Splattered Skull

Hey everyone I hope you all have a fantastic father's day! I am still pooped from all the festivities. But that wont stop me from going to my Bikram hot yoga class today!  My dad and I spend the morning out on a 3 mile hike in northern New York.  It was pretty challenging climbing up and down all the steep rocks and slippery streams but it was so much fun.  Then we took a motorcycle ride to a Greek festival for some amazing food.  I had such a great time spending the whole day with my daddy!

Now that my nails are short, I want to rock some dark polish. I think short nail just look better with dark colors.  I haven't done a splatter mani in a while so I thought it was time to try it again!





For the splatter nails I just did the regular blow-through-the-straw technique. I guess because the yellow polish I used was so thin that over the black it came out looking more like a cool smokey, cloudy look instead of a classic splatter look. I used a stencil for the skull. He came out a little wonky, but still cool. It looks like hes wearing an eye patch, haha!







The Line Up:



Debborah Lippman Edge of Glory Base Coat
OPI Candlelight

Even though this man didn't come out perfect, I still really like it! The splatter ended up having a really cool effect.

What do you think of my splatter skull mani? What did you all do for father's day?

Claws up!
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P.S. In true Jacquie fashion, I have added some photos of my father's day hike after the jump :)

Neon Polkadots

Hello everyone, I hope you all had a great week and you are excited for the weekend!  I spent my week cleaning and packing for my big move, and I started taking a Bikram yoga class. Bikram yoga is a set of 26 yoga postures and 2 breathing exercises done in a room heated to 105 degrees! Its really intense but I love it. Have you ever tried Bikram yoga? Would you want to try it?

As I mentioned, during my adventures this week, I had a MASSIVE break on a nail on my blogging hand. I was really sad to cut all my nails down to nubs, so I apologize for their short stature.

I absolutely LOVE neons! I will wear neon colors any time of the year, but now that its summer I want to wear them even more.  I saw this photo on Pinterest and I knew I had to do my own take on that neon polkadot design.

PREPARE FOR NUB STATUS...









The Line Up:


Deborah Lippmann - Edge of Glory Base Color
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - White On
Julep - Eden
Julep - Avery
Milani Neon - Techno Red
Spoiled - Jail Bait
Nina Ultra Pro - Solar Flare

I love how bright and fun this mani was, perfect for the summer! I love all the pops of color. When I look at my nails I swear I hear the sound of bubbles popping. Now I just wish I could have painted in on longer nails. Grow, little babies, grow!

What do you think of this neon polkadot look?

Claws Up!

I Heart NY

Hey everyone. As you guys know I am moving to Virginia at the end of the month.  While I was cleaning and packing up I suffered some major breakage on a nail on my blog hand. I really am sad about having to cut all my nails down so I am kind of avoiding it. So my nails are all crazy looking which means I'll be holding off on nail posts until it grows back a little.

I wanted to take this time do to a post that I have been thinking about for a while.  This is really just a way for me to express some of the feelings I have about moving.



I am a New York girl through and through. I might not have grown up right in the city, but I love my home town in a NYC suburb. I love the area I grew up in and the kinds of people that surrounded me. I feel that most people were open minded to other people, cultures, music, fashion, and even dietary restrictions.  I worry a lot that living in Virginia will not bring me the same happiness I feel living in New York. As a vegetarian I fear that I will not find some of the foods I have found in New York.  I worry people will have a different mindset than I'm used to. I love the fast-paced city feeling and knowing that every person I see is different in some way.  I went to college in a town where everyone was the same, which is one of the reasons that I wasn't happy in college.

Living so close to the best city in the world is such an amazing privilege that until now, I have taken for granted. ANYTHING that you could ever want to do, just a quick train ride into the city and its there for you. When Lady Gaga opened up a workshop for a limited amount of time, of course it was in New York. Lots of other little monsters around the country, and even the world, were all too far away to go. I was so fortunate enough to only be 40 minutes away!  It makes me sad to be so far away from my favorite place in the world. The place filled with opportunities. Being so close to NYC meant the world was at my fingertips, and once I move I am going to lose that. I so wish that I would have made more of an effort to get everything out of the city that was there for me while I still lived here.

I was so lucky to live in New York and I love being a New York girl from the pizza to the fashion.  No offence to those that live in Virginia, but coming from the place I love the most, to Virginia, makes me feel like a downgrade in location. Don't get me wrong, I am so happy to be getting ready to live the next stage in my life, and to start a future with my boyfriend after 4 years of living in a long distance relationship.  I just wish it was in a state that I was more excited to be living in, in a place that was closer to New York.

I will have to see what the future holds.  I hope more than anything that one day I will be reunited with New York and it will become my home once again.  You can take the girl out of New York, but you will never take NEW YAWK out of the girl!

Have you ever had a major move? Do you love your hometown/state as much as I do?

