I truly do hope that you are staying safe, healthy and staying home if you are able to during this very scary time we are all finding ourselves in right now with this global pandemic. This past Monday I started working remotely from home. I did have to go feed my horse on Thursday like normal since my sister is still working due to her being an in home health aide. Her job is essential. In our state of PA all schools are closed, all non essential businesses have closed and quite a few counties are on "shelter in place" orders. Our county is not under that order but it does appear most people are being responsible and staying home. It was really eerie passing all these closed businesses on my drive out to Mom's Thursday. Then I did have to stop at the grocery store and all day long I was so stressed about having to do that. It was not too bad and I was able to get everything I needed except for Lysol spray.
I've been feeling pretty depressed the last several days for obvious reasons. It's been tricky to not keep the news on all day and find other normal stuff to do to keep my mind off of things. I did paint some rocks with messages on them that I did hide down by the river on Friday afternoon when Casey and I did take a brief walk (which we are allowed to do) to get some fresh air and exercise. I also painted a bunch of rocks that I am going to be gifting to our neighbor camps next time we get to go to camp, whenever that may be. We were going to go my birthday weekend in April, don't think that is going to happen now, sniffle, sniffle. Maybe by May we will be able. I miss our bus and camp.
It was very nice though being able to see my horse, the cats and dogs on Thursday when I went to feed. They were some therapy I desperately needed. I am loving being home with our cats and they are too, it's just being stuck home in this is working on my emotions in different sad ways, sigh.
I also did my nails for the first time in two weeks this morning when I decided I had to do them to try to make myself feel a bit better through my nails.
I decided to make this post one that I had been wanting to do for quite a while now, like a couple years, lol, on how to paint your nails and a few words on how I do it. Hope you enjoy this post and that it can take your mind off of this time we are in for a few minutes.
In this picture I have the items that I use when painting my nails. From left to right, the cuticle trimmer I use only for shaving off the little jagged pieces of skin around my nails to keep them smooth. If you use one of these be extremely careful as you can go too deep and cut yourself. Use a very light touch. The next is a flat edge cuticle pusher. I don't use this for pushing my cuticles though. I use the flat end to scrape any polish that I get on my cuticles or the edges of my nails as I am painting my nails. I find that if you do this as you go then any clean up at the end is way easier. Next is my clean up brush that I dip in the dappen dish (above the brush) that I put acetone in for any other clean up that needs done. I have tweezers that I do put to use quite often since no matter what I do I still get a cat hair or two that I need to pull off, ha ha. If I am doing any stamping I use the cosmetic applicator q-tips to clean up the polish that gets on my fingers.
To remove my old polish I use straight acetone with cut up pieces of felt that I get from the craft store and cut myself. I also use a felt pad with acetone to clean my stamping plates. After I remove my polish I do scrub my hands and nails with a super simple homemade hand scrub made with plain white sugar and coconut oil. I use a nail brush with some liquid soap to scrub my nails and cuticles to get the oil residue off my nails prior to painting. If you don't do this the polish will not adhere to the nail as it should due to the oil.
The base coat I use is always Orly Bonder, then I do two coats of whatever creme color I am using, then I will do my nail art if I am doing any, glitter on any nails I might be and then a shimmer/sparkle top coat on whichever nails I may be that particular mani. My top coat I use is Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.
The process of painting my nails is simple. I use pretty much the same technique as shown in this photo that I snagged somewhere off the interwebs (sorry I can't credit since I don't know who made this). To start I brush the excess polish off the back of the brush on the inside neck of the bottle probably two times. Doing it this way usually leaves just enough polish on the front of the brush to evenly polish my nail with the three strokes. I start with the middle stroke then each side. I wait a few minutes between the first coat and then repeat this same process for the second coat, again cleaning up as I go if needed. I also do prefer to leave the bit of a gap between where I start my polish and the cuticle itself. I just prefer the gap. Some people do not and polish the whole way down to the cuticle. There is no right or wrong, it's truly just about personal preference. When my mani is completely dry I moisturize the heck out of my hands and spend extra time rubbing my lotion into my cuticles. I moisturize many many times during the day and always rub lotion into my cuticles very well. It's what keeps them looking so nice and keeps them super healthy. Remember to moisturize, moisturize, moisturize :)
Here's my nails I did this morning. I think they are super pretty and we all need some pretty in this time we find ourselves in.
My base is China Glaze "Funky Beat". The glitter is Color Club "Get In Loser" and on the rest is China Glaze "Don't Mesh With Me". I had actually just bought both Funky Beat and Get In Loser a couple weeks before everything went crazy. I think they are both really pretty polishes and love this glitter mix.
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| Funky Beat, this is out now from the Trolls Spring Collection, LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this purple! |
Here are the rocks I painted and then hid down by the river on our walk. I really hope that people see these and it helps at least a little bit. I'll be painting more this coming week I am sure since I have so much time to paint right now. I am not a hoarder but do hoard back up paint, acrylic spray and rocks. So happy I do hoard those now.
Coworker Miss Betty!
Coworker King Dino.
Polish & Purrs,
Melly
Have you loved your cuticles today?
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