Roman Numeral Henna

Hey hey,


I ordered some new henna paste a few weeks back and decided to test out the darkest paste. Looks black to me! Well, blackish blue but I like it more than the brown henna color.

Onto the meaning. The Roman numerals stand for the dates I was cutting myself. The arrow means that you have to face some setbacks in order to move forward. I thought the two went very well together.

At the time I was feeling very negative, and thought I could use a friendly reminder throughout the day.

I really liked this henna tattoo and may even consider getting this tattooed down the road. Maybe not so large or in that spot, but I think I will get this.

-ALG

Wedding Dress Shopping

What's up!

No no no I am not getting married. Although if you know me, I am so down to go try on wedding dresses! Shhhh don't tell nobody. I was somewhat invited to a wedding so I had to go find a dress. I tried to find one at the mall I work at, but no luck. Sooo I took my date with me to Brea mall for sushi and dress shopping. I get sushi probably 90% of the time I go to Brea mall. I mean who doesn't love revolving sushi?!?

Don't mind the weird look on my face, but this is the dress I ended up getting. We had been through a few different stores, but none of the dresses fit my body right. Can't believe I ended up finding my dress at Forever21. Not bad, less than $30. Then I had to worry about the other girly crap. Ya know, the shoes, jewelry, bag, makeup, hair, etc.



After the mall we just had to stop at the one and only McDonald's! I swear we eat way too much ice cream and fries, but that's okay because we love it! Just means I need to visit the gym more often. Look at his foo with the ice creams while my baby peaks around trying to get
some.



Isn't she cute! She loves ice cream too!

-ALG

My First Paint Night!

Hola,

September 17th I went to my very first paint night! For those of you that have no clue what I am talking about I will explain. Paint night events provide the painting supplies and an instructor that helps you step by step create you're very own masterpiece. Sadly, the alcohol for the night is not included, but considering the event itself isn't terribly expensive I didn't mind buying a drink.

I had purchased my tickets on Groupon, and asked an old coworker if he would like to go with me. Before you all start to assume it was a date, it was not. I miss my coworkers, and honestly would like to see them all more frequently. Anyways, we met at Mimi's Cafe for our paint night. The painting was cherry blossom branches with the night sky and moon in the background. Sounds simple right?

Here we are with our drinks and canvases. I can't believe he sat there and only drank Dr. Pepper while I had a mimosa. It was my first time having a mimosa too! Wish I had my first mimosa on a hotel balcony looking out at a gorgeous view in like Mexico or Hawaii, but I'll work my way to that dream. My poor friend sat next to a woman that talked his ear off the whole event.





We had a ton of funny laughing, being immature, failing at following directions, making fun of the drunk women, and creating our own pieces of art! Look how focused he is!





I decided to make this painting my own by adding black to the sky. Not surprising huh?

I loved the event so much that I basically went home that night and signed up for another!

-ALG

Intricate Gel Manis

Sorry,

I realize this is a lot of posts to be spamming you guys with (even though I don't think anyone really reads this these days). Just one or two more for the night!










Love the yellow with the grey for this moon mani look!
























This client wanted her nails done for her friend's wedding. Chic!















I actually made friends with the owner of a Pilates studio at the mall! She is super sweet and came to me to get her nails done. We did her signature shade of blue, Swarovski crystals, and mylar stained glass accent nails! Sooo glad I met her because not only is she an awesome person, she also gave me a great deal on my Pilates membership!!












New client came in wanting something cute for a bachelorette weekend! Super cute! I think I was a bit jealous of how adorable her nails turned out! Plus they matched my pineapple!














Pink, pink, pink! Hot pink gel, with stripes, and glitter accents!

Stick around for more nail creations! I have a blast being creative and making people happy! My job allows me to create mini masterpieces for deserving individuals!

-ALG

Tackling Acrylics!

Hey guys,

Before I started Nail Technician school I had never really seen acrylic nails. When I was first introduced to acrylics I HATED them! I thought they looked bulky, unnatural, and flat out ugly. Unfortunately, I have been pushed to do acrylics at work. I mean it's a good skill to have as a nail technician so I can get a job anywhere. Here's the end result of my first fill! When I say first fill, I mean first fill in my whole life!! Yes, I have never done a fill. Not even on myself, friends, or in school. Disclaimer: she came in with really really wide bulky nails from another salon. I couldn't narrow them out as much as I would have liked to, but they looked 10xs better than when she first sat down in my chair!




