My manicures will never be the same again.

I finally came up with something that is ACTUALLY work appropriate in every way! This shouldn't be as exciting as it is... but other nail polish addicts will understand what I'm feeling. It's always exciting finding something you love on your nails that has just enough bling to make YOU happy but fits under the work radar! Wooo!

The manicure I'm talking about features Chanel Quartz and China Glaze Fairy Dust.

Chanel Quartz & China Glaze Fairy Dust

Chanel Quartz & China Glaze Fairy Dust

Look at that holo in the second picture!

I've had Fairy Dust in my collection forever but for some reason this was the first mani I have ever done with it! It was one of the first China Glazes I ever bought and what in the world was I thinking not using it sooner?! Beats me. It totally blings out Quartz which is a gorgeous neutral rosey/taupey/tanish brown colour. (How is that for descriptive) By itself Quartz is gorgeous, but I have trouble wearing such light neutral colours alone with my olivey skin tone and my love for everything dark. Fairy Dust was JUST the right touch to make me gaze at my nails in awe. Definitely a must have for any nail polish addicts collection, though I'm sure most ladies have figured this one out already! :P

Anyways, this is super short, but that's because it's 1:30 AM and I'm doing a super quick mani using Illamasqua's Raindrops before I run to bed. Just thought I needed to post this bit of goodness before I totally forget that my pictures of it exist!

Sleep well blog land.

Ayley

RAOK!!

I can't even begin to tell you how incredibly excited I am right now. I am literally shaking with excitement... over a nail polish. Silly, but I've been longing for this polish since the first time I ever laid eyes on it. The polish I'm talking about is Rescue Beauty Lounge's Scrangie, named after one of my absolute favourite bloggers. (www.scrangie.com) It's been on and off of the RBL site, coming back when fans vote for it to be sold again but always selling out super fast. I figured it would be the one polish that would sit on my wish list, always in the back of my mind but never in my hands.

Well all of that changed today! A girlfriend of mine offered me her bottle knowing how much of  a lemming it was to me. Now my heaven in a bottle is in my hands! All mine! I've already told my boyfriend that it is the one polish in my collection that he isn't allowed to touch. (Let's just say our bed spread is suffering from a previous nail polish accident) >.<

Rescue Beauty Lounge Scrangie, Nfu oh 61

It is definitely everything I imagined it to be. The consistency is wonderful and the colour is even more stunning in person. I'm in love with the bottle, I can't stop staring at it! I think this is the most perfect way to start off my RBL collection, provided I manage to get my hands on some others that are sure to find their way on to my wish list.

Along with Scrangie, she threw in a bottle of Nfu oh's #61, a gorgeous silver holo. This is my very first Nfu oh and I know already that it will not be my last. I have many others on my wish list but I'm happy that this was my first to try.

I can't even begin to express my gratitude towards this lovely lady. You rock my world!

Ban Hammer!

Recently at work some of the head managers decided to bring down the ban hammer on "crazy" nail polish colours. This means that I'm officially not allowed to wear more than half of my nail polish collection to work. How incredibly dull! I mean whats wrong with a little bit of purple?! A gorgeous jewel toned teal?! I don't get it and unfortunately the neutral/nude/pink/red side of my collection is very lacking. So, I've decided that if I'm going to be forced to wear pink, it might as well be the brightest most obnoxious pinks possible! I had a little bit of fun going through what pinks I do have and bought a few more to try and expand my choices. So far this is what I have come up with for my so called "work appropriate" manicures.


First up we have OPI's Koala Berry. Now I picked this up just for the name itself but it happened to be a gorgeous hot pink so it coincided with the work theme which was a bonus. I debated against posting this picture as it doesn't read true to colour AT ALL, but I've decided it might be nice to have the picture up as a way to see all sides of the colour. I can always post extra pictures if I manage to capture it just right!

OPI Koala Bear-y

OPI Koala Bear-y

These pictures are reading incredibly red but I assure you it is a hot HOT pink. Ugh these pictures almost make me cringe a little. Oh well, if you google it you'll find that some people did manage to post it true to colour, whereas others turned out with pictures very close to mine. I'm not alone!

Next up we have Reggae to Riches. Now I know that this isn't a true pink. In fact, I have it swatched on both my pink AND purple wheels just because I couldn't decide where it really fell. Okay, it really isn't pink at all, but it reads pink enough that I figured it would JUST pass the work guidelines. I ended up bringing the actual bottle to work with me just in case I had to prove it was... kind of.. pink. The vibrant blue duochrome isn't as apparent in the bottle, however, my pictures say differently. Boy does that duochrome glow in this lighting.

China Glaze Reggae to Riches

China Glaze Reggae to Riches

I'm obviously being very generous when I say this is pink. Lets say it is fuchsia with a kick. The application of this polish is amazing and I always get great wear for the time I have it on. I'm one of those people who changes their polish every two days so I can't say long term, but after two days it looks as if I just painted them. I'm already on my second bottle of this gem, it's one of my absolute favourites.

