Broadway Nail Dress with a twist, and an explanation of where I've been

Wow, two posts in one day! This might become a habit again! Consider this a sign of improvement!

Gee, I didn't realize how wordy this post would be
til I got started writing! Sorry for the mental vomit!

Some of you may know that I've got fibromyalgia (along with a few other weird-but-not-deadly issues), and that I end up seeing a lot of doctors. Because my fibro pain got to such a debilitating point,  I eventually started going to a chronic pain management clinic. Hands down, it's the best decision I ever made, and one of the hardest ones.

Like many other people, I had the wrong idea about what a pain management clinic was. I imagined it to be basically a place to go get pain pills, and that's not what I wanted. Overall, I wanted to manage my pain, lessen it, but I didn't want to commit myself to expensive drugs and narcotics and who knows what. I was terrified I'd become an addict, that people would know what I was doing and look down on me for it.

Then my pain got to the point I couldn't function anymore. Couldn't dress myself without assistance, couldn't take a bath without help, couldn't cook dinner. I fight really hard not to whine too much and try not to bring people down, but I reached a point where I realized that frankly, life as an addict would be better than what I was going through and I had nothing left to lose. I called the clinic my general practitioner recommended.

Imagine my surprise when I found out that no- they don't like handing out pills any more than I like taking them. They've supported my choices to experiment with exercise, diet changes, weight changes. They've given me medication to control the pain when I need it, and have helped me taper off the meds now that I don't. And suddenly, I'm living in a world where even though I'm seriously out of shape and some days I hurt too much to do things, I have more days when I don't hurt too much to laugh with my family, or go on a picnic, or just snuggle in bed while we watch a movie.

Those things? For me, those are what make life good. They're the important things. The rest of it's just stuff, you know?

So- why have I been gone the last few weeks? Long story short, I've been taking methadone for pain management for about 2 years now. It worked, it was cheap, and since I don't have insurance it was the best option at the time. And now that my pain has improved, I've been very slowly tapering down for 5 or 6 months. Finally, I took my last dose 2 weeks ago, and it was so incredibly momentous...

... and crappy. Did I mention crappy? Yea, it's improving now, but after having taken this daily for 2 years, it wasn't a fun process. Add to it a bad reaction to an anxiety med I'd started the week before and I spent a few weeks pretty depressed and miserable.

However, it's improving, so I'm excited about that! I'm getting excited about life again, which feels absolutely amazing, and as a result, I'm hoping some of this will spill over into blogville. Keep an eye peeled, things might get fun soon!

Anyway, the reason I wanted to share the talk about doctors is because a funny thing has happened! My team at the pain management clinic have gotten to know me over the past couple of years, and now whenever I go in, several people will come up to me wanting to see what fun nail art I'm wearing! Some of them even read this blog! (Hi!! *hugs*) It's a wonderful feeling, knowing that even though I may be having a rough time, I can still bring a little bit of happy into their lives, so I find myself thinking about what I'm going to wear on my nails before every appointment!

For my last appointment, I wanted something fun and festive, but also sort of understated. (Ok, understated for me. Deal with it!) Also, I was feeling pretty gross so I didn't have a ton of energy to spend on my nails. So, I decided to break into a pack of Broadway Nail Dress sticker-thingies. Also, since I wanted a bit more flash, I decided to add some crystals from a limited-edition packet of Kiss Nail Art Paint. If I'm not mistaken, some of the kits still come with the sheet of french manicure guides and rhinestones- just check the back of the box when you get them.

I know, it seems like I use a lot of Kiss and Broadway products. But they're really good! Honestly, it seems like I reach for something from them any time I'm doing nail art, partly because they're affordable and available, but mostly because they're the best product to achieve my goal. There is SO much love in my heart for these products!

Ok, enough blabbing about that... There's not a lot to say about applying these. They're different from the nail polish appliques like Sally Hansen Salon Effects and Incoco strips. I'm not sure what these are made of, but they're almost like a plastic film. They don't seem to stretch as well as the nail polish strips, but they're not harder to put on. It's simply a matter of select a strip that looks just a bit wider than your nail, pull it from the paper, line it up with your cuticle, and apply.

