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Wednesday, June 29, 2016

EZ Dip Gel Soak Off and Redo

Today we will be delving into the process of removing the EZ Dip gel nails and then redoing them. I was sent a soak off tray from Oceans of Beauty.  I bought the nail clips to soak them off that are supposed to let you be able to use your iphone while soaking.  I chose not to try those this time.

I watched the YouTube video on how to use this soak off tray so I had an idea of what to do.  Being familiar with the NexGen process for a year was really helpful as I knew what the steps were.

First off, here are the supplies I got together for this removal process.


From the left is the Oceans of Beauty soak off dish, acetone, the iphone soak off clips and to the right, several coarse files and buffing blocks.  Oh and there are cotton pads there too.

Here is a closer look at the removal tray.


The top part is where your fingertips go and the base is for hot water.  Here is the tray all set up ready to go.


Now in the YouTube video, she used no lint pads that I didn't have on hand.  First you use the coarse file and buffer block to take the shine off your gel nails.  Remember mine had nail tips and too thick gel. Once that is done, it's time to soak.  She suggests that every minute, you wipe off the soft gel with these non lint pads.

I tried this with regular old cotton pads and let's just say a HUGE mess was made. Learn from me people and do not do that! I had cotton strands on all nails of both hands and it was a freakin mess.


Here is the proper soak off position.  Damn my hands look freakin old here! While this is a cool concept, because I didn't have the right pads to help with the removal it wasn't working for me.  I also found that the water underneath did not stay hot for long at all.  The heat is to help speed up the process.

My issue with this at that time was the fact that I had the nail tips and too much nail glue and too thick gel layers to get through.  I will try this method again with my next removal try.  What I ended up doing was copying what my salon does, which is just a bowl of hot acetone with a wad of cotton in there to rub your nails against during the soaking process.

This is what I ended up doing.  Grabbing a cheap bowl, microwaving acetone (probably not a good thing to do) and soaking that way.  Here is what my nails looked like after I got all the gel off.


This is not nail damage, just cuticles and dry patches from soaking in acetone.  The next step is to lightly buff your nails and remove the cuticle.  I chose not to add nail tips this time.

I was very careful to do very thin layers of gel and did my two dips again with Light Pink from Oceans of Beauty. Here is what that looks like.


Yes I still need a ton of practice, but this is way better than last time!  My thoughts on this though was I was so careful to do thin coats that I was afraid I would break a nail.  It has been four days and so far I have not broken a nail.  However, they are not that long here.  As I grow them out, I think thicker coats will be smarter for me to do.

Here are the end results.


Pretty cool eh? I am learning as I go.  I've found it is extremely important to clean the rims of the bottles like the top coat and the structure as it will get stuck closed and the brush will separate from the lid.  Yes this happened to me several times!

So far I am extremely happy with the EZ Dip gel process.  This again took me a good two and a half hours, but a lot of that was the soaking off the too thick layers.  I don't think next time will take as long.  The dip part is the fastest part.  I still am getting the gel into my cuticle area, but as it grows out, I've been filing it down.  I am planning on growing my nails out longer than this too.

Oh and Oceans of Beauty gave me a coupon code for your first order.  20% off! Use FPM20 at the check out.  I see they now have those chrome nails.  I'm not sure that's for me.

Do you have any questions? Let me know!

Until next time people. Any thoughts out there?


Monday, June 27, 2016

A England Ascalon and Tristam

I cannot believe that I have to tell you this.  Remember last post when I said there was no way that my boss would let my coworker have a special standy desk? Well I am eating my words people.  The boss and the boss's boss came in this past Friday talking to her about this and how things will need to be moved to make room for her sh*t.  She's even got a sheet on the floor and is sitting on the floor doing her work.

As I live and breathe, I continue my mantra that it's a pink world out there and the rest of the cancers just don't matter.

If you don't get that, you haven't been paying attention.

Sam is a lot better.  He is eating and stuff.  Still not sleeping with me.  Last night, he was in the middle of my get ready room in the dark by himself.  No idea why.  I weighed him yesterday and he hasn't lost any more weight. He's eating more crunchy food and I'm slowly going to cut back on the canned food.  He is still not pooping regular, but I'm afraid to increase the laxative too much.

