Holiday Weekend Nails: American Apparel L'Esprit

American Apparel nail polishes are creamy, dreamy and really pigmented.  So far I am loving all of the new summer shades! From the new collection, I've only tried Summer Peach and L'Esprit (pictured) but Malibu Green is next on my "To Apply" list.  I'm also really intrigued by California Trooper.

$6 each or 3/$15, American Apparel

LA LA LA

I flew out to LA this past weekend to hang with my friends Danielle, Nicki and Steven.  We went to see Glee LIVE (which was amazing by the way) and ate lots of food - Green Leaves, Sun Power, Real Food Daily..and some place called Nice Cream which was not nice at all.  I had so much fun, I wish I stayed longer because I rarely see my west coast friends, but I had to rush back to NY to go to a LOST Series Finale party.  You know how I roll.  I obviously didn't get tourist-y while I was there but here are some goodies from LA!

This is one of Danielle and Steven's cats, Tanuki.  I have known him for a long time, since he was adopted from a place called craigslist.

This is Soju, she is a little scaredy baby, but she is so cute!

I caught Tanuki sleeping in my guest bed, which is actually his bed sometimes.

Steven and Nicki made a Target run and came back with the grossest snacks ever minus the Babybels.

As a warning from me to you, do NOT try:

-Key Lime Mini Cupcakes from Target

-Sour Patch Kids "CHILLERS"

-Shrek Twinkies

I got a birthday present from Danielle and Steven.

What's in the box?

Oh, just an OVERLOAD of Mary Kate and Ashley circa 90's stuff in the most mint condition possible.  Completely insane.

Tofu Oyako bath bomb.  It's too cool to use.

I also did a little shopping too.  Went to the Refinery29/Urban Outfitters tag sale at Space 15 Twenty. Most brands were an extra 20% off on the 2nd day.

Denim moto jacket with adorable floral lining and bow tee by Wren. 

Danielle was also sweet enough to hand this Marc By Marc Jacobs sweater down to me.  It's from back in the day.  I love it so much, even though I am sweating just looking at the photo. Can't wait to wear it this fall!

Marine Life

Yesterday, I got my hands on a MAC Marine Life High Light Powder from the To The Beach collection.  My addiction for new MAC collections kind of died down, but I couldn't turn this one down.  The packaging is too pretty and it's a perfect pop of color summer shade.  This powder and the rest of the collection will officially be released tomorrow, May 27th, but Marine Life will probably be sold out very early in the day or maybe even before that, depending on the store you go to.  You might have better luck at department stores.

Today I am wearing a vintage DVF top that is on the shorter side so I tucked it into a skirt.  If you are looking for a versatile skirt that is a perfect length, I recommend American Apparel's Full Woven Skirt.  It is girly and pretty perfect! I am wearing the black pique one today and I lovez it.

PS: What's going on with the sunlight on my face?  Oh, Macbook Photobooth.

Get Even

My nails look like complete shiz lately.  Underneath my fun nail color actually lies some sad nails.  I think the cause of it is probably from wearing nail polish too much and not letting my nails breathe, but it's hard to resist cute nails.  I know you understand.

Lately I have been using Zoya's Get Even Ridge Filler as my base coat and I am super impressed.  It smooths out my nail texture, so the actual color goes on evenly.  I also I didn't experience any minor chipping whatsoever until about 4 days later and my nails still looked good!  I was using Zoya's Anchor base coat before and that is a favorite too.  But I think nail polish adheres differently to Get Even.  I don't know what it is, but it's my favorite nail product these days.

Zoya Get Even Ridge Filler, $8, Zoya

(image: Zoya)

Giveaway: Win a Bottle of Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure Polish!

In honor of my new official Twitter (I honestly can't think of any other reason), I am going to hold a little contest!  My site is fairly new and I've never held a contest before so here goes...
I will be giving away a brand new bottle of the highly coveted, limited edition Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure Nail Polish.  It's hard to find, it's sold out everywhere, and I have one for you!  This looks best as a top coat, and it will always look different on your nails depending on the base color you use.  Give in to the hype and enter!

Contest Rules

1. You must be a subscriber of my blog to enter.  You can do so by clicking the "Follow mandabear" button on the left side of my website. 
   
2. Comment below to *this* entry telling me what nail polish shade you'd like to layer Hidden Treasure over. 
   
3. (Optional) Follow me on Twitter.  If you include your twitter name in the comments, that will also increase your chances of winning.
   
4. An email address MUST be linked to your comment.  It can be in your public blogger profile, off a link to your website, or you can enter it manually into your comment (for anti-spam purposes, I recommend you write it like this: "hello [at] example [dot] com").  Either way, I need to have a way of contacting you right off the bat!

Fine Print:  Contest ends on Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. EST.  Open to US subscribers only.  Winners will be contacted via e-mail before being announced on my blog.  If you do not respond within 48 hours of email notification, another winner will be chosen.  Sorry!  Package will be shipped with tracking information sent to you, but after it leaves my hands, I am not responsible for stolen/lost packages.


GIVEAWAY is now closed.  Thanks for entering!

