Small Update

I'm still around :)

I haven't been doing many nails the last couple of weeks but I've been very busy.  I did a fill on my acrylic french, added a coat of OPI Princesses Rule and a little konad stamping.  How very unlike me eh?

 

I wore that to an interview at a salon!  The salon I get my hair done at is short a nail tech right now and they asked if I would help them out.  So I'm now actually working as a part-time nail tech doing only gel extensions on evenings and weekends.  Never in a million years did I think I'd be working at a salon doing nails!  I really need the cash right now though so this worked out well for me.  My first appointment is tomorrow.

 

 

 

So here are my own Christmas nails done in Gelish over acrylics and just plain old striping brushes on top.  I really liked this from the normal 'blog shot' angle:

 

 

 

I didn't really keep it on long though.  And finally in other news I've got a new job starting mid-January.  Exact same type of company I was working at before but different city even though the commute is roughly the same.  I'm looking forward to it!

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Later

P



 

Big Ass Post

I've been busy doing nails, I just have limited internet access at the moment so here's one big post to make up for it.

 

 

 I'm also on a different computer that doesn't seem to like either blogger or flickr so bear with me here.  This is a Shellac french on natural nails.  I would have preferred to cut them all down to the same size but this is what she wanted.  Her nails are naturally thick and strong though, she's lucky.

 

 

 

The Princess of Poo ripped her gels off.  Not because of anything I did wrong though.  Even though I was pissed at her and she ruined her nails, I gave her a Rockstar Shellac anyways.  The glitter I used on the bottom half is an ice iridescent colour that doesn't show up in pics but looks amazing in the sun.

 

The Queen Mum got another fill on her gels and a Shellac Marble as a treat.  She even let me add a little glitter.  6 weeks and counting...

 



I went a little overboard at Cosmoprof on Black Friday but who can resist full size Gelish at $10.75CAD?  The cheapest Gelish I ever bought was $13US on Amazon so this was an amazing deal.  Even better that the limited collections were included.  Names are listed in the pic but if you can't read them and want to know just ask.

 



I decided to give acrylics another go.  I did a french on myself and I think they turned out great this time.  I added some gems and a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust to them.

 

 

 

Then I got bored after a couple of days, removed the Fairy Dust and gems and stamped them with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Titanium Rose.  Can't remember which stamping plate though, sorry.  I can tell you it's definitely Konad 30something...

 

 



And finally, another couple of days later I got bored again and I painted the tips with China Glaze Glistening Snow with a couple of iridescent stars as an accent.  I've had these acrylics on for about a week and a half and I have to say I really like them.

 

Later

P

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exam Nails

The Princess of Poo finally got her gel nails!  She was my model for my final exam and here they are.  I was not 100% happy with these as my annoyance factor was through the friggen roof!  I was super annoyed by all the women in the room at once and listening to the chit chat about church and kids etc., plus somebody decided they wanted to listen to music without consulting anyone else in the room and it was not something I could tolerate.

Every other girl in the class did white french tips except for me.  I did full clear tips and painted my french on.  I was having some issues with the white pulling back on me so I pretty much just wanted to scream those whole 2 hours.  However when I was done the instructor came over and said 'very good'.

So when I got home I fixed them up for her.  I perfected the smile lines and shortened them for her.  The written test was a breeze and I'm sure I passed everything but we won't be getting our certificates until December because the instructor has a small issue.  So yeah, I guess I'm a nail tech now?  It'll probably feel more real once that paper is in my hands.

And a parting shot of my own short acrylic nails (only one hand again lol) done with CND holographic Metro powder and an embedded fimo heart:

Later
P

Decisions decisions

So last weekend was my final day of training at nail school.  This weekend will be my final exams.  We learned fills and acrylics last weekend.  The acrylic products we are training on are supplied by Star Nail and there are a few differences from the acrylic products I've tried before so I was pretty excited about it.

The Star acrylic is odor free which is great!  It's also UV cured and gives quite a bit more 'play time' which is also good for someone who's learning.  On the practice nail I did it was still a bit too thick for my liking but the instructor said it was good.

Then I went home and tried my hand at acrylics on my own nails and decided to get a little funky (or ghetto as it actually turned out lol) with it:

I used clear tips and was really happy with my blending but I made them too long and they are way too blingy for me.  It took me a full 2 hours to do this on one hand!  I attempted doing my bad hand but it's painfully frustrating so I've got one hand with blingy acrylics and one hand with nothing on them!  I also shortened these quite a bit after a day of wear.

I did find the Star acrylics much easier to work with however they crack very easily and I just can't get them thin, plus they bubble like mad.  I'm considering giving up on acrylics altogether.  As for their Gel products, I like them but feel there's better out there so I've been contacting distributors to try out different brands and find the right fit before I can offer them to clients.  I'm particularly excited to try Bio Sculpture Gel because you can apparently soak it off instead of buffing!

I'm also considering giving up the blog.  There are several reasons: 1. I just can't find much time to post lately.  2. My direction and focus has changed immensely from what I originally intended.  3. I can't even remember the last time I bought a regular nail polish, and anything I do buy in the future will likely be geared towards what my clients are asking for, not what I personally like.  4.  Regular polish and the 'Indie' craze has left me completely bored and uninspired lately.  5. I've decided to take my Nail Tech Certification seriously, start up a mobile business and therefore I feel a blog dedicated to my business would be a better direction for me.

