Tumbling Into Iridescence

Look what Santa Finger Candy left under the tree this year for a girl who is either exceptionally dehydrated, or in desperate daily need of trenta-sized black tea lemonades (if it’s the summer and it’s really hot, then quite possibly the latter; I have always found Arnold Palmers (iced tea and lemonade) muy delicioso.)

Bless you, Starbucks, and your beautiful excess!  This tumbler (with reusable straw) holds about four cups of liquid, and aside from taking it down to the gym with me, I kind of don’t have any clue what I’m going to do with it!  Sadly, both my financial and caloric budgets will not allow for daily trenta anything, but I think it’s going to make a gorgeous, holographic chalice for half of my daily intake of water.  Now, that I can afford!

And as always, I thought this one was definitely in need of a matching (Mickey) mani; all the better to hold it up in various lighting conditions and take photos. 😉

Attack of the Pumpkin Spice Latte

Full confession: I used to be a proud member of the Pumpkin Spice Tribe.  Just pumpkin spice ALL the things, particularly the Starbucks lattes, which I drank by the venti boatful. Then after taking an assessment of my health and finances (and finding the results pretty dim) I pulled back considerably on my PSL obsession, to the point where I hardly ventured into a Starbucks at all.  I’m now back on neutral territory with Fall’s most ubiquitous hot beverage, in part because I now treat them as precisely that – a much-enjoyed treat. And for that my waistline, wallet and teeth have all thanked me greatly (I always say this, but Pumpkin Spice Lattes really prompt the tooth-furries, no?)

So my love of pumpkin spice as a flavour may come and go, but it will always be a wonderful inspiration for nail art, particularly when you have two beautiful holographic polishes just THE precise shades of a delicious, late autumn PSL (KB Shimmer’s Rust No One, left, and Oh My Ganache, right.)  Bonus points if you have a sweet little coffee cup charm with which to seal the deal (or the lid.)

But all is not totally lost on the edible pumpkin spice front.  I’m still pretty powerless to resist its autumnal charms, so if something comes in a pumpkin spice flavour and it doesn’t sound totally disgusting, I’m probably going to try it (perhaps take that one with a grain of salt; I am, after all, one of maybe only seven people in the world who actually liked Trident’s espresso-flavoured gum.)  And hey, look – here’s a few pumpkiny goodies now!

Starting in the top left-hand corner, we have Starbucks’ instant PSL pouches.  I’m no great coffee snob, but this was just terrible.  I tossed my nearly full cup after just a few sips.  Watery – somehow, even when made with milk – and with a distinct burnt taste, this tasted nothing like a Pumpkin Spice Latte or even its non-union equivalent, the Punkin’ Spice Lah-tay.  Seriously, if your obsession has reached the point that you need something like these instant pouches to get you through the bleak, latte-less hours of the wee, wee morning, you need help.  I’m here for you.

To the right of the pumpkin poison we have pumpkin spice-enhanced 1% milk from Natrel.  This ultra light, not-too-sweet creamer is actually pretty delicious, and a nice little pumpkin spice booster for coffee, smoothies, baking or just plain old drinking.  Very nice.

Finally, along the bottom we have a half-enjoyed package of Voortman’s pumpkin spice wafer cookies.  And the package is half-done because these?  Are AWESOME.  Lightly spiced pumpkin cream sandwiched between crispy, light-as-air vanilla wafers?  Hell, YES.  And did I mention that three cookies are just 150 calories?  So a fairly reasonable little snack to satisfy that sweet pumpkin spice craving we all seem to succumb to at this time of year.

One more time for the nails because they’re kind of dope, this time in the shade.

 

Ombre Latte

I’d like to pretend that the diminishing gradient-within-a-gradient thing I’ve got going on here was on purpose (my pinkie represents a freshly-layered ombre latte, whereas my index finger is said latte after a few minutes’ rest?) but it was not.  It’s always such a pain when the coolest effects come about completely unintentionally!

