Christmas Pretties

Alas, i am alive.  Sorry for the long hiatus.  Whenever i seem to do my nails it's not fun it's just color and then i take so long to take it off.  Well decided it was christmas and i couldn't let this Rainbow Connection not be worn during the Xmas season.

Please forgive the cuticles and the messy cleanup, i was running late for soccer and tomorrow's hot shower will clean up the flakies.  Will try to update better photos tomorrow. (also  please forget the bleeding red on the white nails i forgot how temperament red can be and i should learn to clean my top coat brush on paper after applying it on top of red)

Legend:
All colors are OPI
White - Alpine Snow
Red - From A to Zurich
Green (Jade actually) - Jade is the new black
Flakies/sparkles - Rainbow connection

Last year, i was regretting not purchasing Party Hearty so when i seen the Rainbow connection i know i had to have it.  I have no idea about a comparison between the two but my favorite hand is my left hand (little bit less sparkles)

So i'm going to attempt to blog one a week.  I'm thinking Friday night will be my posting night but that might change.

Side note:
Just to let the anyone know i am using Myfitnesspal for my healthy eating/lifestyle change journey so if you are on MFP feel free to add me - Alikat789 (i'm not calling it a diet cause it's not a diet it's a way of life)
I have about 70-85lbs to lose. i haven't set my long term goals yet but one short term goal is 10 lbs by Valentine's day.


Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, 
Cheers to everyone during this holiday season.

Here's to me posting another blog before christmas of my next set of nails before Xmas - cause to be honest i am hoping these nails make it past two days of wearing.  I seem to be struggling with peeling and breaking nails again.  Time for cuticle cream, more water and ??? i forget the other things i need to do....well on that forgetful note i better get some sleep as i'm starting to be forgetful.

MIA update

I'm around just not posting.  I've been doing my nails just forgetting to take the pictures.  I am impressed with my latest mani (it has lasted almost 4 whole days with only one minor touchup yesterday) - Borghese Berry Confezione with a couple access nails with sally girl pink noname sparkly hexagons, i'll take a pic tonight, but not sure when the pic will be posted.
My computer pc needs a reinstall of windows and i'm going to attempt that tonight.  Wish me luck first time doing an overhaul myself.

Update:
Well the windows went well.  The wireless doesn't want to work, sounds like i might need to call tech support to get it to work, so right now the desktop is downstairs and will stay there until wireless internet is setup.  Now to start installing all the programs i need.

One day late

It's thursday, i'm late for my post.  My nails have been bare all week.  In my hometown, we have been having a heat wave and breaking records - it's +33 celcius today, our usual temp on this day is +10....well gellies i leave my chair or 2 mins and a cat steals it...have to finish this tomorrow as it's too hot and its 11pm. Uuuhh.

Wednesday post - non-nail related

It's wednesday but i don't have a current mani to show you, i'm in the middle of painting my bedroom so my nails are the last thing on my mind.  Actually i'm going to take this Beige Sally Hansen Insta-Dry off right now.  it lasted for one day on my nails before they polish started to crack and peel. But here is a current pic of me with my new Dilem glasses - i love them, they have interchangeable arms (temples).  You get 2 pairs with the frames and you can purchase more temples to add to your collection.  If you know me you might understand my constant need for change and to have collections.   Happy Humpday.

Ramblings

Alright so i never got around to posting those pics...i seem to need to have a day to post...Wednesday and stick to that.

I'm at the parents house and we are celebrating my Dad's 60th birthday.His actual B-day is Dec 24 but he always feels a little slated with his b-day being at Xmas time, so we decided a summer B-day BBQ should be planned.    My bro and me decided to cross off an item from his bucket list - Skydiving.  I've always wanted to try.  So tomorrow morning, 7 of us will be skydiving...i think it will be a first for all of us.  My dad, my bro, my dad's bff, his daughter, Dad's bff's friend's M and M's brother B.  Sounds like we will have lots of people watching us too.  *OMG this name thing  (to use names or not to use name) is driving me crazy.  I'm thinking there will be 6 people watching us freefall.  After we skydive we are heading to the harness racing for a bit of friendly gambling.  It was tons of fun when i went in July this year.

