odds n ends

Batteries now in the camera so here are a few things of note: first up, room 114 of the Home for Wayward Polishes. This is one of the smaller rooms.

The boxes that all the MPJs came out of-imagine my excitement stumbling across these! Room 114 has a lot of only a few shades of polish it seems. I keep seeing the same 3 China Glaze shades there. You can't see it in the video but there's also a 3-wheeled bicycle in there. Not sure what that's about but it may have been used to transport stuff between that room and a truck as it's got a big basket on the back.

I have to give a thank you to the groupthink that is the MUA Nail Board for getting me to buy Gold Bond Ultimate Softening Skin Therapy Lotion w/Shea Butter. That's good stuff! I like it better than Neutrogena Hand Cream at least for winter. I'm using Weleda Skin Food on my cuticles at night but haven't really seen a difference. I have been dehydrated due to dry winter air so the best thing for me to do is drink more water which I've been slack about. Hydration is key!

Spotted this week-the new WnW fast dry polishes that have a Lipmann Happy Birthday dupe-they were mislabeled as being .99 instead of $1.99 at my Kmart so I grabbed Party of Five and the 2 jelly holo shades (pink and blue). Can't remember their names off the top of my head. Been stalking Walrusmart to see when the Essies are coming without any luck but I did find three of the Nicole Justiin Bieber polishes-the red glass fleck one (OMB), the purple glitter and the blue w/holo glitter. So far I'm impressed with the red and the purple ones-JB has pretty good taste in picking polishes. I read on another blog he will have a spring collection out as well since this one did so well. SMH. I guess if Duran Duran had slapped their names on  polishes my friends and I would have bought them all so it's generational. Except Duran Duran were actually talented. ;-)  Click to embiggen!

Also from Walrusmart I succumbed to the new Sally Hansen minx things-I got Frock Star only because the pink camo ones were already sold out (big surprise, living in Redneck Central and there be a run on pink camo!) I got them for $7.50 thanks to a coupon I'd snagged at Walgreen's. Have only tried them on one pinky but I like the concept very much they just aren't economical. I saw that the latest 4 Sally Hansen Xtreme Wears were made permanent-Grey Area et al? Also some new Diamond Shines with wedding-themed names and some new Insta-Dry colors too (a crazy intense cobalt blue shimmer and something that looked just like Commander in Chic).

Last week's Forever 21 order-I love those bottles, so substantial looking! I wish there was an actual store closer that 2 hours away so I could see more colors in person but for $2.80 each it's not a total loss if you end up with a dud.  Here's some single shots-

That navy polish hs a secret gold shimmer-it's going to be the first of these I'll wear. It's not very navy either, but a dusty medium dark blue. Yum!

Will work for nail polish.

Had the day off today so I went down to visit Mr.B and help him out a bit. I know a fair bit about nail polish but pretty much nothing about any other areas of the beauty supply. I can tell you today that I learned there are umpteen-million different colors of Redken Shades EQ and Paul Mitchell "The Color". I'm relieved that I don't dye my hair because one false misread of those tiny little numbers and you could possibly have issues. Or a lawsuit!

It's still colder than it should be in the warehouse. It was in the mid 50's today but inside on that concrete floor (I stayed on the ground floor today) it was around 40. I'm going back later this week and will be dressing in layers so as not to be miserable.  So I worked for 4 hours and instead of getting paid in cash Mr. B  paid me in polishes. I got a backup of MPJ for myself, DS Coronation, OPI Russian to a Party for a reader and Pink Before You Leap from OPI. Plus I brought back some more things to put up on the sale blog.

I get so giddy and discombobulated when I'm there that I lose track of time; plus all the disarray makes my OCD go into overdrive. I know this sounds melodramatic but when I leave there I'm worn out mentally. I'd planned to skip on over to Ulta and see if I could find any Barielle holiday polishes left but couldn't remember how to get there. I did pop into Cosmoprof and pick up a few things plus found some Barielle Camo base coat at TJX so I was happy. And my Forever 21 polishes came in today as well so I don't know where to start. As Liz Lemon would say, "blergh".

I took a picture and a short video of the room I was in today while at the warehouse but my camera batteries are dead so will deal with that tomorrow. Can't wait to let you see what I dig through!

Happy New Year! (2 days late)

Oh, hello there 2011! Lemme tell you something, bub-I sure as heck hope you are better than 2010 was or I'm going to be writing a strongly worded letter to that Baby New Year's publicist. I'm just glad that school starts back tomorrow; my poor child is getting bored of me but is too polite to say anything. I am stoked that I won't have to wrestle him for computer time and wear myself out entertaining him in the evenings.

I've made no resolutions this year out loud at least. The usual ones are in my noggin like "drink more water" and "make a budget" and "stop eating take out for lunch". I do really want to weed out duplicates in my nail polish stash. Christmas day I was snowbound and alone (kiddo was at his father's) so I expelled a shoebox full of polishes. Nothing exciting I don't think. I don't know what to do with them. Might go on a wild frankening streak or something. I like the concept of frankening and have made some fairly acceptable new shades but for every "keeper" there are a dozen epic fails. I filled a spaghetti sauce jar with epic fails this year and am starting a new jar soon.

In dusty-ing news, this week (either Tuesday or Saturday) I'm heading to the Home for Wayward Polishes, wishlist and waitlist in hand to see what I can find. I hope Mr. B has found him a new assistant so I won't feel so bad for not being able to help him out. Maybe I'll go both days and see if I can lend him a hand. He can buy me hot dogs again for lunch! I'm definitely bringing the good camera this time to get some shots of the place. Words just don't do it justice I tell ya.

