Jackie Oh My

Something a little different today. I'm on my way to the memorial service for my friend's father pretty soon with a couple people from work, and I thought that purple nails just wouldn't do. I pulled out an Essie that I had yet to use and that I bought literally only for the name. Jackie Oh My is a milky sheer bordering on a light beige with a lot of really gorgeous shimmer that makes it completely unique in my collection. My cuticles are really dry today for some reason, so I'm sorry for that in advance.

As I mentioned, this is a sheer, so you can still see my nail line. I don't really mind, though. I think it makes my hands look clean and elegant. The polish itself is nicely buildable. It was streaky on the first coat, fine as a sheer on the second coat, and this is four coats. The formula was fine, it dried quickly, I have no complaints. Here's a macro so you can see the shimmer.

Isn't it pretty? It's kind of unexpected in a sheer like this. I really like it. Nathalie, I feel like this is a polish you would like :) It's really unusual for me to wear a color like this, but it seems appropriate for today. I considered OPI Tickle My France-y (a favey-fave) but I settled on this one for some reason. And the name! I love the name. It's so cute. I've shared my obsession with Jackie O. (and Oleg Cassini!) before, so when I saw the name of this polish I had no problem shelling out for it.

Nothing else to share today. How do you guys feel about sheers? Does anyone have a favorite one? I don't have very many...

Goody Plum Drop

Big, big sigh. I know how much you all love to read my rambles, but today I don't think there will be much.

Goody Plum Drop from the Maybelline Sweet Thing collection, three coats. I finally encountered one of those lumpy bottles I've been hearing about. It was, indeed, like painting my nails with curdled milk. I suppose I will have to thin this one when I use it again. Goody Plum Drop also had the very worst brush out of every other Sweet Thing polish I've used (Pie in the Sky, Sweetie Pie, Minty). I always feel like I can't wear light purples like this, but I like this color. I love the subtle shimmer. Very springy.

Yesterday afternoon my friend's dad lost his battle with cancer. I am so bad at dealing with death, and I know that the way you do that is to comfort the living. I think I'm bad at comforting too. I feel so helpless and useless. Knowing that he's hurting makes my heart ache.

Sorry I'm such a downer today. At least you got to look at a pretty color :)

Just Call Me Minty McGee

When I tried Essie Mint Candy Apple back in November I absolutely hated it. I'm not sure what it was. Maybe a combination of sub-par formula plus it was way more blue than I had expected. And I thought it looked weird on me. After that I kind of let the mint green trend pass me by. I noticed that it makes a lot of people's skin look super red in pictures, and I was afraid of that happening to me. I tend to shy away from anything that will make me look pinker. However, the Maybelline Sweet Thing polishes were 40% off at Rite-Aid this weekend, plus there was a dollar off coupon on the display. I got Minty for $1.68. I figured I'd give it a go. I thought that if I didn't like it I could always give it away.

Sorry, no sun today. Thanks Cleveland! I am now three for three on having absolutely no problem with these Maybelline polishes. No lumpy bottles, no awful formula. Again, I'll reiterate that the brush is less than ideal. It doesn't spread out and it's stiff. But it's workable. This is three coats of Minty and a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine. I don't think it makes my skin look pinker, so that's good. I'm not in love with it, though. It's unique among other mint greens I have, but I am by no means a green collector so that doesn't mean much.

Left to right: Claire's Dreamcatcher, China Glaze Refresh Mint, Maybelline Minty, Orly Gumdrop, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Mint Sprint

The Maybelline is bluer than Refresh Mint, which I would consider to be a true mint green, but it's less blue than Gumdrop, which I've heard is really close to China Glaze For Audrey (and most people would consider that a green-leaning blue). Minty is a nice color...and I think I got a pretty good deal on it. Can't beat $1.68 for a highly sought after polish, huh?

Keeping with the pastel trend, I got these new sunnies at H&M on Saturday.

In the store I thought they were kind of a robin's egg blue, but looking at them now they're appearing green. They're obviously supposed to be fake Ray-Bans. Lord I love them. I put them on immediately upon leaving the store. Combined with my trench coat and my floral scarf (pictured above with Minty), this led my friend Amber to tell me that I looked like a secret agent from Candy Land. You be the judge.

Turn over Gloppy the Molasses Monster and nobody gets hurt.

After I laughed for a good five minutes, she then decided that I also resemble an M&M. Colorful on the outside, but dark and delicious on the inside.

I knew that trench coat would be good both for style and for laughs! You can also be damn sure that once the sun decides to come back out, those sunnies are going to be glued to my face. I adore them. $6! Can't beat that.