Such a mess! You can even see one
of the leftover bits inside!

However, I do have one tip for application. When they show the nail file going straight down at the end of your fingernail, they do mean straight down. If you let it go at all toward your cuticle, you will end up with a tiny streak of bare nail at your fingertip. It's not pretty, so be very aware of how you're holding the emery board to remove the extra. Go slow and it should work out fine.

Once they were all on, I decided to add a bit of bling with the rhinestones. Since this pattern reminded me of netting, I decided to put a crystal at each joining. I started with a larger one sort of in the center, and then as I worked my way out, I used gradually smaller stones.

They turned out looking almost like dewdrops! I really did like the look, although it was sort of odd. I topped everything off with a coat of Seche Vite and called it finished! Unfortunately, these were almost impossible to photograph!! They're so shiny, with a sort of brushed-silver background and a metallic silver net pattern. Gorgeous, but my camera HATED me!

I did get a few pics to show sort of how they looked, but it was rough! Still, in person I liked them a lot. There was just enough interest to keep me happy without being all BOOM POW RAINBOWS IN YOUR FACE! The ladies at the doctor's office seemed to like this manicure as well, which is also fun. And next time?

Who knows. Maybe a monster manicure, or turkeys, or... who knows? I'll figure something fun out. I always do!

Can you believe this picture (like all the others) gets even bigger if you click it? :D

So, long story short- if you're fighting with chronic pain, you do have options. Talk to your doctor, talk to your family... even if it feels like there's no hope, you might be surprised. And you are definitely not alone.

Til next time!

Items were provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Animal Print Week: Pink Leopard Print-ish

Wheee! I can't believe I missed Monday, but I was having technical difficulties. Whatever... I'm here today with a fun animal print-inspired nail design that I hope you love as much as I do! It's super easy, too, and I couldn't help but call it Glitterlicious

I have to admit, it's not exactly leopard print. I showed it to a good friend who wasn't sure exactly what animal would have this design, but who cares, right? It's hot pink and cool blue, and it's perfect for summer!

This design starts, like all the others, with a coat of your favorite base coat. This makes sure your art lasts longer than your favorite sitcoms. I've been using Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator, and my nails have been growing like mad! They're seemingly stronger than ever, and they're growing longer than I think I've ever had them! YAY!

After that, you simply paint your nails in whatever color you choose for your background color. I chose a bright hot pink. Two coats should do it, but of course it varies based on which polish you choose.  Then comes the fun part!

To add the splotches, I used Sally Hansen's Nail Art Pen in Blue. This way I didn't have to worry about controlling a brush- I just doodled in vague spots from memory. I probably should have looked at a picture of leopard print, but you know what? This is inspired by... I can do it any way I want to! :D

One tip to remember- be sure your background color is completely dry before you try and use the Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens. Otherwise, they just don't work, and that's no fun at all!

Once my splotches were dry, I decided I wanted a bit more color. I dug around in my nail art box til I found my Kiss Nail Artist Paint in Soft Purple. This was just the ticket! I used the thin artist brush to just brush a thin line of color right under the bottom sides of each little blob. I thought of it as if each blob were a 3d shape and I were shining a light from the base of the nail, and everywhere that light would hit I put a touch of purple.  Easy- remember, you can't really mess it up. Even if you do, it's just nail polish!

When I finished with the purple, I realized it still wasn't ready. I knew what I needed: GLITTER! I grabbed my superfine glitter in royal blue, tapped out a small bit into a plastic cup, and poured just a bit of clear nail polish on top of it. A bit of mixing, and it was perfect! I dabbed this custom glitter polish over the blue splotches, loving the way the glitter caught the light and made the whole design pop!

