The idea behind my live streams is that we’re body doubling! We make stuff together, there’s a live chat open for viewers to ask questions, suggest directions for me to take with what I’m working on, or just chat along. I’ve recently updated my “about” to dial in on my value proposition for the channel:

We’re all just learning & all just failing as we go, so we might as well do it together! Live streams (mostly) weekly with crafts, manicures, DIY, art, & community help.

@iTrishaLyn on YouTube

As you can imagine, creating a lot of things for my channel creates… a lot of things. So I’ve decided that whatever I’m not going to add to Trisha Lyn Gifts, I’ll give away! So opening tomorrow, here’s my first giveaway. This giveaway is only open to US & Canada for mailing purposes and will run TODAY (6/30/23) through 7/15/23 at midnight Pacific. Check out the images for the items you can enter to win.

This weekend I’ll be live on Sunday 7/2 at 1:00 PM Pacific doing a patriotic 4th of July manicure. I’d love for you to join me! Please definitely enter by leaving a comment below and telling me – what should I make on stream next?

Pride Gift Giveaway appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

Pandemics last HOW long?

As of last Sunday, it’s officially been 6 months of this pandemic affecting us here in California. I am getting specific for that reason because I know it’s been different lengths of time in different parts of the country, and very different in different parts of the world. We can all agree that the world is different, and we can’t wait for it to get back to normal. But what will this new normal be? What will we have lost? What will we have gained? The uncertainty of this situation is even more unnerving than the usual uncertainty of life. The last day I went in to the office was Friday, March 13th (ironic), and I believe Alameda County officially ordered the shelter-in-place on March 13th or 14th. That means it’s been at least 6 months since I:

• Got up in the morning to drive in to work
• Got a hair cut
• Went out to lunch
• Saw my boss or any of my coworkers in the flesh
• Went to a movie
• Left work in the evening to drive home
• Browsed in any kind of store or shop
• Ate a meal inside a restaurant
• Saw most of my friends in person
• Didn’t have to carry a mask with me

I’ve been lucky in that I do have a small social bubble that I have continued to see, and I’m married and live with my husband, so I’m not super socially isolated. I can only imagine how trying this is on single people who live alone. I’m also lucky in that I have a job that easily transitioned to working from home and the hubs & my bro both work at jobs that were deemed essential, so other than some shortened hours back in April, they’re working as normal too. So financially we’ve dodged a bullet. Health wise too, since they’re still coming into contact with random people (albeit while masked) and none of us have caught the ‘rona. We also rolled the dice in August and decided to drive up to Oregon, where they’re not as locked down with businesses as they are here in the Bay Area, for my sister-in-law’s wedding. We braved the masked world and I got my eyebrows waxed and a pedicure while the hubs got himself a haircut. So overall we’re very fortunate, a lot of people are hurting worse. While that empathy is contributing to my state of mind, I do feel like my thoughts are insignificant in comparison to someone who was furloughed and can’t pay rent or bills or for food. But without comparison, it’s not easy to exist right now.

Is this real life? Is this just fantasy?

Things are so surreal. Time is moving SO fast, and yet, standing still. How is it already freakin’ mid-September? It was JUST March! I go out once per week to see my friends in my small social bubble. That’s really it. We get Instacart groceries (which, I was getting pre-shutdown) and a lot of food delivery. Our company decided that, since we were going to be looking to move office space sometime this year anyway, we’d close the office and everyone will work from home through at least next spring. So I went in to get my equipment in July to see the March calendar and realize things just stopped. We had St. Patrick’s Day decor up still.

With the exception of the pedicure and family wedding in August, I went out for the first time yesterday to actually *gasp* eat at a restaurant or *clutches pearls* sit in a room with strangers for 2 hours. We did the new outdoor dining option at our favorite fondue restaurant (though their menu was pared down) and then a sip & paint class that was originally supposed to be outside under tents, but moved inside due to low enough attendance and poor air quality outside. It was a little surreal. I felt uncomfortable and out of place, somewhat randomly, while we were out. It wasn’t the whole time, but it was there, like a flinch of panic. It did feel good to just be a little normal and have plans outside of the house or my friends’ house, but I was also constantly reminded by everyone’s masks that things aren’t yet back to normal.

