I Think I've Found My Mojo

After bugging the snot out of the ladies as Sally Beauty Supply, I finally got them before they even hit the shelf:


China Glaze Crackle Collection
From left to right: Fault Line, Crushed Candy, Black Mesh, Broken Hearted, Lighting Bolt, Cracked Concrete


I haven't posted any nail related content for a cool minute on this blog but when I got these I couldn't resist and immediate rockin' mani:


China Glaze Crackle Cracked Concrete over Nubar's Lavender

I am so excited about these polishes. I had a crackle polish when I was in the 7th grade. I thought it was spectacular then as I think these are spectacular now. It has been a long while since these type of polishes have been around. And now it seems like when one polish company releases a new collection, every other polish company must duplicate the flavor of the week. Whereas OPI released a single shattered polish, CG released 6 of them. And for $4.99 with my Sally's Card, I had no problem skipping out on OPI's retail $8.99 price tag.

Expect more NOTD posts with these polishes. I'm getting my groove back!

Time For An Update On My Life

Hello ten readers!

I can hardly call you readers when there is nothing to be read.

Well, I have finished last part of my non-elective formal schooling. College was never a maybe for me. It was always something I assumed had to be completed. First you go to elementary school, then middle school, then high school, and then college. I assume one day, if I ever find a traditional job as a public school music teacher, I will work on a Master's degree. However, it may not be in music. Unless I develop some kind of passion for a facet of teaching I don't currently have, I assume I will try to earn a master's degree of the purpose of earning at a higher pay scale. Currently, most school districts pay based upon the number of years a teacher has been teaching with the district and based upon the number of units a teacher has beyond their baccalaureate degree. Simply put: the more units you have beyond your bachelor's degree, the more money you get paid.

I chose to say "the more money you get paid" versus "the more money you earn" because there is no correlation between the more units a teacher has making them a better teacher. With our current state of the economy, soon government will force teachers to be evaluated and will adjust their pay based on performance. I am not totally against this idea. People in general should be paid largely based on their performance, and I don't believe teachers should be an exception. In high school I was a victim of too many crappy teachers who had already obtained their tenure and in turn decided it was "OK" to babysit classes rather than teach them. And I went to a good school with good programs. But I still found myself sitting in these type of classes. If I was in an accelerated program and I occasionally sat in these type of classes, students in the mainstream population must really receive the crap education that is so often shown in papers and on the news.

But back to the original point, if it is still profitable for teachers to earn their masters for higher pay when I find a PS teaching position, I probably will go back to school one day.

But for now I am finished.

And today I find myself without (official) employment. In our current economy there are no jobs available for anyone let alone people with degrees. At one point while I was earning my degree, I had three jobs. Now I find myself with none. I fear that when I submit applications I am passed over because I list a degree under the education section. A person in HR once told me that they often passed over applications and resumes listing a bachelor degree when they were hiring for an entry level (aka minimum wage) position because they knew the person would be unhappy in the position. At this point, I would LOVE to be earning minimum wage.

I wonder if I should leave my bachelor degree off my applications when applying for a job. I don't want to be passed over for any reason. Even minimum wage will pay my bills.

I promise a more optimistic post later. There are some promising things happening in my life right now too. But it's always easier to bitch than to brag...for me anyway.

On the plus side, no job has offered me lots of time for knitting. If you are on ravelry, you can check out my latest FOs. I had a dry spell for a LONG time. But now I am back in action.

www.ravelry.com/projects/aelievense

Today is my birthday...

That feels weird to say. I never hint at people, or ever expect anyone to get me anything. I've never had a surprise party (that's not to say I haven't had nice surprises on my birthday) and maybe it's because I'm never that squeaky wheel looking for grease. I only have one real friend (who is not a family member) and we live far away from each other now because we go to different colleges. Anyway, I thought I would tell you 11 readers that today is my birthday. I feel like someone should know.

Anyway, onto fun stuff. On a cooler note, my birthday falls on a Sunday manicure day! I'm looking at my collection and wondering what special birthday polish I'll choose...

...update later.

Oh my gaaaaaaaahhhhhhh.....

One of these colors will be going on my nails tonight.



...and I got all day to chose which one.

I was able to snag these at Sally Beauty Supply. My local SBS either has snipers who are on some kind of calling list and come down the moment the new collections are put on display, or I just have bad luck. But as you can probably tell, there is one gem missing from the line-up shot, and that lil baby is Space Cadet.

