OPI Starlight collection for Holiday 2015, Part III: The reds and the rest

OK! So let’s wrap up this up finally, shall we? Way to drag out a review, huh? At least I’m getting it done before the years’ end 🙂 It only took me almost a month! (which, sadly, I feel kind of proud of lol…goes to show you just how free time I have!) I apologize for not getting the festive reds to you before Christmas – but red is the kind of color you can wear any time of year, really, so I guess it’s not that bad.

Alternately, the other 3 polishes I’m going to show you are…well here, first let me show you what they look like in the bottles:

The look fairly innocuous, no? Sparkling, shimmering, glittering polishes for the holidays – perfect, right? But IRL, they’re just…no. Trust. You are NOT missing out on anything with those three, which is why I saved them for last. Here, lemme show you them first so you can feel reassured:

Is This Star Taken?

Of the three, this one is the least offensive – prismatic bar glitter in a silvery-pewter base. This one *could* be so cool but it still falls flat somehow. Maybe the base color needs to be more sheer? I took the swatch on an angle to show you the prismatic effect but for the most part it’s lost when looking at the nail directly. ~sad face~ It’s easy enough to apply though, 2 coats and you’re done.

Comet Closer

This has a similar pewter-silver base but heavier on the silver, and I don’t like it as much on my skintone. Besides that, it contains gold micro glitter that leaves it just looking rough and bumpy, and again the effect is lost anyway in the opaque base. Overall BLAH.

By the Light of the Moon

This is the worst offender! Silver glitter chunks of varying size floating around in an opaque base – I think OPI is trying to make this a ‘thing’ but honestly, it’s just horrid. Remember Pineapples Have Peelings Too? BLECH. I just can’t with these, they make me angry just looking at them!

Ok, so those3 are a no-go…but the next 3 are quite nice, so this post isn’t a total waste! Let’s check them out:

Love is in My Cards

Though I don’t wear red polish much (despite having like, 10 red polishes…WTF), I really like this one! It’s bold, bright and leans ever so slightly cool, and I find it very flattering on my skintone. I’m tempted to hang on to this and maybe ditch a couple other bright reds I have. Great formula too, super easy to apply and I think this swatch is only 1 coat!

Ro-Man-ce on the Moon

A cool-ish red metallic, standard holiday fare. In my photos this looks almost identical to ‘Love is in My Cards‘ but the metallic effect is more pronounced in person. I like this one too, but I prefer my Misa Red Pumps at the Nordstrom more – I think the depth of color is a bit stronger in that one (also the name of the Misa polish is awesome). Again, this is only 1 coat!

Let Your Love Shine

You don’t need me to tell you that this polish is GORGEOUS! This is the kind of red I gravitate toward (and most of the reds I own are similar to this – more of a deep shimmering red). This is kind of a cross between Lippmann’s Through the Fire (for the color) and Zoya India (for the larger shimmer particles). It did require 2 coats but that ain’t no thang. I love this one – definitely a keeper.

That’s it, we’re done! Hoo-frickin’-ray. Overall I am really digging the collection (see Part I and Part II here if you haven’t seen them already!) save for a couple of weird shades – it’s probably tough to come up with original polish mixes so I’ll forgive OPI for trying something new and failing miserably. I like that there weren’t TOO many reds and that they had a handful of non-traditional holiday shades, so that the collection is still wearable for the whole winter season.

And of course – some outtakes for your viewing pleasure – hope everyone had a great holiday and has a fantastic New Year!!

I tell ya…you gotta move fast with this one! She’s getting more and more mobile every day 🙂

OPI Starlight collection for Holiday 2015, Part II: The silvers & (rose) golds

…Dang it. Getting this post up later than planned (surprise), but at least we’re still before Christmas Day! These next 6 polishes scream ‘New Years Eve’ to me anyway, so you have lots of time to grab ’em and wear ’em 🙂

I wasn’t sure what to call these 6 as one shade only contains rose gold, and there are other silvers in the collection – but to be honest, these are the good ones. The others are…a bit strange. You’re not missing out, trust me. Anyway, on to the swatches!

