MAC Uninvited

Hello friend, do you have a moment to talk about our Lord and Savior, Maleficent, today?

I wanted to wait until my nails were in better shape (and longer) to wear this color, but since Maleficent came out yesterday and I bawled my way through it with my best friend and a hundred pounds of popcorn, candy, and soda, I thought I should put it on now and bludgeon whatever readers I have with my hysterical enthusiasm for the movie. I plan on going to see it again as soon as I have some free time. I haven't seen a movie twice in the theaters since Lord of the Rings. 

Lately, I've been a movie fiend. Normally I'm perfectly content to wait until they come out on DVD (or even on Netflix)...what can I say, I'm a lazy loser. But lately everything coming out is something I'd practically pee myself to see in theaters over and over. Godzilla. X-Men. Maleficent. Guardians of the Galaxy. 2nd Sin City. Be still my beating EVERYTHING. 

Maleficent was wonderful. I'm not qualified in the least to review movies and shows I watch because my suspension of disbelief is so strong and my innocence almost perfectly intact. I am that perfect, ignorant moviegoer. It made me laugh and cry and squeal and flail (quietly) and to be perfectly honest, is STILL making me tear up. All I have to do is think about Angelina Jolie saying, "Hello Beastie", and I'm off again.

I will say though, I was SUPER TERRIFIED it would end up like OZ The Great and Powerful. I cried in that one too, but only because I had to watch one of my favorite childhood characters get butchered by James Franco.

Maleficent is nothing like that; I would even go so far as to say it was better than Frozen, and is probably the best Disney film ever made. Frankly I'm surprised the critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes is only at 50%. I've never put much stock in film critics, but it's sad to see such a good movie with a strong female lead and an absence of unrealistic romance be so under-appreciated. The Evil Queen got her day in Once Upon a Time; learning Maleficent's back story was just as satisfying. And yes, it is NOT canon, but we knew that from the first line of the movie. 

Uninvited is a beautiful nude beige with subtle, silvery, shimmer. There is some almost imperceptible green shimmer as well (I see what you did there MAC) that adds dimension. MAC labels it as a creme, but the shimmer is most definitely there. This is a color that is going to look good on anyone, no matter skin tone. It's universal, flattering, and natural-looking. 

Formula was great, but a bit sheer, so you're looking at 3 1/2 coats of polish. Any imperfections you see (I'm looking at that damn middle finger) are not the fault of the polish, but the shortcomings of my nails. My middle nail is in a perpetual state of peeling and nothing I do seems to help it. Any new growth is really brittle and tears almost immediately. As a result, most nail polish looks awful on it. Rest assured that Uninvited is as smooth as butter. 

I love fairy tales, LOVE THEM. They are my childhood and my comfort. And when I see them retold this way, it only makes me love them more. I'll leave you with the deliciously creepy and haunting version of "Once Upon a Dream":

Jesse's Girl JulieG

I will start this off by saying that, under normal circumstances, I have a natural aversion to neons. They sear my retinas, make my skin look muddy, and just all-around bum me out. They are bold and bright and summery and cheerful, and I am the opposite of all these things most of the time (except cheerful-I do try to keep that one up as much as I can). But I'm not sure if JulieG is a neon, or just extra bright...it looks quite different in the bottle. Oddly enough though, I like it. Like, a LOT.

It's a bright coral creme, nothing special, but a real pick-me-up. The formula was smooth, but streaky, so it took four coats before I was happy (habitual two-coaters aren't going to like this one), but the color makes up for it for me. You know I love me a coral. It seems they only sell Jesse's Girl at Rite Aid, but they're super cheap-I picked up JulieG for about 3 bucks.

I have one other neon to feature here, I'll probably space it out a bit, though. I found a summer Maybelline collection at Bed Bath & Beyond back in April and bought the coral one. I've already worn it, and it's not hideous on me, so I'll probably pull that out in a month or so.

O.P.I. Mermaid's Tears

Oh Mermaid's Tears. I had such high hopes for you.

This polish is either a case of my color blindness getting in the way of the true color, or just a case of pictures being prettier than reality. I missed out on the Pirates of the Caribbean collection (unfortunately it came out during the Year of Vamps for me) and by the time I decided I wanted a few of the colors, the only place I could get them was online. I was willing to risk it because the swatches I saw were gorgeous. 

