If Sgt. Pepper opened a dance club, I'd be all over that!

If you read my previous post, you'll know that I recently attended a bachelorette party - a first for me.  Parts of it were as to be expected.  There was lots of alcohol, jell-o shooters, ridiculous costumes for the bride-to-be and some rather graphic straws that we brought to the bar to drink out of for the whole night.  But what I was not expecting was realizing that I am officially too old for the club scene.  Now, when I told my friends this, they were pretty surprised, since I was always the one trying to convince them to go the clubs instead of a pub a few years ago (largely unsuccessfully, I might add).  So to prove that I have not, in fact, lost what little sense I had, I've created a list of the top 5 reasons I'm too old for the club.

1. I didn't know 90% of the songs they were playing.  And those I did recognize were "throw back" tunes from at least 5 years ago.

This is actually really surprising for me, because I know the words to a ridiculous number of songs (it's true...if I had a super power, that would be it).  And the last time I was at a club, I could at least sing along to half of what they were playing.  But sadly, those days have past.  I guess it's time to accept my fate of pubs with live bands playing covers of '60s songs, because I definitely know all the words to those!

2. The group of people I was with were the only ones wearing heels.

I apparently missed the memo where girls finally came to their senses and started wearing flats to the club.  I don't know how many nights I have walked home in bare feet because my shoes were killing me so much I couldn't take another step.  That's always been part of the club experience for me!  Plus it's usually the only opportunity I get to wear my ridiculous stilettos without getting strange looks from people.  Somehow I don't think 4" platforms would go over well at a pub...although, I could always try to start a trend!

3. I refuse to pay $10 for a drink.

Now, I shouldn't say this is directly related to the bachelorette party.  The bar we went to that night had surprisingly cheap drinks (I think they were $4).  However, I've been to enough clubs in the past to know how much most places charge for drinks, and there is no way I am forking over that much for a shot of something mixed with pop.  I could buy a pair of really nice heels for the amount of money I'd spend on drinks in one night at a club!  Granted, I now have nowhere to wear the shoes...but that's beside the point.

4. On a related note, $30 for cover!?

I'm sorry, but there isn't a bar in Toronto awesome enough for me to pay $30 to get in.  I get mad when I have to pay that to go to a concert!  We actually went to the bar before 11, just so we didn't have to pay the insane cover.  I guess that's how they can afford the cheaper drinks.  And how do all these 20-something students have the money to pay for these places?  When I was that age, I'm pretty sure the only thing I could afford was 2-4s of $1 beer.  Oh Lucky beer, how I miss you...

5. When I'm the oldest single person in the room, it's time to leave.

I don't really consider myself that old (despite finding my first grey hair the other day, but that's all nicely covered with hair dye now).  But, really, when my other single friend and I approached the only group of somewhat-mature-looking guys at the club, and found out they were 25, we knew it was time to go.  I swear, all the single men between the ages of 25 and 30 have a secret club where they all hide out so we can't find them.  If anyone locates said hideout, please let me know where it is!  Maybe there's a secret handshake or something that I don't know about...

So anyways, there you go!  My top 5 reasons why I don't plan on voluntarily going to a club again anytime soon (exceptions, of course, being for pre-organized parties in which I have had no part in planning).  Side note for all of my friends - if you are planning on having your birthday at a club, I may come down with a mysterious illness.  *Cough*.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Monday!  Ciao!

Makeup and Clothing Haul

Happy Monday, everyone!  I don't normally enjoy Mondays, but as I am currently working a Tuesday-Saturday work week, Mondays are actually more like Sundays.  Plus, I spent the day shopping, so that can make any day awesome!

First, as promised, I have photos of my new Essie polishes!  I still love them as much as I did last week, and I've actually gotten several days of wear out of the first one I tried.

From Left: Lapiz of Luxury, Navigate Her, Like To Be Bad, Who Is The Boss, Lilacism

The colours came out quite intense in the photos, but they are slightly more muted.  I've been wearing Who Is The Boss since last Wednesday and it's stayed on quite well.  It's starting to chip on the ends, so I'll probably change it tonight, but I thought I'd post a picture anyways so you can what it looks like on.

The colour in this one is alot more accurate.  I think it's so pretty!

So, on to today's purchases.  I'll continue with the makeup theme.  I went into MAC today, but at a different location than I normally shop.  I've been loving their new Tres Cheek blush collection, and I saw Immortal Flower online and had been dying to try it.  It's a lovely light peachy colour that has been sold out online for ages, and was actually sold out at my usual location as well when I went to try it last week.  But, I found it today!  And it is as gorgeous as it looked online!  The swatch on the website actually looked a bit darker than it did in person, so I was slightly skeptical when I went to try it on.  But it was beautiful on my skin.  It added just a nice amount of colour and will be perfect for spring.

MAC Powder Blush in Immortal Flower (satin finish)

I also decided to try a few lipsticks while I was at the store.  Now, I've been a lipgloss junkie since I started wearing makeup.  I love the sheer colour and high shine you get from a gloss.  But lately I've been trying to transition myself to lipsticks.  I just think the intense colour you get from a lipstick is so beautiful, and definitely more grown-up than the shiny gloss I typically wear.  I've also been loving coral for this season, so I thought I'd seen what MAC had to offer in that shade.  Not surprisingly, they had about a million different versions of coral in every finish imagineable, but I narrowed it down to four that were worth trying.  And, I ended up with See Sheer, which is a Lustre shade (my personal favourite at the moment because they are so moisturizing and feel lovely on your lips).  I quite like it, and it's not too intense, so it should be very wearable for every day use.  It's actually more pink than coral, but still a very nice colour.

