Birthday Blog Dump!!!

Hey Y’all!!  What’s up my B!tches???  Hey it’s my birthday, it’s my birthday, gonna party like it’s my birthday!  Drink Bacardi like it’s my birthday!  Yeah, about that, I’m not gonna party but I am not working today and will be eating steak tartar and drinking X.O. beer (cognac infused!!!) at Le Select today instead of not telling anyone one that I work with that it’s my birthday and choking back crybaby tears at my desk all day!  That’s just how I roll!!!

So me and my twin sis will be turning 45 years old today and even though I can pretty much say that my life completely blows, I can at least say “At least I look good for 45!”

Really, Really Good!

So today, I’m just going to bleat about nail polish and nonsense because what is life about if not nail polish and nonsense, which is totally going to be my new band’s name... 

Gareth Pugh for Mac

I know, I know.  This post is long overdue to the point that it’s not even worth mentioning now but I’m going to anyways.  I like this guy’s work because the stuff he makes and what he wears is almost exactly like what me and my friends wore back in high school. I dig the the goth/expressionist/Klaus Nomi vibe he has going on.  I picked up Hyper, a really nice dark blue shimmer which I liked a lot...

But not as much as I liked Ascension because it looked almost completely different every time you looked at in a different light.  For example, when using a flash, it looked like a light purple shimmer.

Photographed in the shade, you can see it’s a light purple, green gold duo chrome...

But in direct sunlight, it looks like a mid-toned silver shimmer.   

They should have named it Enigma as far as I’m concerned.  It may not be the flashiest of polishes but I don’t have another quite like it.

Hidden Treasure 2 from Sally Hansen

I bought this polish strictly to compare it with the first Sally Hanson Complete Salon Manicure named Hidden Treasure.  HD1 certainly lived up to its name by being a great flaky polish with a strong orange and green reflective tone.  HD2 could stay buried.  It’s not a bad polish.  Its blue based pearl finish is nice enough and I had no problems with the formula.  It just doesn’t look super special.

Petra Haden Goes to the Movies

I’m a huge fan of Petra Haden’s unique covers using overdubs of her own voice to take the place of musical instruments.  I loved the sh!t out of Petra Haden Sings: The Who Sell Out and I’m just as excited with her latest release Petra Haden Goes to the Movies.  Her version of the main theme from Psycho is awesome.  Seriously, listen...

Also great on this album is her version of It Might Be You from the film Tootsie.  I had never liked this song until now.  When she sings it, I cry every time.  When I hear the original by Stephen Bishop, I feel nothing!

Essie’s All Tied Up

It’s been so long since I bought this polish that I can’t even remember which collection this polish came from but I can tell you that it is a nice and dependable, mid-toned pink with a subtle gold shimmer in it.  My favourite kind of pink!

 

Hey Look!  Some Nail Art!

I would try nail art more often if I had the time to wait for all the different layers to dry.  I was trying to get the feel of a match burning in the dark...

I used Maybelline’s Black Onyx as the base, and then dotted China Glaze’s Cruisin’ at the end of my nail and multiple coats of Essie’s As Gold as it Gets for some sparkle.  I know I’m no Leonardo of nail art but I like it.

Ski Day

I went on my employers’ annual ski day trip this February and bizarrely, I had a lousy time!  Nobody would talk to me at the house party the night before so I bailed and went back to my hotel room and drew for the rest of the night.  This was the result:

The Bride of Frankenstein

 At least I didn’t waste my time completely!

OPI’s SkyFall

This is just my opinion but Skyfall is the best Bond movie with the second worst theme song ever!  Yes, I said it!  I hate Adele’s Skyfall theme. It’s just so boring. I don’t care it won an Oscar, so did Crash.  If you’re wondering which Bond theme is the worst, the dishonor goes to Jack White & Alicia Keyes’s Another Way to Die from Quantum of Solace.  I imagine that the sound they make is identical to the sound of a bag of cats being tossed into a river and is the only time peanut butter and chocolate did not taste good together.

OPI’s Skyfall polish just might be one of my favorite polishes ever.   

Yes, yes it is a burgundy crème polish that leans towards a brownish tone but I just love it as much as the film’s highrise punch up and that scene is so amazing, it makes me cry too!

The Tears Are Coming!!!

Tom Hiddleston All the Goddamn Time

Yes I’m still bonkers over Captain Jazz Hands.

And last but not least, Thanks to my latest follower Lizelle for giving me a chance!

Ok, I'm Giving This Nail Art Thing A Try...

