Monday, December 15, 2014

Another Christmas Manicure 14 December 2014

Sorry it's been a while (12 days, I see), but I had another disaster this week.

My last manicure lasted 9 whole days with virtually no damage at all.  I was amazed, but I didn't want to bore you with more photos of it. However, I stuffed up royally with my manicure for this week first time around, so I had to take it all off and start again, after I had slept on it and worked out what I had done wrong.

So, today I have a Christmas-themed skittle manicure (with each nail completely different).  Here's the best photo I could get of it - although it still doesn't really do it justice,  it's pretty close.  I love the colours of all the polishes I used, and will certainly be using them again.


I started with 1 coat of Sally Hansen Salon Manicure Base Coat.  I then added 2 coats of Colours by TBN "Dancing In The Forest" on my pinkies, 3 coats of Revlon Brilliant Strength "Hypnotize" on my ring fingers (although 2 coats would probably have been enough), 3 coats of OPI "Alpine Snow" on my middle fingers and thumbs, and 2 coats of ulta3 "scarlet" on my index fingers. I found the OPI "Alpine Snow" rather hard to work with and, if I hadn't been adding glitter and stripes to the nails I used it on, I would have had to add another coat to get a smooth finish.  The other polishes were all really easy to work with, and I only added the third coat on the gold nail to add intensity to the colour.  This is a gold that I will be using a lot, I'm sure, because it is just so easy to use, and looks so amazing.  I think it would be great for stamping and/or water marble manicures, too.

Once my polishes had all dried, I placed strips of masking tape and striping tape on my thumbs. I then added one coat of ulta3 "scarlet" over the nail, quickly removing the tapes before the polish dried.  I'm afraid I wasn't very happy with the way the stripes turned out, because there were a few spots where I obviously hadn't pressed the tape down firmly enough, especially on the edges of my nails.  I discovered last night, after I had finished it, a tip suggesting that I use a coat of top coat on my nail before doing the striping, and I'll try that next time. However, as a first time striping job (where I painted over them instead of using them as the stripes), I am reasonably happy with it.   I then added 2 coats of KBShimmer "Kringle All The Way" to my ring fingers, and 2 coats of ulta3 "disco fever" to my index fingers.  I had to fish around for some large glitter with the KBShimmer, but there is heaps of different-sized glitter in the bottle (red, green and silver in different sizes, and tiny holographic glitter throughout), so it wasn't hard to get some large ones.  The ulta3 red glitter was really easy to use, and also has plenty of glitter.

Finally, I applied 1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat (Yay! I finally got some!) to each nail, and I'm thrilled to bits with the finish it has given to my nails.  It covered all the glitter beautifully, and dried my manicure so quickly I couldn't believe it.  I will be interested to see how long my manicure lasts with this as my top coat.  I'll be adding another coat, as usual, every other day, and will let you know next time how well it goes.

The damage on my nails is still growing out, and I am nursing another break on my right thumb, but each week there is less of the horrible, dark-brown, fragile, flaking area on my tips left, and more of the lovely pink new growth at the base of my nails.  I am just filing a small amount off each week before I do my new manicure, and my nails are definitely getting a lot stronger each week since I started using the Jojoba oil at least twice a day. They seem to be growing faster, too, which is fantastic.  I'm also using Swisse "Hand Skin Nails" tablets, and I'm sure they have helped, too.

I've been having trouble finding a good, natural cuticle oil that uses Jojoba oil as a base that is a reasonable price, but have decided to make my own after I have used up all the treatments I've already bought.  I'm also having trouble finding a good, hydrating hand cream, but I've found some great recipes online, so I've decided to source all the products I need to make my own, and have also found a recipe for an exfoliating sugar hand scrub, and will be making some of that this week once I find some nice jars to put it in.

I'm amazed at how much information there is available about natural solutions to my hand care problems, and I have found suppliers and recipes for just about everything I need to make my own.  I am allergic to perfumed products, and also to a lot of the preservatives and other artificial additives cosmetic companies use in so many of their products.  It's hard to avoid some of them with my manicures, of course, but at least I can with the products I use every day on my skin and nails.