That mental health, tho…

It’s not super great. A lot of times, I feel very helpless and hopeless, kind of like that painting. It’s piled up… first the pandemic, then gross politics, then more ugly systemic racism, a fight for change, riots, protests, MORE unnecessary deaths, murder hornets (okay those turned out to be nothing, but it’s fun to write), and now wildfires burning over what feels like most of the West Coast, making our air unhealthy and our skies an apocalyptic orange. It’s like we’re living in the opening of The Wizard of Oz, everything is sepia toned. My featured photo here doesn’t really it do it justice to just how ORANGE it was here on September 9th, but I’m sure if you’ve opened Facebook or watched the news, you’ve seen it.

When I went back in to working in an office in 2017 almost nearly 10 years of working from home, I realized that I’d been isolating myself without knowing it. It’s easy to get lazy about making sure your clothes are clean and presentable, skipping a shower because who cares, deciding to just stay in instead of going out, and being late going places because you forget how long it takes to get anywhere. I was guilty. So I tried to actively get back out into the world, meet new people, and it’s worked. Since March however, I feel myself sliding backwards, without much I can do about it.

Every week seems to both crawl through a dream like existence where I’m periodically relaxed and fine and then clenching my teeth and trying not to worry about everything falling apart. I know, in my rational brain, that things will get back to some semblance of normal. But when? The uncertainty is messing with me, and it’s taking away all my hope that anything will ever be alright again.

Then just like that, I take a breath and I’m fine. It’s a roller coaster. And I don’t like roller coasters.

My new cool quarantine hobby

I’ve learned to make masks. So I’ve been making those and selling them cheap (basically just covering materials cost) to friends & family. It’s no empire, but it’s something. I’ve been trying to do things that are somewhat rote and keep me calm. I took up those diamond paintings for awhile but I haven’t done one in a couple months. I’ve recently been using color-by-number apps to turn my brain off. I bought myself the newer Cricut Maker for Christmas and it’s still in the box because I just haven’t had the focus or energy to mess with it (sorry Jen Goode, I know you’re disappointed in me for doing this AGAIN). I think coming up on Christmas I have a bunch of ideas for gifts and such so I may finally bust it out. Oh and I’ve been doing my nails.

Sooooo how’re you? That’s all I can muster right now. But I did it. I haven’t written anything here in a long time. Is anyone even still here? Let me know in the comments – do you want to see the masks or diamond paintings or my nails I’ve worked on in quarantine? Do you want to hear more about… well anything? Sound off.

6 Months Gone (A Pandemic Update) appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

Tickets to an Exciting Event

Is there a concert, stage show or sporting event that your loved one would be thrilled to be able to go to? Buying tickets from a ticket sales website can allow you to give them something to really look forward to when they open it on Christmas Day, and when they actually go to the event, they’ll have memories that will last a lifetime!

A Pet

This idea is not suitable for everyone, of course, and it is important to note that you should only choose to give a pet as a gift if you know for sure that the recipient both wants a pet, and can look after it for the whole of its life. However, if you’re buying for your own child or partner, so you too will be able to take a role in looking after the animal, and you know they are interested in owning a certain type of pet, then this can make for a gift that they’ll literally fall in love with. Adopt a cat or dog, or consider other types of pets such as rabbits, hamsters and mice. You may even want to think about more exotic pets like corn snakes or other reptiles, or birds. Make sure you get everything they will need to go along with their new pet, too, including perhaps a book about how to take the best care of them, if it isn’t a type of pet you’ve had at home before.

That Hobby They’ve Always Wanted to Take Up

Has the person you love always wanted to learn a musical instrument, take up a sport, learn to paint or do a certain type of craft, or learn a foreign language? Choosing a gift that enables them to get started with a hobby that has always appealed to them, whether it is buying them a course of lessons or the equipment they need, can be a gift that will change their lives!

