Blah

I've been hit every week this past month for cash, car repairs, vet bills and have had no real coin to spend on product. This makes me sad, considering Christmas is the time when all the lovely things come out-like the Clarins eyeshadow trio, baked gold and black goodness. Sad.  And the China Glaze holiday collection! Sparkly pretty! No money for shipping or polish. Sad.

Ran out of nail wheel blanks so can't finish swatching my collection and can't order any more. Sad.

Can't figure out why the zoom on my blackberry camera won't work anymore. Sad.

Nail wheel is a fun project though

Wow

I have been neglecting the blog that no one reads. Wow.

I went down to Seattle, and picked up Lippman's "All that Jazz" trio as well as the three new Sally Hansen salon manicure glitters, AND two Hard Candy polishes and by that time I ran out of money so I was done.

Oh, and did I mention I bought a Helmer? And stayed up til 3 am putting the thing together.  Although it doesn't satisfy my need to have my polishes out on display it does store them properly and away so I don't look like a crazy hoarder.

Took some pictures , more later. Still using the KP stuff my tube is almost gone and no real improvement

Derma Doctor KP Duty-update

Anyone out there with Keratosis Pilaris? Chicken skin, you name it. I have it bad on my upper arms, enough so that I don't like to go sleeveless unless I have a severe, snooki tan going on.

My KP consists of red dots where my hair follicles are. Anyone that has KP that knows what it is-buildup of keratin surrounding the hair follicle. Not so much bumpy, although I do get a few just red unsightly dots. I'd rather have skin colored bumps than red dots. Sigh.

I exfoliate and moisturize on a regular basis, with little to no effect on the redness. So I bought a tube of REALLY EXPENSIVE Derma doctor KP duty moisturizer. I have been using it faithfully for a month, with no results but I will wait until the tube is done to do a review. I'm thinking if you haven't moisturized much before you may get results on your KP but for those that do this won't do much. Stay tuned

Update-go with Paula's choice 2% bha body moisturizer. Cheaper and more effective

What I'm working on

Nail wheel swatches! I have SO many bottles of polish and most are untried. It's time to put these on wheels and buy a helmer and stop storing the stuff in boxes!

As you can see I still take poop pictures. I've been writing a corresponding list of shades in clockwise order. I'm on number 5 now, 3 wheels of "darks" one of greens and then probably phase into blues/purples.



 I'm also working on a light box, a DIY rubbermaid tub kind so I can use my digital camera to take at least halfway correct photos.

Urban Decay Lip Junkie in "Perversion"

Well, my rambling below about O Gloss noir didn't pan out. I decided to run with Urban Decay lip junkie in perversion, which I will attempt to show you with my absolute shit blackberry photos. I know I need to build a light box and start using my digital camera and stop using my black berry. It's just that it is so easy to do while I'm on the move-normally I update this hunk of shit from work and I use company computers so I can't upload camera pics.  Reading a blog (no one reads this blog) that has horrible shitty pictures is like standing in a nudist colony full of people with deformed genitals. Horrific to look at. I suppose the only reason I bother is to prove I bought the stuff and am not just making things up. I should start to though.

Anyways, other than the primer potion and eye shadows UD is a new to me brand. The applicator on this one leaves much to be desired, it's a cheap squeeze tube with a fancy plastic top. They would benefit from making this into a doe foot applicator wand. Especially since it's so pigmented. Perversion is a dark, black purple with holographic glitter and is a very dramatic deep look and I do like it. Lip Junkie is supposed to be plumping (scoff) and is minty flavored (scented)

As you can see I have it sheer, although the photo doesn't really capture how bold it still is in person.

Deep Fall Lips-Bright lips are not for Fatties

I have enormous Angelina Jolie lips. Unfortunately for me (and you) the flesh that surrounds them is decidedly not Angelina Jolie like. With all I'm seeing of dark berry lips for fall I am so excited to try this out. Last year I bought the Chanel lipstick that is essentially black-it was LE, what the hell was it called? (****EDIT It's called "Hysteria")

I have never felt comfortable wearing bright red lips. I feel they wash out my features-and for good reason. I read in a magazine with a girl that did an article on plus size beauty that Fat Girls shouldn't wear bright lips because it makes their features even less distinguishable (I assume she meant through the excess weight that shows in one's face) bigger girls with bright red lips just kind of look like fat clowns to me.

