Nails & Costumes

My friend Kristin was tweeting awhile back about her new nail "polish", the new Sally Hansen Salon Effects stuff.  I had seen it in the store but was wary to try it.  After hearing her review, I decided to buy some and give it a whirl.  The packs have extra pieces in case of mishaps and include all the tools you'll need (other than nailpolish remover).  They are a bit more labor intensive than applying liquid nail polish, but I think the payoff is well worth it!  This was the first color I tried:

Graffiti look

Forgive the dinosaur phone, I found it at my office and was thinking that in 100 years, people will laugh that we used those things, right?! Anyways, the photo shows the nails, they were kind of a graffiti style, I really liked that color.  So, after testing it out, they definitely stayed on a LOT longer than normal nail polish.  I got quite a few compliments (which never really happens with regular polish) and I knew there were a lot more colors to choose from!  So, I went back to the store and bought 3 more colors!  I was most excited to try out the sparkly colors!  The next one I tried out was Frock Star, seen here:

Sparkly finger & toenails!

I decided to cut the strips into 2 pieces, one bit longer, enough for my fingernails, and the shorter end for my toenails.  However, this particular color was a bit of a pro/con scenario.  What I mean is, I put these on August 19th.

• Point 1: The strips are very thick.  That's good for toenails, but not for fingernails.
• Pro: They are just now (Sept 26th) beginning to come off of my toenails (after running at least 45+ miles with it on!)
• Con: They proceeded to start peeling off my fingernails within a couple of days.
• Point 2: The glitter on that particular color, while pretty & eye catching, is very big and once it started peeling off, would get snagged in my hair or on soft fabrics.
• Conclusion: for heavily large-pieced glittered colors, be prepared for them to peel from fingernails more quickly. But they still look amazing on!  I got a lot of compliments on this color as well!

Next, I tried this color:

Bling it On!

I wanted to wear it at Disneyland for the Half Marathon since it matched with my Cheshire Cat costume.  This color stayed on for about a week (even through making sandbags for Hurricane Isaac!) and the smaller glitter pieces didn't get snagged on anything.  I still had the Frock Star on my toes when I applied this color, so I'm not sure how it would fare as a toenail polish, but I'll report after I find out :)

Overall, I'm really happy with the product.  My least favorite thing: removal.  I cannot use enough nail polish remover to make a dent on the stuff!  I end up just scraping it off.  It's probably not best to do that, but it works better and faster than the remover does!  I have 2 more colors, a matte oxblood color and a black color that I'm excited to try soon for fall!  Actually,  I think I'll use the black this weekend for...

My Tower of Terror 10 mile race costume!!!

Yep, I finally decided what I want to be! Dr. Facilier from Princess and the Frog!  I LOVE that movie and since we go to New Orleans so often since we're so close, it seems like a perfect fit, villain-wise! (Disclaimer: don't think that I do voo-doo or anything!  Haha!  Never have, never will, promise!)

Saturday we stopped at Party City and I found what they had listed as a "Vampire Hat" priced at 9.99 (somehow, it ended up being only .50!!) and some wall hangings that included a skull & cross bones for 2.99.  Then, we went to Wal-Mart and I bought 1/8 yard of purple fabric, 1/4 yard of red fabric, black duct-tape and some feathers (total $7).  Here's my haul:

That afternoon, I went home and put it all together like this:

1. with some glitter that I already had, I recovered the black glittered skull & crossbones for the hat with silver glitter with modpodge and then clear coated it with more modpodge to try to keep from the dreaded glitter fall-off (I hate when it gets everywhere!)
2. I attached the newly glittered skull to my hat with a safety pin
3. I attached 2 of the purple feathers to the side of the hat with another safety pin
4. using my plain black short-sleeved tech shirt, I cut the purple fabric to length and a v to match the neck of my shirt.  Then, I used the black duct tape to attach the purple fabric onto the black shirt, to mimic his "black jacket"
5. Using more black duct tape, I made "lapels" for the shirt/jacket!
6. I am simply going to tie the red fabric around my waist (you'll see below)
7. Lastly, I'm going to try to make spats with old socks and more black duct tape, but I don't want to damage my beloved Brooks Pure Connects :) We'll see how that works out!

Then, using the same hat and red sash, I translated the costume into a non-runner friendly Mickey's Not So Scary Halloween Party costume!

Here's the hat closeup:

And here are the 2 costumes, side by side!

Dr. Facilier MNSSHP costume and Dr. Facilier running costume!!

Overall, $10 for 2 costumes is pretty sweet!! I'm so excited for the race and I'm REALLY hoping he'll be on the course and out at the party too so I can get a photograph with him!!  Is anyone else dressing up for a race/Halloween?  I'd love to hear about your homemade costumes!