Nail Color Blocking

Last week I was having trouble picking out an outfit for Thursday.  I always pick my clothes the night beforehand because I am too tired in the morning to make choices.  I was debating trying the orange and pink color blocking trend that was really popular last spring and summer, and remained popular into this past autumn.  Observe:

source

In particular, I have been seeing #4 (from H&M) everywhere for the past year or so.  I took a chance and wore a poofy red/orange skirt with a bright pink top (as opposed to the more bubblegum pink tones shown above).  Regrettably I don't have any photos, but I will tell you that I was complimented all day long.  By women, by men, and most notably, by a four-year-old boy who excitedly ran up to me while I was eating my lunch  at the Cleveland Botanical Gardens and said very sweetly, "You look like a pwincess."  Clearly this retina-searing color blocking combination yielded good results.  So the next logical step was doing it to my nails.  

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.  As soon as I was finished doing this I was in love with it.  The pink has less of a blue tone to it in real life, though.  This is two coats of Wet n Wild Candy Apple Twist for the orangey-red, and two coats of Color Club In Bloom for the pink.

Left hand.

Right hand.

I just love how this looks.  You see tipwear in the photos because I have had my nails this way since last Saturday night.  They're holding up pretty well.  For those of you who are hesitant to try the pink/orange trend in clothing, a manicure like this might be a good trial to see how you like the color combination.  Accessorizing my outfit was fun, too.  I figured I could either keep it simple or use an accent color, and I wound up wearing what can only be described as cascades of turquoise jewelry.  While my boyfriend and I were having dinner that night he looked across the table at me and said, "Are you...are those three necklaces you're wearing?"  Yes.  Yes, there were three.  And they looked fabulous :)  

In conclusion:

Pink and orange:  yes.

Pink and orange nail polish:  YES.

And do I love clothes?:  Y.E.S.

If you guys are interested in seeing the outfit I can recreate it and try to get some pictures taken.  Just let me know.  Any adventures in color blocking to share?  Any ideas?  I'd love to hear them.

Jason Wu and Zoya Kennedy

A few weeks back Zoya had some sort of promotion going where if you entered a code you could get two free polishes.  I distinctly remember that my boyfriend and I were watching something on Netflix, and when he got up to go to the bathroom I opened a new browser window.  By the time he got back I had two polishes in my virtual cart and all I could say to him was, "PLEASE GET ME MY WALLET THERE IS NAIL POLISH INVOLVED."  It took a while for them to ship to me, I assume because lots of people ordered.  But here is my first one, Kennedy.

This is a nice, neutral creme.  It's a peachy-beige that looks sort of dirty or grungy in some lights.  If it looked in all lights like it does in the first photo, I think I would really love this.  But in the shade and in some lights it ends up looking kind of washed out and almost entirely beige.  Maybe it has to grow on me.  But I'm pretty happy with this purchase...I MEAN I'm happy with this polish I got for free.  I haven't gotten a new Zoya in quite a while, so I don't know how their formulas have been lately; I did not like the formula on Kennedy.  It was thick.  And hard to get even.  I did only need two coats, but they seemed like a laborious two coats.

But when all is said and done it's a neutral that looks pretty and elegant.  So maybe the application pain is worth it.  I'm happy to add it to my collection.

So it feels really good to say that I had a great weekend.  After having so much trouble with so many things at the end of last year, I finally feel genuinely happy.  On Saturday I started studying for my qualifying exams, which was scary.  But at least I started.  Then my boyfriend took me out to dinner at one of my favorite Thai places.  Then we watched one of my favorite movies, Brick, in bed (he didn't like it as much as I do).  At 2:30 I finally fell asleep, and the next morning I was up at 6:30 for the Jason Wu for Target release.  Let me tell you about my adventure.

The collection had me at black cat (I have one, Raven).  

No makeup.  Hair wild.  Giant sweater.  Welcome to my Sundays, folks.

The pieces are all based on elegant, clean lines, which appealed to me immediately.  I knew the second the lookbook was released that I needed this dress:

source

My friend Sam and I got to Target at 7:55, 5 minutes before the store opened.  Our Target has two entrances on the bottom floor, and about 15 people were lined up at one of them, while 5 or so were lined up at the other.  We headed for the less crowded entrance.  Luckily, due to a particularly boisterous Wu enthusiast waving her arms at the employee opening the doors, he came over and opened our set first (Thanks Brent at University Heights Target!).  He cautioned us not to run, which was funny.  Because we of course all ran.  But the 30 seconds between when he opened our doors and the other set of doors allowed me to grab this dress in several sizes, as well as a couple other pieces (including the cat tee, which I didn't end up getting).  It turned out that an 8 was a perfect fit, so 5 minutes after the doors had opened I already had my prize in-hand.  I only encountered one semi-aggressive person, and we had this conversation:

Her:  Hey, do you have that blue dress in a 6?

