Pacific Blue

I bought Sally Hansen Pacific Blue a few weeks ago but just put it on today. It is such a unique shade of blue! I really like it and will probably wear it with a few nautical style outfits (with some sailor themed konad, of course). The application was good overall, although I did get a few bubbles. The brush on this was nice, no problems there. Actually all the SH Extreme Wear polishes I've tried have been rather nice.

I'd recommend picking this one up for sure

Does anyone else know of any new "must haves"?

A nice surprise

Oh man! I feel like I haven't had a real post in ages! This still isn't even a manicure or swatch post! I've been bogged down with school, work, and a cold that just won't go away! Yeah, yeah, I'm whining :P but hopefully this weekend//next week I'll have time to get some swatches done.

On a much better topic, a few days ago I received a package from the lovely Laura from Sawan. That girl is so sweet! Out of the blue she generously offered to send me a set of the Claire's mood polishes. Talk about a random act of kindness! She also included an adorable reusable bag, a very sweet card to me and a super cool Bloom card for me to give to someone special :]

I recently made a light box. Unfortunately I haven't figured out how to take nice pictures with it! I'm going to buy a lamp with higher wattage and see if that helps out. So in the meantime forgive me for the quality of this picture, it does not do these lovely gifts justice.

I did find time to cook a quick meal the other day. Unfortunately it was a flop. I had such high hopes for this simple recipe, but it just didn't taste very good in my opinion. The texture and warmth of the lettuce was nice, but the dressing needs some improvement. I think I might try it with this honey-dijion-lemon dressing that I make. That dressing makes anything taste yummy :]

Tagged :]

The lovely Sylvia from Wizards of Bling tagged me for a Beautiful Blogger Award and a 10 things that make you happy thing-a-ma-bob :]

Anywho...here are seven facts about me. I tried to put things that weren't already in my about me.

1) I love both modern and vintage styles. I love the clean lines of modern furniture and the immaculate details of victorian architecture.

2) I work at an office supply store. I'm a sales associate/cashier. I'm confident that whenever I do quit this job, I will never work retail again (unless I become the owner of a cute store that sells pretty things)...

3) I really like tattoos and piercings. I guess that's to be expected since I love art and jewelry. I have one tiny (but lovely) tattoo and several piercings (nothing extreme though).

4) I love music and I listen to a wide variety of it. I also love to sing, I was in choir for six years (throughout jr. high & high school) but this year I don't have time! I miss it!

5) I'm a shopaholic and I love fashion...but usually I end up wearing sweats everywhere because I'm a lazy lump :]

6) I have an odd diet...or so I'm told. I don't eat any sort of meat that came from things that live on land (such as beef, pork, chicken, etc.) but I do eat seafood. Two of my favorite foods are vegetable soup and calamari.

7) If I could pick up my boyfriend, my puppy and all our stuff and transport it all to California, I'd do it in a heartbeat! Ohio weather sucks and I've been sick of this place for years.

Alrighty, now for ten things that make me happy! (not in any order)

1) Having a piece of art turn out the way I want it to.

2) My boyfriend. He can get on my nerves sometimes, but he's perfect for me.

3) My doggie, Daisy Mae. She's a precious pug and I love her to pieces. She knows she can get away with anything around me.

4) Other cute animals. I guess I'm just a typical girl when it comes to these things. I see an animal that resembles a furball and I go bonkers :]

5) Crafting and DIYing. I love making things that cost a fraction of what you would buy in a store. I also love making body and facial scrubs!

6) When people get along! It's so sad to see adults fighting like children, so when I see people work something out the right way I can't help but smile. I dunno... I guess I'm just one of those people that think peace is the way to go.

7) Delicious food! I'm even more pleased if I find out it's good for me as well!

8) Alton Brown. I love Good Eats and I think he's just hilarious.

9) Springtime. Everything smells so nice and all the plants are popping up.

10) Owls! Owl-themed anything! I love purses, clothing, jewelry with owl designs. So, so cute!

Hmm...who to tag...

I picked people that I didn't tag the last time around.

