Illamasqua: Kink & Orly: Sparkling Garbage

Hello, lovelies!! :D Today I have two pretty pretty polishes to share with you. Sparkling Garbage has a sheer green tinted base so I have the bottles together here to show you why I picked Kink as an acceptable under-color.



Not an exact match, but the darker base should help the sparkles pop... "should"? I know it does, but you don't yet. ;) First we have to start with two coats of Kink.



I had a far easier time with Kink than I did with Taint. Same two coats, but Kink was ready for bed in two hours... may have been ready before, but that's how long it took me to get to bed after application, so max time: 2 hours. :p



Gorgeous jungle/hunter green.

Now, gaze in amazement at how much shorter my right hand nails are the flashy wonder that is Sparkling Garbage!



O_o Pretty!! And the name just cracks me up. Sparkling Garbage is a scattered holo and the sparkly bits seem to be a little bigger than your standard holo shimmer. Not a lot, but a little bit.



That's one coat over Kink. No dry time issues. I've read on other blogs that this one takes three coats for opacity.

hehehehehe Guess what?!



Kitten butt! :D For the past few weeks it's been a struggle to get Jet away from the shed to do her business and last night I found out why. We've got, at least, a momma and three or four itty bitty kitties living under there. The sad part is that we can't officially adopt them, we've already got four cats in the house. But they are welcome to stay in the yard as long as they want, and since Saleen is suddenly having problems with the kibble we normally pick up, they may end up getting that when we grab a bag of "digestive health" kibbles for the house cats.

I did end up at Ulta. Picked up Liberty, so I'll be swatching that tomorrow. It did give me a fantastic idea, though, and now I have to get Solitaire before July 4th! Actually, I could cash out some of my SwagBucks into Amazon gift cards and get some textures before the price starts going up... I'll take a look at my wishlist and decide tonight. For now, Libery tomorrow! :D Hope everyone's week is off to a great start!

~*~EDIT~*~ I just cashed out 2550 SwagBucks so I can have a $25 amazon gift card in my inbox on the 22nd so I can go ahead and grab the three Bond Girls polishes I want. :p That was an easy decision... lol

Blog In May: Day 20

Today's prompt:
Get real. Share something you're struggling with right now.

......*sigh* What to say... what to say... It's not a short list, by any stretch, but part of life is just moving forward and doing what you have to. Right this very second I'd say there are two things that are weighing heavy on my mind.

1. I need a vacation. Like, a for-real go-away for more than one day vacation. I haven't had a proper vacation in 16 years. That was half of my life ago. We've taken a few day trips, but something about the stress of getting back home in time to sleep really diminishes the de-stressing part of going away. Also, while I do love to drive (especially for hours on the highway), being the only driver and having to navigate 6+ hours of traffic can sometimes be more of a headache than it's worth. I keep trying to save up, but once I start putting away a reasonable sum... the car needs work. We need the car in good shape to get anywhere and it's a vicious cycle that's really hard to break out of. Which reminds me... need to see where Midas moved to because I'm going to need new brakes soon... -_- Aaron's a sweetheart, but I have the hardest time explaining this need to him. Since we've been married he's been 'away' for three one-week trips. Two with his friends and one to collect his mother after her husband passed. I stayed here to take care of Elvis. Not something I regret, he needed at least one of his parents especially in the later years. But it's getting to the point where whenever I read about anybody doing anything I just want to cry and throw my computer against the wall. I always always always try to be happy for people when good things happen for them, but I'm starting to lose the ability because "why not me?".

2. The second thing isn't quite as heart-wrenching, but it is deeply bothersome when I do think about it... so it may seem odd that I'm actually trying to think about it more often. It's no secret I've got big ol' boobs. Approximately 38DD. I'm proud of them. I don't like that my back hurts sometimes or that my bra straps dig into my shoulders, but I like having them. I grew them and they're mine. The problem is that I'm getting old. I'm getting old and I was a stupid teenager that went braless more than I should have. So there is a fair bit of sagging going on. Which... I'm not exceedingly vain. I always told myself I'd try to age gracefully... but... how do I put this delicately... it's not "normal" sagging. The nipples have made their way southward and I am not happy about it. Aaron says it's not that bad and he's still, after nearly 13 years, enamored with my boobs; but it bothers me. Especially when I see it in pictures. I make sure to get an arm under there and lift my girls back up where they belong and it's his job to make sure nothing's... askew. :p So. Yes. I have one really nice push-up bra that I wear and I'm trying to get into the habit of slathering my girls with cocoa butter lotion on top to try and coax the skin into tightening back up a bit. I'm not expecting miracles, but even a little bit would help. I've also read that rosehip oil is supposed to be good for skin elasticity, but haven't been able to find a lotion with it already in there. As a last resort I've read some good things about emu oil. Which I did research and (here in the states anyway) emus are not raised for just their fat. Actually emu farms harvest the meat, fat, skin (for leather) and feathers off of the same animal. Which is a far better practice than some animal-related-product industries... Incidentally, emu burgers are pretty good if you're not vegetarian/vegan and have a chance to try them.

