1,000th Blog Post - My Magazine Interview

So, it seems very apropos that for such a monumental milestone as my one thousandth blog post, I have something just as monumental to share - that being my interview in the January/February issue of Nail It! Magazine. Here's a look at the cover, I'm inside on page 77:

This issue should be available in stores now!  If you read it please let me know what you think =)  Somehow being in print seems to take it to another level than just being online.  If you'd like some more details you can check out my video announcement here:

I'm not doing quite as well with my return to blogging as I'd planned, since I haven't even touched my backlog of old pics yet, but I'm nearly current up to what's on my nails right now, so I guess I have to give myself a little credit.  It's getting slightly easier to squeeze in and I don't plan on stopping, so here's to another thousand posts!

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

New Year, New Look ...

... Same old procrastinating me =)  At first I thought I'd get the redesign done by New Year's.  Then I thought I'd get it done by my 4th blogiversary (back on the 19th).  I finally got it done yesterday.

Now, I only made one resolution this year, which was to sleep more - and which I am not quite failing at but not really succeeding at either.  I should have also resolved not to procrastinate & to ACTUALLY get caught up with stuff online.  I guess I could maybe squeeze it in as a resolution since it's not the end of January - but on the other hand, I shouldn't need a resolution to make it happen.  I DON'T need a resolution to make it happen.  *nods*  I've said it before - hell, I'll probably say it again.  I am going to get back on top of my blog posting.

Let me know what you think of the new look - I always appreciate hearing from you guys =)  I (obviously) don't let it dictate my style, but sometimes there are things glaringly wrong that I'm just overlooking, or issues in other browsers etc.  & stay tuned for lots of good things - so many I think I've probably forgotten a few LOL.  Editing pics & writing posts actually helps me to remember what I've done on my nails, so the last few months is kind of a blur & I think it will be fun to revisit as I dig into it.

Thanks for (still) reading =)

~Colette

My 2 Year YouTube Anniversary!

I can't believe I've had my YT channel  for 2 years now.  I mean, at that time I thought it would be a miracle if anyone was actually interested to watch my tutorials - turns out I guess miracles happen, because 2 years later here I am with nearly 67,000 subscribers & just over 18 million overall views.

 

WHAT?

 

18 freaking million.  Saying it or typing it is WEIRD.  I keep waiting to wake up or something LOL.  That's an incomprehensible number to me - let alone applying it to something I did.

 

 

Here's a couple unboxing shots from when my new camera arrived - I am in love with this thing already, but it intimidates me, plus it's still in that shiny new phase where I'm a little nervous handling it.  Only time will fix that I guess, anytime I make a major purchase it makes me nervous for a while:

 

I've got a spare battery coming that I picked up on Amazon, & I also already got a new big memory card that can handle the HD video, a 16 gig Class 10 that's supposed to be able to write fast enough to keep up.

 

My 3 year blog anniversary is coming up in January - maybe this year I'll actually remember to celebrate it on the right day!

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

It's My ***30th*** Birthday!

Just thought I'd toss up this post since it's after midnight ... I have to be up at like 5am so I should be in bed, and I'm about to, BUT since I'm up - I hereby give you all permission to celebrate with me =)  In fact, I started celebrating today with homemade ice cream cake that a co-worker made me:

I'm going back & forth between being OK & being freaked out about being 30, but I'm determined to put a positive face on it, so bring on the gifts & spoiling.  Tomorrow ... uh, later today ... is the 25th anniversary celebration at work - I will be enjoying it like it's my party LOL.  Since I have the blog I am one of the photographers for the event & I also think that will be fun.

Later on ... well, we'll just see what develops =)  What did you do for your last birthday?

Then I will be off Friday & Monday & Tuesday.  I plan to sleep & to get caught up with everything I possibly can - and everything else I'm sad to say is going to get chucked.  If I can't get on top of it with 3 full extra days off my job, I'm never going to get on top of it.  I need a clean slate, whether that slate is carefully polished clean or side-swept with an extended arm ;)

I wore Nubar Moon Shadow the other day, so I have pics of that to edit ... and pics too of the worst break I ever had that I suffered wearing it.  I also recently did my first collaboration on YouTube & that will be going up Friday, so stay tuned!  Thanks for reading.