My second acrylic fill I was faced with wide thick acrylic and a picky client. In the end she got her nails better shaped, polished, and all covered in chrome.

I actually did my third fill yesterday. Again, she came in with thick, bulky, and extremely lifted acrylics. We drilled them down so they felt more natural, polished them, and designed them. Matte gel polish with a black ombre and accent Swarovski crystal nails!

I also did my first full sculpted set yesterday! Oh man she came in with busted up natural nails. She told me she ripped off her acrylic nails prior to coming in. Ladies, NEVER ever attempt to rip off your acrylic or let anyone try to do that to you!! Proper acrylic removal is key to the health of your nails! Anyhow, I prepped her, build the nails using forms, filed them, polished, and designed! We used Swarovski crystals, nail tape, and nail foil.

I can say that I have definitely grown as a nail technician. I am not 110% confident in my acrylic skills, but I am content with my skill level for now. I will work on my timing for now. I am hoping that I can start to increase my clientele while also seeing more money flow into my pocket.

-ALG

Disney Nails!

Sup,

I have a client that recently started seeing me for her gel manis. She loves Disneyland and always comes in with fun requests! These are the first nails we created. Simple Mickey heads and Minnie Mouse bows for the thumbs. We used her R2-D2 phone case as a prop!

She came in again recently and requested Star Wars nails. I can't say I'm a huge Star Wars fan, but I was able to paint what she wanted! Stormtroopers and R2-D2s. Not too bad, huh? This time we used her Disneyland Pass as a prop. Speaking of Disneyland, I am considering buying a pass. I enjoy Disneyland even if I don't like half the rides. The last time I was there I made a lot of nice memories and had a blast. I am kind of worried about how I'll feel going back, but I need my salad!

Yeah, I'm weird!

-ALG

San Francisco (Day 4)

Hi again,

*sighs* The last bit of time we had in SF I chose to go to Onigilly for breakfast/snack. It's sooo cool! Basically a Japanese version of Chipotle? Plus I adore the chalkboard menu and the colors they chose.

I ended up getting the edamame set which included my choice of three onigilly, tsukemono, and edamame. Decided to go a bit out of my comfort zone and got (left to right) the teriyaki tofu, ume, and unagi onigiri. I actually really like this photo. He let me borrow his jacket because I was freezing my butt off. I feel like the colors of the restaurant, the colors in my hair, and the lighting make this photo perfect.

We were right near Sushiritto so we walked over there so he could get his sushi burrito. Look how crazy that is! I had never seen anything like it before. I knew sushi burritos were a thing, but I had never seen one before. I swear he inhaled that before I even finished one of my onigiri!

Of course a boba spot across the street caught my eye so I had to ask him if we could go there before we hit the road. OMG I got the panda milk tea and it was bomb! The drink got it's name because of the black and white boba inside. The texture of the white boba was so unique that I couldn't stop drinking it! Doesn't sound like much of a problem right? Well it is when you have to be on the road for many hours and conveniently have a tiny bladder!

He kept going back and forth about visiting his hometown so I decided for him that we would stop by. He told me that his town was small, but it's not as small as the last one. We killed some time walking around their outdoor mall and headed to the house. Coincidentally we ended up following his mom to the house! To be honest I was kind of nervous about meeting his mom. Turns out she's pretty chill! A few weeks prior he had mentioned his mom would be getting married in October. I was thinking he may invite me, but he said it's probably too late. I then found myself standing in his moms kitchen as she asked me if I was coming to her wedding. I couldn't help myself, I turned to look at him to say am I going/are you inviting me? She was like I can't believe you didn't invite her! Then she invited me and told me I should come! Luckily I was able to get time off from my work. Before I knew it, we were back on the road headed home.

On the way back he put on some comedy from Netflix and then got me started on American Horror Story. I have seen American Horror Story when scrolling through Netflix, but I always got too scared to check it out. I think I am now hooked though!

We got back pretty late, hit the sack, got up early, returned the car, and were crazy enough to go to the gym. It was kind of strange to think that if I hadn't decided to go to San Francisco I would have been at home doing laundry, chores, watching tv, and running errands. Of course I watched my bank account go down a bit, but it was worth getting away from everything crazy going on. Where should I go next?

-ALG