Borghese Euro Green (!!!)

I do not often buy Borghese.  They are about $8 apiece at the drug store, as I'm sure you all know, and I'm not too fond of paying that much for anything that comes out of Walgreens.  However, a couple months ago I was wandering around Ulta and I found a display of new Borghese colors, which are now only "new" because I waited so long to wear the one I picked, Euro Green.  But now that I've worn it I am in love.

My scale for nail polish love goes something like this:

Coral:  Oh hey, you're pretty.  You should probably get on my fingers.

Edgy neutral:  I love you.  You make me happy on the inside.

Olive green:  Full-on nail polish boner (or an NPB, if you will).

This olive is gorgeous.  As in, holy shit, it just rocketed into one of the top ten polishes I'd want with me on a desert island (what a silly scenario).  This is like the perfect fusion of gold and green, and...it's sparkly.  It's just so pretty.  I keep scrolling up as I'm writing this to look at pictures of my own hands.  That's how much I love this.  The formula was fine; I used two coats here.  The brush was wide...wider than the OPI pro-wide, but not as wide and weirdly shaped as Sally Hansen Insta-Dris.  If you like green or gold or olive, get your hands on this polish.  Or, more appropriately, get this polish on your hands.  You will not regret this $8-purchase, I promise. 

As this post goes up I'll be almost to Detroit.  I'm going with my friends in the morning to wander around the Detroit Institute of Arts, and then meet up with my seminar class in the afternoon to have a tour of the current exhibition.  I'm pretty excited to go because this is there.  I have a new obsession with James McNeill Whistler.  Ever since I learned he wrote a book called The Gentle Art of Making Enemies.  What a badass.  I will try to remember my camera so I can take some pictures and post them later, but I will have gotten up at 6 in order to beat rush hour traffic out of Cleveland, so I don't even know if I'll be awake enough to put on pants let alone remember a camera.  I usually get up at 9:15ish, so 6 is a little early for me.  But it'll be a nerdtastic fun art day, that's for sure! 

Opinons on Euro Green?  Is it giving anyone else an NPB or is it just me?  

Zoya Kelly

Hey guys.  I'm back (briefly) today to show you a polish that you've seen a hundred times before on other people, but not on little me.  So here's Zoya Kelly.

A gray creme.  A dark gray creme.  BUT!  Not just any dark gray creme.  No, Kelly has a little purple thrown in.  Actually, on a lot of people Kelly looks like it pulls way purple, but on me she looks pretty blue.  Honestly, I thought I'd like this one more than I do.  It's nice, don't get me wrong, but I'm just not in love.  Application, though, was fan-freakin'-tastic.  Almost a one-coater.  Zoyas don't last long on me, so I think I'm going to slap some China Glaze White Cap on top and see how it fares.  I got this at a salon for 30% off.  It was in a sad little basket with other fall Zoyas.  They had to live in that basket when the spring colors came out.  My wallet wasn't loose enough for me to rescue more than one, though.  At least Kelly has a happy home.

That's all.  My Winslow Homer research and writing is coming along [sort of] decently, although I got almost no work done yesterday.  I put myself in a position where I knew I wouldn't get anything written because I'd run into people I know, but I did it anyway.  Maybe it was my brain's way of telling me I needed some respite.

Aaaaanywho, thoughts on Kelly?  Likes, dislikes?  I know I'm totally behind the times on this one, but I tend to like to wear darker colors in the spring and summer because the sunlight really brings out their nuances.  I guess I'm an anomaly.  

Going Buh-Byes

It came to my attention yesterday that there are five weeks left in the semester.  I have done little, if any research, for my two huge final projects, so I've made the executive decision to do my best to get eliminate one of my biggest distractions, which is Short 'n Chic.  I don't know if I'll stop posting completely, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I won't be around as much as I have been.  When I come back my Coral Fixation series and spring will both be in full swing, so I'm looking forward to that.  Anyway, I'll still be around, 'causin' mischief, wearin' shirts with animals on them, and rockin' some awesome polish, which I'm sure I'll be unable to resist sharing with you intermittently.  But mostly I'll be doin' this:

Wish me luck.  I need it.  Watch out, Winslow Homer and Bernini.  I'm about to thesis the hell out of you.  Rawr.

