Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Grey Area

Thanks for all the birthday wishes the other day, everyone. Greatly appreciated. My birthday was nice and uneventful. I gave a presentation on the Antwerp sixteenth century open art market in my Northern Renaissance class (on which I got an A, thankyouverymuch) and then I drove home to spend the rest of the day with my family and boyfriend. There was cake. There were presents. There was Dexter. Most importantly, there were cuddles.


The other day I went to Ulta because I got my little reward certificate thingy and I was planning on picking up Essie Smokin' Hot for freesies. But they were out of most of the Essie winter collection. I walked off in a huff, but before I left I decided to check on the seasonal drug store type stuff. And what did I find? New Xtreme Wears. Win.

OH HELLO GORGEOUS. This is Grey Area. It's oh, so purdy. Funnily enough, it's a color in kind of the same vein as Essie Smokin' Hot, a nice gray with noticeable purple undertones, especially in the shade. I love this. Remember my obsession with Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Concrete? Grey Area is like Concrete's sexy, grown-up, vampy sister. I want a back-up of this immediately. As with all Xtreme Wears I've tried, this one went on really easily in only two coats. The formula was good and I love the brush on these. Also, they're only $2.50. How can you beat that? Good job, Sally Hansen. You've kept my affection and earned my accolades once again.

And another thing to share with you guys. What is this precious little orb?

I was at Walgreen's today picking up a few things and I noticed these really cute lip balms with this colorful spherical packaging. I'm a sucker for adorable packaging and good marketing, so I picked one of them up. This is an EOS Smooth Sphere lip balm in honeysuckle honeydew. The balm comes in a few other scents: sweet mint, medicated tangerine, summer fruit and lemon drop (SPF 15). I got the honeysuckle one because this offensive lime green hue is actually my favorite color. True story. Anyway, I love this lip balm. Don't let the cutesy packaging fool you: this is a great product. The balm goes on smooth, feels light, isn't sticky, and smells awesome. My lips feel super hydrated.

The top screws off to reveal the balm bump.

In order to apply the product you just rub it on your lips straight from the sphere.

Isn't it cute? The best part? It was only $3.76. I will be purchasing all of these over the course of the next couple weeks, I'm sure. I can't wait to have a little rainbow of Smooth Spheres at my disposal.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that I love this lip balm. Winter is a tough time for us midwesterners. I'm always looking for something to keep my lips from chapping. My usual go-to is Blistex Lip Medex, the kind in the little blue tub. These Smooth Spheres will be a nice cute change of pace.

Okay, it's time for me to be a grad student now. Papers papers, writing writing, reading reading. Countdown to December 11th, when I'll be free from this first semester. Thanks for reading, everyone.

Oh Hey, It's My Birthday

Today is my birthday and I wanted to use one of my favorite OPI polishes.

Dazzled By Gold, a 2009 Ulta holiday exclusive. This is three coats. It dried super fast. It's super blingy. I super love it.

Another year is gone. I almost can't believe it. So many things have changed. Recap?

--I moved from Pleasantville, Ohio to Cleveland, Ohio. I live alone for the first time in my life.

--I started graduate school.

--I started a new relationship.

--I got a new job I actually like.

All in all I suppose the last twelve months have been pretty good. Things are hard right now, particularly this week, but I'm going to get through it. I always do. I cry and moan along the way, but I always come out the other side. That's how I have to approach things, I guess.

I think I really have grown up a little bit since last November. I have new responsibilities and new priorities and I don't think that that's a bad thing. But mostly...I still feel like the little girl I know that I am inside.

Little Steffie. I still dress like this!

Twenty years later and still trying to snuggle cats on camera.

Even if I'm still feeling crappy I'm going to slap on some red lipstick, give a damn good presentation in my Northern Renaissance class, and eat a piece of chocolate cake. Because hey, you only turn 24 once, right?

Right.

Happy birthday to me! Time to dance to ELO.

