Miami, you have defeated me!

I finally made it to Miami! WOO! Yes, excitement was in order. But I'm sooooo not a fan of Miami. The people, the traffic and the TRAFFIC!!! Decided to spend the afternoon at South Beach, well we sat bumper to bumper looking for parking for over an hour. It was terribly stressful. And the fact that my friend was angrily yelling at traffic was only adding to my stress. Sheesh! I'm pretty close to getting an ulcer from this damn city. No one stops at stop signs and the assface in front of us would stop the car to flirt with women and just sit there. I beeped for minutes at a time, but the doushebag just remained flirting in his car. There was so much traffic I couldn't around. AAARRRGGGG!

Well tmrw, we get on the boat which I'm super stoked for. :)

Laters!

Hiatus?

 

Hi everyone!

So my spring break is finally tomorrow. I could not be more excited and a little nervous. I just want it ALL to go smoothly without a single hitch. I'm going to be taking a road trip to Miami with my best friend, then we get on a cruise for 4 nights and return home to Chicago. I have wanted to take a road trip since I was 17 and 8 years later I finally can. ha. The picture above is from our ship, Carnival Imagination. I'm stoked it has a mini water park on it. Wild! Majority of my trip I won't have internet, which is a bummer. But maybe a little break might be good. I will try to most and give you guys stories of my adventure, but in all honesty in won't be until I return. I promise to take TONS and TONS of pictures.

My goal is to have this who road trip segment, not so much a mini series but me yapping and taking pictures.

Hello, I'm part dork and part nerd. :)

A SPF Lesson

Last night I spent some time looking around online at sunscreens. Since I'm spending my spring break in Miami and the Caribbean I know I must pick up a bottle. But being pure Rachael-the-glitter-fanatic I search for a little extra special sunscreen. While I found what I was looking for I had a question. What really was the difference between all the SPF's. I was never really a fan of sun block mainly because it smelled and I wanted a good, gorgeous tan. I did some research on this interesting website I found. Take a look at this math:

SPF Number x Time to Burn Without Sun Protection = Time to Burn while wearing sunscreen*

*assuming that sunscreen is applied properly

Example: If your skin would burn in 10 minutes in the afternoon sun without any sun protection, and you applied a sunscreen with an SPF 15, you would have 15 x 10 = 150 minutes (2.5 hours) before you would burn.

Percentage of Protection from damaging UV rays:
SPF 15 = 92%
SPF 30 = 97%
SPF 40 = 97.5%

Do you use sunscreen?

Check out Go Sun Smart HERE

St Patrick's Day Makeup

 

Oops, I'm a couple days late on this. Since I worked on Thursday, this was my makeup from Saturday (and the St Patty's party I went to). I wanted to mix it up a little instead of ONLY wearing green. The glitter was kinda a fail because as minutes passed it just fell down my face, which you can see in some of the shots. Bummer. 

What I Used:

eyes

Too Faced Shadow Insurance

NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk

Barry M e/s in 75

MUA e/s in Pearl

FaceFront glitter in Tinsel Tweet

Sleek 'Acid' Palette

Urban Decay e/s in Fishnet

Urban Decay e/s in Mildew

Urban Decay e/s in Graffiti

Calypso Minerals' e/s in Twilight

2 True liquid liner in Black

Gosh Mascara

Salon Perfect Lashes in Black Demi Wispies

face

Maybelline Matte Mousse

TruBlend Minerals in 410

VI Derm

Urban Decay Body Powder in Honey

lips

Lime Crime lipstick in Airbourne Unicorn

Urban Decay lipstick in Love Child

E.L.F. Hypershine Gloss

I'm pretty pleased with this e.l.f. product. The hypershine lip gloss were actually pigmented and they run at $1 each. That is a steal my friend. I have been slowly coming around to e.l.f. They are super affordable and are not made shitty. Of course, they are not made superbly either...but hello, it's $1 why are you complaining? lol.

These, on top of your lipstick or lip tars are stellar.

prettttty

with flash

in natural light

NOTD: OPI/Alice in Wonderland - Absolutely Alice

 

I've have had this polish for some time now, but was never too into it. Well, I have changed my mind! As any other week I painted my nails to another color (I grow bored easily) and really became impressed with this color. I used 2 coats, but could have gotten away with one. The main reason why I adore this color so much it's glitter-tastic and the concentrated blue is magically. The glitter polish doesn't just have a few glitters that spread out on your nails. Which can cause you to add numerous coats to add more glitter. This is a must have!

NOTD: Wet N Wild - Jade

 

In honor of St Patrick's Day tomorrow I thought it seem right to post green nails. I found this on sale at Walgreens for $1 and wasn't about to pass it up. It's not my usual green, but does have a pretty light shimmer to it. Downside, it applies gummy and after drying it would flaw pretty easily. 

My cuticles are not behaving lately. It's time for a hand scrub I think. Even usually cuticle cream was a no go.

What are YOUR plans for St Patty's? I will post my makeup from the party this week!

 

NOTD: China Glaze in White On White

 

Okay, so I was a little messy but I was in a hurry. I'm not too much of a fan of this color. Even though white isn't technically a color. Whatevs. I've never had a white polish before, but I have painted on my nails with whiteout. Only...there wasn't much of a difference. Sad, huh? Maybe, if it was shimmery...

