A day in the life of Laynie...

Have you ever had one of those days where it seems everything you touch goes wrong, where everyone is grumpy and you just wish you could press fast forward and get the day over with? I've had all too many of those lately, but today was not one of them. In fact, it was the opposite!

It started with waking up to the alarm taking meds, then realizing that hey, I actually slept all night! Since I was still sleepy, I turned over, went back to sleep, and slept til 11am. Delicious! Considering I've been sleeping maybe an hour at a time if I'm lucky, maybe three times a night I considered this one of the most amazing, wonderful mornings I've had in a long time. I managed to snuggle with my husband almost enough!

He woke me around 11 because we needed to go get the kiddo's insulin. Long story there, but our son has type 1 diabetes and due to a weird insurance thing he was running out of insulin before we could refill it. Thankfully his general practitioner had sample bottles he could share with us, so we all hopped in the car and rode to the doctor's office, only to find that it was closed for lunch.

That was annoying! Didn't they know they were supposed to be there for us? *grin* To heck with lunch, you're totally supposed to be at my beck and call. But we decided that since it was such a gorgeous day we'd go to the nearby park and toss the frisbee around for a while. It was an absolutely gorgeous day, chilly and breezy, and perfect for just getting outside and feeling the sun a bit!

While my husband is pretty good with the frisbee, my son and I are... well... not. We spent more time chasing after it and yelling, "Oops, SORRY!!!" But no one got hit in the face, so I consider it a successful venture. I also observed a tiny spider for a while that seemed convinced he was going to be a tough guy and chase me off. He was no larger in diameter than my pink nail (including his outstretched legs), but he would lift those front two legs and look at me like, "C'mon, b**ch, whatcha got?" I managed to set my arachnophobia aside for a while to watch him wander and pose.

After an hour or so of frisbee we stopped back at the GP's office, picked up the insulin, then went to WalMart to pick up my meds. I know, I know, WalMart is evil. If I had more money I'd shop someplace else, but I really can't afford to. One day... one day. We also spent some time walking, and I made a quick run through cosmetics. My local WalMart now has the new Hard Candy display, although they didn't seem to have the tattoos out. Shame, those may be my favorite part. They're so cute...

Then we loaded into the car and headed for Baton Rouge, because while we were tossing the frisbee, it broke! Well, they were headed for Dick's Sporting Goods which just happens to be next door to Ulta! They were kind enough to drop me off there, so while they looked at all the sporting goods, I wandered through Ulta and found something I've been hunting for months- lime green opaque creme polish! I've got several lime green polishes, but not one actually looks opaque on the nail. But thanks to a Twitter friend, I got the suggestion to try Essence's Lime Up! OMG, y'all... it is SO PERFECT. One coat and it's creamy and opaque and smooth as can be. And not only is it the perfect lime green, it's only 99 cents!

I know. I couldn't pass it up. My husband fussed, but it was only a buck. And hey, it's my first Essence polish! (But definitely not my last!) He spoils me. We then spent the rest of the evening at the bookstore, where I read about blogging and fashion dolls and makeup and... yea. It was delicious, and now I'm about to curl up in bed with my best friend once again. Instead of wishing I could fast forward through the day, I wish I could press record so I could run through it again and again. This was one of those perfect fall days that I'll look back on when I'm old and grey, thinking what a wonderful life I've had.

And so this isn't a picture-free post, I'll share my poor pathetic manicure. Once again, I was doodling on my nails. I wound up with three fingers of each hand the same Sinful Colors blue (Love Nails), an unnamed Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on my left ring finger and my right pinky finger that's almost identical to Love Nails, a sheer lime green Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on my left pinky finger topped with a hot pink unnamed Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear with a scalloped edge, and a purple unnamed Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear on my right ring finger topped with that sheer green. My right ring finger was damn close to Zoya's Adina, btw... just a touch darker purple, with the same green flash from certain angles.

I used my decorative edged scissors to make nail stencils and had to test one, so I tested it over the green. Then I added some rhinestones in multiple sizes, just for the fun of it. I'll definitely end up making a tutorial for this technique, it's simple and fun!

I hope you've had a great day as well, and that your weekend is even better. I've got some surprises coming up soon, so come back soon. I can't wait to share the goodies I've got up my sleeve!

Sally Hansen- Rockstar Pink: My Unbirthday Nails

Some of you may have noticed that I haven't gotten around to putting together a lemming list. It's not that I don't have polishes I drool over, polishes I have planned for when I can squirrel away a few dollars that aren't going toward school supplies or school clothes or kiddo's needs. But with life being what it is, and my somewhat limited amount of energy, that lemming list has gotten pushed to the back burner.

However, for my birthday, I was happy to snag one of the polishes I've been eying every time I pass a Sally Hansen display. This time, I picked up Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear in Rockstar Pink.

I'm not sure where the "rockstar" in the name comes in, but let me say how much I adore it. This polish is truly a glitterbomb of happiness! Overall, it seems to be a cool, rather dusty pink at first glance. Almost a lavender, really, although it seems a bit mottled when you first look.

But when you look more closely, you find absolutely insane amounts of glitter! Not just pink... no, there are lots of colors: pink, lavender, purple, blue, red, gold, silver?  It's hard to tell, because they're so small, but it's so amazing. The picture to the right is 2 coats, and despite the photo, it's basically full coverage with those two coats. I swatched briefly to see what I thought, before doing all my nails.

I decided to use a base coat of pink, something to give it a bit more depth, I guess. I didn't realize just how full coverage those two coats would be! I used a single coat of Nail Fantasies in Peppermint Patty, a beautiful hot pink creme that is almost neon, but not quite. If I were wearing it alone, I'd need two coats, but for this one was sufficient.

Then I layered two coats of Rockstar Pink on top, and realized that the pink didn't show at all. I could have saved the drying time, but next time I'll know. I topped it off with a layer of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails quick-dry topcoat, and enjoyed their glassy smoothness.

Now I have to be honest- while this polish is amazingly fun and glittery, it's also the worst glitter I've had to remove. I've never had a problem like this removing glitters! I felt like trying to sand off my fingernails with a belt sander before I was done! Honestly, it took me a full hour to get this stuff off, and by the end I was cursing up a storm.

Gorgeous color, freaking lousy removal. Plus it was chipped all to hell after 2 days. Maybe it's a problem with the bast coat, I don't know, but I wasn't amused.

Still, I know it's just a matter of time before the glitterbomb bottle sings its siren song to me once again, and I've lacquered my nails with the juicy, glittery goodness of Rockstar Pink once again.

Heaven Nail Lacquer is waiting for you...

I got so many questions about where, exactly, I bought my Heaven polish. I felt a little guilty, because I was waiting til I could get there and snap a few pictures to tell. What can I say, I wanted to share all the colors, not just one! So... the big secret is out. If you're looking for lots of fun colors at completely affordable prices, go to . . .

You read that right. Go to the cosmetics department at your local Albertsons grocery store and pharmacy. I bet you didn't know they had an extensive cosmetics department! The only way I knew is because I have a family member who used to manage the cosmetics department in her local Albertsons. She would bring me the most wonderful things all the time.

The interesting thing is that the Albertsons cosmetics department isn't managed by any old grocery store manager. No, they realize that cosmetics are important to women, so their departments actually are staffed by cosmeticians! So you really should stop by and look to see what's there... you might be pleasantly surprised.

Oh wait, I did that for you! Now, let me preface this by saying that just because these were found at my local store doesn't mean they'll be at all stores, but I know that this is a concept Albertsons is proud of across the board, so I bet you might have more luck than you might expect. So, your mileage may vary, keep your seatbelts on, and let's see what I found!