The first blog post in a very, VERY long time

So, there's no brief way to summarize the last - what - two and a half years?! since my last post.  So much has been going on in my life and while I've still been doing my nails about once every week or two (sometimes three!), I have not had the time or the energy to blog about it.  Some of my nicer manis have made it to my Instagram, but I've even lost momentum on that account.

Until now!  My sales job at a pipe manufacturer/distributor company has been deemed essential to maintaining infrastructure, but I have not felt safe going in.  I won't bore you with the details but the short of it is simply that I'm taking a few weeks off to protect my physical and mental health, as well as that of my boyfriend.

The last two weeks have felt a lot like my life back when I was blogging actively: I can only communicate with my friends and family via the phone & internet, I'm not working, and I have very little motivation/need to leave the house.  Luckily ALL of the reasons for this situation are VERY different from my old life, but here I am all the same.

So it was pretty much a matter of time before I spent 2-3 hours on my nails, took proper photos adjusting the white balance and everything, and actually wrote a whole blog post about it!

This manicure was a whooooole ordeal, let me tell you.  It's way different from anything I've done before because - 

- it's gel!  And multichrome powder!

I used the gel base coat and top coat by ASP, sandwiched around Chick Pick Polish Neon Blue.  Can I just interject how much I LOVE this neon blue?  It has been an amazing base for several fantastic manicures.  It's truly neon on the first coat, but it needs at least two coats as it's pretty much a jelly.

I thought ahead and did my research before attempting this mani.  First, I learned that when you're putting a powder over regular polish, the polish needs to be dry to the touch, but not completely dry - still slightly smooshable.  Second, I learned that when putting gel top coat over regular polish, the polish needs to be COMPLETELY dry - no smooshing whatsoever.  These two facts, luckily, can be stacked since you can just let the regular polish keep drying for a bit after you rub in the powder.

So the layers on my nails, from bottom to top, are: gel base - regular polish - chrome powder - gel top.  I considered layering polish - gel top - powder - more gel top, but I thought that might be one layer too many.

I got this powder a million years ago - well before I stopped blogging - and never got around to using it because I didn't have any gel polish, a lamp, or a water-based polish top coat.  The cap says it's by Born Pretty Store, but sadly I have no memory of what the color name is.  I couldn't get a photo or video of the powder itself to show off what a GORGEOUS white base with purple, blue, and pink multichrome shifts it is.  But I promise you it is all of those things!

Guys.  This powder is SO. FINE.  I'm pretty sure it will never truly be gone from the shirt I was wearing or the floor around the table.  It's probably deeply embedded in my lungs and my nail brush, too.  But it's SO PRETTY that it's DEFINITELY worth the mess and effort!

Also, back to loving on this Chick Pick neon.  It. is. N E O N.  My lamp for the gel is LED, and look how this stuff G L O W S under the lights!  I wish I could go glow-bowling with this on!!

I MEAN.  This photo hasn't been edited AT ALL.  I put my phone on the auto setting and let it choose the white balance, shutter speed, etc to capture this amazing neon glowy goodness.  (Please don't ever do this with a bottle of gel polish!  This regular polish was safe under the lights, but I wouldn't want you to partially cure your gel polish through the bottle and ruin the whole thing just for a cool photo!)

I don't think this is a perfect powder application, but I would definitely say that it was at least mostly successful!  Some of my struggles were definitely a learner's curve; it could also be because powders work better on top of gel polish rather than regular; it could also be that this powder isn't the best quality, because I'm pretty sure I remember it only being a couple of bucks when powders usually run anywhere from $12 - $25.

There is no possible way that I will ever be able to do a full blog post for every manicure of mine in the last three years, but I will look through my pictures and find some of my favorites to share here!  After all, blogging kept me sane back when I had essentially nothing else going on in my life.  I'd like to honor that by blogging at least a little while the coronavirus pandemic has me cooped up at home!

What's on your nails right now?  Have you ever used a chrome, holo chrome, multichrome, or mermaid powder yourself?  Let me know in the comments!