Art Deco Manicure Tutorial

Day 22, Wednesday: Rant about something. Get up on your soapbox and tell us how you really feel. (a pet peeve, a current event, a controversial topic, something your husband or roommate or neighbor or boss does that really ticks you off)

I'm not feeling much into the ranting mood, so I'm going to post about something else, but you can check out previous rants here, and here.

Well, The Great Gatsby just came out, and there are so many art deco inspired things going around because of it. I saw a couple of cool art deco style manicures so I decided to try one out myself. And I decided to take pictures and do my very first nail tutorial!

1. Cut six very thin pieces of tape
2. Place 1 piece of tape across the top of your nail
3. Place 1 piece of tape straight down the middle of your nail, make sure it's touching the top piece.

4. Place 1 piece just below the top piece, and make sure it is not touching the middle piece.
5. Place 1 piece straight down from the piece you just placed, creating a 90 degree angle. Make sure it is not touching the middle piece.
6. Repeat steps 4 & 5 on the other side of the nail.

7. Paint over the pieces of tape with 1-2 quick coats of the polish
8. Wait about 30 seconds to 1 minute from painting, depending on how long it takes your polish to dry. You want it to just be setting and still wet.
9. Start peeling the tape off your nail.
10. Peel all of the tape off, and once the nail polish is more set, pat it down so the edges where the tape was, so the edges don't stick up.

And there's the finished art deco nail!

I tried another nail where I put two strips of tape at the top, but upside down it looked like R2D2...so I just went with the 1 strip of tape at the top on the other hand.

Do you see R2D2, or is it just me?
Tips:
-Make sure the pieces of tape stick out far enough that they will be easy to grab a hold of, and pull off.
-Make sure the corner pieces are aligned right, or you won't have clear edges.
-Don't wait too long to pull off the tape, but don't pull it too quickly or the nail polish will run. The polish I used dries really fast, so I probably pulled it off 30 seconds after putting on the coat.

Show me your art deco manicures!

Linking up with Rolled Up Pretty

Happy May Day

Today's going to be a mostly Wordless Wednesday of pictures of a few things we've been up to lately

I feel pretty boss because I taught these girlies to give high fives, and they remembered how to do it a week later when I saw them again. You guys are so lucky to once again be on the receiving end of my masterful drawing skills. She didn't have a shirt on, and I didn't want to get sued for child pornography or something. That shirt = mad skillz.

Happy Wednesday, only 2 more days of getting up until you can sleep in. Is that sad that that's my first thought when I wake up in the morning?

Oh, and it's officially my birthday month. HOLLA!

Linking up with Rolled Up Pretty

Lately

Since I've been back from Cambodia I've been doing my hair and nails a lot. I was deprived of prettiness for so long that I've been really enjoying trying out new hair and nail tutorials. I've also been trying out a lot of new recipes, mostly containing things we didn't have access to while in Cambodia.

Here's some of my recent trials

 1. Fishtail Braid 2. Chicken Schnitzel

3. Braids 4. Valentines Day Nails using this tutorial

1. My semi failed attempt at chevron nails 2. Mini Fench Braid 3. Top Knot

4. Twisted Mess 5. Christmas-y Nails 6. Spinach Fritatta

Have any hair or nail tutorials you've found that you just love? Share them with me!

Linking up with Rolled Up Pretty

Funny Friday

It's Funny Friday time. I was thinking of posts for next week and realized I didn't even have my Funny Friday post done, so I started looking through my phone for funny pictures and found this gem.

Some of you might not think this is funny.

I personally do. Maybe it's a twisted I lived in a third world country and know the culture kinda funny, but it's funny.

In Cambodia...men grow out their pinkie nails. Like grow out as long as possible. They pick their ears and nose and who knows whatever else with them.

One time Hal and another volutneer tried to grow out their pinkies, and I was all "I love you, but that thing has got to go."

Now this might be a little hard to see, so lean into the screen and get a good look. This is the longest I've seen a guy grow out his nails, and he didn't stop at his pinkie.

I hope I'm properly preparing you for this. This is a guy we saw on the bus. I acted like I was taking a picture of Hal. Sneaky Sneaky.

Sexy, no?