A break

I think I need to take a break from nail blogging. Hopefully I'll be able to come back to it soon, but I have way too much on my plate right now. I don't even remember the last time I painted my nails, so I think it's time for some time off.

Maybe I'll start doing this blog in series, like a British TV show. 6-12 posts, and then some time off. Something like that. I don't know. But this isn't working for me right now and frankly, I have bigger fish to fry.

I'll see you in a couple of weeks.

Shorter, but Sweet.

So if you missed it, January was a pretty crap month for me. Near the end, I just kind of snapped. I had a day where I almost stayed in bed all day and cried, and one day where I actually did, and then I had a couple of really loopy days where I kind of accepted the fact that I was screwed no matter what I did and just said "To hell with it! I'm wearing heels with my pajamas, eating chocolate for dinner, and cracking rude jokes at inopportune moments because I just don't care anymore!" And then I came back to reality slightly refreshed and ready to take the next round of cosmic ass-kicking.
On one of my saner days, I decided that as a pick me up I was going to dye my hair, because having fresh hair color always makes me feel really good. I didn't do anything wild and crazy (even though I really, really wanted my peacock blue streaks back); just used "my" color as usual.

Someone out there is probably cringing at the idea of home box color. You go to your salon, get your fancy hair cuts and your expensive color jobs. My shoestring doesn't stretch that far, especially right now (see above link). For now, $7 home color that I got for free is the best I can do, and I've always had good results with it.

Don't get excited; when I say free, I'm not saying that I got some kind of promotional offer. The last time I went to my mom and dad's house, Mom gave me a ton of food, and two boxes of "our" color: Garnier Nutrisse #452 "Chocolate Cherry." This is a color that can be hard to find, so every time she sees it, she always buys two boxes. There's a secret stash in the linen closet. I think she had about six boxes when I was there. If there's one person I want to ride out the apocalypse with, it's my mom. She has enough canned goods to get through the entire book of Revelations, and you can bet that she won't be doing it with her grey showing!

My went just below my shoulder blades, and one box of this color was just barely enough to get all of it. I have medium to fine hair that is unusually dry right now. After I colored it, the texture was so much nicer and softer; my hair always feels refreshed when it's newly dyed.

The one thing I don't like is that the conditioner that comes with the dye isn't available on it's own. I've had such a hard time finding a conditioner that is great for my hair and doesn't make me break out. Once I figured out that I was allergic to my regular Garnier conditioner, I freaked out and started reading the ingredients on the dye--no apricot oil, and no reaction to the fragrances or chemicals in the past, so I should be good (no problems this time around, either. Whew!). Why isn't this stuff available by the bottle? It's made with avacado, shea, and olive oils (Funny story: so last week I got so desperate for a good conditioner that wouldn't kill me I tried using straight up olive oil. Didn't turn out so well).

So I ran around with my new haircolor for a few days, but my hair still wasn't back where I wanted it. It was frustrating. In the last eight months, I've had to purge or re-evaluate all of my hair products thanks to my allergies. It's really hard for me to find something that works that doesn't make me break out, and right now I can't afford to  buy a bunch of new product in the hopes that it meets those criteria.

Here is what my hair looked like about 4 days after the dye job. I think can see at least part of the problem:

That is dry, newly washed hair, and it looks like it hasn't been washed in weeks. I also look like a convict.

So I started with a clean slate.

I apologize. I haven't been home much during daylight hours lately, and that makes photos...challenging. Particularly of myself.

Welcome to the Dark Side

Orly "Mysterious Curse" over black (Pure Ice "Touch Me Here") is probably one of my favorite color combinations. It really makes it pop, especially with silver accents (Wet n Wild "Metallica" and Pop beauty "Split Silver").

Really, the photos just don't do it justice. My camera isn't quite good enough to get the color changes and the iridescent effect.

 

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Don't forget, I've got a blog sale going, and a new short story/novel subscription service over on my other blog!

Generally Not Reccomended

Usually, I don't wear yellow, even though I love it. I have an olive complexion and it tends to be a very difficult color for me to wear. My one and only yellow polish is generally relegated to nail art, like for flower centers or stars. For some reason, though, yellow and pink is a color combination that makes me extremely happy:

Two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Lightening." Accents in Sally Girl pink.

I love my taping manicures, but this one didn't come out as neat as I would like. Still, no time to re-do it. It's off to work for me!

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As a follow up to my last post, I have begun this, for those who are interested. Also, please don't forget about my blog sale. If you see something you like, make me an offer!

Dorothy Who Goes on a Trip?

