Monday, December 1, 2014

The Nail School Chronicle: Week 2

The Nail School Chronicle: Week 2

Hello Loves.  It's time for another Nail School Chronicle entry.  Last week was week 2 of nail school at GCI, and it was a short week thanks to Fall Break (aka Thanksgiving).  Since it was a three day week, we spent a few days working on nail art and practicing the acrylic methods we learned previously.  But before we get to all that, I have a personal update (aka whine fest) and my Nail School Observations.

Let's start with the personal.  First, I sincerely apologize for the lack of a post on Friday.  The past 5 days have been absolute hell.  If you missed in on Facebook and Instagram, my husband was in a bad wreck Wednesday evening.  He was t-boned by a much larger truck.  It was a freak thing.  The guy in the other truck was unfamiliar with the area and the road he was traveling has a blind stop sign.  If you don't know the road, the stop sign will sneak up on you with no warning.  That's exactly what happened at the exact moment Keith was driving past the intersection.  The guy hit him at full speed (around 50 mph).  The full impact was on Keith's driver's side and it pushed him into a ditch where he rolled head over end.  By the grace of God, he was able to climb out of the wreckage and literally walked away.  Of course, not without injuries.  He had a concussion, a large contusion on his left foot, a possible bruised heart (tachycardia), and 9 broken ribs on his left side.  He spent one night in the hospital but was thankfully released Thursday morning.  Needless to say, he's pretty much out of commission for a while and I'm playing single mother and nurse for the duration on top of being a student.  I'm going to try to stay on top of blogging, but I may fall behind a bit while he's recovering.

This is the wreckage that was Keith's work truck.  It had a camper top on it that was ripped off during the wreck.  He found his brief case 30 yards away in the woods and we are still missing a lot of his stuff like his personal key ring.  The door was ripped from the frame and Keith woke up with his lower half still in the truck and his upper half hanging out the door with the seat belt holding him it.  We still can't believe he wasn't more seriously injured or worse, but we thank God that he is still with us.

This is the truck that hit him.  Needless to say, that little Toyota Tacoma didn't stand a chance.  Thank God for side impact air bags!

On top of Keith being injured, both of my kids have been sick.  William popped up with a fever on Thanksgiving and a trip to the walk in clinic revealed a double ear infection.  He's been a whining mess for days.  Then Bryant started complaining of a headache Saturday night and spent the night sick to his stomach and running a fever.  Needless to say, I haven't gotten anything done.  Matter of fact, William is currently cramming books in my lap and screaming because I'm writing this post instead of reading them to him.  *Sigh*  Thus is life with a 19 month old.

And to top it all off, I ended up with 5 low splits on my swatching hand and a major break on my right hand.  Apparently I forgot to moisturize with everything else going on.  I shortened all of my nails to relieve the stress on the splits and saved the swatch hand with an acrylic overlay.  I know, blasphemy, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do.  The right hand was too far gone, so I'm sporting a nubby.  I thought about adding a tip, but I'm not even going to pretend that my acrylic application skills are ready to attempt using my non-dominant hand for application.  I'll show you the final mani in a later post.  I still have to edit those pictures.

Onto the Nail School Update and observations:
  • My kit came in last Tuesday.  Lots of fun products inside.  I'll take photos and show you the contents next week.
  • The polishes at the school for nail art practice SUCK!  They are made up of bottles that can't be used on clients anymore and have been rescued a million times with polish thinner.  Plus the color selection is horrible.  I attempted two wheels of nail art on Monday with the school polishes.  I'll show them to you below.  No joke, I used a striper straight out of the bottle and ended up with a sugar spun look.  lol
  • I brought some of my personal polishes and acrylic paints on Tuesday and used those instead of the school polishes.  Trust me when I tell you that quality polishes and paints are CRUCIAL when it comes to nail art.
  • I have my first test today and I am SOOOO not ready for it.  I'm super nervous.  I had planned to use the long weekend to study, but you know how that turned out.  I'm crossing my fingers and praying for a passing grade.  When I made my study cards, I ended up with over 100 index cards.  Sadly, I only feel confident that I know about half of them.  All these terms that start with O are killing me.
  • I'm struggling hard with acrylic application.  I can't seem to get the right consistency in my balls.  They're either too dry or too wet.  And ball size is killing me too.  (Holy crap, did I really just say that?  I never in my life thought I would be posting about the size and consistency of balls on here!)  The hardest part for me is getting the cuticle area right.  You'll see it in my overlay attempt later this week.  Getting the acrylic thin and smooth at the cuticle is a challenge.  I started watching youtube videos last night and I think I "get it" now but I'll have to try it and see.  Of course, I didn't think to youtube BEFORE doing my own overlay.  These nails are seriously jacked up.  I'm waiting for them to grow out so I can smooth the cuticle area.  lol
  • I would give anything if this class was mostly gel with a hint of acrylic.  I'm so far out of my element here, I feel like I've never touched a nail in my life!