Busting the Myth: CoverGirl Lip Perfection

I know most of you come here to look at what I'm wearing on my hands, but every once in a while I like to share what I'm wearing on my face.  I'm a self-proclaimed lipstick addict.  I will wear almost anything.  Neon orange?  Bring it on.  Dark berries?  Yes please.  Retina-searing pinks?  I'm there.  When I saw the advertisements for the new CoverGirl Lip Perfection lipsticks I knew I had to try them out.  They claim to be moisturizing, and as a MAC addict moisture is something most of my lip products are sorely lacking.  So, here we go.


Product  
CoverGirl Lip Perfection in Hot.  Hot is a neutral red, neither too blue nor too orange.  It applies onto the lips as a semi-matte, meaning it doesn't really apply smoothly in fluid swipes.  If you want shiny lips while using this lipstick, you're going to have to use a gloss with it.  Me, I like mattes (they're my favey-fave) so I was happy with this finish.

Day 1, after a full eight hours of wear, reapplied once

Claim
From the CoverGirl website:  "Enriched with Silk Therapy Complex, our formula helps sustain moisture levels and helps create soft, smooth, beautiful lips in just 7 days (vs. bare lips)."  So, is it true?


The Test
I wore Hot every day for seven days.  I put it on in the morning when I woke up, reapplied it throughout the day as needed, and took it off before bed.  Meaning I wore this lipstick for at least eight hours a day for a week.

Day 1

My Lip Health Before Product Use
Good.  If I'm not wearing lipstick, then I am constantly applying lip balm.  I use Burt's Bees Mango when I'm on the go and an EOS Smooth Sphere when I'm at home (honeydew).  I put on a lot of the EOS before I go to bed, so my lips are generally pretty healthy.  They're not too dry or peel-y and I don't often have problems with chapping.


Results!


The Pros
Staying power.  The biggest pro of this lipstick was that is stayed on FOREVER.  Seriously.  If I put it on at 9 in the morning I did not have to touch it up until after I ate something for lunch.  Even then it still looked good, just a bit faded.  The true test was when I was wearing this lipstick and eating a Jimmy Johns sandwich.  It's pretty difficult to eat a sub and not have your lipstick go everywhere, right?  It still looked great after I was done with my Totally Tuna.  It was at that point that I was kind of amazed.  The stuff just really, really stays on.


Pigmentation.  It's pretty insanely pigmented.  Even though it doesn't quite go on smoothly, one or two swipes will give you the color you see in the tube.  It's so pigmented that after I take it off my lips are stained pink.  Water doesn't help.  Soap and water doesn't help.  Makeup remover helps a little.  What really helps is whitening toothpaste rubbed into my lips and then rinsed off.  I wasn't sure whether to put this in the pro or con section, but I decided that staining isn't that big a deal and just indicates the quality of the product. 


Even fading.  When Hot faded, it faded evenly.  There was no weird patchiness on my lips, and I appreciated that.


The price.  You can find these for between $6 and $8 depending on where you get them.  I got mine at Walgreens and they were BOGO 50% off, so I paid like $12 or so for two.  Not bad, especially for something so long-wearing.  You definitely won't use up these tubes too quickly. 


The compliments.  I love this color.  I got a lot of compliments on it.  My boyfriend liked it.  That in and of itself makes it a bit of a win.

Day 2

The Cons
Drying.  I think that my test busted CoverGirl's claim about revitalizing the lips in seven days.  I found this lipstick to be incredibly drying, but that's par for the course with mattes or semi-mattes like Hot.  Still, CoverGirl's main claim is that these are super hydrating, not, "Oh hey, SOME of these lipsticks are very hydrating.  Guess which ones!"  Meaning that even though Hot is semi-matte, it should still conform to CoverGirl's claim.  I found Hot to be the opposite of super hydrating.  After a few hours the lipstick started to feel cake-y on my lips, the telltale sign that it's drying out.  Ew.

