Wanderlust and Polishes

Happy Monday my dear friends!
I hope you have a great start to your week.  We had quite a bit of rain last night that melted most of the snow outside.  But the week before that, it was sunny, blue skies with lots of snow.  Although it is certainly cold, it is absolutely beautiful and I feel very blessed to have the chance of living in a winter wonderland.  How is the weather like where you live?

As an aid-worker for an Alzheimer's Disease Patient, part of my day would be taking her for a long walk.  She loves the outdoors;  with the proper winter gear, we are set to walk and walk with no problem.  Recently, I had the idea of taking a few polish bottles with me and taking pictures with them when an opportunity arise.  I call this new fad of mine #WanderlustAndPolishes, hehehe...  The lake where we usually take our walks is so beautiful,  I can't help it.

Remember this water decal nail art?  It's been 6 days and look! besides the normal nail growth, there's no chips nor signs of wear.  Mind you, I also clean homes as 'another' job (part-time), I do wear gloves, but still;  this mani is probably bullet proof, haha! And no, it's not gel or shellac, just plain polish on my natural nails.

And here are my babies out on a walk with me.

"And they sprinkled moon dust in your hair of golden star light in your eyes are blue...."

These polishes are called "Stardust" from Avon... so reminds me of that Carpenter's song, though...

I am sending you warm love from my snowy lake... (yup, that is a frozen lake behind me).

I hope you spend some time outdoors too, breathe some fresh air and feel the sun on your skin...
Rumor has it, it's good for you *wink*

Thank you for visiting my blog again dear friends!
I hope you have a wonderful week ahead of you...

Love, Maya

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Sunny Days in Winter Nailart

My!  My!  It was a long time coming and then we are at the 6th day already of the new year:  2016... How time flew.  How is everyone doing?  I want to thank you all for visiting my blog and continuing your support.  You guys are super awesome! 

Today I was trying to set up a filming station for my nailarts - so I could make video tutorials.  I have some ordinary study lamps with white bulbs, my iPhone and a selfie stick... but so far, I had no success.  So let's stick to still photos for now.  {Any suggestions?}

What do you think of this Sunny Days inspired nailart?  Some little pink flowers scattered all over a sunny yellow.  Goes so well with gold jewelries, don't you think?

We've had our share of snow over the last few days and the sun finally came to visit today. I don't mind it photobombing my nail art photos at all! In fact, I wish it would visit often, even when its snowing! (Wait, is that possible? hehe)

I hope you all lots of sunny and happy days with a battalion of loved ones around you.  {Cause you know, nothing is worth it when we don't have loved ones to share them with, right?}

Lot's of Love,

Maya

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Beauty After The Winter Storm

Yesterday, I decided I need some exercise so I walked to work.  For less than an hour walk plus a great view, exercise ain't so bad, right?  I just had to make sure I had the right gear:  boots, gloves, hat and hood, long coat... Nothing is sad when one is warm.

More photos here, please keep reading...

First Snow This Year

Good evening friends!
Part of my work day today is a pleasant walk along this park.  Today is also the first day of day-time snow in my city... Yes, there has been scattered snow already during the night and they are mostly gone come day light.  This time, it was a gentle pour of pellet-sized snow.

I stopped a while to say hi to these beautiful birds...

It is a cold day, I guess everyone's still getting accustomed to the cold season and many are in denial that snow is inevitable...  I, for my part, am ready for some change.  The gloomy skies and chilly winds spell somewhat a low-mood, but the snow makes for a charming, whimsical day.  Don't you think?

How is your day?

xoxo,
Maya

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Warmth in Bloom | Crochet Fashion Scarf and Earwarmer Headband

In this cold winter months, keeping warm can also be fun and stylish.  When I saw this great pattern from a magazine, I immediately wanted to make it. {That involved of course, buying the magazine too, :p }  Before this, I have only crocheted headbands based out of a video tutorial on YouTube.  The tutorial was so informative and basic, it carried me through every little step that made it easy to follow.  Watching the tutor do the steps assured me that what I was doing was right.  This is my first time attempting a project out of a written pattern.  You might imagine how intimidated I was.  But this cute scarf is too pretty to pass on.  I had to try.

Every so often, I second guess myself: "Does this look okay to you?"  I asked my hubby.  Of course he would proudly say, "It looks beautiful!"  I'd take it, as if he knew exactly... er, anything at all about crochet... :-)  I would actually feel reassured and I'd move on pleased.

 

The Snow Queen "Elsa" - More Glitter Fun

Elsa - The Snow Queen :)

Inspired by the iridescent and pretty blue dress that Queen Elsa from the movie "Frozen" wore, I have been thinking of glistening blue glitters.  Isn't that color just refreshingly beautiful?  I concocted a mix of various shaped loose-glitters in the same color and I was quite excited to give it a try.

Then again, removing glitter polish is a royal pain.  So...

Winter Blues of Prettiness :)

I saw a tutorial on the ever wonderful resource site - YouTube - and found a great tutorial about using glue as a basecoat.  It made removing glitter polish so easy.  It just peels off!  And yet,  the manicure still seems to remain quite hardy.  Try? Of course!  Off I go and purchased a bottle of Elmer's glue.  (While I'm at it, I also purchased more glitters, bunch of scissors, glue gun and more glitter polish, ha ha... Nailart turns into arts and crafts girls!  Not that I'm ever gonna need the hot glue gun for nail designing... Or will I?!?)

It became a Glue-as-a-basecoat and Loose-Glitter-Mixing experiment for me.  If this glue thing works, that means I'd be able to experiment more on glitters... yay!  Painlessly, you know what I mean?

Anyway... I'm planning to wear the polish design on my fingers for how ever long it will take for it to wear.  Oh wait, did I just say that?  Ouch! I always like changing my manicure... very often actually... So, we'll see... I'm just quite curious at how long it will last.


While I contemplate on that idea, please let me know if you like this design or not?  I thought I was able to capture a little bit of  the blue from Queen Elsa's gown...  It's a really nice pop of color against my big black down-feather coat.  Although in the end, it might have been great to have some different hues to add depth. Oh well, as dear Miss PiNK says, "we try and try again".  Practice makes perfect they say, right? I'm gonna try making different combinations.  I placed the flowers to make the design more feminine.  But it's more on trying out the loose glitters actually.

I'll be posting more pics on this design as well as the glue results next :)  I was just really excited to share my design with you...
What do you think? Did it work?

~*Maya, the Queen of.... er... the Lacquer-Head :) *~

For more Nail Art designs, please visit my Nail Art Gallery

Thank you and have a fancy nails day! 

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