This manicure reminds me of this nitro-brewed concoction Mr. Finger Candy ordered at a Starbucks Reserve the other day (AKA Super Pretentious Starbucks with Rough Hewn, Wood Grain bars and a Wine List.)  It had a creamy, gently churning top layer that looked just like the head on a pint of Guinness (also a husband favourite; my man likes his coffee and his beer hella STRONG.)  It was pretty cool – he said the cold brew technique really brought out those notes in the coffee (citrus, caramel, etc.) that none of us can normally detect – but perhaps nothing that needs to be repeated on a daily basis (she says now; wait until the day he’s lugging home canisters of combustible gases so we can nitro our coffee from the comfort of our very own (pre-explosion) kitchen!)

You’re So ‘Corny

Glittery, shimmery, star-dusted nails, featuring Orly’s unicorn-in-a-bottle glitter topper, Anything Goes.

Speaking of, I think this manicure looks a heck of a lot more ‘corn-ish than that very odd Frappuccino Starbucks released last month.  Mr. Finger Candy and I split one.  Or rather, I had a couple of sips, declared it fine, but deeply unnecessary and not very attractive, and then handed the rest of it over to him.  Which is pretty much what the rest of the world did, too!  Save those nutters who went out and bought 365 of them to store in their fridge until the next Unicorn Frappapocalypse.

Getting back to this polish!  It’s super cool – the purple shimmery bits take on a raggedy, almost textured look when layered over a creme base, like this gradient manicure I created using the purple, pink and turquoise colours in Anything Goes’s fun mix of star and circle glitter.  Very ‘corny. 😉

Tumble Into Love

I’ve no need for 856 “collectible” plastic coffee tumblers, so I don’t actually possess the item in question, but these nails were inspired by a cute coffee tumbler that Starbucks is selling right now for Valentine’s Day.  Cute, but I honestly don’t know where people put these things.  Do they use them?  Do they use them for something other than drinking coffee? Because I use one of the two tumblers I do have to hold my laundry Loonies.  The other developed some sort of interior creeping fungus that, if released, will probably attain sentience and destroy a mid-sized metropolitan centre.  But I keep it around because it has romantic sentimental value, earth-razing fungus notwithstanding (I desperately want to make a joke about the current state of American politics here, but as always, I aim to keep it civil, if not entirely topical.)

Pumpkin Spice Latte (31DC2016)

Water marbling was the order of the day for yesterday’s entry in the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge.  My approach when it comes to water marbling, bane of just about every nail artist’s existence, is to just…not!  I try to avoid it at all costs, save and except this one day in September, specifically for this challenge.  And when I do finally bite the bullet and muddle through, I try to choose a design that’s already a bit watery and diffuse, so that way when I inevitably screw up, it almost looks like I meant to do it on purpose.  Sneaky, sneaky, but I’ll take whatever advantage I can get over stupid old water marbling, it’s just such a pain in my arse!

The last two years of the 31 Day Nail Art Challenge I’ve done watery-looking water marbles full of shimmery, turquoise-on-turquoise bends and waves.  This year I thought I’d add a little something to that water in the form of a beverage that I bet a lot of people would say is just as important to their functioning as water, the ubiquitous pumpkin spice latte.  I used to worship at the altar of the PSL, but in recent years as I’ve found my palette edging more and more towards stronger, sharper and more bitter flavours, drinking a pumpkin spice latte leaves me feeling like I’ve just gargled with honey (and brushed my teeth with whipped cream; PSLs make my teeth feel SO furry!)

It’s not a pumpkin spice latte, but today I’m enjoying my coffee – black, sugar – in this fun Fall throwback, one of a set of matching Starbucks thermoses my husband and I bought the first year we were together.  Which would make this particular thermos nearly 14 years old.  Which means I’m drinking a hot beverage out of 14 year old plastic.  And here I was worrying about all the sugar in a PSL!  Right, so I’m most likely poisoning myself – dumping out my coffee now – but how cute is this glow-in-the-dark skeleton thermos? So cute!

And it’s even cuter – and better protected; some of these early Starbucks thermoses can get a bit warm to the touch – when it’s dressed in this adorable little handmade cozy my blogging friend Amanda of Thrifty Polished made for all of the participants in the Fall Fun Series.  So super cute and wonderfully thoughtful – thanks again, Amanda!