My Perfect Face Routine (Drugstore and High-end!)

I thought I'd do a round-up of all my face makeup--primer, BB cream, and foundation.  These are all products that I use either everyday or very often.  I like them all, none of them irritate my skin or break me out, and I'd buy them all again, so I really recommend them all.  For the record, I'm very pale with warm undertones, with acne-prone combination skin.  Oh, and there's a pretty nail polish at the end.


Primer: Korres Quercetin & Oak Age-reversing Primer, BB Cream: Garnier Fructis BB Cream:
A friend of mine gave me this primer.  It comes in a 1 ounce, flexible tube, smells like grapefruit, and goes on feeling like a light moisturizer.  I use a pea sized amount for my entire face in-between moisturizing and BB cream. It's chockful of anti-oxidants and other things that are supposed to be good for your skin, and it has no silicone!  Yay!  Silicone primers break me out like there's no tomorrow.  I've been using it every day.  I put my foundation on around 10AM, go to the gym, and bop around all day, and I've noticed that this definitely keeps my foundation lasting longer.  It still fades off my blemishes by the end of the day, but in terms of overall lasting power and keeping redness at bay, I get about 3 hours more wear from using this primer.  That makes me very happy!  I think this tube is going to last me a long time, but I think I'd buy myself one when I used it up.  After my primer I use a BB cream.  I know that sounds silly since I also use a foundation, but I've noticed that with a lighter foundation, like Colorstay, the BB cream helps give me just a little extra coverage and a slightly nicer finish.  I grabbed the Garnier Fructis BB cream because, well it was cheap.  I have the light-medium shade.  It's a pretty thick, moisturizer-esque consistency, with a yummy citrus-floral smell and SPF 15!  Yay SPF!  I love it for that reason alone.  Light-medium is definitely dark on me.  I couldn't wear this as my only coverage (both because it's too dark and it's too sheer), but it has a really pretty finish on the skin, and it's going to last me a long time, so I think it's a winner.

Drugstore Foundation: Revlon Colorstay Foundation in Buff Chamois 150, Nars Sheer Glow in Montblanc:
Sheer Glow I've reviewed before, and I still love it.  However, it's still $42 a bottle.  So that's difficult.  I picked up Revlon's Colorstay foundation as a day-to-day alternative to save some money.  Colorstay is about $12 at CVS and comes in a nice range of shades if you're pale, not so nice if you aren't.  It has a pretty, natural finish, layers nicely (I need 2-3 layers for good coverage), applies easily with my fingers, and lasts almost all day.  It's pretty liquidy and has a certain chemical smell, but I have no major qualms with it.  Long story short, Sheer Glow is definitely a nicer foundation, but Colorstay is a pretty good buy.  In terms of shade comparisons, Montblanc is slightly pinker and deeper than Buff Chamois, which is lighter and more neutral-toned.  Either one is a good match if you're NW15-20, but Buff Chamois is actually a better color for me.   Colorstay has a more natural, slightly matte finish than Sheer Glow, which has a very dewy finish.  They're both pretty negligible in terms of SPF.  Sheer Glow is a medium coverage foundation on me, and Colorstay is light-medium.  They both last for the same amount of time on me, and both work equally well with my combination skin (not making me too oily or dry and not breaking me out).  I wouldn't say that Colorstay is a dupe for Sheer Glow, but it's a viable alternative, especially if you want to save some money.

I know the Korres primer and Nars Sheer Glow are on the expensive side.  They are lovely, and if you can swing them, I recommend them.  However, the BB Cream does act as a decent primer and the Colorstay is a nice foundation, so they're good drugstore alternatives if you're like me and on a student budget.

OPI polish in Call Me Gwen-ever: Please excuse the horrible picture.  Call Me Gwen-never is a really lovely, muted orange-coral.  It's an opaque cream, covers in 2 coats, and lasts a full week on me with Poshe topcoat.  I've been wearing it for weeks--it looks equally good on fingers and toes, and I think it would be flattering on a wide range of skin tones and hues.  I got bored and did two stripes of Chanel Graphite with some tape.  Yay attempted nail art!

Images via: sephora.com, amazon.com, drugstore.com.

Kate Spade Summer Purse Steal + Zoya

Guys, this purse is a total steal and everyone should get one, and that's basically the point of this post.  Well, also that I found some cute nail polish.  You should buy that too. 