I Drive a SuperNova

This is a lovely silver foil that shimmers in the right light. As silvers go, I actually like it! Buuuut not as much as OPI’s Centennial Celebration, so I’m keeping that one over this one. CC is more sparkly/blingy and is slightly more pewter-leaning. But this is good! A teeny bit fussy to apply, but if you’ve got a steady hand you could probably get away with one coat (this is two), so it’s not such a big deal.

Super Star Status

Because I hate glitter removal, I just polished one finger in Super Star Status, over my existing ‘SuperNova‘ manicure. However, this is all sorts of amazing and in-your-face glittertastic that I would *almost* be willing to wear this as a full mani for a big occasion. So gorgeous! The base is slightly sheer so I’d suggest putting one coat over top of another polish (I really like it with ‘Super Nova‘ rather than two coats of it on it’s own, because that removal process would be a major PITA!

Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Meteorite

This is such a cop-out swatch, I’m sorry! I took shots of this over Press * for Silver (swatch below) and stupidly didn’t check them before removing the polish – they were all blurry and TERRIBLE and I just couldn’t bring myself to do the whole mani again. I suck, I know! If the polish was more fabulous, I would have taken one for the team, but at it is, this glitter is – blah. It didn’t look good over the polish either (actually it probably looks nicer here on a bare nail), the pieces are so weirdly shaped and it just isn’t my thang. The only thing I will say is I loved the color combo of gunmetal and rose gold.

Press * for Silver

This is probably the most subdued polish in the collection, though it’s still quite nice. I liked it when I wore it, but looking at it again in swatches I’m kind of…bored by it? Maybe it’s too complimentary to my skintone…I need a little bit of contrast. Super easy to apply though, a quick two coats and you’re done.

Ce-less-tial is More 

I meant to put Ce-less-tial is More over Press * for Silver but completely forgot, so I had to go back and do a whole new manicure – but this time I wore Dior’s Gris-Or – it’s quite similar to ‘Press *‘ but it has that mild duo chrome flash that makes it stand out more. Obviously I’m keeping the Dior over the OPI! Anyway, I also think ‘Ce-less-tial‘ is all sorts of pretty, and I think I might wear it for my wedding manicure. Since it’s kind of a HUGE moment in my life, I guess I can deal with the glitter removal that one time 😉 ‘Ce-less-tial‘ is more opaque than ‘Super Star Status‘ so you don’t need any other shade underneath unless you want to! Both glitters eat top coat like there is no tomorrow so to get rid of the texture I’d say load it up (like 2-3 coats…seriously).

Infrared-y to Glow

These weird über-chunky glitters! I don’t get it. They’re really pretty in the bottle but on the nail…erm, not so much. Especially this one – at least the colors in ‘Meteorite’ were nice, this is too tone on tone and I’m not feeling it at all. Also, because these glitter pieces are so large, even with top coat they kind of flip up and don’t lay smooth. Ach…not a fan.

So there you have it! Two nice shades, two GREAT shades, and two WTF shades. Definitely don’t miss out on the sparkling goodness that is Super Star Status and Ce-less-tial is More, for a glitter hater like myself I can’t believe how much I loved them both – if you like glitter, you’ll LOVE these! If you’re a silver fan, I’d check out I Drive a SuperNova too, it’s great (just not as good as CC for me).

I’d like to say I’ll get the last six up before Christmas, but truthfully that’s unlikely! I’ll give you a quick spoiler in case you just can’t wait – Let Your Love Shine is a stunning sparkling deep red and is a must-have for the holiday season (or any time, really!). The two other reds are nice but not original, and the three other glitters are kind of bizarre, so I feel you can safely skip all those and not miss out.