Just what it says on the tin:

A base of Wet n Wild "On a Trip" with a gradient tip of China Glaze "Dorothy Who?" I love the way the sponging brought out the silver in the glitter. This is definitely a manicure I'll be doing again.

Just a reminder, please don't forget about my blog sale.

The Shoestring Just Snapped

I had a manicure for you on Monday.

I couldn't post it because both of my computers quit on me Sunday night. My desktop has a fried wireless card, and my laptop is so old that it freezes every time I open Firefox now.

This post is coming to you via a borrowed computer.

I don't know how many of you follow my Twitter, or my personal blog. For the most part I've tried to keep my personal problems off of the internet, but I have to ask for some help.

We are in dire straights. My roommate's hours have been cut so severely that we don't know if we'll be able to make rent. All of the household bills--electric, water, food, etc--have fallen to me, on top of my personal bills. On January 1, I came home and discovered the fuel tank that heats our home was empty--two weeks earlier than expected. The minimum order was $586. I also became ill this month and that required a doctor's visit and some very expensive medication. I'm better now, but not 100%. I am clinging to my last sick day, terrified to use it when I'm just not feeling well, for fear that I will not have it if I actually become ill again.

We have heat for this month, but we don't know about next. We don't qualify for heating assistance, because fuel oil is not run by the Public Utility Commission, but by private companies, none of which have a year-round payment plan. We don't qualify for food assistance, because on a yearly basis we make too much--which doesn't help for the four months of the year when Missouri makes almost nothing at all. I have a steady income, but it barely supports me; it cannot support us both.

We don't have much, but this link will take you to my blog sale. All prices include shipping anywhere in the continental US.

What you see for sale there is basically my entire polish collection. There are some books, too, an ipod, and a nook, as well as a few other items. Most of my yarn stash will be posted this weekend. Please have a look, and if something catches your eye, please email me at KnotMagickKnitter (at) yahoo (dot) com with "Blog Sale" in the subject. Even if you don't purchase anything, please spread the word.

Missouri and I are also published authors. Her bibliography can be found here, and mine is here.

I'm calling most of my student loan companies today to try and get a one or two month deferment.
If they aren't willing to work with me, then our next step is canceling the internet, which means that I won't have a connection at home or at work, and I do not have a smart phone.

I don't know what the fate of this blog is. If the polishes don't sell, then we lose our internet. If they do, then I'll be down to half a dozen of my favorite colors, none of which are particularly well suited to nail art.

Please, anything you can do would be a help.

Copy Cat

It's been trendy in the nail blogging world to do glitter tips, especially for the last couple of weeks. I'm usually not a joiner, but this is one trend I can get behind.

My base color is by Cosmetic Arts and has no name that I can determine on the bottle, and they don't appear to have a website. The color in the bottle is a super dark teal, which I love. Once applied it's somewhere between that and a forest color, so dark that it could easily be mistaken for black in some light.

For the glitter, I used Essie "Set in Stones."

I really like this manicure, but then I love all applications of "Set in Stones." It is mesmerizing. I might do another glitter tip mani next week, using one of my China Glaze glitters. They're more subtle, but the effect might be nice.

I've got the blues.

Being sick for the past week has put a damper on my creativity. The fact that it's a respiratory problem and that the smell of nail polish aggravates it doesn't seem to help. At all. What's a girl to do?

I decided to break out the nail wraps. These are the Sally Hansen Sallon Effects that came out over the summer. I forgot I had them until we were packing to move.

The last time I used these, I had trouble getting them to stick, so I put topcoat on them. They didn't last very long.

This time, I decided to forego topcoat, even though it goes against all of my instincts.

I've still got a couple of spots that didn't stick so well, mainly on my right hand. The biggest problem with my left was that I had an attack of the static clingies as I was applying, and my ring finger and pinky both went on crooked as a result.

Just as before, I was able to get two nails done per strip, since I don't have tallons. I don't know that I'll be using the second packet that came in the kit, however, since I don't care for this pattern. I think the concept of denim nails is cool, but this just looks fake; I don't like the way the pattern was rendered, but I'm also a textile nerd. Just for the record, this pattern is called "Good Jeans."

I've been wearing these since last night, and took pictures this morning.

ETA: I have been to the doc and joy of joy, I have not just bronchitis, but a sinus infection to boot. I guess this means I won't be buying polish for a while. My meds+doctor visit cost almost as much as my rent this month.

Freehand Snowflakes

Real quick, since I'm writing this at 12:30 am when I have to be up in less than 7 hours;

That's "Ivory Skull" (Sally Hansen) applied with a dotting tool over the gradient I showed you on Monday.

Have a good one!