NAILS | Moustaches #CBBxManiMonday

I realized last weekend that I didn't really have an idea as to what I wanted to wear on my nails for today, only that I wanted to take advantage of my long nails on BOTH hands! Although since then, the middle nail on my right hand has broken, but everything else is still intact which is amazing since it has been a really busy week where I usually start to "stress-break" my nails. My goal for this Holiday season is to try to be as nice as possible to everyone no matter how stupidly they behave!

 

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This is probably the first time I have featured a polish twice as the "main attraction", but when my nails are long, a thermal polish like Cadillacquer's Eivor looks so nice because there are often two colours showing at any given time!  

NAILS | Cadillacquer Leilani Swatch (Thermal) #MidWeekMani

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It has been a few weeks since I have done one of these catch-up posts so how is everyone? After taking two weeks off to give my brain some time to recuperate from work, I dove back into my day job without skipping a beat. I would like to think that I am one of those people who still knows how to function when I go back to work after time off because from what I have seen with staff, someone people take two weeks off and then need another two weeks to remember how to perform basic skills. I also came back a little more fiery and less afraid of speaking my mind, but the main thing my therapist and I decided to focus on was starting my day with client-based activities as those tend to make me feel more productive and generally happier about my job! I haven't felt tightness in my chest for the last week which is something I have not experienced in months at work so I feel like we have definitely made some progress! 

NAILS | Cadillacquer Believe Nothing You Hear and Half of What You See Swatch #CBBxManiMonday

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Since last Wednesday in Paris, I have been fighting off a cold. My throat starting feeling a bit raw last week, but I figured with the dry air on the plane, being around constant cigarette smoke on Parisian streets (something I am not used to compared to street air in Vancouver), pulling 14-15 hour days and speaking loudly at the evening Chaumet events over live music that my throat was just being overactive. I brought three pouches of Emergen-C and downed each one every night I was there and I think between that and sheer willpower, it never went beyond a scratchy throat. However, since I have been back, this has progressed into a cold (I tested myself for Covid in Paris and back home 3x and the results were negative) that I am hoping clears itself by tomorrow when I need to go back to work at the store!  

NAILS | I Love Dark Turns (Thermal) #CBBxManiMonday

 

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I wasn't the best a scheduling blog posts during my time in Paris, but I figure I will be posting so much on my Instagram that no one will really be looking at my blog for the next week! I haven't even done a Halloween manicure yet and we are halfway through October! This shade from the Cadillacquer Wednesday Collection is the closest I have gotten to Halloween, but didn't I choose a GOOD polish to do that with?

NAILS | Cadillacquer Vermillion Swatch #MidWeekMani

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I am not a morning person. For every day that I have worked in most of my jobs, when the alarm goes off, my first thought is to phone in sick followed by "I'll just text in my 2 weeks notice and quit" all so I can sleep in. Once I get going and get to work, the tasks of the day set in and I don't think this way anymore, but that feeling to hit the snooze button repeatedly is greater some days than others. For the last week, with the beautiful weather, the sun shining, I have never wanted to be off the whole summer more! To be at home in my summer rompers, doing house things and being with the cats is like pure bliss to me right now. When I have a day off, I don't even really sleep in (maybe I get up at 8am instead of 7am?) so I think that even though I may not be much of a morning person, it depends on HOW I am spending my morning. As much as I have asked numerous times to be a housewife, I don't think it is ever going to happen! Forever the working woman I will be! I realize that my love of shopping means that I will be working for a VERY long time since I have never really felt comfortable with my husband purchasing things for me.

NAILS | Cadillacquer Aviva Swatch #MidWeekMani

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This is going to be short as I can barely keep my eyes open and I am only on Day 3 of my work week which is ridiculous. I had a really rough two days, but today I managed to whittle down my to-do list from 28 items to 8 which made me feel a lot better. I wasn't planning on doing my nails until Monday, but they were starting to look pretty ragged on the right hand and whenever I am feeling low, a fresh set of nails always makes me feel better so here we are with this week's #MidWeekMani!

NAILS | Cadillacquer Stygian and Spiders #CBBxManiMonday

 

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Last week was a rough one for me as in addition to worrying like crazy about the kitties, we have been preparing and then doing Inventory which has led to a few 14 hour days and my going to bed much earlier than usual! Luckily, it looks like the kitties are more tolerant of each other though we still separate them if we are not around to supervise as Huxley can get super intense and likes charging at Harper to play. I feel like I will still be playing catch up on things (if I ever do) for awhile. The motivation to blog and get out content has become increasingly less important since Hugo died and I have allowed myself to live in this blogging funk and just post what I have the energy for. Nails and skincare seem to be it and while I do miss my makeup posts, I can never bring myself to put in the hours of work for a makeup look that I used to.  