As I used 2 ulta3 polishes this week, I thought I'd mention the fantastic Christmas gift ideas they have available here in Australia this year.  My hubby bought me a wonderful ulta3 Advent Calendar full of mini nail polishes, and so far the colours have been amazing, and I haven't got any of the ones that I've opened the window for, so hopefully I won't have any of them.  There is also a cube of 18 full-size ulta3 polishes, and a large candy cane full of full-size polishes. I think they have a couple of other gift items, too, but I haven't discovered them yet.  Of course, I've put my order in to Santa for one (or more, perhaps) of them for Christmas.  There are some great Colours by TBN gift sets as well, and lots of others around the stores for other brands, so I'm hoping Santa gets the message and is feeling generous.

So, that's it for another week.  I hope you like what I've shared with you this week, and that you'll come back often to see what I've been up to.

God bless you, and peace be with you all!  Have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

P.S. I have received no monetary or material gain from my reviews of the products used for this manicure.
Everything comes from my personal stash, all purchased by me, either in-store or online.

Thursday, December 4, 2014

Christmas Nails for 2 December 2014

Hi, everyone.  Today I have my first Christmas-themed nails for 2014.  I had a few disasters whilst preparing to polish my nails - three of my nails that I had been nursing along with patches finally gave way, so I had to file them back even further.  Very discouraging, but I persevered, and this is what I finally came up with.  Sorry the photo isn't better, but it's a really dull day here in Tasmania, so the light wasn't very good.


I started with one coat of Sally Hansen Nail Rehab Strengthener, then followed with one coat of OPI Natural Base Coat.  The red polish is China Glaze "Just Be-Claws", which went on really easily. The colour is a rich, shimmering red, and I only needed two coats to get full coverage.  I love this polish, and will be using it a lot in the future, I"m sure.

The white polish is OPI "Alpine Snow" - I needed 3 coats to get full coverage, and even then I still had some streaks. The colour is very nice, but I must say I'm not a fan of this particular polish. I was using stickers and decals anyway, so I used them to cover up the streaks. The snowflake and Christmas tree stickers, and round gold decals, were just some miscellaneous ones that I had in my stash, which I chose at random. I wasn't really happy with the size of the gold decals on the Christmas tree nails, and I would have preferred to pick out some individual pieces of smaller glitter from one of my gold glitter polishes, but it was getting very late and I didn't have time to do them again, and I needed to finish, so I left them as they were. Another lesson learned - give yourself more time to do your manicure! 

I then applied one coat of Calvin Klein "Hallucinate", which has a clear base with gorgeous, tiny holographic glitter thickly spread throughout.  The glitter does not drop to the bottom of the bottle, either, which is a real bonus.  I was really surprised at what a difference this glitter polish made to the overall effect of the whole manicure. The photo does not do it justice, and in sunlight it is just beautiful.  It covered up the streaks in the white polish, and I think it actually saved the manicure.  Thank the Lord for glitter polishes!

I finished up with 2 coats of OPI Top Coat, which I am absolutely in love with.  My manicure from last week was still intact before I took my polish off to do this week's mani, which was great.  Of course, I did apply a new coat of Top Coat every other day, as usual.

I can definitely recommend the China Glaze "Just Be-Claws", but I'm going to have to find another white polish if I want a good finish.  I'd appreciate any recommendations for good, shiny white which gives good coverage if anyone can help.  Being a newbie, I'm still checking out all the reviews on blogs, etc, so maybe I'll find one there.  One of the main problems I have is the inability to get so many of the beautiful polishes that I see recommended on other people's blogs.  Tasmania is really deprived with quantity, quality and range of polishes available, and it is so hard to get polishes online at a reasonable price.  Hopefully, with nail art starting to take off here in Tasmania, demand may force suppliers to offer more options for us in the near future.  So, if you live in Tasmania, and want our stores to stock more choices, LET THEM KNOW that you aren't happy with the limited stock on offer. 