Opening Night: The Vilcek Foundation Celebrates LOST

Last night I went to the LOST gallery opening here in NYC at the Vilcek Foundation.  Damon Lindelof, Carlton Cuse, Jorge Garcia and Zuleikha Robinson, writer Melinda Hsu Taylor and cinematographer John Bartley. were in attendance.  It is now open to the public and I highly suggest you go if you are a fan of the show!  Not only are there cool photos of the LOST cast + crew, but there are lots and lots of props.  Tons of props.  Any LOST fan will be totally excited to see Faraday's notebook conveniently opened to the "Desmond Hume will be my Constant" page, Jughead the hydrogen bomb, the Dharma van and more. Everything looked amazing up close!

I actually fell asleep last night while laying on my couch, fixing up the pictures...so this is all I have to share. My bad...I will be updating this later tonight with more pictures so please check back.

The exhibit will run from May 20 - June 5, 2010.  

The Vilcek Foundation

167 E 73rd St, New York, NY 10021.

(little disclaimer: these photos were taken by me, so if you do wish to use these photos, please credit them back to my site. thanks:)

LOST Goes Back to the Future

If you are not familiar with Tee Fury, it's sort of like Threadless, which has artist submitted t-shirt designs. Tee Fury only features one t-shirt a day for 24 hours.  With that, if you like it, you have to buy it now.  They are super affordable at $9, so you can't go wrong.  They often has LOST shirts in the rotation of daily offerings.  Sometimes they aren't always that cool.  Today's shirt, however, is AMAZING.  It mixes one of my favorite LOST storylines and characters with Back to the Future.  If that's not perfect, then I don't know what to tell you.  I am not going to get one because I don't wear graphic t-shirts that much.  My boyfriend just scored one, so I will get to see it in the flesh eventually. What I would really love love love is to have this as a print.  Mr. or Ms. fftkrazee, can we please make this happen?

(image: teefury)

DVD Must Haves: Daria + Ghostwriter

I hate buying DVD movies.  There are so many more things in life that I would buy over a DVD. They take up space and I'm not enough of a movie nut to "collect" these things.  Sometimes, I do enjoy some box sets because my attention span for TV shows works a lot better than my movie attention span (I doze off a lot).  Also I have a Netflix account which I love.    

Today I decided that I kind of need to get my hands on these DVD sets. Whether that be in the form of a gift or a guilty purchase - although I prefer a Netflix rental above all - I will want them in my life in the near future. These shows were huge favorites of mine when I was growing up.  Daria was one that I had to grow up a little to appreciate a second time around.  Yes she's a sarcastic, non-enthusiastic girl who makes snarky comments.  But the humor on that show goes way beyond the obvious. 

I stuck with Ghostwriter for the entire series, even though they switched out Gaby which was kind of stupid. The new girl over-exaggerated her words too much.  When they had an entirely new set of Ghostwriter kids, that's where I drew the line.  It didn't last much longer after that anyway.  This cast was great.  I loved that it was based in Brooklyn, New York and they were just normal looking kids. I totally made a necklace pen and a casebook. Did you? My favorite episode was the time traveling one where Ghostwriter interacted with the past and the kids interacted with the same people, but grown up, in the present day.  Confusing at the time but really amazing!

Daria's already out but Ghostwriter Season 1 won't be out until June. I'm SO ready!

I Was/Am a Cool Kid

I'd like to think that I was a cool kid with good taste.  I moved only once in my life and that was 8 years ago, so apparently these things made the cut and didn't get tossed in the garbage. Now if only I could find my autographed Lisa Frank 8x10...

Inside the Limelight Marketplace

I had the opportunity to check out the little party tonight for the Limelight Marketplace which will be opening tomorrow (well later today, I'm up late) at 2 p.m.  The selection is quite selective and most are upscale but there are some regular stores like Havaianas and It'Sugar.  I can't believe that this is the church/nightclub/concert venue that most NYers can remember venturing into at some point or another.  Upon entering it feels like you are walking into Henri Bendel.  It's very done up and clean cut.  There is also a food wing that has cupcakes, cakes, tea, ice cream and more.  I think this would make a good tourist attraction if they do somehow end up on 20th Street.  

My absolute favorite store in the Marketplace is the Old Hollywood store.  It's way cooler than their closet-sized Greenpoint store.  While that location does have its own charm, the display for the Limelight store was pretty amazing. Everything is set up and organized to make its own little scene behind the glass.  You'll see by looking at the pictures.  It was unlike any of the other stores there.

Check out more photos of the Marketplace.  If you like what you see, definitely make a visit for it's grand opening weekend.  I don't think I will be coming back unless I plan on buying some jewelry from Old Hollywood of course.  I am too lazy to go to Greenpoint.

 Limelight Marketplace

47 West 20th Street

New York, NY

Rebecca Minkoff Holiday 2010 Preview

Yesterday I went to the Rebecca Minkoff Holiday/Resort 2010 Preview Party at their new showroom on West 17th Street.  There are some new and different things added to her line like custom monogramming and a leather backpack that will go well in tune with the leather backpack trend going on.  I haven't been that up to date on her latest styles but I noticed a new logo plate which I wasn't the biggest fan of. There is also a whole lot of vintage inspired quilting with gold stud detail.  As with every new Minkoff line, there will always be some interesting patterns (houndstooth, camouflage) and textures added to the classics like the Morning After bag and clutch. I'm glad that the studs are less dramatic this time around for this line.  There also seem to be a large variety of small accessories which is perfect for holiday gift giving. What do you think of the holiday collection? Enjoy the photos!