Birthday Nails, ABC Party, and a New Kitty!

This past Saturday was my 24th birthday!  I was blessed with awesome company, and some awesome gifts, too. 

Remember that time I went to Brooklyn and shopped in search of Cirque Color's cult favorite, "XX"? Well, my friend Katie mailed me a bottle for my birthday, along with another color called "Ophelia"

L to R: "Ophelia" and "XX"

I had lots of ideas for my nails for my birthday. I volleyed between hand painted balloons and using actual colored sugar (I thought for my Anything But Clothes party it would be clever to do Anything But Polish on my nails). But as soon as this came in the mail, I knew I'd have to use "XX". 

I did a French mani with a twist; I used paper reinforcers to get the clean lines. I did rush it a bit since I was painting as guests arrived for the ABC party, but overall I think it looked great. 

Colors used: Zoya "Hudson", Cirque "XX"

I wish I had more pictures from my ABC party, but unfortunately the power went out. My costume was birthday themed, with a gift bow top, and a balloon skirt. 

Finally, on Sunday, Bob, Mike and I went out to get me my final birthday present: a cat! We went to the Atlantic City Humane Society and rescued a sweet 2 1/2 year old kitty named Moe. He's a total sweetheart, but he is still getting used to his new environment. 

Note the bow tie collar

All in all it was a fantastic birthday! And my awesome hubby, who was anti-pet for quite a while, confessed to being late to work because he was playing with the cat ;) 

Color of the Month: Aquamarine

I found time to do the Color of the Month feature! This month is actually my birthstone: aquamarine. 

Aquamarine is a gemstone in the same family as emeralds. The color of aquamarine can range from a very light, almost clear blue to deeper richer blues, as well as blue-greens. As a result I had a lot of options to play with for this manicure ;)

A little history from gemselect.com:

"According to saga, aquamarine originated in the treasure chest of fabulous mermaids, and has, since ancient times, been regarded as 'the sailors' lucky stone'. Aquamarine derives its name from the Latin term for seawater and has a long tradition of being a stone for those who spend much of their time at sea. The Greeks and the Romans knew aquamarine as the sailor's gem too, ensuring the safe and prosperous passage across many stormy seas. Legend has it that aquamarines were the prized possessions of many mermaids and would thus protect sailors from the dangers of sea, including warding off sea-sickness."

I thought that bit of mythology was really cool, especially related to myself, as I love spending time on the ocean. Also, the "fabulous mermaids" bit made me giggle. 

For this mani I used Zoya in "Blu" and my new color, "Rebel", as well as Julep's March gemstone color "Aretha". 

Ohhh, Ahhh!

Aaaand this is what I came up with...

I'm really very pleased with the turnout. I was especially surprised with how easily I was able to paint a straight line of "Rebel" over "Blue" to get the half-and-half effect. I wish my rhinestone placement was as straight, but that'll come with more practice!

I also found it Julep's March color interesting in that it reminds me a bit of a blue based "Monet" from Zoya's "Awaken" collection. Just me? Here's some macros. 

I think it is just the rainbow iridescence that reminds me of "Monet". Either way, it is a beautiful topper and a perfect color to feature for this Aquamarine mani :)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I just may manage to get all of the manis I had planned for this month done after all. 

Luck o' the Irish maybe? 

This will be just a quick post. On Friday, Mike told me I had 45 minutes to do my nails before we had to leave to meet up with friends. It took me an hour, but still, not bad. However these were a little rushed and you can tell. 

The idea was to do sugar spun nails in orange and green on two fingers, a rainbow to a pot of gold across two fingers, and a little golden four leaf clover for the thumb. 

The sugar spun didn't turn out how it was supposed to since I was rushing so I didn't take many photos focusing on it. 

 

It should be noted also that the rainbow was my husband's idea ;)

I didn't have the patience to do the same on the other hand, so I did a simple four leaf clover and, of course, a mug of beer. 

As for celebration, my holiday was pretty relaxed. I DD'd on Friday so I didn't get too wild then. I had all intentions of getting crazy in Philly on Saturday, but after my sizable order from Shake Shack in center city, there wasn't enough room in my belly to drink the amount of alcohol it would have required to soak through that smokehouse double and fries to get me tipsy. Whommmmp. 

That's okay, though. There's always next year!