So, that's it for my manicure this week.  Unfortunately, I damaged it in a couple of places while I was doing the clean-up on my fingers (so please don't look too closely), but I'm still learning, and hopefully next week's manicure will be better.  We all learn from our mistakes, so I'm just looking on this as a learning experience, and practice makes perfect (I hope).

Thanks for checking out my blog, and I hope you'll come back again soon, to see how things are going with my nails, to find out what I have discovered online that has helped me a lot, or something that I've fallen in love with.

God bless you, and peace be with you all!  Have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope

P.S. I have received no monetary or material gain from my reviews of the products used for this manicure.
Everything comes from my personal stash, all purchased by me, either in-store or online.

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Headwear and Gifts for Cancer Patients

I have just received an email from the most wonderful site for cancer patients online.  They have just upgraded their site, and they have every type of headwear you could wish for if you have experienced hair loss during and after chemotherapy, or you may know someone who has. Beautiful hats, scarves, turbans, wigs and accessories, and also beauty products and fabulous gift items to help you or your loved one look good and feel better. Or you can show your support for someone you know who has cancer, and is experiencing hair loss from their cancer treatment, by purchasing one of these wonderful items for them, or even for yourself.

The name of the site is Headcovers Unlimited, and you can find them at http://www.headcovers.com/.

If you are about to go through chemotherapy, or have been through it and have lost your hair, and you want something to make you feel better about yourself whilst going through this horrible trial, please check them out.  I purchased several items from them while I was going through chemo, and five months later I'm still wearing them because my hair still hasn't grown very much.  It's coming, but I've been advised to keep it really short for a while, to strengthen it and hopefully thicken it, too.

Or, maybe you're looking for a gift for someone you know who is going through chemotherapy, or is about to.  There are some wonderful gift items and beauty products on the site, and you could even buy them a scarf, hat, turban or even a wig.  All these things would make your loved ones feel a whole lot better.  Take it from someone who has been there, done that.  I was particularly taken with the beautiful Cancer Awareness jewellery, keyrings and magnets they have in their gift section.  There are some absolutely wonderful items here, and they would make fantastic Christmas presents for the people you care about who are suffering from one of these dreadful diseases.  Cancer is horrible, and so are the treatments for it, but you can help to make it a little easier for them, and brighten their lives, by purchasing one of these beautiful items for them.

Of course, there are others who would love these items as well.  People suffering from alopecia, trichotillomania and other medical hair loss conditions would also appreciate any of these products.  Or perhaps you want to wear one of the gift items to show your support for the people sufffering from all the different types of cancer.  Everyone is catered for here, so I know you will be able to find something you like.

Please, check the site out now.  You will be amazed at the quality of their products, and the range of items available.  Here's the link again.  http://www.headcovers.com/

God bless you, and have a wonderful day!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

P.S.  I have received no incentive in any way, shape or form to promote this site.
I am just speaking from my own experience, not for any gain.

Nude With Gold Glitter Nail Art

After a week of disasters, I can finally show you the manicure I resorted to this week in desperation.

I told you in my last post that I would tell what brought me to tears before I managed to get my manicure done for this week.  To cut a long story short, we had to go shopping before I could get around to doing my nails and, right at the end of our shopping trip, I looked at my nails and, to my absolute horror, the tip of my left middle finger nail had snapped right off.  I could have cried then, but that's not the end of the story.

When we got home, I filed my broken nail off, and decided my nails looked wrong with all different lengths, so I bit the bullet and filed the others off shorter as well.  So, here is how my nails looked after I filed them back.  Awful, aren't they?