However, I DO feel comfortable with a dark lip. Dark, Gothic (not Goth..fuck those people) etc. Over on musingsofamuse she mentioned that Smashbox had come out with O-gloss "Noir" for fall so I zipped over to Sephora to test that out. It's very very very gorgeous, and I cannot wait until tomorrow so I can go back and buy it.  That, my Chanel LE from last year and the Tokidoki lip gloss in "Adios" and my fall/winter dark berry lips are SET!

O2 Cosmetics Spray Tan

Well, I have to say I love this stuff.  Ordered from the website O2 Cosmetics
 and the shipping was insanely fast. I originally bought the Air Fusion gun from Winners at a cool 25 bucks-I cannot believe they tried to sell this thing for 175. I truly feel sorry for any ladies out there who spent that much on it-I believe it's discontinued, which is why it's popping up at winners all over.

The gun itself is a neat idea, although cheaply made and plastic-formula gets caught in between the bottle and the gun part.  Again, I cannot believe Fusion beauty was asking almost 200 for this-I love Fusion products and I would have been PISSED, considering you can get a quality system for around that price online.  The formula that came with is junk, you can spray yourself 3x over and still not get any lasting color.

So I did a little online reading and found that O2 is compatible with the air gun. The O2 formula is a highly pigmented tanning solution with a heavy bronzer that allows you to see where you put the stuff.  The smell is negligible, there is no real DHA stink that accompanies so many lotions.  The first time I applied this I ended up rubbing the stuff in since I applied it so thickly and I got gorgeous even colour.  I also have to clean my bathroom floor and toilet since it is pretty misty stuff-that's with using a towel. It is a beautiful, long lasting non orange tan and I love it. I am seriously considering getting my own air gun after this.  I would plan to be naked for half an hour after applying this stuff, it says 15 minutes but you do need longer to dry. And if you do it before bed plan to sleep in clothes unless you are ok with staining sheets (It washes out in the laundry just fine)

Yesterday I attempted to re-create my first success, with limited results. I think I need to clean the nozzle of the Air Gun-it's definitely not the formula, which is superb-it's just that I am using a cheapo AirFusion gun. If I was a more attractive blogger with a perfect body I'd post some bikini shots to show you but I'm not, so use your imagination.  It's not "idiot proof" but for anyone experienced with Oompa Loompa syndrome and how to avoid it you will end up with nice colour.  

Bah

I broke a nail. Right down to the quick. Needless to say the rest have been filed down, and I'm starting the growth cycle again. Which means not a lot of fun in blogging about your NoTD. So I have been CLEANING.

I recently purchased the Air Fusion tan gun-might as well toss the spray that comes with, it's junk. But I did do a bit of research online and found O2 cosmetics, and their spray is compatible with the gun and it is f*cking FANTASIC. Amazing, natural colour and even morons can do it. 


I'll take a photo of a leg or something tomorrow.

Summer is over-WTF?

Where did my summer go? I didn't do so many of the things I wanted to, I went tubing several times when the weather was gorgeous but truly warm summer days were few and far between. And I worked so, so much this summer-a lot of overtime and that was on the days it was 35 degrees. Yuck.

At least the teenagers and tweens will be out of the malls on weekdays soon.  YAY ME!

Urban Decay Naked Photos

My polish is one of the CG glitters, Nova perhaps?

Just gorgeous. 12 shadows @ 50 or so when each individual shadow is 20 bucks or so = a deal.

Bottom-top virgin, sin, naked, sidecar

Sephora thoughts

On August 13th a Sephora opened in my town. On this day, the heavens parted and light shone down and all that good sh*t.  People were lined up at 730 in the am to get into this place-and for good reason (see my post on UD Naked).