And Aaron's awake so now I'm struggling with not wanting to throw something at him. "Check this out" every 30seconds while I'm trying to type. :p lol Anyway, those are my most immediate concerns. I think I'm going to go ahead and post this now. Work on that sock some while I wait for the sun to come up and Ulta to open. I think I need a bit of retail therapy after this.... what?! Don't give me that look. I gots a 20% of coupon so I could be coming back with a new PixieDust to show you. ;)

Tomorrow's prompt:
A list of links to your favorite posts in your archives

Ha-ha! I saw this one a week ago so I've already got my list. Hint: None of them are polish related!

Misa: Pour Me Something Tall & Strong

Howdy howdy howdy! So I thought I'd dig deep into my drawer and swatch up some Pour Me Something Tall & Strong...



...what can I say? The formula was watery, streaky and painfully sheer. I think the color itself may have looked better over a silver base instead of white, work with the richness you can see closer to my cuticles (where the white base didn't reach) rather than trying to force the promised neon. Oh, and yes, I did knock my index finger with the bottle while picking it up. :p



Not insanely thrilled with this one, but... I'll give it another go once I start my second rotation. It's so pretty in the bottle and I know I've seen some really pretty swatches online... just the formula sucks and I'm not one of those people that likes to see VNL under jelly polishes. Some people do. This would be great for them. lol

After a couple of awesome Swagbucks days I'm already up to almost 53%. Still planning on being responsible with half of that. Finally got my sock poking out of the bottom of the loom!



It does still look a bit big, but... I'm using acrylic yarn instead of "sock yarn" so it's not going to stretch as much, so maybe bigger is better in this case. We'll see! lol It's like an adventure. A very slow, kinda hurty adventure. Tomorrow I'm going to swatch Illamasqua Kink and hopefully use that as a base for Orly Sparkling Garbage (hehehe) which I've read is very sheer. Hope everyone's having a great weekend! Enjoy it while it lasts. :)

Blog In May: Day 19

Nearing the end!

Today's prompt:
Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them

Okay, I already mentioned three of them in my Blog-Friends post: AbbieNail, The Nail Buff, and The Happy Sloths. Of course I love those, but I gotta spread the love! If blogger would load up my reading list.... F5-F5-F5.... There it is. :p

In no particular order:

My Simple Little Pleasures: Whenever I mention Colette, that's her. She doesn't blog as much anymore, but she does have a fairly active YouTube feed with tons of tips and tricks and tutorials.... and some pretty drool-worth hauls. ;)

Swatch And Learn: She's one of those more professional nail bloggers that I know gets tons of promo freebies, but she is absolutely NOT one of those girls that feels like a stuck-up sell-out. Quite the opposite! She's excited about the polishes and she's got a great sense of humor and comes across as very down to earth; still taking time to respond to comments and such.

BeautyShades Makeup and Nails Blog: A fabulous British blog that covers a variety of makeups and nail polish. An awesome, interactive blogger who's not afraid to go over the top with some nail art! :) A great place to go for ideas.

NyanPon's Knits and Crochet: This is where I got the pattern for my cute little octopi. Her crochet skill completely overshadows mine so a few of her patterns are too complicated for me (also, I can't knit), but they're still fun to look at.

fun size beauty: Another multi-makeups blog that is just overall adorable and fun. Much like the name suggests.

Wow, that was quick. lol And only a fraction of the blogs I read regularly... because I have no life. :p Those eight are totally worth checking out.

Tomorrow's prompt:
Get real. Share something you're struggling with right now.

.....we'll see how I feel like going about that one.

China Glaze: Unrefined and....

JUDO CHOP!!



hehehe Yes, I went for a big chop. Sort of unintentionally. I certainly didn't intend for my right hand to end up shorter than my left, but... at least I did manage to get my picture-hand fairly even and not too nubby. So I asked myself "What's a cute color for super short nails?" Pink! Of course. BeautyShades mentioned not liking the texture as much when she trimmed her nails shorter so I had to take the opportunity to see if I'd feel the same way. As far as the pink, I like it! It's kind of like fuzzy little poof-balls... except for the not being soft part. This is two coats, excellent dry time. Pretty, precious pink.



