#PinkForLeelah (S&T)

Hi everyone. I'm sure anyone who care to follow this kind of news has heard by now of Leelah Alcorn, the 17 year old transgender girl who died by suicide at the end of last year. In her own suicide letter queued on her tumblr (now removed by tumblr staff at the demand of her tormentors but visible here) she cited her parents' adamant rejection and emotional torture as the reason.

Though she wanted her worldly possessions to be donated to organizations helping transgender youth, it is highly unlikely that her parents will honour that request and so if you have extra stuff you don't want anymore or can spare a little change this month, consider donating to the organizations such as TransOhio and the Kaleidoscope Youth Center. And honestly, if you're looking to destash some of your unloved nail polishes, these kinds of organizations would love to rehome your old stuff to people who will treasure it and you can find them locally with a bit of work.

If you need help, there are countless hot lines (listed at the end of this post) and if you are transgender, there are other transgender people willing to listen and talk with you at crisis lines like Trans LifeLine and they are also expanding service to Canada (US: 877-565-8860 / Canada: 877-330-6366) and also organizations like Ally Moms for those of you with shitty parents.

Despite public outcry, her parents lie, misgender and continue to disrespect Leelah in her death. Her mother's Facebook post also did not cite her daughter's correct age and attempted to lie about the cause of death. If nothing else, as a US citizen please exercise your right to elicit change in your laws and government by pressuring the president to ban conversion therapy that is so detrimental to vulnerable youth.

Sharra's Nails
Anyway, this is what I'm wearing. I used  China Glaze Fast Track and Wish on a Starfish. I didn't want anything to pull attention from that pink nail so I chose the most neutral thing I could while still maintaining coherence across my hands.

I attempted to subdue the shiny with NYC Matte Me Crazy topcoat but it didn't seem to work. Side note though, that brush is glorious.

My hope is, like the Transgender Day of Remembrance post I did in 2012, that this sparkle starts some conversations and results in some really good education.

Tiffany's Nails

 Hi guys, sorry I haven't been posting very much lately, my nails have been successively breaking one after another... ugh. The winter air is frying my hair, my skin and my nails. I haven't been wearing nail polish for a while, but I felt this was too important to not do something for. My heart breaks for this girl and I am especially, incredibly saddened by the actions of her parents (or lack there of). My mother actually said something that stuck with me today when I talked to her about it, "when people get married they make vows to always stick by one another through sickness and in health, for better and for worse, and yet when you have a child you make no such vows to stick with them." She's absolutely right. So I want to vow to my future children (should I be so lucky to have any) that no matter who they are, what gender they are or who they choose to love, I will never abandon them, disown them or stop loving them. Leelah, I really hope your story and the stories of others in the LGTBTQ+ community inspire people change their intolerant views, regardless of their personal sexual orientations, gender identities and religions. Let's love, not hate. <3

Ok so for the nail polish I did a gradient of OPI Alpine Snow and OPI Don't Burst My Bubble on all my nails, but the ring finger. The ring finger got 3 coats of OPI Teenage Dream. I topped everything with Rainbow Honey Papillion, which just seemed perfect to me with the butterflies all through it. Hope you guys like it. 

Final Message
If you intend to be a parent, make sure that you are prepared to love the child you get. If you believe in an omniscient, omnipotent and Perfect God, understand that He has made everyone perfectly.

International suicide hotlines

Hotlines For US Residents

Depression Hotline: 1-630-482-9696

Suicide Hotline: 1-800-784-8433

LifeLine: 1-800-273-8255

Trevor Project: 1-866-488-7386

Sexuality Support: 1-800-246-7743

Eating Disorders Hotline: 1-847-831-3438

Rape and Sexual Assault: 1-800-656-4673

Grief Support: 1-650-321-5272

Runaway: 1-800-843-5200, 1-800-843-5678, 1-800-621-4000

Exhale: After Abortion Hotline/Pro-Voice: 1-866-4394253

Hotlines For UK Residents

Depression: (YoungMinds) 0808 802 5544

Young Suicide: (Papyrus) 0800 068 4141

Self Harm: (National Self-Harm Network) 0800 622 6000

Child Abuse: (Childline) 0800 1111

Domestic Violence: (Refuge) 0808 2000 247

Rape: (Rape Crisis) 0808 802 9999

Drugs: (FRANK) 0800 77 66 00

Bereavement: (Cruse Bereavement Care) 0844 477 9400

Bereavement by Suicide: (Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide)0844 561 6855

Eating Disorders: (BEAT) 0845 634 1414 Panic Attacks: 0800 138 8889

Runaway: (Homeless UK) 116 000

Pregnancy & Post-Abortion: (CareConfidential) 0300 4000 999

LGBT Support & Information: (LLGS) 0300 330 0630

Domestic Violence Against LGBT People: (Broken Rainbow) 0300 999 5428

(Source and self care links)

Christmas Nail Art!! (T&S)

Merry Christmas everyone!! Sharra and I both did some nail art for Christmas so we thought we'd do a joint post for today! Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

Sharra:

Alright, so for the last week or so I've been wearing ILNP Gaia (glorious swatches coming soon!) so I decided to work with it and do Christmas trees! I picked out some Christmas-y colours, beginning with Elianto Red. I also used Essence Let's Get Lost and Zoya Solange, which I know to be opaque. Dot-dot-dot~

A tree isn't a tree without some tinsel. Gosh Holographic Hero :D

It looks great from a distance! Hopefully I've warmed you up for Tiffany's classiness now, haha.

