My NYE mani and the elephant in the room

press sample/purchased by me

So, if you're one of my few faithful readers, first of all, thank you for sticking with me and second, you may have noticed I semi-disappeared.  At the end of last year, I hit a wall when I realized that I had too much nail polish, had spent too much money on nail polish, and that I wasn't willing to put in the work to make this anything other than a hobby blog.  That, plus the holidays, plus the realization that my house was a pigsty and I had only myself to blame, led to a (mercifully short) bout of depression.

After a few weeks when all I posted was press releases, I've decided that there's nothing wrong with being a hobby blog with fewer than 50 followers, as long as I enjoy it.  So going forward, I'll continue to swatch Zoya collections, but I'm not going to try to buy every new thing out there to try to run with the big dogs.  I'd rather wear the polish I've only swatched but still love and share true excitement with my readers.  I also plan to practice stamping and share my results no matter how bad they are, and maybe 2015 will be the year striping tape and I become friends, if not besties!

As a reward for reading all this crap, here's a pretty picture of Nicole by OPI On a Gilt Trip with a bit of Zoya Monet:

Happy Fifth Anniversary to Nouveau Cheap!

Nouveau Cheap celebrates five years of helping readers find the gems and bargains of drugstore beauty products!  G deserves all kinds of applause for an amazing blog, incredible photos and immense dedication.

Happy Anniversary, G!

(Oh, and I got to be one of her reader interviews--you can check it out here)

Dear Tom and Lorenzo,

My apologies for addressing you by your first names, but given that you use those names exclusively on your website, I believe Miss Manners would forgive me.  As a long-time reader of your site, I have watched with growing distaste your increasing dismissal of creative manicures as "pinterest nails" for some time.  I would not have bothered to write you about this particular form of snobbery (as I have plenty of snobbery of my own) had you not slammed an actress for "pinterest nails" when in fact she was simply wearing a holographic white nail polish.  This bit of inaccurate snobbery spurred me to list all the ways your disdain irritates me:

1. It's "Pinterest".  If you're going to use a proper noun, capitalize it, even if you are using it as an insult.

2. Pinterest users spend a great deal of time on their pages.  Perhaps not as much time as you two spend on yours, but nonetheless, the effort and thought deserve some respect.

3.  Those fashion shows you go to and write about?  Look at how many of those designers work with nail polish companies and manicurists on daring, exciting, exotic looks which enhance the fashion and tell me again that nail art should be looked down upon.

4.  You've mentioned on your blog that sometimes a designer's work needs to be separated from the show and visualized in the "real world" i.e. taking one gorgeous blazer and building an outfit of non-competing pieces with it.  Why shouldn't nail art sometimes be that piece?

5.  Not every woman has the body, paycheck, or lifestyle which makes wearing high fashion possible.  But all women can find an outlet for creativity, whether it's water-marbled nails or blue eye shadow.  If I need to dress up my navy blue pantsuit with holographic white nail polish because that's what I can get away with at the job which pays for my mortgage and my dogs' food, then don't you dare dismiss me from your self-employed high horse.

6.  There's a difference between a thoughtful opinion on what goes with what, which is supposed to be your strength as fashion bloggers, and outright dismissal of something you personally find unlikable, which is what you do every time you toss out the phrase "pinterest nails".  I'll be the first to agree that not every manicure goes with every outfit, and I'd be pleased to hear your thoughts on whether one should or should not wear plaid nails with a floral dress and vice-versa, but I'm tired of hearing you complain about anything that isn't a boring one-color crème polish.

7.  As much as you dislike putty-colored pumps with every dress on the red carpet, wouldn't you dislike putty-colored nails with every outfit?

If you've actually read this, and gotten this far, then thank you very much.  My shamrock-printed nails and I feel much better.

Yours in Bitter Kittenhood,

Jammies

Dear China Glaze,

Recently, I paid for six of the Avant Garden polishes with my own money, with the intention of swatching them for my (very small) beauty blog and of wearing them just for the joy of the colors.  I even included them in a recent "haul post" showing off what I'd gotten because I was so very excited.

