31 Days of Halloween

 Remember ABC Family's 13 Days of Halloween? When they would play the same 5 movies over and over? They weren't even covering the entire month of Halloween (yes, I called Halloween a month, everyone knows it is) and they still couldn't come up with 13 different movies? Well, I've got 31, one for each day of October, starting tomorrow!

Nail Kits and Nail Polish for Halloween

 Continuing on my quest for all things Halloween, I found some nail kits from Ulta. I need to start this post off by saying I haven't had fake nails since prom. I keep my nails short because it's easier to apply my skincare/makeup that way (plus my nails would break at work anyway), but IN THE SPIRIT OF HALLOWEEN, I decided to give these ones a go. There are a lot of other designs available, these are just the ones I liked the most.

These nail kits are from Kiss and they cost $8.99 each. The nails were easy to apply, until I got to the last nail and then the difficulty increased by 10. They're nice, but I can't function in them. In either set, even the medium sized nails. Aside from makeup/skincare, I couldn't type and I need to be able to type for work. They also worry me because I'm afraid they'll pop off if I put any pressure on them. They scare me in the same way false lashes scare me. I don't want to lose one when I'm out. I lasted in these for an hour before I took them off.

No big deal though. I had a feeling I wouldn't last in them, so I also bought these gel strips from Dashing Diva for $7.99 each. After I took the fake nails off, I applied these. They were easy to get on, but they kept lifting around the tips of my nails. I did everything the instructions asked me to do, I removed all the oil from my nails (my nails are now in awful condition between the fake nails and these strips), I filed the excess off the correct way, I didn't get them wet...And still...They peeled off. Lesson learned, I will never buy press ons or nail polish strips again, I'm sticking with regular nail polish from now on.

Sorry I can't give a better review. Truly, the nail strips suck. That's my review. They just kept peeling off, there's no way they would have lasted two weeks. I doubt they would have lasted two hours. As for the fake nails, I can't say if they actually stay on for a week because I only made it through an hour before I couldn't stand it anymore and took them off. (That's my own issue though, it's not the fault of the nails.) If you're like me and you know that you cannot function with long nails, save your money. You know what pushed me over the edge after that hour? I realized, "Oh no, I have to feed the cats, how will I open the cans?" That's when I officially gave up.

There's some good news though!

I found a dupe for China Glaze's Zombie Zest! Roses are Red, Zombies are Green from Moon Shine Mani. Zombie Zest was released for Halloween 2010 and I've never forgotten it. That was my favorite polish of all time and I'm so happy there's a dupe for it. Is it an exact dupe? I don't know, that was 11 years ago, my original bottle is long gone. But it's at least pretty close and I'm excited about it. This nail polish is pretty pricey, it's $12. In comparison, Essie's Gel Couture polishes are $11.50 and those last on my nails forever, so I can justify the price. This isn't a gel polish, so hopefully I can get at least 5 days out of it without it chipping. I haven't tried it yet because like I said...I kind of destroyed my nails with those kits. Hopefully they'll be in better condition next week and I can test this out. I also just want to say that there was a plastic ring, a sticker and a Twizzler included in the package, so that was really cute. Twizzlers are my favorite candy, so extra points for that.

Makeup Revolution Deadly Desire and Into the Night Palettes

 I check Ulta's app every day to see what the new releases are and I saw that Makeup Revolution released two new palettes for Halloween, the Deadly Desire palette (warm toned neutrals) and the Into the Night palette (cool toned grays and purples). I immediately bought them for the packaging. They're $15 each, so they're affordable compared to a lot of other palettes and they each come with 18 eyeshadows. That's potentially a good deal, if they perform well. I'm not the biggest fan of Makeup Revolution/I Heart Revolution/any of their 500 other brands. I've tried makeup from them before that was absolutely horrendous. But I did think the Ghost Stories palette from I Heart Revolution was decent, so I figured maybe these two would be, as well.

