OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle

Do you guys remember the love I had for OPI Stranger Tides?  You can read my post about it here if you don't.  While Stranger Tides was my "it" polish for spring and summer, I can tell that OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle is going to usurp that spot for fall and [maybe] winter.  I was so happy with how this one looked and I was enjoying wearing it so much that I kind of forgot to take pictures of it, but here's one I snapped in the library.

I'm so impressed with this polish.  In the bottle it looks like a sort of ugly brown-taupe.  It translates so nicely onto the nail.  Yes, it's sort of brown and sort of taupe, but this taupe leans decidedly green.  In some lights this polish looks like a drab olive and in some it looks like an elegant taupe.  I can't get enough of this one.  I love how it looks on me.  And I love how it looks on short nails.  It's a great twist on a traditional neutral.  The formula was fantastic too.  Two coats of creamy perfection and I had perfect opaque color.  Can you tell that I have nothing but good things to say about this one?  It's my pick of the collection for sure.

Is anyone else smitten with this one?  Definitely an unexpected favey-fave, but a favey-fave nonetheless!

Everything Ends

My last week of summer in photographs with, for once, very little commentary.  They speak for themselves, I think.

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, Chagrin Falls, Ohio

Pal Sam, sporting OPI A-Taupe the Space Needle

Here starts another school year.  And here's to the end of summer:  Opt for adventure.

A totally self-indulgent post for once can't hurt, right?  :)

OPI Sapphire in the Snow

Oh hey, remember that time I had this super awesome giveaway where you could win three American Apparel polishes of your choice?  Oh wait, that's right now.  Want to enter?  Click here.


I don't know why I decided to use a dark polish from a holiday-themed collection in August, but I did.  And here it is.

Sapphire in the Snow is a reeeeaally nice indigo creme from the 2009 OPI holiday collection.  I got bubbling here because I applied the topcoat near a fan, which is a no-no.  But I was hot.  It happens.  Anyway, if you're looking for an indigo polish (or a "blurple," as a lot of people seem to like to call it...) then this is your polish.  The formula is flawless; it covers really nicely in two coats.  And it looks gorgeous on short nails.  Trust.

And now to vent a little:  I'm writing this at 10pm in the evening, and my power has been out since about 5pm.  What...the hell.  I went to a coffee shop to use the internet and do reading for [yet to be begun] class and I was sure that by the time I got home the power would be back.  Now I'm lying on my tummy in my living room stealing internet from the restaurant next door, eating lukewarm leftover pad thai that I saved from my fridge.  It's pitch-black up in here.  The battery on my laptop will only last a few hours at the most; I can't see to write, to shower...to do anything!  I'm so pissed.  How hard can it be to get the power back on?!  The people across the street from me have it.  I waaaaaant it back :(  When you guys are reading this it'll be Friday morning, so let's all hope that my little apartment has lights and internet again.  I'd really like to be able to shave my legs without worrying about accidentally slicing open my femoral artery or something.  


And with that lovely mental image, I will leave you all to contemplate the mysteries of modern electricity and OPI Sapphire in the Snow.  

A Grand Giveaway

It's fitting that the two-year anniversary of Short n Chic somehow has coincided with my reaching a thousand bloggy followers.  I haven't been the most attentive blogger lately because I've had so much on my plate, but I did at least notice the quadruple digits in my list of readers.  To celebrate, I'm doing a giveaway.  My giveaways have been exactly the same for the past year, and this one won't deviate.  So, here are the details.


The winner of this giveaway will receive three polishes from American Apparel of her choice.  That's right; any three polishes (as long as they are in stock).  I live just down the street from the only AA store in Cleveland, so it's easy for me to pop in and pick up the winner's prize.  Below this paragraph I'm posting some pictures of AA polish swatches from my own blog just to give you some ideas for what you can choose.  By no means are these the polishes from which you must pick your prize.  American Apparel has thirty or forty shades of polish to choose from, and if you want to see them all please click here to go to their website.  These images you see are just examples of what you could choose from my own collection.  

African Violet

Army Jacket

Butter

California Trooper

Hunter

MacArthur Park

Mount Royal

Peacock

Trenchcoat

So, now that you know what you can win...how can you win it?  It's easy.

1.  Be a follower.  There's a button on the righthand sidebar that says "Join This Site."  See it?  Click it and follow this blog.  Have you already done that?  Great.  You're qualified to win.

