Essie

This periwinkle makes me think of this one time when Jen and I were college students, and we were killing some time at a bookstore because we were both singers in her dad’s Saturday rock band.

You know, one of those bands that only played once a week at random functions. I think it was somebody’s sixteenth birthday party.

We were sitting there looking through a magazine… We must have been in our early 20s at the time, and I can’t remember why, but the magazine we were looking through was a wedding magazine.

I remember saying to her, “One day we’re gonna be doing this for real,” and she was like, “Oh, my gawd!” Previous to that, we’d never talked about planing our weddings before. It just never came up.

About my distant future wedding, I distinctly remember saying in that conversation, “I’m gonna have you in a periwinkle dress!”

But things didn’t go down that way. Both she and my BFF Cindy ended up wearing very tasteful dark brown J. Crew dresses to go with our other color, which was Tiffany Blue.

So…periwinkle wasn’t involved in any form or fashion, but I did have periwinkle wedding dreams once upon a time (so random!).

Maybe that’s why I like Essie Labels Only from their Gel Couture line.

The Gel Coutures are GREAAAT. They dry quickly and last a long time, and even among the Gel Couture line, Labels Only lasts longer than some of the other shades do for me. I get a full week’s worth of wear using two layers and the Essie Gel Couture Top Coat (you don’t have to use a base coat with these).

It isn’t just a straight-up periwinkle, either. It has secret pink shimmer, which you can kind of see in the top pic.

You can’t go wrong with secret shimmer, ya know? 🙂

It’s available now for $11.50 at Ulta.

What are you wearing on your nails today?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

If I lost this necklace, I would cry a river of sparkly tears.

It was a very special present from El Hub last Valentine’s Day shortly before Connor was born, and the reason it’s so special to me is…

Well, first of all, I like the shape. It’s a branch by Misa Jewelry. I think I’ve talked about them before.

The owner, Misa Hamamoto, is based out of LA, and she’s got this sort of, almost Hawaii-like aesthetic — very beachy, organic and natural, but also elegant.

When I run my fingers over the branch, the surface doesn’t feel perfectly smooth. There are subtle imperfections in it, little bumps and ridges, like in a piece of driftwood. It really speaks to me.

It also reminds me of the last few weeks right before the baby came, that sort of end-of-the-road time when I was over being pregnant but also excited about the coming changes and a little afraid at the same time. I mean, it had just been me, El Hub and Tabs for a long time; we were adding a new branch to our family.

This is one of very few pieces of fine jewelry I own. I don’t own a lot of fancy jewelry because 1) I tend to lose it, and 2) because costume jewelry is so much fun! You can wear crazy gems and pearls the size of your fist — you know, things I would never be able to afford if they were real. Plus, if I lose costume jewelry, I’m not as completely devastated.

Maybe because the branch isn’t perfectly smooth, it looks extra sparkly and beautiful sometimes when the light hits it right. That’s why it reminded me of this golden bottle of Essie Getting Groovy from the six-piece Essie Winter 2016 Collection, which is available now ($9 each).

Getting Groovy has teeny, tiny golden glitter bits, and I’m wearing two layers of it in these pics. But you could probably get away with one. It’s very opaque.

I like that the flecks of glitter in it aren’t huge like they are in some glittery gold nail polishes. They’re more refined.

There are also five other shades in the collection, and other than the gold, my faves are grayish white Go With the Flow, which has its own fine micro-glitter flecks, except that its flecks are green, purple and pink.

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