My Old Flame

Have you ever had an old relationship seep into a newer one. So irritating! Worst is, you're stuck with your past. Ugh, anyone else have frustrating relationship issues? No? Just me? RAH!

This Deborah Lippmann polish called My Old Flame totally reminds me of just that. My old flame. A conceited little bastard, rubbing himself all over my new-ish and awesome relationship. Eff off!

Anyway,  back to the regular scheduled program.

This polish is quite stunning, as I'm sure you can tell from the pictures. It applies beautifully, dries in a mere few minutes and looks amazing on pretty much any skintone. Again, a winner from Deborah Lippmann. I can't recommend her polishes enough for a person looking for a good go to polish.

I apologize for the visible nail line (VNL). This is two coats with Essie Good to Go on top. I could have used another coat but my laziness took over - it always does when it comes to the third coat. Oh and this polish stains so be careful when you take it off. I have red cuticles from rubbing too much.

Sleep awaits!

A Coquette Nail Find!

I'm not really familiar with the Jessica brand of nail polish. I found this color called Coquette at my local Winners on sale and though, meh why not? even if I wasn't that interested in the color.

I actually really like the color! It's a sandy-gray ish color with flecks of purple. It's quite different in my opinion - the only thing that is similar in style if maybe OPI's It's Totally Fort Worth It. Maybe. And then again, I don't have it to compare. And I'm pretty sure the OPI version doesn't have the purple mini-glitter. And that's it's gray-er. You can see the micro purple in the bottle:

 

This is two coats. I could have used another one but I always paint my nails really late at night - so late that I just really want to get the hells to bed. Hence why I also almost always use Seche Vite. 

I have to leave for a baby shower. Kill me now. I love my friend, I love babies and all that jazz (within reason), but 3 hours of baby games, baby gifts and baby decorations will be the end of me.

AHOY MATEY!

I am totally in love with this polish. Yes, I know I say this a lot, but for me to say this about a bright fuschia pink color isn't quite as common. This China Glaze polish named Ahoy! (hence the title of this post) is from the Anchors Away collection from Spring 2011.

Some fingers are out of focus - but just look at the ones that aren't! Shimmery goodness. I got lots of compliments at work for this color too. The formula was great (two coats) and the wear time was excellent for a China Glaze (they don't usually wear well on me). Go grab this if you can!

MAC Lustering and Love Nectar

I'm really not one for lipglosses. Especially with sparkles. But Lustreglass Love Nectar is actually quite nice if you're looking to add oomph to your regular lipstick. It is quite sheer, definitely not as sticky as Lipglasses, and quite long lasting in my humble opinion.

Lustering looks a lot more pink in the tube than it actually is. It applies quite sheer and soft, as most MAC Lustre finishes do. It's a great color for a subtle pink lip with natural makeup. I'm not sure I would pair this up with too much eye makeup though - it really all depends on how pigmented your lips are. Mine aren't pigmented at all so it's a lot more obvious on me than say, my friend, whose lips are naturally quite rosy.

As you can see from the swatches (Lustering on left), Love Nectar is almost colorless. It does have gold and pink shimmer bits which is why I think it pairs nicely with lipstick.

Here's what they both look like on me. You can see the little Love Nectar bits on my lips! I'm still getting the hang of taking pictures of my own lips. Really not the easiest thing I've ever done. Giving my cat a bath is easier. Clipping her bum hair is easier. And she's a difficult cat. You get the picture.

All and all, Lustering is a winner. Love Nectar is also pretty great. However, I'm sure you could get the same oomph effect with any other lipgloss with shimmery bits. I have yet to decide if buying MAC lustreglasses is worth the price.

Woah, this was quite a "lustre" post. Lustering lipstick, with a lustre finish paired with Lustreglass. Hellooooo!

The Body Shop and Zoya's Adina

So, I'm apparently into The Body Shop now. I don't know why honestly. I just really liked their hand cream. And they always have great deals going on in the store. So when the sales lady said everything in the store was buy one get one half off, I though it was the perfect time to try their hemp cream. I already wanted to buy the Sensual Massage oil because it smells absolutely amazing. And maybe, just maybe, if he's good, my boyfriend will get a few massages. Are you reading this hun? Only if you're good.

I must say, I absolutely love love love the Hemp Hand Protector. I love the smell, it moisturizes really really well and doesn't leave that greasy feeling I hate so much.

