There aint' no cure

...for the summertime blues. Happy Sunday, Kitschies! I hope you're enjoying your Sunday. Sunday in the H household means chores. Fun! It's barely noon and I've made breakfast (Canadian Pancakes - YUMM!), cleaned the kitchen, taken a shower, helped the kid (read: brat) clean his room, vacuumed said room, swept off the back patio and started laundry. And that's on top of vacuuming most of the house yesterday afternoon and finishing last week's ironing last night. It's time to take a break. Besides, it's almost time for lunch.

We did not have the greatest day yesterday. Nate (almost 4) was a complete brat. We went to lunch at Lumpy's Burgers in Albuquerque (sort of a business call for the hubs). They have great burgers and you get to pick your potato (or sweet potato) and they chop it up and fry them for you fresh. So good!! Anyway, it was time to eat lunch and Nate threw a huge fit (screaming at the top of his lungs, arms and legs flailing) because I told him it was time to put the Crayons away and eat. Long story short: I picked him up and we sat in the car until the hubs and Mason finished their lunch. That big fit threw me in to a funk. Later that afternoon, the hubs went grocery shopping and I stayed home while the boys "napped". While lurking the beauty blogs, I came across Nailstah's post with Claire's Mood Polish. Hey! I have that polish and I love it (well, sorta) - just the thing to help me with this funk.

When first applied (and in the bottle), Claire's Mood Polish in Mild/Wild is purple with silver sparkle. Pretty just like that.

Then, when it gets warm, it turns a pretty petal pink. Also with sparkle. This picture was taken outside after sitting in the sun for just a few minutes.

Since it's a "mood" polish, it changes color depending on the temperature. This is after being outside then coming indoors where it was cooler. Notice the tips changing back to purple. This is how my nails usually look with this polish.

And then sometimes, it's the reverse. The cool purple over the nail beds and warm pink over the tips. This happened after opening the lid of the BBQ grill.

I want to love this polish. I really, really do. But...application is the suck! This is at least 4 coats to even out all the bald spots and bumps. The formula is also the suck. Very gloppy. It dries really fast and it dries to a satin finish. The finished mani looks good, but like all good things, it does not last. I applied this polish yesterday around 3:00. By this morning, it was already a chipped mess (and that's without the usual abuse to my hands). However, this did help to bring me out of my funk a little. Funny how the little things have such a great impact. So, a big hug of thanks to Annie at Nailstah. You helped my day get a little brighter!

Take this job and...

...be thankful you have it. LOL I like my job. I can't imagine working any place else. I'm pretty lucky to work with some pretty wonderful people. Really. It's been kinda slow today, so I thought I'd do a little post to speed the time along a bit. I only have to make it through today and then I'm FREE for a week!!! Can't wait!!

Don't forget to sign up for a chance at my giveaway. Entries are accepted through today.

Just a little side note before I begin this little post of mine, I just want to comment about LOST. If you're not a fan, or if you haven't watched the series finale yet, you might want to skip down to the next paragraph. DH and I watched the series finale last night. I have had a love-hate relationship with this dang show for the last couple seasons. The first two seasons were SO good and then it got...weird. And confusing. After pretty much every episode, I would turn to DH and say WTH just happened?! I know I'm not alone. However, I really like how it ended, though I figured out where it was going about half-way through the episode. But that didn't matter because I enjoyed seeing each of the characters meet up with their match. I cried SO much!! I think the one that got to me the most was Sun and Jin - and that's mostly because of the way they killed them off. I am *still* upset about that one! How can you separate them for a majority of the season and then an episode after they're reunited...KILL THEM BOTH?! At least they died together. *sigh* I was a little sad that Hurley didn't meet up with his match, but I like how they gave him purpose to keep him on the island. BUT...if he had purpose to stay on the island, what was he doing in the "church" at the end? And if he did die (everybody dies), who took his place on the island? Or is that why Ben stayed behind? Poor Ben. I don't think he's found his purpose yet. Oh, and I'm really glad Jack's match FINALLY ended up being Kate. I liked Kate and Sawyer together, but she was just meant to be with Jack. We watched the Jimmy Kimmel Live special, too, and agree with Jimmy. Everybody has a test in this life and LOST was about Jack's test. And I love the last scene. I'm going to miss the show, but I'm glad it's finished.

OK. Enough rambling. On to the post.

I picked up Orly Blue Collar the other day while on the hunt for a blue creme. This a really pretty blue creme that is kinda camera shy. One time it shows as robin egg blue, the next it's darker. In real light it's a pretty sky blue. The formula is consistent with Orly and I didn't have any trouble with application. I had great coverage after 2 coats, but I went with one more just for the heck of it.

With flash

No flash - indoor lighting (more true to color)

And to mix things up, I used Claire's Mean Green on both of my ring fingers. You should've heard people's reaction! They thought I made a mistake. LOL Come on, people! I'm just trying to give you a little something different to look at. I did get lots of compliments on my mani and I like that. Don't get me wrong...I do my nails for me, but it's nice when other people notice them, too. Today is day 2 with this mani and Blue Collar is holding up well. No chips, cracks or tip wear. Mean Green, however, is a different story. Oh, in case you didn't know...I. HATE. NEON. (See the bald spot on there? That's after 4 coats of color and 2 coats of topcoat!!) Both fingers of green have a couple chips each and since I did this to complement my pedi, I noticed one of my toenails have already chipped half off. The polish. Not the nail. LOL I love this green color and am hoping I can match it to a non neon color. *fingerscrossed*

Do you have a favorite blue? Green? And if you're a LOST-ie...what did you think of the finale?

