China Glaze Frostbite + Ruby Pumps

I've got an 8 year old's luau birthday party to attend today, so I've been torn on what to do for my manicure.  I decided to go patriotic and honor Memorial Day with two of my favorite China Glaze polishes, Frostbite and Ruby Pumps.

 The thing with Frostbite is that it flat-out refuses to photograph accurately. If you own it and have attempted to photograph it, or have googled swatches of it, you know this.  You see a nice, saturated, dark cerulean leaning icy blue frost, and that's not entirely inaccurate.  The color in real life is darker, more royal blue, deeper, and slightly shimmery.  Something about the bottle reminds me of a gigantic iceberg in the middle of a cold northern ocean.  It's just stunning and if frosts aren't your thing, know that the frost is less apparent in real life, too.  I used two coats.

Ahh, Ruby Pumps.  How many times I've seem swatches of this red jelly packed with red shimmers and tiny red glitter and needed to own it...  I found myself a mini this winter at Sally Beauty Supply.  I didn't know ChG did minis and it was just too tempting to get the adorable little bottle, lol.  The polish is deep and rich and overall fantastically beautiful.  I used three coats.

When I was a kid, every Memorial Day started out the same-- my family would go to church in the morning, then head out to the cemetery to pay our respects to passed family members and to our local fallen heroes.  We'd return home and commence rainy day barbecuing activities (because if it's not pouring on Memorial Day, you're probably not in Oregon) but the light cast on the day was always one of grateful remembrance.  I guarantee that there was much complaining coming out of my mouth at the time but I'm so thankful to my dad for instilling that sense of reverence for the day in my heart at a young age.  And to those of you who have served and to those of you with loved ones who have served and given the ultimate sacrifice, THANK YOU.  From the bottom of my heart-- thank you.

♥