Hi there everyone!

This is just going to be a quick post to let you know that things are going to be changing around here quite a bit of the next couple of weeks.

I'm in the process of completely redesigning the layout and look of this blog, which is quite exciting (and exhausting - I've never done so much stuff with HMTL ever before!) So, please bear with me and please don't be concerned if things start disappearing or moving around.

While I quite like the way my blog is now, but it's still very similar to how it was when I first began - which is over a year ago now! So much has happened since then and I am so different to how I was then that I feel that some aspects are now out-dated and irrelevant to the content I am posting now.

On that note, I am pleased, and scared, and excited to announce I will be moving over to a custom url and not only that, but I'm actually changing the name of this blog as well. From now on, One Step At A Time will be known as Polish Plus.

In case anyone is worried, the stuff on Polish Plus is going to be the same sort of stuff that's on One Step At A Time, it's just the name and the layout of the blog that's going to be changing.

In case anyone is wondering, the main couple of reasons why I am changing this blog's name is because One Step At A Time is long, a little cumbersome and a lot common and I want something a bit more unique and because I think Polish Plus gives a much better first impression of what to expect from this blog - quite a big of nail art but also a lot of other stuff. It's polish and way more! :)

For the moment, I will be staying at lissasteps.blogspot.com while I get everything together for the move and I will let you all know a couple of days before the move what my new web address will be.

What I Liked About November

Once again, it's the end of the month and that means it's time for another Monthly Favourites. So, without further ado, here is the list of the things I particularly liked this month.

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Begin Again Soundtrack
I saw this movie in the cinema when it first came out and I really loved it. Like, really, really loved it. It was just so different and so refreshing. It was the ending that really got me. I wasn't expecting it to end where it did and I wasn't expecting the ending that it did have. However, I was glad that it did end how it did - I thought it was very reflective of the whole tone and mood of the movie. The soundtrack is also just beautiful and well worth a listen.

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Melanie Martinez
I came across this lovely singer quite by accident. Her cover of Toxic by Britney Spears came up on my tumblr dashboard and I loved it. Her version is just so haunting and beautiful. So far, most of her songs that I have heard all share that ethereal, haunting, lilting quality that I really like in my songs (although my mother thinks it's just depressing and morbid - I disagree). Basically, she's a great artist, in my opinion.

Gold and Silver Leopard Print

Why hello to you all

Today's design is a simple, but lovely one (in my opinion anyway). However, I couldn't quite manage to capture it on camera very well and so unfortunately it looks a bit sub par in my photos...

Resources for the Busty Woman and Tips for Everyone Who Wears a Bra | Part 3

Hello there everyone!

Today I'm going to be wrapping up my Bra series with Part 3. Here is how to find your perfect bra size and a guide to different bra styles (Part 1) and some tips for shopping and shops for the non-mainstream bra (Part 2).

In Part 3 I'm going to be discussing some tips that I have collected over the years in dealing with non-mainstream sized boobs

There will always be people that don't understand and belittle your plight
Always. I can't decide whether my least favourite is the 'Oh no, such a terrible ailment, you have big boobs, that's such a hardship' (super sarcastic voice) type or the 'yeah right, I don't believe you. I think you're lying - they don't even make bras in that size' type. Thankfully, these people are pretty easy to deal with. To be honest, your best bet is probably to just ignore them, because they are never going to understand and you're only going to get angry with them if you try. But, if you want to retort, here are some options.

From Busty Girl Comics

For the first type, you could always try something like 'Well, when you put it like that, I suppose they aren't such a problem. I mean, there is the neck and the shoulder pain and not being able to buy cheap bras or swimsuits. And the issue of halternecks giving me a headache. And not being able to wear strapless dresses. And the problem of being constantly sexualised, all the time. But nah, you're probably right. I guess they aren't a problem after all.'

Or something like 'Oops you got me. (sheepish smile) They aren't a problem at all. In fact, they are amazing at getting me whatever I want. I can use these to make the mankind succumb to my every whim and desire. The magazines are right - big boobs are better!!' (happy smile while boob jiggling for effect)

For the second type just shove your boobs in their face and yell 'Are they real now?! Do you still think I'm lying?!?!?!' In my experience, this has a 98% success rate of getting them to shut up and leave you alone. Or course, it may also lead to assault charges and possible murder charges on death by boob suffocation, depending on how big your chesticles are.

Then and Now: Biology DNA Nail Art

Hello there everyone!

Today's post is going to be super photo heavy, so be prepared! :) Back in July of 2013, when I first started getting into nail art, I did a set of DNA/biology/cell inspired nails and by the time I got around to photographing them they were kind of chipped and so I never ended up posting them. But I found these pictures the other day and thought that I'd redo them to see how my skills had improved, especially since they were the first set of nails that really relied on my painting/freehand skills. I had done galaxy nails, tape mani's and gradients before, but nothing like this. I remember being so proud of them when I finished! :) But lets have a look at them, shall we?

My first attempt

To be honest, as a first attempt for something like this, they aren't too bad. They are definitely not great, but they could be a lot worse. Also, the original pictures hadn't even been edited, so all the editing I've done just now, which is why they have my current watermark on.

