I Would Be Proud to Partake of Your Pecan Pie

So today I have some not so great pictures, but some very exciting news. But for that part, you must muddle through the whole post. Or skip ahead, but that's very Harry Burns of you, don't you think?

Ok, first I have one of those many Barielles I bought way back when, from the fall 09 collection. This time I have Blackened Bleu. It's just gorgeous. A knock out. This is two coats which were still thick, but this time less annoyingly so. Maybe all that sparkle breaks it up? I don't know, but I seemed to be less peeved this time around. BB has a smoky black verging on grey base, with brilliant blue shimmer, what Scrangie often calls "glass-fleck." That seems pretty much on the money. Now sadly, I have awful pictures of this gorgeous gorgeous color, because my camera and I seemed to disagree on how to take the pictures. I voted for clear and precise with great detail. My camera voted for blurry and stupid looking, showing only flaws and no loveliness. Camera 1, Betsy 0.

BLECH. Blurry grossness aside, I hope you will trust me that DROOL THIS IS PRETTY OMGZ. But you already know this because in polish terms this is from like a year ago. You've seen the swatches. There is more exciting news about this polish. I think I have found an almost spot on dupe. Sinful Colors See You Soon. I had bought SYS like months ago and totally forgot about it, and then when I was swatching BB, I dug it out of a bottom drawer and took a shot. Again, pictures suck but check it.

Blackened Bleu on pointer and ring (1&3 from left), See You Soon on middle and pinky (2&4)

Again, it's hard to really buy my theory with this crap, but it's uber uber close. SYS is more shimmery, not quite that glass-fleck look of BB, which makes it slightly less rich looking, and the shimmer doesn't pop quite as well. But geez, if that's the only difference? You guys have probably picked up on my Sinful Colors love by now. I think it's cheap and magical, and the broke ass (ex)college kid in me loves that. Barielle has been giving me shit from day one with the formula, plus it's normally $8 plus shipping, not $2 at a drugstore. I'm not trying to say Blackened Bleu isn't wonderful it's just.....you know....cheaper is pretty awesome.

Okay, for the other big news. Drum roll please! I'm starting my own giveaway today. YAY! Now unlike most giveaways, I'm not giving polish -- although it is polish related. I honestly don't have enough polish stocked up I'd want to part with, and I always seem to get things late here in the STL, so it seems silly to give you what you probably already have. Instead, I'm taking a page from Scrangie's book (girl is getting play in this post today) and I'm giving away this:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/GingerKittyDesigns?section_id=6264554

Sorry, I'm sure you wanted an awesome picture there, but I don't want to steal those from the artist. Maybe I'll get ahold of here. Point being, go there and look. This is the Etsy shop of Ginger Kitty Designs, who does beautiful nail polish jewelry. My plan is whoever wins can pick out the one they want; I suggest the custom polish necklace or the gorgeous swirls, but if you're dead set on the earrings or something, we can talk.

So, here's the deal. I want you to write -- on this post please -- something. Just something. It doesn't have to be polish related; in fact, I would love it if it weren't. My favorite posts on here are the ones that get people talking about music, tv, memories, jr high dances, whatever. I love the cool sense of community it forms. Plus, I sense there are a lot of pop culture dorks out there. I know that's part of why Steff and I are such good friends, and part of what (I hope) you come to this site for. It can be as little as, "Hey remember that discussion of Velvet Goldmine? Ewan McGregor IS the shit, you're right! Thanks for the YouTube of his flopping peen. It's my screensaver." Or "Hey Steff, that Jasper Johns painting is tres fabulous, and here's my mini-thesis about it." Whatever you're feeling. And feel free to respond to each other. I just want to see where this one goes. If it so happens to loop through Buffy a few thousand times, so be it! And no need to aim your comments at things you know we like -- although if you sense we might, feel free to suggest that as well. You wanna talk about the merits of metalcore, go for it! I will try follow along as best I can.

Anyway, there shouldn't be too many questions about what I want, although feel free to ask. And please, if you don't mind, while we always love getting comments, even if you only want to give a quick shout out of "love the color," in this instance, maybe a smidgen more than that? Please???

So, rules.