2.  Comment on this post with your NAME, which THREE AMERICAN APPAREL POLISHES you would like from me should you win, and your [valid] E-MAIL ADDRESS.  

3.  Tell someone.  I don't need proof of this.  There will be no extra entries if you post about this giveaway on your blog (although, by all means, feel free to).  Just tell someone.  Verbally is fine.  Text messages are grand.  Do whatever you want.  I just want to keep this one simple.  One entry per person!

That's all.  To recap, you can pick any three polishes that American Apparel produces.  Here are some more swatches if you want to look at them.  And more here!  Swatches galore!  Personally my favorite AA polish is MacArthur Park, but to each her own, right?  Pick your ponies, ladies.  

You have until Saturday, September 17th at 11:59pm to enter.  Remember, follow and comment on this post!  Good luck!  International readers are free to enter as well.

Also, thanks everyone for helping me to reach this milestone!  I'm really excited about it...and I'm just glad that people want to read what I have to say ;)  You've all stuck with me through a lot, and I want everyone who reads to know how much that means to me.  You guys are the best.

Black Label: OPI Peel Me A Gobi Grape

Forgive me for showing you this polish.  I ask your forgiveness because I know that this one is really pretty difficult to find.  And when one does run across it, it usually goes for a not insignificant amount of dollars.  But I've been sitting on this one for a while.  So here she is.

I did a bit of research, and OPI Peel Me A Gobi Grape is apparently from a 1998 collection.  1998.  I was twelve years old when this polish came out.  It's obviously long discontinued.  It's a really, really nice red-based purple...maybe kind of a light plum...with bronze-y, gold-y shimmer throughout.  It's a stunner and it's perfect for falltimes.  Clearly this one has the old OPI skinny brush and the old OPI chemical-laden formula.  The formula was fine, but it was a little lumpy (probably because the polish has been sitting around for like a decade).  I used two coats and I was good to go.  

I've had this polish since the winter when a reader, Gail, sent me a box full of old OPIs.  I wanted to wait until I had really nice sunlight to use it, and I think that late August/early September is a great time to wear this one; leading right into fall, this purple with gold shimmer is a great transition from summer to autumn, and from the bright happy colors I've been wearing for the past couple months to the somber, darker tones I plan to use in my wardrobe come fall [read:  when school starts I will be wearing mostly black--or brown tweed.  It's a toss-up].  

Pixel Show Me the $: The Only Mint Green I'll Ever Wear Again

I have found the only mint green polish I'll ever need to wear again.  No, really.  And photographs don't do it justice, which is sad.

This is Pixel Show Me the $.  Despite the [really] stupid name, I am seriously loving this one.  It's a very sheer mint green jelly.  So, look at the beautiful color.  Sear it in your brain.  Now let me tell you what's wrong with this polish.

1.  The cost to bottle size ratio.  .17 fl oz for $2.49.  Siiiiiigh.

2.  The sheerness.  Took five coats to build up to this color.

3.  The combination of 1 and 2.  I've used this little bottle once and it's almost a quarter gone because of all the coats I needed.

Even though problems 1 through 3 suck, I.  Love.  This.  Color.  If you really like sheers, pick this one up!  It's such a great twist on a neutral sheer.  The good thing about this one is that it dried really quickly even with five coats.  I put on some quick dry topcoat, sat quietly for about 30 minutes, and at the end of my quiet time it was completely dry.  This polish is like...the one that's missing from the RBL Spongebob Collection (see Starfish Patrick here and Bikini Bottom here).  Don't you think?  Show Me the $ would fit in perfectly with those shades.  

Sidebar:  Facebook is creeping me out.  Here are the ads on the side of my page right now: 

Urban Decay Up to 50% off!

Get 50% off Julep Nail Color!

50% off Salon de la Mer (local place a couple miles away)!

Learn to Run a Coffee Shop!

This creepy apparatus is appealing to my love of makeup and coffee.  It's slowly trying to take over my life, I think.  Anyway, that's all.  Opinions on this polish?  On Pixel generally?  Has anyone tried a Pixel that isn't incredibly sheer?  Oh, and the title of this post clearly isn't true.  I'm still going to buy mint green polishes even though I don't like them.  Who are we kidding?

Coral Fixation: OPI Are We There Yet?

As predicted I went back to Ulta last weekend for the other coral shade from Touring America.  I made decent tips at work so I decided to treat myself.

See the shimmer in the bottle?