Alright, sound off ladies: who has found Minty? I may have gotten an extra bottle for a giveaway, so if you couldn't find it, don't give up hope!

Sweetie Pie and Cat Condos

Good morning everyone! It's Saturday! Yaaaaay! This week went so quickly for me, probably because I had so much time to myself. Usually I don't like being alone at my house, but it has been kind of nice, I have to admit. The other day when I went to Rite-Aid they had the elusive Maybelline Minty and Sweetie Pie. Those are the two polishes that of course don't come on the regular polish display, but come on the makeup display. They were 40% off, plus there was a dollar coupon on the display, so they turned out, with tax, to be $1.68 apiece. There was one Minty, which I relinquished to my friend Amber, and I got Sweetie Pie (the next day I went to another Rite-Aid and got Minty; I just had to have it and I don't know why because I don't really like mint greens. I have a disease). So...here's Sweetie Pie!

Isn't it cute? It's totally cute! But...I have a few beefs with this polish. Everyone has talked about how difficult these polishes are to apply. Some people also seem to have gotten lumpy bottles. I've been lucky with the two I've tried--this one and Pie In the Sky--because neither one was lumpy. The brushes on these are terrible, though. They just don't spread out; they're stiff. This polish was really, really difficult to spread and get even. You can probably tell from the photos. But somehow at the same time it was easy to control once I got it where I wanted it--I did no cleanup here. I also kind of feel like it's difficult to tell that it's a peach unless you put it next to a true pink. Lastly, why is this one (along with Minty) so difficult to find? Why not put it on the polish display with the others? I don't understand, Maybelline.

You can stop reading now if you don't want to look at my adorable cat. The other night I was telling PerryPie about my cat Raven's house. He tipped over one box, shredded some cardboard with his claws, and then carried it into the box. It's his nest. Then the other day he somehow tipped over another box directly across from it. It's his kitty condo. If he trusts you, at LEAST once a day he will beckon you downstairs by meowing loudly from the basement. Then when you go down he goes into one box, makes sure you're looking at him, and then walks directly into the other box as if to say, "Hey, do you SEE THIS? I have one box, but I can walk from THAT BOX directly into ANOTHER BOX. Isn't this AMAZING?" He does this while purring loudly and rubbing against his boxes lovingly. I took a photo series. They're not very good pictures, but they're cute.

"Look! This is my first box!"

"Ohhh I love my box PURR PURR"

"Wait, but I love this box too!!!"

"LOOK NOW I'M IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT BOX! You're not laughing at me, are you?"

"But I didn't forget about my first box! I love them both SO FREAKING MUCH PURR PURR"

Your daily dose of adorable. Sorry for the picture spam. He's just too funny. SO...who has been able to find the "harder to find" Maybelline Sweet Thing polishes (Minty and Sweetie Pie)? Did anyone get these lumpy bottles I've heard about? Curious!

A Very Special Polish Indeed

Yesterday it snowed. SNOWED! And it wasn't just little flurries. It actually stuck to the ground. We have at least an inch now. Uber-sigh. It's sunny today, so I hope it melts quickly. Last night my friend Amber and I went to Rite-Aid, just to look around. Turns out it was spring drugstore polish heaven. I guess they had just put out a ton of new displays, which I will show you later in the post with crappy iPhone pictures. Whenever I see a Borghese display I always pick up the bottles to check for Almondine. It's just habit by now. Last night, though, I actually found Almondine. It almost didn't register in my head when I saw the name on the back of the bottles. Then I may have squealed and hugged them to myself.

Hm. How to describe this...well, it's a taupe. But it has these little black flecks in it that give it a gray cast. It also has a hidden pink shimmer that I assure you actually does show up on the nail, it's just so hard to capture. Here's a bottle picture.

My jankity arrow is pointing to the pink shimmer. Do you see it? Here's a macro of the polish on my nail.

Black flecks and pink shimmer, clearly visible. The brush on both of my bottles of Almondine (yeah, I got two) was wonky. Bristles sticking out willy-nilly. It made it kind of difficult to use, but I persevered. This is three coats, and the formula was alright. Nothing to sing about. I really like the colors that Borghese comes out with, but...eight dollars for a drugstore polish is so steep. I was willing to pay it for this one, though.

Raven strikes a sexy pose with Almondine. He loves to look out the window in the morning.

Sorry for all the pictures. ...more are coming! I took some crappy iPhone photos of all the new spring stuff at my Rite-Aid.

Borghese Tutti Gelati. Mary from Body & Soul had some great pictures of a few of these yesterday if any of you are interested in what they look like (and I know you are!).

