Aquarium Manicure

I went to the Shedd Aquarium. Again. I love the aquarium. I've been a member for something like six years. This time, I got to see the new baby dolphin.

For the occasion of aquarium-going, I did my nails as waves. First I painted them OPI's "Teal the Cows Come Home" and let them dry overnight.

Then I cut out pieces of blue painter's tape with my wavy scissors. I covered all but the tips of each nail with the tape and painted the visible portion NYC's "Cashmere Creme" (I like using one top-of-the-line and one bottom-of-the-barrel polish just for poops and giggles).

When that dried and I removed the tape, voila! I had wavy awesome aquarium nails.

I then used a dotting tool in orange polish (Revlon's "Siren") to draw fish on my thumbs. I finished up with OPI top coat and cleaned up the edges and all the escaped polish on my fingers. Unfortunately, I still don't have a basic tripod (I know, they're not that expensive) so I couldn't get a shot of my thumbs. Stupidly, I didn't even get a picture of the final pretty manicure, so you'll just have to make do with the last sloppy one.

Painter's Tape Manicure

I've discovered something wonderful: painter's tape. The blue stuff is much more expensive than regular old Scotch tape, but it is a miracle product for manicures.

I was recently at Walgreens and picked up Wet n Wild's "Through the Grapevine," which is a fabulous cheap magenta. I love Wet n Wild's new fat brushes and their colors really pop. It was a great hue, but I was getting nail-art restless after a few days. I'd also recently found my zigzag scissors in my car (welcome to the disorganization of my life) and was itching to use them. When I bought "Through the Grapevine," it was sitting next to "I Need a Refersh-Mint"--a color I already owned and loved. I liked the combination (reminded me of the 80s), so I knew what I had to do.

I'd heard about painter's tape on a few nail blogs, but actually using the stuff was amazing. It cuts much more cleanly and easily than Scotch tape and makes cleaner lines. Here is a photo of my nails all taped up and the "I Need a Refersh-Mint" painted over them:

And when I took the tape off, voila! Gorgeousness! This manicure made me happy until it chipped and peeled a horrible death a few days later (I never got a chance to put on a topcoat and, after all, it was Wet n Wild).

Note: I touched up the areas around the cuticles a bit with Photoshop because they looked like crap when I took the picture and I didn't take another photo after I retouched my actual nails.

Patriotic Nail Art Using Scotch Tape

Right now, I absolutely love my nails. I actually photographed them in progress so I will tell you how I did them and perhaps you can duplicate my magic.

First! Two coats of OPI's "Teal the Cows Come Home" nail polish. 

I was going for blue, not so much turquoise, but my other flaggish blue is way too dark so I used this one. I'm still not sure I made the right choice for patriotism's sake, but for the final product looking good, I certainly did.

I let the teal dry over night. Then I used Scotch tape to cover all but just a triangle at the point of each nail. Before putting each piece of tape on my nail I stuck it on my hand a few times to decrease the stickiness so it wouldn't rip off the existing polish and it would leave a cleaner line. 

Once the tape was in place on all ten nails, I painted two coats of Ulta's "Snow White" over the tips where the triangle was showing. I let that dry some and then topped it off with Sephora by OPI's "Be-Claus I Said So." 

At this point everything looked like one hot mess. I also was getting worried about time because everything kept taking so long to dry in the 100+ degree humidity and I was supposed to be somewhere. Ideally, I would have waited until everything was completely dry, but after an hour I got impatient and took off the tape and voila! Nail art!

Not bad!

Strawberry Cheesecake Jelly Belly Nail Polish Coincidence

I did not do this on purpose. My friend was the one who alerted me to the fact that my nails were plagiarizing Jelly Bellies.

That's the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor. Same friend who noticed the coincidence actually got me the red sparkle polish. It is Sephora by OPI's "Be-Claus I Said So." The pink underneath is Ulta's "Encore Pink." I'm quite pleased with these nails. They lasted almost a week without chipping and I think they're pretty swell. Now I have to devise something patriotic for the 4th of July in a few days.

Portland: Polka Dots, Nudity, and Roses

I went to Portland. Not last weekend but the weekend before. It was sweet.
Before I went I painted my nails lavender with dark purple polka dots using my birthday present Sephora dotting tool.

