Nails, Hair, Bento and Stuff

I guess you all noticed I hadn't updated in a long time and that this has been a reoccurring theme on my blog for the past months. There has been a LOT going on in blogland which has, quite frankly, taken the fun out of blogging for me for a while. I started this blog because I love nails and nailpolish and wanted to share this with anyone who was interested in reading my ramblings. Painting my nails is relaxing for me and even when my arthritis is flaring up and I can do very little else and even the most basic daily tasks are hard, fiddling around with polish is something I can do to relax and take care of myself and my appearance. Playing with colors makes me happy. Sharing this with you guys made me happy.

This blog however, stopped making me happy. It had become a big giant Thing on my ever growing To Do List of things I don't have time or energy for next to my everyday life. My heart wasn't in it anymore and painting my nails and playing with my polish became something that drained energy instead of giving it. Where blogging and polishing my nails used to be a fun addition to my life, it now was something that life got in the way of. It took me a while to realize I did that to myself.

I do not HAVE to blog, I like it. I do not HAVE to keep up with other blogs, I like it. I do not HAVE to blog solely about nails. No matter what my blog title says, it's MY blog. I do not HAVE to have to buy myself silly to get all the latest collections and quite frankly, I DON'T want to. I have no intention of ever going professional. I have no intention of ever joining any kind of bloggers union no matter how important they think they are. I do not have to get anyone's permission to post, say or do anything on my blog and no one needs to approve. I blog for me.

So, there are probably going to be some changes to my blog over the next few hours, days, weeks, months... Or not. I won't commit to anything because that takes the fun out of it for me. If you want to stick around for that; GREAT! I really appreciate you guys and the fact that you take time to read and even comment to my blogs. I can't promise I'll respond to every comment but I will read them all and please know I appreciate them.

On a positive note: I've found something else that makes me happy. I've been growing my hair out for the past two years and it's getting to a length where I can start to do fun stuff with it. I've joined a couple of long hair fora and learned a lot about haircare and ways to put your hair up and have found a new passion: making hair sticks and forks. This means you can expect the occasional post on haircare, updo's and new hair sticks and forks I made and I'll probably catalog my hair growth here too. I might even write a tutorial on how to make hair sticks if you guys are interested.

To end this Big Wall 'O Text, here are some pics of things that made me happy today:

OPI Suzi Says Feng Shui with a gold colored holographic glitter called Stardust from Wet Glaze.

A Lazy Wrap Bun with a couple of hair sticks I made.

My bento lunch! Anyone who can look at a bunny-shaped egg without smiling should have his funnybone checked.

On the left: fried rice with red pepper, garlic, courgette, peas and tauge, a soy sauce fishy and a bunny-shaped egg. On the right: mini pancakes (poffertjes), clotted cream, strawberry jam, a couple of mini roma tomatoes and some pistachios. Not the healthiest of bento's but it's perfect comfort food!

ETA: My comment system is spacing out on me. Hang in there, I'll see if I can fix it!

Too much purple... NEVER!

So purple is a fave polish color of mine, so why not do a multi-purple mani!! I have a few new tape ideas, that I can't wait to try, but since i'm STILL freaking feeling sick, creativity was not on my list. Oh and once again my comcast emal is down and hasn't been functionally correctly for a few days, but don't fret, as of next Friday I will be a Verizon customer, and have a new email, that I will be sure to post. Okay anyways, here is the mani I did.

I started with 1 coat of Finger Paints Aren't You Glad-iolous? and then 1 coat of SV

Then taping off my nails, I added Color Club Pucci-licious, and another coat of SV

then again taping my nails off I added Zoya Savita and left it matte. This time I didn't do a coat of SV since the matte dries so fast.

last of all, I taped them off, and added L'Oreal Luminescence, AMAZING dark purple. It's hard to see here, but it's so rich and deep, with lighter purple shimmer. You can kind of see it in the 2nd pic in the bottle. Then added my final coat of SV :)

An Unlikely Pair...

A lovely reader,  pamalama_dingdong , hee hee, love that name,  asked me to swatch my recently acquired long time lemming of mine, Maybelline Banana Puddin'. I couldn't believe I found it on eBay, shocker, for such a great price. I just LOVE this yellow. It is a tad tricky to work with, so you need a light hand and 3 quick coats for full coverage, but it's totally worth it, just look!