New Insta-Dris. I didn't even know there were new Insta-Dris! I feel like new ones just came out a couple months ago.

Scented Revlons! OMG! I tested a couple of them on a bit of paper and they are definitely scented. The blue one is called Ocean Breeze and Amber was hoping it smelled of dead fish. It didn't. It smelled pretty nice!

That's all for today. Are you guys excited for the weekend? Anyone have any fun plans? Also, does anyone else have Almondine? Do you love it like I do? It's such an interesting twist on a neutral...

This Pure Ice is Pure Hotness

Hey guys! It's such a gross, rainy day here today. As most of you know, I am pathetic and living with my parents between college and whatever else I'm going to do with my life. They left to go on a bit of a vacation yesterday, so the cats are off of their schedule. My mom usually feeds them every morning around 6:30am. Today I didn't drag myself out of bed until 9:30, so when I got downstairs I found them both sitting BY THE COFFEE POT. It's like they conspired about it: "Okay, we're hungry. Now, where is she sure to notice us? By the TV? No, no. That's not where she'll go first. THE COFFEE POT! PERFECT!" It was pretty funny. I fed the little buggers, cleaned their poo, gave them water, and then drank a vat of coffee. I feel almost awake now!

Yesterday was one of those days where I couldn't decide what I wanted on my nails. Bestie Angela had told me the other day that I just had to get Pure Ice Purple Reign from WalMart. I take her recommendations quite seriously, so I picked it up. Bestie Angela loves purple and always has, so this polish is definitely right up her alley. I tend to either really like true purples like Rescue Beauty Lounge Mismas or China Glaze Grape Pop, or purples that lean blue. Purple Reign leans red...but I have to say that I love it anyway.

Purple Reign is a base color of grape-like purple (which kind of reminds me of OPI Catherine the Grape) with...I think copper shimmer particles. Large shimmer particles. I wouldn't quite call it glitter, though. Here's a macro.

The particles are so dense that they almost look like flakes.

The application on this was pretty good for a $2 polish. The formula was pretty perfect, actually. Easy to control, almost good at one coat (but I did two). Unfortunately this chipped on me about two hours after I put it on. Maybe it was operator error, I'm not sure. It just seemed to be falling off my nails at the tips. Regardless, I removed it pretty quickly. I kind of wish I hadn't, though, because it's absolutely gorgeous.

After I removed Purple Reign I decided to give another polish that I had completely written off a go. Last summer I finally bought OPI Lincoln Park After Dark. I used two coats of it and had bald patches. I was pissed off. I didn't want to have to use three coats with such a dark color. Now I've realized that sometimes that's necessary, especially with OPI. I pulled it out again yesterday and very carefully applied it. I even wrapped the tips. I have to say...I love this. I think it'll be my go-to toe color for summer, along with China Glaze Sneakerhead, my favorite release from last summer. It's not sunny out AT ALL, but here is a bad picture of my right hand.

Definitely looks black in this picture but we all know it's not. It's eggplant. And it's lovely. I guess it's a cult classic for a reason. Ideally my nails would be a bit shorter for a color this dark, but whatever. It's chic. Alright, that's all for today. Hopefully this doesn't chip on me while I'm cooking later. I will get really, really irate...

Have a great day, everyone!

BY THE BY: Bestie Angela is giving away a really adorable gold bow necklace. Its retail value is something like $120, and did I mention it's ADORABLE?? The rules to enter are easy-peasey, so get over there and do it. Click here to do so.

Most Unique Holo EVER??

I'm really loving holos lately. First the Milani holos, then the cool-toned half of the China Glaze OMG collection, and now Numbar Gem from the Prisms collection. I have to say, though, that I'm really more into linear-type holos; you know, ones that are smooth to the touch with a very strong holo effect. Nubar Gem is a more scattered type of holographic effect. By that I mean that the polish itself is not holographic, but it's full of medium-sized semi-chunky holo glitter. I'll show you pictures first and then talk a little more.

Soooo...this is, um...what's the word...gorgeous? Yeah I think that's the word. The base is a really strange and unique color. Kind of like a grayish mauve-ish pinkish color. Like I said above, the glitter in this is kind of chunky. Chunky glitter equals a gritty finish, and this isn't an exception. It's not really that bad. I put on one thick coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine and it almost eliminated the bumpiness. This is why I like linear holos better. Smooth finish, easier removal. I'm not looking forward to taking off Gem, both because...it'll suck and because I love this polish. I'm so glad it's sunny today so that I could use this one. Application was really perfect. I love the Nubar brush! It's a little wider than China Glaze and not as wide as the OPI Pro-Wide. This was three coats and it dried really fast. No cuticle drag or anything. Yay!

