Pre-Panama Neon Pastel Nails

There's really just no time for chit-chat today, so we're jumping RIGHT INTO THIS THING. Friday. Nails. Possible polka dot sightings. You know the drill.

Oh, look, yup. We got some polka dots after all. Shocking!! The color combo here was inspired by this Ingrid Nilsen video on YouTube...

Her neon-pastel-minty shirt with neon yellow details, paired with the hot pink lipstick AND the pastel-minty-turquoise nails?! It was all so much for me to take in. I had to make it a mani!

.  notice that i still haven't cleaned off this mint bottle of polish after the august 2014 moving incident  .

I used 2 coats of Love & Beauty Mint on my pinky, middle and pointer fingers, and 2 coats of Revlon's Fuchsia Fever on my thumb and ring fingers. I used Sally Hansen's Mellow Yellow and a dotting tool for the polka dots.

Like it? I HEWPE SEW.

Alright, with that out of the way, I've gotta go... lots to do!! Besides needing to work all day today, I have a dental cleaning this morning, plus there's still packing to complete for my trip to Panamaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! AHHHH. By this time tomorrow, I'll be en route! #Buggin. I'm still preparing, mentally and physically.

Wish  me luck - and send me your sunniest vibes because the weather in Panama is nawwwt looking so hawwwt for the next week haha! I'll be damned if a little bit of "all-day thunderstorms" keeps me from getting into a bikini, though.

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Remembering Lilacs, Playing with Purples, Game of Thrones, and More!

I'm not an enormous fan of the color purple. Well, I mean, the book was fantastic, but the color itself never seems to be one of my go-to's. Something about springtime, however, makes me rethink all of that.

In the springtime, purple makes me recall the beautiful lilac bush that stood in the front yard of my grandparents' house for most of my life - and how you couldn't walk near it in the spring without your nostrils being completely filled with the fragrance of the blossoms. To this day, I have a special place in my heart for lilacs because of the childhood memories they evoke.

So when I spotted some lilacs over the Easter weekend, I knew I wanted to run with that theme and do a purple mani this week with lots of different purple hues - starting with Lacy Lilac by Sally Hansen as the lightest hue.

Using 2 coats of each, I applied:  Sally Hansen Lacey Lilac (pinky), Revlon Diamond Texture (ring), Love & Beauty Orchid (middle),  Sally Hansen Royal Romance (pointer) , Sinful Colors Amethyst (thumb).

The result might have had a more prominent gradient effect had I not thrown in a random silver accent nail, but these are the lessons we learn in retrospect, hm? We'll be alright.

Elsewhere in my life, I've been doing some very serious binge-watching of Game of Thrones. And by "very serious," I mean that I started watching Season 1 in mid-February, watched about one episode a night of all four available seasons, then immediately went back and started watching the show again from Season 1, often watching more than one episode a night - until just completing Season 4 for the second time last night. 

So. I guess you could say things are getting pretty serious. Season 5 premieres on Sunday night, so you know you can catch me up in front of someone's TV like:

This week, I've been waiting out a very-rare-for-me cold, featuring your boys Sneeze, Mucus and Cough. It's kept me from going to the gym, since I know how much of a disgusting trap it can feel like when you're working out while someone near you is wet-coughing. (Fecking gross, guys. Keep your ass home with all of that.) Aside from not being able to workout, the cold isn't actually bothering me too terribly much, if I'm being honest. I've been drinking a ton of lemon honey tea and wearing lots of cozy sweatshirts, which has been just lovely. Plus all of the coughing I'm doing is probably doubling as a marathon core workout.

Tonight I'm meeting up with my cousin Catherine to eat pizza while we plan out our upcoming trip to Panama. I cannot cannot cannottttttttt believe it, but we are leaving NEXT Saturday. I have so many feels about it all. I'm super nervous, because I've never been to a place so different from the US. (The only other country I've ever been to is Canada.) But on the other hand... I'm super excited because I've never been to a place so different from the US! It will be an adventure no matter what - and that's something we can all use in our lives.With any luck, it will also be a warm, sunny adventure wherein I also acquire some tasteful, but not painful, color on my fair skin. SPF 40? SPF 30? I DUNNO, IVE NEVER BEEN SO CLOSE TO THE EQUATOR BEFORE! HALP.