Okay, now you've seen the originals, lets have a look at the ones I've just done.

As you can hopefully see, I have improved quite a bit in a year and a bit. My clean up is better (although to be honest, that is something I still have to work on because I can never really be bothered doing clean-up), my lines are much crisper and I was able to get so more detail onto my thumb nail! My photography has also improved and my overall nail shape is better as well. In the before photo my index fingernail is really short and round and it took me ages to get it into a more squoval shape so that it matched the rest of my nails. 

Inspired By: Avengers Assemble - Iron Man

Hi lovelies!

So, does anyone remember that series I begun/challenge I set myself to do nail art based on all of the Avengers? If you don't, that's totally cool because my last ones were all the way back in September. But, I decided I actually needed to complete them and so here are my latest ones!

When I first did these, I was really, really, super proud of them. I thought they were a great concept, nicely designed, within my capabilities and they executed well too. However, so far, only about 3ish have guessed who these nails are based off of. In the past 3 days. I have to admit, I lost a bit of faith in my abilities because of that... Most seem to think they're based on a woman and even when I narrow it down to a character, in a movie, that I really like, they still didn't get it. Lots also thought they were Christmas themed nails.

ILNP Holographic Bird Nail Art

Hi there everyone,

Unfortunately, I don't actually have holographic birds to show you today, contrary to my post title. Instead, I have a holographic gradient of ILNP polishes with plain old black birds. I know, boring right? :)

Inside (natural light)

Inside (natural light)

In Sickness and in Health

Hi there everyone!

So I got a little sick a while ago. It was nothing major, just a very mild stomach bug. In fact, it was so minor that I didn't even vomit, nor have to call in sick for work (although I did come home an hour early one day).  It was basically just 3-4 days of general stomach soreness and nausea. Just enough that I didn't feel like doing anything, thus missing out on an opportunity to do another Halloween nail design and spending a fair amount of time lying down and generally feeling a little grossed out by the thought of food.

In big scheme of things, it was legitimately nothing.

But it really threw me. It affected me much more than it should have. And not just because I really don't deal well with nausea. It really threw me mentally.

Over those 3-4 days, I had a very small breakfast on all of them and had a small lunch one day and a tiny dinner once or twice. Which, is totally normal when you are sick in the stomach and food just seems a little repulsive - it's not nice feeling.

However, those couple of days with very little food broke down a lot of firmly built mental walls in my mind. In case you didn't know, I've recently updated my little bio (it's on the right under my picture) and my Disordered Story page to change my 'recovering' status to one of 'remission'. And let me tell you - I felt great being able to do that. When I made that decision, I really felt like I'd made it. I hadn't had an disordered thought in months and I couldn't actually remember the last time I consciously restricted in any form, whether it by large amounts of exercise or reducing food intake.

But anyway, back to my Mental Barriers.

They were pretty strong and very firm. I was very separated from my eating disorder. I was a free woman.

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But then I was eating very small amounts of food for a couple of days. And once again, I'll reiterate - that was not a disordered action, it was due to a stomach bug. It was purely physical. But the effects were mental as well.

I started catching myself thinking how about how nice it was to not to have to be thinking about eating, about how much weight I could lose if I just ate a bit less and how I was silly to be eating more when obviously I could get away with eating less.

Red and Matte Leopard Print Nail Art

Sometimes I swear my post titles are just getting longer and longer and less and less interesting...

Oh well...

Today's nail art is another one that I did ages ago and that I just discovered in my un-posted file. I guess I need to check that folder more often.

Also, in case anybody hadn't already noticed the trend, a lot of my posts this month are old designs and posts that I hadn't quite gotten around to finishing. When I got back into blogging regularly at the beginning of last month, I actually got super organised and got myself a proper schedule and went though and finished or deleted all my old half-done posts, so this month is a lot of backlog of older stuff!

Anyway, I was really happy with the way this turned out. I love that red and the overall crisp look of the design. It's such a pity that looks like these aren't wearable for more than a day or two because the rhinestones keep chipping off.

I was heavily inspired by this manicure by lemmingspolish on Instagram and while it's not completely true to the original, I'm pretty happy with it. I feel it would have been much improved had it had flatter studs, like the original, as opposed to the rhinestones that I ended up using. But oh well, I didn't have any studs like that, so I guess I'll just have to buy some. :)

On Babies and Children AKA I'm Selfish and Very Selective About My Life

Hello lovelies,

In case you didn't know, I've been working at an out of school hours childcare centre for just over a year now. I started in late October last year, just before I finished my final school exams. I took the job because I needed one, desperately, and probably would have taken anything. Although really, I did take just about anything as, upon hearing about my new job, my mother's reaction was 'But you don't even like kids!'

Harsh words mother, harsh words.

But, very true.

Very, very true.

But, I really needed a job and everywhere a tried they wanted experience, experience, experience. And this was something that I didn't have. I'd never had a job - my busy school schedule just didn't allow it. But I was rapidly approaching turning 18 without ever having a job and when you get to that age and have never been employed at all - people start thinking that there's something wrong with you.

