Holy Ulta Haul, Batman!

I  have exciting news.  There's a new Ulta by my house!  Hooray! (ok so it's exciting news for me)  We recently moved to a more rural area, and the closest Ulta was more than an hour away.  So when I saw one going up next to an (also recently built) Kohl's in my area, I was beyond excited.  Of course, having both stores together in one shopping center will be bad for my wallet, but oh so much fun!

Well, I got a flyer in the mail recently from Ulta, and was amazed and delighted to see a fantastic GWP!  (that's gift with purchase, for any of my readers that are not shopping-obsessed.)  With any $19.50 purchase of Ulta brand products, they're giving out a cute little bag full of makeup worth $88!  And to avoid having to describe the contents ad nauseum, I decided to just share the pic from their website:

Image Source

Beauty Box Beatdown! Ipsy v. Birchbox April 2013

Hello!  Due to a bunch of random personal crap, I'm behind yet again.  Know how I catch up?  By slyly combining two reviews into one with a Beauty Box Beatdown!  I know, how incredibly talented and clever and... yeah.  Saw the idea on (several) other blogs. Stole it.

Hopefully you have all gotten your Birchboxes and Ipsy bags by now!  For the past few months, they've been arriving at my house on the same day.  It's fun to pull everything out and compare it, but I think it would also be nice to spread the love out over a few days.  It's an awful lot to test at once!

Yup.  My favorite day of the month!

Saturday Night Nails

That's right, it's time for another exciting installment of Saturday Night Nails (Special Holiday Edition)!  I felt like doing something special for St. Patrick's Day, but I have absolutely zero talent for nail art.  So I'm doing the "accent nail" trend.  You know, the one where you paint your ring finger a different color than the rest of your nails.  Which, since I've heard of it, now means the trend is officially over!  I think it goes without saying that if you're stopping by here for the latest in fashion news, you're in the wrong place.  I'm more the "march to the beat of my own drummer" fashionista anyway!

Ok, now that I've stressed my complete ignorance of fashion, I bet you're just so excited to see my gorgeous work!  Here you go!

Ta-daaaaaaaah!

This is inside, without flash.  I have been loving my Color Club polish in Wild Cactus from my February Birchbox!  For some reason it always photographs as a blue-ish/teal color, but I assure you, it's a lovely emerald.  I used Mary Kay's Gold Foil for my accent nail to complete the St. Patrick's theme!  Here's another shot indoors with a flash:

I think the green shows a bit better in this one!

In these shots, I don't have a top coat on, but I'll let Sally Hansen's Double Duty Base & Top Coat do its very best to protect my polish.  I'm not expecting much, as my manicures rarely last longer than a day.  Chasing after little ones is just too much strain on my poor nails!  And just because I know you're dying to see more, here's one final shot.  No flash, but directly under lamplight.

And once again, it looks blue.
My camera and I are going to have a talk.

Just because it's bugging me that you all can't see the awesomeness of this emerald color, here is a pic of the color from Birchbox's website.  All credit goes to their lovely photographers, and someone please let me know if using their pic is not ok.   Definitely not wanting to infringe on any trademark, etc., but I think they'll sell more of these polishes if I can show an accurate representation of the color!

There! Emerald Green. Told ya.

I hope you have a wonderful evening!  Where are you and your beautiful nails going tomorrow?

Saturday Night Nails

Ah, the joys of motherhood.   The thrill of a Saturday night stretching ahead of you.  The kids are in bed, all of your single friends are out partying, all of your mommy friends have their own kids in bed or desperately slogging through a science fair project.  Thankfully, my kids are young, and easily lulled by their color-changing, star-projecting nightlight.  So what's a mom to do with all this free time?

Well, if you were me, you'd look around the living room, see the painting above your mantel, and be artistically inspired.  I'm limited, of course.  No oils, no pastels or watercolors.  But boy, do I have a lot of nail polish!  So here we go... Manicure a la Notre Dame!

The Artistic Inpiration