I was a little torn whether or not to buy this collection. On the one hand, it's completely awesome. On the other hand, this "type" of nail polish is duplicated in almost every brand this season. Back on the first hand, Orly raised their prices for this collection (though I was able to get them for $7.99 a pop rather than the MSRP of $10), but that raised price is still cheaper than MAC's $13 for 0.34oz compared to Orly's generous 0.6oz.

And even though I kind of hate Orly's formula (it's always given me problems...without fail...I don't know if it's something that happens during shipping, at my SBS, if I apply with too much circulating air around me or what...all I know is that other people don't seem to have my problem with Orly. I probably need to start experimenting with thinners to solve this problem) getting almost double the product for a cheaper price is worth it to me. And because the big-time bloggers are generous enough to post cross-brand collection comparison pics, I know I am getting what I want.

On the nail growth front, I am almost completely done with my "grow out phase." I am sick of having short nails. I have nothing against short nails, but my process have been long. I get so jealous looking at my idol nail bloggers and their beautiful swatch pics with their long nails. Every week, I grab for my file, and shave off the weeks worth of growth, down to poor little nubbins. I think I am just at the point where I can let the growth come out and start working on getting the shape back to them.

And with all the new stresses of starting the student teaching I have fallen back into the bad habit of biting my cuticles. It's a habit that I fall into whenever I am stressed, and having short nails makes it easier for me to do it. Now that I will be able to have long nails again, and that I am getting adjusted to student teaching, I should be able to break the habit again.

Alright, that's enough of the blah blah blah. I'll try to post a new pic of my Orly
Cosmic FX maincure tonight.

Tagging Back into the Swing of Things

I know I have been shamefully out of the blogging world. No time during the school year, no time during the summer, apparently. But here is a little something to get back into the blogosphere. I was tagged by http://polishdejour.blogspot.com/ aka KAREN to do this tag! (in my HS days they were called surveys and you didn't have to "tag" anyone...you just assumed people were interested enough in you to want to read this stuff, ;-)





Here goes!





4 things found in my purse


-keys


-camera


-makeup bag


-wallet


(Whoa, I am interesting)





4 things in my room


-my makeup desk


-my bed


-my TV


-my HELMER!!!





4 things I have always wanted to do


-go to school to become a cosmetologist (and finish)


-be skinny/lose my excess weight


-play professionally in an orchestra pit for musical theater


-persue singing and acting seriously...like, on Broadway...or any other stage that will have me.





4 things I am currently into


-painting my nails and nail art


-teaching music


-Youtube


-getting better on my ukulele





4 things I bet you didn't know about me


-I am indifferent to getting married or having kids. If it happens, it happens. If it doesn't, it doesn't and that's fine too. I very much identify with the character Katherine Watson from the movie Mona Lisa Smile: (on marriage) "yes, I suppose I will someday, I'm just not going to plan my life around it."


-I have secret aspirations to become a Youtube star.


-I would love to get a Ph. D. In something...


-I cry on a daily basis. I usually find something so beautiful, so sad, so moving, so tragic or so sweet happening each and every day, that a day in which I don't cry is rare. I'm not talking about bawling, but a tear or two is usually shed whether it's from a scene in a movie, a paragraph in a book, a child being kind to their parent (for a change) or a line praising God or His son in a hymn, something usually makes me cry.





4 songs I can't get out of my head


-Wig in a Box, Hedwig and the Angry Inch


-I Dreamed a Dream, Les Miserables


-Speechless, Lady GaGa, The Fame Monster


-Defying Gravity, Wicked, the Musical





4 people I tag


-Carleen http://lifelibertycoffee.blogspot.com/


-Deborah http://universityknitter.blogspot.com/


-Scrangie http://www.scrangie.com/


-Thu http://editionsofthu.blogspot.com/

And because this is supposed to be a beauty/girl related blog, here is my NOTW: 8+ days of wear. Essie's Pretty Edgy, Nailtek Foundation base and Quicken top coat. Impressed with both the color and wear.

And as for what I have been up to, beautywise, I have been trying to grow out the entire length of my nail. As soon as a week pops up, I file them back down to nubbins. I will try to take an update pic when this polish comes off. I have some shots of the nail prior to this. My nails will be MUCH better, once all the damage is gone. I have been taking Biotin with the advice from http://nailsbyasami.com. (I tag her too!!!) Biotin is what she said she takes to help her nails, and I have to tell you I think it helps. I did my research before taking this vitamin and I think my nails grow faster. As for stronger, well, I will have to do an in-depth review when my nails are all better.

Thanks for reading! I will try to be back sooner than last time!

