Le Sigh

Hey everyone it's me! I hope you all had a fun and safe New Years!

So, the big question on everyone's mind in 2017(clearly) is where have you been? And that answer is easy and complex, so I'll give you a hybrid answer.

If you had told me years ago that my regular lexicon would eventually include words like depression, anxiety, self loathing, self harm, isolation, sleep deprivation, and loss of appetite to name a few I would have rolled my head back so far into my head.

Cut to 2016.

This has been a dumpster fire of a year for me. I have suspected depression for a years now, but when I brought it up to my doctor:

Me: I've been feeling down for a whi-
Doctor: You're just sad.

That was the end of our conversation. 3 years+ of sadness later, I have graduated to extra sad.

Earlier this year my relationship of 7 years started to take a turn for the worse, and that intensified all these feelings that I had been bottling up for years(because remember I was just sad, at least that's what I always told myself and tried to push those feeling away). In September, everything started to snowball. Finally one night in October after one of the worst weeks of my life I finally broke down and told someone exactly what was going on. And to this day that person has stuck by side despite me being such a loose canon.

While I've learnt that having someone I feel 110% comfortable venting to and crying on is great, but it's not a solution. And I realise now that I need actual help.

As a comedian(Yup, that's what I actually am), I actually joke about all this quite a but, the reality is, I am so tired.

I need to get help. Getting worse is a terrifying concept that I don't want to become a reality.

So for the moment I am going to be focusing on getting better, because I miss being me. I may post here and there(I still have some reviews that people sent me...sorry they aren't up), but I can honestly say as much as I love to blog, it is not my top priority right now. So please forgive my extended absence in 2016, and my potential 2017 absence.

The late Carrie Fisher said something that really resonated with me “Stay afraid, but do it anyway. What’s important is the action. You don’t have to wait to be confident. Just do it and eventually the confidence will follow.”

There are things I have to do right now, and I'm hoping the confidence will follow.

<3

Ps. You should also know that I *may* take this post down at some point. It's been sitting here for weeks and a keep editing it, but I never have the guts to post it. Not only that but I really don't want people from real life seeing this. Not now at least.

You know you haven't been doing your nails when...

You have no black polish, and you probably haven't had any for months.

Yup, not a single black polish. So for this manicure I used a coat of Sinful Colors Secret Admirer as the base, and black acrylic paint over it.

Honestly my nails have been looking rough the past few months. In part because I was busy, and in part because I was sick during the end of June and most of July, which totally threw my nails through a loop because I wasn't healthy in the slightest(I'm much better now). But they are finally starting to look decent. Huzzah!

So today I bring you these skull wearing crowns from the Born Pretty Store. I have been sitting on for a such a long time they no longer sell it(sorry, fail on my part). But I'm still going to review them. I love skulls and I love crowns, like any person with healthy interests, so you put a crown on a skull, I will like it.

This was honestly bigger than I expected, and would have looked better when I had longer nails. But either way they just fit. Application is always easy with these because of their size. Now for big 3D nail art like this you want to glue them down not just stick it into the polish, and don't even try and top coat it. And when you are done with big pieces like this, you can easily peel them off and use them again.

Now because I flopped harder than Ryan Lochte(ok not that badly), I actually don't have a link for where you can buy these and they don't sell them any more. So here are a couple links to some 3D skulls from them that I think you should check out. And remember to use are 10% discount code if you plan on buying them(or anything else from their site!)

 

While these aren't rhinestones to me they have the same feel, and they appear to be smaller. 5 currently on sale for $2.14 USD.

 

These ones are like a party/rave version of the ones I have. They incorporate both the skull and crown, and we actually reviewed them here before! Currently on sale for $0.59 USD. 

*Product sent for honest review

100 coats of...Hair gel? My response to #polishmountain

The post you have been waiting for since never  ᕕ(ᐛ)ᕗ And yes, despite the title, it does have to do with nails.

Can't go wrong with this!

Ugh, I've been feeling like garbage the past few weeks and it stinks! But I think I'm starting to feel a bit better *touch wood*. Today I have a UV polish for you guys from The Born Pretty Store. I have actually done home gel polish before, but I have no clue if I reviewed it and I'm far too lazy to check.

I decided to try this out specifically because it was matte and I have never seen a matte UV polish and I'm a sucker for matte polish. Now on Born Pretty's site they don't have instruction on how to apply it for those who may not know so I'll explain.

