I'm Not Dead!

Hey y'all! I did not intentionally desert you this past week, but I've been pretty busy. I've got this annotated bibliography I have to write before tomorrow, plus I got back from St. Louis on Tuesday, and then yesterday I got my wisdom teeth out. :O Yeah, that was painful. Thankfully I was under complete anathesia, but I react very poorly to anathesia, so I spent yesterday throwing up every time I tried to eat something. Fuuun. Today I feel a lot better ... guess I threw up all the anathesia. ;) My mouth is not so painful anymore, but my face is swollen to a ridiculous size. If you just saw my head you would think that I weighed 200 lbs, and had a square face shape. Haha! It's pretty funny looking.

So anyways, about my post today. I got this email the other day from Essie talking about this new collection that's got diamond dust all in it. The colors are kind of meh, and they cost $15 each. Buut, there's a jewel in 3 bottles of polish. An emerald, a diamond, or a sapphire. Hello, I'd like one of those! ;) The red looks nice, and I'm wondering how sheer that pink is. The brown-y color could either be gorgeous or competely ugly. We'll see if I cave and buy any. I wish that the colors matched the jewels, you know? Like, an emerald green, a sapphire blue, and a sparkling white. Wouldn't that be cool?

[[EDIT: Scrangie has posted swatches of these! Click here to see them.]]

OMG, y'all!

It is very weird that I haven't posted about OMG yet ... I have no idea why. I've worn it several times, but never deigned to take a picture of it. Whatever. OMG is from the China Glaze OMG collection of 2008, an entire collection of holos. It is a very fantastic collection. The holo is very fine, you can't really see the particles at all. OMG is, as you can see, silver holo. There's a huge amount of holo packed in there ... it's almost blinding in the sun. Awesome.
My only complaint with the OMG collection is that the formula is weird. You have to wait for each coat to dry completely before adding another coat, and then you have to work quickly and without mistakes, or else the polish comes off instead of going on. Ooops. ;)

Better Pictures: OPI Done Out In Deco

This is the last of the Better Pictures for a while, in case you're wondering. ;)
Done Out In Deco is from OPI's spring 2009 South Beach collection, and is the only polish I bought from that collection. I found the rest of the colors to be superbly boring.
However, Done Out In Deco is anything but boring. It is this stunning greyed-out lilac. It's warmer than Parlevous-OPI? (from the French 2008 collection), and in my opinion, way better.
DOID gives my hands a clean, stream-lined, modern look. Somehow it made me think of skyscrapers. Whatever, I'm weird. But I love this polish! Here is my original post.

OPI Designer Series Reflection

All right, I've scheduled this bad boy to get posted at the same time my plane takes off, so as you are reading this I am swooshing up into the sky.
I was extremely happy to find a display of OPI Designer Series nail polish a couple of weeks ago at my Ulta, and snapped up Reflection. I could only afford 1, as they're $12.50. Boo! I want Extravagance, Classic, and Coronation. See Scrangie's swatches of these shades here.
The Designer Series is a series of holographic nail polish by OPI. It's awesome. The holographic particles are pretty widely dispersed throughout the nail polish, so at first glance it looks a little like polish very full of holo glitter. No so, dear ones.
Reflection itself is a light, warm red. Scrangie describes it as "hot pink coral with gold duochrome and holo". That makes sense too, but I do think it is red. Light red. I wish it was a darker, richer red, but I'm not complaining.
I really like holo nail polish ... and indeed, who doesn't love rainbow prisms all over their nails? Stupid people, obviously. :D Sorry if I've insulted any of you. ;)
This particular holo effect makes my nails look like velvet. Awesome.