Tiffany's nail art:

Hi guys! So I kind of cheated and didn't do any freehand art on my nails. It's the holidays! I was busy! Haha. So I used some water decals from the born pretty store that are gorgeous! LOVE them! 10/10. So I used China Glaze Cranberry Splash as the base for my decals (two coats). Its a glowy, shimmery, classic red polish. I think they release a dupe of this every year for Christmas. I covered it with a coat of Enchanted Polish Djinn in a Bottle (linear holo top coat) to add a bit of extra dazzle. For the ring finger I did two coats of OPI Alpine Snow and then water marbled Cranberry Splash and top coat (keeps it from looking too pink this way apparently). They got the same Djinn in a bottle to match the other fingers! This was a super duper easy mani for Christmas. And I think it ended up looking really nice and clean. 

Rare shot of my right hand!

Indoor shot

With flash to show the holo!

There you have it! What did you guys have on your nails? Link us below or show us on our Facebook Page.

Merry Christmas from Tiffany and Sharra at The Blahg

Swatch: China Glaze Wish on a Starfish

Hello everyone! I had my interview, didn't get the job and needed a pick me up!

I received my package from Sally Beauty ($26 shipping, never again!) and it included China Wish on a Starfish, which looks very, very neon coral in their photos. This is extremely misleading however. Its true colour is actually very much a bubblegum or cotton candy pink, with a gold/bronze sheen evenly through it. It is really gorgeous!

Two coats to opacity, one more coat to be sure. I think if you look really closely in these photos you can see some wear and maybe a chip? It's because these photos are from two days after initial application. They held up really well for over a week!

Are you tired of the textures? This is the last one for a while. Next up is ALL THE RAINBOW HONEYs because I still haven't touched that massive order I made... :D

Swatch: China Glaze Mermaid's Tail and simple scales

After Sand Dolla's extreme disappointment, I am really glad to say Mermaid's Tail is glorious. Like Seahorsin' Around there's a silvery crumpled foil look to this. It also only took two coats to opacity and the texture was awesome.

To spice it up a bit I decided to use my silver Sharpie and draw on some scales. You can topcoat this but you'll lose the texture so I didn't. The sharpie lasted roughly 2 days before it looked like it had completely rubbed off but this wasn't an intricate design or anything.

It was also very subtle as you can see from the last photo =P The colour itself reminds me far more of Ariel's clamshell bra than a mermaid's tail but what do you think?

Swatch: China Glaze Sand Dolla' Make you Holla

My Sally Beauty order came in the other day and I tore it open ready to put this one on. It's the white from the Sea Goddess collection and I was really excited to do some cute little sand dollars on my nails... But it was not to be. I should have looked at other bloggers' swatches a little more closely (or at all, story of my life) because this was not going to be opaque and I could not even get much texture out of it...

At 3 coats, it's kind of textured but not at all opaque. It has little pink and green-blue glitter in it and is much more like frosting than sand which means I am really disappointed but I know lots of people would love it. It was also tinted pink by itself, probably because of those little glitters. Boo.

So excuse the mess, but here it is by itself, three coats.

i mean, it looks pretty white in the photo but it was way too pink for me in real life. It also didn't look or feel very textured... I did two more coats.

... and lost the texture entirely. SO I took that off and tried using Julep Kate (which is still a nightmare) as a base and only doing 3 coats.

Anyway, I am not impressed at all. I probably won't be using it again though I may try it over other colours to just glitter it up and frost it over... It MIGHT work that way. Either way I'll let you know of course.

Did you guys see anybody who swatched this one nicely and liked it?

Nailpolishcanada.com Easter Nail Art Contest!

Nailpolishcanada.com is doing it again :D A contest! They're certainly getting the hang of this, eh? Now if only I could.

I already had China Glaze Teal the Tide Turns down and I knew I wanted to do a skittles mani with my textured polishes so this design includes China Glaze Shell We Dance and Seahorsin' Around and my precious Zoyas Dahlia, Beatrix, Solange, Destiny and London. Incidentally, you can buy all of these on nailpolishcanada.com

A little messy but not the worst thing I've done. Sometimes skittles are fun! I need to try textured bunnies again sometime, maybe after I've got the rest of my CG's (aka the white one =3).

Vote for me HERE <3 (You have until tomorrow)