Kate Spade Horseshoe Cove Scout in Natural/Black, on sale for $139 down from $278 at katespade.com: The story to how I just bought this bag is funny.  I was thinking of what I wanted for my 21st birthday, and one of the things that I was thinking about getting was a nice bag.  One of my good friends just bought one of the bags I was thinking about, the Mulberry Alexa, which is absolutely gorgeous.  It's also absolutely expensive.  So then I stumbled across a cheaper alternative, the Cambridge Satchel.  How cute are those bags?!  Adorable.  But the actual Cambridge Satchel website is super unreliable, and I don't love the colors that they have on Asos.  So then I stumbled across the Kate Spade Scout bags, and they happened to be wayyyy on sale.  Like half off.  And they come in an adorable range of colors, and have magnet clasps instead of actually having to use the buckles, and an adorable lining, and basically I love them.  They come in either all patent leather (for $50 more) or lacquered canvas with patent leather trim.  I ordered the black yesterday because I figured it would be the most practical and wearable (although I seriously debated about getting the pink version.  It's so cute!).  The interior is lined with a sweet polka dot fabric, and there are two main compartments, with a smaller zippered compartment as well.  The strap is adjustable, and the perfect length to wear cross-body.  What I really love is the size.  It's about 10" wide and 7" tall, which is just the right size to fit all the things I need without giving me too much space to fill with lots of things that I don't really need.

It also comes in Natural/Coral and Natural/Wheatgrass, and how cute is that pink.  I think aesthetically, for how much these purses cost (on sale!  so affordable!), these are a slam dunk.  The structured, boxy shape is very retro, the treated canvas has a summery feel, and the shiny patent trim adds a nice modern touch.  I'm really glad that I splurged on this, because I think it's the kind of purse that I can get a lot of wear out of, year round. 

Zoya polish in Wednesday, $8 at zoya.com: Zoya describes it as a faded, dirty medium turquoise with a green undertone and an opaque cream finish.  I actually got this a few months ago (ahem, I am the worst) and I've been wearing it allllllll the time, on my fingers and toes!  It's just such a fun color.  It's a slightly muted, greener version of Tiffany blue, and it's surprisingly flattering, especially against a tan.  It's bright, but it doesn't look childish.  It applies like a dream, opaque in two coats, and lasts a week on me (that manicure is 2-3 days old).  The picture on the left has flash, the picture on the right doesn't.

 Buy both these things!  They are great.

Images via pursepage.com, polyvore.com, katespade.com.

Updates and Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish

Sooooo I've been a blogging failure.  I admit it.  I'm the worst.  In my defense, though, I was traveling for most of December without reliable internet, and then I had finals, and then I traveled again, and then I came home!  To a 'very aggressive case of viral pinkeye in my cornea' (to quote my obnoxiously hot eye doctor) which basically means I look like a monster and my vision is crazy blurred--apologies in advance for all the inevitable typos in this post.


But on the plus side, I have a TON of products to review and clothes to share!  First up is the Nails Inc. Magnetic Polish in Houses of Parliament, which I got during the Sephora Friends & Family sale.  It's $16 at sephora.com, and comes in chrome, teal, and purple (which I got).

So how this polish works is that there's a magnetic rectangle on the outer lid.  When the polish is wet, you hold the magnet over your nail (putting the little ridge on your cuticle to keep the magnet away from the nail) for about 15 seconds and the magnet effect shows up!  It's really cool.  I noticed that the longer you hold the magnet over the nail, the thinner/more graduated the design becomes.  I only needed one thickish coat of the polish for opacity, so you do get bang for your buck here.  The polish is a little on the thick side, which works in its favor here, but it does take a little skill to apply (hence the awful manicure, since I'm blind as a bat today, which you can probably tell from the polish smeared all over the magnet).

The purple itself is a medium, grey-ish purple with a metallic finish.  Look how awesome the magnetic effect is!  I'm sure you could get all fancy and hold the magnet in different directions for different effects, but I'm vision-challenged today and I didn't want to push it.  I just think this looks really cool.  It feels like Minx, but for way less effect and cost.  I can't comment on the wear time yet, since I just did this today, but since I did one thick coat of polish it probably won't be stellar--but with the cool swirly effect, I'm not bothered.