Travel Gifts

A travel gift, such as a weekend in a different city, flights to somewhere they’ve always wanted to go, or even if you have the budget, a full vacation like a tour overseas or a cruise, can be a really amazing way to surprise someone this Christmas. If the gift is for your partner, you can of course go with them, making it a gift of quality time and a great adventure together as well!

These are just a few ways you can choose a Christmas gift that will be thoughtful, exciting and memorable. These are the gifts that make great surprises, and which the recipient will probably remember receiving forever. If you are struggling to come up with an outstanding idea for a gift for someone you love this Christmas, why not go with one of these themes?

4 Memorable Christmas Gifts appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

Product Specs

This super bright LED lamp from Brightech has a 3″ diopter lens for clearly viewing small details.  The color of the LED is daylight bright white, a 6-watt 570 lumen output ring of LEDs will last 20+ years.  This lightweight clamp lamp is very portable and offers 1.75x magnification.  The clamp detaches and opens up to 2.5″.  The goose neck bends and swivels for 360° to get just the right angle.  Brightech offers a 5-year Satisfaction Guarantee on the LightView Flex LED Magnifier Lamp, which comes in white or black and is available for $24.99

Use

I honestly don’t know which is my favorite part of this lamp – the flexible goose neck or the clamp.  Between working on my nails, jewelry, or various Cricut projects, I have a variety of spaces I work in and sizes of projects.  Most of the time when working on my nails or jewelry, I end up sitting on my couch or in my recliner working off a wooden tray table.  On occasion, if a project is slightly larger or requires heavy use of the Cricut, I’ll work from my craft table, which is a basic card table from Walmart.  So having the lamp be so portable with the clamp allows me to move it at will and clamp it to either my craft table or the tray table.  It’s also easy to store on my craft table and bring it over into the living room as needed.

As I said before, I do also love the goose neck that’s flexible.  Depending on what I’m working on, I may need to use the lamp’s magnifying lens to see small details, but then need to switch to looking at the overall project.  With the flexibility, I can easily move the head out of my way temporarily – a little bit when I still need the light or a lot if the project takes up a lot of room.  With the daylight bright white color, it’s also great for taking photos of my work.  I can pivot the lamp as needed to illuminate what I’m photographing for the best product photo.

Verdict

This is a great lamp!  I’d definitely recommend this lamp to any other makers that need something flexible, portable, and powerful.  This lamp fits the bill, and all at an incredibly affordable price.  One of my hesitations of buying a new lamp myself was because of the price point.  I’ve seen a lot of powerful lamps sold at craft stores like Michael’s & JoAnn that seemed way too expensive for my needs.  I should have known that I’d need to go online to find a great fit for my needs.  They do also offer larger lamps – you can read Dominic’s Review of the Brightech LED Magnification Desk Lamp to see how well it works for his model work.  I highly recommend browsing through their site and finding the right lamp for your needs!

Brightech LightView Flex LED Magnifier Lamp Review appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

Most of the Precious Moments stuff I have is in ornament form… specifically in the form of Ariel from The Little Mermaid.  DON’T JUDGE!  So this is really my first holiday themed Precious Moments item.  I knew from when I received the figurine from my Precious Moments has Adorable Figurines for your Valentine! review that the packaging would keep the delicate porcelain safe.  It came packaged exactly as the other one did – the figurine within Styrofoam in the item box, well cushioned within a larger outer shipping box.  One thing I forgot to mention last time is that the outer shipping box DOES have a large Precious Moments logo on it, so if you’re ordering this as a gift you might consider having it delivered to work or a friend’s house to maintain the surprise.

There are a ton of Christmas items on the site, available for purchase year-round.  When I was looking through the selection, I was tempted to get the Nativity set for one of my sister-in-laws, but when I saw the “I Love You With My Whole Heart” Bisque Porcelain Figurine it captured my heart.  In our little family, there’s me, my husband Dominic, our cat Muse, and our dog Pixel.  I love little representations of actual life so I decided immediately on this one.

