Saturday, April 16, 2016

Guilty Hello!

Hi Everyone! (Or anyone still out there? :))

Long time no see! Is that even appropriate to say to people I have never actually seen before? In any case, I recently realized that (last 4th of July mani not including), it has been a year since I have last actually blogged. What is even more sad is that I can count the number of manicures I have done during that year on just my two little hands. And in that count, I'm including just polished nails that didn't involve any nail art. Pathetic, right? Friends and family that used to comment on the oddity of seeing my nail unpainted now did a complete 180 and mockingly stare when spotting color.

It is not that I didn't miss creating nail art, it is just that I had a lot going on at the time. I got busy, started working night shift and just sort of shut down when it came to doing my nails. If I couldn't do it all; swatch, review, create nail art, blog and keep up with social media, I wasn't going to do anything at all. Somehow in a weird and bizarre way it made sense back then then, even though it doesn't so much now. I think I was so used to blogging about every mani that I created (whether I ended up actually wearing it or not), that in the back of my mind it seemed logical that if I didn't have time to photograph and blog about a manicure, I would put off creating it. Recently a friend gently (or rather not so gently) pointed out that I should be able to make time for myself at least once a week and create a manicure, even if it is just for myself and not something I blog about. So simple, right? Since I can't really argue with that logic, that is exactly what I hope to do...


Deciding on the perfect 'come back' manicure proved to be a daunting task, so instead I went with what was sitting out on my long untouched polish table. Pure Ice Fairytale Forest is a shade that I picked up on a whim about a month or two ago. It was a straggler polish from a collection released in the Fall of last year. I was obviously very late to the party or I would have loved to pick up a couple more from this collection (namely the teal and lilac shades), so here's hoping for a re-release of those at some point.

Fairytale Forest is a frosty grayish blue with a very subtle gold/green fleck shimmer. The shimmer is what initially attracted me to this shade and although I was fairly certain it wouldn't show up well on the nail, a part of me still secretly hoped it would. The formula on this is great, two easy coats for full coverage. This is with a top coat...


As a side note, I recently decided to try out a more rounded nail shape. I constantly keep breaking corners while at work and since my nubs really don't inspire me to paint them, I'm hoping the rounded corner will be less prone to breaks. They look even more round in reality and I'm kind of digging them at the moment. What do you think?



For the final manicure, I used two B.Loves Plates stamping plates. The designer of these plates, Anna, kindly sent them to me for review last year. I received them around the time I stopped blogging and although that was an unplanned and abrupt stop, I have had a really guilty conscience about not showing you these plates. I hope that the saying 'better late than never' will apply here since these plates are awesome and I plan to show you more manicures with them.

I stamped all of the nails with the B.01 geometry is perfect plate using Wet 'n Wild French White Creme. The pattern combined with the blue sort of makes me think of denim. I then added a few decals made with the B.02 flower power stamping plate.


The decals were created using Ruby Wing Poppy for the flowers themselves and Pure Ice Lucky Charming for the shimmery leaves. I completely forgot that Poppy is a solar active shade and turns a gorgeous burgundy in the sun until I had worn the mani for a few days. You can see my old swatches of Poppy here. I would have loved to see the flowers change color, but I wore this mani for 4 days while working night shift, so it literally never saw the sun.


Ah, there is nothing like a close up shot to remind me that I still haven't learned to color inside the lines...


I hope you enjoyed this manicure! I'd love to know what you think of it.
I look forward to sharing more manicures with you in the coming weeks...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

30 comments:

  1. So glad to see you back! I've been a reader for several years and you've always had hands-down (no pun intended) the most impeccable and inspirational manicures I've seen. Welcome back!

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    1. Brittany, thank you so much for your kind words. You have no idea how much they mean to me! I'm so honored you choose to check out my manicures <3

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  2. So good to see you back! I was wandering if it was google removing your blog from my GFC list or what, I tried to open the blog and so no posts... and now you are back! Yay!

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm truly touched that you went out of your way to check on my blog. It means so much to me! I'm glad to be back :)

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  3. I'm so happy that you're back! I was a little bit worried and wondering if everything is ok with you! I was searching some news about you - on blog, on FB, IG and I was like 'OMG ufo just took her!'. Hope you will have some time for you and you will be able to share this mani pleasure with us!
    And I'm so glad to see the first mani since so long with my plates! ♥
    I'm so so SO HAPPY that you still want to be a part of Team B.! ♥
    With Love!
    Anna

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    1. HAHA! Yup, the UFO did take me. I'm sure it was them who convinced me to not do any nail art. What was I thinking... ;)

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  4. It's great to have you back, and I love the rounded shape!