He has what may be a bruise on his nose.  It's a discoloration, doesn't hurt him or anything, but it's there.  A friend said it looked like he has bumped his nose on something.  I'll keep an eye on it.

I got my coupon book for my car.  It's been a long time since I've seen a damn coupon book.  My last car loan, they sent me monthly bills, but I paid online.  I plan to do that this time too.  The funny thing is, I was looking at the last date and it was 2021 and I was joking with my mom about that.  The next day I got another coupon book.

I was like WTF?

Inside were more payments and I realized my real last payment is December 25, 2022.  I will be almost 55 years old.  Yes, to get payments I could afford, I took out a 66 month loan.  But my credit is so awesome that the interest is only 3.49%.  So I'm ok with that.

I was filing away my car paperwork, the sticker from the window when I noticed I had saved all my other car window stickers all the way back to my piece of crap Neon from 1999! That car died at 80,000 miles.  When the Neon first came out, I told my dad that one day I would own one.  I wanted the puke green one they made that first year, but when the time came for me to buy one, that color was no longer available.  I ended up with a champagne color.

It was also the last year that the Neon engines were crap.  The 2000 Neons engine was totally revamped, but I refused to by another one.  Come to think of it, I don't think they sell them anymore?

Oh and a heads up-I'm going to be doing a HUGE makeup brush and makeup sale July 4th weekend. I've got a new ringlight and two camera stands, tons of Morphe brushes, Zoeva brushes, Morphe palettes and Makeup Geek shadows.  I've come to realize there is something in the MUG shadows that I am allergic to-especially the bright colors.  I've got to sell off what I'm just not using.

Make me an offer ahead of time if you want!

Now, today's mani is the last one before I soaked them off and reapplied the EZ Dip gel.  Next post will be about that.

Here is the gorgeous Ascalon and Tristam.


Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
Now I have proven in the past that if you don't point it out, people will never see the mistake. I'll give you a minute to look.

See my pinky? I was not paying attention and stamped with the wrong color and before I had taken these preview pictures.  As long as you use Seche Vite and then Non acetone, you can remove the stamp and go from there.  You'd never notice at the finished mani.

Next I stamped with Mundo de Unas Pastel Blue using Cici&Sisi plate 06 then did my funky with Tristam.

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
I think this came out really cool.  I had planned on using a different blue to stamp with, but it was too dark.

I think I'll have my doctor write me a note saying I need a hospital bed in my office so I can do my work.  What do you think?

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?


Saturday, June 25, 2016

Colors by Llarowe Refresh.....ing!

Sam is slowly progressing.  I've been buying all sorts of different cat food to get him to eat.  He had three days in a row of throwing up, so I've put him back on the laxative twice a day.  Last night for the first time he ate pretty good and then ate a good breakfast.  I am still worried but hope he's getting better.  I tried to call the vet yesterday but heaven forbid I actually talk to a vet on the phone.

All I got was you can bring him in at this time and it's some obscure middle of the workday time so when I ask for a different day, like one I'm off, it's nope we're full that day.  I get the feeling that because I'm not dropping everything to bring him in, they feel Sam must not be that bad. Part of that is correct.  If he was really bad like he was, I did leave work to bring him in. All I wanted was the vet to tell me he's moving in the right direction.

Is that too much to ask?

There are two other vet clinics around, I may call them if necessary.

Today I plan to soak off the gels and start over fresh.  It's been 2.5 weeks and while I could go a few more days, I just kind of feel like doing it today.  I will be taking tons of photos and writing posts on that for later.

Work yesterday was another round of joy.  One of my coworkers called out sick and later that day we got a fax from her doctor telling our boss she needs a special chair (or maybe it's a standy thing) plus a mat as her back hurts.  Yeah, my boss is gonna love that sh*t.  That ain't happening no way no how.

I see that as one more step out the door for her.

Then the other one comes back from clinic and I was helping her do some of her work when she just started crying big time.  Yes I'm a nurse, but no I'm not good with coworker crying jags. Especially when it seems to be every day lately.

She actually hugged me and I'm not a coworker hugger either.  But I did my duty and listened to her complain how the doctor she works for is mean.  Yes he is, always has been, always will be.  It's getting old hearing this day in and day out.

