Technical Difficulties. Again.

Do other bloggers have these stupid issues?

So I finally get the internet thing resolved with the encouragement of MDAMO.

OK...

...


Not encouragement exactly. He took this Taurus by the horns, did the initial contact with a new ISP and got info where I wouldn't have. And he was right. This is much better. Equal speed, NO CAP! I can download and upload all day long, and after they hooked it up, I did. For about 4 days. I had a lot of stuff waiting on itunes, what can I tell ya? I'm a sucker for those free digital movie copies.

So I no longer have to worry about using my internet all up. So what's the problem now, you might ask?

Can't get my swatches to upload.


Yep.

I spent all day, and I mean ALL. DAY. Friday swatching. I mean...I swatched like no one has swatched before. Or at least, not as I have. I swatched until I couldn't stomach trying one more polish. I haven't painted my nails in days I got so sick of it. I know, right? I'm bewildered myself.

Get to the point, you say? Shut up and show  us some polish? I get that. I do.

The point is, I can't get them to upload. I'm fairly tech savvy, right? But I keep getting error messages. I could bawl.

I will get it. I will. Just bear with me because I have some great stuff and I tried some new and hopefully less boring stuff with the swatches...now if I could just show them to you. ARG!

I have some good news to share, though!

Though I am mourning my puppy and I miss her terribly and I wander around aimlessly because time I would normally spend with her is now empty, I had to start the puppy search again. If you have dogs, love dogs...you understand this. We dog people are simply lost without them. I work in a dog friendly environment, we had three in there today. It makes it worse.

So as you probably recognized, she was on the exotic side. Pekingese are far from eponymous. They're downright tough to find. I knew I had to dust myself off and start looking. After fruitlessly contacting several breeders (and being ignored by one Chow Chow breeder as well...I did want another Chow.) one who was advertising puppies contacted me back immediately. She turned out to be a sweet and clearly smart person who let me sell myself as a home rather than trying to sell me a dog. She offered pictures of the parents and her other baby, and has generally been wonderful. So at the end of May I will have a new little angel in my life. I'm struggling with the name thing right now. We are buying two of the puppies, half sisters from the same father, born a week apart. They are being hand raised, handled by kids, and loved. Unfortunately, they are three hours away.

I will always love and miss my Molly. Nothing will ever change that. My love for Molly didn't lessen my love for Lydia, my love for my Bubba was different all together, too. Little black and white puppy (name will be announced when I know what fits her) will be different in my life again. I'm still struggling with "replacement guilt", if you can't tell. But I haven't stopped smiling since the deal was made. I suppose it's a part of healing. As my good friend Cindy told me the day my Molly left us, you have to get another to honor the one you lost. I am hoping this will time well, that I will be doing a little better by the time little BnW comes home. Experience has taught me, especially with more exotic breeds, you can't hesitate when you find them. You have to snatch them up. Many times I have lamented that we're not Labrador people. Those are everywhere. Oh no. Not us. We have to have English Bulldogs or Chow Chows or Pekingese. No Cockers for us. Nothing on the top ten list of popular dogs. (At least not in most years.) This has it's pros and cons as you know or can imagine.

She's so darn cute. I put their face pictures on my work computer and now get little done. But I smile a lot! Even the crappy gospel/country/pop fusion "music" at work didn't darken my mood for long and that shit makes me homicidal. It's just bad. I mean...it's bad. I suspect it violates the Geneva convention. I need to find out.

So I will return. I have a day off this weekend, maybe I can work on it. I'm gone tomorrow night...yeah, it will be a day or two.

I hope you are doing some good colors while I kick the computer a few times and moon over BnW. I'd show you pics but I didn't take them and that wouldn't be cool. When she's mine I'm sure she'll be everywhere!

Happy Talons!