Claws up!

Caviar and Skittles

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a good weekend. I got back yesterday from my trip to Florida for my grandpa's 95th birthday party.  It was nice seeing all of my family again and catching up over when we had all missed in the last 5 years. We even got to spend some time watching through a nature preserve, which was really hot, humid, but really pretty!  When I got back I wanted to do a quick mani so I decided on an idea that I havve been thinking of doing for a while...ever since I got my Ciate Mini Mani Month advent calendar.

I already had a bottle of caviar pearls that my mom got a while back, PLUS the Ciate calendar came with 4 other bottles of caviar pearls.  I knew that some day I needed to do a caviar skittle mani and this was the day!











The Line Up-Part One: The Pearls


Ciate Caviar Pearls in Multi Colour
Ciate Caviar Pearls in Bumble Bee
Ciate Caviar Pearls in Candyshop
Ciate Caviar Pearls in Sundance
Ciate Caviar Pearls in Prom Queen

I wanted to keep this mani totally Ciate, so I tried to pick polish colors that went with the colors of the beads from the Mini Mani Month.

The Line Up-Part One: The Polish


Ciate in Strawberry Milkshake
Ciate in Twilight
Ciate in Power Dressing
Ciate in Mojito
Ciate in Cupcake Queen

I was really happy with the polish and pearl parings that I creating, I feel that each one really went well with the colors of the pearls. I will have to do more manis with these color combos.  I thought the caviar skittle look was really fun! Before I started I was worried that all the pearl colors wouldn't work together, but having the same look on each nail in different colors ended up looking pretty cool! I ended up really loving this mani.

What do you think of this caviar skittle look?

Claws Up!



There's more after the jump!

Ciate Foil Set Carnival Couture

Hey everyone!  I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far. I am actually waking up in Florida right now.  I'm here visiting my family for my grandpa's 95th birthday party. It will be fun getting to see all my family, most of whom I haven't seen since his 90th birthday party. I wanted some fun party nails for a birthday party night.

My mom recently bought some things on Sephora, and she told me that she needed to spend $20 more dollars to get free shipping. Of course she knew that I would always say yes to nail polish and told me to pick what I wanted.  I have been really liking foil nails recently, so I asked her to get me the Ciate foil set.  I chose the one called Carnival Couture which comes with a beautiful pink polish and 6 different foil colors.  I thought this would be the perfect fun mani for a birthday party!










See more after the jump!

My Last Day of Work

Hey everyone! As I told you guys in my last post, my last day of work at my job was 2 days ago.  I really did have a lot of bad times, and a lot of stress from that job, which I have shared with you. But I have to say, I bonded with some of the dogs a lot, and I do love them as if they were my own. I was also lucky enough to make a few great friends.  While some days I looked forward to my last day as if it couldn't come any sooner, once it happened it was pretty sad. I wanted to share with you some of my experiences I had on my last day.



My friend Michelle is as amazing cook and baker.  She is gluten free, and wants to be a vegetarian like me, so we love talking about food and cooking for each other. She was so sweet to make cupcakes me for me (and everyone else) for my last day.  These things were slamming! Everyone that tried them said they were the bast cupcakes they had ever eaten, and of course they were gluten free which is awesome. She knows how much I love bananas, cinnamon, and of course Nutella, so it was really sweet she made cupcakes she know I would love.




While the batch she made for everyone just had plain cinnamon frosting, the ones that she made special for my had kitty cat faces because she knows I am obsessed with cats! She frosted these herself, she really is amazing!



One dog, Chopin, first came to daycare when I was just starting at my job. He has been coming in every day since then, and even celebrated his first birthday with us.  I have gotten close with him, and with his mom who is so nice! Its always nice to see her and talk and joke with her after a day of cranky clients.  When I came into work I saw this "Good Luck" cookie cake for me that she brought in. How sweet is that?

And then things got emotional. You all know Charlie, that little brown poodle that I am IN LOVE with. he was one of the dogs that I was saddest about leaving and that I love the most.  His mom's would just let him lose in the lobby because they always knew he would run right to me. And when it got slow at work I always gave him some extra attention.

When I saw his mom come in to pick him up I started tearing up. I ran to get him and gave him a big hug and an "I love you." His mom took me aside and told me how much she loved and appreciated all the love and care that I gave to her dog. She said she always felt better when I was at work because she knew Charlie was taken care of, and she told me how much she and Charlie would miss me. At this point we were both in tears, she handed me an envelope and I said my last goodbye.



In the envelope was this adorable print out with a thank you note and a photo of Charlie from prom. When I saw this I started crying again.  She also gave me a thank you card and a $50 gift card. I was floored! I couldn't believe how amazing these people are.

After my last day had ended, I went out for a good-bye celebration with some co-workers.  It was fun getting a night out and being able to have fun without worrying about going to work the next day.