Aubree from Polish Off

Polished Fierce

POLISH and BPAL

Katrina from Lets Go Sparkling

Perry from PerryPie's Nail Polish Adventures

Meh I really don't want to have another picture-less post so here's one that's about a month old. Before I started using the olive oil scrub. I'll have to put before and after photos up sometime soon.

Butter London

Hey there! Not a real post, but some exciting news. I was on Hautelook today and saw that Butter London is having a sale! I don't know if I'll be buying anything, but I had to share it with you guys. Here's your invitiation:

http://www.hautelook.com/invite/MTatham245

Hope everyone has a good day. Hopefully I'll have some swatches ready soon!

YDNJ with topcoat!

When I first put on You Don't Know Jacques! I knew I wanted to try it with some topcoat. As I was looking through my polishes I came across my Orly Prisma Gloss Gold and a light bulb switched on! (figuratively, of course :] ), I mean why not see it with some holo sparkles? Mmm! I love love love this. I got so many compliments at work.

I've been so busy though! I started working again ( I took Spring Break off) and I'm just whooped already! I hardly have any time to look and comment on other blogs, let alone make frequent posts on my own! Oh well...I need to start saving up money since I have at least two trips to Canada planned and possibly trips other places as well... I'm going to make a budget. Boo. I guess that means I'll be buying fewer polishes...but i guess that's okay since my untried pile is pretty substantial.

How is everyone? :]

You Don't Know Jacques! Suede

This is the first polish I've worn in a few days. I took a break while I was sick since the fumes of polish and remover were hurting my throat :P I really like these suede shades. They dry super fast and just have this luscious look to them. Oh and they're opaque in one coat!

We actually had a great sunny day today so the pictures turned out nicer than usual. I took advantage of the lovely weather and went outside to draw. I didn't get a lot done though! I was too busy soaking up the rays. My boyfriend and I went on a walk in a local nature park too. We saw the cutest dogs! They were miniature pomeranians and they just looked like tiny poof balls! I wish I would have had my camera with me! Ooo I also got some stuff from a swap the other day, I'll have to post that later though because I haven't taken pictures yet!

So how has everyone been the past few days? Hope you all had great weather and lots of fun!

Iron Butterfly

Let me just get this out of the way...I LOVE this polish. Love love love love love it. Yes, I'm Tom Cruise jumping on Opera's couch about this polish. It's lovely. I know a lot of people don't like that mattes and suedes dry incredibly fast, but for me it's perfect. Finally no sheet marks (as I frequently paint my nails before bed :P) and no chips going on three days! If I had to make one complaint about this though, it would be that clean up was a bit difficult. Although that may be my fault instead of the polish. Oh and my Transdesign order came! I have a ton of new stuff to try out and some things for the give-away.

Aside from that I've been feeling absolutely disgusting the last few days. Ugh! I hate colds, my nose always get so raw! I've been putting extra olive oil on the driest parts of my nose, but the rawness just can't be helped :[

Oh and since we're on the subject of olive oil, I have to tell you something! I have no spots on my face right now! None! No acne since I started using the olive oil scrub I mentioned here. Mind you, I've never horrible acne, but my face has never been absolutely completely clear before either. There was always a spot here or a spot there-not now though! Even through this horrid cold my skin (with the exception of my raw nose) is completely moisturized and healthy! I really hope this works as well for other people as it has for me, it's such a confidence booster!

Goody Plum Drop

The other day I was at Meijer and saw that the new Maybelline Express Finish polishes were on sale for only $2.19! I picked out a purple color called Goody Plum Drop. It's a really gorgeous pastel (less blue than the pictures show, btw) but the formula is a bit odd. It had stringy bits in it and seemed a bit goopy. I'll put a few drops of thinner in it later and see if it helps. Hopefully it does because this is such a nice color.

This is what I've been eating for the last few days. I haven't had much of an appetite this week, so yogurt and granola has been my go-to breakfast/lunch meal. I'm definitely getting sick. I've got a stuffy nose and achey throat. Boo. This might be my last post for the week. :[

Anyways, has anyone had problems getting on to MUA today? For some reason I can't get to the website. I don't know what's going on :P

Miracle Ingredient!