Awkward Chic rating: A+.  It's not cheap, but I think the end effect is so great-looking and easy to achieve that it balances out.

Merry Christmas all!

Review: Essence Gold Old Buffy Nail Polish

So Twilight: Breaking Dawn comes out today in Spain (wahoo!) although it isn't being shown anywhere near me in English. :(  But Essence, a newish, affordable drugstore brand, came out with a Twilight-themed makeup collection to coincide with the movie called 'Vampire's Love.'  It has perfume, cheek highlighters, nail polish, and a few other things.  I've tried Essence polish before and wasn't all that thrilled about it, but when I saw this polish from the collection, Gold Old Buffy (like Buffy the Vampire Slayer!) I had to get it.

This polish was 2 euros for 10 ml.  For reference, OPI polish is 15 ml for $8, so by the ml this is quite a bit cheaper than OPI or Essie.  It comes in a round bottle, a lot like the Nails Inc ones, with 'Vampire's Love' on the front and the polish name on a sticker on the cap.  The brush is short and pretty flat, but easy to deal with.  I took a bunch of pictures to try to capture the color, and totally failed.  In real life it's a blackened olive-green packed with gold shimmer and tiny, tiny flecks of pinky-orange shimmer.  It is absolutely stunning!  The blackened aspect makes it dark enough to feel vampy (hehe), and the browny-olive-green makes it a fun, off-beat twist on a neutral shade.  The shimmer makes it just look magical.  I've never owned a green polish before, but now I'm totally obsessed.  I usually have a 5 day manicure rule, where I can't change my manicure until I've worn the polish for 5 days or it's chipped off (to save my pathetically weak nails some stress), but this polish made me change my manicure at day 4.  That's a big deal, y'all.

As for application, the first coat went on sheer and patchy, but a thicker second coat fixed that right up and made it opaque.  All in all it was very easy to apply, self-leveling with no pooling or dragging at the cuticles and it was fast-drying. 

I really, really like this polish.  I think the color works for the vampire theme because it has a bit of a gothic, antiqued feel and it's a deep shade.  The pretty shimmer could theoretically work into the shimmery vampires in Twilight (probably taking that too far haha) and vampire thing aside, this color is just so pretty.  I think it would be flattering on most skin shades, light to dark and warm to cool, and it's a great value for the money.  I would definitely get other colors from this collection.


Awkward Chic rating: A+.  I'm not sure if you can get this online, so hit up your usual Essence retailers.

Review: Chanel Graphite Nail Polish

I have resisted the siren call of the Chanel nail polishes for years.  Years!  No one needs to spend that much money on that little nail polish, I told myself.  And then I went into the local CVS-meets-Sephora-esque-beauty-shop for some toothpaste, and found myself in front of the Chanel counter, foundling the nail polishes.


They are such pretty nail polishes.  At first I wanted Pirate (a gorgeous bright red), and then it was Rose Insolent (such a lovely bright pink), then the infamous Black Pearl (jaw-dropping blackened green-grey metallic frost), but then I saw Graphite.  I actually didn't know much about Graphite.  I saw a swatch on Temptalia a while back and thought it was pretty, but promptly forgot about it.  But in person this polish is pretty unforgettable.  I'd describe it as a grey foil (with the smallest hint of green) base that is jam-packed full of silver and gold shimmer.  Like jam-packed to the point where I'm not entirely sure there is much of a base color, but that green has to be coming from somewhere.  In the US Chanel polishes are usually $25.  In Spain it was 20 Euros.  Not cheap, but I reallllly wanted it (actually that pricing was pretty competitive for the exchange rate.  Success!)  Here you can see the cute Chanel box, the nail polish with the outer cap still on, and the bottle with the outer cap removed.

In the bottle it looks a bit murkier and greener, but on the nail the shimmer really comes out to play.  The combination of gold and silver gives it a bit of a pewter effect.  It's just really lovely.  Because of the silver, it works for cool skin tones nicely, and the gold does the same for warm skin tones.  It looks different in every light, too.  The finish of this is what really makes the polish for me, though.  It has a foil base, so it's crazy metallic, but the fine shimmer packed on top of that gives it a completely new dimension of pretty.  It's like fairy dust on your fingers.  I thought my OPI Let Me Entertain You was the limit for sparkle, but oh my goodness, was I wrong.  I adore this.  The murkey silver hue keeps the shimmer from being too twee and girly, and I really like that it's not dark enough to be too vampy.  It's just a light-hearted foil-shimmer with a fun, pewter twist.  The formula was equally divine.  It was opaque in two coats with extremely fast dry time (although it dries shimmery, not glossy.  If you want a glossy finish, I suggest getting a glossy, Seche Vite-esque top coat), with minimal drag and no pooling.  The brush is long and flexible, and I had no trouble covering the nail with it.

