don't be gel-ous

Went to Laughlin a couple of weeks ago...as a treat before we left my boss gave me a gift certificate to get my nails done.  I went with the gel manicure, knowing that the last time I tried it, it was awful to remove.  My boss swears by the ladies at her nail spa though, so I thought I'd give it another shot.  

The girl was sweet, and did that little leopard print above with the steadiest hand I've ever seen.  Seriously, this girl could be a surgeon...like if she studied really hard and all.  I loved my fingers for the first week and a half.  No chips, everything was lovely.  Then one nail began to peel just a bit.  I fought the urge to pick at it, instead telling myself to go to the salon for them to remove all of it.  The urge became too much though...and I began to peel the color off one nail.  It was an eyesore, and I said to myself Saturday morning you will go to the nail salon and have the rest of the gel removed...but then my friend called and I went to the beach instead on Saturday.  Somewhere between Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon I peeled off all the gel.  I know I shouldn't have.

My nails are a mess now.  I filed them and buffed them.  I cuticle oiled them.  I applied a clear coat of nail strengthener...time will tell.  As nice at it was to have no chips for over a week, I'm going to stick with the regular polish from now on.  

What's your preference for your nails?

how I spent my weekend

Saturday I decided to add a little more pink to my hair...all by myself.  I went back to the lighter pink with just a couple of touch ups.  The more I look at it, the more I think I'd like to go with a little lilac (a la Kelly Osbourne). Seriously, I think she looks so good with the lavender that it probably should've been what she was born with.

Though for myself, I'm still caught up in the ombre trend:

That, and perhaps I'm a chicken...I watched an old Top Model the other day where they bleached a girl's hair while she tried to hold back tears...I'll just stick to the ends thank you very much.











I also opted to give myself a manicure..and added my own nail art.  Which leads me to the question, how do these girls do it when they can decorate both hands?  I'm a lefty and feel like my right hand comes out okay, but then I get over to the other side and it's like blahhh! I suppose it just takes practice but it makes me even more in awe of some of those true nail artists out there.  My work is over here on the left...I got the other image from google.

How artsy do you get with your fingers?  
Are you a mani DIY-er?




To finish up my weekend, I'm watching the Oscars (and rooting for Silver Linings Playbook), flipping through the latest People Style Watch and catching up on my reading (My Antonia).

How was your weekend? 

a little Betsey Johnson love

There is something in Betsey that I will always love.  I remeber watching a fashion show of hers once, and she used Playboy Bunnies as models because they were curvier than the typical runway models.  They all had a lot of bounce and jiggle in their step and big smiles on their faces...then Betsey came out and finished the show by doing a cartwheel on stage.


She is all about fun and pink and hearts and bows. These are things I will never outgrow.  Some of her stuff is a bit outrageous for the day to day of running errands, going to work and stopping for coffee...but it's always super ultra mega girly.  I tend to stick with her picking up her jewelry.  I've got a pink leopard heart necklace and a little owl ring that I always get compliments on.  I also picked up her Sephora by OPI nail stickers with cherries/lightning bolts/bows.  These are currently one of my favorite things because it makes me and my fingers happy. (Sadly, these appear to have been discontinued).  Currently I'm wearing OPI's "La Paz-itively Hot" with some cherry and lightning bolt accents.