So much goodness!

I recently got to try Talon Tonic from So Much Goodness when a sweet little bottle of it arrived in my Secret Santa box from Steph!  I held off and held off, not wanting to use it all, but I finally caved!

Talon Tonic is a unique blend of acetone, water, glycerine, and a propriety blend of oils that keeps your nails and cuticles from drying out and getting damaged when you remove your polish.  As one who changes her mani sometimes three times a day and practices stamping quite often, I usually use straight acetone, since glitter can be like cement.

I was hesitant, but there was no need!

I am incredibly impressed!  It removed the polish, glitter, and everything else and didn't leave that white mess of dryness or a film of oil like I had almost expected!  I was able to use it easily on detail cleanup as well as cleaning off stamping plates which you cannot do with 'polish' remover, only acetone.  It left no residue.

So Much Goodness is on Zibbit.

Prices range from 4.75$ for 4 ounces of Tonic to 15.50$ for 12 ounces.  You can also by sets of Talon Tonic, Cutiecles, and Purple Nurple!

Try it out!

Interference!

In my quest for empty polish bottles to use for liquid latex I found myself browsing the TKB Trading website.  It's full of DIY cosmetics and skin care items from oils to jars to glitter.  Specifically, I mean amazing little things to add to shadows to give them that duochrome shift, or 'interference'!

You can find an assortment of their glitters here and the duchromes are here near the end.  As you can see, sample sizes range from 1$ to 3$ for a BIG baggie full that should last forever.  I ordered quite a few.  You can do a wide range of things with this stuff, but I thought I'd show you quickly what exactly it does to polish.  There are quite a few shifts and shades you can get as well as some basic duochromes that only reflect one colour in the light.  All are gorgeous and all are easy to use and crazy affordable to collect!

I'm using a nude polish, a black polish, a good topcoat, a fluffy shadow brush, and an interference glitter.

• Apply a base coat.
• Paint your nails as desired, I used black on my accent nail, nude on the rest.
• When you polish is dry, apply a thin careful coat of topcoat.
• Before it dries, while it's tacky, fluff on some of the glitter to coat the whole nail.

• Let the first layer of top coat dry, brush off the access glitter (do this or you'll have glitter IN your topcoat bottle) and apply a final layer of topcoat.
• Tidy up if necessary, and to remove the access glitter just wash your hands with a little soap and water!

You can take this look one step further by using vinyls and masks to apply the glitter only to certain areas to create designs!  Here I'm using a vinyl I cut out really quick with my own machine to create a deep V moon.

These tweezers are from Sassy Cats Lacquer!

• Apply the vinyl over dry polish and then top with a thin layer of topcoat.

•  Apply the glitter the same way, being very careful not to get it all over.  
• Once you remove the mask, wait for the topcoat to dry completely and then carefully dust off the nail. You might even need to rinse, depending on how vigorous your glitter application was!
• Then just topcoat and tidy as before!

If you try this out, please don't forget to tag me on Instagram!

Mani of the Month: January

The second MofM box arrived here in Italia yesterday!  Again, super quick and careful shipping and super gorgeous packaging!  You don't get much marshmallow stuff here that's any good, so that Snowman was devoured shortly after this picture was taken.

From Dream Polish

• A 5 ml Gem Stick Base Coat in Mint Cocoa
• A 5ml Gem Glam Top Coat in Mint Cocoa
• A 5ml Cuticle Oil in Mint Cocoa

From Heather's Hues

• A polish mini in Snowball Fight!
• A full sized polish in Let it Snow (holo)

From Nails Redesigned

• A sheet of vinyl snowflake guides
• A sheet of vinyl little wave guides
• An assortment of gems

The Dream Polish set is, as always and I know you've heard it before, amazing.  I love this top coat and in particular, this base too.  It's just perfect for glittery polishes and anything that requires more than the typical two layers for opacity.  The Mint Coco is really nice.  It's not overly sweet and fake, in fact, it smells like a very good dark chocolate bar.  I don't think the mint is peppermint, more of a spearmint, but it's not 'toothpaste' like, like a couple of my friends had asked!  It's very mild and I enjoy it.  