I've read about some great dusty finds from gals on the MUA nail board that give me hope. One girl found 2 bottles of OPI's La Boheme! That is at the top of my list. I cheated and indulged in some eBaying of one of the polishes I swore I would wait and hunt for-DS Glamour. This of course means that this week I'll find a box of them. Murphy's Law and whatnot.  I really don't have many lemmings right now-the only thing I really want to find is the OMG collex on my next dig. Since Tronika looks like scattered holo and I'm a linear kinda gal, the OMGs need to be obtained. That and OPI's SRO Silver or Paris Couture For Sure (I wanna say "Fer Sure" because I grew up in the 80s when Valley Girls were a thing).

holiday nails

Top pic is Nicole Fell From The Tree with WnW Prancer, ChG Party Hearty and Milani Gold hex from the new collection on all except the thumb. Thumb is Milani Red Sparkle One Coat Glitter with ChG Medallion on top.

Bottom pic is Milani My Network and ChG Medallion. The green/red mani got a lot of comments from customers and bro-workers but that darned Fell From the Tree stained my nails even with a basecoat of Instant Artificials. It was worth it because that green is intense.

What to do, what to do....

I got a call last week from Mr. B-the source of many of my finds. He's the fella with the warehouse full of polish I wrote about earlier? Seems that Mr. B's assistant was picked up by ICE and is getting sent back to his native country after trying legally to gain citizenship. This sucks on many levels-he is having to be separated from his wife and kids who are legal. It leaves Mr. B without anyone to help him run his business which really stinks because the assistant knew where all of the good stuff was. Mr. B is a man in his 60s who works as he puts it "6 and a half days a week"; at his age he should be getting ready to retire and enjoy the spoils of his business. I think it keeps him young though-he is sharp as a tack.

So Mr. B asks me if I want to come and be his assistant. Well, of course I want to! The only problem is I would have to commute 80 miles roundtrip every day, 5 days a week. I have a not-so-fuel efficient car nearing 100K miles that would hate that trip. Going down is fine but coming back up the mountain is tough on my car. She doesn't like it very much at all and since I haven't found a mechanic to date I can't afford any repairs to her right now. The other issue is as a single parent, I'd be in another state if something were to happen to my youngster while in school. Also, I actually like the job that I have.

So the cons are outweighing the pros but oh do I want to throw caution to the wind and say yes. I'm not going to right now, but I just have to get it off my chest that it is really tempting. I'd like to figure out a way to go down there 2 days a week and keep my current job. The wheels are turning!

some recent finds

I live in a small town and am running out of places to hunt it seems. Most of the time, I strike out either due to a language barrier (why oh why didn't I take Vietnamese in high school? Oh, that's right because it wasn't OFFERED) or because they don't sell polish and look at you like you have a second head growing out of your neck when you ask them if they have any for sale. It's a game of numbers really-you keep trying until you hit pay dirt. Persistence is the key to a good dusty hunter.

Down the street from work there is a nail place that I've had good luck at-the first time I went I came out with OPI's Glacier Bay Blues. I showed my bro-workers (I'm the only girl at my store) what I'd found and they didn't see the big deal. Yes, it's true that a lot of men are color-blind but really, it's just that my bro-workers are severely heterosexual rednecks that wouldn't know a bottle of polish from a tube of lipgloss. 

I've still not done an entire mani with this; my untrieds are epic. But I was stoked to get it! Here's some other finds from that particular dig.

They had a really sad looking bottle of China Glaze Dusk that I may go back and get eventually but it just didn't wow me in the bottle. It needed a day's worth of shaking/rolling to get it looking like it should.

Next set of pics are from the local mall's chop shop. My neighbor works there; her English is pretty good but I think she thinks I'm wacko because all I talk to her about is polish. That's probably the last thing she wants to talk about is work! 

I couldn't capture Rudolph Red's prettiness-it's a pinky red jellyish polish with gold microglitter. Think Smitten with Mittens but pinker maybe? So pretty IRL.

picture post

Here's some of the lovelies I came away with from my maiden voyage to Mr. B's Home for Wayward Polishes. I apologize for the amateurish photos but I'm working on building a proper lightbox and whatnot.

Old Creative Nail Designs-good times, man-good times! They aren't B3F and that's the way I like them. Full of toluene-y goodness! From l to r, Red Baroness, Royalty, Blueblood and Heiress.

 Some old China Glaze glass fleck beauties-I think these are from the Drunk People collection as their named Martini Lunch, Martini Pedicure and Sass in a Glass (from left to right). I'm still on the hunt for their sister polish, It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere. Seriously, that's the name of it!

OPI's Beachen Peachen and Tucum-cari Boys n Berry. The latter is black label, can't remember if BP is as well. See the dust on the darker polish where the cap meets the bottle? That's what I'm talking about.

More dust! These pics don't do either of these polishes justice-they are by Revivanail and they rock! The green one is a dark hunter green with gold micro shimmer, perfect for Christmas. The purple is deep grape with the same gold micro shimmer. They wear like grim death-no tipwear! And they apply so easily I can use them blindfolded.

Three Toma polishes-I'd seen this brand only online in pictures and evilBay so I thought they looked like fun. The polish in the middle was naughty and went to polish heaven; no matter how much thinner I added it was like spackle. Plus the color was not as interesting on the nail as in the bottle. I haven't tried the other two but given my mood swings it will get a workout.

I actually bought these from some surly Vietnamese ladies, not from the wonderful Mr. B but they were bought the same week so I'll toss them in here. Can't remember the name of the first one, it's rather unremarkable as a standard charcoal shimmer. But the green in the middle is Cat's Eye and the one on the right is Grape Crush. GC has holographic shimmer and therefore is shiny and good. Haven't tried Cat's Eye yet.