aura bloom polish

Available now at Smidgen of Us

🥣 Saturday Morning Cartoons Cuticle Oil Pen 🥣

Inspired by the childhood memories of running to the living room with a bowl of my favorite cereal, Cap'n Crunch Berries, as soon as I woke up on Saturday mornings to binge watch all of my favorite cartoons.

Saturday Morning Cartoons is scented with a mix of the sweet buttery corn cereal and fruity crunch berries of Cap'n Crunch Berries. 

$7.50, 5ml, Cap 25
Shop is open 06/23-06/30

📷 Elizabeth Christin

Available now at Smidgen of Us

💿🎵 I am a very pretty hate machine 🎵💿

This polish is inspired by Celebrity Deathmatch, Season 1 Episode 8, and the fight between Trent Reznor and Puff Daddy. Celebrity Deathmatch was a claymation cartoon that brought together all sorts of odd fight combos and entertainment.

I'm a huge longtime Nine Inch Nails fan and their album, Pretty Hate Machine, is my favorite, so I couldn't resist the opportunity to use NIN as an inspo. The scene opens up with Trent Reznor refusing to fight and curled up in the corner, they get him pumped up to fight by talking him that he is a very pretty hate machine, so he begins chanting it and gets up to fight. What makes it even better is that Trent Reznor got the last hits in this fight and took Puff Daddy, aka Diddy, down to shreds in the end with his literal nine inch nails.

I am a very pretty hate machine is a very dark graphite gray polish loaded with silver to aqua teal shifting micro flakes. 

$13.50, 15ml, Cap 50
Shop is open 06/23-06/30

📷 Nail Polish Chica Torque and Topcoats Shira Katina

Available now at Smidgen of Us!

😄😃 Happy Happy, Joy Joy 😃😄

This polish is inspired by Stimpy's favorite song "Happy Happy, Joy Joy" which completely matches Stimpy's happy and gleeful personality. It's one of those core childhood memories we will hear in our heads forever.

Happy Happy, Joy Joy is a fiery neon red with bright turquoise small metallic flakes.

$13.50, 15ml, Cap 50
Shop is open 06/23-06/30

📷 Nail Polish Chica Torque and Topcoats Shira Katina

💜 Matriarch of Marriage (Edie Windsor) 💜

This is a deeper purple, with a hint of plum, pearlescent polish with purple/magenta micro flakes.

Matriarch of Marriage is inspired by Edie Windsor. She was a rights activist that was in several rights and advocacy groups. In 1965 she began dating, and fell in love, with Thea Spyer. They lived as a married couple even though law prevented a legal marriage. In 1993 they registered as a domestic partnership the day it became available. As Thea's health declined they went to Canada in 2007 to get married, as it still was not legal in the US. 

Thea passed away in 2009, leaving Edie the sole beneficiary of her estate. Since their marriage was not recognized in the US she was not eligible for the unlimited spousal deduction and had to pay $363,053 in federal estate taxes. She tried to file for the surviving spouse exemption but the IRS denied it under the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which stated spouse only applied to marriage between a man and a woman. In 2010 she sued the federal government to pursue a refund of the taxes paid. In 2013 she won her argument and section 3 of DOMA was deemed unconstitutional, providing her a refund of taxes paid. This was a landmark win and paved the way for same s*x marriage to be legally recognized, making her the matriarch of same-s*x marriage.

$5.00 of each bottle will be donated to PROMO Missouri, which is a public policy and advocacy organization in MO that helps fight for rights and equality in the legal system today. 

📷 Ava Douglas Christin Leo Nope Ro Jenn ✨️leana✨️

💙 Gay is Good (Barbara Gittings) 💙

This is a rich royal blue pearlescent polish with blue/teal micro flakes.

Gay is Good is inspired by Barbara Gittings. She was a huge rights activist, taking part of many rights activism organizations. She founded the NY chapter of the Daughters of Bilitis. She also was an editor for their magazine, The Ladder, but was let go after she refused to be as conservative as The Ladder wanted to be.