Cirque - Epoch Duochromey goodness in a little square bottle

I had been perusing the blogs and seeing Cirque everywhere. It's a cult favorite or something. I had resisted because honestly...I collect too many brands already. Though as ModelsOwn hasn't been able to permanently resolve their international shipping issues yet, this is a good fix for something unique. And unique these are. I got I think 4 when I ordered, I am a hog for free shipping. I went straight to the helpful "Duochrome" linky on the website because I'm a duochrome whore. I admit it freely.
I wanted duochromes and duochromes I got.

MDAMO actually chose this one, it's been quite awhile, actually. I slacked for awhile there. I hope to be over that. Blogging is a good distraction, though I still miss my dog terribly. It's amazing what a place they carve out of your heart. They carve it right out and nestle in there for a long nap. It's a painful loss when that leave that niche.

Epoch is a blue-green-purple flashing bit of niceness. There are all pre-mani, showing the wear. Which was good. This wore a good week. I think I repaired it once but I broke my nail.

Yes, the color on my nails and the color in the bottle are the same. Amazing, huh? I'll show you a good pic of this later.

These always appear to me to have a black base but I'm not sure that's really true. It sometimes looks as if it's just tiny particles suspended in there and they're lending their color to the base, but I'm not honestly sure. I don't see how a black base could do this justice, but I could be wrong. But I sense an optical illusion. Regardless, this is a stunner.

Tilt the bottle, get a different view. Same with your nails. This is one of those that will cause you to wreck your car because you're staring at it and not the road.

Ooo. Look at that. There is some seriously gorgeous duochrome happening here. Look at that pinky!

Look at that! SQUEEEE!!!! This is a but blurry because it's a blow up of the previous picture.Who cares, you can see what you need to see here. That's completely amazing.

Here you can see that blackened quality and the teal. It's like a whole coordinated box of crayons in there. Silver, as well...it's incredible.

I love how it looks different on every nail just because of where they are in relation to the light and the angle of the camera. It's pretty sweet.

These aren't cheap, they're on the pricier side, but honestly, look at that. It's worth it!

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - Speckle - My Favorite!

Speckle is my favorite. Because purple is one of my most favorite colors? Possibly. I'm not sure it's that. Maybe it's this particular shade of purple that just makes me squeee. Not entirely sure I can articulate it.

One coat as a sheer. You can do it.

This is two coats. Two blurry coats. Note to self, when the swatching isn't working, just paint the nails and move on. You'll live to swatch another day.

Not a great bottle shot but a nice one of the nails. This is two coats again, which is really all you need, though you can do more if you want to build up more glitters. That will work because it seems to take a lot to completely obscure the lower layers of glitter underneath.
I just love this color. It's sort of vibrant but not..still kind of a dusty color. I love it a lot.

This is the only one that had a little glitter sticking off, I think! That's easily fixed with an orange stick. I love how this looks, it's so unique and interesting and the color is so gorgeous. I'm in love with this color.

Finally a good one. You can really see what this looks like that it has texture and could probably use another coat, actually. It would even it out a little more, but this isn't bad. It has some roughness, I would put a thick top coat on it because that's what I like, but you do what you're happiest with.
The pigments are really saturated in this, it's just amazingly pretty. I'd wear this purple without the interesting glitter look. I really would.

That's the last of these, finally. I'm so sorry it took me so long. I hope you are planning to pick some of these up.

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - Scarce

Scarce is pink. I'm not a huge fan of pinks, but it's good. It's a pretty kind of pink. I don't usually turn pinks down, but they don't draw my eye at first.

This is another that will do OK as a sheer, if that's the look you're after. You know I hate that so moving right along...

Blurry....see, swatching the collection was a nightmare! Not because of the lacquers it was other things, lighting...focus...it was really difficult for some reason. I don't know. All the same, you can see here that this has that same magical Illamasqua formula that is controlling and distributing the glitters but not eating them alive. You can see that the lower layers do get covered some, how could you prevent it? But there is dept in that look.

