Author: Lara
Morpho
Julep “Jennine” – I’m in love!
“Jennine” reminds me of a Morpho – a genus of tropical butterflies, the brilliant blue iridescent kind that you only see in Butterfly Exhibits like the one at HMNS or the Rainforest at Moody Gardens. Or maybe a the head of a horny peacock, huge tail displayed, eyes darting around for a homely brown female…In sunlight, there are flecks of gold, green and violet.
I’m in love with the stardust finish. My husband said it feels like sandpaper, but it’s smoothed quite a bit since yesterday. I definitely wouldn’t recommend wearing pantyhose with a stardust or sand polish – they’ll get shredded.
I was was actually a good girl and used the Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat. It dried quickly and gave a beautiful smooth start for my nails. It was like a coat of gesso on rough canvas. We’ll see if it prevents “Jennine” from staining my nails – blues and greens are notorious for staining…
My one complaint with stardust/sand formulas is edge creep. As it dries, it tends to retrest from the cuticles and edges of the nails. I feel like the base coat helped a lot, but I still have major chip on my right index finger. I’m going to patch it tonight before bed, but I’ve got a feeling that I’ll be seeing “Natalia” tomorrow.
June Julep Maven Box – The Three Wishes Collection
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I got my box! I got my box! Of course, my BFF already got her box on Saturday and totally rubbed it in…
June’s box is called “The Three Wishes Collection”. I guess they’re going for the “genie in a bottle” Moroccan theme. I’ve been fairly MEH about the last several months’ colors, but I absolutely LOVE every color in every box this month. It took FOREVER for me to choose which box I wanted. I was going to customize, but then it turned out that I didn’t need to. I thought I had pre-paid for 3 months of the customizable plan by accident…but then I wasn’t charged for it. Hmmm… I ultimately chose “Boho Glam” again, although I had initially planned to keep “It Girl” – but I had to have the new Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat. I never EVER use base coats, but I should.
“Boho Glam” came with the Oxygen Smoothing Coat, “Natalia”, refined copper metallic, and “Harlow”, golden dragonfly iridescent chrome. I went crazy with the add-ons this month. I got “Jennine”, full-coverage borealis blue stardust (matte glitter), from the “It Girl” box. I also got more “Swatch Me” stickers and a color fan to test out my color idea. Because I got 3 add-ons, I got a special gift: “Marjorie”, citrus orange frost, and “Veronica”, modern mauve crème. Both colors are from the August 2013 “Garden Party” box.
I almost forgot – there were 3 Grape Pixi Stix in the box, too. Julep…STOP with the candy!
Not a Julep Maven? CLICK HERE to join! Your first box is free with code FREEBOX!
My Glitter Game is Strong
After several rounds of Tilex and scrubbing my shower stall door with a toothbrush yesterday, I found that my nails didn’t look quite as spiffy as they did just a few hours before. The solution…you guessed it – GLITTER.
My glitters of choice were Sally Hansen Gem Crush “Lady Luck” and Gem Crush “Glitz Gal”. “Lady Luck” is exactly the same shade as the base coats of JulieG “Gift Wrapping” – they look really spiffy together. You can see “Gift Wrapping” just barely peeking through underneath the steel gray glitter in “Glitz Gal”.
As usual, I used Sally Hansen Diamond Flash to seal the glitter. I washed dishes all morning and my nails still look great. Like I said, my glitter game is strong.
Girls Day
Saturdays are quickly turning into “Girls Day” for Lily and I. Since I take her to Gymnastics on Saturday morning, we usually end up eating and shopping afterwards. It reminds me of the infrequent “Special Days” that my mother would alternate with my sister and I…except I get to do them every weekend. (Don’t worry, I spend one-on-one time with my son, too. We just don’t anything Beauty related…)
After Taco Bell, Lily finally screwed up enough courage to get her ears pierced. The girl at Claire’s tried to tell her it wouldn’t hurt, but I stepped in and told her that it WOULD hurt, but only for a second. Lily actually haggled with the girl for 2 suckers if she didn’t cry. That daughter of mine is TOUGH. No tears, she just said, “Ow.”