1) Clean your nails of residue with remover. 2) Add your gel base coat(I skipped this because...I forgot tbh), then cure under UV lamp 3) Polish nails, making sure not to get any on skin as it will cure there and be hard to take off. Then cure after each coat 4) Add UV top coat and cure. Skip this step if you want to keep the polish matte. 5) Wipe down nails with rubbing alcohol to get rid of excess residue.

Application of the polish was really easy, and it worked like all the other gel polishes I have used in the past. I was a little worried about wiping them down after they were matte, but in the end it was totally fine. Honestly the one big downside for me was the wear time. I started to peel after a few days and had tip wear early on. That being said I have tried a few at home UV polishes and they have all acted the exact same way even with a base coat.

The polish itself is BEAUTIFUL. It's a deep purple with copper flecks. It kind of reminds me of Dutch 'Ya Just Love OPI?. They feel like cousins. It applied easily with 2 coats.

Honestly I would recommend this polish as well as the others from the line. They are on par with polishes like Sally Hansen, but only cost anywhere from $3.82 - $7 on the BP site. Which is half the price if of most brands. Also they come in an awesome assortment of colours. Honestly when it comes to polish overall, Born Pretty is a fantastic place to go.

Have you tried gel polish?

*Polish sent for honest review

Buy This! (I swear this isn't sponsored)

So recently I have been trying to clean up my computer. I have too many useless meme and gifs that I am hoarding because I think that one day I will find the perfect text to use it as a response to. Well in that hoard there are a lot of beauty posts. So my goal is to go through them...... before I delete them.

So today I have one of my favourite blushes EVER. Normally when it comes to makeup I'm not a snob. I don't care if it's drug store or high end, if it performs well, I like it. I never like to judge a brand based on it's price, and I always believe that you can usually find comparable dupes of most high end brands for less.

Now I want you to take what I just said, and throw it out the window. This product is high end, expensive, and if there is a dupe out there I don't ever want it's name spoken on this blog.

This blush is NARS Taj Mahal. I wont lie I bought it because of all the praise I read online about it. Let me tell you, they weren't wrong. Taj Mahal is a burnt orange, shimmery blush, that is super pigmented. And when you put it on you'll look like you have been kissed by the angel Gabriel. The one potential problem with this is like I said it is super pigmented, so you have to have to use it with a delicate touch. That and the packaging has kind of a rubbery finish, so it attracts dirt like crazy.

If you have chocolate skin, you need this. Literally. I cannot stress how pretty this is on our skin. If you have lighter skin, it can still work for you, but you need to be very careful with it so you don't go into Oompa Lompa cheek mode.

If you want to get your hands on this blush it retails for $30/£23.00 and you can find it on websites like Sephora or NARS. And in most department stores that sell higher end makeup.

What are some of your favourite blushes?

Did I do that? The answer is I don't know.

It's kind of funny because I have a bunch of photos just sitting here on my laptop and I have no clue if I posted them before or not. Mainly because I have just been picking and choosing whichever one piqued my interest, and not going in any order. So my apologies if I repeat!

You know what I have been liking a lot recently. Chocolate. I have honestly never been a chocolate person, but ever since I got my hands on the Lindt Chocolate Bunnies I can not stop. Apparently chocolate has a similar effect on the brain as opium, and according to my research a lot more tasty and fun.

Anyway here are some cookie nails I did with the help of Robin Moses's Cookie Monster tutorial. I don't remember for sure what the red polish is right now, but I think it's OPI's Got The Blues for Red, and everything else is acrylic paint.

China Glaze: We've Got The Beet

I'll be honest, for over the past year or so I haven't been into buying new polish. It's rare I find anything that stands out. I find most new polishes I see unoriginal, so I was really please to see this polish. For the first time in a long time I was excited. It's a shame that feeling didn't last long.

I'm honestly not sure how I feel about this polish. We've Got The Beet is a beautiful magenta shade from China's Glaze's 2016 Summer Lite Brites collection(*I KNOW* I'm reviewing something that's current!). It leans purple (but photographs more purple then it actually is irl) with mostly gold/copper-ish flecks. The formula is like wet lime plaster, and it takes 3 careful coats for total opacity, and the dry time is tedious. On the plus side like lime plaster it does seem to last eons on the nail. In the photos the manicure is 5 days old.

I'm glad I got the teeny tiny bottle for now. Pretty colour, tragic formula. Maybe I will get the full size bottle one day when it inevitably goes on sale somewhere.