Overall rating: A-.  The price is the only thing standing between the polish and an A+.  I was hoping one Chanel polish would stop my cravings, but I think this has only made it worse.  Black Pearl and Rose Insolent, I'm coming for you next!  You can get this in The States at amazon.com for around $34.  I've seen it all over Spain, but apparently it's selling out in the US, and since it's a limited edition color, get it while you can! 


My little adventure into the world of expensive fairy dust nail polish crack got me thinking.  What other brands had cool (but slightly more affordable) polishes on the market?  I was bouncing around Sephora, and I found Nails Inc.  Hello, new best friend.


Nails Inc Magnetic Polish in Trafalgar Square, $16 at sephora.com, Nails Inc Special Effects Electric Lane Holographic Glitter Top Coat, $10 at sephora.com: At first I was skeptical of this magnetic nail polish thing.  It seemed so expensive and the patterns weren't all that great.  But this Nails Inc version looks amazing (and has great reviews).  It comes in a metallic silver and purple, and while the top coat of the polish dries you hold a magnet in the cap over the nail, and you get a pretty pattern like that one below!  I love the idea of patterned nails, but I am lovely and not all that skilled with nail polish brushes, so this completely fascinates me.  And don't even get me started on the holo top coat.  Basically add one coat of that over your polish to get a finish that's packed with rainbow-colored glitter.  It makes any polish into a holo!  Ack.  I need both of these.

Images via sephora.com.

Review: Orly Red Flare

This hurricane messed up all my plans for the weekend, so I ended up with way too much time on my hands and nothing to do.  Blah.  So I found an excuse to run into town this morning and picked up some polish at CVS.


Orly Polish in Red Flare, $5.70 at amazon.com: I didn't see the need to take swatch pics of this color because it's so basic.  It's a red creme, no shimmer, with orangey-brown undertones.  It looks a bit like blood, actually, brighter in artificial light and more like dried blood in sunlight.  I did my toes with this today and it looks fab.  I really like vampy colors on my toes, and this one is light enough not to be too harsh but still intense enough to have that edgy feel.

Red Flare is a very smooth, pigmented creme.  I find the Orly brush to be a little on the long/skinny side, but Red Flare is very easy to apply.  It goes on smoothly, doesn't bleed, and only takes 2 coats to become opaque--you could probably get away with one thick coat.  It dries to a nice, shiny finish, and if it wears like other Orly polishes, I can get at least 2 weeks of good wear out of it on my toes.


All in all, I really like this color.  It's more interesting and offbeat than a traditional red, but it's still in relatively classic territory, and would look equally great on fingers and toes.  Awkward Chic rating: A+.


Image via monstermarketplace.com.

Review: Zoya Armor Top Coat

So when I did that recent Zoya promotion (buy one get two free), I got two polishes and a Zoya Armor top coat.  


Now, I have a favorite top coat, Seche Vite's fast-drying one.  It dries in seconds and has great wear time and is SO shiny.  So why did I get another one?  Well, Zoya polishes do NOT like 99% of top coats.  Apparently the chemicals in most top coats don't react well with Zoya's more eco-friendly formula.  I heard that the Zoya top coat works perfectly with their polishes, and since I have so many Zoya polishes at this point, I figured that the top coat was a worthwhile investment.


Zoya Armor Top Coat, $7.96 at zoya.com: It's the same price as the polishes, just about $8, and it comes in the same bottle.  I like that, for visual consistency at least. 

As far as topcoat goes, I evaluate it on a couple categories: shine, wear time, drying time, and application.  So, the breakdown:


-Shine: On a scale of 1-10, this gets a 6 for shine.  It's a little better than average, but it's no where near Seche Vite or Sally Hansen territory.  It's definitely not matte and it has a sheen, but this is no mirror/glassy finish.  It's not dull enough that it bothers me so much as to not use it as a top coat, but it's a definite downside to this product.


