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.

Hare Polish Let Them Eat...What?

I'm slowly working my way through the rest of my Hare polishes. I've had this one on for three days, hence the bit of tip wear. This is a first for me; I've never had a polish last this long on me and still be in such good condition.  

As always, the description of Let Them Eat...What? is taken from the Hare Polish website:

"Let them Eat...What? is a soft white jelly with a blend of various shapes/sizes of hot orange, baby pink, white & gold glitter. This shade is highlighted by a delicate silver shimmer."

I would have liked to layer it over a white jelly but I don't have one yet. I might actually get one today, if I have time. In the meantime, I layered it over Essie Blanc. It's a pretty, cheerful polish with the right amount of glittery goodness. Formula was great, nice and thin. I did have to 'place' some of the glitters, but that is to be expected with these kinds of polishes. Dry time was wonderful.

Ignore the bits of green on the skin around my cuticles. Taking off my previous manicure was a nightmare. While the polish doesn't stain your nails (which is awesome), it does like to stick to skin. It's such a beautiful color though, so it's hard for me to fault it. I documented my struggle on Instagram...riveting, I know. This is what my life is like now. 

Pretty low today. However, tomorrow's nails will be amazing (and they may possibly make you puke from sweetness overload), so that's something to look forward to. 

Rimmel London New Romantic

Oh hello nubbins, haven't seen you in a while. 

I was getting heartily sick of uneven nail lengths and just cut them all down to size. Anyway, here's more pink! It's not a pink I would normally have chosen, but for whatever reason, pink is casting a spell on me lately.

New Romantic is a soft, blue-toned baby pink, full of very fine and subtle silver, pink, and green shimmer. Overall the shimmer is silvery-white, but if you look close enough you see the flash of green and pink. A pretty standard princess pink. It's nothing ground-breaking but it's lovely and a basic and I'm happy I bought it. What is pretty cool is that it's a new Rimmel Salon Pro, which are really nice. I've bought three of their new Salon Pro polishes and I'm very happy with each of them. I'm on the prowl for more. Some of the colors are just nice basics like this one, others are pretty interesting (looking). 

You're looking at three coats of New Romantic. The first coat goes on super sheer. I slapped on some Hare Polish Own Your Opulence to add some pizzazz. As you can see, I was pretty heavy-handed with it, especially on my middle finger; the shrinkage could probably be seen from space. But still, this is an awesome color combo. 

Aaaaaand, say hello to bubble season!

I don't know if you can see, but my left thumbnail is peppered with bubbling. Not from the polish, but the heat. It's really starting to warm up here (hottest day of the week so far, well into the 90's) so that means polish is going to start bubbling like mad here. Last year it was a constant source of irritation to me; I can't tell you how many manicures I removed in disgust. But I'm sort of resigned to it now.

Also, excuse the dog hair...Toby is shedding, and his hair is ALL OVER THE PLACE. Such is the life of a Malamute owner. 

Celebrating St. Patrick's Day the French Way: Hare Polish Hooky at the Hamlet!

Last year's St. Patrick's Day mani was a little less than festive, but in my defense I was still discovering the beauty that was blue nail polish. This year however, I am bringing out the big guns with my very favorite green. Seriously, I could not love a green polish more than this one. 

As with all my Hare polishes, I'll use the description on the site:

"Hooky at the hamlet is a bright shamrock green jelly that is IMPOSSIBLE to get a completely color accurate shot of! My camera was just not having it. This shade is brimming with white glitter in different shapes, sizes & textures, along with some scattered glowing-blue hexes and a very subtle purple shimmer."

I layered two coats of Hooky at the Hamlet over three coats of China Glaze Keepin' it Teal. I bought it exclusively to wear as undies for this polish because it's so sheer and squishy. It makes a perfect base. I didn't expect to like the color by itself as much as I did, although it would probably take upwards of five or six coats to get it opaque enough to eliminate most of my visible nail line. No way I'd lay down that many jelly coats and not get mad bubbles. 

I tried my best to get a shot of the gorgeous electric blue shimmers but they are pretty camera shy. In real life however, they glow and flash and really take this polish to the next level. So, so beautiful. 

No pinching this year! I'm not Irish, but I will definitely unwind this evening with a green chocolate eclair. Happy St. Paddy's Day!

HARE Polish Own Your Opulence & O.P.I. My Pointe Exactly

At first I thought this particular HARE glitter would have looked better over something like Barre My Soul or You Callin’ Me a Lyre? but damn…this combination just tickles me in all the right places.

It’s been nice and overcast and cool all day, but that also means I had to tweak the coloring in the photos to get all the glitters to come out and play. I’m not an expert at this kind of thing…hardly qualified, really, but the colors are accurate.

