The Jamberry Experience

  The other day as I was admiring my latest nail polish color and ogling over my color collecting addiction, I told my boyfriend I had enough nail polishes to paint my nails a different color every week for an entire year. To which he responded, "You should do that! And make a blog about it!"

WEEK 15: The Jamberry Experience

Now there's something you should know about me, and I'm not exactly proud of this, but I am a terrible trend hater. If it's popular and the 'in thing', chances are I'm going to avoid it at all costs, even if I may have liked it if I had discovered it myself. I can't help it, it's basically programmed into me. So when I saw this weird new craze of Jamberry Wraps blowing up every one of my social media accounts, the mere utterance of the words put a bad taste in my mouth. I mocked and judged from the lofty seat of my self placed nail art connoisseur pedestal. Until one day when I was forced to dip my toes, or fingers more accurately, into the waters of the bandwagon culture that is our world today. An old friend of mine had invited me into one of those online Facebook parties, you know, the ones we use to escape the awkwardness of actual social interactions and having to put on pants. And being the supportive person I am, I decided to participate, throw out a few likes, even some comments, and wouldn't you know it, irony kicked me in the butt. I actually won some free Jamberry Wraps.

Neige à Paris

  The other day as I was admiring my latest nail polish color and ogling over my color collecting addiction, I told my boyfriend I had enough nail polishes to paint my nails a different color every week for an entire year. To which he responded, "You should do that! And make a blog about it!"

WEEK 14: Neige à Paris

A few weeks back in my Mixed Media post I briefly introduced one of my oldest nail hacks: Ring Reinforcers. Now these little stickers have many different styles and names, and quite honestly I had no idea what they were called before I decided to put them in my blog. Thank goodness for Google. And you've probably stumbled across some of these yourself in the deep dark corners of your father's desk drawer or in that odd aisle of office supplies with all that stuff no one actually uses.... or even knows what it is for that matter. Well, allow me to enlighten you.

The original intent of their inventor was that they be placed over the three-ring binder hole of a piece of paper to keep it from ripping out. Reinforcing the ring's hole. Thus, their name. Personally, I find them a rather fascinating invention, seeing as I will always choose good old fashioned files in a binder over files on a computer. But to the rest of the world, these poor little guys are basically useless and on the verge of extinction. But I say, NO. Let us bring back the ring reinforcers with new life and vitality. And let us give them a new name. A French name. For a French Tip.

Black Out

  The other day as I was admiring my latest nail polish color and ogling over my color collecting addiction, I told my boyfriend I had enough nail polishes to paint my nails a different color every week for an entire year. To which he responded, "You should do that! And make a blog about it!"

WEEK 13: Black Out

It all began one stormy night in November... the skies roared, the earth quaked in fear, and towering cedars buckled before the might of a wind just shy of hurricane proportion. Thousands left without power, families huddled for warmth, and me discovering doing my nails by candlelight sucks big time.

After 5 days without power, I turned to my oh so hospitable boyfriend, and having already imposed myself upon his home for warm showers and laundry capabilities, I had one more question:
How much will you hate me if your house smells like nail polish for a day?

Glamorous Gray

  The other day as I was admiring my latest nail polish color and ogling over my color collecting addiction, I told my boyfriend I had enough nail polishes to paint my nails a different color every week for an entire year. To which he responded, "You should do that! And make a blog about it!"

WEEK 12: Glamorous Gray

Here's a fun fact about me: I adore all things unique and flashy, but at the same time I am obsessed with gray and black and all those shades in between. While you might assume I have to pick between these two passions when it comes to fashion and art, I am here today to prove you wrong. I firmly believe that you don't need a bright color to catch the eye, but through contrast and patterns even a simple gray scale color set can steal the show.

Mixed Media

  The other day as I was admiring my latest nail polish color and ogling over my color collecting addiction, I told my boyfriend I had enough nail polishes to paint my nails a different color every week for an entire year. To which he responded, "You should do that! And make a blog about it!"

WEEK 11: Mixed Media

Being the Pinterest roamer that I am, I'm all about those DIYs! But like most people I find myself living in the much overrated 'someday' mindset. So this week I decided to actually try one those brilliant ideas I so often ooh and aww over but never seem to do. Maybe you've seen this idea floating around, or maybe it will blow your mind as it did mine when I first came across it, but apparently you can make your own nail polish color using eye shadow and a clear top coat. Sounds simple enough, right? Well, I guess I'll find out.

My adventure began with a trip to the store where I picked up a beautiful teal CoverGirl eye shadow  and a cheap top coat. Just to add a little design to the idea I grabbed my used and abused silver as well as some ring reinforcers I stole from my father's office ages ago. He never missed them, and I like to believe I gave them a greater purpose in life.

Royal Zebra

  The other day as I was admiring my latest nail polish color and ogling over my color collecting addiction, I told my boyfriend I had enough nail polishes to paint my nails a different color every week for an entire year. To which he responded, "You should do that! And make a blog about it!"

WEEK 9: Royal Zebra

Last week I mentioned picking up some nail polish in Ireland, but what I didn't mention was the other nail related purchase I made. This particular item was something I have always seen around, but never actually thought to get for myself. But now, here they were, staring me in the face, priced too cheaply to resist at least trying them out... I was in Ireland for goodness sake. I was ready for adventure. Maybe it was the variety that caught my eye, or maybe it was the beauty of the different shapes, sizes, and colors, sorted into perfectly separate compartments that tugged on the heartstrings of my OCD. Whatever it was, it worked. I caved. I am now the proud owner of metal nail studs.

 As much as I loved the crazy assortment, I decided for my first 'adventure' I would stick to something basic and easy to work with. Small silver circles. In order to perfectly contrast these simple studs I wanted to pick some bold colors and patterns for the underlying polish.