Last month I was completely in love with the thermal that was included, this month I am falling in love all over again with this spectacular holo!

This is called Let It Snow, and thankfully it's not just another winter polish.  This is a bright clear and deep shade with a great holo effect and lots of little flecks of light.  It's nice and opaque and super well formulated that even using it to details my tips with was easy.

Ever since I got my own vinyl plotter, I've become very aware of how tricky and how much goes into drafting and cutting a good set of vinyls.  I am always impressed with Nails Redesigned's work!

I really love this month's offering and I'm not all that surprised. I'm really looking forward to February's Naughty Love box, you can pick one up at Heather's Hues, Nails Redesigned, or Dream Polish!

Orange Lentil Stew

 I realize this might not look like much, but on these chilly days, this lentil curry is the nicest treat.  The smell of the garlic and ginger cooking fills the house and rumbles your tummy.  Lentils are a whole grain protein that's low in fat (none) and high in fiber so you can eat a LOT of this stuff and fill up guilt free!  You can use whatever veggies you like, zucchini and kale for a green version and eggplant for a purple, but this is my favorite, it cuts my sweet craving!

Serves 4

Ingredients :

• 3 tablespoons coconut oil 
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh ginger 
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped 
• 8 scallions, sliced
• 1 tablespoon 'sweet' curry powder from Penzey's
• 4 medium carrots (about 8 ounces), chopped 
• 1 medium sweet potato (about 10 ounces), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 
• 1 cup lentils 
• 1 can organic chickpeas
• 4 cups vegetable broth 
• lime wedges

Directions

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. 
• Add the ginger, garlic, and scallion whites and cook, stirring frequently, until softened, 2 to 3 minutes. 
• Stir in the curry powder. 
• Add the chickpeas, carrots, potato, lentils, broth, ¾ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. 
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils and vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.  
• Sprinkle the curry with the scallion greens and serve lime wedges and a side of fresh kale.

Birds of a Feather!

There are a lot of times that I see something and think to myself, 'I can do that'.  That was the case yesterday when I was trying to come up with a way to use three polishes that all called out to be used together.

I knew, based on the colours and the name of the one polish, this mani had to have feathers.  None of my stamping plates seemed right so I turned to my Sillouette Cameo for the solution.  In a matter of minutes I found a feather designs, traced, sized, and arranged it and had the machine cutting.

• Apply a base coat.
• Apply an even layer of the lightest colour, I'm using Barry M Gelly Shine in Guava.

• Apply a quick dry top coat and allow to dry.
• Arrange your feather vinyls as desired.  Leaving them to stick off the edge of your nail will make it easier to remove them.

• Apply your darker colour evenly and after a moment, remove vinyls slowly in an upwards motion.  I used Barry M Gelly Shine in Blackberry.

• Allow to set for a moment and apply flakie.  For some reason it gave this polish a 'soft focus' effect that I liked!  I used Flake Ya Tailfeather from Painted Polish.

• Apply a top coat.
• Tidy up if required!

If you're interested in some of these feathers, comment below and I'll send you some!

Be Present

Ganesh, a custom Candied Apple Polish.

This year, my goal is to be present.

What does it mean to 'be present'?

To me it simply means to enjoy today.  To not live in the future, to constantly be looking forward, but to look at right now.

It means wearing the fancy undies you always save for an 'occasion'.  It means wearing the red lipstick you bought for 'when you're brave enough'.  Put it on, right now, even if you're just sitting an watching Netflix.  Why?  Because you are worth it, right now.

It means not wishing you were thinner/prettier/whatever.  It means accepting who you are NOW in order to be happy and in order to facilitate the change.

It means letting go of all the things you cannot change and all the things you cannot control.  That's a big thing.  That's anxiety, and I recognize that's hard to manage.  But I also believe in Nirvana which is liberation and freedom and letting go to let be.

This year I am going to start witnessing my life, in actually living it.