So, when this offer came through, I didn't hesitate. I really wanted a job and I wasn't going to pass the offer up simply because I disliked children.

It is no secret to anyone that knows me that I don’t like children or babies. Why would you? They stare at you. They are smelly, they can’t look after themselves, you can’t understand them and so far, I'm not really seeing any pros to them. I have told my mother in no uncertain terms that I do not have plans to have kids. She will not be getting grand children from me. Pregnancy sounds like a bitch and don’t even talk to me about giving birth… Not my kettle of fish…

My worst nightmare...

Panda Nail Art

Hi lovelies,

Today's nails are old ones, but I quite like them. In my mind, they were a lot better than they eventually turned out, but most of that was not actually my fault.

My little pandas ears and eyes are a little dodgy, but the black I was using was very old and very thick and kept leaving little strings of polish and was altogether very unsatisfactory to use. Thankfully, I have long since gotten a new bottle. Also, my green background tinted my top coat and turned all lovely white pandas a bit green.....

I generally try to do my nails mid-morning so that I can use natural light to photograph them with or I do them in the evening and then wait till the next morning to photograph them. These I ended up doing mid to late afternoon, I think, and then for some reason decided to photograph them then, judging by the light quality and background (that I have cropped out). Why I did that I don't know, because it meant I ended up with only three usable photos and all of them look practically identical!

Resources for the Busty Woman and Tips for Everyone Who Wears a Bra | Part 2

Hello there everybody!

Today I am going to be covering Part 2 of my Bra series.If you missed Part 1 (in which I talked about finding your correct bra size and types of bra styles), you can find it here.

In this part I am going to be talking about where to buy bras that are not mainstream sizes. This is something that I struggle with every time I go to buy bras and if I had found somewhere that lists a whole bunch of places that sells bras in my size, or at least close to it, I would have been eternally grateful!

Do be aware though - in order to get a proper fitting bra you are going to have to be prepared to fork out some decent money. On average, I pay about $80-$90 for one bra, so it is an investment!

I'm going to split this post into two parts - the first being actual stores in Perth and the second being online stores. Obviously, if you don't live in Perth, just skip the first section (which is going to be pretty small anyway).

Also, this post is also not going to be anywhere near the colossal size of Part 1, so don't be scared. :)

Part 1 - Stores in Perth

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A Cup Above
I think I have mentioned this store before, but I'm going to talk about it again because it's great. It's located in Joondalup, very close to the hospital, and stocks Australian sizes 6-18, D-K. I've always had great success with the store - the staff are friendly, knowledgeable and always willing to help. They are also willing to go that extra mile to make sure your fit is perfect - they've always been happy to order in special sizes for me even if they don't normally stock. They also do have an online store, which I've personally never used. They also have a great swimwear line. Prices range from about $60-$100 (although I have bought a $133 bra from them before).

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Bonds Bra Line
This is a line of bras as opposed to an actual store, but I do feel it belongs on here. You can buy Bonds bras at most major department stores (Target, Big W, K-Mart, Myers) and online. Earlier this year they brought a new line or bras designed at more busty women. While that was a nice thought, I still feel their line is quite limited. They run in Australian sizes 8-18, A-G. However, they only go up to a cup size G in size 02 and over. The largest 8 cup size they have is a E because of course small ribbed women don't have large boobs... However, they are much more affordable at between $16.95 and $42 a bra (regular price) but you won't get the advice that you'll get from somewhere like A Cup Above

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Myers
Before I found A Cup Above, I used to shop exclusively at Myer for my bras. They have a lot of bras and anyone who has ever been in the lingerie section of Myers will know what I mean (the choice seems quite overwhelming). However, at closer look, there isn't that much variety. They stock Australian sizes 10-26, A-G (I think - it might go higher, but I couldn't find out on the website). While you can get good bargains, most bargains are found in the lower cup sizes - bra prices range from $20-$120ish (the ones over $100 will be speciality bras like strapless ones). I also wouldn't particularly trust their advice. I've been with my mum recently and the advice they were trying to give her was jut plain wrong. They kept telling her she needed to go band sizes but she didn't. She needed to go down at least two band sizes and go up about three cup sizes. I've also never found them to be all that sensitive or friendly. I once had a woman tell me 'Hmmm... Well something isn't right is it. It's a bit bulge-y, isn't it'. Well duh, it's a boob, and also your lack of knowledge and disapproving tone of voice isn't really making me feel great nor inspiring me with confidence.

Nail Art Inspired By: Jeans

Hi lovelies,

So, I've got another Inspired By post for you today, one that I've been meaning to do for aaaaages and have been sitting around in my un-posted file for almost as long! These nails were inspired by a pair of jeans that I own and ever since I bought them I've been meaning to do a nail design based on these.

I did buy these jeans about a year ago, so it did take me a while to get round to it, but hey, I did it eventually! To be honest, mostly I was putting these off because I didn't feel my skills were up to doing it justice, but then I figured that I could do them now and then even if they were a bit crap, at least I had tried and done some practise and I could always revisit them later. :)