Have any awesome Central America travel tips to share?
Who else is a Game of Thrones fan? Who's your favorite character?
Whatcha rockin' on dose nails doe?

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St. Patrick's Day Nails: Matte Green & Layers of Gold

As a nod to my Irish heritage, I've got some green St. Patrick's Day nails today. But let's be honest - even if I weren't Irish, I'd be celebrating, right? That's how we do things in America. And on May 5th, we'll all be Mexican. #Freedom.

Here's how my nails are getting in on the holiday action:

The green is Balsam Fir by Revlon and the gold is a combo of Big Spender by Nina Ultra Pro and Crystal Gold from Forever21's Love & Beauty line.

I used two coats of Big Spender on my ring and thumb nails and topped that with 2 coats of Crystal Gold, which is a fairly sparse yellow-gold glitter in a clear base. It would have been way cooler if it was more jam-packed with glitter, but you can't win them all! Do you have a favorite gold glitter that's pretty opaque? Give me the deets!

I used 2 coats of Balsam Fir on all my other nails and finished those nails off with a matte top coat. I topped the gold nails with Seche Vite, to make them really shine and contrast with the green.

I'll be doing a bit of St. Patty's celebrating tomorrow with my friends at some Irish pubs around town. I can't stand the taste of beer, so no Guinness for me, but there may very well be some Bailey's Irish Cream in my future.

There's also a slight chance that I'll check out the (in)famous Southie St. Patrick's Day parade on Sunday... though that may be biting off more than I can chew, since Southie is known for becoming pretty chaotic on parade day. We'll see!

What are you going to be up to this weekend?
Are you wearing any green on your nails to celebrate?

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Leopard Print and Navy Nails

This was not my original plan for today's nails, but while innocently scrolling through my Instagram feed yesterday, I spotted this outfit post from ASOS, which immediately inspired me to abandon all other plans and do a leopard/navy mani instead. See how spontaneous I am? So spontaneous.

According to some (myself included), both leopard and navy are suitable to be considered neutrals. So g'wan then. Pair them with WHATEVERTHEHELL you want, ladies. It's your world.

The blue I used was a generically titled "Navy" polish from Forever 21's Love & Beauty line. It's actually a really nice polish, despite what the $2.80 price tag might have you expecting. It's shiny, self-leveling, and is opaque in 2 coats. It's also shimmer-free, which gives it some class, I think.

For the leopard accent nails:  the base is 2 coats of Essie's Case Study, the spots are a gorgeous silver-infused cocoa polish from Love & Beauty (aptly called Cocoa), and the darker brown accents are a suuuuuuper old Sally Hansen "New Lengths" polish called Mink Stole Creme.

After cleaning up the edges with acetone, I topped everything with a coat of Seche Vite and gave my hands a nice dose of Aveeno Skin Relief hand cream. My poor hands have been so dry lately that they've been cracking and even bleeding a little. A sign that a) winter is a bitch, and b) I'm possibly dehydrated? Oops.

Tonight I'm going to see one of my favorite comedians perform in Somerville! Ted Alexandro has been a fav amongst my siblings and I for over a decade now, and this will be the third time I've seen him live. Mayhaps you even remember the write-up I did about the time I saw him in Vancouver in 2013 - if not, here it is! I'm not sure yet if anyone else is coming with  me to the show, but whateva - big girls can get their laugh on by themselves if they need to.

