Electric Pineapples

I've gone from apples to pineapples. The weather's blisteringly hot here in NYC, like high 90s, and I'm about ready to die (I can't stand heat!). I donned this bright yellow to contrast with that purple drop-waist dress I got from Urban Outfitters.

Shown here is 3 coats of Revlon Electric topped with 2 coats of Revlon Pineapple Fizz. By itself, Electric is a banana yellow with a fine yellow micro-shimmer, and a dupe to Chanel Mimosa. It has a passable formula for a yellow; it's a bit thick and I had to use 3 coats because it was slightly patchy at 2, but as yellows go it was well-pigmented and not overly watery. I did have some bubbling issues, but I suspect it's a user error (since I have managed to get a bubble-free mani out of this polish before).

Bubbling, unlike popular belief, is not caused by air bubbles in the liquid polish, and the bubbles aren't really air; it is actually caused by the evaporating gases being trapped between layers of polish, which happens if the top surface of a polish dries before the polish beneath has dried sufficiently. I do want to note that this happens in particular with slow-drying polishes, which is ironic since this is supposed to be the "Top Speed" line, but I digress. Next time I plan on thinning this and waiting longer between coats.

To hide the bubbles, I applied 2 coats of Pineapple Fizz on top. Pineapple Fizz is a sheer yellow polish with tiny clear flakies and iridescent shimmers. The tint in the polish made Electric a much brighter yellow color, and also gave my nails a fake but pleasant sugary pineapple scent. You can smell it through topcoat, but it fades after a day or two.

VAILLA

Today I'd like to show a presentation that I made as one of my final projects. We were given the instructions to create our own brand and brand identity, and design 2 looks for a capsule collection. This is my creation.

I hope you enjoyed it! I look forward to showing more of my work here in the future (after all, it is what I originally started this blog for).

Love Always,
Artoo

Jelly Apples

This week my nails have been painted red, red, red, with a classic--Essie Jelly Apple. I'm always tempted to throw some glitter over any mani that crosses my path, but for once I resisted with this one, and I love it. There is just something so glam about a simple red mani, and I'm definitely going to be wearing it a lot more often whenever I feel like letting my inner pinup loose. Jelly Apple in particular is super shiny and juicy looking with a lot of depth, and it looks like candy on my nails.

At first coat, Jelly Apple pulls very blue-toned; in fact I was incredibly disappointed because I was sure it would be too cool for my skin, which is very warm and looks awful with blue-toned reds. But at second coat all my fears were assuaged because as it builds in opacity the overtly cool tint evens itself out to a lovely glassy red that doesn't pull blue at all.

Jelly Apple has a very nice formula that practically applies itself. Here I'm wearing 4 thin coats. You could probably be okay at 3 coats if you don't mind the tiniest bit of visible nail line.

Home is Where My Butt is

For a lot of people, living in New York City means subjecting yourself to moving every year when your lease is up, always in search of that elusive, perfect One--the apartment that doesn't leak, or have rats, cockroaches, or bedbugs, or a crazy neighbor or a landlord that raises the rent by a couple hundred above your budget.

This year I moved in with A, and we found a sunny studio apartment in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We haven't quite got around to setting it in order yet, partially because our moving date was inconveniently right during my finals week, but also because we haven't yet managed to make our long-planned trip to IKEA for new furniture (we're planning on getting a loft bed to make room for a bookshelf and desk for my workspace).

A and I have very different views on interior decorating; A's style is decidedly, er, masculine--before I moved in, everything in his apartment were shades of black and brown, with a whopping great black leather couch and not a spot of color anywhere. On the other hand, I have an inclination for light natural wood and pale colors. Luckily, while I have to restrain myself from adorning the walls with pastel bunting and fairylights, my own little nook and the kitchen are free game to my whimsy.

I've sworn off buying anything for the apartment until we get the furniture sorted out and organized all our stuff, so in the meantime I've settle for making wishlists of the things I've found that sparked my imagination.