Day 3, nighttime 

On Day 4 I put the lipstick on at around 9am, after I'd had my coffee.  By 4pm I was wanting desperately to take it off, my lips felt so dry.  I dutifully waited until 5pm, so that I had been wearing it a full eight hours.  I slathered my lips in some Burt's Bees Mango right after I took it off to try to alleviate the dryness.  

Day 4, right before emergency dryness removal.  That's my sad god-dammit-my-lips-are-dry face.

It feathers.  So, when I use a lipstick, in order to prevent feathering I always use the same thing:  Urban Decay 24/7 Lipliner in Ozone.  It's a clear, waxy liner which means you can use it with any lipstick.  It's a must, ladies.  Seriously.  But I guess that rave is for another day.  Anyway, Ozone always prevents feathering on me.  Always.  But it didn't with Hot, as you can see in the above close-up of my lips.  I don't know why this happened (every day!) but I have to blame it on the lipstick and not my liner.  It could just be this particular color because it's so saturated, but I don't know for sure.


It smells like lipstick.  Not much to say here.  It doesn't smell like anything per se, like how the Maybelline ColorSensationals kind of smell like vanilla and honey.  It just smells synthetic.  And it tastes...not pleasant. 

Day 5

Overall!
I'm going to take the cop-out way here and just tell you that it really depends on what you want in a lipstick.  If you're looking for a lipstick that's inexpensive and really, really long-wearing, go for one of these new CoverGirls.  If you're actually looking for something that will improve the health of your lips, just put on some damn lip balm because I certainly don't think these are going to do it for you.  My tube of Hot, although I LOVE the color and the staying power, was a fail in terms of what it was advertised to do.  Don't get me wrong, I love this lipstick and I'm really glad I have it.  It just didn't give me smoother lips in seven days.  If anything my lips are drier than usual.  

Day 6 (no, I'm not naked; that's just a tank-top covered by my huge amount of hair)

Okay, hope that helped anyone who was on the fence about these.  I tried to be as thorough as possible.  Have you guys tried these lipsticks?  Opinions?  Am I totally wrong?  Let's hear it.

Coral Fixation: American Apparel Poppy

As some of you know, I conducted a poll at the beginning of this week so you guys could tell me which coral polishes you want to see.  American Apparel Poppy won by a pretty big margin, so although I already showed it to you (last July), here it is again.

Now, I'm not sure that this polish entirely qualifies as coral.  Is it orange?  Red?  Coral?  I just don't know.  I guess it could pass for all three of them.  This is the type of color that I love, though.  Totally loud and bold, but close enough to "traditional" red that it's still pretty socially acceptable.  

The formula, as [almost] always with AA, was flawless.  Thick and almost perfect in one coat.  I did two here.  This polish would look really great on toes in the summertime, I think.  And I love the name.  Poppy.  The name combined with the color makes me feel...happy :)

That's all for today--short and sweet!  Any opinions on Poppy?  Love it?  Hate it?  Everyone seemed anxious to see it...and I admit that I think it looks damn fine on my pale, pale skin.  I hope you guys all have great Fridays!  

BLACK LABEL: OPI Edin-Burgundy

Do you guys remember last week when I wore OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square?  I asked if any of you had a bottle you were willing to give up or swap away.  A very lovely, incredibly generous reader named Gail told me that she had it and would be willing to send it to me.  And then...and then she sent me twenty bottles of mostly discontinued/difficult to find black label OPIs.  When I found the package by my mailbox I was like a kid on Christmas morning.  I raced up to my third-floor walk-up and tore the package open.  Aaaaaand they're beautiful.  Here's the one I chose to wear first, Edin-Burgundy.