Better Pictures: Essie Status Symbol

How about another Better Pictures post? Alright then, I'll give you one. Haha, I'm so hilarious. Here's Status Symbol, from Essie's Spring 2009 collection. This is a fabulous, fabulous semi-jelly pink. It is delectably juicy-looking. I love it. I don't even like pink nail polish, but this one is a joy to wear, and I don't get sick of it until it chips. :O I think it is my favorite pink. Here is the original post.
So, I am back from Colorado today. Like, within the past hour. Tomorrow my plane takes off @ 11:30 ... there won't be time for another post before then. I'll have to leave @ 8:30 to get to the airport @ 9:30 so I'll have 2 hours to get thru the gigantic Houston Hobby airport (it's not as big as Intercontinental, but it's still pretty huge) and not miss my plane. Oh joy. But I'm sure to have fun in St. Louis. :) This is a friend I've known since 1st grade ... we lived in St. Louis while my dad got his second Master's (he likes school a lot), and we met there. :) We still like each other, and every year one of us visits the other. Yay for friends! :)
Anyways, I'm in the process of scheduling some posts for the week ... if I can get my sister to get off the computer that we upload pictures on. Then I'll repack for St. Louis and try to finish the last 300 pages of a mammoth book I'm reading. Also, I'm hungry. I think I need to go to CVS and buy some Sour Patch kids.

A review!

All right, who's ready for a real review? Here is OPI Time-less Is More, from a Soft Shades collection somewhere.

Do y'all remember my lemming for a chic, milky, almost-opaque white/off white? Here is the result. It IS milky and chic and almost-opaque and white. Buuut, I wish it was opaque-r. I just have a really hard time with non-opaque colors ... I stare frustratedly at my nails a lot when I wear them. It took 4 coats for me to achieve this level of color/opacity. Application was slightly weird .. you're either going to have to go with 1 coat or 4 coats. On coats 2 and 3 there was significant streakiness.

TIM makes my hands look clean, elegant, and well cared-for. It also makes my fingers look longer, which is always a plus. I don't have short fingers, but I always welcome the look of longer ones. Oh, and another plus is that this will look good on you whether you've got a tan or not. In fact, it kind of made me look like I had a tan. Yay! :)

Sooo, my soft shade lemming should be fulfilled, but now I want a color that leans more to the pink. I have no idea what's wrong with me ... who is this person who craves soft shades? Whatever. I think my next 8ty8 haul will include OPI Bubble Bath and OPI Tickle My France-Y.

p.s. We are starting home to Houston on Saturday, and will arrive on Sunday. You may think that this means resumption of regular posting (was that a word?), but you are wrong. I am leaving to visit my friend in St. Louis for a week on Monday ... my plane leaves at 11:30. Soooo, finger crossed I'll have some decent posts for y'all this coming week, but I can't really promise anything. Sorry!

Better Pictures: China Glaze Caribbean Blue

Annnd, another Better Pictures post. Today we've got CG Caribbean Blue, from the Winter 2008 collection, Bahama Blues. It was a fabulous collection, made up entirely of blues. You can imagine how delighted this blue lover was when it came out. Caribbean Blue is, in my opinion, the star of the collection. That may just be because I lurve, lurve, lurve sky blue. This particular sky blue isn't boring at all, seeing as it is filled with silver glitter, giving it more of a punch than other, creme, sky blues. In my original post I complained about gloppiness in the formula. However, I've worn it several times since then, and haven't had any problems. Here is my original post.

Cuticle Chronicles: Sally Hansen Cuticle Remover

Hello y'all! Here is finally another Cuticle Chronicles post! :)

Today I'm showing you the Sally Hansen Cuticle Remover. Cuticle removers, shockingly enough, remove your excess cuticles. You know the stuff that grows up over your moons? That stuff. With this stuff you just smear some on your cuticles, wait 2 minutes, and push back your cuticles with a manicure stick. Then wash your hands or you will die a slow and painful death. :D

As you can see, this guy is very easy to use and isvery inexpensive (less than $4) as well. This is the first cuticle remover I tried, and I like it quite a lot. My friends and I oo and ahh over the way our cuticles just slide off after applying it. I'm eager to try CND Cuticle Eraser, and CND Solar Oil. Hopefully my next CC post will be about the Cuticle Eraser, as I plan to buy it after I get home from Colorado.

What is y'all's favorite cuticle remover? Do you use a cuticle remover?

