Nail Art Part Deux

I'm showing my Raider love again this week with more black and silver nail art!

For these nails  I painted a coat of silver paint on each of my nails.  On all but the ring finger I used a black crackle paint over the top.  For the ring finger, I cut a 'v' shape out of masking tape and placed it on my nail.  Then I painted a stripe of black on a postcard and used a makeup sponge to soak up the paint to put on the nail.

Hopefully at some point my nail art will be a good luck charm and my team will start winning a few!

One small step for women, one giant leap for womankind

As the Ray Rice situation is taking a new turn I feel it is too important for a self-proclaimed female sports fan not to comment on.  Along with other sports fans, I too was outraged when I heard that Rice's original two-game suspension was so trivial, especially when compared to Josh Gordon who was suspended for the entire season for drug charges.  The NFL, whether intentional or not, sent a very clear message to its female supporters; violence, even violence against women, is fine but drugs are the real concern.

In recent years the NFL has made a big push to increase its female fan base.  I didn't understand how a league could even begin to attempt expanding their female fan base when they seem perfectly fine letting those fans get knocked unconscious.

Female sports fans have finally begun to find some footing and a place to call their own in the arena typically filled by men, but incidents like this remind us what a man's world it really is.  Not only fans but the wives, girlfriends and reporters have felt the misogynistic undertones of this incident.  The original two-game suspension of Rice was like a slap in the face to every female in the NFL world.

With the new vido evidence released today and a much harsher punishment doled out to Rice, I finally feel like the NFL really has embraced its female supporters.  I feel like the league is now as loyal to me as I have been to it.  While there is still a lot of work to do this is a huge step toward equality in the sports world.

A shout out of praise should go to Roger Goodell and the Raven's organization for understanding how serious domestic violence is and that they can help change the way our society thinks about these issues.  To have revered and prominent leaders begin to put their foot down about these issues not only empowers women and helps begin the healing process but also hopefully makes men realize how wrong their actions are.  It was long overdue, but Goodell did well in enacting a new domestic-violence policy.

Should Ray Rice ever be allowed to play another down of football?  Is this punishment too harsh?  Tweet me and let me know what you think @felicelilly

NFL Nail Art

With the NFL season kicking off this week I decided to do my nails honoring my favorite football team; the Raiders.  

The final product:

For my main nails I used the ombre technique shown here.  You may, however, notice that the orientation of the ombre effect is reversed from the directions shown.  I tried it both ways and I like having the top color near the base of the nail rather than the tip.  If you haven't clicked the link, the directions are basically as follows.

Step 1: Paint nail the base color

Step 2: On a piece of wax paper or a shiny surface paint a stripe of the base color and the ombre      color.  Using a toothpick or orange stick swirl the two colors together where they meet.

Step 3: Use a makeup triangle to pick up the the polish colors.

Step 4: Place the triangle with the polish on it onto the nail.

The ring finger was done using the technique found here.

Again, it's really easy but makes a statement.  And if you don't feel like opening this link either, the steps are shown below.

Step 1: Paint nail the base color

Step 2: Paint a stripe in the middle of the nail about half way up

Step 3: Paint another stripe to one side of the middle stripe, but a little farther up

Step 4: Paint another stripe on the empty side of the first stripe, but not as far up.

Step 5: (Not shown) Repeat steps 2-4 with another color, but not as far up as the first color