-Wear time: With Seche Vite and other top coats, I can get about 4 days out of a Zoya manicure before tip wear and chipping start to get to me.  With Zoya's Armour, I can get a 7-8 days before I start jonesing to change my polish (I generally break down before then, but still).  So this has everything else beat when it comes to lasting power.


-Drying time: I'd say the drying time is mediocre.  It's about five minutes before it's dry to the touch and about 30 before I feel safe grabbing things.  That's a bit better than, say, Sally Hansen top coats, but not nearly as fast as Seche Vite top coat.  So it's good, but I've seen better.


-Application: this is a very thin top coat.  On one hand, that's a good thing, because it means the top coat won't get stringy and thick in the bottle as it gets more air exposure (ahem, Seche Vite).  So you can actually use the whole bottle of top coat without it drying out too much.  On the other hand, since it's a thin formula, polish with any glitter or gritty shimmer doesn't feel smooth under this top coat.  Thicker top coats can give you a smooth surface over a glitter polish.  Even with two coats, this can't.


Overall rating: I'd give this a B+.  I wouldn't use it with a non-Zoya polish, but with Zoya polishes it works better than anything else I've used.  So if you have lots of Zoya polishes and wear them a lot, then this is a sound investment.  If you use mostly OPI or Essie, then I'd stick to Seche Vite or Sally Hansen.

Image via zoya.com.

Review: Zoya Roxy Polish

Before you read any further, let me just say that I have had the WORST lighting for taking pictures of nail polish this week.  Like terrible.  These pictures do not do the polish justice at all.  Boo.


Anyways, I got Zoya Roxy with the latest Zoya promo.  The website describes it as "a sheer red-toned purple base loaded with bright purple glitter. A must-have shade for any rock star or glamour girl."


Awful pictures:

I really, really like this polish.  It is such a pretty polish.  I'd say the Zoya description is pretty accurate.  It is on the sheer side, almost a jelly, and it's a medium berry-red purple with fine matching shimmer.  The great thing about this is that the jelly finish makes the glitter seem to float on the nail instead of burying it under the base color.  It is actually the sparkliest polish I own.  It's opaque in two coats and goes on surprisingly easy for a glitter polish, although it does dry a little bumpy.  The wear time and formula are standard for Zoya (5-days and great).

 Overall thoughts: I adore this color.  It's bright and festive and glittery enough to feel girly and fun, but it's not so garish as to be office or age inappropriate.  It's almost a jewel-toned hue, and the glitter definitely adds to that.  I think this would work nicely on most skin tones and if you like sparkly things at all then YOU NEED IT.

Image via zoya.com.

Review: Zoya Neeka Polish

So I did that buy one, get two free Zoya proyo a while back.  I got a top coat (Anchor), Roxy, and Neeka.  Today I've got Neeka to show you all. 


Zoya polish in Neeka, $8 at zoya.com: So Zoya describes Neeka as: "A greyed amethyst with subtle red duochrome shimmer and bright gold glitter accents.? A fascinating, unique shade that manages to be glittery but not too flashy."  I'd say that's about right.  It's a medium, greyed purple (more purple than grey to be sure) with subtle pink shimmer and tiny gold glitter.  It is SO PRETTY.  It's showing up a little washed out here and I could not get the shimmer to show up FOR THE LIFE OF ME.  Stupid rainstorm lighting.  Here's a better swatch.  I adore this color.  It reminds me of Catherine of Aragon from RBL's The Real Housewives of the Tudor Dynasty collection.  That sold out before I could get it, but it was a very similar color--slightly lighter and dustier with a little more shimmer, but very similar.

There's something so regal about this color.  It has the richness from the purple and the elegant, worn-in feeling from the grey, and the glitter adds a fun amount of dimension.  It's almost like the shade of a dress you'd see in Tudor times, and I am all over that.  It's neutral enough to wear to work, but edgy enough to wear out while still staying in pretty category (it's not an unflattering brownie-grey-purple-taupe type polish at all).


As far as application goes, this is a two coater.  It's a little sheer on the first coat, but the second one fixes that up.  It's self-leveling (meaning it doesn't pool on one side of the nail) and easy to use.  The Zoya brush is a little thinner than an OPI brush, but it's not hard to use.  I got average wear with this and the Zoya topcoat, about 5 days, and I think it my nails were less peely I could have gotten even more.


