I am SUCH a slacker!

I have to apologize for something. I had uber plans for today, I was going to do a set of black and white nails with varying patterns, something fun to do, something to stretch my skills, and regardless of how it turned out, it'd be good. Sometimes the disastrous manicures are the most fun to write about!

Things started well. I got out my polishes, and I stuck a set of fake nails on bamboo skewers. I was totally ready to go, but then I checked email. In my email was a message from Nails Magazine's Nail Art Gallery, showing me all the recent activity on my photos, as well as currently popular designs. "Hmm... I'll just pop over and look at a couple of things," I thought to myself. "It won't take long. I'll have plenty of time to finish the blog stuff."

Yea. Right. I looked at a few designs, then found one that absolutely knocked my socks off. Guys, I don't even know what to say about this one. It's so interesting, it's so well done, and I didn't have a CLUE as to how to start it. I sat looking at it for a few minutes, and I bet you will too!

Once I realized there was a tutorial video, I immediately opened a new tab and headed to youtube. I was hoping it would be easy to find the tutorial, that maybe she'd only have a few videos to watch. I had a feeling her videos would be both interesting and educational, and if there were only a few I'd have more time to do my own thing.

Instead, I got to her youtube channel and realized she had a lot of videos. Like, 111 videos right now, and she uploads more every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. They're all really good too, from what I could tell. I haven't watched them all, but I've watched enough that I'm having problems picking out a favorite, or one to suggest you watch as the best. However, I think the one that stands out the most is also the one with the most views. Robin has created a video showing how she paints a high-contrast black and white portrait of Marilyn Monroe on an accent finger, as well as a silhouette of Marilyn's iconic scene in "The Seven Year Itch." It's simply stunning.

As if that wasn't enough of a time-sucker, I then wandered over to Robin's Facebook page, where I found not just nail art photos (volume 1 and volume 2, among others), but canvases she's painted. I was right... she's got some serious skill with a paintbrush! I found myself really drawn to her art, and something about her paintings really drew me in. I spent entirely too long looking at everything, not counting the time we spent commenting back and forth. She's as nice a person as she is talented, so I just have to say that today's lack of a blog post is all her fault!

I strongly recommend you go to her page, friend/follow/subscribe to her, and tell her that I said it's all her fault I didn't have a blog for today, because her stuff was just too darned interesting. Afterward, you too can lose an entire evening's work while you oooh and aaah over her videos. :D

Why are elephants big and grey?
Because if they were small, white and round they'd be aspirins.

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Reader Feedback Part the First!

OMG, y'all, I got the best gift tonight! I saw that I'd gotten a Facebook comment, so I clicked over to see that one my my readers had left me a note and a photo. I can't lie. I got so excited I was actually applauding!



Tierney wrote:

your zebra nails inspired me so much I bought a nail pen & decided to try it out for myself!! I looooooooove zebra print!! Im really happy with the way it turned out, I def. need more practice. Thank you for your inspiration! :)

I was so excited I called my husband in to see, and then I immediately asked her if I could share this on the blog. Moments like this really make me feel like I'm connecting with people, and it really makes me feel like this blog is a positive thing. I can't even begin to tell y'all how much I appreciate each and every one of you- those who read, those who comment, those who subscribe and follow with GFC or my RSS feed. I just wanna hug you all!

So, keep an eye on this space. There will hopefully be Reader Feedback Part the Second, and the Third... etc.

Also, I've been feeling a strong urge to get back into animal prints. How would y'all feel about an animal print week, where I explore the things that can be done with them? If you don't say no, you may just be subjected to a week of crazy animal prints!

Til next time!

Sometimes I get so excited I burst into song. Sometimes this happens in public.
Sometimes it embarrasses me. Most of the time I sing anyway.

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Look for Color Club's New Alter Ego Collection

Woo! I'm so excited! I got a press release today announcing Color Club's new Alter Ego collection, a collection of fourteen shades that include sheers and opaques that look like they could be a lot of layering fun. Let's look at the press release, shall we?
 

Color Club lets you create high-fashion looks for every identity with Alter Ego, their latest collection of diverse, long-lasting lacquers!


Alter Ego’s consists of 12 shades! Go incognito with our opaque shades or rendezvous in full view with our sheers of Alter Ego ‘LIGHTS’ and ‘DARKS’!

 

Alter Ego’s ‘Reveal Your Mystery Collection’ 7 piece salon pack includes Get a Clue, Revealed, Incognito, Secret Rendezvous, Sheer Disguise, and Give Me a Hint shades plus Milky White Base Coat.

Their ‘Keep It Undercover Collection’ 7 piece salon pack includes Alter Ego, Secret Agent, Total Mystery, Alias, Ulterior Motive and Masquerading plus Vivid Top Coat.

So tell me, what do you think about this collection. Are you excited? What shades look interesting to you?

Images courtesy of the manufacturer or their PR firm.

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Heart of Haiti- Rwandan Women Build Their Futures

I know my blog is usually pretty upbeat and silly, and I love to make myself the butt of the jokes. But tonight, I want to write about something a bit more special. I'd like to turn your attention to the Heart of Haiti collection at Macy's. If you've been reading this blog for very long at all, you'll know that I absolutely love color. Instead of painting my walls with vivid colors, I love having warm neutral walls to serve as the backdrop for colorful pieces- pillows, art for the walls, cute whatevers to display on shelves and mantles. I am all about color!