~Colette

I See You! All 1000+ of You =)

And each & everyone one of you, seriously, rocks.  And I ... well, I suck right now because I'm like a month behind with comments.  And emails.  And a bunch of other crap.  But not posting ... much.  Just  couple days behind what's currently on my nails LOL.  But I figured it would take totally 2 seconds to say a HUGE THANK YOU to all of my Followers =)

 

I will get caught up with comments eventually.  And then be good for a week & then probably fall behind again LOL.  But I always, always read every comment, even if I don't have time to respond right away - and I always, always try to answer every specific question when I do get around to catching up.  And it brightens my day immensely to know that I'm brightening yours, even just a little.  So thank you - all of you! - for reading.

 

~Colette

NOTD: Gold & Black Water Marble + Tutorial

This was my mani last ... um, last Wednesday I think?  Like I said, I'm so far behind & no good reason, LOL I napped away most of my Sunday afternoon today instead of getting caught up with anything.  But I did want to get the pics for this posted up.  I used OPI Bling Dynasty & Baby It's Coal Outside:

 

 

An awesome thing actually happened last night - I hit one million views on YouTube!  It's kind of mind-boggling to me, I just never expected to see those kind of numbers, and within one year.  I'm still nervous as hell every time LOL, but I guess I'm not as bad as I used to be.  Anyway, Here's the tutorial: 

 

Thanks for reading =)

 

~Colette

OMF'ingG Awesome Coolness!!!

I thought I'd have more time to post tonight ... but I have a very good reason for being distracted - I made Partner on YouTube!  I had literally this afternoon resigned myself to having to wait, after reading on the forums that people were waiting 3 months & MORE ... then I get home from the grandparent's & there's this lovely acceptance notice!  I applied in early June, so it still took like a month & a half, but quicker than I was anticipating.  LOL too bad I am not prepared! XD  I've got to make like, banners & such... which I knew, in theory, for but some reason it never occurred to me that maybe I should get on that & have them ready.

 

So I've been reading technical stuff & considering what I want my banner to look like & bouncing giddily in my chair instead of editing pics & experimenting with colors for my challenge mani - well, color, I can't decide which one I want my accent to be.  Which basically means that tomorrow will be more blogging & less laziness than planned.  Here's what I have backlogged to post:

• Haul that was a week old Thursday
• Bonsai trees from the trip to the zoo
• Garden & storm pics from last Saturday
• PHD Challenge mani which I still haven't done ... as of right now I have ~23.5 hours to get my ass in gear & finish
• New pedi because On the Wild Side chipped yesterday
• Probably other stuff I'm forgetting because I'm sleep deprived ...

Anyway, I'll be a busy girl.  I also have a book that's over a week overdue to the library, but I almost finished it today, I only have like 20 pages to go so I need to do that tomorrow also & return it before my account gets suspended LOL. 

 

Now, I was going to leave this post pic-less, then I remembered that I snapped these on the way home - another slightly wonky panoramic shot, storm clouds coming in from the southwest:

 

 

They are now overhead & rumbling most ominously =)  I think it will be good to sleep to as long as it stays on the mellow side.  Thanks for reading.

 

~Colette

400+ Followers! & Some Random Pic Spam

Great googly-moogly!  LOL I have to say I'm tickled pink as well as flattered.  Especially as sporadic as I've been posting lately, as behind as I am with comments, that I've managed to make & break the 400 mark.  Thank you, each and every one, for taking the time to stop by & listen to me ramble about polish & life in general.  =)

I'm not exactly behind posting, at least as far as nails are concerned, but there are a few things I've been wanting to put up, so I'm just going to add them here for some visual interest =)

I'm going to start with just a few pics from the flower show, I went with Mom, Grandma & Uncle the day after Easter.  When you first entered, there were all these cool butterflies hanging from the ceiling:

