Maureen

I took part in the Recreate Your First Mani collab hosted by the wonderful @polishednz . This was a.way to look back and see how far we've come and appreciate where we began. I used the exact same polish, I still have it. It's B Girl by Sally Hansen Miracle Gel. It's the polish that got me into this world of nails and began the obsession. I had always loved nail polish cautiously because I didn't know how to make it last. Miracle Gel promised a long wear time and I got at least a little bit more that I usually did. But that spark made me search Instagram for nail polish and that search led me to this community and so much information on keeping nails healthy and making the polish last. The second photo is my before, and my first attempt at some kind of decal. The after is my nails now, longer and healthier and using much nicer decals. I'm also a bit better at hand position. #RecreateOurFirstMani #naturalnails #miraclegel #waterdecals

Independence Day nails time! I used On The Download by @sally_hansen Insta-Dri topped with Red, White, & Sparkle by @color_spectrum_polish . The blue is a perfect 1-2 coater with an incredible formula. It's a perfect true blue. Hopefully this will last through Thursday. While our country isn't at it's best right now, I'm at least holding out hope that there are better days ahead. #4thofjulynails #sallyhansen #colorspectrumpolish #bluenails #naturalnails

Happy Pride from the #pridemonthnailcollab2024 search the hashtag to see all of the beautiful manicures. Thanks so much to @beauty.enby for hosting and making the beautiful collages. I chose to highlight the Trans flag because I see how much fire Trans people have come under in the last year. I may not understand what it means to be trans, but I do know what it feels like to be uncomfortable in my own body. For me it's weight which is nothing like what bring trans is, but it gives me a bit of empathy. So I'm choosing to stand up for my fellow humans who just want to feel comfortable in themselves. You don't have to understand someone to feel compassion for them. You don't have to be like someone to wish them a better life. And just because you hold a belief system doesn't give you the right to deny someone else health care or their existence. I'm looking at you Church! So let's stop punching down just because we don't understand and listen to the people's lived experiences. I have and I think it's made me more like Christ than I was before. "And these three remain, Faith, Hope and Love. And the greatest of these is LOVE." #protecttranslives #protecttranskids #loveislove #loveoneanother

This lovely polish is Calaveritas by @alchemylacquers it's a blue jelly base filled with pink to orange flakes which gives it an overall feel of being purple. I think I did three coats but it's been several days (see tip wear) and I don't remember for sure. The formula is perfect and so easy to use. This is a comfortable color for me after several manis that were multicolored. I'm generally more comfortable with a single color or two at most. So this was a bit of a palette cleanser for me. #alchemylacquers #naturalnails #indienailpolish #purplenails

Happy Pride! I have another rainbow mani today and I love it so much! I used Genesis by @zoyanailpolish as my base. It's a white crelly formula with silver glitter in it. It needs three coats and a bit of patience to get it perfect, but it's beautiful if you put in the care. I used my @opi Color Paints again because they are just so perfect for rainbows! #pride2024 #pridenails #naturalnails #rainbows

I finally have a new nail look! That last one lasted over a week! I was doing my late so I needed something that would dry quickly. I pulled out this older Insta-Dri by Sally Hansen. It's called Molten Mauve. I don't know if the mattes are still being made, but if they are, you need this one. This is two easy coats and it levels perfectly, barely needed any clean up (except where I moved weird and painted my finger lol.) The polish itself is matte but I did top it with a glossy quick dry top coat. Also, look how long my nails are getting ! #sallyhansen #rednails #naturalnails #drugstorenailpolish