OPI Starlight collection for Holiday 2015, Part I: The Moody Hues

Ugh, you GUYZ. I’ve had these swatches done for a few days but Elena is keeping me on my toes, as usual! She’s been waking up at 4am for the past few weeks and is ready to PAR-TAY, she thinks it’s time to get up for the day and I’m DANG tired. Today she also thought resisting nap time was a great idea, so I’m just plain worn out. BUT I did finally get her down (I keep checking the monitor with fingers crossed that she’ll stay asleep for awhile) so what better time than to get these pics & post up?

I am extremely surprised at how much I’m enjoying the Starlight holiday collection from OPI – metallics and glitters are generally NOT my jam, but these are really doing it for me so far! The sparkle on a lot of these really is ‘out of this world’ (cue the cheese) and they look so pretty and festive in the dim light cast by the fire and/or Christmas tree. I keep wanting to change my mani every day to try them all fully (but ain’t nobody in THIS house got time for that, sadly). I’m working my way through the swatches though so I will have them all up before Christmas, I promise! Today I’m bringing you the first 6 which are the more moody, mysterious hues of the 18 shades in the collection (which, if I’m being honest, is INSANE – 18 colors!? When did polish collections get so HUGE?).

All swatches were taken in natural light unless otherwise specified.

Guys & Galaxies – a deep dark brown-red. It looks a touch streaky in the swatch above, but IRL it’s not, though you do need 3 coats to reach full opacity. It’s very glossy on it’s own – the shot above is with no top coat. It’s an easy formula to work with overall, despite needing that extra coat (though it’s a *touch* staining). I think this is a very sexy shade – and it’s NOT near black, which makes me happy.

I’m in the Moon for Love – this is a medium plum shimmer with golden micro-shimmer. Every time OPI comes out with a shade like this (Dutch’ya Love OPI?, Lost My Bikini in Molokini, Purpletual Emotion…), I’m like ‘eh’ – even though they all look flattering on my skintone, I just can’t get into these types of purples. There is a depth and richness to this shade that appeals to me (you can see it better in the 2nd photo, taken under artificial light), but I know it’ll just be another purple that I keep NOT wearing regardless. Good formula though, two coats to opacity, with no application issues at all.

Cosmo With a Twist – a royal blue with lighter blue shimmer that looks purple in some light due to a duo chrome finish. This SHADE, you guys!!! So, so gorgeous – it really looks like Outer Space to me. It needs 3-4 coats to reach full opacity, but it’s totally worth it. I would have never picked up this shade if left to my own devices, but I’m SO happy I got to try it out. Perfect holiday shade that’s not your typical red/silver/gold.

Give Me Space – a bold, medium blue with silver shimmer. This has a VERY slight prismatic effect that’s really only visible in sunlight – so don’t let that be a reason you pick it up! The first coat went on sheer but it managed full opacity in two coats. I found this shade a touch fussy to apply, it can pull in spots if not applied with a relatively quick hand. I suggest loading up the brush and applying coats in one go, versus dipping back into the bottle. This is a beautifully rich shade, but along with the shimmer being a let down it didn’t wow me.

No More Mr. Night Sky – a sparkling gunmetal. This is quite sheer; it requires at least 3 coats and looks best with 4. Despite that: he-LLO, gorgeous! This is another polish I would have never picked up as I don’t gravitate toward shimmers, but holy smokes – this is so pretty!! It’s the most beautifully sparkly, twinkly polish I think I’ve ever seen. It looks particularly amazing in low lighting (the 2nd photo), so it’s PERFECT for the holiday seasons parties and hanging out by the Christmas tree.

Centre of the You-niverse – a charcoal with silver shimmer and black glitter bits. This is 2 coats, though depending on how thickly you apply your coats you may need a 3rd. Even though it’s got minimal glitter, they’re so tiny they’re a pain to remove entirely. For black polish lovers though this is a great shade; top coat makes it really gleam.

Sooo, basically I want to keep 4 of the 6 shades shown…that does NOT help me decrease my polish collection! Dang it. I just think these are so lovely for the holiday season or for any time you want a bit of sparkle that’s a little understated (re: not a full-on glitter) but still fabulous. Well done so far, OPI!

