Orly Sweet Peacock

Oh my God. So much to cover today because I am SO BEHIND ON ALL THE BLOG THINGS. Work was just busy busy this week, which is why I didn't have any time for anything I wanted to do that wasn't collapsing in bed and watching "Dexter" or "Hannibal." (I seem to be in deep with the serial killers these days, heh.)

I'm not sure if I have any readers out in Oklahoma, but seeing the news earlier this week about the devastation caused by the tornado was just awful. I can't imagine going through something like that and wondering if your family is all right. I hope everyone finds a safe place to stay, and a way to move forward with their loved ones.

Second, and this is totally 1st world problems-y, can we talk about new Flickr for a minute? On top of all the advertising issues, pro account issues, Yahoo! issues and general adjustment pains ... I HATE the new layout. I hate the photograph clusters, and I hate the black background. I wish there was an option to switch back to classic view! That would make life so much easier. I've been using Flickr exclusively for blogging purposes for the past two years -- and, before blogging, for NOTDs and personal photos -- so I don't want to find another host gallery service. I'm pretty attached. I know nothing in tech ever stays the same and there's always a learning curve, so I guess all I'm asking is for the white background to come back ... I can learn to deal with the clusters and the rearrangement of the photo notes and tags, but this fucking background. So clunky.

Third, I saw "Star Trek Into Darkness" last Friday and I think I hate it just about as much as I hate new Flickr. There were certain things I was willing to overlook, and right when I was beginning to enjoy it ... NOPE. I'm not going to spoil anything for anybody; I'll just say that considering how much I loved the 2009 movie, I'm very disappointed.

Fourth, SWEET MUTHAF-ING PEACOCK, Y'ALL. It took me forevs to get these photos not just because work was busy, but also because it rained on photo day. And did I mention new f-ing Flickr blows?

Three coats with NYC Grand Central Station.

This is a whole lotta foil. You can see the particles that got stuck to my skin and cuticle after I tried to clean up! But this teal peacock shade is certainly worth it. Depending on your light, it's going to lean either teal-azure or a true teal (see Scrangie's swatch); KleanColor Metallic Aqua appears to be more green than Sweet Peacock, and contains smaller foil particles than Sweet Peacock.

Now. I hadn't used my bottle since I bought it (I know), so it had gotten a little watery during the interim. My roommate remembers her bottle having a thick formula; after rolling mine around, it was good to go. I needed two coats to get this opaque, but I went for that third coat and a couple minutes later, T and I were on our way for some Qdoba (which is so weird when you've been eating Chipotle since 2008, and even weirder when you think about eating Qdoba all through college, 2005-2007). I had this polish on for maybe three days before it chipped on one of my chip-prone fingers, but I kept it on for five days total with minimal tip wear. For some reason, it didn't wear like iron the way KleanColor Metallic Green did, but I'm not complaining.

As you know, Sweet Peacock is one of the epic shades from the epic Birds of a Feather collection. This is a core polish at Sally's, and it's not htf online, so you can venture there. I have Lucky Duck and Nite Owl left ... but I think I'll wear some other Orlys before the end of the month first. ;)

Okay. Any thoughts on Sweet Peacock, new Flickr (ugh), "Star Trek Into Darkness" (punch me in the face)? Do you have any plans for this long Memorial Day weekend? I think I might have to work, but on Monday, I'm going to see The Shins in concert, something I have been dying to do since 2002. I know -- I'm such a closet hipster sometimes. Please don't throw any kombucha at me. I would appreciate it.

Skinny Dipping (With Friends): Orly Pure Porcelain ... pure hotness

I love nude polishes, but I am CRAZY for the ones that take your outfit to the next level. You know what I mean? If you don't, it's okay -- you're about to find out.

Three and a half coats with SV.

Wearing Pure Porcelain for just one day, I felt far more put together and "finished" than someone wearing an ill-fitting t-shirt, fat jeans and ratty sneakers should have felt. (I have been wearing my fat clothes lately ... nothing fits except my bridesmaid dress. I look like I'm well into my second trimester. I should probably do something about this.) And this is what I mean by taking an outfit to the next level. If I can feel that way with a crappy outfit, can you imagine how I would feel with a prim cardigan and sundress combo, or even with a formal dress? !!!

It turns out pink-tinged nudes and I are better together than I thought, and Pure Porcelain confirms this. It had a pretty good formula for a shade that's stark and faded at the same time. It's not streaky, but it does need at least two coats to level. It's actually pretty cooperative. Dry time with SV was fast and should help you out if you had leveling issues. I did an extra half coat because I basically was polishing in the dark and you know how that goes -- you never can be too certain.