Must be a follower, of course. We love followers. I tell people at work about new followers. Seriously. Feed my insanity. For your entry, post a comment to this post "I Would Be Proud to Partake of Your Pecan Pie." Umm also..someone please understand that. Without looking it up? Your post should have:

1. Something!

2. Your email address

3. A name -- doesn't have to be real, I'd just like to be able to say something other than, and the winner is....Anonymous! Yay! Pseudonyms are very welcome.

Entries: 1 for the post, 1 for putting our blog in your blog role (if already there, that counts too, of course), one for giving the contest some sort of shoutout in your blog. Because we like shameless self-promotion. But mostly because I'm still one of those people who if my name was in the paper, I would get 38 copies and send them to everyone I knew. Hell, I might do that if my TOWN is mentioned in the paper. I seriously show people this stuff.

RECAP. One entry for following with a comment, an email address and a name of sorts. One entry for putting us on your blog role, with link please. One entry for giving the contest a shoutout, also with link please. Feel free to do any or all of these. Mostly, just have fun!

EDIT: ACK! I forgot something already! I'll be ending this on February 1st. As long as your comment is some time on the 1st as registered by my computer, you're good. I'll announce the next day, along with Phil's winter predictions. My guess....more winter. Because it's February, and isn't there always more winter at that point? You know, like all the rest of February and March?? Weird tradition.

BRBeezies

Hi guys. I'm writing today to let all of you know that I'm going to be taking a little break from blogging. Probably not a long break--a week or two. I'm sure that when I mosey on back I'll have a ton of awesome things to show you. And don't worry, you're not missing anything--I'll probably be wearing Wagon Trail the entire time.

I need to take the time to focus on a couple important things happening in my life right now and I didn't want to leave anyone hanging. I'll still be reading all your blogs, though, and commenting too! Don't worry, I won't disappear.

Stay tuned to Short 'n Chic, though; I've heard tell that Betsy is soon to be hosting a giveaway (this week, perhaps? hint hint).

And so I leave you with one of my favorite paintings that in no way represents how I'm feeling about my life right now ;)

David, The Death of Marat, 1793

Mon dieu! C'est moi. *swoon*

Hehe. Love you all! I can't wait to see how Betsy's giveaway turns out...

Steff

Van D'What?

Not great pictures or application today, guys. Sorry. I wanted to show you Essie Van D'go, close personal friend to yesterday's Essie Tart Deco. I think Essie describes it as a melon or cantaloupe color, but to me it's almost...a pastel salmon? It's nice. Yesterday I read a post by The Nailphile where she did a review of the whole Essie spring collection. She talked about how terrible she thought the formula was, and I was really surprised. Tart Deco applied really well for me. Van D'go wasn't as good, but I still only did two coats. I probably could have used a third, but that's not a big deal to me. Three coats is usually kind of par for the course with most polishes.

First, here are Van D'go (right) and Tart Deco. As you can see, Tart Deco is significantly more orange. Van D'go it a lot pinker, peachier.

Oh my god, sorry for the bad application. I was messy. Anyway, this is near a window. Like I said, this probably could have used a third coat, but I didn't feel like doing it. I think it still looks fine.

Artificial light. Sorry it's blurry; at least you can get a sense of the color.

On my crazy tie-dye shirt.

I like this one better than Tart Deco. The color is so soft...yet it's quite stark. It really is beautiful. But...I still don't understand the name. Van D'go. It's a Van Gogh reference...but...I don't understand. I said yesterday I would understand if the color was indigo, because that at least works. I'm still lost on this reference, though. Just for fun, here's my favorite Van Gogh.

KIND OF CLICHE, I know. Sunflowers, 1888

When I was twelve my mom took me to the National Gallery in London. When I saw this painting in real life I knew that I wanted to study art for the rest of my life. I still want to, but it's a feat trying to figure out how to do it...