I will take pics of my nails this weekend and post so you can see some pretty nails.  I think i will be putting happyfaces on my nails for tomorrow.

Update

Just got back from a weekend camping trip with my bff and her family. It was so much fun, but i think i got heat exhaustion on Sunday...anyways time for a new post and new pics. As the nails were bare this weekend can't show you those pics. Not fun.


For anyone interested in any kitty drama or updates.  Here is a recent pic of them from Aug 9.  Joey is finally starting to be around Naia and Kala and amazing enough, not much fights/hissing anymore.

Naia (black) on top, Kala on bench and Joey (Orange & white) on first tier of ktty scratching post

I will have a new swatch/mani or nail related post for you soon. (my right thumb needs some tlc, it got bent back and then broke about 3mm lower than my skin/tip of thumb....but the boat ride/fishing was so worth it)

Pics of mini Haul

Here is the pretty's - 5 polishes from The Tutti Gelati Summer Collection by Borghese

Pistacchio
Berry Confezione
Maraschino
Tutti Gelati
Limoncello

($20.00 CDN)



Going to do a new mani tonight not exactly sure of the color to use yet, but as i'm heading to the lake tomorrow i think i will try to match the swimsuit.

Nail Tek Foundation II - to help the peeling issues - didn't realize this was a knockoff or cheaper version of the Nailtiques Foundation II ($9.00 CDN)







And from the fringe i found cheap strands of beads for $3 each.  Normally at Michael's or Walmart these beads would cost from $4.97 to $6.97 especially the bigger sized beads.

Found a cool light switch  plate - got ripped off $10.00 i think find out it was a sticker placed on a lightswitch plate and the corners are a little exposed.

Well my Roughriders are playing tonight, so i better get infront of the TV.  Oh and do the nails while watching the game.  I'll post pics of the completed mani later.

Mini Haul

Tonight, a friend from my hometown, came into town.  We had supper, went to winners, went to a festival - the Fringe.  I got some cool finds. At winners i got a set of Borghese  and well i will have more pics up tomorrow and more explanation...i'm just too tired right now but i'm also too tired of seeing my old mani on my blog, hence the short mini post.

Neon Nails

Thanks to the tutorial from:

Queen of blendingMUA

I like it but i could do better next time. Next time i would like to make the black strip lines thinner and make sure the black shatter (middle finger) was a thinner coat, not use the disco ball on each nail and only use for an accent nail.

Polish used:
Base coat - Witch Craft Protein Hardener
Forgot to add a base after this which might have made the white not dry
Base of Avon French tip white (not a good layering polish)
Sally Hansen Hard as Nails -  Hot Magenta & Disco Ball
China glaze Turned Up Turquoise (Neon) Orange Knockout (Neon)
OPI Funky Dunky
Black striping polish and switched to my striping brush with Sally Hansen Black out - my LA color Black Striping polish is getting thick, it was starting to leave a strand of polish from the brush to the bottle...time to try out the thinner to make it better.



Here's some kitty love (excuse the mess, i'm in process of cleaning) This is my cat Joey is on my bed and Niai (roomie's cat) is the black cat on floor.  Pic taken this evening.  No hissing - just observing each other, this was taken shortly after i played with both cat separately with the green frog on the wand. (in picture on floor).  I'm super excited cause this is an amazing steps to them getting along.  Niah did push the envelope even further to attempted to jump on the bed (closest to the wall) and Joey started to hiss and haulted Niah in her tracks.  Niah then stood her ground on the floor before walking away

This is Kala looking all cute on the railing in the hallway

Rambling still...new mani tomorrow.

