Shades of Gray: a test run!

Hi y'all!
Wow, talk about delayed posting.  I've gone through a few nail changes since my last post - gotta rush to get back up to date, because I LOVE what's going on with them right now and will have to share!  :)
 
That being said, I had been dying to try gray nail polish, and finally here I was giving it a shot.  For this, I not only used gray, but also a matte top coat, so I wonder if my findings would be different if I hadn't used the matte?

Anyway:  Essie's Chinchilly polish.  Saw it.  Had to try it.  I must say, I still love the color.  I think I'm not crazy about how it looks on me, though.  If my skin was a bit lighter, I think I'd like it better.  But on me, I feel like it looks kind of like mud or something.  It strangely feels like it blends into my skin color and I'm not so sure about that ;)  Maybe I'm just so used to having elaborate nails, it just feels weird to have them be just the one color.  I think when I use this again, I'm going to try it with a glossy top coat and not the matte and see what I come up with.


Still going strong, however, is this Essie Matte About You Top Coat.  Love this stuff.  Matte is such an interesting look for nails.  I also love watching as it shifts from glossy to matte within a few seconds of painting it on!  Shouldn't be as fun to watch as it is, but let's face it - it just is!  :)

These also dried reasonably quickly, so I was super-happy about that.  I have a tendency to think my nails are dry and just ruin them by accident.  Like running my fingers through my hair.  Or making a Grilled Cheese Sandwich.  Or rolling around on the floor.  You get the idea.

Until next time!

XXOO,
Steph

Matte About You

Helloooooo!
As I said before, I'm a fan of this matte nailpolish business.  I went to the store to get another adorable polish bottle, but instead stumbled upon a great gem - Essie's 'Matte About You' top coat!  From what I can tell, this is incredible!  It takes any polish you have on, and by just putting on a simple coat of this top coat, it turns your nail polish matte!  It seems this could save anyone a fortune in nail polish, because you don't have to buy the specific matte colors you're after - all you have to do is slap a little of this on!

I used that light blue Essie color that I'm just obsessed with right now, put a simple little nail sticker decal on it, and finished with the Matte About You top coat - voíla!  These nails made me pretty hungry though.  Do they look like cake to anyone else???  MMMMM.

Sorry the quality isn't 100% and the color isn't EXACTLY like the real thing, I took these pics with my phone.

B-day/Anniversary fun!

Wow - took a bit of a break from writing anything as you can see.  I've been extremely busy, and extremely exhausted :(  I had so much energy there for a while but for whatever reason I now feel...defeated?  Wrecked?  Something...

I can't believe my sister is 21 now.  I feel so old!  Anyway, we had so much fun while she was out here in LA for her birthday!  I think it was just right, as far as 21st birthdays go.  Besides, I'm too over the hill now to really rage like a 21 year old ;)  j/k.  At midnight on her birthday, we took her to this bar called Busby's down the street (what we thought was a sports bar but turned out to be a full-on club) for a birthday shot.  Keep in mind, Anthony and I had been drinking wine all night.  She got in for free since it was her bday (woot!), and we went straight to the bar.  She had a birthday cake shot an Anthony and I had tequila shots.  Then, I don't know what possessed us but then she and I had Long Island Iced Teas and Anthony had a Gin & Tonic.  Sigh.  Needless to say, we did not go gently into that dark night.

We woke up the next morning hazy and tired, so we then went to get breakfast at the place that has the best pancakes in the u.s. (literally), Du-par's.  My sister took a nap all afternoon, then we watched a Bridezillas marathon - how is that show so addictive??  Since it was her actual birthday, we did go out to the Sunset Strip, but we only had a glass of wine each.  But, she was able to see our favorite lounge out here, Boa, and then we took her to Saddle Ranch to see some crazy drunk people fall off the mechanical bull.  Good times.

This was the same day as our 6 year anniversary!  Anthony got me the prettiest bracelet, as well as a box to put my jewelry in (I'm kind of a mess).  I <3<3<3 it!  All-in-all, despite the fact that we were all hungover, we all had a great time!

On to the most important part of all - the nails ;)  I gave my sister some special 21st bday nails - martini glass manicure!  I was jealous that she got to have the fun nails ;)  I did 2 colors - white on one half and blue on the other.  Honestly, it's been so long that I don't even remember the names of the colors I used - I think they were both Essie.  Then, I used my handy Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen to draw the martini glasses.  Lastly, I added a tiny green dot for the olives in the middle of the glasses, and finished up with a handy-dandy top coat.  Hope you like them!

Mine were a new experience for me.  Matte nail polish is all the rage, but I've never tried it.  You'll know exactly why I got this polish when you see the bottle - it's like a tiny little paint can!  Super cute!  AAAAnyway, when you use a matte polish, you can't use a base or topcoat - this was tough for me, because I always use my 'Hard As Nails' polish as my basecoat.  Oh well.  So, I used the matte polish and I must say - I'm really intrigued with the look of it!  It's so different and unique.  Of course, I never have simple nails, so I had to add more to them.  I used this light blue color from Essie that I just looove to make tiny round shapes to fill in the top part.  I don't know how to explain that, but I'll let the pictures explain for themselves.  Enjoy!  :)

I'll be back later on to go through the other nail looks I've failed to post on here in my absence!