Essie Coconut Cove

Sorry for the break. It's been a long one. 

I decided I needed to do something about my dying nails. Around about last October, almost all of my nails became partially detached from my nail beds. They looked terrible. Similar to the chemical burns a lot of people suffered when Mentality polish let those bad batches of polish out. I still don't have an answer as to why, except maybe wearing polish 365 days a year for five or six years isn't a great idea. Around mid-March I badly tore one of them; I had maybe about 1/4 of an inch of nail left on my index finger. The pain, blood, and swears that followed were not nice. 

So I stopped painting. Cold turkey. I moisturized and oiled but that's where the attention to my fingers ended. I stopped buying polish, stopped reading a lot of blogs and hoped they'd grow back normal. They have, I'm happy to say, but I feel like I've lost a lot of interest in the hobby, which bums me out. I've lost a lot of confidence too. I feel like I can't pull off interesting colors, and I'm now terrified of glitter again.  

So even though I'm hesitant to paint my nails, I'll try getting back on the horse. I've got an Alex literally full of polish, so I'd feel like a fool if I let it all just waste away. We'll see how it goes. 

My hatred for summer is not a secret here. It was very easy to not buy any polish this spring and summer because none of it appealed to me. Coconut Cove was the exception, though. It's just a nice, opaque off-white. I did two thicker coats rather than three thin ones, and got a chip on my index finger (hence the little patch job). It's summery without being over the top. 

So if I wasn't painting my nails this summer, what was I doing? 

1. Stranger Things. Oh my god, guys. This show. I haven't been so into a show since the first season of Once Upon a Time. Or the fourth season of American Horror Story. I literally do not know how to live my life until the second season comes out next year. Ugh. 

2. The Great British Bake Off. Mary Berry is officially my new favorite everything. The 2014 series is my favorite (and the only one available on Netflix right now, unfortunately) and I've watched it probably 20 times now. How flipping cute is Martha? And Richard!? Honestly, he should have won.

3 & 4. Yewwwtweewb. I've been watching Peaceful Cuisine, along with Simon and Martina, obsessively all summer. After an overload of Red Letter Media, I really needed stuff that was calming and cheerful. 

5. Wiener Party? Late to the party on this one, but I'm catching up. Boyfriend and I have managed to get to mid-season 5 in about a month. I'd like to be fully caught up by the time the next season is out, I hate being out of the loop. Honesty time: am a bit disappointed I'm not seeing more wieners. Was promised floppy wieners. Also it took me too long to realize Theon is Lily Allen's little brother. Oh Alfie, ya naughty.

6. Welcome To Night Vale. All Hail the Glow Cloud. Podcasts have become a HUGE part of my life this year, and this is one of my favorites. I took my car in for some repairs in late spring, and in fixing the problem, my cd player came unplugged. If I wanted it to work again, I'd have to go to the dealership and have them reprogram it, and it was a top priority for me to get it fixed since I can't stand to listen to silence when I drive. But I've literally gone the whole summer without it because I just listen to this now. It's on when I'm cooking, when I'm cleaning the house, and it lulls me to sleep at night. 

7. Lore. Another podcast I am head over heels for. I thought I was the only weirdo that dived into creepy rabbit holes in my spare time. What a silly notion. My only complaint? It's bi-weekly, so I get an awesome 35-40 minute fix and am left high and dry for two weeks. Apparently it's being turned into a television series as well, I am SO.EXCITED. 

I'm also taking serious charge of my health. Over the past month I've cut out dairy, carbs, fast food, soda, and sugar and I've dropped about 15 pounds. Super proud of that. The first couple weeks were hard and I was a grumpy, salty bitch because I couldn't have peanut butter sandwiches (one of my reasons for living), or get up in the night for a semi-conscious midnight snack (my sister refers to that as being a werepiggy), but I feel better than I've felt in years. The puffiness in my face is gone, and since I've cut dairy out I no longer get horrible stomach cramps. I've got a ways to go to get to my goal weight (about 2 years), but I'm going to keep on going.

Sally Hansen In Full Blue-m

Go home, Spring. You're drunk. 

I don't know why I like spring. I shouldn't. The allergies, the onslaught of warm sunshine, the explosion of life all around me...all these things should make me very grumpy. Call me weird, but I LIKE winter. I like stillness, leafless trees, and a feeling of life in stasis. It's nice. It feels like time has stopped and you can just relax for a bit. But when spring begins I get a little giddy in spite of myself. 

It's barely March and life in my garden is in full swing. I've got buds on my pomegranate trees, a little bird building a nest in the bushes in my backyard, and flower-themed, pastel polishes on my mind. I'm going to start with one I wore a lot last spring but never got around to photographing. 

In Full Blue-m (while I like the effort, Sally, the execution is a little sloppy) is a really lovely, watery periwinkle. I say periwinkle because there is a drop of lavender that just doesn't translate well on the camera. It's there though, I promise. I feel like I've seen this exact shade in a Monet painting somewhere. It's soft, beguiling, and is going to look amazing on everyone. 

When I first bought it I was worried it would be too close to Zoya Kristen, but it's much more color-saturated, and has much less grey. There is also that elusive lavender undertone. Their only similarity is finish, which is a nice, dense creme. And while I am not one to kick a creme out of bed, I almost feel that a shade this ethereal would have looked better with a more jelly-like finish (think Zoya Miley, or Orly Bon Bon, just more blue). 

I noticed they're re-promoting this shade this year, so it should be easily found at the drugstore. This was 3 perfect coats with Essie Better Than Gel on top. I never thought I'd see myself buying a $10 top coat and justifying it, but that ish is GOOD. 