It was definitely a fun and interesting night! At one bar we were at, we spotted a woman that brings her dog to our place for daycare! It was so weird seeing her out in a bar. We told her we were out for my last day celebration, and she told us she felt bad she never tipped us, and bought us all a round of drinks! She hugged me and said that she and her dog Teddy would miss me, and she would have the photo of us at prom to remember me by. I have to say that was the craziest thing I have ever experienced while going out!

Overall it was an emotional day full of hugs and good-byes to dogs and friends.  I might not miss working there, but I will miss seeing everyone I love every day.

Just a quick update, I am going to Florida tomorrow for the weekend, but I have a nail post scheduled for when I'm gone.

Did you ever leave a job? Was it as emotional for you?

Claws Up!

Cocktail Party

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a nice weekend.  I got to enjoy a nice Saturday off and spent the day getting some house stuff done, and even doing yoga outside in the beautiful weather.  I had to work on Sunday, but luckily it was at an outdoor event so it was a lot of fun!  I actually only have 2 more days left at my job!  It will be really sad (and I will probably cry) having to say bye to all my favorite doggies, and friends. But I certainly wont miss all the unfairness I dealt with, and a few choice people, haha.

But enough about that.

I am going do show you some nails that I just can't get over!  They are some of the most fun and awesome nails that I have ever done, if I do say so myself.  It was actually hard to get things done because I kept getting distracted looking at my nails.



I stared with Revlon Top Speed in Metallic, then I just went to town adding fruit fimos and rhinestones.







I was so freaking obsessed with these I just couldn't stop doing different hand poses and taking photos, just so I could keep looking at them.  So if you want to see even more photos, just click the jump.

Rue Beaute Layered Polish

Hey everyone, I hope you are all having a good week!  I only have a week left at my job before I take some time off to get ready to move, and then the big day comes in a month!  While some days I absolutely hate my job ad most of the people, I love all the doggies I got to meet and bond with, and I have made a couple of really good friends.  One girl that I'm really close with, Michelle, is really sweet.  We love talking about food and going out and she is always asking me "what's on your nails today?"  She surprised me a few days ago with a bottle of nail polish that she picked up for me, and I knew I needed to try it before I left work for good.



I'm going to do things a little different and start with the bottle shot.  This is an unnamed neon layered polish by Rue Beaute.  I LOVE each of the neon colors in the bottle, but I have always been a bit skeptical of layered polishes.  I'm worries they will mix together and that it will be impossible to get any colors out besides the top one.





Since these are neons, I started with some white undies which ended up being a brilliant idea.  Now I only needed one layer of the polish which prevented the colors from mixing too much.  The bottle also says not to mix, but that resulted in only getting to the purple layer.





In order to get more of the layers, I actually tilted the bottle quite a bit and dipped the brush into the exposed colors.  It actually worked out really well.  I did my left hand first so I just reached the green, but once I got to my right hand I got some really nice streaks!  So for a rare occasion, I'll show you my right hand!



Don't make fun of it! My nails are a lot shorter and uneven on my right hand, plus I am terrible at painting it.  But you can see how cool the colors came out!

I am excited to keep using this polish and seeing how each layer of colors comes out!

Have your tried layered polish yet? What do you think?

Claws up!

4 Years Together

Hey everyone! I hope you all had a great Memorial day weekend and that the weather stayed nice for whatever your plans were. Yesterday was actually my 4 year anniversary with my boyfriend, but unfortunately due to our schedules, we could only see each other on Saturday.  Since we only had a little bit of time together, Ben planned a surprise date for us and kept it a secret.  When I drove into his driveway Saturday morning, he made me get right in his car, and off we were to a secret location.

We ended up going to the Philly zoo! We both really love zoos, and luckily the weather was relatively nice, so it was a really great way to spend our anniversary.



Ben took me into the building that nightmares are made of: the reptile house. I am terrified of snakes, and the Philly zoo has lots of them.  I did manage to sneak a peek into a tank and found this turtle and lizard making a heart. I guess it was appropriate on our anniversary.



Since Ben made me go into the reptile house, I retaliated by making him go into the petting zoo! Who says t he children's zoo is just for kids? Well I guess the zoo does. But I am a kid at heart! I loved getting to pet the sheep and goats.



We spotted some hungry, hungry hippos.



The rhino and zebra were all getting along until the rhino stopped eating. Then the zebras high-tailed it out of there!



This bear was enjoying the nice day :)

After the zoo, we went back to Ben's place to change for dinner at one of my favorite places to eat, The Melting Pot. (For more on our dinner, you can check out my other blog on Wednesday).



The day had its ups and downs, but there is no one else I would rather have spent it with than Ben. Thanks for the amazing day, and 4 years.  Can't wait to see what this year brings!

How did you spend your Memorial day weekend?

Claws up!