 MAC Lipstick in See Sheer (Lustre)

And my last makeup product for today is Body Shop Born Lippy Pomegranate Lip Balm.  I've used their lip balms before, but I've never tried one in a stick form.  Plus it's pomegranate flavoured, so I had to see what it was like!  It's quite sheer, but has a very slight pinky-brown tint.  And it does have a light pomegranate scent to it, but the taste is a lot stronger, and really delicious!  It's also very creamy on the lips, so hopefully it's as moisturizing as it's supposed to be.

Body Shop Born Lippy Pomegranate Lip Balm

I did a quick swatch of all three of these products so that you can see how they translate onto the skin.  Just in case you're wondering, I'm very pale and have slight pink undertones to my skin.

From Left: See Sheer lipstick, Immortal Flower blush, Pomegranate lip balm

Alright!  On to clothing!  I only bought three actual pieces of clothing today, which anyone who knows me will tell you is nothing for me.  I have a slight shopping addiction...  The first store I went into was Zara, which I actually haven't bought anything in in quite a long time.  Their new collections are pretty nice though.  I got two tops there, a turquoise ombre sweater that is a super light-weight knit that will be great for the summer up at the cottage, and an off-white and black striped jersey t-shirt with 3/4 sleeves.  I've been looking everywhere for the perfect striped top, and I think this may actually be it!  It's a great loose, flowy shape, without being shapeless, and it's long enough to wear with leggings.  It's also got a cute seam down the middle of the back that gives it a bit of character.

Zara Ombre sweater, $39.90

Zara striped jersey t-shirt, $25.90

The reason I actually went shopping today was to get a dress for a bachelorette party I'm attending this weekend.  I haven't had much of a chance to go out since moving to Toronto, so I'm excited to check out a new restaurant and club.  But I knew I didn't really have anything appropriate for that type of party, especially when we're getting VIP service at the club.  (Honestly I don't even really know what that means!)  I must've gone into every store in the mall today without finding a single thing worth trying on, but out of sheer desperation, I decided to check out Mendocino.  I've never purchased anything there before today, as I find them rather expensive for the quality of clothing.  But, they had a massive sale rack of dresses which I spent a few minutes digging through.  And lo and behold, I found an adorable dress and it was HUGELY on sale!!!!  From the front, it looks cute but not terribly exciting.  But the back is super fun!

Mendocino navy and turquoise dress, $129, on sale for $59!!!!

(the belt is mine from before...I think H&M?)

And the back... :)

Of course, I needed shoes to go with it...  I went to Le Chateau in hopes of finding some less expensive ones, as I wasn't sure how often I'd actually be wearing this dress.  And I found a gorgeous pair of nude pumps with bright orange heels that I thought would match perfectly with the orange belt.  Unfortunately they were $165.  And no matter how much I saved on the dress, I couldn't justify spending that much on shoes.  Sigh...

But I did find some adorable t-strap wedge sandals that will be equally cute, and probably significantly more comfortable!

Le Chateau T-strap sandals, $69

Whew, that was a long post!  Hopefully I didn't bore you to death.  I'd love for people to comment on anything I bought!  If I get a chance, I'll take some pictures of my outfit this weekend so you can see how the dress and shoes look together.

Oh, and I bought a new loofah.  I know, that totally made reading this entire post worth it!

Ciao!

Essie Pastels - It's Springtime!

Hello, internet!  In the spirit of starting out in a new (and much bigger) city, I have decided to start a blog which will primarily be about my current obsession with the shopping available in said new city.  And as today was sunny and beautiful I thought I'd start with the nail polish spree I went on yesterday.  Ah, nail polish...it starts out as such an innocent purchase.  It's only $9, it's much more sensible than the $90 blouse I could be buying.  Or so I tell myself.  And then I see the new spring line from Essie, and $9 becomes $50.  Sigh...

But moving along.

I must say, I have been a die-hard dark nail polish fan for probably the last five years.  Or at least since it became acceptable to wear black nail polish in the workplace without people searching for the corresponding black lipstick and cross necklace (both of which I owned sometime during my high school years and try desperately to forget about).  I think I've gone through about four bottles of OPI Black Onyx and I really hadn't intended on abandoning the colour any time soon.  But the spring/summer trend of pastels has really intrigued me.  I'm quite pale and unfortunately pastel clothing tends to wash me out, but I though nail polish was a great way to try the trend and find some colours that were more flattering for my skin tone.  And following my new "let's try something new" outlook, I indulged in pastels from more or less the full spectrum of colour.  And they are fantastic!

What I love about Essie polishes is that the colour comes out so evenly and opaquely that they pop even against my super pale skin.  I tried Who Is The Boss last night, which is a beautiful pale blue-grey colour.  It applied very nicely, and I only needed two coats to get a finish I was quite happy with.  I'm usually quite partial to the OPI brush, but the Essie one was great for this formulation.  I plan on trying out Lilacism tomorrow as my current colour got quite chipped at work today, and I'm sure I'll have the rest on my nails by the end of the week!

I apologize for the lack of pictures.  I attempted to take a few only to find out that the battery in my SLR was dead and the lighting in my room is definitely not conducive to using my iPhone.  So, assuming I can get my camera sorted for tomorrow, I will try to add some pictures then.

Ciao!