SUP??! Nails 'n Other Things

It's been quiet around here this month... and that's primarily because I haven't felt like blogging. Simple as that, haha! Hey, it's my blog, I'll ignore it when I want to.

Normally even when I'm being neglectful of my blog, I still manage to put up a nail polish post every Friday. Well I have also become quite lax with that, as you can see. Lack of inspiration plus tired cuticles have left my nails looking like the red-headed step child of my hands. This week, however, inspiration suddenly struck, and I bounded to my nail polish box to pick out some colors. Then this happened:

.  shattered and splattered  .

Ugh. My pent-up nail polish excitement got the better of me, apparently. I spent over 2 hours cleaning up the glass shards and green polish splatter of that mess. And it was a bottle of Sinful Colors Mint Apple, to boot - one of my absolute favorite greens. #Balls.

Irked, but not unbowed, I decided to press onwards with getting a nail polish post up this week and seeing my inspiration to fruition. Here's what I finally ended up with:

Two of the polishes used in today's post are brand new as of yesterday. My intention at CVS was to replace an old bottle of Essie's Turquoise & Caicos, but once I was there in front of the display Mint Candy Apple was suddenly the more appealing shade to me. And so a game-time decision was made, and the mint won out over the turquoise. (Interestingly, it had absolutely nothing to do with the Sinful Colors Mint Apple that had met such an untimely demise earlier in the week. Nothing at all. It appears these nail polish companies are just terribly un-clever when it comes to naming their light greens.)

The other new polish I picked up is Essie's Mod Square - a strawberry-bubblegum sort of hot pink, free of any shimmer or iridescence. Together, Mint Candy Apple and Mod Square look BEAUTIFUL. A perfect summer pairing.

I used 2 coats of Mint Candy Apple on my thumb, pointer and pinky nails. My middle finger has 2 coats of NYC's High Line Green, and my ring finger has 2 coats of Sinful Color's Snow Me White, topped with polka dots of Mod Square.

Besides already peeling off every single one of the above-pictured nails in record time, here are a few other things I've been up to since you last heard from me:

• Lots of gym time (though, sorry, no workout blogs... mreh)
• Checked out the opening day of the SoWa Open Market in Boston's South End neighborhood, which runs every Sunday from now till October
• Went out for tacos and mojitos on Cinco de Mayo with Kara and her boyfriend Kyle
• Dined out at some good restaurants around Cambridge (including The Friendly Toast and Firebrand Saints)
• Kayaked on The Charles River with my friends (I subsequently purchased a season pass at a great discount with a Groupon)

• Quick trip home to Pittsfield to surprise my mom for Mother's Day and visit the rest of my family
• Caught up on the Game of Thrones episodes I missed while in Panama, as well as the latest episode
• Took a 1-hour free trial boxing class at The Ring Boxing Club in Boston (SUCH a good workout - I was absolutely drenched in sweat)

.  source  .

• Attended my first Pilates & Yoga on the Hill at the Bunker Hill Monument in Charlestown (Kara and I went on a yoga night)

I suppose I've also been eating a fair amount of ice cream sandwiches, if I'm being totally honest. And binge shopping. Whoops?

So that's what's up and what's on my nails, all in one fell swoop. I hope it was worth the wait.

What are you rocking on your nails this week?
Have you picked up any new polishes lately?
What's the most exciting thing you've done/eaten/heard/seen in the last few weeks?!

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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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Easy Aqua Spots Dotticure

God knows how my mind travels to the places that it does, but after typing the title of this blog post, my brain jumped to the Snorks.

... so that's just a small glimpse into the random-childhood-pop-culture-references-attuned mass that is my brain. I hope that was exciting for you. Moving on!

My nails today were inspired by an Instagrammer who I just started following yesterday - Cute.Passion. The dotted nails she did here made me want to do something similar in my own color scheme. HENCE, DEEZ:

The light blue is Dreamer by Revlon, and the turquoise is Bailamos by Orly. I used two coats of each, and added the dual-sized dots using my double-ended dotting tool.

Last night I went to my first real yoga class! The only other time I've taken a yoga class was about 5 years ago when I lived on Cape Cod, but it was a "restore & renew" yoga class that focused primarily on breathing and stretching. I didn't even break a sweat, which is why I don't really consider it as a having been a true "first yoga class" experience.