I for one am super thrilled to have in person access to Sephora. American beauty brands hello! I love you! Last year Make Up For Ever and Anna Sui (along with Dior, but they're at the Bay and Shoppers so who cares) pulled their brand out of Sears stating something along the lines of brand exclusivity.  MUFE re-appeared at Sephora, so that makes sense why they took it out of Sears but Anna Sui is no where to be found now, this makes me a Sad Panda.  But I digress...

Now I have Philosophy, Tarte, Urban Decay, Nars (waaay to overpriced, so not buying any of NARS stuffs) that Tarentino lady, Korres, Bare Escentuals, MUFE, Lara Mercier (<3) Hourglass and more. And for that I am thankful!

However

I do not understand a lot of things about Sephora. For instance, this particular Sephora doesn't carry Lorac.  But they do carry smashbox! Well the brand new, gorgeous Shoppers drug mart that just opened up also carries Smashbox. And Shoppers gives you optimum points, why would I buy Smashbox from Sephora who gives me Sweet F*ck All? They also carry Dior, which EVERY department store also carries. Same with Lancome, and CLINIQUE for the love of baby jesus! CLINIQUE! Blah....  Give me LORAC!! Give me ILLAMASQUA!! I can't see them selling much Lancome, Clinique or Dior from that location.

And another thing-I just spent 400+ dollars in your store, and you give me Sephora points that go towards a shiny new... SAMPLE SIZE!!!!!

Are you for real? Do you realize how much I just spent? And you can't give me a full size lip balm, eye shadow or lipstick?  It's not like you couldn't have one of the many brands you carry come up with some exclusives specifically for that purpose. I laughed when they asked me to choose between a thimble sized tub of phytomer shampoo and a minuscule korres moisturizer. I thought the samples were not enough of a reward for giving Sephora my continued business, especially since there are a lot of other options for me. I'm not saying I won't continue to shop there-I will-but only for brand specific items not available to me elsewhere.

Urban Decay NAKED palette-oh yes, it's MINE!

I queried the lovely ladies and gents at my new Sephora if they would be getting in any more UD naked palettes, they said they didn't know but if they did it would be on Friday mornings, first come first serve.

So guess who was the first customer in the store today? ME. ME ME ME ME. And I snagged it! There were only two up. The palette is absolutely gorgeous. Comes with a black and brown eyeliner, and a mini primer.  I am so thrilled. Finally, gorgeous neutrals in a format that I can actually bring around with me.  It was roughly 54 CAD, and I didn't even care. I popped that palette cherry by applying "Virgin" all over my eye as a base (Pun totally intended).

All of the colours are gorgeous. I don't have a single negative thing to say about the palette-some bloggers have complained that the flocked velvety texture attracts lint but whatever... everything attracts dust and lint. It rocks, there are a TON of shadows in this thing PLUS two (dual end) eyeliners AND a primer? If you see this, get it you won't be sorry. I'll put up pictures and swatches later.

A change will do you good?

I've been SUPER DUPER busy lately. Oh insanely so-I moved into a smaller space and have been procrastinating on decorating and making it look live-able and not like college kids squat there. A day or so ago I became convinced that my middle left fingernail was crooked, and nibbled it. As a reformed nail biter this is a slippery, dangerous slope and I ended up filing them down considerably, so much so I'm ashamed to show them.. (but I will-chillax)  It was needed, they were pretty but so long. And hey, nails grow right? A renewable resource. Now at least I can use blackberry without massive typos.

I've been such a good girl lately. Little to no spending really, what with my move and such. I kind of had a small (large) mental shopping breakdown. My galpal works for a company in Vancouver that carries Zoya and Spa Ritual, among others and I picked up the 4 best of the Wicked and Wonderful collection plus spa ritual "Optical Illusion" which has Orly and CG dupes so I won't be needing the Rocket Scientist from Orly or the green halloween China Glaze. I got free samples too! Woo hoo!

Very satisfied with this place. It's Spa Boutique and they sell Jane Iredale and more.

On to the Stubbery


My current NoTD is Sally Hansen Ultra HD in Spectrum

Compared to the last post with OPI Swiss collection the length is...teeny. I used Seche as a top coat so there is a bit of tip pull but the SH HD doesn't wear so well either. Not chipping so much just tip wear.