After that, it just needed a coat of Seche Vite and it was done! I love the finished result, and I'm seriously tempted to do this on my own nails now! (This was on a false nail, or I'd show you a whole set of them!) Check out the animation below for the how-to!

So, what do you think? Can you see yourself wearing this design? If so, let me know in the comments! I'd love to see what you come up with!

Til next time!

Some products may have been provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Happy Holidaze the Twelfth- It's a Fat Man's Red Suit!

You know, today's design is one of my favorite designs I did for the holidays. It's just so cute, so festive, so FUN! Sometimes you need to head back to the classics, and so I did. I was inspired by Beauty Judy's Santa Nails, only I needed to do them my way. Santa needed some serious sparkle!

That's right- instead of using creme colors like Judy did, I went for super-sparkle. I used my Heaven polish in Ruby for the red because it is absolutely the most gorgeously intense red glitter polish I've ever seen. Everything else was Art Deco stripers in black, white, and silver. The glitter on the white is from the glorious (and messy) glitter samples I wrote about the other day. It looks pretty fab on, doesn't it?

How to make Santa suit nails:

1. Apply your base coat.
2. Apply (at least) 2 coats of red polish.
3. Apply a white strip down the center of the nail.
4. Apply a white french tip the width of the center white strip.
5. Paint a thin black band across the center of the nail. This will be Santa's belt.
6. Make a small silver rectangle across the black band. This will be the buckle on Santa's belt.
7. Paint a thin silver line starting from the center of the silver rectangle. This will be the bar/latch of the belt buckle.
8. Let everything dry. Then paint clear polish over the white sections and
   sprinkle with white or clear glitter, just to add sparkle.
9. Apply top coat to seal and protect.

That's it... it looks sort of complex, but when you break it down step-by-step, it's really very simple. Lots of designs are, once you break them down! I'd wear this on my own nails right now if they were long enough, but they end about where Santa's belt ends right now. My nubs are SAD!

Remember- if you try a version of one of my designs, leave me a note and a picture! I'd love to see what you do! I know y'all can totally improve on my stuff! :D

Happy Holidaze the third! A simple snowflake design...

EEEP! The night got away from me, and I totally missed posting the blog tonight. I feel so guilty, but I had a lot of fun going out with my husband and my son, so I guess it was worth it.

It's a simple design today, one inspired by the weather up north. Living in Louisiana, we don't often get snow. Instead, we have weather that bounces back and forth, often seeing 85° one day followed by 35° the next. That actually happened last week, and let me tell you it's NO FUN! How can you get in the holiday spirit when you're in shorts and a tee shirt, sweating your tushie off?

I decided I wanted something pretty to remind me of the first snow we saw while living a bit north of here. We'd gone out in the night to watch it fall- enormous fat, fluffy flakes lazily drifting down to dust the grass. It was a slow fall at first, with huge flakes scattered in the night, standing out starkly against the dark sky. Later that night, the snow fell hard and covered the world with a soft blanket of white, the night absolutely silent as the snow muffled the sound. It was magical, and waking up that morning was so memorable. We walked outside and just looked around, feeling as if we'd been transported to a magical winter wonderland in the night.

This gives you a hint of where my mind was when I did this design, yes? I started with two coats of Sally Hansen Ultra HD Laser, then let that dry. I then pulled out my stencils that came with the limited edition Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint three pack. It's got such adorable stencils for the holidays- a candy cane, a christmas tree, snowflakes and gingerbread men... lots of holiday-themed cuteness! I chose this snowflake, and as you can see they're reusable! I then added a small rhinestone in the center of each snowflake from a pack of adhesive stones by Kiss, then topped with a coat of Seche Vite to smooth everything out and protect the art.

The stencils are super-easy to use. Make sure your polish is dry, then pull the stencil of your choice off the plastic sheet it comes on. Place it carefully on your nail, making sure to press it down thoroughly. If you don't, there's a chance the polish could seep under the edges, ruining your stencil. Apply your polish, then while it's wet lift off the stencil. (I haven't tried letting the polish dry before lifting the stencil off- I'll try that tonight!) Let the stenciled area dry completely, then add a layer of topcoat to protect it.

