Hare Today, Gone Tomorrow

It's been a sinfully long time since I last posted (or - gasp - even read a blog)...  Even my polish purchasing has been very minimal.  From what I've read in my Facebook groups, it seems there have been a semi-significant number of us who simply haven't been feeling like blogging in the last couple months, so perhaps it's not just me.  That and it's SUMMER!!! :D ...although it's been more like a monsoon season around northern MN.  I have to give a big round of applause to all of you who still manage to put up beautiful, worthwhile content several times a week.  *applause & adoring crowd noises...WAAAH!

That said, I would love to show you something I wore the other day. :)
Hare Polish Neon Palm with an "anti-accent" of Essie The Girls Are Out (which totally reminds me of when I wore a bikini for the first time ever on our Mexican vacation in Feb).

This was taken on a rare sunny day last week. :)  Very rare, I'm tellin' ya!  I've had Neon Palm for quite awhile (last fall, perhaps?) but more recently scored TGAO for less than half price when K-Marts were all clearing out their Essies.  I did have to "fight" with the cashier because only one of the 3 I got were ringing up right.  I think I said something along the lines of: "I'm a nail polish blogger and all my fellow bloggers have been posting about K-Mart not carrying this brand anymore, so they're all supposed to be on clearance."  It was a teenage guy cashier and I totally got a bewildered "she's bat poop crazy!" look. :-P  Ended up being worth it though!!!

Typically, Hare formulas are magically easy to apply, despite the very heavy glitter load.  This one was sadly an exception.  It was like giant, gluey clumps glitter, especially after I tried to wipe off the excess in the bottle neck.  :-/  I think some thinner will be in order!  After two painstaking, slow-drying coats followed by two coats of Seche Vite to try and smooth out the mountains & valleys, I ended up with a very pretty mani. :-)  Perhaps as my grandma would say: all's well that ends well?? 

Oh and I must mention that I used Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel for my base.  It dries fast & is very effective, and uh, the punnyness of the brand name is just GREAT. hehe!!!  I am so glad to have found a peel-off (or pop-off, like in this instance when I used 2 coats instead of just one) base that makes me WANT to wear my glitterbombs!  Even though it sometimes comes at the price of removing patches of nail plate.  You've been warned!  The 2 coats making a whole "nail" pop off at once seemed to negate that issue, so I guess there's an upside to it.  Although the sheer thickness of this mani might've been a significant factor. 

Surprise fave shot in the shade!  If you look closely, you can see a very similar shimmer in both polishes.  And the color of TGAO matches the neon pink glitters perfectly once they're semi-sunken in the murky zombie flesh grey/blue/green of Neon Palm.  I LOVE discovering I have the perfect creme to match one of the glitters in a glitter topper or a glitter jelly or crelly polish!!

TGAO applied very easily and beautifully in just two coats - quite a turn of events when an Essie is the non-problematic polish! lol  I do have to say it was a tish runny so I was careful to keep it away from my cuticles.  But other than that, it's quite nice and I'm especially smitten with the silvery fleck shimmer.  It reminds me of Zoya Reagan + fairy dust. :)  "Love-UH-leee!!" (think Eliza from My Fair Lady)

Have lovely Sunday, my dears!!!!  I hope summer is treating you well. :)

When a non-polish-aholic gives you polish...

...it is all the more special & sweet!!!  :D  The company I work for employs somewhere in the ballpark of 2700 people so it's no surprise that this new friend and I never crossed paths before.  All I can say is I am so incredibly thankful that we have and not only that, but we've become close friends in a matter of a couple months or less!  So imagine my surprise when this was waiting for me on Good Friday:

No, those aren't rabbit droppings, but they do look a LOT like them!  Which totally made me laugh. :)  Inside the very pretty fabric flower rimmed basket, there were 3 polishes (Orly Miss Conduct, Nicole by OPI Rich in Spirit, NOPI A Million Sparkles), the softest plush bunny I've ever had the privilege of petting, a gift card for the coffee shop where we work, AND as you can see, a card which was probably the best part of the whole surprise.  I'm big on cards, especially when they have heartfelt messages written in them. ♥

And this is what I did with the aforementioned polishes!!