I mentioned it before, but I really DO wish that Precious Moments would offer each figure in standard hair colors for added customization.  Dominic has dirty blond hair so it works, but my very dark hair is definitely not represented with this cute little girl.  Of course, Muse is black and Pixel is a pug, but I understand they can only offer SO many options!  I don’t think light hair and dark hair are too much to ask.  That may actually be why I don’t own more Precious Moments items – the fairness of the skin and hair never felt representative enough of myself.

There’s a lot of attention to detail on this figure, but the swirls in the cocoa are my favorite.  The sculptor could have just put some brown paint in there and called it a day, but the swirls add even more cozy features.  There’s simple details to convey texture of all the cloth items and the couch.  The whole figurine measures 5H x 6W x 4.5D inches, making is very easy to find a place to display it with my other little Christmas in July touches.  

For $80.99, this is a great addition to my Christmas decor since it sums up my little family. If the colors and animal breeds were customizable, it would be spot on!  If this is a little big and their adorable ornaments are more your speed,  you can order through my link, http://www.trishalyn.com/pm-xmas, and use code 2018DATED to receive the 2017 ornament for free when you buy the 2018 ornament!  Hurry – this offer ends July 31, 2018!

A Precious Moment of Christmas in July appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

When you mention Precious Moments, almost everyone can picture one of their adorable children figurines.  Precious Moments has been spreading the gift of love through their many collections since 1978!  They’re not everyone’s cup of tea – heck I used to think their eyes were a bit creepy myself – but I’ve come around to how cute and sweet they can be.  The pastel colors really make these cute designs full-on adorable.  I was given the opportunity to pick out a figurine from their Valentine’s Day collection and it was HARD!  There are a lot of cute ones, but I finally went with my love of celestial themes and picked out the “I Love You To The Moon And Back” Bisque Porcelain Figurine. 

The figurine came well packages with form-fit Styrofoam in the product’s box and air bags securing the product box within the shipping box.  There was little worry that the figurine might be damaged when I saw the packaging.  It was slightly larger than I realized it would be, but going back I did see that it measures 6.75″ high, so I guess I should have paid more attention!  The color of the moon itself is a bit more muted in person than in the product photos, but it’s not out of line with the rest of the pastel colors of the figurine.  The star above the couple’s head is actually attached to dangle and was well wrapped itself when I opened the package.

The bisque porcelain has a nice matte finish, but the silver swirls on the moon are metallic and the stars have a very fine glitter on them.  Don’t panic – I rubbed my finger against the bigger star and none of the glitter seemed to come off.  It’s hollow inside, so it’s not too bulky and could easily be displayed on a light shelf.  The couple really looks like they’re separate pieces that were fused to the rest and not sculpted as all one piece, which is a nice attention to detail.  They don’t at all feel like they’d separate or fall off at all.  My favorite part of this particular figurine is that, while of course evocative of love, it’s not so Valentine’s Day themed that it would feel like a piece of seasonal decor I could only display for a few weeks.  It’s a timeless design I’ve happily made space for it on a shelf with love trinkets already!

My one criticism of the craftsmanship of the figurine is that the dangling star seems like it was supposed to be installed closer to the tip of the moon, instead of about 1/2″ in.  Where it is, it doesn’t hang straight and if bumped has a tendency to rest one point on the boy’s head instead of hanging.  I have two issues with the colors, which are more personal issues and not necessarily problems with the product.  As I mentioned, the color of the moon in the product shots looks to be a deeper blue purple and in execution it’s a lavender.  If it had been a deeper purple, it would have been even more perfect for me since our wedding colors were royal purple and silver.  My second issue is also very personal – I really wish their site had different options with different hair colors.  I’d have loved to get it with the same hair color on the boy but a dark brown hair on the girl, again to be more personal to my husband and I.  

All in all, I feel like the size, quality, and design of this figurine is definitely well worth the retail price of $80.99.  If you order through my link, http://www.trishalyn.com/ILYMB and use code BEMYVALENTINE you will save 20% off your precious Valentine’s Day gift!  This offer expires February 14th, 2018 and you’ve already procrastinated this long so you should probably take care of that now!  

Precious Moments has Adorable Figurines for your Valentine! appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

Why the Change?