Overall, I ADORE THIS.  It might be in my top five favorite polishes ever. The color is unique, flattering, and just straight up pretty, it's big 4-free (all Zoya polishes are free of the big-4 nasty chemicals), it was basically free with my promo, and it's just amazing.  I'd give this an A+.  Everyone needs to go buy this.  Now.  I mean it.

Who loves free nail polish?

Unless you live under a rock, you've probably heard of the current Zoya promo.  If you have an account with Zoya already (you always need to make an account before they release their promos) you can go to the promo code section and see one for a 'buy one, get two free' code.  You pay for one $8 polish and shipping (comes out to around $14) and you get $24 worth of polish.  Woohoo!  

Zoya Armor Top Coat, $8 at zoya.com: Now what I did (I was very proud of this idea) was get a top coat and 2 polishes.  Zoya is on the eco-friendlier side of polishes, and the polish tends not to work as well with chemical heavy top coats, like my favorite, Seche Vite.  I get average wear time with that top coat.  However, I hear that with the Zoya top coat you can get like 7-9 days before it starts chipping, which is AMAZING.  So I got that.

Zoya Roxy, $8 at zoya.com, Zoya Neeka, $8 at zoya.com: As far as nail polish goes, I got Roxy and Neeka.  Roxy is a sheer red-toned purple base with bright purple glitter.  I have a ton of glitter nail polishes, but none that are medium berries, so obviously I had to buy this.  I like sheer jelly glitters, because they make the glitter seem to float in the polish.  The deepness of the berry gives it a little more maturity than the average glitter, and all the glitter makes it great in a Disney princess kind of way.  And Neeka is a greyed amethyst with subtle red duochrome shimmer and bright gold glitter.  It actually reminds me of Katherine of Aragon by Rescue Beauty Lounge, with it's dusty lavender base with glitter.  I love that the base here is such a soft, pretty, romatic/Jane Austen-approved color, but the red duochrome and gold glitter add a glam, modern twist.

On a totally random note, I was thinking about what to wear to a summer wedding the other day.  And then I realized that other people probably have the same question, so I thought I'd mention it.

J. Crew Arabelle Silk Chiffon Dress, $225 at jcrew.com: J. Crew is the source for wedding/bridesmaid dresses.  I love this little coral number.  The ruching/draping on the bodice is very flattering, as are the cinched waist and sweetheart neckline, and the a-line skirt hides any sins.  You could take this all sweet with a white satin ribbon around the waist and nude peep toe platforms with pearl earrings, or you could take it a little edgier and do a dark grey patent leather belt and peep toe platforms with a statement cuff bracelet.  Either way, it's demure enough for a wedding but still fun enough to make that open bar work for you.

Images via zoya.com, jcrew.com.

My Top 3 Summer Nail Polishes

Ha.  So today my MacBook screen cracked for legitimately no reason.  I touched the screen to adjust it and get rid of glare and now there are like 1000 cracks and tiny pieces of glass are falling out.  NOT COOL, APPLE. NOT COOL.  Of course my parents won't believe that story, and I don't blame them because I wouldn't either, and now I need a new MacBook.  I've been in happier moods.  Let's look at some pretty nail polish.  That should make it better.


I've found that I really change my nail polish preferences based on the season.  I occasionally like to do a vampy color in the summer, but it's mostly bright, punchy oranges/corals/pinks/purples/reds/etc, all cremes, no shimmers (shimmery pink is just too much for me).  I actually have a good 15-20 candidates in that category, but here are my top 3 for the moment.


Essie Vermillionaire, Orly Terracotta, Zoya Areej: We've got the whole range of colors here, orange, coral-red, and pink.  Vermillionaire is a straight-up orange creme.  Not a neon, traffic cone orange, but a more reddish-orange that reminds me of the outside of Creamsicles, which just screams summer.  I'm really not an orange person, I don't even own a piece of orange clothing, but this nail polish with a tan is so great.  This polish makes you look tanner no matter what, but with a tan it screams Mediterranean goddess.  It applies like butter and is opaque in 2 coats with a glossy finish and good wear time (about 5 days for me).  Orly Terracotta is my new go-to polish.  It's a semi-matte, neon, medium coral-pink-red.  That sounds like a lot of colors.  But it totally works.  It's bright enough to be fun and punchy and sassy, but the tone is a very typical coral with pinky-red undertones, so it works in a lot of different situations.  Being matte does make it a little annoying to apply, but if you wait long enough between coats it doesn't get streaky.  With a shiny topcoat it loses the matte effect and looks like any other glossy polish.  What I love about this color is that I can wear it to work, because it's really a coral, but the brightness gives it a little edge.  The wear time is decent, about 4 days (mattes always chip faster for me).  Zoya's Areej is my overall favorite.  I'm wearing it on my fingers AND toes right now (and that never happens).  I get compliments on it every time I wear it.  Areej is a light-to-medium pinky-purple.  It really reminds me of Barbie for some reason, it's extremely girly but still professional, and it's totally appropriate for work but it's still a fun color.  I can get away with one coat this, but two is probably better.  It dries glossy and wears well.