Sorry about my bad cuticles, everyone!  I'm aware of the problem, I just haven't gotten around to fixing it.  Anyway, here's Are We There Yet?  It's so pretty.  It's like I Eat Mainely Lobster's more playful, lighthearted sister.  It's a beautiful, orange leaning, almost...melon-y coral.  With nearly undetectable shimmer.  I only noticed it when I was in bright sunlight.  I really, really love this coral.  I can't find anything bad to say about this polish, either.  It was opaque in two coats, the formula was nice...good job, OPI!  

When I got Are We There Yet? I thought it might be really similar to OPI Naples Syrup (not pictured) but I was really wrong.  When I went through my black label box searching for comparable colors I surprisingly came up short.  The coral I have that comes closest to Are We There Yet? is Sinful Colors Hazard.

L-R:  OPI Ecuadorable Coral, OPI Back in the Saddle, OPI Are We There Yet?  Sinful Colors Hazard and OPI Home on the O-Range

Hazard has really fine pearlescent shimmer running through it, though, while Are We There Yet has bigger gold shimmer particles.  Close, but not a dupe.

What else there is to say about this one, I'm not sure.  If you like corals go out and pick this up because it's definitely worth it.  I think I like it better than I Eat Mainely Lobster, but I'll probably have to live with it on my hands for a couple of days before I make that decision.  


That's all for today.  I'm not feeling very verbose for once, so I'll let you guys talk in the comments instead!  Opinions on this polish?  A favorite coral polish?  A fun story about your weekend?  I really want to know :)

Coral Fixation: OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster

Guess what!  My friend lent me a camera.  It's actually the same one as my dead camera, just a little bit older.  Yay!  


Fall has been in the air the past couple nights.  I turned off my air conditioner and slept with my windows open for the first time since early June.  I was even a little chilly.  So I guess it's fitting that yesterday I went over to Ulta and picked up a few of the OPI Touring America polishes.  I was torn between I Eat Mainely Lobster and Are We There Yet?, but in the end I came away with the former.  I'm sure I'll return for the latter this weekend.

So here's my newest little coral friend, OPI I Eat Mainely Lobster.  First of all, I love the name.  This summer has been full of lobster jokes between my friend from New England and I.  When I saw this one in the bottle I kind of wasn't crazy about it.  I thought that it was too pinky-red.  But on my nails...I'm pretty into it.  It's this gorgeous, warm coral with even more gorgeous magenta and gold shimmer.  The formula actually seemed kind of thick to me, which is weird because I've been reading about how it's watery.  Maybe I got a funny bottle.  I used three coats here.  Is this a good fall color?  I don't know.  But I'll be really, really happy to be sporting this one in the last days of summer.  If you're into corals, pinks or reds, check this one out.  

That's all for today.  Who is interested in picking up I Eat Mainely Lobster?  What are everyone's picks from Touring America?  I have to say, just by looking at the collection in person at Ulta yesterday I feel like OPI kind of hit it out of the park (which is good for me because I wasn't crazy about Texas at all).  Alright!  I'm off to hang out at the art museum all day!  Things can't be so bad with a day like that, right?  ;)

Pixel Naughty Bit Nice

Well, I just couldn't stay away.  I'm trying iPhone pictures at the suggestion of a few people, so PLEASE, if you guys hate the quality of these images TELL ME and I'll refrain from using my phone again until I get a camera.


Anyway, this weekend I decided that I just had to get away.  I had a lot of things on my mind (including a girl who decided that she had to talk about me in her Facebook status in a pejorative way.  Really?  I wasn't aware that I was still in middle school, but okay).  I took a terrifying night drive on country roads (sorry again, mom!) down to my parents' lake house in Apple Valley.  It took a couple hours for me to decompress, but once I did I felt great and at ease.  And that's why I chose this color today.

Here we have Pixel Naughty Bit Nice.  I'd never heard of Pixel before, but when I went to Ulta last week I was greeted by a display of these tiny bottles.  The prices weren't marked, but I hypothesized they were $1.99.  It turned out they were $2.49 which I guess isn't bad for a tiny bottle.  Most of the names of the polishes are puns on the "pixel" name of the brand.  Hence "bit" instead of "but."  Silly.  Anyhow, this color is...pretty great.  It has a jelly-creme consistency, kind of akin to Essie Lapis of Luxury.  But the shade...it's like a jellyish version of American Apparel L'Esprit...a really light, airy periwinkle.  And it's GORGEOUS.  It makes me feel calm to look at it.  The downside of this one is that it's pretty sheer.  This is four coats.  But it dried really quickly so it ended up being fine.  Well played, Pixel.  Well played.

