China Glaze Intelligence, Integrity & Courage

I really wish I'd been able to get more than three posts up this month, but it's been a busy one for me. My sister leaves tomorrow for Seattle, and apart from wrestling with my mixed emotions of envy and sadness, I've been culling a lot of polishes I don't wear for her to take up with her, as well as some of my less-used makeup. She's used to raiding my various beauty stashes and I want her to have what she uses most. I know at some point I'll be making my way up there, but until that day comes, I'll just have to ease my way along here as best I can alone. 

In addition to that, I'm moving bedrooms. I'll be taking her old room which in addition to having a very large built-in closet, is almost twice the size as the room I'm in now. I'm in desperate need of the extra space, especially since I'll be taking care of her dog until she and her boyfriend can find an apartment. 

Anyway, this polish sparked a lively debate in my house because no one could agree on what color it was. Some said grey, some said blue. I see more blue than grey, sister sees in more grey than blue. It's obviously both, but since it's my blog I'm going to say it's a soft silvery blue with heavy yellow-based grey undertones. I love these types of colors. It's soft, but interesting, and looks different in every light. 

This was three buttery coats. I love the consistency of China Glaze cremes, even if the brush isn't my favorite. It's long, skinny, a little floppy, and doesn't spread over the nail the way I'd like, but the excellent formula sort of meets the brush halfway and doesn't make painting the nightmare it could be. 

See you in February!

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!

Zoya Sansa

Well I'm almost a month into 2015 and haven't managed to get pictures of what I'm wearing until today.Up until last night I've been wearing the same Nails Inc. manicure...there wasn't much left of it, but it was sooooo pretty, and I was also sooooo lazy. I'll probably have it up here next month. 

Sansa is all kinds of gorgeous, but unfortunately the weather was a little spotty, so I can't show it to you in all its glimmery glory. You get the idea though. It's a rich purple base, slightly red-based, and is full to bursting with different colored rough shimmer. I hesitate to say glass fleck, so I'm saying rough shimmer, because the pieces are large and you can sort of see where they begin and end. The most prominent is the gold-lemon shimmer, but I also see pink, purple, green, and coppery-orange. 

I did two coats (probably should have done three, I see a bit of balding in the pictures, but in real life two is more than enough) and topped it with the O.P.I. top coat. It's an okay top coat, I wouldn't have bought it if I didn't have a coupon, but my CVS Extrabucks were stacking up and I thought why not? I'll probably use it when I do my toes. 

2014: Bitter and Sweet.

This year has been the hardest one I've ever lived...physically, emotionally, and psychologically. I've developed more than my share of grey hair at 28 in almost losing the closest thing I have to a parent, and then through blood, sweat, and tears (quite literally) learning how to care for her in her partially paralyzed state. I can't even remember who I was or what I was like before all of this happened.

But in this change, I've garnered some hard-won knowledge. If I can make it through a year like this, I'm pretty sure I can make it through anything. I'm a sort of semi-functional human superhero. Only instead of saving cities from the terror of evil scientists or super-villains, I save my family.

And it hasn't all been bad. I've compiled a list of a few things that helped me make it though the year, and I even have a couple accomplishments under my belt.

In 2014...

1. I finally figured out how to take my various medications daily and on time. Revolutionary, I know. But it's made life exponentially easier for me. I've been using the Mango Health App on my phone and it's amazing. It's 100% free and you can input your medications, the times you need to take them, how many, color, shape, pill or capsule, etc. Plus, you receive rewards for perfect days. You rack up points and earn stuff like Starbucks or Target gift cards, or donations to various charities (I use my points to donate to the ASPCA). 

2. I got sucked, through no fault of my own, into Once Upon a Time...

I began in in October of 2013 at the urging of my bestie, and at first I could not even believe why she would want me to watch it. I had little to no experience with non-canon type shows and movies, but oh ye gods, was I missing out. It's rocketed to the top of my favorite shows list, and vies for favorite show with Doctor Who. And that's saying something. Another non-canon fairy tale that became my favorite movie this year? Maleficent. Oh my god, I loved it. 

3. Three words: PINK.NAIL.POLISH. 

A Study in Polish I Do Post-Mortems

Essie Go Ginza (with O.P.I. Pirouette My Whistle on top)

Finger Paints Paint Me Happy

O.P.I. My Very First Knockwurst

O.P.I. Let's Do Anything We Want! over O.P.I. Let Them Eat Rice Cake

O.P.I. Steady as She Rose

Rimmel New Romantic

Zoya Rue

I wore more pink polish this year than I think I've worn in my lifetime. These are only the pink manicures I documented this year, there were a whole slew I didn't post either because of time restraints, chipping, or just plain laziness. I know pink is about as unappreciated as red in the polish world right now, but I want to scream it from the rooftops: I LOVE PINK NAIL POLISH!

4. One of my favorite music artists is Sia, and she put out a dynamite album this year that I played to DEATH.

It's got much more of a pop feel to it, especially when you compare it to her past work. My favorite Sia album is Healing is Difficult, which has a definite funk/jazz undertone, but 1000 Forms of Fear might be my new favorite. It's just beautiful. If you've never heard Sia, you owe it to yourself to listen to some of her work. She's a phenomenal singer and artist. 

5. In trying to keep up with the rest of the world, I caved and bought an iPhone. Granted, it's only an iPhone 4, but it's MY iPhone 4. 

wearing Essie Bikini So Teeny

6. I went whale-watching. Didn't get pictures of whales, but did get a hilarious sunburn. 

And saw these flop around. 

