Lambchop Mobile

I have so many things on my mind

GUYS. I have things to talk about. SO. MANY. THINGS. I can't guarantee regular postings because I'm old, cranky, suffering from malaise of my own making and THINGS. I have many reasons for not being engaged and many reasons for longing to be engaged. This is my space and you are all just living in it.


That said, I have a small start to what could be coming.


AGE: I'm 43. I'm a Gen Xer. I'm a cisgenderd, hetero woman. Evidently, my generation has a special mid life crisis and I am very much feeling it. I'm officially perimenopausal, at an awkward place in my "career." It's not great. However, I like my 40s. Not as much as my thirties but I'm not mad about it.

Career: Yeah. I've fucked around for too long and though I make more money than I ever did, I don't have much to show for it professionally. I didn't finish colllege, I'm undisciplined and I still don't know what I want to do. That's pretty bad since I seriously need to think about retirement.

Personal: Pretty damn good considering. I've been with my husband for 20 years, married for 13. I'm still crazy about him and glad I made the commitment. No complaints there.

All of that laid out is to illustrate what will be coming because I HAVE THOUGHTS. I have regrets, I have triumphs and I am grateful. My life is messy as is anyone's and I have to get it off my chest.

I shall end this with some nails because this space really took off with a love of nail polish and nail art and I shan't let you down. I'm also still very passionate about those two things so that's good.

Slightly test post


I'm trying out the Blogger app on my tablet with my bluetooth keyboard to see if:
1. I like it
2. Maybe I'll get back to this
3. I kinda need the outlet

The above photo is my last Duck Day nail art. I don't recall everything I used but it's proof I'm still doing nails. I'm hoping but not promising to get back to regular posting. And I don't promise to keep it all nails. I may have other topics I need to get off my chest.


No Words

I offer no explanations. Just a snotch of text and some photos. 



I saw Moonspell in Portland two days after my birthday. This is the nail art I did:

Base: China Glaze Sea Spray

I went to Vegas in May and September. Then I was off to Texas in October for my older brother's wedding. This is the nail art I wore in Texas:


I used Essie Leggy Legend, Orly Pure Porcelain and a grey Colour Prevails polish I can't recall the name of. There's some random Butter London in there too but I am too lazy to find out which.


Before I went to Texas, I had picked up a pretty polish at Forever 21 and brought it with me to do my niece's nails. Swatch is of my hand, FYI.


Color changing??? Not for me. Not in sun and not in warm/cold temps. The fuck Forever 21?

I haven't slowed on the nail art, nail polish buying but I had to step away from swatching. It was a lot of work and other things. I'll slowly bring it back. In the meantime, you can see more of the nail art I've done on Instagram. I'll prolly end up reposting here but nonetheless, options. I recently received the Uber Mat which has really helped reignite some passion and I got the Pueen Fireworks Festival plate which is just lovely. I love XL stamping plates so much.

I do have a confession to make though. I have joined the dark side of major makeup obsession. ( I already was pretty enamored with the makeups anyway. Now it's like crazy.) Not enough to truly blog about it because I'm pretty fucking lazy and this is the best I can do. But I finally hit VIB at Sephora and an Ulta opened up in my town just a couple of miles away from me. Praise Bob. I gots me makeup and nail polish. I think one of the major factors to my diminished interest aside from life and work was the sub par offerings of most major polish brands this year. I mean, really.
I will prolly have to focus more on indies and that's okay, I really love the ILNP flakies I have and am really impressed with them period so it's time to just dive in. Now that I bought all of the Kat Von D Metal Crush eyeshadows I wanted, I can focus more of my disposable income on ILNP and others.

We'll see...

Abstract Pansy

Hey there, hi there, ho there!

I'm not about to recite the litany of everything happening since April. Suffice to say, in that time I had had to have TWO yes TWO root canals, I saw Moonspell again and I went to Vegas and renewed my wedding vows. So basically, things happened.

Anyway. I re-designed the layout on the blog today after neglecting it for so long. It will change again, eventually but I will place no time frames on that. I did however, get with it and finally join Instagram. You can follow me HERE if you are so inclined.

To start things right, I wanted to include some nail art I did back in April. I learned that you could do some gradient, dry marble, something with a stamper. I had to try it out and I played with the technique for awhile and it's one of my faves now. This look came out very reminiscent of pansies and I adored it.

Pansies???

Sadly this photo's a bit washed out. I'm a bit out of practice with my photography and well, Oregon sun while beautiful; is tricky to work with. either way, I'm still proud of it.

I'm pretty sure my base was Orly Sweet Dreams. Everything else: Revlon Parfumerie Wild Violets, Pure Ice Platinum Magic Base Coat and Color Club Almost Famous. I used a MoYou stamper and placed blobs of polish on paper. Placed the stamper down on the blobs and slightly moved it to swirl and then gently pressed the stamper straight down to y nails. Voila! 

I use this technique a lot with great results. I used it for my Margarita mani HERE and a few other times. Photos of which to come. It's really easy, not nearly as messy as I would have thought and it dries hella fast. 