Another Low Point

Sad. Depressed. Rained all day. Short sentences appropriate. I feel like a wreck. I'm lonely. I'm exhausted. I look and feel like a mess. In fact, I feel on the inside just how I look on the outside! As I collapsed onto my couch after throwing on my pajamas I wondered to myself, "How pathetic do I really look right now?" The answer is, this pathetic:

Bags under eyes. Little to no makeup. Hair untamed. PSA: this is what grad school does to you. Maybe I just can't handle it.

Like I said, just a low point. I'll be better tomorrow. Or at least, one would hope.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Cherry Love

The Short n Chic Enamored of Red Phase continues. Which polish to use first out of my Rescue Beauty Lounge birthday haul? Cherry Love was calling my name. After I scrubbed China Glaze Mrs. Claus off of my nails I chopped them all off and applied Cherry Love. I let my nails get way longer than I've normally been wearing them, I guess because I was distracted. They started snagging on things (like my tights) and I realized that I hadn't cut or filed them in weeks. So I did.

UM. AWESOME. I luuuuurrrvvee this color. I love including the descriptions of the colors on the RBL website when I write about them because they're so often just dead-on. Here's the blurb: "Popsicle-fuschia, the love child of hot pink and sizzling red. When pink is too tame and red is too expected, give this glamorous shade a try." Too true! In good light you can definitely see the pink tones to this polish. In lower light it just looks like a blue-based red, but a gorgeous blue-based red. I am smitten. This is the perfect color for me right now.

As you guys may have heard, the formula on this one leaves a bit to be desired. It was hard to get even, didn't self-level on the nail, and got goopy the longer I had the bottle open. It also required three coats. This is probably the least impressive Rescue Beauty polish I own, formula-wise. But I don't really care about that. It's not that much trouble, I just expect RBL formula to be top-notch. Doesn't matter, though! I love this color and I'll definitely reach for it often. I think it would be nice to wear in the summertime when there's lots of sun. Or when I'm feeling sassy. But, let's be honest here, I'm pretty much always feeling sassy ;)

I started watching Six Feet Under yesterday. My aunt is staying with my parents, taking care of my mom, and I relayed my love of Dexter to her. She immediately gave me money and sent me to Best Buy to get the first season of SFU. I was too young for it when it was originally airing, I think. ANYWAY, after watching only two episodes of SFU my love of Michael C. Hall has reached unearthly levels. Having the entire season at my disposal is going to make finishing my Northern Renaissance project (paper+presentation) difficult. BUT I finished the paper itself last night at 2am, so I like to think that's progress.

I'm going to settle into the corner on my sectional with a giant cup of peppermint coffee, mark my paper up with a pen the color of Cherry Love and watch an episode of Six Feet Under. Hey, Sunday: I love you.

China Glaze Mrs. Claus

Well, I'm done with school for the week. My Friday class is somehow over for the semester (I have no idea why; don't get me started...what a waste), so I only have class on Mondays and Wednesdays now. I'm sitting in my apartment with a candle burning and trying to write a paper. I haven't gotten very far, comparatively, so I thought I'd blog post to get the creative juices flowing.

natural light, by a window

indoor natural light

under a desk lamp

blurred to show sparkleiciousness

Here's China Glaze Mrs. Claus from the holiday collection. I was surprised by how badly I wanted this one. Then when I got my hands on it, and, in turn, got it on my hands, I was surprised how much I absolutely adore it. It's a pink jelly with, as far as I can tell, pink and silver glitter. I think China Glaze calls it a red glitter, but I don't really see how this can be considered red. The application wasn't great on this one. My bottle was thick and goopy, and it dried way too quickly making it a necessity that I work very fast. This was three coats. I think the polish looks better in lower lighting, which makes it perfect for northeastern Ohio in the fall and winter. In bright light you can see how sheer the base is and how sparse the glitter particles are. In lower/indoor lighting you just get that nice sparkle effect. This one isn't going to last long on me, unfortunately. I already have a chip happening on the index finger on my left hand. Oh well. It's super pretty, anyway.

