Maintaining my manicures!!

 
I crocheted this little bag to house all my nail stuffs because I can't live on a mountain in a village in the bush of Africa and not do my nails. No way Jose!

  My love for nail polish has been well documented.
  But did you think it was going to stop when I moved to Africa?
  Chile, puhleez!
  I've been trying to maintain my manicures here but Lesotho has not been very good to my tips and talons.
  The air here is super dry because of the high altitude and mountains, and as result, my cuticles, nailbeds and hands have been super dry.
   I've been moisturizing them with everything from shea butter, vaseline, olive oil and body cream. Still, I feel like my hands an nails are desert-like.
   This has not stopped me from doing my fun manicures, though!
   That was one of the things that I was NOT going to give up during my Peace Corps service.
   Here are some of my fave manis I've done here:

I did this manicure for my Peace Corps swearing-in ceremony last year. I tried to recreate the Lesotho flag:



This is a Lion King (or the Lion Thing) inspired manicure:



I bought a small gift bag and tried to recreate its design:



I did this cupcake manicure for my birthday and used real sprinkles:



This manicure was done for a volunteer friend who had taken a gorgeous picture of a Capetownian sunset:



Sometimes, though, I wear naked nails so my nailbeds can breath a little:



But most times, my nails are painted! I did this manicure for Peace Corps Week and it was featured on the Peace Corps Tumbr page:


   So, there ya go! This is one of the many things I do to pass time here and just to make me happy.
   I've also taught the teachers at my school how to give basic manicures and we're doing so to raise money to install a waterpump at our school.
   What's on your nails?