Then, well, just because it was in my purse, I felt the need to add blue for a Checkered Mani :) I used OPI DS Magic. I wish you could see the purple sparkle in Magic better :( Yeah, not the most common pair, but still fun, and I love trying different combos :) I have a tutorial on how to do this up in my 'Tutorial' tab, if you're interested.

2011 Finger Paints Spring Collection

So even though Sally's had a full display of these cute bottles with rings, I only grabbed 2, and to be honest, it was only because of the rings. I have very few Finger Paints, and this is because, they just don't have that many unique colors. For instance this collection is nothing special IMHO. Dang you rings, if it weren't for you, I wouldn't have spent the money. Oh well. The formula on both was quit thick, but nothing a little thinner won't help. Since they were so thick though, both of these are only 1 coat, which I do love.

BTW, my camera has officially become a liar! This is more of a mint green than an in your face neon lime green. *shrug*
Chrysanthe-Mum's The Word

Aren't You Glad-iolous?

Stila Sale at Hautelook!

AWESOME!

Stila sale at Hautelook today!

Lipglosses, palettes, Barbie, tinted moisturizer, etc., at great prices!!

Click Here to Check it Out!

I'm a Nubar fan now!!

Ever since I got my first Nubar, Verde, I've been hooked on their colors and formula and I even love their bottles. I've ordered about 8 since then, eeekk. I wanted to share the ones I got in the mail tonight. Again, I bought these from eBay.
This one that is soooo incredibly pretty, trust me, in person this is way more pretty!! It's my fave from the 3 tonight.
This is 3 coats of Purple Rain Glitter.

Check out how pretty it is in the bottle!!

This is Reclaim, a REAL HOLO *cough couch* China Glaze! Although since I get home so late, there was no sun, so I tried my best, but it's a true green holo!!

and another holo, Treasure, but this is considered a scattered holo, where as Reclaim is a linear holo. Again, the sun would have been great for this, but I couldn't wait to swatch them. Maybe I'll re-do these and later on do a holo spam post sometime.

These last 2 are slightly blurred so you could see the rainbow in there.

WTF....Where is all the holo!?!?

Okay so I have heard that the China Glaze Tronica collection was a semi let down, and now I agree. It is nothing like the holo in the OMG collection :( I still think they are pretty, but just could have been sooo much more. Oh well. Well when I stopped at Sally's and saw them, I grabbed 4 and 2 of the new Finger Paints, mainly because the rings they came with were so freaking cute.

Here is what I got
L-R

Finger Paints Aren't You Glad-iolous?, ChG Gamer Glam, ChG High Def, ChG Hyper Haute, ChG Laser Lime & Finger Paints Chrysanthe-mum's the Word

and since I am so impatient some days, I wanted to try them all, so I did :)

Then trying oh so hard, I wanted to see the rainbow, and while it was slightly there, it was nothing like the OMG's. (maybe the sun was too bright, lol)

Tweety Nails!

Karen and her mum Jayne came over to have their pretty nails done. Jayne opted for the Princess Classic Pedicure while Karen went for the Princess Express Manicure. I did the usual for the Princess Classic with my magical korean scrub which I absolutely adore. Haha. Jayne wanted a lighter colour, somewhere towards the natural side. I shortlisted a few for her. Karen preferred OPI's Passion, but Jayne chose OPI's Barefoot In Barcelona in the end. (:

Then, it was Karen's turn! She said she finally understood how Michelle felt when she came for her mani/pedi session. Hahah. Just for reader's info, Michelle is actually a customer of mine who came by during CNY to get her nails done. Karen happens to be her classmate and Michelle recommended me to her. Thanks Michelle! (:

Karen had a hard time choosing a colour too! Spoilt for choice I guess. (: I suggested going for something daring that she has never tried before since she's not going for nail art. She decided to go for Precision's The Next "It" Girl. Really nice colour! I'm gonna try it on my own nails too. (: She felt that it looked like Tweety or a bunch of french fries. Hahaha. Lovely ladies. Hope to see them again.

Def a Tought Art to Follow

Okay guys, I'm not feeling well, and haven't for almost 2 weeks now. So I am just exhausted and there won't be too much talking in this post. Actually as I write this my NyQuil is kicking in, and I'm about to pass out, lol. So I will just get onto the mani :P I used Finger Paints Tough Art to Follow and China Glaze Matte Magic for the tips.

I started with 2 coats of Tough Art to Follow. I just love this green so much!

Then using tape, I taped off the tips and added Matte Magic