Right off the bat (no pun intended) as soon as I opened the Into the Night palette, it tipped over because the mirror is so heavy. It's not a big deal, but it's still a slight inconvenience, so it's worth noting. I think I'll start with the Deadly Desires palette.

This palette contains 9 mattes and 9 shimmers, although Sin and Greed are more like toppers, with Sin being the more glittery of the two. This palette definitely has more range than the Into the Night palette, there's more variation and depth between colors. You're going to get a pretty orange/red look with most of these shades, but Woods is there if you want something that's more of a true neutral and there's a good variety of shimmers to work with. 

Performance-wise, it's nice enough. I've only used it once so far (the day I went to Sleepy Hollow), but it blended easily and stayed on well, considering I had it on for 16 hours (I also used an eye primer from Milani when I used this palette and the Into the Night palette). The mattes were a little patchy, but they're workable. The only shade I had a problem with was Sin. Even as a topper, it just didn't do much. (This is why I don't bother with swatch photos. When I swatched it on my arm, it looked beautiful. On my eyes, it looked like nothing.) I have a Moondust eyeshadow from Urban Decay in Space Cowboy that I use almost every day and I was hoping Sin would look like that when applied, so I was disappointed. 

I love the packaging of the Deadly Desires palette and I wish the shades inside reflected it more. I would have expected more pink tones instead of the warm-orange tones they included. Of the two palettes in this post, if I were going to recommend one, this would be it. To take that a little further though, would I recommend it in general, based on anything other than the packaging? Eh. For $15, it's a decent palette. But there are better palettes out there for that price.

Next is the Into the Night palette. I love the packaging for this one, too. I'll give the brand that, they're good with their designs. This palette contains 6 mattes and 12 shimmers, but Vamp is really more of a glitter. I can tell you right now, if you have a deeper skintone than I do (I'm so pale, I'm practically translucent), this palette is not going to work for you. The colors barely even show up on me.

Ghost Stories on the left, Into the Night on the right.

I thought I would like this color story more because it leans more purple than the Ghost Stories palette, but all the shimmers kind of end up looking the same. It reminds me of the 90's when people would wear those hideous, frosted, pale pink lipglosses. Remember that? It's not cute.

As for how it performs...No. Just no. Unless you want this specifically for the packaging, save your money. This is one of the worst eyeshadow palettes I have ever owned and I can honestly say I'll never use it again. I tried to build the mattes up, but there's nothing to them. They barely show up. And on top of that, they're extremely chalky. And the shimmers are hard, they're not soft and creamy. Forget picking them up with a brush, they barely showed up when I used my finger to apply them. There's hardly any pigment. They all end up looking like that awful light pink/purple frost I mentioned.

Again, I want to stress...Unless you really want to buy these palettes for the packaging, save your money. Deadly Desires is okay, but there are better palettes out there at an affordable price point. And Into the Night is just terrible and it's not going to work for anyone anyway, so definitely don't bother with that one. The only good thing about it is the packaging.

Survive the Night by Riley Sager

 

I watch Bookables on Youtube a lot, mostly to get recommendations for romance novels (her favorite trope is hate to love, so is mine), but since she's also a seasonal reader, when September comes around, she makes video about fall reads. That usually means more suspense novels. I've heard her say she scares easily before so I don't think straight up horror is her thing. Anyway, I heard about this book in one of her videos and it's the first of Riley Sager's novels that I've read.

Survive the Night takes place over the course of one night, in November of 1991. It's about a girl named Charlie who gets a ride home from college with Josh, a complete stranger, after her best friend/roommate, Maddy, is murdered. Charlie blames herself and can't handle being at school anymore, so she decides to leave it, and her boyfriend, Robbie, behind. Unfortunately for Charlie, during her ride with Josh, she begins to notice that not everything adds up with him. She catches him in several lies, his license has a different name on it and she's starting to think maybe he's actually the Campus Killer. To make matters more complicated, Charlie "sees movies" in her head. Hallucinations. How much of what she's experiencing is real and how much of it is her imagination?

