Sunday, April 20, 2014

For Cannon

*Disclosure--I purchased all of the following polishes used in my manicure. Rainbow Honey donated 50 bottles of Believe in Pink with awareness bands to help raise funds for St. Baldrick's Foundation. This is my honest, unbiased review.*

As many of you know, I had my head shaved for St. Baldrick's Foundation to raise money for pediatric cancer research. One of the reasons I did this was for a special little boy, 2 year old Cannon. One year ago today he was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma--one of the worst childchood cancers. Seeing the pictures of this sweet boy, reading the emotional rollercoaster they were going through by his mother, and learning the statistics of pediatric cancer from his father, I HAD to do something. Ignorance isn't bliss, folks.

And so on March 8, 2014, I had my head shaved and it was one of the best days of my life. Thanks to the incredible generosity of friends and family, I raised $2610.
BEFORE--with #TeamMakeKristaBald

AFTER!!!! I LOVE my new look!!!

THUMBS UP to everyone who helped me raise money for St. Baldrick's Foundation to end pediatric cancer for GOOD!

I was a little nervous at first but then I remembered my motto: 
HAIR GROWS BACK--KIDS DON'T!


 In addition, Dee of Rainbow Honey graciously donated 50 bottles of Believe in Pink, the October LE and 50 pink awareness bands for me to sell to raise funds.

Rainbow Honey Oct 2013 LE Believe in Pink
photo courtesy of Rainbow Honey
I am committed to this for life. It is an amazing feeling to finally KNOW why you were put on this earth. I will be creating a website in the near future with my story of having my head shaved, fundraising, as well as statistics, kids who are fighting cancer, or who have lost their battle, and how you can get involved!

Meanwhile, Cannon continues to receive treatments. We had hoped he would reach NED this week--NO EVIDENCE OF DISEASE--but unfortunately there is still cancer somewhere in his body. All scans are clean--so they don't know where the cancer is. However numbers ARE going down so there is HOPE.

Cannon has a favorite blanket he carries everywhere--so this week, I did a blue ombre manicure in his honor. For some of his treatments, everthing must be washed EVERY DAY...or there are days he is sick, or bleeds from his mouth and nose due to the treatments that were meant for adults (there are NO treatments for kids for neuroblastoma). Cannon's family found a supplier of the blanket, so now he has a blanket whenever he wants :) That story has stuck with me and when I see shades of lighter blue, it reminds me of him.

September is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month
and represented by a Gold Ribbon

You can read more about Cannon at Cannonball Kids Cancer (now a non-profit!!)
and on Facebook.

If you missed out and would like to donate to my St. Baldrick's Fundraising, you can find my personal page here: Make Krista Bald! Because cancer doesn't take a break!

This is my very first ombre manicure and I love it! I've been wearing this manicure for a whole WEEK! and it's still going strong. There is very slight tipwear--I used my holy grail of quick-dry topcoats--HKGirl. I purchased it at Glisten & Glow; it is also available at Llarowe.

The polishes I used were Dollish Polish (LOVE her stuff!) and Colors by Llarowe. All of the polishes I used from DP are exclusive to Llarowe. Some of the CbL polishes may be available at Harlow & Co. (I just checked--these colors are not available there at this time but may in the future).



All of the lighter polishes needed about 3 coats to be opaque. The 2 darker blues needed 2, but you *might* be able to get away with one. AND I finally got smart and used my Ott Lamp for photos! I think it's a huge improvement :)





Beach Glass is a cream crelly with blue, green and teal glitter. I topped it with a bit of Home is Where the Heart Is, an amazing blue/teal/green flakey topcoat. HIWTHI is a Limited Edition, and sales went to help the chairity "Fairy Dog Parents" The two together makes this light up --they truly are perfect together!!

Zipper is a soft blue with a hint of grey. You can see the hologram faintly glowing in this picture. It is *so* lovely!

 Frozen is that perfect "Cinderella" blue--or should I say Elsa blue! (it even matches one of my medications lol) It has just a hint of sparkle to it that gives it depth.

Monkey See, Monkey Do is an amazing light royal blue with a strong linear hologram. In regular light, it appears darker, almost the same color as Love You Forever, but in sunlight I can see a definite difference. Fantastic!

Finally, Love you Forever is a darker navy blue, with a strong linear hologram and gold shimmer that truly makes this an incredibly special polish. This was also a LE polish, and sales went to Susie's Cause. There is so much love wrapped up in this polish--it was made for Llarowe's Customer Service agent, Emily, whose mother passed away from colon cancer (represented by a blue ribbon). The children's book Love You Forever was very special to them.

I have finally started purchasing more blue polishes lately.....it took me some time digging through my stash to find the right blues to make this a nice ombre gradient manicure. I proved to myself that I can wear more "muted" tones (yes this is muted for me lol) and still look dazzling. In the sunlight it was really a sparklefest!!!

Please continue to keep Cannon in your thoughts as he battles this monster. He is truly my hero and so are his parents. They taught me so much and I truly love him with all my heart, even though I haven't met him yet. And keep a look out for an announcement with my next big project!

Stay pretty and remember:



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