Thursday, March 31, 2016

TWO YUKS IN A ROW

I don't know what my deal is, but I'm just hating everything I did for like the past week. I ordered a bunch of different nail vinyls from Ali Express, so I decided to give them a try last weekend.

First of all, they were super cheap at $1.44 a sheet. I bought 8 different designs from this seller. I see now they are $1.80 per sheet. I haven't looked, but it wouldn't surprise me if someone else had them for less over there somewhere.

The quality of the sheets is pretty damn good. I only used three from the sheet to do all ten of my nails.

So it isn't the fault of the vinyls that this mani is crap.
Fresh Paint Blank Space, Different Dimensions Coral Rose, OPI DS Signature, Ali Express nail vinyls
I started with two coats of the very light pink, Fresh Paint Blank Space. Once that was dry and topcoated, I placed a vinyl and sponged on Different Dimensions Coral Rose. I then used an eye shadow applicator to fill in the small spot with OPI DS Signature.

It just turned out kind of jumbled mess. Maybe I was tired; mabes I was just doing sloppy work. I don't know. I have no excuse. I was embarrassed wearing it out to dinner with the fam on Easter Sunday and was happy nobody made a comment.

The clerk at the grocery store loved it, though. I thanked her and went on my merry way back home to remove it.

Bottom line, Ali Express vinyls are a win at a great price. And I received them in 13 days, which isn't too shabby. 

I should probably stay off of that website. It makes me want to buy ALL of the nail stuff!

Friday, March 25, 2016

I HATE WHEN THAT HAPPENS

Last night I stayed up way too late. When I was at my mom's house during the holidays, I decided to steal a bunch of the old family photographs so I could scan them into my computer. I finally got around to doing it and was up until 3:30 a.m. cropping them to normal size. It was fun looking back at pics from when I was little and seeing pics of loved ones now long gone. Some of them also made me seriously question some of my "fashion" choices over the years.

When I did finally go to sleep, I vaguely remember having some kind of weird-ass dream about ghosts, and then I was awoken by this godawful beeping noise. In my stupor I reach over to Kev's empty side of the bed to practically break his alarm clock before realizing that wasn't where the sound was coming from. So I stumbled out of my room into the living room and stood in the dark trying to discern where the screeching was coming from.

Finally it became apparent that it was coming from the spare bedroom. I went in there and found Tinlee on that bed, completely unconcerned by the sound but looking at me like I was the crazy one. I flipped on the light and saw that it was the weather warning radio my mom bought me for Christmas. I wanted one basically to warn me of bad summer weather, not stupid snow. And why it chose 4:40 a.m. to start squawking about a winter storm warning is baffling. My phone has been warning me for days about the winter storm. And for the record, the damn storm started before midnight. Not only that, just exactly what kind of warning do I actually need for a bunch of white, fluffy stuff falling down in my yard?

I don't know who sends the signals to that thing, but if a tornado is coming, I'd appreciate the warning ahead of time....not 5 hours after it hits. I could be lying naked and dead in a field 2 miles from my house by that time.

So thanks for nothing, weather warning radio. You suck at life.

I shut it off.

I took off that really cute pastel saran wrap mani and did this. And if it wasn't 12:40 a.m. right now, I'd take it right back off. I hate when I take off something I really like and then follow it up with crap.
Morgan Taylor Birthday Suit, Mundo de Unas Cream, Uber Chic UC 7-03
The base is a night neutral, Morgan Taylor Birthday Suit. I tried stamping on it with a couple different light neutrals and wasn't satisfied with any of them. I finally just used Mundo de Unas Cream, but it isn't what I wanted at all. I had a couple of regular polishes that I tried that I would have liked better, but they just weren't showing up. Maybe I should have just gone with white.

I got my Uber Chic 7 series of stamping plates today so I got this design from UC 7-03. Scrolly, flourishy goodness. My fave thing.

Kev will be home in the morning and then we are heading off to Manistique with Seven's parents to eat and go to the casino. Then he has to leave right away on Saturday morning. Short trip home this time around.

And after he's gone, so is this mani!

Tuesday, March 22, 2016

MAYBE TOO SUBTLE?

