Buy 2 Get 1 free nail polish at Sally Beauty Supply

I didn't even know they were doing this until I looked at my receipt and asked the cashier why my FingerPaints Tapestry in Taupe rang up at $0.00. I got Orly Snocone and Orly Gumdrop, and the FingerPaints (for my mother) was free.

The sale is for the entire month of April, so if you have a Sally nearby, it's time for polish-buying!

Bombs Away!

My most recent Skindecent order arrived yesterday, and here's the most photogenic part of the order, the Butter Bombs:



Clementine: A strong, fresh orange scent with no bitterness.

Treefrog Jammies: My invention, a clean lavender scent blended with piney green notes.

The Forbidden Strawberry: A decadent strawberry scent with a hint of musk.

Pink Carnations: A spicy, vivid carnation scent, a gorgeous not-really-a-floral floral.

Raspberry Ginger Ale: I have no idea how Marliss manages to make this smell fizzy, but she does, and combined with the raspberries, it's really wonderful.

Lavender: This one is the perfect dreamtime scent, fresh and relaxing.

I Dream of Berries: An absolutely gorgeous blend of blackberry, raspberry and lavender. It has the calming properties of lavender, but enough zing from the berries that I don't fall asleep as soon as I smell it.

The Butter Bombs are an amazing value, at $7.27 American per pound. I smash 'em up and drop a handful of the bits in, and I get silky smooth skin instead of winter-parched skin. I love hot baths in the winter, and the Butter Bombs let me take a bath every night if I want to and not pay for it with painfully dry, itchy and flaky skin. Plus, with Skindecent's product range and scent menu, I can layer scents, and drift off to bed in a happy cloud!

Accidental preppie-cure!

This was my attempt at a spring color combo that wound up in perfect preppie pink and green:



Zoya Happi and Zoya Midori.

Winter paws

I'm a middle-aged polish lover in frosty NE Ohio. I use glitter polishes, which require acetone remover, rather frequently; forget my gloves; pump my own gas and exercise three to four times a week in a chlorinated pool. So why don't I have the cuticles of a lizard in a drought?

Skindecent.

My holy grail trio of hand products are all from Skindecent, which is nice as I can get them all in matching scents or unscented as I wish.

I start by washing my hands with plain ol' soap. While the water is warm and my hands are warm and wet, I do a quick but thorough scrub with Manicure in a Minute. I pat my hands dry, and then go over my cuticles and joints with Cuticle Balm. I buff my nails, then right before I go to sleep, I massage my hands with the melted wax and oil combo from the Massage Candle.

All three of these look like unassuming little pots of not-much, but they work well and are absolutely worth every penny.

Something new

I finally decided to get off my butt and start a second blog for all of my "girly" stuff. I'm calling it Bubbles and Baubles, and I will be using it for all the things that make me squee in an embarrassing fashion.

Grand Opening

I don't expect that anyone except a few friends will be reading this, but I decided to do it anyway. This is going to be my place for posting all my squeeing over nail polish, bath products, jewelry, perfume and all the other girly stuff I love.* Curmudgeonette will remain my primary blog, but this one will be a good supplement.

With that in mind, here are a few details about me:

My hair is reddish-brown, originally by nature, now by treatment.
My eyes are blue/green/grey, depending on what I'm wearing.
My skin is pinky-fair, very fair and very pink.
I'm middle-aged, with crowsfeet, an oily nose and dry skin everywhere else.
I love baths, but take showers for convenience.

Welcome to Bubbles and Baubles.



















*Disclaimer for Otterboyy:

First of all, "girly" is not a pejorative.

Second, I like girly baths. Men may quite easily enjoy manly baths. Lush has a number of masculine scents that I enjoy.

Newsflash: Skindecent saves woman's sanity

Today sucked. I'm out of my antidepressant and for some reason, my Hyphenated Corp. health insurance is suddenly invalid, today was my first day back at Mom's office and I had to do payroll taxes, and the icing on the cake is when I got home and discovered that one of the dogs chewed up at least one of my rubber duckies.

If it hadn't been for my pre-layoff Skindecent order on my front porch, I probably would have totally lost it. As it is, I'm opening it as I listen to the stupid hold music for A(ssholes)E(at your)T(ime and give you)N(othing in return but want)A(ll your money) insurance's so-called "Customer Care" line.

I'm on the verge of tears, as I have been since I left the pharmacy without my Lexapro, but right now, they are more tears of gratitude for the kindness of Marliss, the genius behind Skindecent. Not only did she send samples of the Lush dupes for Sultana and The Olive Branch, she sent me an entire Girlfriend's Stress Relief Kit. Marliss has always provided amazing products and customer service, but this kind of thoughtful detail is truly amazing.

And now, since the insurance person wants the pharmacist to call and the pharmacist is being snarky about not wanting to call, I'm going to go huff bath products and hope that tomorrow is a VAST improvement over today.