Every year, I'm craving for Spring to be back. I always felt I was never born to live autumns and winters. We're slowly attaining the end of February. Strange month of lost memory. I never remember February and I have no souvenir of something happening to me during this time in my life. We're at more than six months of constantly grey sky and it was starting to get a dent on my general moods and my apparently unbreakable mute optimism. It's been almost a decade that I'm randomly repeating inside my head that I'm leaving everything to install and definitely live in Los Angeles. I also feel this way when the summer is sunless. Obviously, L.A. is just an unattainable dream for so many practical reasons but it's one of those maintaining me in hope. Just like the promise of spring's come back. I was happy to see some days ago that the crocus flowers were in bloom. We also had the first day of full sun of the year. Cold still, but sunny nonetheless. Birds have started to sing joyfully again. It is as if everything was slowly going out of torpor and I really don't need more to feel a bit happy. Just a post showing some photos I took on this sunny day. It's all about flowers. Just looking at them makes me feel good and happier.
Pretty Serious - CGA
Well howdy, there! Been a bit busy lately, so I've been late showing you a few more of Pretty Serious line. Most bloggers have beaten me to the punch already, but I thought CGA hasn't had a lot of love, so here it is! I thought it looked rather spiffy with my new ring. CGA (IBM reference, anyone?) looks pink, but in actuality is more of a lavender/mauve with a delicate light blue flash. This is two coats, but I think maybe I should have done three as I can see a little bit of VNL in these pics. The application is easy and it dries nice and fast, too. Ooh, so pretty! I'm not much of a pastel pink/mauve kind of person, but this was a really nice surprise. Now I want to try the matching lip gloss, too! Another shot with the ring, cos they make such a good team. Kaz hits it out of the ballpark, again! She made me like pastels! You can get CGA (and it's matching lip gloss and eyeshadow fashion inspiration) over at Pretty Serious for $9.95.
Duty Free
Duty free always suckers me in. I am one of those people that get to the airport painfully early due to fear of having to run through to catch my plane (been there, done that) so I had plenty of shopping downtime. Pink champagne, a new Smythson's notebook (I am one of "those people" that make lists of things to do). A little Tiffany bracelet... the small black onyx beaded bracelet. It's dainty, light and I haven't taken it off. My one regret is perfume related... I have completely given in to my perfume love and will be doing a short course for perfume geeks next year - I am that into it... but I sprayed two Miller Harris scents: Fleur Oriental and Coeur de Fleur. I got on the plane and kept smelling one arm. It was an amazing fragrance but I can't for the life of me remember which one it was. It was floral but with an intriguing depth and I must have it. A trip to her store in Mayfair is already on the cards...
Ways to use Crisco that Don't involve Eating It
Recently, I inherited a couple of blocks of Crisco. I'm not much of a baker (monumental understatement), but decided I'd go all Bree-from-Desperate-Housewives so it wouldn't go to waste. However, after I donned my starched apron, I noticed that the ingredients included the dreaded "partially hydrogenated fat". Which, duh, I should have realized. I hate to toss it in the garbage or pass it along to a food bank, so I'm seeking other uses. From answers.yahoo, I've found that Crisco can: Remove lipstick and tar from clothing (because you know how often you end up with tar stains); Remove dirt from your hands (although it seems like then your hands would be greasy); Prevent diaper rash; Help historical battle re-enactors lubricate their musket balls (I know, I know, my mind went there too); Be used to create white clown make-up; Season cast-iron skillets; Be used to make bird feed (although that seems cruel to the birdies); Moisturize hands, feet and face; Be used as an, um, relationship aid; I'm thinking about dumping it on some newspapers and letting the kids go nuts, like they do with shaving cream. Or maybe creating the clown make-up and letting them go wild with that. Any other suggestions?
O Happy Day!
So I was at the mall with my mother, and the local Icing store is closing out. 75% off the lowest price. So I got a couple polishes. For $0.63 each. Win! Putty Concrete and Peacock. Putty Concrete is a delicious shimmery taupe / greige bottle of gorgeous. Seriously. I've died and gone to neutral polish heaven. No pics cause I'm at my grandparents without my camera. But it's gorgeous. Pics later. I'm excited to try Konad-ing something lacy in black over it. Peacock is slightly more depressing. Gorgeous in bottle, it's a light teal blue with pink duochrome. Sadly, super sheer. I tried it over Finger Paints Easel Come, Easel Go, there was no trace of the pink, it just turned it into a pale blue metallic, much like China Glaze Metallic Muse. When I get home I'll try it by itself and over black, and maybe over a grey like China Glaze Recycle. Maybe over Putty Concrete, but I think I love it too much to risk it. I'll take pics of all these things when I get home as well.
Dreamcatcher
It was difficult, but I'm trying to get used to wearing my nails without something Konaded over top. I keep telling myself, I got through 10 years of wearing nail polish without my Konad, it has to be possible. So here I give you Claire's Dream Catcher who looks exactly like Chanel Jade. Honestly, while applying it, I did not think that I liked it. There was something about the colour that made me think to myself with each brush stroke "Brynne, what the f*ck are you putting on your nails?". But then I finished... added a coat of Seche Vite... And I love it. For the same unknown reasons that I disliked the colour during application. If this is a Chanel Jade dupe like I've been reading all over the internet, then I love Chanel Jade. And actually, compared to my usual amount of nail wear, this is holding up pretty good. I've showered and done a load of dishes and I have 1 tiny chip and some tip wear. Usually I'll have half a nail chip off in one go. I'm almost sad to take this off later today to make way for my weekend manicure. Oh well. Them's the breaks. Ps: The colour is much more vibrant than these pictures suggest. These make it look quite dusty. However I'm not practiced enough with my photo editing program to try to tweak them to the proper shade.
OPI Sparkle-Icious
I believe I've worn OPI's Sparkle-Icious before, however if I remember it correctly I merely used it as a layering polish back then. For new year's eve I wanted to be in the mood for the occasion and used it on it's own. This time I applied 3 coats, 2 coats work as well. Isn't it remarkable? I don't think I've ever tried a glitter polish this tightly packed with glitter. The glitter comes in 3 colours: gold, pink, and blue. In the sunshine it's almost blinding, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of that but I'm sure you can all imagine it's wonderful shining glory. The good thing about glitter polishes is that they usually have the most amazing staying power, but I always dread the entire removal procedure. Since this polish had so many glitter particles I imagined it would be a complete nightmare to remove it. Then I came to think of something I've seen in other nail polish blogs, the tinfoil method. Soaked up a few cotton pads, put them on each nail and wrapped them in tinfoil and waited for 5 min. Boy was I surprised when everything came off in one go! I will never ever have to ponder on whether I should wear a glitter polish or not. Thank you, whoever came up with the tinfoil method! I seriously love you!
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