Photo outtakes: Last night when I took the bottle shots Elena hightailed it to where I was and got her grabby hands in there lol…at least I got one good shot (above) before the destruction!

Who, me?

YSL La Laque Carmin D’Or: Christmas in a bottle

You know you’re a beauty junkie when you buy things and forget about them. During the Sephora sale, I kept thinking I should buy something festive from one of the holiday collections, since I didn’t pick anything up from any of them….OH WAIT, YES I DID – the YSL Carmin D’Or polish from the ‘Kiss & Love‘ holiday collection, a gor-ge-ous scarlet with fiery golden shimmer throughout. Oops. I forgot. (I also bought Dior’s insanely beautiful Gris-Or from the ‘State of Gold’ holiday collection, which I ALSO forgot about….eeks. Review to come!) Right. But! Now it’s December, and it’s time to wear all my pretty festive nail polishes! So, we’re starting with this beauty:

Natural light

Artificial light

It’s actually got a significant blue lean that I had a hard time capturing on camera – meaning it’s not a true red at all but more of a pink-red. I didn’t realize that when I swatched it in store, but I kind of like that because it makes it different than your standard golden red polish. The shimmer is incredible, it absolutely GLOWS no matter what light you’re in (although my outdoor pic doesn’t show that). The formula is also wonderful, with a thin-to-medium viscosity to allow easy application – two coats to full opacity, no fuss. This is my second YSL polish and so far I’m very impressed. It hurts to pay $27CAD (although it pleases me that it’s the same price in the US) but the upside to buying less polish overall is that when you do, you don’t feel so bad spending the big $$ on a shade you love. And that squared off bottle? SEX-AY.

I just received the OPI Starlight Collection yesterday so I have a bunch of holiday polish shades coming your way. I may do a countdown with a different shade each day…I’ll try my best! I’m in a major holiday spirit, we put up our lights on the house last night and it looks fab! I’m working on the inside now – we went to Homes for the Holidays here in Halifax on the weekend and looking at all the decorations makes me feel so festive! And also brings out my inner Martha. Check out this wreath I made!:

Yahooooooo!! Let the holiday season truly begin! 🙂

Happy Easter Everyone!! (with a Celebatory Mani!)

Wishing you all a lovely long weekend and some good time spent with friends and family! 😀  I just cooked a full-on brunch for a handful of my friends at my place (with ingredients contributed by my guests!) and it was the perfect way to kick off the weekend.  I’m not back to work until Wednesday and I am SO looking forward to maxin’ and relaxin’!

If the weather is like this all weekend, I will be one happy gal!  See how little snow is left?! 😀

Last night I multi-tasked (surprize) by painting an Easter egg mani – last year I did all different pastel shades, so I had to think of something new this time around.  I think they came out pretty well for freehand – I probably should invest in some doting tools etc. to actually make nail art look really good, but I do it so infrequently I probably won’t bother lol.  Hope you enjoy!

All shades used: butter London Jasper, MAC Mischievous Mint, Sally Hansen Barracuda, Zoya Marley, Essie Muchi Muchi, Revlon Whimsical

Whether or not you celebrate the religious holiday or just use the days off as like mini-vacay, I hope you take the time to relax and enjoy it – and I hope you have some spring-like weather!!  This is what I’m being treated to today (and it’s actually *warm-ish* – a balmy 7 degrees, woohoo!).  Have faith – summer is right around the corner 😀

Oh – I forgot to mention: since Google Reader is eventually going kaput, I’m now linked in to Bloglovin’ (check out my sidebar) – feel free to follow me there ’till your heart’s content 🙂

xo!

Quelling a Burning Desire with Deborah Lippmann’s Through the Fire

While I was away this fall, something terrible happened – I missed the Chanel fall collection entirely!  Thankfully, there wasn’t too much I wanted to try, but I DID desperately want Malice, the gorgeous ruby-hued polish and the only one released with the seasonal launch.  As it disappeared from shelves in a snap, I was left to scour the internet trying to find a dupe to the shade.  What I came up with that was close (though by no means an exact match, or even that close, unfortunately), was Deborah Lippmann’s Through the Fire.