The class I went to last night was a special Vinyasa Yoga class being held at the House of Blues in Boston, and it was the kind of physical yoga that I'd really been interested in trying. I had no idea what I was doing, but luckily you can kind of pick up the moves just by watching everyone else. My friend Kara came too, and we both really enjoyed it. There were about 15-20 people in the dimly-lit room, and the teacher was awesome. That kind of yoga could really be right up my alley!

At some point this weekend I'm going to drive west to Pittsfield to visit with my family for the Easter holiday. We're not religious, but if I can catch my niece and nephew participating in some sort of an Easter egg hunt, then my mission will be complete. Experiences like that are things that I've been missing, having been living away and out of the state for the last several years.

Are you doing anything with your family for Easter or Passover this weekend?
Anyone else trying out yoga for the first time?
What are yooooou rockin' on your nailseses?!

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Bright Spring Pastels and Scattered Dot Nails

Today's nails are a direct result of me doing what I want.

I wanted an accent nail with lots of polka dots in a specific bright-pastel color scheme, and these polishes were the perfect colors for it!

The pale mint pastel is Mint Sorbet by Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, the pink is Tip Toe Pink by Milani, the darker green is Mint Apple by Sinful Colors and the white is Snow Me White by Sinful Colors.

I used 3 coats of Mint Apple on my pinky, pointer and thumb nails, 2 coats of Snow Me White on my ring finger, and 3 coats of Tip toe Pink on my middle finger. Then, using both ends of my double-ended dotting tool and all 3 colored polishes, I placed random, scattered dots atop my ring finger.

 

If you couldn't tell, I've become pretty into the two-accent-nail look. Decisions be damned - use alllll the polishessss!

In case you wondered, my gum seems to be healing suspiciously well from Monday's wisdom tooth extraction. I've barely needed to take any pain meds at all, and was able to start working out again today. There's still a slight chipmunkesque quality to my right cheek, but it's not the most noticeable thing in the world. However, the antibiotics I'm taking are going to put a damper on my weekend fun, as those are appppparently not to be mixed with alcohol.

On that note, what are you up to this weekend? I've got nothing on the agenda yet, but am always on the lookout for an activity or two!

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Blueberry Gumdrops and Mint Apple Nails

My mani sounds way more scrumptious than yours does. SAWRY LOLOLOL JK NO I'M NOT. #nomnomnom

Using Mint Apple by Sinful Colors and Blue-Berry Sweet on You from the Nicole by OPI Gumdrops collection, I whipped up this look featuring a polka dot accent nail. Too many months without a polka dot mani makes one weak... I always say. (Yes, always.) And it's been way too long since I last dotted my nails, so I was feeling pretty weak. Yep, I'm blaming my weakness on the lack of polka dots and not on the lack of workouts. LAY OFF ME, I'M INJURED.

Anycrap! For these nails, I did 3 coats of Blue-Berry Sweet on You on my pinky, pointer and thumb nails, and 3 coats of Mint Apple on my middle finger. I used 2 coats of Snow Me White (Sinful Colors) on my ring finger, topped with Mint Apple polka dots.

As usual (and especially since it'd been so long since my last polka dot mani), I did some practice polka dots on a piece of scrap paper before going to my nails with my dotting tool. If you want to step up your polka-dotting game, here's an entire blog full of my favorite tips for making perfect polka dots on your nails. You can also browse through all of my polka dot manis here.

Elsewhere in my life, there are a few other things going on...

1. I'm still looking for a roommate... yeah, a roommate for February 1. Like, a week from now. I seriously thought it would be easy to find a roommate, but joke's on me! I've listed my place on Craigslist, HotPads, PadMapper... so far no great leads. Um, know anyone cool who needs a place to live near Boston? I'm about to have to pay for the entire month of February by myself, soooo........ send me your freshest homeless friends. Please 'n thanks.

2. Deflategate. I mean, geezus people. Can we say buzzkill? I don't have an explanation for this shit, but I'm not making any excuses either. It just sucks for last weekend's amazing game/win to be tainted by all of it, and it makes me feel a bit more sheepish about broadcasting how excited I am that the Patriots are in the Super Bowl. (But really though....... WHOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!! PATRIOTS FTW!!)

3. GUYSSSSSS - I'm hosting Craft Club #4 this weekend! It's happening a little late in January, but we're squeezing one in nonetheless! Sunday's craft is going to be collaging, so I'm excited to host my friends and show them my techniques for making collages. I actually haven't really had anyone over at my place at all yet since I've lived here, so this is kind of like breaking-in my apartment in some way. Better late than never! And it seemed like a good idea to host Craft Club here while I've still got the entire apartment to myself :) You can, of course, expect a recap and some pictures of our crafting adventures here in a week or two, if you're into that sort of thing. Note: You oughtta be into that sort of thing.

