Sondra, Me & Naseya – S.E.C.
I’m so shocked, happy and amazed! Pretty In Paint with S.E.C. took place on Thursday, August 9, 2012 in Maryland at Maisie Dunbar Spa and it was a blast. Ladies received complimentary manicures with the option of having a little nail art from Her Nails Rock or Mikal’s Beloved Nails all while enjoying Qream beverages and yummy cupcakes from Georgetown Cupcakes and Keda Kakes. Attendees also went home with Pretty In Paint gift bags filled with a dope blend of beauty essentials: OPI nail lacquer, ncLA nail lacquer, deborah lippmann cuticle cream, an UPTOWN magazine and more.
I’m a firm believer in hard work, faith, patience (still working on that) and love; the Pretty In Paint – DMV event solidified that notion. For a loooooong time, I wanted to have a manicure event; cupcakes, DJ, nail art…the whole sha-bang but could never afford it. Visions of how this manicure extravaganza looked always filled my head, but my bank account said otherwise. So I placed that thought in a glass jar and put it on the shelf beside my other dreams. I was 28. Glancing at it, blowing off the dust bunnies and polishing it off with my shirt every now and then and rearranging its position but never opening the jar.
See, I’ve ALWAYS loved nail polish and nail art, flashback to me as a youngster flashing my red nails, scrubbing my carpet feverishly so my mom wouldn’t see the unsightly polish blob soaked into the carpet threads or me admiring my glitter nails (first nail art, lol). “Sereeda, you can’t make any real money from nails.” Soundless cries left my lips and sickly, slow tears streamed down my face, with a shove of frustration my aspirations of doing nails, really, having anything to do with nails was pushed to the back of my dream shelf and never looked at again. I was 17.
Through the years my fingertips have spent countless hours in the nail fitting room; got draped in acrylic, fitted for gel nails, stripped bare to nothing, upgraded to shellac and adorned with nail art. My nails have had it all and I’d always find a way to share my adoration with friends and family. Ask any of my college friends and they’ll tell you about the over stuffed Caboodle case of nail polish and my lectures on the importance of base coat and cuticle oil… My love for nail polish and nail art has never left me.
Fast forward to a few years ago when I began eclechick, an outlet for me to share my love of words, fashion and style with you. It’s hard to quiet something you love. No matter how hard you try, if it’s true love, it will find a way to be in your life. Nail polish, among other things, is something I love. I fought, resisted and ignored it but before I knew it, pictures of my nails, favorite lacquers and odes to nail artists I’d been secretly watching appeared on my blog! eclechicks could sense my love for it and wanted more, which summoned DIY Nail Art posts. My heart wanted more, which led me to go to my dream shelf and pick up one of my jars. I opened it up; examining the components, passing them through my fingertips and decided to passionately make it happen. The first nail event I had, Get Polished with eclechick was born. It was cool, I’d finally done it, not on the scale that I had envisioned, but at least I had taken steps towards it. I was 31.
Naseya, a blogging boo that I’ve grown to love of The Seventh District, a DC fashion and lifestyle blog expressed an interest in having a polish party after seeing pics from my first event. She introduced me to Sondra of Chic Chocolate, a DC beauty blog and we began talking. The talking turned into planning, which turned into Pretty In Paint.
It’s funny how things come together. While looking for a place to have Pretty In Paint (it was rough finding a spot), I came across a video of Maisie Dunbar Spa, right then, I knew that that was the place for Pretty In Paint. Not sure how I knew, but I knew. I was led to email Maisie and she loved the concept and agreed to it! Nail art has been popular lately, that was one MAJOR component that was absent from the first Pretty In Paint event, so I wanted to have a nail art presence this time around, not just stencils or glitter either, I was thinking hand-painted, dope, out of this world nail art. For some reason, I ended up on Necole Bitchie’s personal blog, specifically the one where she got nail art done and there was the nail artist, at least that’s what my heart told me. So I emailed Her Nails Rock and Ajahmure said yes! I eventually met her in NYC and got my nails rocked. I couldn’t believe this was happening, two major components of the event were already locked in. Naseya, Sondra and I worked hard to secure sponsors (REALLY HARD) and on August 9, 2012 in Silver Springs, Maryland, one of my dream jars was opening right in front of my eyes. I’ll be turning 32.