Okay, sorry for the quick 'n dirty post, but I wanted to get this color up since people seemed interested. Have a great weekend :)

T(art) Deco

Sorry I didn't post yesterday, loves. I wanted Betsy's post to get all the air time it could; plus I had a long and difficult day, so I just decided to leave it for today. I've got Essie Tart Deco for you. Let me reiterate why I love this collection: it's art-themed. "Tart Deco" is definitely the cutest name of all the polishes in the collection. It is, of course, an allusion to art deco, a movement popular in the 20s and 30s. I guarantee you've all seen the most famous example of the art deco style.

The Chrysler Buidling, New York, New York, 1930

So...the polish. Yes, these pictures are color accurate. The polish was WAY darker and more orange on the nail than in the bottle. I'm not sure, but I think my topcoat (Seche Vite) may have affected the color of the polish somehow.

full sunlight

and shade

On my right hand sometimes I don't get the topcoat to go all the way over the nail, so I tried to take a picture of the polish with topcoat and the polish sans topcoat. Sans topcoat it's closer to bottle color; with it, it's much more orange. I don't know if you can tell from this image...

Yeah, you probably can't tell. But really, the little bit by my cuticle, on the left side of my index finger, looks way peachier than the polish covered by Seche Vite. Maybe that's just an illusion? I don't know.

I do like the color, though. It's light enough that I would still classify it as a pastel. The formula on this was PERFECT. It was a little streaky at one coat, but two evened it out amazingly well for such a light color. What else can I say about it? I love it. I have, in fact, declared my love for Essie several times. It was an Essie polish that got me into my polish obsession. I can't wait to try out Van D'go (and if anyone understands that name, tell me. I know it must be a Van Gogh reference, but I don't get it. If the polish was indigo it would make sense... Maybe I'm having a brain fart). Just for funsies...

SweeTarts! What I assume the polish was named after.

Candy hearts, because...they're cute. Also, that orange is pretty spot-on.

[Chrysler images courtesy of http://www.ps116.org/www/r9tech_116M/site/hosting/nysite/chrysler.html and http://theblackcommenter.wordpress.com/2009/04/ respectively]

Kick da Smoove Groove (yes, that is not a typo)

There is so much. Too much. Dear god. Good luck staying with me to the end of this sucker!

I have pictures of a bunch of random wonderfulness I bought this last week. But first! Heads up, I'll be doing my giveaway starting next week. So....come back then? Well, come back before then too. But also then, for directions.

Ok, so there's this new little second hand type shop in town, and I stopped in expecting to find some cheap costume jewelry. Instead, I found the best buy ever. Two BabySitters Club books, one of which I've already read and loved, and oh my god Claudia Kishi. Guys, here is the first outfit she's wearing exactly as she lovingly describes it: "Today, for instance, I'm wearing purple pants that stop just below my knees and are held up with suspenders, white tights with clocks on them, a purple-plaid shirt with a matching hat, my high-top sneakers, and lobster earrings. Clothes like these are my trademark." I think I just peed a little bit I'm so happy. Claudia Kishi, you are a junk food fanatic and an insane dresser. You are my hero.

Oh what's that other thing in the picture, you ask? Oh, just Joey "WHOA" Lawrence's ALBUM. Did you know he had one? Because I had no idea, and it made my day. I may or may not have squealed, and then run giddily from the store, CD firmly clutched in hand. Guys, seriously. SERIOUSLY. LOOK AT THIS INSANITY!

Hilarious! Joey, who the HELL are you kidding? You may be from Philly and all, but you are not this tough. This whole thing is hysterical, plus totally 90s with the music and lyrics and the pants dear god the pants. So basically, new favorite CD ever? Yeah.

Please lord watch the video. You will not be sorry. Fake fly girls. I repeat: fake fly girls.

Now, to the slightly more serious matter of nail polish. I went a wee bit crazy. It felt good. First, drugstore haul. My Walgreens must be crazy ass behind, because they JUST got in SH Opulent Cloud. I know this because I am there all the time, and there was a brand new display that was at most 2-3 weeks old. So basically, I may be all about this crazy new stuff, and you may think "Bitch is crazy, I've had that for months." If so, sorry, I apparently live in a black hole of cosmetics. It must be so hard to get stuff to us, what with being across a whole RIVER from St. Louis. And there are only like 8 bridges that connect us. Must be the only option is carrier pigeon. No wonder it takes so long; little guys are tired. Nail polish is rather heavy.

