Summer Challenge Day 9: Favorite Summer Memory

For this mani, I was having a hard time deciding what my favorite summer memory was! I thought of a lot of summer spent swimming, camping out, and even summers working at Bruster's (that's what I alluded to before) that brought back great memories. But then it came to me! When I was in college, one year I came home for summer and my dad informed me we were getting a new puppy. I was perfectly happy with my Shih-Tzu, Zeppy, and I resented the idea. Especially when he told me what we were getting - a boxer! I thought they were the ugliest dog ever because of their smushed faces. Regardless, I picked out a little girl and named her Sadie and fell in love ever since! Here she is:

This was taken about 2 years ago in September when we went to Put-in-Bay, OH for Labor Day weekend. The dogs had a blast because we went to a drive through safari and they got to come face to face with water buffalos, llamas, etc. Anyways, about a month after that vacation, Sadie passed away suddenly at only 3 years old. You may think I'm strange but in our house, our dogs are family members and we took it hard. Especially because there was no medical reason that she died; the doctor said she just stopped living, maybe her heart stopped. Sorry for the LONG story but I felt I needed to explain - so thinking back to that summer when I fell in love with what I previously thought to be the ugliest dog ever created, and what ended up being the most loving, loyal dog you could dream of - I thought, that was my favorite summer memory. And here is the mani inspired by her!

I knew I couldn't paint a boxer face that would be recognizable so I took the easy way out! But I really like it. I used Julep - Mandy for the background, Sinful Colors Black on Black for the pawprints and Stripe Rite in a turquoise blue for the writing. Hope you like it!

So much going on!

First of all, I apologize for being such a horrible blogger and I hope to be better with it as soon as I take off this stupid shellac! First I was home in PA for 2 weeks working a ton of hours at the hospital, and then directly after I came back to Dayton I had to leave again for a bachelorette party weekend, and since then I've been terribly sick, and also I've started working two jobs! I got the shellac done after the bachelorette party. Don't get me wrong, it's really pretty, I'm glad I got it to see what it's like. I had a Groupon for it so it was $9 instead of the original $38, and I wanted to see what it was all about. Mostly I didn't believe any kind of polish would last 2 weeks without a chip - my nails chip like crazy usually. But, I have to say it's been 10 days today and not a SINGLE chip - very cool! Here's a picture the day after I got it.

I am too lazy to take more pictures right now, but I can honestly say that after 10 full days, washing dishes, even picking at it like I always do - it looks completely the same. HOWEVER - I don't think this was for me, at least not as into nail art as I am right now. It's been torture to not be able to try new colors and designs! I've done my toes but it's not the same! Anyway, onto other stuff.

I had vowed to make June my no-buy month because I spent SO much in May. So, it's now June 13th...can we all have a moment of silence for June-no-buy-month? It died today...RIP.

It all started when I had to go to Walgreen's for prescriptions. I finally had a doctor's appt today because I've been sick since I came home from Put-in-Bay a little over a week ago. I had a 101 fever for a couple days, horrible cough, pain when I breathe or swallow any food or drink, and I can't hear out of my left ear and it hurts - turns out it's pneumonia! Plus a bad ear infection. I've never had it before but I can't wait to feel better - it's been really hard to work while I feel this bad. Anyways, so of course I was at Walgreen's picking up my prescriptions and they had certain shades of Essie on sale for $4!! HALF off the usual $8 price.

Okay, the one on the left I bought a while ago and it wasn't on sale. But oh well! The other three were half off. From left to right: Light, Bazooka, She's Picture Perfect, and No More Film.

Well, then I had a couple coupons, so I figured since June no-buy month had died anyway, why not??

I had a coupon for $2 off Revlon, PLUS when I got to Rite Aid, they were BOGO half off! From left to right: Mysterious, Dreamer, Smoldering, and Saucy. I can't wait to try these :D

I had a coupon for $1 off Julie G, and I loved this gorgeous neon pink - it's called Oh Em Gee! Sinful was on sale so picked up a new Snow Me White and a new color - Fiji. I decided to give Chameleon ONE more try and hope this formula is better because this color (Waltz) was really pretty. And the last one, Julep in Alfre was FREE with a voucher I got in my June maven box (see below)!