Unfortunately, we all know how important it is to make a living and pay your bills.  A Time article from April 2016 lists Oakland, CA as the 4th most expensive city in the US to live in.  I’ll be honest – I live just outside of Oakland, and the struggle is real.  I’m lucky enough that I rent this house from my Dad at a discount, that my brother lives with us and pays part of the rent, and that Dominic makes a good salary, but it was still not cutting it.  I fluctuated from 1-3 clients throughout those months and while I definitely enjoyed what I was doing, I did not enjoy the financial struggle.  In August, one of my clients gave me notice due to internal budget reasons, and at the end of August, the other client gave me notice due to taking the program in-house.  I was suddenly faced with making less money in September than I’d been making previously and then having potentially no income going forward, unless I could scrounge up at least 2 new clients ASAP.

Beside the financial struggle, my mental health was suffering as well.  There’s the stress from not making enough money, but that was eclipsed by the stress of not feeling like I could do this.  I felt disheartened when potential clients would seem like a sure thing, but ultimately pass, and not totally confident that I had something different to offer than other OPMs out there.  Because of my depression and self-esteem issues, it was a roller coaster all the time between feeling like I could rock this and feeling like there was no hope.  It started to take a toll on my friendships and marriage, because that “Can I even do ANYTHING right?!” feeling creeps into all aspects of your life.  It’s been said before that Depression Lies, and let me tell you, it definitely kicks you while you’re down.  So while I was trying to make this business work, I was distancing myself from friends and Dominic and I could feel the spiral and decided that, as much as I WANT to work from home, WANT to be my own boss, WANT to work in affiliate marketing, maybe right now isn’t the right time for me.  

So I started looking for a “regular job”.  I knew that I might have to go outside of affiliate marketing and that I would very likely have to go back to commuting to an office, but faced with the mental and financial hardships I’d been experiencing, I was willing to make that change.  I was also still looking for clients, knowing that I had about equal chance of selling myself to an employer as I had selling myself to new merchants to manage their programs.  What happened first, in the end, was being offered a position that I was interested in and I decided that would be the best course of action.

Where are you Working?

I took a new position as the Social Media Associate at Bautista Direct Marketing, Inc.  I am in charge of running direct marketing for our main client on social media channels like Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc.  The agency as a whole works with television, radio, podcasts, print, and lots of other forms of direct marketing.  In a lot of ways, the job of working with Social Media influencers is very similar to working with affiliates.  It’s also really different since they’re not paid for performance, but paid more traditionally on a CPM basis.  I’m adjusting both to working in a different marketing channel as well as collaborating more closely with a coworker on the same project, something I haven’t had to do for awhile managing programs independently.

There has been a lot to adapt to physically, too.  The office is in my home town of Alameda, which translates to about a 30 minute commute due to traffic.  The hours are a lot earlier than I was previously used to working.  The office itself is upstairs in a turn-of-the-century building, so I’m getting more movement in having to go up & down stairs every day than I was in my single-level house.  The staff is small – just 4 other people, 2 of which are part-time and my office mate who works from home 2 days per week.  So it’s definitely different having to talk to people every day again, but we’re all fairly independent so it’s not overwhelming at all.  Luckily, a new professional wardrobe is NOT something that I’ve had to get used to as it’s a casual office, so I’m very happy to still be comfortable in my jeans & t-shirt lifestyle!

How is it Going?

It’s going well.  My first week, they flew me to Las Vegas for a day to meet with the client and some other vendors they work with.  The timing of their annual fall meetings at a conference worked out well with the timing of hiring me.  It was great to meet them and get a sense of their personalities.  There were no expectations yet, so being there to just listen and learn was really helpful.  I was able to take the rest of my first week kind of sliding slowly into my role, getting to know how they were managing this campaign already, what they’ve done in the past, and getting used to a new workflow.  By that Friday, I jumped in and started actually contacting people!  I’ve been there two weeks now and I’ve settled into a routine in my day, planned out a solid workflow with my  coworker, and will be thrown a new channel next week to work on.  

