Essie Hubby For Dessert

I would say sorry for the hiatus, but I'm pretty sure only one or two people even know of this blog's existence. To those one or two, sorry. Life just got in the way. February was a rough month-sister left for Seattle and I only got to have a couple days of empty nest, sorry-for-myselfness before I had to take my grandfather to the emergency room. He was diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure, and was in the hospital for well over a month. We now have a caregiver for both my grandparents for the day and I can get some much-needed rest from taking care of them. I got a new (enormous) bed, and my friend and her husband installed a 40-inch TV onto my wall, and I spent like a week in bed just watching movies. Oh.Yes.

March was another bad month though. One of the caregivers came in with "allergies" and gave my bedridden grandmother an upper respiratory virus which turned into pneumonia in a day. She was in the hospital for a week and a half. To say that I was enraged is an understatement. And terrified. But she pulled through fine, though she was on oxygen for a few weeks afterward. After she came home, I finally bought myself an Ikea Alex for my nail polish (I'm starting to notice a pattern here...family member goes into the hospital, I make a furniture grief purchase...) and spent an aggravating evening putting it together, and a glorious day organizing my babies in it. 

So we'll see how I do at getting back into blogging. I've obviously forgotten how to take pictures, because these look awful. I really need to stop thinking that taking pictures a few days after wear will look okay. 

Hubby For Dessert is a lovely lilac jelly. It's cleaner and brighter than O.P.I.'s Care to Danse?, which looks almost grey by comparison. I layered 3 coats of it over one coat of Go Ginza, because it is quite sheer. Go Ginza gave it a bit of a pink cast, alone it's pure lilac. This was after 4 days of wear, not bad right!? I've been using O.P.I. Nail Envy and it's been making a big difference in terms of my nail strength. 

Boom Boom Pow accents for reasons.

O.P.I. Amazon...Amazoff

I was worried Amazon...Amazoff would look similar to M.A.C. Screening Room...I was right. The only difference between these polishes? O.P.I. has blue-ish emerald shimmer. Booo. I mean look at this mani, then look at M.A.C. Screening Room. Pretty much the exact manicure, down to the Boom Boom Pow accent nails. 

I guess I know what I like. 

I think in real life, Amazon...Amazoff leans much more green than Screening Room, so I take solace in that. It's a super-gorgeous deep teal with subtle, tonal shimmer that, while not invisible, isn't in-your-face; it really deepens and enriches the base color. Screening Room, by comparison, is much brighter in person and a straight-up creme.

This manicure is something I'd wear in winter, but I was feeling something deep and moody today. And of course Boom Boom Pow because it's like, the best glitter top coat ever made. 

Slowly getting over my cold. Yesterday helped a lot; I celebrated my two-year anniversary with my boyfriend. We ate at the restaurant we had our first date in, which was super lovely and romantic (in spite of the terrible jazz covers of 80's hits), played with Ripley and then went to a little bakery and bought French macarons, and mochi ice cream and feasted while watching Once Upon a Time. I seriously could not have a better boyfriend, guys. I basically spent yesterday eating awesome food and watching silly shows and cuddling with an amazing, handsome man...total dream come true. :D 

Essie No More Film & Deborah Lippmann Diamonds and Pearls

As hard as it was to get rid of my sex nails, this little Essie was begging to be used. I was at Target with my best friend Christmas before last and put No More Film (I'm never sure whether to capitalize Essie and her polish names; I know they're all lowercase on the bottles, but the English student in me won't let me type them like that) in my cart-I couldn't say no to something that dark and pretty. When I got home she wasn't in my bag or on the receipt, so I can only assume the bottle fell in transit to the cashier. But my bizarre brain registered it as "Oooooh, pretty! Oh wait, I have that don't I?" every time I saw it at CVS or Rite Aid or Bed Bath and Beyond. I'd go home, search fruitlessly and then remember I hadn't actually bought it. 

I was replaying this scene for the nth time at CVS waiting for some prescriptions, and just bought it, figuring I could return it. Yay for finally getting my mitts on it!

No More Film is either a blue-based purple or a purple-based blue. One or the other. Or both. We know I'm not good with purples. Whatever it is, it's deep and inky rich, and definitely a one-coater if you're slow and careful. I was neither of those things last night so you're looking at two coats. I usually do three, but I felt it would just be gilding the lily with this one. 

