When I take a break from the dark side

I turn to this bottle...

This is Grunge from Rescue Beauty Lounge. Grunge is not what you think it would be. Okay when I think of what a grunge nail polish shade would be I think either a dark army green or any other dark color best worn chipped. This color is quite the opposite. It's like a mushroom grey with pink in it. It's understated yet fashionable enough to get noticed - I receive lots of compliments when I wear this. I've also seen this on other bloggers and it can varies by skin tone - it can go either more on the pink side or in my case...grey/beige/a bit of mauve? I know it's a weird mash-up but it just works.

Nevertheless, it blends lovely with my skin tone (NC42)

If I get my nails done professionally, this can last up to 4 or 5 days (if I'm careful, of course) but if I do it myself I am lucky to get 2-3 days wear time. It still lasts longer on my nails than a Chanel polish. This one goes on a bit streaky, so I two thick layers or sometimes three if I am painting my nails myself.

Sadly, you can only purchase Rescue Beauty Lounge polishes online or if you are in NYC consider yourself lucky - you have two salons you can visit! Sign up for the newsletter and you get to learn about the 50% off sale - I think this happens only once a year? I could be wrong. I was able to add 3 more shades to my collection. I am counting down the days till this shade is back in stock.

I bought this bottle the last time I was in NYC and the owner Ji Baek was kind to show me the Real Housewives of Tudor Dynasty Fall Collection - I picked up Catherine, a purple, pewter with blue/fuschia shimmer. I need to paint my nails that shade again once I'm over my 'greige' nail moment.

Retails for $18/bottle. From my experience, they ship pretty quick and efficiently.

http://www.rescuebeauty.com/

mmm...cupcakes...and my last MAC fail for the time being.

I baked these chocolate cupcakes with black raspberry buttercream frosting for my cousin's birthday party. Yes, I ate more than my share and I'm prepping myself to go back out to the track for a 3 mile run...ugh, so not looking forward to it but I have to remember my Bay to Breaker training - 12 K (7.46 miles) run through SF in May.
I hope you are having a wonderful weekend. I had dinner/drinks with my sisters Friday night and it was great to reconnect and have quality sister time. I don't have a booze review because this time I played it safe and ordered my new favorite and simple cocktail, Hendrick's Gin and Tonic. I was in no mood to drink day-glo cocktails this time. Saturday was family time and after my run today, I think I have just one errand to run and that's it. I love low-key, do nothing weekends, don't you? It's important to have some quiet time before facing a full work week - BOO, I miss the Holidays already!

Okay so here's my last MAC fail (for now):
I love a good paint pot - I own four: Bare Study, Rubenesque, Groundwork, and Indianwood. They are great eyeshadow bases and when I am feeling lazy on the weekends it's a lovely wash of color on my lids. So you know I was super excited to see new paint pots from the Cham-Pale collection. These were limited edition of course.

Oh, limited collection, that phrase will send a MAC fanatic to lose her mind and travel all over the city just to find it. Well this time I worked in a team this time around. I was helping a friend pick colors for an eye look for a NYE party and when we both swatched Dangerous Cuvee we were in heaven and of course you hear those dreadful words, "Sorry, we're sold out....it's a limited edition!"




(Dangerous Cuvee in it's lovely frosty cool grey glory)



(I love the way it looks swatched on my arm - NC42/LM Tinted moisturizer - CARAMEL)

 
DRATS!

So my friend went to a freestanding MAC store on the way back to her place and yes, success - she scored two!! I was so excited. I couldn't wait to play with and then it happened.

DISAPPOINTMENT!

It's so sheer and when I tried to apply another layer it just looked patchy and awful. I also tried to layer another eyeshadow on top of it - not much success.

I also bought Let Me Pop - frosty light copper

L to R:
Let me Pop
Rubenesque - peachy gold shimmer

Again, swatches lovely:

LMP is the swatch on the left - I just wanted to compare it to Rubenesque on the right. That extra frostiness should have been a huge hint to me but I wanted something a little different - extra frostiness and all.

On the lid:

It was waaaaay too sheer and the only thing that was apparent was the glitter. This is too much glitter for my 36 year old face. I wanted more of a copper color on my lid but all I got was an abundance of copper glitter instead. DID.NOT.WANT....

So needless to say, this went back.

This really did prep me for the start of my no-makeup buy pledge! And how am I doing so far? I am pretty good. My test has been just reading what's out there either in editorials or other beauty blog posts and not breaking down to buy any of it. My plan of action is just to either replicate what I am seeing with what I have or just putting my own spin the current trend. Either way I am retraining myself on how I should purchase cosmetics.The only thing I have bought so far are new buffing blocks and a strengthening base coat for my weak, splitting nails. I was pleased that I walked away from the nail polishes without buying another bottle. I did discover just how much I love the Sally Beauty Supply store haha!

I should not be swayed by the phrase Limited Edition because I know MAC well enough to wait it out and I'll find it at my local Company Store or it'll be released again with another collection. Also, I am taking stock of what I have and cleaning out my makeup storage case and pouches. I just hope I don't forget what I learned when I lift the ban next month. I have already made mental notes of what to check out in Feb (D&G and NARS spring collections). Ugh this could be trouble.