“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.” -Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist)
Enjoy the pictures.
Strawberry and Peach Qream beverages
Pretty In Paint Gift Bags
The vibe at Pretty In Paint
Her Nails Rock nail art menu
Mikal (Mikal’s Beloved Nails) doing nail art
Ajahmure (Her Nails Rock) rocking nails out
Bisceglia’s (eclechick winner) nails by Mikal
Bisceglia and Teko
Teko’s nails by Her Nails Rock
Vivy N. of heartprintstyle.com getting her nails rocked
Krystin of BeLoudBeYou.com & Naseya
Nadia of WEDC Radio
Pretty In Paint was fun! I met some eclechick readers and connected with new ones. A special thank you to Maisie of Maisie Dunbar Spa for allowing us to use her lovely facility. A huge hug and air kisses to ncLA, OPI and Qream (the Strawberry flavor is my favorite).
Hopefully you enjoyed this LIFE post, I never thought that my tiny obsession; nail polish and nail art could turn into something that connected people in such a positive way. Seeing smiles stretch across people’s lips and eyes beaming with joy after flashing their nails to others and watching Ajahmure, Mikal and Maisie painting tiny works of art was AMAZING. Don’t let your dreams fade away in a dusty jar on the shelf. I listed my age at various points for a reason; things take time (in most cases), having patience is vital in just about everything you do, I’m learning that it’s EXTREMELY vital in my life journey. Patience and faith go hand-in-hand. This isn’t my “I’ve made it” moment, I’m still working hard. Just sharing a little bit of what I’ve experienced on this beautiful journey through life.
Keep the faith, be patient and go after your dreams with passion in your heart; you never know what will happen if you do, but you’ll always wonder what could have happened if you don’t.
xx Sereeda
I really enjoyed this read. It helps to reflect and put things into perspective. I can’t even recall how or even when I stumbled upon Eclechick but I haven’t stopped reading since. I am thankful that we connected. Who knew that 4 months after your first polish party we would host an even bigger and better one in DC?!!!! Publicly I have to thank you for being such a joy to collab with and I’m glad to have played apart in your journey. This is just the beginning!!!!
Thank you! You’re right reflecting on things is a great way to view things. I’m glad we met and were able to throw a PHENOMENAL event! Thank you for being a great collaborator, “The good way” hahaha. Excited for what’s ahead of us.
Hey Sereeda,
Great post! This was a great event and a pleasure working with you! I think this was a dream come true for all. I don’t know what else to say except that this event went so much better than I thought and that’s only because of the good Lord above. What’s next on the agenda?! LOL!
Thanks Sondra!
I enjoyed working with you too. Can’t think of enough words to describe how much fun it was. We’ll have to put something on the agenda SOON.
LOVE the post! You ladies did an awesome job! I thoroughly enjoyed myself! Can’t for your next combined event!
Thank you LaShonda! It was a pleasure meeting you, glad to hear you enjoyed yourself. We’ll keep you posted on the details of the next one.
I am a big believer of two things: “Things happen for a reason” and “When your time comes, it’ll come.” This post definitely feeds off those two statements. I enjoyed reading this post and seeing your dream come true. And I wish you many more manicure events in the future. Bigger and better than “Pretty in Paint with SEC”. And that’s a tall order because the “Pretty in Paint” event was fantastic. I had a blast!
Those two statements are absolutely correct Vivi. I’m glad you enjoyed the post AND the event. It feels great to hear attendees expressing how much they loved it. Again, thank you.