But bear with me as results may vary!  I'm starting to give nail art a try since I have so much polish (but not a lot of time on my hands) that I thought I should at least give some new things a try ever once and a while.  Plus it's a learning experience and I just haven't had enough of those lately.  So a couple of weeks ago, my sister, my long time buddy and one of my employees trundled off to the AGO's Picasso: Masterpieces from the Musee National Picasso, Paris which offers a rare opportunity to see some of his greatest works without having to go all the way to Paris.  I liked the exhibition but I think that my tastes lean more to Chagall, there is far less of an giant ego in his work than the giant ego that seeps out of almost everything Picasso did.  Oh well, personal tastes!

But I just wanted to wear something a little different that weekend, so I opted for some layering with 3 different polishes. I simply applied the coats in smaller areas.  For the base, I used Mac's Liberty of London in Blue India.  It's a dark & slightly dusty blue creme.  The second coat applied was Little Italy from New York Colour's Minute Quick Dry.  This colour is simply an opaque white creme, defiantly a shade that I would never wear on my own (and a little streaky I might add...). The third and final coat I used was China Glaze's Westside Warrior, a dark green creme which I reviewed last year.  Here's the results:

It's a bit sloppy and I had some issues with bubbling but when you're applying up to six coats of polish that is going to happen.  Although I didn't have the steadiest of hands that day, I certainly do like the colour combination a lot and I liked the change from the usual straight polished nail.

My sister tells her coworkers that I am suffering from a severe case of Hiddles Palsy, an affection that causes me to stare at pictures of Tom Hiddleston while simultaneously smashing my face into my laptop screen all day long.  It's true but what I am going to do with my spare time anyways?  Date a real person?

LOL!!! NO F******G WAY!!!!

Real men can be such a bore....

Capital Colours from China Glaze

Yes, I know it's long overdue and many of us have moved onto brand new collections but I'm still going to put in my two cents on the remaining Hunger Games polishes from China Glaze I picked up a while ago.

Fast Track is a light gold shimmer that became a favourite of mine pretty much after I applied the second coat.  If you're looking for a subtle and simple hue with a good amount of shine that you can sport just about anywhere, then FT is a great choice.  It may need a third of fourth coat if you want to achieve bottle colour but I like it with just two.  I didn't experience any application problems and it dried quickly as well.

 

When summertime comes around, I cannot resist a good metallic polish, particularly a really nice bronze like this one.  When I looked at Harvest Moon in the bottle, I felt very sure that I was going to be having some serious streaking problems but fortunately, none of that happened.  This red toned bronze went on smoothly and I got about 4 days of wear out of it before my tips started peeking out.

 

Smoke & Ashes was extremely difficult to photograph.  The blue/green/black shimmer was a super thick polish that took extra time to dry and was surprisingly difficult to remove.  Some of the shimmer particular didn't come off without buffing and even after that I still have a few stubborn pieces that I don't think will disappear until the nail grows out.  I like how it looks but I don't like the hassle...

 

Blurred So You Can see the Shine!

Since I found that Smoke & Ashes was such a pain to remove, I don't know what I was thinking when I layered the Luxe & Lush flakie top coat over it.  I'm always going to buy a flakie polish when I see one.  They are in surprisingly short supply in the GTA and I much prefer them to glitter polish. So as much as I like its broken glass look, I had to use nail glue remover to get it off...Yuck!!!

 

Now about the movie...

I went to see the Hunger Games not out of a burning desire to see it but more out of a feeling of obligation.  I've spent too many years complaining about the lack of female action heroines (well, just a lack of good female characters period) and it would have been hypocritical of me not to go see it.  Plus I had a rare amount of spare time during a weekday afternoon, so why not take in a $7 movie?

While it's not one of the best movies I've ever seen, it's far from the worst too and frankly, if I was 12 years old, I would've that it was the very best movie ever made (until The Avengers came out) because Katniss is a smart, compassionate & noble ass-kicker who despite having two love interests, she pays more attention to the fact that people's lives are at stake.  I never got the feeling that she has deep feelings for Peeta, she's just not the kind of person who would leave some weakling in a hole to die all alone. At least it's the anti-Twilight.  If I had a tween daughter, I'd sleep better at night if she was into this as opposed to that sparkle vampire/ugly werewolf claptrap.  At least she might be more understanding of the fact that, guess what?  Life is hard and most of the time it's a huge struggle!

Dress Me Up from China Glaze

 When I look at Dress Me Up from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection in it's bottle it looks like a warm & dusty pink but once I get it on my fingers it takes on a much browner tone.  I suppose that it's because of my olive skin tone but this is still one of my favourite types of polish colour.  The formula was thick but not as thick as Mahogany Magic which made the application a lot easier to apply and it dried quicker than MM as well.  You can see a bit of wear in the polish but that after three days.

