Author: Lara
The Titular Polish
Okay, I guess technically Zoya “Lara” isn’t named after me, but it might as well be – it’s the perfect pink.
I have a love/hate relationship with creme polishes. They look really good – if I can manage to keep them out of the crevices between my fingernail and finger skin – which I absolutely have not figured out how to do. The polish pools in the crevices and forms gross, crispy edges. I’ve definitely gotten better at it than I was a year ago, but I still struggle with the crevices. I cannot stand how some of the big time polish swatcher bloggers meticulously refuse to paint their entire nail – that’s cheating! A few millimeters of naked nail looks worse to me than a bad paint job. I don’t ever want to see naked nail!
Off my soapbox…I used Zoya Anchor and Armor – it’s not a Quick Dry, so I had to lay in bed, absolutely still, for an extra hour watching TV – oh, the horror!
BFF Shopping
Lily BEGGED me to go to Ulta yesterday. I wasn’t planning on going, but then she also talked my BFF and HER daughter into wanting to go – who am I to say no?
Besides, I had a $10 off anything birthday coupon to use. I broke down and got the Urban Decay Pore Perfecting Primer Potion ($31). I’ve come to the conclusion that the primer potion is what made their Naked Skin Foundation look so good. So even though I still have an unopened tube the The POREfessional, I went ahead and got it. I also got my Ulta Birthday Gift – an Ulta Complete Eyes Palette in “Indie”.
My BFF found the discontinued Physicians Formula Mineral Wear Color Correcting Powder, so she bought every single one on the rack at ‘Buy 1, Get 1 50% off’ – she got 4! She will be color corrected for quite a long time!
I then started my search for a larger shower rack to hold all my shower gels. (I have so many, I’m about to have to start piling them up on the floor of my shower stall.) We then hit Home Goods – nothing good there – and Ross – Lily talked me into getting her some sandals and I got a shirt, but no larger shower racks. My BFF could take it no more, so she bid us farewell. I then tried Marshall’s – still nothing. I didn’t have a Bed Bath & Beyond coupon with me, so I didn’t bother.
Ultimately, I gave up and went to Bath & Body Works anyway. I wanted to smell their new scent – Love & Sunshine. I thought I would love it, because it’s lemon and strawberries, but it didn’t really have a smell to me. .But right beside it was the new scent that came out at Xmas – A Thousand Wishes. Yup, that’s what I wanted. I took advantage of the ‘Buy 3, Get 3’ and picked up a Body Cream, Fragrance Mist and 2 Shower Gels. I also got a back up Mad About You Shower Gel and a Twilight Woods Bubble Bath for the hubs. In addition to my 20% coupon, I also had a coupon for a free travel size, so I completed my travel set and got a Mad About You Travel Size Shower Gel.
Now where am I gonna put my new Shower Gel???
Ch Ch Ch, Ah Ah Ah
I was gonna do another Valentine’s Mani, but then I was like naw – it’s Friday the 13th!
After Sinful Colors Base Coat, I started with 2 coats of Sinful Colors “Tokyo Pearl”. I used my nifty chinese dotting tools to make little hockey masks. The black is Zoya “Willa” and the red is Sinful Colors “No Text Red”. I should have used a different red, like Zoya “Sooki”, because the Sinful Colors was too thin. I topped it with Glisten & Glow “HK Girl”. They turned out a heck of a lot better than my Freddy Krueger Nails!
How about those dia de los Muertes Converse? They’re my favorite shoes right now…
On a side note, when I finished my nails last night, I grabbed my socks to show my husband while he was brushing his teeth…he nearly choked to death – because he laughed at me. Apparently, matching fingernails and socks was too much for him to handle.
February Birchbox – Rent the Runway
Excuses, excuses – I got my Birchbox two days ago and am just now getting around to posting it.
I just cannot resist the specially curated boxes! This month’s curated box is by Rent the Runway, a service that rents designer gown. I was ready to assume that it was a service I wouldn’t be able to use (like Stitch Fix), but they actually carry gowns up to size 22 – and not just a dozen or so…over a hundred! The fact remains though, even with a $30 off code in this box, I never, ever, ever have an occasion to wear a Badgley Mischka gown. Just never.
I will, however, use most of the other goodies in my box: derm e Anti-Wrinkle Vitamin A Glycolic Scrub, Fekkai Blowout Hair Refresher Dry Shampoo (yup, another one), Not Soap, Radio Body Wash in “The Stuff that Cupid dips his arrows in” (blackberry and vanilla, with added pheromones – I’ll save this for Valentine’s Day), Sumita Color Contrast Eyeliner in “Raina”, and theBalm Read My Lips lip gloss in “Bam!” (I’ve been wanting to try theBalm).
If you would like to try Birchbox, click on my referral link – https://www.birchbox.com/invite/5453f – I’ll get 50 points if you join.
Bout Damn Time
I was wondering if my Ulta order was EVER gonna get here.