*loves* I still have a blue (did I mention I got Of Coarse! in the mail?) so we'll see if that feeling holds. So far, though, I'm diggin' it. Also, it's much easier to type at the moment.

So. hehehe I started my first sock!



I've... uh... been working on this for the better part of the day. It's a slow process (for now?) but it's not overly difficult. I did have to restart my whole first row. Apparently when the lady in the video said "snug" she didn't mean "tight". :p Once I discovered that the pegs have little divots to guide the needle the process became much easier. Still slow, but I'm getting the hang of it. Perhaps knee-socks is a bit ambitious for my first try, but I'm determined! Possibly a tad insane, but determined. Probably should have been counting my rows.... it won't matter if my socks are one or two rows off from each other, right? LOL

I think tomorrow I'll be reaching for Pour Me Something Tall & Strong. I keep forgetting how many Misas I still have left. Hope everyone is having a terrific weekend! :D

Blog In May: Day 18

Today's prompt:
Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

I have a lot of really good memories from my childhood. The problem is that most of them are fragmented and I know that some of them are false memories, intermixing with dreams and such. There is, however, one day in particular that stands out. My parents were (are?) very happy to be parents. Not in the way that some people have kids just to push them and bask in their reflected accomplishments or treat them as status boosters. They didn't go around throwing us in people's faces or complaining about how hard they worked or all they sacrificed by having us. Oh no. My mom took great personal pride and pleasure in volunteering at the school (a small school; K-12 making up about 500 students) and my dad, while a hard worker, was far from a work-a-holic. Once he got home the work day was over and it was time for his girls. We were encouraged to do our best, but never pushed in directions that weren't right for us; and we never had to question whether or not we were loved.

And so came the legendary "Park That Daddy Found". One day we were all sitting at home, homework finished and dinner started; anxiously waiting for my dad to get home so we could ride his feet to the couch. (the price of this ride was taking off his smelly army boots... a price we devised because we wanted to help AND it was terribly funny to us how bad his feet smelled at the end of the day... we were odd... lol) He came in all excited and asked of his waiting family, "Guess what I found on the way home?" with a big grin plastered across his face. I'm sure our guesses were childishly outrageous and finally once we were all guessed out he told us that he found a new park for us to go to on Saturday. Said it was BIG and he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed it before. This, of course, elicited a round of cheers and our little gears started turning trying to figure out what could make this park so special? Aside from it's size, that is; and the fact that he found it. The park probably had a proper name, but from that day we always knew it as "The Park That Daddy Found", which I'm sure made him feel like some kind of superhero. ;)

The day could not have been any more beautiful. Sunny with some clouds so it didn't get to hot and just a light breeze. The park... was magical. They had stuff we had never seen before! I wish I had the picture that I know I have of it, but I don't know which album it's in, or my sister might have it. Anyway, imagine a giant square, with a convenient crater in the middle. Why convenient? Because they had the longest slides ever going right into it! Two slides, one on each side. One was bumpy, the other wavy. The stairs going back to the top were killer, but we were kids! We had energy to spare. lol The bottom of the 'crater' was empty, but it was the perfect place for us to learn that our dad had yet another talent of which we were formerly unaware. In addition to his multiple other talents he could throw a boomerang! And have it come back!! AND CATCH IT! He tried to teach us, but it didn't quite work so he threw it while we ran around trying to catch it.

Oh, but that's just slides and a crater. :p What about the other stuff? Well, the top part of the park had picnic tables and water fountains and a sandbox and swings. Your normal playground stuff. They also had a little merry-go-round; the kind with bars that run off of people-power? We always loved those. Started off with a death-grip on the bars because we knew he would get it spinning fast enough to fling us into space. There was also some contraption that was similar to a merry-go-round, except it was bigger, higher up, no bars and angled. o_O No idea what the purpose of that was, but we spent a few minutes walking up the incline making it spin around. The other big find at this park was the zip line! This wasn't any baby line either. The platform was at least five feet high (my dad had to reach up to fling us to the other end, where my mom was waiting to catch us) and the distance was a good 30-40ft. There was a round disc you could either sit or stand on and man we had so much fun on that! It became our first stop on subsequent trips.

We brought a picnic lunch of tuna sandwiches and Squeeze-Its (colored sugar water in plastic bottles that had funny faces). I remember the Squeeze-Its in particular because one of my sisters, probably Annalisa, laughed so hard at something it came out of her nose. Which, of course, made the rest of us laugh even harder. I laughed so hard I fell off of the bench, nearly losing what was left of my sandwich in the process. It was a fantastic day that was over far too quickly. The kind of day where you're still super excited by the time you get home, but pass right out from exhaustion. There were a few parks we visited a couple of times a month, and this one easily fit into the rotation.