I'm back from my lake house weekend today.  As I was on the highway last night I felt all the weight of everything I was running away from sink back down onto me when I saw the city come up over the horizon.  Sigh.  It was hard to get up for work this morning when my alarm went off, but here I am, sittin' in the art library, doin' research on Picasso.  I haven't read about Cubism in foreversies, so it might be kind of fun today.  We'll see.

That's all for today.  Again, tell me if you hate the images.  Please.  Also, who has heard of or tried these Pixel polishes?  I love finding new-to-me brands!  I'm also pretty behind on the whole trends thing, so I could just be living under a rock...

Death Throes

I figured I'd post the last pictures my little camera ever took.  Funnily enough, the camera itself seems to be fine; the display still works and I can perform functions like delete photos, etc.  It's just the basic mechanism of the lens et al that is totally donezo.  Sad.  But long story short, I was able to upload the last photos that were on it into iPhoto.


I was beyond excited to pick up this dress at Old Naves last week.

Dress (Old Navy), belt (H&M), tonight-we-dine-in-hell sandals (Blowfish, DSW)

I would have liked to have worn it without the belt, but I had to size up from my normal 8 to make it fit across the chest properly.  It was pretty snug.  The result of that was that the waist is now too big on me.  This is of course a problem that is easily solved, but it messes with the minimalist aesthetic.  But anyway, I adore this dress.  If you've got an Old Navy near you or you like shopping online, pick this one up.  You can dress it up for work or dress it down for play.  I'm pretty excited to pair it with different necklaces and belts :)

So there you have it.  My last sad photos.  Too bad they're not of my nails since this is, y'know, a nail polish blog 'n all.  But I thought you guys might like to see the item in my wardrobe that I'm just swooning over right now.  Oh, and for the sake of continuity and on-topic-ness, I have OPI Stranger Tides on my nails ;)

Juuuuust Perfect

Well, this morning my camera ended up falling off my desk somehow onto my hardwood floor.  And bouncing and hitting the floor again.  And so I'm out of commission for a while.  This week really is shitty.  I suppose it's just as well, if everything happens for a reason, because I was thinking the other day that I really should start to focus on finishing up my internship work and then (shudder) school stuff.  The no camera thing removes the blogging temptation. But still, I'm bummed.


I meant to blog a lot more this summer than I got the chance to.  And I know you're thinking, Hey, it's the beginning of August!  There's still a ton of summer left!  Yesterday I got e-mails from my department telling me to put TA training on my calendar (August 23rd!) and basically to start planning gallery talks for my students.  I meet with my advisor next week to register for classes, and after that I'm sure it'll just be a blur.


Nonetheless, I will work on getting my poor little camera better.  It feels weird not having a working one.  I'll still be around if anyone wants to e-mail or anything like that, but I suppose there will be no more nail frivolity for a while :(


Take care.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Recycle

Recycle is a polish that I had wanted ever since I knew Rescue Beauty Lounge existed.  But I didn't want it as much as, say, Grunge.  Or Drifter.  Or Chinoise.  Or all the myriad RBL polishes that I purchased in 2009 and early 2010.  When the 2010 RBL sale rolled around I finally decided that Recycle needed to be included in my order.  That was November.  It is now August (also, what the hell, it's August?!?!) and I've used it for the first time.

It's what I expected.  A nice, rich green creme.  Indoors you can still tell that it's green, but it looks pretty dark.  In the sun it reminds me of a green LEGO.  Y'know, those little block things that come in bright, rainbow-esque colors.  There's really not much to say about this one.  The formula was of course pretty good.  At first it was kind of watery even though I had shaken/rolled the bottle and let it settle, so I took a chance and shook it again in the middle of my manicure.  Thankfully that solved the problem and didn't produce bubbles, so that's good.  This is two coats with topcoat.  I think Recycle was the last polish from my November RBL sale haul that I had left to use.  This one was definitely worth $9, but even though it's a really nice and really pretty polish, I don't think I'd throw down $18 on it.  But that's just me.

Well, that's all for me today.  This week might be a sparse posting week.  I've got more than a few things on my plate and a lot of things on my mind, and that's not putting me in the best mood.  But, powering through.  For now, anyway.  What does everyone think about Recycle?