As you can see, I'm not doing too well with this pink thing, but I really am trying! >.< My idea of pink has been tainted by my love of cool colours. I am soooo not a warm colour person. I think I'm doing much better with the neutral/nude side of the work appropriate spectrum. I'll post those soon! Any pink suggestions are definitely welcome!

For some reason I couldn't get this song out of my head while typing this post. Mentioning reggae just screams Bob Marley to me and so I will leave you with one of my favourite songs. This is my message to you ou ou ou!



Ayley

The City and the Sea

Just recently I got some exciting news! I've been looking into a few different local professional choirs around me and found one that is exactly what I'm looking for. I had actually heard about it long ago but missed all previous audition dates so I didn't really think about it. This year I made a point of following the website as to not miss my chance. I ALMOST did once again after forgetting to check the site for a couple weeks. Luckily, I'm best friends with the choirs accompanist and he informed me that they were having some extra auditions. I had to throw together an audition piece; all my years of classical voice lessons helped out there. I was literally the last person to audition and... Well I got in! I'm one of the 38 people, guys and girls, who did and I feel so proud. I've always had a choir in my life. I was in all the choirs available in elementary and high school as well as an all girls Conservatory Choir when I was younger and a well known audition choir for a couple years in my teens. It has felt so weird to not have a choir in my life for almost 3 years now. It feels like I've found of piece of me that was missing!

We start meeting next week and I've already received some of the music we will be singing! These pieces written by Eric Whitacre are amazing. He used white key clusters, meaning only the white keys on the piano are used, no black, to make the gorgeous melodies. The poetry by E.E.Cummings is light, whimsical, and totally fun. There are actually 5 pieces in the set but the choir will only be singing these 4.



I Walked the Boulevard

i walked the boulevard

i saw a dirty child
skating on noisy wheels of joy
pathetic dress fluttering

behind her a mothermonster
with red grumbling face
cluttered in pursuit
pleasantly elephantine

while nearby the father
a thick cheerful man
with majestic bulbous lips
and forlorn piggish hands

joked to a girlish whore
with busy rhythmic mouth
and silly purple eyelids
of how she was with child

E.E.Cummings, 1894-1962





The Moon is Hiding in Her Hair

the moon is hiding in
her hair.
The
lily
of heaven
full of all dreams,
draws down.

cover her briefness in singing
close her with intricate faint birds
by daisies and twilights
Deepen her,

Recite
upon her
flesh
the rain’s
pearls singly-whispering.

E.E.Cummings, 1894-1962




Maggie and Milly and Molly and May

maggie and milly and molly and may
went down to the beach (to play one day)

and maggie discovered a shell that sang
so sweetly she couldn’t remember her troubles, and

milly befriended a stranded star
whose rays five languid fingers were;

and molly was chased by a horrible thing
which raced sideways while blowing bubbles:and

may came home with a smooth round stone
as small as a world and as large as alone.

for whatever we lose (like a you or a me)
it’s always ourselves we find in the sea

E.E.Cummings, 1894-1962




Little Man in a Hurry

little man
(in a hurry
full of an
important worry)
halt stop forget relax

wait

(little child
who have tried
who have failed
who have cried)
lie bravely down

sleep

big rain
big snow
big sun
bug moon
(enter us)

E.E.Cummings, 1894-1962




So Incredible! I can't wait until this Friday when we start practicing!

Cheers!

Ayley

I've got the magic in me!

Last night while surrounded by a bunch of boys playing Left4Dead and well... being boys, I decided to girlify my section of the couch with a shimmering manicure. I can imagine they all enjoyed the smell of acetone and polish, but hey! I put up with the smell of them being sweaty boys at soccer all the time so they can deal with one night of nail polish remover! I was dying to do a manicure with a new little gem I picked up, OPI DS Magic.

OPI DS Magic

OPI DS Magic

These photos don't do this polish justice in any way, shape, or form. There is a very slight purpleness to the shimmer that I couldn't capture for the life of me, and I took well over 100 pictures trying. Unfortunately I didn't have any day light as this mani took place at 12:00 am, otherwise I'm sure some sun might have helped. Though it is a terrible picture, I found that a yellowish background brought out more of the glow of this polish. So excuse the ugly yellow floor! (and my poor pinkie cuticle... I stopped biting my nails a few years ago but a few of my cuticles still suffer >.< )

This polish, like its name says, is magic. It is a dream to apply, easily opaque in one thickish coat and combines all of my nail polish loves. I lean towards blues/purples/teals/greens when it comes to nail polish and I love darker colours on my skin tone. Recently, I have found that I've been pulling out CND Sapphire Sparkle to add an amazing glass fleck shimmer to all of my manicures, but this polish has that exact effect built right in! I think glass flecks are slowly becoming my absolute favourite finish or this is what I personally perceive to be a glass fleck anyways.

I've been practicing my nail polish application over the past few months, working on creating a perfect cuticle line without any form of clean up.

Though I don't want to toot my own horn, here is a close up to show just how good I'm getting at it. My cuticles no longer require any clean up. I used to use a small makeup brush dipped in polish remover to fix some mistakes but I no longer require to do so. I do sometimes spill a little polish on the sides of my fingers when applying, but that will be my next thing to work on to achieve a perfect application all the time.

