NIXXY'S NAILS

Color Club Sugar Plum Fairy

2012-01-07T12:54:00.008+08:00

Well hey there!
How was your Christmas and New Year?
From the number of updates on the blog, you can see I got a bit busy, huh?

I'm working on a new writing project which has pretty much seized my brain and not let go.
Plus I'm my grandmother's carer and she had a bad run the week before Xmas.
Was not looking good but thank God(dess) for the Palliative Care people - they've been fabulous and Nanna got a pain-free Xmas with the family.

And speaking of Xmas - now that Kaz has her present, I can finally feature these on my blog and not spoil her surprise! The Color Club "Under the Mistletoe" Collection I nabbed in the UK (thank you, TK Maxx!).

I was using "Sugar Plum Fairy" constantly while in the UK and got so many compliments.
Even had a girl grip my hand over the baked potatoes in the cafeteria at Regent's College and exclaim, "Omigod, look at your BLING!"

And yes, bling would be an accurate term -

It's holographic glitter with the palest lavender/lilac tint...

Awww yeah, baby...in sunlight or indoors, this stuff can't be stopped.

I mean, honestly - what can I say? I love this!
It's a heavy glitter, so no need for a coloured undercoat - 2 to 3 layers should do the trick.
I always apply a thick layer of top coat cos I like a smooth finish.

Definitely my fave out of the whole collection, and instantly in my fave glitters of all time.
If you love your glitter or holos and haven't got this collection, you need to snap it up now or you'll regret it!

More from the collection soon...

OPI Muppets - Designer De Better

2011-12-10T12:22:00.006+08:00

Very excited today because this is the first OPI polish I've been able to wear and feature on the blog in YEARS, thanks to their new 4-Free formula (free of formaldehyde resin now!).

Apparently this change came into effect after the Texas collection, and I can only hope that they start producing all their back catalogue the same so I can eventually wear their DS range :D

Lordy, lordy it's a beautiful day!

So I picked up some Muppets mini polishes while in the UK, and although I wasn't hot on this one at first, when I tried it on it was a revelation.

OPI describes it as "metallic bronze", but really it's more like a dull silver with tiny flecks of copper/bronze that give it a slight tint. If you don't like/don't suit bronze (like me) don't worry - this will suit just about everyone.

Did I mention it was a mini?

Makes my normal bottle of Rainbow Connection look like Godzilla!

So - down to the polish. You'll have to excuse my index finger. I dun gone got a break...

This is two coats. Great coverage and drying time. I'm wearing OPI dudes!!!!

See what I mean? More silver than bronze, even in sunlight...

I'm so impressed with this. I didn't think this was my kind of colour at all and it's just perfect.
I think this could even be a good work-safe metallic.

And the mini size is just so cute! Just beware of leaving it round the house as the cats decided it made a really good toy...

Sigh. OPI guys. I thought I'd never see the day I could wear it again.
I'm off to have a lie down.

Weekend Funnies

2011-12-02T16:44:00.005+08:00

Well my regular blog posts kinda fell by the wayside again.

Real life, people - it's a bitch.

But I do want to post this, which made me laugh most heartily for several minutes.

And this, which made me "Awww!" for several more...

Have a good weekend!

LA Girl Glitter Addict: Nostalgic

2011-11-17T13:39:00.006+08:00

Well lookee here - another post! I must be getting my groove back somewhat.

Going to try to do at least one a week now.

I remember back when I used to do one post a day - what the hell was I on??

So this week I have another little ripper I got with my big Cherry Culture order months ago - LA Girl Nostalgic. It's a fantastic turquoisey/light green glitter that has micro and chunky particles which are also holographic.

See the little rainbow-ey bits? Far out, man...

So although this looks quite glitter-packed I thought it needed a little back-up, so I did an undercoat of Rimmel's "Green with Envy" - a lovely metallic emerald shade...

...which was a great idea, cos it made the finished product just luminous.

I don't know if you're getting the full effect in the pics, but this just glowed.

Checkout chicks asked me what it was, babies were transfixed by it, and my Father said - "What the hell have you got on your fingers?"

A rhetorical question, as obviously it was 'Pure Unadulterated Awesome-sauce'. :D

Weekend Funnies

2011-11-11T22:48:00.009+08:00

Time to get some regularity back in this blog!

This week's funnies come courtesy of "Horrible Histories", which is a kid's show from the UK but is screened just about everywhere.

I recently bought the first two series on dvd and I'm marathon-ing them as we speak.

They're so funny and adults enjoy it just as much as the kids.

Prepare to be educated!

Aussies - I think we should start saying "Time to replace Victorian Maid!" instead of "Not happy, Jan!" from now on...

This was filmed at Hampton Court Palace - I recognise the brickwork and ceiling :)

You can call me "Princess Cheese" from now on...

LA Girl Rock Star - Addict

2011-11-10T17:43:00.005+08:00

I'm baaack!

The trip was great, but I'm not feeling top of the world with the jet-lag :/

If you've been following the flickr account you'll see some pics (mainly Scotland) if you're interested. I kinda maxed out the account, so it doesn't cover the whole trip but it's better than nothing...

Now that I'm back I'll be keeping all my polish-related tweets to my Nixxy twitter feed, which is the @MsNixxy one, btw.

Those following the scriptwriting MsNess78 feed - you'll get nothing but vague ramblings about film, TV and identifying 2nd act turning points, so you've been warned!

"So", I hear you ask - "Get to the point, beeyotch - what polish did you buy over there?"

