Kitties and Doggies for My Little Princess

After much consideration, I have made a conscious decision to choose happiness above everything in life. I have promised myself to do something fun, or something that makes me happy, every day. I could give you the life is short speech, but really, I don't want to grow old and become the cranky one in the Golden Girls.
Today's Project Happiness Daily Fun Shit was Gwen asking me for a mani/pedi, and even sitting still for it!

She wanted pink and purple kitties and doggies, naturally. The problem is, this kid's nails are almost polish-resistant. I can use Orly Bonder (an a$$kicking base coat), Seche Vite on top, plenty of drying time, and the next day she is peeling the polish off like and old sunburn.
This time, I decided to do a gel mani on her. ****Please - no need to lecture me on risks, etc: I have read the info. Thanks for caring though :)*****
I dusted off my SensatioNAIL gel starter kit, and followed the super-easy directions. I added some stamping with MoYou London's Princess Collection plate #03 over the single layer of pink chiffon.
Even though we only got 75% of the project done (she agreed we could do the last hand tomorrow after school), we had fun together doing the mother-daughter bonding thing :)  So far, Project Happiness is having positive results for me. Why didn't I learn this earlier in life?

Do you set aside special time for yourself each day?

 Is there anything special you like to do? 

Happy Star Wars Day!

Today is May the fourth, which is an international nerd holiday for those of us who love Star Wars. My tribute to this holy day is thus:

I garnered my inspiration from other fellow nerdesses over the great Web, including the Nailasaurus and Cosmetic Proof. I am not going to list all the polishes I used; if you want to know, just ask! I will mention that I used a very sheer coat of Indigo Bananas' "Great Scott!" over the light saber so that it would glow. :D I did actually use acrylic paints for the Death Star, and it seemed to work quite well. I definitely feel like I have more precision with acrylic, which is cool.
I am still using SensatioNail gel growth formula. I decided to go ahead and cut all my nails off short and get a fresh, new start on length, and I am not going to apologize for it! I see so many bloggers apologizing because her nails are short -- does that mean that short nails can't be as cute as long nails? I think not! It's Short Nails, No Wails for me all the way! Till they grow out of course :)

SensatioNAIL Gel Growth Formula

As I was cruising through Walmart, I came across SensatioNAIL gel growth formula in the clearance section. The box states that this formulation is specifically for "dull, short nails," and right now, that describes mine to a T. My normally long nails have been breaking and splitting terribly, so when I saw this I thought I would give it a go.

You receive one .25 fluid ounce bottle of growth formula and an orangewood stick. Application is very simple: wipe your nails down with alcohol to prep, paint on a coat, and stick your nails under an LED for 60 seconds. This formula seems to be a little less thick than other gels (although I am pretty new to the gel world), which I like.

Have you used this product before? I would love to hear other people's experience with it.