The theme was up & away or something like that, so they had a little hot air balloon:

Then of course lots of flowers ... I always have a little trouble because often shooting with the flash washes everything out, but no flash & everything is fuzzy.  So I was disappointed with a lot of my pics but here are some that turned out half-decent:

Next bit of randomness, Sam at work got a new tattoo, and I thought it was pretty cool.  She got the design from a stained glass window, I think it would be a great design to recreate on my nails:

Our garden at home is loving this early spring!  My strawberry patch has soooo many flowers, and there's lots of decorative stuff blooming too:

At Grandma's house, her plum trees are blossoming:

We've got ducks in our neighborhood too ... they seem to think our yard is a fine place to hang out:

And, last bit of randomness, is a pic of Dude I snapped yesterday.  He was rolling in the grass just prior to this, but I missed getting that =)

I hope all 400+ of my followers, and all my other loyal readers by other means, are having as nice of a spring as I am so far.  Thanks - always - for reading =)

~Colette

I Am ... Such a Spazz

LMAO, so I had it in my head that my blogiversary was on January 19th ... in other words, TODAY, and I planned a cool mani & got all set to post, and just thought "Hmmm, maybe I'll double-check the date" so that I'm not early ... nope, not early, LATE.  By like almost a week LOL.  My 1-year blogiversary was in fact on the 14th.  At least I did post that day, the matte-ified flower marble, but I think that this is proof that I am, in fact, a total spazz.

So, here we have my belated blogiversary mani =)  Something never before seen on MSLP!  Glimpsed only when I hauled them in the first place:  nail foils!  I've heard so much good & bad about these, and I can say I had a little bit of both worlds applying them, but overall I'm impressed & I'd do it again & think my results will improve when my technique is not so amateur. 

The main complaint around the blogs seemed to be that the "special" foil sealer that comes with the nail foils causes crinkling/wrinkling/cloudy/anti-bling crappiness.  The 2 tips to combat that downfall were to let the glue set fully after applying the foil, and to use a regular-to-slow drying top coat.  I did a test on a nail wheel of 6 different top coats I was able to find in my stash:

Left to  right:  Nubar Diamant, Sally Hanson Salon Clear'd For Takeoff, ProStrong Instant Thickening Top Coat, Cina Top Coat, Seche Vite, Foil Sealer

Here are the results with red foil, in the same order.  Some of the cracks are due to my application, not the topcoat, but you can see there's a wide range of wrinkling & clouding:

I chose #3, the ProStrong topcoat.  My biggest challenge was getting the foil onto my nail without any creases.  Creases = spots the foil doesn't stick & you either get a bare patch or have to go back & re-foil which sounds easy but I was impatient & some of my patches turned out better than others.  I used China Glaze Devotion as a base color so the bare spots weren't  glaringly obvious, but I didn't clean up at all so excuse the mess:

Here's the actual roll, and a comparison on my thumb where I thought maybe I could get away with Seche over the ProStrong (not so much):

Not my finest mani, but good enough for a day. Final verdict - still pretty damn bling, even with the issues I had. Unfortunately it didn't wear for crap & here we are after a day at work:

You can see totally half of the foil on my index finger is gone.  Maybe I should have done 2 coats of topcoat?  The nails that fared the best seem to be the ones that went on smoothest, so maybe if I improved my technique the wear would improve?  We'll see ... I've got a lot more of this stuff to use LOL.

Thanks for reading.

~Colette

150 Followers!

Are you kidding me? 150 people give a damn what I think? Sweet! =) I love you guys. No nails pics tonight, but I'm getting ready to put Fortune Teller on my nails! I can hardly wait.

The other day I promised to show you the other treat from Truffles & Tortes, I ate it the other day after I cut my nails down. This one is called Concerto, and has caramel & vanilla mousse inside:


Yum! Wish we all had one right now LOL. Thanks for reading.

~Colette

Wow ... 100 Followers =)

I don't think I really knew what I was getting into when I started this blog =) I certainly never thought this many people cared what I had to say or what I had on my nails LOL. So THANK YOU to every single follower, & also every single reader who's not a follower =)

I know a lot of people do a contest or giveaway or something else major when they hit a milestone, but all I have to give to you is ... more of myself.

