essie 's carry-on collection for fall

what are your thoughts? i love that the fall collection is bag themed and i like how this year's fall collection lines up with last year's, seen together below (last year's, then this year's). it looks like neither a copy nor a departure, but an evolution, and don't we all love evolution where we can get it?

i'm interested in each of this year's colors, i suppose, especially very structured, case study and glamour purse. i'm confused by power cluctch which appears greenish above, though gray in a different image i've seen, and is described as a gray-green. i guess i'll HAVE to get a mani to get some clarity.

top image, other images

a quick coat

so you know how i sometimes do a single coat of light nail polish in between manis? well now it's perfected - i've found the perfect polish for it...it's revlon top speed in sheer cotton or sheer pearl and it dries in one minute. literally.

done and done. they also have tons of other colors to choose from, but for me, the sheer light color is the one to go with since i'm utterly untalented at polishing my own nails.

meet me at sunset

especially if sunset looks like this! i know what my next pedi color is going to be. doesn't essie's new meet me at sunset look like the perfect summer corange? yup, corange - just made that up. coral and orange. beach ready. city ready. everything ready.

why pedi and not mani, you might wonder? because i can't stop getting long stem roses on my hands...it's my favorite color ever. EVER. i want to marry it.

a squeeze of lemon

one of my favorite parts of getting a manicure or pedicure is when they bust out the steamed towels...i find it exhilarating, and the hotter the better. i particularly love when the towels are faintly scented with lemon and ginger. similarly, i love to breathe deeply when towels like that are passed around at asian restaurants, and i fondly remember the chilled towels in the gym at this resort being scented that way as well. i just love multi-sensory experiences like that, don't you?

i've often considered buying a towel warmer for my own home...i've come shockingly close to doing it more than once. maybe one day...for now, though, i might just take a page from the resort gym and chill some lemon towels this summer...want to join me?

nailing it for spring

what nail colors are you loving right now? the above combination is what i've been doing myself in an effort to skip manis for a few weeks to save some money. i do one coat of ladies choir from sinful colors ($1.99) and then a top coat of starry silver glitter from NYC color (.99 cents)which is high impact silver with little blue flecks. i might be easing into blue nail polish. p.s. there are coupons for NYC color for $1 off (which i can't find online right now), and if you use them at cvs and get the older bottle style seen above, they're free with the coupon. don't tell NYC i'm spreadin' the news.

some of my recent mani faves are from opi's texas collection, specifically suzi loves cowboys, a true dark brown, though i'm a little out of the dark mood now. are you?

then there's essie's spring collection, which is rather lovely across the board. i'm having that how-will-i-decide anxiety...they're all so pretty. have you tried any yet?

you know the drill

what did you do over the weekend, my friends?

on friday, we had dinner here with one of my good friends from high school and her new husband, and their newlywed love and enjoyment was palpable - so sweet. we talked and laughed about lots of things, including saved by the bell and how miss bliss was so screwed after the first couple years, and the impenetrably cool dylan mckay, especially his much-imitated voicemail message..."you know the drill." it's always so fun to be with people who have the exact same memories you do, isn't it?

want to walk down memory lane? enjoy. and what about this one? it's like a parody! ah, they just don't make 'em like they used to. though let's be real, i die for pretty little liars and gossip girl, and those opening themes are pretty well-executed too. take a look.

then on saturday, my eyes flew open with the thought that i needed a haircut, and within moments i was out the door, on my way to get one - no appointment! i went to a really nice little place on main street in port washington and it was a great experience. they tended to all the little details (you know how i feel about that) and i really enjoyed it. the man washing my hair had his own special technique rather than just phoning it in. he did a whole vigorous head grabbing situation while using conditioner, and he gave me a temple massage. when he dried my hair, he tied it all up in a tight little cloth - so neat and tidy. and then he even dried out my ears - total bonus, right?

by the time i got to the chair where they cut, there was a stack of current magazines and two men worked on the hair at once, while of course only one did the cutting. when i needed something from my coat and got up to get it, they sat me back down and went and brought my coat over to me, rather than just reaching into the pocket of it like i suggested. then when they blew it out, they both worked together and i had a backstage model moment. it was just a really nice morning, overall. i love when something turns from an errand into an experience.