Nothing on the thermostat debacle.  It's been on 70F ever since and while I have talked to that person, it has been strictly business, nothing else. I'm still pissed and stab me in the back once, trust I won't put myself in the position for you to do it again.

What's that saying? Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me.  Not quite the right one but you get my drift.

I've decided for now to leave the dents in my car.  It boils down to the fact that I'm too lazy, that it's on the trunk and I don't see that often and it will probably cost me money to fix.  I was backing up at work yesterday and some jacka** big truck had sort of boxed me in so I was doing the multiple cranking turns of the wheel when I heard a loud thump.

Now that's never a good thing to hear when you are backing up, but in my new car? I freaked, got out of my car to check my back bumper.  Turns out, it was construction workers doing work in the parking deck that had made the noise.  PHEW.

Oh and I think I've almost got the seat and steering wheel adjusted perfect and am getting better at shifting to sixth gear.

All right, let's look at this stunning polish. I hated taking this one off.  I was loving it way too much!

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
How freakin gorgeous is this?????  I tell you I did not want to take this off at all.  I need to wear this one again very soon.

Oh and cross your fingers. My new tracking number says my Chanel polish should be here today!

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?


Thursday, June 23, 2016

Chaos and Crocodiles An Alpaca With A Plan, Dance Legend Robots vs Humans

Including yesterday's post, the three posts for this week do not have any nail art.  I didn't have time on new car day and then as I mentioned last post, I have been sick.

No idea what the hell has been wrong with me.  I've told you I get bad migraines, but the new medicine regimen I'm on has really helped me big time.  Well I got up Sunday morning rough and knew I had a migraine, I drank my coffee and while sitting on my couch, I was over come with nausea.  Now I hate throwing up.  It's been years-years let me repeat since I've thrown up.

Well that morning, there was no stopping it.  I rushed to the sink and it was just awful as I had nothing in my stomach but that wasn't stopping my body from rejecting something! Yeah it was bad. I spent the day sleeping on my couch.  I could not eat or take my usual medicine, later that day I was able to sip on some water.

The next morning, I was supposed to go to work, but I still felt really bad so I called out sick.  I haven't done that in a very long time either.  Especially on a clinic day.  Oh and get this, the night before, I had a night terror.  This is different than a nightmare.  A night terror is when you wake yourself up screaming.

Yeah that happened.  I don't really remember what was going on other than I was in a room and then I was locked in the room and couldn't get out.  Checkers as you know, sleeps on my head and it must have scared her horrible for me to be screaming the way I was.  I can't remember the last time that has happened to me.  I have had weird dreams and nightmares, but to wake up screaming like that?

Nope.

Sam is doing better.  He is back eating his regular prescription food.  He threw up overnight and that worries me, but as long as it doesn't continue, I won't freak too bad.  They are both still on daily laxative and Sam for the first time yesterday tried to run away so that tells me he is finally feeling better.  He is back cuddling with Checkers in their chair etc.  The only thing he hasn't done is sleep with me.  I miss that and hope he starts doing that again soon.

I'm told my new Chanel polish have been reshipped out, but have not gotten a reply from them since asking for a tracking number.  I'm anxious to get them!

Now since I wasn't feeling good, I did colors just for me.  Here are C&C An Alpaca With A Plan and an accent of Dance Legend Robots vs Humans.

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
Now this is two weeks since I did the EZ Dip gel nails.  I did file and shape them as well as buff the thickness a bit. I then added more top coat, but the weirdest thing happened.  It never dried and I had touched my nails so often to check that they were all bumpy and not nice.  So I lightly buffed them again and just skipped the top coat.

Maybe I did too thick a layer? I've no idea.  I'm still learning.

I will be soaking these off this week and redoing.  Most of my nails have grown out and won't all need tips this time. Of course I'll be doing posts for you!

Oh and how gorgeous are these brown holos???? Chaos and Crocodiles blow me away every time.

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?


Tuesday, June 21, 2016

Chanel Malice and My New Car

Oh people.  Do I have a story for you.  I went to pick up my new car on a Wednesday.  Damn it's a beautiful thing.  When I got it it had six miles on it.  Power steering, power brakes-I've never had that before.  The first time I drove it, I kept giving myself whiplash as I'm used to having to press harder to brake.

