Rainbow Honey - October 2014 Mystery Bag

Well hi!

I picked up Rainbow Honey's mystery bag this month because *mysteries* but also because I haven't gotten one in a while and I missed it. I went with the $10 mini version because *broke* and still made out like a dang bandit.

Included in this month's mini mystery bag:

Cafe Con Leche 5mL - Basically couldn't have been named anything more appropriate. Super creamy nude with gold and silver shimmer: the perfect polish for my skin tone for mannequin hands! Smooth, easy formula. 2 coats + topcoat under OttLite.

Zi 5mL - Purple jelly packed with blue, gold, magenta and silver micro glitter. It almost looks like a glass fleck, but like, a micro glass fleck, if that makes sense. A bit on the thin side color-wise, this guy built to opacity in 3 coats. The first picture is under OttLite, the second is under crappy kitchen light to show more accurate color/shimmer (both swatches are with topcoat).

All Your Base base coat 15mL - Full size! Yeah girl! I, uhhhh, very rarely wear base coat (scoff!) because of how often I change my polish, but this one apparently has pretty good reviews. I actually got the mini size of All Your Base a few months ago and HAVE used it, thank you.

L'orange Ganache nourishing lip balm .15oz - I can never have enough lip balm during the winter. This one smells like chocolate with maybe a hint of orange, but I mostly just get chocolate. And it tastes kind of sweet, which is nice, because nothing is more disappointing than a yummy smelling lip balm that tastes like nothing. :( I have it on right now, and it feels, you know, nice. My lips are happy.

Sweet November Eu de Parfum Rollerball 4mL & Shimmer Soap .5oz - I loooove sweet scents, so this couple is perfect for me. I'm glad RH includes an info card detailing the products or I would have described this scent as 'Um... sweet... there's like, vanilla and maybe, like, some caramel notes..?' Officially, Sweet November is "a warm sweet musk with notes of coconut and vanilla sugar". It makes me want to wrap up in a big, warm blanket and lay in front of a fire surrounded by Christmas lights.

Like, I HATE winter, mind, but I really love feeling cozy. This smell makes me feel very cozy.

So heck yeah, right? I'm never disappointed with these bags, especially for the price. I love how much of a variety of products are included, too. It's nice to see an October mystery thing that isn't specifically Halloween-related.

Remembrance Day

Hello, my little lovely friends.

October is, and I wasn't aware of this until two years ago, Pregnancy & Infant Loss Awareness Month with the 15th being Remembrance Day. I know today is the 17th... I'm always late to everything, okay?

Before June 27th, 2011, I didn't know what an ectopic pregnancy was. I had my very first surgery that day, the removal of my right fallopian tube, and it sort of changed the way I thought things worked. I wasn't confident, for the first time in my life, I would actually be able to conceive naturally (especially without any solid idea as to why the fertilized egg got stuck in the tube to begin with). My fears, thankfully, were completely unfounded as only four remarkably short months later I was pregnant again with my now two-year-old son.

Most days are Remembrance Day, for me, because I look at my little boy and wonder about the life that could have been, if only she would have kept moving just an inch and a half more. I think about the strange emptiness I felt in the weeks following my surgery, even though I had only been pregnant for two months, and how the whole experience altered my moral foundation -- what were my priorities before then? All I had wanted, after seeing that blue cross magically appear on the little white stick, was to be "mommy". I hadn't felt like I had a real identity before then, and suddenly I knew my place in the world, and then it was gone.

Mostly, I look at my son and I am just so freaking overwhelmed with awe that it worked out. I know all parents say this about their kids, but he is amazing. Like, amazing. And also a maniac. And I am so thankful, because it doesn't work out so brilliantly for everybody. I remember how lucky I am.

I haven't done nail art in about 6546938368 years, a lot of it having to do with my nails looking like total crap, but I figure if there was ever an occasion for it, it would be the one that changed my life. I used:

Lilypad Lacquer - Baby Boy Blue
CoverGirl - Peek-a-Boo Pink
PinkDipsyBulle - Indian Ocean

some striping tape
and a little heart guy.