Nail Polish Room Update
Hey guys, remember me? I know it’s been a minute since I’ve blogged regularly, but I’m not abandoning you. This summer has been crazy. I reorganized my office (aka the nail polish room), which is still a work in progress, and I’ve been on a bit of a journey that I haven’t been ready to talk about until now. Keep reading to see what’s up.
Nail Polish Room Update
Since we don’t have an IKEA in Cleveland, yet, I can only get my fix when I visit friends in Pittsburgh and Ypsilanti. Fortunately, we were in Ypsi for a friend’s birthday at the beginning of summer, so I took it as a sign that it was time to redo my office.
In spite of having nine Helmers, no judgement, my office was becoming unlivable. I couldn’t find anything and I had a lot of polish to purge and put away, but not enough room to even sort through it all. Plus, I had this giant l-shaped desk taking up valuable space. Note: This is my office when we first moved into the house, pre-Helmers.
Nail Polish Room – Before
First order of business was getting a new desk. I’ve envied people’s Alex units for years, so when I saw that IKEA sells a desk combo that includes a short, narrow Alex, I was sold. Breaking down that old desk felt fabulous. Not gonna lie, I went a little Office Space on it.
Office Space
This is the IKEA LINNMON/ALEX combo and the depth of the Alex means I have plenty of room to store my to-be-reviewed polishes, treatments, and more. I’m in love with it. The chair is the SKÅLBERG/SPORREN and even though I thought it would help cure my habit of sitting on my leg, it’s SO uncomfortable. I’m still on the hunt for a chair.
Nail Polish Room – After
Finally, I moved all my Helmers into one corner, to give me a nook for my photo equipment. Though I’m a little put off that the new white Helmers are actually white, unlike my old ones that are cream. I wish they had always been that bright.
Thanks to Andrea from Chickettes, I snagged some Command hooks to hang my swatch sticks on my Helmer. So much more accessible this way.
Nail Polish Room – After
My photography setup includes three different lights, so I can make lighting adjustments as needed, a tripod and a table to stage shots. I know a lot of people have invested in huge systems for photographing products and nails, like the MyStudio, but I like to keep it simple and affordable. None of my pieces cost over $50. I mean, the tent light was under $30 on Amazon.com.
Back To School
2014 sucked for so many reasons, the biggest being the loss of Loki, so I decided to make a big change in 2015 and go back to school. Studying IT is something I’ve wanted for quite some time, but I always let fear get in my way.
I haven’t talked about this publicly until now, very few of my friends even know, because the whole concept is intimidating. I know I’m not the first person to go back to school later in life, but I still felt like the oldest person in the room, even though I wasn’t. Plus, I was afraid I wouldn’t finish or be able to hack it, so I didn’t want that knowledge out there if I failed. But, I feel like I’m finally in a place where I’m proud of what I’m doing and excited to share.
However, I made a huge mistake by taking summer classes and that has been a killer. Managing to blog while in school wasn’t so bad during spring semester, but when you have to accomplish 16 weeks of work in 10 weeks, all extra time flies out the window. School had to be my priority. I’m not paying all that money to slack off.
Now that all my finals are done I’m finally free, and resolute that summer classes will NEVER happen again. I missed you all so much, and I just can’t keep up with that kind of accelerated pace. Though I am happy to report that I’ve received A’s in every single class the past two semesters.
Puerto Rico with Sally Hansen
Last week, I had the opportunity to attend Coty’s national sales meeting at the El Conquistador Resort in Puerto Rico. Over 500 Coty employees descended on Puerto Rico for a few days of beauty fun in this gorgeous setting.
El Conquistador Resort – Puerto Rico
Coty owns Sally Hansen, OPI, Rimmel, NYC Color, philosophy and more, and part of the conference included a Beauty University where brands presented education about their products. I presented for Sally Hansen, applying Miracle Gel on my lovely model while giving application tips and tricks for long-lasting wear. I was super nervous, but after I got through my first group session, the next five went swimmingly.
ps, the new Miracle Gel 2X Volume Top Coat is fantastic. It solved the streaking issues I had with the initial top coat formula. Now it wears like a champ and looks nice and smooth.
Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Presentation
I was also excited to see OPI Global Nail Artist Vu Nguyen applying nail art with OPI Venice colors using the GelColor line. How cool are these under the sea nails?
OPI Venice Nail Art
That’s a bit of what’s been going on with me. Now that I’m on break from school, I have a slew of new nail polish colors to show you. Are there any fall collections you’re dying to see? I can’t believe we’re talking fall already. Ugh!
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