Nothing much else to share today. I've got to go out and run some errands. I was talking to Miss PerryPie last night and we both agreed that saying "errands" makes us feel like old people. I'm not sure what else to say. I've got to go out and do some...things...that involve driving from one place to another and performing various activities? Yeah. I will probably pick up some stuff for my April giveaway, though, so that's exciting! I'll post the details on that on April 1st.

I leave you today with a picture of Raven looking rather regal. It's funny. He always looks regal in pictures but if you knew this cat in real life you'd quickly understand that he is in fact the opposite of regal. He's clumsy and the least graceful kitty you'll ever know. I think it has something to do with his hugeness. Anyway, here's the little raisinette.

What a sexy beast.

Ohh, Squishy Jelly...

Hey guys. Thank you all so much for your kind words and well wishes yesterday. I even received a couple of e-mails, and that's just so lovely of you all. My grandma is doing well. I went in this morning to speak with her doctor (who SO reminds me of Luka from ER...mmm...) and he seems to think that her chest pains weren't heart-related, just muscular-skeletal. He is upping her dosage of a couple of medications, but that's pretty much all. When I got there she was already fixin' to take home some of the food from her hospital breakfast. You know, a muffin, some Cheerios, a couple packets of Equal. Hehe. She also squirreled away some tissue boxes. She's home now, all safe and sound. I'm hoping that she'll be alright. What a scare...

I couldn't decide what color to paint my nails yesterday. Nothing looked appealing after spending several hours in a stuffy hospital room. I was just feeling merpy. In the end I chose the franken that Ange-Marie made for me. Guys...I love my little frankie, which we named Balls Deep. Originally I had asked her to dupe China Glaze Dripping Wet. We figured that we'd name it something equally as dirty. I believe another contender was "Check My Dipstick," which totally reminds me of that Tenacious D song Kielbasa Sausage. Anyone out there love Tenacious D like I do? At least the first album. No? Heh. Anyway, here's the frankie.

All of my pictures turned out pretty much just like this because it's gross out here today. No sun to speak of. Isn't this lovely, though? It's a wine-colored jelly. Ahh God, I love me a jelly. I have about a million vampy reds like this, but this polish is my only vampy red JELLY. This was three coats and a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine. I love my frankie, so thanks Ange. You are teh awesome. I'll include another similar picture just because it's gorgeous.

But I figure I'll just throw in...if anyone has China Glaze Dripping Wet and they are willing to part with it...let me know. I'm really, really interested in it...

That's all for today. I'm sorry for my lame pictures. I'm just feeling...eh. I was at the hospital for a while yesterday and a while today; the air in there is so stagnant, and it just makes me feel weirdly lethargic. Thank you all again for your well wishes. I love you guys.

Nubar! Duochrome! Sparkly! Eee!

It's raining today. Good thing I took my pictures of Nubar Wildlife yesterday ;) I knew that the sparse sunlight I had yesterday morning was going to be the last sunshine for a few days. Since Nubar is a brand that's completely new to me, I'll give my thoughts about a few things after I show you a couple pictures. I had trouble photographing how awesome this polish truly is, so...just know that however awesome you think it is, it's more awesome.

Phew. The formula on this was impeccable. I did two thin coats and that's all it needed. Wildlife is a true duochrome; sometimes it looks mossy green, sometimes it looks pinky copper, and sometimes it looks both. The color reminds me of fall--leaves changing from green to red and then brown. It also reminds me of spring--sad brown grass turning green, sprouts shooting up through the dirt. I really like the shape of the bottles. Square bottles are my favorite, as I've said before, but there's something about the Nubar bottles that is aesthetically pleasing. The polishes are B3F and cruelty free, a fact that is adorably advertised on the back of the bottle.

Look at that little bunny! Cruelty free, Mr. Bunny, yay!

The brush is a great size for my tiny stubby nails and the cap is really comfortable to hold while painting. The bottles have a pleasant weight to them, and I'm sure that they would look great lined up in a row of say, twenty, on my dresser ;) Something to aspire to! I'm so, so glad I chose this polish. I could choose two, and I knew immediately this would be one of them. It's so unique. It looks super sparkly in the sun, but the duochrome effect is clear in any light.

Remember the other day how I told you that I went a bit insane trying to find a Liberty of London dress at three different Targets? Well, Saturday morning I decided I needed some new bedding. In my defense, I had been looking for new bedding for a while and one of the Liberty of London patterns looks like it was literally made to be put in my room. This time I only had to go to one Target. As soon as I put the new bedding on, Godzilla Cat Alley claimed it as her own. Seriously. She would not move for a good two hours, and she was rolling all over the bed as if to say, "See this comforter? It's MINE NOW BITCH."