Once again, I didn't shift these around at all. Those glitters fall where they fall, so nicely, and sometimes in a cute curl like on the ring finger there! It's sort of like random nail art. This is a fun one. This one also really shows off those little micro glitters in there.

And because of the crappy swatching issues I had, these are all the shots of this I wound up with. Nice, huh? Some days are just like that.

I like this one but it's probably my least favorite of the group. It performs just like the others and while I do like this more saturated shade of pink I think I'd have to be in the mood to wear this. I'm not going to choose it at random.

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - for real this time. Freckle

Freckle is one of the colors I was really fascinated by in this collection. I'm not sure why. It's a dark beige/tan with the collection's signature black hex and mini black glitters. And as you will see, it kind of gave me lobster paws. Still, it's interesting. 

I had the worst time swatching these. please forgive the kind of crappy swatches. I just couldn't get stuff to work out.

This is Freckle...just as I described it. But it's sort of interesting, don't you think?

K, see what I mean? Really just not great! But the color is good.No, still not my favorite of these, but it's pretty and if you want to confuse people, this is a good one for it. I think we expect blues and greens to be a little out there, or a lot of people do. I don't think the black glitter is as much of a surprise in those. In a neutral/nude? It's unexpected. I'm glad they added this to the colors.

Finally a good swatch. You guys don't know how many I pitched. A few, to say the least. You can see that this is going to have an unavoidably lumpy texture, but really, it's not bad. I like it glass smooth so I recommend a thicker top coat but if that doesn't bother you then you can just seal it up with any top coat and go.

Also, I didn't do anything to this to arrange those glitters. The formula is so perfect. It goes on nicely, the glitters disperse themselves and don't clump up and there isn't a lot of clean up. If you check those cuticles, they're really clean, that's the application, not my cleaning up afterward. So nicely done.

Last one on this. These are really pretty color true, so I'm pleased with that. You can see it makes me a little red. It's OK. I can live with it.

I like these a lot. There are a few more to go, too!
Plus, interestingly enough, Deborah Lippmann put out something very similar. 3 shades of similar colors. They're not dupes, they're not even suspected of being, but they are bright colors with black glitters. Who is spying on whom, don't you wonder??  I have them, I haven't tried them yet.

Hmmmm.

Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection - I promise. I will finish these. But not on this post because I'm too busy rattling on about random stuff.

I know. I've been gone again. I did get a post up last week! My puppy has finally gone to the green field. I miss her so much. As a family it has been decided that we will be keeping an eye out for both another Peke and a Chow, which I used to have. I miss her too. Ideally we can find them about the same time and they can grow up to be buddies. I contacted a breeder today to see where she is, I hope she writes me back. I am still mourning.

But I haven't forgot you, or the blog, though I've had some slip-ups. I kinda...broke my own rule and bought some OPIs. I just did. If it's any consolation I got them off Evilbay so in a sense, OPI gets none of that money, but I know that's feeble and lame. See? I'm kind of a Bond fanatic. I love James Bond, have loved them forever, and I know among my friends I'm not alone in this. And it's not just the delectable Daniel Craig and his blue blue eyes or his shoulders that go on for miles. It's the cars. I admit it. I LOVE those cars. And I love he doesn't wear a Rolex, or at least not any more. He wears an Omega, which I personally wear, and that's very cool. And the cars. And I confess, I wanted to be a Bond girl. I didn't grow up to be sexy or beautiful enough. Smart, maybe, but I'm not really Bond girl material. Maybe like...the Gemma Arterton character in Skyfall, which, considering I can't remember her name from the movie pretty much tells you what you need to know. While I was in my mourning phase nail polish splurgeapalooza, I also picked up a really cute magnet from some outfit in Britain that says "Keep Calm and Dream of a DB5" which is the ultimate Bond-mobile AND my personal dream car. (Rocket launchers optional) So I kinda ordered the Bond Girl collection. And the 007 Skyfall set, and the magnetics. (Sorry I didn't share that with you MDAMO, I was embarrassed!) I do not know what I think of this liquid sand idea, but I'm going to give it a shot.