so between the haircut and my home life, i read a ton of magazines this weekend, wrote a bunch and we ran lots of errands. i discovered a few deals along the way you should know about...really cheap frames at walmart that made me able to frame three pieces that required large (read: expensive) frames. well unfortunately, they're not online, but they're simple black box frames (like the black is only on the sides and the glass pops out and back in) and in all sizes they were $4 each. definitely worth a trip to walmart if you can bear it.

also, homegoods is rocking a serious collection of stuff from africa right now. you should probably go there immediately. like, now. you'll thank me.


and then yesterday i got a manicure and i had her try six different colors before i made a decision. i ended up with midnight in moscow, but it wasn't an easy road. i'm a little obsessed with cuckoo for this color - but it just didn't feel right on me. it's like i want everything in the world to be that color, except my nails.

so pretty, isn't it? other strong contenders were opi ink and good old russian navy.


most importantly of all, it was sunny for several hours this weekend and the snow began to melt while the birds began to sing. you can almost believe spring is coming, can't you? treat yourself to a glimpse into a warmer, brighter moment by picking up a bunch of colorful flowers just for you. i did, and i'm already feeling springier.

flowers, african baskets, midnight in moscow, cuckoo for this color, russian navy, dylan mckay,magazines

january stream of consciousness

my mind is in a zillion places this week, and there's so much i want to talk about with you that i have to just give it over to a stream of consciousness post...hope you're cool with that.

holly, of decor8 fame, says it best here on her other blog haus maus about the rush of thoughts that comes with the new year.

so, mitchell did an incredible job of organizing and decluttering at home while he was off from work last work, including my most favorite thing of all - he repurposed our now not-in-use bar cart as a "mancaddy," (his word. love.)

i have once again discovered the virtues of a light mani. loving mademoiselle right now. so sheer, so pale, almost too much so, but not quite. instead, it's perfect. next time, i plan on using an extra dose of top coat for super shine. i got said mani and threw in a pedi too, the first winter one i've had in a few years, i have to say, and it was glorious. the hot water and hot steam cloths felt even more luxurious with snow piled up outside. the pedi was totally necessary because...

i was starting yoga and had been forewarned that it was practiced barefoot. i took my first class with both of my parents (my mom almost couldn't control her laughter at one point) and it was great. so much harder than i thought it would be, but very gratifying too, and something i'm looking forward to getting good at. we went to a lovely little studio called om sweet om where they offer many, many yoga classes, acupuncture, chiropractic and meditation and reiki, which you might rememeber from my pre-surgical reiki healing circle experience. i loved all the yoga talk of balancing, sharing the weight of each pose evenly throughout one's body and quieting the mind while strengthening the body.

afterwards, we sat for a cup of coffee at sweet comfort cafe, a coffee shop in town that is so cozy and nice, and has the added appeal of providing employment opportunities for developmentally disabled adults, a population which has a 92% unemployment rate in new york state.

aside from copious amounts of decaf coffee with lots of skim, one of my favorite snacks has become blue diamond's 100 calorie packs of wasabi and soy almonds. spicy, a little sweet and very satisfying.

jennifer aniston's favorite snack is white peaches and string cheese. no wonder she looks like this.

and speaking of string cheese, have you tried the fresh mozzarella sticks from trader joe's? great invention.

and speaking of trader joe's, have you seen these cookbooks? we all know how great TJ's is, but these clever books aggregate some of the best TJ's finds and instruct on how to use them for easy cooking and entertaining. loves it.

another great healthy thing i've discovered, thanks to my loyal reader and awesome aunt jackie, is plain nonfat greek yogurt with some sugar free (or low sugar) jelly or preserves mixed in. since i haven't fully experimented with fresh fruit yet since my surgery, this is a great solution.

another jackie suggestion is exclusively recording shows you love in the room where you work out so you have to work out to watch them. desperate housewives here i come. and most of the own network lineup, you too. i also plan on recording khloe and lamar's show in there, with the rest of its kardashian brethren (or sisterhood, as it were).

and speaking of the treadmill, i was on it at 9:30 at night on new year's eve. now THAT'S the sign of a new year, i'd say.

namaste.

what are you thinking about this week?

top image, yoga image, sweet comfort image, jennfier aniston image

at our fingertips

i'm loving the essie winter collection - such an improvement on last year's winter collection to my mind.

one of the things i like is that some of the shades are sort of evolutions of some of the essie fall collection. take for example these:

going incognito, above, is a jewelier play on fall's army-chic sew psyched, while hot coco, below, seems to a cross between between a moodier take on fall's little brown dress, which i have fully enjoyed, and the slightly older mink muffs.

luxedo, below, seems a lot like fall's velvet voyeur, which i'm wearing at this very moment and loving, deeply (it's so shiny!!). i'm interested to see how luxedo differs.

i'm also really excited about masquerade belle, below, described as black ruby (yes please!) which bodes well, since the aforementioned velvet voyeur (indeed the holy grail of fall manis, like i thought it would be) is described as "intense chocolate amethyst"...they seem to share some DNA in being really dark black/brown with a hint of a deep, jewely color.

not sure how silken cord differs from the bounty of great reds, long stem roses being my personal pick, so we'll see when these hit nail salons (should be soon, but shoppable now here and in abbreviated form here).

and then there's smokin' hot, below, described as a stone-cold fox gray. while the slightly older chinchilly doesn't work for me, i'm hopeful that this deeper, darker, browner gray will fit the bill.



any early favorites?

fall's changing colors

i am sooo excited to switch to fall nail colors. really, i've been pondering it since mid-summer when my long stem roses high started to get old. of course, there are the classics - wicked, suzi says da, sole mate. but there are some new ones i'm pretty excited for too.
over at SHEfinds, i wrote about the much-anticipated chanel khaki collection, and i'm dying over the khaki brun (center) and khaki rose (right). still can't get behind green polish, but that's just me.

the khaki rose reminds me of one of my favorite essie colors, angora cardi, which i'll definitely be whipping out again this fall.

essie has also brought it this season with their fall collection, unlike last winter when i was bored to tears. as you can see, chanel and essie seem to have coordinated first-day-of-school outfits here.

for essie, i'm most excited about merino cool and little brown dress, since i'm always looking for a deep, dark brown with no hint of red or purple, and this could be it. and the merino cool looks like a purply version of last year's mink muffs, which i still haven't tried but definitely will.

i'm also excited to try some deborah lippmann colors -- specifically two neutral shades - the putty gray waking up in vegas, and fashion, which appears to be a perfect taupe.


and then two fabulous gunmetal shades. i think one of these or something very similar has to be my next mani. there's marquee moon, and hit me with your best shot, which is so dark it's hard to even tell what it looks like, but it's described as glistening gun metal so i'm in.



i'm not sure about the purple thing but i'm tempted, i'll say that, thanks to chanel paradoxal, deborah lippmann's pump up the jam and essie's velvet voyeur.



velvet voyeur is described as "intense chocolate amethyst." sounds like it could be the holy grail of fall manicures.

what will be your first fall color?

all images from linked sites

mazels all around

mazel to all the winners of in style's annual best beauty buys...it's always fun to look around and troll for new ideas, and of course congratulate yourself on all the products you already know about and love. on that note:

of course:

i'm a recent convert to the dove beauty bar...i use the one for sensitive skin.
and although i can't vouch for these, i personally know people who swear by them.

the laura mercier tinted moisturizer:

the widely agreed upon best eyelash curler anywhere:

and here are some i definitely want to try:

how amazing does this seem?

i might have to get a bottle of this and tote it around with me:


i'll try any variation on this old classic...so nature fusion it is!


and given my love for all things aveeno, i'm curious about this too.


the BEST coral? i'll have to be the judge of that...i am intrigued by their description of the color, i will say.


and here are the things that were robbed, in my humble opinion:

revlon colorburst lipstick, specifically in lilac, soft rose and blush, a perfect shade a tiny bit darker than natural lip color.


and you know how i feel about these:

were any of your favorites chosen? are there any you think are missing?

all photos from linked sites