The Polished Pipette

Hi lovelies! I went somewhere fun the other day. Seattle Nails Supply is a teeny storefront in the international district that sells nail supplies, mainly intended for salons. But it's open to the public and they have crazy good prices! They don't seem to turn over their inventory very often, but if you're looking for older colors from OPI, Essie, China Glaze, and Color Club, this place is a real gem. One of the polishes I picked up is from the brand Ruby Wing and the shade is "Silk Sheets" It is a peach shimmer that changes color in response to UV light, into a coral-tinged rose. As you can see in the first two photos compared to the second two, the color change is subtle but noticeable. I then did a glitter gradient using Zoya "Nahla" which is a gold glitter topper that has some fine holo glitter and larger hex glitter pieces. I love this as a topper, but it was a bit challenging for a gradient since the glitter is quite dense. I'm lov

Hello lovelies! I recently got to try some new nail polishes by the indie brand, Pahlish. This beauty is called "Electric Lights" and it is a deep magenta jelly with subtle holographic glitter and holo flakies too. With one coat, it is more of a sheer raspberry color, but you really need two coats to get the full dimension of this polish. With two coats, you get nice coverage (a tiny bit of VNL) and the glitter and flakies build up more for a jelly sandwich type effect. It's amazing! I have to say the wear is also great with this one. I used Orly's base and top coats with this polish and I have yet to see a chip after several days of wear. Have you tried Pahlish's polishes before? What are your favorite shades?

Hello lovelies! My apologies for being absent so long! But I have swatches of some fun summery polishes for you today! First up is Color Club - Cosmic Fate. This is a peach/copper linear holographic. It's actually from an older collection, but I saw it swatched by Brianna @simplynails94 and I had to get myself a bottle! It covers nicely in two coats and the finish is divine! Next up is Essie - Bluetiful Horizon. This is a denim blue shimmer, but in some lights, it's almost a grape purple, with a copper shimmer. This is two coats, it goes on a bit darker than I expected, so I might break it out again in the fall. And last but not least, I have Zoya - Marigold and Nahla. Marigold is a bright red with gold shimmer, two coats, but with three it would have covered visible nail line (VNL) a little better. I love this! I used to have a bottle of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in "Crushed" that used to be my go to, not sure where that got to. But I am so glad

Hello lovelies, I just got back from vacation and I have a couple of manicures to share with you using the Orly "Pastel City" Collection. If you haven't heard of it, Orly's Color Pass is a great way to get access to each of their seasonal collections for the year. I started with the Spring 2018 collection, Pastel City. This collection is six polishes (three cremes, three metallics) in subdued (but anything but boring) pastel shades. With color pass, you get four shipments of six polishes plus a few freebies in each shipment. The price is extremely reasonable, if you use the code "NEONEARTH" you'll get a one year subscription for $109, which works out to $27.25 per box or $4.50 per polish, not including the freebies you get. A total steal! On vacation, my mom and I took a cruise in the Caribbean, so I wanted a lush, tropical mani. For the base, I used "Electric Jungle" a metallic seafoam. Then, I stamped on tropical leaves in Wrenn Polish

Happy Earth Day, lovelies! I spent yesterday morning clearing blackberries at Discovery Park, and subsequently needed some fresh paint. To keep the earthy vibe going, I decided to freehand some subtle little leaves as an accent (I'm not going to show you my right hand though, I need some practice on my freehand work). The blue is Revlon "Irresistible" a gorgeous, bright periwinkle creme (2 coats) and the leaves are OPI "Jade is the new black". I topped everything with the iridescent top coat from Urban Outfitters. Springy and bright!

Recently, a paper was published in Nature, reporting on the discovery of what the authors call a new organ - the interstitium. Before we get into the merits of the paper, let's cover some basics. Most organs are made up of two general tissue types - parenchyma and interstitium. Parenchyma describes the functional cell types of the organ - the cells that do whatever the organ has evolved to do. For example, in the lung, you would describe the alveoli (air sacs) and trachea as part of the parenchyma. Interstitium is made up of a variety of other cells and structures that support the parenchyma. ("Inter" = between, "stitial" = to set, positioned "interstitium" = positioned between) This part is made up of different kinds of collagen and other structures as well as some cells that contribute to things like inflammation and wound healing, like fibroblasts. So parenchyma = the heavy lifters, interstitium = support for the heavy lifters. Theise, et. al. pu