On the last day of January, I used a 20% coupon to get the stuff I couldn’t find in-store. I ordered Urban Decay Naked Skin Ultra Definition Pressed Finishing Powder in “Naked Medium Light”, a Urban Decay Good Karma Optical Blurring Blush and Ulta Makeup Brush and Sponge Cleaner to clean it. I also couldn’t resist grabbing stila’s Glow and Behold Makeup Set, which includes Convertible Color Dual Lip & Cheek Cream in “Magnolia”, Deluxe Lip Glaze in “Gleam”, Smudge Stick Waterproof Eye Liner in “Lionfish” and a cool rhinestone headband. Normally priced $29, it was only $20 – $16 after my coupon! I really just wanted the headband. (I immediately put it on and showed my husband and he looked at me like I put a cat turd on my head. Ass.)
I chose the skincare sampler – yet another Smashbox sample – Photo Finish Foundation Primer. I also received Altchek MD Daily Moisturizer. Only 2 samples – so sad. I guess technically 3, if I count the philosophy “live joyously” scent card. I don’t.
So Cute I Could Puke
My nails are so cute…they make me wanna puke. Look at those hearts – gross!
After Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat, I used two different polishes – Julep “Lindy” on my thumb and ring finger and Julep “Carol”. I thought you would be able to tell the difference between “Lindy” and “Carol” – “Lindy” has shimmery flakies and “Carol” is a sheer jelly – but they look almost exactly the same when topped with Julep “Hartleigh”.
Julep got it right with “Hartleigh”. I had no problem getting the hearts on my nails – the bottle was packed! I got eat least two hearts on each nail and three on a few of them. It also wasn’t all goopy like “America”.
I topped with “HK Girl” to give those hearts extra security. Those suckers aren’t coming off unless I use sandpaper.
At least this Valentine’s Day is preceded by a Friday the 13th…I have that to look forward to.
Violet Candy
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Zoya “Leslie” looks like candy to me – like a dusty violet conversation heart or maybe even a grape sweet tart. It’s hard to see in the picture, but there’s a subtle blue shimmer.
Zoya describes “Leslie” as a soft spring lavender metallic with an energizing turquoise flash.
I started with Zoya Anchor, then two coats of “Leslie” and topped with Zoya Armor. I got a little bit of crispiness around my cuticles again. Blech.
Genius Idea
So…I LOVE the “Swatch Me” stickers that come on top of Julep polishes. Those stickers make it a snap to find the polish in seconds, instead of having to dump my Color Caddy to find what I’m looking for. True – Julep does sell those stickers, but they’re hella expensive. What’s a girl to do?
A girl goes to Office Depot and spends $6.99 for a pack of 1,100 5/16 x 1/2 inch labels instead!
I really tried to find round labels, but they didn’t have any white ones that were small enough. I kind of like the rectangular ones though – they give the polish enough room to spread. They work great on the flat tops of bottles, but they don’t work so well on bottles that have a slight rounding to the top (Rimmel London). They also aren’t working great on bottles that have a raised imprint on the top of the bottle (OPI, Nicole by OPI, China Glaze, Sinful Colors), because the stickers are not sticky enough. I might have to use clear tape to keep them on.
I’ve gotten through about 200 polishes so far – a little over 2/3 done. I’ve actually never counted my polishes, so I guess that means I have 350+. I’m not stopping til I hit at least 1,000.
The Knockouts of the Double R
Another outstanding polish from Hare Polish called “The Knockouts of the Double R”. This Twin Peaks inspired polish was created to match Norma and Shelly’s uniforms at the Double R Diner.
I started with Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat and then two coats of “Double R”. I then got to try out my new Glisten & Glow “HK Girl” Top Coat! For the last few months, I have been seeing this top coat over and over again on Instagram. I would see hands rocking the same polishes I had, but they looked so much better. Almost invariably, they would be using “HK Girl” – so I finally ordered it. It’s $6.99 + $2.50 shipping, so not too terribly pricey. I’m going to try it out for a while before giving a full review, but so far – I love it!
New Year, New Hue
I finally got my “New Year, New Hue” $15 Zoya deal in! Any three polishes for “free” with $15 shipping, plus 3 mystery minis that have never been available Retail. Zoya sure does have odd sales, but I’ll take it.
I picked out “Binx” – spicy orchid purple dappled with gold metallic and holo sparkles, “Lara” (finally, a polish with my name) – medium magenta-rose pink with subtle yellow undertone and a soft cream finish, and “Paloma” – sheer deep fuchsia-berry with a buildable jelly gloss finish. I totally pink-ed out.
My mystery minis were the Peter Som Collection from New York Fashion Week 2014 – “Anais” – black with a vein of the same warm pewter pigment running through it for a unique oil slick effect, “Severine” – warm pewter metallic, and “Charlotte” – nude.
I’m gonna have some fun!