The most extravagant I’ll go with my nails is alternating polish colors on each finger or painting a coat of glitter over my plain polish. I know, that’s so boring. If only I could be like women in Texas who created a brand new nail trend. A nail salon started putting snakeskin on nails! Not just a snakeskin pattern or airbrushing, ACTUAL SNAKESKIN!

I think we are going a little too far here. I’ve spent hours looking at cool manicures on Pinterest, and a lot of them make me think, “Why would someone do that to their nails?” I’ve seen newspaper nails, lace nails and weird 3-D looking nails, but those seem so tame compared to this freakish, snakeskin nail fetish.

The thought of me biting my nails when I’m nervous right before a class presentation and biting onto real snake body makes me want to vom. Or what about when I’m eating finger food? Will I get snakeskin in my sandwich? I wanted a BLT, not a BLSST.

Where are they even getting this skin? Are the nail salon managers patrolling the woods to find newly shed snakeskin, or are they just slaughtering the snakes for a manicure? I’m not being a crazy animal PETA person because I think fur coats and animal purses aren’t SO bad, but those products last years. A manicure lasts about a week!

So I searched the internet to find crazy manicures I would be willing to try before putting snakeskin on my nails. What about you guys? Are you pro-snake or anti-snake?

Jessica is a senior at the University of Florida. If you want to woo her, buy her a sandwich instead of a drink. She loves criticizing celebrities on CollegeCandy and tweeting from @jesszalesk about rude people on the bus.

[There are some women out there that we just can’t get out of our minds. No, we aren’t switching teams - yet - but we do have some serious crushes on some pretty fierce females. These ladies are all special in their own right and we aren’t ashamed to tell the world we love them.]

Despite the fact that I have issues pronouncing her last name, I have a huge girl crush on Hayden Panettiere.

Hayden has been around for awhile – starring in commercials at 11 months old, stealing the show at 11-years-old in Remember the Titans, and making appearances on The Guiding Light and One Life to Live – but my crush developed while watching her as Clare on Heroes, one of the kick-ass female leads. While Hayden may not have the ability to heal herself or run through fire in real life, she has shown herself to be a pretty kick-ass lady.

Hayden is an active animal-rights advocate.  She’s been arrested in Japan for interfering with a dolphin hunt, proving she’s not all talk.  On top of her work for animals, Hayden was also vocal during the 2008 election.  She was a strong supporter of Obama, though she encouraged young people to get out and vote before all else.

Like many celebs these days, Hayden has dealt with a lot of gossip and criticism. Who doesn’t remember when,   shortly after her 18th birthday, Hayden and co-star Milo Ventimiglia (who’s last name I also cannot pronounce), came out as an item? Normally this would have been in the tabloids based on the fact they are co-workers, but Hayden took an even bigger blow seeing as Milo is also 12 years her senior.

But she didn’t care. She just kept on going.

And look at her now. She’s super successful, not to mention gorgeous. This woman looks good in just about anything. And I should know, seeing as the paparazzi follow her and photograph her everywhere she is (including the gym…). Hayden’s also got a huge and varied fan-base, from tween girls to old people to Comic-con nerds, something that most celebrities can’t boast and something that means she might be around for awhile.

I love Hayden…a lot….for many reasons, but I think the coolest thing about her is that despite spending her entire life in front of a camera, she isn’t afraid to laugh at herself.  She filmed two “PSAs” for funnyordie – that made me LOL till stuff shot out of my nose. And isn’t that what crushes are made of?

Though there are no new Heroes episodes for the summer, I am looking forward to getting my Hayden fix in the new teen comedy, I Love You Beth Cooper. Hopefully that will get me through until my favorite show (with my favorite actress) starts up again.

I know I do some of those things. I am a huge supporter of animals’ rights, but even I think that PETA is a bit extreme when it comes to getting their point across. And it appears that some of their members are taking that extremism even further.

PETA intern, Jennifer Thornburg, Cutout Dissection.com convinced federal courts to change her name to support Cut Out Dissection Month in October.