Sniffle. Bye bye long nails! I swear my middle left fingernail grows off at an angle. I can keep a straight edge but the whole thing veers left-if I were to keep it from doing so the free edge would be a huge, flattened spade like shovel monstrosity (there is one beauty blogger out there with a sizeable base that has a horrid, middle finger shovel spatula nail. It really freaks me out-it's quite different from the rest of them I wish she'd file that thing down) and I couldn't handle it any longer so I filed them right down. Right hand is even shorter!

OPI Yodel me on my cell

I've been in the slow, painful process of moving from a larger space into a smaller one, so the past two weeks were spent packing and shedding myself of crap. (Never nail polish, don't worry) Needless to say my entire collection of Precious Things is in complete disarray, so enjoy this teal from the OPI swiss collection. As always, please excuse the craplication. I took this photo with my BBerry so it's kind of awful.

Oh. My. God. Sally Hansen HD Laser

You know you find a polish beautiful when you cannot stop staring at your nails. While driving. For real. This polish is dangerous!


The new Sally Hansen HD display has some GOR GEOUS nail polish. I test drove the new blue, SO SPARKLEY and pretty! It's a little more blue on the nail then in the bottle, which has a much more pronounced purple flash.  I ended up snagging the turquoise and the purple as well. This one was opaque in three coats. Of course my blackberry cannot capture the purple pink duochrome flash bits sorry!

Butter London "Marrow"

Ordered this online along with the beige Alexander McQueen one. Very satisfied with experience, even if it's full retail. (ouch) Ships from Richmond for all you Canadian girls, and was less than 10 for two bottles. It came in a box for 3 so I would imagine that's the cost for 3 as well. Although at 17 bucks a pop can we be friends if you buy that many?


On to my absolutely horrifc scarring awful swatches of "Marrow" . I was first inspired to lust after seeing images of this on AllLaqueredup.com and now that I have it I can't remember why. I think I thought it was more taupe then purple. The polish in bottle contains a pearlescent sheen that doesn't really translate onto the nail. I'm in the process of moving so almost all of my comparison purples are packed. But it's a dark greyed cool purple with pink and purple shimmer. Shimmer not so visible to naked eye.  As with all of my BL polishes the application is very smooth and is opaque in two coats.



Is it a "must have" like I felt it was when I saw on ALU? Not so sure.  What do you think?

Essie "Demure Vixen" & Nivea Natual Volume

Today my copy of Lou Lou Magazine (aka Canada's "shopping" magazine) arrived and inside was a free sample of Nivea natural volume lip gloss/shine.  Yay, free stuff! It says "enhances natural volume and gives beautiful shine". My lips don't need volume. I have always had enormous lips. So volume boosting products aren't really a sell for me. What does sell is shine, texture and hydration. I do own several lip fusions, I feel they do plump lips and they are pretty much the only thing that conditions my lips in the winter time. I get horribly chapped lips, perhaps because they're so HUGE. The lip fusions make it so I can actually wear lipstick, otherwise it's just a flaky hot mess. Photos and stuffs after jump

Barry M "British Racing Green"

Loving my Barry M polishes so far-although this one wanted to make me cry. The formula was just so not dumb dumb friendly-I actually had to use Seche Vite to make this smooth. And I hardly ever use a topcoat (GASP!) since I don't keep polish on more than a day. I do most of my clean up for polish in the shower. I'm too much of a spaz to be truly neat during my application

Trolling for Beauty (or why I dislike haul posts)

