A Couple of St. Patrick's Day Looks

Last week got a little hectic with an impromptu visit from my dad, the cleaning that frantically came before, and some apartment projects (hello new bookcase and chair!).  My nails took a brutal beating, so I'm cut down to uneven shorties now (see 2nd photo), but so it goes.  In the chaos, I didn't get my St. Patrick's day looks up, so here's a quick post with both.

First up:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Color Club Holiday Splendor
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Salon Perfect Champagne Toast
*1 coat Out the Door

I LOVE Holiday Splendor!  It's a bright green jelly packed with holo awesomeness and looks much more opaque on the nail--somehow nail lines appear out of thin air when I photograph!  It dries a bit gritty and totally comes to life under a top coat.  I'm a little concerned that I can't find an back up bottle online and I'll have to ration this one--I do NOT want run out!  I added an accent with a little gold glitter and yet another adorable RLR Creations decal--St. Patty's day cupcake!

This is what I actually wore today:

*1 coat Gelous Base
*2 coats Revlon Posh
*3 coats Color Club Gingerbread
*Zoya Severine
*1 coat Out the Door

Gingerbread was from the same holiday line as Holiday Splendor and is also gorgeous!  It's a chunky gold holo glitter in a clear base.  I added a 3rd coat to try for good opacity for photos, but it still looks much more sparse here than in real life--you can easily wear 2 coats and look opaque off camera. 
There was a commotion at my neighbor's last night just as I started polishing, so I had to change my plans and go for something simple and quick after spending about a half hour looking through my peep hole at our landing (yeah, I'm a total busybody).   I used Posh, a really beautiful jade green that looks a bit darker in real life, and dotted on gold with Severine.

So, there you have it--another holiday for 2015.  I hope it was a lucky one for you!

End Endo: Bloomin' Uterus love

This is a special post for me because it's a post for a special lady.

I work with Lisa. 
Lisa is a badass.
Lisa rides motorcycles and fights fires and makes me laugh like no other at work.
Lisa is brave and strong and incredibly open and vulnerable.
Lisa is fighting endometriosis.

She is incredibly candid and inspiring as she goes through life with her diagnosis, which unfortunately came much later than it should have.  She has a blog, Bloomin' Uterus, where she writes about life after surgery, the disease, how she copes, and life.  She has begun to build an inspiring community of people who are in this battle together, because she took the leap and spoke about her own experience.  I get chills when she tells me about the women she's meeting, online and in person, who all feel the same--they think they're the only ones.  They want to hear someone else understands.  They want community.  She is giving them that.

Lisa is a rockstar. 

One of the things she did, to remind women with a disease that attacks what's fundamentally female that they are still beautiful and feminine, was create the Bloomin' Uterus.

Isn't it adorable?!  It's a reminder that endometriosis doesn't break you.  It doesn't ruin you.  There's life and beauty after diagnosis and strength in numbers.  I'm so proud to carry my pin on my bag every day.  If you are interested in one for yourself (or a bunch for your friends) check out her GoFundMe page: End Endo.

So, since March is endometriosis awareness month and the awareness color is yellow, I'm going to do some yellow manis for Lisa and women like her.  Today's is obviously inspired by her brilliant Bloomin' Uterus:

*1 coat Gelous base
*3 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow
*1 coat Julep Tilda
*2 coats Out the Door

I used Mellow Yellow, a cream base, for my (duh!) yellow.  I used thin coats and it streaks a bit, so I went with 3 coats.  I added Tilda, a teal shimmer topper, for a little sparkle.  Then I added some rhinestone flowers, which I love, for my accents.  I really like how these turned out and like even more that they make me think of Lisa and her beautiful work every time I look down.

I would love it if you'd take a moment to check Lisa's pages out this month, especially if you or someone you love are dealing with endometriosis--there's strength in numbers!

Faded holo

I hit a bit of a "polishers block" last week.  I REALLY wanted to use one of these polishes, Fashion Addict, and was trying hard to find something creative to do with it.  Honestly, I really just wanted to wear it all on its own, but my polish and photo skills aren't up to par to be a swatcher.  After agonizing and finally settling on something much too late at night, I had to remind myself that my blog started as a way to remember looks and polishes I liked--not to impress anyone.  I might need to gently remind myself again, but next time I  really just want to enjoy a pretty polish, I am going to let myself be okay with that :)

So, here's how I enjoyed the beauty that is Fashion Addict:

*1 coat Gelous base
*2 coats Color Club Fashion Addict
*4 coats LynB Designs Defender of the Downtrodden
*1 coat Out the Door

Fashion Addict is a gorgeous dense scattered/linear-leaning lavender polish.  I used 2 coats to even out a couple of thin edges, but this one is actually a one-coat polish if you want.  I love the dusty shade of purple and the intense holo--can you blame me for itching to wear this one?

I bought Defender of the Downtrodden in one of LynB Designs' recent sales (which she generously has all the time--take advantage!).  This soft dove gray has scattered holo throughout.  I used 4 VERY thin coats that dried really fast.  It sounds like a lot, but really wasn't bad at all--the pale gray just needed some layers to cover my nail line, but would be perfect over another gray cream.  I added a little lavender rhinestone to the gray to tie them together and sealed it all up in top coat, which made the holo come alive!
For winter, I really liked this faded coloring and this was a look that I couldn't take my eyes off of in the sun!