As you can see, the middle nail on my left hand is really short now, as are the middle and index fingers on my right hand.  The ones that were starting to grow really well are now a lot shorter, also, which is so disappointing, as they were really starting to look good when they were polished.  Anyway, I started to do my manicure for the week, which was going to be red, pink and blue different-sized dots on a white background, with contrasting smaller dots on top of the larger dots, and then even smaller dots on top of those in another colour.  However, I stuffed it up completely, to say the least, and I was absolutely devastated.  I was feeling really depressed at this stage, and had lost all my confidence to try anything else.  It was late in the evening anyway, so I took off the polish, oiled my cuticles (with Jojoba Oil of course), put on some hand cream and went to bed.

But wait!  There's more!  Things just got a whole lot worse.  While I was having a cup of coffee before starting my manicure the next day (24th Nov), I looked at my nails, and nearly died.  My index fingernail on the left hand had a break in it, and so did the thumb and middle fingernails on my right hand.  Then I did cry!!!  I couldn't believe it.  I know one thing for sure, though.  I won't be leaving my nails without any protection on them again before the damage caused by my chemotherapy has all grown out and they have recovered.  They are just so fragile that the slightest thing can cause them to break or peel away.  The damage was too far down the nails for me to file them off, so drastic measures had to be taken.

I promptly applied a patch to each nail, using the tea-bag and glue method, and tried to decide what to do with my nails for the week.  As they are now so short again, and because I was feeling so depressed and didn't want to risk wrecking another manicure, I decided to just do a nude base with gold glitter.  Here is the final result, after three ghastly days of disasters:


I started with a base coat using OPI "Natural Base Coat", then applied two coats of OPI "Passion", which is one of the loveliest pale pink nudes I've found so far.  It went on really easily, and two coats gave reasonable coverage.  If I hadn't been putting a glitter coat on, I would have done a third coat of "Passion" to get full coverage.  Then I added one coat of Savvy "High Voltage", which is one of the most beautiful shimmer/glitter combinations I've tried to date.  It immediately covered each nail with a fine sheen of gold shimmer, with lots of medium-size pink glitter scattered all over the nails.  I finished it off with one layer of OPI Top Coat, which I top up every other day, as usual. 
The photo really doesn't do it justice, because I couldn't get the pink glitter to show (it looks gold in the photo), but when I move my nails around, it has a different look depending on how the light catches it.  At times you can almost see through the nude base, and the rest of the time I have this gorgeous gold and pink shimmer/glitter effect. Although it isn't anything startling, and considering this was going to just be a hold-over mani to give me time to cool down and recover enough to do a decent manicure, I must say I am surprisingly happy with the results.  It really is very pretty, and the light catches it beautifully when I'm outside in the sun or under fluorescent lighting in the shopping centres.  I'll definitely be using this shimmer/glitter many times in the future.

I haven't decided yet what I will do for my next mani, but I won't be attempting anything too ambitious for a while until my nails start to get longer and I recover my confidence again.  I'll wait and see just how I feel when the time comes.  It has now been 4 days since I painted my nails, and so far no chips and no wear.  So, thanks for visiting, and I hope you had a better week than I did.  

God bless you, and have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

P.S. I have received no monetary or material gain from my reviews of the products used for this manicure.
Everything comes from my personal stash, all purchased by me, either in-store or online.


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Amazing results from last mani!

I'm completely amazed at the results I got from my last mani.  After 10 days, just before I took it off, there were only two chips in my polish.  I'm definitely going to keep using the OPI Natural Nail Base Coat and OPI Top Coat.  They are awesome.  I topped up the top coat every other day, and I just can't believe how long it lasted.  Here is a photo showing you how it looked after the 10 days.  Sorry about the focus, but it was the only one I had to show you.


Below is how my nails looked after I took my nail polish off.  You can see that the new growth is looking really healthy, but the tips are still looking awful. 
 

There are actually 3 different areas of growth on each nail - the tips show the damage done by the chemotherapy, the middle of my nails shows how they have regrown just using Revitanail Nourishing Oil and Revitanail Keratin Strengthening Serum, and at the base of my nails you can see where I started using Pure Jojoba Oil as my main treatment, with the occasional use of the nourishing oil and strengthening serum, and of course, hand and nail cream (I have still to find an ideal one, but I slather it on as often as I can).  If anyone knows of a good hydrating hand cream that will plump up the skin on my hands so they don't look so old, that is reasonably priced, I'd really love to hear about it.

