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!

31DC: Flowers

Two weeks in!
It's funny how inspiration strikes.  I have a decent enough touch with a dotting tool to do some basic flowers.  It's pretty much the only nail art I do try on a regular basis.  As I was trying to think of something creative to do with flowers, I had an idea I hoped would work out.  It's not perfect, but I kind of like it!  I think I only have 1 untried in my accents.

*1 coat Yello-Out base
*1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Black Out
*Sinful Colors Snow Me White
*Zoya Zusa, Color Club Almost Famous, Zoya Myrta, Zoya Carla and Zoya Kimber accents

I really should have thought of this a day earlier for animal prints!  I started thinking about flowers and then Flower came to mind!  I thought I'd see if I could pull off a skunk tail with some little flowers mixed in.  I started with just one coat of Black Out because I knew I was going to be painting over most of it.  I used the polish brush to make the white middle, with a small paint brush to add little accents.  I did the same with Black Out on top, just a little thinner.

This next one is a bit blurry on my thumb, but I wanted to show the little flowers I added.  I mainly used the Zoya Surf colors because they are so pretty and sparkly.  The actually showed up pretty well over the black and white base.

I was worried about polish drying and getting stringy, so I tried to move fast.  In retrospect, I would have taken a little more time to get the shapes a little crisper.  But skunks are furry, right?  So they're a little messy too!

Overall, I kind of like this one!  Some nails turned out better than others, but I think I got the skunk look across with some flowers in there too!

 

No matter how these are turning out, I'm glad that I'm trying new tings and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone.  It's about half-way through the challenge and even though there are a lot of really cool designs out there that I'd kill to pull off, I'm proud of myself for trying.  You can't get better if you don't practice, right?  What are you venturing into these days?