These nails, though.
I’ve been Instagramming my nails more often rather than blogging (you can find me on Instagram under @healthandswellness, and I just joined Snapchat, by the way, under HealthSwellness), but I thought you loyal blog readers needed to see this nail art. Because, well, look at it!
I initially booked my manicure as I get “marathon nails” when I run a race, and I was set to run the Around the Bay 30k this Sunday. I’m now traveling to work to the Caribbean and am skipping the race, but I kept the manicure appointment as a treat to myself.
Since I’m heading to a beach, I wanted something tropical and bright and I love Mara Hoffman’s prints, so I showed the incredible Naomi Misu (you can find her on Instagram under @naomi_misu where she posts some of her incredible nail art) at Tips Nail Bar a few pics and noted that I wanted an eye as the main nail-art focus (and told her that the rest of the nails could be simpler — the Tips team spoils me by creating labour-intensive looks on my nails, but I realize, duh, they have other clients and can’t spend all day with me).
Well, I’ve always joked that my marathon manis take me almost as long as it’ll take me to run a marathon, but this time the manicure actually took longer than what I’d hoped to run Around the Bay in. Naomi started with a base coat of white, leaving some negative space chevrons. I got distracted replying to work emails at this point, and the next time I looked up, my mouth fell open. “Whoa,” I said. She’d painted on the intricate black lines on my pinkie. “Um, you remember I said you can do something simple on most of the nails, right?” I said to Naomi. “Yes, yes, I know,” she replied, but she assured me we were all good. It’s not that I didn’t love it (inside I was about as excited as I get at a NKOTB concert, which is to say VERY) but I didn’t want to throw off the schedule.
I let Naomi do her thing, letting her focus and only whispering, “This is bananas…” as she created the look on my nails. I’d tell you what colours she used but I was too distracted watching her work to even take note of that, haha.
And, no, I’m not a member of the Illuminati…
March 25, 2015
Have you ever skipped wearing glitter nail polish because it’s such a pain to remove? I know, total first-world beauty problems. But it is a pain, is it not? After a particularly stubborn, refused-to-budge glitter polish two years ago (I may have put on three heavy coats of it), I’ve pretty much steered clear of glitter; I swear it took longer to remove than watching an episode of Keeping up with the Kardashians (or do those episodes just feel painfully long?).
But with the holidays here and needing a little bit of pretty cheer, I broke out some gold polish and glitter (Essie Jiggle Hi Jiggle Lo and Essie Top of the Rock) and then to remove it, I gave the Sephora Instant Nail Polish Remover for Glitter ($11) a whirl. You dip your finger into the foam and it removes your polish and glitter — that’s what it promises.
And it does work pretty well. I found some of the big flecks of glitter of Top of the Rock more stubborn and I chose to remove the last bits with a cotton pad and remover instead (but the product might’ve come off had I dipped a little longer), but it definitely made the glitter-removing task way easier.
And so, I’m welcoming back glitter into my life! Glitter on.
December 30, 2014
So it’s been a good five months since my last race (the Goodlife Toronto Marathon in May 2014) — ie. a good five months since my last killer marathon manicure! What the what.
Needless to say, I was very excited to get my digits race-ready with Leeanne Colley at Tips Nail Bar this week. I’d come across this wicked X nail art on Instagram (on @ninanailedit). Except the look was done with a floral design in the X, and I’m not really a floral kinda girl — which Leeanne knew instantly as she suggested changing it to a watercolour before I even mentioned not wanting a floral.
The look took about two hours to come together (but that included removing the gel polish I had on) because that Leeanne meticulously made sure each X hit the centre of each of my nails. For the watercolour effect, I showed her the colours on my Nike LunarGlide 6s (which I’ll be wearing for my marathon in Chicago on October 12, and for the Nike Women’s San Francisco Half-Marathon on October 19 — yes, I’m running two long races one week apart).
I like to think of the X denoting a target — and that it’ll help me meet my targeted time in Chicago! (If not, well, my nails are on point at least.)
October 8, 2014