So, L to R: Rimmel Steel Grey, SH Opulent Cloud, SH Wet Cement, SH Mint Sprint, SH Lickety-Split Lime

New (new?) Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure, which is much more expensive than the usual:

Commander in Chic, Fairy Teal, Thinking of Blue, and Plum Luck. One other not pictured here will be the focus of swatches, Gray by Gray.

Then a mall run for some Icing polish, which was buy one get one half off (as was SH at Walgreens). I haven't used Icing brand yet, but the bottles look almost exactly like CG, which I see confusing me in the future. Nevertheless, they have some really really good looking polishes, which surprised me, but I highly recommend checking it out.

I picked up some random creme (and a neon) lusciousness because I can never say no.

Lucky Luis, Marine Blue, My Blue Heaven, Ice Queen

Also, I got one of their "special edition" which sadly doesn't have names for the polishes anywhere, so these are all really pretty shimmers with no names. But at least now they have a home. The special editions are a wee bit smaller, but pretty great looking. Can't wait!

Edit: Steff just reminded me she already posted half of these. Whoops! Well, lovely colors anyway.

And now for today's swatches. This is that missing SH, Gray by Gray. Okay, let me start by saying, if you haven't used the new SH yet, it's an adjustment. Check the brush:

I actually really love it. It's really stiff, so painting big ass nails (hello Mr. Thumb) took longer than usual without the normal fanning of bristles. But to make up for that, the brush is tapered, which made me much less messy around the cuticles. I felt like I could get up closer without spreading polish all over my fingers like I usually do. I am sometimes tempted to include a pre clean up pic for you guys so you can see how much it looks like a blindfolded 3 year old hopped up on too much Kool-Aid painted my nails for me. So, any way I can avoid that, I'm all for it. So I love the brush. It looks similar to the SH Insta-Dri brushes, but maybe a smidgen different?

Check out the brush (P.S. How tired are you of seeing my kitchen counter in the back of these photos? I know I am!)

The polish on this one at least was like BUTTAH. Maybe this is because it's supposed to have top and bottom coat mixed in, so it's like uber smooth. Or maybe it's just really good formula. Either way, the formula was thick, but in a good way. Applied well without blurring all over the place, very rich pigmentation, and it just felt smoother, you know? Maybe I've been using too many glitters lately and that's what I'm feeling, but I kind of want to say no, this polish is pretty kicking. Also, this probably would have been okay as a one coater, but for safety as I applied in a dim room while giggling at The Soup, I went for two. Wear time was also crazy good for this, with just a little tipwear after 4 days. So yeah, I'm pretty happy.

Flash

No flash.

The color is super blueish. I mean, it's obviously grey as well, but it's more greyish blue than blueish grey -- meaning, it's more blue than grey. It's still a really great color, and I got mucho compliments on it. But in my quest for a true grey polish, it falls flat.

Here I have a comparison with the bottles of U-Concrete Me and Slate of Affairs, with then without flash. It falls rather in the middle of the two. It still isn't that shark grey I covet, but it's marvelous.

Ok, so remember that thing that went around like a week ago? I'm finally getting my ass around to doing it. So, without further ado, here's my list of 10 things that makes me happy.

1. Music! As Steff wisely pointed out, I don't pretend to like everything. But I do like a variety of stuff, although some of my favorites include Eastern European influences -- DeVotchKa, Gogol Bordello, Beirut to a lesser extent. But I also just love music. Regina Spektor, My Brightest Diamond, Imogen Heap, Rachael Yamagata, DeLeon...to Bowie or the Sex Pistols. Plus musicals, of course. MUSIC, basically. All the time. LOVE.

2. Accessories. Headbands, necklaces, purses, shoes, etc. I'm an addict. I had a special made headband with a cage veil from an Etsy seller. Guys, that's ridiculous, right? I CAN NOT BE STOPPED!

3. Mah kitteh. She's adorable. She's not as much as a cuddlebug as my last cat, who was the best cat ever. But she's coming around, and her big eyes make it impossible for me to ever feel anything other than the compulsion to hug her. I also totally love/miss Raven, Steff's cat. He never really liked me as much as I liked him, but he let me rub his tummy sometimes, so I love him anyway.

