New Nail Polish Tools + More Goodies!

Yesterday morning I got up early because Dave left for an avalanche class (yup.) at around 7:30, and I figured I might as well get up because it wasn't raining outside!

I made a list of things I just absolutely "had" to buy up on 4th Ave, leaving plenty of leeway for things I didn't need at all but still wanted (#idowhatiwant), and headed out for a little walk up the hill to 4th. After walking around a bit to enjoy the misty non-rain, I ended up at Joe's Grill (blog about Joe's to come soon!) for some good old fashioned eggs 'n bacon. As you know... that's my jam. Once fed, I stopped at Urban Outfitters where I grabbed some of their printed 2 for $24 t-shirts and a knitted navy and white top that was on sale for $20, down from $60. #salesonsalesonsales

Thennnn, onto the IMPORTANT stuff!!! I walked a couple more blocks up 4th to Shoppers Drug Mart to see if I could scoop up some nail tools to help me create some better nail polish designs.

.  sha-wing .

I didn't think I'd be able to find a dotting tool there, but I was wrong! Check out this little set:

.  get ready for me to blow your mind with dots and stripes .

It's a double-ended dotting tool (two different sized dots) as well as a fancy-looking detailer brush! The former is what I was looking for, but the latter was just a bonus find!! Whoop!

.  the big end .

.  the small end .

.  ima paint all types of straight lines with this thing . 

I also grabbed some of these Quo makeup sponges - the little spongy triangle things. I want to use these to do gradients of colors on my nails. I've seen tutorials on the technique but have never tried it myself... We'll see how it goes. FINGER(NAIL)S CROSSED!

.  sponge-bailey triangle-makeup-sponge... pants  .

Aaaand I wanted to find something like a cobalt blue polish, so I ended up grabbing this polish from Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails line in the color Blue It. I own another color from this line of polish (Pacific Blue) and it applies incredibly - just one coat for opacity and the color is stunnnnning. Hopefully Blue It is just as good!!

.  bluuuuuuuuu-ooooh oooooh ooh ooh ooooh-uuue  .

Because the Hard As Nails polishes happened to be on sale for $3.99, I picked up a second polish - this minty pastel green called Mint Sorbet.

.  fun fact: mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream flavor  .

.   swatch-a-roo  .

Not so exciting was that I also got some nail polish remover:

.  crickets...  .

Hey, here's a funny Canadian thing that happened. After Shoppers Drug Mart, I walked across the street to my bank to deposit a check. The teller, making conversation, asked me what my plans were for the afternoon.  "Ooh, probably just going to walk around and enjoy the weather," I answered - which I thought was a pretty neutral, inoffensive response. He looked back at me like I'd just kicked a puppy and said, "Oh, so I guess you're not a hockey fan." YIKES. I looked wildly around for a split second, searching for some giant clue that I might have been missing. Nope. Would they unleash the hounds on me if I said no??? I took my chances and responded with, "Umm... no. Is there something going on today?" Apparently it was the "first day of hockey." I didn't ask him to explain any further what that meant, because that would have been a waste of time for both of us.

So I finally got rid of our Christmas tree on Friday, which is a bummer because it still smelled quite nice. It's also a bummer because Dave and I both really enjoyed the ambiance of the lighting that the tree was providing. It was definitely well past its time though, which I don't have to tell you because you can deduce that Friday was January 18th, and that clearly means that my Christmas tree was past its time. It was brittle as shit!

Solution: We planned to buy a live tree to put in the same spot in our living room, that we (I) could dress up with the Christmas lights. I was thrilled that Dave would agree to this, BELIEVE ME. I mean... I think he agreed to the Christmas lights part... now that I'm writing this, I hope that wasn't just a figment of my imagination...

So on my walk back home from 4th Ave yesterday, I stopped at the market that's beside our apartment and purchased one of their 4-foot-tall lemon cypress trees:

.  botany  .

It's awesoooome! I'll have to pick up a nice pot for it too. It's a much larger version of the lemon cypress that I bought for Dave back in early December when I was decorating the apartment for Christmas.

I think I might have to wait to pot it before the lights can go onto it, so maybe I'll head back up to 4th after I write this blog and buy a pot from this gem of a store called the Kitchen Corner, where you can buy ANYTHING. Seriously.... anything. I know they have cheap pots of all sizes, so it'll definitely be the first place I look.

I can't wait to put all of my new nail polish tools to good use and hopefully be able to start posting some more "polished" looks. #seewhatididthere?

Happy Sunday everyone!

p.s. Like my fingernails in these pics? Learn how to do it yahself here:  Valentine's Day Nails

.  i am nail polish and so can you .