For this assignment, I chose a website because the first thing that popped into my head was my first experience with Enailcouture.com. A few months prior, I bit the bullet and decided to make a purchase from there. I heard really great things about the products sold, and since I’m always down to try new stuff related to nails, I went ahead and ordered two types of full-cover gel nail tips and the gel “glue” to go with it. The whole purchase process took me ONE HOUR. I wasn’t browsing the site to look at what he had, I went there knowing what I wanted, and it took me a whole hour out of my day just to find the items and figure out the checkout process.
Read moreLogo: Freakin' Rican Kitchen
Have a need for birra tacos or slammin’ loaded nachos? Check out the delicious work I did for Freakin’ Rican Kitchen in South Jersey. Links for connecting and ordering are within the post!
Read moreEGD: Lash Paradise Beauty Lounge
Although I don’t wildly spend money on things I can’t afford, I’d like to say I have expensive taste. I enjoy looking at clothes, buying prestige brands when I shop for makeup, and not settling for store brand things when I know I can get the national brand names. I’m not great at saving (though I try), and I dunno… I wanna be fancy, I guess.
My boyfriend’s soon-to-be daughter-in-law, Torianna, has her cosmetology license and has been working doing hair (blowouts, specifically) and lashes for years at this point. She started her own LLC doing lashes and cleverly named it after herself: Lash Paradise. (Torianna’s last name is Paradise—cool, right?) She started by working out of her home in a cute little room in the house she and her two children shared with her mother and stepfather. There were cute and bougie lash-themed decorations, a nice bed lined with that crinkly paper you find in the doctor’s office on a roll, a small rolly-stool for the tech to sit while she’s working, and a nice little organizer on the side with all of her tools and supplies.
Over the years, she’s built up her clientele, and as a fellow woman with expensive taste, she also had dreams of having a high-end salon.
During the pandemic, she came to my boyfriend and me and announced she found a space and was going to rent it for her own salon. She wanted me to design the logo and signage and my boyfriend would take care of getting the collateral fabricated and he would install.
I was trying to wait until the salon’s grand opening before posting this blog, but the grand opening was also supposed to be a couple of months ago. The salon is open and operating and books fast! Contact and location info will be at the bottom of this post.
Lash Paradise Beauty Lounge, located at 127 Greentree Rd Ste 3, Blackwood, NJ 08012, is not too far from the on-ramp to 42 N (North-South Freeway) with easy access to Deptford shopping areas, 295 N and S, and the Walt Whitman and Ben Franklin bridges to Philadelphia. It’s also close to the AC Expressway, linking Philadelphia to Atlantic City, and Rt 322 for a more scenic route to the southern shore points.
You can call the salon at (856) 535-8569 or visit their website at https://lashparadisebeautylounge.com/home to book an appointment.
It's Nice to Draw Again
My buddy, Gary, sent me a text the other day (I mean like 2 months ago) telling me how he wanted the Wario Amiibo but couldn’t get his hands on it. He asked if I could make one for him and he picked out the pose he wanted.
On my Etsy shop, you’ll find a listing for hand-illustrated Animal Crossing Amiibo. While that listing is super specific, if I can find the bin files for a certain Amiibo, I can make it. However, I’m selling it mainly for the custom artwork.
I gave this one to Gary on the house because he does so much for me (like going to his fave comic book store to grab me the newest Pokémon cards), so it seemed fair.
Anyway, it was just so nice to draw again. I haven’t done it in a while, so I’m also a tad rusty. But I love it, even if I’m just doodling. I hope to do this more in my free time!
New Hobby Alert: Casting Resin
Aside from working full-time again, I recently picked up a new hobby that I briefly touched on while in college many years ago: casting resin.
I’ve only been doing it for a month or two and I’ve already poured hundreds of dollars into it. The chemicals themselves are very expensive, then you have the inclusions (glitter, dried flowers, gems, etc.), and things to help color your resin (mica powder, alcohol inks, paints, etc.). By the time you’re done, including the time put into it, you better be selling your pieces for DOLLARS.
While the act of casting the resin isn’t difficult, playing around with the inclusions and colors takes time and effort to learn. The first set of dominoes I cast were way too translucent, so they’re not playable unless I add paint or vinyl to the back.
All in all, though, it’s a healthy obsession. Eventually it’ll pitter out and I’ll find a new hobby. But for now, here’s a peek at what I’ve been making. All of these pieces at some point will be on my Etsy for purchase. (And yes, most of these are self-defense weapons.)