I use Jojoba Oil at least 3 times a day, and some days even more, especially before I do my new manicure each week.  I spend about 2 - 3 hours rubbing Jojoba Oil into my nails and cuticles every half-hour or so before I start applying my polish.  The results are fantastic, and I would recommend Jojoba Oil to everyone as their main cuticle and nail treatment.  You can buy it here, or just Google Jojoba Oil.  Also check out just what you can use it for.  I was extremely surprised with just what it does.  It will be very easy to find wherever you live, I'm sure.

I'll be back tomorrow with my new nail art for this week, and will also show you what happened that brought me to tears yesterday while I was out shopping, after I'd taken my nail polish off, but before I had done my new mani.

Thanks for visiting, and God bless you.  I hope you'll come back soon to see how my nail art journey is developing.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

Friday, November 14, 2014

Leopard Print Nail Art Design

Finally I'm able to bring you my nail art design for this week.  It didn't turn out exactly as I would have liked, but for a first leopard print attempt, I don't think it turned out too badly.


The mistake I made was trying to put too many spots on my small nails.  Next time I'll do one with less spots, and I think it should be much better.

The polishes I used were: OPI Natural Base Coat; Maybelline Color Show "Take It Off", which is a lovely beige, nude colour, for the background colour; Revlon Colorstay "Fall Mood", which is a beautiful cinnamon-coloured shimmer, for the spots; a black nail art pen to do the outlines on the spots; and I finished it all off with OPI Top Coat, which I will top up every other day for the week.  I used 2 coats of the Maybelline "Take It Off", which went on very easily. I just placed the spots randomly on my nails using the brush in the Revlon Colorstay "Fall Mood" bottle, as I didn't want the spots to be all the same size, and they were very easy to do, and then just one coat of OPI Top Coat.  It's the first time I've used a nail art pen, but I found it quite easy to use, as long as I kept the tip clean on the pen. All up, I was extremely happy with the way all these worked together.

The picture actually shows my right hand, which is my dominant hand, but I was quite pleased with the way it turned out using my left hand to do the details. I would have preferred to use a lighter background colour, but I didn't have one, so I bought one yesterday online at a bargain price, and another one at our local beauty supply store which was on special, so I shouldn't have this problem again :)

So, that's my nail art for this week.  I'll let you know how long it lasts in my next post, as usual.  Thanks for checking out my blog, and have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

P.S.  OOOPS!!!!  I nearly forgot to tell you about an awesome competition that is on at Lucy's Stash.  Head on over to http://www.lucysstash.com/2014/11/lucy-s-stash-reader-appreciation-giveaway.html and check it out before it closes.  It's amazing what she has for prizes, and I'm certainly hoping I will win one of them.

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Last Week's Mani After 8 Days

Sorry I'm late again this week, but I've had an awful week.  However, as promised, here is a photo of how last week's mani looked after 8 days.


As you can see, there has been some wear on the tips of some of the nails, and one of the gold decals came off the day before I took the photo, but I was amazed at how little damage there was after eight days.  This polish and top coat are definitely keepers.  Of course, you can see where my nails have started to grow out at the base of the nails, which is a good sign, I think, because it means that my nails are growing normally now.

When I went to do my mani on Tuesday night after taking this one off, I stuffed it up badly when I had nearly finished it, and I could have cried.  Also, a nail I had been nursing along that had a break in it finally gave up the ghost, so I had to file that back.  So, I will have to try again, and see if I can come up with something presentable.  I'll post my new mani as soon as I can.