It has one of those screens that tell you what song is playing-love that, it has six speakers so the sound is amazing.  It has that bluetooth thing where you can talk on the phone hands free. I've yet to use that as when I'm in the car, the music is blasting and I am chair dancing.  Talking on the phone is not compatible with that!

It has a backup camera that shows you what's behind you, I haven't really used that as I normally use the rear view window for that.  My brother told me that it's misleading as the camera is usually under the car on the drivers side so there are areas that you can't see but are there.  I haven't looked under my car yet to see where it is.

Oh the craziest thing is it's a six speed. I've only driven five speeds.  My whole life I know if I'm going around 40-50mph, I need to be in fourth gear, 30-40mph third gear etc.  Now I have to relearn this all over again to compensate for the sixth gear.  Since six is so close to reverse, I've been wary of shifting correctly and keep downshifting to fourth gear instead of hitting sixth.  It's driving me nuts! My poor new car revs in protest over me doing that!

I am still playing around with where the seat should be, higher or lower, up or back that kind of thing. It drives like a dream.  I've already reordered my holographic peace love and nail polish sticker to add it to this new car window.

I picked it up on Wednesday around 1pm.  Thursday night at 9pm, we had a vicious hailstorm.  I kid you not.  I stood at my window and watched as marble sized hail pelted my brand new, not even two day old car.

Yup. No joke.

The storm went on and on.  Now normally I love a good severe storm, but this one I could not enjoy.

About three hours later, this would be around midnight, I went outside in my jammies feeling my car for dents. Of course it was dark and I couldn't feel anything so I thought my car had gotten through unscathed.

I was wrong.

I went out the next morning, but the car was still wet and I still couldn't really see anything.  I got to work and the drive had dried off my car.  In the parking deck, I put my face right level with the car and looked over the entire car.

There on the trunk were two dents, brand new from the damn hailstorm.  Stupid Act of God bullsh*t.

Since I figure I'm already going to Hell, my last statement is ok.

I thought about calling my insurance, but figured I'd be paying my deductible, I tried calling Honda, but they had had a tornado and the phones were down.  Since then I have been sick and haven't done anything else about it.  It's just maddening that my two day old car already has two dents on it.

Want to see pictures?




The last photo shows you the red sparkle that happens in the sun.  Most people will just see a black car, but it's not!  Isn't it pretty?  I sure think so!

Now as I told you, I wore Chanel Malice to pick up my car.  It was almost a perfect match.  Sadly though the sun was not out that day and my camera is not showing Malice at its best.


Flash

Flash
Trust me when I say that in real life this is way more gorgeous.  It got all dinged and stuff playing with my new car and popping the hood etc.

Would you get the dents fixed?

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?


Friday, June 17, 2016

Enchanted Polish Keep Watch and November 2014

Remember the fiasco that was the Mishko Enchanted Polish sale a few years back? I actually traded one of my original fatty bottles for the three in this set.  Do I regret it? Yes and no.  I do miss my Poison Apple, but it's nice to have these three as well.  Poison Apple was so close to March 2014, that that was the factor in my final decision.

I do know who owns it now.  It got traded around and I hope if that person ever wanted to get rid of it, they would ask me if I wanted it back first! HINT HINT.

A quick Sam update.  He is finally feeling better.  He lost about 1.5lbs from this episode.  I think the end reasoning was he was so constipated that he got blocked and an infection ensued.  He has since pooped and it was not normal looking.  So until he poops normal, he will continue to get a laxative. He is eating good again, was actually so hungry he was pushing my hand out of the way of his dish as I filled it.

He still isn't his normal self, but he's getting there.

I will be officially picking up my new Honda today.  I will do a future post on that with pictures. I've got Malice ready to go after I write this post.

Which leads me to a rant.

Have you seen the Summer 2016 Chanel polish colors?????  Green and Brown-yes my two favorite colors. Weird for summer, but I'm all for it.  I bought them both-Emeraude and Cavaliere.  They were to arrive this past Monday.

They didn't.

Instead I got a message from UPS stating the package arrived to them empty so therefore there is nothing to deliver to me.

Um WTF?

