Update

Hi ladybugs,

Quick update post today. I injured my foot pretty badly last night so unless it heals sooner than I expect it to I likely won't be able to run around to sample sales and the like. I was bummed to miss out on the Broadway Flea and there are some museum exhibits I'd like to catch soon but I'm not very mobile at the moment. I'm still in photo-editing hell so there are some polish reviews on hold but you know I'm always changing up my manicures so new reviews and swatches with polishes that aren't awful to photograph should be coming your way soon. I am still testing products but there was a day when I was in a rush and so I tried maybe seven lip products in a row trying to find something natural and wearable that would keep my lips moisturized. Long story (and run on sentence) short, my lips are in the middle of an allergic reaction to one or more of those products or the combination of products. So that sucks. So yeah, in a very short period of time everything has gone to hell. I'm working on getting back on track but I may need you to bear with me for a while because I'm not operating at full capacity.

I love you and hope you understand,
Cat

Lucky Shop Out NYC

Hello chickadees,

As part of my afternoon of running errands I decided to stop by the Lucky Shop Out New York promotion and see what it was all about. Here's how things work as I understand it. If you make a purchase at a participating retailer, you will receive a voucher for 50 Lucky Points which you take to the main Lucky Closet on Crosby Street between Howard and Grand where you can exchange your vouchers for items. Now, the brochure says that you have to spend $100 at participating retailers but I don't think that's true. I could be wrong. Let me first show what's available at Crosby St and then I'll talk a bit more about my personal game plan.

This is the main outpost on Crosby St. with the tents and the mobile Lucky Closet. You should have no trouble finding it. 

The Lucky Closet is the only place taking vouchers. 

Handbags were 200 points.

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Swarovski crystal jewelry was 200 points.

The girl working said that these 100 point items from Space NK were probably candles.

250 point hats, gloves, and scarves

300 point jewelry

There were these cute little pretzel earrings.

The best sections to check out if you want some bang for your buck are beauty and jewelry. In the beauty section everything was 50 points. There were nail polishes and Yes to Carrots face wipes.

Here are some lip balms and Butter London lipsticks. There were three colors when I went by, a bright pink, a standard red, and a dark red. Given the original price, these can be a pretty good deal but I already have so much lipstick.

There was an Indie Lee eye balm and an Indie Lee body balm.

I think the container to the left was some kind of nourishing oil. The bottles at the front with the eye droppers were a Yes to Blueberries Face and Neck Oil. The orange bottles were a L'Oreal hair oil.

On the left is a whitening kit and on the right is a scented detergent for lingerie.

Yes to Cucumbers face wipes, Yes to Coconuts lip product, lip crayons and eye shadow sticks

Necklaces 100 points

Necklaces 100 points

Necklace 100 points

Earrings 50 points

Necklaces 100 points

This the item I ended up getting with my vouchers. The Carràmba Mamba Rope Strand Green 

 is still being sold at shopprimadonna.com for $26.99. It might not be the most expensive item I could have gotten but I think it evens out since I don't have to pay shipping.

Necklaces 100 points

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Bracelets 50 points

Marc Jacobs Gatsby SWATCHES

Hello darlings,

I'm sorry I've been posting so little this month. My excuses? Life. Work. My complete inability to properly edit photos. Why must we have this never-ending battle, technology? *shakes fist*

Anyway, in the interest of providing some content this month, even if I can't bring you all the polish reviews that I have on hold because the photos are so far from color accurate it would be pointless to post them, I thought I'd show you a special manicure in the meantime. No, it's not nail art. I'm still trying to figure out how to get my video-making apparatus up and running.

I had this manicure done at the Marc Jacobs Beauty store here in NY during a fashion week promotion. This is Marc Jacobs Gatsby. When I first had it applied I wasn't completely sold but in the next day or two I fell in love with it. Damn. Damn because it costs $18 for a bottle.

It's just the prettiest cool-toned metallic. It's slightly rose gold but very, very cool. It's more like a pink-toned silver without the coppery tone of a lot of rose gold polishes. I adore it. It feels deliciously icy. Old fashioned villainesses might adorn their nails with blood red or vampy purples and blacks but this feels like a shade for the new kind of dystopian future villainess who lives in a world of blue and gray. But I shouldn't get myself started on that rant right now. Let's just enjoy the gorgeousness of Gatsby.

Ritual Archive Anniversary Sale

Hello lovelies,

I'm keeping it local again (to me, that is) with a sale report from the Ritual Archive 1 Year Anniversary Sale being held at the store at 167 Mott Street. Store hours are 12:00 pm to 8:00 pm. The sale begins today, September 17 and I suppose it will continue until they've depleted the merchandise. They may be restocking but it will depend on how quickly the stock on the floor is depleted, making room for new items. I kind of can't believe Ritual Archive has been open for a whole year and I also kind of can't believe that it's only been open for a year. But as proof, you only have to go back and look at my post last September when I covered the store opening.

