Paisley & Lace Loja BBF Nail Art

Hey lacqueristas,

Happy hump day such as it is...I know we are all looking forward to the weekend especially if it brings some much needed warmth along with it!  What's crazy is that even though it snowed here the sunlight today was spectacular.  So awesome in fact that I decided to break out a holo and celebrate the sun along with my Loja BBF plates.  Remember you can read about my review of the Loja BBF plates here. 

You should already know from following me that there is no such thing as too much holo in my world.  I will say I've become more selective when buying simply because of the large abundance out there these days, but I still really love a great holo.  Today I decided to use Fancy Gloss Sparkling Rose.  This was a limited edition polish that released 2 weeks ago.  Its inspiration I guess is supposed to be Rose wine, however I didn't get the same blush I'm used to seeing in the wine.  Instead I got a very copper leaning color that blew me away!  The best part about this polish is it's practically a one coater.  Drying time on this beauty was also maybe 4 minutes total with topcoat!

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat: CND Stickey / Sally Hansen Diamond Flash

Base color: Fancy Gloss Sparkling Rose (LE)

Stamping polish: Mentality Polish Temperance

Stamping plate: Loja BBF 18

Studs: Daily Charme

I also decided to break out my one and only Mentality polish called Temperance - this is a deep plummy red matte polish.  It actually stamped very opaque, matte, which I found fascinating, and transformed over Sparkling Rose to a deep brown color.  I am so impressed by this polish that I have a feeling I will be ordering a few more Mentality polishes soon.  I'm just waiting for her to release her version of the Leadlight polishes before ordering :)

So what do you think?  This is really not a very spring inspired mani, but when it's 20 degrees outside it's a bit hard to get there.  I am looking forward to some warm weather soon and I do have some spring nail art coming so don't fret, but sometimes it's nice to mix it up too!  You can find Fancy Gloss polishes here.  Loja BBF plates can be ordered via Cris on Facebook, and Mentality Polish can be found here.  Thanks so much for reading and see you next post!

Protect The Tatas!!! Ahem I Mean Breast Cancer Awareness Mani Ahead...

Hello lovely ladies and possible gentlemen,

As you know in the lovely month of October we raise awareness to protecting ahem the tatas.  Ok so here's the deal-e-o.  I'm going to take this opportunity to educate because this is actually the arena that is a familiar domain for me in a professional sense.  So here we go!

Breast cancer, like prostate cancer for males, is the leading cause of death for women in the United States.  If you are a lady with lovely lady humps you owe it to yourself to regularly think about your breasts.  I rarely share this side of my world but I have a lot of experience with breast cancer patients.  I have scrubbed their mastectomies and the subsequent repairs.  I have held their hands while they have agonized with these decisions and unfortunately had a very close friend diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 25.  If you are a female aged 50 and over you need to have an annual mamogram.  If you are experiencing abnormal discharge from your nipples i.e. clear, greenish, blue, black, or brown you need to be evaluated.  Surprisingly bloody discharge is less likely to be a cancerous/malignant process.  If you feel a lump or mass that is NOT painful but constant and possibly growing over time you need to be evaluated.

What are things that increase your risk of breast cancer?  Earlier age of menarche (menses), age over 50, age at first childbirth (can offer protective benefit against breast cancer), personal history of abnormal biopsy such as ductal carcinoma in situ or lobar carcinoma in situ, first degree relatives (think mother, sister, brother, father) with breast cancer, breast density, estrogen and progesterone use, smoking, history of radiation to the chest (very pertinent for girls who had a childhood history of lymphoma or other types of cancer), post menopausal obesity and many more.  Let me say clearly these risk factors are completely inappropriate to gauge your possible future risk of developing breast cancer if you are a BRCA-1 or BRCA-2 gene mutation carrier.  African American ladies we are also at increased risk of developing breast cancer and having it detected at later stages with worse outcomes.  Be attentive!

Mani-louge

Basecoat/Topcoat:  CND Stickey/Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat

Base colors:  Essie French Affair and Fancy Gloss Barbie Girl

Stamping polish:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Fast Fuschia and Konad Special Polish in White

Stamping plates:  BM 315 & 321


 
 

Ok.  I'll stop there I don't want to turn this into a sermon, but this is a serious matter and should be taken as such.   My goal in life is proactivity not reactivity so there we have it.  Now interspersed through this little preaching session is my mani.  I wanted to step it up this year.  I went to my tried and true bundle monster plates and holographic polishes.  Thoughts?  I hope I didn't scare anyone here and if you want to know more information about breast cancer and your possible risks there are tables that can help you with risk stratification that you can check out this article here.  It's a bit science heavy but is one of the guidelines standard to current clinical practice!  If you want to skip all the jargon and just get to the meat and potatoes click here for a risk assessment tool provided by the national cancer institutes.

 I know I didn't talk much about this mani but.  The accent features an pink to white transition from Fancy Gloss.  It's opaque in 2 coats and has a very slight holographic shimmer than you can see faintly in the sunlight.  Despite my best attempts I couldn't really capture it.  You can find Barbie Girl by Fancy Gloss here.  In any event thanks so much for reading and protect the tatas!  See you next post