Shellac 2 Week Update

Bio Seaweed Gel Soak-Off Gel in Grapefruit, 2 weeks later

Hi guys!  Here I am for the last installment of my Shellac experience - here are parts one and two.

These photos were actually

Shellac 1 Week Update!

Bio Seaweed Soak-Off Gel in Grapefruit - 1 week later

Hi guys!  As promised, here I am exactly a week later to give you an update on my "Shellac" manicure - to see my intro post about the product and my experience, click here.

I have to say,

Soak-Off Gel ("Shellac") - First Impressions

Bio Seaweed Soak-Off Gel in Grapefruit

I know.   I know!  I must be the last woman within my age bracket in the developed world to properly try "shellac", or soak-off gel polishes.  Soak-off gels

Say NO to Cheap Mani-Pedis!

OPI's Do You Lilac It?

At the seediest, skeeviest, grossest nail bars in downtown Toronto, you can probably get a mani-pedi for $30CAD, tax included (provided you pay cash).  In the lower-mid-range level, several steps up from those, at the still-affordable but clean places (like the one I go to), a mani-pedi costs $35.  Prices can go up from there, all the way to $100 or so.

So imagine my surprise when I found,

Ink

image source

When I’m supremely pissed off at someone, I fantasize about taking my stiletto to his or her face in a grand, sweeping motion. Facekebob! Facial skewers! It does wonders to take the edge off my anger.

I’ve also threatened to beat my best friend if she got a tattoo.

But despite all this, I still don’t think I’m a violent person.

My tendencies aside, let’s get back to my best friend.

She’s a huge Snow Patrol fan. HUGE! And I’d call her a groupie because she follows them around, except she’s my best friend and except she follows them around different cities but she doesn’t follow them to their hotel rooms.

Anyway, she’s told me on several different occasions that she wants to get a snowflake tattoo. I didn’t threaten to beat her right away; I’m a relatively reasonable person most of the time, you know. I tried to reason with her first. Then she threw the flimsiest excuses at me (“Winter is my favourite season! It’s a deeply personal symbol to me!”), so of course, I had to threaten to beat her.

It’s not that I don’t like snowflakes. And it’s not that I don’t like people who have tattoos. I love asking people about their tattoos because there are often very interesting stories involved that lead to great conversations. But I just don’t think tattoos are very classy, and I’m of the opinion that if someone doesn’t have one, they shouldn’t get one. Besides that, I know she wants kids one day, and who knows what directions different parts of her body will grow in one day? Better safe than sorry.

Speaking of pregnancy planning - an idea that unnerves me, by the way, because I think I'm way too young to be thinking of this - someone I know once worried about not being able to get an epidural if she got a "tramp stamp" (tattoo at the small of her back). Wouldn't it suck if she didn't find out until she was in the delivery room? So she called up Mount Sinai, I think, where she was born and plans to give birth at, and asked about this. An anesthesiologist assured her that as long as her tattoo isn't enormous, they can shift her skin over the space between the two appropriate vertebrae and puncture her where there is no tattoo. Completely satisfied, she went ahead with it and is very pleased.

But I especially don’t get foreign language tattoos, and by that I mean when people get tattoos in languages they can’t read. There’s this blog I really like called Hanzi Smatter, where people will send in their kanji (i.e. Chinese character) tattoos to ask if it means what they think it means. More often than not, they don’t make sense at all. Why would anyone get anything permanently inked on them BEFORE they find out if it’s right?

Then again, I once had someone ask me to verify a term for them, but despite the fact that I thought it didn't say exactly what she wanted it to say, she decided that it was close enough.

My friend Ahsan also makes an especially interesting point:
hahaha an interesting read. Anything concerning tattoo work gets my attention(despite my stance of never getting a tattoo)

This made me think, firstly about cultural tattoos.. I just dont get why some people get kanji characters.. Ive seen a lot.. usually on people who cant understand the transliterated meaning behind the symbol let alone bare ... Read moresome sort of deeper connection to the language they chose to brand on themselves. Its weird at times seeing people create meaning rather than find it.

I've been asked to draw arabic names and quotes for people willing to get it tattooed who have no idea what the language and culture are all about. Tattoos have been around for eons and these days they are treated not like fine art or cultural crests, but another fashion accessory.

What do you think?

In the Interest of Fashion and Sisterhood

*Note: This is a double-length post to make up for my absence tomorrow, because I will be away on a weekend getaway in Quebec!

I think prom is a very interesting North American concept. It's an event that people make a huge fuss about (so much so that it's a multimillion dollar industry), that's a rite of passage, that girls dream of and plan for years, the one night where any kind of economic rationality goes right out the window because girls are allowed to wear the most over-the-top outfit they could find and spend an insane amount of money for only one night's worth of fun. Significance of the actual event (graduating after nearly a decade and a half of education) is secondary - it's all about appearances.

Kind of like weddings.

And the funny thing is, inevitably people will take a ton of pictures to commemorate the event only to hide them in the most secluded spot possible years later, because they become really embarrassing to look at!

Don't lie. Almost everyone has prom horror pictures. I have prom horror pictures. And in the interest of fashion and sisterhood (because I don't want anyone else to make the same mistakes!), I will share them today:As you can see, the outfit was not the problem. I love my dress. It fit well, was flattering, well cut and well made with the lushest material - fully-lined black chiffon that had this gorgeous floral pattern of emerald green and glossy black velvet. I daresay it'll be beautiful and stylish 50 years down the road - I'd pass it down to my cousin or a daughter if I ever have one, except I wouldn't want to take away their fun of choosing a prom dress.