So much for spring. I woke up to a completely snow covered yard once again. Pretty annoying. All of the old snow had melted, and the muddy parts of my yard had finally dried up. Evidently we are supposed to really get a huge dump on of that white shit later this week. I heard 7-10 inches, but I'm just going to cross my fingers and hope that my Esky banana belt status will do its magic and keep most of that away from me.

When I did a reapplication of my nails this last time, I did what I always do and chose something light colored. I wore this for two days before taking a pic, and I can see that my fingers still look a little pink from the application process.
Zoya Lulu, Mundo de Unas  Peach, Bundle Monster & Lucy's Stash BM-XL209
The peachy base on this is  Zoya Lulu, which is a very sheer polish. I wanted to do something equally light and breezy for the stamping, so I chose MdU Peach and the Bundle Monster collaboration plate with Lucy's Stash, BM-XL209.

I know I was happy with this while I was wearing it. Now in looking at it in the picture, it almost seems too subtle. It's always funny to me how I can love something at the time and then look back weeks later and wonder why I ever did it in the first place. I guess it just depends on my mood on any given day.

Right now I'm wondering if maybe I should just go back to putting snowflakes on my damn nails. I don't feel like I should have to even consider that in late March. But mabes I'll do it just to be obnoxious.

And then my brain reminds me of the gazillions of times I've seen snow in May. Reality checked.

Sunday, March 20, 2016

SPRING IS SPRINGING

Why does it have to be Sunday already. I'm not ready for Monday and work. Adulting can be so hard.

It was a pretty darn good weekend, though. Friday night we went to a St. Patrick's Day party. Yesterday the girls came over with Seven to watch American Idol and then left Seven her overnight. So lots of fun with good peeps and a great dog.

For the party I didn't feel like doing green again so I decided to just do a saran wrap smoosh.
Glitter Gal White Pointer, China Glaze More to Explore, OPI DS Sapphire, saran wrap
I used Glitter Gal White Pointer for my base. When that was dry I put dots of the white in random spots on my nails and did the same with dots of China Glaze More to Explore and OPI DS Sapphire. Then I laid saran wrap gently on top of the wet blobs and tapped lightly to spread the colors.

I was pleased with how it turned out. Of course, that was two days ago so I got bored with it. With Seven here I didn't really want to spend much time changing them up, so I just did a quick stamping job on top of it.
Glitter Gal White Pointer, China Glaze More to Explore, OPI DS Sapphire, saran wrap, Uber Chic UC 8-02
I just got the new 8 series from Uber Chic so I used a design from the UC 8-02 plate and Mundo de Unas white. I wasn't sure how well it was going to show up on top of the white nails, but it turned out pretty cute.

It's at least cute enough to get me through tomorrow. Maybe by tomorrow night I'll think of what I want to do next.

The only thing I know for sure is next is placing another Uber Chic order. The 7 series were out of stock when I got this latest batch so I think I'm just going to have to get them, too.

Friday, March 18, 2016

NOT IRISH, BUT I PLAYED ALONG

Wednesday was Kev's 42nd birthday. I decided the housework could wait, and Kev and I went out for dinner instead. Oh, it was SO good! I had my usual, a filet, but I decided to spend the extra 10 bucks to have a lobster tail, too. It was so worth it.

After that we met up with Seven's parents at another restaurant for a drink. I didn't call them to go to dinner because we decided so last minute, and as it turned out, they had decided to go out, too. Then it was out to the casino for quite a few hours of playtime. We came home dead even, so that was nice. I'm always happy just to not lose.

Since we were out and about, I didn't get to do my nails last night.   I honestly had planned on doing a shamrock water marble, but I just never got around to it. I did this on Monday night so I'd have a St. Patrick's Day themed mani for work but then took it off on Tuesday.
Nubar Reclaim, Essie Good as Gold, FabUrNails FUN13, St. Patrick's Day
I love my green base on this one. It's Nubar Reclaim, and it's a very pretty true green holo. I believe they've discontinued it, which is stupid, but I have two bottles. So I'm good.

I went through all of my stamping plates, and apparently the only shamrocky-clover thing I have is on this Fab Ur Nail FUN13 plate. I find it hard to believe I don't have any others, but I looked through them all twice and didn't see any. I find that weird. I just used Essie Good as Gold for the stamping.

I wasn't really feeling it so not a lot of effort went into this one. It was nice to use green and not have stained fingers, though. Thank you for that, Nubar. After the whole green fingers fiasco from that Julep holo, I've been afraid to do anything green.

