taunting teal and my icky nail injury

I am a girly girl. I like makeup. I like hair and dammit I like gettin my nails did!

For years and years I had acrylics. I got my first "full set" in maybe....7th grade? They were purple and pretty white trash-tastic! Haha! I started with the clear tips, then I graduated to white tips, then to pink and whites (white acrylic for the tip and pink acrylic for the nail bed) which I wore forever because they just make me feel pretty!  There's something about having my nails done that makes me feel fancy and more put together, even in sweats. 

I've done overlays, shellac, gel polish, the works! I finally decided, a few months ago, to let my nails go bare...all this polishing, and shellac-ing, and especially acrylic-ing isn't good for my nails after all and sometimes they just need to breathe (not to mention it tends to get a little pricey after a while). So anyway I let them go...let them breathe...for a whole, oh i dont know, month and a half...maybe, and the VERY DAY I decided I was going to give in to my superficial urges and get my nails did I had a horrific accident!

OK so horrific may be a little dramatic but it was no fun, no fun at all! I was running around the house doing some chores before I ran my errands and decided to make my bed like a good kid. Bad idea. I went to tuck my sheets under the mattress which sits on top of a slab of particle board and a nice big sliver of particle board decided to shove its way ALL the way under my fingernail! ALL the way. Like the end of it went past my cuticle...like so...

EWW! I know! And yes...it hurt! I called my mom and then my Aunt, who is an emergency room nurse, and then my best friend who is in med-school, and then my boyfriend who was at work, and then my other best friend who was on her way to work, and then my mom again! haha! I need people to share in my misery! After much deliberation and medical advice we (mom and I) decided it'd be best for mama to come over and yank the sucker out! She showed up at my house about an hour later with a bottle of percocet, a pair of needle nose pliers, and a bottle of vodka! haha! Disinfecting power and liquid courage! Mama's are smart like that :) 

So anyway we prepped it and prepped me and got it all ready to go and when she finally yanked...wouldn't you know it...the little sucker broke! It broke about halfway down under the nail so there was not much we could do. 

Our options at this point were to go to the emergency room where they would probably cut through or remove my nail (ahhhh!) or to just leave it in there...keep it from getting infected and wait for it to grow out. Obviously I went for option two.  It's now a month later and the little sucker is definitely still in there. It moved up to the top of my nail within the first couple days and hasn't moved much from there. I've trimmed my now ugly nail down and tried to dig the little guy out but to no avail. It never got infected, which is the good news, but I'm ready for it to be outta here!

My yucky nails had me feeling all self conscious and depressed so I've finally decided to take a good friends advice and take back my nail freedom! Rather than stress over this stick sticking out of my finger and have the constant ugly reminder of my accident staring me in the face I decided to just....

...paint over them!

I feel so pretty again! haha! My short stubby little ring fingernail there is the icky one but you'd never know it! It doesn't hurt, it isn't infected, so I'm just going to keep it covered up for a while and hope it wiggles its own way out eventually.

In the meantime I once again have pretty polished nails. They make me feel sassy!

I'm glad teals are still popular for spring. I think I got this Sonia Kashuk polish last fall. It's called "taunting teal" and I LOVE it!

excuse my sloppy late night self-done manicure.

So there you have it. I have decided to free myself from the oppression of ugly wounded nails! I will take back my manicures and the power they give me to feel fancy in big baggy sweats typing a blog at 2am! Happy polishing!

with love and "taunting teal" spirit fingers, 

Katie

april showers...

"It's a rainy day, its a rainy day, its raining outside and I can't go out to play, why do we need the rain anyway?"  Comment below if you remember this song from Sesame Street! I sing it every time in rains, without fail, to this day!

Today is a dreary thursday. It's been a dreary week, chilly and rainy and all around gloomy...and i love it! Don't get me wrong I love a good sunshiney warm spring day like the rest of you but nothing makes me happier than waking up on a grey cloud filled spring morning (okay, okay, afternoon! who am i kidding! haha).

Rainy days are just so much more poetic and cozy than sunny days. As I type this Im curled up on my grey suede-y couch under a blue fuzzy blanket drinking a cup of caramel-ey cinnamon-ey coffee dreaming up a soft grey purple-ey makeup look! Haha!

Only I would be so inspired by such grey days! With any luck I'll come up with something soft and romantic, with maybe a light pink lip or a nude lip and a baby pink cheek, to show you in pictures or maybe another video tutorial!