When I started this blog, I knew it was going to be mostly nails, but I wanted it to be able to encompass the other things I enjoy in life; reading, family, pets, etc ... and so far it's done a really good job of fitting in everything I might feel like blogging about. This blog encompasses so many different things. So many simple little pleasures =)

But I have some others hobbies, that I've decided deserve their own outlet of a blog. I like to write & I like to draw & I am hoping that I can come to like sharing both, something I've always been hesitant to do. I suppose lacking a bit (or more) of confidence. Still, why not? Time to take the step, make the leap, and let those who are interested get a glimpse inside my head.

So, if you're interested, please take a look. And if not? Well, the polish, books, less introspective parts of my life, and other simple pleasures will continue right here =) Thanks for reading.

~Colette

100th Post Extravaganza!

So, here I am at post #100. And, fittingly enough, it's a gigantic one =) I know I am probably not exactly known for short posts LOL. Sometimes (OK, ofttimes) I just get to rambling, but this time my excuse is that I haven't posted in so many days, and I've got lots of pics & stuff to share! My nails, mom's nails, tasty food & extra fun stuff!

I feel like I ought to have something a little more monumental to say or do or show you guys, LOL. I guess I'll just stick with saying THANK YOU to all of my readers. 6 months ago blogging was not on my radar at all, and now it's like a normal habit - and an enjoyable one at that =) (Even on this old computer ... 3 weeks today & counting grrrrr ... but I won't get started on that old rant).

Enough with the sentimentality. On to the pics & things. Nail stuff first:

I realized yesterday that in my enthusiasm to show you the wonderful bling-ness of holos, I have been neglecting how cool they look when they're NOT in the spotlight. As yesterday was uniformly dreary, it presented the perfect opportunity to remedy the situation. Also note that I did this mani Saturday night, and it's still looking gorgeous after several days of wear - and I type pretty much all day at work, which is one of the worst (& one of the most unavoidable) things we all subject our nails to. So here's one more pic of He's Going in Circles:

Now, for my post #100 NOTD, I have a very special polish. Brooke sent me this polish back when I was just getting started, and I've been saving it up for my nails to be worthy LOL. I also thought it would look really cool as a background for a full nail koni, but after I had it on, I couldn't bear to cover it up at all. Maybelline Mirror Image:

GORGEOUS, right? Shiniest thing by far I've ever had on my nails. This is without a top coat, since I'd read top coat can dull the finish ... I tested on my right hand thumb & I have to agree, it kind of makes it more shiny vs. reflective if that makes sense.

Another gorgeous color, one I could certainly rock with some Konad, is China Glaze V, my mom's current mani. It's really kind of coral or dark peach, but I'm tagging it under orange. If I had a tag for every gradation of color, it would make an already long tag list twice as bad LOL. As you can see, this color comes out a little darker on the nail than in the bottle, but I still like it & so does she:

On to the food ... I had a sweet tooth, and I decided that the only thing that would satisfy it was cake balls. Mmmmm (picture Homer with his tongue hanging out here), caaaake baaaalls. Cute as they were on sticks, that obviously adds quite a bit of work, so I did not turn them into cake pops this time. I didn't have a whole lot of success with making cute drizzles on top, but hey - they don't have to be cute to be tasty:

I've got to end this super-sized hundredth post with a little quiz that's just too perfect. I found it over at Meredith's Blog:

Your Nail Polish Color is Purple

How you're unique: You are artistic and expressive Why your style rocks: You pay special attention to color and fabrics What this color says about you: "I'm creative and know how to take care of myself"

What Color Nail Polish Best Fits You?

This test is spot on (although I'd have to say their pic of purple polish is NOT LOL) - I'd love to know what color you are if you take the quiz & if you agree with what it says! =) I am more likely to buy a purple polish than any other color.

So, here's to another hundred posts! And as always, thanks for reading =)

~Colette