I had way too many songs circulating in my head when it came to this manicure but I've decided I wanted to go with the classic... so just for fun I will leave you with this.



Gosh I wish I lived in the 60's! I chose this specific video just because I LOVE the girls dancing in it. It's nothing like you see today and it's awesome. Not raunchy and revealing... just fun! Music was so much better back in the day. *sigh*

Anyways, I hope everyone is enjoying a lovely Sunday afternoon!


Ayley

I have a confession.

I... love... *deepbreath*... TLC! There I said it, and no I don't mean TLC as in tender loving care. I mean TLC as in the network. I'm pretty sure it means The Learning Channel which I don't think fits the network fully, but who am I to judge? Sadly this is something I don't hear very often from others. It seems like I'm one of the only people who appreciates their completely random programs. For me it's just brainless television, something I can turn on after a long day and not have to think about but just enjoy it. A guilty pleasure if you will. I know some people hate the network for some of their programs, such as Toddlers and Tiaras. I personally love this show, that's not to say I don't disagree with some of the things the mothers and daughters will do to achieve their idea of "beauty", but that's another blog post all together. For me it's a show I throw on, sit back, and paint my nails too. So fun!

Anyways, after veering completely off track there... I actually wanted to post a song I heard a few days ago after watching another program I adore. Kate plus 8! Her children are so freaking cute! I remember watching this long ago with my mom and we would pick who were our favourites. Hannah and Aiden melt my heart. Heck, all the kids do! Seriously. I wish they were mine. Sadly this show is coming to a close and it did so with such a great song!




I youtube'd this one as soon a I heard it. I've never heard of Mozella but I will definitely be listening to more! She has such a cute voice with lyrics that I really wanted to share. So, this one goes out to my mom. A sharer in my love of TLC, my support, my best friend! Thank you!

And so it begins...

Hello potential people who will read this!

I've decided to start a new blog with an actual purpose! My previous blogs, however many I've started and stopped after just a couple posts, have all been filled with emotional teenage drama and poetic nonsense all about break ups and heartache. How incredibly thrilling right?! Now, 5 or 6 years later, I enjoyed an evening of laughing with my boyfriend as we read my 16 year old sorrows. If you ever happen to stumble across my other blogs please have a chuckle or two for me!

Anyways, back to the purpose part of this... I've decided that I need a sort of archive for my new/not-so-new obsession. Nail Polish! Along with smatterings of music and lyrics; the reasoning behind these two coming together will be explained momentarily. Though I can't promise this will be anymore exciting then my last attempts at blogging, I know the topics cater to a wider audience and friends I've been making lately. Along with my passion for the subjects and my need for a new hobby, I'm thinking this blog will be much more successful!

I've been wanting to start a nail polish blog for quite some time now but was putting it off as I couldn't find just the right name. I'm starting way late in the polish blog game and all of the names I originally thought of were taken. How sad! It's amazing how many polish blogs are out there actually... it seems kind of redundant for me to make one... Oh well! I have a feeling mine will turn out a little different as I happen to have another reason for starting this new outlet. I'm going to esthetics school in the new year! I've done it, I've finally decided it's the right path for me and my application has been accepted. So, along with swatching my way through my nail polish stash and posting my thoughts on the bottles of goodness; I also want to post about my experiences in beauty school, showing my progress and maybe even educating those who end up reading this. The schooling part will obviously start later, but who says we can't have some manicuring fun before then?!

Now to get to the lyrics part of the title. While looking for the perfect name, I asked everyone I stumbled across to give me some inspiration. It happened to be my boyfriend that struck gold. One night while laying in bed with me continuously asking, "what should it's name be?" he came up with something along the lines of Songs Of Polish. Now it wasn't exactly what I wanted, but his idea was that I could potentially come up with manicures based on some of my favourite songs. I loved it immediately. Not only was it versatile in that it gave me another topic just in case I was getting a little tired of nail polish, but it also gave me some inspiration for future manicures. I'm already making lists of posts! Yay boyfriend inspiration!

So there you have it, Polish & Lyrics... I know that was quite the lengthy introduction but to be honest this isn't really for people reading this. Though it would be nice to eventually gain readers and therefore gain feedback, I really just want this to be a way for me share all of my nail polish adventures with myself. Ahhh I just thought of my tag line!

One girl's adventures through her polish and playlist.

Moving on with my very first post, I thought I'd start this off with a bit of cuteness that I painted on my nails a little while back. I figured it might be a good way to really see where my nail art goes over the course of my training...

And just because I needed a bit more of a cuteness overload, here is my left hand with my girlie panda!

I used CND stickey base, China Glaze in White On White, a doting tool with Art Deco Polish in Black, and OPI Thanks So Muchness for the cute red bow!

Well, though it seemed like this post would never be finished, there you have it. My first blog post on my new blog. Here's hoping that I can make this thing successful and don't refer back to my previous heartbreaking poetic state!

Cheers ladies!

Ayley