It's been a crazy couple of weeks! I'm finishing up my masters degree, and finals week is finally drawing to a close. All this time spent studying, finishing projects, and proctoring tests meant no time for manicures or even makeup! What ensued were several sleepless nights and a whole lot of days spent with dry cracked lips and cuticles... and some scary eyebrows. After a week like that, I needed some self-pampering to reset my system and motivate myself to tie up all of the loose ends of the semester. At first, I was feeling a bit uninspired, but after a quick perusal of my stamping plates, I came across a honeycomb pattern and knew just what to do... a springtime honeybee manicure!
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| I could swear I cropped this photo at one point... huh! Too lazy to fix it now. |
I'm just a week away from moving all of my belongings down to Knoxville... just writing that makes my stomach flutter with excitement, and a little nervousness! I've spent my whole life living in New York, and haven't been further south than Maryland (except for a layover in Charlotte, but I never left the airport so it doesn't count haha!). Up in New York, it's been such a cold winter that the trees just leafed out (we had snow until the end of April where I am). With the newly springy weather, the lawn has become polka-dotted with dandelions, and the bumblebees are everywhere! Bees are such a sign of spring to me; while I give them a wide berth for both their sake and mine, I can appreciate the important role that bees and other insects play in the propagation of both wild and cultivated plants. I won't write an essay here about the environmental impact of bees, but suffice it to say, they're fascinating little creatures! I recently read an article about a book (I know, so meta) that was recently released by Laline Paul entitled
The Bees, about a worker bee who challenges the hive hierarchy. Its premise, being from an animal's perspective, brings
Watership Down to mind, but as I've not yet read the latter, I can't comment. I'm definitely planning to pick up
The Bees when I have a bit more cash though! Definitely looking forward to having some time to read again.
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| This one's name is Thumbelina. |
ANYHOO. Got a bit off track there, didn't I!? My honey-bee inspired manicure was created with 3 thin coats of Julie G polish
Canary Islands, which is a gorgeous, warm and saturated buttery yellow. I stamped a honeycomb over the canary yellow with Sally Hansen
Forsythia, which is a muted mustard with a hint of white shimmer. I have had it forever, and I believe it is discontinued, which is a shame, as it's quite beautiful. The bees were painted by hand using a very small brush, using China Glaze
White on White, Sinful Colors
Black on Black, and Julep
Stella. After I painted the bees, I accentuated the highlights and shadows of the honeycomb in the background with Julep
Stella and Revlon Colorstay in Buttercup.
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| Some wonky bees on my right hand! |
This manicure is so cheerful; from a distance it looks like little windows into a hive, with all the little bees bustling about. I may or may not have worn giant enamel and rhinestone bee earrings to school today...
On a related note, I've been working on rehabing my nails from this terrible winter and getting into a cuticle care regime. They're not quite there yet, but looking back at my spring dogwood blossom post, I think it's safe to say I've come a long way (with cuticle cleanup, too... yikes!). I'm using Nail Tek II Intensive Therapy as a base, topped with Nail Tek Foundation. While it recommends using the IT as a topcoat, I don't see much benefit, as it's not going to touch my nails, so I just use Salon Perfect topper. Hopefully I can get some length pretty soon... more area to make pretty paintings on :^)