Happy Pride y'all! This is my first year being openly supportive. It's taken a lot of years of work, listening to stories and people's lived experiences for me to get to this place. But I'm here. And I'm not going back to where I came from. There's a lot more work and learning for me to do, but I'm going to do it. For my first Pride post I dug way back into the polish archives and pulled out my @opi color paints and my @revlon Holographic Pearls. I layered the colors so I have two colors on each nail. The red, orange and purple are more difficult to see both shades, but they are there. And then because rainbows calls for more rainbows, I added the holographic topper. If you're a Christian friend of mine, don't bother trying to tell me I'm wrong here. I've spent years now sifting through my opinions, what I believe and why and now I'm here. If you eat shellfish, wear mixed fiber clothes or sleep in the same bed as your spouse during your/their period you can't use that same scripture to argue against LGBTQIA+ people. If you don't like that I've seemingly "changed teams" you're welcome to unfollow. #pridenails #lgbtqnails #rainbownails #proudally #naturalnails #holographicnails

How do you start a caption without sounding like you're announcing the special at a diner? I always feel so silly starting off with "Today's Mani" or "today I'm wearing." It all sounds so weird to me. So instead I started off completely awkwardly by complaining about it. Lol Aaaanyway, this is Heavenly Glow by @polishmesilly from their newest Glow Pop collection. It's a sky blue shifty shimmer that shift to purple, green and yellow/gold. I topped it with You Wish Jellyfish by @noodlesnailpolish from the 2022 summer glitter collection. This whole look is very mermaid. #noodlesnailpolish #polishmesilly #mermaidnails #shimmernails #indienailpolish #naturalnails

Today I decided it was time to wear pink again after my purposeful break from it. And I went with this crazy bright neon. This is 25 and Older by @roguelacquer . I did manage to break my middle nail closing my window (again) so I had to fix it and it's a bit shorter than I'd like now. I used three coats but probably didn't need the third. It was easy to use and clean up and just nice to use, like most Rogue polishes are. It was difficult to photograph and I really can't capture the gorgeous blue iridescent flakes. But they absolutely glow in person. This beauty is still available as of posting, if you absolutely need it. (Which you definitely do.) #roguelacquer #indienailpolish #neonnails #naturalnails

Yesterday's manicure came off in the shower. (Totally my fault, I was eating a snack right before doing my nails and forgot to clean off my nails. Not the fault of the polish.) So, instead of fixing it I just did a new mani. This is Pineapple Boba by @nailedit_nailpolish and Pink Lemonade Glow by @polishmesilly . I used a couple of @twinkled_t stamping polishes for the dot flowers. I'm really out of practice with dots, it's been literal years since I did any. This look feels more spring appropriate to me. And if you've been following me for a while you know yellow isn't my favorite color. But it has grown on me and I can appreciate a good pastel or neon yellow now. It's still nearly the smallest color collection that I have, but I do have a few that I love now. Including these two.#nailedithawaii #naileditnailpolish #polishmesilly #yellownails #springnails

New Mani time! This is Youthquake (red orange) and Anything But Basic (yellow green.) Both by @colorclubnaillacquer . Youthquake has a wonderful formula, it's a 1-2 coat polish and so easy to use! Anything But Basic is a solid 2 coats, but my brush is a thin one, as opposed to the wider brush that Youthquake has. If Anything But Basic has that wider brush I think it would be much easier to use. Hopefully it would have a wider brush if ordered now. I topped them both with Moonstone, a crackle topper by POP and Polished. Moonstone is a bit tricky to work with, it dried very quickly and is oddly chalky. Once top coated it looks better and the shifty shimmer shows. It shifts from pink to orange to green. It's not my favorite out of the three of the shimmer crackles that I have. I'd recommend Bubble Wand over Moonstone. #colorclub #neonnails #cracklenails #naturalnails

And now, back to our regularly scheduled program. This is the gorgeous Very Important Polish by @bluebirdlacquer . I got it in my swag bag from @polishandbeautyexpo 2023. It's a beautiful jelly purple with a ton of holographic glitter. It's making happy every time I look at my nails. I did my best to capture the holographic rainbows, but it didn't show up as well as I hoped in the photos. I think I did two coats, but I honestly can't remember. 🤦🏻‍♀️ The formula is very nice, not too thick or sticky. #bluebirdlacquer #indienailpolish #purplenails #holographicnails #naturalnails