HARE’s description of this delightful concoction is as follows:

“Own Your Opulence is a complex mixture of satin pastels in several different shades, juxtaposed with gunmetal grey, black, and gold. Lots of goodness going on here! This polish also features gold shimmer. This is in a CLEAR base.”

Hubba hubba. The glitters just pop over the grey jelly base. I chose well, if I do say so myself. This will be an absolute nightmare to take off, but I don’t currrrrrr.

This was three coats of My Pointe Exactly, and one very generous coat of Own Your Opulence. I hardly had to “place” the glitters or fish for them-it went on smoothly. The a couple coats of Gelous and NYC top coat for glossiness.

HARE Polish Married to the Monarchy & OP.I. Big Apple Red

I don’t normally do 4th of July themed nails, but since I have Married to the Monarchy, I thought I might as well. I prefer to think of this as the “Amy Pond Mani”, because after seeing her rock red and blue together on Doctor Who, it made me realize just how good those colors look together. It’s also nice to get back to my beloved red polish.

Like always, I’ll use the description HARE has for Married to the Monarchy:

“Married to the Monarchy is a blend of matte teal hexes & squares + rich red hexes and squares in varied sizes. The silver shimmer is definitely not shy in this one. This is in a CLEAR base.”

I had hoped my base would be a different hue of red so the red glitters would stand out more, but it’s still really lovely. The teal glitters really pop. The formula was great, slightly bumpier than Dauphine of Decadence, but nothing horrible. I finally got a bottle of Gelous, so that made it smoothy smooth.

As for Big Apple Red, it’s one of my favorite reds (and I’ve got a lot). It’s a nice, smooth, candy apple red color that is so sophisticated. Unfortunately my pictures wash it out a bit-it’s much brighter, richer, and jelly-like in real life.

Off to wait for fireworks-they’re the only part of the 4th that I really enjoy. I never seem to have good 4th of July’s.

HARE Polish Dauphine of Decadence & Sephora by O.P.I. Cartwheels on the Catwalk

I believe my gradient skills are becoming a little better. I tried a method I found here thanks to Imperfectly Painted and I found it a lot easier than sponging the glitter. I doubt I’ll ever get it right, but it’s good enough for me.

I haven’t got good undies for the rest of the HARE jellies yet, so I thought I’d start making a dent in the glitters. Here’s the description for Dauphine of Decadence:

“Dauphine of Decadence is a mixture of gold glitter in several sizes of hex and square glitter, with a sprinkling of pale mint green hexes as a subtle accent. This shade also features striking gold shimmer! This is in a CLEAR base.”

It goes without saying that I love this. Gold and I have been lifelong friends, and I can confidently say that the shimmer in Dauphine of Decadence has outstripped the 24k gold dust shimmer in Deborah Lippmann’s Boom Boom Pow. Hands down. In my head,anyway. There’s more depth in this glitter, and the pretty mint sequins take it way over the top (which is a good thing if you’re inspired by the French Court in the late 18th century).

Anyway, I chose Cartwheels on the Catwalk, my favorite blue, to layer under the glitter. I love the effect…pretty faded, dusty blue and glitzy gold glitter.

Life is becoming a bit easier for me; the main trouble I have lately is being unable to sleep. I also find myself missing school a lot, which was an enormous shock to me. I’d spent the last two years of my life impatient to get out of school…now all I want to do is crawl back into that familiar phase of my life.

HARE Polish Return to Nature

While I’m not feeling anywhere close to better, I had an urge to do my nails last night. My HARE polishes have been shut up in my closet since they came, so I guess I’ll start with (in my opinion) one of the prettiest ones.

Since I’m ill-equipped to describe anything more complicated than a shimmer, I’ll use the description from the HARE website:

“Return to Nature is a beige/khaki crelly (creme-jelly) with a mixture of small gold and silver glitters, plus a dusting of small white squares. This shade also features gold shimmer.”

As I’ve said before, not many handmade nail polishes catch my eye, but HARE’s seem to be the exception. They are well-made, beautifully inspired, and seem to have that extra oomph that I feel a lot of indie brands lack. They’re really top-quality, and the formula is truly amazing for a glittery jelly.

I layered one coat of Return to Nature over two coats of China Glaze Nude-the only nudey-dudey polish that I really like on myself. It’s incredibly close to my skin tone. Return to Nature dried quite quickly, but a bit satin-y, so top coat is needed.

And because my best friend loves fuchsia so very much, I gave her Party Palace, so there won’t be a swatch of that. She did a little dance of glee when I gave her the bottle. :)

So yes…a step towards normality. I’m just taking it a day at a time right now, and constantly reminding myself that I will be well again. I’m very lucky to have such a good support system-a family, a loving boyfriend and best friend, good doctors…I know I’m in good hands right now. Mental illness is an incredibly tricky thing to deal with, but I won’t let it ruin my life.

One day at a time.

Look what came in the mail today!!!

Eeeeeee!!!!!