On the home front, Pixel has adjusted far better than I’d expected.  Dominic works from home 1-2 days per week usually, so she’s not in her living room kennel all day, every day.  He also gets off work 2 hours before I do, so she’s not in there more than about 6 hours.  In the last two weeks there has only been 1 day where I put her in the kennel in the morning and then I took her out of the kennel in the evening.  The first week, I was SUPER tired when I got home, because I was just not used to the earlier hours, the drive time, the stairs, the effort to be around people, everything.  But this week has been more normal, settling into coming home, relaxing awhile, making dinner, and relaxing more.  Pixel hasn’t acted out in any obvious way, nor has she had more than 1 accident in her living room kennel being in there longer than she was used to.  Based on how early I woke up both days this weekend, I’d say my body is adjusting better than I’d expected to an earlier schedule, too.

Is it Permanent?

I don’t know.  It’s hard to say whether I’ll fall in love with Direct Marketing and stick with it going forward, or if the pull of affiliate marketing will still be there.  I spent 10 years in affiliate marketing, and I’m so grateful for all the people I met, all the friends and colleagues I’ve met, and all the good times I’ve had with them working and playing.  I’ve already been asked to look at some affiliate marketing crossover projects, so there’s a chance these two adventures will become one, big, marketing adventure.  I just don’t know.  I don’t plan on going to Affiliate Summit West 2018, which will be the first ASW I’ve missed in 10 years.  I’ll be honest, that kinda hurts.  For now, I’m going with the flow and working on improving my situation financially now that I have a steady income again and building from there.  

The only constant in life is change, and as someone who generally doesn’t care for change, I’m still nervous about this one.  But like anyone else, I can only hope for the best.

A New Adventure in my Career appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

Experiment One: Regular Polish

I started simple with using Ready for Takeoff under a regular polish.  I purposely went through my collection for a cheaper, older polish.  This Claire’s Cosmetics Magic has easily been in my collection for 15 years.  As a nail polish hoarder, I don’t ted to throw polish away unless it’s just beyond the pale in performance or the cap dries hopelessly shut or breaks or something catastrophic.  So I wanted to test it under a less-than-ideal polish.  It worked like a charm! It lasted a couple of days and peeled off well when I was tired of the color.  My nails were not dried out at all and the only clean up I needed to do was a little bit around the cuticles where it was clear I hadn’t gotten the base coat in well enough.  

As an aside, I also tried a new quick dry top coat, INM Out The Door Fast Drying Top Coat, because my trusted Glisten & Glow Top Coat (formerly called HK Girl – Fast Drying  +  Super Shiny  Top Coat) is getting too old and gloppy to really work well.  The INM didn’t seem to dry nearly as quickly as Glisten & Glow, but the consistency was definitely nicer being brand new and the shine was great.  I’m disappointed that I have a half a bottle of Glisten & Glow PLUS a half  of their larger refill bottle left and it seems to have expired past being able to use it too well, but I had the same disappointment with Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat before I tried Glisten & Glow.  Seche Vite would somehow shrink the polish back from the tips, but neither Glisten & Glow or INM seemed to do that, so I guess I’m still not giving up on Glisten & Glow but, in a pinch if I run out, I can easily go to Sally Beauty to buy INM Out The Door whereas I can only get Glisten & Glow Top Coat from their website.  So, we had a mini experiment within my larger experiment!

Experiment Two: Glitter Polish

I got this awesome Julep Rosie in my August Maven box, described as a charcoal grey with magenta glitter.  One of the main benefits of using a peel-off base coat is for use under glitter polishes.  If you’ve ever used one, you know that they can be a royal pain to get off without a million gallons of acetone, scraping, and even then I know I’ve thrown in the towel and just put a different polish over pieces of glitter.  I had learned from using the Ready for Takeoff under the regular polish that I needed to make sure to coat the entire nail, so I used it more liberally with the glitter polish.  