4. Moody weather. For almost a week now, we've had crazy ass fog. Super thick and it lasts basically all day. We never have stuff like this, and with the bit of remaining icy ponds we have left from the last cold blast, everything looks super creepy/like I should be on some fog covered moor. It's perfect weather.

5. Game shows. There was a period in the apartment when we watched GSN for HOURS on end. And we got to know the schedules and the hosts. It was ridiculous. But ridiculousness aside, they're pretty hilarious. Now, I can't watch them all. That suitcase one makes no sense to me. There's no skill! But if there's trivia involved, bring it on. Jeopardy is by far my favorite, but I also really love Cash Cab, and maybe secretly hold some weird pseudo crush on the guy who hosts. Is that weird?

6. Diet Coke. The end.

7. I never thought of myself as a scifi fan, but it seems like more and more, a majority of what I watch is scifi or scifi adjacent. Read: everything Joss Whedon, Doctor Who, Fringe, even to some extent Wonderfalls, although less so there. I just watched miniseries Tin Man over the weekend, which was pretty stellar, and I eagerly await watching Repo: the Genetic Opera. When did I become this person??

8. Collecting things. It's weird, because this love is based entirely on materialism, and blah blah bad Americans, blah blah Marx is spinning in his grave. But I love seeing the collections of things I have. Right now, books and DVDs top that list. I have books literally in every place I can shove them. Bookshelves, computer hutch, under my bed, in my closet...it's insane. And I probably have only read half of them, if that. But I love the possibility of reading them, the potential knowledge they represent. This probably stems from my mom taking me to libraries ever since I was a wee thing. I just love libraries, and so I try to make my own vast collection at home.

9. Sour Patch Watermelons. At some lovely stores you can buy just bags of the watermelons. Steff can attest to how these basically = crack for me. I can't stop eating them, even when my mouth gets all screwed up from the sour sugar. It is a real problem. I haven't let myself eat any for months for fear that I'll backslide and eat pounds. But man are they delicious.

10. In keeping with the food motif: cupcakes. Steff can also attest to this one. I am a cupcake freak. I don't know why, but the growing amount of cupcake eateries has just made me a cupcake fiend. Again, I have to stay away as long as I can or I'll devour the whole store. But they're amazing. The best/worst day was when I found out a local grocery store has DELICIOUS cupcakes, $4 for 6 giant cupcakes. With tons of icing. In my favorite flavor, carrot cake, which I can never get because I'm allergic to nuts and there are ALWAYS nuts. But not in these. These magic magic cupcakes. Oh god I'm drooling. Must stop talking about this. Must leave.

Why Is A Raven Like A Writing Desk?

As promised, today I have OPI Absolutely Alice for you guys. It kind of seems like old news now, doesn't it? A lot of people have been posting about it recently. Pictures first, opinions second.

Natural light

A tad blurry, but I wanted to show that it does become shiny with the addition of topcoat.

Uber-sparkle

Absolutely Alice is basically just a bunch of glitter in a clear base. If it was just blue glitter it would be much less interesting, but there are gold glitter particles in this too, giving it depth and interest. I suppose the colors blue and gold are an allusion to Alice's signature blue dress and blonde hair.

Before I got this polish I had been reading that it took three coats for full opacity. I was hoping that my bottle would be the exception, but alas. Three coats it was. That seems ridiculous to me, considering the density of the glitter. This is going to be awful to remove, too. Too bad it's just so pretty. You'll definitely need a nice thick coat of Seche Vite to get rid of any grittiness. Is Absolutely Alice worth it? Yes, I think so. It's stunning. I can't stop looking down at my hands. If you're on the fence about this polish, don't be. Just buy it. You won't regret it.

So this came in the mail for me yesterday:

Urban Decay Get Baked palette (Twice Baked, Half Baked, Flipside and Baked) with mini 24/7 liner in Bourbon and mini primer potion in Sin.

Eee! Pretty excited. I got this through allcosmeticswholesale.com, and no, I'm not advertising for them or anything, but their customer service was pretty awesome. When I first went there it kind of seemed to me like a shady site, but it's not. I got this for $17.99, which is a pretty good deal.