"Ok, Laynie, what's that got to do with Haiti?" I know you're wondering. Well, something happened a year ago that you might have heard about- an earthquake. I think y'all probably know what happened and why it was a bad thing, so I'll try not to get too sappy on ya. We're coming up on the one year anniversary of that earthquake, so I know you won't have a problem finding the details if you look.

Instead, I want to share with you the Heart of Haiti, a selection of handcrafted items made by the people of Haiti. Every piece you buy puts money into their pockets, helping them support themselves using their traditional crafts.  It's a win-win situation, because you're helping people who need it, and you get something beautiful for your home!

Let's look at some of my favorite items from the collection. For instance, this potholder and oven mitt. I love the vivid blues in them, and if you click the picture, you can actually see a name stitched into the top of the oven mitt! I love the idea of having a bit of someone's personality showing through in the piece. I'm not sure why, even, it just feels like there's a bit of connection between the person who brought this piece into existence and me, the person using it. It just makes me happy. :D

Then there's this bowl. Do you love this bowl?? Because I do! I can't even begin to tell you how much I love this bowl! It's so bright, so cheerful, so fun! I want to pile it with fruit- apples and oranges and bananas, so that it can sit on my table and make me smile when I walk past! Or maybe I could find a use for it in my crafting area- put pretty supplies into it so they can be both useful and decorative! It's 8" x 5", so it's not giant, and it's only $16! I'm in love. There's also a watermelon bowl if that's more your style, but I can't get enough of that gorgeous yellow.

Finally, I have to share this candle holder with you. I know, it's not colorful. What can I say, I also like metal! Seriously, though, I love how organic this piece looks. I love the coral motif and the way the artist has used that motif to wrap around the candle. It's just very pleasing to my eye, and I'd love to have this in my home! I can imagine it lit, casting shadows on my table and wall...

Oh, sorry. I got lost in a happy daydream!¹  Whatever. Just go look at the stuff in the Macy's Heart of Haiti collection, and if you see something you like grab it. You'll be doing a bit of good for people who really need it.

¹  Wait, it's night, but I'm not asleep. Does that make it a night dream? Just a dream dream? Heck, I don't know.

I was selected for this very special “CleverHaiti” opportunity by Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity. All opinions are my own.

Wordles are fun...

I've been having such a fun time the last few days. I'm half sick again, and I'm blaming it on the weather. But I'm goofing off with craft supplies which always makes me happy. I haven't painted my nails in *gasp* a whole week! They're filed down to nubbins, and got totally destroyed with a bad experience with stick-on nails, but that's a story for another day. In the meantime, I'm having loads of fun crafting! But first, let me show you what this morning's web wanderings have inspired...

Get a FREE Model's Own Makeup Kit!

Hey y'all, are you into the Model's Own brand? Now's your chance to get a FREE makeup kit! Models Own, News of the World, and Fabulous Magazine have teamed up to give you a New Year's offer worth £24!

"That's great, Laynie, but how do I get it?" Easy... all you have to do is collect TWO tokens. One token will be available each week in the print edition of Fabulous (free in News of the Week) for three weeks only. Once you've gotten your two tokens, simply take them to a participating Tesco and get your freek makeup kit!

You'll receive liquid eyeliner, tweezers, an eyelash curler, mascara and eyeshadow, all in a cute make-up bag! Not a bad deal, don't you think? Once again, I wish I were in the UK! You can read more about it here!

BB Couture- Manbug

I love Twitter. I really do... I've met so many wonderful people over it, and I've even gotten to interact with some of my favorite celebrities through it. But I think one of the things I enjoy most are the late-night twitter giveaways.

See, lots of people are using Twitter as a marketing tool. So, at random times they'll host a giveaway where if people reply over twitter, they'll win a prize. It's loads of fun and gets you interacting with people. Plus hey, you win stuff!

As an example, I was online one night and the owner of Overall Beauty came on with a twitter contest. She asked if she said she had a manbug in her hand, what was she talking about? Since I had nail polish on the brain, I asked if it would mean she had a BB Couture nail polish, and sure enough I was right! A few days later, a cute little package arrived at my house complete with 2 eyeshadow samples, a business card, and a lovely handwritten card! I've still got the card hanging on my bulletin board!

So, since I've got the time now, I wanted to show you Manbug in all its beauty. I think it makes more of an effective layering polish because I can't stand visible nail line. This first swatch shows how it looks over both white nail polish and black polish. The sparkles show up more dramatically over the black, but it's still lovely over white.

I also put this polish over some artificial nails with a french manicure. This didn't work so well... the polish applies beautifully, but it's just so intensely sheer. I'm not terribly fond sheer sheers, and wound up putting on either 4 or 5 coats of Manbug. Even so, I still had visible nail line! =/

But it is one gorgeous sheer polish. I love the softness of the color, and while at first I was sure it would look horrible on me, I was actually kind of surprised to see it looked ok.

Unfortunately, it's not a polish you can stamp with. It's so sheer it's like trying to stamp with air! You can see on the stample that there's just a hint of color that shows.

So overall, I'm looking forward to trying more BB Couture polishes, but Manbug isn't one I'll be wearing often, unless I can figure out a cool layered recipe for it.

What do you think- is Manbug a keeper?