Halloween 2016: Coven Swarm.

This is an incredibly half-assed version of the Halloween nails I did last year. Not great, but good enough, since Halloween tends to sneak up on me. 

While Coven wasn't my favorite season of AHS, the aesthetic was gorgeous, and I came away from it loving the combination of black and dirty, taupe-y lavenders. I own both in spades, but sadly I cannot for the life of me do a good glitter gradient anymore, so what's on my nails is a poor facsimile of what I wanted to do. Also it's my left hand so it's going to be naturally messier (southpaw here) since my right is recovering from a pretty outstanding nail breakage. 

I used M.A.C. Modern Movement, which is a gorgeous enigma of a polish. Is it taupe? Lavender? Grey? Pinky-beige? The answer is all of the above, dependent upon the lighting. It's in my top ten favorite polishes on earth and I wish I'd bought a back up. The black glitter is Sally Hansen Ruffle, which was (is?) part of their Luxe Lace line. The suspension is pretty viscous so they don't spread as well as I'd like, but it's black glitter, which you don't see every day. I tried to do a swarm-type gradient, but like I said before, I've lost some of my touch. If I hold my hand far enough away from my face it looks ok, and I can at least pretend my cuticles aren't as neglected as they are. 

As far as Halloween goes, not going to be doing much. I've got a couple movies I want to watch, but since I'm off sugar (45 lbs. down so far, woo!) no baking or treats. Whatever you end up doing, have fun!

Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle

I've always been vocal about green and I not getting along, but if there's one green that wins me over 100% of the time, it is emerald. And since I heard that RBL will be closing its doors at the end of the month, I thought I'd pull out Recycle and see how it looks. I'm happy to say that I cannot get enough of this color. It's a rich, blackened (but never mistaken for black) emerald green that hits all the right notes: it compliments my skin tone, it's deep and brooding, and the depth of color is fantastic. 

RBL really knows how to do dark, moody colors, so it's a shame that Ji has decided to shut down. They were very pricey polishes, but very high quality, and the attention to detail, along with the creative thought that went into the colors and descriptions made them extra special. They are among my favorite polishes in my hoard. And since my switch to Nail Envy, they are the about the longest-wearing on me, barring textures.

Everything except the most recent Fan Collection is 50% off right now, and I may or may not have ordered quite a few farewell bottles. 

I added butter LONDON's Bit Faker for a little sparkle, hopefully it doesn't come off as holiday. I'm really excited for winter and holiday-mode to kick in, but I'm trying to restrain myself until at least Thanksgiving.

China Glaze Getting to Gnaw You

Fall is joke this year. It's always late in coming where I live-Southern California isn't known for its festive weather-but it was 89 degrees in my living room yesterday. I take two cold showers a day to stave off sticky sweating. I do most of my errands in the evenings when I don't have to worry about 2nd degree burns from just sitting in my car. I run out of cool clothes 5 times as fast because I sweat through them till they're soaking. I can't cook a hot meal because it makes the whole house turn into an oven. And I'm really starting to resent it. Frankly, if you live in a climate that allows for blissfully chilly autumn days, and gorgeous leaf coloring, I kind of hate you. I hate you and your scarves and your riding boots and your hot drinks. You suck. Meanwhile I'm sweating to death amidst fucking palm trees and the sun hurts my eyes.

In addition to this, no matter how normal my nails look in these pictures, they're falling apart and I have no idea how long it will be before they are normal again. Six of my fingernails have become partially detached from my nail bed-I can only assume it's psoriasis-related, because I don't have any other symptoms that would indicate a chemical burn. It doesn't hurt, but I have to be very careful not to tear them, or get them caught on something-I don't doubt they'd completely tear off if I were careless. 

Halloween, right now anyway, seems pointless to me. It's too hot to even think about burning my scented candles or wearing sweaters, most of the people in my house are too ill to decorate or think about trick or treaters, and I'm obviously out of sorts. Right now, the only way I can think to mark the holiday is to wear Getting to Gnaw You.

I have to just say first that I hate the name. It makes me think about the song, and then it gets stuck in my head and I become even more annoyed and unreasonable than I am right now. But damn, it's a nice color. It's a dark, smoky jelly filled with small, coppery-orange glitters. Very Halloweeny. I did one thick coat over Essie Licorice. It dries down matte, so if you want it shiny, top coat is a must. 

I'll see how I'm feeling closer to Halloween. Who knows, my mood may change. But from where I'm standing right now, what's the point?

Rescue Beauty Lounge Locavore

Two RBL's in a row!? Now that I've cracked open my Rescue Beauty Lounge drawer, I thought I'd wear the more "summery" ones now while I've got the chance...that being said, this reminds me more of Christmas than summer.