Tomorrow's prompt:
Five of your favorite blogs and what you love about them

Yay! Another easy one. lol

Zoya: Skylar

Yes! Finally. lol I had been eyeballing Skylar since the True collection was sitting in Ulta forever, finally found her on clearance and now I'm getting around to wearing her.



Skylar looks more grey indoors, but outside in the sun she definitely has a blue cast. This is three coats, super smooth application, average dry time.



And such a pretty shimmer. I think it was mostly the shimmer that made me think she would be similar to I Have A Herring Problem.



Side-by-side like that they really don't look that similar. On the nail they do look a tad closer...



Skylar on my middle and pinky; IHAHP on index and ring. Skylar is a bit more blue and a touch darker, IHAHP leans more grey and is a bit lighter. I think the shimmer in Skylar is a bit more dense, or it could just be an illusion. lol



Skylar on the left; IHAHP on the right. Close, but definitely not dupes. Not outside anyway, indoors they look much closer. Gotta love the sun! ;)

So my mom had a couple of 40% off coupons for Hobby Lobby and wanted me to go with her. Why not? I wasn't planning on getting anything, but then she pointed this out....



It's a sock loom! You know, so I can make socks! SOCKS!!! LOL Out of this!:



LMAO!!! Gonna make some day-glo knee highs. And normal socks. Summer's coming up, though, so I'm going to need something to detract from my legs when I start wearing shorts. :p Also, we're forever losing our normal socks so once I get the hang of this thing I should be able to whip out a pair of ankle-socks in no time. Aaron needs a certain color socks for a costume? *BAM!* There ya go. And once the zombie apocalypse happens I can trade clean socks for fresh water or something. I'm also assuming I should be able to make, like, those arm thingies? You know, like long gloves without fingers. One of the pics on the back of the package is of toe-less socks so it's not a big stretch. This is going to be so much fun.

That's about it for me. Starting to get painful to type again so don't be surprised if I have a big ol' chop coming up again soon. I have no idea how Abbie does it... Hope everyone has a Happy Friday and a fantastic weekend coming up! Love you guys!! :D

Blog In May: Day 17

Today's prompt:
A favorite photo of yourself and why

This one was difficult for a couple of reasons. Most of the pictures of myself I hate... for some reason or other. Oftentimes what shows up in images just doesn't match the image I have of myself in my head. The pictures I do like... I really really like. Possibly because there are so few. So... I picked two. Well, three. I'll just leave the link for the third because it is borderline adult and I don't want to assault your delicate sensibilities if you happen to have such things. lol



hehehe I like this one because 1) I'm wearing one of my favorite shirts and 2) my face and hair have a sort of anime quality; with the big eyes and almost non-existent mouth. 3) Along those lines my giant nose was blessedly obscured by the "antique movie" filter. LOL



ROFLMAO!!! Back in the heyday of Myspace I had a little self-comic book project I was working on. It became fairly popular but, of course, as soon as it did I started running out of ideas on where I was going to go with it! See, I had this skull popping up out of nowhere and that was about the extent of my "comic". So one night I was sitting here thinking and thinking and suddenly it came to me! We had pulled a fake mustache out of one of those quarter machines so I "disguised" myself as a dude and we turned the back porch into a make-shift movie theater for me to hide in. It was so much fun and gave me almost a week's worth of "episodes". Of course Myspace turned into a ghost town shortly after, which is what brought me to blogger in the first place, but it's something Aaron and I still laugh about today.

The last one is from a whole different set of pictures of myself. Okay, so during my adolescence I weighed a steady 135lbs. Which I know now wasn't that much, but we all know how cruel kids can be. I was literally starving myself, and it became normal so I rarely felt hungry. Then... I met Aaron. He is something else, let me tell ya. While nobody else ever questioned my eating habits, he made it his mission to feed me at every possible opportunity. While some more superficial men might balk at their wives gaining a few pounds, he never treated me any differently as my weight ballooned. I grew up wearing hand-me-downs from a myriad of sources (so my clothes never really fit quite right) and with no full-length mirrors and me taking his word on the matter I didn't realize I was gaining so much weight until I was nearly 190lbs. Which was a far bigger problem for me than it ever was to him. To combat my suddenly low-self esteem he started doing naked photo shoots with me and posting them up on a certain website where negative commenting is cause for banishment. So, naturally, people only comment on pictures they like! Which is the way it should be anyway. I don't always like the pictures, of course, but there are a few that I do. Like this one. Assuming photobucket hasn't removed it, even though I did crop out the really naked bits. :p

I think this ended up a bit longer than the challenge intended. The thing is... I know a lot of us struggle with body image and self-esteem and I really do think it's important to focus on the things we like about ourselves; and having pictures of ourselves that we like is a part of that.