7. Had a few 'favorite manis': 

My birthday mani: O.P.I. My Favorite Ornament, Wonderous Star, & Emotions

butter LONDON Dodgy Barnett

China Glaze Sea Spray & Essie Blanc

Cirque Coronation

Essie No More Film & Deborah Lippmann Diamonds and Pearls

Sephora Formula X Glitter Rocket

L'Oreal Reign of Studs

Nails Inc. Porchester Square

O.P.I. Got The Blues for Red

Orly Cheeky

Zoya Tomoko

8. I figured out what I want to do for the rest of my life. I want to teach. And I'm going back to school for a Masters in either Elementary Education or English Education.

Here's to 2015. I want to fill it with travelling. I want to go to fun places and take pictures with friends and start making memories. I want to get my masters and find a place teaching, and maybe even start researching different places to live in...England maybe. I sure as hell am not a California girl...the universe got that one pretty wrong. But whatever happens, I'm excited. I'm looking forward to a new year like never before. Good things must happen.

Christmas 2014: Polka Dot Gradient in Festive Colors!

How was everyone's Holiday? Mine was infinitely better than last year. I put our tree up, and me, my grandmother, my aunt, and my boyfriend spent a couple days putting all our decorations on it. It's gorgeous...I want to keep it up until at least January 6th! This year's Christmas season has been such a period of comfort and happiness for me. I'm also sitting on quite a lot of cash and gift cards, so I foresee some very happy shopping days ahead of me. 

Anyway, here's what I wore for Christmas Day. I saw it on a Holiday Peachy Polish post, and knew I had to do it. I used the same O.P.I. Funny Bunny base that she did, but for my cascading dots I used O.P.I. L.A,M.B. for the gold, O.P.I. This Gown Needs a Crown for the silver, China Glaze Phat Santa for the red, and M.A.C. Screening Room for the green. I think it turned out really well...I'm still wearing it, in fact. I just can't bring myself to remove it. 

I spent the 25th watching old Christmas movies with my family, eating food (I grossly overestimated the amount of treats and snacks we could all eat, and as a result we are STILL munching our way through the various cookies, cakes, pie, fudge, crackers, and cheese that I loaded up on), and enjoying our tree. 

Now I have to figure out what to wear on New Years...

Probably my favorite tree we've ever done.

Gratuitous blurry shot, cause it looks awesome.

China Glaze Pine-ing for Glitter

Finally some time to take some proper photographs! I've sort of forgotten how, but I did my best. Also, I apologize for my dry cuticles...my Zoya remover is running low so I've just been using straight acetone. Probably a bad idea in winter. 

I love this manicure so much, it reminds me of sparkly-frosted sugar cookies. Pine-ing for Glitter is different sizes of pine-green glitter in a clear base. It is also the most easily-spread glitter topper I've encountered. I did one coat over a Wet n Wild white creme and one coat of O.P.I. Funny Bunny (the Wet n Wild looked way too stark). 

Insta-Manis

The weather has been sketchy (which I looooove), but it's not really conducive as far as making color-accurate pictures. So here's what I've been wearing, Insta-style:

O.P.I. Baby Please Come Home. I feel confident saying that this Liquid Sand is, hands down, my favorite texture polish. The silvery-lavender color, the way the glitters catch the light...IT.IS.PERF.

Essie Tuck It In My Tux & Essie Rock at the Top. As far as I'm concerned, Rock at the Top can do no wrong. It is such a versatile glitter. Slap it over anything, and presto! Holiday manicure. Tuck It In My Tux is an off-white creme-jelly. Took me four coats before I was happy. Cute, but I'm sure there are better versions of this out there.

O.P.I. All I Want for Christmas (is O.P.I.). Yer darn tootin'. Gimme all the O.P.I.'s. I was hoping this would be my holy grail red. I'm looking for something that is bright, but deep. Like a maraschino cherry, but a shade or two darker. This wasn't quite it, but it's a very pretty red, and no one can do a red like O.P.I. 

O.P.I. Red Red Rhine & Maybelline Color Show Precious Pearl. Probably the most Christmassy one I've done so far. I've got 10 to 15 bottles of holiday polish on my bedside table and I have so much trouble picking out the next manicure that I get overwhelmed, and not do a manicure at all. However, it was obvious these two belonged together. Red Red Rhine is maybe a touch brighter that All I Want For Christmas, but really, you can't distinguish between the two in the bottle. I probably couldn't tell them apart side by side. But I actually like it more than All I want for Christmas because black label O.P.I.'s wear like iron on me. I'm going on day two of this manicure and no chips (day two is when chips happen for me; it's like a domino effect...one nail chips, and all the others follow suit). 

I would say I hope the weather clears up and I can get some sunshine to show off what's on my nails properly...but I'd be lying. I hope it stays cold and overcast and rainy forever. 

Essie Recessionista & Rock at the Top

'Tis the season for all the silver and gold and red I can stand! I have been sitting on so many pretty holiday polishes and I wish I had 7 more hands so I could wear them all. 

Sorry for the tip wear on this one, I've had it on for a few days and only just found the time (and sunshine) to photograph them. 

Recessionista is a pretty berry color that can transform into a very red-based purple in sunlight. Not a groundbreaking shade, but I love it. I found Rock at the Top all by its lonely self in an Essie display, but I'd never heard of it before so I'm assuming they've put out more Luxeffects. It sounds basic on paper-neutral gold hexes with smaller and then tinier glitters peppered throughout, but the effect is gorgeous. Over a dark color like Recessionista it really pops and looks like nail art. I did one coat, and I tried not to pay too much attention to the glitter placement-I'm usually hyper-focused on making sure each nail has the same amount of glitter, and that it's spaced out nicely. Not this time; some nails have more, some have less, and I love it. 

Both were delights to work with. Recessionista went on like butter, and Rock at the Top's base was the perfect consistency; not too viscous, not too runny. It'll be hard to take this one off.