Locavore is a full-coverage glitter mix of chartreuse, bright aqua, and fuchsia. From what I read on the website way back when, it represents the different kinds of local veggies you'd find at a farmer's market. For whatever reason though, it reminds me of a decorated Christmas tree. This polish will definitely be making an appearance in December sometime.

I also realized I haven't worn a full-coverage glitter on all my nails in a really long time. It sort of makes me feel self-conscious, especially since my middle finger is sporting an outstanding breakage (I had a minor break in my boyfriend's pool a couple weeks ago and his nail scissors mangled my poor nail. Lucky bastard has nails stronger than horse hooves). It also makes me feel like I'm in middle school again with giant red sausage fingers.

I'm not feeling myself lately, I guess.

This was 3 thin coats, plus top coat. Be sure to wait between coats, I cannot stress this enough. Otherwise`you're going to have glitter goop on your hands. And probably your clothes, if you're as clumsy as me. But the upside is this is NOT a thirsty glitter! I did one coat of top coat and it has stayed smooth and glassy. This was day 3 of wear.

It's not on the website, so I'm not sure if it will be back, but I do know that O.P.I. Glow Up Already is a pretty close dupe, and is very plentiful on eBay!

If I can do one more post this month, I'll be so proud of myself.

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. 

Revlon Knockout & Hard Candy Jubilee

I am not a patient person by nature, so  what was supposed to be a full manicure of swampy Halloween goodness turned into a hurried accent nail. 

The first coat of Jubilee behaved fairly well; subsequent coats put up a fight. I blame the bar glitter. Several cotton pads and practically an entire bottle of nail polish thinner (slight exaggeration) later, I gave up and carefully painted on an accent nail. 

Jubilee is a swampy green jelly packed full of black micro glitter, larger black hexes, holographic silver hexes and long, thin orange bar glitter. I hate, loathe, despise, and abominate bar glitter in any form, but the polish was just too unique to pass up.

3 coats of Jubilee, 2 of Revlon Knockout, which is a basic black.

China Glaze Emerald Sparkle

I spent last evening catching up on my Once Upon a Time, and since I think Zelena was an AH-MAZING villain, I wanted to wear something worthy of her. Rebecca Mader portrayed her so, so beautifully.

Emerald Sparkle is a pretty iconic polish, and although discontinued, the good version is still fairly easy to find on eBay. I was wild to get my hands on a bottle a couple years ago and ended up giving in to eBay; later that year I came across a HUGE cache of them at a swap meet...it took all my willpower to walk away with just two back up bottles. I wanted to buy six, but my best friend looked at me like I'd lost my mind, so I put them back. 

It is the blackened green version of Ruby Pumps. It's lots of vivid emerald micro-glitter suspended in a swampy, almost-black, green jelly base; it is wicked and magical. These types of micro-glitter jellies are a China Glaze specialty, but pictures never do them justice. It's deep and multi-layered in real life, and while it would look far more spectacular on long, pointed talons, I'm satisfied with how it makes my perpetual nubs sparkle (will I ever go more than two weeks without a nail break?). 

Of course it could double as a Christmas green, but I've got Zelena flying around in my brain, so it's a Wicked Witch green to me. 

This was three thin coats, plus top coat. I'm finally starting to get in the Halloween mood, so get ready for some appropriate manicures.

O.P.I. Absolutely Alice

Absolutely Alice is a polish I never thought I'd own. Really. I'd Google it every so often and stare jealously and hate myself for not buying it when I had the chance. The cheapest I could find it online was around $30. There was no way I'd ever pay that without physically crying, so I held off and pined. 

It was sheer dumb luck that I stumbled upon an unopened bottle on a blog sale. I'd never bought from a blog sale before because I've always been a little intimidated by them, but in less than a minute I'd emailed the owner of the blog and hoped to God it wasn't already spoken for. Needless to say, I squealed (actually squealed) when she emailed back and said it wasn't. And that's not the best part...I paid all of $16 for it. I was so stinkin' pleased with myself. 

If you don't own this polish, I am so sorry. I really am. Here I am smooshing it in your face. But things like this don't happen to me very often. It is available on eBay and Amazon, but for a horrendous price. Or maybe not; I mean, Louboutin is making a polish that is $50...and that's just for a red creme. So I guess it depends on what your definition of horrendous is. 

If you do own this polish, you'll know what I mean when I say pictures do not do it justice one bit. No matter how good the camera is, or the photographer, I've never seen a picture that's been able to capture the subtle nuances of this polish. It's way more than just a blue glitter with gold interspersed throughout. It's freaking poetry. 

Two coats was more than enough to fully cover my nails, and clean up was fairly minimal (I don't know why but my hand is steadier with glitters than any other finish). It inhales top coat though. In order for me to get a somewhat glassy finish, I had to apply around 4 coats of top coat. I don't mind though, it makes removal easier: when I'm ready I just peel it off. Not great for my nails, but it beats scrubbing for hours. 