Ritual Archive is the discounted outpost of Ritual Vintage. As it is a vintage shop, there's not much point in me going over the merchandise and sizing and pricing as it varies depending on the piece. I will say that nothing I saw was over $200 and most items are a little below $50 or $100. There is a lot more designer merchandise on the floor right now so a lot of the normal $20-$40 items are not on the racks though I did find a few of them mixed in. I think the most expensive items were furs and jackets and the like. You could definitely find something nice at this sale at a lower price point. However, again, as it is vintage, this is a sale you want to clear out some time for. You want to be able to hunt for those special pieces in your size. OK, enough chitchat. On to the clothes!

A lot of the designer pieces were boring basics so instead of trying to photograph every black skirt and pair of gray pants I made a note of the designers and prices. Armani from the 90's from $98 to $49. Issey Miyake Pleats Please from $149 to $74.50. Navy Prada skirt from the 1990's from $125 to $62.50.  

Donna Karan Signature 90's Silk Velvet From $300 to $150

1980's Diapahnous White Dress From $198 to $99

DKNY wool coat From $165 to $82.50 

Saint Laurent Rive Gauche YSL 1970's from $450 to $225

1960's Mink Trim Knit Maxi Gown From $225 to $112

1960's Dress from $139 to $70

Ronald Amey 1960's Maxi Space Age From $198 to $99

Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche size 40

Saint Laurent Rive Gauche

Karl Lagerfeld 90's From $125 to $62.50

Close Up of Dolphins

Ralph Lauren 1980's Safari Sweater size M from $125 to $62.50

Feast of San Gennaro Polish Haul

Hello peanuts,

Quick update first. I've been quiet for the last few days as there haven't been any sample sales and I am still struggling to edit photos for polish reviews that are ready to go. It is insanely frustrating sometimes to get the magic box to do what I want it do and give me color accurate photos to post. I am trying my best to get as close as possible to color accurate photos but I may just post the reviews without photos if the editing doesn't work out.

OK, back to business. This is a bit of an unusual haul for me. If you did not know, right now in NY we are celebrating the Feast of San Gennaro. It's an annual event where a bunch of vendors take over a small area in Little Italy/Chinatown. This year the event is taking place from September 11 through September 21. The layout generally doesn't change that much which is why I headed straight for the corner of Hester and Mott to check out the beauty bargains this year. And... I may have gotten a little carried away.

First let's start with the only non-polish purchase. I know I overpaid for these and I should have just gone to bornpretty. I don't know what I was thinking. 

I picked up a bottle of Essie First Base Base Coat as I've been struggling with staining for a while and I want to see if changing up my base coat will improve things. I used to use Milani's base coat and then I switched to Orly Bonder. All Essie products were $4 or 3 for $10.

I got a bottle of Matte About You because even though I don't do matte nails that much, you can never have enough Matte About You. I'm tempted to go back and get more bottles.

I also got Essie Grow Faster Base Coat to see if using something thicker than First Base would make a difference. There were some other Essie nail treatment products there like the Apricot Cuticle Oil but I didn't want to go crazy. If you have any recommendations for Essie base coats, top coats, or nail treatments though, please leave them in the comments.

Essie Shearling Darling. This polish is darker in person. Yes, we're going to go down the oxblood rabbit hole again.

Essie Blue Rhapsody. I want this to be Confetti Rhapsody in Blue so badly. It's not going to be but I'll be excited to try it out anyway.

290 Maybelline Purple Icon. This is darker in person as well. It's more purple. This photo makes it look like Essie Sure Shot, which I would love because Essie Sure Shot is one of my favorite polishes. 

270 Maybelline Dressed to Kill. Again, this one is darker in person. I couldn't resist the name.

Milani 552 Pink Flare. This polish is absolutely gorgeous in the bottle. I hope it's this beautiful on the nail. I'm very excited about this one. I'm not sure why but I've been drawn to pink, girly glitters lately.

OK, now I'm going to need some help. I have no idea what these Pure Ice polishes are named because the stickers fell off. I bought them anyway. I have a problem. I've never seen these polishes before as they are Walmart exclusive so I'm counting on one of you to know the names so I can do proper reviews.

This is a very pretty shimmery bright pink. I think there might be some duochrome shimmer. I have no idea what it's called. My best guess is Jamaica Me Crazy.

Superstar! You can't have enough white polishes, right? I'm always looking for a good cheap one as right now my favorite (Cult Nails Tempest) is way too expensive to be my go to white nail polish. 

Pure Ice First Love. I feel like this is going to be annoying but sometimes pearlescent polishes just call to me. I want to find that perfect mother of pearl shade.