I have been roaming the streets of New York for the last few days.  Not to shop but to visit my family and get a much needed change of scenery...

And that scenery beats the CN Tower, hands down!

I'm glad that I bought my polishes from the Hunger Games before I got here because for one, I haven't seen them anywhere I've been shopping and two, I don't have the inclination too look too hard for them when confronted by Pershing Square's Truffle Potato Chips...

Yes, I ate the whole plate!

Mahogany Magic From The Hunger Games Collection

Looks like China Glaze is becoming my go-to brand when I looking for poop coloured nail polish.  Last year they gave us Trendsetter, the polish my cousin so aptly described as "baby poop and barf mixed together and then it flew in some one's mouth".  This year brings us Mahogany Magic from the eagerly awaited Hunger Games Collection.  I found quite a few nail bloggers comparing the tone to well, poop and I'd have to say that I'd wholly agree in the observation.  That doesn't mean I don't like the colour!  I do but it is not for everyone.  If you have a very pale complexion then I might say that MM is not for you.  I like it a lot but the formula was not my favourite.  It was really, really thick and if you take a look at the top of my thumb, you can see how that led to some problems with application.  A thick consistency to a creme polish can be a good thing but if it's too thick, you'll lose the ability to control the little details of an application.  But it was sturdy and lasted 3 days without a nick.

Gothic Lolita by China Glaze

I've been dealing with illness these last couple of months and because of this, I have been completely exhausted.  By the time I make it home from work (I'm waiting until I'm scheduled for surgery before I take sick leave) I barely have the energy to put my pyjamas on and crawl into bed.  And while I'm at work, the most common comment I get from my coworkers is "You look terrible!  Are you feeling OK?" I know that none of them are trying to insult me and they are genuinely concerned but it's still hard to hear it.  

As a result, I've been wearing much more colourful makeup and nail polish to try to draw attention away from my sickly appearance.  That's where a polish like China Glaze's Gothic Lolita from the Electropop collection comes in to brighten the mood!  Anyone who reads my blog knows I love purple and this one is one of the snazziest I've seen in a while.  It looks like a creme polish but upon closer inspection, you can see a very fine blue shimmer throughout...Nice!  Although it's a little patchy in it's application (as you can clearly notice on my ring finger). It's bright but not in a garish way and you could get away with wearing this in an office which is something you can't say for half of the collection.

China Glaze`s Hunger Games Polish Back On With A New Name: Capital Colours

Looks like China Glaze & Lionsgate Films settled out of court quickly as the Hunger Games Collection is back on with some name changes from the first promo images.  Two things stand out to me in this image: One, Colours is spelled in the proper English way and coming from an American company, I find it a bit odd.  Two, it`s interesting to me that the colours in the image of the character are not featured as a polish in the collection.  That`s too bad because that is a lot of purple going on there and I would have picked up a polish colour that looks like the flower she`s wearing.

China Glaze Sues Lionsgate for $10 Million Bucks Over "Hunger Games" Collection

Looks like it just got ugly in the world of film marketing and cross branding. The Hollywood Reporter has announced that American International Industries, owners of the China Glaze brand, have filed a $10 million law suit for breach of contract against Lionsgate Studios. Apparently the film studio is claiming that a deal with the polish manufacturer was only in the discussion phase and wasn't finalized.  Really the only thing that I'm honestly curious about is this:  Will this collection still be made under a different name?  I really wanted to pick up what would have been Primrose, Baker's Son & Flaming Gems.  Frankly the majority of the collection looks pretty so here's to hoping that once all the dust settles, we can still get our fingertips on some new polishes.

More Cross Branding With Nicki Minaj & The Hunger Games

It looks like that nail polish cross branding is still in high gear with the recent announcements of OPI’s Nicki Minaj Collection...

And the apparent but currently unconfirmed by Lionsgate China Glaze “Inspired by the Motion Picture” Hunger Games collection.

I guess it makes sense to tap into the preeminent pop culture pieces of our times.  I haven’t read The Hunger Games (and to be honest, I probably never will) but what little I know of the Katniss character, she doesn’t seem like a girl that has time to do her nails all that often.

As far as I’m still concerned (with the notable exceptions of the recent Wonder Woman & Venomous Villains collections from MAC) it’s the actual quality and the appearance of the polishes themselves that I’m primarily interested in, because that’s what people first notice when they notice your polish.  People will say “Oh, that’s a nice colour” not “That polish reminds me of Fozzie Bear!  I have the sudden urge to say Wocka Wocka!