When I first put this on, I was convinced I was shipped the wrong color. Or a knock-off O.P.I. In real life, it seems more...yellow-toned? Overly green? Dusty? I dunno, it's pretty, but not sea-foam as I've seen it described. So I'm not sure if it's my eyes, or the pictures. I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S REAL ANYMORE!

Anyway, this was 3 quick coats, no problems with the formula. 

Zoya Stevie

Happy Memorial Day! For those of you luxuriating in a 3-day weekend, I envy you. A lot. A 3-day weekend is a concept I no longer understand. My boyfriend and I were thinking of making our way to the Santa Monica Pier later today though, so that's something nice.

When textures started blowing up, I began waiting for someone to do a cute-sy lavender. There were many things I loved as a child, but the standout was anything purple or lavender. Even now I notice my eyes will seek out the purple in a nail polish collection before any other color. I know Nicole by O.P.I. did a cute lavender in their Gumdrops collection, but Zoya friggin' knocked it out of the park with Stevie. 

This color is going to give me diabetes, I swear. It's a perfect, soft lavender/lilac with sparkling silver texture. It's sweet and girly does that supersparkle thing that Zoya textures do when you blur them:

I could zone out all day and just watch my fingers sparkle. When I wear a L'Oreal texture, I swear up and down they're my favorite textures. Now I'm doing that when I wear Zoya textures. Guys, they're my faaaaaaave. 

This was three coats on my once-again shortened nails. No matter what I do, I can't seem to get them past my free edge without them breaking, splitting, chipping, or peeling. They're bad, bad nails. 

Various Polish Hauls of 2014 (Update: Flakie Goodness at the end!)

I really need to keep better track of my hauling. These are only the ones I've remembered to take pictures of:

left to right: China Glaze Sand Dolla Make You Holla, Tail Me Something, Teal the Tide Turns, & Wish on a Starfish.

left to right: Maybelline Coral Heat (Bleached Neons) & An Old Flame (incidentally, am wearing Teal the Tide Turns in photo)

Zoya Earth Day Haul: Stevie, Zara, Maya, Elodie, Rekha, Caitlin, Sooki, Bevin, & London.

Uninvited from the MAC Maleficent Collection (good lord, I wanted it ALL...am debating on whether or not to go back for the beauty powder)

left to right: O.P.I. Chillin' Like a Villain & Don't Touch My Tutu!

left to right: O.P.I. Hey Baby, I Sing in Color, & Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

left to right: A Study in Polish I Do Post-Mortems, L'Oreal In With the Nude, Red-y to Shine?, Essie Blanc (Chinchilly is next to it, and not included are Go Ginza and A Cut Above)

With everything happening in my life right now, these little polish hauls are one of the few things that remind me of that little thing called happy. Not the best way to deal with things, but I'm working with what I have. 

Also I have some super-pretty nails to share later. Or tomorrow. Depends on when it's not overcast anymore. Mind you, not complaining in the slightest; I'd rather have it be overcast and chilly than be dry-roasted alive in my own house.

EDIT: Well my nails were chip city today, so here's a photo I snapped of them last night:

You're looking at 1 coat of O.P.I...Eurso Euro and 1 generous coat of Color Club The Uptown. I had planned on wearing The Uptown over something a little lighter (You're Such a Budapest, for example), but I wasn't quite over wearing something dark on my nails. I'll definitely be sporting that manicure on here in the next couple days though. I don't wear flakies much, and oftentimes I find myself wrinkling my nose at them. But every so often the flakie mood will take me, and my eyes will end up glued to my nails for a few days. 

O.P.I. I Sing in Color

I hadn't expected to pick up any of the Gwen Stefani polishes except Love.Angel.Music.Baby., but Sally's was having a sale and how does one say no to $4 O.P.I.'s? I dropped in after a doctor's appointment on Tuesday and ended up buying L.A.M.B., I Sing in Color, and Hey Baby. If I'm being totally honest, I really, REALLY wanted to find Over and Over A-Gwen; when it came out I wasn't willing to pay $15 for an O.P.I. creme and some stencils I'll probably never use. If I can find it cheaper somewhere else, I'll definitely pounce, but I just don't understand why that one had to be sold with stencils and stuff. Why not just sell them separately? Or in a box with minis? Ugh. I don't know. I'm annoyed by everything today. 