What do you have going on this weekend?
Have any polka dots on your nails or homeless-but-employed friends to send me?

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Seeing Spots: Fuchsia and Polka Dot Nails

Don't spit at me, but today's nails are not even slightly autumnal. They're also a bit more "16-year-old girl" than "adult about to turn 30 in a few weeks," but it's my hot body and I'll do what I want!

Clearly I just can't get enough of this Maybelline Color Show Polka Dots polish. I keep reaching for it! 

This is two coats of Fuchsia Fever by Revlon on my pinky, pointer and thumb nails. Two coats of Snow Me White by Sinful Colors on my ring finger and middle fingers. My ring finger is topped with two coats of Clearly Spotted by Maybelline. On my middle finger, I used my dotting tool to add polka dots in Revlon's Stiletto. (On my left hand, I did fuchsia polka dots on my middle finger, but wasn't as pleased with how it looked.)

You can see my other manis using Clearly Spotted here and here. I'm quite fond of both of them.

Tonight my brother Rob is picking me up and we are heading back to western Massachusetts to visit with my family for the weekend. My sister Mallory is turning 31 on Monday, so we thought it would be nice to go see her and give her a present or a high-five - or maybe even both. Probably both. I'll also get to see my nephew and niece, who are both just as clever and hysterical as can be. Maybe I'll even get to hit up an apple orchard while I'm there! I certainly know a great one in the area...

What are you up to this weekend?
Any family time planned?
Show me what you're rocking on your nails via Twitter or Instagram!

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Two Polka Dot Accent Nails

Two polka dot accent nails, what whaaat!  But... one is a fake polka dot nail and one is a real polka dot nail. Can you tell which is which?

Well if you guessed that the green nail was the real one, you were right. The other one is just part of the Polka Dots line of Color Show polishes from Maybelline.

I could make up a story about these nails being inspired by a fashion blogger's outfit or a cool painting I saw... but in truth they were inspired by a pair of underwear that I own.

... And no, there won't be a photo of the underwear here on my blog. 

Just know that that's what's up with these nails.

On my left hand, I've got two coats of Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue on my pinky, pointer and thumb nails. On my ring finger are two coats of Sinful Colors' Snow Me White, topped with 3 coats of Maybelline's Clearly Spotted. I used two coats of Essie's Mojito Madness on my middle finger, which I finished off with some white polka dots. On my right hand, I reversed the green and blue nails (so the middle finger on my right hand is blue with white polka dots).

It's still been as gloomy and grey and rainy all week in Vancouver as I was fussing about in my blog on Monday, but today the weather is supposed to turn summery and sunny again for the weekend. I've shaved my legs in preparation. I suggest you do the same. 

Seriously though, this weekend should be decent. The first night of Vancouver's 3-day Celebration of Light is on Saturday. This huge fireworks competition is something I missed last year because I was home in Massachusetts for my friend Jenna's wedding, so there's a heightened degree of anticipation for me this year. Each night of the celebration is represented by a different country, and they compete to be named the best fireworks display. Saturday night is actually going to be Team USA, soooo.... GO 'MURICA. Wednesday July 30 will be Team France, and August 2 will be Team Japan. It's supposed to be pretty fantastic - it's the largest offshore fireworks competition in the world! 

What are you up to this weekend? 

Does your town come up with cool reasons to set off fireworks randomly?

What are you rocking on your nails today? Go link up with Jennie :)

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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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Resort Nails: Blue & Turquoise

Today's nails are a throwback to Essie's awesome Resort Collection from 2010... the stars of which were these two polishes, #IFYEWASKME.

Turquoise & Caicos is a pastel turquoise and Lapiz of Luxury is a periwinkle blue. Both are them are perfectly beachy, aquatic and delightful.

These polishes are both on the sheer-ish side, with Lapiz of Luxury needing 3 coats before becoming opaque. I only did 2 coats of Turquoise & Caicos, but that probably could have used 3 coats as well.

It's been a little while since the last time I did polka dots, so there was definitely a practice round on a piece of scrap paper before the dots went onto my nails.

On my left hand, I used Turquoise as the accent nail, but it's switched up on the right hand - with Lapiz as the accent:

Which do you prefer?
Do you own either of these polishes?
What are you rocking on your nails today? Link up at The Nail Files!

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