Birthday Mani 2.0: O.P.I. Emotions, My Favorite Ornament, & Wonderous Star

This is, without a doubt, the most decadent manicure I've ever done. I've had this idea floating around in my head for a while, and what better day to wear it than yesterday/today? Tonight I will be frolicking around at the Grove wearing a gold headband and a black beaded sweater. Winged eyeliner will be featured. I'm super excited...28 is going to be a much better year than 27 was. 

And so I celebrate with one of my favorite color combinations...you just don't get much more luxe than black and gold glitter. I used Emotions (black texture), My Favorite Ornament (champagne glitter), and Wonderous Star (champagne glitter with black glitter hexes), and tied everything together with some black rhinestones. I kept pausing while I was doing this manicure, thinking to myself, is this too much? Am I going overboard with this? 

Naaaaaaah. Gotta celebrate yourself, you know? It's a hard lesson to learn, but nothing is more important than celebrating and loving yourself.

I did 3 coats of My Favorite Ornament and Wonderous Star, and 2 coats of Emotions. I've got to express just how beautiful Emotions is. It's faceted, like marcasite, and catches the light so beautifully. I was waiting and waiting for O.P.I. to do a pure black Liquid Sand, and they did not disappoint. 

Birthday Mani: Maybelline Neutral Statement & O.P.I. My Favorite Ornament

Sorry about the lighting in these pictures. Sadly it will only keep getting worse, so I have no idea how I will do any of my holiday manicures justice. 

I'm 28 today!! Since I didn't even acknowledge my birthday last year, I'm making up for it this year. I'm going to spend the day with my family today, have an amazing dinner tonight, and tomorrow night I'm off to downtown L.A. with my boyfriend, bestie, and her husband. We'll eat at Canter's, squeal over Christmas decorations at the Farmer's Market, and more than likely I will buy bon bon's from See's and possibly a very expensive pair of shoes. I will also wear a freaking amazing bow in my hair. 

I also worked up the courage to try a ruffian accent nail, which I think I nailed (heh). If I'd known how easy they are to do, I'd have been wearing them constantly. I used a base of Maybelline Neutral Statement, which looks better in real life than it does in the pictures-the sun sort of warmed up the color too much-there's less beige and more pink-white in it. There's also some sparse deep coppery-gold sparkle that you can detect close up, but fades into the background at arms' length. 

My Favorite Ornament is one of my favorite pale gold glitters. Expect to see it over and over in the next month. 

The formula on Neutral Statement wasn't the greatest-a more patient painter could have gotten away with 3 coats, but I did four to even out the streaks. My Favorite Ornament was flawless (no surprise there) at 2 thin coats. 

Reswatch: Illamasqua Raindrops

Not sure why my pictures have this weird glow, I think the lens on my phone needs to be cleaned. 

It's been rainy and overcast for the last week or so, which made me remember the only Illamasqua I own (insert sad face). I've been wearing this in-between the fall Essie collection (I caved and bought the red...I have NO control over myself). 

Pretty grey jelly with a slight blue undertone and filled with silvery flakies. YUM. I wore it well over a year ago, and thought an updated post on it was needed. 

This was 3 thin coats, European Secrets Rock Top Coat. I've since mattified it, and I literally have no words for how pretty it is matte.

Essie The Perfect Cover Up

As I've said before, my favorite Essie collections are from the fall. I snapped up all but the red (I have way too many) and the camo green (we all know my relationship with greens), but the other four brought out the grabby hands in me. I can't even handle how awesome this color is. Black wishes it was this chic. 

I'm not entirely sure what I'd call it...lets say a very deep, inky grey with evergreen leanings...maybe a touch of blue too? Whatever it is, everything in my life needs to be this color. Rrrrvrything. 

And as if the color wasn't enough, the formula is something you dream about; smooth, no dripping or pooling, and opaque in one coat. I did two because I really just wanted to keep painting. Bonus: super shiny finish. You could skip top coat if you wanted to. 

The weather here has been bananas, and I love it. It's nice and crisp, rain at night, and I can finally wear my cozy sweatpants without fear of sweating to death. Hooray for fall!

Halloween 2014: No Nails, Just Vincent.

I hope everyone had a great Halloween. Mine, sadly, was quiet and uneventful. I ate too much pizza and candy corn, and my Malamute got me up at regular intervals from midnight to 4 a.m. pretending he had to pee, but really just wanted to go outside and romp in the rain. Can't say I really blame him though...when it started raining last night I ran out into it and just sort of savored it. All the weather reporters here say it's going to be a dry winter, but...naaaaah. El Nino is coming.

I did carve a pumpkin this year, a tradition I try to keep up no matter what my Halloween plans are. I don't know if this is just me but that burnt-pumpkin smell you get from jack-o-lanterns is one of the most exciting smells I know...it's up there with snow-covered pine trees, Old Spice deodorant, and pure vanilla extract. I get all tingly when I smell it.

This year, my pumpkin featured Vincent Price. Oh Vincent...

Definitely the most intricate carving I've done, it took me close to four hours to complete.

Then this little monkey got scared when it started to rain and climbed into bed with me (but not after barking at the open window to see if that would make the rain go away)...

So I guess now that Halloween's over, it's officially the Holiday season, right? Isn't that how it works?