Weeell - that would be telling :) You see, with a couple of exceptions, almost everything I got I also got for a certain birthday girl so I can't show you, lest I ruin her surprise!

Give me another week or so and I can reveal all.

In the meantime - feel like some red? A really cool un-cliched red? Course you do!

Got this from Cherry Culture a while back and it's now my fave.

Dark wine red, with delicate gold flakes. Fantastic together and so much better than plain old boring red, doncha think?

Crash zoom!

Ahhh, I come over all wiggly just looking at it.

Or maybe it's just the fatigue talking?

Dunno.

But for a couple of Australian bucks, it's a freaking miracle :)

Catch you later! xx

Leaving on a jet plane!

2011-10-15T09:11:00.004+08:00

I'm leaving in a couple of hours for the UK, so I thought I'd leave a few links if you want to follow what I will call my "adventures" (but will actually be me touring every Superdrug and Boots I can find).

I'll be using my scriptwriting twitter account mainly, as I'm trying to network for the conference...

Twitter at @MsNess78

And I've set up a Flickr account for photos -

Flickr

So there you go.
I have free internet in the first two places I stay, so hopefully I'll be able to make a few posts on whatever goodies I find.

And yes, Shaun will be coming with me - he'd be upset if he didn't!

Don't chuck too many wild parties while I'm gone! xx

Happy Birthday Kaz!

2011-10-13T09:48:00.003+08:00

It's Kaz from Pretty Random's birthday today, so in honour of this event, let's raise a caramel Waitrose pudding and break out the Minstrels.

And Milo Kerrigan...

Happy birthday Kaz!

BYS Scented Pastel & Hot Purple

2011-10-12T16:35:00.005+08:00

I'm not dead! I'm just really, really, really, really busy.

I've had the most craptastic month, and now I'm leaving for the UK in two days with hardly anything to show for a year's writing work. Joy.

I'm going to be working like a maniac at night on my so-called holiday in Edinburgh so I have something to show at the London conference at the end of the month.

To say it's all gone to hell in a hand-basket would be an understatement, and when I'm not beating my head against a wall or hunched over a computer I'm trying not to retch from the stress.

Holidays! Yay!
Sigh.

So I thought I'd do at least one more post before I go just so you know I haven't given up the blog - I'm just clinically insane right now :/

Director Dave over at Fashion Addict sent me some BYS scented polishes a while back as a surprise, and I just haven't got around to posting the pics.

I was immediately drawn to the two purples, very descriptively called "Hot Purple" (Vanilla scented) and "Pastel Purple" (Cotton Candy scented).

Hot purple has a subtle silvery sheen and has a nice formula that means you only need two coats...

Pastel Purple, I had some slight problems with. It's a more translucent formula so I needed four coats, and none of the photos turned out particularly well.

It is a very nice colour when you've got it on, though - reminds me of Zoya's Miley...

So - overall I really liked these. But notice how they're supposed to be scented?
I couldn't smell a damn thing. All I got was the usual chemical smell common to all polishes.
I thought maybe I'd done something wrong and tried all the bottles out - nope.
Nada. Nothing. Maybe I have a faulty nose?
No - Mum tried as well and smelled nothing.

But you know what? I don't really care cos the first thing I do with any polish is put a quick dry topcoat on, which would probably mask the scent anyway.
The rest of the colours in this collection are really great, so I'd like them regardless.

What do you guys think of the scented polish fad? Think it's going to last?

LA Girl Euphoria

2011-09-02T20:33:00.006+08:00

Oh, crap guys! So sorry I've been gone forever - I'm just crazy at the moment and it's only getting worse the closer I get to going to the UK again. Not that I've booked anything yet except my conference ticket (ohgawdthehumanity!) and it's now less than 2 months away. I have so much writing to do and I'm just walking around in a fog of plots and characters and excruciating self doubt.

Sigh. So anyway - here's a short, short review of one of my Cherry Culture haul polishes - LA Girl's "Euphoria". Dense glitter, but it's better if you use an undercoat like Rimmel "Blue My Mind" (which for some reason is actually purple) for full effect.

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

One of the best purples in my collection and so worth the paltry sum of $2.99 US ($2.80 AUS).
Have a good weekend everybody!

Oh, and btw - I have a new twitter account just for my writing and networky stuff. No polish talk, but if you feel like following, it's @MsNess78.

Blue Cross Meteorites - Vulcan Probe

2011-08-01T14:55:00.007+08:00

So as promised - some swatches of my Meteorites!
I chose Vulcan Probe to do first as it's my favourite colour combination of the whole collection. You can find the rest from my post on the Meteorites here.

As you can see, Vulcan Probe is comprised of red, blue and purple/pink bar glitter with a clear base.

Although these glitters look dense enough in the bottle, it soon became apparent it's more of a glittery top-coat.
HELL NO!
Nixxy don't play dat!
Let me get out my sock with a tennis ball...

This was going to be ALL glitter and I was going to MAKE IT HAPPEN!

And I did. It's not perfect, but it's good for a start.
This is how -

1. You need an undercoat in a complimentary colour. I chose a metallic Versace purple that Kaz got me.

Whatever it is, it needs to be highly pigmented so that in one layer, you get good coverage. The aim is for the least amount of layers possible so you don't get peeling.

2. Next, get a big gob of polish on your brush - and wipe it all off on the neck of the bottle so it slides back inside, like so -

The clear polish runs down, leaving most of the glitter behind. Then just scoop up the glitter with your brush and apply.