Once I pulled the stencil off, I'd place it back onto the plastic it came on, then clean off the wet polish with a cotton ball soaked in polish remover. Then I'd place it onto the next area again and start again! The stencils really are lots of fun to use!

Now... let's see if I can get some sleep before tomorrow. I hope your Saturday night was as much fun as mine... what did you do for the evening?

The Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint set with stencils was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

One More Experimental Nail, A Halloween Treat!

Good news! I spoke with my doctor and I've got meds now that should help me sleep tonight. I love my doctor and her office staff. They get back to me in a reasonable amount of time, they work with me and they're always super nice. I got really lucky to get into this clinic.

So, one more sparse post and tomorrow may be a post-less day due to RL constraints. Then I'm hoping to get back in the swing of things with the blog. I've got some fabulous photos to share with everyone if only I can stay awake and focus long enough to prep & post them! Thanks for being patient with me!

I did this sample nail a few days ago while I was feeling in a halloween-y mood. I wanted something purple because... well, because I've been almost obsessed with purple lately, and the "blood" matched nicely. Because it was such a cute manicure I decided to name it something cute- My Bloody Eggplant! Sort of like My Bloody Valentine, only with eggplant!

Hey, I haven't slept in days. Cut me some slack already! =P

Because the flash photos sort of blocked the images, I wanted to take another set of photos to show the design that much more clearly. As you can see, the blood drips seem three dimensional, with a nice shadow underneath the edges. I absolutely love the way this nail has come out! I may need to do an entire set of nails in this style.

So what do you think? Would you wear them? Let me know in the comments!

Tiger Stripes- They're Fun When You Throw In A Gradient!

Let's be honest- animal prints are fun. They're especially fun for nail art, but they can seem a bit flat-looking sometimes. I decided I was going to try to do a tiger print with a bit of depth to it!

I started out with my standard base coat, then two coats of Love My Nails Hot Tamale. This is a gorgeous orange that's absolutely loaded with shimmer. I wanted a bit more, though, so I mixed it with a bit of white polish. Oddly enough, it turned pink! I wish I'd gotten pictures of that stage, but I wasn't thinking. Instead, I added some Sinful Colors Let's Meet (Yellow) to warm that pink up to a pale orange again.

Once I had a pale orange I was happy with, I sponged it lightly over the center high part of my nails. It ended up being a sort-of blended pale stripe down the centers. It still seemed too white/pink for me, so I ended up painting a coat of Let's Meet over my nails to make everything work together. At this point, it was late and I seriously needed sleep, so I added a coat of Seche Vite and let it dry for a bit, then went to sleep.

The next morning, I had to go run some errands, and didn't realize until I was already out of the house that I had odd nails that I hadn't even cleaned up edges on! Thankfully, I don't think anyone noticed. If they did, they probably thought I was insane! My nails looked weird! But that's ok... if they got a giggle, then maybe their day got a little brighter. I'm ok with that!

So, once I got home, I pulled out my Sally Hansen Nail Art pens, choosing the black for the tiger stripes. It was a simple matter to draw on stripes, and my biggest challenge was not drawing too many stripes! I added another coat of Seche Vite, then looked at them. They were pretty, but something was missing...

My basic rule of thumb is this: when in doubt, add glitter! In this case, it worked splendidly! Instead of brushing glitter over the entire nail, though, I wanted to enhance the light parts of the nail. I ended up using a very thin nail art brush to paint the glitter polish onto the appropriate areas.

Sounds fiddly, doesn't it? Oh yea. You could say that. First I painted on a layer of Love My Nails Dazzling (my go-to glitter of choice). It was pretty, but it wasn't enough. So, I pulled out my Sinful Colors Call You Later. This stuff is seriously gorgeous, a mix of gold and copper glitters in multiple sizes that absolutely sings on the nail. It turned out to be the absolute perfect addition, and once I was finished with the glitters I couldn't help but smile.
 

