Ready for a Spring Manicure?

Whew!! What a day! I've been off wandering with my husband and our son, enjoying the wonderful weather and trying to work out some of this fibro stiffness I've been fighting with. We've been having a lot of fun looking at various home items and dreaming about our ideal house. We do this periodically, looking at furniture or appliances. Lately, though, I've been really drooling over electronics.

I wish I knew why I was so into shiny new gadgets. HD video cameras, Nikon dSLRs, home theater systems, CD changers, flat panel TVs... I could look and look and look for hours, it seems. My husband is no better. Anytime I lose him in a shop, all I have to do is wander over to the electronics department and there he is!

It's been fun. Exhausting, but fun. Still, I think I've been overdoing. It felt good to sit down and spend an hour doing nothing but painting my nails! This time I went for something springlike because I got the most gorgeous yellow polish I think I've ever seen! I've always shied away from yellow because it's seemed to hard to wear, but Hard Candy's Splendid is actually good with my skin tone! Then, when I held it next to my Essence Lime Up! I realized they were absolutely perfect together, and I was going to need to do a fun manicure using them both.


First off, before I get to that fun green & yellow mani, let me talk about Splendid first. You know how yellow is always a pain in the butt to apply? Well, this one isn't. It's creamy and opaque and almost a one coater! I was stunned at it, seriously. What you see in the main picture to the right is two coats. Gorgeous... absolutely GORGEOUS!

I also checked to see how well it stamps over both black and white. I wasn't expecting much, because yellow is traditionally a sheer color whether it's in nail polish or artist pigments. It's just really tough to get an opaque yellow! But Hard Candy have done it, as you can see. It shows up beautifully over both black and white, and is such a cheerful color! What can I say, I'm sold!

So... back to the mani. I started with a base of Splendid, then used Essence's Lime Up! to paint 1/2 of each nail on a diagonal. My ring fingers got the base green, the rest got green tips. I was going to apply some pink flower decals over this, then realized I wanted something with a bit more punch to try and pull it all together, although this is cute enough to wear as-is.

For the record, this would also be a great base for a full-nail Konad stamp. Can't you see it- stamping with Lime Up! over the yellow background, so that there's a green print over the yellow? I think it'd be adorable...

Ah well... I decided to use my silver Art Deco striper to paint a line along the join (and disguise some of my wobbly edges), then to put silver pinstripes along the green sections. I added pink flower decals from Viva la Nail for a bit more punch and decided I was happy with things. All in all it was a simple manicure that ended up looking a bit more complex than it really was!

And for once, I decided to do something I rarely do... I'm showing BOTH HANDS! See, I really do paint both hands the same, even if my right hand rarely comes out quite as well as the left. This one was pretty easy to do, though.


So even though it's actually fall and cooler weather is coming in, I needed to try something a bit brighter and sunnier. I think this fit the bill! What do you think?

Items have been provided by the manufacturers for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Working Hard to Get Better With Fibromyalgia

Oh my god, y'all. I have absolutely lost my mind. I'm accomplishing things, finally, and that's good, but oh my goodness this animation festival kicked my booty! I've been spending quite a bit of time sipping chocolate milk and watching brainless stuff on YouTube, waiting for this fun to pass, and then right as I started wondering why I was having such a tough time recovering from the weekend, I realized that...

Oh, yea. I live in South Louisiana. Even though it was in the 80s over the weekend, it's now freakin' cold. At least there's a reason I'm hurting- fibromyalgia tends to go nuts when the weather changes. Knowing that is a positive thing, because it tells me hey, there's a reason you're hurting. I figured since I'd figured these things out, I might as well share a few helpful hints in case any of you have fibro (or know someone who does).

One of the main ways I manage my pain took me the longest to figure out. It makes little sense to me, but when I'm hurting, I have absolutely got to get up and exercise. Stretching is good, walking is good... but I have to get off my butt and get my body moving. If I don't, I end up hurting even more, and for even longer. Exercise helps get the natural painkillers moving, and it helps my muscles loosen up and just stop hurting so much. It's a fine line between "enough" and "too much," but not enough will hurt me every time.

Also, a hot bath can do absolute wonders for me. Massage is good too, if you have someone who'll do it. Sometimes my feet and ankles get to hurting bad enough that I really need someone to rub them and stretch them- that's when my husband is even more indispensable than usual. After just a few minutes of intense stretching, it will usually take the pain down to a tolerable level.

But most of all? I don't know that I would be alive today if I hadn't found my pain management clinic. My doctors work with me to help control my pain, and they've given me back a large portion of my life. Don't get me wrong- you don't walk into pain management and say, "Hey, I've got this pain and I need uber-big painkillers." They'll laugh at you, and send you away. But if you're willing to work with them to manage your pain (see that bit about exercising?), then pain management can be the best thing you've ever done.

 

The Viva la Nails sample pack is back!