Of course, after Claire’s…Ulta. Physician’s Formula is still “Buy 1, Get 1 50% off”, so I picked up Mineral Wear Face Powder to replace the one I am almost out of and Mineral Wear Correcting Powder, hoping it is similar to the stila Correcting Powder. I also picked up a clearance Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear “Sea-ly String” for 79 cents. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my 20% off coupon…
The day was going so well that I even gave into Lily’s begging to visit PetSmart to look at the adoptions. (Why bother with the zoo when PetSmart is a ZOO every Saturday?) Although it was inevitable that she would end up begging to get another dog, we managed to leave without a tantrum. Saturday with Lily was an awesome day!
Extreme Bathroom Makeover
Makeup. Makeup everywhere. Makeup on the counter. Makeup in makeup bags, stacked and hanging from the towel rack.
Did I mention that this is my husband’s sink? My sink is surrounded by face wash, deodorant and hair crap.
My makeup collection had outgrown the bags and had spilled onto the counter, even after “the purge”. Even though he rarely complained about the fine layer of powders and streaks of eye shadow in his sink, I was much more vocal about the prospect of beard hairs sprinkled all over my stuff. My stuff that was technically in his area…
Last Sunday was a monster trip to Target to take advantage of an additional 5% off coupon that I had been awarded via my son’s frequent and varied prescriptions. (I guess I can thank Impetigo for my coupon?) I decided on a plain white armoire and a cadre of wire mesh baskets, drawers and bins.
The bottom shelf has two large bins. One holds foundations, BB Creams and Primers; the other has powders and blush.
The middle shelf has a compartmented basket, with lip and eye stuff in the front and all of my shadow palettes in the back.
The top shelf is my favorite. I have random stuff in the drawers, like individual eye shadows and sharpeners. The reason that it’s my favorite part is that I get to display my mother’s jar. She used to keep eyeliner and brushes in this jar and so do I. It’s a milky white glass cold cream jar – you just don’t see those anymore. The jar has ELCAYA in relief on the side and ELCAYA NEW YORK on the bottom. Google told me that Elcaya Creme was a fancy cold cream sold in the 1910s and 1920s. It was $4, which is like $50 in today’s dollars.
Every day, I think of a question that I wish I could ask my mother. Today, I wish I could ask her the story of this jar. It couldn’t have been used by her or even her mother. If I had to guess, I’d say that she picked it up at a flea market. Most weekends, we would go flea marketing, looking for furniture to refinish. I never thought about why until now. The “cynical me” says that it was because we were poor. The “whimsical me” says it was because my mother preferred things with a history. The “realistic me” says that it was because of “blue laws” and flea markets were the only place really open on Sundays back then. It’s probably a combination of the three…
It’s not fancy or anything, but it works. My husband gets his side of the sink back…kinda. I still do my makeup on his side, I just put my stuff up after I use it. Everybody wins!
Furious Fuchsia
I’m always on the lookout for the perfect fuchsia…the fuchsia that perfectly matches my “Furious Fuchsia” car. I think I may have found it…
This is JulieG “Gift Wrapping” from the Holiday 2012 Collection. It was one of my $1 Big Lots finds. It looks so dark in the bottle, I didn’t have it in mind to be even close to “Furious Fuchsia”, but as I put on the second coat, I saw it.
The picture at left is in full sun, with my car as a backdrop. The bottle is still darker than the polish on my nails and my nails appear a tic lighter than my car, due to my car being in the shade and my fingers being in the sun. TAKING PICTURES OF MY NAILS IS GETTING SO DAMN COMPLICATED.
Celia
I could only handle my multicolored clown nails for a few days. Keep on voting!
This is Julep “Celia” – icy, green metallic. Although I just received it in my Golden Ticket Mystery Box, it was originally part of the “It Girl” December Maven Box – The Glitterati Collection. Even though I’m an “It Girl”, I had chosen the “Classic with a Twist” box, which had “Jillian” and “Mia”, so no overlap!