I'd wanted a dress that would either be royal blue, emerald green, peacock blue or peacock green, because they're unique, vibrant colours that I look good in, and I knew most people would be wearing black. I also wanted a simple design that would fit me like glove, that would look good years later so that I could avoid the prom horror pictures situation.

One day, I went to Unionville Main Street with my mom, and we decided to look inside a tiny boutique that was closing down and had all its dresses on sale. I wasn't expecting much and wasn't even looking very hard because I secretly was harbouring the fantasy of being able to afford a Pam Chorley original - Fashion Crimes has been one of my favourite stores in Toronto since like, grade six.

My mom pulled out a few dresses and insisted I try them on. I stepped out of the changeroom, looked at myself in the mirror and thought - this is it! Was it supposed to be that easy? It was clearly meant to be and I knew I wouldn't be able to find anything to top it. It was also on sale for $60, which was fantastic - my budget was about $200. I was going to go all out - but I was able to score an even more timelessly beautiful dress than I'd planned for (I'm huge on timeless) that wouldn't run the risk of looking garish later, at less than half my budget.

My lace shawl and beautiful necklace were on loan from Alice Chik, a family friend and Toronto-based costume jewellery designer. She has some of the most exquisite and dramatic pieces I've ever seen - she's also a One of A Kind artisan. The "pendant" of the necklace was actually a vintage (circa 1920s) brooch suspended by a chiffon ribbon - it has since been re-incarnated into a different style.

For those of you who will be choosing outfits for significant events, I can't advise strongly enough to go with something that'll still be considered gorgeous years later. These days pictures can actually last forever, you know?

As for the horror factor - here was the real problem:
I was really last-minute in booking an appointment for hair/makeup (so stupid!) and ended up going to Rêver, this bridal spa/salon place in First Markham Place (Woodbine + Hwy 7), which is one of the Chinese meccas in uptown Toronto. Big mistake. HUGE.

Not only were they really overpriced, but they did the worst makeup job ever, kept trying to upsell me and revealed all kinds of hidden fees at the end for services I didn't ask for or want. Speaking of service, it was awful. The place is owned and run by these two incredibly rude middle-aged sisters who kept insulting my skin in order to try to get me to purchase spa packages from them. Well, my skin is only the way it is because I was born with a condition called eczema, those morons.

Besides that, the major problem I overlooked is the fact that many Chinese women, especially the middle-aged ones, tend to use shades of foundation that are way too light both on themselves and on others, because a pale complexion is very coveted in our culture. Plus the women who did my makeup tried to cover as much of my awful skin as they could by stippling foundation/powder down my neck all the way to my collar bones - I ended up looking like a gypsum bust placed on a body.

In all fairness, it looked passable in person, but because flashlights were used in every picture (since proms generally take place at night!), all of my pictures turned out horribly. Naturally, I was incredibly upset.
So the lesson of the day is to always bring your own foundation when getting your makeup done professionally! And don't scrimp on it either, because trust me, a good foundation is worth its weight in gold. I use Prescriptives Custom-Blend Foundation, which is blended to match the exact shade of my face - the lamboughini of makeup, in my opinion. Will introduce that product here when I come back.
In the meantime, have a good weekend, okay? :)

Ginger Esthetic Spa

I firmly believe that every girl/woman/gay boy should be married to a spa and salon. Every one of us deserves to have those two special places that we can count on to make us beautiful (and therefore happy), who will never fail us, who will cheer us up on bad days, who will pamper us without abandon, forever and ever amen.

When I went to school in London, Ontario, I was married to Ginger Esthetic Spa. Whenever I was stressed out from school, the drama of sororityland, or if I just needed to be pampered, I'd make an appointment and it worked every time. The décor is tasteful, the ambience is relaxing, and the service is great, especially since they don't try to upsell you, like many spas do.

There, I met Fiona, the best nail tech I have ever met - and I am almost unreasonably picky. If I ever become rich enough to be able to afford hiring a posse to follow me around to keep me beautiful, I'd hire her at any cost to be in charge of my nails.

Ginger's nailcare services really take the cake because they are the only place I have ever found that doesn't use drills for artificial nail application, so the damage to your nails is minimal. They do a great job for fakies because they use the Brisa nail system - it's so natural-looking and lightweight that no one could ever tell that my nails weren't my own.

I came across Ginger in first year, when I went to another spa in London to ask for sponsors for a sorority charity event. I'd just gotten my nails done very poorly at a cheap nail bar, and the ladies at the other spa totally cut me up, as if I weren't aware of how pornstar-like my nails looked! Then they referred me to Ginger because their spa doesn't offer these services, and I went to Ginger faithfully for the remainder of the time I spent in London.

The owner, Janice, is a certified podiatrist and natural-products specialist. All the ingredients they use for their facials and massages are all-natural, and they smell fantastic! Her products are available on sale as well, if you try something and really like it. Their repair serum is phenomenal, and better than all the serums out there on the market, in my opinion.

Ginger is located at 181 Albert St. in London, ON. For further inquiries, call 519-646-2979.