First Swap!!!

Twice in one day? Boy are YOU lucky...

Here are pictures of my very first swap! I have never successfully completed a swap before. I have only ever been in preliminary talks about swapping. And in both instances, I was never able to get back in contact with the people who initiated the swap. Oh well. This swap with http://glam-anon.blogspot.com worked out! I present my new Tokodoki Diamante Cromatico Palette:


Super cute outside packaging - clear lucite with an animated graphic on top


The angry little charm inside of the cube, under the palette


The 4 palette colors and swatches: Diamante, light frosty neutral with chunky glitter; Rubino, a frosty taupe; Romeo, a deep burgandy frost; Nancy Rocks, a frosty medium purple.


Swatches blended out.

These shadows seem quite comparable in formula to Urban Decay Shadows. I am pretty excited to try them out. I am very curious about Romeo. The crease color possibilities are intriguing to me as I don't usually use a color like this (I'm not even sure if I have a similar color in my collection.)

When I complete an eye look with this, I will post pictures.

Thanks for the swap Thu!

I think I've Moved On Enough to Post This...

This was my FIFA World Cup manicure. Orange to represent the Huis van Oranje and the red, white, and blue for the flag of the Netherlands. Oh, what could have been. True, both teams had never won the cup before, but why couldn't it have been the Netherlands. They are a teeny, tiny country with a little over 16.5 million people inhabiting an area only slightly larger than Maryland, so to make it as far as they did is awesome. And the game was well matched (and both goalies PHENOMINAL)...but...but...why couldn't it have been us? Third time was not the charm.

C'est la vie...or whatever the Dutch equivalent is.

Anyhow, the manicure was awesome. I used Zoya's Sienna for my orange, Sally Hansen Xtreme Nail Color in Red Carpet, Orly's White Out, and Sally Hansen HD Nail Polish in Laser.

I needed to breakaway from my tribute to the red, white and blue (first for July 4th, and then for the Netherlands) so I decided to test out my grabs from the L'oreal Passport to Paradise Collect. I did Ocean Breeze for my manicure and found myself with a HUGE FAIL:


Indoor Lighting


Outdoor Sunlight

Look at the fail that is this polish. Boy, was I bummed. This was some lovely color in the bottle (and lovely swatches on other nail blogs) but a disaster on the nails. This was a heinous polish to work with - it was runny and goopey all at the same time and dried with bumps, lumps and ripples. Ugh...I took this off the very next day. I don't know about this. I was so disgruntled that I am reluctant to even try and save this with a little polish thinner. Maybe I got a rogue bad bottle. I picked up another bottle from this collection, so maybe the next one will be better (though with my past experience, I am reluctant to use the next bottle.) I have one other L'oreal polish from their regular line...a purple and the name escapes me. I swatched it on ONE nail when I first got it (for swatching purposes only) and it seemed OK and I do plan on wearing it in the future. I feel I owe it to the bottle to give it another shot. When I run across my polish thinner, I will give this bottle another go.

One last bit...I am going to cut my nails. (LOL, I love how this is "news worthy" to me. I am convince that the reason my nails look so bad is because of the salon manicure I had at the end of May. The picture I posted in my Seche Fail post is still pretty accurate of how the nails look. I have stopped using Seche Recondition (I can only take so much insult to injury) and started using Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails Hard as Wraps Powerful Acrylic Gel (does anyone else find SH names to be obnoxiously long?) to strengthen my nails because they are peeling and shredded in certain areas. Though the condition is pretty bad, the nails hold up fairly well with polish on them. But enough is enough. I am starting fresh (well, as fresh as I can...I think I would need to let more nail grow out to completely start fresh.) But maybe I will keep them short until all the damaged nail grows out. I don't know why I opted for the salon manicure - I almost never do. I guess because I was wrapped up in the "special occasionness" of graduating and thought "what the hell." I don't know why I am surprised. My toenails look that bad too without polish on them, and I get pedicures far more often than I get manicures (and then I don't even get pedicures too much. Do you realize that you can buy 3-5 bottles of polish for the cost of one salon pedicure+tip?) Ugh... I must start my quest for healthier nails. When I was using Nailtek I had very happy results. Maybe it's time to dig that stuff out again.

Until I regrow my length, here is the last shot of my long nails, wearing Essie's Lapis of Luxury - tipwear, crusty cuticles and all!



Fear not! I will still post nail pics. I will use this opportunity to test out more loud and vampy shades that some would consider obnoxious on longer nails (not me though...nope...I don't discriminate based on nail length.)