The entire premise of this book is terrifying and had me stressed out. I started thinking about how I would never, ever get into a car with a man I don't know. Men scare me. I'm sure most women feel the same way. If I were walking alone after dark (which I rarely do if I can help it) and I saw a man walking towards me...Or noticed them walking behind me...I would panic. I can't imagine any situation where I would willingly get into a car with a complete stranger. And yes, I know not all men are dangerous. That isn't the point.

Here's what I liked about Survive the Night. I loved all the references to old movies. Old movies are my thing, I was happy to see it. I also really enjoyed the first half of the book. It seemed like something that could actually happen, it was realistic. And Josh was likable, for someone who is potentially a serial killer. That's it though.

Because the truth is, I really didn't like this book overall. It was predictable, I had it figured out before 10:00 p.m. (Josh picks Charlie up a little after 9:00 p.m.). Charlie is impossible to feel sorry for, I even wanted her to die at a certain point because every decision she made was illogical and stupid. It was almost like she was trying to get herself killed, I was so frustrated throughout the second half of the book. The motive was ridiculous and I really hated the ending. It was a quick read, thankfully, because at a certain point, I really just wanted it to end. The tension I felt reading the first half was replaced by annoyance. It's not the worst book I've ever read, but none of Charlie's actions made sense. If you're looking for an easy read, this is it, but...You've been warned.

Sleepy Hollow, New York

I spent the day in/around Sleepy Hollow yesterday and it was...Strange. The weather was perfect, clear blue skies, a nice breeze, fall chill in the air. The town is beautiful. The houses are incredible, I could wander around all day just to look at them. But the entire area is weird. There's nothing there. I mean, actually nothing. I was supposed to go to the Home of the Legend tour (by the way, getting there is an experience), but it was cancelled. So that meant I had eight hours to kill before the pumpkin blaze that night. That's a long time. 

The only thing there was to do was go to the cemetery and I spent a pretty significant amount of time in there. It's really nice, it reminded me of Central Park with all the winding paths and hills and beautiful scenery. There is a bridge in the cemetery. It's not the bridge, the bridge is now a street right outside the cemetery. But it's a really nice place to take pictures. You can pretend it's the bridge from the legend.

After the cemetery there was nothing to do for six hours. Nothing. I thought maybe I could go shopping, but the stores in Sleepy Hollow aren't really what I expected. I was hoping they would have at least one shop dedicated to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow where you can buy cool decor and whatnot, but there really wasn't anything except like, one souvenir shop that sold magnets and shot glasses. I was hoping it would be a little more like Salem where they really embrace the town's history, but it's not like that. At least not in September. Maybe there's more to do there in October.

So I ended up going all over the place. The areas surrounding Sleepy Hollow. And again...It's strange. I thought Long Island was weird because all we have are diners, movie theaters and bowling alleys. This place didn't have one movie theater or bowling alley that I saw (not that I would have gone, but still). They didn't even have a Target. I kept wondering what people do for fun there. At the diner, the waitress said there's nothing to do, so. I guess nothing? There was a church on almost every block in Sleepy Hollow, so maybe people just go to church? I don't know. Point is, I had six hours with nothing to do. So I ended up going to two different CVS locations in search of the Halloween decor I wanted, but couldn't find at my own CVS. And I found it! I'm so excited. I found two things at the first CVS and the other two at the second CVS. Not a total waste of time.

The best part of the day was the Blaze. That was amazing, I can't even imagine how long it must take them to put all of that together. It made the entire trip worth it, it was really cool.

I shared some videos of the cemetery and pumpkin blaze on Twitter here, here and here. The rest of this post will just be a million pictures, I don't really have much else to say about the trip there. It was a really nice day, I just wish there had been more to do.