A very good, and very intelligent, friend of mine said to me the other day "Did you just say you're thinking of going to beauty school?!" And it made me flinch a little. There's such a stigma with the beauty industry. "Cosmetology school" sounds like such a cop out. Like something that unintelligent or superficial girls do when they cant do anything else. For this reason I've been avoiding telling people that that's what I want to do. I don't want people to say to me "Did you just say you're thinking of going to beauty school?!" because I know what they're thinking... "You went to college! You have a degree!" I know I did! I know I do! But its really hasnt gotten me very far.

Yes...I am thinking of going to cosmetology school. If I do it'll be a commitment. It'll be a sacrifice. And it'll be expensive! And in the end I will be doing what I love and what Im good at and I will be sharing my creativity and my knowledge with the world...one soft romantic grey smokey "rainy day" inspired makeup-look at a time!

With love and positive thoughts for the future
Katie

I'm gunna be a star! haha!

I posted this video a couple weeks ago on facebook but realized not everyone sees that so I thought I'd put it up here too!

This is my first makeup tutorial video. I had to do a LOT of ghetto-rigging to get the right lighting and my camera in the right spot so you could actually see what I was doing! I wish you all could have seen me with my precariously stacked 13 book camera tower and carefully balanced mirror behind the camera so I could make sure my face was actually in the view finder, haha! It was entertaining!  In the end it all worked out pretty well and this is what I ended up with. It's nothin fancy...just a little video using the products I bought a few weeks ago. A simple everyday polished look to get you out the door.

Hope you like it and thanks for watching!



love and more new videos coming soon,

Katie

new beauty product...not what you might think!

It has been FAR too long since my last post! I'm so sorry! I've been sick, I've been wounded, I've been uninspired but its no excuse! I've gotta hop back on this blog horse and get back into it so here we go!

Through my illness and injury my obsession with all things makeup/skin-care/beauty products has persevered! haha! I spend much of my free time youtube-ing and blog reading and googling and I came across a product that many of you may already have in your medicine cabinets.  If its not in your medicine cabinet check your mother's or grandmother's...I'm betting you'll find it in theirs'. This little miracle product of many uses sits gathering dust underneath bathroom sinks everywhere and I am here to resurrect it! 

"What is this miracle product already?!" you ask?

It is none other than.... 

Witch Hazel!

If you're anything like me you have heard of witch hazel, sorta kinda know what it is, but really know nothing about it.  I came across a video by the lovely Miss Kandee Johnson on how to make your own all natural eye-makeup remover in which she used and talked a lot about Witch Hazel. I got curious so I did some googling.

Come to find out Witch Hazel is a natural astringent which most of us know means it is a natural toner.  I decided to use my dictionary to look up what astringent actually means. "Astringent: : causing contraction of soft organic tissues." Naturally this makes sense. Women have been using witch hazel for decades as a "natural" and affordable toner to tighten skin and contract pores. But this little cheap bottle from the drugstore can do so much more!

Witch hazel is extremely gentle on the skin...it has a tiny bit of alcohol by volume (the one I bought is 14%) and so is a very good product for cleaning extra dirt, grime, and skin cells from the skin.  The alcohol helps to sanitize the skin while the witch hazel plant itself boasts natural calming properties. It helps clear up stray pimples by cleaning out extra dirt and by reducing inflammation and can be used under the eyes to reduce bags and dark circles. I've never been one to use or feel the need for use of a toner but I have to say I do LOVE the way my face feels after I use this. 

Witch hazel also has natural healing properties. It can be used on minor cuts and abrasions to prevent infection and to speed up the healing process.  When used before or after shaving it prevents razor burn and ingrown hairs. It can be used on external hemorrhoids when combined with aloe or vaseline to calm itching, help dry up bleeding, and reduce inflammation. It helps heal bruises and can constrict and help reduce the appearance and pain of varicose veins. It locks in moisture when applied immediately after showering...it reduces itching and inflammation from poison ivy and oak...it helps heal sunburned skin... for about $4-5 a bottle what can't this product do?! 

I got so excited when I was googling that I ran to CVS and got me a bottle! So far I have not been disappointed.  I do have a nasty varicose vein (thanks genetics) that I'm excited to try it out on so I'll be sure to keep you updated. 

Well thats it! That's my newest beauty product purchase and I just had to share it with you. I hope you pull out that old bottle or go buy yourself a new one and test out a few of these great new uses! 

Please comment below if you know of any other uses for Witch Hazel or, if you've tried it, what you think!

loooooooooooooove and more beauty blogs coming soon, 

Katie :)

(info pulled from various websites including bohemianrevolution.com and ehow.com)