Essie Take It Outside

Halloween's only a day away, but I'm just not really in the spirit of it this year. I should be, since I go basically ape shit over Halloween, but I'm just sort of tired. I've decided not to decorate or hand candy out, which was a tough decision because I really hate to be that house, but it's just too much money and effort right now. Instead, my boyfriend and I are opting to eat pizza, drink cider, and watch old horror movies. If there's one thing my friends and loved ones know about me, it's that I love love love old movies. I keep the t.v. in my bedroom on Turner Classic Movies almost all the time. He's not the biggest fan, but he's sweet enough to indulge me. Pretty cuddly too.

I'll try to rustle up something for the 31st, but for right now I needed a soft, quiet color. I always look forward to the taupes in fall Essie collections, and Take It Outside is, in my opinion, the best taupe Essie has done since Miss Fancy Pants. It's like nothing I have, and I've got a LOT of neutral, taupe polish. It's very greyed out, with a bit of a pink-white undertone. It's perfection. 

The formula was perfect, I only needed two coats for opaqueness, and it self-leveled beautifully. 

M.A.C. Love & Friendship (and my best friend's wedding!)

I have a natural aversion to large milestone events; I didn't even want to go to my own graduation last year. Dressing up and doing my hair and makeup is a daunting task for me, and when I have to make an effort not to be shy and asocial, I get emotional hangovers. But yesterday none of those things happened, because I got to watch my best friend marry the love of her life and the father of her child, and I was surrounded by people that might as well be my family.

The event was low-key and no-fuss, two of my favorite hyphenated words. I did the bride's makeup and hair at her house, and helped her get dressed. We went to the courthouse, they got hitched, and then we ate massive amounts of pasta at Maggiano's Little Italy. I only snapped a few pictures on my phone, the good pictures are on her husband's camera, but I like to think I captured her glowing bridey-ness:

Oh yeah, bride-glow factor is like 10+ here.

My godson made an adorable (and hilarious) ring bearer. The entire day was full of squeals and squeaking and asking if I was going to get married.

At Maggiano's. Where your fried cheese is served with melted cheese on top. 

We ate so much food, I'm still dealing with the carb coma. But when you're celebrating the marriage of a girl who may as well be your sister, what's a few hundred pounds of pasta and tiramisu and the subsequent tummy ache afterward?

So what did I wear on my nails? Only the most appropriate polish in my stash:

I'm sorry for the slightly worn look, this manicure is a few days old. Love & Friendship works on several different levels for us. First, the particular shade of dirty pinky-lavender is her favorite color. Second, the name. I mean come on, it doesn't get more perfect than that. Lastly, it's from the Rose Romance collection, a collection that is very dear to our hearts. It was our first favorite. 

Rose Romance was from 2009 I believe, so even if you can track Love & Friendship down, it probably won't be priced reasonably. Luckily, Orly Petit Four is a close, if not dead-on dupe. It is the same soft, dirty lavender with grey and pink undertones. I used three coats for the photos above.

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.

American Apparel Berry

I forgot that when you wear dark colors, any little smudge will show up. Boo.

I was in the mood for something dark and moody to go with my nubs, but I didn't want anything overtly Halloween yet. Enter Berry.

American Apparel Berry is a purply, berry-red color. It's nice and rich, and really comes to life in sunlight. Inside it comes dangerously close to becoming a garden-variety dark red, but there's enough purple in it to keep it from being boring. All I needed was two coats.

They must have improved on the brush because it wasn't nearly so floppy and long as the other American Apparels I own. I had great control, and needed barely any clean up.

Revlon Parfumerie Autumn Spice

I thought October would never get here. I've been waiting for it since February; it's my favorite month. Good things happen to me in October-spending time with my bff roasting pumpkin seeds and watching terrible horror movies on Netflix, reading Dracula and The Legend of Sleepy Hollow late at night and enjoying what little color change occurs where I live. So it stands to reason that the first day of this fabulous month is a day of grumpiness, fatigue, and general malaise. I hate everything right now.

Still, gotta keep up appearances. I thought I'd crack out some nice, autumnal polishes, and Autumn Spice is as good as any. It's got a rich, warm brown base, and is full of bronze, gold, and green shimmer. There is also a pink shimmer cast that I was unable to capture on camera, but really adds depth to the polish.

The scent is really nice; it's sort of a warm, buttery, spicy-sweet smell. It makes me want cinnamon rolls.

You could get this opaque in one coat if you used a medium-thick layer, but I did two thin layers and it was more than enough. I also made the mistake of using an old NYC Grand Central Station top coat that was VERY thick and gooey, so I have some shrinkage on my thumb.