3. After each layer of glitter, go along the tips of your nails and tap any stray bits of glitter sticking out back onto the nail.

4.Repeat until your nails are encrusted and cover with a clear top coat. You may need 2 layers.

Obviously this is not an exact science.
I've still got some little stray bits of glitter sticking out around the cuticle. It's hard to control.

If you're one of those people that has to have everything perfect - don't even try this. It will drive you insaaaane!

So anyhoo - here's the result under several different lighting conditions - sorry no sunlight this time. It's absolutely pouring today.

Not bad for a second try. Every time I use these glitters I get a little better at applying them. As it was, this was three layers of glitter as opposed to the eleventy million I had the first time I tried.

And remember, when the Man tries to tell you your glitter's just a top coat...

Milani Spellbinding

2011-07-29T15:45:00.005+08:00

Wow - I'm on fire this week! Better get it while it lasts - I'll probably go quiet again soon :)

Here's another one of my Cherry Culture finds - Spellbinding from Milani.

Spellbinding is from the 2009 Halloween Collection and reminds me a bit of China Glaze's Lubu Heels.

Fine red glitter in a black base, it's positively devilish -

Hot like lava!

I've tried to get some different lighting so you can see how the colour changes.
Sometimes it's so dark it just looks black, in others almost copper, and then bright vibrant red.

I find the Milani brushes a little on the narrow long side, but they're workable - just don't overload the brush as the formula is quite watery.
This is 3 layers plus a top coat. I strongly suggest you use a top coat as it makes the glitter pop so much more and gives a really glassy quality to the polish.

If you're a fan of black polish, well I think this is right up your alley.
The tiny glitter adds oomph without it looking childish, and the gloss adds a touch of class. Dare I say it might even be work-safe in some situations.

Blue Cross Meteorites

2011-07-26T16:15:00.008+08:00

I figured I'd get as many posts in as I can while I'm in this little lull, so here's some pics of my Meteorites collection!

Kaz is totally to blame for this.
When she featured these on her blog, I went ballistic and immediately started ordering them on ebay like a bitch-demon from the Tinsel Dimension (Liberace's there. He manages the Karaoke bar).

Kaz has beautiful professional light-box photos of these here, but I figured since the sun was out, I'd get some pics of these babies outside for you to see.

Click the pics for GLITTAH INSANE-0-VISION!!!

(L-R) Pulsar, Super Nova, Cosmic Comet

UFO, Vulcan Probe (snicker!), Young Star, Life on Mars

Venus, Fireball, Moon Shot, Halley's Comet.

And finally, the silvers.
I've grouped these all together to show you how similar they all are.
If you decide to collect them, I suggest you don't put a lot of time/money into getting all the silvery ones.
Apart from Outer Space looking slightly greenish, and Shooting Star looking a bit gold, there's really not enough difference between them.

Outer Space, Meteor Shower, Luminous, Shooting Star

If I was going to have just one of these 4, I would go for Luminous and not bother about the rest.

Wear? Well I've only tried one so far and it looked insane. But also a little bit messy cos that bar glitter has to lie just right.
And you know I put about 8 coats on so there was nothing but glitter showing!
I'll take some pics next time as I wasn't happy with my job enough to show it.

But you know - they look so good in the bottle I almost don't care! I just like looking at them. I guess that's the collector in me coming out.

The great thing is they're so cheap on ebay that you have the thrill of the chase without the mangled wallet.
All of these worked out to no more than about $5 AUS including postage (some as low as $2.50) each.

So go forth! Go forth and get thyself Glitter!

L.A. Girl - Celebrate

2011-07-23T16:12:00.009+08:00

Hi!
I have surfaced on the shore of Bloggersville!
Been a while, I know - but I have a little over two months to do a hell of a lot of scripts and also look after Nanna and you know - live.
So unfortunately the blog loses.

Anyway - I'm on a bit of a break at the mo as I'm waiting for my mentor to get back to me about one of my first drafts. Quite frankly I'm shitting a brick over what she'll say and it's taking me hours to gird myself up to check my emails. Only to find she hasn't sent anything yet.
Sigh.
When she does I might actually read it next century.

In other news - I am this close to just moving the whole blog over to Wordpress (I've even gone so far as to actually make the account), as Blogger so consistently sucks balls.
It says I'm not following anybody when I clearly am, it's taken - let's see...10 minutes now to load two photos. It just makes the whole blogging experience so much more painful.
Oh look - the pics loaded! Must've heard me :)

So anyway - this is another beauty from my Cherry Culture order a while back - LA Girl "Celebrate". I apologise in advance for my awful photos...

Anyone remember my post here about two years ago?
Well LA Girl - you just avoided a Nutsacking.
Congratulations.

Sure, it's like someone put my Christmas tinsel in a blender - but that's a hell of an idea, isn't it?
This one I had to put over pink "Rubellite" in order to reach bottle colour (or should that be density) more quickly. This was I think about 4 coats, plus top coat.

Sorry for the dark pics - it's the middle of winter here and the lighting in the house isn't crash hot. Let's go into the bathroom, shall we?

Argh! My eyes!
Now it's too yellow. I give up!
Anyhoo - you get the general idea.

Classy it's not.
Fun - hell yeah!
It looks like Care Bear vomit and I want to bathe in it.
Who's for a bulk order?

Weekend Funnies

2011-07-01T20:12:00.004+08:00

It's Friday night and I'm feelin' kinda swelled up and on antibiotics. But hey! We can still have fun. Here's some fun shit.