Tomorrow I'll have Essie Tart Deco for you. The amount of interest I got in it in the comments yesterday really surprised me. I'll probably post later tomorrow afternoon, so stay tuned and check back. Thanks for reading!

Haulosaurus

Kind of a little haul, actually. There's so much good stuff out there this spring! Yesterday I went to Trade Secret in search of the Alice in Wonderland OPIs. I was partially successful. Mad As a Hatter was sold out, but I picked up Absolutely Alice. I also spied with my little eye the Essie spring collection The Art of Spring. In case anyone has forgotten, the collection is art-themed; the polishes are named after different art movements, for the most part. Love it. There were some typical Essie colors, a red, a pink and two super light lilacs. I think a lot of people are excited about the purples, but I already have St. Lucia Lilac, so I passed on them. However, I picked up the two pastel oranges. Yay!

Here's Tart Deco (so cute!), Absolutely Alice, and Van D'go

Absolutely Alice is, as I'm sure you know, really gorgeous. I'm pretty excited to wear that one, but I think it'll be a huge pain to remove. Here's a closeup.

I'll probably slap Absolutely Alice on my nails after I get sick of For Audrey (read: soon). I am so obsessed with this melon-y peach-y color. Seriously. The China Glaze that I'm lemming most right now is Peachy Keen because I can just not get enough! I'm forming a little collection.

Aren't they naaaaiice? Left to right, Starfish Patrick, Melon of Troy, Tart Deco, Blazed, Van D'go and Snappy Sorbet. Peachy Keen, come join my minions!

I posted on Starfish Patrick and Melon of Troy, so if you guys love this type of color too, give 'em a click. I also bought to two Revlon quads yesterday because they were buy one get one free at CVS.

I can't remember the names. Maybe Berry Bloom and Neutral Khakis?

So...yeah. The whole not spending money thing isn't so much working out for me. I'm excited for OPI Hong Kong, too. Eek. HALP.

Her Mind is Tiffany-Twisted

Happy Monday, polish fiends. I am tired. Very tired. This post may not make so much sense, but it does in my head. You see, I go through these periods of only listening to one album. For about two years (yes, two years) it was Abbey Road. I still listen to that fairly often. Then through the summer and fall it was Tom Petty's Greatest Hits. Right now it's the Eagles, Hotel California. The song Hotel California in particular is of course one of my favorites; I often requested my boyfriend play it on guitar for me. It also reminds me of one of our favorite movies, The Big Lebowski. The Coens play a cover of it during this scene.

Oh John Turturro, you are too amazing.

Anyway, Hotel California inspired my nail color for today. I had a request from my dearest Kelsea over at kelsealaurel for Metro Chic, which she posted recently. I'll probably use that later in the week. Today I busted out a semi-oldie but an always goodie. Again, sorry my hands are so dry. I'm a compulsive hand-washer and it's winter in the midwest.

For Audrey, artificial light

Natural light, by a window

With cute nail file

For Audrey is of course an allusion to the famous "Tiffany blue" color that Tiffany & Co. uses for its boxes, pouches, etc. The polish isn't an exact match because I believe that the color is actually trademarked. It's pretty close, though. I am, of course, quite fond of Audrey Hepburn. She is sort of my style icon, along with Jackie O. This was my desktop for like a year and a half (yes, I get into music and desktop ruts; the movie poster for Fur is my desktop now).

Fierce

For Audrey is still a pretty popular color, from what I know. The formula on my bottle is pretty thick. I might add a couple drops of thinner. I would have been okay at two coats, but I got cuticle drag on a couple nails. Ack. It looks nice though, doesn't it? Who else loves it? Has anyone found a better Tiffany blue polish? I know Polish Hoarder Disorder did a series on Tiffany blue recently...

BY THE BY, look what I found at CVS last week.

Hm, what's that?

Um, yeah. Squee. I got this Tracy Reese polish for $2.50. I'm telling you guys, go to CVS. All kinds of stuff is on sale; you never know what you'll find. Angela has also alerted me that Revlon products are buy one get one free today. So go on!