We all know how expensive Chanel polish is so I won't go there, but damn people who stole my polish from UPS? On top of that, Chanel is telling me I have to wait three to eight business days for a report from UPS before any resolution can be made.

Again WTF?

I wrote them back saying this isn't fair to me as I did nothing wrong.  They should send me a replacement and deal with UPS later.  I'm going to call them later to complain.  I had seen pictures of Emeraude in one of my magazines and at the time couldn't order it so I thought I had missed out on it.

I don't want this delay to cost  me my two polish.

I have to go say goodbye to my old car now.  It's been a good car and will be missed.  So let's see what I have on my nails for today.

Here is EP Keep Watch.

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
This is almost two weeks of wear on the EZ Dip nails.  I will not need to do a fill.  I am going to go one more week, then soak these off and go again!  I will do posts on the removal and redo for you then.

Next I stamped using Cici&Sisi plate 04 using Mundo de Unas High Green, then my funky using EP November 2014.

Indoor Sun
\

Indoor Sun
How freakin cool is this???  I actually really love this one.  Green and purple just go so well here don't they?

My all time favorite band, the Violent Femmes are in town tonight and I'm so sad I'm not going.  Not going to get into the reasons, but yeah I feel I should be there and want to be there.  Part of me is still thinking about going.

We shall see.

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?


Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Enchanted Polish Pandore and Flashing Lights

The next stressor in my life lately has been my big boy Sam. He's been very sick that I swear to you when I took him to the vet, I honestly thought I was not going to be bringing him  home.  He is home right now, but not really doing much better at all.

It started a few days ago when I woke up and noticed he hadn't eaten any food overnight.  He normally eats the most while I'm sleeping.  After I got home from work that day, he still hadn't eaten anything.  Now both my babies are thirteen and both are on the same special diet that helps them pee so they don't get the bladder infections they are prone to.

The problem though, is yes they pee good, but then there's no water left in their bodies to help them poop.  So they are both constipated from the diet.  It got to the point where Sam was so weak and listless and just pathetic that I left work early to take him to the vet.  They did bloodwork and it shows he has an infection somewhere and he also has a fever.  Since he is overweight at 22lbs, he is prone to diabetes etc, but only his white blood count was up so he was given nausea medicine and a shot of antibiotic, that lasts fourteen days. It's the same shot they gave Checkers a month ago when she had her bladder infection.

The next day, Sam still had not eaten, by now this is day four and I'm freaked.  I go back to the vet and they give him an appetite stimulant and tell me to force feed him by syringe.  Deja vu, this was exactly what I had to do with Checkers thirteen years ago when I first brought her home and was so sick.  Sam hates me at the moment, but if doesn't start eating he could get something called fatty liver and it's fatal in cats.

So yeah, I've tried all different kinds of cat food, got him to lick some canned food, but not much at all.  So far, he's been syringe fed every two hours with watered down prescription food and then I follow that with plain water.  He's also gotten medicine to help him poop.  Since he's not vomiting, the vet and I are hoping he's just very constipated with an infection and hopefully will clear itself up soon.

If not, back to the vet he goes.

Since my new Honda has finally arrived to the dealer (!), I can't afford to keep having vet bills. This episode so far has been $300.

Yup, my new Honda has arrived and I will be picking it up in a few days.  I've got my Chanel Malice waiting!!

Now, let's see what's on my nails for today.  I was in the mood for a straight red, but Pandore ended up leaning berry. Still gorgeous, but not what I was in the mood for.

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
Notice my cuticle lines are perfect.  I've been using acetone for cleanup here, to help melt the gel dip I got all over that area.  It's been one full week and it's just now with the perfect cuticle gap for me.

Next I simply wanted to do a glitter gradient as I was headed back to the vet and in a hurry. It's not quite gradient enough.

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
This is way more gorgeous in person.  The Flashing Lights is so holo centric that it freaks my camera out every time.

Please send Sam good thoughts that he will get better soon!


Until next time people. Any thoughts out there?


Monday, June 13, 2016

Enchanted Polish House of the Rising Sun and a Made for Me Green Holo

So many things going on in my life right now I've no idea where to even start.

Remember how I had said that my boss had been leaving me alone lately? Well that ain't true any more. Remember when I told you they had moved a bunch of people into my tiny office? Well it makes for a hotter environment with the more bodies and more equipment going on in there.

