Strrrrretch!!

I'm trying to exercise my blogging muscles and finding them shriveled indeed. Therefore, I am committed to minimalizing creativity and instead focusing on simply getting something- anything- on the page on a more consistent basis. Use caution, this may get painful at some point.

Eileigh has been fairly close to begging recently in her requests to have her nails painted. I've never been one to paint my nails regularly (mostly from an unable-to-stay-within-the-lines affliction) and then once I realized that nail polish is possibly one of the most toxic ingredients to apply to our bodies I've pretty much vetoed it since. But I still love the pretties. Eileigh loves the pretties. (Selah does too but I'll tell you her actual response here in a second.)

When we were doing GAPS I had signed up for an online cooking class that has been a wealth of information. Seriously great resource. The session on detox went over a wide range of personal care products, including nail polish. In short, it's best to avoid most, if not all nail polishes due to the toxicity in the ingredients. There are a few brands that are safe although no nail polish is completely non-toxic. Suncoat kid's nail polish is the least toxic of all the brands. So over to their website did I go. You can check out the kid's nail polish here or their regular non-toxic line here.

Eileigh sat on my lap and we shopped together online. I asked her if she wanted pink or purple or red. She chose blue. Mermaid Blue! I went with Berry from their regular line and then picked up some of their mascara to try since I'm almost out. Kind of fun reading about what is NOT in their ingredients. Plastic, anyone? I digress. So night before last I slapped three coats of Berry down onto my newly shorn fingernails. I couldn't believe how fast it dried- obviously because it's water-based but by the time I was done painting one hand it was dry enough to switch to the other hand and not worry about smearing it everywhere. Not that a professional such as myself would have that problem. Ahem.

I promised I would paint Eileigh's fingers after her nap and she dutifully went to sleep, a rarity nowadays. Selah woke up before Eileigh and let me paint her left big toe Mermaid Blue before deciding she was quite unhappy about it. She went over and sat on Daddy's lap to read books, double-checking her toe every now and then to make sure she still had something to protest about.

Eileigh woke up excitedly a little after that and held remarkably still for two coats on her fingers and toes. Once again, I marveled at how fast it dried and Eileigh appreciated being able to go show Daddy and Selah her pretty fingers and toes once they were done. The Mermaid Blue actually ended up being a somewhat metallic shimmery blue and green. Certainly cute on kids- and adults of that persuasion, too. Personally I'm more of a "basic" kinda gal but can appreciate it on others. :)

So far the polish on the nails is lasting quite well- all except for Eileigh's big right toe, which got picked clean off while she was watching Raffi in Concert before bathtime last night. After a few threats of leaving it unpainted we're scheduled for a repaint this afternoon. Maybe I'll even take a swipe at a second Selah toe.