Nubar Lustful Red

I'm sad to say that today I have iPhone photos for you because I didn't get a chance to take real photos of Lustful Red by Nubar.  I had an incident where I slammed my hand into something only one day after meticulously doing this manicure that was supposed to last me a week and the top layer of my nail ripped off.  Suffice it to say, ouch.  And ew.

Here is Lustful Red in the sun (with my hand perched on my Civic's steering wheel) and in the shade (with my hand clutching a book about The Madonna of Humility [don't ask me about it because I haven't read the book yet so I have no idea what I'm talking about]).  As you can see, the sun really brings out its orange tones while the shade brings out the blue.  In reality it's a cherry red creme.  A really, really nice cherry red creme.  The formula was okay.  A little thin, actually.  I needed three coats for this opacity.

Fun fact:  while I was taking the shade photo I was standing outside the Cleveland Museum of Art (where I intern/have class/live) and one of the art librarians walked by me taking pictures of my hand.  As he continued to walk by I took this picture of the print on my dress to show you all, and now he thinks I'm a psycho.

But I couldn't not show you guys this print.  When I walked into the art history 101 class for which I'm a TA, one of my friends just looked at me, sighed and said, "Ahhh.  Ponies."  I like it when my clothing induces contented sighs or squeals of joy.  I saw this dress on clearance at Urban Outfitters and scooped it up for $21.  I assume it was there because few people are quirky enough to wear stuff like this, but I'm proud to say that this is my fourth article of clothing with all-over horse print.  Evidence:

Prancing unicorns.

Running horses.

Also another blouse from H&M that has horses with saddles all over it.  Haven't had a chance to photograph it.  But, there you have it.  My wardrobe gets weirder by the day and I love it.

That's it for me today.  Who loves red?  Who is willing to admit that they love red?  It's definitely one of my favorite hues for fall, and Nubar does them well. 

Alright, time for me to giddyup!

Petites Color Fever Periwinkle

I haven't been around as much as I'd like to, and for that I apologize.  I'm having a small career crisis right now that will hopefully be resolved tomorrow, so just know that all of you guys are in my thoughts and that I am constantly wishing that I had time to do my nails.  Or sleep.  Or eat froyo.  The silver lining is that I'm finally not really sick anymore.  There is a lingering cough, but I feel fine.

I find this color, which is Petites Periwinkle, to be incredibly soothing.  Unfortunately (and symbolically!) it only lasted through the weekend.  I had a big chip by Sunday that I couldn't abide, so I had to take it off.  Anyway, this is a great polish despite that.  The color is a lovely blue-ish purple, and its own name, periwinkle, is its best descriptor.  The formula is excellent for a drug store polish, and this can be found at any Rite-Aid for, I believe, either $2.99 or $3.99.  

I solemnly swear that this will not be my only post this week.  I have another one coming up because I got to do my nails twice this weekend (once on Friday night after an exhibition opening and once on Sunday after Periwinkle failed me).  So I will be back.

Opinions on this polish?  It's one I'm glad to have around, for sure.  

OPI I Brake For Manicures and AA Giveaway Winner

Greetings from the land of graduate school; where having a cold is the worst thing that could possibly happen to you and "working through the pain" involves reading dozens of esoteric articles while the words spin on the page in front of you.  Yes, I'm sick.  And yes, I will complain about it.  ...okay, I'm done now.

Here's OPI I Brake For Manicures.  A tricky little bastard of a polish to photograph.  It's a dark, vampy, dusty grape.  My camera wanted to make it look almost-black every time I tried to take a picture of it, but trust me...it has a special quality to it that makes it look smoky and a little mysterious.  In truth, I haven't been this in love with a vampy since last winter's China Glaze Naughty But Nice, which I didn't really document.  My mom was in the hospital when that collection was a thing, so I didn't have time to photograph them as I wore them.  Anyhow, this polish is special among vampies.  Really.  And the formula was really superb.  Two coats here.

I can't complain about any of the polishes I picked up from Touring America.  I love them all (see I Eat Mainely Lobster here, Are We There Yet? here, Suzi Takes the Wheel here, A-Taupe the Space Needle here and Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window here).  Although most of these colors are pretty standard hues, each one of them seems to have that special somethin'-somethin' that makes them indispensable for a polish lover.  

Also, the winner of my giveaway was a reader named Charlotte.  I've already e-mailed her and she e-mailed me back to confirm her win, so that's that.  Her heart's desire is California Trooper, MacArthur Park and Poppy, all colors I love.  So congratulations, Charlotte!  And to everyone else, thanks for entering.  I'll probably do another AA giveaway to celebrate the end of the semester (which seems so far away right now, but it's really not; I'm yearning for December).

That's it for today.  Opinions on I Brake For Manicures?    

Giveaway Reminder

My American Apparel giveaway is ending TOMORROW at MIDNIGHT EASTERN.  


If you have no idea what I'm talking about, click here to view details and enter.


If you do have an idea what I'm talking about, get excited.


If you've been wondering where I've been the past couple weeks, I've been doing this:  reading.  You can't see the book, but I assure you it's there.  And it's about either Pre-Raphaelites, Victorian art, or DEATH.  I know, this semester is bananas.

Okay, over 'n out.

Dirtiest Sephora Order...Ever?