Bad enough to constitute NO-MAKEUP BUY March. Either way I am sure Suze Orman would yell at me. She truly frightens me - more than Jillian Michaels.

Have a great Sunday!

Shoe of the day and a guest shoe cameo!

I love a great mary jane shoe - whether it's a flat or modest heel. I just love this style. Maybe it's the little girl that wants to swing on the old tire swing all day but I can't help but smile when I see this type of shoe.

And when you pair this shoe with a pencil skirt and fishnet stockings it becomes a sassy shoe. I bought these shoes probably four years ago and I still love them like I bought them yesterday. They are by Fornarina and I think they were even on sale - always a bonus when buying shoes! It has a very modest heel (2' I believe) and it's a round toe, always forgiving for problematic feet!

Yeah I guess they should get polished next time I take my boots to get cleaned and polished.

I love these with pencil skirts, dresses that hit me above the knee with a straight skirt and even straight or wide leg trousers.

These are my ultimate dream mary janes. I should really start a shoe fund jar!

I would like to introduce the guest shoe of the day. This should really come as no surprise:

My daughter, Gabi. She's 2 1/2 and knows a good shoe. There are mornings when she will request a specific shoe to wear to pre-school and it's mainly a black suede ankle boot I bought from Target. Actually, my husband bought these for her for Christmas. I think I was more excited about them than she was. She does ask to wear these to school on a regular basis. It looked adorable with her white tights and dark navy holiday dress as it does with her Jessie from Toy Story 3 teeshirt and grey skinny jeans. My husband really earned his bonus points when he bought these for her.

Another look:

The next time I have a bad day here at work - I should look at these panda shoe pictures.

Happy Friday!

Another look at Unflappable

I just wanted to show a few more pictures of Unflappable compared to Smut and I even threw in a swatch of the Later pigment for good measure.

Yup, this confirms my love for Unflappable. Which is good because it's a pretty big boy compared to the other MAC single shadows. I don't know if I will ever hit the pan on this but I know I'll have fun trying!

And here's Smut:
Also a dark grey/brown but with a reddish-violet cast.

And for a size comparison:

At 3.4g at $19.50 USD vs. the regular sized 1.5g at $14.50 USD it's a pretty good value. And there are 15 different colors to choose from - you are guaranteed to find a color to suit you. But if you are like me and have enough shadows to last you through the apocalypse, one is enough.

Swatch line up:

L to R:

Later pigment - I think it's a black base but because of all the multi-colored shimmer it has it gives off a navy appearance with a red-violet sheen in certain light. I love using this wet as a liner - it looks more purple when using a mixing medium with this. Mr. Lex said it looked like asphalt. I like that description!

Unflappable - described on the MAC site as "frosted black with a purple pearl and yes in the picture it does look that way but swatched I find it to be a dark grayish brown with plum tones. Yesterday, I used it with Style Snob and today it was paired with Woodwinked. I loved it with both shades. I also smudge it on my bottom lash line.

Smut - described on the site as "muted black with a red shimmer" and yes it looks that way in the picture on the site but on my arm it looks like a dark gray/brown with a red-violet shimmer.

It claims to be non-creasing and I have to agree with that but then again I always use a primer (Too Faced Shadow Insurance) and I don't have oily eyelids. This has a lovely metallic shimmer without the annoying chunky glitter, I didn't notice any annoying fallout. The one caveat is that the lighter shades seem to be on the sheer side, Tweet Me comes to mind.

I do not regret returning Tweet Me to the MAC store because I know that it would just collect dust in the bottom of my makeup case if I kept it. I have way too many shadows that I probably should have returned instead of hoping it would become a wearable color.  

Unflappable...

Not to sound like a MAC HATER (I have another MAC fail tomorrow - Cham-Pale paint pots) so today's post is dedicated to my love for the new Mega Metal shadow in Unflappable.



(sorry I didn't have time to take a solo picture of Unflappable - 1st on the left)


I didn't have a whole lot of time to compare it to the other MAC finishes I own but I will say that the Mega Metals are not as frosty as a Star Flash. It's soft to the touch and blends like a dream - a lot easier than most of the Satins/Veluxe Pearl finishes I own. So why do I only own one color?

This is the only one that really called out to me. It's a dark brown based plum. You know how Smut is a dark gray/brown but has some red tones to it? This is almost like that but with more of a plum cast. That probably sounds convoluted but I wasn't sure how else to describe it.


(yes, this picture again - see how the lighting make Unflappable gray on my arm)



I used it as an outer V corner accent. To bring out the plum tones I applied Style Snob (a taupe that's just a touch lighter than Satin Taupe) on the lid. And I am happy to report that they play well together. I added NARS Nepal (rose-gold shimmer) as a crease and Later pigment (mixed with water based mixing medium) as an eyeliner.

Here's another look:

And of course: my mug shot:

I went with NARS lipstick in Damage
Blush - After Sunset - Edward Bess compact rouge for lips and cheeks.

I'll come back later this evening with a side by side comparison between Unflappable and Smut.