https://www.quikly.com/lane-bryant/s/abAWayjV?utm_content=blogger

Dip Powder Nails!

                         Let's Talk.......

                    Dip Powder Nails

Hello everyone.  Lately we have been talking about acrylic nails.  Today, I have a different type of acrylic nails to talk about.  I am going to be showing you all nails that were doing using the Dip Powder System.  You notice that some are have polish and others are just colored powders.  Since they are "acrylic" powders, I found that you can use regular acrylic powders to do the dip system as long as you still follow the steps of the dip system and not monomer.  Without further ado, let's get to it.

  This Square shaped set was all dip powder.  Most of the nails are done with this very pretty blue shade with one nail on both hands done with a black.  When doing any color it is good to finish it with a clear coat, just like you would do on regular acrylic nails.  You do this so you don't file off any of the color or design.  Both black colored nails have a sticker decal. When I was finished, I put a clear top coat on the nails to give them a shine.

  This Almond shape set is also all dip powder.  Most of the nails are done with a pink rose color dip powder with one nail on each hand done with this beautiful silver color, and capped with a clear coat.  Again, when finished, I applied a clear top coat.

  This Almond shape set is done with dip powder and regular polish.  What you don't see is that the nails are done with a clear base for that nice strong structure like you would do if you were using acrylic powder with polish.  When I do the nails like that, when finished, I file down to smooth it out and buff.  Just like regular acrylic, when you use the dip powder system, it can take the shape of your nails and make them rough so, be sure to go back and re-shape. I use my favorite nail polish by China Glaze, only the blue one.  The other color is not by China Glaze but it was a pretty color.  Finish with a top coat and done.

  This Square Rounded set was done with clear base dip powder.  After applying the clear powder, I shaped, filed, and smoothed out the nail.  After the nails were smooth, I did a free handed nail polish art.  I did not free hand the rose, that is a decal.  This is the type of decals I love.  They are not stickers.  These decals are like fake tattoos, you just dip them in water for about 20 seconds and separate it from the paper then place it on the nail.  When finished, put a top coat on it and done.      

  Well, that's it.  I hope you all enjoyed them and I can't wait to share more with you all.  Until next time folks.........

                           Let's Talk!   

Acrylic Nails

                            Let's Talk
                                 Nails!

Hello my lovely bloggers.  Today we are talking about nails again.  I know it has been a little while since I've posted anything, but here we are.  I'm thinking about vlogging, but first I would need a recorder and know how to edit when needed and I don't have that. May be I could just find a tripod to hold my phone but I may have to do editing and I'm not really sure how to do that with a phone.  

Ok, so let's get started.

I'm a big fan of dark colors and that includes brown.  These are my nails and they are a full set of acrylic with dark brown china glaze nail polish and a tan-ish color on one nail.  There are two nails with a sticker nail decal. Every since I've been doing at least my own nails, I've learned that the sticker decals are not my favorite. When it's time to change the polish, it doesn't come off. You would have to e-file it or use a nail file to get it off. 

These are also my nails.  This was my christmas look.  Still a full set of acrylic with china glaze polish.  I was going for this Christmas tree look that I have seen on Pinterest and it just didn't work out. I got really close but not as pretty as I was hoping for. Well, Christmas only comes once a year so I have plenty of time to perfect it.

These hands belong to a young lady whose nails I did sometime last year before christmas. These are a full set of acrylic nails with polish and a sticker decal.  This set was my first long set so it was a little different for me.  Though I love China Glaze polish, the white pearl color is not by China Glaze.  I don't know if you can tell, but this set has some imperfections.  Also, when doing these nails, I did not own a drill (e-file) so everything (filing wise) was free handed.  As I was doing the acrylic application, I realized that I missed a step.  With that being said, I was told that there was at least four nails that broke off before a whole week went by.  I'm 100% sure it was due to the fact that I missed one or two steps.

Well folks, that is all for today.  I will be posting more nails soon.  Til next time.......

                            Let's Talk! 

Nails

                      Let's Talk Nails!

    Hello everyone! I know it's been while since I last posted anything, but I've gotten really excited about doing nails lately and I wanted to share.  When I say doing nails, I don't mean just polish and be done. I mean acrylic nails, gel nails, and everything else that follows. 

    I have been doing my own nails for as long as I can remember.  I tried acrylic first when I was about 15 or 16 years old. I was really bad at it and didn't have the proper tools to correct my mistakes.  So, I began to use full coverage nails and polish.  It still made my nails look really pretty, but as I got older I wanted more.  I would go to the shop and get acrylic nails done and try to watch them do it so I could do my own and stop paying all that money every 2 weeks for a fill.  Still, that didn't help.  I later found out about Gel nails.  When I saw them doing the gel, I couldn't believe how easy it was to do gel.  I started to do my own nails and was really good at.  I haven't been to a shop in over 5 years.  

