Blue NOTD and Happy Memories

Includes a sample previously reviewed

Today I'm skipping past my posting queue to share what's on my nails as I type, and what's on my nails is there because I put it on to match the blue (for the Great Lakes) theme of the 2nd Michigan Nail Girls meetup, which was this past Saturday. It more than doubled in size from the one last December. Just look at this mani photo, and this doesn't even have the early leavers or late arrivers in it:



My hand is there in the bottom middle, with the less than elegant hand pose (gotta work on that for next time); going around from there clockwise, (linked to their Instagram names if I know them): jennahleenaildesign, nailsbyerock, jessface90x, nativewarpaints, fashionfooting, Ariel, MyNailPolishIsPoppinLeah, nailsbymercedes, traceyloveslacquer, paintmewithpolish, mini-paintmewithpolish, blairmio43, liquid_afterglow_lacquer, er_in_m, honeybee_nails, and back to me, thekarend.

Here's a sun shot some of us were in earlier, just before pawsandpolish had to leave; that's her in the lower left. (Photo taken my mr. pawsanpolish.)



My original plan for the blue/Great Lakes theme was to do some water marbling. I didn't get started on that early enough in the day, but I tried anyway and proved to myself that I am nowhere near good enough at marbling to do it in a hurry. Thus I turned to my faithful friend glitter, choosing a couple supporting actors as well. Left to right: Bonita Salon Made to Envy, Wet Paint Nails Waterfalling for You, Formula X Crash, Pop-arazzi Perfectly Peacock, China Glaze Can You Sea Me.



My base was Duri Rejuvacote followed by Salon Sciences Instant Artificials. Then all nails got two coats of Bonita Made to Envy. All but my accent nails were then topped with one coat of Wet Paint Nails Waterfalling for You and given a gradient of Formula X Crash. The accent nails got no jelly, just allover glitter in the form of one coat of Pop-arazzi Perfectly Peacock plus one to two of China Glaze Can You Sea Me (depending on how many of the bigger holo hexes I got out on coat one). Two coats of Diamond Dry topcoat completed the look. (It was going to be one layer of topcoat but after that dried I decided it wasn't glassy smooth enough for a nail meetup.)





I shared a ride to the meet with paintmewithpolish and her family so got to extend the fun before and after. During, there was much chatting and laughing and eating and swapping and selling and gifting and just general merriment. Unlike last time, I came home with a bit more polish than I brought (should have left my wallet at home, perhaps) but it's all good stuff, including my first Parrot Polish and Rainbow Honey, a couple things from my wish list, and a whole lotta glitter.



Maybe I should make it a goal to swatch all of these before the next meeetup. On second thought, nope, since I hope we have a meetup long before I'm able to get through these given my normal levels of distractability. If you're a nail polish enthusiast in Michigan (or close enough that you'd be interested in coming to future meetups), request to join our Facebook group, Michigan Nail Girls and Guys, so you can be part of the fun next time!

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Note on my Blogiversary Giveaway: Entries are now closed and in the next week or so I will be validating and tabulating and picking and emailing winners.

My Life Outside of Nail Polish

So yeah, I did just disappear there for a while. Those of you who pop by regularly probably guessed why: I was off skiing, finishing out my season with another week at "my" mountain, Schweitzer in North Idaho. At the beginning of the trip, we had spring conditions, with sun and views like this one:



The night before our last day, it snowed five inches and then just kept coming down; I didn't get any photos of that because I was too busy playing in the snow (and also I didn't think my camera would like getting snowed on).

In other non-nail polish pursuits, early this month, I posted about a conference I went to where my nails sported lots of layers. That was the event at which I got two dresses for review from Igigi, a fashion house which makes dressy clothing for women who wear sizes 12 and up (US sizes), as I teased in one of my posts back in January. Here I am in one of the dresses (photo by Shawna Cameron):



To see me in the other dress (and get a glimpse of the fabulous glittery shoes I wore with it) and enter to win a $50 Igigi gift certificate, head on over to my review on my other website (there's also a link there to find other reviews where you can get more chances to win). International readers are welcome to enter, just make sure that Igigi will ship to your location (you can check here). Deadline is April 20, 2014.