Just a quick heads-up for those of you who may be interested. Viva la Nails has a sample pack for beauty bloggers and YouTubers, and usually it's out of stock. However, for the moment it's back and you can get yours for free! (Well, if you live in the UK. Shipping out of the country isn't free, but it is cheap!)

Now, be aware. This isn't the uber-package of the past. However, it is three sets of nail decals and three sets of water decals, and you can't beat that with a stick! It's a £12 value (that's almost $20!), so it's really not a bad deal. Plus, their decals are absolutely adorable.

If you're not a blogger, don't feel bad. They still have some really pretty things to play with, and their prices aren't too shabby. For example, look at this selection of water decals for £1.95 a pack, or their glitter and flitter (£1.45-£1.95), dazzling sticker paper (£1.95), or a huge selection of rhinestones, crystals and pearls for your nails. Honestly, there's a huge selection for a decent price.

As for the quality? I love the stuff that came in my sample pack. I've used them a couple of times, and have more looks to show you (look back through my blog, or look at the viva la nails tag). If they were local, I'd be ordering from them all the time!

So check out Viva la Nails. You might just be surprised at how cool their stuff is!

The Viva la Nails sample pack was provided by the manufacturer for consideration.

See my disclosure statement for more information.

Purr by Katy Perry- how CUTE is this??

Ok, have you guys seen Katy Perry's new perfume? I have no idea what it smells like, and reading descriptions of scents doesn't really help me much. However, I am an absolute sucker for cute packaging, and this package is about as cute as it gets! I mean, come on... it has KITTY EARS! I am absolutely in LOVE with this bottle... the color, the rhinestone eyes, the ears and the little collar. It really is too adorable for words!

Then there's the actual ad for the perfume. Katy Perry is gorgeous (whether you like her music or not!), and this ad really is sexy and playful at the same time. If this smells at all good, I may have to get it, just to add it to my collection of pretty perfume bottles!

 

The press release has this to say:

Musical sensation and teen dream, Katy Perry introduces her latest endeavor, a flirty floral fragrance entitled Purr by Katy Perry, which begins with the aroma of peach nectar and forbidden apple, evolves with a distinct floral bouquet of jasmine blossom, Bulgarian rose and vanilla orchid, and slowly reveals accents of creamy sandalwood and musk.

Like the singer herself, Purr is playful yet sophisticated. Katy Perry transcends barriers with her music—so does her new fragrance.

The eau de parfum will retail for: $45 for 1.7 fl oz. and $65 for 3.4 fl oz.

Available at Nordstrom and www.Nordstrom.com.

   So what do you think... are you wanting to Purr a bit yourself?

What Do You Do With Suddenly Curly Hair?

I spent most of my life with straight hair. You can see there in the photo how curly it was. I wanted curls so badly, but after one bad perm I quickly decided no thank you, I'll deal with the straight hair. I tried curling irons, hot rollers, the little pink foam rollers you slept in... my hair absolutely refused to hold a curl. It was impossible.

Fast forward a few years, and I was wondering why my hair had gotten so frizzy. I was still treating it just the same as I always had, but suddenly it was frizz central, and it made no sense to me. Then one day I let it dry on its own, and my family asked when I got the perm. That's right... I'm a curly girl now.

So that's great, most of the time, but there are times I really miss my straight, glossy hair. Periodically, I look online for hair iron reviews to see what people are talking about. You know, what people think is the best hair iron, what's overpriced, what's overhyped. I've got my eye on one particular iron right now, and I'll let you guys know if I like it once I've played with it a bit.

Til then... I'll have to figure out how to deal with this funky mass of curls. :D

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OMG I'm Dead!

Quick update: Red Stick and Fandemonium were so amazingly fantastic I can barely put it into words. I have some video to put together (my camera only shoots 60 seconds at a time, bleah!) and I plan to write more when I've had time to recuperate. Unfortunately, I do need time to recuperate, because three days of con have killed me. I swear, my body is screaming, "Do you not realize that you have fibro? You can't do this sort of thing!"

So, the blog may not update for a day or two, but have no fear, I'm not going anywhere. :D

Red Stick International Animation Festival- YAY!

We're heading out to the Red Stick International Animation festival this morning, and I'm so excited I can barely stand it! We've volunteered there for the last 5 or 6 years, and I absolutely love it! It's going to be lots of fun seeing everyone again, and seeing what all is going on.

I was going to do a manicure using the red stick man from the logo, but I decided not to last night at the last minute. Maybe tonight, since we're going to the festival tomorrow and Saturday as well. Amusing trivia- the stick man's name is Gaston Baton! How cute is that?

Instead, I'm wearing Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab's Mme Moriarty, which is a deep blood red. And when I say blood red, I mean it. The BPAL website describes this as "The wet crimson red of arterial spray." Isn't that cool? Creepy and funky, I love it!!

Pictures to come! If you'll be at the festival tomorrow or the next day, leave me a comment, maybe we can get some coffee or something! :D