Rollercoaster Safety with Patrick Warburton - watch more funny videos

L.A. Girl - Headbanging

2011-06-30T10:39:00.007+08:00

Oof. Blogger is being an absolute bitch today!
Sorry about the lack of updates, but life gets in the way, you know.
Life at the mo has brought a weird allergic reaction to some unknown substance (not formaldehyde) that has made my right eye swell up to twice it's size. Joy.

So here I sit like Quasi-fucking-modo with half my face looking like a red bean bag. You know what can help with red pigmentation? Green.

See my neat segue? Wasn't that cool. I am Queen of the Segue. And apparently the Bog of Stench right now. Rack off, Sir Didymus - I'm trying to type!

Sigh.
So this is 'Headbanging", which I picked up from Cherry Culture during a sale.

The colour swatches on Cherry are woeful - tiny little squiggles that make it hard to make out colour or texture (although they've got them from the polish companies themselves, so they're only partly to blame). Hopefully as I swatch my haul, you'll get an idea of what some of these look like if you feel like ordering them yourselves.

So as you can see, this is glass-flecky green goodness. I love glass-fleck polishes - they're metallic without the peeling and durability problems of foils or holos.

This went on quite thin. Took 3 good coats to reach bottle colour, but totally worth it to my mind. The lovely teal colour is to die for.

And what's the best thing about this? It's $2.80US ($2.60 Australian) plus postage. Amazing value!

Rock on, Quasimodo...

Friday Tunes

2011-06-24T19:05:00.007+08:00

OK - so I was all ready to do a post on a polish today, but I've just run out of oomph.

Oomph meaning "Out Of Meaningful Polish H...um...H...Uh..." are you getting that I just can't put two words together today?

So since it's Friday and I haven't done any Friday Funnies in a while, I thought I'd do a music post.

I recently dropped a load *snigger* of money on iTunes for some essential 80's stuff my collection was lacking. Including these two little gems from the first album I ever owned - Bananarama's "WOW".

And may I just say - I was 10. I didn't know what I was doing. Plus everyone else was doing it.

Also in my defence - Siobhan went on to found Shakespeare's Sister, which was badass.

Simple Minds. Incomprehensible video, but man, the hook in this is killer.

Feargal Sharkey. Most people know him for "A Good Heart", but I actually like this song better for some reason. And it has nothing to do with the drummer in the red shirt looking like Paula Deen Riding Things ;)

Daft Punk might owe him some kind of royalties for that staircase action as well...

Debbie Harry with "I Want That Hair Extension"

And if I was going to buy Debbie's solo stuff, I couldn't very well pass on this. But don't ask me why there's a naked guy carrying a biplane. Just don't.

More Simple Minds. Get your lighters ready!

The Models. Great Australian band not really known outside our country. I cannot resist singing along to the chorus of this. "And yoooooou - hold on to what you got!"

The Models again. SEX! Sexiness! Sexnificance! Well you get it. It's kinda sexy.

Another Aussie band - Boom Crash Opera. Such a rousing, stomping chorus, you have to bellow along. We can shake the trees and earth, baby.

Oh gawd, oh gawd, oh gawd! The most AWESOME song! If you can't bounce around your lounge room to this chorus, you may be dead. You certainly can't be well.

So that's what I spent my money on this week. Dollars well invested, I say :)

Helmers and Haul Ahoy!

2011-06-16T18:13:00.007+08:00

You guys! I finally got a Helmer!

In fact, I've gone from none to THREE!

Precipitated by my Mum slightly flipping her lid since all my junk turned up from Melbourne, but also Ikea Perth having the silver Helmers on sale for $39 (you read that right Aussies - $39!).

After a 3 hour round trip and a nightmarish experience at Ikea (NEVER going back there again) I came home triumphant with 3 flatpacks, a headache and a night of assembling ahead of me.

All of this was relatively easy thanks to Kaz's awesomesauce instructional post on putting Helmers together without going on an "Archer" style Rampaaage!

All three were put together with minimum fuss, but I still had a bit of Helmer fever by the time I'd assembled three in a row.

This c

ulminated in Mum and Dad coming home to find me sitting on the living room floor, innards of Helmers all around me, singing "Trapped in Cabinets" while the cats ran around hysterically.

Ah, good times!

But anyway - the Helmers are now assembled inside my wardrobe, where they don't exactly match the decor but they're away from public view so it doesn't really matter -

Not bad. Not bad at all.

I lined them all with non-slip stuff and now my polish takes over one and a half of the helmers (each colour has it's own drawer, with a few types merged together).

The rest I'm using for my oversized jewellery and stuff.

I'm very happy now I've got them, and I gotta say - nothing beats having your own dedicated "Untried" drawer, filled with your latest haul from Cherry Culture :D

Sigh. Look at my babies all snuggled in there. Sometimes I just sit and watch them sleep. And no, that's not creepy at all.

Shut up.

*Uh oh! Sorry folks - having tech difficulties and the last couple of pics got deleted for some reason & I can't recover them :/

MAC Bad Fairy

2011-06-09T12:38:00.009+08:00

Alright - so I know I'm very late to the party on this polish, but when it came out I was just about to head to the UK and certainly couldn't afford it. I got to look at it longingly in all the department stores over there and in every single one it was sold out, bar the tester bottles.

Luckily for me, I have enough saved now to buy this limited edition before it disappears forever.
And if you haven't got this already, I strongly suggest you get thyself to ebay!