They also gave me a sample of the Papaya Body Butter. It smells amazing. Even though I own a few, I find their body butters a bit greasy for the summer. Maybe I'll give it more of a try during the winter.

And here's my massive fail of polish picture taking and application. I should've put another coat on. But I didn't like the polish on me so making more effort wasn't worth it. I did take pictures for blog purposes. I don't know what I was thinking buying this - I don't like purple or green, which is what it duochromes to. Formula was fine but did require three coats. I think it would look better on someone with a darker skintone. It's very pretty in color but just not on my own nails.

I'm being really bad and totally writing this at work. My office space is flooded and my paperwork is all wet. I'm using someone else's computer which doesn't have the program that I usually use all day. I don't know why they didn't just send me home. I've got basically nothing to do. Oh well, I suppose I'm catching up on blogging.

Reviews are coming up on topcoats, Sigma brushes and Cargo Palettes! Stay tuned!

IT. IS. SO. WARM.

Seriously, this humidity. I die.

Maybe I should pull a Billie and do some LION AROUND?!

 

In case you don't know what I'm talking about, this Essie polish is called Lion Around. It's a very pretty muted being/pink with slight shimmer in it. I quite like it for a natural look. And Billie seems to too so there ya go.

That's basically all I've got to say about this polish. Nothing very special but nice for the natural look. It was opaque in two coats and the formula was a bit thick.

I'll be posting from the better camera soon. I can't wait - these pictures are driving me kind of insane.

Cheerios amigos!

Sew Psyched For the Fall

Oh I cannot wait for the leaves to turn red and orange. And for this weather to cool off. I don't know about you but I do not enjoy the feeling of sticky skin. This humidity is wreaking havoc on my skin! UGH, and since I walk from home to work, and then from work to home for lunch, then back from home to work, and then BACK FROM WORK to home at the end of the day, I'm permasticky. Granted, it's only a 7 minute walk each way, 5 if I super speedwalk and there is no traffic. But still, it's yucky on the skin in heat like this.

Anyway, enough about that. Essie's Sew Psyched totally reminds me of fall. I fully expected to hate hate hate this color on me. Especially because it's green - but it is surprisingly wearable.

The color is most lifelike in the last picture. Plus you can see the tiny shimmer bits in the bottle.

Billie and I had some bonding time tonight. We had a brushing session which she hates with one of her brushes but loves with another one. Weird eh? So I used the one she likes and she loved it. The other one picks up more hair though - which she needs with all the fur balls she's coughing up. Poor baby!

Oh HAI there Billie!

I'm presently going to try to sleep in this damned heat. Hopefully a breeze comes through. I refuse to buy an air conditioner. REFUSE! Or a fan for that matter. Sucks up all the electricity! And I'm not about to make my bill any higher. Wish me luck!

OPI's Party in My Cabana - Summer Perfection

I'm kind of sick of pink. Even though this is a very pretty color. The formula was excellent, the drying time was excellent, the wear time was excellent. See? Boooooring. I think I need a nail polish challenge. Doesn't stop me from highly recommending this polish for you pink lovers. It's a very summery shade and would look really good as a toenail color.

I may be posting a tutorial for splatter nails. We'll see if it even looks decent. Half of the time, I don't know what the eff I'm doing - including stuff to do with nails. So don't expect anything even half decent.

On the other hand, I made excellent muffins this weekend!

I'm Not Really A Waitress...

I never was a waitress. In fact, I had a trial with fancy shmancy restaurant in town and they deemed me so bad that they told me I shouldn't ever be a waitress. Ouch. And they payed so well! It was a total bummer.

This OPI polish though is NOT a bummer. It's a beautiful, shimmery, classic red. Definitely something a red polish lover should have in their collection.

I apologize about the crap photos. My camera just doesn't do as nice of a a job as my boyfriends' ultra awesome one. Luckily, by asking very sweetly, I got it back today. Too bad I took a bunch of swatch pictures this morning.

Double Wear is often useful in 37 C (98.6 American) weather.

It has been SWELTERING here, in my small province, in CANADA. You'd think the one advantage of having a cold country is to have decently temperatured summers. But no, ours are usually really humid and warm. It makes my hair look stupid and my skin all sticky.

Lucky me, I've got some Double Wear Stay in Place Shadows by Estee Lauder, to keep my face decent looking. The two shades I own have been worth their while in the past couple of weeks, that's for sure.