I have yet to do my nails, i've been barenaked for 5 days now.  But a design is calling my name.  After i fold the clothes in the basement (least fav household duty) i will do the nails while watching SYTYCD.  It is bloody hot here today.  It's +36 Celsius  with the humid-ex. (that is very warm for SK standards)
It feels like walking outside while i was in Thailand, you just get sticky.  Hence while i'll be spending the night in the coolest room in the house - the basement...maybe i'll organize my beads if i have time after i do my nails.

Later gators.

Another Ramble

All week long i wanted to apply polish to the nails but the tv has drawn me in.  I'm addicted to So you think you can dance.  I love both the US version and the Cdn Version but all this tv watching has keep me from painting the nails.  My usual nail station is in front of my computer desk. Which is upstairs away from any tv's.  Not the greatest setup but it works (for now).  I've priced out an Ikea table Alex with Amon and a Helmer.  Don't think i have enough polishes for a Helmer yet and nor do i need a whole bunch more colors either?  I like having different colors but not a huge fan of having the same colors that almost match each other.  Oh there is some colors i do want and was surprised when my last count was 88 polishes(approximately) plus the last haul i might be into the 90's but i need a better setup.  Hence the thought about a Helmer but maybe i should get a rack from transdesign.  Oh now to actual map out the room to make sure i have room for my room makeover.

Choices, Choices...do you want/own a Helmer or polish rack which is your preference?

Rambling about my week

Hey everyone, seems like i am running around with just too much things to do lately.  This weekend i planned on getting lots done but then i just didn't have enough time.    I honestly wanted to take of my dim sum plum mani, but i think it started to chip before i got pics.  I do have another mani i did, which  will download pics tomorrow night.  It's time for bed now.

I have a new roomie with 2 female cats and it's been a bit of an adventure and this evening just realized that my male cat is spraying in about 3 spots in the basement.  So it's cleanup mode and try to stop this spraying.  The cats are doing great together, they really try to work it out, they have little issues to work out and nothing that time won't fix.   Upon my internet searching found i need to give more affection and not take away the normal routine. So that will mean that Joey can go outside for the evening when he wants, the kitty litter will be cleaned daily and i also realized that i wasn't giving Joey (my male cat) the nighty treat that was a sometimes every night treat, but it starts tonight that i return to a daily nighttime treat.

Canadian Day long weekend Haul

While visiting family in Alberta on my mini vacation (extended Canadian long weekend),  i had a shopping day with Mom and she wanted to stop at Green Apple (which looked a lot like a Chatters).  I had to google at the nail polish display.
I purchased 4 new OPI beauts

black shatter
Dim Sum Plum
Pirates of the Carribean - Planks a lot
Pirates of the Carribean - Sparrow me the drama

I'll take pics tomorrow and upload after my 5 1/2 hour drive home.
The mani i wore after this haul was the Dim Sum Plum, *i love*  topped with the black shatter.  This mani had some staying power, about 3 days,   which is remarkable for my nails lately. Three nails have very noticeable wear.  I wonder if the staying power has to do with me not at work and not doing any dishes...i'm thinking so. (oh don't think i was a lazy bum - i did the drying of the dishes, Dad just wanted to wash)

And after chatting nail polish with my cousin at the annual "Smash the cars up rally"  she informed me that she can purchase any polish for me for cost with her nail tech licence so that would mean OPI $5 instead of $10....woohoo, i will be taking her up on this offer, just would have to be patient for the shipping or wait until another trip down to Alberta or her to come to Saskatchewan.

Beauty by Kayla Shevonne: One Year Blogiversary giveaway

Beauty by Kayla Shevonne is having a giveaway.

She's giving away 2 deborah lippman's.

Guest nails - OPI Log onto love

My hand and my grandma's

Over the weekend, i visited my grandpa & grandma - my mom's parents.  15-20 Years ago my grandma  loved to get her nails done and she would always have some nail art on an accent nail or thumb.  But now health problems/older age has keep both her and grandpa inside the house and not driving or venturing out.  I am sad that i wasn't hooked into the nailart/polish world at the same time and can you imagine how good i would be now if i start to creating my own art when i was still in highschool.

