Mermaid NOTD and A&A Thursdays !

Over the top nails anyone ? Yes, please !

Base : Peggy Sage in Blue Pop. Amazing metallic blue : it really stands out ...

But I was tempted to layer it with the sparkle touch from Kiko :

and I decided to make it a blue day ! So blue EOTD too ...

Now it's time for Awesome and Awkward Thursdays :

Awkward :

- I am a pharmacist. So I explain a patient how to use a new pill for blood pressure. She doesn't listen to a word I say and notice a sticker on the bottle saying she should avoid Grapefruit. She interrupts me saying in an accusative tone : "how come I can't eat grapefruit ? That's so unfair!". Me , trying to feel sympathetic : "AW I am sorry, You were used to eat grapefruit on a regular basis?" patient : "No...I hate grapefruit, it so sour !" Me : "OK, so let's get to the next pill..."

- Taking pictures of my EOTD and noticing the Christmas calendar is still in the living room's wall, cropping pictures to hide my failure...

Awesome :

- becoming free lance, I feel so free to organize my own professional schedule

- receiving an award from Jen who is so talented that it's not even funny ...And she is an enabler to MAC, let me tell you ...I wish I could have such a nice MUA at my MAC counter !

- receiving 3 packages of free goodies in less than a month : from a give away (Lily's), from Maybelline (Super stay lipstick to try when you subscribe on their FB page), from Marcelle-Annabelle reps (as they heard I was sick in December ...AWWWWW !)

- being addicted to the Banana shampoo from the Body Shop ...it smells soooo good in my shower every morning : those kinds of little priceless pleasures !

Awkward and awesome Caro xxx

NOTD : magnetic nails from Agnes B

I won a give away mi January and I received an indecent amount of gorgeous nail polishes. In the package I receive, I found that weird little magnet from the AgnesB. collection. As I am as curious as George, I researched a little bit about it and found out that the magnet can help you do nail art easily. How fun !

Here is the result and the INCREDIBLE magnet ! the color shown here is Prune Galaxie...

As I am as crafty as if I had 2 left hands, I managed to fail with 2 nails, scratch 2 others and do a lot of swearing at the same time (I am a multi purpose kind of girl). But with a little bit of practice, I am sure the swearing will proportionally decrease while ALL my nails will look perfect...(a girl can dream !)

So is it a gimmicky product ?

YES

Did I enjoy it ?

Everyone needs a little bit of swearing in their life ...And swearing in French is so ...charming (?)

Conclusion

My nails were noticed by a lady who asked me how come I made such neat designs on my nails ...I started to explain the basic principle of metallic nail polish and magnet and realized being a science teacher was probably not my call !

Curious Caro and her metallic nails xxx

Awkward and Awesome Thursdays and NOTD !

I am starting a nail-o-thon with all the nail polishes that I won lately ! Ladies, let me introduce you to the vampy : Tulipe noire (translation : black tulip) from Peggy sage. I played it lazy and just did 1 coat to prevent it from being too dark... I love so much those kinds of plummy colors !

Then if you can see the new button on the right of my blog, I'll try and follow the tradition of the Awkward and Awesome Thursdays , initiated by Sydney...Go and read that blog, it's hilarious and witty !



Awkward :

- being at Sephora and trying to avoid a SA that mismatch my color foundation ... BIG time : I am snow white and she matches me with J-LO. I didn't want to hurt her feelings, so I end up whispering to another SA if I can change the bottle and the SA whispers back in a really noisy Sephora...

- waiting in line in a H&M and starting the weirdest conversation ever with a total stranger : I swear in 5 min I knew everything about her childhood. Excusing myself to go to the cash because she doesn't want to stop the conversation...and rushing out of the store because I have the impression she wants to develop our new friendship !

Awesome :

- Receiving a huge package from a give away I won this week...I still can't believe it !

- Seeing my kids enjoying Harry Potter : They open the doors saying "Alohomora", they fight with "Petrificum totalum". Thank you Mrs Rowling for bringing your magic to my kids' world

- The sales : huge , this year ...not sure that's awesome for my wallet but my closet is very happy

- discovering new blogs everyday and enjoying the ride

Caro-reducium bottomum xxx (not working yet ...working on it !) xxx

OOTD : the 10 $ dress

OOTD : Sometimes, you browse the alleys of your grocery shop and between the broccolis and carrots you find that :

You do NOT find this incredibly sexy women in her seducing 30ies but you DO find pieces of outfit that will soon end up being published in a blog.

A nice little black dress for 10 $...The material looks shiny in the pic because of the flash but in reality it's a matte fabric very stretchy and incredibly comfortable.

I love the way it drapes over the knee : good job, Joe Fresh !

Then here is a DIY necklace (done by mum, thank you, mummy !) : she used those little balls that you throw through blowguns at birthday parties when a kid. She put those in a tube of fancy fabric ... et voilà !!!