Once I got those applied I added one more coat of Seche Vite. (I hope you aren't counting, but basically, that's a lot.) Believe it or not, it dried fairly quickly and was super smooth even with all the glitter. I did a quick cleanup with my acetone & paintbrush and then I wasn't ashamed to leave the house anymore!

Even my husband seemed amused by this manicure. I showed him my nails and he said, "Awww, you're a kitty!" It made me smile.
Normally he just sort of shrugs and says, "Ew, stinky." To get a positive reaction makes me happy!

So tell me, what do you think about animal prints. Do you like them? Do you love them even more in rainbow colors? Are you a purist who thinks animal prints belong only on the animals who wear them? Tell me all about it in the comments!

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen was provided by the company for evaluation.

Adding Some Fun To My Mani- Custom-Mixed Pink Dots!

I have such a short attention span. After wearing my grownup manicure for all of 6 hours, I realized I was bored to death with it. I also was dealing with a bit of anxiety from a morning meeting (LONG story), so I decided to do a bit of modification to my manicure. Those of you who follow me on Twitter got a sneak peek of this one. (Hint hint- you can follow me too!)

I thought for a while, and decided that baby pink goes well with cocoa brown. The problem? I have no pink that I felt was appropriate. That's ok, I can mix colors! I pulled out my polishes and started looking. I seem to have mainly one type of pink in my collection- HOT. That wouldn't do.

However, then I realized that if I mixed my pink Kiss Nail Art Nail Paint with my Milani Bare With Me, I'd end up with a pink very close to what I had in mind. Looking back, I'd probably want to warm it up a bit, but I'm pretty happy with it as it is.

I ended up using some recycled plastic cups to mix polish in. My step-grandmother is in a nursing home, and they bring her medications to her in a little plastic cup. Since she gets them 2-3 times a day, that's a lot of cups. She saves them because she thinks they're so cute, and doesn't want to see them thrown away. When she heard I use them for nail art, she wanted my step-mother to bring them to me. That made my day, you know? Just a little peek into my life.

Now, one problem I ran into is that while I mixed enough to do all my nails, it ended up starting to dry out and be unusable by nail 3 or 4. That's easy enough to fix, though. I put a single drop of Orly Nail Lacquer Thinner into the mix, stirred it well with my dotter, and the polish was back to new again. I ended up doing that three times total, and had no problems with getting the dots done.

A quick note about nail polish thinner: it's a must have if you paint your nails often at all. There are lots of brands to choose from, of varying costs. It will totally rescue your thickened, goopy polishes and return them to brand-new consistency without affecting their drying time. Some people will say you can use nail polish remover for this, but don't: it will ruin your polish instead of fixing it. Thinner is inexpensive and fairly easy to find, and it's worth the effort.

Back to the nails, already! So, once I had my pink mixed, I used a homemade dotting tool to put teeny little dots on my nails in a semi-regular pattern. It was simple enough- put a dot in the center of my nail, put one a bit higher up, then a bit higher up. Put a dot under it, then another... all about the same distance apart. It's so much easier to explain with an animated .gif!

Yes, some of the dots went over onto my skin. I did that so that the dot would look like it was continuing off the nail. Once they're dry, it's very easy to clean up the few dots over the edge using a brush and acetone. It makes the whole thing look more consistent, in my opinion.

Once the dots were dry, I applied my topcoat, then used the brush and acetone to clean up all my edges. I am loving using the brush for cleanup, now that I've figured out how to do it. It took a bit of practice to get the hang of it, but I think it's working well now.All I have left to figure out is exactly how much to clean off around the cuticles to get that amazing look I see on so many blogs. But that will come with practice.

And there we go- I went from a very plain, neutral manicure to a fun dotted girlie one! You could even add a pink rhinestone in here and there, or do a pink french tip- that would be adorable if my nails were long enough!

 Polishes were provided by PR for evaluation.