I also found a great bargain online which I just had to grab - A Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat Professional Kit, which includes a 4 fl oz refill bottle of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat and a 0.5 fl oz bottle as well.  All this for just $45 AU, which is amazing value.  Over here in OZ the normal price would have been about $100 for a kit like this.  I just couldn't miss out on finally finding some Seche Vite that I could afford, because I haven't been able to find anywhere in Australia that sells it, and it will last me for ages.  So, at least something went right that day.  I can't show you a photo of the set I bought, because the sale has finished and I forgot to save a copy of it, but I will show it to you as soon as I receive my package.

Hopefully I will have my new mani to show you later today or tomorrow - if it works, of course!

Have a great day, and thanks for visiting.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope



Friday, November 7, 2014

Quilted Nail Art with Gold Decals & Glitter

Sorry this is a bit late being posted, but I've had an extremely busy week, with lots of doctors' appointments, etc, but I really wanted to show you what I did this week, because I am so pleased with the way it turned out.  Here is a photo of the mani for this week, taken just after it was done on Sunday, 2nd November.


I apologise for the picture being slightly blurred, but we are still trying to work out the best way to photograph my manis, etc.  However, you can see pretty well what it looks like.  

The colours I used were Maybelline "Tart", which is a beautiful, rich, dark plum colour, and MUD "paparazzi", which is gold and silver hexagon glitter of different sizes in a clear base polish. On the feature nails I added gold striping tape and placed 1.5mm gold decals where the tapes crossed over each other.  The"Tart" went on really well, and I only needed 2 coats to get full coverage.  The "paparazzi" only needed one coat to get this effect. I started with 1 coat of Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat and finished off with Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat, using 1 coat on the glitter nails and 2 coats over the taping and decals on the feature nails.  I am topping it up each day with another coat of the top coat.

Unfortunately, the photo just does not do it justice, because it really looks amazing.  The dark plum colour is so rich, and the gold and silver glitter, and the taping and decals, shine so brightly that the result is really eye-catching. Everywhere I've been this week people have said how gorgeous it looks, and asked how I did it, which has been really encouraging for me. I, myself, am really chuffed with the way it looks.  It took me ages to do, because it was my first time using the striping tape, but I just love the effect it gives and I have heaps of different colours, so I will definitely be using it more tapes in the future.

Thank you for checking out my blog, and I hope you'll come back to see what I have for you next week.

Have a wonderful day, and God bless you.

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too)

Words of Life and Hope


Update On Last Week's Nail Art Design

Last weeks mani lasted for about 5 days before it started chipping, and here are some photos of how it looked last Sunday before I took my polish off to do my next mani, which was a full 7 days from when the mani was done.  I added a top coat every other day, and I'm sure that helped it last as long as it did.


As you can see, the nail with the glitter had hardly any wear at all, which quite amazed me.  The fingers not shown had a little wear, but not very much at all.  Overall, I was very pleased with the way these polishes performed.

Thanks for looking, and have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Christine

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

Monday, October 27, 2014

Follow-up To Last Post

Here are the pictures of my nails done on 26 October 2014 using the Essie Breast Cancer Awareness Collection I talked about in my last post.  The picture on the right is the one that is closest to the true colour of the dark pink polish.  It's even brighter and a bit deeper than it looks here.  Absolutely gorgeous!!!!!


I started with the essie "Grow Stronger" base coat, which came as part of the collection, but as you can see, I did not use the pale pink polish, essie "I Pink I Can".  When I put it on, even after 3 coats, I could not get an opaque coverage, so I scrapped it and went all dark pink instead.  The colour was gorgeous, and the polish was quite free-flowing, but I just couldn't get an opaque finish.  Then, as always happens, that very night I discovered what could be a solution to the problem, when I found a tip that said to try putting a white polish on your nail first to make your colours "pop".  I might try this polish again doing that, and if I do, I'll definitely mention it.

The dark pink polish, essie "Pink Happy" was amazing to use.  Even with just one coat it was completely opaque, but I added another coat just to help the manicure last longer. The colour is absolutely gorgeous, and is actually a lot darker and brighter than it seems in the bottle, and it went on so beautifully I would definitely recommend it.