COW BUTTER CROCK FROM BOSTON WAREHOUSE | POLKA-DOTTED POTHOLDERS FROM ANTHROPOLOGIE 

HUNGRY CAT CASE FROM TOKYOINSPIRED | PEACH AND GOLD DOT DISH FROM UPINTHEAIRSOMEWHERE 

CHOCOLATE DIGESTIVE CUSHION FROM NIKKI MCWILLIAMS | RÅSKOG CART FROM IKEA

001. I love to spread butter on my toast--my favorite way to eat it is a layer of salted butter topped with a layer of raspberry jam, or, if I'm in the mood for something savory, a thin scraping of Marmite. This cow-head crock is great for keeping my butter fresh and soft at room temperature.

002. This oven mitt and potholder from Anthro are pricey, but the adorable print and decorative topstitching makes this one of the cutest sets I've ever seen.

003. Omnomnom! This cheeky kitty captured my attention immediately, and the soft wool case would be perfect for my stashing my glasses.

004. I couldn't resist the charm of this pretty little earthenware catchall dish finished with gold leaf and pastel glaze. I'm not quite sure what I'd put in it, but it would be pretty just as decoration on my desk.

005. I love the simple, contemporary design of this quaint cushion, cutesy yet totally without frills. Unfortunately adding in shipping from Scotland, this cushion totals out to be quite a sum, so I'm considering DIYing my own version :)

006. The turquoise color of the RÅSKOG cart alone would have compelled me to buy it; the convenience of a portable storage space (to be rolled under my desk when not in use) makes it perfect for my small apartment. In fact between you and me, I actually already have this one--A bought it for me when he made an IKEA trip on his day off. 

 

Review! Crest 3D White Luxe Glamorous White Toothpaste

With the warmer weather, I've been in the mood to play a little more with my makeup. I normally wear fairly natural makeup: mascara, blush, and brow liner are my staples, with plenty of concealer to hide my dark circles. If I'm feeling extravagant maybe I'll smudge some kohl liner around my eyes. I tend to neglect my lips, mainly because I'm often constantly snacking throughout the day and the idea of touching up my makeup after every nibble is more upkeep than I want.

Lately, though, I've been craving a poppy orange lipstick--I'm talking Maybelline Vivids Electric Orange-level of brightness. The thing with bright lips of course is that they draw attention to your mouth and teeth...what state are my pearly whites in?

Confessions of an Online Shopper

Okay, so it's terrible, but...since I spend quite a bit of time browsing the Internet, unsurprisingly I come across quite a number of "pretties" and all this cool shit that I want. I'm not immune to the charms of materialism...however, I actually rarely make immediate purchases, which is significant in terms of cutting down my impulse buys. Let me divulge to you how I cope with my shopping urges: I save the links to all these things in a folder on my browser, and periodically open them to look at them and ponder if I still want that item. Sometimes my desire for a particular thing wanes, and then I can delete that item from my folder, or perhaps it will be sold out or discontinued, in which case I alternately feel satisfied (because I can no longer spend my hard-earned money on that item) and sad (because if I *really* wanted it and it was expensive and I was just holding out on it...damn).

Eventually though my list boils down to a number of items that have been on there for months, and if they're in my affordability range, or otherwise something else triggers me like it suddenly goes on sale...well, it's time for a shopping spree. The great thing is that I don't feel super guilty (just a little...) about it, since I've "proven" to myself that I genuinely like and want those items, and am not just buying it because I felt a bit sad and wanted to shop to make myself feel better.

I confess an extreme weakness for the China-based sellers that hawk their mass-produced, flimsy garments on Ebay. All the sellers seem to share a similar stock of merchandise, so it's easy to compare prices and color options (size often not being an option as they are more often than not one-size-fits-all!).

As of now, I still have a couple things I have in mind that I want to round on my spring/summer wardrobe (blush ballet flats...), but with this recent haul I'm hoping I won't be needing to make any more big shopping expeditions for a while.

001. I stumbled upon this confection of a dress on SheInside.com, but upon reading that the site was based in China, got the bright idea to search Ebay for the same dress at a better price..."Deer print dress" revealed, TA-DAAA! Indeed, several sellers carried the dress, in two colorways, no less--you can also get it in navy blue.

