Work-Appropriate Half Moon Mani

My hamster Claude had a bit of an adventure the other day. I let him crawl around on the kitchen floor for a bit while I found him some food and he immediately went to his favourite spot behind the door under a (turned off) radiator. I looked away for a second, and when I looked back...he was gone. I'm pretty sure I had a small heart attack at this point. I eventually discovered that he had crawled up behind the radiator and wedged himself between it and the wall! As if that wasn't stupid enough, he wasn't actually stuck - he was climbing up and down and side to side, just not out. I couldn't reach him to get him out, but after about five minutes he got bored and just sort of plopped back to the floor in a cloud of dust. He was in the doghouse for about two seconds, and then I forgave him. XD

Anyway, back to nail polish. I wasn't really interested in the China Glaze/Hunger Games Collection that came out in March, despite my love for the books, but after seeing some beautiful swatches online I caved and got a couple of them. One of these was Fast Track, which has a taupe base with a chunky gold shimmer. I teamed it with Revlon Smoky Canvas, a greige creme, to make a half moon mani with triangles instead of semicircles.

I think this manicure idea looked better in my head than in execution, but oh well. I'm lucky enough that I can wear whatever nail polish/nail art I fancy to work, but for others I think this would make a great work-appropriate manicure. It's a bit different, but not in-your-face.

And for no reason whatsoever, here's a photo of Sleepy Claude:

Chain Nails

Here's another manicure that I've worn to my internship recently. I don't have many neutral-tone polishes, but Revlon Smoky Canvas is one of the few. It's a light grey creme with a bit of yellow in it that comes out particularly under artificial light. So it's kind of...greige? It's very work-appropriate, but it's actually a really nice colour. I did three coats and the formula was brilliant - it went on like a dream. Why can't every polish be so easy to apply?!

I was going to wear Smoky Canvas on its own, but inevitably decided that was boring so I used some Andrea Fulerton nail stickers to jazz it up a bit. These ones are a chain design, and I used them almost as a French manicure at the tip of each nail.

In case you're wondering what my internship is, it's as a conservation assistant at an historic house in Surrey (think Downton Abbey and you're along the right lines). I actually have a paid job as a conservation assistant at another property, but I'm trying to pad out my CV so I'm combining the two. It means I get to handle priceless artefacts such as Turner paintings, Sèvres china and Fabergé trinkets, which is pretty special. :)