Instant Access - 12/4 - 1/22

I can't believe that it has been more than a month since I've done an Instant Access recap.  But given all the craziness of the last few weeks, I feel like (except for the last two weeks of the year), I've been running from one thing to another.   From my grandmother passing away and having to travel for that, to ending at one job, starting another, traveling for work and then for fun, it's been a whirlwind!

There were, of course, plenty of polish changes including...

Essie's Luxeffects Set In Stones

China Glaze's Mistletoe Kisses

China Glaze's Party Hearty over Essie's Marshmallow

Sally Hansen's Salon Effects in Peppermint Twist

OPI's Russian Navy (suede)

OPI's Warm & Fozzie

A half-moon manicure with Zoya's Pasha over OPI's Designer... De Better!

And my favorite red, China Glaze's Phat Santa.

Christmas was fun and quiet. The dogs were excited for their gifts.

And, among other things, I got the Miu Miu glasses I'd been pining for.

Picked up more Salon Effects - Love Letter, Brattlesnake and Sweet Tart-an

I'm ready for the time to change and more sun, so I'm already putting out my Valentine's Day centerpiece.

And did I mention we brought home Briar the goat.  You have to check out all the pictures!

My new job and been going well.  Busy but good. I've used my little Lunch-Crock nearly every day.  This is the best thing if you hate planning for lunch.  I just plug it in and lunch is all warm and ready when I am.

I have an actual office with a door, so I'm very excited. Walls!  I've brought in some pictures and met some people.  I have a Twin Star at work who loves a lot of the same things and happens to have the funniest blog ever!  You have to go read some of her hilarious day to day life (she actually talked about me on there too.  Ha!)

I hope your weeks have been going well too!  It's a new year and there's lots to do.

Taking a Shine

So this past week was kind of ridiculous.  Between a new business pitch keeping me at work until 8pm, the typical taking care of our gazillion animals, a new obsession and my car basically dying as I was trying to deliver the new business pitch materials causing me to freak out and have to expend tons of money, I've had a crummy week.

But this weekend has been quiet and rainy, which I am very grateful for. I at least got the opportunity to paint my nails.  My nails are generally craptastic so I've been trying to take care of them and they are actually improving to a point where I like trying new polishes on them.

This week I'm using Essies Pop Art Pink with Orly's VIP pink glitter tips.

I'm horrible at doing french manicures but the unstructred glitter was forgiving. What I want to do next (and need to get some matte polishes for) is like this:

I love the matte with the shiny tip.  I think I'm going to get some matte and shiny black right now.  I also want to do shiny red with matte red tips.  Very tonal. I'll probably need to get this done at a salon. I can just imagine how horrible this would turn out if I did this myself!

Color Smitten

I have never ever had nice, long, strong nails.  Nooo, I have to have crummy nails that break when you so much as look at them and have no nail beds to speak of so even short nail look lousy.

But I'm trying to do better about taking care of them in the hopes that they will grow and look nice. And I'm becoming a bit obsessed with nail polish.

I've recently done a big sweep at Ulta and Bergdorfs to get some gorgeous colors.  Colors that I hope will incent me to take good care of my nails.

I don't typically buy Chanel polishes as much as I do their lipsticks but I really wanted this pretty orchid-y pink-purple Lilac Sky.

Then last night I went to Ulta for more:

For fun I got a small bottle of Orly's VIP pink glitter which I think I'll wear over a pale pink base .

The main reason I was there was to find a pale yellow to match the Lemonade Converse I want to get. And funnily enough, this Orly color is called Lemonade as well!

But all the pretty spring colors were calling out to me.

So I bought a sample pack of the new French Affair collection from Essie.

French Affair -

Nice is Nice -

Sand Tropez -

And Coat Azure, which I'm wearing now -

But I had to get a few other colors, just to test them out.  Like Wicked (a dark dark burgundy)

The olive-y green Sew Psyched -

Searching for the perfect lavender in St. Lucia Lilac -

And another pretty, less shimmery blue in Lapis of Luxury -

Obviously I'm pining away for the soft colors of spring.  No flowers yet but I can have them on my nails.



Color coding

For a very long time (actually until just a few years ago), I never wore open toe shoes. For all that I love shoes I limited myself to mules and pumps and sneakers but never sandals, peep-toes or slides. The main reason is because I didn't feel comfortable with my tootsies.

I have very weak and brittle nails that tend to split really low. So I never felt "sandal-worthy" and I certainly didn't feel that I could have as pretty of a pedicure as what you see in magazine ads. But I made a concerted effort (and was very careful not to bump my toes into things, like I often do) and a little while later I was able get my first cute little slides.

But, I don't get to have professional pedicures all that often. Not as much as I would like anyway. Why is that? It's the same thing with massages. I love them and every time I go, I vow I'm going to get at least one a month, but then I never do. Anyway, I also don't have a lot of time to give myself pedicures more than once a week (okay, every other week), so I struggle with what nail polish color to pick that won't clash with the potential shoes I am going to wear. I'm not organized enough to plan out my outfits and nail polish. I can't even do that with purses much less the amount of effort it would take to match up my nails. I tend to pick a few colors that will be neutral enough to go with most of the shoes I would wear (with the season taken into account).

I'm currently pining for Fall but it's still pretty warm out, so I went with Chanel's Shanghai Red. It's not a true red, more like a very sheer rose-burgundy. It's got metallic flecks in it too so it looks great in the light.



Chanel did 3 limited edition colors this past season and the Shanghai Red was one of them. The others were Noir Ceramic (a metallic charcoal) and Blanc Ceramic (a sheer metallic white). I was inspired by the nails on the Summer Sephora catalog that did a black and white take on a French manicure. The Blanc was actually a perfect pedicure color. It was neutral but had something "more" than using a pink or neutral taupe. I used this a lot.



In the Winter I tend to go with a deeper burgundy that has some metallic to it. I do like to wear a true red, like Revlon Red, but find that it is hard to do a good job on my own. Plus, I don't find red to be as neutral as a darker version. If I want a red I save that for when I do go for a professional pedicure.

The nails on my hands are just as weak. I've been trying really hard to take care of my hands and get my nails to grow. The only thing that I've found that works is Nailtiques. When I use that stuff, it's amazing! My nails actually grow and don't break constantly.

I do love the look of painted nails. But on me they tend to look kind of lame. I see girls with shorter nails that are painted dark (like black or Vamp), but on me it looks hideous. So, I end up wearing a really sheer polish. And for some reason, my nail chips off of my nails really easily too. A light polish minimized how bad they look when 2 hours into the day half of my polish is chipped off. One polish I like is Essie's Ballet Slippers.

I've also heard good things about Essie's Mademoiselle and Opi's Bubble Bath. I think I am going to get those next.

Any other suggesstions for good colors to wear or good brands?