If you've been out drinking green beer tonight, I hope you had a great St. Paddy's. And that you played safely and didn't drive.

Monday, March 14, 2016

EIGHT RANDOM MANI'S

It's Monday. Monday's suck. The end.

Here are eight pics that have been sitting in my drafts section feeling lonely and neglected. I decided since I'm in a craptastic mood I'd just throw them up here to get them out of the way.

Enjoy. Or not. Whatevs. After each pic I've posted what I used.
Square Hue Gibson Girl, Mundo de Unas Red, Uber Chic UC 4-02 stamp
Square Hue Gibson Girl, Mundo de Unas Red, Uber Chic UC 4-02 stamp
Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Allure, Essie No Place Like Chrome, Uber Chic Christmas 01
Sally Hansen Lustre Shine Azure, Essie No Place Like Chrome, Uber Chic Christmas 01
Zoya Avery, Sinful Colors Bare, China Glaze Passion for Petals, gradient

Zoya Avery, Sinful Colors Bare, China Glaze Passion for Petals, gradient
OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window, Loreal Because You're Worth It, LeaLac LLC-B stamp
OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window, Loreal Because You're Worth It, LeaLac LLC-B stamp
Julep Winter, Mundo de Unas Dark Gray, Uber Chic 5-03
Julep Winter, Mundo de Unas Dark Gray, Uber Chic 5-03
Ever After Bite Me, MdU Black,  Uber Chic 3-01
Ever After Bite Me, MdU Black,  Uber Chic 3-01
Sally Hansen Olive Branch, Essie Good as Gold, Uber Chic 5-01 stamp
Sally Hansen Olive Branch, Essie Good as Gold, Uber Chic 5-01 stamp
Color Club Halo Hues Eternal Beauty, Mundo de Unas Violet, Uber Chic UC 5-02 stamp
Color Club Halo Hues Eternal Beauty, Mundo de Unas Violet, Uber Chic UC 5-02 stamp

And that's it for me. Even with posting all of these, I still have several more that are sitting in drafts.

I'm holding off on those; maybe they'll eventually earn a spot as their own post.

Wednesday, March 9, 2016

TEARS FOR MY NEW SHIRT :(

It probably would come as no surprise to anyone that has seen a pic of me that my hair is colored. The hair of my youth was a nondescript mud brown color, fine in texture and thin. Luckily after having my first child, my hair did improve in texture, but gradually over the years I went from blonde highlights to just being blonde. I can't imagine ever going back to natural, especially since it's more than likely a whole lot of grey by now.

Unfortunately, with that comes the upkeep, and for some reason I just really hate going to get my hairs did. I finally went in last night for a cut and color, and I hadn't been there since November 3rd. Kind of outrageous. Luckily my hair is just worn straight, and I've learned how to cut my bangs just to avoid going in.

Don't get me wrong; I love who does my hair. She's been a very dear friend since the 80's, so we go way back. We always have a lovely visit when I do go, and last night was no exception. When I got home, I was going to heat up some supper and decided to take off my pink shirt to avoid having it splattered on. When I took it off, I was horrified to find the entire upper back of it was covered in a brownish color which I immediately knew had to be hair dye. I'm assuming it had to come from the inside of the cape I was wearing. I immediately sprayed it with Oxyclean and threw it in the washing machine and crossed my fingers.

While it was washing I texted her for ideas on what to use to remove the dye. When it came out of the washing machine still stained, I tried both of her ideas and threw it in again. While it was washing that second time, I wandered the interwebs for more ideas. Since it came out still stained, I tried the other ideas I'd found and tossed it in one more time.

That shirt has officially been washed more than it's been worn. I bought the same shirt for Tyler for Christmas, and I loved it so much I got one for myself in February, so I've worn it exactly twice. Color my shirt ruined, and color me sad. It took me about one second to decide I was just going to buy it again, and of course my size is sold out because they are on sale and not being restocked. I decided to risk getting the small instead of the medium. It's a long sweatshirty thing that isn't fitted at all, so I'm hoping the small will work. If it doesn't, be prepared to see me whining about it some more because it's not returnable which means I'll have two shirts I can't wear.