Better Pictures: China Glaze Watermelon Rind

Hello from the mountains of Colorado! It is absolutely wonderful weather up here, 75 or 80 degrees, and very dry. That's 20-25 degrees cooler than it was in Houston! :O Needless to say, we're loving it. :)

Today I'm starting the Better Pictures series, a series where I will, shockingly, post better pictures of polishes that I might not have gotten such great pictures of before. Today I have for you China Glaze Watermelon Rind, from CG's Summer Days spring '09 collection. It is a wondrous blue-leaning green , flecked all over with silver glass flakes. It's pretty stunning.

WR applies a little sheer, so I have to use 3 coats.

Here's the original post, where I gush quite a bit about this polish.

4th of July Manicure

Here is my sloppy attempt at a festive 4th of July manicure. ;)
I used Zoya America (felt like I had to use a polish named America! :)) for the red, Essie Mesmerize for the blue, and Zoya Ginessa as the white.
I had originally wanted to use Ginessa to make white french tips (on the red fingers) as well, but decided that it would look trashy. After I made the star on my thumbs, I decided it would have looked better just to leave it red and blue. I think it looks a little campy. O well!
Here's a close-up of my dreadful, dreadful job on the star. Keep in mind that this is the one that turned out well! :O It is dang hard to make a star without using nail art brush! Zoya's brushes are especially squat ... it probly wasn't too smart to use Ginessa, but I wanted the sparkly look. It ended up looking more like silver than white though.

This is my last post before I leave for Colorado tomorrow. I've got a dumb consultation with an oral surgeon at 8:30 am, and we'll leave directly after that. Don't even ask, it's been very complicated and involves getting my wisdom teeth out before school starts. Anyway, we're driving. It's a 17 or 18 hr drive, so we'll get there noonish on Tuesday. My aunt owns a condo on Beaver Creek mountain (right next to Vail, if you know where that is), and she lets us stay up there every year. This year they'll be up there for a week with us, as well as my grandparents, and then we'll get the condo to ourselves for a week. Very nice. :) It is simply lovely up there and we are so looking forward to the cool weather. This was the hottest June in recorded history for Houston ... it has been 100+ every day for the past few weeks. Aghhh! 75 degrees is going to feel very good. :)
I'll be posting while I'm away, but probly not as much as normal. I've got some posts all arranged, about 2/week. O, and I'll be gone for 3 weeks, instead of the 2 that you've probably deduced. I'm leaving for St. Louis to stay with a friend for a week the day after we get back from Colorado. I'm a having a busy July!
So, until Colorado, see ya!

Lebkuchen!

So, I was being bored and looking through all of our online pictures, and I found these pictures of my sister, my grandma and I. We're making traditional German cookies called lebkuchen (LABE-koo-ken). As you've probably guessed, my Grandma is German. :) She makes lebkuchen (translation = little love cakes) every year at Christmas, but now that she's getting older (she's 83!) Jessica and I help her make them. Mama hates them, but she helps too. Haha! Lebkuchen is an aquired taste for a lot of people. The frosting is anise-flavored (licorice, basically), which can turn a lot of people off. But my dad grew up eating them, so he loves them, as do Jessica and I. My brothe David has my mama's tastebuds, I guess. :) Anyways, here's the pictures.
(l-r) Grandma, me, Jessica. We're mixing the dough, I suppose.
Here we are again. Excuse me for being sans-makeup and holding the measuring cup like an idiot. :D But besides me, don't I have a beautiful family? Look at my grandma ... she's 83 and has hardly any wrinkles! The recipe makes 12 dozen! Looots of cookies. We're frosting them here. I look fat, so ignore me and concentrate on the yummy cookies. :) Believe it or not, these disappear extremely quickly. My grandparents only took home about 3 or 4 dozen this year, so we were left with 9 dozen or something silly like that. But my daddy (who has a disgustingly fast metabolism) can eat a whole cookie jar's worth of these at a time. :)

Revlon Passion Punch Shimmer

I bought Passion Punch Shimmer last summer, before my whole addiction to nail polish really started. I believe that it was a limited edition ... but I'm not entirely sure about that.

PPS is a vibrant fuschia shimmer with a pretty strong blue flash. It isn't boring at all, I actually enjoy wearing it. Plus, the staying power is pretty awesome.

Application was really nice. I think I used 3 coats, but I'm not sure.