Listening to: Automatic by Pointer Sisters (OMG look at those dresses)
Mood: happy

Whistle while you work!

Happy Wednesday, Kitschies!! Why whistle? Because I'd get in trouble if I yelled (at work).

I hope your week has been good so far. It's been the usual here: get up, get ready, drop kids off at grandma's, go to work, pick kids up from grandma's, go home, have dinner, collapse and go to bed. Lather, rinse, repeat. I will, however, have a change of pace starting on Saturday. My mom, dad and sister will be coming to visit from Cali. I can't wait!! We saw my parents in February, but I haven't seen my lil sis since July last year! They're coming to visit and to help celebrate Mason's first birthday. I can NOT believe Mr Mason is almost 1 year old. *sigh* It goes by much, much too quickly.

Enough of the stroll down memory lane. On to the point. I had a point? Wait. Oh, yeah. Over the last couple of weeks, I've added quite a few new friends to my polish stash. It is quickly becoming a collection (much to the dismay of my dear husband). This post will review my new lovelies.

First up: Goodies from Dollar Tree. I heard through the grapevine, that some Dollar Tree stores, the larger ones, carry some older discontinued products. I knew the one near my office was pretty big, so I checked it out. Low and behold, look what I found!

From L to R: LA Colors Art Deco nail art lacquer in red glitter, Maybelline Express Finish in Shooting Stars and LA Colors Art Deco nail art lacquer in silver. Not pictured is LA Colors Art Deco nail art lacquer in gold glitter.

What's great about these is they were just a buck!! Are they old? Probably. Are they still good? Yep. I haven't used the nail art bottles yet, but I plan on playing with them soon. I did, however, use Shooting Stars over ChG Spontaneous. But wouldn't you know it? I took that off last night before I remembered to take a picture. Shooting Stars is holographic micro glitter with thin metallic blue glitter mixed in in a clear base. Really pretty over a bold color. I think if you used multiple (say, 4 or more) coats, it would be ok on it's own. As for it's Express Finish claim. Bogus!! On the upside, the finish is not very bumpy considering it's a glitter. One coat of Diamond Dry and it was smooth.

Next is a little Claire's purchase. I've been drooling over everybody's mood polish posts, so I broke down and picked one up this last weekend. And of course I had to get two because it was buy one, get the second 50% off. I don't know if that's an ongoing thing, but who wants to chance it? LOL Any little justification to add to the collection is good with me.

L to R: Claire's Mood nail polish in Calm/Wild and Claire's nail polish in Mean Green.

I'm excited to try the mood polish. I was going to do this as my next mani, but I had just worn a similar shade of purple so I decided to give that one a reprieve until next time. Now for Mean Green. I. HATE. NEON. Really. I hate it with a passion. I put this on my toes on Sunday. LOVE it on my toes. But my toes don't see much daylight, so spotty application doesn't matter all that much. I hate that it dries...matte...I guess that's what you'd call a neon finish. With a topcoat applied, it's not bad, though. BUT...I decided I'd mix it up a bit and do one finger of my current mani in conjunction with Orly Blue Collar. I. HATE. NEON. It sucks because I love the color. It's a pretty minty green neon. The application is HORRIBLE. I applied 3 coats and still had blad spots. I applied a topcoat and was still pretty disappointed with the bald spot, so I applied another coat on top of the topcoat and it STILL isn't completely covered. Grrrrr!! I'll be posting about the mani tomorrow. The color: great. The formula/application: horrible. :(

Now a little bit of happiness. I've made a couple of trips to Sally Beauty. Their discount club card is a dangerous weapon...must use responsibly. :)

L to R: small glass cup, Orly Blue Collar, Finger Paints Gossamer White, ChG Blue Sparrow, Sally Girl neon pink, ChG Designer Satin and Diamond Dry topcoat.

The little glass cup is to help with clean up. I have a big bottle of acetone and pretty soon the brush isn't going to reach to the liquid without me dropping it in. Orly Blue Collar is SO pretty. It's a bright blue creme that reminds me of The Simpson's sky in their intro. In the pic it looks more Smurf-like, but it's deeper than it pictured. I did a mani with this color (along side Claire's Mean Green) and I love how it turned out. I'll post about that tomorrow. Finger Paints Gossamer is a pretty sheer pale pink that I plan on using with French manis. Blue Sparrow. Blue Sparrow. You're so pretty in the bottle. But, have I mentioned...I. HATE. NEON. I had high hopes for this one, but I should've put it back. I debated over this one for a while and then decided to go for it. SO disappointed. Not only does it dry that weird neon matte, it's bumpy, too, because of the glitter. A topcoat helps a little with the finish, but it's still so bumpy. To add insult to injury, this chipped on at least 3 nails before I even got out of the house. Neon pink. 'Nuf said about that one. May use it on my toes eventually. Designer Satin = my signature color. I blogged about this one last week. Here's the LINK for that one. In short, love the color, the formula is consistently good like most ChG and the wear is excellent. Finally, Dimaond Dry. I got this because Sally's is having a buy 2 ChG and get Diamond Dry topcoat free. I'm always in the market for a good topcoat and this was fast-drying, so why not?! I used this last night - I really like it. I really sped the drying process. I didn't have those annoying sheet prints when I woke up this morning, so that's a score in my book. And they're pretty shiny. Score two!

So, girls and boys. What have we learned today? I. HATE. NEON. ChG has some great colors. I found the blue creme I was searching for. Dollar Tree has some great deals on old-ish polish. Oh, and...I. HATE. NEON.

Listening to: Can't Fight This Feeling by REO Speedwagon
Mood: industrious