Travel, Guest Nails, and CrowsToes Merope

If you also read my old school online journal, Hat on Top, Coat Below, you already know that a few weeks ago my mom moved into the rehab unit of a nursing home, coincidentally on the same weekend I'd already planned to be traveling to a conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin. As things worked out, the move went well enough that I was able to attend most of the conference events, though I did miss a few things in order to check up on things via phone.

Taking care of my nails had slipped down on my priority list what with all the other stuff going on, so heading in to that weekend, my peelies were atrocious. The night before I left for the weekend, I cut my nails short (sadly, it wasn't possible to cut off all the peelies even though I went to nubbins), put on a layer of the old formula Orly Nail Defense that I save for situations like this, and toppped it off with Instant Artificials to smooth things out as best I could.



One of the activities at this year's conference was creativity sessions, and I agreed to lead one on nail art. Because we only had 50 minutes, I decided to focus on dotting. I think it went pretty well; the ladies seemed to have fun experimenting on nail wheels and a few asked where to buy dotting tools.



Even though it was a busy weekend, I did take time to paint my nails. I stayed up late one night and put on one of the duochromes from CrowToes duochrome Pleiades collection, Merope. I didn't bring my lightbox with me, so I snapped these shots in the best lit part of my hotel room—over the sink. Unlike some duochromes, this didn't need a dark base color to look its best. I used Sally Hansen Age Correct Growth for my treatment (another thing I've been hoarding; I scooped up a bunch of bottles when it was discontinued), followed by Instant Artificials, two coats of Merope, and Diamond Dry top coat.



Merope has a blue to plum shift that's quite visible. (Also visible: the fact that my cleanup skills are not so great after midnight.)



Here's Merope in the winter daylight filtering in through my hotel room window the next morning:



A new event at the con this year was a silent auction, and I donated a "mini manicure" (basically shaping if needed and polish). I brought a wide variety of polish options in an attempt to have something the winner would like regardless of her taste. I had cremes and shimmers in a rainbow of colors and neutrals and a wide variety of glitters, with drugstore and salon and indie brands all represented. The auction ended up being won by the partner of my fellow lacquer lover, koroshiya (not her real name, but the name I first knew her by—we met years ago on an old school general interest discussion board). Rather than have me paint his nails, he gave the prize to koro, so before I left to go back to spend time with my mom, she and I sat down in the hotel meeting room and played with polish. She ended up deciding on Skittles with mostly indie brands. The light wasn't great in that room, so unfortunately my photos didn't come out very well, but you can at least get a flavor of the finished mani.



Right hand (above and below): thumb—Cult Nails Flushed, index—Sinful Colors Star Dust over Cult Nails Flushed (I'm pretty sure), middle—Polish Revolution Glitterbox over CrowsToes Alcyone, ring—Pahlish Marbles on Glass over Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Black Creme (I think), pinky—Smitten Polish I Feel Wicked over Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Black Creme.





Left hand (above and below): thumb—Cult Nails Disciplined, index—Happy Hands The Worst is Over, middle—Contrary Polish Bauble, ring—Pahlish Combustible Lemon over Contrary Polish Bauble, pinky—Cult Nails Bitten.



There were not a lot of stoplights on my drive between Green Bay and Mom's nursing home, but when I did find myself at one, I enjoyed looking at the color shift in Merope.



This all happened almost three weeks ago now, and I'm happy to report that Mom did so well in rehab that she progressed from being in a wheelchair to using a walker to being released to live with my niece, the nurse, and get all her therapy in a home-based setting. This may not be the long term solution but it seems to be the best option right now. I unfortunately haven't been able to visit since she moved as I've been suffering from a cold/flu/sinus thing and didn't need to be spreading those germs around. I am feeling much better and once I stop coughing I'll be heading back to Illinois. Thanks to all of you who have included my mom in your prayers and have sent good thoughts our way; I think it helped!