A (Indie) Dark Purple Comparison: Cult Nails Vicious vs. AEngland Elaine

There are those unavoidable instances when you don't have any recourse but to purchase a bottle of nail polish online. I try to refrain from doing so just to make sure I get exactly the color that I want. But when availability (or lack of, in store) is thrown into the mix, sometimes, it's just the more convenient way of getting your fix around to it. That's where Google image search and my trusted bloggers come to the rescue. I realize that photographs aren't the best way to judge color. The settings on your monitor/laptop screen/mobile phone/tablet aren't always going to show you the most accurate color. And sometimes, the two nail polishes you'd like to see side by side can look exactly the same in various photographs and lighting. So what's a girl to do? Well, you take your chances. Today's comparison is actually borne out of my own recent dilemma.

See, AEngland had a sale a little while back. And as always, it was free shipping with no minimum. Pretty hard to resist, plus, it was the perfect excuse to snag the other colors I wanted. I had my eye on Elaine but I already have Vicious. I don't like having duplicates of the same color, as much as possible, so I wanted to know how these two vampy purples compared. But as far as Google was concerned, they looked exactly the same depending on the lighting. Huh. Well, AEngland had a fantastic formula so I figured that if they were dupes, I wouldn't really mind. Besides, what are the chances that two indie brands would dupe each other? Highly unlikely, is what I thought. So for anyone else who wanted to know, here's the two side by side:

Nail Art Wednesday: Mountain Dew, Effervescence and Loose Glitter

Nail art is usually a spontaneous event for me. I rarely think too hard about it because I have a bad knack for over-thinking to the point of paralysis. That holds especially true for when I'm coming up with my own take on various designs. I prefer the easiest methodology with the best results. The bad thing about this is that it's a very hit or miss sort of process. But the good thing is that in the event of a miss, it's perfectly okay. It's not like you spent the better part of the day doing it anyway, so a do over is perfectly acceptable. But sometimes, ambivalence kicks in and I can't quite make out how exactly I feel about a certain design. Today's featured nail art fits that to a T. Mr. J speculates that this particular design might have come about through subliminal messages I might have gotten from The Big Bang Theory marathon we did over the long weekend and the one-too-many cappuccinos I had (against my better judgement). Either way, I was eager to play with the loose glitter I got from the Born Pretty Store that I had won from a contest over at Chit Chat Nails (thanks again, Marta!!). Here's the result of all those factors combined:

A certain pop + frothy bubbles = this.

Cult Nails Iconic and a Special Birthday Shoutout to the Best Mom of All Time

First off, let us start this post with a huge: Happy Birthday to my Mom!!! Yes, the woman who's taken care of me all these years (even now when I'm already married!) is celebrating her birthday today. She's halfway around the world as I write this and by the time this post goes live, it will almost be the end of her special day. Nonetheless, she is never far from my thoughts and is always in my heart. (Cheesy but true.) You see, my mother is my hero. Whether she likes it or not (she doesn't), I look up to her a lot and would like to be the exact same mother she was. Ours was never a perfect relationship; we had our fights and squabbles as well. But after all is said and done, we both know that we'll always be there for each other, no matter what. When I was much younger, I saw my mom as a superhero of sorts: she could do everything. She'd bake our birthday cakes, make our costumes from scratch for school activities or Halloween (one time she turned a cloth diaper into a turban!), helped us with homework...in my eyes there was nothing she couldn't do. Oh, she was a typical Asian mom in that she always pushed you to do your best, where good just isn't good enough. But she also made you feel better when you weren't. She was very affectionate with me and my siblings. She would randomly hug us throughout the day for no reason other than she wanted to hug you. Then I became I teen and as most teens usually are, became somewhat resentful of her parenting which I perceived as meddling. We never drifted apart, though. As I grew older, our bond just grew stronger and I'm happy to say that my mother has now become one of my best-est friends. She still worries about me and nags me about most everything as most mothers are prone to do, but we've reached a point where I've gotten to know the person behind the mom so it's not as bad as before. And you know something? That's when I realized she's a super superhero and I'm beyond grateful to be her daughter.

In honor of her special day, I wanted to showcase a polish that reminded me of her. I picked something that she would want to wear herself. See, my mom loves red nail polish in all shades and tones. The redder, the better. If nail polish addiction collecting is genetic, that would certainly explain how it started for me. But while she never really collected nail polish, it's still fond memories I have of chatting it up with my mom as we both did our nails together.

Just like my mom: Bold, classy and one of a kind.

Truckload Tuesdays: Hail the Nail Mail and a note to all my lovely readers

You know that saying that goes: when it rains, it pours? That's exactly how this past week was. After griping on Twitter about how long it's been taking my Models Own order to get to me while (it felt like) everyone else has already gotten theirs, and awaiting other similar packages, I finally get ALL of them last week! I do have to say that I have a sneaking suspicion that our mailman is either lazy or not all there. A few weeks ago, I got a package that he(/she?) jammed into our mailbox so well that Mr. J and I needed some quick thinking to get it dislodged. Enter a couple of screwdrivers and a lot of pulling. Luckily, while the box was decimated, the contents were perfectly fine. Now, just last week, instead of dropping off the packages at the door, I get mail notices that say I'd have to pick up my packages at the nearest post office. You have to understand that we live only about 2 minutes walking distance from those mail boxes. So, yeah..

Anyway, I'm just really, really ecstatic to finally get them all in one go! :D

Mail love from Mary (aka Mellinail). I'm really grateful she found my first Chanel for me!

I love how eco-friendly and snug this packaging was.

The Super Powers Collection. That blue is my new all time favorite blue.

Some "magic fish food" to whet your polish appetite.

I thought it was funny that it came in such a huge box!

The Beetlejuice Collection. Not as duochrome-y as I thought, but still pretty good.

I also got the Kobo eReader I got last Cyber Monday but Mr. J promptly gift wrapped it and told me I couldn't play with it till after Christmas before I could get any photos. That's one more thing to look forward to, then! Don't you just love it when the universe conspires to make it feel like Christmas came early?

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I've been putting off announcing this as I've been hoping I can get around circumstances. Hammie insists that I must admit defeat though when I realize how busy things will get and how much scrambling I've yet to do to get the house in order. No, it's not anything particularly bad. It just so happens that my in-laws are coming over to visit for Christmas and will be staying with us till the end of January. I doubt I can do new swatches once they arrive (they'll be here next Wednesday!) so I've been doing swatching marathons when I can to make sure I'll have enough material to use while they're here. So the bad news is that I might not have swatches of the polishes I featured above until early February (which is probably for the best as the Super Powers Collection won't be available till February, anyway). I might not also be as vigilant with the Indulge without the Splurge posts, depending on how busy things will be. While I will be scaling back a bit, rest assured that you'll still get the polish posts every Monday and Friday, as well as the nail art posts on Wednesdays. 

We do hope you'll understand how crazy the holidays can be, especially with family over. So let us be the first to wish you a very happy, crazy and fun Christmas season!