The Polished Pipette

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...

I've had some interest lately in what I do to care for my nails. Over the last couple of years, I've gotten more interested in what my nails need and how to make them look their best. I'm kind of a perfectionist, so chipping polish, frayed cuticles and the like annoy me to no end. So here's what I do to keep my tips in tip-top shape. 1. I am super diligent about moisturizing my nails and cuticles. I use nail/cuticle oil multiple times a day, and when I'm between polishes, I try and moisturize a lot to keep my nails supple. This has made a huge difference! Peeling, brittleness, and hangnails are all (usually) due to insufficient moisture in your nails and surrounding skin. I've tried a few nail oils, but my favorite is Simply Pure from Bliss Kiss. It contains a high concentration of Jojoba wax ester, which is a small molecule that can actually penetrate the nail, unlike many other oils. 2. I try and protect my nails from water as much as I can. And wh...

Goodness, I've been slacking on showing you guys my weekly nails! I have some professional stuff going on this week, so I wanted a manicure that would be fairly conservative, but still be fun and interesting. I went with two coats of Essie's "Mochaccino" which is a brown/gray with subtle silver shimmer. I really like this one because it's a nice nude/neutral but because of the shimmer, it still has some personality. Then I went in with bronze nail striping tape to create the horizontal and vertical stripes. All sealed with a glossy topcoat. Voila!

This is my favorite mani I've done in a while! It's simple but not boring. I am in love with Julep's "Jaydra" it's described as a sheer rose holographic. I wouldn't necessarily call it sheer though. This is two coats, and it's opaque, except in the harshest of light. The holo is subtle, and hard to capture in pics, but when you see it in person, it's gorgeous, the particles are really fine. I followed two coats of this baby up by using a dotting tool to add a dot of Julep's "Daylee"on each nail near the cuticle line. Daylee is a warm gold, but it's almost a duochrome, it has a bottle green shift in some lights. Overall, I'm loving this paint job, it feels feminine and Springy, but kind of a modern take on pink nails.

It's finally starting to look like Spring! For this manicure, I used Essie's "Turquoise and Caicos" which needed three coats to be opaque. I always forget how sheer this one is, but I do love the color. Then I used China Glaze's "White on white" applied to my stamping plates from Born Pretty. I love the lacy effect that the white has on top of pastel colors.