Extreme Shopping and Strawberry Nails

Last weekend, I miiiiight have gone a little crazy buying nail supplies... Maggie told me about Konad (go look it up on YouTube) and I had to buy it immediately. I also got a bunch of brushes and other stuff I've been wanting for a while. This picture actually isn't even all of it yet... Some of it still hasn't been delivered... Don't judge me.

Since I got all of this awesome stuff, I wanted to do something exciting with my nails. I saw this video on YouTube for strawberry nails - and it was awesome!

1. Red bottom coat. - Confetti "The Red Carpet." I actually really don't suggest using this one. It's a really good color, but... it acts a little funny. It kind of turns your nails into crayons. If you rub your nail onto paper or something, the color comes off looking like a crayon. But it dries fast, so I keep it around.

 2. White leaves - Sally Hansen "All the White Stuff." Another reason not to use the Confetti red polish can be seen here. It gets kinda smeary when you put another polish on top of it. And no, I didn't try to rush before it was dry - I had had the red paint on for THREE DAYS already. Anyways, the reason for the white leaves is that it helps the green look better when it's on the red. If you try to put one color just on top of the other, it'll look dull and show the other color through it.

 I used one of my new tiny brushes to do this (and the green next). I definitely recommend getting some small brushes, since it's nearly impossible to do anything exciting with the regular brushes. This one is from Mash.

 3. Green leaves - Playboy green. Don't ask me why I have Playboy nail polish. I got a set of them for really cheap. Surprisingly, they work pretty well IF you put a clear coat on top. Anyways, just slop the green on top of the white. It's ok if you get some on your skin (like I always do) since you can just remove it later.

 4. Yellow seeds - Playboy yellow. For this one, the girl suggested using a toothpick, but I actually got a little metal-tipped thingy and used that instead. The toothpick might work better though, who knows. My seeds look a little droopy and sad. I don't know if you can tell, but I did this in like 15 minutes, since I had places to go. So... I only did one nail. I look a little dumb right now, I won't lie.

Here's the metal thingy. Just in case you're curious.

5. Clear top coat - Seche Vite. I finally got this stuff after talking about it for ages. So far I'm liking it!

Taking this many close-up pictures of my fingers makes me realize I need a manicure like ASAP.

Cheetah/Leopard Nails

This week I miiiiiight have ordered like $700 worth of stuff for my apartment online. The packages have been arriving in droves, but apparently the delivery guy can't be bothered to actually bring them to my door! Instead he just drops them off at my leasing office. As a result, the staff think that I'm a psycho obsessive shopper. At least they remember my name now...

I've never really been an animal-print kind of person. But I felt like giving cheetah/leopard nails a chance. I'm not really sure which they are. Both animals look the same kind of spotted to me... This look actually turned out to be really easy and took me the least amount of time to do!

1. Orange base coat.

I used the Longhorn Burnt Orange shade for this one. It's pretty much the best orange on the planet. I was a tad sloppy this time, but it doesn't matter too much, since you're still going to add some lines and top coat.

2. Half-circley black lines and blobby white lines with Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens.

You have to wait forever for the orange to dry first. If you don't, the nail art pens will dig holes into the polish. I didn't wait long enough. But I think it turned out ok anyway.

3. Clear top coat and clean up the edges with a Q-tip and polish remover.

I'm considering buying a set of tiny brushes to use instead of the pens. I don't think they work very well, but I suppose they'll do in a pinch.

Next week I'm thinking fruity nails of some sort. Lemons? Watermelons? I haven't decided, but I have a feeling that it'll be a lot more work than this one.

The Man of My Television Dreams

I watch a million tv shows a week. I'm a total junkie, living vicariously through the exciting (fake) lives of the doctors, lawyers, vampires, and cops I follow religiously. Each show I pick up always seems to bring with it a new character for me to fall in love with. I can't help it! On any given day, you can find me curled up on my couch, drooling over my fake boyfriend of the hour.

Why are these guys so wonderful?! I took a few (not nearly all) of the characters I'm currently crushing on and tried to figure it out.