I've been making my own facial scrubs for a while now, but until a few days ago I'd never found anything that would give me the moisture I need. I've heard of putting extra virgin olive oil in facial scrubs, but I was alway too afraid to try it! I was terrified that it would clog my pores and give me an awful breakout. I was so wrong! The particles in olive oil are far too large to clog pores. I decided to finally give this a try because my skin gets so dry in the winter, especially around my mouth and nothing I had tried before would get rid of it. I would apply all sorts of moisturizers and scrubs, but my skin would be dry again within 5 minutes.

I've used this scrub only a few times and I can already see a dramatic difference in my skin. When I wash my face with this at night I don't have to apply any moisturizer at all. My skin is still super hydrated in the morning. I may never use store-bought moisturizer again! This scrub did one thing that I hadn't even thought to hope for, it completely evened out my skin tone! I have perpetually red cheeks--well, had! Ah I'm so happy that I tried this. Anyways the recipe is easy. Just three parts extra virgin olive oil to two parts honey plus enough sugar to make it into a paste. I'm telling you, try this! I'll show before and after pics soon.

On to the nails. I tried to do a ruffian the other day, but I didn't like it all all. Luckily I took pictures of just the base color, so I have something to show you. It's Sally Hansen Celeb City all by itself.

I picked up a bunch of new stuff today (amazing deals at Rite-Aid and Meijer) and also made an order to transdesign. Hopefully I'll have time to swatch some stuff soon! I've also decided that my giveaway will be in celebration of my birthday! April 24th, keep an eye open for it!

P.S. - sorry for the text-heavy post :P

Woo!

So I was tagged for a Best Blog Award by Perry at PerryPie's Nail Polish Adventures! She's so sweet!

The rules of the award tag are as follows:
1. To accept the award, you must post it on your blog, with the name of the person who has given you the award, and a link to their blog.
2. Pass the award on to approximately 10-15 blogs that you have recently discovered and think are great!
3. Contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Okay, so I tried to make sure these lovely blogs weren't already tagged, but forgive me if you already were! (These are in no specific order)

1) Laura's Blog

2) Wizards of Bling

3) Glammed-Up

4) Polish & Konad

5) Ainnir

6) Nailswatches

7) Enamored Enamel

8) FAB UR NAILS

9) Homemade Nails

10) My Little World of Polish by Lily Nail

I could carry this list on for forever and ever so I'll just let it end here :]

Hope everyone had a lovely weekend!

Show Me the Way

The other day I stopped by Walgreens hoping to find SinfulColors Green Ocean (no such luck :[ ) but I picked up a pretty color called Show Me The Way. It's a shimmery, mossy green that I think is quite pretty :] I'm still not a huge fan of how the Sinful polishes apply though.

Tomorrow I think I'm going to convince my boyfriend to go to the mall. I'd like to stop by Ulta to pick up a few things and perhaps see a movie while we're out that way. Oh, speaking of movies I watched 2012 today! It was pretty good, but seeing as how I'm a complete emotional sap I cried during the whole thing. It was so sad and I just kept hoping that the absolutely adorable dog wouldn't die! Gosh, I'm a sucker for cute animals with flat little faces :]

Last W&W

Okay so this is the last W'n'W polish for a while! It's a pretty blue color called Bijou Blue. The application on this was easy peasy! It was pretty opaque after two coats, but you can still see some VNL.

A few days ago I made this yummy dish for dinner. It's called Rainbow Stir-fry and of course I got the recipe from the Fat Free Vegan. It was seriously delectable and not-so-surprisingly healthy. I think it's quite pretty as well :] Next time I think I'll replace the celery with something else, perhaps pea pods and water chestnuts.

I realized today why I hardly ever wear lip gloss! All the ones I've tried are so sticky feeling and when there's wind you hair gets in your gloss! Blarg, I'm bored with my usual chapsticks :[ Does anyone know of a pretty lip gloss that is long lasting AND not sticky?