Smith & Cult

Paint Chips, Vol. 1: Smith & Cult Exit the Void

April 4th, 2017 by Karen 8 Comments

smith cult exit the void day 1 — Smith & Cult Exit the Void: Day 1

How long will it last? THAT’S the question. Let’s find out! 🙂 Paint Chips is a series where I paint my paws with two coats of polish, a base coast and a top coat, and see how long it lasts.

Even if you aren’t a hardcore makeup collector — even if you’re just a part-time product enthusiast — you probably remember at least one product that turned a casual interest into a full-blown brand obsession. For me, one such product was Smith & Cult Exit the Void.

I’d worn a couple of shades from Smith & Cult before, but oh, my goodness… When I discovered this creamy periwinkle blue (came out with their spring 2017 collection), it took my eyeballs by surprise!

It looks like a perfect spring sky — that dreamy, rich blue that rocks your world after so many months of dreary, wintry gray. It brings a smile to my face whenever I see it on my nails. 🙂

What makes me REALLY happy, though, is how pigmented it is (one coat is like three coats of any other brand) and how freaking long it lasts.

And dude, I beat the crap out of my nails. I’m serious, these poor hands. I put them through a lot. Lots of typing, baby handling, kitty handling, chores, and even some weightlifting and burpies (which are the devil’s work). My nail polish, to paraphrase Rihanna, needs to work, work, work, work, work, work.

Exit the Void, when I wore it with a Sally Hansen Green Tea + Bamboo base coat and OPI Top Coat (they’re my current faves), looked perfect for five days. Then, about halfway through the fifth day, the first chips started to appear.

But that’s great for me! I left it on to see how long it could go before it passed the absolute point of no return.

smith cult exit the void day 5a — Smith & Cult Exit the Void after five days

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The Day in Beauty Vol. 17: NARS Long Hot Summer Eyeshadow Palette, Smith & Cult Fauntleroy Nail Polish and Messy Dutch Braids

June 4th, 2016 by Karen 39 Comments

Happy Caturday, my darling! I hope you’re having a wonderful morning so far, and I hope you’re feeling refreshed and ready for a fun weekend.

It’s a lovely day here in Northern California. Nothing but blue sky from rolling hills to rolling hills. It looks like it’s gonna be a hot one, too, which is why I have my hair in a Dutch braid.

GURL, I’ve been all about the Dutch braid lately.

It’s basically an inverted French braid, where instead of pulling the hairs over when you braid, you pull them under so the braid kind of pops out, and you can make it, like, all poofy-looking and larger than life if you loosen up the hairs after you tie the end, which has the added benefit of not giving me a throbbing headache like some tightly braided styles can.

All about the Dutch Braids — 5-minute messy Dutch braid

I love the whole messy braid trend… I rue the day if/when they go out of style, because this one here took me less than five minutes, and I was able to do it without having to look in a mirror!

WHAT?! Yes.

I also rue the day when big, bushy eyebrows go out of style because it took me forever and a day to grow mine out. I’m sure it’s only a matter of time…

Wow, it’s already getting hot here, and it’s not even 8:30. I guess it’s appropriate that I’m wearing the $45 limited edition NARS Long Hot Summer Eyeshadow Palette.

nars long hot summer palette — The NARS Long Hot Summer Palette

Isn’t it a cutie pie? Six powder eyeshadows — a beige, a taupe, two coppers, a deep brown and a beautiful light gray — and it fits in the palm of my hand. The top row has some cooler-toned neutrals, and the bottom row has warmer tones.

I’ve been wearing the palette all week long, and it gets extra points for not taking up much space in my already overloaded makeup bag. It should be a great travel companion if I take any trips this summer.

Speaking of trips, I gotta get on that. I’m thinking, though, that it might be too hard to travel with a baby. I dunno… Moms, give me your thoughts on that.

I also like that the palette has a nice mix of cool and warm tones, because you know how it goes with some neutral palettes. You either get warm or cool tones. You don’t always get both.

These shadows also start off all punchy and pigmented but fade in a beautiful way throughout the day. In the case of the shimmery shades, they glisten more toward the end of the day, getting to where you look like you’ve been dancing in the front row at a music festival for three straight hours.

It’s pretty cool.

In other news, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m super obsessed with this freakin’ Justin Bieber video for his song Sorry.

OK, did I just say that out loud? Admittedly, I’m not the biggest JB fan, but I’m not extremely familiar with his work, and I know that he’s gotten into trouble a few times.

But whatever. I heard this song on the radio and had to look it up online. The choreography is so much fun! There’s so much booty shaking and hip swaying — I freakin’ love it! Oh, my gosh, I haven’t taken a dance class in years, but it’s making me want to dance again.