In other weekend news, on Sunday afternoon I'm going to be doing something kind of scary: I'll be filming some short workout videos with a local fitness professional for my company's YouTube channel. The girl who was slated to demo the exercises in the shoot had to back out for scheduling reasons, so I volunteered to step in. It's a pretty well-known channel with kind of a lot of subscribers, so I'm nervous fo' sho, but I'm trying to be better about embracing the "if it doesn't scare you, it's not worth doing" mentality to step out of my comfort zone. Wish me luckkkk! And depending on how the videos turn out... maybe I will share them here on my blog ;)

On a related note, I've been going to the gym a lot lately and am thinking about starting back up my "Workouts of the Week" series this Sunday. Would that be of any interest to anyone? Let me know... but I might just do it anyway because it is my party, after all.

What are YOOOOU up to this weekend?
Doing anything outside of your comfort zone?
Whatcha got on dose nails doe?

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Navy-Teal and Emerald Nails

It's been a little bit quiet around here these last few weeks, nails-wise. I bet you forgot I even had fingernails, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU!?!

Well good news - my fingernails are still in tact, though I did have to file them down quite a bit this week to get rid of some breakage. If my itty-bitty fingernails offend you or make you think me unworthy of keeping a nail blog, please shoo. Go on, shoo. Git! #Scram.

For the rest of you, perhaps you'd care to know that this nail polish combo was loosely inspired by an outfit I was wearing just yesterday. I was donning a navy blue Boston t-shirt with a teal-emerald cardigan and rather enjoyed the pairing, so into my nail polish box I went, emerging with these two polishes:

A dark, teal-leaning navy from Love & Beauty (Forever 21) and my trusty Balsam Fir Parfumerie polish from Revlon. I really like the way the subtle green-hue of the navy polish plays off of the Balsam polish.

Other places you've seen me use Balsam Fir:

Festive Nails
Matte and Scented
Minty Emerald Ombre Nails
Army Nails

Oh, and as for the wrist-brace shaped elephant in these pictures... just the latest in the long, storied history of random pains that my body has been experiencing since the summer.

I started feeling pain in my left wrist on Wednesday, which grew more painful by the hour. By the end of my workday, I was actually yelping in pain and typing with one hand, so I had to make a trip through the wind and snow to buy this wrist brace from CVS. Every time I think it's safe to take it off, I am immediately shouting in pain again. My physical therapist (who is seeing me for my neck/arm/shoulder pains) thoroughly inspected my wrist yesterday and said that it was a flare up of tendonitis. GREAT. So! The brace is my newest accessory, and soon all of the hottest nail bloggers will be sporting them. You heard it hear first!

What are you up to this weekend?
Any bodily aches got YOU down?
Whatcha rockin' on your nails?
TALK TO ME.

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On Fridays We Wear Army Nails and Flip Flops

Happy Halloweeeeeeeeeeeen! Thumbs up to the universe for allowing October 31 to fall on a Friday this year - that works out nicely, hmm? 

You probably don't remember this, but for the last 2 years I've been wallowing in self pity on Halloween rather than doing something awesome and costume-related with my buds. My friend Jrod throws an annual Halloween party in Boston, but having been in Vancouver for the last couple of years, I've been missing out. #FOMOnightmare.

SO you can imagine my delight that I'm able to attend this year :)

My costume is going to be a mish-mash of Mean Girls references - army pants and flip flops, and a tank top with the boobs cut out. Sidebar - cutting the boobs out of a shirt is a more daunting task than you might think. Go ahead and try it if you don't believe me. Symmetry is a cruel mistress.

Anyway, to go with my army pants, and to incorporate the Plastics' love of pink, here are the nails I'll be rocking tonight:

I kiiiiiind of love 'em! This was my first time trying an army print, so I looked up a few Pinterest pictures and YouTube tutorials before launching into the project. This is the tutorial I relied upon most heavily in the end.

Starting off, I painted my pointer, middle and pinky nails two coats of Sinful Colors Pink Forever.

