Hey, y’all!! Guess what??!! We have FINALLY (now that we are firmly tucked into 2024) come to the end of my 2023 monthly manicures. If you can manage to do so, cast your mind back to December. Smell the cutting coldness of the wind and the comforting scent of a cheerful fire in the fireplace. Think about all the holiday planning and stress and excitement. Recall the scents of baked goodies wafting through the air and making your home seem all comfy-cozy against the early dark of a Winter night. Ah, yes … December. You are probably my favorite month of the year.
Except for December 2023. (Y’all knew I was leading up to this, right? Right! Because y’all know how I work by now. Ha.) December 2023 was a rushing hodgepodge of just … “life crap”. I don’t know how else to describe it. I went into the month feeling so exhausted and burned out at work, to the point where I was rage applying for new jobs because I couldn’t take my workload any longer. (I’m actually thankful I didn’t get any of those jobs. I like my job, my clients, and my team so much. It was just a very hard time that came at the tail end of a string of very hard months.) At the beginning of December, my mom, who was previously diagnosed with a-fib, found out she actually had multiple coronary blockages. She had triple by-pass in early December. I went to Texas in mid-December, right when she was scheduled to be released from the hospital, and I stayed with my parents until the end of January. Thankfully, my mom recovered well. She is doing great now, and I’m glad I was able to go down there and spend time helping her recovery. But it was mentally, emotionally, and physically exhausting.
So, of course, let’s look at nails. As you can tell from the title of this post, I am doing something different and combining December and January into one post. This is because the entire time was such a giant, muddled blur in my mind. It is still, months later, a giant, muddled blur in my mind. I didn’t keep good notes, so it seems fitting that the manicures, also, end up a giant, muddled blur in the blog – ha!
Zoya, Amaris. Oh, how I loved this polish. Remember how I’m always saying that these types of deep, dark, moody blues are totally my jam? And how all the holographic sparkles are also my jam? So, yes … this polish was my jam. I love her.
Night Owl Lacquer, You Had Me at Plaid. Remember how, for my November manicures, I said how much I adored this polish? Yes, that was still true in December. It’s not often you will see me wearing a police twice in such a short time. I believe I have mentioned my embarrassingly large untried stash. It is still embarrassingly large. And yet, I had to wear this polish again. Had to.
Noodles Nail Polish, You Oughta Know. You know what you oughta know? You oughta know how fabulous this polish is. It is so freaking fabulous. I love the deep red of the base color, as well as how all those glitters look floating through every layer of manicure. It’s soooo good.
Colores de Carol, Witchy Elegance. So, for the most part, I am not a huge fan of “special” types of polishes. I’m not much for magnetics because they take so much work. Glow in the dark polishes are not my cup of tea. Ditto with reflective polishes, which I like, but which don’t grab me by the eyeballs any more than a more “standard” type of glitter polish. But the one type of “special” finish polish I adore is the thermal. I am such a fan of these, particularly in the Winter months, when I can see active shifts of color throughout the day. This one is so delicate and lovely. I really enjoy the black to clear color change, and I love how the pastel colors from the glitters look against the clear shift.
Colores de Carol, Blueberry Toffee. Ack!! This polish is like jaoroaufonflarneopuvaonreouvlte. Yeah. My brain just goes blank with happiness, and my fingers want to type all the letters in no particular order. To say it is fabulous just does not go far enough. It is so far beyond that … like, there are no words for how much I love this.
Colores de Carol, Pure Imagination. Look at how bright and just … wow! … this polish is. I mean, is there even any need for me to keep typing? We all know I will keep typing, because this is a blog. And typing is what one does in a blog. But, yeah … there’s no need for it. Such a pretty baby. Sigh.
Essie, To DIY For. While I was in Texas, I impulse purchased several polishes at the local Sally’s and the local H.E.B. (this is a grocery store, for those of y’all who are not versed in “Texas Hill Country”). One of those polishes was this one, because it just grabbed my attention straight off when I saw it on the shelf. When I got home to my parents’ house and put it on my nails, I realized, “Oh. I already bought this once.” So, yeah. Clearly, I liked this so much that I bought it twice. I enjoyed wearing it. It’s a great orange.
China Glaze, Red Pearl. This is another polish I impulse purchased while in Texas. I am not usually a person for reds, which is something I feel like I say all the time. And this, in turn, is starting to lead me to believe I actually am a person for reds. But … let’s not delve too far into this right now. I must give it more thought before completely changing my stance on All Things Red Nail Polish.
The thing is that this polish really caught my eye, and, because of that, ended up in my actual, real-world shopping cart. It is Delicious, and I loved wearing it. As you can see, I did a short nails thing in December and January. This is because my nails were in terrible shape with lots of peeling. Stress will do that to ‘ya. But I don’t mind. I love me some short nails, and I love me some red polish on short nails. (I’m actually going through a short nails thing now, too. Oh, what a tangled web we weave …)
Also, there are going to be a few photos in this post that don’t look like my usual swatch photos. This is because I took these in Texas (different light than in my usual Midwestern corner of the world) and because I took them with my phone. I had so much stuff to bring back with me that I didn’t have room to pack polish, and I left these at my parents’ house. I did not have my mind on packing when I traveled to Texas. It’s a miracle that I even managed to have enough clothing with me on this trip. I didn’t even think of packing my camera. And, by the way, I actually did not have enough clothing. I ended up having to do laundry constantly. Fail.
OPI, Pixel Dust. This is such a pretty, pretty pink! It is glittery and flakey and delicate and just all-around wowza. It’s not the kind of polish I would normally go all ga-ga, googley-eyes for. But yet, I enjoyed the heck out of this one. It was fun to wear.
Essie, Mismatch to Match. I don’t normally buy or wear a lot of Essie polishes. But there was a collection that caught my eye while I was shopping. And I ended up trying to wear these in one way or another during my stay. This one is a lovely, deep brown. It has a purple undertone to it. And y’all know how Mama feels about a great brown.
This was a water marble with all Essie polishes: Odd Squad, Perfectly Peculiar, and Offbeat Chic. I wish I had better photos of this manicure, because it was really a nice water marble. I enjoyed this color combination a lot, and I enjoyed wearing it.
Orly, Wistful Water Lily. When I returned home from Texas, there was an Orly collection waiting for me. I swatched and wore a few of those at the tail end of January. This is one of them. It’s a lovely and delicate pink, although it has a slightly “frosty” look in a finished manicure.
Orly, Golden Waves. This was another of the new Orly polishes that had been waiting for me when I returned home. I wanted to wear this one right away. I love the combination of pinks, oranges, and golds in here. I found it to be decently shimmery and color-shifty on my nails. It felt like a “sunset” type of polish.
And, finally, here is Orly, Morning Dew. This polish looks quite blue in my photo. In real life, it looked a lot more green-toned. I think it’s really pretty in this photo. I did not love it as much on my nails in real life, and that was a bummer.
THE WRAP-UP:
I think you can see that December and January were both chaotic months for me. In many ways, I am still struggling with the emotional and mental toll these months took on me. I am so, so, so tired, y’all. Just so, so, so tired. But at least there were some great nails and fun polishes happening – even during a time that was not great for me.
What about all of you? What were you wearing and loving in December and January? I would love to hear all about it!
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