I don't even know how I came up with this idea, but all of a sudden I knew I wanted to use Rich in Spirit for the base color, do a reverse glitter gradient with A Million Sparkles, and finally a plaid-esque accent nail with Miss Conduct!  I dare say it came out pretty close to what I envisioned!! WIN.

When you're at work, sans polish bottles, use your matching plaid coat for blog photos!! 

Hehe I just realized that the chromey foil finish of RiS + Seche Vite ended up reflecting ME in my pointer finger!!! LOL  

ANYhoo... after applying two easy breezy coats of RiS over Nail Pattern Boldness's Glitter A-peel, I used a triangular makeup sponge to apply A Million Sparkles (LITERALLY! haha) at the base of each nail, minus my ring finger which got a careful application of striping tape in as close to a plaid pattern as I could manage.  One swift coat of Miss Conduct later, and some just as careful removal of the tape, and TA DAA!  Super cool manicure, at your service. :)

This photo is from tonight when Deb & I went out for supper after work. :)  We had a wonderful time (well, I know *I* did, anyways!!), simply enjoying eachothers' company and chatting for, ohh, 2 hours or so!  It really means a lot when someone takes time out of their life to spend with you.  I've always tried to remember the value of that, and thank my friends for it.  Time truly is  precious!

This incredibly sweet lady has been through unbelieveable heartache in her lifetime, and still has such a caring heart and a beautiful smile on her face. ♥

Rich in Spirit

Ugggh I do not understand why my skintones are all over the board in these photos!  Oh well, I guess the most important thing is that the color of the polish came out accurately, right?  Of course  right!!  (Fiddler on the Roof line right there!)  lol

And how awesome is it that the reflection + the air bubble in the bottle formed what looks to me like a lightning bolt?!  :D  

Miss Conduct... naughty, naughty!  So much magenta scattered holographic beauty!

A Million Sparkles

YUP, there they are!!  LOL  I don't really like the lighting nor the pose, and the fact that the big drop on my pointer shifted and got deformed, but it does  show each glitter in very clear detail, so I decided to use it anyway. :)

Thank you all for visiting my blog in all its randomness & erm, highly sporadic/infrequent posts!  If I may, I urge you to take time today to thank those dear, special people in your life simply for being a part of it.  And most importantly: be sure to tell them you love them. :)  If there's one thing that Deb has reminded me of, it's that you never know when you'll no longer have the opportunity to do so.

Haulin' it - OPPA bargain styyyle!

Y - I - K - E - S!!!!!!!!!!! 

I thiiink it's safe to say I've become a bit of a beauty addict... 

And I am going to enter a plea of insanity under the defense: THE BLOGGER MADE ME DO IT!

My dear nail blogger buddy, Liesl of Liesl Loves Pretty Things has been true to her "resolution" of sorts to branch out into more beauty and fashion posts this year.  And I'm clearly loving - & influenced by them!  ;)

I have to mention, I've wanted white aviators for years now, but typically, they're of course metal frames with the actual nosepieces. Which get firmly tangled in my hair. So when I saw these, I was exstatic!!! They're not bad at all for $1 sunglasses! I hope they have more because I would like to pick up a backup or two in case these break. :)

e.l.f. is a brand that was not even on my radar at all really, until Liesl started showing us so many of their wonderful and affordable products!  I was definitely intrigued, but had never seen them in my area.  Then one day on a rare stop at my local K-Mart (in hopes of scoring the much-posted-about clearance Essie polishes), much to my dismay and pleasant surprise, what had appeared in the revamped beauty section but e.l.f. products?!  And as if that wasn't enough, our Wal-Mart got a square aisle display shortly thereafter!  So I umm... went hog wild.

1) e.l.f. Professional Total Face Brush - $1, Wal-Mart

2) e.l.f. Eyeshadow "C" Brush - $3, K-mart

3) Plastic aviator sunglasses - $1, Target dollar section!

4) OPI Don't Bossa Nova Me Around - ?? (roomie brought it home for me just today!)

5) Burt's Bees Herbal Blemish Stick -$8.49, Walgreens

6) e.l.f. Smudge Brush - $1, Wal-Mart

7) e.l.f. Small Angled Brush - $3, K-mart

8) e.l.f. Concealer Brush - $1, Target

9) Burt's Bees Hydrating Lip Balm - $2.99, Target

10) Revlon Colorburst Lip Butter in Red Velvet, - $5, K-mart

11) Woven plastic zipper clutch - $1, Target dollar section!