Through the Fire, a ‘radiant merlot hue’ was released as part of her 2012 Holiday collection (along with Cleopatra in New York).  While it doesn’t have the slight berry tinge that Malice appears to have, it still has that inner glow that captivates the eye.  Below, this is two coats with Poshe Fast Drying Top Coat.

Apparently, one of the true closer dupes to Malice is OPI’s Royal Rajah Ruby, which if you remember I was iffy about at first, but then found love using it as a pedi shade.  Personally I think RRR is too brown-leaning, but it pleases me that I have one of the closest colors to Malice already in my stash.

As for TtF, I pulled RRR plus a couple other shades to see how they all compare – OPI’s Every Month is Oktoberfest, which has been noted by other bloggers as a potential Malice twin (it’s not), and Misa’s Red Pumps at the Nordstrom (which isn’t like Malice at all, nor TtF – but is red and also has that gorgeous radiance about it).

Left to right (artificial light): OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, Deborah Lippmann Through the Fire, Misa Ruby Pumps at the Nordstrom

Left to right (flash): OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, Deborah Lippmann Through the Fire, Misa Ruby Pumps at the Nordstrom

Top to Bottom (artificial light): Misa Red Pumps at the Nordstrom, Deborah Lippmann Through the Fire, OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest

Left to right (flash): OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest, OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, Deborah Lippmann Through the Fire, Misa Ruby Pumps at the Nordstrom

Left to right (flash): Misa Red Pumps at the Nordstrom, Deborah Lippmann Through the Fire, OPI Royal Rajah Ruby, OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest

While RRR is in the same vein as TtF, it’s not a dupe and I like TtF much better on my fingernails, as its more feminine with it’s red tones.  Though I tend to prefer cremes over other formulations of polish, I gotta say that these types of polishes with a less metallic shimmer and more of an inner fire, are totally up my alley.  I could stare at them all day!  All four of these polishes captivate my heart in one way or another, and while I don’t feel that my lemming for Malice is fully abated, I’m not totally broken-hearted over it 🙂

Did you pick up Malice, or did you miss it too?  Are you a fan of shimmer polishes, or other types? 

A Silver Polish I Actually Like – Revlon’s Sterling

This is going to be a super-quick post (no…really) as apparently this party-girl is still going despite the fact that technically Christmas is over.  Over the past week I’ve been burning the candle at both ends every single night except Christmas night…funny, that.  Anywho, while I wait for my drive to take me to my next party (despite the fact that I work tomorrow, as I did today…ugh), I figured I would post quick pics of a great silver polish I found on the cheap – $2.99CAD on sale at Lawtons drugstore.  Woot!  I am NOT a fan of silver in most forms of cosmetics (on my skintone), but this somehow works.

Behold Revlon’s Top Speed Nail Enamel in Sterling:

Artificial light

With flash

With flash

It’s kinda of blinding, no?  Quite eye-catching without being gaudy, and even though it’s more of a blue-based silver than I normally go for, I think it looks quite nice on me.  Maybe my issue is that I’ve been choosing the wrong silver tones all this time!  I’m finding more and more that shades I had once written off actually aren’t so bad.  I’m starting to think that for some colors, wearing clashing tones (as in, if your skin leans warm, wear cooler shades and vice versa), actually looks better.  The verdict is still out on whether or not my skin is cool or warm (some days I suspect I am just plain neutral) – I always thought I was a warmer skintone, but there are a lot of indications that point to that assumption being incorrect.  I tend to favor silver jewelry over gold, for example.  In any case…I’m starting to ramble and not make sense.  THIS is what happens when you write a post under an uber-short timeframe!