I got Lauren and Claire for my polish colors, and they came with cute matching Pixie Sticks, which Nick ate, haha. I am also super excited to try the Daylight Defense face and hand cream, it sounds like a great daily face lotion to switch to, but I'm having major face issues lately so I have to wait until that clears up.

ANYWAYS so that's the update on what I've been doing lately. My doctor recommended that I rest and take it easy, but I have been working one job part-time and I start the second one tomorrow which sounds like it's going to be eight hour shifts so I'm going to be doing twelve hour days starting next week. Plus my part-time job is a lot of driving which takes up extra time and gas. :/ OH, not to mention my friend is getting married next weekend so I need to hurry up and get better fast!! Hopefully I will update soon with some swatches or nail art, this shellac is coming off either tonight or tomorrow I can't resist anymore! Hope everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather for me since I really can't, haha.


Kelly

This addiction is honestly getting out of hand...

Well, I just updated my inventory (I think the fact that I even have an "inventory" shows that I have a problem) and I'm now up to 146 polishes! It's hard to resist when I keep finding so many cool sales, but I seriously need to limit my spending for a while. Anyway, I thought I'd update with my District 4 set I've been talking about, so here's that:

I borrowed from a couple District 4 designs I've seen online and tried my best at recreating them. I'm not thrilled about it, but only because they're sloppy - I think if I tried again after more practice, I'd be satisfied. The first I did an ocean-inspired blue glitter gradient, and that one is probably my favorite. The ring finger, which is hard to see in this AWFUL lighting, is my take on a gorgeous net design I saw done by Theodora at Red Hair and Black Nail Polish. The other three I saw here, and though I tried my best to imitate them, they were harder than they look! I especially want to redo the coral "4". I do love how the trident nail turned out because of the matte finish of the background (Sinful Colors - Savage) contrasted with the sparkly gold (Sinful Colors Nail Art - Flower Girl). Questions on colors just ask - I forget at the moment but it wouldn't be hard for me to figure it out if someone were curious! :]

In other news, my first Julep box came in the mail the other day! Overall, I was really happy with the three polishes I got. I apparently fit into the "It Girl" style profile, and I received the colors Helena, Mandy and Heather (in that order in the above photo). So far, I've only tried Heather and I really like it. I think it took two coats to get the color shown in the bottle, which I thought was great considering how shimmery it is. Can't wait to try the other two, I think they're perfect for summer!

Here is my current pedi. We were getting ready to go out and celebrate finishing grad school and I wanted something appropriate for the summery weather and the celebratory mood of the evening! SO I tried a trick I saw online somewhere to make my own "dotting tool" using a bobby pin and it actually worked pretty well! That being said, most of my toenails are too small for this so I think next time I will try it on my fingers or with less colors, but I've overall been getting tons of compliments on them :]

And lastly...

My current mani! After the galaxy and all the things I've been trying, I felt like my nails needed a breather so I left them basically naked all weekend. Well, not exactly naked, they had a pale pink basecoat. But today I wanted to add something to them so I tried a new polish I got over the weekend. I usually never buy Sally Hansen Diamond Shine because I felt they were too expensive, but I saw two of these jewel overcoats (see below) that I just could not pass up. The one in the picture is called "Ring-a-Ding" and the other I bought is called "Multi-faceted" and it is a gorgeous chunky glitter with pieces of black, silver, and blue sparkles. I thought when Ring-a-Ding was added to that pale pink base, it ended up being a classy yet eyecatching look. I'll definitely consider buying more of these jewel topcoats in the future! It's great when you're rushed for time and still want to feel pretty. :]

Plans for this week - trying out some of the MANY new polishes I got over the weekend, including maybe the Matte topcoat by NYC I picked up, maybe the Saran Wrap technique, or one of two new gradient techniques I saw described online. Now that classes are over, I'm feeling ambitious ;]


Kelly