Special Agent Sealy Booth - Bones

For years, people had been telling me that I should be watching Bones, but I didn't really listen until about a year ago. And oh-my-goodness am I hooked. Sealy is probably the toughest, hottest character on tv right now. He's a beast: former Army Ranger sniper, current FBI agent. He's goofy: always wearing multi-colored socks, a crazy tie, and a "cocky" belt buckle. He's a total sweetheart: great dad, goes out of his way to make sure everyone around him is safe from all of the craziness. He has a bit of a dark past, which most ladies seem to go gaga for (it'll be a reoccurring theme in this post, for sure). Overall, I'm ready to marry this man. Let's make that happen.

Dream Rating:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 

Spike - Buffy The Vampire Slayer

I'm kind of in a late-90s tv mood. I never watched Buffy when it was on, but I caught up on all of them a few months ago. It kinda sucks to watch a show a decade after the rest of the world. I don't have anyone to express my newly-discovered devotion to! *HRMPH* My friends got many random texts from me about Spike, the vampire you just love to hate. Apparently, the writers had planned to kill him off after the first season, but due to his huge popularity, he became a major part of the entire series. Spike made this show worth watching. Like, it's a cool show in general, but his jokes and wacky plans made me want to never leave my couch. Although he seems completely evil on the outside, he really has a good heart! That's important when falling in love with any bad-boy. The awesome accent didn't hurt, either. ;)

Dream Rating:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 


Pacey Whitter - Dawson's Creek

Yet another 90s show I'm currently watching! I'm only two seasons in, but let me tell you - Pacey is totally my  high school lover. He's totally misunderstood by his family, peers, and teachers - it just makes me want to hug him!! He's currently (for me, since I'm way behind) dating a crazy chick, but he's adorably sweet with her and protects her from a lot of the criticism from people at school. I'm really hoping that things start going a little better for him. Or that his dad drops off the face of the planet.

Dream Rating:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 





Detective Jim Longworth - The Glades

This show frustrates the heck out of me. Like the guy is totally perfect, but the girl he's in love with is still married and pretty much just bitches about her life all the time. Stop making my man angry!! Jim is kind of your typical rogue detective character - doesn't play by the rules, always seems to get into a stand-off, and is an incredibly smooth-talker. He's also got an accent that I just can't place. But it's a goodun!

Dream Rating:  ♥ ♥ ♥ 












Jim Halpert - The Office

Jim is the perfect person to have around any office. He's not a bad-boy type, but he's constantly plotting new ways to mess with coworkers - which is adorable beyond belief.  For years he was crushing on, yet respectful of, his engaged coworker. Cute! Plus, he's always got a sly comment about all of the ridiculous stuff going on in the office, which just makes his adorable face even more adorable.

Dream Rating:  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ 


To sum it all up, the perfect television man of my dreams is: clever, slightly bad, and always witty. And a nice bod doesn't hurt. ;D

P.S. Why do movie/tv villains always seem ridiculously horny? I'm just wondering.

I Don't Understand Cats

I'm currently cat-sitting for one of the besties, and I've realized that cats confuse me. I've always been a dog person, but when we lived in Indiana and Alabama we always had an outdoor cat of some sort, so I always thought I liked cats too. I still like them, but I don't think I want one of my own.

From what I can tell, living with a cat is a constant wild-west showdown - "This apartment ain't big enough for the two of us!" Cats are such small animals, but they take up more space than I ever imagined. First they climb on all of your furniture, then your counters and kitchen appliances. From there they crawl into every window, insisting that your blinds and curtains are hindering their never-ending quest to rub their butts on every inch of space you own. Within an hour, that cat will be sticking its entire head into your water glass, since nothing you have is actually yours anymore.

I wish I knew how to train a cat. I know that people say it's impossible, but I find that hard to believe. They're not dumb animals by any means. Every time I call one a "shithead," they give me a look that can only be saying "you ain't seen nothin' yet."

After taking care of cats for a couple weeks now, I've been left with questions that I'm not sure anyone knows the answers to:

• When do cats sleep?  Obviously they don't sleep while I'm sleeping, because that's when they like to hurdle over my bed, landing effortlessly onto my face.
  
  
• Why do cats think they're allowed to be in the bathroom?  I'm not sure about you guys, but I tend to use the restroom and shower alone. Cats don't seem to like this. If you're not quick enough to lock them out, they'll climb into the shower with you (I thought they didn't like water??!) or rub all over your feet while you're doing your business. I don't party in your litter-box. Get out of my bathroom.
  