By the time I got done with all of that shirt drama, it was too late to do my nails, so I'm still wearing this one from Sunday night.
Fresh Paint Never Go Out of Style, MdU Black, Uber Chic 6-01
I kind of like how this one looks. The lighter brown base is Fresh Paint Never Go Out of Style. You know how I love my Fresh Paints. After topcoating, I stamped with MdU Black using the Uber Chic 6-01 stamping plate. I really liked the matte look of the black on top of the brown, so I did not topcoat this mani once I was done stamping.

Oh, yikers. Hopefully I will remember that if I ever do that again, it's going to have to be a one day mani, not a three day. The black design is completely gone at the tips from typing, and it's just worn off in other random spots, too. 

Now that my work week is almost over and it's house cleaning time when I leave here, I guess it doesn't matter too much at this point, but it sure ain't cute.

My plan is go home, clean the house and then do a soak off of my nails. I can't remember when I put these on last, but I smacked my ring finger earlier and knocked one loose, and when I was painting them Sunday night, the growout was starting to look bad to me. Do I feel like doing a soak off? Nope! As much as I love my nails, sometimes they are a big ol' PITA.

And I seriously don't know what I'd do without them.

Sunday, March 6, 2016

LATE NIGHT QUICKIE POST

Well, it's after 11:30 on Sunday night, and even though I should be smart and just go to bed, I figured I'd throw up a quick post.

We had a busier than normal kind of weekend. Friday night we went out to dinner and then to the casino with some friends. It was a very late night. I had already planned on making a big dinner on Saturday, and we invited those friends over to help eat it.

As I was cooking, I got a text from my older daughter saying they wanted to come over. They had come to town to go to a play and originally the plan was to go to her dad's, go to the play and then they were coming here and spending the night. But since they got bored waiting for play time, she headed over here with my granddaughter, my grandson and his girlfriend.

Before they were even in the door, our other friends arrived. After dinner, the kids headed out to the play and we spent a few hours visiting. Once they left, the kids came back, and it was time for Posh face masks and some game playing before finally going off to bed around 2:30 a.m.

For me, that is a whole lot of social interaction. I'm a "like to be alone" kind of person most of the time. I loved all of the company, but I was not sad to have several hours by myself tonight before going back to work tomorrow.

I did do my nails tonight, but the following mani is from weeks ago.
China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer, Mundo de Unas Sky Blue, Uber Chic 6-03 stamp
I'm not sure what inspired this mani, if anything. Mabes I was planning to wear a blue shirt to work? No clue. The light blue is China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer, and the stamping was done with Mundo de Unas Sky Blue and the Uber Chic 6-03 plate.

This would fall under the "it's okay" category. Nothing wrong with it; nothing spectacular about it. 

And now I guess I'll go figure out what I'm wearing to work tomorrow and get myself ready for bed. At the speed with which I normally get ready for bed, that should actually put me in bed in approximately 45 minutes.

I hate having to go to bed. I'm a firm believer in being awake for as many hours as possible every day.

Friday, March 4, 2016

SO PRETTY, I THINK

I guess at some point last weekend Baylee got a little carried away. On Sunday we noticed her left ear was completely swollen. She wasn't in any pain, but almost her entire ear flap was full of fluid. I'm not sure if she hurt it while playing with one of the pups or if she banged her head in the driveway. Her fave thing in the winter is to start walking down our downward sloping driveway, take a few quick steps as she dives face first onto the snow/ice, flip to her back and slide. Then she'll get up and do it again. It's hilarious to watch, and she thoroughly enjoys her self-propelled sledding action. We think it's possible that perhaps on one of her flips, she hit her ear on a hard spot of ice, causing it to swell.

Kev brought her to the vet on Monday, and they had to sedate her, cut her ear and insert a tube which she has to have in for 3 more weeks so the ear can continue to drain as needed. Our job is to massage it and keep her from injuring it or taking out the tube. Enter the "cone of shame". The plastic, huge cone the vet gave us lasted less than 24 hours. She kept walking into things with it and managed to break it. Twice. I ordered her a Comfy Cone from Amazon which got here today, and that is a much better size. 

At this point we only make her wear it to go outside to prevent her from sliding because she couldn't care less about that tube in her ear. She doesn't seem to even realize there's anything going on, which works out well because not once has she attempted to scratch that ear. As long as someone is home with her, we aren't forcing her to wear the cone. I'll be very surprised if the vet leaves the tube in for the full 3 1/2 weeks because there isn't really much draining going on at all. I guess we'll see what happens next week. She has doctor appointments for the next three Thursdays.