Finger Paints Santa's Little Topper

Hopefully this won't be my last Christmas manicure, but it's a distinct possibility since I'm working full-time this week, running errands, and doing the Christmas shopping. I have a couple ideas rolling around in my head, and I was hoping for a chance to try something new, but I would be okay with redoing my manicure from last year, which I really enjoyed. 

I tried a few times to photograph this exact manicure last season, but just never got the right light angle, or it would chip before I could get good pictures of it, or any other number of reasons I didn't get many good holiday manicures documented last year. Santa's Little Topper is such a nice, gentle, subtle Christmas glitter; it looks good over almost any color, but my favorite combination is with Essie Mint Candy Apple. It's sort of a pastel, marshmallow-y, retro Christmas combination. Or snowdrifts and birch branches and holly berries. Santa's Little Topper is, I believe, the only glitter I own that contains bar glitter, which I would never, ever own under usual circumstances because bar glitter offends every atom in my body. But I can overlook it in this case because it is so small and sparse. 

Another thing I like about Santa's Little Topper is that the suspension is slightly red-tinged, so it sort of changes the tone of the base. Mint Candy Apple is a little intense for me as a winter polish, but a thin coat of a clear, red-tinged topper like SLT and it becomes a little dirtier, and a little more grey, which reminds me more of snow. 

1 coat of Santa's Little Topper over 2 of Mint Candy Apple. A few of my little students like to see what new nails I have every week, and they really, really liked this one. 

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?

Essie In The Lobby

September! Pre-Halloween month! I was at CVS the other day and they already had out decorations and candy and lots of Fall nail polish collections. I got really excited, so even though I'm nursing a really bad head cold, I couldn't resist using one of the new Fall Essies. 

In The Lobby is not a unique color by any means, but it's just what I need after a summer of friggin' color. Inside it is your garden variety vamp. It could be red, or purple, or even brown...but you'll never know until you get into better light. Sunlight and bright artificial light reveal it to be a deep purple wine. Again, nothing ground breaking, but really refreshing.

This was two coats, another would have just been gilding the lily. It definitely applies darker than it is in the bottle, but c'mon. Vamps. Are. The. Best. 

Now I'm off to nurse this stupid cold and prepare for all the Fall things. 

Essie Play Date

Sorry for the awful pictures and the chip on my index finger. I'm not super into quality control right now.

Summer is here which means my mood is pretty low and not even nail polish can really do anything for me. Which is a shame, because I have some really pretty ones.

Play Date was a polish I wanted very badly when I first got into nail polish, somewhere around 2009-10, but didn't end up purchasing it until early this year. It's a sugary sweet medium purple that photographs a little cooler than it really is. It's distinctly red-toned on my skin and while I love the way it looks in these pictures, I'm not sure I'm in love with it on me in real life.

This was 3 perfect coats, and after about 4 days of wear. Not bad for someone for whom manicures used to last a day, tops.

O.P.I. Chiffon My Mind

Here's another from the O.P.I. spring collection, and I tried so, so hard to get pictures to show the shimmer in it, but of course failed miserably. I'm just not a good photographer. 

Chiffon My Mind is an ethereal pink-tinged white with lots and lots of multi-colored shimmer. It's pretty subdued under artificial light, but really twinkles and pops out in the sunlight. Unfortunately though, the formula is a bit difficult to work with. The consistency is fine, not too thick or thin, but it applies pretty sheer and streaky. A better and more patient painter (with less ridges) than I probably could have gotten away with 3 coats, but I got to 5 before I was happy. Now I don't mind multiple coats of polish as long as the end result looks good, but 5 coats doesn't come without complications...slow drying, bubbles, lumps...ugh. So I turned my stash upside down looking for a good base. Which was harder than I thought, considering it isn't that unique of a polish. 

Luckily I own Orly Cake Pop, which is perfect. It's a pink-tinged white creme from their spring Sugar High collection. It should still be readily available, and hopefully I'll remember to show it on here later because it really deserves its own post.

So. You're looking at 2 coat of Orly Cake Pop and two of Chiffon My Mind. Dry time was great for both polishes. 

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. Taupe-less Beach

Not much to say about this color, except it's perfect. I'm just so in love with mellow, quiet colors right now. 

3 coats. 

Nicole by O.P.I. Yoga-Then-Yogurt

While it would have been nice to keep Sansa on longer (at least in terms of my remover, which is running dangerously low), I've felt a sudden need to wear cleaner colors. Whites, pale pinks, taupes, greys...that's all I'm drawn to right now. It's almost like anything louder makes me feel...I dunno, seasick?

I love whites, but I really don't wear them often. I was very guilty of the whole 'white-out-as-nail-polish' in school, so I have vivid memories of my huge red sausage fingers sporting messy, streaky globs of white out because it was so gauche to buy white polish. Ugh, I'm shuddering just thinking about it. 

As a result, I'm very much against chalky, bright whites, and even white-based colors. It's very rare for me to buy a white-based pastel-I have some, but rarely, if ever, wear them. I like those sort of bone, off-white colors that have a hint of translucency to them. Funny Bunny is probably my favorite white, but I just didn't feel like doing the 3-4 coats it takes to get it the right shade of opaque for me, so I bought Yoga-Then-Yogurt during a drug store run. I remembered Rachel from stuff raving about it, and she's never steered me wrong. 

Yoga-Then-Yogurt is the first 'bright' white I've come across that hasn't been chalky, whee! I don't think of white-out when I look at it...just a nice, clean white. And it really does remind you of greek yogurt (yohgurt?). The polish separates (like many of its kind) and the suspension is yellow-ish and sort of looks like that weird juice you get on top of yogurt before you stir it. 

Needless to say, I love it. I love the way white nails look, and now that I've finally got a white that doesn't remind me of my horribly awkward school days, I don't feel so self-conscious of wearing it. Even my red sausage fingers don't bother me as much. Yay for adulthood!