  
• Why do cats poop so much?  I always thought there must be a body-size to poop-size ratio in the animal world. Apparently I was wrong.
  
  
• How do they make such a mess?  I work during the day, and the first day that I left each cat alone I made the mistake of leaving the bathroom door open. The first time resulted in every ponytail-holder I own being distributed throughout my apartment. The second ended with half of my necklaces floating in my toilet.
  
  
• Why do they want you to pet them only when you're obviously busy?  If I'm watching tv or a movie, I think it would be great if I could snuggle up with a fluffy cat in my lap. When it's 6:30 in the morning, I'm running late for work, can't find my keys, and need to make myself a lunch, that is NOT when I want you sitting on top of my feet.
  
  

If you know the answers to any of these queries, feel free to clue me in. Maybe that'll help the next week of kitty duty go a little more smoothly.

I Own Too Much Polish

So it looks like this blog has digressed to talking only about nail polish. But I think I'm ok with that. And now you'll see why...

The second thing I bought while "working" was a nail polish rack from Fuji. It says it holds up to 96 bottles, and I haven't counted all of mine, but... it's full.. *le sigh*

It's on the wall straight! I even used a level! I just hope that the two tiny screws keep it up...

Why is it full already??! I think it looks pretty! Classy/artsy perhaps? At least I'll be able to find all my colors now.

Persistance Is Futile: Crackle Edition

I've been so busy!! I think the only time I was home the past couple weeks was to sleep. But I can't complain too much, since I spent the rest of the time either working or partying!

This past weekend I got to hit up Drunkie Bingo, Washington Ave, St. Arnold's Brewery, and the White Linen Festival. If you don't know what any of these things are and live in the Houston area, get your Google on and find out ASAP!

Last week at work was soooo slooooow. So I miiiiight have spent some time shopping on Amazon... But the results are awesome! I'll talk about one today. And hopefully I'll get the second one up and ready to talk about soon. Gotta buy some screws...

For the past few months, I've been attempting get the Shatter/Crackle nail look working. Unfortunately, if you put it on too thick it won't crack, but if you put it on too thin then it just looks weird. GAH! One of the things I bought last week was a 6-pack of China Glaze Crackle (confusing, since Sally Hansen also has a Crackle line). The colors are really cute - pink, blue, black, grey, white, and purple - and seem to be thicker color-wise than the Sally Hansen version. Plus I got 6 of them for $17, so it was a pretty sweet deal.

Step 1: Apply base color. The base polish I used for this is kind of a weirdo one. It dries really fast, but very unevenly. And it's not shiny. I hope you know what kind of polish I mean... it's hard to describe, but they're just cheapo ones. They work just fine if you add a clear topcoat pretty quick. But that's a tale for another day. Anyways, let your base coat dry. Like really dry. If it's a little wet, the Crackle layer will grab the bottom one and make it look really weird and clumpy.

Step 2: Don't use purple. I've tried 2 different brands of purple Crackle (one by each company) and neither one of them has looked good. They're too thin, plus they don't really crack. Not sure why, but I plan on figuring this sucker out, since I now own TWO duds.

Step 2b: Remove ugly polish and start over. This is the Sally Hansen one, btw.

Step 3: Apply Crackle! I wanted to test them all - so I did. Since I'm still not a pro at this, I'll just tell you what seems to be working. Apply Crackle in a medium-thickness layer - not a layer that you know you're going to add another to, but also not a really thick one that looks like it'll never dry. At first I was a little worried about using really even strokes, but apparently this didn't matter either. Actually, towards the end (fingers middle through pinky) I kinda just brushed sloppily and those actually turned out better, in my opinion.

Again, the purple one kinda looked weird. Also, I have to take pictures outside to make them look decent. Good thing it's 105 degrees out.

Step 4: Remove excess paint and apply clear coat once everything is dry. I actually didn't put a clear coat on mine yet. Mostly because I didn't want to wait for yet another layer to dry.

Just a heads-up, this week of work is looking a little IN-tense, but this weekend will be dull, so I'll be writing more soon. ;P