New Job and Spring Inspiration

As some of you may know, I recently got employed at Pier 1 Imports. I'm really excited about it! It is my first job in sales, but so far I am really loving it. The company seems awesome, and they really support their employees. Anybody who isn't Assosciate or Assistant Manager works part time hours, however, I can still apply for benefits and after 6 months I can pay into a 401(k), which the company matches! 

So far the hardest part has been trying not to spend all my earned money on items in the store. I already found an awesome shag rug that would match our love seat way better than the black one we currently have, and I've already set aside my first Christmas gift for someone. 

The other benefit of working at Pier 1 is that there are colors and patterns galore to be inspired by for nail art use. Our current ad is focusing on rolling out spring colors, and when you walk in, the main focus is grey and yellow 

Our scent of the month is Honeysuckle, at 20% off! (Never stop hustling)

Individually, I'm not a big fan of yellow, and grey is just okay. But together, they are gorgeous. I decided to do a Saran Wrap manicure using this color palette. 

What's a Saran Wrap manicure, you ask?  Simply put, you paint a base color on your nail. I started with the grey...

China Glaze in Pellican Grey

After your base coat dries COMPLETELY, paint another color on top of it. 

Sinful Colors in Unicorn

Then, while the second color is sill wet, take a piece of Saran Wrap, crumple it up a bit, and gently roll it across your nail. The Saran Wrap will pick up some of the top color, allowing the base color to peek through and creating a cool marble effect. 

Like so

You'll want to work one nail at a time so the second color doesn't dry before you saran it. 

I added a coat of China Glaze's "Fairy Dust" for some sparkle and topped it off with Zoya's top coat and quick dry drops. The top coat gently blends the colors together so there aren't any harsh lines like in the above photo. 

Ta-da!

Dry cuticles are still a problem. 

I'm pretty happy with the result. If I did it again, I'd use the yellow as the bottom color so that the grey wouldn't give it a greenish tinge. But I'll definitely be doing this design again with other colors. 

The rest of the March is pretty hectic; I was planning on doing St. Patrick's Day nails, a Color of the Month Manicure, and Birthday nails, but I may only get to 2 out of 3. We will see!

No Sleep Til Brooklyn and My First Ever Cirque Colors

My friends Katie and Jico live up in NYC. This is pretty fantastic for me, because it means I have a great excuse to spend the weekend in the city basically whenever I want, and I LOVE the city.

Katie's birthday is this month, so Jico spent the past 3 weeks coordinating a surprise trip from me, Mike, and our friends for her. It was a big success, and we had a blast the entire weekend being rowdy and reckless (and then very tired over Sunday brunch). 

I first heard about Cirque Colors over a year ago. It is an indie line of nail polish hand made by a woman in New York; specifically, Brooklyn. Sure, you can buy her colors online, but to me, I always thought it would be more exciting to pick up a bottle while I was visiting the very place where it was made. 

Luckily, I remembered this, and emailed their customer service to find out where I could buy some. After a walk around Smorgasburg and Brooklyn Flea (both of which I highly recommend; where else can you get a Ramen Burger and an antique typewriter in the same place?), I paid a visit to a store called The Brooklyn Fox. 

The place seemed pretty high end. I walked straight to the back and picked through the Cirque Colors display. I found a sample of "XX", the first color I had my eye on from this brand. Unfortunately, there was no packaged one for sale. I tried to get the saleswomen to let me buy the sample, but they wouldn't do it, and then explained that it was "the brand's most popular color" 

Fucking duh. 

Girl, please. I know. That's why I'm willing to buy the sample. 

Anyway, I ended up walking out with "Cypress" instead, which is a beautiful rose gold color with spectacular linear holo. 

My reaction when the light hit the holo

As soon as I got back to Jersey I made time ASAP to do a new manicure using this color. I didn't do anything fancy. I didn't want to take away from the gorgeous color by making it too busy with stamping or incorporating another color. 

"Cypress" by Cirque Colors

Check out that prism

In certain lights, it just appears to be a pretty, champagne-y neutral, like so:

But then you throw some pin lighting on it (or shine your iPhone flashlight on it or, or some shit) and you get Edward Cullen on the beach in the middle of a sunny July day... Only on your nails. 

KaPOW!

DRUUUUNK IN LOOOOOOVEEEE

This was my first Cirque Colors polish, but it definitely won't be my last. I still want "XX" and after doing some IG research, I NEED "Coronation". All in all, a really successful weekend.