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    1. Thank you so much! I'm glad to be back :)
      I wasn't so sure about the rounded shape at first, but (knock on wood) no breaks yet so you could say it's growing on me. lol

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  5. Welcome back!! I'm so happy to see you again and polished!!!
    xoxo

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    1. Thank you so much Valentina! It feels so great to be polished again and blogging <3

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  6. Wow, long time no see - I was astonished to see your name come up in my email notifications! No need for you, or any blogger, to feel the least bit guilty. It is your blog. You are the one spending time, money and creativity. The blog should only be when you want to or can do it without sacrificing 'real life' time. I feel privileged and honored that you share with us! I hate to think what the nail community would do without bloggers taking the time to do this service. (I do have an Instagram account but I hardly ever access it.) Love that shape on you. I am seriously contemplating changing my squares to a ballerina shape - but am not sure I want that upkeep. How on earth do you get all the shapes filed to look the same! Welcome back!

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    1. Thank you so much! It is difficult to think of the blog as a hobby at times especially when taking on too many reviews and having obligations to those companies. Plus seeing all the other bloggers who seemingly do it all. Phew. It is fun but also exhausting. I'm so glad to be back, but I'm going to try taking a different route as you suggested and make it more about nail art than swatching to avoid getting overwhelmed :D

      To get the same rounded shape was a bit of a learning process for sure. It helped that 3 corners were chipped and I tried to take off just enough to round them out. Lol. Not sure I have the hang of it yet. We'll see. You should definitely try out different shapes. I used to do it when filing them after a break ;)

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  7. I can't tell you how excited I was to see your blog pop up in my e-mailbox this morning!! I cannot fathom them amount of time and work it takes to blog so you should never feel bad about not posting "enough" (I can barely find the motivation to post my manis on IG!)! No matter if you post once a week or once a year, I'll always be delighted by your manicures! :)

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    1. Thank you so much Stacy! I'm trying to get over the guilt and take it a bit of slower this time around so I don't get overwhelmed. I'm thrilled that people haven't forgotten me completely. LOL :D

      Do you post manis on IG? I'd love to check it out, what's your acct?

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    2. We could NEVER forget you!!!
      Ok, bear in mind that I have been a big-ole IG slacker lately and have only posted a couple manis since the new year. If you like beer, you'll like my acct even more! @kzoobeergirl

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  8. So glad to "see" you again! I've been checking in on you routinely just in case so I'm very happy you've decided to come back to us. Night shift is tough, I know too well. I haven't painted my nails since August but am getting the itch to do so again. Maybe you'll be the catalyst to get things ignited in me! You still have some of the prettiest nails on the net. Love Ya! Kat

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    1. Thank you so much! You are so kind for your comments and for checking up on me. I shouldn't have disappeared so suddenly! Are you a night shifter also?

      You should definitely join this new "make time for yourself" mentality and paint your nails! I almost forgot how fun and colorful it can be :)

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  9. Yay! Welcome back! I totally understand, I have probably only painted my nails a few times in the past 6 months. Such a perfect lovely mani. :)

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    1. Thank you so much Kirsten! I have just read your latest blog post and it makes me sad! I hope you get to a place again where you enjoy doing nails, not for anyone else, but just for yourself. That's what I'm trying to do this time around. I'm going to try to limit 'swatching' and removing polish multiple times a day. I want to wear the art I create and not just make it for show, even if that means I only have one mani to show a week...

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  10. I can't tell you how exited I am to see your nails in my feed again. We missed you!

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    1. Thank you so much Amy! This community is so awesome and I feel so instantly welcomed back with all the kind words <3

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  11. С возвращением!
    У меня тоже был одно время довольно сложный период, когда писать не получалось.
    Да и сейчас с работой приходится постоянно чем то жертвовать ради блога.
    Я очень рада, что ты вернулась в строй!)

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    1. Thank you so much Rachel! I'm so glad to once again be making some time for nail art <3

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  13. I happened to check my old email address, and there you were! Welcome back! Updating my subscription now :D

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    1. Aww! Yay! How lucky for me that you checked your old email address <3 Thank you for re-subscribing! I'm so happy to be back to doing nail art again :D

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  14. Loved your blog and missed you. Had insomnia tonight and found you back again. Good for you for taking a break. We readers are thankful for the time bloggers take as I imagine it is so time consuming. As always lovely nails, and another idea for me to try. Cheers!

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    1. Oh gosh Kris! Thank you so much. I'm so glad you found my blog again. I enjoy creating nail art and have a lot of ideas that I want to try and share that I seem to overwhelm myself in the process because of lack of time. Trying to take it one day at a time this time around :)

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