The lavender is OPI's "Do You Lilac It?" and the dots are Nicole by OPI's "The Grape Debate."
The whole thing chipped like hell in about five minutes. I don't know if it's because I was flying and running around Portland with my family, or if it's just chippy nail polish, but I used OPI base and top coats, so it shouldn't have chipped so badly.

Portland! Land of the hipster and vintageness and six kinds of organic and really good food and coffee and cute shops and craftiness. If Etsy wasn't headquartered in Brooklyn, it would be in Portland.
My entire immediate family (parents, sister, brother, and I) met up for my sister's graduation from grad school. She is now a Master. Congratulations, sister! Her apartment is amazing. It's a converted vintage office building with amazing old hardware and sconces and things. I'd have taken photos for blog inclusion but she would have killed me, so use your imagination.

We took a side trip to the ocean at Cannon Beach and the Haystack Rocks where we watched a man get down on one knee and propose to a woman who clearly said yes as she cried and they embraced.

We went to the Saturday Market. There was a lot of food.

We ate a very small percentage of it and still ended up stuffed.

Saturday night I witnessed the Portland World Naked Bike Ride. People dressed in costumes and painted their bodies. One woman painted a bike on her chest with each of her breasts as a wheel. I did not get any photos of the Portland World Naked Bike Ride. Just imagine thousands of penises and multi-colored breasts flying past, all attached to happy people trying to hi-five the bystanders while a semi-impromptu band played along the side. Or, check out some of the great photos other people got here: http://bikeportland.org/2012/06/17/lots-of-smiles-and-flesh-for-miles-the-2012-world-naked-bike-ride-photos-73404

Monday, before going to the airport, my parents and I went to the rose gardens in Washington Park. I'm a big fan of roses.

We'd had beautiful weather the entire trip, but that day it was overcast and raining on and off, which wasn't great for existing but was great for taking pictures. 

Perfect droplety roses everywhere and lush green and the Portland skyline in the background. Not bad.

After the gardens we had just enough time to run through Powell's Bookstore. I bought something but I can't say what because it is a gift for someone that I haven't given yet.

The end.

About

My "About" section is done with the exception of my shop photos. Check it out:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/jillhannah/about/
I still haven't hung my shelves or organized my physical Etsy existence, so I'm not taking pictures yet.

I'm going to Portland, Oregon tomorrow very early morning with my family! My sister is graduating social work school and I'm proud to go support her and finally see her Portland life. I did my nails in purple polka dots for the occasion, but they got a bit messed up before I even got a top coat on. I'll still take photos today and post them later.

To Do: Paint Nails, Find Muse, Hang Shelves

My nails have been naked for many days in a row because I have been so busy.

Etsy has a brand new "About" section. Read all about it here:
http://www.etsy.com/blog/news/2012/introducing-an-about-page-for-your-shop/

I haven't filled mine out yet. My Etsy life was born of my migraines. Friends recommended I check it out when I was at my absolute worst, back near the beginning of the 20 Months Of Uninterrupted Pain. Just as I was recognizing that this headache was different, was not going to end, I could do very little day after day beyond sit in a pitch-black room and stare at the beautiful items sold on Etsy through half-closed eyes. As time went on, I started making my own goofy and snarky greeting cards and selling them in my own little shop. It was just the occasional card, but it thrilled me to be selling directly to customers (unlike when I worked at a major greeting card company, a job I also loved but you didn't actually get your name on your work or personal interaction with the buyer). I started feeling better little by little, and taking advantage of my good days, I grew and expanded my business to eventually include wallpaper envelopes. I learned how to take better photos of my products and improved my packaging, customer service, and advertising. I started this blog. I created the (still going though I'm no longer a part of it) Jewish Etsy Team "EtsyChai." Etsy was all the good parts of my life, the parts not mired in pain.

I want to do that justice. I don't want to gloss over migraines, the pain, or how much Etsy meant to me for so long. I also don't want to scare people or to be overly negative. Or long-winded.

I consider myself a writer. I should be able to do this.


The other half of my "About" section I need to work on is my photos, but I'm about to put up these five giant shelves for all of the Stuff, and I imagine once everything is up and organized it will look much nicer than if I take pictures of the current mess of merchandise.

Oh, "About" section, so much work you have created for me!