Here's the shade called Antique Gold:

As you can see, the color is quite rewarding for women with blue eyes. Here I believe I'm wearing Antique Gold (under Two-Faced Shadow Insurance for a super hot day), Engraved MAC eyeliner and Revlon Grow Luscious Mascare (which I quite like). Yes, I trim my eyebrows and yes, they grow faster than I can keep up with them. No offense to my brows but, dude, you've always been weird. They have this cowlicky thing on the left one - nothing keeps it down.

Here's Vintage Violet which I think would be more suitable for brown/hazel/green eyed ladies.

And on me. As you can see, violets are not my best color. I wear them anyway.

The texture of these is excellent. They are extremely easy to blend, they do not dry out (in the pot, and when you try to blend them in) and I prefer them by a long run to MAC's Paint Pot for color payoff. They have a wide range of colors available including a very pretty silver, a midnight blue color and a mossy green. I highly recommend them, especially if you're the oily eyelids type just like me.

Luckily, the weather has eased up today so I'll be spending the day doing some cooking! I love having some time to myself like that - very rewarding.

Japanese Rose Garden

Let me just start by saying that I do not really like pink on me. It always makes my hands look dry and damaged. It's just not my thing. This OPI color however, has me totally in love. It's a soft pink with some very very small shimmer. It has a tinge of lavender color in it - you can kind of see it in the last picture.

Sorry about the booboo on my finger. I'm still in the bad habit of picking at my cuticles. I should just carry a nail clipper with me. In fact, I think I might just put one in my purse tomorrow!

How was your weekend? Mine was okay - it was beautiful out but I mainly stuck to cleaning my apartment up. I bought a new liner for my shower curtain - oooooooooh, exciting. I'm kidding. It's really boring. But my weekends are usually lame like that - I like using them to relax.

Until next time! Cheerios!

Need some Radiohead?

Nothing better than Radiohead to cheer me up on a rainy day. Off to see my sister try on a million wedding dresses!

Deborah Lippmann's Naked is worth the splurge...

Really, it honestly is. There's a tint of pink in there as well so it's not too warm for a nude. I love it. It dried very quickly and stayed on perfectly for days. I find Lippmann's polishes almost always dry to a very "hard" finish. Almost what you would get with any other polish with a coat of Seche Vite. I'm definitely a fan of her formula.

Sorry about the very red cuticles. I had just taken off my Borghese polish and it stained my skin. Actually, might just be leftovers from Razzle Dazzle.

Short and sweet for today. One of my posts was featured on Joe Fresh's tumblr. Totally made my day!

Capri Coral

Boy, did I enjoy my long weekend. Thunderstorms, kayaking, family... It was fabulous! It's been a while since I've had a weekend that was out of the ordinary.

I'm posting today to share a new favorite of mine: Borghese's Capri Coral. It's a bright red/orange shade. A true coral in my opinion. This is two coats with Seche Vite. Excuse the thumb mess.

The color was very hard to capture on camera. But it's a very red coral. It's definitely not a classic red though - it pulls towards the orange. As usual for me, the Borghese formula was excellent with this polish.

May I show you a little haul of mine?

I'm wearing Naked right now. I'll update with pictures tomorrow!

Deborah Lippmann... Why?

This Razzle Dazzle polish by my new best friend Deborah Lippmann, has caused me some heartache. First off, the little bugger needed three coats. That sucked. However, that also made the polish have dimensions (AKA sparkle layers!). The sparkle layers, however, made the polish SO BUMPY! It dried to a matte finish. So of course, I added my trusty Seche Vite. Seche Vite basically absorbed three coats of Razzle Dazzle so I was back to the bumpiness. I then had to add another coat of top coat. I opted for Essie Good to Go as I didn't want my Seche Vita/Razzle Dazzle to peel off my nails. Lady Sings The Blues wasn't such a pain in the ass and had chunkier glitter. WHAT?! The polish also stained my nails really really bad, even with a base coat. Shameful.

So yeah, this polish is a hassle. However, it's very very pretty. My nails almost feel thicker from the dimensional glitter - then again, it might be the layers. This polish is the closest you'll get to multi-dimensional polish without being holographic. Have I mentioned I hate holo polish? Don't worry - this doesn't mean I would never review it. And plus, I always change my mind about stuff like that.

Notice the tip shrinkage? Yup, I got tip shrinkage on top of everything else. Beautiful, but difficult is what you are Razzle Dazzle.