Me:  No.  I have an 8.

Her:  Are you sure?  I have an 8 too.  I need a 6.

Me:  ...Yes?  Yes I'm sure.  What?

I was confused by this, and literally scampered off to the dressing room to avoid eye contact.

And then the accessories.  Ah, the accessories.  The employees ended up bringing the bags out in, I kid you not, a huge bin.  Seeing women scramble for them was pretty funny.  I managed to score a couple (without damaging my dignity) because my friend wanted one, so that was fun.  It was a whole barter system happening of women grabbing whatever they could and then trading.

Anyway, I'm glad I went.  It was fun, and getting exactly what I wanted within minutes gave me a weird shopping adrenaline rush that I suspect is unhealthy.  Target was followed by breakfast, a lecture at the Cleveland Museum of Art, and hanging out in a coffee shop.  

All in all, I'm completely content.  And that makes Monday not look so bad.  Did anyone else score anything J.Wu?  I'd love to hear about it if you did :)

China Glaze Sneaker Head

I don't know how I feel about polishes making repeat appearances on the ol' blog.  I've done it before, of course.  I know I've posted about China Glaze Sneaker Head within the last six or so months.  But the other day my friend was wearing this bright candy pink/red-looking polish and all of a sudden I wanted that look.  I wanted it real bad.  So I opened up my Helmer, saw Sneaker Head and thought, "This will be perfect!"  Then after the manicure was all done and dried I remembered that I featured this polish here, when I was waxing poetic about lobsters and New England (yes, that's right).  But what's important is that I got the look I wanted.

I don't know what it is about this one that drives me crazy (in a good way).  The formula is okay for an early B3F polish, maybe a little runny.  But fine in two coats!  And the color is this crisp almost but not quite berry-toned red.  There's a little pink thrown in there that makes this not-just-another-red red.  I have used a lot of Sneaker Head.  At least for me.  The bottle is about 25% gone.  If I had to purge my stash and I could only keep ten polishes, this one would make the list.

And I may have matched my sweater to it yesterday.

The sweater is a bit more orange-red, but you get the idea.  Looking at this picture I realize that I went a little crazy with color.  Orange-red cardigan.  Puke/booger green dress.  Turquoise accessory.  What you CAN'T see in the photo is my leopard belt.  And no, I'm not kidding.

Other news...well, nothing really.  Nothing concrete, anyway.  But you know what's the best?  When my boyfriend randomly calls me in the middle of the day to tell me he loves me or hi or to ask how what I'm doing that day or if I'm happy.  The other day he called while I was having lunch all alone-y on my own-y and it instantly made me smile.  Both because I love hearing from him when we're not together and because he always knows exactly what to say to make me laugh...

Okay, I guess that's enough warm-and-fuzzy love talk for today.  So, Sneaker Head.  Do you think it's a polish that merits an encore on Short 'n Chic?  As reds go, how do you all feel about it? 

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

OPI Lincoln Park After Dark...

...is, quite simply, a little black dress for one's nails.

[I know that it's not black, it's eggplant, but I was trying to be DEEP and METAPHORICAL.]

MAC Mean and Green (!!!!)

Totally late to this party, but I thought I'd post about my nail polish boner for MAC Mean and Green.  These pictures were taken indoors, and are kind of blurry, but they're pretty good for showing what this polish can do.

So, here it is.  I took these pictures in the library and at least one person was looking at me like I was crazy.  Apparently this has a dupe in Orly...Space Cadet?  I think.  I haven't bought an Orly in quite a while, so I don't have that one to compare.  Most of the time Mean and Green looks sort of purply-pink, but if you get it at the right angle there's a pretty awesome rainbow effect.  Don't let how cool this one looks fool you, though.  Application was troublesome.  First, my brush was totally wonky.  Bristles sticking out every which way.  Second, the formula was thick and difficult to work with.  And I needed three coats.  And it took forever to dry.  Despite this, though, I still think it was worth it.

I'm pretty sure all these MAC polishes are sold out (this one was given to me by the unfailingly generous Michelle), but as I said, this one has a dupe in Orly Space Cadet, which I assume is more readily available.

In conclusion, I'm in love with this polish.  