Tomorrow's prompt:
Tell a story from your childhood. Dig deep and try to be descriptive about what you remember and how you felt.

I may have an idea... it was a long time ago. LOL

Illamasqua: Radium

I am not even going to complain about the rain and clouds today. Some people a couple hours north of us got tornadoes, so I'm just thankful we didn't get that. Only real bonus to living in "The Hell Void": really severe weather avoids us like the plague. So much, in fact, that I've seen thunderstorms completely go around us (separating and then coming back together on the other side) and wondered if perhaps the military had something to do with it...

Anywho, I was hoping for some bright sunshine to show off the shimmer in Radium, buuuuuut... I'll settle for not having all my stuff scattered to the four corners.



Gorgeous, stunning, mesmerizing... pretty pretty pretty. hehehehe I did need three coats for this one (omg Abbie only needed two! *pouts*... lol) and dry time was... a smidge longer than I like, but at least my Julep drops mostly saved it from becoming a terrible mess during the night.



Not the best swatches, but somehow I don't think y'all keep coming back for my immaculate swatching ability. ;) LOL I know I'm not the worst, but I could probably be a little more careful.

OMG For the first time in a long time I had to quit following a blog. I'm not going to name names (if you're reading this it wasn't you), but man... I thought I'd try out this thing I saw on Jasmine's blog in a comment... Meet Me On The Bright Side's Blog Hop. Where you share your blog link and find other blogs to follow. Sounds good, right? One blog I followed I got a follow-back. The other one... man. I don't mind not getting a follow-back, my blog is the one place where numbers don't matter to me. But she was just so stuck-up and pretentious in her posts, then in one comment she "suggested" the person should have been beaten for their behavior (which may have been an inside joke?), but then... Call me a stickler, but when you post that a beauty product is cruelty-free and made in China... that should throw up a red flag. Animal testing is required for cosmetics in China and that is not cruelty-free. (bizarre law considering the influx of lead-paint toys we had coming in from there....) All that combined was just too much for me. I'll admit, I don't know which of my favorite brands may be suddenly sold in China and subjected to animal testing (why, China? Why?!?!), but I do try to keep up a little... :/

Kind of a depressing post, huh.... Shame for such a ridiculously amazing color. Sims to the rescue! ...? I thought it was funny, anyway. Usually when babies/toddlers start crying the adults are in the process of doing something. This time "momma" (not really, the toddler in question is a clone) was walking towards him and.... this is totally me when I hear a baby/toddler/kid screaming and carrying on:



MAKE THE NOISE STOP!!! LOL In my head I do that, on the outside I try to maintain some composure. ;)

Oh! I think tomorrow I'll try out Zoya Skylar. Also, while they do look a bit different, I will include a comparison against OPI's I Have A Herring Problem... which I really need to reswatch! Awful pics with my old camera. lol IHAHP is way too pretty to go down like that. And still hilarious! Yay comparisons! ;) Hope everyone's having a great week! :D

Blog In May: Day 16

Crested the halfway mark!

Today's prompt:
Something difficult about your "lot in life" and how you're working to overcome it

I really don't want to phone it in on this one, but I'm having a really hard time with it. I mean... what is my "lot in life"? For a while it seemed I spent every waking hour helping sick people (my mom, my bestie, Aaron, Elvis...), but since the only one left who really requires that kind of help is my mom that situation is far better than it used to be. Chronic broke-itis? I earn my online monies and am currently researching eTrade.com for reasonable investment options. Perhaps being stuck in this stupid, shithole, Hell Void town? *shrugs* Just keep hoping Aaron makes it big and we get to move some day. I've always been over-burdened with responsibility and always kind of figured that if I keep working hard then eventually it will all pay off. I'm getting old so there is a bit of doubt that creeps in, but not living up to my responsibilities just isn't an option. That would be worse. I guess that's it really, whatever my "lot in life" may be I just keep working hard and keep hoping that it will be worth it. At least it makes me better than the stupid, self-centered, lazy, self-entitled people who bitch and moan and make bad decisions and get everything handed to them... As great as that sounds, I just couldn't live with myself if I was one of those people. When my time does come, I'll know I earned it for real.

Tomorrow's prompt:
A favorite photo of yourself and why

LOL!! Going to have to see if I even have one of those. :p