Of Life and Lacquer

Hello everyone. I’m in a pretty great mood today since I have tomorrow off so I’ll probably be spending most of my day off swatching so many new pretties. I have about 30 new polish that are in line to be swatched so it’s a little overwhelming, but I think I’ll be able to get through everything rather quickly as long as I break it down into manageable batches. I have something special today for you: as you may or may not know, May is Lupus awareness month. Lupus? What’s that? Ok, I have to admit that I knew about Lupus since I was a teenager because I used to watch One Life To Live and Marty Saybrooke had lupus on the show so I remember looking it up to find out what it was. (For once, a trashy soap opera was actually educational!) Well, yesterday I was chit chatting with my group of lovely ladies from a Facebook group I am part of *waving at all the beauties from PWRC* and my friend Holly asked me if I could feature some purple nails in support of Lupus Awareness Month. Of course I said yes and I decided to do them right away before I get bogged down with my planned swatch-a-thons. If you don’t know what Lupus is, here is a brief description from the Mayo Clinic:

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when your body’s immune system attacks your own tissues and organs. Inflammation caused by lupus can affect many different body systems — including your joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart and lungs.

Lupus can be difficult to diagnose because its signs and symptoms often mimic those of other ailments. The most distinctive sign of lupus — a facial rash that resembles the wings of a butterfly unfolding across both cheeks — occurs in many but not all cases of lupus.

Some people are born with a tendency toward developing lupus, which may be triggered by infections, certain drugs or even sunlight. While there’s no cure for lupus, treatments can help control symptoms.

No two cases of lupus are exactly alike. Signs and symptoms may come on suddenly or develop slowly, may be mild or severe, and may be temporary or permanent. Most people with lupus have mild disease characterized by episodes — called flares — when signs and symptoms get worse for a while, then improve or even disappear completely for a time.

The signs and symptoms of lupus that you experience will depend on which body systems are affected by the disease. The most common signs and symptoms include: Fatigue and fever, Joint pain, stiffness and swelling, Butterfly-shaped rash on the face that covers the cheeks and bridge of the nose, Skin lesions that appear or worsen with sun exposure, Fingers and toes that turn white or blue when exposed to cold or during stressful periods (Raynaud’s phenomenon), shortness of breath, Chest pain, Dry eyes, Headaches, confusion, memory loss

For all those warriors out there who struggle with Lupus, I hope that treatment options continue to improve and that maybe one day we can find a cure.

OPI Purple With A Purpose is really high up there on my list of most favorite purple polishes and that really is saying a lot considering that I regularly go on purple overload. While the formula on this seems a little thin upon the first coat application, a second coat really levels it out and gives complete coverage. Don’t tell me that you don’t like this polish because I will hurt you. Hurt you bad. I have swatched this polish on my blog before but I am kind of embarrassed because it was in my early days of blogging and the swatch is kind of atrocious. If you decide to search it out, don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Don’t ask me about the China Glaze Classic Chromes polish because I know absolutely nothing about it. hahaha! I picked it up in some random beauty supply but it wasn’t labeled or anything. I’d love to find out more about it, but I never heard back from China Glaze when I emailed them about it. Hmmmpphhffff! I used a design from Bundle Monster Plate BM-321 for the ribbon design. I really like how these turned out.

I encourage you to visit the Lupus Foundation Of America and that you sign the petition to urge congress fund more Lupus research. I truly hope that you take a moment to do this and that you learn a little bit more about this chronic disease that affects so many people around the world. Thank you so much for stopping by today!