Coats ---> 3

Rating---> 5/10

Price--->$5.99

Epic Fail: Matte Nail Polishes

 

I'm so disappointed at this epic fail. :(

I have had such a great experience with Zoya nail polish that I knew I had to try out their matte nail polish. I ordered this beautiful purple that I fell for at first sight. I applied two coats, noticing that I was having issues getting even coats. Okay, fine I must have been having a shaky hand day. The color was brilliant and I was really liking how matte was incredible different from any other finish I had. Within hours the polish was chipping off. And by the end of the night it looked like I had lost half of the polish off my nails. WTF! I was not happy at all! I chalked it up to a bad day and tried it all over. SAME THING! Ggggrrr.

Then I decide to play a little experience. One hand would remain normal and the other would get a top coat. With a top coat it defeats the purpose of having a matte color. So my choice was no matte or chipping matte. It was a lose-lose. :(

What are your experiences with matte polishes?

Beauty Blogs Backstage: An Interview with CucumPear

 

I'm very happy to report it's time for another Beauty Blogs Backstage! This is always the highlight of my week. This month I got paired with the lovely Amira of CucumPear. I'm totally in awe of her nail designs, they are just gorgeous! You should be following her blog, just like me, it's well worth it.

Click HERE to see her interview me :)

1. The name of your blog really catches my eye, besides that killer green color. Why that name?
My blog started out as a general beauty blog named "CucumPear's Pandemonium of Cosmetics," but it soon turned into a pure polish blog so I started thinking about a new name. I study Ancient History, had fairly recently taken my Ancient Greek exam and still had that on my mind. It was a bit of an epiphany when I realised that onyx isn't just a kind of quartz, but actually means claw or fingernail. Phalanx just came to mind, despite being a rather modern term for fingers. In the end I just loved the way "Onyx Phalanx" sounds and that I'm basically calling my blog 'fingernail (military) formation.' ;-)

2. What is your favorite thing to post about on your blog?
Though I tend to get more feedback when I post swatches that's far from my favourite topic. I love doing silly themed nail art that no sane person would wear. There's just not enough of that kind of thing around and I love imagining people reading a post and going: *facepalm* "What was she thinking?"

3. You take really good pictures of your nails. What camera do you use?
Thank you! I recently switched to a Canon Powershot SX210 IS and I love it to bits. I still have to photoshop the red spectrum back into any purples I photograph, but otherwise it's amazing. I could probably
just keep it set to auto most of the time. The only downside that taking photos one-handedly is nigh impossible, so a tripod is absolutely necessary.

4. One brand you would die without?
I find that I can make any polish work as long as I have my Seche Vite. I don't know if I would die without it - I tend to accept and adapt - but that's the closest I can get.

5. What are you looking forward to sporting for spring?
Brights! Glitter! Anything but muted colours.

6. Facebook or Twitter?
Facebook, I guess. I like Twitter better, but just don't use it as much as Facebook (damn addictive games). I could survive without either.

7. Bright eyeshadow or bright lips?
Bright eyeshadow, generally. I just love wearing bright greens and purples, jewel tones and black on my lids, while my lips tend to be sheer pinks or rosy colours.

Glow Stick Makeup

 

I was craving something bright and bold all around to offset the constant lack of sun in Chicago. A girl needs her sun!!!! :( 

I was looking at this picture from Halloween 2010, me and all these glow sticks. I was pretty much bathing in them haha. I really liked how this turned out!

What I Used:

eyes
NYX Jumbo Pencil in Milk
Barry M e/s in 75
MUA e/s in Pearl
Hard Candy Radiant Stick in Pop
FaceFront e/s in Little Gremlin
Kryolan UV Palette
Sleek 'Acid' Palette
2 True liquid liner in Black
Gosh Mascara
Salon Perfect Lashes in Black Demi Wispies
face
Maybelline Mineral Powder in Medium 2.5
TruBlend Minerals in 410
VI Derm
Urban Decay Body Powder in Honey
lips
Jesse's Girl lip liner in Pucker Up
OCC Lip Tar in Anime
Goldie Lip Gloss in Whip It

St Patrick's Day Nails

 

Okay, so they aren't REALLY made for St Patty's day. I just did them green cause of all the St Patty's parties I'm going to this month. Then with the crackle they reminded me of The Hulk. This neon color is simply AMAZING. It's super bright and just oooooh la la. It helps me think Spring is almost here. 

OOTD: St Patty's Celebration/"Surprise" Party

This month has been filled with St Patty's parties. March is a great month. I went to Forest Park to meet up in few bars for some drinking before my friend hosted a 'surprise' party which is code for sex toy party. I'm not understanding why its called a 'surprise' party...

Anyway I wanted to wear something that would fit both parties well. I liked how with my belt my top and skirt made it look like I was wearing a dress. PS my green tights rule! haha.

Do you like Peyton creeping in the background here?

Top: Lane Bryant $32

Skirt: Torrid $38

Tights: We Love Colors $15

Belt: Torrid $22

Shoes: Converse $35

Necklace: Chicago streets

Earrings: Forever 21 $3.80

Oh, silly kitty

rainbow!!!!!