Wanna see my work from this past week?  Let's start with the nail wheels from Monday using the school's polishes.  I'm actually embarrassed to even post these!  Seriously, what is this hot mess???  That yellow nail is the sugar spun look straight from the bottle.  And look at my poor dots.  Y'all know dots are my thing and they are usually perfect.  These are FAR from perfect.  You can tell where I kind of gave up and started slapping polish on the nails just to finish the wheel.

And here's the wheel from Tuesday.  These are much more in line with my usual work.  They're a bit messy in some places, but I can accept that.  After all, I'm used to working with gel polish, not regular polish.  The only one that I'm scratching my head over is the blobbish flower at the top of the photo.  No clue what I was thinking on that one.  lol
Winter Themed Nail Art Wheel

I pulled out a few of my favorites.  Wanna see them?

These little blue rose buds are done in acrylic paint.  The bow could use a little work, but I like how the roses turned out.
Simple Blue Rose Buds Nail Art

Of course, you can't have a winter themed nail wheel without a Cardinal.  My birdie is a little short, but I think he turned out cute.  I used acrylic paints for the art over a base of Girly Bits Accidental PPV for this one. 
Cardinal Nail Art

Anyone care for a little ice skating?  This one is acrylic paints as well.  She's not as clean as I would like, but honestly if anyone is looking that closely at a nail, they need to learn about boundaries and personal space.  ;)
Ice Skating Girl Winter Nail Art

Finally, this snow covered tree might be my favorite.  The birds are a little wonky, but I adore how the tree came together (acrylic paint again) and KBShimmer White Here White Now makes a perfect snowy covering.
Winter Tree Nail Art

Finally, I attempted another set of sculpted acrylic nails on Wednesday.  These turned out better than the set from the first week, I think.  They still need a lot of work and you can see where I struggled at the cuticle.  They are also pink and white french under the nail art, but my smile lines were more like grimace lines so I added some polish and art.  I still have a little duckiness going on too - especially on the ring finger nail.  Shame I don't like duck nails.  It looks like I might be pretty good at them.  lol
Nail School Week 2 - 2nd attempt at sculpting acrylic
Nail School Week 2 - 2nd attempt at sculpting acrylic

That's all for this week.  I'm sure there are things I forgot to tell/show you, but my brain is fried.  If I have any major typos in this post, just laugh at me and ignore them.  I'm off to edit photos for the rest of the week.  Check back later to see my current mani with acrylic overlay and a full review of Akzentz Luxio Gel Polish.  :)

~Michelle

9 comments:

  1. Thank God your husband is ok and made it out alive - that was a serious bad accident :( You have to keep going because everything will soon b all right :) I loved your acrylic designs... so cute! And the proof that one must keep practicing :) Kisses**

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  2. Acrylic still gets me, 18 months after finishing my course. Everyone says hard gel's much more difficult to master but I find it a dream in comparison.

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  3. Bless your heart, and thank GOD Keith is ok. Hang in there. Prayers for his recovery and your survival :-) Remember I know the product in that kit so just give me a yell anytime !! Happy to share the little tricks i learned.

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  4. I am so sorry to hear about your husband's accident, and I am SO glad he's ok!!!!

    I'm loving reading about your nail school. I think acrylic is just hard - yours look good so far!

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  5. Prayers for your husband. I am really enjoying your posts on class!

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  6. Sorry to hear about your husband. So glad his injuries weren't worse! Sick kids are NO fun-I have four, ages 5 and under. Take care of yourself and thank you for these awesome posts! !

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  7. Wow, sounds like a rough week! I'm glad your husband is ok - even if ok is 9 broken ribs etc!
    I love the rose one on the right of the second nail wheel you showed!

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  8. Thank goodness your husband will be OK, that's the main thing. Please don't feel bad if your posts are later than you'd normally do. We'll still be here when you get to posting them. Take care of yourself and your family. :)

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  9. First, I have to say that I am so glad your husband is okay. I can only imagine how scared I would have been. Second, I just feel so impressed that you are going to nail school on top of being a mom and a wife and having a blog. I would feel so tired if I was you! I like to read these chronicles, and I can't wait to read about another week.

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