Catching Up - My Birthday!

I celebrated my birthday in July and my friend made me one of the coolest birthday cakes ever - it was a nail polish bottle!!

She took all of my favorite flavors and colors and integrated them into this cake.  The cap is chocolate, the bottle is funfetti and strawberry layers, and it's all topped in a layer of fondant.

The design was modeled after an OPI bottle, down to
the dots between the "HPI" (happy!) and the cute label name on the bottom. 

It's a shout out to our poodle - that's how we spell our lil Suzie's name

To show the size perspective, here I am with my birthday cake.  

Even with half of the cake served, it's still ginormous!!

Since I had a home-based birthday celebration (movies, pizza, hanging out with amigos), I spent most of the morning straightening up our place.  When I was done, I needed a really quick mani change - perfect time to use a matte.

I went with Harlow from the Zoya Matte Velvet Winter 2009 collection.  It's a red-based purple matte shimmer.  I was good to go in two coats and a few minutes.  The Zoya brush, as always, means there was no extra clean up needed.

Matte shimmers are one of my favorite finishes, especially Zoya's.  A matte finish is cool on its own, but the shimmer adds an extra pop of interesting complexity.  Harlow goes to show that a shade can still be special, even if it was a last minute mani choice.

Catching Up - Blog Awards!

Part Two - You Like Me! and I Like You!!

Some of you lovely ladies have been kind of enough to tag me with blog awards. I appreciate being picked so I better get going on showing these off!

~ The Top Ten Award ~

from Kris at My Lucid Bubble

RULES

1. Thank the person who tagged you and link to their blog.
2. Put the Top 10 Award logo on your blog.
3. List your top 10 cosmetics.
4. Choose 10 bloggers to tag, link to their blogs, and let them know.

My Top 10 Cosmetics would be...

1. Concealer!! 

My undereye circles are so dark regardless of sleep, diet, cucumber slices, etc. I'm still in search of the perfect one that is creamy, long lasting, and just the right shade.

2. Moisturizer

By day, it normally has tint and/or sunscreen. By night, it's light enough to moisturize without creating morning greasiness.

3. Blush

I love blush. Love it! I can't even begin to pick a favorite.

4. Translucent Correcting Powder 

For a matte finish, I go with ELF. For glowing, I go with Physician's Formula.

4. Lipgloss - all kinds, preferably ones that smell & taste like cupcakes.
5.  Bronzer

Benefit Hoola in the winter, Korres Monoi Bronzing Powder in the spring and fall, ELF Contour duo in the summer.

6. Clay Face Mask 

It transforms my look so it counts as a cosmetic. Current favorite is Freeman Avocado & Oatmeal. It's radiance + oil-be-gone in one large inexpensive tube.

7. Vanilla Chap Sticks 

Bath & Body, Avon, whatever makes me think cupcakes!

8. Benefit Pocket Pal with Benetint and gloss

9. Blotting Sheets 

These also count because they suck away oil slicks and help keep the real makeup on the face.

10. Mascara

I like the way I look with it on but don't wear it very regularly. One day, I'll find the perfect dark, lush, clump-free, smudge-free, flake-free, contact friendly formula and wear it every day!

~ The Butterfly Award ~

from Lesley at painting with polish

RULES

1. Link back to the person who awarded this award to you.
2. Answer the following questions.
3. Award to other blogs and let them know.

The Questions...

1. What's your favorite color?
I don't think I have a favorite color, but my friends disagree. They say it's pink. Ok, that probably is my favorite color!

2. What's your favorite song?
My favorite song rotates - I've been doing a lot of driving, so I'm in a sing-along Broadway mood... I know it's kind of random but Blackout from In The Heights. It's like the next generation version of Christmas Bells from Rent.

3. What's your favorite dessert?
Cupcakes

4. What is pissing you off?
My hair - it's too hot to wear down, it's too long but I'm not ready to cut it off yet, it's too humid so it's frizzing. Why can't it just behave and be really really ridiculously good looking?

5. When you’re upset, what do you do?
Alternating rounds of silence and soliloquies

6. Who's your favorite pet?
Suzette - our first family dog.  Here's a more recent picture of her hanging in the shade by the pool. In a summer cut, of course!

7. Black or white?

White. The thought of black in this triple digit weather is frightening.

8. What's your biggest fear?
Not living life to its fullest.

9. What's your best feature?
In this weather, my eyes. In nicer weather, it might be a tie with my hair.

10. What's your everyday attitude?

Try your best. Give it your all. Optimism!