Now I'm 48, and not menopausal yet, but yeah, I run hot as does one of my coworkers.  The three of us are in the back of the room where the air conditioner fans just don't reach well.  The new people they added are all twenty somethings and run cold.  One of them literally has a leopard blanket she tucks on her lap while she's working.  Yeah, I said leopard................

WTF?

Before they were added, we had that room icy around 60-65F.  They kept cranking it up to 75F+! Every time I'd check, I'd put it right back down to 69F-70F.  Figuring that's a compromise.  No, I didn't have a conversation about it, but for a period of time, no one moved it.  Oh and by the way, not one will cop to who's actually cranking the heat.

The other day, I was stressed big time for reasons I will get into the next few posts and saw again, that someone had cranked the heat up again.  I admit I went off big time yelling that they were pissing me off and to stop messing with the thermostat.

There may have been an F bomb in there.  I've told you before, I swear like a sailor.  Not proud, just how it is.

I went on with my day when my boss called.  Since I've been "good" I had no idea what she could want.  Well it seems my twenty something coworkers went to my boss and complained about my rant and the boss called me on it.

Now what the f*ck people?  Do you really feel the need to go tattle to the boss like we're f*cking five years old? Do you feel good about yourself now? I mean I would never do that to them. If I have a problem with someone, I'm an adult-I talk to their face. I don't go behind someone's back to their boss.

Oh and get this, the boss took THEIR side and told me to get a fan (which I have) not that they could wear a sweater or anything like that.  I am so royally pissed, I haven't talked to them in two days.

If they're going to act like children, so be it.  Next time they need my help, it ain't happening.

I'm going to sound really old here, but that's the problem with the younger generation.  They were raised differently than I was.  So I'm back to putting my head down, doing my job, speaking to no one else and that's that.

All right.  Let's look at the beautiful polish for today.  This is EP House of the Rising Sun and a green holo made just for me by More Nail Polish.  It's not for sale-so don't ask!

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
How gorgeous is this????? I went back to 2013 on my blog and saw that I used to do fifteen pictures per post! Three different lighting shots and then close up and macro.  Damn!  Now I'm lucky I do four!

Next I stamped with my Cici&Sisi plate 08 and Mundo de Unas Brown.

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
Now I know these aren't colors for everyone, but they sure are my kind! I think I would have loved this more if I stamped with a brown holo.  I just didn't have one that would stamp this clearly.

Until next time people. Any thoughts out there?


Friday, June 10, 2016

Enchanted Polish Unipeg and Nail Art!!!

Yes people.  I have done nail art once again after a very long time.  Wasn't even sure I remembered how.  But I have to say, I did pretty damn good.

Still no Honda.  It's literally been 1.5 months.  My car salesman is useless.  He doesn't know anything.  When it's coming, when I'll get it, nothing.  It's starting to get just plain stupid.

Have to go and mow my yard today.  It'll be the third time I've done it now.  Hope I don't break a nail. These things are so thick, I don't think anything will break them! I wasn't planning on mowing today, but I looked at this weekend's forecast and it's going to be 78F today and 94F Saturday.  Hmmm, not much of a choice to make there eh?

Work has been extraordinarily busy the past two weeks or so.  I've no idea why, but the pace has been killing me.  These nails are not easy to type with, but I'm getting it done.  I keep thinking to myself, I'm busting my a** and I didn't get a raise this year.  Makes me resentful.

At least the boss has left me alone.  I can't say the same for my coworkers.  She stabbed another one in the back the other day. This is one that so far had been spared the knife.  Seems a fairly new nurse was b*tching about her and what our job entails.  This new chick has no idea what we do, she hasn't asked nor been there long enough to know.

Didn't stop her from going to the boss and complaining.

So that snowballed and now my coworker is crying and carrying on and I just kept telling her to remember who our boss is and this is what she does.  She'd just been spared up to this point in time. Not sure it helped, but I did my part.

Tuned up my computer even more.  Remember I went from Windows 7 to Windows 10 and back again with my laptop not loving the going back part.  I read up on msconfig and turned off a bunch of things that start up with the computer as that seriously slows things down.  No, I really had no idea what I was doing and trust that one thing I figured out was VERY bad to turn off and I lost all the icons on my desktop.