Caro-sometimes a little black dress is all you need xxx

PS : nails on the 2nd pic are courtesy of Stormy (Revlon) : a true 3-day-wear (no chip, just a little tip wear....goooooooooooooooood !)

Monochromatic grey : SOTD, JOTD, NOTD...

SOTD : my sweet grey pumps offered by Mother in law at Winners. That's funny, there were moments when I went there I could never find anything...Now each time I stroll the alleys, I find too many cute items. May be because I changed the store I use to go to (very messy) to a very clean and well organised new store ?

NOTD : my yesterday find. The perfect dupe for Metrochic : Stormy from Revlon ...

JOTD : a big bold necklace bought for 5 euros on a market in Europe 2 years ago ! Nice over a sheath dress to break the "formality" of the office look..

to balance the overwhelming necklace : discrete earrings from RW&Co . Sorry for the wet and crazy hair !

I wanted to do a post on the "hit pan" phenomenon but it demands a little bit of work and I am in a "Saturday kind of mood" aka I read post from other bloggers, I don't write ! Haha....

Caro-lazy blogger xxx

Playing dupes : again !

Does this trendy fall color remind you of something ?

May be Metrochic from OPI (Sephora) ?

Comparison in pictures ....

With flash, the OPI looks a little bit more Mauve than the Revlon one (Stormy). In reality, I cannot see the littlest difference : to make sure I painted half my left hand with the OPI , the other half with the Revlon one ! It is absolutely impossible to distinguish one from another ...

Now I'll have to remove the OPI as I am allergic to it but I am so happy I found a dupe ! Plus, it is 3 times less expensive...Are you tempted ?

Caro-chic cheap xxx

How a good idea ends up being a bad mani...

I like easter nails (all nails covered with different pastel colors) or rainbow nails. So, I decided to try a all-in-the-same-family color nails. I can do that easily with my pinks so here we go :

Thumb to pinkie : Revlon bubble gum, Revlon Posh Pink, Zoya Jordana, Revlon Sheer Blossom, Zoya Jane

NOTD : reasons of the failure IMO:

-finish is not the same for each color (cream to sheer)

-colors were showing quite a nice wide range in the bottles but once applied on the nails Revlon Sheer Blossom and Zoya Jane are too close to make a nice change

-Zoya Jordana is too salmonish to fit in with the other pinks that are more on the cool side

Well I tried !

Hope you'll get inspiration and try it with your own favorite color

Caro-heading to a spinning class xxx

PS : I lost 4.2 lbs in 3 weeks...which is the target (about 1 lbs a week) but gosh it is soooooooooo hard to resist ice creams when the weather is so hot ....

a Revlon serie : Grape Icy swatch

Last one from the scented serie I bought : Grape Icy , a true purple color.

Application : 4 coats . No need to say I won't use it on a regular basis...It' s nice but to sheer for my liking : hence the difficulty to reach a nice clear line at the nail bed ...

Staying power : not judged there as I just applied it this morning (well 3 coats yesterday evening and the 4th coat this morning). I guess as it's the same formula as the 2 others that I tried this week, it should be very good....Wait and see !

This one is my least favorite of the bunch but it is still very pretty. It's just that the 2 others are stunning so the comparison is not really fair...

Caro smelling her nails xxx

Revlon serie part II : Bubble gum swatch

I could lick my nails....Oh the precious ! I liked a lot Gum drop , the lavender color from the scented serie, but this one ....I adore !

Application : just 2 coats were enough. I like that !

Color : it is bold without being neon. I am not a big fan of neon colors so it's a good point for me. If you want discrete nails though, run away, this mani is not for you. this fuschia clearly makes a statment...

Staying power : I kept it 3 days again before removing it. I could have kept it a little longer because it didn't chip but the tip wear was beginning to show some weakness...Again, I never keep a mani more than 24 h normally so I will say it again : Revlon rocks in term of staying power !

Caro-rediscovering the pleasure of manis xxx

a Revlon serie : Gum drop NOTD

From the last collection : the scented Revlon nail polishes in the lilac shade (Gum Drop).

Application is not really easy : you can see how streaky it can get with my index finger. This was a 3 coat-application and I didn't wanted to try a 4th coat, I was afraid it 'd look too thick. Nonetheless, it is such a nice color and as long as you don't use macro settings to stare at your nails, it's OK (Personally I don't have macro settings in my short-sighted eyes, so I was pretty happy with my manicure! )

Staying power : really amazing ! Normally I change my nail color every day (I know , I am OCD !!!). With this one, I am not lying, I kept this mani for 3 days in a row...

Tomorrow, we'll talk about Bubble Gum (the bright fuchsia one !)

Hope you are all well, beautiful ladies

Caro-lacking time for posts xxx

PS : thank you for my new subscribers (can't believe I am heading towards 100 followers ! yeep yeep ...)

Ps II : I enjoy so much being with my parents at the moment ...Sighing...

NOTD : let me see your blue ...