11. What is perfection?
That first cup of coffee in the morning.

12. What's your guilty pleasure?
A warm chocolate chip cookie.

~ The Kreativ Award ~ 

from Princess Poly and LadyLuck

RULES

1. Write 10 facts about yourself.

2. Pass the award to 10 bloggers and tell them about the award.

Ten Facts About Me...

1. I'm a Ninja Turtle - I LOVE pizza. I could eat it at every meal and never get tired of it, which I actually tried the summer before my high school senior year at business camp.
2. I love cookies, cupcakes, and pies. Love eating them, baking them, receiving them as gifts from friends.

3. Going to the Westminster Dog Show was one of the best days of my life. I want to spend more time with dogs - especially when it comes to fighting against animal cruelty.

4. I've loved Broadway musicals since I was a kid - way before I understood where Broadway even was. Thanks PBS - couldn't have done it without you!

5. I lived in Guadalajara, Mexico for six months - it was a study abroad semester that I used to finish up my Latin American Studies minor.

6. My biggest travel wish is to get to Europe one day.

7. I like highway driving - throw on some tunes and just go!

8. One of my favorite shows is Parks & Recreation. I would love love love to work in a local government office like that.

9. I wanted to be 5'5", but I stalled at 5'3-1/2".  Even with all my milk, Flintstones, stretching, I couldn't make it. So close, so far!

10. I'm currently addicted to Tiny Tower. Completely. Totally. Go Bitizens!

Now to pass along these awards to the next 10 bloggers.  Since the polish blogosphere works quickly and we're all wonderfully different, I'd like the 10 people I tag to choose the award out of these three that they feel fits them the best.

The Next Round of Special Bloggers...

1. Ali's Nail News

2. Nikki's Nail Files

3. Lindsay at Yacking about Lacquer

4. OliviaNobody at Olivia's Nails

5. Jenny at Polishology

6. Kris from Let Them Have Polish!

7. Cheryl from Legally Polished

8. The VEROblog

9. WillaDodge from Willa's Shiny Tips

10. GingerKittyD from GingerKittyDesigns

Catching Up - China Glaze Classic Camel

Part One - Starting a New Job...

After being unemployed for way too long, I'm finally going back to work! In Arizona. In August. None of my New York work clothes felt light or bright enough to wear. When I first started working in NYC, I tried to wear my AZ khakis to work. They were quickly replaced with darker trousers that could hide the random subway schmutz. Now that I'm back, so are my khakis!

I also had to pick out my first day at work polish. It had to be something work appropriate but special. Riding the khakis high I was on, I went with related shade for my mani - China Glaze Classic Camel from the Fall 2010 Vintage Vixen collection.

Like its name suggests, this is a light camel shade. It's a yellow-based beige filled with gold fleck shimmer. My bottle was separating a bit and I didn't roll it as much as I should have to get it back to smooth consistency, so I had to put on three coats for full, even coverage.

I know this collection was supposed to be 40s themed, but this polish looks like the 70s on me and I love it! The gold shimmer is subtle indoors and the polish takes on more of a beige look. With full sunlight hitting that shimmer and my undertones, Classic Camel becomes more yellow/golden.

When I have to do work appropriate, this is how I like to do it. This shade looks like a nude on me at first glance, but the gold shimmer and slightly quirky base color still keep it interesting for me. I'm still rocking full glitter on the weekends, though!

Catching Up - Intro

How is everyone? What polish are you wearing??

I really focused my job hunting efforts in July.  Since my education, actual work experience, and overall career goals don't perfectly line up right now, I had to spend a lot of time personalizing and tweaking my resume and cover letter before each submission because I was applying for a wide range of different positions.  When I was done applying for the day, I didn't want to type another word in front of my computer.

My hard work has paid off and I start a new job on Monday!!  The position feels like it'll be a perfect fit -  I get to use my administrative background while developing my professional public sector career skills.  I'm really looking forward to working with these people and now I can go back to fun-writing about polish!

To celebrate, I'm doing a week of special catching up posts.  This is stuff I didn't get a chance to share while I was job hunting - blog award, giveaway gifts, comparisons, new NOTDs... so Be Ready and Viva Polish!

