Go Pink Wednesday: girly

Today my Go Pink Wednesday manicure is pretty simple.  You'll have to forgive the tip-wear--I forgot to take pictures before I went to work this morning and my job is pretty tough on my nails.  I saw a French manicure with two shades of light pink on Pinterest that I thought I'd like to try.  I don't have these colors, but I used what I had.

*1 coat Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Hardener
*3 coats OPI Pedal Faster Suzi
*Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Prest Pink
*1 coat Seche Vite

Pedal Faster Suzi is such a pretty, soft pink shade!  I love this one a lot.  I used 3 coats to get it opaque because it is pretty sheer, but the coats build well and quickly.  I added Presto Pink on the tips.  I have been struggling so much with French tips lately!  This week, even though I waited about a half hour after painting, I was still getting pulling on my base when I used tape, so I was a little too cautious and tapped it a lot to get most of the sticky off.  This made for messy lines.  Oh well--there's a new mani tomorrow!

(check out that amazing shimmer!)

 

In addition to being pretty simple, and a really cute inspiration, I like how girly this is.  I am just about ready to cut my hair and donate to Pantene Beautiful Lengths for the third time.  It takes me about 2 years, but donating my hair is something simple I can do.  I donated to Locks of Love in college, and I love that foundation, but I was struck by something as I cut my hair a few years ago.  While I love children, I was struck by how hard it was to cut off a foot of hair.  I was nervous and sad to see it go.  I worried about how I would look and what I would be able to do with my hair.  In a panicked moment, I had clarity. 

It's just hair.  It grows.  It will grow again.  And I was scared.  Imagine how worried I was just cutting my hair.  How must it feel to know that, in addition to fighting for your life, in addition to losing your health, you are robbed of your hair too?  As women, our hair and nails help define our beauty, our femininity, our selves.  On top of everything else a woman with cancer faces, all of the fears and pain, this public thing that defines her as a woman is gone.  As hard as it is for me to cut my hair each time, I can't imagine how much harder it is to lose that piece of yourself.  That makes it so much easier to cut it off, knowing that someone else will be able to feel a little more like herself at an impossible time. 

I realize that that was a big tangent, but really it's not.  These little things make us feel like women, make us feel like individuals.  Our nails, our hair, and our breasts are not all that we are, but they are intimately tied to our sense of self and femininity.  This girly manicure makes me think about these little things, that are really huge things, that can make us feel like ourselves.  If it's time for a change of style, I challenge you to think about hair donation.  I know that that is not the point of these posts, but it's on my mind and short-long-term to-do list.  What better time and way to show support for women battling breast and other cancers?  We love our nails and hair, but they grow back.  The feeling of knowing that you've comforted someone in the fight for their life is with you forever.

 



31DC: Animal Print

Now things are starting to get a bit tricky for me.  It's challenges like today that make me feel in over my head, but that's sorta the point, isn't it?
I'm not big into animal prints, so I was coming up blank for this one.  I really couldn't think of something to do when I looked over and saw my faithful friend sitting next to me on my bed. 

I got Nicky for my 4th birthday, which means that she's now...well, in her early twenties.  She's been everywhere with me, from sleepovers and doctors' visits to college and beyond.  She may not have aged gracefully, but that's okay.  She folds up perfectly to fit in the crook of my arm when I sleep (not that I do that anymore...) and has ears that were made to dry tears.  I wish that this mani was better, because she deserves the best, but I decided to do a little tribute to her for my animal print.  Today has one untried.

*1 coat Yello-Out base
*2 coats Essence Colour & Go Grey-t To Be Here
*China Glaze Elephant Walk
*Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Presto Pink
*1 coat Seche Vite

 

I decided to try sponging polish on to give a "poodle-effect" to my nails.  I started with Grey-t To Be Here, mainly because I was worried it was too light to sponge over Elephant walk.  This pale gray is loaded with pink shimmer and in the sun looks almost purple because of it.  It's really pretty, but not made for my skin tone.  Oh well, I'm over it!

 

I had not tried Elephant Walk yet, but it was a good contrast for Grey-t.  I used a small makeup sponge dabbed in Elephant Walk to texture my nails.  I dabbed it a bit on paper to make sure that it wasn't too thick, but it was pretty easy to get the hang of how much to use.  It's a little weird and not really what I had pictured but I actually like the way that the sponging turned out.  These colors weren't perfect, but I even like the effect hat they had.  It's that stupid bow that speaks for itself...

 

 

I probably should not have chosen a quick-dry polish for art because it got little strings quickly.  It also blobbed up pretty fast too, not leaving a nice, smooth finish.  I wish that I had taken photos without the bow, but what's done is done.  You live and learn, right?  I learned that this little bow was a mistake, but that I like sponging.  I'm excited to try this again with more colors.  More than that, I'm pretty proud that I thought a bit outside of the box for my print.  As the art required for this challenge gets more advanced (I'm looking at you, galaxy nails!) I'll probably have to get a bit creative!  What's your favorite animal print to work with--anything out of the ordinary?

31DC: Rainbow

This is a combination of the past challenges (except metallic, I guess): rainbow!  I had found a lot of really cute rainbows to try and there are a lot of really great interpretations for this challenge.  I decided to try a really cute pin I found on Pinterest.  I tried really hard to find this original source, but couldn't.  If you know who made this mani let me know so I can give credit!  This has 5 untrieds!

*Yello-Out base coat
*1 coat Sally Hansen Insta Dri Presto Pink (thumb)
*2 coats Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed (index)
*1 coat China Glaze Four Leaf Clover (middle)
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blew Me Away (ring)
*2 coats China Glaze Gothic Lolita (pinkie)
*2 coats Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Disco Ball
*Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*1 coat Seche Vite

The colors I chose were so pretty on their own that I almost just left them a skittle.  I really wanted to see if I could pull of the balloon, though.  Overall, they were okay.  Almost every plosh was a one-coat color, which was awesome with so many to use!  I can't find my scotch tape right now, so I used some old French manicure strips I found, that actually had a good shape to them.  Because they are old, though, the adhesive was a little funky, which made for some bad lines.  I should have taken the time to clean up edges, but this one took a while and I didn't want to push my luck and mess up what I had. 

I had to add just a little sparkle to this one (though these creams are SO pretty) with some Disco Ball over the white. This was fine on all my nails except for the Four Leaf Clover. This got a funky green tint to it--I must have hit some wet polish? But it didn't show up on any other nail...oh well! I think I'll definitely try this one again sometime, maybe not as a rainbow. I'll need to work on my strings a bit, but overall I was actually surprised about how well this one came out!