Please don't hate me for posting this, it was too pretty not to share.

4th of July 2014: Yet Another in a Long Line of Unfortunate 4th's.

Ah, hey there 4th. I hate you. 

I mentioned last year that the 4th of July and I don't really get along. Maybe not always the specific day, but the general time is just a low point in the year for me. Let's tally up what's going on, shall we?

1. Finally got my period after two and a half confused months, and I know this joke is soooo old, but the elevator doors in The Shining? Yeah.

2. We had to put Ripley into a special boarding facility because we can't foster her anymore and no one else at the rescue she is with can foster her either. And her adoption process is taking way longer than it should. 

3. She got loose during adoption day and was running around a major highway for at least an hour and a half, and when my boyfriend finally found her she'd torn up her pads somewhat. Not to the point where they were bleeding, but we had to put special ointment on them. 

Boyfriend ended up having to take her alone because I would have been crying the whole time, and I didn't want her to be nervous or scared. I really, really love that shy, skittish little dog. The facility is really nice, the dogs have free run of the place and an outside area to play in, and their own little runs, but we can't visit her. The owner said it isn't allowed unless it's someone looking to adopt her because otherwise if she saw us, she'd think she was going home. That made me cry even harder. I'm still constantly worrying about if they are being patient with her shyness (Boyfriend assures me they are) and if they know her special little ways. 

So anyway, my motivation to do a 4th of July manicure was low, but I'd just gotten China Glaze Dorothy Who? and the glitter was calling to me. Glitter generally has the ability to cheer me up. 

'Merica. Freedom. Yay.

I did three coats of Dorothy Who?, which is basically the blue version of Ruby Pumps with some silver glitter thrown in. Gorgeous and glittery and smooth. China Glaze needs to make a glitter like this in every color. Then I painted my ring and pinky with O.P.I. My Boyfriend Scales Walls and topped it with one coat of Hare Polish Married to the Monarchy. Last year I layered it over Big Apple Red, which was a mistake since the red glitters got lost in it. I like this pairing much better. 

I'm not wearing this for the 4th. I took these pictures yesterday and immediately took it off and put My Boyfriend Scales Walls back on, which is such an awesome grey-tinged white. Definitely keeping it on for a few days.

Nails Inc. Sheraton Street

Here's another Nails Inc. for you. Despite not liking the brush very much, the formula and colors are so perfect that now I want all of them.

Sheraton Street is a really delicate, dusty blue-grey creme. This was three perfect coats, although two would have been more than sufficient. Beyond Cozy accent nail for reasons. 

I'm experimenting with a new nail hardener and top coat at the moment; so far I'm really pleased. It's European Secrets Rock Hardener and Top Coat, if you're curious. My weekly visits to Sally's have me trying all sorts of new brands. 

butter LONDON Poole & Bit Faker

I haven't worn a blue in a while so I thought I'd pull out a polish I bought back during bL's first Last Orders sale of the year. 

Poole (after the resort/tourist town in Dorset, England) is a little difficult for me to describe. It's not a straight up aqua; it's more diffused and subdued than that. But it's definitely not sky blue. Maybe if aqua and sky had a baby and then let it roll in dust? I don't know. Whatever it is, it's lovely. 

I bought Bit Faker as well. It's an utterly gorgeous full-coverage bronze glitter. Poole and Bit Faker belonged together so I slapped it on as an accent (unfortunately only on the right hand...I forgot about the left side so my manicure looks a little lopsided). I can see it working for both summer and winter, and fully plan to wear it alone as a Thanksgiving mani. It's a top coat gobbler, but even without my NYC it catches the light beautifully. I top coated it anyway, which was an exercise in futility. 

3 coats of each, plus top coat. 

Maybelline Pretty in Polka

Who knew pink was going to be my color this year? I'm as shocked as you are. 

Pretty in Polka was part of my birthday gift to my sister last year. She's a pink fiend and I thought it would be a fun way to wear it, but it just sort of sat in her small polish collection and I just couldn't help myself. Turns out she didn't really like it, and just didn't want to hurt my feelings. Puh-lease. Gimme. 

I'm now pretty much convinced that I need this entire Polka Dots collection. They're easy to apply, super glossy, and surprisingly easy to remove. Pretty in Polka is a bright, cheerful pink jelly full of black and white matte hex glitters in different sizes. Effortless nail art. 

I think the pink jelly is my favorite part. It's just so bright and glossy and transparent. Michelle from ALC referred to it as lip gloss for your nails, and that's dead on; it's just a nice wash of glossy pink color. 

This was three thin coats. I actually liked it at two, but I had a lot of gaps where I thought glitter should go, so I dabbed a third coat on. Even though it was super glossy on it's own, I top coated out of habit. 

I can't believe it's June already.