#itonlytakesone

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If you’re hanging around Instagram, you may have noticed an whole bunch of happy face manicures popping up on your feed. @ohmygoshpolish has ignited a movement by encouraging her fellow nail girls to create these manicures to raise awareness and take a stand against bullying, hashtagging the manicures with #itonlytakesone.

Bullying is an issue that hits home with me–like so many, I’ve experienced my share of bullying. In junior high, that bullying came in the form of girls “innocently” teasing me about my weight. Unfortunately the taunts I heard influenced my poor body image, which eventually spiraled into a serious eating disorder that I’ve dealt with for the majority of my teenage and adult years. Thankfully I’ve embraced recovery, but I still struggle with the effects of that bullying daily, even 16 years later. I doubt those girls thought what they were doing was serious, but bullying is: what you say has consequences, and bullying is never okay. Ever. In today’s society, with the prevalence of smart phones and social media, bullying is at an all time high–it’s easy to break someone down when you have the protection of a screen. That’s why it’s important that when we see it happening, we take a stand against it.

One person can (and does) make a difference.

 

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For my #itonlytakesone manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Sinful Colors Snow Me White.
  • Essence Nail Art Tattoo Pen (black)
  • Essie Watermelon (pink accents)
  • Seche Vite Quick Dry Top Coat.

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You can check out Bystander Revolution for more information–They have some great videos that I think everyone should take a minute to watch. And if you’re on Instagram, I encourage you to create your own #itonlytakesone manicure, and show that you will stand up against bullying. =)

Happy Canada Day Nails.

Just a quick post today.

So here in Canada we’re celebrating our country’s birthday. In honor of that, I painted my nails for the occasion. I wanted to try and create some maple leaves, but I was short on time as we were heading out to the boyfriend’s brother’s house for pre-Canada Day drinks, so I went with polka dots.

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The polishes I used for these holiday nails were:

  • OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls
  • ACO by Ardene Strawberry Blush
  • Essie Go to Go top coat.

These were right the right amount of red and white for my Canada Day. =)

I look forward to starting on the OMD2 Nail Art Challenge tomorrow with Coral nails. =)

True Blue and Chevrons.

I’ve got some simple nail art to share with you today. I meant to post these yesterday, but by the time I got home from work I was pretty much a zombie.

For this NOTD, I was trying to recreate the pattern of my favorite mug. I don’t it’s perfect yet, but for something I did real quick before bed I do really like how they turned out. Plus all my lines were straight which yey!

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • ACO by Ardene True Blue — the blue/teal base color.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in White — white chevron pattern.
  • Nutra Nail Speed Dry Top Coat.

This polish was very frustrating to try and capture a picture of. On my nail, it’s a deep teal color but the second I started photographing it appeared much more blue than it actually is in person. Didn’t matter if it was inside or outside. These pictures are the closest I could get to the actual color, but still come across more blue than the polish truly is.

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Color block — take two.

As you’ve kind of noticed, I’ve been killing color block manicures lately. Sometimes I have a hard time deciding on just one bright color, so I have to used them all. (Haha, maybe not all. I own 300 polishes so that would be quite a time consuming manicure.)

Today’s bright and colorful manicure is a combination of some fun Summer colors. It took me a little while to get done, but I love the finished product. I painted everything completely free hand, so my lines are not perfectly straight–but I find that adds to the charm.

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The polishes I used for this manicure were:

  • Sinful Colors in Be Happy.
  • Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Coral Reef.
  • Art Club Striping Polish in Paisley Paradise.
  • Essence Color & Go  in Let’s Get Lost!
  • Art Club Nail Art Duo in Baby Blue.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in white.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in orange.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in black.
  • Sally Hansen Diamond Flash top coat.

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I really, really love the look of these. They’re just really fun! And the best part about a manicure with this many colors is that I can pretty much match it to any outfit. =) We’ve still got some serious grey skies happening right now, so at least my nails are spring-like.

Bright and Colorful nails!

I have a fun manicure to share with you today.

With the Summer quickly approaching, I’ve been feeling the bright colorful polishes lately, and I really wanted to do a color blocking manicure. I came up with this random pattern while I was painting my nails–I started with the triangles, and then went from there. I’m not sure what to actually call this pattern, but they’re bright and colorful which was what I wanted.

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For this manicure the polishes I used were:

  • Essence I’ve Got a Crush on Blue! (from their love letters collection) — blue grey base color.
  • Revlon Siren — orange triangles.
  • ACO by Ardene Lollipop Queen — Pink stripes.
  • ACO by Ardene Lagoon — blue polka dots.
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in back
  • Stripe Rite Striping Polish in white

Even though I had no plan going in with this manicure, I love how they turned out. Sometimes it’s nice to just start something, without knowing what you’re doing, and have them turn into something neat. Also I managed to create those triangles with just my regular polish brush (before I added the black stripe outline). Sure, they’re not exactly perfect but they ARE triangles, so I couldn’t be happier! =)