Sunday 21 September 2014

New York Summer Haul 2014

I was in NY for nearly two months. I don't usually go over in the summer time because of the price of the plane tickets but I went over to look after my grandparents. I did some shopping, of course, so here's a haul for you! Lots of pictures ahead! Let's start with the polish.

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Enchanted Polish December 2013, January 2014, February 2014,
May 2014, June 2014 and July 2014.

Enchanted Polish Octopus's Garden, Once Upon A Cloud and Mercy

Island Girl Tropical Paradise, Marc Jacobs Oui! 
and Elianto Red Gossip (which is a Malaysian brand)

Paint Box Polish Abigail Leigh, Elevation Polish SBP Red Sea
and some dotting tools from ebay.

Wet n Wild Palettes

Jack Black Shea Butter lip balm, Wet n Wild Balm Stain in Rico Mauve,
L'Oreal Voluminous Miss Manga mascara, Milani Lip Intense in Red Extreme,
Physician's Formula mascara and Milani Lip Intense in Pink Rave.

Hourglass minis from a Sephora perk.

Elizabeth and James Nirvana Black and DKNY MYNY

New York necklace from Kris Nations.

Juicy Couture snowflake charms, Bunny Paige mini paved volcano heart
on a Spiffing Jewelry chain and a long circle chain from TJ Maxx.

I got this chain mostly to match my Betsey Johnson watch haha

Kate Spade bow earrings,Silver Forest Earrings, 
Fossil Key and Heart Earrings and earrings from a little store in New Paltz.  


Halloween headband and earrings from Kohls
Nail stickers from Five Below

Oscar de la Renta sunglasses from TJ Maxx

Seltzer Goods cosmetic bag

Hayden Harnett Conrad bag

Rebecca Minkoff hologram Mini MAC

Rebecca Minkoff Mini MAC from an amazing group of ladies!! ♥

Malaysia coin purse from a friend and a cute bulldog key chain

Squishable Corgi and Grumpy Cat. 
Grumpy Cat looks like he thinks the corgi is awful hahaha

Funko POP Rick Grimes from The Walking Dead and a cross stitch that Jen 
from Jen's Nail Files made for me.

Despicable Me Duck Tape and Magnets 
from Five Below.

All of the following mugs are from Starbucks.
I have an issue.

Kuala Lumpur mug from a friend and Boston mug from my sister.

Kuala Lumpur mug from a friend and Boston mug from my sister.

Boston and Cambridge mugs from my sister.

Arizona mug from my BFF and I purchased the Canada mug.

Washington DC and The Hamptons mugs from my sister.

Washington DC and The Hamptons mugs from my sister.

Starbucks Mermaid Tail mug from my sister and Mermaid Eye
I purchased at the airport to get an hour of internet for free.

Hawaii mugs from a friend.

L&M Studio bud vase and travel tumbler that I'll just use at home.

Yes, I did bring ALL those mugs back with me in one trip. I did have to pay for another suitcase for the flight back in order to bring them all but whatever :) Some of the stuff here (such as the snowflake charms) are things that have been at my mom's house for a long time and I only got when I arrived there in July. I'm sure there are things that I've put away already that I've forgotten about but this is enough to prove that I have a shopping problem hahaha




Tuesday 1 July 2014

June 2014 Favorites

Happy July! I've had a little bit of an off month with polish. It seems that a lot of my friends are kinda burning out on polish lately. Not sure what it's about. I'm not sure if I purchased any polish in May but I did get some  from Elevation Polish and Paint Box Polish in June and I love them all. I also pre-ordered Enchanted Polish but those don't count until I actually get them :)

Elevation Polish The Med 2, Yeti's Oceanside Vacation and Elbrus 2
Paint Box Polish Fizzing Whizbees, Pygmy Puff, Acid Pops 
and Sugar Spun Quills.

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On June 2nd, I wore Darling Diva Polish Rooms on Fire.

On June 5th, I wore Northern Star Polish Purple Faze. 

On June 16th, I wore Elevation Polish Epidote and it matched
my Steiff turtle, Fluffy Junior!

On June 25th, I wore Paint Box Polish Pygmy Puff.

On June 27th, I wore Paint Box Polish Acid Pops.

On June 30th, I wore Elevation Polish The Med 2.

What are your June Favorites? How do you like my choices?

Saturday 31 May 2014

May 2014 Favorites

A whole day early but I figured I might as well get this post together before I forget completely :) Not as many polish favorites this month as in previous months. I didn't seem to post that much, for whatever reason. I'd blame the lack of sun but I'm not sure if that's what happened or not!

*click to enlarge!*

On May 9th, I wore Emily de Molly Seeing Red.
Look at the pretty!

On May 18th, I posted Superficially Colorful Fascinated.

On May 19th, I wore the one that started it all, Gosh Holographic.

On May 22nd, I posted Darling Diva Polish If Anyone Falls.

What are your favorite polishes this month? I'm obviously still in love with holos. I hope my love never ends.


Thursday 1 May 2014

April 2014 Favorites

Wow. I know a lot of people say things like this but HOW is it May already??? Seems like only a couple of weeks ago that I came back from NY but that was over 3 months ago! Today, I have 6 of my favorite polishes from April for you.