12) e.l.f. Long Lasting Lustrous Eyeshadow in purple - $3, K-mart

13) e.l.f. High Definition Undereye Setting Powder - $3, K-mart

14) L'Oreal Infallible 24-hr eyeshadow in Sultry Smoke - $7.99, K-Mart

15) L'Oreal Carbon Black Pencil Perfect eyeliner - $3.99, K-Mart

16) L'Oreal Voluminous Million Lashes Excess - $8.99, K-Mart

17) L'Oreal Infallible 24-hr eyeshadow in Endless Sea - $3.99, K-Mart (they were having a buy one, get one 1/2 off deal on L'Oreal eye products, so I splurged and got some fun & dramatic new stuff!)

All of that for just a HAIR under $50!!!!  In the words of Vector from Despicable Me: "OH YEAH!"  :D 

I realized just a moment ago that it would've been more appropriate to include the L.A. Girl Sand Blast polish (Sands of Time, GREAT sub for Zoya Tomoko!) I picked up today at our Thrifty White drugstore, and the Cover Girl polish (Salt Water Taffy) that was also BOGO half off at Walgreens -- INSTEAD of the OPI since that is clearly not bargain, nor drugstore, but I was just sooo excited to finally have DBNMA that I threw it in my arrangement!  Oh well!
Also not shown here are the e.l.f. blotting sheets I grabbed at Target last weekend.  Just used one this afternoon and they work very well on my extra-oily teenager-like skin. :P  ...I'm 28. -_-
Oh, hence why I decided to give the Burt's Bees blemish rollerball a try!  I've tried every other  over-the-counter product, so why not?!  Some people might find the very strong herbal scent repulsive, but I rather like it.  It's got tea tree oil, juniper oil, willow bark, and a whole lotta alcohol! ...which I did not realize when I bought it, hence the BURN, but I can handle that.  Especially since it does in fact seem to be helping zits heal/disappear faster!

So far, I'm absolutely, positively pleased as punch with all of my purchases!  All of the L'Oreal eye products are fabulous - I use the mascara & liner almost every day, and I did play with the colors when I had a flexible amount of time to get ready for the day. ;)  Oh and they really DO wear all day... not 24 hours, by any means, but I got a good 12 hours out of the below look I did with Tarte Amazonian Clay primer as a base, and using Cover Girl and Victoria's Secret neutrals to temper the boldness of the colors.  LOVED it!  And I feel it came out pretty well considering my limited knowledge when it comes to all things beauty-related.

So there you have it, folks!  My first insane infusion of beauty products and well, this would've been posted on Saturday in the fashion of Liesl's "Happy Caturday" beauty posts, but I was multitasking and doing other things while writing this.  And now it's Sunday!  I guess that IS  how the days of the week go!  LOL  Yup, overtired goofiness is settin' in.  :)

Have a fabulous remainder of your weekend, and if you want to know more about any of the items shown here, feel free to leave a comment.  I read & respond to all of them!

My favorite kind of cake!! ...maybe.

Honestly, I don't even remember how I stumbled upon Hare Polish or Llarowe, but I know it was towards the very beginning of my obsession with indies and well, the rest is history!  Here we have (for the 2nd time on this blog; 1st time here) Hare Polish's Let Them Eat...What?  :D

Despite the newbie blogger quality of the aforementioned post, I do urge you to check it out in lieu of the fact that my 1-year blogiversary recently passed, and this polish was among those first few posts, so it felt quite serendipitous to show it again now.  It's rather cool to look back and see what I've learned about nail blogging over a year (mostly relating to nail care and nail photography)!

No, you do not need to rush to the phone and make an eye doctor appointment!!  I almost sent this photo to the sad, black "recycle" bin of doom, but decided the lovely ethereal quality made it worthy of keeping and yes, even being shown on the blog!  

This is two coats of LTEW and two of Revlon Parfumerie China Flower, with a simple gradient-ish thing of butter LONDON West End Wonderland, all topped - carefully - with Seche Vite.