Uuuuuuhhhh.  Hello, gorgeous.  Edin-Burgundy is a beautiful, lush, juicy blood-red.  It's a semi-jelly.  Can you tell it has that squishiness about it?  Oh, I love this.  I love it a lot.  This was three coats.  The formula was so easy to work with.  Even with the old OPI skinny brush.  The polish was thin, but it just flowed really easily right onto my nail and stayed right where I put it.  This color reminds me of China Glaze Phat Santa, which was released with the 2010 holiday collection.  It also reminds me of OPI Vodka & Caviar.  How posh. 

So here's what Gail sent me (with flash):

See that one fourth from the right?  That's Peel Me A Gobi Grape.  *SWOON*

BONER.

And look at all the corals!  I'm super excited.  I love each and every polish she sent and I can't wait to try them all out.  Thank you so, so much Gail.  You have no idea how much I appreciate it.  This little box was the highlight of my spring break, hands-down :)

So what do you guys think of Edin-Burgundy?  Is it your kind of red?  Speaking of red, what's your opinion on red?  It seems to be a love it or hate it type of color and I, personally, l-o-v-e it.  Sexy, right?

Wet n Wild Bali and Sumatra and a Bittersweet Goodbye

I'm showing you a combination today that I've showed you once in the past, Wet n Wild Sumatra layered over Wet n Wild Bali.  I'm showing it to you because I know it's one of my friend Amber's favorite looks to rock.  I'll expand on my reasons for this below, but here it is on me:

Two coats Bali, one coat Sumatra.  Pretty, pretty, isn't it? 

Today Amber is leaving me.  She's leaving Cleveland (*sob*) to go off to California (**SOB**) and find whatever life has in store for her.  She's leaving to do this:

(okay, so this is a picture of her sitting at a drafting table at IKEA because I made her do it, but you get the idea.  She's leaving to be the best damn architect EVER)

We've known each other since we were...seven?  Maybe?  We went to summer camp together at the YMCA and we've been friends ever since.  She's one of the kindest, funniest and smartest people I've ever met and I'm lucky to have her in my life.  It's a bittersweet day; on the one hand, I'm sad...beyond sad, really...that she's leaving Cleveland.  On the other hand, though, this is probably the best thing that could have happened to her.  And I hope she finds what she's looking for in Los Angeles.  I know she'll be back for visits and I know we'll keep in touch, but I can't help but feel forlorn at the thought of her not being a car-ride away.  You may remember some of our shenanigans:

at west side Melt Bar & Grilled (nice nail polish, girl)

Forcing chocolate-covered pomegranate seeds to wear glasses and be hipsters like we try to be; at a free screening of Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

City Buddha in Cleveland Heights

I'm not the most optimistic person in the world, but one of Amber's many talents is that she is always, and I mean always able to put things in perspective for me or snap me out of a funk.  It's not every day you find a friend like her, and I'm thankful.  Any architect-y firm-y thing would be lucky to have her.  Amber, I'm going to miss you like crazy.  Good luck.  I know you'll find what you're looking for.  Show Eli Broad and LA who's boss (it's you).

Join me, if you will, in wishing Ms. Amber the best of luck.  I know she'll appreciate it.

Love you, boo.  Safe journey.  And remember, all you do is win.

NEW Sinful Colors: A Tale of Maximum Ridiculousness

Let me tell you about my evening last night.  I finished writing two papers and I thought that to reward myself I would go to Walgreens to hunt for the new CORAL Sinful Colors polish I'd read about.  I put on my little boots and tucked my little skinny jeans into them, blissfully unaware of the horror that awaited me outdoors.  I trudged to my car.  I paused to stare at it.  It was covered with like ten inches of snow.  Heavy, wet snow.  Undeterred, I stepped into the pile of snow near my drivers' side door.  The snow promptly said, "Fuck you, Steff's little boots!  Fuck you Steff's little skinny jeans!  I'm all up in you!  HA!"  I was wet.  I cleaned off my car.  I got inside.  I put it in reverse...and my tires just spun.  I thought, Okay, this is not a lost cause.  It's not a big deal that I can't go anywhere.  I got out of the car.


