Tigers in 2011! Whooo hooo!

I live in Michigan, and in Michigan, you have two choices. Either be a fan of the Detroit Tigers, or a fan of the Yankees, because Derek Jeter lived here. I would rather let a hamster bite out my own eyes than be a Yankees fan. No offense, New Yorkers. But I'm a Detroit fan.

Last night, I asked my twitter peeps what I should do with my nails, and my friend Jill, a raging Tigers supporter, suggested I do a Tigers manicure. So, without further ado:

For the base, I used Studio M "Orange Hot". For the french tips, Orly "Royal Navy". Which is much more sparkly if you store the bottle upside down. I don't remember who blogged that tip, but it has made m appreciate that polish so much more. For the tiger stripes, I used a Kiss art striper polish.

Of course, R.E.I.T. had to get in on the orange act:

...but she couldn't hold her fingers still long enough to get a good picture.

You might have noticed that my raggedy cuticles look a lot better these days. I've ditched the cuticle oil in favor of a different product to treat the dryness, and it works like a charm. I'm almost embarrassed to say what it is, because it seems like such a "duh, of course that would work" solution. I've been rubbing super emollient foot cream with alpha hydroxy into my cuticles once a day. This also works as a cuticle remover. So, things are looking much better around my nails these days. I just hope I remember this next winter.

Today is a very special day...

TODAY IS HALLOWEEN CLEARANCE DAY!

Oh, and yes, it is R.E.I.T.'s birthday! Happy second birthday, big girl!

Now, I'm not kidding about it being Halloween clearance day. If you love nail polish, and if you have a Meijer by you, you owe it to yourself to stop there today. Here's our haul:

These are five minis from Phantom Frights, which I must assume is a Halloween cosmetics company, because I can't think of any other day someone might buy a cosmetic meant to make them frightening. The pink, magenta, and orange are really not at all frightening. I quite like the magenta! The orange is the exact same color as Studio M "Orange Hot". The black and white are standard, I would say, and one of those blacks is a more sheer black with silver glitter, which is suitable for layering. The original price was $4.99, but I got it for $1.24!

When I saw the remaining pumpkins, I couldn't resist. They're so cute. One is a sheer, green-tinted glow-in-the-dark glitter, and the other is a clear base with green micro-glitter and large silver hexagonal glitter. Both were $2.49 originally, but came home with me for $0.62. The coffin-shaped polish came home for the same reason... it's so cute. As it turns out, it's a pretty nice berry red, so I wasn't just buying the bottle. The company is Fright Night and the color is "Bloodshed". It was originally $2.99, but I got it for $0.74!

Now, even though that last one up there isn't necessarily a Halloween polish, it was in the Halloween clearance, so it counts. It's one of Blue Cross Beauty Products' color-change Mood Struck polishes. I've seen people play with these on their blogs, and since it was marked down to $0.99 from $3.99, I figured it wasn't too big of an expenditure for curiosity's sake. It's supposed to change from that coralish pink to a creme, but I haven't tried it out yet. I'll have to report back with results.

This is my crowning achievement of this Halloween season. Color Club "Cast a Spell" set. This one is "Bewitching". Four polishes and a set of Halloween decals. From left to right, "Hocus Pocus", which looks to be a holo glitter, "Spellbound" (Hey, that looks just like Studio M "Orange Hot"!), "Charmed I'm Sure" which is such a beatiful purple it was worth buying the whole set just for it, and "Bewitching", the absolute coolest, plastic-finish black. It's like coating your nails with black vinyl! I know you can see it in the picture, but I want to say it anyway: This set was marked down from $7.99 to $1.99.

So, that's $6.20 for thirteen polishes (some minis) and some nail art decals. Not too bad a haul, even if you subtract the two oranges that look exactly like Studio M "Orange Hot", a color I already owned (Studio M is made by Color Club, as I am guessing these minis were, as well), that's still 11 polishes for $6.20, which is about $.056 a piece. And I would have gladly paid $6.20 each for "Bewitching" and "Charmed I'm Sure".

Did anyone else go out and get spectacular deals today? Let us know in the comments!

Mommy Manicure Monday

Okay, I have to share with you the most bizarre nail polish I have ever tried:



It's Orly's "Old School Orange" from their Plastix line. It's not a glossy creme, it's not matte finish. It's just... plastic looking.

Application was horrid. What you see in the picture are three coats, because no matter how carefully you apply, it's streaky as hell. Your best hope is to get the streaks lined up just right. Also, it never dries. I'm convinced of it. Seven hours after I put it on, I ended up with tons of smudges, and that beautiful cross-hatch pattern the sheets make. This is probably due to the fact that you have to just use so damned much of the stuff to reach opacity.

Now, if you do get a dreaded smudge while drying from "very wet" to "extremely tacky forever", you may feel the urge to smoosh it back into place with your tongue. RESIST THIS URGE! This stuff is not like normal nail polish, and it will leave an extremely bitter taste in your mouth if you put your fingers anywhere near your tongue for like, the first twenty-four hours after application.

With all these drawbacks, would I recommend this polish? Tip wear showed almost immediately, and it scarred and showed all kinds of dents. You can't really use a topcoat, or it will ruin the finish. But something is fun about the weird way it looks. I got so many compliments on the stuff, I'm sure I'll wear it again. And it is very cool to feel and play with in line at the bank.

Onto bloggish news: I will be in NYC later this week (no, not for fashion week), so the blog won't return until next Monday or Tuesday. You'll have to live without us for that long, LOL.