G’morning! As I sipped my coffee from my favorite cat teacup this morning, I got to thinking about matte nail polish…
It’s not my favorite thing. They look like a car with a paint job that was suddenly abandoned halfway.
But that dark purple matte from the Chanel fall collection, though? *swoon* It’s everything. I’ve been hemming and hawing about whether I should “go there,” because I promised myself after The Great Gel Nail Polish Debacle of Summer 2018 that I’d take better care of my nails, and I told myself I’d care for them and paint them every week.
To that end, I’ve been wearing two coats of whichever polish has caught my eye each week (along with a base coat and shiny top coat), but the latest polish that caught my eye just so happens to be matte.
Go figure.
Sooo, I know that matte top coats exist, but wearing one now would totally disrupt the flow of my new nail polish master plan…which calls for me to use the same base coat and shiny top coat every week for consistency…
I know, I know! Clearly, I am Karen-ing this, and it’s spiraling to the Nth degree. I should just paint my damn nails already. ?
What are your feelings about matte nail polish? Should I go there?
But first, some light reading…
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This stylish (and très expensive) line of modern furniture is the new West Elm for cats, but if I actually got one of those beds for ? Tabs…he’d ignore it and sleep in the box it came in instead!
- How a New York Times columnist outsourced help to learn how to do her makeup in five minutes. (And it really does sound like a five-minute look.)
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Ruh-roh. Certain brands are catching serious heat for digitally altering their swatch pics for “the ‘gram.”
In case any of the big dawgs are reading this, here’s how I’ve been doing swatches for the past 11 years:
- Bust out your arm.
- Swipe some makeup on it.
- Take pictures.
- Seriously, it’s that easy!
- The beauty brand Lush is trying to encourage the development of native crops like avocado and vanilla in Guatemala to hopefully reverse some of the effects of deforestation and environmental degradation there.
- These Le Labo scents are designed to evoke your favorite ?️ cities.
- Quelle suprise! A mascara technique I’ve never seen before: This unconventional method involves keeping your eyes closed while you wiggle the brush.
- Red maple leaf is a buzzy new skin care ingredient, and it could be the next big thing for smoothing fine lines.
Even if you aren’t into Erykah Badu, you still have to watch this just for her makeup. Also, the guy playing the matte black flute! Where was that flute when I was in band?!
Still on a lasagna kick.
Change my life, why don’t you?
What’s on your agenda this weekend? I got a late start today, but I want to do a little reading — this young adult suspense novel called The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir, and no, it’s not about nail polish (because I know you were wondering, ha ha ha!). It’s about a girl, the youngest of six, who grows up in front of the camera as part of a reality TV show. She wants to leave the show, but it isn’t easy, and she has to maneuver around her parents and the show’s producers like she’s living a chess game.
I’m about halfway through, and I can’t turn the pages fast enough!
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
“this young adult suspense novel called The Book of Essie by Meghan MacLean Weir, and no, it’s not about nail polish (because I know you were wondering, ha ha ha)”
When I first saw the picture, that’s exactly what I thought until I saw the words “a novel.” Darn it. There’s not enough beauty company biographies out there, so says me, the Young Adult Librarian who should have known this was a YA book. lol.
Speaking of swatching, my oldest daughter is 13.5 years old. She has started wearing (more like collecting) make up and started her Instagram account. Last night, I gave her some tips on swatching her lip glosses. Not much different then your tips. We just alternated between natural light and a flash. *Ah* 21st century parenting. Have a great weekend.
OMG! Karen! That video from Dearly Bethany just changed my view of my hour glass 5’1” frame.
I’m going to be using her tips immediately.
Thank you thank you, I love your posts.
I really enjoyed your Saturday surfing today!! I’ve never seen that mascara technique either! I have been doing the wiggle from the base for years though; I read the top somewhere and it really is amazing!
The girl in the video is absolutely adorable and I like her tips. Is it just me or does she say “like” 5 trillion times!?! Ugh haha.
That book looks super cute and I’m gonna put it in my reading list! ( I totally thought it was about Essie nail polish when I first saw it!)
Thanks for the interesting reads! ?
Oh dear heavens, thank you Lush! After that typhoon hit Madagascar, vanilla nearly costs more per ounce than my car. (Exaggeration, but not by much.) I love that they are saving both the environment and my Fall baking plans at the same time. 😉
Speaking of nail polish, Karen, have you seen this woman who reviews books on her blog, then paints her nails to match the book cover? She’s got the mad mani skilz!!!! http://www.jennieshaw.ca/
Thanks for linking that blog, it’s absolutely adorable!
LOL When I saw “The Book of Essie,” I immediately thought “nail polish.” I thought you were sharing a cool new beauty book with us.
I’m packing this weekend. We’re going to take our chances with the air quality in British Columbia and take our trip next week. We’ll be celebrating our 26th wedding anniversary on the 31st. We may end up doing more indoor activities if there are days where it’s a little more smokey. PDX area here has been much better, and my friends in Washington are reporting the same, so I think we have a fighting chance.
I won’t be online much, so have a wonderful week, in advance!
I spent this weekend trying the No Knead Rustic Dutch Oven bread recipe that you recommended ages ago from Lauren in the Kitchen! It’s cooling off on a rack right now and it looks pretty good! I didn’t even have most of the equipment (I had to use a liquid measuring cup and an honest-to-god metal teaspoon to measure everything, and used a deep pot + tinfoil instead of an actual Dutch oven) and it still turned out pretty well! I’ll definitely be making this again, it was pretty foolproof for someone who’s literally never baked bread before. I’m hoping if I get good enough at it then I can replace buying loaves of bread entirely with making them, because it’s so much cheaper.
If any other readers have some great beginner bread recipes, I’d love to hear them! My dad recommended Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread which is next on my list to try.
I’m in love with that matte chanel polish, but no not most other matte polishes (I rocked a neon purple matte on my toes circa 2010)
Your swatches have always been my true color go to, compared to any other blogger or vlogger, you do the best.
The book of essie looks great, I’ll check it out next week.
I agree – matte polish can be tough. I think of it more as a fall thing. But maybe that’s also because of the burgundy color. If it was matte, pastel pink, I’d probably think spring. 🙂