002. I also have been searching for a pair of good flat summer sandals for a while, and finally found these two-tone metallic ones by Lucky in Nigori Rose. Always curious about interesting product naming, I searched "Nigori" to discover that it is a term used to describe sake (Japanese rice wine) when the sake is unfiltered and cloudy.

003. An unabashed knockoff of Urban Outfitters exclusive brand Truly Madly Deeply's skull-back shirt...I thought it was the coolest thing ever, but it was like $40 and I was all "LOLNOPE".

004. I currently have a teal and gold ziparound checkbook wallet, which is gorgeous but a bit large, especially since now that I'm out of class and will no longer be toting around huge bags. This smaller one by Kimchi Blue is much more convenient and the delicate blush-pink is one of my favorite colors.

005. This top comes in 7 colors and I wanted ALL THE COLORS but I contented myself with just the white one, for now.

006. I've been craving colors that deviate from my usual palette of blush, white, and black lately...like amethyst and mustard. I've been sewing up a sunny, golden-yellow sundress, but this satiny drop-waist minidress by Silence & Noise is great for a lazy day.

And that concludes my Spring Haul :D

Pinkie Promise!

I have a sparkly, stunning confection of an indie polish on today: Rainbow Honey Pinkie Promise! I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a fan of My Little Ponies--yes, it's a kid's cartoon, but something about the series is just so, so fun and kooky and endlessly entertaining, even for a 20-something like me.

"Nopony breaks a Pinkie promise!"-Pinkie Pie

I really want to collect all of Rainbow Honey's Equestria collection someday, but Pinkie Promise is by far my favorite! It's a spectacular party mix of fuschia, pink, gold, and light blue hex glitter and fuchsia, gold, and holographic bar glitter in a fantastically sparkle-packed pink base. I'm showing it here 2 coats over 3 coats of Wet 'n Wild 2% Milk, because I wanted neutral undies so that the base color of Pinkie Promise can be seen clearly. Even though Pinkie Promise looks to have a very light colored, sheer base, the color is actually quite vibrant!

Pinkie Promise has the very thick formula characteristic of polishes as chock full of glitter as this one, which makes it tricky to apply. The dab technique doesn't utilize itself well here since it has a colored base; I handled the application simply by getting a good amount of polish on the brush and soldiering on. I won't lie, it got a bit painful at times, but the results were SO worth it that I'll probably just add a few drops of thinner to it next time and keep on swimming.

It's worth noting that this baby STAINS--I'm currently sporting a myriad of electric fuchsia splotches on my nekkid nails--so be sure to use a suitable basecoat, even if you're wearing this with undies, because 2% Milk did absolutely nothing to prevent ol' Pinkie from bleeding right through.

You can get Rainbow Honey Pinkie Promise for $10/15ml or $5/7ml on her site rainbowhoney.com!

My Milkshake

It's time for another palette cleanser! I happened to see a swatch of Wet 'n Wild Megalast 2% Milk and liked it immediately--plus I don't have many pale-colored jellies in my collection, so it was a good fit. It was certainly nice by itself, but I couldn't leave it well enough alone so I sandwiched a coat of OPI Lights of Emerald City inbetween two layers each of 2% Milk. Have I mentioned I'm a sucker for food-themed names? I don't even like 2% milk (I'm much more partial to whole milk, or hemp milk if I can get it), but it's still a fun and cute name for polish.

2% Milk has a good formula for such a light color, and it flowed on the nail easily without being watery or streaky. It's a very nice, clean color that isn't as stark as a plain white; I'd call it an off-white or ivory.

Lights of Emerald City is a unique bird--I haven't seen another polish quite like it, even though the glitter combination of small iridescent squares and large matte white squares is a pretty simple mix. It is glitter-packed, so you don't have to fish for the big pieces of glitter (although giving the brush a swirl in the bottle helps get more of the larger white glitters on the brush).

Overall I really like this combination and I can definitely see myself wearing it again when I'm in the mood for something simple and refreshing.