Guest Post: Manicure Monday

Hey, y'all. Long time no see! I'm having a blast in Turkey and Berlin (particularly today, as it is my birthday!!), hence the total dereliction of my blogging duties. Today's post is brought to you by one of my dear friends Z, a talented artist, hilarious storyteller, and all-around great person. Enjoy!

Happy Manicure Monday!  I'm one of Amy's college friends.  I don't wear a lot of makeup but I do share Amy's passion for nail polish.  I usually prefer cremes, which is why the manicure I'm about to endorse is such an unusual choice for me.

I have creme polishes in a range of colors, but my favorites are deep nudes and dusty pinks.  Thus it makes sense that when I branch out into something more shiny, I go for colors that harmonize with my skin tone.  Sally Hansen Firefly fits the bill.  It's a gorgeously restrained duochrome that shifts subtly from rose to light olive-gold, hitting different notes of copper on the way.  I thought Firefly would be too warm for my coloring but it worked surprisingly well on me.

I love nail polish because I love color - every time I go to the drugstore I get sidetracked by the nail polish displays.  I had been eyeing Essie Stroke of Brilliance since it first came out:  the combination of a calm periwinkle-gray hue and a bold sparkly texture immediately stood out to me.

This morning the magic happened - two coats of Firefly followed by a coat of S.O.B. (heh) and an additional layer of clear topcoat.  I had to dab extra sparkles on a goodly number of nails, but I can imagine a more laid-back person not needing to do this.  My nails were drying for a long time, but it was so worth it.  I love the contrast of the colors up close and the sparkly lilac effect they create from a distance.  It's a perfect "I'm-on-vacation" manicure, full of bright light and texture.

Awesome, right? Now I need to get my hands on Firefly, stat. What are your favorite unexpected color combinations?

Sunscreen Saturday: Boscia Self-Defense Vital Antioxidant Moisture SPF 30

The last of my little sunscreen samples that are here in Turkey with me! Also, hi, sorry I've been utterly lax at posting––I've been writing rather massive posts for my other blog and haven't wanted to write for this blog, too. But don't worry! I still love you guys! And I'll be back with semi-interesting content at some point. For now, here are my thoughts on this sunscreen.

via Sephora

It's good stuff. It's very lightweight and liquidy, though not quite runny, and it absorbs quickly. It doesn't break me out nor contribute to oiliness and it plays well under makeup. I wish it had higher SPF (at 30, it's the lowest of the ones I brought with me), but it supposedly has antioxidants that are good for...something, though I always take those claims with a big heap of salt.

It's not particularly cheap, at $36 for 1.4 oz, but I will gladly use up my sample and put this on my list of sunscreens I'd be willing to purchase (on sale, natch). Available from Sephora!

Have you tried any Boscia sunscreens? How do you feel about grandiose skincare claims?

MAC Plumful Review and Swatches

After an emotional session with my therapist, I decided to indulge in some retail therapy. I was going to get a Dior lip gloss, but couldn't decide on a shade, and decided to wander over to the MAC counter to look for an MLBB lipstick. I did some swatching and settled on Plumful, a lustre lipstick. I was ecstatic at the reasonable-to-current-me $15 price tag (oh, how times have changed), and the sheer plummy pink was exactly the kind of color I was looking for.

What a Beauty Blogger Considers "Traveling Light"

Is probably not what normal people do. But hey! At least I didn't bring my complete collection.

It's going to be hot and humid everywhere I'll be, so I brought base products that hang around for dear life: MAC Matchmaster 1, Face Atelier Zero Minus (to add to Matchmaster so that it actually, y'know, matches my skin––I'll try to review this for reals at some point), Meow Sleek Siamese Flawless, Make Up For Ever Full Cover Concealer 1 Pink Porcelain, and Ben Nye Neutral Set.

clockwise from top right: Meow Sleek Siamese (in my own jar),
Ben Nye Neutral Set (ditto), Face Atelier Zero Minus, MAC
Matchmaster 1, MUFE Full Cover 1

Manicure Monday

I found these photos on my computer and realized I hadn't posted about this polish yet! The polish in question: Zoya Miranda Pixie Dust.

I picked up Miranda and Liberty at Ulta when I was in Salem, the former for myself and the latter for Amanda. I've been wanting more "traditional" nail shades, as pink is, but the unorthodox finish made it interesting enough to appeal to my novelty-seeking self. You're supposed to do thin coats on bare nails with no top coat, but I put on Deborah Lippmann Hard Rock as a base coat and it worked fine. I wore it without top coat the first day, shown below:

In the shade

In the sun

Ditto

All photos are two coats, letting dry a few minutes between layers.

Off We Go!

I write this sitting in the Portland airport, waiting for my (redeye, ugh) flight to New York. I had the best of intentions for writing a pre-trip post, complete with all the beauty supplies I'm bringing with me, but ran out of time to take photographs (the whole thing is written, though, darn). I'll try to get to it sometime next week!

In case anyone doesn't already know, I'm going to be in Turkey and Berlin for a few weeks with the boy––sightseeing and researcher visiting in Turkey, conference presenting and birthday having in Berlin––after a week in NYC. I'll be back home August 14, but until then, I'll be keeping a travel blog, Still A Hungry Linguist, which you're welcome to follow if you're so inclined, though I'll be posting anything beauty-related on here. Reviews and such will probably slow down a lot, but I will try to post whenever I have something relevant! I'm just giddy at the thought of all the new brands I'll get to explore...

What are your travel necessities? Have you been to Turkey/do you have any suggestions for places to go? 

Quick Review: Korres Quince Lip Butter

I've been wanting to try Korres' lip butters for years, but never got around to it. Until I was in Sephora, and they had 4 shades to try, and I had 15% off, and I figured why not. I debated between the deep red Wild Rose and the lighter, warmer pink Quince, and obviously decided on the latter. I figured I had enough reds already, and I wanted something "natural" but pretty.

It gets smudgy after you've used it for a bit. Sorry.

Manicure Monday

It's quite remarkable how much work there is to do before leaving the country for a month––who knew?! So even though I had topics for Sunscreen and Skincare Saturday, neither ended up happening. Whoops! But here's a couple more of the Color Club Halo Hues shades, taken with my phone because that's what all the cool kids do, right? Right.

Starting with the less-good picture, here's Color Club Miss Bliss. It's a pink holo, very pigmented and holographic, with noticeably lilac undertones. It's very pretty, quite girly, and have I mentioned the rainbows?!

2 coats