Joe Fresh Storm

My friend PerryPie sent me some Joe Fresh polishes quite a while ago, and I have one to show you today.

  


This is Storm.  I'll be the first to say that this photo is bad because:
1.  This is under indoor lighting and 
2.  My cuticles look jacked up.  Clearly I have not been sticking to the Lemony Flutter routine (and I haven't).  I solemnly swear I'm going to start putting that stuff on before bed.


I can't say that the color is incredibly unique, but it is incredibly beautiful.  Taupes like this just sing to me.  It's quite cool-toned, with pretty noticeable purple undertones (not as gray as Metro Chic, but not as brown as OPI Over the Taupe).  The formula on this one seemed watery and sheer to me, and after the first coat I was sure I would have to do three to even it out.  But, surprise!  It was perfect after only two.  It dried super quickly, too.  About 10 minutes after applying it I realized that I was late to meet a friend, and after I had grabbed my keys, put on my coat, and rummaged around in my purse I still didn't have any dents in the polish.  Yay.  The only problem is that this chipped REALLY quickly on me.  After about a day I had pretty bad signs of wear, hence the indoor light.  It was already dark by the time I got home from work and took the photo, so I'm sorry about that.


I have been feeling so oddly sentimental lately.  On Monday my boyfriend and I were hanging out, just lying in bed in my semi-dark-from-crappy-winter-light room, and I asked him if he ever consciously made memories.  I've been doing that a lot lately.  Living a moment and deciding right then and there that you're going to remember it as a particularly beautiful one.  Having little to do on a lazy Monday afternoon except lie around in bed with the man I'm in love with merits a beautiful moment.  But yeah, I don't know.  Something about the past couple weeks has made me feel like I have to really live every day; really experience things, good and bad; remember the little things that make me smile or feel warm inside; laugh until I cry; relish the work I'm doing.  Maybe it's because I know that this period in my life is close to ending and I have so much uncertainty about the future.  But whatever has made me feel this way, I'm sort of thankful for it.


Anyway, Storm.  Thoughts?  Have I ever asked you guys what your favorite taupe/mushroom polish is?  I probably have, but tell me again.

Revlon Starry Pink

First thing's first:  the winner of the Muppets Giveaway was a reader called Pam R.  Her win has been confirmed via e-mail, so congratulations to her!

Revlon Starry Pink is not a polish that I meant to fall in love with.  I found it at Target about a month ago, and for some reason I threw it into my cart (it was a post-end-of-semester-freak-out-calm-yourself-down Target sort of trip, and I was feeling like I needed something pretty; I remember that day well).  I wore it once as soon as I got it but didn't take photos.  So now I'm wearing it again.

Starry Pink is a milky/sheer pink base full of hexagonal and regular small silver glitter.  The first coat goes on pretty sheer, but the color eventually builds to what you see in the photos after three coats.  It dries fast, too.  I did two coats of topcoat to amp up the shine and make sure that the glitter would lie smoothly against my nails.  

I can't really put my finger on why I love this one so much.  I think it's because the pink looks a little...dirty?  Kind of grayed out.  Which, to me, makes this polish look kind of edgy even though it's...*shudder*...a glittery pink.  Also I like how this looks with my pale skin.  This is definitely a polish I'll be keeping around and reaching for all winter.

I had a pretty good weekend.  Like I mentioned on Friday, I went to the last opening at the Carnegie Avenue location at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland.  It was pretty great.  Those things are always great people-watching.  Plus there was a performance piece going on throughout the whole event which involved hobo-looking actors walking around wearing sandwich boards and yelling things like THE END IS NIGH.  See?

Is there anything better on a snowy Friday night?  I don't think so.  You can see the snow on the poor guy's coat here.  It started coming down in earnest around 9 and continued well into the night.

Saturday night my boyfriend and I went to our friend's opening.  He's a painter.  It was nice to see him having his paintings on display somewhere.  Apparently he was also mentioned in the newspaper, but I didn't see it.  A pretty big deal for him, though.  

I'm also really into this right now:

[image credit]

I just started the second season.  I never knew a PBS series could be so enthralling.  And that Maggie Smith was so feisty.  

Okay, that's it for today.  Any other people obsessed with Downton Abbey, milky pink polishes or weird contemporary art?

Muppets Muppettes Reminder!

Hello readers!  It's Friday.  That means it's a good day.  I'm happy to have finished my first week of classes, to have taught my first class of the semester, and that I'm going to an opening at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Cleveland tonight.  I'm happy that I'm wearing a new dress (this one) and red tights.  But most of all I'm glad that VERY SOON I will be able to give one of you some OPI Muppets minis.  Wait, what's that?  You haven't heard about my giveaway?  Well, click here, then!  You can enter to win pretty polishes like this one:

OPI Warm & Fozzie

Remember to enter by 11:59 PM EST, January 20th (that's TODAY).