And here is my little Rescue Beauty Lounge haul from the sale in early November.

Cherry Love, Dead Calm, Recycle

Om, Film Noir

I just went and picked these up from Michelle's house the other day. I consider them a birthday present to myself, since my birthday is...next Wednesday (don't worry, you'll all hear about it again then). I've been wanting Om and Dead Calm for forever, so those were no-brainers. Recycle looks like the perfect shade of green. Film Noir is definitely my kind of color, one of those almost-black vampy purples that most people seem to dislike, but that I luuuuuuurve. And Cherry Love...well, I'm in a red phase. I've been trying different shades and finishes of red, and the description of Cherry Love on the RBL website is "popsicle-fuschia, the love child of hot pink and sizzling red." How could I pass that up? Michelle also just gifted me the Nubar Risque Reds collection, so you'll be seeing those eventually, too. Yay, red! Yay, RBL!

Oh, and a little update on my mommy. She went home from the hospital on Monday. I think she's still in a lot of pain and still really tired, but she's doing better. We got the pathology report back and everything was negative and benign. No cancer. I breathed the biggest sigh of relief I've ever breathed when I heard that. I honestly think it's a miracle. Come Thanksgiving, I'll have a lot to be thankful for.

China Glaze Peace on Earth and Thanks

Happy Sunday, everyone.  Yesterday I was looking at my blog traffic and saw a spike.  I was wondering where it was coming from, but then I realized that my friend Michelle from ALU gave me a little shoutout. So thank you, that was very sweet and greatly appreciated.  If I have new readers, hi!  Welcome.  Happy to have you, as always.


I finally got a chance to do my nails last night.  I've been talking on the phone to people non-stop, it seems, updating them on the situation and such.  I finally just put someone on speaker phone last night and painted away while I was having a conversation.  Not ideal, but I'll take it.

I finally figured out that the bubbles and bumps I've been getting in my manicures is from the bubbles in my dying bottle of Out the Door.  And thank grilled cheesus it's dying, because Out the Door does not agree with me.  But I promised myself I'd finish the bottle I bought before I went back to Seche.  Anyway, here's China Glaze Peace on Earth.  It's a nice, shimmery golden olive green.  The formula was fantastic.  It went on easily in two coats and dried quickly.  Too bad it wasn't sunny today.  The last two pictures are from under my desk lamp.

This polish...is pure love.  I wasn't going to buy it because I heard it was similar to OPI At Your Quebec and Call, which I've got (thanks to Ange)...but I CANNOT RESIST olive-colored things.  Seriously.  The last time my boyfriend went to H&M with me I kept picking up olive things and he told me I need to stop buying things that color.  But it's my favorite!  I have an olive dress, an olive mini-skirt, an olive button-down...okay, maybe I go a little overboard.  As you know, my favorite polish EVER is China Glaze Wagon Trail, also olive.  I think things that color complement my skintone.  I dunno, I just love it. Thanks China Glaze!

So, a bit of an update.  My mom is doing better.  Yesterday I walked onto her floor and saw her walking around without any help from anyone and my heart just swelled.  She has rough nights, but my dad stays here with her to keep her company.  I'm at the hospital with her now and she finally has some color in her cheeks.  She's drinking some chocolate milk and sitting up in bed now, so I'm optimistic.  This combined with school has just hit me...really hard.  I'm not the best at dealing with stress as it is, and when I felt like my mom was threatened I just lost it.  I'm glad that I have my family and my boyfriend to help me hold things together.  And you guys!  Thank you so much for your wonderful comments.  You'll never know how much I appreciate it.

That's all for today, but I'll be back with my RBL polishes from the sale soon!  I have to pick them up from Michelle (we did a group order) and give her all my monies.  I'm excited!

