Catch-Up Spam, Anyone?

Since I'm already failing on my promise to get it together with my blogging, I thought it might help if I just go ahead and get caught up on all my manicures I haven't gotten around to posting yet.   That way I don't have a HUGE backlog of stuff to overwhelm me post.  Sound good?  Awesome!  Let's get started!!

Nails Inc. Whitehall - Gifted to me by my coworker, who totally gets my nail polish "thing," I was SO excited to try this.  It came out pretty cool, but admittedly not as good s this photo would lead you to believe.  My nails are just too curvy for the flat magnet, so I had a hard time getting the pattern to wrap all the way around.  I didn't think fighting with it to make it work would be worth my while, so I've re-homed this one.

Color Club Revvvolution - Not a new polish, but definitely one of my absolute favorites.  The holo isn't super strong, but it's definitely there.  Even when it's not, this polish has one of the coolest textures I've ever seen.  If you could color your nails with a graphite pencil, it's exactly what it would look like.  The holo version of Revvvolution seems long gone now, but I still think this one's worth picking up anyway.  Plus, it's only like $3!

Jessica Disco Diva - Shame on me for not giving this polish its own post.  It deserves it.  Hell, it deserves its own blog!  This isn't my first linear holo to own, but it's the first one I've actually tried (GOSH Holographic is still sitting in my Helmer untried.  I know.).  I owe Jessie big time for this one, because this polish is awesomeness in a bottle.  The holo effect is so strong, it shows up under pretty much every lighting except overcast and darkness.  It should be illegal to drive while wearing this polish.  It's that amazing.

OPI I Don't Give a Rotterdam - A pretty greyed out blue with golden flecks.  It's pretty, but it actually kind of bored me.  Maybe because I wore this right after Disco Diva.  It really is lovely, I just wasn't blown away.

A-England Princess Sabra - I was itching to try this one ever since I saw Jessie's swatches, and I loved it just as much as I'd hoped to.  It actually leans a little green, so it's not completely unwearable if you typically shy away from golds.  The holo effect is subtle, but definitely there, especially in the sunlight.  It had a great formula too, but I've almost come to expect that from A-England.  Perfection.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Jane - Another feeble attempt at my epic journey to find my perfect nude.  This ain't it.  I had so many issues with this one.  The formula was sooooo thin that I needed four (!) coats for full coverage, and then it didn't really self-level at all.  It almost had that same chalky feel that the some of the OPI Pirates Collection had.  Really weird for an RBL.  Then it just leaned REALLY grey on me. More so in real life than in these photos.  I mean I love me a good grey, but I was just hoping this one was going to be more nude.  Then to top it all off, none of that gorgeous shimmer in the bottle showed up on the nail.  NONE.  Even in full, direct sunlight, I was grasping at straws to see any shimmer.  Le sigh.  The only good thing I can say about this polish is that it wore like IRON.  While most of my polish nowadays wants to jump off my nails in less than a day, I got 5-6 days of perfect wear out of this one!

Butter London HRH - A lovely red-toned purple shimmer.  It's vibrant, but deep at the same time.  I really liked this one, but I was surprised when it took three coats for full coverage.  For some reason I was really thinking this would be a standard Butter London two-coater.  It's nothing to write home about, but if you're missing a good purple shimmer for your collection, this may be a good one to check out.

Aaaaand, that's it!  Phew!  Hopefully NOW I can get back on track!  Hopefully.  Besides battling after-work laziness, I started this:

If you haven't read it, I whole-heartedly recommend it!  I just finished the first book, so now I'm totally sucked in to the series.  I can't just casually read while I paint my nails or whatever.  I have to devour the whole thing.  But it's a devour-able kind of book.

But then, I suppose it's finally time to come clean with the BIGGEST reason I've been shying away from blogging:

Yup.  The hubby and I are expecting our first child in September!  It's been such a ride for the past few months since we found out!  I battled extreme fatigue (but thankfully no sickness) for the first two months, and it's definitely getting much better but it's still very difficult to hunch over for an hour a few times a week to get my nails painted.  Plus, I've had some pretty bad headaches that just get worse when adding polish to the mix.  I also switched my base coat and top coat combination since both of my old products were NOT Big 3 Free, and since then I haven't had any kind of good wear on my polish (except for with RBL Jane).  

When my polish chips, it leaves my weak nails extremely vulnerable to breaks, so at this very moment I'm sporting 6 breaks in all of my nails - an all-time high for me.  Pregnancy is supposed to make your hair and nails amazing, but I have yet to see those benefits.  My nails are in terrible shape, but I just can't bring myself to nubbinize them just yet.  But I also just don't have the heart to show you guys photos of my nails looking like crap.  It's a catch-22 for me.

SO!  Now you know it all, and I hope you can find it in your hearts somewhere to forgive me for the general lack of posting.  I appreciate all of your love and support while I figure out how to make all of this work through pregnancy and baby.  I hope to be able to share with you whether we're having a boy or a girl in just a few weeks!  :-)