Maybe TOO liberally.  Within 2 hours of finishing my manicure, my left index finger nail popped right off! (That sounds weird to say it, but you know what I mean, the polish, not the actual nail!).  After examining the peeled off polish, I could see that I’d flooded the cuticle, so that’s why it popped off so quickly.  The rest lasted a few more days before I made the “mistake” of doing the dishes wearing rubber gloves and some of the nails popped off inside my dish gloves!  So I know now that I cannot keep a peel-off base coat manicure on through chores.

Experiment Three: Regular Polish + Gel Top Coat

Now, for some real stakes!  If the Ready for Takeoff didn’t truly protect my nails from the gel top coat, I’d have to use a lot of acetone and maybe even grinding.  I wanted to do another experiment-within-experiment, so I tried another technique I’d seen Cristine make by using a no-wipe gel top coat over regular creme polish.  I got the one she recommended, OneDor One Step Gel Polish No Wipe Top Coat.  I had recently gotten a pedicure with my favorite pedicure color – neon orange – so I decided to try out the Julep April I got in a recently Maven Box (June’s, I think).  It’s not neon (they describe it as a Vermillion Crème) but I thought it would match well enough but not be too crazy.  I was worried that the gel might not react well with the creme and I did have some bubbling issues – one nail seemed to get a little ripped when I was on a photo shoot and had t be peeled off.  I left the rest on for as long as they’d last and they made it through the rest of the week before I was ready to peel them off to try gel polish AND gel top coat.  

Experiment Four: Gel Polish + Gel Top Coat

As you can see, my left index finger is just a nudist at heart.  Almost every time I used the Ready for Takeoff,  that pesky nail would pop off.  I found that it happened WAY more with the gel polish + gel top coat.  I used Finger Paints Main Art-Traction Gel Polish, a very jelly looking purple, and wore this manicure for 3 days, having to re-do the left index finger EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!  I did the initial manicure about mid-day on a Wednesday, and when I got home from some appointments, the finger had popped off.  So I tried a different polish combination on that finger – white Finger Paints Stay True to the Art Gel Polish with Sally Hansen Salon Gel Polish Purple Prisms on top.  I didn’t even get a picture because it popped off just after dinner out at a restaurant.  I redid it that night with Main Art-Traction again and by Thursday afternoon it popped off again.  So I re-did it again and lo and behold, Friday afternoon it popped off again.

I don’t know why!  Every other nail stayed on like a champ but that one just didn’t.  Every time I re-did it, I made sure not to flood the cuticles with the peel-off base coat, made sure to clean up any stray gel polish before curing it, and none of it made a difference.  Oh well.

Final Peel-Off Base Coat Thoughts

When all was said & done, I feel like ÜNT Ready for Takeoff Peelable Base Coat is a fantastic peel-off base coat that leaves your nails in great condition.  The first few times I applied it, I will warn you that it felt a little tightening and weirdly cool on my nails but I got used to it pretty quick.  I generally like my manicures to last, so I know that I won’t be using this peel-off base coat for every manicure.  I’ve been wanting to do more swatches of my polishes I get from the Julep Maven Box, so this will help.  I hope that, with some time, my left index finger decides to embrace the polish and stops popping off, so I’m giving her a break from the peel-off life for awhile.  If you want to get yourself a bottle, it retails for $12.98 with free shipping on Amazon.  It says it can be used as a non-glue based, non-latex based barrier on the skin too so… maybe that’s what I’ll try next!

Experimenting with Peel-Off Base Coat appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

To achieve the Dog Paw on my middle finger and thumb, I used my own Paw Print Nail Vinyls as a stencil for the yellow Orly Hook Up.  I pulled up the outside cut and used it as a stencil after applying the green and a quick dry top coat (my trusty Glisten & Glow HK Girl  – Fast Drying + Super Shiny Top Coat).  I pressed down the vinyl, making sure that the edges were adhered.  I painted a thin layer of paint on each finger, then another thin layer on each before peeling off the vinyl with tweezers.

