Well, this is my last night on the East Coast. I am really looking forward to being home again and getting real hugs (rather than the phone/text/email version). My friends and family have been so amazingly supportive and wonderful during this (rather dark, #Iamemo) time of my life. I don't know what I would do without you all, and I am so, so grateful to have you by my side (not literally, sadly, but thank heavens for technology!).
I'm still a big mess of emotions, primarily sadness, anger, and confusion, but writing about it has helped a lot. I'm always more articulate in text than speech, though equally verbose, and it's really good for me to get all my thoughts out somewhere so I'm not just ruminating on them in my mind. I'm lucky to have people in my life who are willing to read my emotional ramblings and help me sort through everything, and the support and comments I've gotten have helped immensely.
But, of course, there's nothing that can't be made better by retail therapy! Yesterday I spent a lot of time looking at product swatches online, because there's nothing like pretty lipsticks and nail polish to take your mind off your bone-crushing sadness (at least, if you're a beauty junkie like me!). The internet is a wonderful resource when you need retail therapy but can't bring yourself to face the world.
On Monday, after the break-up, during one of my times of relative calm and vision capacity, I saw that Imperfectly Painted (aka Steph) was having a blog sale, so I hopped right on over and found a few polishes I wanted. One, Cult Nails Cruisin' Nude, had already been claimed by the time I sent my email in, but I was still able to nab Rescue Beauty Lounge Piú Mosso (regularly $18, got it for $11; this is a brand I've been wanting to try, and this shade in particular, so I was thrilled to get it!) and Zoya Zara ($3.50 for 80%+ full bottle, regularly $8; another brand I've been wanting to try). All told, including shipping, it cost me $17––way more than I would usually pay for two bottles of polish, but $9 less than they would cost retail, and I will always treasure scoring them as a bright happy spot in an otherwise miserable day.
Beauty Bay, a European website, is offering free worldwide shipping this week, and I browsed their selection of nail polish brands that aren't readily accessible in the US. I considered several Models Own Pro nail polishes, but at $10 a bottle, I couldn't quite justify picking one up (especially since there were none that just screamed to me). Mavala, a Swiss brand, makes tiny bottles of polish in all sorts of colors, which are a (relatively) cheap $4 a bottle. Admittedly, they're only 0.17 oz, but given how frequently I change/get bored with my nail polish, I'm sure they'll be plenty large enough. I ordered 5, and will be swatching and reviewing them as soon as they arrive (probably in a few weeks, darn international shipping). I was sorely tempted by the Nails Inc. The In Crowd Mini Collection, with 15 teeny bottles (.135 oz), but at $45, it was just too much for me to justify. Fortunately, Nails Inc. is now available at Sephora, and I hope to try them out at some point!
I saw on Twitter yesterday that you can get 2 free nail polishes from Zoya with code ZOYA2012. Sure, I'm already looking forward to Zara, but with standard shipping, which is $6.95, it works out to less than $3.50 for 2 new Zoya polishes of your choice. How was I supposed to refuse that? There are a staggering amount of Zoya polishes that I want, but I ended up deciding on two that are pretty tame, since I figured they're what my collection is most lacking. Pandora is a nude-pink cream, very office-appropriate and way more boring than I would usually go for, but I do need a nice nude, and the pinkness in this one will keep it from clashing with my skin. Neeka is, in Zoya's words, "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." It looks awesome. All of their polishes have female names (though some of them, like Neeka, are names not usually encountered in the wild), but as yet, there is no Amy. Fingers crossed that one comes along soon!
Lastly, I managed to get myself out of the hotel today and took the bus down to a nearby mall. I wasn't expecting to actually find anything there (besides a book, though sadly they didn't have the one I wanted––I got Slaughterhouse Five instead), since I tend to hate clothes shopping and there was no Sephora, but I knew it would be good for me to be out in the real world again. As luck would have it, Saks Off Fifth (Saks Fifth Avenue's discount branch) had a whole slew of makeup from The Cosmetics Company (source of discount discontinued makeup, including MAC, Estee Lauder, and Clinique), including several shades of MAC Mega Metal eyeshadows, released January '11. Christine from Temptalia raved about these shadows, but I missed out on them at the time (in part because $19.50 for a shadow seemed too steep, and in part because I wasn't nearly as obsessive about makeup then as now) and thought they would be forever lost to me. I was tempted by Tweet Me, an awesome tangerine with gold shimmer, but knew it would be a hard color for me to wear, so ended up opting for Dalliance, a metallic pewter. I haven't tried wearing it yet, and I wasn't able to take a picture of it, but I will do a full post on it once I've had the chance to play around with it (we'll call it "an eyeshadow you can't have", in honor of Pink Sith).
So, yes. Lots of shopping, online and off. It's helped distract me from the clusterfuck that is my thoughts right now, and will provide a lot of content for the blog in the weeks/months to come. I apologize for how polish-heavy it is, but I promise to include other kinds of products as I acquire them so you don't get too bored!
And, in case you didn't bother reading all that blabbering: BeautyBay.com has free worldwide shipping this week. Check them out for hard-to-find British/European brands. Get 2 Zoya polishes for the price of shipping with code ZOYA2012. I don't know when that promotion ends, so I suggest going sooner rather than later!