As they live in my hometown which is 1.5 hours away, i visit when i can, i have promised her that each time i visit i bring her nail color chose and do her nails and i really think she looks forward to it. (she told me that i was very good/steady at painting nails, but i think she was lying as grandmas sometimes do to boost up the esteem)  She loves butterflies but i wanted to try to go with some nailart polish so the mani would last longer than the butterfly polymar rhinestones i attached last mani.   She's funny, she saved both butterflies, she said "they just kept showing up,but that's how butterflies are with me they didn't go down the sink water".  ( grandma also gave me her love of butterflies)  She wanted to give them back to me to reuse, so i took them and some scrapbooking tape and stuck them onto the kitchen mirror to add to her butterfly sticker collection.

Legend
Base - OPI - Log onto love
Tiny flowers - Sally Hansen Nail art pen with Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow
Rhinestones - dollarama with a dap of Seche vite to adhere
Top Coat - Seche Vite

That reminds me i need to write her an actual letter to mail, but with our Canada Post lock out i will have some time to write it so no real rush.

Canadian Nail Fanatic - 300 Follower Giveaway

Canadian Nail Fanatic 300 follower giveaway

Contest closes on June 19, three prices will be drawn, check out the link above for more details and how to enter. Some pretty sweet polishes could be won!!!

Relay Nails - Patchwork

My Nails for Relay.  This was after one day of wear so please forgive the tipwear.
Thank you to Kayla for the tutorial.  I wanted all three colors for Relay and i wanted to try to show each of them equally on each nail.

Colors used
Base - Funny Bunny 2 coats (not best but as OPI was most other colors felt it was the best base)
Orange - Brights Power - OPI Brights collection
Blue - No Room for the blues - OPI
Yellow - Mellow Yellow - Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear
Black lines - Black silkline & Kiss Nailart
Top coat - Seche Vite

As per Kayla's pictures tutorial the first step was making the black lines for the template.  And the last step was also making the black lines again.  I found some nails i was horrible at coloring in the space and running my colors on top of each other or painting overtop the black line.

I got lots of people commenting on this design, and the time it must have taken to do it, i found it was an easier design to do, but as my nails are still on the short side i used my paintbrushs to fill in the colors the nailpolish brushes were too wide.  It was amazing even at the end of the Relay (6:00 am) it still didn't look too bad, lots of chips but i only had 2 casualty nails in all the hauling and packing and unpacking of stuff.

Today is my Birthday

OMG, last night while i had some insomnia i wrote this post, previewed it, then tried adjusting colors and accidentally deleted it, so i thought let's get out and see if the draft was saved.  But off course it wasn't.  Then noticed the preview was still in another window so i quickly took a screen shot.  Sorry i'm too lazy to retype this you will just have to read it like it is.
 .

Where i am at

Hey everyone, i want to post more, swatches and nailart etc.  But our Relay for Life is occuring next Friday and i have a ton of things to do and anxiety to try to combat.  As some of my readers know- i'm the chair for our Saskatoon event - i feel the cause is worth my volunteering time to help fight the world of cancer - more of my story can be found on my participant page....if you are interested.

If you wish to view my participant page and make a donation for the cause, here is the link:
Click here to visit my personal page.

Here is more information about Relay for Life.

Hi,
Join me in the fight against cancer by pledging me for my participation in the Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life.
The Canadian Cancer Society Relay For Life is an overnight non-competitive relay that celebrates cancer survivors and pays tribute to the lives of loved ones. It involves teams of 10 people who take turns walking, running or strolling around a track to raise money to support the work of the Canadian Cancer Society. It's a night of fun, friendship and fundraising to beat cancer. Every step you take in Relay raises money to help the Canadian Cancer Society save lives.

Funds raised through Relay For Life make a difference. They help the Canadian Cancer Society fund the most promising research projects in the country, provide information services and support programs in the community and advocate for public policies that prevent cancer and help those living with it. Join the Fight by pledging my participation in Relay For Life – just click the link at the bottom of this message to view my personal page and look for the orange "Donate now" button to support me in this event. Online pledging is secure and it saves the Society money by reducing administrative costs. No amount is too small, or too big.