NOTD : Resist and shine Titanium in 731. I chose the pic to show you how stunning it is on the bottle , can you see the metallic blue flash ? Sadly, it is not to be found on my nails...It is just a beautiful very dark blue (that under some lights looks plain black). The application was so easy (I am taking a break from my pastels !). With 1 coat, it could have been enough for some nails...I did 2 to make sure it was all even. It is supposed to last 7 days : We'll see !

Weight loss update :

I was 170 lbs on my personnal scale monday the 31 of May

I was 165.2 lbs on the program scale on Thursday the 10th of June

I was now 162.2 lbs on the program scale on Wednesday the 16th of June

The responsible of the program told me I was losing lbs too quickly so too slow down a little bit. I have to agree with her as I feel pretty exhausted. I try to work out 5 days a week and my calories intake seems too low to compensate...But I am happy as I wanted to lose 1 lbs a week and reach 5 lbs lost on the 30 th of June. I already reached that goal and exceeded it and we're just the 17th....

So I am gonna treat myself with a little present for all the energy invested !

Caro -thinner but tired xxx

Helicopter inspired make up : Pink and yellow !

The weather is absolutely fantastic here....Sunny, warm, breezy ! So with this little wind , some "helicopters" are falling from the big tree in my front garden. They are shimmery pink and yellow and I decided to copy them ! Helicopter's eyes ... No war related though, all peace and love !

Then I decided to spice up this look as it was a little too soft for my liking. I added a fierce liner with dots underneath...

I did my nails too with a new varnish I bought a few days ago. For my Canadian followers, it's sold in Maxi and Loblaws. The make is JOE Fresh. This color is a pretty pastel yellow. The application was a nightmare : you have to hold the big round cap and the brush is too short and fluffy.... But the color is really nice. I Konaded it in the evening with dots and a pink Konad special polish (the one with the Coraline KIT) : well that's a neon pink and I 'm not a big fan...My nails are so short , it's almost painful, they break and split like crazy...I started Vit B complex and Omega 3 : I'll keep you posted on the efficacy.

Have a wonderful sunday !

Caro-wondering how she's gonna have her hubby to BBQ (satanic laugh) xxx

NOTD : Cheetah print and favorite lip combo

Lips : my favorite combo ever
Lipliner : NYX Mauve to contour and all over the lip
Lipstick : NYX round lipstick in Power (a pink with a purple hue)
Lipgloss : Sephora lipgloss in precious pink

NOTD :
NYX secret as a color base
Sally Hansen black out to do the prints with a Konad plate (M 57)

My poor nails are really short. It seems that I neglected them a lot lately as I could not paint them so they broke, split....I need to give them a little more love !

EOTD : a very simple eye with a wash of gold-brown all over the lid , a little grey in the outer corner and a white highlight under the brow bone and in the inner corner. Very TiffanyD on youtube !

Tonight my hockey team is playing for the 2nd part of the play offs. GO , HABS, GO !!!

Caro-hockey fan just for fun(don't have a single clue how this game works !) xxx

Easter NOTD inspired by Susies1955

I was inspired by the beautiful Susies1955 to do that mani. Hers was prettier than mine because I didn't own a pastel yellow one. I replaced it with an orange one from the Essie spring collection but the whole look works better with her take on it...

I am IMPOSSIBLE...If you read my blog from time to time, you know I have sometimes an allergy to some nail varnishes. It's really difficult to identify which ones as I change mani every other day...But did you think painting my nails with all the colors of the rainbow was a good idea to identify the thief....NOT REALLY ! I again swell but now that I recognize the first symptoms, I took the mani away the 1st day I wore it. It didn't prevent me from swelling but it's not as awful as before. I need to take a break from Mani (sobbing endlessly !) for a while and the try one color for a few days , stop painting for a few days and so on. This way, there is a good chance of finding the traitor !!!

Hope you have a grogeous week end !

I have tons of posts to write about hauls (yay to wharehouse sale !), meeting a fellow blogger by chance, Awards (I fell like a SUPERSTAR !) and give away

Caro xxx

NOTD : Jane from Zoya

So, if you follow my blog, you know that I am under a strange spell. Let me explain for those who just subscribed (welcome in my blog!): from time to time after wearing nail polish, I swell ....eyelids , lips and then I peel...like crazy. Absolutely yummy, I must say. So after doing a little research, I found that Zoya could be an option for me : less chemical atrocity, it seems in those little bottles. So the adventurous side of me went to chase those little gems. My wallet is more efficient than a GPS to find things to buy so I ended up getting 3 Zoyas and here is the first one : Jane.

Jane is a lovely milky color. It disappointed me a little bit as I asked the saleswoman if you can build the color and have opacity and she answered : Yes, ma'am. We probably don't have the same version of opacity because after 3 coats, I can see through it ! Next time , I'll try a matte white underneath. On an other hand, this color is very pretty: This Jane girl was probably an english flower : pale porcelain skin, pearls around the neck. So her polish is classy and very office appropriate. I'll think I'll spice it up tomorrow with a Konad. What do you think about blue clouds ?

Have a nice day !

Caro xxx