Tonight around 11 o'clock I decided to take off the Snail Vinyl mani. I had the other polish that Tyler bought me sitting here next to me so I decided to try that out.
Defy & Inspire Make it Work, Mundo de Unas  Mint, Bundle Monster & Nailstamp4fun BM-XL206
This is Target's Defy & Inspire Make it Work, which she basically purchased for me just for the name. We are huge Project Runway fans, and Tim Gunn is famous for saying "make it work". I love the names of these polishes; things like Toddlers and Tiaras, Big Brother, The Final Rose, Tribal Council....perfect for a reality tv junkie like me.

For the design I used one of my new Bundle Monster plates. This one is from the blogger collaboration with Nailstamp4fun, BM-XL206, and I used Mundo de Unas Mint.

I'm way happy with this whole thing. At some point I'm really going to have to get a bunch more of this Target brand polish because I'm in love with it. Tyler had Toddlers and Tiaras pink with her, and I was so hoping she'd forget to take it back home. I know there are at least six more that I want so the next time I'm near a Target, nothing is going to stop me.

Either that or I'm going to keep watching them online and hope for a sale. But I will have them one way or another.

Everyone should have a goal, right?

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

SNAIL VINYLS - A WINNER!

I was pleasantly surprised when I got a text from Tyler on Friday afternoon, letting me know that they were on their way home for the weekend. I didn't figure I was going to see her until the middle of March, and for that trip she is coming without the hubby or Griffin. This trip the whole family came, including my darling Zero.

It had already been pre-planned that two of my "extra" daughters were coming over to visit me on Friday after supper. Erica brought sweet little Evie, who is 2, and Jackie brought me Ayden, who is going to be 3 in a few months. I love when they come over. Erica calls me "me-mums", and the last time they visited, Evie was saying "me-grand-mums". This time as soon as she came in Erica asked her who I was, and she just said "Gramma Di". Being an honorary mom and grandma is one of my most favorite things of all time. I love those girls enough and those babies enough for them to seriously be blood relatives. The timing was perfection for them to be there because they stayed long enough to spend time with Tyler and Griffin. It was a big, noisy madhouse, and it.was.awesome.

Griffin was adorable, as always, and Zero is still my baby boy.
Honestly, is there anything more adorable than a boy and his dog?? At 5 1/2 years old, just about the only way to get a nice pic of Griffin is to have Zero in a shot with him. The rest of the time he just wants to make funny faces at me.

Because of all the company, I didn't get to nails until Sunday night. A couple of weeks ago, Aveline, the owner of Snail Vinyls contacted me on Pinterest, asking if I'd be interested in some samples.

I've seen lots of manicures where people have used them and thought they looked awesome, and since I have an IQ higher than 12, I told her I absolutely would love to try them. She told me to pick out a "couple" that I'd like, which I did, and a week later I got an envelope with a whole bunch of cool stuff.

They've been sitting on my table just waiting to be used, and finally on Sunday night I had some time to play.
Defy & Inspire Laguna Beach, China Glaze Queen B, Snail Vinyls Moroccan Nail Stencils
My light purple base on this one is a polish that Target is selling now called Defy & Inspire. I had seen it when we were in Illinois visiting Tyler, and I wanted to buy all of them. In the end, I didn't buy any at all because I had already purchased so many bottles at the other stores we went to that I would have felt guilty spending $7.50 a bottle for polish I don't really need.

When Tyler got home on Friday she surprised me with two bottles of it. This is Defy & Inspire Laguna Beach. I love it. The formula is good, and of course I love any kind of purple. Of course, this only makes me want the rest of them even more.

After I topcoated, I decided on the Snail Vinyls Moroccan Nail stencil for my design. I won't lie; it took me a bit to get the hang of using the stencils. There may have been some swearing going on while doing my first two. I did get the hang of it, though, and the other eight went on without any troubles at all.

Once I had my stencil placed, I sponged  China Glaze Queen B over it and then immediately pulled the stencil off, leaving the design you see here. I did topcoat one more time, and that was that.

I'm still wearing this now and still liking it. I'm probably going to wear it for at least another day, but that depends on how motivated I feel tonight.

So yeah....I'm probably going to wear it for at least another day.