The pale pink glitter, essie "Pinking About You", is gorgeous, but not easy to apply.  I found it tended to clog on the brush, and I worked out that the best way to apply this was by letting most of the polish run off the brush, and then dab the glitter on until I got the coverage I wanted.  The glitter is in lots of different sizes, from tiny little white specks to quite large hexagon shapes, and on the "Pink Happy" polish it actually looks almost white.  It is very effective, though, and I will definitely be using it again.

I finished with 2 coats of Manicare Glam Nails "Nail Art Top Coat" over the two ring fingers with the glitter, and 1 coat of Revlon "Quick Dry Top Coat" on all the other nails.  I will be topping them up every other day with 1 coat of the Revlon top coat, and I will let you know in my next post how long the mani lasts before I have to remove it.

Overall, I was very pleased with the collection, except for the coverage of "I Pink I Can".  I'm fairly pleased with the look of my mani, although my hands still look awful :(, and I will definitely be using all these colours again.  I hope they stay as part of their permanent collection and don't disappear too soon. I'll have to see if I can get some full-size bottles of them all as soon as possible in case they are discontinued.  I will probably use the pale pink for dotting, marbelling, and other forms of nail art instead of as a full nail cover, unless I get good results from using the white beneath it.

So, that's my mani for October 27th 2014.  I hope my next one will be a bit more interesting, because Breast Cancer Awareness Month will be over, and I can start using different colours instead of just pinks.

God bless you, and have a wonderful day.

Hugs

Christine

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

Friday, October 24, 2014

Essie Breast Cancer Awareness Collection 2014

I almost went into raptures when I received my Essie Breast Cancer Awareness Collection 2014 in the mail today.

The colours are just awesome, and I'm going to use them this weekend when I do my nails for the last week of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  I've seen swatches of the gorgeous pink glitter on both of the pink polishes in the set, and it looks wonderful on each one.  I've really fallen in love with these colours, and that's why I just had to share them with you.

The collection consists of 5ml bottles of Essie "Grow Stronger Base Coat", Essie "I Pink I Can" (which is a scrumptious pale pink), Essie "Pink Happy"  (which is a bright dark fuschia pink), and Essie "Pinking About You" (the most amazing pale pink glitter I've ever seen).  Here are photos of each item in the pack in the order I have listed them.


When I have done my nails this weekend I'll post a photo of them so that you can see how beautiful (hopefully) the colours look together.  (Please don't expect wonders, because I am still a beginner :D and have only been doing my nails for about 2 months now.)

Have a great weekend, and God bless you all.

Hugs

Christine

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

65 Fantastic Christmas Nail Art Designs

Have you been looking for Christmas Nail Art ideas for the festive season?  I've just found a link to 65 Fantastic Christmas Designs that I just know you will love.  You'll find them at
http://www.cuded.com/2014/04/65-cute-christmas-nails/
I hope you find something here you can use.  I've picked up heaps of ideas for my nails over Christmas - in fact I'm going to have trouble working out which ones to use.

Have a wonderful day, and God bless you!

Hugs

Christine

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

Tuesday, October 21, 2014

30 Easy Nail Art Designs eBook

Today I'd like to tell you about a great Nail Art eBook I found about a month and a half ago which has been a huge help to me with my nail art.  It's by Maria Vlezko from the SoNailicious website.  You can find it at http://sonailicious.com/30-easy-nail-art-designs-nail-tutorials/, and it really is a must-have in your nail art collection.  There are 30 great nail art designs, with step-by-step photos for each one, plus heaps of hints and tips to help you get the best out of your nail art experience.  Here is a photo:
I hope you will go and check it out, and while you're there, also checkout Maria's blog, Twitter and Facebook pages.  She has some terrific tutorials, and lots of nail art ideas, hints and tips.  You will find links on the same page as the book details. 

I don't have anything more for you today because I had a doctor's appointment at the local hospital (my 6-week post-radiotherapy checkup), and he said everything seemed fine, and I don't have to go back for another 4 months.  YAY!!!!!  I also went looking for more nail art supplies at our local large stationery store, and I found some interesting bits and pieces which I hope to feature in the future on my blog for you.