You've got to admit it looks cute with my ridiculously bright green walls and pink and orange curtains. I like this picture because Alley kind of looks like one of the stuffed animals.

"O hai Steff. If you are pleasant to me I may even let you sleep here later."

One last thing. Initially I wasn't going to write anything about this because I figured nobody wanted to hear about my personal problems, but then I remembered that this is my blog, so...my personal problems are pertinent. This morning I woke up to my mom pounding on my bedroom door. My grandma, who is 86 and turning 87 in a matter of days, was having chest pains. My mom said she was taking her to the emergency room. I started getting out of bed to go with them, but there are some repairmen coming today to look at a broken window that we have. You know how repairmen come within a window between like 8 and 2? Yeah. So someone has to be at home to let them in. I'm stuck here and I'm really worried. My grandma and I are really close and I think she must be scared :( If you guys could send some good thoughts our way I'd appreciate it...

Alright, until tomorrow. Thanks for reading.

Cool Drink Of Water, Such A Sweet Surprise

Good morning, all. It's sunny again here, but I don't think it will be for long. Boyfriend just told me that it's snowing in Chicago and we usually get their weather a day later. Mega sigh. I was planning to get a manicure this weekend because if there's one thing I hate it's filing my own nails. I just feel like it takes forever and I'm not good at it. My nails are getting way, way longer than I'd like them to be. I caved, because I'm cheap, and I filed them a little myself this morning. Hopefully they look okay. Yesterday I went to Ulta and Sally's with a friend. I feel I showed some restraint. I didn't buy this Urban Decay pencil and sharpener set that I wanted, so that's good, right? I'll show you what I got at Ulta later in the post, but here's what I got at Sally's on clearance.

This is Cherry Pie from the China Glaze Summer Days collection, released last spring. It's the only polish I really wanted from Summer Days so of course it was one of the ones that didn't make it into the permanent collection. I had just been telling Ange-Marie the night before that I want Cherry Pie and Raspberry Festival, and I was lucky enough to stumble across one only hours later. Cherry Pie is a red-orange with pink glass fleck shimmer. It's a stunner, for sure. I found the formula to be excellent--but remember, I prefer a thin formula. This is one coat of Nail Tek II and two coats of Cherry Pie topped with a coat of Sally Hansen Mega Shine. Ahh, isn't it beautiful? It's a fantastically lovely warm toned red, but the pink shimmer cools it down a bit. Love this. However...when I was taking these pictures I had the strangest sense of déjà vu. I couldn't figure out why until I thought about it for a minute. Cherry Pie reminds me a lot of OPI Dress to Empress. Since I had already done a full manicure with the former I wasn't about to do an on-nail comparison, but here's a bottle comparison in bright sunlight.

Kind of similar, wouldn't you say? Same base color and same pink shimmer...although the ChG shimmer is just that: ChG glass fleck. The OPI obviously isn't. Just regular shimmer. But still. Similar. Fudge.

Ah well. I probably wouldn't have stopped obsessing over Cherry Pie until I got it anyway. And it's gorgeous. By the way, the sun really brought out the orange tones of both polishes in that bottle picture. They are each decidedly pinker in real life. Anyway, Ulta was having a buy two get one free deal on a bunch of brands, and I chose Orly.

Orly Luxe, Cotton Candy and Gumdrop

I really, really wanted Cotton Candy for some reason. It's not really a me color, but what the hell. Then I saw they had one lonely bottle of Luxe hanging around, so I got that too. I love me a sparkly gold. That left my free one. I got Gumdrop but I'm not sure why. Looking at it now it kind of looks like China Glaze For Audrey. I think it might be going in the April giveaway pile. I also came home to a package from the lovely Ange-Marie. The contents?

Holy shiiiiiiit! Nubar Wildlife and Gem and a franken she made juuuuust for me, a semi-dupe of China Glaze Dripping Wet which we named Balls Deep ;)

Yay! So you see, I have a shitload of polish to try out. All of these plus the OMGs and...other stuff that I just can't help myself from buying. Pretty excited for the Nubars, though! My first ones ever! *dancedance* I am hoping against hope to just have a super relaxing weekend. I hope you guys do too. To aid in your relaxation I am leaving you with a picture of the little meditating statue at the Louis Penfield House, where Boyfriend and I took our December vacation. It's the background on my cell phone, and looking at it always makes me feel kind of...peaceful.

Have a great weekend, everyone!