That changed the minute I read about what your contractor did to Kelly of Vampy Varnish and to Sam of Fashion Polish.  It's bad enough that she stole pictures belonging to bloggers who work very hard at photographing and reviewing your products, but that the pictures were then used on both The Shopping Chanel Canada (where the pictures are still being used!) and ShopNBC without credit to either blogger is unforgivable.  The fact that China Glaze's PR division responses to the two bloggers involved was inconsistent does not speak well of your company.

China Glaze is not a small company.  You have the power to stop allowing TSC to sell your products, and I'm sure they'd comply with a request from your corporate office to remove the photos from their website.  However, the most you have done is to offer a lame apology and even lamer excuse to one of the bloggers.

We bloggers are all small fish in your great big pond, but we are also your customers.  Those of us who love your products would prefer to know that we buy from a company with integrity.

Please do your best to correct the wrong done to Sam, Kelly, and by extension, the entire beauty blogging community.  Until then, those six Avant Garden polishes will sit on my shelf and gather dust.

Dino Palmieri grand opening

Monday was quite horrible at work.  It's always bad when the boss is out of town, but it was really bad on Monday.  When I got home and sat down at my computer to check my e-mail, my mood went to the stratosphere immediately, because of an invitation from the lovely Erin at Zoya.  On Tuesday night, Zoya and  One were sponsoring a grand opening of a new Dino Palmieri salon at Eton Square in Woodmere, Ohio.

After work on Tuesday, which was thankfully less awful than Monday, I ran home, fed the dogs and headed out to Woodmere.  I laughed when I downloaded the directions, because Google Maps optimistically assured me that it took only 24 minutes to get from my house to Eton Square, travelling on Route 8 N and 271 N.  Hahahahaha.  Both are main arteries that fill up in both directions, and rush hour basically lasts from about 4 to about 7.  I allowed about 50 minutes, and got there about five minutes late.  When I arrived, I was greeted by Jayne from One, and then introduced to a woman from the salon whose name I forgot (I'm so sorry!) and then introduced to Jamie, who took my coat, got me a bottle of water (my choice, there was a full bar on offer) and then took me back to the blow-dry bar.

I hadn't heard of a blow-dry bar and had no idea that experiencing one was on the menu, but I loved, loved, loved it!  Dino Palmieri has massaging chairs at the shampoo bowls, and Jamie was charming and very good at his work.  I had a lovely shampoo and conditioning sitting in the massaging chair, and then Jamie and I talked the whole time he did my blowout.  We chatted about tech toys (he just got his first tablet) and hair products (I got in a plug for Skindecent's conditioner) and he praised my haircut, so I told him the story of how Amber and I met when I asked her to chop off 15 inches of my hair.

During:

After:

(that's Michelle of All Lacquered Up taking the pic)

Afterwards, there was a goodie bag so heavy I felt as if I was leaning to the left, a lovely spread of nibbles including little kabobs that were basically caprese salad on a stick, which I will have to do myself and a chance to meet other area bloggers and lots of wonderful Zoya folks.  I had the chance to tell Erin how she improved my Monday; got to meet Sarah, who is in charge of Zoya's Facebook presence; Rebecca, who comes up with the phenomenal Zoya colors; Michael; Leo and Zoya herself.  I was so excited by the chance to talk to all of these amazing folks that I totally forgot until I got home that Valerie Mayen from Season 8 of Project Runway was there somewhere and that there was a drawing for a huge goodie bag worth $1,500!  Absolutely worth it, though, to meet everyone and have such a wonderful experience.  My only down moment came when I had to leave early to come home and give Mouse his arthritis pill, but doggie health takes precedence over feeling like a princess.

If you'd like to see all of the pictures taken by the pro photographer, they are here: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/26652222_jh6hsV#!i=2229353155&k=7wzTVxV

Thank you again to One, Dino Palmieri and Zoya for an amazing evening!

More pictures after the jump!

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