Do you ever indulge in retail therapy? What products do you tend to gravitate towards? I know many women have a penchant for buying shoes...
I'm still a big mess of emotions, primarily sadness, anger, and confusion, but writing about it has helped a lot. I'm always more articulate in text than speech, though equally verbose, and it's really good for me to get all my thoughts out somewhere so I'm not just ruminating on them in my mind. I'm lucky to have people in my life who are willing to read my emotional ramblings and help me sort through everything, and the support and comments I've gotten have helped immensely.
But, of course, there's nothing that can't be made better by retail therapy! Yesterday I spent a lot of time looking at product swatches online, because there's nothing like pretty lipsticks and nail polish to take your mind off your bone-crushing sadness (at least, if you're a beauty junkie like me!). The internet is a wonderful resource when you need retail therapy but can't bring yourself to face the world.
On Monday, after the break-up, during one of my times of relative calm and vision capacity, I saw that Imperfectly Painted (aka Steph) was having a blog sale, so I hopped right on over and found a few polishes I wanted. One, Cult Nails Cruisin' Nude, had already been claimed by the time I sent my email in, but I was still able to nab Rescue Beauty Lounge Piú Mosso (regularly $18, got it for $11; this is a brand I've been wanting to try, and this shade in particular, so I was thrilled to get it!) and Zoya Zara ($3.50 for 80%+ full bottle, regularly $8; another brand I've been wanting to try). All told, including shipping, it cost me $17––way more than I would usually pay for two bottles of polish, but $9 less than they would cost retail, and I will always treasure scoring them as a bright happy spot in an otherwise miserable day.
Beauty Bay, a European website, is offering free worldwide shipping this week, and I browsed their selection of nail polish brands that aren't readily accessible in the US. I considered several Models Own Pro nail polishes, but at $10 a bottle, I couldn't quite justify picking one up (especially since there were none that just screamed to me). Mavala, a Swiss brand, makes tiny bottles of polish in all sorts of colors, which are a (relatively) cheap $4 a bottle. Admittedly, they're only 0.17 oz, but given how frequently I change/get bored with my nail polish, I'm sure they'll be plenty large enough. I ordered 5, and will be swatching and reviewing them as soon as they arrive (probably in a few weeks, darn international shipping). I was sorely tempted by the Nails Inc. The In Crowd Mini Collection, with 15 teeny bottles (.135 oz), but at $45, it was just too much for me to justify. Fortunately, Nails Inc. is now available at Sephora, and I hope to try them out at some point!
I saw on Twitter yesterday that you can get 2 free nail polishes from Zoya with code ZOYA2012. Sure, I'm already looking forward to Zara, but with standard shipping, which is $6.95, it works out to less than $3.50 for 2 new Zoya polishes of your choice. How was I supposed to refuse that? There are a staggering amount of Zoya polishes that I want, but I ended up deciding on two that are pretty tame, since I figured they're what my collection is most lacking. Pandora is a nude-pink cream, very office-appropriate and way more boring than I would usually go for, but I do need a nice nude, and the pinkness in this one will keep it from clashing with my skin. Neeka is, in Zoya's words, "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." It looks awesome. All of their polishes have female names (though some of them, like Neeka, are names not usually encountered in the wild), but as yet, there is no Amy. Fingers crossed that one comes along soon!
Lastly, I managed to get myself out of the hotel today and took the bus down to a nearby mall. I wasn't expecting to actually find anything there (besides a book, though sadly they didn't have the one I wanted––I got Slaughterhouse Five instead), since I tend to hate clothes shopping and there was no Sephora, but I knew it would be good for me to be out in the real world again. As luck would have it, Saks Off Fifth (Saks Fifth Avenue's discount branch) had a whole slew of makeup from The Cosmetics Company (source of discount discontinued makeup, including MAC, Estee Lauder, and Clinique), including several shades of MAC Mega Metal eyeshadows, released January '11. Christine from Temptalia raved about these shadows, but I missed out on them at the time (in part because $19.50 for a shadow seemed too steep, and in part because I wasn't nearly as obsessive about makeup then as now) and thought they would be forever lost to me. I was tempted by Tweet Me, an awesome tangerine with gold shimmer, but knew it would be a hard color for me to wear, so ended up opting for Dalliance, a metallic pewter. I haven't tried wearing it yet, and I wasn't able to take a picture of it, but I will do a full post on it once I've had the chance to play around with it (we'll call it "an eyeshadow you can't have", in honor of Pink Sith).
So, yes. Lots of shopping, online and off. It's helped distract me from the clusterfuck that is my thoughts right now, and will provide a lot of content for the blog in the weeks/months to come. I apologize for how polish-heavy it is, but I promise to include other kinds of products as I acquire them so you don't get too bored!
And, in case you didn't bother reading all that blabbering: BeautyBay.com has free worldwide shipping this week. Check them out for hard-to-find British/European brands. Get 2 Zoya polishes for the price of shipping with code ZOYA2012. I don't know when that promotion ends, so I suggest going sooner rather than later!
Do you ever indulge in retail therapy? What products do you tend to gravitate towards? I know many women have a penchant for buying shoes...