Now, I don’t know if it’s fame, pure insanity, or a real dedication to the cause, but this girl is making a bold statement. This is originality and creativity at its finest. All in the “name” of community service!

So why did this 19 year old intern do this? She wanted to raise awareness about the six million animals that are killed for dissection each year. The animals suffer painful deaths. She hopes to raise awareness amongst students and teachers to say no to dissection, and yes to alternative ways of anatomy.

Around PETA and to her fellow interns, she is known as simply Cut Out, but her parents still call her Jenny. She loves introducing herself as Cutout Dissection.com because it engages people in conversation about dissection efforts, thus leading to ways they can get involved and help the cause.

Although, I can’t help but wonder what strangers think when she introduces herself at the bar:

“Hey, pretty lady. I’m Jon.”

“Hi Jon. I’m Cutout Dissection.com.”

“What?”

Tell me what do you think: is this amazing dedication or just plain crazy?

And nothing about that can be considered anything but killing.

Which is why this disgusting story about an artist from Costa Rica who paid (yes, paid) 2 children to catch a dog so that he coud tie it up in a gallery, deny him food and water, and watch him die is so surreal. Do things like this really happen?

And what could this artist’s justification possibly be? Oh right, he couldn’t possibly have one.

Now listen, I’m no PETA member, and I was a vegetarian until I defaulted to peanut butter sandwiches everyday, became really unhealthy, and decided to go back to eating chicken, but how can a decent human being personally put another living thing through a slow and painful death and feel no remorse?

He’s an “artist” but that is absolutely no excuse. I know plenty of artists and let’s be honest, they’re usually the one’s fighting for animal rights, no?

What’s worse is that Guillermo Habacuc Vargas, the animal abuser in question, has been chosen to represent his country in the “Bienal Centroamericana Honduras 2008“.

What the f*ck??

I know this sounds kind of preachy, but please consider signing this petition banning him against the event.

Abuse isn’t art. Vargas may have thought that he was being original or controversial, but it crosses a disgusting line when it involves innocent lives.

However, animals and makeup do have a connection, and a very unfortunate and sick one at that, as animals continue to be used to test the makeup millions of us wear. And just as I say I love animals, yet I cannot resist coming home from a night of partying and scarfing down a Big Mac, I feel like such a hypocrite by stocking up on tons of makeup every month, knowing about all the animal testing that goes on behind the scenes.

Mollygood.com features a thought-provoking blog called “Breakup with Makeup” that shows actress Elisha Cuthbert, fresh-faced and makeup-free, to show that beauty is more than possible without a trace of cosmetics, all in the name of animal rights.

I think this is totally respectable, and although I was already a fan of Elisha (did you know she used to be on Are You Afraid of the Dark? – Midnight Society, hollaaaa) I like her even more now.

However, I don’t want to breakup with makeup, and I will never breakup with makeup. Ever!

I need makeup. A lot of us women need makeup. Hell, a lot of men seem to need it, too (as ridiculous as it may be). As superficial as it sounds, I think many of us would have a pretty tough time landing a guy, a job, a part in a play or top prize in a beauty contest if makeup wasn’t involved. Without loading it on in nasty layers and globs, makeup can be a nice confidence booster that I see nothing wrong with – with the exception of animal testing, that is.

Plus, not everyone looks like Elisha Cuthbert without it, and instead, looks like something along the lines of these celebs here. Yikes.

(Side note…as one blogger noted beneath Elisha’s pictures, doesn’t it look like she’s wearing very, very subtle makeup? Subtle, but still makeup, nonetheless.)

Anyway, I think the best solution, if you care as much about animals as I do, is to look into the issue of animal testing. There are many lines out there that don’t use animals and are still quality. Companies like Hard Candy and Urban Decay take part in LeapingBunny.org, a fabulous organization that ensures the non-usage of animal testing in their products.

Break up with your makeup altogether if you want to, or keep it hot and heavy; I’m gonna take the middle route and just cool things down a bit. We can definitely stay friends.