Pure Porcelain was part of the Precious collection for Spring 2011, which was a great year for Orly now that I think about it -- this, Happy Go Lucky, Birds of a Feather and Mineral FX ... good lord -- between Orly Precious and China Glaze Anchors Away, I was one happy polish collector. Also, if you remember the Orly tie-in with "Dark Shadows," then Decades of Dysfunction was Pure Porcelain, renamed.

I also have to disclose that Pure Porcelain was not the first Precious shade I picked up, but I can show you that polish this week? next week? if'n you wanna.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to check back next month for another nude polish, and don't forget to visit Business Lady Polish today for Anna's nude polish pick! (Oh, and check out Pure Porcelain on her -- it looks totally different, right? It pulls pretty pink on me.)

Orly Jealous, Much?

I know you guys want to see Sweet Peacock, and you will -- next week. It's just that I wanted to save it for the weekend because there's no point in wearing an eyecatching, sparkly blue polish when my boyfriend can't see it and I might see him on Sunday (saying the guy likes blue is a gross understatement). I also wanted to get in on the mint party Anna and Madeline had on Monday, can you blame me?

I'd been eyeing this polish since last year, but didn't pull the trigger on it until a couple months ago when Ulta was clearing out their stock of old Orly bottles. Orlys were buy one, get one free, so ... hello, little friend!

Three coats with SV. I'm sorry my cuticles look so ragged. I don't know why.

Mmmm, yes. Very nice, yes? Yes. I love mint polishes, but I have a hard time wearing them. Some lean too blue, some give me major lobster hands and sometimes the formulas are TOTALLY. SHIT. This polish did none of those things, hooray!

I think the most surprising thing about this polish was its finish. It was more of a jelly-creme than straight-up creme, which made for really easy application -- if you're patient. Mint polishes generally lean toward the stark side of the color wheel, and stark pastels are awful to work with! So I appreciated Jealous, Much?'s jelly-creme vibe. Now I know other bloggers have said this was a tad streaky, but I didn't find that to be the case. Sure, I had a few bald spots, but those disappeared and evened out after a third coat. Dry time was good with SV. I only wore this for a day, but I could wear it again.

Jealous, Much? was part of last spring's Cool Romance collection. If you want to find it in person, it's in the core Orly displays at both Sally's and Ulta -- I believe Ulta is having a B2G1 with the brand right now, and you should print a coupon and go nuts. I hate the new Orly bottles, so I'm glad I was able to snag one of the older ones.

What's your take on this Orly mint? Anna and Madeline, what do you think?


P.S. I also have Faint of Heart and Prelude to a Kiss from the Cool Romance collection. Would you guys be interested in seeing one or both of those after I wear Sweet Peacock?

Pretty Serious (Glitter Gradient Fail) with Daphne's Birthday Party & The Pink One

Welcome to the umpteenth Pretty Serious Daphne's Birthday Party post you'll see today!

Yay! Daphne, by the by, is the Pretty Serious mascot. She's one stylish lady!

Only, this one is a really sad attempt at a glitter gradient. I'm pretty sure there's a reason people don't exactly do glitter gradients over neon polishes, but damn it, I wanted to try! I also have to say that these photos make this experiment look like a hot mess -- I promise it wasn't so harsh in person. I wanted to layer Daph over Pretty Serious Poltergeist Puddle, but The Pink One was my NOTWeekend and I couldn't bring myself to remove it.

And that, friends, explains this ridiculousness.

Three coats of Pretty Serious The Pink One + Daphne's Birthday Party + SV.

... yeah, that's pretty bad, isn't it? That does not even remotely resemble a glitter gradient. You guys, I spent a couple of afternoons last week practicing (with AND without a sponge), and I thought I had it after attempt number 3. So I slapped on The Pink One for the weekend and figured I'd recreate the magic yesterday afternoon. Only, you know, no magic. :(

Color-wise, I am in LOVE with Daph. She's everything I wanted OPI Rainbow Connection to be -- I think the OPI contained more silver glitters and different sizes of hexes, and its colored glitters weren't as vibrant as the Pretty Serious. On the flip side, my bottle (of Daph) could have used a wee bit of thinner, since it seemed to go gloopy on me. Oh, and dry time was great!

I'll probably do a post on The Pink One in a few weeks because it's my new favorite Pretty Serious and possibly my new favorite pink. I even went so far as to declare that it was 2013 Top 20 material -- it's THAT good. Look at that neon hawtness. The color on my monitor is spot on, btw. I got craptons of compliments wearing it last weekend. It wore like a champ, but we'll talk about that another day.