Thanks,
Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://convio.cancer.ca/site/TR?px=1356650&pg=personal&fr_id=9014&fl=en_CA&et=a7PsZ6CkNE2lRuEoKj1eKw..&s_tafId=168436
Click here to view the team page for Get Real Think Teal

New BM Stamp Mani with Commander in Chic

I love this color.  It's gorgeous, purple but like a muted purple with grey/lavender mixed in.  (Edit...the color is lavender, follow the link to Eva below, she has great images)
I visited JQ from flippery digits on Sunday and we ended up playing with our nails...huh you ask two nail bloggers playing with their nails that's unheard of.  I got to sample the new BM plates and i am lemming them right now and they will be mine (as soon as i have a roommate with a deposit in hand)...oh i digress.  Also got to cruise JQ's stash, so much polish, so many colors, so many more than me.  I learnt some tricks in the night too.  How to layer polish, how i should stamp very quickly and not fuss so much about placement, how to be patient and let the nails dry, how doing nails with a friend is very fun & handy especially when you get a cotton ball fuzz stuck to the wet polish of the ring nail;  she was able to acetone my nail and i got to save all the other nails...i have such bad luck with that sometimes.

Okay, let's get to the mani pics already.


These pics are not base color accurate in the pic this looks brown  but in real life the nails are light lavender (Eva's link).

What's with the thumb fuzz...damn unforgiving camera.

no topcoat

Our workstation...so much room

Legend
Base coat - Sally Hansen Complete Salon Commander in Chic
Stamp color - Gosh Metallic Purple
Plates - BM205 & Konad M60
Topcoated with Konad tc and Seche Vite

Thanks for reading, what you think of the mani?
Wait till you see what JQ did!! It was awesome and so fun to watch her develop it and have so much fun in the process.

April designs so far

Legend:
Base:  OPI Yoga-ta get this blue!
Strip color: OPI No room for the blues
Topcolor:  Seche Vite

Inspiration was the blue lattice from Simple Little Pleasures even though her blog post shows in purple, she did a blue version in one of her slideshows, so i didn't even pick the color besides doing the reversal color scheme - she had light blue with dark stripes.

Base:  Avon Urban Grey
Strip:  LA colors Art Deco Blue
Dots:  White and OPI Yoga-ta get this blue!
Inspiration:  was from this picture "retro purple" sorry can't remember which blogger this picture came from. (if you know please let me know so i can give credit where credit is due)

Bad blurry photo

I did like this mani but i didn't get great pics
Base: OPI Funky Dunky
Dots:  Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme wear Plum Power
Rhinestone: from a sticker package from the dollar store

Current mani on my fingers tonight.
Base:  Zoya Melanie (love the color but needs thinner, it's old and maybe a third coat)
Flowers: (free hand)
Pink dots:  Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear Hot Magenta
Yellow center:  Nicole by OPI Yellow It's Me
Green stems: Konad green (i was lazy and it was right in front of me cause i was going to Konad but the first stamp onto my finger wrecked the base coat, so i switched my action plan and did the flowers) i don't recommend to use Konad green again as it was very thick.


That's it for now.  Have to take off this mani tomorrow as usual my name polish is good for one full day and then the next day some nails are looking really bad.

The Real Teal

Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Extreme wear - The real teal
Black tip - Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro
Designs - Black silkline
Topcoat - SV


I wore the The real Teal for a day or two then the tipwear was driving me crazy so i attempted the scotch tape technique that Erika does over at Chloe Nails.  My lines aren't completely straight (level) but i was okay with it, as i've only tried this method a couple times. Some nails had more wear lower than the french so i had to try to cover them up so i used black silk line & kept adding lines till i had a design i liked (or could live with for another day). Just so happened that 3 nails out of the 4 were the thumb or ring finger that needed extra tlc.