Next, I applied one coat of Essie's Case Study (also used recently in this leopard print mani) to my thumb and ring finger and allowed it to dry. Then, one by one, I applied the following polishes by stippling them into random overlapping squiggles with my dotting tool, allowing each to dry a bit between colors:

• Essie Sew Psyched (muted green)
• Revlon Parfumerie Balsam Fir (dark green)
• Forever21 Love & Beauty Hunter Green (bright green)
• Revlon Stiletto (black)

I love when relatively easy nail art looks really detailed or difficult - like this army print, or leopard print, or even polka dots. People - these army nails are literally just a bunch of different randomly sized squiggles of different colors. You could use a toothpick to stipple them on, if you don't have a dotting tool. Or you could even go directly from the nail polish bottles and just use the regular brushes. You can do eeeet.

Completely random sidebar, this video made my day yesterday when I saw it. I watched it several times and laughed out loud each time:

Anyone else love Flula and Mamrie and Grace Helbig and Miranda Sings and that whole gang of YouTube misfits? Who honestly needs cable these days? WHO?

Alright now I obviously want to know if you're dressing up for a costume party this weekend and what your costume is! Will you be handing out candy to trick-or-treaters? Tell me everything.

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Fall Foliage Nails

Oh well hello there, Friday. Fancy seeing you here again.

It's been another week of muscle relaxers and chiropractor appointments over here, trying to make my shoulder stop misbehaving. I can't tell if the chiropractor is helping or not, but at least I've got a man massaging my neck for me twice a week. Don't tell him I said that.

In other news, I have been taking walks outside in the refreshing sunshine that Boston has had this week - and the autumn leaves are really looking spectacular. I've got a ton of pictures to share with you soon, so please come back on Monday to leaf-peep some of thooose!

On a related note, my nails today were inspired by a tree right outside my window that has slowly been turning from green to yellow over the last couple of weeks. Everyday it's a little more amber and a little less emerald, which inspired me to break out my makeup sponge and do a sponge mani with green, yellow and orange.

I'm not entirely thrilled with how these came out - honestly, they're not what I envisioned. But they're not awful, so that's why I'm sharing them.

I started out by painting all of my nails this Hunter Green color from Love & Beauty. Next I used some white polish on a makeup sponge to dab some random splotches around my nails. (The white splotches would serve as my "blank canvas" for the next steps.)  Once the white was dry, I repeated that step with a yellow polish (Little Miss Sunrise by Essence), then an orange polish (Metallic Mango from Milani), and finished it off with another dabbing of the yellow polish.

At the very least, this is something out of the ordinary and different. It can also be done with pretty much any color combination you'd like, so... go forth and dab with your sponges, ladies.

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Mochacino Nails with Candy Marshmallows

... Because eff Pumpkin Spice Lattes!

Just kidding, I don't have anything against those, especially since I finally tried one last weekend and it was delicious. You know, except for the sexual harassment that accompanied it. The title of this blog is based on the awesome nail polish that was used in today's post - Mochacino by Essie - and the candy-colored accent nails that I paired with it.

I adore this Essie polish, though it doesn't get enough play. It's a warm, hot-cocoa sort of dark taupe, with gorgeous silver shimmer throughout. A perfectly cozy way to adorn your nails this fall, I'd say.

My mochacino's "candy marshmallow" accent nails were a mint polish from Forever21's Love & Beauty line and Pink Forever from Sinful Colors.

It's been a rough week for me - I'm running on less than one hour of sleep since Saturday. And yes, you read that right. The stupid shoulder pain that I've been bitching about since late July flared up in a big way on Saturday evening, and sleeping has been literally impossible ever since. This entire week has been one of doctor's offices, pharmacies, chiropractors, massages, more pharmacies, and more chiropractors. And not much pain relief. Rather than continue to complain about it, which I really hate doing, I'm just going to end this blog now and wish you a happy weekend!

PEACE!
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Ombre Blue Nails

Whewww this week went by fast! Which is odd because I thought it was Friday on Wednesday. Then I thought it was Friday again for most of the day yesterday. Now, I know... for sure, I think, that today is Friday. Right?? Right. And that means it's nails day! Whooop.