As of this post, Daphne's Birthday Party is available at the Pretty Serious shop ($9.95 USD) and via Llarowe ($12); The Pink One is sold out on both sites. Just remember that if you get Daph -- which you should -- thin it after you've used it once.

Also, if you have a favorite glitter gradient tutorial, you should probably share that with me in the comments, por favor. I could practice more ... or I can learn a new way to do it that isn't a fail whale. And let me know what you think of Daphne's Birthday Party and The Pink One! 

I think out of all the niche brands that are out right now, Pretty Serious is the one that's going to get a LOT of my money! Kaz's blog, Pretty Random, was one of the first nail blogs I started reading back in the day, and it's been such a trip to be able to give her my money watch the brand grow in the past year. Plus, it doesn't hurt when a brand's customer service is the total package -- professional, friendly and humorous with a slice of nerdy (a major bonus)! I can't wait to see the new Hit the Road polishes, and for whatever Pretty Serious has in store. :)


In other news, I hope everyone had a great Mother's Day weekend. My mom was out of town, so I spent the morning snuggling with Sterling Meowlory Archer and the rest of day hanging out with one of my best friends, talking about her wedding plans and watching "Dexter." It was a lot of fun.

I wished I'd thought to post a photo of myself with my mom just like every other person on Facebook did on Sunday, but you guys know I'm late to everything except ONTD "Game of Thrones" party posts (and even then ...).
 
SO, here's a picture of my mom and me at Disney World in 1987. I don't understand why people take their babies to Disney World, because it's not like the babies will remember it. In my parents' case, I'm guessing it was because they had been living in America long enough to use their sole offspring as an excuse to visit one of the most famous theme parks in the world.

Please take note of my mom's shorts in this photo, legit in 1987. Now fast forward to me in 1997, having to wear them because nothing else fit my freak body -- I was too chubs for the regular juniors' sizes, and unfortunately misses' and women's sizes, matronly as they were, were all that would fit me. Luckily things are a lot less traumatic now, but Jesus, no wonder I have such an uneasy relationship with fashion.

All right, I'm out. Thanks for reading! The Orly posts will resume later this week. :)

Guest post on Life in Color!

Hey y'all, happy Saturday! Just dropping in so I can direct you to my FIRST EVAH guest post on Life in Color. (!!!)

If you also read that blog, then you know Gosia's been away since the end of March because she's attempting to summit Mt. Everest. How badass, right? When she put out a SOS asking for guest bloggers back in January, I couldn't not volunteer.

So hop to it!

See you next week. Have a lovely weekend, and early happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there.

Orly Frolic, or Y U GOTTA BE LIKE THAT?!?

So much for posting at my usual blog o'clock. I got home from work late last night, and couldn't get to sleep until 2 a.m. (I was reading, for once.) I did set an alarm so I could buy Neutral Milk Hotel concert tickets, and UGHHHHHHHHH TICKETMASTER, FUUUUUUUUUUUUUU. Ticketmaster is just the worst. Tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. I'd been logged into Ticketmaster since 9:56, and although I had a ticket in my cart, the stupid site captcha wouldn't let me actually purchase it until 10:23.

By 10:30, I shit you not, the show was sold out. I feel so, so lucky! (And although I missed the window to buy Shins tickets, I was able to buy a Loretta Lynn ticket yesterday for D.C. in July. Loretta FREAKIN' Lynn. SHAKING. AND. CRYING.)

Okay, now back to nail polish. I have a feeling I won't be doing much hauling this month, but after these tickets, I am completely fine with that. (However, now that I'm locked into Neutral Milk Hotel, maybe I should buy some Pahlish?)

Orly usually does a Back to School collection every summer, and when the press images of the 2011 Happy Go Lucky set came out, I lost my shit. I NEEDED THEM ALL. I love Orly! I love bright cremes! Nothing could be wrong about that, and generally I'm still happy with the collection, except for Frolic.

Oh, Frolic. :(

It was supposed to be a warm purple, and I swear to you that it was when I bought it. Check out the pictures at Colores de Carol -- those are close to what I remember. Two years later, it seems to have morphed into this weird, warm orchid color, not quite purple and a little more pink. It's pretty and that's fine, but I still wish this had stayed purple.

By the way, this orchid/pink is bright, but slightly more muted in person.

Three coats with SV.