Thanks guys!  Good luck!

The Thrill of the Hunt

Two things on the agenda today:  first, nail polish (duh).  Second, a tale of obsession with a happy ending.

A jelly sandwich with Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom and OPI Gone Gonzo.  I've decided that this is my favorite way to wear the Muppets glitters.  And it goes to show that they're pretty versatile.  I did the same thing with Gettin' Miss Piggy With It.  This is two coats Bikini Bottom, one coat Gone Gonzo, and then one more coat of Bikini Bottom.  I love this.  The only problem is that it took FOREVER to dry.

So, when I decide I want something I go kind of crazy over it until I get it.  It happens with hard to find drug store nail polishes, and this month it happened with a dress.  It started when my mom took me on an Anthropologie shopping trip for my 25th birthday (because she is the best) and I picked out a few things.  One of the things I chose I got as a Christmas gift, but when I tried it on Christmas morning I was much less enamored of it than I was when we bought it.  So I returned it.  Which meant I had roughly $200 to spend at Anthro.  I spent some of it on a dress that was on sale (and I'm really happy with that purchase), but what to do with the rest of it?  I was perusing the Anthro website about two weeks ago when I saw this.  I said (shouted) to my boyfriend, who was sitting next to me playing with his iPod, "OHMYGOD LOOK AT THIS IT HAS BIKES ON IT OHMYGOD."  He was not as elated as I, but he indulged me, as he usually does.  From that moment on I was a woman obsessed.  I had to have it.  


But much to my dismay, it's actually already backordered in most sizes (as it turns out, not mine).  Also I couldn't figure out whether or not it actually ran true to size, so I was hesitant to order it from the website. Yesterday I called my Anthropologie store, and they told me they had just gotten it in that day but only had two left.  One of them was an 8 (YAY THAT WILL FIT ME HOPEFULLY, I thought).  So I got in my car and sped off.  And this happened.

!!!!!!!!!

It.  Has.  Pockets.

This dress, which is called the Bike Lane Dress, also comes with separate straps that are adjustable and totally functional.  Much to my surprise, the 8 is actually a tiny bit big on top.  But not enough to dissuade me from buying this one or to persuade me to wiggle into a 6.  Side note:  I always wear a smaller size than I think I will because I'm starting to realize I have really big issues with body image.  I've been struggling with my weight for several years now, and I always think I look huge.  Having been pretty overweight before, and also being a total perfectionist, it's a difficult thing to overcome.  I am so glad that this dress now lives in my closet, and I can't wait for spring-ish weather so I can flounce around in it.

Another reason to be happy?  I realized that I have classes on Mondays and Wednesdays and I teach on Friday.  I will probably end up interning on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but I haven't met with my supervisor yet, so I don't have any work I can do (again, yet).  MEANING that even though today is technically the first day of the semester, I'm still on vacation.  Huzzah!  

[polish in this post provided for review.  want your own?  check out nailpolishdiva.com]

OPI Wocka Wocka!

So, reds.  You love 'em or you hate 'em.  As many of you probably know, I fall firmly in the love camp.  Warm reds, cool reds, sparkly reds, glittery reds...I'm into them.  Whenever I see them in the bottle I usually think they look boring, but I quickly change my mind when I have them on.

Wocka Wocka! is definitely a cool-toned red, with blue undertones.  I guess I'd call it sort of a cherry red.  But it's not as plain as you might think.  In the first picture you can really see the pink shimmer in the polish that comes out in direct sunlight or even under artificial light.  It sort of adds a whole new dimension to the polish, giving it more depth and making it more interesting.

I mentioned in the giveaway post that this has a flawless formula.  After doing a full manicure with it, I still think that's true.  The polish isn't too thick or too thin, it flows onto the nail nicely and it stayed where I put it.  I think I may have been able to get away with one coat, but I was weirdly caffeinated and shaky while I was doing this (as usual lately; I don't know what my deal is) so I needed two anyway.  My fault, not the polish's.  

So, what do you think?  Do you like this color?  If you do, make sure you enter my Muppets Minis giveaway!  You could win a mini of Wocka Wocka! as well as three other Muppets polishes.  Click here to enter, please.

In other news, it's the last day of my break today.  Which makes me feel like this.

Also this.

At least it's a four-day week...?  Sigh.