It also occurs to me that OF COURSE Chanel is marketing in China. Derrrr....though, you know, I have read so much conflicting information on what is actually tested on animals there and what isn't I've kind of lifted my "Marketing in China" embargo. It's too confusing. So I'm back on Lauder and Chanel for that reason. Maybe "too confusing" isn't really good enough of a reason, but it's all I have. I've been struggling with my guidelines for a little while now. Not because I just want the pretty new things, but because I can't keep it straight. I do my best. Most of my makeup these days is Illamasqua, which THANKS Royal Mail! Is now pretty expensive to ship from Britain, but I'll pay it because Sephora makes me a little crazy, they sell out of the new stuff too fast and they don't carry everything.

Which leads me to my next thing! Illamasqua has another Sephora exclusive nail lacquer out there. I saw a comparison on http://www.polish-hound.com/ to Illamasqua's Obsess so you might check that out. She did a nice job showing them over there. It kind of makes me bonkers when they do this because Sephora sells out and then it's a game to get a hold of it. However Superstition (kinda forgot to tell you that, the name of it is Superstition) is still in stock. Then I found, also from the Polish Hound, that I had missed two Illamasqua releases (Harem and Venous) so I have those on the way. With an eye shadow pallette and a free highlighter. Because, you know, I shop when I'm unhappy! Don't Judge!

By the way, really recommend Illamasqua's new flat blush brush and bronzer blush duos. I'm sold on Illamasqua brushes now. Cruelty free and as soft as kitten hair. But more manageable.

While I was bawling and ordering colors, I discovered a bunch of stuff. I wanted to let you know that the new Rescue Beauty Lounge collection is now out of pre-order and will be available to the public shortly. Don't know exactly when. I've advised you and advised you to get your freaking butts on there and get signed up for notifications. She doesn't spam you and you'll be glad you did it. Then Deborah Lippmann has released her Summer collection, all Mermaid inspired. If you liked Mermaid's Tail then this is right up your alley. Did I blog that? Hm. No matter, the collection is pretty and fascinating. Also, butterLondon has released THEIR Summer colors, also gorgeous and beach inspired.
If you're into the Earth Day thing, Sheswai and Zoya both have specials going on.

Whew.

Well, I was going to do the next I'mPerfection lacquer but now this is too long. I won't wait two days to post it like usual.

Then I have a Cirque coming up for you, totally sold on Cirque now like every other blogger out there, and then I'm caught up on swatches. For the past few manicures I haven't swatched because I've been too sad and depressed. My nails is nekkid now so I am trying to decide what to wear. I've been through the Illamasqua's....nothing's grabbing me. I don't know. Maybe a butter. My last couple of manicures have been greys because that was my mood. It's still pretty grey, actually.

And does anyone know what I did with my bottle of Throb? Has to be here somewhere...

If you made it this far through my stream of consciousness, Happy Talons!

Illamasqua I'mPerfection Collection - Fragile

Let me start out by showing you the whole collection in it's boxes so you can kind of get a preview. I know Mottle was the uber popular one out there in the blogosphere, but it's not my favorite.

The first non Mottle I want to show you is Fragile. Of course this makes me want to say "fra geeee lay" but...I try not to.

Fragile is the blue member of the group and is a really lovely watery shade of bright pastel blue with those little rocker black glitters.

This is a little faded out thanks to the flash but it shows the nails really well. The watery blue is so pretty and I wanted to show you that you could use this as a sheer if that's what turns your crank. This is one coat on nekkid nails. The blue of the lacquer gives the black glitters a little but of a softer look, but they're still prevalent, and as you can see, they scatter themselves out nicely. Trust me, I lack the patience to sit and move those all around.

The label on the box. I love that it's speckled, too!

Here is two coats, you can see it's opaque. I love that these have little particles as well as those larger hex ones. It adds a lot.