I really haven't made any decisions yet but there's definitely a lot going on in my head right now.

Later
P

Another packed post

So I'll start this one off with another regular nail polish.

This is 2 coats of OPI A-Taupe The Space Needle.  I added OPI DS Desire accents.  It's funny after wearing soak offs for so long I forgot how quickly nail polish chips.

I got some more pearl powder samples from my boyfriend's dad's autobody shop.  I just scrubbed them over black polish. From L-R is Fine Blue, Violet, Red, Sunset Red, Copper, Green and Green-blue.  With all the buzz over the Shellac Additives lately, I knew I had to try these out...

This is 2 coats of Shellac Silver Chrome with Copper pearl powder scrubbed in.  I had a small haul of nail supplies from China and decided to try out a fimo slice.  I cut it as thin as I possibly could, but the raised edge is really friggen annoying.  I bought them to use on other people anyways, so no big deal.

Totally off topic but we went to FanExpo in Toronto last week.  I was really excited to see one of my favorite actors there:

It's Norman Reedus who most people will recognize as Darrell from The Walking Dead.  But to me he's one half of the Murphy brothers from The Boondock Saints :D.

And finally, my nail-biting mother ripped all her acrylic nails off and this time she wanted them shorter, more rounded and more natural looking.

I managed to correct a few things this time around so they came out thinner than last time but I need some work on my shaping skills.  It will be interesting to see what other tips and tricks I can get from the course next month.  I think once I'm certified that I will start out offering Shellac only at first since I'm already a pro at that.  Nail extensions are pretty damn hard, it's definitely an art form.

Later
P

Shifting Gears

I've got a regular nail polish for you today.  I really haven't had much time to do another soak off manicure.

This is 2 coats of LeChat Dare to Wear Hologram Diamond.  I actually bought this colour in soak off gel but it came with a free regular polish.  It's just a medium sized holo glitter but I like it.  This will look great over my soak off gels.

A couple of weeks ago I was bored and swatched my soak off collection...

I have 59 in total!  Can you believe I own that many pinks?  Actually the pinks all came with sets I bought and they are great for my sister and also for everyone else I will soon start polishing because...

I am officially taking a Nail Tech course in September!  I've been doing soak off manicures on the cheap for friends and family only for a little while but I've recently been interested in nail enhancements too and after trying an acrylic set on my Mom I figured that I really should learn proper technique and sanitation so that I don't harm anyone.  The plan is after I'm done the course to start up a little side business as a mobile tech during evenings and weekends.  Maybe I can actually make enough money to pay for my nail habit!  Although I'm a pretty avid bargain hunter, I can safely say that I've easily invested thousands into my nail habit...ugh.  At 59 soak offs that probably average $12 each and over 700 regular polishes that probably average $3 each...yeah do the math.  Not to mention all the accessories - stamping plates, swatch wheels, crystals, stickers etc.  Holy shit am I insane?

So I forgot to post last time that not only did I buy an acrylic starter kit but I also scored some specialty glitter and holographic acrylic powders on Kijiji.

This is both the acrylic kit and Kijiji haul together and I paid $70 for all of it!  I've been a crazy woman on youtube and all over the internet reading up on techniques and creative acrylic uses and can't wait to see what's in store for me at the Nail course!  I'm hoping once I start getting clients and doing nails a lot more I'll be able to post a variety of manicure designs and get back to also posting a lot more often.

Later
P

I'm still here

I was on holidays last week, my sister was here for a visit and I had a really bad nail break - that's my excuse, sorry.

Seriously, check out the shorties...

This was after about a week of healing.  My ring finger nail broke so badly it drew blood.  So I haven't painted my nails much the last couple of weeks since I don't want to get any acetone near them.  Anyways, this is 1 coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Jade Jump with an accent nail of the silver polish from the Borghese set I picked up at Winners...

I picked this up in the clearance section for $10.  Winners has their final clearance on right now.

I also picked up this Nailtini 4-pack for $5 and the Jessica Smoky Feather for $2.

Then I had a little US haul...

Orly Buried Alive for $2.69 at Sallys, Layla Ocean Rush at Ulta and I couldn't resist the price on that Kardashian set at Ulta for $2.49 plus an extra 20% off.

Meijers was clearing out their CND polishes for half price so I grabbed Amethyst Sparkle and Raspberry Sparkle for $5.50 each.  Walgreens had the Sally Hansen Salon in Loves Me Not in the clearance bin for $3 and the Insta-Dri's were BOGO 1/2 so I got In A Flurry and Freeze for $5.50 because I used a couple of coupons on top of that.  This was probably my smallest US haul in 2 years lol.

My sister also brought me some things I ordered online awhile ago which included a pro kit for acrylic nails since I'm the queen of DIY.  I attempted my first set on my mother who is a chronic nail biter:

I still need plenty of practice and I need to go back and fix a few things, but I think I did ok for my first attempt.  I used the reverse method here but I probably won't do that again since it shadowed pretty badly.

And finally, I let my sister paint my gel nails last week and this is about 5 days in.  She did ok but didn't cap my edges very well.  It's 2 coats of OPI Bogota Blackberry with 1 coat of Gelish Good Gossip and then I painted a coat of Layla Ocean Rush on my ring finger.

Phew, I hope this post made up for my absence :)  Hopefully I will be able to find time to polish more often again.

Later
P