This was a mani idea that spontaneously popped into my head earlier this week, and I'm so pleased that it came out as well as I'd envisioned it. MAYBE EVEN BETTER. Behold:

I have a tonnn of blue nail polishes, in such a wide variety of shades. Might as well use a couple of them at once, right?

The polishes I selected were Navy from Forever21's Love & Beauty line and Coastal Surf by Revlon, which is a color that Dave got me for Christmas.

I really like this Navy polish, you might have noticed. I use it pretty often - including last week! It's shimmer free and super shiny, though it does take 2-3 coats for opacity.

Coastal Surf is an awesome polish, too. It's really opaque, and the brush is wide and flat - my faaaaav.

This was the classic sponged-on ombre technique, which I've featured before (here, here, and here). There was a little preview on my Instagram yesterday, to show you how the sponge looked:

Aaaand here are how my crazy fingers looked after I sponged that shit on:

After that mess, you can imagine that it took me SO long to clean my nails up to the point that you see in these pictures. SO LONG. Meticulously, with two different nail art brushes dipped gingerly into acetone. Dip, clean, repeat. And it still isn't perfect! Oy!!

What are you rocking on your nails today?

Have you done the ombre method on your nails before? It's SEW EASY. DEW IT.

Anyone doing anything fancy this weekend? (I happen to actually be doing something fancy on Sunday - tell you about it later!)

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Chambray, Pink and Polka Dot Nails (and Paddleboarding!)

Whoooo guys, is my body stiff today. Yesterday after work, for the first time ever, I went stand-up paddleboarding - a very popular thing to do around Vancouver's English Bay. Despite it being a breezy day with choppy waters, we rented paddleboards right from Kitsilano Beach (it was $22.50 each, for 1 hour) and headed out into the Bay!

Standing up on the paddleboard (or should I say, remaining standing on the paddleboard) was tricky, and I can only assume made trickier by the fact that the water was so wavy. That is to say, there was definitely more kneeling than standing going on - at least on my board. David somehow took to it like a freaking Hawaiian. It was like he'd done it a million times before! (He hadn't. Ever.)

Anyway, even from the kneeling position, paddleboarding was a great workout - both in the core and in the quads. And despite falling off the board many times (and probably accruing a handful of new bruises), it was still a lot of fun and I hope to do it again!

.  look at me go!  .

So (unintentionally) following the aquatic theme, today's nails were inspired by an outfit I found while reading some blogs yesterday afternoon. Alison from Get Your Pretty On was wearing a delightfully summery pair of white shorts with a cute whale print, paired with a bubble gum pink top and a chambray button-up. Since I was on the hunt for something to inspire me for this week's nail polish post anyway, Alison's outfit jumped out at me as something to translate onto my nails.

... But as much as I would have loved to make a bunch of tiny whales on my accent nail, it was obvious after a few practice rounds on paper that it wasn't in the cards for me. A master nail artiste, I am not. A pretty good polka dotter, however... well that I am. #IfIDoSaySoMyself. (I even wrote a blog all about How to Make Perfect Polka Dots!)

Cue the polka dots! Maybe if I make them really good, you guys will forgive them for not being whales. But really though, when you think about it, we're supposed to be saving the whales. Not splashing them across our nails. So. I win.

.  alison's original outfit  .
.  source  .

For polishes I used Milani - Tip Toe Pink, Sinful Colors - Snow Me White, Wet 'n Wild - Rain Check, and Love & Beauty - Navy.

On my left hand I did 2 coats of Rain Check on my pinky, pointer and thumb nail; 2 coats of Tip Toe Pink on my middle finger; and 2 coats of Snow Me White on my ring finger. Then I used my dotting tool to add Navy polka dots to my ring.  On my right hand, I switched the colors a bit so that my pinky, pointer and thumb were pink and my middle finger was blue.

Whatcha got on your nails today?
Has anyone else tried paddleboarding?
What do YOU want to try for the firs time this summer?

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