NAILS | Cadillacquer Mascot Swatch #MidWeekMani

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I have been so tired this past week. Maybe it's the humidity and how uncomfortable it has been to sleep, but I can never get to sleep early even though I am tired and feel like I haven't slept a wink by the time the sun rises. I sleep with an eye mask, but it doesn't seem to be enough to block out every bit of light. At any rate, it has also been very busy at work with what feels like my body and mind being pulled in multiple directions, but such is life. I even stopped taking my CBD for a few days because it didn't seem to help much. I will be taking vacation in about 2 weeks for my birthday so I guess I have that to look forward to, but for now I will try to focus on getting some better sleep!

NAILS | Cadillacquer Lullaby Thermal Polish Swatch #MidWeekMani

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I promise this blog isn't a shrine to solely Cadillacquer polishes, but how can I resist featuring such beautiful thermal polishes?! Now, that I know thermal polishes don't stay thermal forever AND considering these polishes are almost $20 per bottle, it makes the most sense to use them when they are freshest! Today's thermal polish is "Lullaby" which goes from teal when warm to cobalt blue when cold. Also, I decided to try the coffin nail shape after breaking one of the corners from my thumb. Do we like this new nail shape?

NAILS | Cadillacquer Vita (Thermal) Swatch

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I didn't get a chance to paint my nails in time for a #MidWeekMani as I wouldn't really consider Saturday the middle of the week! I was able to take three extra days off this week as it will be a loooooong time before I can take vacation days again as we are very short-staffed at the moment. I think the next time I have off is for my birthday in July which is fine. It's something to look forward to! I just pray that we don't have another heat dome! 

NAILS | Cadillacquer Daffodils Swatch #MidWeekMani

It's almost midnight as I write this and the family downstairs has decided that it is the perfect time to plug in their electric guitar and do a family sing-a-long...I don't know why no one complains and I feel like a jerk if we do since it will be pretty evident it's us since it's a small apartment complex. Luckily, I cranked up the volume on my ASMR spa videos so all I could hear were the sounds of a gua sha!

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NAILS | Cadillacquer Cobalt #CBBxManiMonday

Unfortunately, I did not get a chance to do some real nail art this week, BUT I do have this insanely gorgeous nail polish from Cadillacquer's Fall/Halloween collection! I am back to feeling the constant need to catch up both at work and here at beauty central. I stayed back at work about 30 minutes just to catch up on emails and forced myself to leave when my eyes felt super blurry. I've realized that there is only so much "valuable" work you can do when you are tired. Mistakes get made and it takes longer to do things so I try to keep it very basic the few times I do stay late.  

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NAILS | Cadillacquer Redrum Thermal Polish with Scary Spiders #CBBxManiMonday

I promised I was going to take it easy yesterday and I think I achieved that! I woke up a little late (9:45am) after having gone to bed at around 1am the night before and took the morning reallllly slow. My TMJ has been acting up so I woke up with a bit of headache and the left side of my jaw felt a bit swollen so part of the reason for my just taking it easy for the day was just because I was feeling grumpy from the discomfort. I ended up watching Beetlejuice for the first time while I had lunch (remember when movies were only 1.5 hours long?) and quite enjoyed it which then led to a short walk in around the neighbourhood with my husband just to get the legs moving. It was raining, but at this time in Vancouver it's sort of a given that the weather will be like this.

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NAILS | Cadillacquer Halloween 2021 Crepuscule Thermal Nail Polish (With a Spooky Surprise!) #CBBxManiMonday

How is everyone feeling today? I have been moving at what feels like the pace of a sloth and trying to not feel guilty about taking it easy. We had Thanksgiving dinner just the two of us, but we still made quite a bit of food plus I decided we needed some dessert and baked a vanilla cake with homemade icing using one of the Jenny Can Cooks recipes and it turned out very yummy! I didn't have time to prepare my Halloween nails so I ended up painting AFTER dinner at midnight. Not ideal, but because I had today off as well, I figured I could afford to stay up and sleep in. I "slept in" until 9am because the guilt of not being all that productive yesterday jolted me awake. Also, as an adult, I find it very hard to sleep in past 9am. Even without an alarm, my body just wants to get up so I look forward to being 80 years old and puttering around at 6am!  

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NAILS | Cadillacquer Flora (Thermal) Nail Polish

I will keep this short and sweet as it is a lovely 34 degrees Celsius here in Vancouver and again without air conditioning, it's a rough temperature to handle. For once, I am so happy to be working because I can escape the heat and live in AC for 10 hours of the day! I am currently typing with a frozen dishcloth between my thighs as I have learned from the last heat dome in June that cooling the thighs helps lower overall body temperature! That and putting a frozen towel on my head has helped GREATLY in keeping me sane as I am quite the grump in the heat! 

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NAILS | Cadillacquer Eivor (Thermal) Nail Polish

This post is essentially nail porn as it has been a long time since I have discovered a new nail polish brand and a new nail polish store to shop from that is based in Canada! Indie polishes have come a long way from when I first started this little blog and though I pulled away from indie polishes once I started moving more into skincare, my love for them has been recently renewed while going through my stash. After reading a haul post on Renee's blog featuring some products from Ottawa-based NailStuff, I went to the website to peruse specifically thermal polishes. Lo and behold, there were A LOT with one brand in particular making some polishes with dramatic colour changes - Cadillacquer!

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