And with that in mind, is anybody out there looking to pick up a polish or two from these upcoming collections?  Here are the details for the Nicki Minaj collection from OPI:

Metal 4 Life - shimmery gunmetal gray
Pink Friday - iridescent Barbie pink
Save Me - rainbow glitter-infused light blue
Fly - neon sky blue
Did it On Em - fluorescent lime green
Super Bass - deep plum, shatter polish

Now, the phrase “iridescent Barbie pink” was definitely a turn off when I read it but Pink Friday looks great in the promo image and I’m pretty sure that’s the polish I’ll buy from this collection. 

And here are the details for The Hunger Games Collection from China Glaze:

Primrose - inspired by Prim
Rebel - inspired by Gale
Catnip - inspired by Katniss
Coal Hearted – inspired by District 12
Joined at the Seam – inspired by The Seam
Fight to the Finish – inspired by the night sky the Tributes look into
We Could Runaway – inspired by forest Katniss & Gale hunt in
Baker’s Son - inspired by Peeta
Cinna-mon – inspired by Cinna’s gold eyeliner
Fire in Flight - inspired by the Flaming Mockingjay
Heat of the Moment –  inspired by the costumes Katniss & Peeta wear into the Arena
Flaming Gems – inspired by Katniss’ interview dress

I have absolutely no idea what any of those above descriptions of “inspiration” mean but Primrose, Baker’s Son & Flaming Gems are the colours I’ll be checking out once this collection makes it into the stores.

Uh Oh, Roll Down the Window by OPI

I've been buying nail polish since I was in elementary school and I can safely say that this is the first time I have ever seen a polish that suggests it was named after a fart.

I Would Have Preferred Silent but Deadly

OPI's Uh Oh, Roll Down the Window is the guilty party here.  Even the Urban Decay line (when they debuted and were actually edgy...now they're very middle of the road in my opinion) with product names like Bruise, Oil Slick and Roach, they didn't go there with creative monikers but I guess OPI wanted to have a bit of fun.  I get the roll down the window quip is connected to the road trip theme for the Touring America collection but let face it people.  Farts happen everywhere!

And When They Do, They Leave Burn Marks On Your Carpet.

Olive green polish is also everywhere this fall but I think I'll keep my purchases capped at Uh Oh and China Glaze's Weekend Warrior.  Uh-Oh is a dark green olive cream that, in comparison to China Glaze's WW, is far, far less pigmented.  While WW was very opaque in 2 coats, Uh Oh's formula was thin & a bit runnier than WW.  I didn't get complete coverage in 2 coats like I normally do with an OPI polish and considering how much I disliked sister polish Color to Diner For's application, I'm starting to get a bit concerned about the quality of their polishes lately.  Especially since Uh Oh chipped after only one day of wear in which the most challenging thing I did that day was eat brunch.  I definitely like the colour but the disappointing formula makes CG's Weekend Warrior the better option. 

That juicy bum up in that screen grab belongs to one of my all time favourite cartoon characters, Stimpy from The Ren & Stimpy Show.  It was wildly popular during the early to mid ninties and for a time, you couldn't escape the show or its oddball sense of humour and my two favourite episodes were Space Madness and Son of Stimpy...

 in which Stimpy, the stupidest cat that ever lived, blows out a huge fart and becomes convinced that he's given birth and leaves home to find his lost "son":

Have You Seen This Fart?

How could something so gross be so heartbreaking at the same time? I don't how it works, I can only tell you that it does!  This show was created by animator John Kricfalusi, who I thought had practically fallen of the face of the earth in the last couple of years so imagine my surprise when I was watching The Simpsons and lo and behold:  The couch gag was animated by the one & only John K!  Long time no see!

Missed Those Crazy Lines!

China Glaze's Trendsetter

Trendsetter is the last of the polishes that I picked up from the Metro collection by China Glaze.  The first thing I thought when I saw it was "Well, that's different!"  Lord knows I have my share of green polishes but this one was really reminding me of something but I couldn't really put my finger on it. "Pea Soup!"  I thought to myself but when I took my 8 year old cousin with me to Fan Expo 2011, he let me know exactly what he thought this polish looked like: "I don't like it." he said.  "It looks like baby poop and barf mixed together and then it flew in some one's mouth!"  After I was done laughing I realized he was right: It does look like baby poop, but I still like it a lot.  The formula for this polish was pretty good considering how thick the other polishes from this collection were and it applied really well.  It's just not a colour that goes with everything.  I suppose that I might have been feeling a bit self conscious about looking like I had poo fingers, because when me and my family met up with actor Malcolm McDowell, I jammed my hands in my pockets for the photo...

