NAIL linkup challenge: Red (and giveaway winner)

Hi!
Today's post is a bit of a hodge-podge of several things: Nail art, giveaway winner and a few words about modeling contests.

I've been seriously off my game in the regular nail art department - it's either something huge and crazy or nothing at all. My last attempts at dotting and sponging turned out disgusting. That and the lack of time are the reasons I haven't been contributing to all the great challenges going around this year. But finally it's time!

Here's my contribution to the Nail Art Ideas Linkup challenge for this week: Red. This challenge is hosted by Craftynail, Brijit's Digits and Eeek! Nail polish! and there's a different theme every week.

 

I made what is apparently called a "waterfall" mani with a bunch of red polishes. It was fun and easy to make and made me feel better about my nail art. Make sure to check out the other contributions in the linky below!

Red :

Next, my giveaway winner. I drew a name early this week using the highly sophisticated method of a list (first the original post, then the reminder post, in the order of commenting) and a randomizer. The lucky winner was Alice Beerland, who has already replied to my mail and chose the beauty package. Congratulations again! I've added a few small extra surprises for you and I'll get it to the post office next week.

I hope you all enjoyed getting to know my blog (if you didn't already).

click to enlarge

click to enlarge

And now a bit of a warning: You'll be seeing more than the usual number of German posts here for the next couple of months because it's that time of the year again - Germany's Next Top Model (a knockoff of America's NTM, hosted by Heidi Klum) has started.

I know, I know, it's all staged, the model business objectifies women, detrimental to body image and exploitation of hopeful young girls. I agree completely.

Please do not watch this kind of show if you have any kind of self-esteem, body image or eating issues. If you do watch it, please remember that the body shapes demanded by the modeling business are far from the norm and that photos and videos can be manipulated, and often are. Do not starve yourself. Do not neglect everything else to become a model. Do not despair if you're not tall, or don't have gorgeous hair, or don't conform to the beauty standards set by the industry. You are beautiful. Everybody is beautiful. Who you are matters so much more than how you look. Take care of yourself (your body and your mind) and love yourself.

Honestly, I think it's awful that 10-year-olds watch these shows and want to be like the girls they see there. I think it would be a good idea to ban them, along with all the other shows and ads that can give people unhealthy ideas of what a body should look like.

However, all that said: If you are confident in your body, if you are aware it's just a show, that much of it is scripted, that we only see a selective slice of reality, and if trashy TV is your guilty pleasure, enjoy these shows. Just don't take them seriously.

So yes, it is my guilty (very guilty, as you can probably tell from the  paragraphs above) pleasure to watch these shows and to mock them relentlessly. I'm sorry, girls, but if, after so many seasons of seeing how relentlessly participants (and judges) are mocked everywhere, you decide to participate anyway, all I can do is tell you and your friends and family not to read my blog.

So anyway, back to the blogging aspect: Since this is a German-language show, it doesn't really make sense for me to write about it in English, since you won't be watching it anyway. However, there will be brief summaries at the beginning of each post, usually about the horrific and inexplicable things Heidi decided to wear in that episode (Dalek coat and hamster life vest, I'm looking at you). If you want more English snark, you might enjoy my Model House Rules (pt I, pt II and pt III).


But don't worry, this won't turn into a complete GNTM blog, I'll still be posting nail art - hopefully more frequently than so far this year.

Have a fantastic weekend!
Captain Spacenails