Essie

What Are Your Sanity Savers?

May 19th, 2020 by Karen 17 Comments

essie at the barre me over — Painting paws keeps me sane. I’m wearing Essie Spool Me Over (left) and At the Barre (right).

List the things that are preventing you from standing in your front yard and screaming up into the sky for hours on end while sheltering-in-place!

My sanity savers, in no particular order:

Painting my nails (I’m all about #MismatchedMani life right now)
Honestly… Carbs. I was eating “lower carb-ish” before the pandemic hit but now I just don’t have the bandwidth for it. Give me all the carbs, please.
Speaking of carbs, baking ALL THE THINGS, especially cookies. Funny thing is I bake more now than I did when I worked at a bakery, ha!
Cocooning myself into stretchy pants 24/7! My body repels jeans now.
A schedule during the weekdays.
Working out first thing in the morning.
Hanging out with Pretty Girl Rosie, the Torbiest Torbie of the Torbie Girls.
Predictably cheesy rom-coms like Bridget Jones’ Diary, and historical period pieces
Lists upon lists upon lists.

How about you?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

More #MismatchedManis: Essie Gels Coutures and Sally Hansen Miracle Gels in Blues and Brights

May 18th, 2020 by Karen 4 Comments

sally hansen miracle gel fish teal braid mintage — Sally Hansen Miracle Gels in Fish-Teal Braid and Mintage

Mismatched manis should come with a warning: once you start, ya can’t stop.

At least that’s been the case on my end of the keyboard!

I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to go back to wearing a single color on both hands ever again. 🙂

sally hansen miracle gel apollo you anywhere lemon heaven — Sally Hasen Miracle Gel in Apollo You Anywhere and Lemon Heaven

essie beau tie surrounded by studs — Essie Gel Couture in Beau-tie and Surrounded by Studs

I’ve just about #mismatchedmani’d all the colors in my collection of Essie Gel Coutures and Sally Hansen Miracle Gels, which means the next thing to do would be to collect more colors… Right? That’s solid logic in my book.

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

#MismatchedMani Should Totally Be a Thing

April 29th, 2020 by Karen 15 Comments

Since we went on lockdown, I’ve been wearing mismatched nails, with one shade of nail polish on the fingers on one hand, and another shade on the other, and ya know what? I’m completely convinced now that the #MismachedMani trend (It’s totally a thing now.) will forever change nail hoarding habits as we know them.

Now maybe, just maybe, I’ll finally get around to wearing some of the nail polishes in my collection that I still haven’t worn?!

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

P.S. Happy hump day. Here’s an e-hug. 🤗❤️ How are you doing this morning?

Double the Nail Polish!

April 15th, 2020 by Karen 10 Comments

essie beauty nap take me to thread — When you just can’t decide…

Double nail polish! I think we should make this a Spring thing.

Last night I was trying to decide between light green Essie Beauty Nap and mauve Essie Take Me to Thread, and then I was like, “Screw it. If there’s a good time to wear mismatched nails, this is that time.”

So now I’ve got green nails on one hand and mauve nails on the other. 🤷‍♀️

Maybe this way I’ll actually get around to wearing all of the nail polishes I’ve ~~hoarded~~ collected, ha ha!

Who’s with me?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Saturday Surfing, February 8th, 2020

February 8th, 2020 by Karen 9 Comments

essie second hand first love — Essie Expressie Nail Polish in Second Hand, First Love

Welcome to the weekend, my friend!

Time to rest and recharge your batteries (hopefully!). For me, that means painting my paws, because when my paws are painted, the stars are in alignment. Mercury avoids retrograde. Pluto becomes a planet again… I feel so naked these days because we can’t wear nail polish to work at the bakery for food handling reasons. So the first thing I like to do on my days off is paint my nails. 💅

Last night I did a quick mani before bed with one of the new Expressie quick-drying polishes from Essie (grabbed it at Target last night for $9). They have a built-in base, color and top coat and, allegedly, they’re supposed to dry in one minute… Took more like 5 though, which is still pretty good, considering there’s a base and top coat up in the mix. I’m wearing two coats of rosy pink called Second Hand First Love on my fingers.

I like the smoothness and opacity. It looks even from base to tip, sans streaks, and the finish is super shiny and almost gel-like. Two coats was perfect.

No nicks yet as of this morning, but quick-drying polishes are notorious for chipping easily, so I’m not holding onto any illusions that it’ll last more than a few days…but who knows? Hopefully Expressie will prove that wrong.

Either way, it was just what my nails needed for a quick fix.

You know what else I need to do right now? Finish this cup of coffee! 😊

That means it’s time for Saturday Surfing.