    My daughter is loving her nails right now.  She is a nail bitter and bits pretty far down.  She started doing full coverage nails and was asking me to start doing her nails.  While at first it was no walk in the park.  There wasn't enough natural nail for anything to stick.  So, I started to watch a ton of youtube channels.  Believe me when I say they have helped.

    My favorite channels to watch is, Nail Career Education, Natalie Carmona, Nailed by Nikki, and Naio Nails.  I started with Ms. Suzie (Nail Career Education).  She has taught me so much.  I've been able to do my daughter's nails for the last 3 to 6 months now.  I love doing nails!  I'm self taught but I really want to go to school for it and become even better at what I love doing.  

    These are the first set of nails I did on myself after watching a ton of videos by Ms. Suzie.  I did pretty good if I may say so myself.

    This is the first set of acrylic on my daughter.  The top is just the white acrylic and the bottom is the same but with polish.  There was a lot of imperfections and there was lefting.  A few came off and they had to be redone.  However, they lasted longer than her full coverage nails.  those would start coming off after a day or two.  The acrylics took at least 4 to 5 days before one came off.  I think the problem was too much near the cuticle and no primer.     

    Well, I hope you have enjoyed this post, but that is all for now.  Next, I will be talking about some other acrylic nails I have done.  Until next time folks.......

                             Let's Talk!

My Story Part 4 The End

                           LET'S TALK

    I kept asking myself, "What will it take to say something, anything, to someone?"  I was ashamed for feeling the way that I felt.  I was ashamed for letting it continue, for not telling anyone even though I had so many chances.  

    I was at school one day with my brain on over drive.  Not realizing that this would be the day that I finally speak up.  It was D.A.R.E. day, and someone was in our classroom.  When they were done talking about peer pressure, I burst into tears.  That was it!  I couldn't take it anymore.  It took for something completely unrelated to my issue to make me talk.  Finally, I brake free and brake my silence.  Only, not completely, because I would have to relive every aching moment when this all goes to trail.

    I didn't know I would have to talk about those moments over and over again.  I didn't know that others would care so much about what had happened to me.  I didn't know that I would be blamed for something I didn't do, something I didn't ask for, and more importantly, something I didn't want.  Our lawyer came over a few times before we were due in court.  For a child, court can be scary.  This was no ordinary court.  This was Air Force Base court.  I was asked to explain everything that happened on all three days and like I did just with everyone reading, I explained everything?  

    When I was released from the stand, I was walked back to where my family was.  As soon as we went through the doors, the Smith family was sitting there.  I remember Mrs. Smith crying and when she noticed me walking by, she said to me, "Why are you doing this?  Why are you hurting our family like this?"  I felt so bad that I myself wanted to cry.  In fact, I'm pretty sure I did, but not in front of them.  I wanted to apologize and I wanted to be anywhere but there.  That was the only time I had to appear in court, from what I can remember.  I don't know what happened to Mr. Smith or if anything happened at all.  All I know is that the rest of the smith family moved and when school was over,  so did we.  My childhood was ruined by this man and I was never the same after that.  I'm not telling this story, my story, for people to feel sorry for me or to apologize for what I've been through.  It wasn't your fault, you weren't there.  I'm telling my story because I want people to know it's ok to talk to someone.  It's ok to let it all out.  I'm telling my story because I would want my children to tell me if something like this happened to them.  If they felt that they couldn't talk to me, I pray they tell someone.  Keeping all that stress inside and bottled up and allowing it to keep happening can make things so much worse than they have to be.  

    Unfortunately, there's a statue of Limitations on rape and other sexual assaults so, please don't wait too long.  It's hard, believe me, I know.  Make sure your kids know that it will be hard for them to talk about it, but you are there for them always.  Make sure they know it's not their fault and that you love them and they are loved.  Let them know it's ok to talk about it.  Watch for the signs.  Some signs will be jumping when touched, don't want to be around certain people, even if it  is a family member or a close friend.  There are signs, please pay attention.

    Thank you for taking the time to read my story.  It took a lot to do this.  I thought I was over this, I thought I forgave this man, and I thought this was done.  I was wrong.  I still feel this self hatred for not speaking up sooner.  I still feel this pain for letting it continue.  I also feel pain from opening up.  I know that I shouldn't, but how can I sit here and feel good about messing up a happy family.  I hope they found some clarity and peace.  I also hope that, if he did this to someone else, he has paid for his actions.  I hope justice has been served. 

    I pray that if anyone is going through this or anything similar, they have the strength to speak up and tell someone. 

My Story Part 3

                                                   LET'S TALK
                                              MY STORY PART 3

Continued from last week...........