“Celia” is like the green version of Zoya “Bobbi”. I’m brainstorming a way to get the two of them together…
Also, I fixed the jacked up cuticle on my middle finger – thank you, Julep “Vanish”!
20 Polishes
The other day, I told my husband that I wish I had 10 more fingers. He laughed and said, “You do – they’re called toes.” Painting my toenails is just not the same as painting my fingernails. They’re hard to reach and all different shapes. Plus, I hardly ever have a chance to show off my toes. I have so many ideas for polish combinations, plus – I’ve bought or been gifted about 25 polishes JUST in the month of May (which isn’t over yet.) Sure, I can practice on my junk mail, but it’s just not the same…what do I do? I stay up late and do a different combination on each finger!
Let’s start with my left hand…
Left Thumb – China Glaze “Four Leaf Clover” and Maybelline Color Show “Emerald City”
Left Pointer – Orly “Purple Poodle” and Sparitual Luminary Matte Top Effect in “Opaline”
Left Middle – Nina “Blue La La” and Sally Hansen Gem Crush “Lady Luck”
Left Ring – Julep “Tatum” and Julep “Rosa”
Left Pinky – Sinful Colors “Sugar Sugar” and Nina “Gold Flake Topcoat”
My right hand was a little bit more difficult, both to paint AND to photograph…
Right Thumb – Orly “Bubbly Bombshell” and Sinful Colors “Nail Junkie”
Right Pointer – Zoya “Dillon” and Sinful Colors “Bombshell”
Right Middle – Sinful Colors “Inkwell” and essie Luxeffects “Set in Stones”
Right Ring – Sally Hansen Insta-Dri “Magenta Motion” and Sinful Colors “Call You Later”
Right Pinky – Sinful Colors “Nova” and Nicole by OPI “Rainbow in the S-Kylie”
Which one do you like best? Vote in the poll below and let me know what you think!
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Fire Duo
I did laundry and washed dishes ALL DAY yesterday. I’m pretty sure my husband assumed it was my way of saying THANK YOU for that late night Ulta trip…but I really just wanted to chip my nails enough to give me a good reason to redo them with my brand new polish.
A quick Google told me that this Butter London set was released for Holidays 2013 and is called “Fire Duo”. “Rebel Fox” is very thin. The first coat looked berry, but it became a deeper, blood red with the second coat. I really should have gone with a third coat – it’s very, very thin. “Brass Monkey” was nothing like I expected. I figured it would just lighten and cloud the base color like Sparitual Luminary Matte Top Effect in “Opaline”, but it was totally different. It’s a clear coat, with coppery flakies that take on the red and turn it into flames. I want to try it on a dark blue…
Good thing I had the presence of mind to take a pic BEFORE going to the pool with the kids. This polish is NOT sturdy enough for the summer – I’ve already got major edge-wear and a few chips. It’s not like I wasn’t planning on painting my nails again tonight, anyway…
Womanly Wiles
3rd post today…I’m out of control…
No one felt like cooking tonight, not even enough to shove a few frozen pizzas in the oven, so we went to IHOP. After IHOP, my husband wanted to run by Auto Zone to get something for his car project. I waited in the truck with the kids. I had an idea…I whispered something in Lily’s ear.
As soon as my husband got back in the truck, Lily leaned over and said, “Daddy, can we go to Ulta?” He just looked at her…and then looked at me and said, “Really?!?!?”
Yes, I totally attempted to use a six year old child to persuade my husband to take me to a makeup store at 8 o’clock at night….AND IT WORKED. He made me promise to make it a quick trip and I agreed, seeing as they close at 9. His eyes got BIG and his mouth set in a firm line…I asked if he would come in with me, but like me at Auto Zone, he stayed in the truck with my son.
All I picked up was Physician’s Formula Super BB Cream in “Light” (I mistakenly ordered “Light-Medium” a few months ago) and Nude Wear Glowing Nude Powder in “Light”. Physician’s Formula was “Buy 1, get 1 50% off”, plus I had a 20% off coupon, so I ended up saving $10.
With that purchase, I’m about $20 away from Platinum Status at Ulta. Yeah, I’m kind of a big deal…