutest expandable rack… probably created for spices or something, at Target, for about $15. 

                                           White 3-Tier Expandable Shelf.Opens in a new window <—click for Target website link

It’s a nice rack too.  It has non-slip gripping pads so keeps the polish stable.  I can fit 2 rows of polish on each level, so it holds a good amount of polish.  Keeps them neatly organized and accessible.

So that’s how and where I keep my polish. 

French Newness

It’s crazy when you do your nails yourself, you become straight impatient.

Another twist on that classic French.

I couldn’t wait to get off work to go home and try @boutique_nails’s design:

I saw the photo around lunchtime…. which meant I wasn’t going near home for a good 8 hours.  smh.  I wasn’t even anxious to remove the current design…. but testing out this new one was all I could think of!

FINALLY!!!!! home…. manicured Smile and loving it.

Essie “Sand Tropez” w/ white tips
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Snow!

When I saw the snowflakes “falling” on the main page of the blog site (yay!), I immediately got excited.  I LOVE snow.   Love is an understatement.

Now mind you, I’ve been practicing good snowflake designs for like two weeks.  And still no presentable snowflakes in sight for my nailbeds. 😦

Now this one from cutepolish vids is adorable….

…. and though I love her designs, and I love using my dotting tool – it seemed too simplified for my lofty expectation of my artistic ATTEMPTS…  As I still haven’t mastered even a “neat” snowflake.


then I found this snowflake tutorial.   I liked. More dots, but it was a tiny bit more complicated.


I ended up with a sort of in-between snowflake from the two… and I could only withstand the painstaking task on the fingernails of my ring fingers…. this nail art is work! Smile  I used the appropriately named “Avalanche” for the base color, and white polish with a very skinny nail striping art brush for the snowflake.  I used a glitter polish with a dotting tool for some sparkly spots. When it actually snows here in Chicago [I wish it would hurry up and snow!!], I’m doing a snowflake design – again.  (does this one count?)

China Glaze “Avalanche”IMG_2381

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