So - for the uninitiated, this polish was part of the MAC Venomous Villains Collection 2010 which featured 3 gorgeous duochrome polishes. It quickly became apparent to polish aficionados that two of the colours had dupes in Orly's Cosmic FX collection. But "Bad Fairy" does not. There are a few that are apparently close - but no one seems to have found an exact copy of this colour, hence I thought it wise to get it while the getting's good. *EDIT - Emma in the comments says there's an Accessorize polish in the UK called "Pink Spice" for 4 measly pounds that's a dupe. I'm allergic to the Accessorize stuff, but everybody else - go have a look!

Plus I don't own anything MAC, and the collector in me was screaming "DO EEEET!"

This ended up costing $32US or $30 Australian, including the postage. I could've picked it up for as cheap as $16, but the seller looked kinda shonky.
This originally sold in Australia for $22, so another $8 on top of that was quite reasonable to my mind.

So here it is in my warm little mitts -

This is the second most expensive polish I've bought after my beloved N'fus. And it's a smallish bottle, too. Only 10 mls.

So - was it worth it?
HELL YES! Dusky strawberry to magenta pink, flickering into gold and copper. It's truly the best duochrome (or multichrome?) I've ever seen.

I've tried to mix up the lighting here, so you can see the differences, but nothing beats seeing it in real life.

This is 3 coats. It goes on quite sheer - you'll have to build it up. But that being said, the formula is good, glass-flecky and smooth. Is the formula better than others cos it's MAC? Not really. Orly's FX collection is about the same quality in my experience. But I wanted this colour.

Trying to get an angle so the camera could pick up the gold...

OK - that wasn't very flattering, but you get my point :)

So in summary - if you don't own this, you really should. But get your skates on, cos it's getting rarer.
This is taking pride of place in my collection.
So. Worth. it.

Weekend Funnies

2011-05-28T19:49:00.004+08:00

Guys, I know I haven't done the Weekend Funnies for a while, but this one is a doozy!

Heard of a boy band from the early 90's called "4FUN"?
No? Well that's OK - I'm here to rectify the situation.
Have you always wanted a boy band that sounded like Bel, Biv, Devoe - but white?
And with Pauly D rapping?
Maybe some gratuitous catchphrases from legit rappers thrown in for good measure?
And some dude called "Luscious" who apparently has a limo with a girl chauffeur and some kidnapped kids in the back seat?

Well break out your perms and Mum shorts, cos 4FUN are the band 4 U!

Cannot. Stop. Laughing.

*Dead*

NYX Girl Maven

2011-05-27T14:28:00.005+08:00

A-hoy-hoy bitches!
Look! I have a new polish!
As in new - not bought second hand or 18 months ago. It's a miracle!
I found this little NYX polish for $3 down at a local store and thought this would be a good time to feature it as Cherry Culture has a 20% off sale at the mo - and their photos are just awful :/

So here is "Maven" - a jelly with aqua and turquoise glitter.
You could wear this in it's own, but frankly it's so transparent you're much better off layering it over another colour. Enter Color Club's "Pure Energy".

Two coats of "Pure Energy" plus 3 coats of "Maven" = Kapow!

Super extreme close up!

I love the way "Pure Energy" just punches up the icy quality of the glitter.
Get this in the sunlight and it just about takes your retinas out.
Liking this one a lot, and for the price, it's excellent :)

Orly Gumdrop

2011-05-17T23:04:00.005+08:00

Firstly, can I just point out that after Blogger's little burp the other week, some of my comments have disappeared. I know this for sure as I actually answered them, and the answers are gone, too! So apologies if yours was one of the comments - I didn't delete them!
It's sad, really cos in my answers I told you all about the meaning of life, where to find the God Particle (no, not in Richard Armitage's pants. That would make it the God Testicle) and what happens to Peter in the next series of "Fringe".
But sadly, is all gone now thanks to Blogger and their jiggery pokery (obviously they didn't get the ratio right and there was considerably more pokery than jiggery).

So anyway - small post today as I am suffering from post-first draft malaise and am only taking a quick break before heading back into the corner to cry, shake and mumble incoherently about how my career is over and I might as well be dead or an accountant.

Here's one of my favourite Orly polishes, Gumdrop.
I got this thanks to the lovely Jacie's blog sale...

Two coats of turquoise awesomeness!
I am a sucker for turquoise, and as I can't wear China Glaze's "For Audrey" cos of my allergy, the colour has kinda become my white whale. I can't stop looking for that perfect turq.

Lovely in all types of light. Great application and wear. I really can't fault it.

Enable me!

2011-05-11T13:41:00.002+08:00

Guys, something is terribly wrong with me.
I'm talking something so weird, so terrifying, that it simply beggars belief.
After a year of no international polish hauls, I have money for one and I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO GET OR WHERE TO GET IT FROM.

I know!
You'd think after a year on a no-buy of anything except cheap Aussie stuff, and the Aussie dollar being at an all-time high I'd be full to the brim of what I wanted to get. But no! My list is as follows -

Color Club Wild at Heart.

Yeah.
And it gets worse! Helen informed me that OPI is now going "4-free" (meaning formaldehyde resin free).
YAY!
So I can now wear some OPI polish.
But do you think I can find anything I want out of their latest collections?
Nope.
The 'shatter' polishes leave me cold especially. Been there, done that with BYS last year.

Something has gone stupendously wrong. My buying hiatus has shorted out something in my brain.