As you can see, this would be a perfectly serviceable color if it didn't blend into my complexion. Up close, it looked fine; when I held my hand out maybe a foot away from me, YUCK. I think it would be stunning on someone whose skin tone is a little more pronounced than mine -- ladies with paler or darker skin tones could rock this. It kind of dies on me a little.

The good news is that the formula was great, and easy to work with. Frolic dries a bit matte -- not completely matte, more like semi-matte (think Milani Rad Purple) ... which leads me to believe that while it wasn't a true neon, it contained a good deal of neon pigment. Dry time was fast with SV, and I had no chips or noticeable tip wear for the day I wore it.

I did a little sleuthing online, and Frolic is in the Orly core line at Ulta. Next time I drop in, I'm definitely going to have to take a closer look at this polish to make sure it's really purple and that I have a freak bottle! This came from Sally's, and truly, it WAS purple then.

If you have Frolic, does your bottle look like this, or the original shade of purple? Or rant to me about polishes that have changed color over the years ... or your frustration with Ticketmaster, grrrr. And which would you rather see first: Fresh, or Sweet Peacock? I'll blog y'alls pick next week. :) Thanks!

Orly Sea Gurl

Last month In March, I inserted a poll on the blog with four different brands and asked you which of those brands you'd like to see for a month. You guys chose Orly, which made me really happy because I have lots of love for the brand. I think I wore more Orlys before I started blogging, so having the chance to wear and show you some for a month will be nice.

I feel like I'm starting out with what you probably think is a really unexciting polish, but I love it so much! This is Sea Gurl, from Fall 2011's Birds of a Feather collection -- I blogged Fowl Play last summer and found it to be fairly meh, so I'm pleased with this one.

I MEAN, you know how I feel about metallic polishes.

Yeah, that sounds about right.

Three coats with SV.

DEAR. GAWD. Next to Fowl Play and Sweet Peacock, Sea Gurl probably didn't have a decent shot at getting on most people's radars. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about it, then I decided to buy it in case I changed my mind. I wasn't too keen on it after polishing one hand, but a day later, I'm all about it. Good thing I got it!

This color is an interesting combination of gold, pewter, and taupe -- with the metallic finish, it almost resembles burnished jewelry, doesn't it? Actually, I would classify this as RBL Ghost's taupe/pewter sister.

The formula was good, too. It wasn't brushstrokey, applied well, and was opaque in two coats. Dry time was quick with SV, and I haven't had much in the way of tip wear in the past day.

Blogging Sea Gurl means I have three Birds of a Feather polishes left: Sweet Peacock, Nite Owl and Lucky Duck. Sweet Peacock is DEFINITELY HAPPENING this month. Next week? Week after? I'm a little hazy on when exactly, but keep an eye out for that. :)

Any thoughts you'd like to share on Sea Gurl? Birds of a Feather? Metallic polishes? Your favorite Orlys? Perhaps you'll see some of them on this blog in the coming days!

I had something else I wanted to say, but I had the worst time concentrating on anything yesterday. I bought the wrong stamps at the post office, had to go back and exchange them, and then drove the wrong way down a one-way street I've driven down a million times (luckily, no one else was there). I also decided to bake more brownies with the box mix I bought last week, and for some reason I poured the batter over parchment paper which I'd greased on top of the tray. IDEK what that was about, but those brownies, once baked, were not fun to remove. When I finally sat down in front of the computer to write this post (because I couldn't find my "Dexter" DVDs), I thought I would reply to comments and somehow ended up in a Youtube music video black hole of awesomeness. Here's the last vid I got stuck on.

CONFESSION: If hell froze over and I married B -- a thought I have entertained all of three times, as it is just too absurd and TERRIFYING -- I probably would try to play this song instead of doing a dance because that's how much we both HATE dancing. I will sing before I dance, and I can't sing, jsyk. If you ever get the chance to ride in a car with me, you'll find that out REAL QUICK.

One of my favorite songs (from one of my favorite Steve Martin movies), played by two of my favorite WGWGs. --Well, technically, one WGWG and a WGWUkulele. And, granted, JoCo isn't just any WGWG. ;)

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you with a drive-by post tomorrow. I really hope I can focus enough after work to get that done.

KleanColor Metallic Green + a May 4 wedding

Has it really been almost a week since my last post? WHOOPS.

One of my reporter friends from college got married on Saturday, and I wore this polish to his wedding ...

... because it matched my shoes. Like DJ Pauly D, I like to build my outfits from the ground up.