*click to englarge!*

On April 1st, I wore Femme Fatale Ruby Hare.

On April 8th, I wore this mani with Cirque Alter Ego and
Too Fancy Lacquer Mistletoe because my niece, Lily, told
me to wear green and black nail polish.

On April 10th, I wore Elevation Polish Aconcagaua.


On April 14th, I wore Northern Star Polish Janus Rising.

On April 18th, I wore Enchanted Polish March 2014.

On April 26th, I wore Sonoma Nail Art Sonoma Sunset 

What are your favorite polishes that you wore this month? I'm favoring indie holos, as you can tell, at the moment. I'm kinda obsessed.



Wednesday 30 April 2014

What It's Like To Be American in the UK

As an American living in the UK, almost every time I leave the house, I have people asking me very personal questions. As soon as I open my mouth, people know that I'm not from here because, after 11 years, I still miraculously have my New York accent. And while most people might not think these questions are personal, I feel they are very personal because this is a stranger asking me questions about my huge life decisions.

1. Where are you from?
When I tell people I'm from New York, they automatically assume that I'm from New York City. While I was born in Brooklyn, I didn't live there when I left NY. I lived in a small town called Leeds and it has a population of around 350 people. 350. I moved to a town called Dudley, population 313,300 and about 10 miles outside of Birmingham, which is the second biggest city in England. Sometimes I don't bother to inform people that I didn't live in NYC because it's not worth explaining any further.


Leeds, NY circa 1970ish but it still looks exactly like this.

2. Why did you move here?
Why did you move anywhere you moved? I haven't asked you about your living situation, why are you asking about mine? I moved to England because my husband is English. This question almost always precedes these next questions...

It's all his fault.


3. How long have you lived here?
11 years. Sigh.

4. Wow, you still have your accent!
Um, of COURSE I still have my accent. I was 22 years old when I moved here not 5.

5. So, do you like it here?
Um, I've lived here for 11 years. I believe that means that I like it here.

6. Do you find it very different?
Of course it's different, it's a different country. But for the most part, it's pretty much the same. Obviously there's more history and stuff like that but they speak the same language (for the most part) and they have pretty much the same foods, so it's not like moving to Morocco or something like that.


This is Dudley. Do you see a difference?


Inevitably, I get someone that comments that they've always wanted to go to NY, after I've informed them that's where I'm from. Or they tell me they've been there or someone in their family or one of their friends has been there. Or maybe their dog. Or they tell me they've been to a different part of the states and I tell them that I've never been off the east coast of America and they look at me like I'm nuts. Another comment I love is: "wow, I'd never move here, I'd totally move to the states." Well, good for you. And good luck with that because you'd need a crap load of paperwork even to be considered for a visa to actually live and work in the states, just like I had to do to live here but 20 times worse.

When I go to visit my family in NY, my husband and I get a lot of these questions and some of them in reverse. We also get the comments from people telling us that they've been to London (because, apparently, there's no where else to visit in England or the UK) or they know someone that has been. That's great for you. I dislike London a lot, so I've been there a total of two times in 13 years.

Here are some of the questions that my husband or I are asked when we go to NY.

7. Have you met the Royal Family? Do you know Kate or William? Or any generic question about the Royals.
No. Just no.

This is my house. Does it LOOK like I know any Royals?


8. How much does gas cost there?
A hell of a lot. Always more than you can imagine and we know that you can't believe that's how much it costs (PS it's about $7.25 a gallon right now).

9. Do you drink a lot of tea?
I drink a lot of tea and a lot of coffee. Sometimes, I drink more of one than the other. Sometimes, I don't drink any at all. What do you drink? My husband doesn't actually drink tea at all. I know a lot of English people that don't like tea. Shocking news! Alert the BBC!


HEAVEN.


10. What's it like driving on the other side of the road?
I wouldn't know, I don't drive here but I do find it a little bit difficult to acclimate back to the American side of the road when I visit NY. My husband hates this question.

11. What's the time difference? What time is it there now?
After 11 years, my grandmother still asks me this question. The answer is we're 5 hours ahead of the east coast. Unless it's the three weeks after the time changes in the spring, when it's only a 4 hour time difference and the two weeks when the time changes in the autumn, when it's a 6 hour time difference. Confusing as hell.

12. You don't have the 4th of July/Columbus Day/President's Day/Thanksgiving there?
Just think for a minute before you ask me this question. British people are NOT going to celebrate a day where another country declared their independence from them. They're not going to celebrate a day for someone that didn't actually discover America. They're not going to celebrate a day in honor of American presidents. And they're not going to celebrate a day of thanks for people leaving their country and almost starving to death. Do you celebrate May Day or Boxing Day or Easter (yes, I know you celebrate Easter, but in the UK, Good Friday and Easter Monday are days off for a good majority of the country)?



In conclusion:

I love England (and Wales and Scotland).
Yes, I still have my accent.
I'm not from NYC.
Gas costs a lot of money here.
Yes, we drive on the left hand side of the road.
No, I don't like the Royals.
Yes, I love tea but not everyone here does.