Girly Bits "The Power of Love"

Happy, happy Valentine's Day!!  May your day be full of affection and love, be it romantic, filial, friendly, and/or of the self ♥

[P.S. - I happened upon this lovely feathered family in the Kastellet fortress gardens of Copenhagen; with its palaces, roses, swans, and fairy tales, not to mention the royal hearts which gild the coins, it is one of the most romantic cities I have ever visited.]

Passionate purples and lovely lavenders are some of my favorites for this occasion, but this exquisite lilac with ethereal elfin qualities occupies its own sphere in my polish-loving heart.  "The Power of Love", indeed!  I predict that even hearts hardened against the season's sappy pinks and reds will warm for this magical lacquer, like a love goddess's dream.

au naturel (no topcoat)

glossy (two layers topcoat)

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Serum No. 5 - fall polish swatches [Twilight Sparks, Sleepy Holo, Second Spring]

"Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower." - Albert Camus 

Happy Sunday, Twinklings!!  I've had these swatches sitting around for aaa-ages, and it suddenly occurred to me that I could maybe, I dunno, do something with them :)

Serum No. 5:  a few spontaneous polishes from various fall collections

Essence Cosmetics : Dark Romance Collection

Calling all vampires!!  Essence's Dark Romance Collection is all about thrilling trysts in Gothic castles, and forbidden love in haunted ruins... Jane Austen's wide-eyed heroine Catherine Morland of Northanger Abbey would be all about this, what with her naive fascination with Gothic novels bordering on hallucinatory obsession.  The Brontë sisters would undoubtedly approve as well.  But do be sure to accessorize properly with a shadowy gloss and unearthly lacquer when you curl up with Wuthering Heights, or maybe Jane Eyre, for a good October thrill... ;)  A spiced tea will be in order as well.  Purrrrr...

As Essence is a German company, the Dark Romance Collection was actually released as early as January 2014 in various parts of Europe (definitely Poland and Romania), but only just debuted in the United States.  According to the Essence website it was supposed to be a September limited edition release, but it only hit my local Fred Meyers on October 2 so it would seem that schedule has been pushed back a month.  I immediately pounced on every item Fred Meyer is carrying (except for the tattoos, they were a bit too biker chick for my taste) though the full collection also has one more each of the eyeshadow quad, lipstick ("Painted Love"), and nail polish (a gray), as I recall.  Ah well, I'll take whatever I can get!  I LOVE Essence's Limited Edition collections (though I rarely get to avail myself of them, seeing as they are available so sparingly in the U.S.); they do them monthly, and yet they are always consummately imaginative and original.  The themes are quite wide-ranging and the packaging is always adorable.  Not only that, the products generally quite excellent (at minimum, they are above average for a drugstore line), and are amazingly inexpensive!!  So much love for this brand, I has.

Oh, you demand to see this stupendously seductive collection, do you?  Well, okay.

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SpaRitual : Explore Collection [nail art]

SpaRitual's Explore Collection was inspired by adventures in the great North American forests, and by "bright flashes of color that punctuate the rich, earth colors of a well-worn hiking trail".  I love hiking my Montana mountains, and while this color palette is completely unexpected, it also completely makes sense.  Rather than a record of the literal hues of a forest, this collection is a powerful abstraction of the emotional experience of exploration.  For SpaRitual to communicate a feeling without relying on an image association indicates true color mastery, and with that I really cannot give higher praise to their creative team.

SpaRitual Explore Collection

While this collection was released for Spring 2014, there are two reasons I bring it up now; first, because *right now* is absolutely the best time to hike Glacier National Park, the crown jewel of this country's great parks.  And I think the Explore Collection is perfect for the occasion; and anyways, I feel the vibrancy of this collection is perfectly suited for the transition from late summer to early autumn.  The second reason is that these are HALF OFF on the Ulta website!!  Wheee!!  So in my mind, now is the time if ever to pick these up :)

SpaRitual Explore Collection [nail art]

Icing: Liquid Sugars

Happy September, lovelies!!  I didn't even think about it at the time but I guess it's fitting start to the month that for Labor Day the famdamily, the boyfriend and I went sapphire mining.  It's my birthday month (!!) and therefore my gemstone, so I was delighted with all the little sapphires we found!   I don't know that there are any cuttable stones amongst our tiny treasures but it was still a good time.

I randomly went in to Icing the other day, lured in by a $2 sign on the nail polishes (and you know I can resist neither a sale nor a closer look at a lacquer), and left with more than a few goodies... some of which I'll share with you today!  Icing seems to have revamped their entire polish offering in packaging and formula.  They have two lines that make kind of lame attempts to mimick the stylings of Butter London and Essie; honestly, a more sophisticated typeface would probably do the trick.  But that's neither here nor there.  I am immensely relieved that the noxious chemical fumes of a few years ago are gone, I could feel my braincells face-planting every time I opened a bottle from back then.  I didn't feel like I could expect much from a two dollar bottle of nail polish, but I was pleasantly surprised.

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Pixie Dust, Gumdrops, Liquid Sand, Sugar Coat, Liquid Sugar, Liquid Pixie, Sandy Gumdrops... whatever works anymore.  The texture real estate was quite flooded for a while there and yet these manage to be unique.  The pearlescent base twinkling with tiny shimmers and iridescent glitters are factors that I haven't seen before from a texture collection, and the look does have a sweet, confectionery effect.  They are also scented, which is an interesting feature; though based on the names you would think the scent would be predictable, yet I was surprised each time.  I used four coats for all the swatches, as these do go one quite sheer, though the brush is nice and wide so application was quick.  Watch out for denting, though!  Best not to be too impatient with these four-coaters. 

Icing Liquid Sugar [Peppermint, Lollipop, Dreamsicle]

Butter London: Brick Lane Collection "Dubs" & "Twigged" ( & "Marrow", for good measure )

I obviously would like to be a princess, but I have to admit: living with royalty is exhausting.  I know this because I live with my dog May, and May is quite confident that she is queen.  Like the other day, I had just returned from a run and was serenely doing pigeon stretch when all of a sudden I feel this furry flop on my leg, and there's May stubbornly nesting down in the most ungainly fashion possible.  I kind of huffed at her incredulously, and she just looked at me like, "quiet, fool, I am napping now".  The pups get sassy when they do not feel that they have gotten enough pettings, though to judge by the state of my leggings that clearly can not be the case.  May is queen and she'll flop where she wants, and that's that, humans.

May: "You're on my spot."

Among polish, however, it's Butter London that's queen.  Butters have been a special favorite of mine since the dawn of my polish obsession.  Butter London's "Brick Lane" Collection for Fall 2014 brings together a healthy mix of existing favorites and brand-new beauties.  Returning Butters are "British Racing Green" from the Fashionista's Favorites Fall/Winter 2009 collection, and "Ladybird" from this February's New York Fashion Week and also Summer 2014's Lolly Brights collection, along with "Ladybird" Liquid Lipstick and "Twigged" Wink Cream Eyeshadow from the Boho Rock Spring 2014 collection.  New Butters in a range of harvest hues are "Cor Blimey", "Bric-A-Brac", "Brick Lane", and of course, "Dubs", plus a multitude of mascaras, lipsticks, glosses, eyeshadow creams, eyeliners, cheek tints, etc.

Butter London "Dubs" & "Twigged"