<3

From the Hospital

Hi guys. I'm writing today from University Hospitals in Cleveland, mostly to keep my mind busy. Yesterday my mom had big-time surgery, so I'm here with her while she recovers. She's sleeping now, semi-peacefully, so I thought I might update the bloggity-blog. I didn't want to post on here what was going on before the surgery out of deference to my madre, but now that it's over and she's (hopefully) alright I thought it would be okay to write it down. Yesterday morning she had 50% of her pancreas, her spleen and her gallbladder removed. The surgeons said it would take four hours but it only took two and a half. I got here at 7 yesterday morning and stayed until midnight or so. I came back again this morning. I was silly enough to think that I might be able to get some schoolwork done, but I've been busy trying to chat with her (she's a little loopy from the medicine) and feeding her ice chips. I even read her about three paragraphs of one of my methodology readings before she fell asleep. I feel you, mom. I feel you on the boring.

I was very, very scared for her leading up to the surgery, so I think that combined with school was the source of my tension headaches that I'd been mentioning (read: complaining about). I've still got one, but it has lightened up a little bit. My family and friends have been supportive and my boyfriend has been great, visiting me at the hospital and snuggling me to [apparently fretful] sleep. Also, can I just tell you that I hope someday I find someone who loves me as much as my mom and dad love each other? My dad stayed with her all night and slept on a cot next to her hospital bed. Periodically I'd look over and see them holding hands in their sleep. It was so sweet. I get teary-eyed just thinking about it.

So that's what's going on here. Just so you have some visual stimulation, here's a nice sunset over the city (and parking garage) that I took from the hospital window last night.

Luckily University Hospitals is on the Case Western campus (my school) so I live right by where my mom will be hanging out for the next 7-10 days. I'll be with her when I'm not in class or sleeping (but let's get real, I'll probably end up sleeping here, too) so I probably won't have a lot of time for nail-paintage. But who knows! If I go home tonight I think I will do my nails. Right now China Glaze Naughty and Nice is beginning to chip. I didn't take any proper pictures of this polish, but here's one I just snapped really quickly in the dark hospital room.

Looks kinda black, huh? Well, it's not. It's a nice, dark, vampy purple. Kind of a jelly-creme, too. It has that squishy feeling, but it applied nicely like most China Glaze cremes do. I love me a good vampy. Also, please don't judge me. I haven't worn makeup for like three days and I didn't have time to wash my hair last night. I = hot mess. Tired panda.

Alright, that's all for now. My aunties, evil temptresses that they are, sent me a box of chocolates along with flowers for my mom. I think I'm going to nom some of that and attempt some reading while she sleeps. Send good thoughts our way, if you wouldn't mind. We can really use some positive vibes.

American Apparel Palm Springs

Sadly my cuticles are really, really dry and slightly stained from China Glaze Phat Santa, which I wore for five days without it chipping.  I used a lot of cotton balls and a bit of Crest 3D White, and my cuticles are still a little stained.  Also a bit of fuzz got onto my polish on the middle finger of my left hand and left a little bump on the surface.  That pisses me off, but I'm showing you pictures anyway.

Here's American Apparel Palm Springs.  I don't even know how to describe this color.  A pale peach, maybe?  Kind of weird and fleshy-looking.  I really like it, actually.  It applied very nicely for such a light pastel, in two coats.  The formula was a little thick, but not unworkable.  I might consider thinning it for future use.  Why did I choose this polish today?  Because of this.

I don't know if you can tell, but those are big, fat flakes of snow falling out of the motherfucking sky.  Sometimes the first snow of the year (which was actually last night) makes me giddy, but not this year.  I remember all too well the depths of the last nuclear winter.  We had snow well into April.  Sigh.  So it begins.  I thought a polish called Palm Springs might cheer me up.  Also...

I wanted something to complement this dress that I got last weekend.  I love it.  My friend told me that I look like Tiffani Amber Thiesson (of Saved by the Bell Kelly Kapowski fame) in it.  That makes sense.  The print is very 90s and I was also wearing motorcycle boots with it on Wednesday.  That's right.  I got this dress last Saturday and I've worn it twice this week.  That, my friends, is love.  It's from Urban Outfitters and it was something like $48.  Worth it (because I had $50 in Visa giftcards!).

That's all for today.  I'm about to head home to Pleasantville to hang out with my mom.  It has actually been a productive day.  I fell asleep on the couch among my Antwerp research last night because I wasn't feeling well.  Then I woke up, showered, did more Antwerp research...even wrote an article critique!  I feel like I might actually get stuff done this weekend.  I hope you guys have great days...and if you have snow too, my condolences.  Solidarity, midwesterners.  Solidarity. 

Low Point

I don't have a polish to show you today.  I'm still wearing China Glaze Phat Santa and it's holding up incredibly well.  I've had it on since Monday night and I've got no chips and no tipwear.  I've been typing a lot and taking a lot of baths, and yet it's still holding up.  This polish is magic.

I had a pretty bad day today.  First of all, I've had a constant headache since Tuesday morning.  I've tried everything to get rid of it.  Tylenol, Ibuprofen, lying in the dark with my eyes closed, hot baths, caffeine, going to bed earlier...nothing helped.  I have a lot of other stuff on my mind right now, so I thought I might share some pictures of a really nice day I had a couple weeks ago.

It was a really perfect fall day so my boyfriend and I went to the Garfield Monument at a cemetery near where I live.  If you go up to the top you can see all of Cleveland and the lake.  It's really nice.

See?  There's my little city.  It was windy that day.

See that building on the right in the middleground that kind of looks like a crushed aluminum can?  That's Frank Gehry's Peter B. Lewis building.  It's on the Case Western Reserve University campus, which is where I go to school.  The Cleveland Museum of Art is right near there too, but you can't see it in this picture.

And here's me.  Although I'm not smiling, trust me, I was happy.

That's all.  I thought posting these and reliving that afternoon a little bit might help me cheer up.  I hope you guys are doing well.  I'm planning on changing my polish sometime soon, so I'll be back with something new for you all to look at in the very near future.

China Glaze Phat Santa

Good morning, all.  I can't believe it's November already.  It's starting to get quite cold here in northeastern Ohio.  November is a big deal for me.  I have family things going on this month and one big paper due...on my birthday.  Sadly.  I have to give a big presentation on the afternoon of my birthday, which is the day before Thanksgiving.  Argh.  I'm actually going to devote most of today to working on research, but I wanted to show you guys what I got over the weekend.

China Glaze Phat Santa.  First of all, adore the name.  This is one of two red cremes in the ChG holiday collection.  The other, Ruby Deer (which I also want), is an orange-based tomato red.  Here we have a blue-based cherry red.  If you read Short n Chic with any regularly you know that I love me a good warm toned tomato red.  I normally steer clear of the bluer ones.  This, though...this is seeeeeeexy.  Seriously.  I put it on, looked at my hands and said, "Oooo!"  It reminds me a lot of OPI Vodka and Caviar, but I don't have my bottle to compare.  The formula on this polish was very good.  I did three coats just to be safe.  It dried very quickly.  I got Phat Santa in a little three-pack with Party Hearty (the glitter) and Holly Jolly (green).  

I'm sure you've all seen these a hundred times already even though Halloween just ended.  That's actually one of the beefs I've been having with reading blogs.  Everyone who gets samples (I don't) rushes to post them the same day or week, so I feel inundated with swatches of the same stuff all the time.  I just couldn't resist putting this one on, though.  I loved the name too much.  I got these at Ulta, by the way.  I hadn't been there in forever.  I also just realized that there's a Sally's right by my new east side residence, so I'll be dropping in there a bit more often.  I'm definitely interested in a few more colors in this collection.

That's all for today.  I'm still in my pajamas on the couch and I woke up with a headache.  I think I'm going to head to my local coffee shop and read about Northern Renaissance landscape, because that's what my life is right now.  I hope this headache goes away.  If I'm feeling bad I think all I have to do is look down at my nails and think, "Phat Santa.  Hehe."