I also did the pinky nail on one hand, but it got messed up on the other hand so I just painted over it and called it good.  I was going to leave it at that, but I decided that I didn’t want to waste the black vinyl paw prints that were left, so I grabbed a little bit of low-tack transfer tape (I use Con-Tact Quick Cover Clear Self-Adhesive Shelf Liner from Dollar Tree) and transferred them to my index fingers.  You have to use transfer tape to get the individual pads in exactly the right orientation to the main pad when you put the multiple pieces on your nail.  You can also probably just use scotch tape  or blue painter’s tape or, if you’re not as OCD as I am, you can use fine point tweezers to just place each piece on your nail.

Once I’d let the yellow paint dry, I sealed in the painted designs and the vinyl decals with another layer of top coat.  The manicure lasted about a week and a half before the edges of the vinyl started to cause breaks in the top coat.  I like using nail vinyls because, for one, I make them myself for some designs, and two, they can usually be used twice – as a decal or as a stencil.  They don’t take up a lot of room on a sheet of vinyl, so for me when I’m doing another project using my Cricut machine and I have a bit of room left, I’ll throw one on to use up the sheet.  

At the end of the day, Pixel and I had a great time and even the three middle-aged guys behind us complimented my nails!  I’m sorry I didn’t take more photos, but the photo up there can be clicked on for the full size picture.

Get the Supplies!

• Wet ‘N Wild Fast Dry SaGreena The Teenage Witch
• Orly Hook Up
• Paw Print Nail Vinyls
• Glisten & Glow HK Girl – Fast Drying + Super Shiny Top Coat
• Orly Bonder Rubberized Base Coat
• Con-Tact Quick Cover Clear Self-Adhesive Shelf Liner
• Cricut Explore

Bark at the Park 2017 Oakland Athletics Manicure appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.

That’s not to say I have unlimited resources because I most certainly don’t.  I only mean that, after being in the work force for 18 years now, it’s a weird place to be in to step back and consider how I’d run a company and business… and actually be doing it.  I’m here to tell you that, while being your own boss, setting your own schedule, and managing things how YOU see fit is very freeing and rewarding, it’s also absolutely terrifying!

There’s no safety net.  If you don’t land these clients, there’s no pay check.  Everything stacked against you to fail and nothing saving you from lying in a gutter somewhere wondering how it all went wrong.  You are every department for the business – executive, marketing, sales, accounting, business development, EVERYTHING.  It’s tough, and it can be draining to work hard at aspects you’re not good at.  The little things that need to be done that you were able to leave up to someone else to worry about before.  I will say that I have a greater respect for my previous employers who had to deal with the sales aspect of the business and landing new clients.  That has seemed to be the hardest part for me, but I’m getting better at it.  

Sometimes life forces you into things.  I didn’t think I was ready to do this on my own.  I always thought that there would be a time when I’d say to myself that I was ready to start my own business, ready to truly be my own boss, and ready to kick some ass and take some names.  it didn’t happen that way – I was forced into having to find a new source of income.  But looking back, I’ve been ready to do this for years.  I was just afraid.  

I’m still afraid.  Scared I’ll crash & burn.  Scared I won’t be able to make this work and will have to go back to working for someone else.  Scared I’ll have to leave this industry and work somewhere else.  Scared I don’t have “what it takes” to be an entrepreneur.

I’m learning.  I’m lucky to have friends that are supporting me in this endeavor, offering me assistance where I need it, even if that’s just a second pair of eyes on something to confirm that I did it right.  Affiliate Marketing colleagues to kick me in the ass to do things the right way, and to help me decide what way IS the right way.  It’s not many industries where people who are technically your competitors would cheer you own.  It’s one of the reasons that this industry has been where I want to be for the last 10 years, and I’m still not tired of it.  

I will say that the folks at MyCorporation made it tremendously easy to part with my money to get my business incorporated.  They were cheaper than Legal Zoom for their basic plan and helped to add the necessary components for my specific state.  They’re helping me to form my LLC, get my EIN, and referring me to other companies they’ve partnered with for things I may not have thought I needed (like operating agreements, or business insurance).  If you’ve been hesitating, don’t!  Save $30 incorporating your business (LLCs start at $69) by clicking here.

#EntrepreneurLife Ain’t Easy appeared first on TrishaLyn.com.