This is Gonna Look So Awesome in the Family Album!!!

 A Clockwork Orange is, oddly enough, one of my family's favourite movies.  I love it, my twin sister loves it, my Dad loved it and even my Mom loves it!  She especially loves it when Alex (played by, of course, Malcolm McDowell) kills the skinny yoga instructor with her "piece of art" and some day when he's old enough, my cousin is going to love it too!  

Weekend Warrior By China Glaze

Olive Green seems to be all the rage this fall and since my recent weight loss means that I have to spend money on new clothes at least I can get an olive fix cheaply by picking up China Glaze's Weekend Warrior, part of the Metro collection.  Right off the bat I have to say that I to say that alothough I hate the name of this polish, I think it's apt as I wouldn't be able to get away with wearing a green creme at the office and would certainly have to wait until the weekend to wear it.  That being said, the formula of this polish, much like Brownstone from the same collection, was so thick that it made appliction difficult but at least you get full coverage in two coats.  WW put me in mind of Zoya's Shawn, one of my desert island polishes but WW has a darker tone to it.  I like the polish but I could have lived without it.

Brownstone by China Glaze

If there was a polish collection that I was really looking forward to it was China Glaze's Metro collection.  I like a nature break every now and then but I am a city girl at heart and lord knows I love Fall, Fall colours, Fall fashions etc., so my anticipation was quite high for Metro.  I picked up 3 colours and first up is Brownstone.  I really do have a thing for red toned browns even though they don't go with everything and are nowhere near a neutral colour.  They look good on me and I'm going to keep wearing them, however, I did debate buying Brownstone since I just picked up Essie's Very Structured and was concerned about them being too similar.  Fortunately they are different, with Essie's VS being the more muted of the two and Brownstone being a lot redder.  But if I had to choose between the two, I would lean towards Very Structured strictly because of the formula of Brownstone. It was very thick and sticky and while that's good for coverage, it's even better for bubbles to form in your polish!  They started to form by the time I reached my index finger and in my experience, bubbling polish takes longer to dry and that's a pain.  So I'm giving Brownstone a marginal thumbs up, mainly because of the colour.

Knotty By China Glaze

 

Knotty from China Glaze's Anchor's Away collection is a very shimmery, light gold/champagne coloured  polish (purchased at the Toronto Beauty & Barber Supply) that even after 3 coats, I could still see my nail line through it.  That's fine by me, I often like a light polish but if you don't like VNL, this one's not for you.  One of the things I like about light, shimmery polishes like this is that if you get a chip or two but don't have time to tend to your nails, it's a good chance that the chips will go unnoticed. Bonus is the fact that there was no lint in the polish, a problem that I often see in China Glaze polish. I'm wondering what kind of layering results I could get out of this polish, perhaps a coat or two over black might yield some interesting results!

First Mate By China Glaze

I don't have too much time for a long post, so today is just straight up talk about the polish day.  I just picked up China Glaze's First Mate from their Anchors Away collection.  This is actually the fifth polish I've picked up from this collection and all of them at a marked down price at the Toronto Beauty & Barber Supply (this one I got from their Orfus Road location).  I was on the fence about buying it, as I had the feeling that it may have been a match for MAC's Spirit of Truth from the Wonder Woman Collection and they're both dark blue cremes.  Well, they are very similar but are not a match as SOT is darker and far more pigmented.  First Mate goes on a bit thinner than SOP does but it only takes two coats to get full coverage and there's no bald spots.  It applied well but didn't wear that long and I got a chip within a day.  That's a shame, because this is the rare blue polish that actually didn't stain my nails badly when I removed it.  That reason alone makes it a keeper and if you had wanted SOT but didn't pick it up, this one's a good substitute!

China Glaze Coconut Kiss Photo Failures

So I bought China Glaze's Coconut Kiss a few weeks back and I was excited about  trying it on since, well it's purple and it's super nice!  Nice deep shimmer, smooth application, no denting and didn't chip in 3 days BUT I just couldn't get this polish to photograph properly!  I tried with flash (above):

I tried in the sunlight.

I tried in the shade.

Under a 40 watt bulb.

Under a 30 watt bulb

Then I stopped for a snack.

Hey!  It's no better than the other shots!

Jeez, I just couldn't capture it's full red based purple glory but no matter what I tried, I couldn't get it right...sigh!  Anyways, here's a french language version of "Purple Haze" by a 1960's garage band from my home town of Montreal: The Haunted!