When I was doing Shaun's nail this weekend...

When I was doing Shaun's nail this weekend it triggered a memory in me of my MaMaw doing mine when I was a kid.  I noticed I was touching Shaun's fingers the same way she touched mine... but he wasn't complaining "You're mashing my veins!  Stop mashing my veins!" like I was.  😅

I distinctly remember being so uncomfortable with any pressure where my fingers bend and I guess because I could see veins under my skin there I thought they were being mashed.  I really don't know what that was about except that I still don't like pressure applied there.  I'm weird about being touched on my hands and around my nails, anyway.  I guess "on my hands" is a weird and unnecessary qualifier because I'm not a touch-me person in general.

But anyway, I had that memory come flooding back and I could hear in my head how my MaMaw would get in a huff and say "I am doing no such thing!" while painting my nails.  😆😆😆  And it just made me feel happy to remember that.  ❤️

These are the nails I tested on Shaun...

These are the nails I tested on Shaun - chrome powders over magnetics.  They look really neat!

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I tested out using gel polish to make stones for jewelry.

I tested out using gel polish to make stones for jewelry.  I'd say it worked.  :D  The stone on the left is just the holographic chrome powder Lust by JReine over black.  I definitely need to make sure my sticky coat goes down smooth.  You can see some brush strokes in that one.  It was the first one I made so the second one came out smoother.  The stone on the right was made using the same method as my dandelion nails, except thatw I didn't put the dandelions on it because it was just an experiment.  It turned out so well that I kind of wish I had, but I'll know better next time.  Now that I know this works I'll probably make some jewelry using these methods.  I'm excited to once again have more to paint than just my nails.  I am slowly but surely working towards re-opening my Etsy and I'm really excited about that.  I definitely need a creative outlet in my life.

Video

These are the nails I did...

These are the nails I did after seeing a new layering technique on the 'Gram. The bottom layer is a sheer purple, then over that is a silver cat-eye magnetic, then it's topped with a chrome powder, and finally sealed with topcoat. The product of that layering reminded me of a summer sunset, so I added the dandelions blowing in the wind for good measure.

I played with this technique on Shaun's nails over the weekend and found some really pretty combinations. I'll bother him for a photo (or video!) at some point soon.

Encore Solid Gel Polish and Magnetic Super Cat Eye Gel by Vettsy;
Mermaid Nail Powder Dawn-04 by Vettsy;
Harunouta plate L034
Stamping technique;
Magnetized

Video

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Encore Solid Gel Polish and Magnetic Super Cat Eye Gel by Vettsy;

Mermaid Nail Powder Dawn-04;

Harunouta plate L034

I learned a new polish-layering technique...

I learned a new polish-layering technique on Instagram and I am OBSESSED. Shaun likes his nails done, so he's volunteered as tribute to let me experiment with more combinations. I'll post my nails probably tomorrow. They have a summery, sunset vibe. 😁❤️

Me all day:

Video

JReine?

I never did anything else to these.

I never did anything else to these.  I just haven't been energetic lately, and that's probably because I'm not allowed to exercise.  So this is what I'm wearing this week.  No complaints.

Taken in direct sun to show the holographic flame

 Taken in indirect light to show the chrome shift

Work in progress.

Work in progress. This is a holographic chrome powder over black. It's GORGEOUS on its own, but I would at least like an accent nail. Currently trying to decide what to do...

Suggestions welcome.

I just did something.

I just did something.

This is going to sound STUPID DRAMATIC, but I finally merged my nail art page (Blu's Happy Nails) with my polish jewelry page (Polish ALL the Things!).  It was a long process because Facebook wouldn't let me change the page names to match so I had to trick them and do it like, a word at a time.  I went from "Happy Nails" to "Polish All The Things" and it took MONTHS.

Then on top of that a lot of things had to match up on the pages.  A big deal was that one of the pages was "Classic" and the other was the "New Page Experience" and I kept trying to upgrade one but finally figured out that I had to downgrade the other.  They could have just SAID THAT SOMEWHERE, but anyway.  I got that done.

Then at long last, tonight, the actual merge happened.  The merge itself was fast once requested.  I'm glad it's done and over with.  It's something I debated on doing for years and once I finally made up my mind the whole everything was so scary and I had so many doubts and now that has disappeared BECAUSE IT IS DONE.

Anyway, I am finally starting to feel like I have the time and creative energy to do nail art again.  Hopefully I can get back on my jewelry bullshit, too.  I've even thought about creating decorative press-on sets to sell.  I see a ton of them on Etsy and it honestly looks fun to make them, so I'm considering trying it.  I don't know.  I don't have to jump into the deep end right off, but you never know - I just might!