And to add a bit of sparkle, I layered one coat of Deborah Lippmann Diamonds and Pearls. Because I bought so many polishes from the Mariah Carey collex. back in December, my frequent buyer's card for the beauty supply I haunt got filled up fast, and I had ten bucks free to spend. And what a coincidence, Diamonds and Pearls was on sale for just that. So I threw it in. It's a gorgeous layering polish with gold, copper, green, and pink shimmer. I paint my grandmother's nails with it once a week and she loves it. If my nails weren't so stained, I'd probably wear it sans undies, it's that beautiful. 

When layered over No More Film, it reminds me a bit of a spring night sky-rich and velvety, with twinkling stars and fireflies everywhere. My photos wash the color out a bit, it's much richer and darker than it appears. 

MAC Screening Room

I was perusing the MAC counter with my best friend last week and came across the Indulge offerings. I used to keep track of MAC collections religiously, but have since cooled on them. While I’d still love to come across a By Candlelight Skinfinish someday, makeup isn’t really my game anymore.

Naturally when I saw a new nail polish collection with the makeup stuff I got very excited. I zeroed in on Screening Room as the crown jewel. I mean, honestly…LOOK AT IT! GORGEOUS!!! It’s so bright and lovely!

Under the MAC counter lights it looked really blackened in the bottle, and I immediately snapped it up, but on the way home I began to worry that it would look too much like NOPI’s Khloe Had a Little Lam Lam (what the hell does that even mean!?) but am happy to report that KHaLLL is MUCH greener and darker.

Screening Room is a deep, vivid, blue-based teal; it’s reminiscent of the blue in peacock wings, actually. It’s a creme finish and dries brighter than the color in the bottle. I absolutely love it. I love it to the moon and back…a million times. In fact, I’m seriously considering booting someone out of my top 5 favorite polishes and adding this one.

In the past, MAC nail polish hasn't been that great in terms of quality. The formula was horrible and the brush left a lot to be desired. If you still have this opinion, NO. JUST NO. Screening Room had the most well-behaved, shiny, pigmented, smooth formula of any nail polish I've come across. The brush is a little firmer so you have better control. They've really amped up their game.

Although I think $16.00 is a bit steep for the amount of polish you get (.3 oz), the beautiful color and great formula made it worth it for me.

And naturally, couldn't resist seeing what Boom Boom Pow looked over it. Awesome? Yes.

This was 3 coats with my newly thinned Grand Central Station.

Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow & O.P.I. Thanks a Windmillion

Here’s my second attempt at a gradient tip; I’ve gotta say, it’s an improvement from my first.

Since Boom Boom Pow’s already been seen, let’s dive right into Thanks a Windmillion. It’s a gorgeous, soft green, a bit more greyed out than the pictures let on. I thought it would be closer to O.P.I. Mermaid’s Tears, but it seems to be slightly darker. Still beautiful though, and perfect for spring. I haven’t had this manicure on 24 hours and I’ve gotten three compliments on it. 


The way Boom Boom Pow compliments Thanks a Windmillion is just lovely-I never want to take this off.

Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom Pow & China Glaze Liquid Leather

My boyfriend requested a black manicure, but since it looked a bit too plain on its own, I slapped one of my favorite glitter toppers over it. It didn’t turn out quite the way I’d imagined, but I still really like it; sparkles everywhere!!!

I don’t know what happened to my bottle of Liquid Leather, but when I went to paint my nails, it was completely gunked up. Granted, I don’t use it that often, but I have other China Glazes that aren’t in heavy rotation that are just fine. So either it evaporated (can that even happen?) or my grandmother raided it to touch up the black bits on her car. Why she does it I have no idea, I think she thinks it’s as good as detailing.

Anyway, even though I was able to thin it out somewhat, the formula was almost impossibly thick. This made it a legit one-coater, but I also had very bad bubbles. Dry time was excruciating.

Boom Boom Pow is a DL I’ve had my eye on for a very long time, and after mooning over it for ages at the beauty supply, I just bit the bullet and bought it. I’m glad I did-I mean, look at it. Gorgeous. I love gold and I love sequin glitter. And it’s actually not just gold! In the sun I can see flashes of green micro-sparkly-whatsits as well as orange. In addition, there are the large hex sequin glitters, small round gold glitters, and irregularly shaped gold flecks which I assume is the 24k gold dust that is boasted about.

This was one coat of Liquid Leather and one coat of Boom Boom Pow. I’m not a huge fan of the DL brush…it’s a bit soft for spreading the glitter evenly. This is going to be a nightmare to take off…I might just leave it till it chips.