Clutch Hits

For a long time, when I thought of clutches I thought of the bland little purses that I used to carry my disposable camera and lipstick to prom. I had a silver one that I used for most of high school that I think my mom still has somewhere. I also remember shawls being a thing, even though nobody ever used them.

Clutches have been in and out of fashion for well over a hundred years. They've always been plain or fancy and made of almost any
material you could imagine. While bags have always tended to be somewhat more plain, clutches have let us embrace
all that is beautiful and/or gaudy.

This is a small collection of some clutches that I love. Thankfully, most of them come with chain straps so you can carry them on your shoulder after a long night after the bar. After tossing back a few, your abilities to hang on to anything become suspect.

unfortunately, the clutches above are well out of my price range. Stores like Charlotte Russe, Wet Seal, Forever 21, etc., all carry adorable clutches for around $20. If you can't find one you like, buy a plain one and decorate it to your heart's content. Don't be afraid to bedazzle/paint/feather/deck it out to whatever you want. There's no wrong way when it comes to clutches.

A Winter Pink Polish

For the past few weeks, I've been on the lookout for a shade I call "winter pink." The best way I can describe it as a pink that doesn't have any orange or coral in it, or a pink similar to a ballet toe show but more deeply saturated. The closest shade I've seen is Julep's Susan, which apparently is discontinued. Julep describes Susan as a "cheery rose pink crème," which is better description than mine. I wanted a pink polish that was happy and cheerful, but not too summery, which pretty much describes most pink polishes.

I was in Walmart's grocery section one day with my mom, and she fishes out a nail polish from behind several packages of bagels. "This is a really pretty color," she told me and handed it to me. It was that pink I'd been hunting for.

The polish is Sinful Color's Soul Mate:

It's cheerful, rosy, but doesn't scream summer. This is the first color I've ever bought from Sinful Colors so I wasn't sure what to expect. Most of what I've heard about the brand has been mostly positive which is always nice. What's really nice about this polish is that it's only $1.98. You read that right, less than two bucks and the line carries an extensive range of colors.

The brush runs sort of narrow and doesn't seem to carry a lot of polish on it. This polish applies streaky and I have three coats on in the picture above. I have to apply it on the thick side to avoid the worst of the streaks. It also chipped fairly easily even with a top coat on but the chips weren't huge. All in all, for a two dollar polish, I'm pretty satisfied. I love the color and it met my expectations for a cheap polish. Walmart and Target both carry a small selection but Rite-Aid and Walgreens have a lot of colors to choose from.

Introducing Pantone's Color of 2013...Emerald

When I woke up this morning and read that Pantone has declared Emerald as the color for 2013, I was elated. Green has rapidly been filling my closet and really, I don't need to add reason to add the rich color of emerald green to my closet.
Well, when I actually read the press release, I realized I was wrong on emerald. According to Pantone, their shade of emerald is more of a...turquoise? Teal? A turquoise that leans more green than blue? A dark mint green? Whatever shade of green emerald is supposed to be, it's not the rich jewel tone I had envisioned. I like it, I'd buy stuff in this color (heck, I already think I have stuff in this color), but how horribly excited am I about this color? Not very much. I do think it's a nice year-round color though. This is the color you're going to see everywhere in 2013, just like orange (ok, Tangerine Tango) was everywhere this year. Orange is one of my favorite colors and I actually got sick of it.

What's really getting to me is that everywhere I go, the swatches are looking different. Above, going off some information I first found, emerald leans towards green with a lot of blue. But when I look at this swatch:

It looks like there's isn't that much blue in it. I'm confused.  This is why I miss my giant 50 pound CRT computer monitor.

I started digging through my nail polish collection, then searching online for a similar color. The closest I've come is Sally Hansen's Fairy Teal, and while it is a teal leaning towards green, it's a shade or two darker than emerald. My other guesses are Zoya's Bevin and Essie's Turquoise & Caicos even though it's too light. At a stretch to match the swatch above, OPI's Jade is the New Black.

When I swatched them, Sally Hansen still looks the closest but needs more green. I think OPI's looks the closest to the large swatch above, and the Essie reminded me why I didn't buy Essie forever; the formula for Turquoise & Caicos is one of the if not the worst polish formula I've ever used. I'm sure there are polishes that are a much closer match but I just don't feel like driving to Ulta right now to track them down.

-Not sure who or what Pantone is? Read my post from 2011 describing the organization dedicated to color (and you can also read about the color of the year for 2011, Honeysuckle).