The sun was setting, which is why the color appears more yellow than it truly is. I bought these Nine West espadrilles back in July 2006, and for the most part, they're in good shape. Little did I know I should have begged my mother to buy me one in ALL THE COLORS because I feel like shoes haven't been as comfortable or fabulous as they were from 2006 to 2009. :/ (Yes, I know that was weirdly specific.)

Anyway, I didn't quite have my outfit together but when I decided I needed green nails, my roommate graciously offered to let me use her bottle of KC Metallic Green. Look, when there are three Helmers in one apartment, you're bound to find something. Thank you, Tara!

I majorly failed at getting awesome pictures of this polish, but it is INSANELY WONDERFUL and I NEED A BOTTLE.

Three coats with SV. All pictures were taken after three days of wear. Not too shabby, right?

Also, the OttLite pictures are the most accurate for some reason (for once). And if you want to see a SUPER ACCURATE pic, check out Goose's Glitter.

It's been a long time since I wore a baller foil, and I'm so glad Metallic Green was the one to break that dry spell. Holy crap. SO PERFECT. It was crazy pigmented, which means it went on easily (opaque at two coats, but hello, compulsive three-coater) and conversely, it probably will stain like a mofo when I take it off tonight. I'd never used a KleanColor before, I think because the MUA nail board used to say they smelled and took forever to dry. Although I am quite familiar with eau de KleanColor, I don't recall Metallic Green smelling noticeably funky; it DID take a while to dry, but I did my nails after midnight, at which point I was ready to faceplant into bed.

However, my nails were dry in the morning and survived the shower. As I mentioned earlier, I've been wearing this polish since Friday night/Saturday morning with NO CHIPS, barely visible tip wear and SO MANY COMPLIMENTS. If this is what KleanColor metallics are like, SIGN ME UP FOR MORE, PLEASE. Thanks again for letting me try it out, T!

Soooooooooo, this wedding -- my friend got married at Union Station, an ~historic~ train depot in Petersburg, VA. It doesn't serve as a proper depot any more, but the space is used for city and private functions. A train line still runs behind the building, and a Norfolk Southern train even whooshed by during the reception.

Union Station also was featured in last year's Spielberg/Day-Lewis Oscar bait, "Lincoln," during one of Lincoln's speeches. So Steff, I guess you can say I have partied where DDL once worked. ;)

Some wedding champagne  ...

... my "Jewish mother"-sized slice of wedding cake (I can't remember what flavor this was, only that it was tasty and it was from Whole Foods, the bride's employer) ...




Obligatory May 4th goodness:

The day started out fairly overcast and at one point, I was afraid it would rain, but the skies cleared up during the afternoon. On my drive to B's house from the station, I saw a rainbow. I took it as good luck for my friend on his wedding day. While I was unable to get this rainbow on camera, you can see what a gorgeous afternoon it ended up being.

I should have done a toast to the couple during the party when they invited guests to come up and do one, mostly because I have some hilarious things I can say in front of a roomful of people. I don't know why I didn't. This is the second time I wished I had. I'm so chickenshit (read: NOT DRUNK ENOUGH). Oh, well. Maybe in September, I will.

I ordered my bridesmaid dress for another girlfriend's wedding last night. It's from David's, which is quite convenient on account of the bridal party living in three different states. I have four months to tone my arms (hello, Blogilates?), but I don't think I need to go full Mobama/FLOTUS with this. Anyway, it's a nice dress. I'm kind of with the groom -- I prefer purple -- but the bride won out and so we're wearing blue dresses.

All right, that's all for me today. I hope this post makes up for being away for almost a week! I'll try to have something up before Saturday, and I hope to have some time to catch up on all the blog posts and comments I missed while I was out. Definitely share your thoughts on my shoes, Metallic Green, KleanColor metallics, eau de KleanColor, friends' weddings, all that good shit -- I'd love to hear them. Thanks for reading!


P.S. HANDS UP if you saw "Iron Man 3" over the weekend. I know people are bitching about certain characters and plot points and comparing IM3 to TDKR, but COME ON. This is MARVEL UNIVERSE, so comparing Tony Stark to Bruce Wayne ... are you really going there? Apples and oranges, my friends. There were a few things in the movie that made no sense to me, but I don't think it matters because ultimately, I enjoyed this installment more than "Iron Man 2," and let's face it, most of us got into it for RDJ five years ago.

P.P.S. My parents also enjoyed the movie. When we got back in the car, my father's Bluetooth device chimed and said, "CONNECTED." My dad said, "See? I'm Iron Man, too." SCREAMING, BECAUSE DADS.

P.P.P.S. My friend Madeline's birthday is tomorrow. If you want to give her an early birthday present, you should give her new blog a follow!