But it gets worse. It's been so long since I've got anything from overseas I don't know where to buy from.
I used to use Head 2 Toe, but they have restrictions on certain polishes outside of the US, and I know there's quite a few new businesses out there people are using that I've never heard of. I would love some more N'fu's or some other exotic glitters from far off lands - but where do I get them from? *boggles*

I thought about ebay too, of course. But I have to admit I'm a little leery of it now that customs seems to be cracking down on people posting polish. What if I order something and customs stops it? I think a proper business is the way to go.

I need suggestions - what have I missed in the last year?
What are the best companies to buy from? (Remember I'm in Australia)
I'm asking you all - ENABLE MEEEEEEE!

Sportsgirl Green Tea

2011-04-21T15:40:00.012+08:00

I'm baaack!
Trying to get back in to the swing of things and failing miserably. I just realised I forgot to watermark these photos, but they took half an hour for blogger to load and I'm. Not. Doing. It. Again!

So if anyone steals the pics, I will CUT THEM WITH A PASTRY WHEEL!
They will be all crimped and pretty and bleeding and dead, and it will be awesome as I will be revenged.
And in the mood for pie.
COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AVENGEMENT PIE!
Or I could just report it to ebay or whatever and let them deal with it.
I dunno. I still like pie.

But hey! I finished my script. All 125 pages of it. Now to edit the damn thing...and write about 3 more by October. Sigh. My glamorous life in entertainment. I've also been declared main care-giver for my grandmother and so that's like going to the Oscars except with more sanitary pads and Nanna hugs :)

The good thing is, I get an allowance from the government to do it, so at least I have some income now and can save to go back to the UK at the end of the year for a scriptwriting conference.
Of course I'd do it for free, but the government is all like - "OMG, Nixx - take this free money, you totally rock."
And I'm all like - "Oh, no I couldn't possibly - she's my Grandmother, it's a given."
And they're like - "But you get a concession card, too!'
And I'm all like "Cheap movies?? Why didn't you say so? Give to Mummy! Thor here I come!"

Ahem.
So.
Anyway...
Sportsgirl.
It's a clothing chain here in Australia - kinda similar to Top Shop and those kind of places, ie. teenagers the size of twigs can shop there and everyone else over a size 6 pretty much has to buy shoes, handbags, jewellery or nail polish cos they're the only things they can fit into (how do those places make any money? Are all the skinny teenagers also rich? Or do all the "fat" girls just drop their wallets enough on accessories for them to stay afloat?).

Seeing as how I am most definitely in that category, I picked this little number up about 10 months ago when I was still living in Melbourne. Yes, it's taken me this long to get around to posting it. Quiet, you.

So.
Dark green with a bluish tinge. Kinda jelly-ish.
Observe -

Lovely with a good glossy topcoat. Two or three layers to reach opacity.

Two things to watch -

One - if you get a long bottle like this (Sportsgirl seemed to have changed the bottle shape lately) be careful of inadvertently loading the brush with too much polish.
You might think you're OK - but don't realise that because the brush is so long, the polish up the top takes time to slide down.
Thus halfway through a mani - BLURP! - you get a big blob suddenly descending on to your nail.

Two - this thing stains like a bitch. Put some kind of undercoat on before you apply it. You'll thank me for it.

But besides that - this is a fantastic green. One of the best greens in my collection actually.
Truly glam and quite cheap - if I remember rightly this was about $12.95 AUS (cheap by our standards, anyway).

I notice this isn't listed on the Sportsgirl website, so I don't know if they've discontinued this colour along with discontinuing the long bottle design. But I have seen the long bottles in Sportgirls stores recently - maybe they're phasing it out?

If that's the case, I suggest you Aussie girls get your butts down to a Sportsgirl store real quick before they disappear forever.

I'm outtie, dudes. And remember - pastry wheel, bitches!

Weekend Funnies

2011-03-25T17:52:00.006+08:00

This is an old video (the myspace reference kinda gives it away!) but I've only just seen it. Totally worth it just for the re-enactment actors.
Champagne work, guys!

Proof the entry standard for the Empire's armed forces is starting to slip -

This is why you don't give kids stupid/misspelled
names -

BYS Colour Change - Salmon

2011-03-21T14:10:00.014+08:00

So.
Salmon.
Not exactly the world's most glamorous nail polish name.
Here, it refers to the salmon pink hue - but still it conjures up fishy smells, images of gawping mouths and this -

- for me.

I have to say this was my least favourite colour when I first saw the whole collection.
What a good thing then, that when you put this little gem on, it's not so much like being slapped in the mug with a fish and more like being lovingly caressed with a dew-kissed, anchovy-infused* apricot blossom.

Observe -

I have to say, this strikes me as more of a peach than salmon, but whatever floats your dirigible.

As I've said before, Perth has been going through a ridiculously hot Autumn (36C here tomorrow) and getting these mood polishes to change requires a bit of encouragement with a dish of cold water. Like so -

I realise now I should have made the water a bit deeper, but you get the general idea.
This goes from a peachy/salmon pink to a blushy orangey/pink which is actually really pretty.

It dries matte, and needed about 5 coats to reach opacity, so get ready with that fast dry topcoat!
Luckily the time is worth it, cos I think this is actually my second favourite of the whole collection, after the purple.

So - now that I've tried the whole colour change collection, what are my conclusions?