I didn't do that again.

Now it wakes up as it's supposed to, starts up fast and runs pretty well.  I also downloaded a program I thought would be good, but it's a glorified disk cleanup, which I already know how to do.  It's called CC Cleaner.  Don't bother.  I'm glad I didn't get the one you had to pay for!

All right.  Let's show you where I started with EP Unipeg.


Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
Ugh, macro just shows off all the bad doesn't it???? Ignore the thick mess that are my gel nails.  It was my first try!  But how pretty is this holo?  For a pink????

Next I decided I wanted to do what I used to love which was stamping.  I used my pink Mundo de Unas and plate SDP-L then added tips using OPI Alpine Snow.

Here are the very cool results.

Indoor Sun

Indoor Sun
Stamping covered up a multitude of sins regarding these nails! How beautiful is this? I am freakin proud of myself for doing this.  My stamping is perfect and lined up perfect.  Yeah, I'm bragging but it's been a long time and I've missed this.

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?


Wednesday, June 8, 2016

NexGen or EZ Dip Nails????

Remember when I was loving the NexGen gel dip nail system and actually had pretty nails and did cool nail art and sh*t? Well, I think I've found the thing that may just bring that back.

Look away Diana!

I was in one of my nail groups when someone posted about how they found a starter kit to do your own gel dip nails at home.  You best believe I immediately bought it and here is my very first experience in doing it for myself.

Let me just say, I am not a professional nail tech and what I'm going to show you is far from perfect and not the quality you would get from a salon like Diana's.  For me though, I think it's going to be just the thing that gets me going again.

Practice makes perfect right?

Let's start with what I bought.



The files and nail clipper I got from Sally's.  The rest I got from Oceans of Beauty. I did find other places that sold this stuff on the internet although I've no idea what the differences are between the brands.


Besides the starter kit, I got these clips for soaking off the gel and tips to glue on.  These were separate.


This is what you get in the EZ Dip starter kit-except I bought step 1 which not everyone needs.  I think it's like an alcohol based liquid that really makes sure the nail bed is absolutely free of oils etc. The gel color was light pink as when I did the gel before, I used sheer pink knowing I was going to polish on top of it anyway.  They do have clear, but it's thinner and you'd have to do more coats.

Here is what my nails looked like before I started.


Nothing to be ashamed of, but I had just cleaned these up and cut off the peelies I had acquired.

The first thing I did was glue on tips.  I totally screwed up one and had to soak it off and start over.


HEHEHE.  There are people with nails this long you know! No critiquing as I am well aware these are not perfect or perfectly straight!

Here is after I cut them down and shaped them. I do not have an electric file system, I just used regular nail files and buffer blocks.


Looks quite a bit better here doesn't it??  Maybe I should have stopped here.

Next I did my usual two dips.  I know now that I did way too thick a layer of the glue so there are humps and bumps in the gel.


On my first finger, that is not a crack.  It's a bulge in the gel like my ring finger has one on the side.

Next, I buffed and shaped and added the top coat, which I also know I did too thick and it's in my cuticles so when it grows out it may lift, but I'm hoping I can prevent that.

Here are the results.


Now I went much longer than I did when I was getting them done at the salon.  We will see how they do at work with all the typing I do.  Right now, I really am loving them.  This whole process took me three hours! Most of that time was spent with the gluing of the tips.  The dipping part went pretty fast. Since I had this done many times before at the salon, I knew the steps and once my nails grow out, it shouldn't take me that amount of time at all.

Once I get polish on top, you won't even notice the wonkyness or the ducknail I have on my right hand. Although, I have to stare at that one for now!

There are YouTube videos for this process to watch and they do show how to do fills, which I didn't know you could do.  I will definitely be trying to do a fill before soaking them off and doing a new set.

My plan is to do a full set once a month with a fill at two weeks. I know from my past experience with NexGen that my nails grew fast and I needed new nails every two weeks.  I'm hoping that a fill will keep me from having to do that, but if I do, I will.

**EDIT** Oceans of Beauty liked this post so much, they gave me a coupon code for my readers to use! How awesome is that? Use FPM20 at the checkout and get 20% off your first order!! Here's your chance to get a starter kit and save some cash!