Lately, I've been working on reverse stamping and had some triumphs. Those will come as well. Aside from that, I've been getting deeper into makeup and such. (Matt and I have been working on a photography project and I needs me good makeup skillz.) Matt thinks I should become a YouTuber but I don't know about that. I could never be as fun and cool as Nicole from Young, Wild and Polished. (I could watch her videos all day long.)

That'll do for now. Bob willing I will get my shit together one of these days.

Margarita Party

Hello, hello!

I adore my Cheeky Viva Mexico Jumbo plate. Now, I'm a smitten kitten for these XL kind of plates anyway because they are snazzy and efficient! Anyway, I was reminiscing about our trips to Mexico and so I decided to have some fun with my nails and try another new nail art technique.




I can hear the cries now. "Lamby, did you not learn your lesson with Konad Special Polish???" I did, I did. I let that shit dry for two hours before adding top coat. Bu the culprit was the top coat itself which will be discussed another time. Just note that if you buy the Kiss decal set that comes with a teensy bottle of top coat, do not use the top coat. Learn from my mistakes.

All my nails have a base of China Glaze I Need a Refresh-mint. I used the green Konad polish to stamp my boozy images on index thru ring. On my thumb and pinkie, I grabbed some snazzy neon colors from the original Color Club Poptastic collection and I put small blobs on some paper. I then used a stamper that I don't like and mashed that bad boy down to get swirled and mixed colors. Pressed that shit down on my nails and there you have it. Once dry, I stamped with MoYou black stamping polish.

I was sketpical about how well that kind of stamping was going to work. I expected a big mess from pressing my stamper onto blobs of polish and I was worried about how quickly the polish would dry. (If ever.) Gratefully, it dries really quick. And this technique was pretty fun and easy so I will for sure be adding that to the repertoire.

Cheers and Salud!


Supernova

Hey, hey!

So my hubs surprised me four bottles of ILNP multichrome flakies not too long ago and I am completely enamored with them. Now that there's more sun coming, I can actually have some nice photos but that didn't stop me from at least having one photo of how I layered with them.


ILNP Supernova layered over Sinful Colors Savage

Savage is a matte, it's rad EXCEPT that it stains. The good news is that it's easy to remove said stains unlike another nameless Sinful from years ago. I sponged two thick coats of Supernova over this because I like the scale effect and it's easy. 

The multichrome flakies aren't just gorgeous, they apply beautifully and most importantly clean up exceptionally well. Some glitters just don't and you find random specks wedged in your cuticle area or nestled in between your fingers. Not so with these!

There will be more of these beauties joining the family. Believe it.

Sparkly and Pretty

Oh hai!

Today I have sparkly and pretty because sparkly and pretty.



Essie On A Silver Platter

On a Silver Platter is just lovely. My local stores never had it when it was released way back in holiday 2013 but they did have a fuckton of Belugaria. (Full disclosure: I own Belugaria and I actually like it,) So, I never got around to seeing it and taking it home with me until recently.

Above is three coats. I love the shiny, sparkly, holo but I think the golden shimmer is pretty kickass. This wants to be gold but it flashes some green and purple. I've been wearing it a lot lately and that's saying something as Essie isn't one I gravitate to that often.


Well played, Essie, well played.

Cheers, bishes!

Well, holy buckets! I'm back and Bob willing, back for good. To give the quick summary this is the shit that went down:

  • I got a seasonal promotion at work
  • Fucking Xmas
  • I got the promotion permanently
  • I took on a special project at work that kept me away from my main job for three weeks
  • I got a new computer to use ONLY for work and now my trusty laptop is mine to do with as I wish
Hallelujah! Except that I took a lot of photos in the hiatus and they seem to have disappeared so I have to try and swatch and whatnot all over again. Yay. I blame my husband even though I have no real understanding as to why I do not have said photos and it may not be his fault but I like having a scapegoat.

Anyway. Whilst I am sorting some things out I wanted to share a few things. (There's nails and all that but trust me, you'll like this.) As you all know I ADORE my sister. She's the jelly to my peanut butter, the coke to my rum, the lime to my coconut. Some of you think your relationship is rad but I assure you it comes nowhere near to me and my sister. (J/K J/K, please don't hurt me.) Anyway, I have two EXCELLENT examples of this. The first in photo form:

You're damn right I put a mustache and cop glasses on this photo of my sister wearing a sombrero. I took it to 11, y'all.

THAT is a quality text message, people. If you want to improve your texting, I have now presented you with your guru. Learn from the master.

But that's not all, now you can learn how to leave quality voicemails. I hate talking on the phone and I only do so when someone doesn't call me like they said they would the night before (Ahem, MY SISTER.) even though I'd rather brush my cats' teeth. When that happens, these are the kinds of voicemails you receive from me:

"So, what? You don't answer your phone anymore, heffa?? *REDACTED BORING REDACTED* That's okay. I'll just write about it in my diary. When it's published, becomes a New York Times bestseller and I am rich and famous; just remember that everyone will hate you. ...AAAnd you're so pretty. Ok, love you, bye-bye."

I know Pooky cherishes that voicemail. How could you not, really?