To the point.  This is a great silver that looks good on me (I think?  Thoughts?) and it applied very easily without any trouble (this is two coats).  I had previously forgone any more Revlon polishes but I think the fast-dry versions are much better than their regular counterparts.  And perhaps the new Revlon polishes are just fine.  Ahh, rambling again!  All I want to say is – if you see this around, give it a look.  Even at full price, which is something like $6CAD, it’s worth a shot and a great shade to wear for the holidays/New Years Eve!

Do you wear shades that ‘clash’ with your skintone?  Do you know if you’re warm or cool?  What was the determining factor?

Holiday Color Pairings

When I start to think about it, it’s not really a surprise to me that I love makeup.  When I was a kid, I use to spend hours pairing my crayons together in color combinations I thought looked good together (which was also a great indication of my obsessive tendencies toward organization, but that’s a whole OTHER topic in itself!).  While I don’t feel societal pressures to follow trends in shades (woohoo, Emerald for 2013!), nor feel like I ‘should’ wear darker colors in winter and brighter colors in summer, I choose to follow these paths often because it just makes sense to me.  I love the idea of changing the shades I wear according to seasons – heck, I even do it with the change in weather!  Rain means somber shades of grey or blue; sun means warm tones of gold, or brights like aqua and orange; and snow equals icy silvers and cool pinks and purples.  Its just how I roll, ya’ll!

As it’s the holidays, of course I imagined an array of festive shades to represent the season, and since the work was already done, I thought I’d share them with you!  On the weekend for the first time I matched my lips to my tips, and it was a lot of fun.  I’m not entirely sure I’d do the same with eyeshadow, but the colors below all complimented a polish I own so well I figured what the heck.  I hope you enjoy!

Bobbi Brown Chrome Eye Shadow in Pewter; Chanel Le Vernis in 529 Graphite

Chanel Graphite; Bobbi Brown Pewter

Both of these silvers are so much more than plain ol’ silver.  They both veer into a warmer tone rather than stark icy shades, which means they’re quite wearable for all skin tones.  Pewter is currently unavailable as this was an LE shade, but at times Bobbi Brown brings it back in palettes and such, so keep your eyes peeled!  Graphite has had a ton of reincarnations over the past year since it was released (though I don’t believe it’s LE anyway) – the best being Sally Hansen’s Shoot the Moon which was just featured on All Lacquered Up.

Essie Limited Addiction; Make Up For Ever Rouge Artist Natural in #46

Essie Limited Addiction; MUFE #46

MUFE’s #46 Rouge Artist lippie was the red shade I wore on the weekend to compliment my red manicure (done with China Glaze Ruby Pumps).  I ADORE this lipstick; it is by far my favorite red that I own.  It’s more of a true red I think, and looks so darn good on!  The moistness of the lipstick keeps it looking so juicy and festive without being overwhelming in the least.  It feels amazing on and I just can’t get enough!  The only downside is that it’s only available at MUFE Pro stores and kiosks, but well worth the effort.

Essie Limited Addiction was, unfortunately, limited edition, but there are a billion reds out there I’m sure that are similar – just a bit deeper than your typical shade and neither warm nor cool.

MAC Jealousy Wakes; a-England Saint George

a-England Saint George; MAC Jealousy Wakes

Hot DAMN Saint George is beautiful!  I don’t wear this polish nearly as much as I should, mainly because when I bought it last year, I wore it about three times in a few weeks – obsessed, I was!  I’m wearing this to my work Christmas party this week and I’m super excited!  Its one of the few greenish hues I own, and one of the few of that color palette I like.  In truth it’s more teal than green but whatever – evergreen, shall we say?  I LOVE IT and all it’s prismatic shimmer.

Jealousy Wakes is also another shade I rarely wear, probably because I don’t wear color in my shadows nearly as much as I used to, but I still enjoy it from time to time when I do pull it out.  I dislike the texture of the shadow immensely – it’s so stiff and rough! – but it IS a lovely shade.

