Manicure Monday: Patriotism

So you've seen me do Pac-Man and pink and red color-blocking, but what about when you have another patriotic holiday rolling around like 4th of July (I know it's now end of July, but this is coming to you a little bit late!)?

• Prep your nails--remove old nail polish, push and cut cuticles, cut and file nails if you need to, etc.
• Put on your trusty clear base coat.
• Go with your lightest color first, in this case, white. Put on as many coats as you need to make it look good, in this case, three before the white looked strong enough. 
• Allow plenty of time to dry! I went for about 30 minutes.
• Cut strips of Scotch tape. Place across nails, leaving some hanging off the sides. In this case, I put the tape in the middle to preserve the white, then I was able to paint on either side. 
• Put on a coat of red at the bottom, blue at the top.
• Again, allow plenty of time to dry. I went for another 30 minutes. 
• Peel off the tape. This should be easy if you left tape on the sides to pull from. 
• Put on your trusty clear top coat.
• Wave your flags and your nails in celebration!

Review and Wear Wednesday: Ready Player One

I'm taking a break from 30 for 30 to bring you Review and Wear Wednesday. I recently read Ready Player One by Ernest Cline, and even though my wardrobe doesn't feature too many 80s nostalgia pieces, I knew I had to do something for this book.

Pink tunic - Bebe, Leopard belt - dEliA*s, Black leggings - Old Navy Maternity

Yes, it is very similar to the outfit I wore when I wrote up a review for Divergent, but...um...the sleeves are rolled up! And that's a different belt.

Sigh. Fashion blogging while pregnant is tough, guys.

Anyhoodle, I went as neon as I could with my top, regretted not having acid-washed maternity jeans, considered crimping my hair but just kept the waves from my no-heat curls a few days back, but man, I sure did something special with my nails.

That's right--Pac-Man and Inky (isn't that what the blue one is called?)

I promised to unveil these special nails last Manicure Monday, and here they are! They were pretty simple to do! Base coat; couple of coats of black; paint a couple of coats of Scotch tape yellow and blue; cut them into the shapes you need once dry; apply; add some eyeballs to Inky with white and black dots; top coat.

Why Pac-Man? Because Ready Player One is all about the 80s and specifically about video games.

30 for 30 Pregnancy Edition: Outfit 6

Now that I'm super preggers and even more short on time, no heat curls more than ever is a favorite way to get my hair done.

Shirt - A Pea in the Pod, Black shorts - Destination Maternity

It really is one of the easiest hair tricks, and I love wearing my hair all wrapped around a hairband, so even while I'm curling, I'm looking cute. 

And the best part?

Because I went no 'poo (that's no shampoo, y'all) more than a year ago, I can go one or even two weeks without washing out the curls and eventually the loose waves.

Why am I going on and on about my hair?

I'm trying to distract you from the fact that my outfit is pretty boring today, but hey, that happens. Also, it is Monday, and would have been Manicure Monday, but I'm keeping that a secret until Wednesday. Make sure to check back later!

Manicure Monday: Pink and Red

Welcome to my humble blog a new facet of fashion, Manicure Mondays! I've already said how being pregnant makes you focus on things like hair and makeup to keep feeling pretty, so I was hanging out at the beauty department for ideas and got inspired by all of their nail tutorials. I especially loved their idea to use paper reinforcement stickers to create patterns and layers of color.

Purse - Tokidoki for LeSportsac

I hope to branch out and take pictures along the way and make my own tutorials. Here are the steps without pics, though! (I didn't bother to push and cut cuticles because I wasn't feeling that advanced yet. So jumping right in!)

• I used Sally Hansen's top and base clear coat. After letting it dry for 15 minutes or so (maybe that's too long, but I didn't know how long to wait and I was just reading a magazine anyway)...
• I used a pink nail polish. I only did one coat because it went on pretty well and I figured half of it would get covered up anyway once the other polish went on. After waiting for probably 30 minutes (I really wanted that stuff to be dry)...
• I put on the reinforcement stickers at about the halfway point. I probably should have cut them to make it easier to stick completely across my nails, but I forgot. 
• Use your next color (red, in my case) and polish the top half. Then I waited probably 30 minutes again for it to dry before...
• I peeled off the stickers, and voila! Beautiful nails. Well, nearly. I touched up some edges that looked goofy where the sticker hadn't completely stuck to the nail. I waited another 15 minutes and...
• I applied the same top/base clear coat for shine and protection.

The manicure lasted a week (probably could have gone longer but I was eager to try another manicure) and got a lot of compliments. My favorite part was colorblocking pink and red!