Plus, there are several girls in the video wearing those ’90s contruction boots that I rocked back in the day.

I wonder whatever happened to those boots… I think I gave them away? I wore them every day for like two years. I remember that my feet were always hella hot in them, and my arches hurt like a mother, LOL!

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Nails of the Day/Night: Smith & Cult Bitter Buddhist

April 17th, 2015 by Karen 12 Comments

Tonight I’m wearing two coats of Smith & Cult’s Bitter Buddhist ($18), which is officially described as a “celadon green.”

A celadon.

I thought a celadon was a kind of dinosaur? No?

LOL! 🙂 Seriously, though, I thought it was a restaurant before doing this post.

Whatever it is, I like it! It’s a pale, pretty blue.

The shorts, by the way, are the Scallop Lace Riviera Shorts by LOFT, the bag is NARS (limited edition; I don’t think it’s still available), and the bracelet is something I got at Nordies a few years back.

P.S. If you like Smith & Cult Bitter Buddhist, you might also like Chanel Horizon Line.

The Accent Nail Files: Find Common Ground to Create Unexpected Pairings Like Purple and Burgundy

January 20th, 2015 by Karen 24 Comments

Smith & Cult Check the Rhyme paired with Lo-Fi — Smith & Cult Check the Rhyme nail polish teamed up with Lo-Fi lacquer

ME: “Oh, Magic 8 ball, will my attempt at nail art today turn out to be epically flawless and fabulous and absolutely everything I’ve ever dreamed nail art could be?”

MAGIC 8 BALL: “All signs point to hell naaaaw!”

That particular accent nail combo up top was the result of an epic nail art fail last Sunday.

I’d started out trying to do something involving negative space and jerry-rigged Band-Aid cutouts and… Anyway, it didn’t work out, but it led me to the purple and burgundy combo here, ’cause you know I’m all about that accent nail life. 🙂

After the Band-Aid cutout disaster (long, sad story), I started thinking about creamy purple nails and got this picture in my head of a hand with bright violet nails wrapped around a glass of red wine.

So I dug through my stash and pulled out this vibrant violet shade by Smith & Cult called Check the Rhyme, which I paired with a burgundy called Lo-Fi, also from Smith & Cult.

By the founders of Hard Candy, Smith & Cult is a new line with some really cool colors, packaging and names. They only came out a few months ago. Wear time is OK, like 4-5 days with a base and top coat, so not as sturdy as OPI, but good enough if you like to swap out your polish every few days. The bottles are kind of expensive though at $18 each, but I like a lot of their colors.

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What Are You Wearing on Your Nails?

November 20th, 2014 by Karen 29 Comments

Smith & Cult Tenderoni — Smith & Cult Nail Lacquer in Tenderoni ($18)

I’m almost ashamed to admit this (but apparently not ashamed enough to keep it to myself): when I was 15, I was obsessed with Bobby Brown.

Not the makeup maven (Bobbi), but the R&B one (Bobby), as in the former member of New Edition/ex-husband of Whitney (RIP, Whit).

I knew all the choreography in the Every Little Step video, had a picture of him on the front of my geometry folder (he was wearing a shiny gold and purple suit, wha?!) and, on more than one occasion, slow danced to Roni, Bobby’s ode to cute girls looking for love in all the wrong places.

I also may or may not have thought of myself as a Tenderoni.

Um, barf!

I do have a point with all this, and here it is: when I saw that this creamy taupe nail lacquer by Smith & Cult was called Tenderoni, something in me clicked. I had to get it on my paws!

Smith & Cult is a new nail line by Dineh Mohajer, the founder of Hard Candy, and they get my vote for “Most Clever Nail Polish Names, Ever” (like Dirty Baby, Cut the Mullet, Bitter Buddhist, and Feed the Rich). Each of the 30 shades in the line is inspired by different key life moments…and apparently this one relates to when I was 15 and had designs on marrying Bobby Brown, LOL! Ew…

Well, at least I can look back at that clueless but lovable Karen and laugh my @ss off now. Yup, nothing but mad love for that girl. 🙂

Smith & Cult Check the Rhyme — Check the Rhyme ($18)

So, of course, with this mani I had to do an accent nail. The creamy purple is Check the Rhyme, also by Smith & Cult.

With both shades, I’m wearing two layers and a base coat.

Smith & Cult Nail Lacquers are $18 each, and if you’re curious (and how could you not be? That packaging is killer!), you can check out the full collection online now.

Let those fingers do the typing, and let me know what you’re currently wearing on your nails. Bonus points if you also happen to have an embarrassing story from your teenage years. 🙂

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen