Polish Post: Zoya Colors "CarrieAnn" and "Rihanna," and the Color Lock System

I don't know about you, but I'm having a pretty poopie Hump Day.  My kids haven't been in the best of moods.  My youngest, Eamonn, does this screech that resembles that of a howler monkey, and he uses this screech to express a range of emotions.  So I get to hear it all day long, and my neighbors get to hear it whenever our windows are open - at, you know, 6 in the morning, because now that summer is approaching here in Phoenix, the weather has decided to get a head start and send some 100+ degree weather days upon us.  In order to stay ahead of your house cooking, you either leave your windows open at night (not an option for me - my cat likes to escape), or you open them first thing in the morning.  Everyone out here has their windows open by about 5am.  So they all get to enjoy my howler monkey's tune.  It's no fun.  We could probably give the Shrieking Shack a run for its money.  I usually get a headache around 1pm on days like today.  I've already got the ibuprofin setting out in preparation.

Fortunately, last night, I had the time to try out some Zoya polishes I recently purchased, as well as the sample kit I received with my last order of their Color Lock System.  Here are pictures of the polish in direct sunlight:

CarrieAnn is the red color, Rihanna is the purple

CarrieAnn is such a beautiful, bright red that sparkles brilliantly in the sunlight.  Rihanna is a deep purple with lovely golden sparkles at certain angles.  Rihanna is much more rich and less sparkly, so it is perfect as a more subtle but striking polish.  I really like both colors, and both were opaque with 2 coats of polish.  Easy to apply, as well, since they never streaked or got thicker as I applied more coats.  Great polishes!

Now the Color Lock system was totally new to me.  The sample kit came with a mini size of their nail polish remover, anchor base coat, armor top coat, and quick-dry drops.  Their award-winning nail polish remover worked very well!  I admit I did not think it would do a great job since I was removing my Memorial Day nail polish and thought that dark blue would make a big mess.  I soaked one cotton ball in the Zoya remover, and that's all I needed, to mess or fuss!  It was awesome!  I will say, though, that it smells weird to me.  It is reminiscent of a mosquito repellent smell.  But since I always sugar scrub and wash my hands after removing polish, it didn't matter that much to me.  Something to keep in mind, though, if you are thinking of purchasing the remover (I really think you should, it's pretty fantastic!)  The anchor base coat went on nice and evenly and is not thick like so many base coats I have had before.  After applying the polish, I applied the armor top coat - again, went on very smooth and evenly.  

Then the last part was the quick-dry drops.  

I have never, ever seen anything like this (though I haven't really been looking) and was thrown with what to do.  The bottle itself does not have a brush with it, but comes with this little dropper instead.  I had no idea how many drops I would need, or just how fast it would dry, so it was all a little messy for me.  I think I did like 2-3 drops per nail, then the excess started dripping from my fingertips onto my clothing, and I was fussing to catch it with a cotton ball instead.  I could hear 3 Stooges music in the back of my mind as I fumbled.  Once I was done over-dropping my nails, I touched each one to see if it worked, and it appeared to do the job.  However, it leaves behind a very oily residue.  I'm not even sure if any of it stuck - I felt like it all just wiped right off my nails, that were still tender to the touch and showed fingerprints if I touched them lightly.  

Overall, I'd have to say the quick-dry drops were an epic fail for me.  Now I am a bit of a klutz, and there may be proper form for the drops that I just wasn't getting.  But I will be sticking to my go-to top coat, Seche Vite, and will leave those quick-dry drops to someone a little more graceful than myself :P  Seche Vite is spectacular and leaves a beautiful shine to my nails.  I ended up putting a coat of it over my nails last night to make sure I did not have sheet prints the next morning.

Zoya is a great brand.  I have been purchasing polish from them for about 4 years now.  I remember stumbling upon them when I did a Google search for glittery nail polish.  They like to throw in lots of freebies with your orders, too.  For example, if you spend $30, you get a free bottle of nail polish remover.  On my last order, they were offering the nail polish remover AND a sample kit of their color lock system if the cart total was $30 or more.  

They have a HUGE selection of polish colors and types.  The only kind they seem to lack at the moment is holographic, but other than that they have such a large variety, you're sure to find whatever color you need in many different types (solid color, glitter, texture, etc).  Here's their site: http://www.zoya.com/ and their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/ZoyaNailPolish  Head on over, give them a "like," and let them know MomMrsAndMe sent you :)

That's all for now!  Hope everyone's Wednesday is going much better than mine :P  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

P.S. Just a reminder - I'm having a giveaway once my Facebook page ( https://www.facebook.com/MomMrsMe ) Hits 100 fans, so give the page a "like" if you haven't already and share it with your friends! The prize is winner's choice of either a $25 Amazon giftcard or a $25 Llarowe giftcard :) 

Polish Post: Colors by Llarowe "Strega" and "In The Navy" - Pictures and Review

So in attempts to garner a larger audience for my facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MomMrsMe) I am going to have a giveaway once it reaches 100 fans :)  I have decided that the winner will have a choice between a $25 Amazon gift card, or a $25 Llarowe gift card, that way if the winner is not so much into nail polish, he or she can find something else awesome on smile.amazon.com! If you have not "liked" my page yet, you should get on it! I often post photos and other funny quips on the page that do not make it to the blog.

Alright, to polish!!  A few weeks ago Llarowe had updated a lot of their stock for their line Colors by Llarowe, and a number of those re-stocks were last call, meaning they were no longer going to make and sell certain colors.  Two of those colors were "Strega" and "In The Navy," and both were colors I had wanted for a while.  So naturally I snagged them ;)  Waited a bit before using them, and decided last night they would look great together!  I painted a Memorial Day theme to them, and I couldn't be more pleased with the colors and how they complement each other nicely!  Here are some photos taken in direct sunlight:

"Strega" is the red color, "In The Navy" is the blue holo

I chose to do a silver heart as a way of expressing my gratitude towards the past, present, and future servicemen and women who have given so much for their country.  I will always, always respect and love each and every one of them for their commitment.  Remember, it is perfectly fine and awesome to celebrate Memorial Day over this weekend with parties and bbq's - just remember WHY you have this holiday weekend :) 

Now, back to polish!

"In The Navy" is my favorite of the two because I just love holo polish ^_^ Can't have enough of that kind in my collection.  I had been on the hunt for holographic polish that was dark blue when not in the sun, and this one is just that polish :)  The application was great, as all of CbL's holos have been for me so far.  The polish does not thicken as I progress, and the polish was fully opaque after 1 coat - I added one more for good measure.  "Strega" has a gel base, so it did thicken as I was painting my nails (got a little goopy towards the end of the second coat, and I put on 3 total). I would recommend putting this polish on while somewhere cool and without direct sunlight or wind.  The color is a very striking lighter red with gold and red sparkles in the sunlight.  It was hard to capture in the photos, so keep in mind it is a lot more sparkly in person.  I think my camera was just freaking out over the amazing holo-ness (yes, that is a word, because I said so) that is "In The Navy."  

While "Strega" is currently unavailable, Colors by Llarowe tends to bring back old colors for limited re-release sometimes, and I would keep my eye out for it.  "In The Navy" IS available, and though it is currently out of stock, you should definitely keep an eye out for it when it is re-stocked in the near future.  CbL has tons of other beautiful colors very similar to these, and they will be doing a pre-release pre-order for their summer collection this Monday and Tuesday at specific times (check out their facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Colorsbyllarowe for the specifics, give them a "like" if you haven't already, and let them know MomMrsAndMe sent you their way, won't you please? ;) ).  I can already hear my wallet crying at how empty it will be after the pre-orders I will be placing for their summer colors :P

That's all this time.  Leave a comment and let me know what you think of the colors!  I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and Memorial Day! Thank a serviceman/woman next time you see one, even if you don't know them :)  

Polish Post: Above The Curve Nail Polish "Tardis" and "Lemming Have It" pictures and review

Before I tell you about this fantastic polish, I have to admit something here that will probably shock, possibly even infuriate a few of you...

I have never seen Doctor Who. *winces*

In my defense, I have a very long list of things in my Netflix queue to work my way through watching, and while Doctor Who is on there, it is not towards the top.  BUT, I will start watching it soon since I just finished all seasons of Dexter, am finally getting over my anger at the completely horrible ending, and am looking for a new series to start.  So there!

Alright, on to the polish!!

First, let me tell you about the company itself.  They are called Above The Curve Nail Polish (website: http://abovethecurve.bigcartel.com/ and facebook page - head on over, give them a "like" and let them know MomMrsAndMe sent you: https://www.facebook.com/AboveTheCurveNailPolish ).  The long and short of their history is that Angel (creator) was diagnosed with scoliosis at the age of 12, and would have died if Shriner's Hospital for Children had not performed surgery on her spine (au gratis, I may add).  So now, she and her husband are repaying their gratitude by donating $1.00 from every bottle of polish sold to the Shriner's Hospital!  Now I don't know about you, but that's a good enough reason for me to buy tons of polish from them! Not only is it supporting a great cause, but it's helping to raise awareness for people with scoliosis. Talk about a great company!  After browsing their site it also looks like they have helped out the Breast Cancer Research Fund, too ^_^ Super people, super polish!

Alright, now that I am done gushing about the company, I'll gush about the polish :D  I bought two colors from them during their Mother's Day sale.  The colors are called "Tardis" (shown on my ring and middle fingers, and my thumb) and "Lemming Have It" (on my pink and pointer fingers)  I attempted to draw/paint a Tardis on my nail with the color Tardis, however it turned out not so great. I don't even know what it looks like, if it resembles anything.  But hey, I tried!  Practice makes perfect, so I will just have to perfect my technique for next time.  Until then, have a laugh or two at my Terrible Tardis :P  Here are pictures of the polish:

The polishes are holographic, though Lemming Have It is much more subtle, and has extra blue glitter in it that really adds great depth to the color itself.  Indoors, the holographic effect doesn't really show, but the colors themselves are beautiful enough without it that they still stand out.  If you are looking for a more subtle holo polish, these are definitely the way to go!

The polish went on smoothly, did not thicken as I painted, and only took two coats.  And did I mention all ATC polish is 3-free?  No Dibutyl Phthalate, Toluene, or Formaldehyde!  How about that - an indie company that makes great quality 3-free polish, and donates to charity?  Sounds like an all-around WIN to me ;)  You should definitely check them out and order some polish!

That's all for this post :) Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of the colors! You can even let me know how bad my Tardis is - I can take it :P

Polish Post: ILNP - "Sirene" and "Birefringence" Pictures and Review

I love nail polish!!!  I know, that was pretty evident a while ago.  But I do!! So imagine my glee when I found a brand called I Love Nail Polish ( http://www.ilnp.com/ ) that is indie and 3-Free (they do not contain Toluene, Formaldehyde, or Dubutyl Phthalate)!  It was a happy day for me, indeed :)

The nail polish is a little more on the high-end when it comes to pricing, but still falls in that $9-12 a bottle category that I have found most indie polishes charge.  But trust me when I tell you these polishes are worth EVERY PENNY!  I placed my first order with ILNP a few weeks ago and when I got the polish in, I was blown away just by looking at it in its bottle!  After putting the colors on my nails, it's going to be tough wearing any other kind of nail polish. These colors are just beautiful!

ILNP has several different types of polishes, from holographics to jellies.  I purchased one of their multichromes (Sirene) and one of their holographic multichromes (Birefringence).  I gotta tell ya, any picture you see on the ILNP website, and even my own pictures below, will not do these two polishes justice.  At all.  I cannot stress enough how gorgeous the colors are in real life.  Take a look at my photos below:

 Birefringence is on my pointer and pinky fingers; Sirene is on my middle and ring fingers, and my thumb

(what the colors look like indoors)

Now that I am done fawning over the colors, let me tell you more about the polishes.  These two went on very easily - they did not goop-up or get thick as I was applying multiple coats, they did not bubble, and they were not streaky.  After 2 coats, the polish was completely opaque.  They are also very resistant to chipping.  After 3 days (and with no top coat) the polish still hadn't chipped.  All in all, this brand is an excellent brand of polish.  The only complaint I have about the polish is that I only have the two bottles :(  

I highly recommend checking out I Love Nail Polish.  They have a facebook page for their fans here: https://www.facebook.com/ilnpbrand  Give them a "like" and let them know Mom Mrs. and Me sent you ^_^ 

That's it for today's polish post! Got some other nail polish in last week that I will be swatching and reviewing soon - once I have the heart to remove my ILNP polish... ;)  Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of these colors!!

Just Keep Swimming

Well, I chomped on some pavement today when I wiped out for the very first time during my morning run.  Since it is ungodly hot here in Phoenix right now, I get up around 5 and go for a run around my neighborhood for about 30 minutes with my retriever/shepherd.  I have been doing this since the beginning of the year - it was a New Year's Resolution I had made that I am actually keeping.  I had yet to trip/fall/hit the ground while running, and today was the first.

There's a particular spot along the sidewalk of one of the streets here where it is a bit uneven and the pavement sticks up. My toe found that spot today, and I bit the dust. I am totally fine, though my ego is incredibly bruised.  I am sure that if anyone was awake and saw this occurrence, I gave them a good chuckle.  Who doesn't laugh when a heavyset person suddenly trips and falls, making noises such as, "oof!" and "Uhhhhhghgn!"?  It's funny stuff!

But you know what else my neighbors saw?

They saw my dog turn around, whine a little and lay down next to me on the sidewalk, because she knew I was hurt.  They saw me with a disgruntled expression as I examined my clothing for holes/tears, then my knees and hands for scrapes.  Then they saw me laugh and pat my dog's head as I pushed my way to standing.  They saw me readjust my ear buds and clothing.  But most importantly, they saw me keep going.

Yeah, that's right.  My big butt started running again because I had a mere block left in my entire run, and I didn't want to walk the rest of the way when I was so close.

That's the thing about life - we're constantly finding those damn spots that throw us off our game and knock us off our path for a bit.  Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it knocks the wind out of you, and sometimes, you're totally fine.  The most important thing to do, is to get up, and keep going.  Seriously, just do it!  If people see you fall and laugh, who cares. They will forget about it.  They won't take it with them the rest of their lives.  And you provided them with a moment of childish glee - everybody has them :)  The sun rises, sets, and rises again, and life goes.

Hope you all had a great Friday, and will have a wonderful weekend!

P.S. Polish Post tomorrow! Just got in some beautiful chrome polishes from I Love Nail Polish and am more than excited to share pics and a review with you ^_^

"Smoke Gets In Her Eyes" Colors by Llarowe - Pictures and Review

Told you I was a fan of painting my nails ;)  A good portion of my blog will be pictures and reviews of polishes, not just because I enjoy painting, but also because I enjoy spreading the word about great polishes.

This Polish Post is about a retired color of polish called "Smoke Gets In Her Eyes" by the brand Colors by Llarowe (FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/Colorsbyllarowe ).  I actually won this bottle of polish in a giveaway a few months ago.  When it arrived and I first tried it, I immediately fell in love with the color, and the brand!  Below are some pictures of the polish.  You will have to forgive my short, uneven nails - the middle finger decided to bread AFTER I put the polish on, so I filed it down and rounded it out for the sake of the pictures :P  I also ask you forgive the dry skin around the cuticles.  I have precious little time to pamper my hands at night, and polish is the most important for me over getting rid of the dry skin.

The pink color on my pointer finger is a Sally Hansen satin polish.  The other four fingers are Smoke Gets In Her Eyes.

  

 Here's a picture of what the polish looks like when outside, but not in direct sunlight.

Managed to capture the green iridescence that seems to show when you are indoors by the window.

This color is pretty neat!  The color itself is a grayish brown with some beautiful red/orange glitter shimmer in the sunlight.  Indoors, as seen above, it shimmers green at certain angles.  It's really a lovely polish, and a more subtle holo tone.  The polish stayed on for a good 3-4 days with no chips or damaged tips (again, would probably have lasted longer on someone who is not a mom of two small children :P ).  

The fact the polish is such good quality made me want to buy more of the same brand - so I did!! The new polish will be coming in this week and next as Llarowe fulfills their shipments.  They had a re-stock last week and tons of their colors were retiring.  They've got lots of giveaways going on currently on their facebook page due to hitting their recent milestone of 100,000 "likes" (congrats to them!), so I highly recommended giving them a "like" yourself - and be sure to click "get notifications" so you know when those giveaways are happening!