Hare Polishes are typically replete with glitter and somehow still manage to be decently smooth to the touch, which is a big part of why I love them, but this one is just a HARE less smooth. ;)

Ah!  Here we go - your 20/20 vision has been restored!! hehe  Like I said the first time around, there is just something about LTEW that I absolutely love... it is bold yet demure at the same time.  Those coral-y, orange-y red matte glitters sure do POP (and are 90% of what drew me to this polish), but it's not totally in your face because they're tempered by the slightly shimmery off-white crelly base and its pastel pink, white, and gold glitters in various shapes and sizes.  You can see just what I mean by taking a gander at the bottle below!

This was actually my Easter mani!  Didn't plan it or anything, and errrm... it certainly did not match my outfit (plum ruffly tank, black cardigan, and a cream skirt with black lace print chevrons), but I feel that the HARE makes it all okay! ;)  And it really is just such a beautiful polish that I love this mani in spite of my affinity for matching my outfit to my polish.  Yes, I usually do it that way, not the other way around like most normal people!  Oh and of course I was thrilled to find I had THE  perfect match to those coral-y red glitters!  I honestly am feeling like all the Parfumerie polishes have the same scent (strange, fruity, with the occasional hint of what the name actually IS), but I really don't care.  The color is fun and bright and I'm thinking summer pedi for sure!  :)  

"And NOW (*insert dramatic movie theater preview voice here)... coming soon to a blog near you:"  more Bear Pawlishes!!!  Hot off the mail truck this afternoon!  ♥

Disclaimer: Holo Back Girl is pulling deceptively purple here!  Much more fuchsia IRL!!

L'Oreal Eva's Nude

Ohh L'Oreal, how I love thee, let me count the ways!!  Haha, although it is  true... I've said a few times that L'Oreal has to be my favorite drugstore polish brand.  The brushes are my ideal kind of brush, rounded to fit perfectly in the curve near the cuticle with little effort (squared off brushes always lead to either messy spots on my cuticle or extra concentration to make sure I don't touch the sides), the formulas of the cremes I have are lovely one or two coaters, and I am a big fan of the bottles themselves.  They're pretty and easy to store neatly, and I especially love the labels on the new Collection Privée!  Gosh, when did I get to be such a packaging junkie?!

Indoors, daylight bulb

Despite my usual scorn for "celebrity endorsements," I like the glamourous feel of this collection.  In high school speech class, we learned about advertising ploys and that was one of the biggest, of course.  "Buy this product and you too will be rich, famous, and look like said larger-than-life persona!"  Personally, it just rubs me the wrong way, for some reason.  BUT that said, I am really digging all of  Les Nudes polishes and even the looks of the lipsticks!  Check out L'Oreal's site for some lovely, drool-worthy photos. :)

Outdoors, full sun

Here we have two coats of Eva's Nude with Alcatraz...Rocks! as an accent and a heart. :)  You can probably tell I initially used a berry red polish (Julep Joan) but decided I wasn't feelin' it and went with this instead - right over the top.  I like!!!  For the heart, I took Scotch tape, made it almost unsticky by putting it on & pulling it off my palm several times, folding it so two thirds of the strip overlapped (leaving a tail so I could more easily pull it apart), then took a cosmetic scissors and cut out a tiny heart like I used to do as a kid to make paper hearts. :)

Outdoors, shade (aka the sun is behind a cloud!)

 Technically, Eva's nude is not the polish I should've chosen as I am not Hispanic and have decidedly white skin!, but I think I'm in love.  I'd been eyeing butter LONDON'S Tea & Toast, fancying a caramel-toned brown/tan/cream polish, and this has satisfied my craving!  It seems significantly lighter than T&T, but I like it - especially with that beautiful  rosy copper shimmer that is so evident in the first photo. :D  I think Julianne is actually the correct shade for me and I would buy it too (not to mention I like the actress whose name it bears) but I think my ChG Below Deck is quite similar.  Maybe I'll bring Below Deck on a rare field trip with me the next time I go to Wal-Mart and do a bottle comparison! ;)  hehe

P.S. just kidding about satisfying my craving - completely, that is.  I just now found Tea & Toast for $7 on 6pm.com!  Talk about coincidence... or fate!!