Month: October 2014
Maleficent in a Motorcycle Jacket
So…even though I haven’t seen the movie, I’m gonna be Maleficent for Halloween. It’s not that I’m lazy, but as I get older, I’m quite content to pick costumes that consist of wearing a hat and dressing in black.
I was googling Maleficent pictures yesterday to check out her nails and I was absolutely infuriated that Angelina Jolie had cream colored nails in the film. That’s no fun – no fun at all! How can an evil fairy have delicate, cream colored nails?
Nope, nope, nope – I can’t do cream colored nails for Halloween.
Since Maleficent is decked out in black leather, I decided to try out Revlon Leather Cuir “Motorcycle Jacket” from the Revlon Textile Collection. This is a nice deep black with a soft, pebbled texture. It’s more like rubber than leather. It’s shinier than I expected – it almost looks wet – like wet tires! It goes on super smooth and dries fairly quickly. I used Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, but no top coat – a top coat would ruin the texture.
I can’t wait for tomorrow!
Slimer!
Sticking with the Ghostbusters theme, I had to do “glow in the dark” Slimer nails. (NO hot dog jokes…)
This is Funky Fingers “Oogie Boogie” – slimy lime green jelly with green and yellow hex and bar glitter. This is the most glowy “glow in the dark” polish I’ve found – even glowier than “Dia de Muertos”.
I used Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coat.
I’m getting better and better at taking pictures in the dark.
I took this one in my dark ass powder room, instead of my closet. I always end up stepping on shoes and knocking belts on the floor in my closet – the powder room is the way to go.
There is no Dana…Only Zuul
Julep “Dana” is white with an electric blue shimmer AND is black light reactive. Cool!
Orly Bonder for a smooth start and Sally Hansen Diamond Flash for extra shine…there are a few odd bubbles in the finish, but nothing too serious.
Can I tell you how much I HATE white fingernail polish? Not only is it almost impossible to get a smooth finish, I always end up getting crinkly edges around my cuticles. It also chips super easy. As you can see, I managed to chip my index finger already – I hit my fingernail with my razor in the shower this morning, but I guess I should be thankful I didn’t lose the tip of my finger.
So I’m not in college anymore and don’t have a black light anywhere in my house. (There’s a time and place for everything, kids – that’s college.)
My son happened to have a tiny black light from an invisible ink set, so I borrowed it to take a picture of my nails. I locked myself in the closet, held the black light in my teeth, trying to aim it at my left hand while taking a picture with my right. I felt like a dumbass.
Now I know how R. Kelly felt.
She Loves Me!
My BFF really loves me! While she was vacationing in Seattle a few weeks ago, she stopped by a Walgreen’s and picked up a few Sinful Colors for me – “Queen of Beauty” and “Purple Diamond”. (She had also gotten me “Starry Night”, but since I already had that one – she got to keep it.)
It’s been like a month since we hung out, but we finally got to hang out yesterday. On the way back from visiting her sis in the hospital (who is like my sis), we stopped at HEB for random shit and I couldn’t resist picking up NYC “Fashion Queen”, because with the $1 off coupon…SHIT, it was 98 cents.
Mediterranean Fall
When you get those GOOD coupons in your email…50% off selected fall items, 3 wick candles 2/$22 and an additional 25% off your purchase…you gotta go!
I picked up two candles – “Smoked Berries & Incense” and “Topaz Waters”. I let my husband smell them – he wrinkled his nose and banned them from the bedroom. Awwwww!
I showed restraint and picked up three 50% off hand soaps – “Topaz Waters”, “Moroccan Fig & Honey” (my husband HATED this one), and “Malaysian Pomegranate”.
On a related note, I switched out the summer scent – “Aloha Orchid” – from my powder room and replaced it with a winter scent – “Sparkling Pink Champagne”. My son got really upset – because it didn’t smell as good. Soap is a very divisive issue in our house.
Freak Show Spectacle
I feel like I’ve been gone forever! I usually paint my nails every other day, but I went three days on “Misty Day” because it looked so good…
This is Delush Polish “Freak Show Spectacle” from the “Scream Supreme” Collection. This polish is inspired by Season 4 – Freakshow. It’s a purple jelly filled with bright circus-y micro-glitter. This one is all tiny glitter and doesn’t have the bigger glitter like the others. It’s very patriotic – almost like Julep “America”.
I used Revlon Quick Dry Base and Top Coat. It did well enough, better than NYC “Grand Central Station” – but not as smooth as Sally Hansen Diamond Flash.
Misty Day
Here’s another polish from Delush Polish’s “Scream Supreme” Collection – “Misty Day”, named for the swamp witch gifted with powers of regeneration in American Horror Story: Coven. I really didn’t care much for Misty Day – mostly because of her obsession with the musical delights of Stevie Nicks. If you could teach a cat in heat to smoke cigarettes…that’s Stevie Nicks.