Stay tuned for posts with my new nails!

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?


Monday, June 6, 2016

Enchanted Polish March 2016

Yeah, yeah, yeah.  I hear ya.  I left you guys for another week. I swear I have good reasons.

First a quick update.  My made for me Honda has left the factory and is on its way.  I've no idea when it will arrive, but it's coming!!

Get the Chanel Malice ready!

Now recently I told you of my issues with my lawn guy.  With his last text to me being not to keep my business but to tell me maybe I should move on, I moved on.

I went to Sears because my dad went to Sears.  He was a Craftsman guy.  Let me just preface this by saying it was really hard being in a Sears without my dad.  Seeing all the tools and sh*t really made me miss him a lot.

I had done some research on what makes a good mower, read reviews that sort of thing.  But I wanted to get the opinion of the Sears guy in the final choosing.  Well it seemed that there was only one salesman and he was helping another guy do who knows what but I waited a good half an hour and he never finished with that other guy to help me.

Two guys had come into the store as well to buy a mower and I told them what the salesman had told me, which was "take a seat in the deck furniture section, get comfortable."  Yeah, that's exactly what he told me. These two guys asked me if I knew what was a good mower.  I have never mowed a day in my life and they are asking me?  HEHEHE.  Now that was funny.  I told them nope no idea.  They ended up getting two salespeople from the appliance section of Sears.

Not really the people you want to ask questions of regarding a mower. Refrigerator yes, outdoor tools, no.  But the guy helping me was very nice and basically talked from his own experience mowing lawns.  I ended up spending a good hour and a half at Sears that day.  I am now the proud owner of a lawn mower.

I got one that is self-propelled, easy pull start and will match your stride by slowing or speeding up. Now the Sears guy told me all I had to do was pull up the handle, tighten the screws and I was good to go.

Uh huh.

I had to get my neighbor's dad to help me get the damn thing out of my car it was so heavy. Here it is right out of the box.


Now the guy lied when he said it was a simple set up.  The morning I was going to put this together and mow was already 90F by 10AM.  I took me over an hour to figure out how to get it put together. I kid you not.  At one point, I was seeing things and thought it said to pull the starter out eight feet and I just couldn't get it to do that. Finally, I realized it actually said eight inches!

I refused to give up and let a mower beat me.

Finally, I was ready to mow.  I got the mower to my yard, pulled the starter pulley and nothing. I tried again. Nothing. I was a failure at starting a mower.  Inside my head was the echo of my mom saying I wouldn't be strong enough to start the mower myself.

I hung my head in shame and frustration.  Then my neighbor's dad appeared.  I had told him I was going to try mowing that day and I'm thinking he came to check on me.  My problem was, my grass was so high, you would never be able to start the mower as the grass keeps the blades from starting up.  He pulled the pulley and immediately it started.

I was so damn embarrassed.  I asked him to turn it off and let me do it while he was there to watch. Once it was on lower grass, I started it right up.  It doesn't tell you in the manual to not start a mower on tall grass!  I mowed my yard and damn it's harder to do than it looks.  I have a small yard and it takes me an hour to get it all done. The mower cost me $300, my lawn guy charges $40 twice a month for a season of at least six months for a total of $480.  I'm saving money, but having to mow myself.  It's not so bad. Once I get the hang of it, it'll get easier.

What all this did was make me sick and the Memorial Day weekend was spent on the couch sick. That Monday though, I mowed again as my grass grows fast.  Went to work Tuesday and got a sh*tty text that morning.  It was from my yard guy pissed that I didn't tell him I didn't need him to mow anymore and it cost him $10 in gas to get to my house.

WTF????

My reply was sort of, you basically said f*ck off so I bought a mower and did it myself.  The end.

Wow that was a long story eh????  Now let's get to the polish.  This is not one I am loving.  The shimmer is visible in the bottle but not on the nail.  I hate that.

Here is EP March 2016.

Flash

Flash
I am in a quandary about whether I want to keep buying these shimmers the rest of the year.  I'm just not loving this one and shimmers are nice, but not my passion, you know?

What do you guys think?

Until next time people.  Any thoughts out there?