Sephora Brand She Sparkles; SpaRitual Aurum

SpaRitual Aurum; Sephora Brand She Sparkles

Oooh, sparkly indeed!  Though Aurum is sort of a crap color on me – probably on most people, it’s so damn blingy I’m going to HAVE to pull it out for the holidays!  Look at that sparkle!  It’s a bit more greenish-gold than the orange-y gold of She Sparkles, but they both shimmer prettily together, don’t you think?  I wore She Sparkles like crazy the last holiday season (when I purchased it), but haven’t given it much love since.  I’ll surely be pulling it out again this month!

MAC Dark Soul Pigment; Illamasqua Creator

Illamasqua Creator; MAC Dark Soul

Though I’m not a huge lover of black nail polish, Creator has won me over with its glittery goodness, and looks both elegant and edgy at the same time.  It compliments Dark Soul so perfectly!  I could totally see rocking these two shades together, it’s like they were made for each other.  I rarely wear Dark Soul for sort of obvious reasons (its a shimmery charcoal shadow – the rockstar look doesn’t exactly work at the office), but I’m trying to find ways to implement it more when I can.  It’s definitely a perfect shadow for the holidays!

It was fun making these pairings and a huge throwback to my formative years 😛  It’s also scary to see that I happen to have enough polish and makeup that I can actually make pairings that coordinate so well… ~shrugs~ I’m a collector, what can I say?

Have you gotten into the matching trend?  Would you be willing to try it, or do you avoid it at all costs?  What colors say ‘holiday’ to you?

It’s Over For Another Year…Lent 2012 Conclusion and Considerations

Well another year has passed, and that means another Lent and a challenge to embark on.  Six weeks ago, I revealed my plan to you for this year’s Lent, which was MUCH tamer than last year (giving up buying cosmetics cold turkey – gah!  What was I thinking!?):

1) Write a blog post every single day, with the exception of Sundays
2) Wear every single makeup item in my stash at least once
3) Post regular FOTD pictures with the evidence

It was a pretty easy year, I have to say, which is why you didn’t get many updates from me as the weeks passed. I started strong with the FOTD pics (though failed at making them look good!), but as time wore on I found myself still mostly wearing the same old looks and products I always do.  It was an unsuccessful Lent in that respect, but not entirely a waste – I did learn a few lessons!First, I came to some conclusions about blogging and how I plan to proceed with writing posts.  While I almost always have a plethora of things I’d like to write about, near the end of the 6 weeks I found that I was feeling less enthused about blogging – working on a computer all day to come home to work for another few hours, every single day, started to get to me. Could have been year-end as well, but in order for me to maintain my blogging integrity and the quality of posts I want to produce, I think every second day or so is more reasonable for where I’m at right now. I really want to engage with more people, either our in the community making myself present, or through my own posts, and I’m barely finding the time to write a post, take good quality (as I’m able) photos, respond to comments, read others blogs and comment….it’s a lot of time and as I’m no night-owl…it gets pretty strained.  So while I tried and mostly succeeded to write every day, it’s just not feasible for me if I want to still enjoy blogging as much as I do.  I hope you all understand! 🙂

Second, and much more entertaining, I did experiment with makeup more than normal, working with shades that I had deemed unwearable and pairing them with different products to ‘figure them out.’  With the exception of a handful of shades, I’m pleased to say I did wear everything in my stash at least once.  I had some particular successes:

– Wore MUFE Aqua Liner #5 (an aqua), a bold shade I was hesitant to wear, on the top lash line with minimal other makeup, and actually ADORED how it looked – and how wearable it turned out to be!  A perfect look for Summer!

– Paired MAC’s Shimmermoss, another aqua shade, with MAC’s Petrol Blue liner (smudged at the lash line) to create a deeper, more intense teal shade which looked much better on my darker skin tone.

– Wore UD’s Kush (kelly green) from the BoSIII palette on Saint Paddy’s Day, along with Lise Watier’s Folie de Pomme loose shadow (golden green), and it looks absolutely amazing!

As to be expected, I also had some failures:

– I struggled to find ways to wear MAC’s Madly Magenta Cream Color Base, a deeply saturated violet pink (tried it on lips as well as cheeks, and I’m not too sure…*see below*).