A while back (and I do mean a while) my friend sent me a Sephora e-giftcard.  I knew immediately what I wanted to use it for, but through a series of shenanigans my items of desire took foreversies to get to me.  But now I finally have them.  One of them is Illamasqua Load.

Illamasqua Load.  Load.  Ha ha and also ha.  How perfect.  We all know the reference, so I won't elaborate on its hilarity--especially the fact that it was released for Valentine's Day with another polish called Throb.  Is it yellow?  Is it white?  I'm going to call it a yellow-tinged white.  And I really love it.  I'm so glad I was able to get this one (with a giftcard, because I wasn't going to pay $14 for it).  With all I've read about this polish I kind of thought it would have the worst formula of all time or something.  Not true.  It was fine (for a white/yellow).  This was three coats and there are still some imperfections, but not enough to make me want to do a fourth coat.  I was careful with application, though.  I waited about two minutes between coats one and two, and then about five between two and three.  

So what else did I order from Sephora?  Another Illamasqua product.  A lipstick!  At $22 I also wouldn't have sprung for this one without a giftcard in-hand.  I chose Maneater, a true matte red.  Then after I checked out I looked at the recap of my order and literally laughed out loud.  

The names of the Illamasqua products combine to make this the dirtiest Sephora order of all time.  So thanks Illamasqua.  Thanks for making me giggle uncontrollably.  My day has improved and you've allowed me to share my immaturity with my readers.  LAUGH WITH ME PEOPLE. 

Thoughts on Load?  On Illamasqua's product-naming tendencies?  On anything?  

<3

Essie Very Structured

The tale of my acquiring Essie Very Structured is one of last-minute decisions.  I was at Target with my boyfriend and we were both school supply shopping.  He was holding a basket and probably walking toward office supplies.  I'm sure that he turned his back for one second and I was gone, scampering off toward beauty supplies (a girl has her priorities, let's be honest).  Once there I was confronted with the Essie fall collection, and within seconds I had snatched Very Structured off the display.  It's not my usual type of color, and that's why I picked it.  I scampered back to my boyfriend, held it right in front of his face and said, "For Steffie?"  He begrudgingly let me drop it into the basket and bought it for me.  I was ecstatic.  It was his first [coerced] gift of nail polish to me.

Unfortunately this color does absolutely nothing for me.  If Very Structured were a crayon I feel like it would be called Mahogany.  It's a red-leaning brown.  Very autumnal.  The formula was absolutely superb.  This was two really flawless coats.  As soon as my mom noticed my nails while I was wearing this one she asked what it was.  I think this polish might go live with her now.  She has a warmer skin tone than I do, and a color like this is right up her alley.  

To conclude, I love this polish because my boyfriend bought it for me, but...ugh.  It's just not me.  Maybe next time I can get him to buy me something that's actually pretty on.

OPI Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window

I don't have a lot to say about this one, surprisingly.  I was really tired when I took these pictures, so they're not very good.  I also let my friend borrow the polish so I don't have the bottle.  I'm holding one of my perfume bottles in these shots.

I think that this is a very nice olive green.  But that's really all I think about it.  At this point I have a lot of olives in my collection (because they're my favorite, which I wrote about in this post), so this one doesn't necessarily fill any gaps.  But it is pretty.  So if you're building your collection and you are lacking an olive green, this would be a good one to pick up.

The pros here include a nice formula (two coats), a pretty almost-neutral color, and name referencing a fart (maybe?  or vomit?  who knows.  the debate about this one will, I'm sure, go down into the annals of history).  Olive green seems like this season's go-to color.  All the big companies are producing them for us.  It was kind of a difficult-to-find color about two years ago (hence my insane love for polishes like China Glaze Wagon Trail and OPI At Your Quebec and Call) but now they're everywhere.  So rejoice, lovers of olive green!  Now you have your pick.

Thoughts on this one?  On the name?  I know everyone has already talked about this and I'm behind, but I do my best to keep up!

OPI Suzi Takes the Wheel

Happy September!  I always hate it when I'm in school in August.  August still says summer to me, but it's really September that things get under way.  The leaves start to fall, the syllabi start to pile up, the reading starts to drive me crazy...


Anyway.  OPI Suzi Takes the Wheel.  Another polish from Touring America that I can't get enough of.  Super unique, super gorgeous.

Sometimes it looks like it has a tinge of green to it.

Sometimes it looks pretty grey.

I know that my photos don't really show of the sort-of-green aspect to this polish, but I promise you it's there.  I'm wearing this one right now and I haven't been able to stop looking at my hands since I removed A-Taupe the Space Needle (begrudgingly) and put this one on.  The formula was exquisite.  This one practically applied itself.  Two thin, easily applied coats was all I needed.  

I can't believe that some people are apathetic about this collection.  It seems like it has so many gems for me.  I own half of it, and I love every single one I picked out.  I mean, love.  For Short n Chic, Touring America is definitely a smash hit.

I tried to coax out some of the green in Suzi Takes the Wheel by holding my cell phone in these pictures.  It has a cute little case on it with green and blue geometric patterns.  I think it kind of worked. The sage qualities of the polish are a bit more evident here.  There's a great swatch of it right here from the blog Fashion Polish.  Great blog, by the way.  One of my newer favorites.

That's it.  Not much else to say.  Pretty ecstatic about my Touring America picks so far...and I have two more to try out!