Chalkboard Nails

I had this brilliant idea.  I've been wanting to do a mani with crackle tips, and I've been wanting to do a mani with matte pastels, so I thought "why not combine the two!"  Well... I tried it.  And I kind of don't like it at all.  The pastel green with the matte topcoat reminds me of sidewalk chalk.  And I guess I'm just really bad at doing tips or something, but I also kind of hate the crackle tips on me... on everyone else they look so awesome!  Maybe if I'd been able to find my silver pen and do a line in silver like I wanted to, rather in black...

But anyway, here it is!

Products used:

Revlon Minted

OPI Black Shatter

Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen in Black

Essie Matte About You

And here's another one for good measure: 

We haven't seen Abby in a while, but she made her presence known today!

Daisy French Manicure

Well the good news is that my "interview" nails from Thursday night lasted all the way until Sunday!  That's basically a record for me.  Since they were too short to wrap the lip, they started looking a little bit worn about the ends so I preemptively removed them instead of waiting to peel them off later in the day.  I attempted a monarch butterfly wing manicure and FAILED miserably.  I didn't even attempt my right hand, and removed the whole shebang almost immediately after I completed it.

But I needed to do SOMETHING... bare nails for me are just asking to be gnawed down to nubbins.  So I went with something super quick and simple (it was like 1am, I had just gotten home from a night out at the pub with some friends from class- we were all drowning our sorrows and talking about how terribly our interviews had gone) and springy to welcome not only the first day of Spring, but my first day of Spring break.

My thumb looks WAY worse in the photo than in person.  

Don't know what's up with that!

I don't expect these to last a remarkably long time because I have tons of ideas up my sleeve and an entire week to experiment.  But I thought they were kind of cute for a five minute mani.

Abby tush

Products used:
Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Whirlwind White
L.A. Colors Art Deco in Dark Blue
L.A. Colors Art Deco in Yellow
SV topcoat

Interview Appropriateness

In case you didn't know, I am a graduate student in my second year of a three year program.  The third year is an internship year, for which we have just started interviewing.  My goal was to find a nice neutral nail that I could wear on these interviews.  My issue is that I kind of hate baby pinks and I wanted to try something new.  I definitely have a favorite taupe and a favorite "greige"ish, but I wanted something lighter.  I started with a french mani using essie Guchi Muchi Puchi- but I HATED it.  I don't have any pics because it chipped the morning after I painted them and by that afternoon I had peeled it all off angrily.  It was just too baby pink for my taste.  So I rummaged through my box of polishes and stumbled across OPI's Moon Over Mumbai, which I purchased who-knows-when and have never worn.  I figured "why not, at least it isn't pink" and put it on over the OPI ridge filler base coat.

Fuzzy blankets worn like snuggies make excellent backdrops, right? 

I really feel that these photos don't do it justice!  I really like it a lot.  This is three coats on top of the ridge filler base coat and SV on top.  I wish I had done another layer, because I am neurotic about streaks and ridges and I think one more layer would have really done it for me, but I really really do like this.  

And of course my dog, Abby had to get in on the picture action.  This might end up being a blog feature, considering how in my face she always is, especially when there's a camera involved.  

BALL!