As I exited the car and hopped over a snowbank I heard someone yell, "You stuck, girl!?"  I looked around and there was a guy looking at me out the window of the basement of the building closest to my parking lot.  Here is how our conversation went:
Him:  You stuck, girl?!
Me:  Yeah, but it's okay.  This is a non-essential trip.
Him:  Lemme come dig you out.
Me:  No!  Really!  It's okay!  I don't actually have to go anywhere.
Him:  Stay right there, I'm coming around.
Me:  Wait!  Even if you dig me out, what if I can't get back into a parking spot when I get back?  There's no guarantee this spot will still be open.
Him:  I'm digging you out.


There was no talking him out of it.  He dug around my little Honda.  I said one more time, "I really don't think I should leave."  He told me to straighten out my tires and step on the gas.  There really was no stopping him.  So I did what he said.  The car didn't budge.  He heaved a huge, exasperated sigh, as if I was MAKING HIM DO THIS, walked around to the front of the car and shoved it.  It rolled out of its space and I was off to Walgreens.  


HILARIOUSLY the Sinful Colors polish I was after is called Hazard.  How fitting.  I drove through feet of snow to get this polish.  And here it is, in my hot (cold) little hands.

You'd better be worth it, little friend.

The lipstick, by the way, is CoverGirl Lip Perfection in Hot Passion.  It's a little matte, so I tried putting some red gloss over it, Urban Decay Pocket Rocket in Colin.  Colin is a fireman.  I like Colin.  

When I got back to my parking lot twenty minutes later of course someone had taken my shoveled spot. As I predicted.  So I gunned it into a snow-covered spot and I felt my car say, "I'm sorry Steff, but...but I'm stuck again now."  I exited my trusty Honda knowing that it got me where I "needed" to go.  So thanks random man for forcing me out of my parking spot and getting me stuck again.  Your random act of kindness was kind, but totally unnecessary and in the end probably not worth it.

And here's my street (crappy iPhone picture in the dark):

Dear Cleveland in March:  you can suck it.  Do you guys have snow too or is it just me?  :(  Also, don't forget to cast your vote for the corals you want to see in my Coral Fixation series.  Sinful Colors Hazard isn't included, but you'll see that one soon.  Don't worry.

Coral Fixation: Kinetics Nail Colors Coral Sea

First thing's first:  I added a little poll on the righthand sidebar of the blog.  There, under the About Me section, you'll find a list of some of the coral polishes I'm considering for this Coral Fixation series.  You can vote for which ones you want to see.  You can vote for more than one, if your heart desires.  I'll choose the next few corals based on your votes.  Sound good?  We'll see how it goes, or if anyone actually participates.  That having been said, please vote!  It'll only take a second!


Last summer my dear friend Nathalie, one of the nicest people I have the pleasure of knowing, sent me a lovely package full of fun nail polish that I can't get in the States.  One of them was Kinetics Coral Sea.  It took me forever to try it, but I'm so glad that I have because it's perfect.  Oh, and my cuticles are horribly dry.  Forgive me.  

This is a perfect coral that leans neither too pink nor too orange.  In the photographs it looks a little pinker than it does in real life.  It also has gold glitter particles in it, making it a little more interesting than your average coral creme.  The application was good.  I didn't do my nails in a well-lit room so I did three coats just to be sure that there were no bald patches.  The brush was slightly moppy, but workable. I don't know anything about Kinetics as a brand, but I know that I really like this polish.  I bet it would look nice on toes for flip-flop weather.

I'm so ready for spring.  So ready, in fact, that I was digging through my lipstick stash the other day and I think I found my new staple spring lipstick:  MAC Style Curve from the Stylishly Yours collection.  Here's what it looks like swatched in horrible light (ie Cleveland nuclear winter light):

Here is what it looks like on my lips in horrible light:

And here is what it looks like on my face:

Sorry about the INSANELY CORAL SHIRT.  It's what I wear to bed sometimes.  My love of coral even carries over into my sleepytimes.  Looooook at how awesome this lipstick looks.  FOR REAL this will be amazing for spring.  I can't wait to bust it out with some all-over flower print dresses or even all black ensembles.  Pretty excited.