– Several shades from the UD BoSIII palette continued to be completely unworn: Perversion (matte black), Uzi (glittering white), Midnight Cowboy Rides Again (glittering champagne), and Money (pale aqua-blue with a touch of glitter)…can you see a trend here?  The shades with glitter (hello, fall-out!) are just so tough to pull off!

– Still haven’t taken the time to figure out NARS Habanera…I feel like the lack of effort I’m putting into it might be indicative of it’s fate.

Overall, while there were some shades I discovered new uses for, or learned how to wear them properly, there were also shades that just aren’t going to and won’t work for me.  A lot of the more cool-toned, blue-based shades I own I think will have to go – I just don’t feel comfortable wearing them.  The UD palette also is a bit of a thorn in my side, because while half the shades I love, the other half are essentially useless to me.  It’s a bit frustrating!  However, there are still some items that are a work in progress, and I’m going to continue to investigate whether or not I should hang on to them, such as Tarte’s Blushing Bride Cheek Stain (I think I’m too dark to make this work, as it’s quite sheer); Smashbox On Trend Cream Eye Liner, a deep khaki (I’m bringing it to Jamaica to try smudging it out a ton, as that feels like the just right look for the trip); and Clinique’s Salt & Pepper Lid Smoothie (a shimmering silver-grey that would be a great base for certain looks).

Lastly, I did improve my photography skills a bit when it comes to taking FOTD’s, though I still have a LONG way to go!!  Here are a couple looks I shot over the last few weeks:

Wearing: Lise Watier Folie de Pomme loose shadow, theBalm Down Boy blush, MAC Madly Magenta CCB on lips

Wearing: MUFE #2 Yellow Eyeshadow, MUFE #0L Aqua Eyes, Benefit Bella Bamba blush, and MUFE S4 Star Gloss

So.  While Lent this year wasn’t much of a big hoopla as it has always been for me in years past, nonetheless I still took something away from the experience, and it wasn’t for naught!  I plan to continue to go through my stash regularly to weed out products that just aren’t right for me and could use a better home, and I’m definitely going to keep trying to experiment – with both products and photos.  Blogging as a whole is a constant learning experience for me, and one that I relish and take great pleasure in.  There will never be a shortage of things to discover and write about!

Oh, one last thing before I go – here was my Easter mani for the week:

Wearing (thumb to pinky): Zoya Cho, MAC Mischievous Mint, China Glaze Sea Spray, Zoya Marley, RBL Poco a Poco

(Tee hee!!)  Happy Easter/Long Weekend everyone!! 😀

A Holiday Red Staple: China Glaze Ruby Pumps

In the spirit of the Holiday season – here’s another red polish for your viewing pleasure 🙂

This polish has quite a history (not my particular bottle, but the shade itself :P).  It was released as part of China Glaze’s first go at the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection back in 2001 – WELL before I began my journey towards polish insanity.  They re-released the collection in 2009, but I heard the shades weren’t as gorgeous the second time around.  In any case, I picked up this beauty in the summer of 2010 and instantly fell in love.  It truly looks like Dorothy’s ruby red slippers!  The rich red sparkly within the slightly darker, somewhat sheer red base is mesmerizing.  I wear this every Holiday season – though I admit it doesn’t get much play during the rest of the year (though I’ve read from several other blogs that they frequently use it as a pedi shade).

Unfortunately, I simply could not seem to capture this amazing polish on film, so my pictures below are not doing it justice in the least.  Imagine it much more sparkly and eye-catching in real life:Truly, in any lighting, this shade simply glows with radiance.  I wore it over one coat of Essie’s Limited Addiction so that I would get better depth (and you can still see a touch of VNL without a base, unless you apply several coats) – next time I think I’ll use a brighter red as the deep shade of L.Addiction pulled to color down a bit.  Anyway, this is a great polish, easy to apply with absolutely no issues whatsoever, and I think you can still pick it up around various retailers of China Glaze.  If you’re feeling festive, I highly recommend scooping this up!