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Sweet Baby Rose Birth Announcement

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Teal & Silver Zebra Print Nails

A while ago I watched a nail tutorial video on YouTube featuring the Konad nail stamping system. Being the sucker for cool artsy stuff that I am, I went on Ebay and purchased a kit. The kit sat in my nail kit box for about two months before I finally really used it, thus creating this nail art design. Before I go on I want to share my opinion about the Konad Nail Stamping Kit. I think it is an amazing tool and a great addition to any nail art collection. According to the Konad company, the stamp will only work with their “Special Polish.” While I am pretty sure that it would be much easier to use with their Special Polish, I have finally found a polish that works pretty well. The Sally Hansen Insta-Dry nail polishes are what I have decided are the best non-Konad polishes to use. They are pretty thick, thus making it easier to use. I do want to go ahead and try the Special Polish, but in the mean time Sally Hansen will serve as a cheaper, easier to acquire alternative. Ok, so on we go.

I started off by applying my base coats as I always do. I use one thin coat of the Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener and another thin coat of Salon Sciences Instant Artificials. This combo works great for me, and the Sally Hansen Miracle Nail Thickener has helped my nails recover really fast from a horrible acrylics incident. The Instant Artificials provides an acrylic-like base that helps keeps nails stronger and makes the polish go on nicely, but removes easily and doesn’t cause the damage that acrylics do.

I then proceed to polish my nails. As my base color I used Milani Neon nail polish in #504 Fresh Teal.

Next step is to apply a quick-dry top coat. I used Seche-Vite, which combined with Envi Nail Enamel Dryer is an awesome combo to get nails dry in an instant. (If you never take any recommendation from me, take this one. This stuff works miracles. And with a 2 year old, a husband and a house to take care of, I know all about the need to have nails dry FAST!)

It’s important that your base color is completely dry before you begin the stamping process. If the polish is not dry, you will mess up your manicure.

For this design I used the Konad M57 template with the zebra print design. There are a lot of really good tutorials on YouTube on how to use the stamping kit, but basically you take the polish in your chosen design color and apply it onto the template. With the scraper you scrape off the excess polish then roll the stamper over the design to transfer it on. Line up the stamper with your nail and in a rolling motion stamp the design on. It really isn’t hard to do once you get the hang of it, but it is time-consuming.

The color I chose for the design was Sally Hansen Insta-Dry polish in #230 Silver Sweep.

When you finish stamping all your nails, apply another layer of top coat and allow to dry. At this point you can use nail polish remover and a small brush to clean up the sides. I use Beauty Secrets Pure Acetone and an ELF concealer brush to clean up the polish.

Once everything is dry and cleaned up, my final step was to condition my cuticles and the skin surrounding the nail with the Sally Hansen Cuticle Massage Cream. After using pure acetone, my skin gets really dry so I like to use this in order to make my nails and cuticles look healthy.

And there you have it. About 2 hours, 1 red Hawaiian Punch juice spill on my carpet, 45 minutes of trying to put the little one to sleep, 1 nail polish spill all over my carpet, and about 3 bathroom breaks later…I’m done. I hope this darn manicure lasts at least a couple days. Oh and I have the same thing on my toes, but I will spare you the pictures. Hope you enjoyed, and feel free to comment and post any questions below. Thanks!

Camel Ammo

So, I know I just put up a post, put I was trying to think of my first Jus Sayin post and upon doing some research, I came across the Camel Ammo. You see there is a new epidemic spreading across the U.S. as of late called Camel Toe. Someone has lied to many ladies letting them think that tights are the new replacement for pants, thus spreading this epidemic from coast to coast. There's a company out there (whom I like to think of as enablers) that has invented this Camel Ammo to help alleviate the side effects of this epidemic. The Camel Ammo is a pink camouflage printed U-shaped disc which you insert into the cotton flap in the crotch of your panties. In the words of the site were I found this, thus "preventing your lady bits from going toe-up." The best part, it's machine washable.
Seriously? Someone sat there and thought of this. And the best part is that they are probably making millions off of this.Oh, I almost forgot, here's the kicker. The product's slogan is "Waging war on the front lines." Don't believe me, Google it. This stuff is really our there.

(picture take from thefrisky.com)