New Blogging Schedule

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I’m working on a new blogging schedule. Most of the challenges I was part of have either ended or changed and it threw my habits out of wack! I cannot help it, I’m a severe creature of habit! I have also been trying to climb more but these exercise sessions generally take place during my nail painting time. And, on top of everything else, I do not know if I am experiencing a flare or just more fatigue while I change the biologic medication but intricate physical motion is becoming a little more difficult.

 

For the most part I think my new schedule will be about the same but I may not as often.

 

I will update the blogging schedule tab once it is finalized, but what do you think? Would you like to know what the schedule is or do you just prefer to read the post when it comes up? Let me know in the comments!

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

September/October Favorites Showcase

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I did not do a September favorites so I decided to combine the two months! If you remember I spent three weeks of September asleep, when I woke up I spent another week beating myself up for being asleep for three weeks. Yes, I know it’s not my fault I was so fatigued but I still felt like I wasted away three weeks of my life. That being said I fell behind with my blogs and could not get through them quickly enough to do a favorites last month. Check out my two Pinterest boards (here – Sept.) and (here – Oct.)

 

more nail polish - sept. favoritesI have a soft spot for galaxy nails and for cats so it really is no surprise that I fell in love with these More Nail Polish nails she did for the 31 day challenge. The color scheme is awesome, the detailing is not muddy and the kitties are just plain cute. This actually reminded me strongly of a shirt Target sells on their website (linked here). Actually, this shirt has a very funny story.

At the climbing gym I work at there is a “free crap cubby”. People always chuck things in there for others to take. Well, this shirt ended up in there.  One of my coworkers said the shirt did not fit him so another one tried it. He argued it was also too small for him (which it wasn’t, but I guess guys are weird about how their shirts fit) so he hot potato-ed it. I jumped up and down gurgling “I want it! I want it!” trying to get my word in before another coworker did. Of course, I forgot to pick it up when I left for the day and she snagged it. I totally bought that shirt.

 

@debrasnailart - sept. favesI discovered Debra in the Challenge Your Nail Art group. Her freehand work is amazing.  The detailing and shading make me believe I am looking at a painting and I can tell what animals I’m looking at. Check out her Instagram, her manicures are awesome!

 

lacquerologist - sept. favesIt is probably no surprise I am a pet adoption advocate. It really guts me so many shelter animals are euthanized because of no better reason than space constraints. When I saw Emily’s manicure, it hit a soft spot. I love the simplicity of the two colors and wording. It says what it needs to say without becoming crowded. And the shimmer of the base just says “hope” to me.

 

chalkboard nails - oct. favesI am always in awe of Sarah’s manicures but I especially love her simpler ones. This is abstract, easy to do, and I can mess around with the technique until I am happy with the finished product. It only requires two colors and acetone yet this nail art has so much depth.  Depending on the colors I use, this manicure is perfect for any time of year or for any occasion. I wanted to try this for the “villains” prompt earlier this week but my vampire bats won out.

 

fixin to faff - oct. favesI always love Ali’s manicures but I have a super soft spot for her plaid designs. The colors in this look work well together, the stamping is perfect and I’m in awe that she stamped with a holo polish. Ali’s pictures are always so cool since she holds a different prop and the lighting is flawless.

 

adventures in acetone - oct. favesI especially love the Jacki’s sponging for this look. I can’t get enough of that silver fading into the purple as a spider web gets bigger and, in theory, thinner. These two colors fade nicely together and the silver really pops on top of them. Regardless, it doesn’t clash since both the purple and gray appear to have silver shimmer running through them. I usually dislike anything with spiders or webs but this detailing is really cool.

 

31DC2014 - September 5: Blue | The Rite of AgingI generally would not include one of my manicures but this one is special. It was a double gradient that came out exactly the way I wanted it to and it received more than 100 likes on Instagram. Which I think is pretty cool and made me feel really awesome. Thank you everyone for sticking with me!

 

I hope you’ll like my favorites picks for the last couple of months. These of course are not the only favorites so don’t forget to check out the pinchers boards to see all of them.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

Halloween Nail Art Challenge – Day Three: Villains

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I tried a couple of ideas for today’s manicure. My first was ghosts, but I was not really feeling freehand work. For my second I finally tried Frankenstein patchwork but it looked too crowded. After that bought of freehand, I felt pretty discouraged so I sat down and flipped through my stamping plates. I came across a nocturnal creature and I was suddenly inspired…Vampire Bats! And to top it off, I combined two RA-friendly techniques: splatter and saran-wrap!

So here’s a fun story…sort of…When I worked the morning shift at the animal hospital one of my duties was to walk the dogs in the outside yard. These walks took place at 5 a.m. so I stood outside with the “barkers” to make sure they didn’t bark. One morning while I stood next to this patch of decorative bamboo in the yard, I heard a rustling in the leaves. I thought it was a person or animal but it was coming from the top. I freaked out thinking whatever it was might jump on me, grabbed the dog and ran inside. Later, I was telling this story to one of the receptionists and she told me bats were pretty common in our neck of the woods. She also told me she never walked her dog, at night, in forests or patches of trees and never ever let her dog out by itself. Bats carry rabies!

I love watching bats in captivity but out in the wild!…Nope! Anyways…

I hope you like it!

 

Halloween Nail Art Challenge - Villians | The Rite of AgingI started with two coats of Zoya Goldie as my base.

I “saran wrapped” with Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora and butter London Scuppered. I sealed the base with a generous coat of Seche Vite.