“Bitchcraft” was no fluke – “Misty Day” is just as perfect. No dabbing or fishing, just paint your goddamn nails and they look fucking awesome. I stayed with the Orly Bonder as a basecoat, but that might have been a mistake – this glitter is a sonuvabitch to get off. It took 30 minutes. I was MUCH happier using Sally Hansen Diamond Flash for the topcoat – it’s much smoother, although not 100% smooth.
Extreme Bedroom Makeover
So….my nail polish collection has gotten a little bit out of control. I’ve been fine the last few years, storing them in a plastic caddy, but then I filled both sides and had to get another caddy for remover and tools and then even that was not enough. I’ve got polishes EVERYWHERE – on the floor, on my vanity table, still in stacked subscription boxes…not to mention scattered through the rest of the house.
It’s not just the polishes that are the problem – it’s the subscription boxes. Since I’m a hoarder, I can’t throw any of the boxes away because I NEED them. I use them to mail stuff, to put gifts in and I’ve also started covering them with fancy Duck Tape to use for storage. The problem is that I get boxes faster than I can use them. Not to mention all the samples that come in those boxes – they are stacked up everywhere as well.
Again, Angie is my inspiration. I had been really considering getting a HELMER from IKEA (the nail blogger holy grail of nail polish storage), but I don’t quite have THAT much polish. (The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Obviously, I’m not there yet.) Angie suggested getting a RÅSKOG instead – it lets you see what you’ve got. We finally made the long trek to IKEA yesterday and I picked one up – after visiting my grandparents, who are conveniently buried across the street from IKEA. (It’s like they planned it.)
I put all of my polishes into the bottom two trays – including my Julep Color Caddy. I may end up booting it if I run out of room, but it’s so pretty! I tried to clean up the lotions and other stuff on my vanity – I dusted and culled a few old bottles. What I really need to do is clean out the drawers, which are filled mostly with jewelry – important stuff I inherited from my mother and grandmother, but also stupid stuff, like my elementary school jewelry. That’s a project that would take an entire weekend…at the very least.
The vanity itself was my grandmother’s. The finish is horrible – scratched and scuffed – but I don’t have the gumption yet to refinish it like I did my other vanity. (I did a red and black crackle finish on the other one – it’s beautiful, but it was a pain in the ass.) I went ahead and put all my boxes underneath it, I don’t sit at it, so really it’s just storage.
I’m very happy with the result. I expect I’ll outgrow my RÅSKOG soon, but I’ve got room for another…
Bitchcraft
Here it is – the first of the 7 polishes in Delush Polish’s “Scream Supreme” Collection.
Of course I started with “Bitchcraft”. It’s a black jelly with different sizes and shades of pink glitter – from pale pink to fuchsia. It’s inspired by the 3rd season of American Horror Story – Coven. This polish makes me think of cunty Madison, played by Emma Roberts.
I used Orly Bonder for the basecoat and then painted 2 coats of “Bitchcraft”. This is the most perfect glitter I have ever used. No dabbing, no fishing. I literally just painted my nails and this is how it turned out. Absolutely stress-free glitter. The only thing I would do differently is use a different top coat. I used NYC “Grand Central Station”. The formula is too thin and it didn’t create a smooth top layer – it sunk into the cracks.
While I was at HEB, I grabbed a replacement bottle of Sally Hansen Diamond Flash – I won’t go through the disappointment of “Grand Central Station” again.
Next up – “Misty Day”.
Target Beauty Box – October 2014
The Target Beauty Box is back! The price went up – $7 instead of $5, but I still got 5% off with my Target Red Card and free shipping.
Elnett Extra Strong Hold Hairspray – I don’t use hairspray often, but the only one I have is an Aveda one that my sis gave me, so I kind of needed this.
Fekkai Professional Blowout Hair Refresher Dry Shampoo – Ugh, another dry shampoo. I haven’t tried ANY of the ones I’ve gotten yet.
LANEIGE BB Cushion Sample – I am most excited about this one. The sample card comes with 3 different shades – yay! I comes with an antimicrobial cushion to apply it – no more dirty makeup hands.
NYX Jumbo Eye Pencil in “Milk” – Lots of beauty blogs suggest using “Milk” as an eye shadow primer to make the color pop, so I’m going to try it.
L’Oreal Colour Riche Extraordinaire Lipstick in “Nude Ballet” – Not a stick, but a liquid with a doe’s foot applicator – I LOVE those.
As before, there’s also a $3 off $15 coupon – it will not go to waste. The box still appears to be available online, so git ya one!