Everyone struggles with self esteem at some point in their lives. Be it weight, puberty, job/work, relationship. Some people more so than others. It's taken me a long time to figure out healthy ways to indulge myself in the beauty/cosmetic/fashion industry. Online and in real life. I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars on cosmetics over the years, enough to know more about most brands and products then the women selling them to me.  Enough to recognize marketing gimmicks and false claims. And to find them amusing. Enough to realize that when I am feeling fat and frumpy a new lipstick/polish/foundation/moisturizer isn't , in fact, going to make me look any less fat and frumpy, it's only going to eat a hole in my pay cheque and make me feel like a hoarder when I try to find somewhere to stash it. I see endless blogs, forums, Eotd, Notd, haul videos where ladies promote and review beauty products, some bought some promo'd about product. How much of this is fueled by low self esteem? Shopping is a pick me up for many many women. I see countless threads and posts where women are eagerly awaiting the release of collections of powders and such that they don't need.  Specktra has an entire section dedicated to photographing your make up collection-and these women aren't even make up artists! Oh, I'm sure many of them want to be but let's face it most aren't. Being able to expertly apply shadow on your own eye shape and such is one thing, figuring it out on many different types of eye shapes is another. Do these women really need 5 different mineralize skin finishes from MAC?  Stacks upon stacks of pigments they'll never use up?  Granted, if cosmetics is your hobby (as it is mine) these things don't really expire. But a lot of it does, mascara, lipsticks, foundations creams etc. Do you really need another? This is why beauty is a multi billion dollar a year industry. The rational part of my brain shudders. The part that likes shiny things orders another nail polish (ALSO DOESN'T EXPIRE....sigh)

I also wonder how many of these young girls and women can afford to spend like this? (I hope not on credit. Please Jeebus) Picking up a shadow, skin finish and lipgloss at a MAC store costs about 100 retail. It worries me. I feel a lot of beauty bloggers feed into this when they post promotional materials emailed to them, as well as do raving reviews on free promo items. It's specifically why I dislike haul videos and posts.

At the end of the day it comes down to this-if you're unhappy with the way you look buying make up doesn't make your nose smaller, or make you less fat. It just makes you fat (and with a big nose) with a new lipgloss, or eye shadow, or nail polish. And less money for important things, like car repair, bills, retirement savings. So take stock of the things you have already and try to "hit pan" so to speak before spending your hard earned cash. I feel many women online keep searching for the one product that will make their skin less oily/dry, make their hair less curly/straight and somehow make them look like poreless wonders who never break out. It's not going to happen honey.  Eating less makes you lose weight, not a "holy grail" foundation. Airbrushing in magazines makes you matte and poreless, not a new skin primer. Genetics give you smooth straight hair, or on the other hand wavy long manes. So learn to love yourself, or change the things you hate or you'll never stop hauling.

NOTD Butter London "Come to Bed Red" and Tiffany bracelet from my seester

I own about 5 or 6 Butter London polishes, with two more coming in the mail. At 17 dollars they are super extravagant and expensive but the colours are so far unique and the formula is generally awesome.  (Except for somehow today I already managed to chip a thumbnail? This never happens to me) And so I present BL CTBR a beautiful blue cool red that is one of my fav reds. (Disclaimer-I own very few reds)

Please excuse my Craplication.  Also, I saw a display at Zellers that had dupes for at least two BL polishes-Big Smoke and the green glitter one. LA Colors. I was going to purchase two for swatch comparisons but I felt a little obsessive considering I just got my Barry M ebay haul today. Tomorrow, perhaps. And my sister gave me a lovely bracelet! She won't tell me where she got it online since she's found something to give me that I love. I won't push it either, it's nice to get nice things.

Winners Hair Product Extravaganza

My  new found Love/Lust for EO lemon verbena shampoo has taken me to a new level of hoarding folks-whilst in my Winners I picked up ANOTHER 32 oz bottle of the Shampoo (in case it all sells out and there is a nuclear war and I am unable to order things on the internet, and no all my hair did NOT fall out with radiation sickness) AND a 32oz bottle of the conditioner. It. Smells. Fabulous. I made the cashier and my visiting family members all smell it and they agree. So now I have a GIANT bottle of Phillip B conditioner, my Farouk silk therapy "fruit cocktail" and pounds of the EO stuff.

But wait! There's MORE! I had picked up a bottle of Barex UV shine spray and loved it so much (something about Monoi oil/scent just gets me) that I picked up a leave in and a rinse out conditioner. 8.99 CAD regular 30. Deal! I love the Sun Essentials hair oil spray is very softening although if your hair is fine I'd skip this you'll look like a greaser from the 50's. Barex HERE . I need to stop buying things, seriously.