First off - if you're really into mood polishes, don't bother wearing these in weather over 30 degrees celsius. They're about as useful as a Frida Kahlo Uterus Plushie.
Don't even bother with them unless you're happy with the base default colour, as that's all you're gonna see on hot days.

But - the base colours are perfectly nice colours. Especially with a nice shiny top coat.
If it's under 30C - go for it. They're fun and will keep you amused watching them all the time!

On the subject of coats - be prepared to do a few of them. At least 4 to get rid of VNL.

Some of the colour variations could do with a tweak. The dark blue/royal blue one was too subtle and the "dirt under the fingernails" effect some of them had was a bit hard to get over.

But overall - good collection, and I hope this is the first of a bigger line, much like what BYS did with their Crackle stuff.

Thanks to Director Dave over at Fashion Addict for letting me sample these. They're all $4.95 and available right now.

*Note: Does not smell nor taste like anchovies. Much like Dawn from "Buffy", I just love them more than all the other fishes and so look upon anchoviness as a good thing. And yes, "anchoviness" is a word - I just made it one. Shut up.

Weekend Funnies

2011-03-18T14:59:00.002+08:00

I'm back on the health train again, but one thing that bothers me is those damn fitness instructors! They're so fake and perky all the time.

Good thing Vera De Milo knows how to keep it real!

One for all my nerd-girls out there! This would be a deal-breaker for me, too. No one disses Captain Tight-Pants!

You haven't lived til you've heard a Dalek call someone a "stupid pr*ck" (language warning, obviously!)

BYS Purple & Blue Glitter Colour Changing

2011-03-17T13:29:00.009+08:00

So guess what you could possibly add to colour changing polishes to make them more intriguing than they already are?

Justin Bieber's tears?

A volume of pureed Encyclopedia Britannicas?

Flakes of small microchips capable of building a self-sustaining cold-fusion power source and using it to run a tiny, teeny health club/resort catering to celebrities who have only appeared on reality shows with the letter "A" in the title?

Well guess what - you'd be WRONG!
And possibly psychotic. You might want to have that looked at.

How bout glittah?
Lots and lots of fine silver glitter!

At the moment BYS has two glitter colours in their mood polish collection - a purple and a blue...

Yes, this is the Purple.
It's pink on me. Cos I run hot, you see :)

With Perth's warm Autumn weather this stayed resolutely pink on me the entire time, and I had to resort to more dunking in cold water to get it to leap to life...

With the darker colour on the ends, this did sort of end up in the "she's got dirt caught under her nails" category sometimes. But apart from that I still liked the look.

It's a very angelic pink, but be warned it will take multiple layers to get rid of the VNL (I got to 6 thin coats for this) plus a top coat to bring out the silver glitter, as it dried matte.

The Blue is equally angelic and really comes to life when the cold gets to it.
(Apologies for the lack of pics - I had some trouble with the camera and this was all I could salvage from the digital wreckage).

Stayed baby blue the entire day.
Time to open a can of whoop-tushy on the situation...

Aha! There it is!
Really, really lovely effect and I can't wait to try this one out in colder weather.
Once again, this was about 6 coats, with a shiny top for good measure.

You can find these in discount stores all over Australia, or you can hit up Director Dave right now over at Fashion Addict and pick them up for $4.95AU (and he does international postage).

The lucky last colour change polish to review up next!

BYS Bright Pink & Royal Blue Colour Changing Polish

2011-03-14T18:40:00.006+08:00

Alrighty, folks - today I have two more of the BYS Colour Change Collection Fashion Addict sent me to try.

In the interests of speed I wore these colours at the same time, one on each hand.
First up - the lovely Royal Blue.

This is such a great shade of blue I don't even care that it's a mood polish!
It does require about 4 coats to get bottle colour though, and dried matte.
A top coat soon took care of that and voila!

Unfortunately, my "jelly = sensitive, chalky = less sensitive" hypothesis didn't pan out, as this had a jelly-ish consistency but wasn't easy to turn navy blue...

Can you see a the very tips, there?
The problem is that the two colours are too much alike to see much of a difference, but even to get that difference I had to shove my fingers in the freezer with the frozen peas :)

All the same - I love the colour, and I would definitely wear this again.

Luxe for $4.95!

And now to the Bright Pink.
Firstly I must apologise for the colour here. My camera for some reason has turned my nails bright orange, when in reality this is a very definite neon pink.

I've tried everything and I can't get it to photograph right. Even adjusting the balance on my photo software doesn't work :/
So I suggest if you want a true version of the colour you look here.

So anyhoo - this is a neon pink with a darker raspberry tone in cool temp. Sound nice?
Well, it is. Except...

When the colour change kicks in you look like you've got dirt stuck under your fingernails. Urgh.

It's not a problem when it's further up the nail (ie. half one colour, half the other), but most of the time you end up with just the tips the darker colour. And of course, this was a more sensitive polish than the blue, so it looked that way ALL THE TIME. Figures!

Which is a pity, cos it's a perfectly good pink neon otherwise.
Like the rest of the collection so far, I had to do 4 coats (chalky consistency again) and it dried matte. A good top coat gave it a great shine, and it was quite hard-wearing.

I just wasn't hot on the alternate colour.

Back next with the glitter colour changes!

BYS Colour Change - Blue

2011-03-11T15:37:00.006+08:00

Been trying to do this post for HOURS and blogger has only just let me upload the photos - phew!

So this is the second of the new BYS Colour Change Collection Director Dave over at Fashion Addict sent me to review. Very simply titled "Blue", it is indeed...blue!