Zoya Paz

I had my nails done at a salon for my friend's wedding this past weekend. It was a Girls Day Out and I wanted to join in the fun even if that meant giving my nails to someone else to polish... well, I loved the awesome cuticle pushing but I'm still in the process of reshaping my nails back to a more matching length and shape. What's up with salons filing my nails diagonally? This is the third time this has happened to me - are my finger tips crooked or something??

After a few days of wearing a sheer shade for the wedding, I couldn't wait to wear one of my favorite neons.  Zoya Paz is from the Summer 2009 La-Di-Da collection - this was the bright cremes counterpart to the Ooh-La-La metallics. La-Di-Da has been spotted at Ulta recently, so keep an eye out for it if you want the polish but don't want to pay the online S&H.

Paz is an ultra bright fluorescent safety neon orange - aka new traffic cone bright! I used three coats of Paz because the formula felt thin for a creme, but that thinness helped make application completely foolproof. No chance of dragging, uneven patches, or pooling with this polish.

Paz dries quickly to a semi-matte finish, which reminded me of a glowing ember. I prefer Paz with a shiny top coat because it really amps up the shade to full traffic cone brightness. Of course, the neon intensity is hard to capture in a picture - I think the bottle in the bottom pic would be closest to color accurate if the orange was just a bit brighter.

This polish glows in all lighting - it is truly intense and not for the timid polish wearer. Paz is one polish that definitely makes me happy - its brightness, unique color, super easy application, even its name! I wholeheartedly recommend it for a daring pedicure if the glowing highlighter brightness is too much for your hands.

OWWWP - BB Couture Hermosa Surfer Girl

I finally have one of those comparisons I mentioned before!

Hermosa Surfer Girl is from the BB Couture California Beaches collection. This reddish pink jelly is packed with multicolored glitter and happens to be BB Couture creator Cindy Scott's favorite shade.

I don't think I could achieve full opacity with this jelly because it is on the sheerer side. From swatches online, I've noticed that people will use four coats to achieve a darker raspberry shade with Hermosa Surfer Girl.  I used three coats because I think the pink looks brighter and more summery.

The absolute best thing about this polish is the incredible glitter. This shade is packed with tiny silver microglitter and slightly larger multicolored glitter. You can see gold and green and red and orange - like an explosion of pixy stix sugar!

Zoya Lindsay is a pretty pink jelly with a lovely silver-lavender shimmer running through it, but I think Hermosa Surfer Girl spoiled me. Shimmer is nice, but I love that multicolored glitter... shall we compare on the hand?

 Lindsay, HSG, Lindsay, HSG

These two polishes are definitely similar with minor differences - Lindsay needs that fourth coat (either full or touch up) because it's that sheer, Lindsay dries faster and smoother, Hermosa Surfer Girl has a slightly redder base and it needs a top coat to smooth the fine grit finish that it dries to on its own. I like them both on their own, but side by side, I prefer Hermosa Surfer Girl.

I'm in a Project Runway mood (counting down the days to the new season premiere) so to paraphrase Michael Kors - it's like someone took the volume dial on Lindsay and *zhoosh* cranked it up to get Hermosa Surfer Girl. Maybe I could layer or add something to Lindsay for a *zhoosh* boost?

OWWWP - Color Club Raspberry Rush

I have put the comparisons aside for another week so I can show off my latest find. After months of stalking Ross, I have finally found Wicked Sweet!!!

Wicked Sweet is one of the two Color Club Summer 2011 collections - this is the candy scented one! I found this set looking nice and shiny (which is surprising given how polish sets normally look in my local Ross) and put on Raspberry Rush as soon as I got home.

Raspberry Rush is a vibrant raspberry creme - a cool leaning hot fuchsia that is so bright that it must be part neon. I say "part" because the first coat dries matte, but the second and third coats dry shiny so this polish can't be entirely neon.

I think these pictures begin to convey the juicy raspberry vibrancy of this polish, but neons throw the camera off. Imagine the polish a brighter, cooler shade with a bit more purple that makes my hands look more tan.

And the scent - it is fruity candy to the extreme! I thought the scented Revlon shades were decent because they kept their scent for a few days. This polish put that scent strength to shame! Usually, I have to bring my hands past my face to catch a whiff of the scent. After Raspberry Rush dried, I could smell the candy scent even when my hands were far away, like in my lap. The scent is pleasant, but it is strong - you have been warned :)

 I can't wait to try all the other Wicked Sweet shades. I'm so happy I finally found this set - eeeee!!