VAVA VOOM

So this past weekend I attended Bassnectar's VAVA VOOM tour in Rochester, NY. As usual it was an excellent evening of friendships, tunes & dancing, if I don't say so myself. 

When I had bought my ticket a few months back I knew I wanted to do something crazy with my nails. So when I found a glow in the dark polish from OPI online, it was pretty much a done deal. 

What you need:

Essie Power Clutch w Essie Good to Go w OPI Zom-body to Love w Sally Hansen White On

small detailing paintbrush w ziplock bag w paper/pencil 

I knew I wanted my nails to say "BASS HEAD" & have the Bassnectar logo, but, because I don't trust myself to write directly on my nails, I decided to go the DIY nail sticker route. (If you would like to see more on how this is done, Click Here to a previous post where I show you how!) I decided to draw out the logo and letters on a piece of paper first then basically trace them with the paint brush and zip lock bag in between. 

For the logo I put down a layer of top coat first, then I painted the design. This way it would be easier to peel away from the ziplock bag.

For the glow in the dark polish to really glow you want to put down a base coat of white polish. This will help prevent the glow polish from looking streaky as well as keep the total layers of polish to a minimum. When I first got the polish I tried it on my natural nails without a base & it took me 4 layers of polish to get the same effect. 

So I started with one coat of Sally Hansen White On. 

Once that dried I put on 2 coats of OPI Zom-body to Love.

It comes out almost like slime & has a gritty texture when It dries, so be sure to even out the amount of polish you load on your brush.

Let your nails dry in the sunlight & test them in the dark. If you want more vibrant nails add more layers. I was satisfied with 2 coats. 

(For the record this is as far as I got before the concert the final product is what I'm rocking today. So make sure you give yourself enough time ;0) 

Next thing you're going to want to do is carefully peel the stickers away from the ziplock & place them on your nails & seal with top coat. (If you find that the stickers are reluctant to stay in place just lick your nail first, then lay the sticker down & you should be fine)

& there you have it, my nail tribute to Lorin. :)

For more on Bassnectar visit http://www.bassnectar.net/ :)

On Pinterest? Repin Here!

KONY 2012

So if you haven't heard of KONY 2012 yet listen up. Above is a link to a 30 minute video depicting the Invisible Children Organization's effort to bring public awareness to the world about Joseph Kony.


 Joseph Kony is head of the LRA, (Lord's Resistance Army) an Ugandan guerrilla group who steals children from their homes and forces them to join Kony's army. The girls are turned into sex slaves and the boys are forced to fight in war where they often have to kill their own families and partake in facial and genital mutilations. 


Besides bringing awareness, the video has a clear intention of encouraging activism as well as for the end goal of capturing Kony in 2012. 


Now if you don't know this about me, I love little nuggets, (nugget is my term of endearment for children) I have dedicated most of my adult life it to becoming an educator to enrich the lives of little nugs everywhere. So you have to know how physically sick I feel about Joseph Kony. After watching this video I was upset, (were talking tears people) I was angry, and mostly I was confused. How had I not heard of Joseph Kony before!? 


 I had first heard about invisible children when I asked my friend Jimmy about a sweet hat he was sporting one summer that had an image of Africa with a heart over Uganda. He gave me a quick run down of what it was and it was a real eye opener but at the time I didn't really give it the research it deserved.  Then in 2009 I was cast into Springfield College's production of the Vagina Monologues ("Vagina Motherfuckers") and that year's spotlight was on Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which gave an inside view of the violence and atrocities being perpetrated against women and girls in DRC. (The three rebel groups that have caused the greatest destruction in the DRC in the most recent years have been the LRA, the National Congress for the Defense of the People (CNDP) and the Democratic Liberation Forces of Rwanda (FDLR).) 
So even after having two direct real life experiences dealing with the LRA I still did not know who Joseph Kony was, that was until I saw that video. 


So he is now famous to me. I will not forget his name. & because this blog is my way of communicating to the world outside of my social network, I feel the need to let you know who he is.  So I got to thinking. Since the launch of Rhinestoned Adventures last month, many people who I have ran into out and about on my own adventures have asked me to see my nails & I have happily showed them. So I decided to become my own activist. 

So not to get into too much detail on how to do this because that's not what this post is really about, but I used the same technique for the nail art that I used in the valentines day post. so you can use your imagination ;)

So whether you share the video with your friends and family, 'like' a link, tweet a hashtag, donate to the cause, buy a bracelet or action kit, call your senator, or paint your nails, spread awareness of this cause because it has the best of intentions. 

Do it for the nuggets. 

On a side note,I posted this on my facebook when I had just about had enough with all the people jumping on the jaded negativity bandwagon.  "just throwing it out there to all the naysayers flapping their lips about the invisible children organization: last month when you were gobbling down your girl scout cookies, did you give two thoughts about where your money was going, because looking into that you would see that most of the money doesn't go to the actual girl scouts. But you still ate your cookies with a smile and felt good about yourself right? So quit your bitching, no organization is perfect, eat your cookies and spread some damn awareness about child abuse. No child deserves to have their innocence ripped away from them. KONY 2012"

I am also posting a link to a post by Lorin Ashton aka Bassnectar who I think summed it up best.

on pinterest? repin here, or here, or here!