After that day, I just carried on like nothing ever happened.  I never told anyone.  I pretended as if it never happened and it wouldn't happen again.  I tried to avoid going next door at all cost.  I played with other friends as long as I wasn't grounded.  That is until I was left alone at home.  Mr. Smith came by asking for some sugar.  I went to fill his bowl up with sugar when he sat down on the couch.  When I was finished, he grabbed me, pulled me closer to him, and sat me on his lap.  I kept telling him no and he needed to leave, but he kept saying, "I will in a minute.  No one will ever know I was here."  He strated kissing me and touching me everywhere.  When he finally left, all I could do was clean up and wash up.  At this point, I no longer felt comfortable around his family.  I wanted to say something to someone, but was too afraid to speak up.  It always felt weird hanging around Ashley.  Things were even more uncomfortable when I went to her girl scout meeting with her and her mother, Mrs. Smith.  I don't remember why I was there, but I remember wishing I wasn't.  I stopped hanging out with Ashley to avoid seeing Mr. Smith, but somehow, that still didn't work.  I often wondered if she was hurt by me not wanting to hang out with her.  What could I have said to her?  That's what I was afraid of.  I doesn't matter if I tried to tell her why I wasn't playing with her or if I told anyone else what was happening, the end result would have been me not playing with her anymore anyway.  I was afraid of.  I was afraid of breaking her heart.  Afraid of breaking up their family.  I was also afraid of my family not believing me.  I've told some lies and stole stupid stuff.  I mean, I was a kid, who hasn't done that?

As I have said before, I was grounded a lot for many reasons.  I got myself suspended from school and was in big trouble.  Besides being grounded, my punishment was cleaning the whole house.  Each day I had certain things I had to do.  Mr. Smith found out and said that my dad could send me over to his house too and do some cleaning.  I tried to tell my dad no and I wanted to say why, but I couldn't.  Instead, I did what I was told.  When I went over to Mr. and Mrs. Smith's house, I saw Ashley sitting at the table doing her homework.  After a little while, Mr. Smith asked me to clean his room.  This time, it was different. This time it was worse.  I finished his bathroom and he closed the door to his bedroom.  He pulled down my pants and underwear and laid me down on his bed.  He put his mouth down there first.  Then, for the first time, he tried to put his penis inside me.  It hurt so bad, but he couldn't go all the way.  So, he went back to just touching and fingering.  My older Step sister, Kylie, was told to come get me.  All I could think was, "Thank God this is over and I can go home."  Again, I said nothing.

Continue to read and find out how I finally spoke up and told someone.

My Story Part 2

                                    Part 2 LET'S TALK
                           This is my Story

    So, last week I gave you all an intro of my story that I'm going to tell.  Let's begin........

    My childhood, like many others, was average.  Nothing fancy.  Our house was full of life and laughter. Our neighbors were all kind.  My father was a member of the Air Force so, we lived on base in Arkansas.  Our neighbor on the left of us is where my story gets dark.  Before I continue, No real names will be listed and dates will not be given........meanly because I don't remember.

    As parents, we worry about our children all the time.  As children, on the other hand, we don't have a care in the world. Living on base, surrounded by other Air Force men and women, you should feel safe, right?  You should be able to trust your neighbors or, at least we thought we could.
I was about 11 or 12 years old when my childhood was ruined.  There were several days that seemed as if they would never end.  The first day when I knew my childhood would never be the same from this day forward was when my friend's father asked to a room by myself.

    It was warm outside in Arkansas. I wasn't considered a well behaved young lady so, I was always in trouble and grounded. My little sister and I were friends with our neighbor's youngest daughter, Ashley.  On Saturday afternoon, my sister, Kara and I went next door to play with Ashley.  We were inside for a little while and we started to head outside to the backyard.  As we walked down the hallway, I was stopped by Mr. Smith.  He asked me to come to the spare bed room for a moment.  I'm not sure why I did, but being a child and all, you do what you're told when an adult is talking to you as long as they are not strangers.  I had no idea why he asked me to come in there with him, but when he closed the door ad locked it, I no longer felt safe.  I kept looking outside, wishing I was out there and not in this room.  I told Mr. Smith that I wanted to go outside and he said, "You will shortly."  He then asked me to lay down on the bed.  After I laid down, he put his hand down my shorts and began to touch me where no one should ever touch a child.
    He undid my shorts, pulled down my shorts and my under wear.  He continued to touch me down there while he rubbed my chest.  He then began to put his mouth down there.  I'm not sure how long this went on, but it seemed as if this took forever.  Eventually, he let me go and play.  As I got older, I kept asking myself why I didn't tell my father when Mr. Smith let me go?  My life wasn't threatened by him or anything like that.  As a child, I believe I was just scared.

That's all I'm sharing for now.  I will post again next week.  Thank you for reading.