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....

MAC to Launch Marilyn Monroe Collection in October 2012

Just in time to add the finishing touches to thousands of slutty Halloween costumes, MAC cosmetics will be launching a Marilyn Monroe collection that will supposedly contain up to 30 items (exactly how many of them will be some type of red lipstick remains to be seen).  I'm looking forward to hearing more details about this but I guess I'll just have to wait, until then...

Boom Chicka Wowow!

Total Eclipse of the Heart From Color Blast by Orly

If you live in the GTA area, you may have noticed a new polish brand on their cosmetic shelves: Color Blast by Orly and frankly, I wasn't seeing anything in this line to really set it apart from the many, many others that are out there.  In fact, I didn't see anything different in the polish that I ended up purchasing, Total Eclipse of the Heart.  It's a green/purple, shimmer intensive, duochrome...

and that's a long description for something that although it is very nice, it's no standout from an already crowded market.  Now, that's not necessarily an insult because if you wanted to pick up MAC's Mean & Green from the Venomous Villains collection but missed out, this is a fair substitute.

TEFTH is surprisingly the greener of the two but they are kissing cousins. I would be remiss not to give props to the formula which was good, applied easily and didn't chip after three days.  It may be a new line but Orly's been in this business for a while now and if they are going to be asking for nearly $10 CDN for a bottle of drugstore polish, they need to step it up in terms of shades and innovation.

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!

Happy Easter With Skittles

 I thought I'd get festive with some Easter themed skittles for the long weekend,especially since it's still constantly raining in the Toronto area :(  Can you guess what colours I've used?

On my thumb, we have China Glaze's Lemon Fizz.  If you were ever wondering if LF is a dupe for Essie's Barbuda Banana, I can tell you it's not. I'm planning to post a comparison sometime soon so let's hope my camera cooperates!  I like this colour but it's a tough one to pull off.  I have the feeling that this colour would look best paired with a extremely dark denim wash.  If I had a lighter skin tone, it might look a little washed out.  Plus, application was an issue as well.  I've got 3 coats on there and, as you can see, it's still a bit streaky.  It would definitely take 4 coats to make it smooth but that's a lot of drying time, even with drying drops.

On my index finger, I have Peppermint Patti from MAC.  I sure do like a minty green and I'm glad that the trend has been sticking around. But just like yellow polishes, I find that they need at least three coats if you want even coverage.  That's just 2 coats in the photo and you can see the bald spots quite clearly.

Next up and on my middle finger is China Glaze's For Audrey.  This is one of my favourite polishes of all time.  If I had to throw out all but 10 of my polishes FA would definitely be a keeper!  This Tiffany (or if you live in Canada, Birks) blue always pops when I'm wearing black or white and I never fail to get compliments when I wear it.  There's not as much as an application issue with this colour as I experienced with LF & PP.  You can see that there's a little bit of streaking but it's not that noticeable and with 2 coats, that's pretty good.  I did find lint in the bottle (as per my usual China Glaze complaint) but I've had this polish for a while so they're probably not at fault.

Purple!  I love purple and Done Out in Deco is a pretty good one.  Full coverage in 2 coats so, way to go OPI!  It's not quite a pastel but I found it goes well with the other polishes I selected.  And speaking of pastels:

I don't actually own a pretty pastel pink polish.  Try saying that 10 times fast!  So I chose Essie's Guilty Pleasures and found it went well with the other polishes.  The coverage is good in 2 coats but I had an issue that affected the appearance of GP that had nothing to do with that polish but with one I wore recently.  I  reviewed   Revlon's Scented Polish in Ocean recently and although it's a lovely polish, it stained my nails badly.  I had a difficult time removing it and couldn't completely get rid of the staining on my pinkie.  It's so stained, that it alters the colour of whatever polish I put on top of it.  What a hassle!

I think I might get up early tomorrow morning and head out to see if I can get any marked down chocolate!  Hollow bunnies are not my thing but I do love these 2 two candies in particular:

Mmmm...Sticky!

And I love these even more:

Buttercream Center,  Bitches!

But you know which Easter treat I'll never eat?  Marshmallow Peeps!

They look just like my canary, Patches!  I couldn't shove my little personal peep into my mouth, ewwww!

Happy Easter everybody!

 

MAC's Wonder Woman Collection Does Include Nail Polish

Original Painting by My Awesome Twin Sister! (It Was Too Big to Put on a Scanner so My Photo is a Little Soft)

Many thanks for Jessica for giving me the heads up that the MAC Wonder Woman Collection will include nail polish and is much more extensive than the images that I posted yesterday.  Now I'm even more excited to get my hands on this stuff! 

Suffering Sappho!  I want that blue polish!  And there's a gold pigment so that answers my other concern that the collection was lacking.  I better start rolling my change if I'm going to lasso what I want:)

MAC To Launch Wonder Woman Makeup Line & Me Into Bankruptcy

Clearly, This is Not the Time Diana Poked Out Her Own Eyes so She Could Defeat Medusa!

Hot on the heels of my moaning about too much cross branding comes a collection that is calling my name, loudly!  Those who know me know how much I love the Princess of Power.  I still buy the comic book to this day and I have an extensive Wonder Woman collection consisting of:

• A WW doll collection that includes an original beat up 1970's Lynda Carter
• T-shirts
• Posters
• Books
• Statues
• Mugs & lunch boxes
• Hundreds of WW comics  including issue #204 when she gets back her powers and her costume after losing them during the rise of Women's Lib and also finds out she has a black sister:

Hippolyta Molded Her Out of a Darker Coloured Clay, No, Really!

I digress, but then I love to digress!  Despite being a devoted fan,  I'm positive that I won't be running up to the MAC counter and doing a grand arm sweep of stuff right into my bags, I'm still picky!  I'm sure to pick  up a blush and a lipstick, but I have to express my disappointment that there isn't a single nail polish in this collection.  Check out some of the stuff below:

I haven't included the entire collection because the cosmetic cases and brushes do not have interesting  designs and honestly, I find the range of colours a little bit limited. MAC is considered a trend setter so I find it surprising that it appears that there's only one shade of lipstick and gloss.  White pigment?  Why not gold?  I know she wears a star spangled bathing suit but I thought there would be something else that has gold tones in it besides the bronzer.  She got a golden lasso, everybody so what's up with that?  All that aside, I am planning to pick up some of these and my birthday is in March, the same month this collection launches (hint, hint!)!  Anyone out there feel inspired by the collection?

Formidable by MAC

I know that I'm way late out of the gate with this post of some of the stuff I bought from  MAC's Venomous Villains collection ( I bought them on the day of the launch) but my first set of photos of my polishes were terrible!  So this is my second attempt and this time the pics turned out much better.  I have mixed feelings about Formidable.   I love the deep eggplant colour and the teal - like shimmer and I could look at it all day but the formula of the polish is not that great.  The brush was really small which made the polish streaky and I had to apply 3 coats and it still looks a bit patchy.  I don't regret buying it but I think I may use a similar colour as a base so I could get a more even application.  It's also a shame that my beloved Maleficent is not on the packaging in any way.  I have a crazy love for her that goes back for years and I've always identified better with Disney villains (but never the princesses).  She just seemed so happy all the time:

So That's a Rusty Venture!  Bawhaha!

 She didn't place all of her self worth in finding a man:

But She Knew How to Catch One and That is Some Kinky Sh*t Coming Up Right There!

 And who can ignore all that power...

Telsa Wishes He Had This Hat!

Or maybe I just love the colour combination of green & purple! Happy New Year and until next time, don't break a nail!