Have a very happy day, and I'll see you again soon (I hope).

Hugs

Christine
Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/

Monday, October 20, 2014

The Start Of My Nail Art Journey

It is now 6 weeks since I finished my chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment for Breast Cancer (after having a huge lump of my breast removed), but I will be on hormone therapy (or I really should say anti-hormone therapy) for at least another 5 years, and according to the latest research, it could even be for 10 years, to try to stop it coming back again. So I'm on the road to recovery, but I'd like to encourage all you ladies out there, young and old, to make sure you check yourselves regularly for breast lumps, because too many women, especially young ones now, are being diagnosed every day with Breast Cancer of one type or another. Don't just leave it up to your regular check-ups, either, because I was 2 months from having my scheduled breast screen when I found the lump myself.  If I'd waited another 2 months it could well have spread further into my body, and I would have a lot harder, longer course of treatments ahead.  So, ladies, PLEASE DO IT RIGHT NOW!

I'd like to show you what my hands look like at this stage of my journey, as of 19 Oct 2014.  
Here is a photo of both of my hands, and you can see how bad my nails and hands are after all the treatment, and this is six weeks after finishing my treatment.


 As you can see, they look absolutely ghastly.  Unfortunately, today I had to file some of them back because the nail on the middle finger on my right hand, which I have been nursing along trying to save by using patches, finally gave way, as you can see in the photo.
Oh, well, these things come to try us!

Now I'd like to show you close-ups of each hand separately, showing the details of the damage.


So, now I have to repair all this damage.  I wish someone had told me before I had chemotherapy that I should use cuticle oil and/or strenthening serum, a base coat and a top coat on my fingers, instead of just telling me wear nail polish to help to stop them getting damaged. 

Please, ladies, if you know anyone who is going through chemotherapy, or someone who has just been diagnosed with cancer that is going to require her having chemotherapy, tell them the proper way to look after their nails. I would hate for anyone else to go through what I've been through with my nails.  And, my nails are in the process of growing out now that I have learned what to do about them (notice the pinker, softer looking areas at the bottom of each nail).  I wish I'd taken photos when they were first damaged because they were horrible to look at, and watching them start to flake away and pull away from the nail bed was scary, to say the least.

I will keep you updated with how my nails are progressing as time goes by, and hopefully there will be great improvements, especially as I'm going to be starting to use a new cuticle oil treatment containing Jojoba Oil, which I have heard, and read, is simply amazing for damage to nails, and almost anywhere on your body.  Especially on your face and hair, too.  I can't wait for it arrive so I can get started.

I will be posting shots of my nail art results, hopefully at least once a week, and I will also let you know about any great sites I come across during my travels out their in Naill Art World, so please come back often to see what I've found.

Thanks for checking out my blog.

Hugs

Christine
Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/




Sunday, October 19, 2014

How My Nail Art Journey Began

I discovered the world of nail art when my nails were destroyed by the chemotherapy and radiotherapy that I went through in the middle of 2014. I was told that I should wear nail polish, but not that I should use a nourishing treatment, or a base coat under my nail polish, or a top coat on top of my nails.  Consequently, my nails ended up brown, flaking, chipped, and peeling away from the nail bed.  I needed help, so I went searching the web.

Thus started my nail art journey, as I quickly discovered the wide world of
NAIL ART!

I now use nail art every week, nourish my nails like there is no tomorrow, and search the web every day for new ideas, hints and tips. What I hope to do on my blog is tell you what I have discovered about caring for my hands and nails, show you my weekly manicure, with details on brands and colours used, and also have lots of links to great nail art sites I have found and fallen in love with.

So, please join me as I start my nail art journey, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I hope to! Who knows where this journey will lead me?  Only time will tell!

Hugs

Christine

(Please check out my other blog below, too.)

Words of Life and Hope
http://wordsoflifeandhope.blogspot.com.au/