Not pictured is my other favorite, OPI Cajun Shrimp, which I mention so much that I figured it was kind of implied.  It's a poppy red--a red with orange undertones--and it's great.

Images via polyvore.com, amazon.com.

Review: Orly Terracotta

It was really cold today.  And my feet hurt.  So I had to buy myself pink nail polish.  It makes sense in my head.  I've been having a staring contest with Orly Terracotta for a while now, and today I snapped.


Orly Terracotta Nail Polish, $4 at amazon.com: Terracotta is a pinky-red coral neon.  This stuff is bright.  In comparison with my other neon, Essie's Pink Parka, Terracotta is darker and more saturated.  It's definitely not a Terracotta color though (when I think of Terracotta I think of orangey-brown with a hint of red), but it walks the line between pink and coral nicely and has a nice amount of punch.  It fills a gap in my nail polish collection because I have pinks and I have corals but I didn't have bright pinky-corals.  Hurrah!

As far as application goes, it is a neon--I should know this by now--so it has more of a matte finish.  It's not as matte as Essie's Pink Parka, which is straight up 100% matte, but it only has a slight sheen.  The plus side of that is that it dries pretty quickly, but the downside is that it does drag and can go on streaky.  One coat of top coat and a steady application with fix that problem right up!  I can't comment on wear time yet since I just put it on literally an hour ago, but it looks so good.  It's fun and bright and girly and just a little ridiculous while still being wearable.

The formula is thin but workable, and nicely pigmented.  It's a bit of a jelly, so it's on the sheerer side of pigmented and it has that squishy look on the nail.  It also has no shimmer, glitter, pearl, anything.  I love coral jellys because they feel so light and fresh and tropical--like guava juice!


Awkward Chic Rating A-: Taking a few points off for the matte-ness and difficulty of application, the color is great and I trust Orly's durability.

Images via hairtrade.com.

Pretty Chairs and Girly Nail Polish

Today was a girly day.  Or, really, more of a 'I'm done with finals and need to save my brain by watching 100 episodes of Say Yes to the Dress' kind of day.  Here's what happens when you push my brain to the crazy point and then fill it with wedding dresses:

Essie Mademoiselle, $3.25 at amazon.com: I legitimately never wear light pink nail polish.  I'll occassionally do a medium pink, but a light, girly pink?  Nope.  But this past week I've been dealing with a lot of stress from finals, and I have been watching a ridiculous amount of Say Yes to the Dress (putting that on instant view was the worst thing NetFlix ever did to me) and I had this epic craving for a bridal nail polish.  And then I remembered that I had an old bottle of Essie Mademoiselle from high school, so I took a study break today and gave myself a manicure.  Mademoiselle was perfect.  It is a very pale, milky sheer pink cream.  On the nails it has a bit of a squishy, jelly texture from the sheerness, and the color comes out as the lightest imaginable pink.  It's one step up from a 'my nails or better' shade in that you're obviously wearing polish but it's a very natural and flattering shade.  I need 3 coats for coverage, and it applies wonderfully.  So if you're looking for a subtle, very light pink, I highly recommend this.

Highback Chair, $69.99 at ebay.com: The highlight of my day today wasn't finishing 2 papers.  It was finding this chair on eBay.  I know I posted a while ago about finding the perfect armchair for my room next year at Target, but IT SOLD OUT.  I was so upset this morning.  But I think it was one of those things where the universe was telling me that I had better options, because then I found this little guy on eBay.  Basically it's from an eBay seller than makes a ton of really affordable upholstered furniture, and recovers it in the fabric of your choosing.  And with shipping it's just over $100.  Such a win.  I want a slipper chair for my desk/vanity in my room, and this is perfect.  I'm going to spray-paint the legs a glossy black.