 I “splatter painted” with Wet n Wild I Red Good Book.

I stamped with Bundle Monster plate BM-314 and Konad Special Polish Black.

 

Hi my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Don’t forget to check out the other villains below!

Halloween Nail Art Challenge – Day 2: Pumpkin Faces

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Check the sidebar for information on both challenges. 

I combined the NAIL prompt with the Halloween challenge today. When I googled pumpkin faces most of them were traditional orange background, line marks and funny or scary faces.

I love pumpkins but I always got bored of the bright oranges ones. They were so monotone! My favorite were the tiny abnormally colored ones. They were a lot more rare and just looked cooler!

 

white orange mini pumpkin

Distressed nails are very RA-friendly and work perfectly with these pumpkin’s look. I am very excited I can inject a little more “nail art” into today’s manicure to make up for yesterday!

Anyways, I hope you like my “jack-o-lantern” nails. These were really fun to do!

 

Halloween Nail Art - Pumpkin FacesI started with 1 coat of Milani Spotlight White as my base.

I “distressed” with Color Club Almost Famous, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Short Cir-cute, and Sephora by OPI Metro Chic.

I detailed with Wet n Wild Black Creme and Sephora by OPI 212-Sephora for that candlelight flicker inside 🙂

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Check out the other pumpkin faces below!

Halloween Nail Art Challenge – Day 1: Classic Orange & Black

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Whee!! Today is the first day of the Challenge Your Nail Art group’s Halloween Challenge. First, a little information on the group. The group was started by the wonderful Jessica who runs the blog Be Happy and Buy Polish. Every few months Jessica puts together prompts (with input from the group!) and inlinkz codes for short, bite-size challenges. There are never more than four daily prompts but each theme is different and usually touches on the time of year. What I especially love about these challenges is how unique each prompt is! And even though they are different, I can take it any direction I want. Perfect! But be warned, the link-ups are only open for 24 hours! Mwahahaha. (That was my poor attempt at Halloween humor…)

Moving right on past that…

 

I hope you like my classic orange & black manicure. I cheated a little since I did not do “nail art”, per say, but as you know, I am not all that into Halloween so I usually feel pretty uninspired in this department! But hey, I will take any excuse to use my Formula X Halloween topper during this time of the year!

 

Halloween Nail Art Challenge - Orange & Black | The Rite of Aging EarlyI used 2 coats of Milani Spotlight White and 2 coats of Revlon Parfumerie Fresh Linen as my base.

I used a sponge-tip eyeshadow applicator with Formula X by Sephora Bombshell at the cuticles.

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

 

Don’t forget to check out the awesome manicures below!

Nail Art: Simple Halloween

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Except for challenges, I have not done any Halloween-inspired manicures this year. Last year, around this time, Sephora launched their new Formula X polish collection. There were so many options and I managed to walk away with one: Bombshell. Bombshell was a glitter topper from the Explosives collection. I had and still do not have any similar polish.

I did not know this at the time, but they discontinued this one shade. I am not sure if it was always limited edition though I am pretty sure it was not. Regardless, I am glad I got my hands on it.

I have been totally uninspired in the nail art region, the last few days so I opted for water decals. Unfortunately, this Born Pretty decal would not sit still on my nail, even after it dried, and top coat just wrecked it. In person, at the very least, I could not really tell there was supposed to be a pumpkin and the ghost was severed in half…

I considered not even posting this manicure but I wanted to show off the glitter. FYI, this is ONE coat…That is how much you get with one brush load (I even had to scrape off a little in the bottle). I used the dab technique for even coverage but I did not have to double-dip! Better yet, I did not have to fish for the large pieces! I have not tried any of the other Explosives but if they are similar to Bombshell I would highly recommend them!

I hope you like it….and please excuse my index finger.

 

Halloween Glitter Topper | The Rite of AgingI started with 2 coats of Sephora by OPI Metro Chic and 1 coat of Formula X by Sephora Bombshell as my base. Just look at how dense that glitter is!

The decal is from the Born Pretty Store. I usually have trouble with smearing regardless of which topcoat I use but today was particularly bad. I used Glisten and Glow HK Girl Fast Dry Top Coat and experienced total severing of this decal. I do not know how much of it was the top coat or the decal since the decal was not sitting still anyways. However, I have never had as much disaster with Seche Vite. Thoughts?

 

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

NAIL (October 2014) – Favorite Indie

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I knew exactly which indie polish I wanted to use when I saw this week’s prompt. Serum No. 5’s Happy Special Day! is one of my favorite polishes! Sadly, I rarely use it just because I do not generally reach for glitter toppers.

I loved my sprinkled sugar-spun manicure from Bundle Monster’s birthday challenge, linked (here) and I wanted to re-create it. However, every time I sat down to make this manicure I started too late in the evening and could not finish! I finally finished it tonight, though, and was so excited to share it! I am really pleased I managed a good variety of the pieces found in this polish.

I hope you like it too!

NAIL (October) - Favorite Indie | The Rite of AgingI started with 3 coats of Color Club Wham! Pow! and Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Short Cir-cute as my bases.

I cling wrapped with Pahlish Le Bijou du Roi before sealing everything with Seche Vite.

I sugar-spun with Wet n Wild Black Creme. I love sugar-spinning with this polish. It dries so shiny!

I used a toothpick to add Serum No. 5 Happy Special Day!.

Hi, my name is Monica and I have RA.

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