I'll do a review on the leave in cream. On a side note, if you're wondering why my comforter looks linty it's because I have 3 cats and nothing is untouched. Nothing.

Sniffle. Filed nails down-NOTD

Title pretty much says it all. They were getting so long, and the eff you finger of my right hand was chipped so filed down they all went. Then last night I lost sleep over it. I know, crazy right? Well I'm a nail biter who currently doesn't want to fall off the wagon so I have cause to worry that my nail shape isn't right therefore I will chew it. I have hundreds of bottles of nail polish, I'd feel like an ass if I had no nails to paint!

Now that they're shorter I've done them up in a hot pink Color Club "warhol".  The awesome Barry M blues and turquoises I've been enjoying just didn't feel right on shorter nails. As you can see hot pink is not so easy to take a picture of. If you look closely you can see VNL and a few cat hairs but whatever.  Two coats over Nubar Nu Nails no topcoat. Think I'll do a third coat.

A lemming fufilled? Essie Sag Harbor

I first saw this swatch on various other nail polish blogs last year when I first started to seriously hoard accumulate nail polish last year and decided it must be mine but was unsure about ebay prices. Well, now that transdesign has Essie for 8USD it's actually cheaper on ebay***. So I bought it, along with a few select others.

Photo after Jump

Polish or Perish Giveaway!

I'll help you ladies out, even though absolutely NO ONE reads this blog! Polish or Perish is a blog I check out several times a week, mainly for the swatchy goodness and proper spelling. Grammar is such a wonderful thing don't you think ?

That and all of the posting ladies have nice, non creepy nails.( Some of the nail polish bloggers out there have nightmare fingernails. Not because of length, but SHAPE! Like franken shovels, or franken nubbins)

So I believe they are having a one year giveaway and you can enter for it here

And now for some random trolling

Oompa, Loompa, Doopity-Do - I've got a little self tan post for you

Ever since I stopped fake and baking last year I've tried to keep up my "glow" with self tanners. Some I do OK with, others I eff up horribly and I look like an Oompa Loompa. Take the pictures below, for example.

Hugely embarrassing photos after jump

Unabashed relative promoting

I'm going up to see my baby nephew tomorrow, his Mom (my sister) is visiting and I just LOVE him! He has an older brother that I may put photos up of when Baby H is older, and less adorable. But for now I present you with ... HENNERS

My take on Fyrinnae

I finally hauled with Fyrinnae cosmetics!  I ordered the Pixy  Epoxy, Translucent face powder for oily skin and a boat load of eye shadows.

Swatch photos after the Jump!

EO Shampoo Lemon Verbana-At a Winner's near you!

Finally! A Shampoo that doesn't smell like chemicals! O joy, o wonder!


Ever since my on again, off again BF made the comment that my hair "stinks" (like garter snake urine, even. How specific is THAT) I've been on a quest to find a Shampoo that doesn't stink. Make that shampoo, conditioner and leave in serum/spray and perhaps even a flat iron spray. I had been using "DermaOrganics" line, with Moroccan oil-shampoo, conditioner and leave in serum. Which left my hair lovely clean and soft. The shampoo is really nice in that it lathers well and rinses clean. He seems to think that everyone should be using "Sunsilk" because it smells "awesome" but I've tried to explain that my hair is essentially bleached from my ears all the way down and the conditioner doesn't condition enough.

However,  this post is about EO shampoo. Was creeping in Winners (is it TJ Max or Ross for you US folks?) and discovered this gem. Big honking bottle for about 13 bucks CAD and it smells DIVINE. A co worker had picked this up several months ago in a Vancouver Winners in Orange and I was thrilled to see it in our local one.

The smell of this is exactly as described-Lemon Verbena. Wonderful. No need to repeat unless you have a heavy treatment in your hair. If you're looking for a new shampoo I highly recommend this line. 

It's yet to pass the "stink" test but at this point I'm all like "Eff you, I've gone through 100 bucks worth of product this one stays"

And now a lovely stock photo I've stolen off the Internet for your enjoyment.  You can order directly off of EO products  if your local Winners hasn't got this in.