Here are my two favorite fabrics.  I'm probably getting the black floral with the pink birds because IT'S SO CUTE.  The print is the ideal mix of glam, baroque, and modern sassy, which is exactly what I'm going for, and the black with the pops of pink fits into my color scheme perfectly.  However I also totally love this modern, clean, preppy pink/white zig zag print.  It's so retro-chic.

Images via ebay.com, premierprints.com.

Review: Essie Pink Parka

This nail polish is an interesting story.  After getting my nails done with a neon pink Essie a week or so ago, I was craving for a neon of my own.  I stumbled across Essie Pink Parka and it looked so vibrant in the swatches that I had to have it.  Well, none of those swatches mentioned that it was a MATTE.  Yep, a matte nail polish.  Apparently something about the pigment used in neon polishes makes the finish matte.  Ugh.  I strongly dislike matte polish.  It makes my feel like my finger nails are dirty and gross.  I am not a fan.  However, there is a somewhat happy end to the story, so keep on reading.


Pink Parka is from Essie's Fall 2009 collection and is apparently discontinued.  However it's very easy to find on eBay and Amazon.  I got it for about $7 with shipping, and since Essie is $8 in stores it was a pretty good deal.  It is a straight up neon pink creme.  So neon that it actually glows in the dark (well not really, but I'm pretty sure it could if it wanted to).  These pictures were taken out of direct sunlight on a cloudy day, and that's how bright Pink Parka is.  There is actually no way it could be brighter or more neon.

As for the application...ugh.  Matte nail polishes dry very, very quickly.  This means that if you pick up a normal amount of polish on the brush, half the nail will be dry before you finish painting the other half, and your nails will end up looking chalky and streaky.  You need to pick up a lot of polish on the brush and paint as quickly as possible to get an even coat, and you're still going to have to do at least 2 and probably 3 coats.  And then it has a very matte finish that can only be remedied with 2 coats of a super shiny top coat, like Seche Vite.  The one plus side to the whole matte thing is that this polish dries SUPER fast, and the matte finish can be defeated with some top coat.

So what's the verdict?  I'm going this polish a B.  I love, love, love the color, but the matte finish is a killer and the application is a pain.  I think the wear time is going to be average--on day 3 I have slight wear around the edges.  So all in all, this color is worthwhile if you want something truly neon and have the patience to deal with the finish and application.

Essie, China Glaze, and Barbie

Sorry for not blogging on Friday!  It was Relay for Life at my school, which is a 12 hour relay for the American Cancer Society, so I was doing that instead.  Everyone should do it if it's available at your school, because it's really fun and it's a great cause!


Anyways, on a more frivolous note, I got my nails did this weekend in some pretty fab colors.  On my toes I have Essie's Flirty Fuchsia.  I really wanted something obnoxiously neon on my toes to make me feel cheerful and summery since the Boston weather has been so terrible, and I love me some pink, so neon pink it was.  I LOVE THIS COLOR.  It's just bright enough to be noticeable, but it's not glaring, and it's actually a pretty flattering color.  It went on nicely in 2 coats.  Another alternative to Flirty Fuchsia is Essie's Pink Parka.

Now on my fingers I got China Glaze's Stella.  These pictures came out so wrong.  It's such a pretty color in real life.  It's a medium-dark vibrant purple with bright pink shimmer.  Out of direct light it's a pretty vampy purple, but when it catches the light that pink shimmer comes out and it becomes this fun, bright warm purple.  It's just a really happy, pretty color that I wish I had in my polish collection.  It covered nicely in 2 coats as well.  I always get things named Stella because it was the name of my first blog and it's also the name of one of my sorority's founders. :)

For some reason I can NOT get this video to center.  Someone made a life-size scale model of what Barbie would look like if her proportions were scaled up to normal human size, and it is truly terrifying.  She wouldn't be able to standard and her organs wouldn't be able to fit in her body.  It says a lot about the unrealistic body expectations we develop as kids, huh?  I wouldn't WANT to look like Barbie.  Barbie looks grotesque--and the Bratz dolls aren't much better.  It's about time that we get some normal-sized, non-sluttified dolls for girls to play with, no?