Here is two coats. You can see it needs a third to really level out, the ring finger particularly is showing through. I don't personally think this is a big deal at all. Probably if I had put on thicker layers it would have been fine.
The interesting thing is that this is an opaque polish that isn't eating it's glitter. You can still see them very clearly. I also love that it spreads them out. The formula is absolutely perfect. Goes on so beautifully and yet it covers well, spreads out the glitter and still lets you see it. YOu can also see here, the texture of the glitter. If you are into those textured polishes then go for it. I personally am not loving that look. At. All. But if you like it, then great. If not, I recommend a couple coats of nice thick top coat, Gelous being my favorite right now.

Last shot of this one, and it's washed out. I apologize. But you get the idea from the other shots, this is just a better shot at the glitters.

What do you make of these? I love the look, I love the micro particles in there adding depth. These are so interesting. I love them. This still isn't my favorite, though. ;)

Happy Talons!

Sorry guys

I have had so much going on. I am not trying to make excuses, but some of it has been positive, some really not positive and some just weird. My job is weird. WEIRD. It would help if I didn't despise it, but we can't have everything, can we?

The worst thing going on with me is that my puppy has gone into kidney failure. She's not in any pain so she's home, we tend to nurse rather than put them to sleep, believing that if no pain is involved that nature should take it's course. Watching her feel so terribly is really challenging that belief for me, I confess. Ultimately, she isn't really my dog and it's not really my choice to make. I just love her as if she is and I've been helping care for her and look out for her. I'm all cried out, for which I think she is really grateful as even as terrible as she feels she looks at me like "Jesus would you get it together". We are all in agreement that when signs of pain appear she will have to take her big sleep. In the meantime, every moment is a gift and I feel terrible guilt for not being with her every moment, but honestly, she doesn't want that. I lay on the floor with her and pet her head and talk to her until she struggles to get up and get away. She's always been a loner. Loving and sweet and the gentlest girl you could ask for but with a fierce independent streak. As MDAMO said, she will do what she wants. He loves her, too. Honestly, it is impossible not to.

Here is my sweet precious in younger days.

This is a pretty typical back off expression from her. She never liked having her picture taken.

Look at that face...the face that enslaved us all to her cuteness. I don't know where the picture I have of her is that I really love....

I found it. Thank the gods for online photo storage, emma right?

These two were taken at the same time and they capture her so well. Her personality, her joy..I love her too much. It hurts so much to lose her. Lest anyone think I was actually dangling my dog upside down she was laying on my lap on her back while I was rubbing her belly and trying to keep her from squirming off. Someone else took these pictures, probably my Mom. She was making her funny growly sounds and acting a fool as always.

Maybe I'm not cried out after all.

My dearest Molly,

I love you so much, little girl. Thank you for the joy, the love and the friendship you have so selflessly given your whole life, from the time I brought you home from Chicago in the breaking down car that made so much noise and made you hate riding in the car forever, to now, when you still lift your head to greet me, though I know you probably couldn't feel a lot worse. You have made my life better, enriched it in so many ways and I am so grateful that we were able to give you a happy life, free from hunger, pain, and cruelty. You gave so much more than we did, always. Please do not be afraid to go ahead. I believe you are on your way to a beautiful green field with sunshine and trees, lots of leaves for you to sniff at and sticks to investigate. Bubba is waiting for you there (and I am sure there are bees for her to snap at). I love you so much, I will miss you, but you will be young like this again, full of joy, and ready to play as you were for so many years. Maybe there is even a spot for you to itch your back and make pirate sounds! I'm sure there is. What kind of heaven could it be for you without that? And all the purple dinosaurs you can chase. Can't forget those.

Thank you for letting me know you, for sharing your life with mine, for all the kiss-kiss on my nose and the cuddles, and the begging at the table and for tolerating my picking you up and carrying you around. You are so special.

Your Missy