New polish coming in means more Polish Posts in the near future :D  Stay tuned, subscribe, leave me a comment if you'd like - especially if you have a blog you'd like to share! Until next time ^_^

Feelin' a little Jaded

I am at the beginning of recovery from this past week and weekend. I don't think I've ever been that busy in my entire life.  All last week I was power cleaning the house, running errands, and cleaning up the front and back yards (which mostly entailed vacuuming up leaves and laughing maniacally because my leaf sucker is a recently acquired luxury that replaced the damn rake).  I was doing all this in preparation for the Hubs' parents arriving and in preparation for my youngest son's birthday party on Saturday.  I had 10 extra people in my house, so I was a bit nervous at the idea of playing hostess to so many.

The whole shindig went really well, thankfully :)  Everyone got along great, the weather here was beautiful and not too hot, so most everyone stayed outside, playing Baggo and socializing.  Somewhere in the day, though, right before everyone ate food, we misplaced the box of plasticware I got for the party, so people were pillaging my silverware >.<  I can only hope none of it ended up in the trash... Oh, and we found the damn plasticware after everyone was done eating -_-  Go figure.

Yesterday was Mother's Day and it was wonderful!! I hope everyone else enjoyed the day as well, whether as a mother or celebrating with mom, or celebrating her memory <3  I got to have a very nice breakfast with my mom in law, and a lovely afternoon with my mom getting pedicures and shopping!  While I do enjoy doing my own nails, I prefer someone else do my feetsies, mostly because I have a mom belly to work around, and it's easier for someone else to reach my feet :P  No shame.  That's life ;)

After a jam-packed week and weekend, I'm feeling quite Jaded, but more in the "tired" sense than "bored."  Looking forward to a semi-relaxing week with the in-laws, taking advantage of the free babysitting so I can get some chores done and miscellaneous projects (which I may very well be posting here later).

Speaking of Jaded, thought I'd insert another little nail design/review of this really neat nail polish I found on www.Llarowe.com  The brand name is Jade, and they have a number of different types of nail polishes.  Recently, I've been looking to expand my holographic collection, and have been unable to find any good ones in stores.  Llarowe is a hub for tons of indie-made polishes and other polishes that are hard to find in stores, like Color Club.  I found 3 polishes by the Jade brand that were pretty holographics with good ratings, so I did my first order with them, and shortly thereafter my polish arrived!  I will mention that when/if you order from Llarowe, since they are more indie, they don't ship out super quickly, which isn't a huge issue if you know that ahead of time.  Otherwise, you'll be tapping your foot wondering what's taking so long.  They still ship out pretty quickly considering the amount of traffic they receive on a daily basis!

Back to the polish, I had ordered the colors "Deja Vu" (fuchsia pink), "Psicoldelica" (silvery/white), and "Hypnose" (like a peacock light blue).  The polish went on really easily and dried quickly, too, which is a very desirable quality in a polish when you're the mother of two small children who have a knack for needing you for something right after you apply your polish.  The holographic effect didn't stand out too much unless I was in direct sunlight, then rainbows shot off my fingertips!  The colors themselves though are beautiful and look lovely indoors, as well. I took a few pictures outside and inside so you can see the difference:

 (In direct sunlight)

(In the shade outside)

 I think it's a good brand of polish, and good for those who like a more subtle holographic color.  I, on the other hand, need something just a bit more bold :)  The polish also stayed on really well, and lasted about 3 days before it started to wear at the tips, and chip (but keep in mind, I'm also a mom and am cleaning dishes, changing diapers, opening stuff, all day long. For this polish to withstand that kind of wear is pretty impressive).

I suppose I should stop blabbering for now and get something productive done around the house - maybe something crafty ^_^  Hope you all survive your Monday!

Spring Is In The Air!

Except here in Phoenix - it's just dang hot.

I moved here with my husband and two small children a year ago this June 3rd from the beautiful, wonderful state of Washington.  While Sean (my husband) and I adore Washington, especially the Seattle area, being close to family was much more important to us, because we wanted our kids to grow up around them. So, we made the decision to pack up our little family and move to Phoenix, Arizona where my parents and my brother and sister-in-law live, as well as my maternal grandparents, and my favorite paternal aunt (who happens to be my father's twin).  Hubs' family lives in California and Oregon, but aren't too far a drive if we want to make a visit in the future - when my children are okay with long car rides and no internet/ipad for more than 8 hours.