I Sing in Color is a pretty standard vamp. It looks very deep brown or black most of the time, but it's really a deep burgundy red. Pretty, but not anything special. It doesn't outstrip my two favorite O.P.I. vamps (Give Me Moor! & Black Cherry Chutney), but it's always nice to have a stash of vamps. What I didn't expect was the streaking! The first coat of I Sing in Color is just an absolute brat-uncooperative, streaky, patchy, and dragging issues. The second coat covered most of it up, but I could have done with a third coat-not sure why I decided against it. 

This is just begging for some gold. 

Sally Hansen Something New

Coral fever. I has it. 

The weather has dipped down to a bone-chilling 79 degrees, so I'm feeling up for a proper manicure. Ignore the boo-boos on my ring finger-when it's super hot like it has been lately, hangnails are the least of your worries. 

Also I took these pictures with my iPhone, just to see how they'd turn out. Nice, jah?

Something New is from the Diamond Strength line, which seems to have wedding-themed names. It's a delightful coral jelly that photographs slightly more opaque than it is in real life. I used three coats plus top coat. Dry time was on the slow side, but the superb brush more than made up for it. 

Off to get a million things done. With cooler temps comes energy. Whee!

It's Fucking Hot; also O.P.I. Guy Meets Gal-veston

It's been hot. Really freaking hot. I cannot stress how absolutely miserable the weather has been in the last week or so. Just.off.the.fucking.charts.hot.

It was 102 degrees in my living room yesterday. And I don't know if you know, but taking care of a partially paralyzed person when it's 102 degrees is way, way harder than taking care of them in say, 75 degrees. I'm not good in heat under the best of circumstances. At best, I'm whiny and lethargic. At worst, I'm a monster that does unspeakable things. While crying.

Needless to say, I couldn't care less about nail polish right now. I'm trying to keep from dying of heatstroke.

That's not to say I'm not wearing nail polish. I couldn't sleep last night (heat) so I painted my nails and watched Frozen (for the bajillionth time; "Let it Go" still gives me chills when I listen to it):

This is from O.P.I.'s "sorbet" collection, and it's Guy Meets Gal-veston. It's a bad iPhone picture; it's a really pretty, juicy deep pinky-coral that looks soft or fiery depending on the light situation. I bought it (you guessed it) hoping it'd be close to Fire Fly. It's the same idea, but too intense and bright. It makes my skin look slightly tanned, which I really like, and I cannot wait to slap this jelly on my toes. You're looking at four coats, and though the picture doesn't show it, my half-moons were still very visible. It's a jelly (or sorbet, whatever) in the truest sense of the word; you're not going to get opaque coverage with this one. 

The weather is supposed to cool down in a day or so, and even dip down into the low 70's. Hopefully then I'll feel up to doing a manicure with some of the new polishes I've acquired (there are soooooo many and they're all soooooooooo pretty) and take proper pictures. In the meantime, I'm taking good care of my grandmother, and watching Netflix in the dark. See you when I emerge.

Zoya Bevin

Let's start May off with one of the polishes I snagged during Zoya's Earth Day Exchange. I've mentioned before that green is sorely lacking in my collection, mainly because I'm not totally convinced it looks good on me. Bevin, however, is one I can cozy up to. 

The Zoya site describes Bevin as "a dusty, medium sage green with teal tones", and I couldn't agree more. There are hints of grey in certain lights, but mostly it stays sage-colored. I'm wondering how close it is to O.P.I.'s Thanks a Windmillion...

And just looked it up. Dupes. Boo. 

Well whatever, it's a lovely color I know I'll wear a lot of. I actually think I prefer the formula of the Zoya more. The only other Zoya creme I owned before the huge Earth Day Exchange haul was Rue, and Bevin has confirmed how amazing Zoya cremes are. They're smooth, buttery, and self-leveling. Heaven. 

This was 3 coats, NYC top coat. I've got some peeling on my index and middle fingers, so the polish isn't as even there. Frankly, my nails and cuticles look like hell, but I'm too busy to bother with them much lately.