Every week I have two standing appointments with myself that I keep no matter what.

The first is to do my nails.

This one is for no other reason than I really enjoy having painted nails. I’ve gotten so addicted to it, in fact, that there have been a few times where I thought I might give myself the week off but couldn’t because I knew I wouldn’t be able to stand looking at naked nails for seven days.

The second appointment is to give myself a facial.

Exfoliation is so important to our skin because it gets rid of all those dead skin cells that cloud up our face. It’s something you should do multiple times a week, by the way. And they make gentle exfoliates for sensitive skin if that’s what you need.

However, on the weekends I take it a step beyond exfoliation and use a mask afterwards.

I bounce between two different masks, one deep cleans and the other brightens.

It’s a great feeling to be sitting there, once a week, knowing that you’re taking time to do good for your skin. Even if I don’t see immediate results, I know it’s helping my skin immensely in the long run.

Afterwards I’ll finish the process off by dabbing facial oil all over my face to replenish the good oils and moisturize.

Oil of Olay facial scrub brush + Kiehls = Gorgeous skin and a happy you!

Plus, while professional facials are great and all, I never really feel the need for one or that I’m missing out by not doing it because I keep my routine every week.

And by investing a little bit of money in great products you save by not doing the expensive facial every 3 months. Instead you get a good one at home every week (it takes 15 minutes, by the way, and you can do other things while you have it on).

Here I thought I was taping into the genius well when I started last week’s hash tag of “#thisweeksnails”.

I looked it up. Many, many other people thought of that before I did. There’s no genius well, only a humble puddle.

#thisweeksnails had to be special because it was Easter!

And while normally special occasions throw me for a loop and leave me standing in front of my nail polish collection for many long, contemplative minutes, I knew back before 2013 was even born what I was going to be doing this week.

After buying OPI’s “The Living Daylights” I thought it would make the perfect spring/Easter accent nail.

Here’s what I love about this polish…

It’s got many colors in it so it goes with so many different polishes. 
And it looks really cool on once you pile up all the sparkles together.

Here’s what I don’t so much love…

It’s a BEAST to get off.
You have to layer and layer and layer for all those cutie little sparkles to form a cohesive pattern that doesn’t reveal the polish below. (Which, by the way, is a different color then the rest of my nails because I wanted it to disappear under the sparkles. I went with a very light grey which worked out perfectly and allowed the sparkles to shine…)

Ultimately I think the greatest use of this is as an accent nail because it leaves you with only two nails to layer up, and then only two nails to strip.

But despite its flaws, I think it’s the perfect #spring #happy/fun times #thesunisout nail celebration!

PS. I left this out because you should be sick of hearing me talk about this color, but my other nails are Maybelline’s Color Show in “Green with Envy”. There is said it, I’ve used it yet again, I love this color don’t judge me for that. :)

It was a sunny Thursday afternoon. I’m in my home office working on some writing projects, when suddenly I look down and realize, my nails are a mess and I’ve got a fancy business dinner tomorrow night!

I’ve only got a few hours left at the house before I have to leave and help my husband with a painting project (right here I’m not going to clarify the fact that he’s the expert painter and I’m just there for an extra set of hands…I’m going to leave you believing I’m the professional).

Continuing on…

“I can’t fully do my nails because all that paint would mess them up, but I should certainly start…no I’ll just do them when I get home tonight.”

Later that evening, 11:30 pm…

Walk in door. Shower. Bed.

Friday morning…”Ah! My nails! They’re an even bigger mess now!” Thoughts of hiding a full on manicure while sitting at my desk at work pass through my head. “No, I can’t pull that off, it’s too risky!” I thought.
“I’ll just do them when I get home.”

Later on that day I find out we have to be at the business dinner at 6. I get off of work at 5.
AAAAHHHHH

My inner nail freak is FREAKING out. Especially since this dinner involves fake gambling (long story) which means my nails will be on display…WHAT am I going to do!?

4:15 rolls around, I leave work. All I have to do is my makeup because I’ve already washed my hair and shaved (Praise God). My dear husband throws out that we’re going to have to leave even earlier then we thought (bless him), but it turns out I can talk him down ten minutes. I finish my makeup, get his clothes ready and proceed to give myself the worlds fastest manicure.

Thankfully the polish I had chosen to go with my dress goes on easy and could cover in one coat if I wanted it. It’s OPI’s “Designer De Better” from The Muppets collection. I knew that if I could just get everything filed and cleaned up, a swipe of base coat and a swipe of color-I’d be out the door.

Ten minutes later, I’ve got the perfect evening manicure (plus a few bleeding fingers) but my nails! Bless The Lord On High! They look really good :)

Moral of the story? If you can’t plan properly ahead, pick a polish that will make your life easier. If I had to stick with one coat, I could have with this color. If I found time to layer more, it drys pretty quick. I’m so glad it worked out, because those sparklers won me a lot of fake money, baby! :)