Moving here has been an... adjustment.  I'll level with you, it hasn't been easy.  Sean and I love the ocean (you'll hear this a lot, and see evidence of this a lot in future posts - be warned...), so it is extremely difficult to be land-locked, especially when we are both certified divers and absolutely love diving.  Sure, there is a place to dive out here, called Lake Pleasant.  It is a very large man-made freshwater lake.  Sean and I were anxious to get in the water shortly after we moved here, mostly so we could escape the blistering 100+ degree heat.  When we got to the dive point and descended about 20-30 feet and putted around, we saw...a whole lot of nothin'.  Nada.  Zip.  Oh! I take it back - we saw a cactus skeleton.  -_-  Compared to the saltwater diving we had been used to in Puget Sound in Washington (where it is teeming with fish, crustaceans, all sorts of life), we were incredibly disappointed.  Looks like we will be saving our pennies and making weekend trips to California as often as possible to get our diving urges out.

I digress...I am supposed to be talking about Spring!

While the rest of the continental US was going through a Polar Vortex (or as I like to call it, SNOMG!), we here in Phoenix experienced very warm weather - warmer than it should be for this time of year, but not the Hellfire Heat we're used to in the summer.  So we kind of got our Spring early. I was able to plant my flowers and roses in February, and they've been flourishing since.  I was and still am pleasantly surprised at the number of flowers I can grow out here. When you hear the word "desert," cacti and sand are usually what come to mind for most people, not flowers and trees.  That's the nice part about the Sonoran desert - it's living!

Even out here, though, with flowers come insects, namely bees and flies.  I have never seen so many bees and flies in these massively large quantities before.  Around mid-March they both picked up in numbers as everything started blooming.  It was actually pretty neat to see the massive amounts of bees, considering their numbers are starting to dwindle in general.  We did our absolute best to not disturb them, and let them do their bee thing.  Here's a pic I got of one:

Anywho, recently, this really neat page on Facebook that I am a fan of ( www.facebook.com/AboveTheCurveNailPolish ) is holding a Spring Is In The Air! nail art contest from now until May 16th.  The general jist was to paint your nails in a Spring theme, and since Bees and Flowers first came to mind, that's exactly what I painted on my nails :) Check them out!  I'm pretty proud ^_^

Aside from my shoe obsession, you will learn that I adore painting my nails in really neat designs, patterns, pictures, etc, and that is the most girly thing about me.  I especially love doing so when using an indie-made polish.  Not only do they tend to be free of a lot of nasty chemicals commonly found in most commercial polishes, but they are unique, and I like supporting the unique artists of this world :) 

I suppose I should wrap this up since I've gabbed long enough.  Time to go wrap some presents and finish power-cleaning before my in-laws come to visit tomorrow for my youngest son's birthday!  I've been crazy busy this entire week cleaning the house and the yards in preparation for their arrival.  I'm pretty much crashed tonight.  My body is quite irritated with me, and needs a good relaxing night with an adult beverage.

Shhh...hear that?  I think it's my Moscato calling me... I'd better go tend to it ;)

A (Very) Brief Introduction

Alright, I've put this off long enough.  I'm gonna cut right to the chase - I hate, and I mean HATE, writing intro blog posts.  I never know how to start, what to say, I feel awkward writing it, heck I even feel awkward writing THIS one.  So, I'm going to skip all the introductions and explanations and give you the spark notes version with a more in depth analysis as we get to know each other better :)  My name is Shawna, I'm a married mother of 2 boys, I live in Arizona, and I dabble.  "Dabble?" you say?  Yes, dabble!  I crochet (I do not knit), I paint, I make jewelry, I upcycle, I have a pinterest board full of things I will probably never get done in two lifetimes, I bake, I garden, all sorts of dabbly stuffs.  That is me, in a very small nutshell...like an acorn.  Those are small, but not teeny tiny.

I ramble, which is already evident in this post :P I am mostly starting this blog because as a stay at home mom of two young boys, I need something to pull me out of "mommy mode" for a few minutes a day.  I also like to share my more crafty things and creations partly out of pride, but mostly to inspire, since almost every craft, painting, nail design, etc. has been an inspiration to me from another person.

Anywho, I hope you enjoy reading this blog :)