Alright, so that's the second installment of my coral series.  This coral kicks the ass of OPI Guy Meets Gal-veston.  I'm glad to have finally tried it.  Thank you, Nathalie!  It has a happy home in my Helmer.  Also, anyone have an opinion on MAC Style Curve?  I think...I think I'm in love.

All Up On My Face: Viva Glam Gaga 2

Oh hey.  No new nails for you today.  As I said, I'm really digging OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square and I wanted to keep it on another day.  The more I look at it the more I wonder how close it is to OPI Miso Happy With this Color.  I'll have to do a comparison.  Anyway, I'm really awful at taking close-up photos of my own face, so I just let Photobooth do it for me.  I wanted to show you how Viva Glam Gaga 2 looks on me.  

Look at that damn happy face.

Here I'm wearing the Gaga 2 lipstick with the Lipglass over it.  I was reading reviews of this duo and someone was saying that if you have light skin this'll look terrible on you.  I beg to differ.  I'm so into this look.  I have super, super pale skin and I think I can pull this off just fine.  It's a nice change too, because my lips are naturally quite pink.  Like I said yesterday, I found this lipstick/Lipglass surprisingly wearable.  This is the perfect warm nude for me.  And I love nude lips.  The only other makeup I'm wearing in these pictures is Urban Decay 24/7 liner in Zero and a coat of Urban Decay Skyscraper mascara (which is my favorite).  I think this is a great look for springtime, especially with all the obnoxious floral dresses I'm planning on wearing.  

Dude, yesterday was terrible.  Here's how my day went:

9AM:  alarm goes off.  I snooze.

9:09AM:  alarm goes off.  I reset alarm for 10.

10AM:  alarm goes off.  I reset alarm for 11.

11AM:  alarm goes off.  I snooze.

11:09AM:  alarm goes off.  I reluctantly roll out of bed.

11:30AM:  eating saltine crackers.  Have gotten back in bed.

12PM:  I extract The Art Museum from Boullee to Bilbao from my bookshelf.  I am planning on writing a paper.

12:30PM:  I open a Word doc, title it, and save it in hopes that it will help me get started writing.

1PM:  Watching YouTube makeup tutorials.

1:42PM:  I begin writing this very blog post.

2:15PM:  I realize I am hungry.  I go to Chipotle with my book and eat a burrito bowl.  I eat so much that I think my stomach will explode and burrito juice will come out of my eye sockets.  I am satisfied.  

2:42PM:  Can't read in Chipotle.  Too loud.

2:45PM:  I get in my car and drive to the Pleasantville Public Library.

3:33PM:  Arrive in Pleasantville.

3:49PM:  Updating Netflix queue and STILL not reading.

6:11PM:  Finished required reading for paper.  Found Six Feet Under season five at library.  Meaning the rest of my evening is doomed, academically.

3:13AM:  Finished Six Feet Under series.  Cried for four straight hours because it was so amazing.  Fell in love with Michael C. Hall all over again, for the thousandth time.

As you can see, I'm having real problems with this whole motivation thing.  It's spring break, yes, but there are things that I really, really need to get done.  I thought maybe if I wrote a bit on the blog it might help me to write a bit in Word.  We'll see how that goes.  I am pathetic.  

Anyway, has anyone else gotten these guys from MAC?  Kelsea, soul sister, I'm asking you.  Because I know you rock the nude lip from time to time.  Let me know what you all think.  I feel like this lipstick could be a love it or hate it type of thing.  

OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square

Yesterday my friend was visiting Cleveland from Columbus and we had lunch together.  She said, "I was thinking of getting a manicure..." and I said, "Shut up, we're going."  I hadn't had a manicure in forever and my cuticles are constantly unruly.  We went to a really cheapie salon in the mall and I set about choosing a color.  The girl at the counter was extremely impatient with me.  All she wanted me to do was pick a new lacquer from OPI Texas.  Sorry lady, not happening.  Especially when you have an abundance of old, chemical-laden, black-label OPIs.  I'm going to choose from the oldies.  And I ended up with this:

This is OPI Bare It In Trafalgar Square, and it's a lovely, somewhat warm-toned opaque nude.  I hate that the chick doing my nails left no gap between my cuticle and the polish.  She totally got polish all over my skin.  Oh well.  I absolutely adore this color.  This was only two coats, and it's perfect.  When the girl started painting them she showed me my pinky, the only nail with any polish on it and said, "Are you sure this is what you want?"  Yes, of course.  She was so shocked that I wasn't going with a bright pink jelly like the rest of her clientele.  I offered to buy this OPI from her and she declined, so if any of you have Bare It In Trafalgar Square and are willing to swap for it, let me know.  Because I want it for myself.  It looks so classy and lovely.

Keeping on the nude kick, I splurged at MAC the other day and got the Viva Glam Gaga 2 lipstick and Lipglass.  I don't have pictures for you because I haven't worn them yet, but I really like the lipstick.  I tried it on in the store and it's surprisingly wearable.  My boyfriend is completely amazing and always listens when I talk to him about silly things like lipstick.  I said, "Babe, I tried on the Lady Gaga lipstick at the MAC store."  He replied with, "Really?  Did it make you feel trashy and talentless?"  Then he laughed a hearty laugh and was very satisfied with himself.  I guess that answers any questions I had about his feelings toward The Gaga.  I love her, personally, and I was really glad she did another collaboration with MAC because I could not wear Viva Glam Gaga.  It made me look like a hooker.  A trashy and talentless hooker.  

I'll leave you with my favorite Gaga spoof video from The Key of Awesome.  Are you having a meh Tuesday?  Watch this and you'll feel better.  Promise.  It gets a bit cut off when it's embedded on the blog, but you'll still get the idea.

So that's all!  Any opinions on Bare It In Trafalgar Square?  I'll be back with another coral for you sometime soon, don't worry!

Nubar Torrid Red (Sex in Polish Form)

I will use pretty much any excuse ever to get dressed up.  A lot of people would consider the way I dress daily to be "dressed up," but sometimes there are special occasions.  My friend (hi Rosemary!) had a show that she curated open last night, so I decided I needed to wear something especially pretty and make my nails especially pretty.  I knew the dress I was going to wear would be black, so I chose to wear a dark red polish. 

Do you know of a sexier polish color than this?  DO YOU?  Ugh, it's just too gorgeous.  To my knowledge, this polish came out with Nubar's Risque Reds collection, which was composed of eight red polishes (two cremes, six shimmers).  My friend Michelle gifted me the whole collection because she knows I love red.  And Torrid Red reminds me why I love it.  The application was perfect on this, too.  It was almost a one-coater.  Gor-geous.  

Sadly I didn't get a picture of me in my dress, but I just got it from the ModCloth 70% off sale.  When I saw it on the site the art historian in me knew that I had to have it.  The top is covered with little cherubs, you see.  The Italian word for cherubs is putti (putto in the singular), pronounced "poo-tee."  Please just say putti out loud to yourself.  I own a garment covered in putti.  Now, because I live in a completely unrealistic world peopled almost entirely by art historians, we all found this hilarious.  All day I was getting people saying, "Stephanie, I can see your putti" or "Oh sorry Stephanie, I just leaned on your putti."  We got many good laughs.  This isn't just a dress, it's a conversation piece.  Here's the top half.

Next time I wear it I'll actually have someone take a picture of me so you can see the whole thing.  It's just fabulous.  

Today begins my spring break, so yay!  This will be my dilemma tonight:

See, I really should be doing research on Bernini terracottas, but my boyfriend just bought me the March Vogue.  What to do.  What.  To.  Do.  

Okay, that's all.  Any positive or negative thoughts on Nubar Torrid Red?  I think it's impossibly glamorous and sexy.  I hope you all have great weekends!