So now you have proof of how amazing me and my sister are. You're welcome. But now to nails!
I'm not about to try and list all the polishes or anything because I know I don't remember. So just look at sparkly and pretty.

Sephora Formula X Alchemy
Nina Ultra Pro Gold Flake Top Coat 


I remembered everything in this because I was obsessed. I stumbled on Alchemy on clearance at Sephora and it made its way home with me. But I was also obsessed with sponging flakie polishes thanks to More Nail Polish and the amazing things she did with the ILNP multichrome flakies here. So simple and yet so brilliant and I feel lame that I never knew/thought about doing that.
I also own four of said amazing ILNP multichrome flakies thanks to my hubs being all around awesome. Photos will come.

Moving on, I also did this:

Ikat or vaginas?

I decided to attempt another nail art challenge from the hubs. When will I ever learn? He wanted me to do ikat. What I ended up with was vagina dentata. I'd like to say I self sabotaged since I don't like to do things that are "tribal" or "ethnic" because it's culturally insensitive but who the fuck am I kidding? I did sugar skull nail art so I'm just as culturally appropriating as the next. I just have not so very good skills hence the genitals all over my nails.

Let's leave it on this high note and I will be back again quite soon! 



The Ultimate Duck Day

Hey y'all.

I HAD to do something for today. Oregon meeting Ohio State is exciting but nerve wracking. No matter what, this is a historical season in Oregon football. Go Ducks!








Thumb and pinkie: Negative space tape manicure with Orly Au Champagne and Orly Sparkling Garbage

Index -Ring: Base China Glaze Recycle
Oregon temporary tattoo and ducky water decals
Pueen plate 44 stamped with China Glaze Millennium





Sweeping out the cobwebs

Hey gang!

I have been gone awhile and disappointed not to be able to blog. My work is 100 times busier with added responsibilities so I often have no time or desire for nail art or swatching. I am not giving up though and I may be able to sneak some things in here and there. Thanks for your understanding.

Looking forward to joining you all again soon!

Cheeky Sugar Skulls

Good morning!

I recently purchased the Cheeky Viva Mexico Jumbo Plate. Of course I would since I've visited Mexico so many times and just love it so. This was a must have. This plate has awesome sugar skull designs on it so I had to do a colorful design.




How it breaks down:
Base is Pure Ice Platinum Base Coat
All the dots are the original Color Club Poptastic collection
MoYou black stamping polish


This plate has fantastic full designs and includes a sugar skull one. (You can view the plate images here.) I used the full sugar skull design for my thumb and I think it turned out great:


I adore my new Jumbo plate and look forward to doing more!

Let's love love

Good morning!

On Saturday I officiated at my cousin's wedding. It was gorgeous outdoor event at twilight. My cousin looked gorgeous and her groom was so sweet and adorable. I had to come up with a ceremony on the fly and I kept it pretty short because they were sooo nervous and anxious. It all turned out well and it was super fun!

I had to do special nail art of course, so this what I came up with:



I was inspired by the wedding invitations which were white with black lace. I didn't want to do a white base so I chose SpaRitual In the Buff  as my base. It kinda goes with the negative space trend in nail art, so win!


I used a Fingrs plate for the lace design and Love text and Pueen plate 29 for the bows. MoYou stamping polish in black and Fingrs stamping polish to stamp the designs.

Simple, girly and elegant!

Duck Out The Jams

Good afternoon!

Today I bring you the first Duck Day manicure of the 2014-2015 season! This week the spirit color was white.



The look breaks down this way:

Base is Pure Ice Platinum Base Coat
Konad Special polish in yellow and green for the stamps
Pueen plate #44
On middle finger, cling wrap marble with Orly Lucky Duck and Hook Up



Ducks beat South Dakota 62-13. Nice start but the first challenge of the season comes next week against Michigan. I won't lie, I'm nervous!

Going in circles

Good morning!

As usual, I'm super busy but never too busy for nail art!



The weekend before last, I spent the night with my sister and we had a little nail party. I did a fun pedi on her and she gifted me a $OPI crackle she had picked up at Big Lots. She didn't know it was a crackle and would've kept it but as she said, "I was doing something wrong." So I took it off her hands because I'm just sad for nail polish orphans.

I ended up using it over Color Club Silver Lake only because I did not have time to do anything else or apply three coats of Silver Lake. So I got this:


When I got home, I used Pueen plate #37 and did this:

 
I used MoYou black stamping polish which worked really well but did get a little smudged upon application of Out The Door. Le sigh...



I loved this look and I know this design will bee seeing a heavy rotation.

Black Coffee Blues

Good afternoon!

I recently go the Pueen Love Elements stamping plate set and I have been going nail art crazy!
I've been so inspired, that I keep coming up with all kinds of ideas. So yay!




The coffee cup design is too cute so I knew I would have to do a tribute to my second favorite beverage.


I used Orly Country Club Khaki as my base and Orly Buried Alive to stamp with.
The cups are from Pueen plate # 30. The "coffee rings" are from plate #47.


I love my coffee mani...now to find something to pay tribute to my favorite beverage, WINE.

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