Angelic Camouflage

Depression can somatize, or become expressed in the body. 

I feel like this is one fact about depression that people find hard to believe - because it's classified as a "mental" disorder/illness/whatever, people don't think it can have physical effects. In my personal experience, though, the physical effects of depression can be as difficult to deal with as the mental effects. I have not suffered from severe depression, but I have suffered from mild depression, and it completely robs me of strength and has made me physically ill. So I guess my "message" for today is, don't underestimate what depression can do!

My depression awareness green today was Rimmel Camouflage, a green with gold shimmer. I don't have many Rimmel polishes, but I love the ones I do own, and Camouflage is no exception. It's absolutely perfect in two coats, and could probably be a one-coater for someone with better application skills than I. After two coats, I added two coats of Love My Nails Angel Baby. Unfortunately, I was away from the house this morning and napped the afternoon away, so by the time I got outside to take pictures, the sun wasn't shining directly on my yard anymore.

indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

The glitter looks kind of gross in the first picture...it does not look like that in real life, and I couldn't get a decent picture of it inside. Anyway, I really like this manicure - Angel Baby is a great addition to pretty much anything, in my opinion. I may not be posting as often in the coming week or so. Hopefully, I will be going back to school Monday, and I'll be really busy trying to catch up. My posting frequency on here will probably depend on how much I procrastinate. :) I hope you're all having a great weekend!

EDIT: Oh, I almost forgot! I'm integrating my "new polish blogs" post into my regular posts from now on. Here are some new and new-to-me polish blogs I've discovered recently and recommend:

Toes That Twinkle
Beautyburg
Polish and Powder
Similar Addiction
Tier's Thoughts
GildedNails
Persistently Polished
Chanson De Vernis

Glitz and Glam

I knew I didn't have time to completely change my manicure last night before going to bed, but I couldn't resist adding a little something...so I slapped on some glitter. Never enough glitter, I say! I used one coat of Sally Hansen In the Spotlight and one coat of Love My Nails Angel Baby. Angel Baby didn't show up too well in my pictures, but you could tell it was there in real life...unfortunately, you'll just have to take my word for it. Maybe angels refuse to appear in photographs?

bottle shots, indoors, artificial light

outdoors, shade

outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

I really like this combination, though I do wish that Angel Baby was more obvious in the photos - it's a really gorgeous glitter, and I wish you could actually see it. Ah, well. I do think the SAT went pretty well this morning, though I will admit that I occasionally found myself distracted by my glitzy nails...fortunately, the time limits weren't bad at all, and I had extra time at the end of all the sections. I am now absolutely exhausted, though, because I had to get up extra-early and drive an hour to get to my testing center because my high school didn't offer the test on this date. I just hope it was worth it!

I hope you're all having a great weekend! 

Love My Nails Tropical Fruit

About 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer over the course of her lifetime. (www.breastcancer.org)

Today's statistic was another shocker for me - no wonder they say everyone is touched by breast cancer. Fortunately, doctors are getting better at diagnosing and treating breast cancer, and hopefully a cure will be discovered soon.

My BCA pink of the day is Love My Nails Tropical Fruit. I've had this polish for a really long time, and I can't actually remember the last time I wore it...and after wearing it today, I have no clue why! This is an awesome pink, and it barely needed two coats. Not bad for a $1 polish, eh?

 indoors, artificial light

 outdoors, shade

outdoors, sunlight

So I'm not quite sure why there's VNL in my photos...it's nonexistent in real life, I promise! The pictures are quite color-accurate, though, especially the last two. I don't imagine Tropical Fruit is particularly unique, but I don't have anything dupe-ish in my collection. I would definitely recommend picking up this polish if it still exists - I'm not sure they make it any more, but it's definitely worth checking!


EDIT: Ooh, and I almost forgot! OPI Sparkle-icious, Glow Up Already!, Extra-va-vaganza, Simmer & Shimmer, and Show It and Glow It! arrived today from Transdesign! I have a feeling I will be straying from my pink-and-green streak...

First-Ever Franken...Ouch!

Last night, I ran out of topcoat. Naturally, I knew this was going to happen for quite some time, and I had decided that I'd clean the empty bottle and use it to make a franken. Because I didn't want to waste my one precious empty bottle, I mixed a bunch of different frankens on a sheet of thick sketch paper. After deliberating over them all, I decided that a mix of (roughly--my measurements were far from exact) 2 parts Nina Ultra Pro Punki Pink, 4 parts Love My Nails Hot Tamale, and 1 part (probably more like 1/2 part; I barely used any) Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed was my favorite. So after the bottle was clean, I mixed it up and put it on my nails, and here it is, three coats with topcoat:

indoors, artificial light

outside, no sunlight because it's rainy

the bottles (the weird stuff on my franken bottle is glue from the label)

This is sort of a tangerine orange with a nice gold shimmer. Both pics are fairly accurate, though the indoor one shows the gold shimmer the best. The shimmer, though not overly obvious, is really nice and comes from Hot Tamale. I decided to name this color Ouch, because my mom's reaction to Nina Ultra Pro Punki Pink, which I used, was, "It hurts my eyes." As for the finish, I wasn't sure if it would be slightly matte because of Punki Pink's neon-ness--it appears, however, that the amount of Punki Pink was not enough to make it even slightly matte.

All in all, I'm quite fond of the color, even though it means quite a bit less Hot Tamale in my future. I think it looks surprisingly good on my skin tone, compared to some oranges that make me look overly yellow or pink. And, funnily enough, I had better application with Ouch than with any of its constituent parts. I guess the whole is more than its separate parts?

Also, there are some great giveaways going on right now in the nail polish world. Nails Etc. is having a giveaway of nine different polishes and a Boots 17 Travel Makeup Kit, and Painted Lady Fingers is giving away 12 Diamond Cosmetics polishes, along with a treatment! Good luck to all who enter!