In Nov 1967 Barbara and her friend, Frank Kameny, were co-counsels in a Dept of Defense hearing, but neither were lawyers. Barbara and Frank dressed conservatively, but wore pins that said "Gay is Good" to make a statement. They fought to discredit an expert witness that was testifying that homos*xual people can be converted into heteros*xuals. After their cross examination the expert witness was removed from the list of expert witnesses. 

Later on, in 1972 Barbara arranged a discussion with the American Psychiatry Association to talk about homos*xuality in psychiatry and fight to get it removed as a mental illness diagnosis. The following year, in 1973 homos*xuality was removed as a mental illness diagnosis from the Diagnosistic and Statistical Manual of Mental Illness.

$5.00 of each bottle will be donated to PROMO Missouri, which is a public policy and advocacy organization in MO that helps fight for rights and equality in the legal system today. 

📷 Ava Douglas Christin Leo Nope Ro Jenn ✨️leana✨️

💚 SUPERvisor of Hope (Harvey Milk) 💚

This is a medium sage green pearlescent polish with green/gold micro flakes.

SUPERvisor of Hope is inspired by Harvey Milk, who is known for his hope speech, famously stating you have to give them hope. When he moved to CA in 1972 he was a small business owner and created the Castro Village Association to bring together other LGBTQ+ businesses to fight hostility from established city businesses. With this he was dubbed the "Mayor of Castro Street" giving a safe space and voice to the LGBTQ+ community even prior to his winning bid for Supervisor. In 1977 Harvey Milk was the first openly gay man elected to office in California when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. He sponsored a bill banning discrimination based on s*xual orientation in public accommodations, housing, and employment. The supervisors passed the bill by a vote of 11–1 and the mayor signed it into law during the spring of 1978. This helped give hope, which was always Harvey's goal. Unfortunately he, and the mayor, were assassinated in November of 1978 by the man that cast the sole vote opposing the bill. Thankfully Harvey's hope speech lives on and still helps bring hope to all.

$5.00 of each bottle will be donated to PROMO Missouri, which is a public policy and advocacy organization in MO that helps fight for rights and equality in the legal system today. 

📷 Ava Douglas Christin Leo Nope Ro Jenn ✨️leana✨️

🌻 Pay it no mind (Marsha P Johnson) 🌻

This is a soft golden yellow pearlescent polish with yellow/green/red micro flakes.

Pay it no mind is inspired by Marsha P Johnson. She was a black trans woman and rights activist. She adopted the phrase "Pay it no mind" for her middle initial, P, as a statement and response to people questioning about her gender because it doesn't matter and they should pay it no mind. She participated in Stonewall Uprising, beginning with a strong position in the protest and pushback at the raid on Stonewall Inn, and was a prominent figure in the full span of the uprising. She was active in the Gay Activists Alliance, Gay Liberation Front, and also co-founded the Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with her friend, Sylvia Rivera. Later on she joined in activities to advocate for AIDS related healthcare reform, as well as performing in theatrical works to bring attention to the topics.

$5.00 of each bottle will be donated to PROMO Missouri, which is a public policy and advocacy organization in MO that helps fight for rights and equality in the legal system today. 

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🔥 Revolutionary Street Queen (Sylvia Rivera)🔥

This is a warm orange pearlescent polish with gold/orange micro flakes.

Revolutionary Street Queen is inspired by Sylvia Rivera. She was a latina transgender activist that left home at only 10 yrs old because her family rejected her gender expression. She lived on the streets and found a new family in the older drag queens/street queens that took her in. This gave her inspiration to help others and protest for change.

Sylvia began her activism by participating in the initial Stonewall Uprising protest at the raid on Stonewall Inn. She preferred to call it the revolution, as she, among many others were fueled by the Uprising to take a stronger activism role and create change. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance. She also co-founded Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries (STAR) with her friend, Marsha P Johnson, to help homeless transgender youth and s*x workers in Manhattan.

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