Or turquoise if we're going to be specific :)
As I was saying yesterday, this polish seems to be a lot less responsive than the pink - it applied turquoise and stayed turquoise until I did some experimenting with ice water.

The formula of this one is very different to the pink I did as well. This is a chalky, higher pigmented polish but still required 4 thin coats as it was rather streaky.

It also dries matte, so if you're like me and hate mattes with a hatey-hate-hate, you'll want to bung a top coat on it. The top coat evened out any streaks and gave it a great plastic-y kind of look, so I was really happy with that.
And before you ask - no the top coat didn't have any effect on the heat sensitivity, as the pink one also had the same top coat and was working fine.

As you can see, it's still a really nice colour even if it's not changing constantly.
To make it change, I had to dunk it it cold water or hold it against something from the fridge - observe -

Nice, huh? I'd really like to try this in colder weather - maybe then I'd get a nice ombre effect like I did with the pink one...

So overall, I loved the colour of this but was disappointed it wasn't as sensitive as the pink I'd tried earlier. I haven't tried the other 5 colours yet, but I'm wondering whether the jellies = sensitive, chalkies = less sensitive. Only one way to find out!

I'll be back soon with the rest of the collection.

You can find these in most department stores in Australia soon, or over at Fashion Addict for $4.95 Australian (and yes they do ship internationally :)

BYS COLOUR CHANGE COLLECTION!

2011-03-09T23:17:00.006+08:00

Very excited, guys!
I don't say that much about a collection nowadays, but this is the most interesting thing I've seen on the nail circuit for quite a while.

Director Dave over at Fashion Addict has sent me some samples of BYS's new colour change "mood" polishes - 7 in all.

BTW, before I go any further - if you haven't already heard the good news, Fashion Addict is now shipping polish internationally! So you can order these right now and stop making sad faces at me in the comments! Yay! Aussie polish for all! :D

Here's the whole collection - 5 block colour polishes, and two with silver micro-glitter in them (you can go here for the pretty light-box close up pics).

Colour change and glitter - WIN in my books!

I had to resist the urge to skittle all of these and put one colour on each finger, but in the interests of trying every one out fairly I just put one colour on each hand and I'll blog one a day. I simply can't swatch anymore with my skin the way it is.

First off the block is the very imaginatively named "Bright Purple"

This goes from a bright dark purple into fuchsia and eventually candy pink depending on your "mood" (ie. temperature). And as you can see by the water drop, I was experimenting a little with "mood" enhancers ;)

This was after I'd been in the sun for awhile, and obviously the warmer it gets the pinker the polish. Bit of VNL, but it's just the way the light's hitting it.

The polish itself is rather translucent (this is 4 thin coats) and has a jellyish micro-shimmer to it that is very, very pretty once you put a shiny top-coat over it.

True to the hype, it's also very sensitive to temperature.
I got a reaction the second I started applying it and had great fun dipping it in pans of cold and hot water to see what it would do. Cold water got the best results.
Observe -

Inside after cold water

Sunlight after cold water

The last two pics is what it looked like most of the time today (35 Celsius in Perth, probably about 25 inside). I got a gentle ombre blush on the nails - so pretty it reminds me of a tropical sunset.
And also this dress -

I imagine the longer the nails you have, the better ombre effect you would get.
Conversely, I'm not sure that anyone with short nubbins would get much but an all-over colour change according to your body temp.
Great reason to grow those nails, gals!

Now I'll leave most of the comparisons till the next post when I show you the blue I put on the other hand, but I must flag now that the collection seems to have a couple of different textures.

This purple one was jelly-ish, but the blue one I tried is chalky, highly pigmented, dried matte and was a lot less sensitive to temperature (but still looked awesome).

I get the feeling that cold weather is when these polishes would really shine - probably why they released them now in Australian autumn (not that you'd know it here in Perth - we've been having a heatwave for the last month).
When the tips of your fingers get nipped by the cold, that's when the ombre effect would be most pronounced. Fingerless gloves, ahoy!

So what do you think so far?
I'm having heaps of fun just watching my nails change - I can't wait to try the rest.

I have a feeling these are going to be big over here when they hit the shops. $4.95 is cheap for polish in Oz, and $4.95 for mood polish? Well I've never seen any for sale here before, so I think it's a given they'll go like hotcakes.

Blue one next!

Weekend Funnies

2011-03-04T19:57:00.002+08:00

It's Friday night again!

Now this is super-cute and clever -

This song has been on repeat ALL DAY -

Can you believe this was a real perfume??

If they were going to do the same thing nowadays, they'd have to call it "Slut" or "Skank" or something...

BYS now ships internationally!

2011-03-03T21:51:00.004+08:00

International peeps (by that I mean non-Australians)!
Good news!

Did you know Fashion Addict - the online store who supplies BYS - now does international shipping on nail polish?
Now you do!

So all those BYS's you've been drooling about on our Gumleaf Mafia blogs can now be yours! (Plus other brands!).

Go forth and multiply your collections, peoples!

This is not a blog post...

2011-02-27T23:07:00.017+08:00

OK, so I'm totally trying to work on this script of mine.
It's imperative I finish this script sometime in the next millennium.
Imperative.

So I just don't have time for writing nail posts, googling Elie Saab dresses I will never be able to afford let alone fit into, and downloading a shit-ton of Swedish pop music ( go on, Robyn and September - fight for my love! Fiiiiiggght!)

I totally don't have time to do a blog post.
No sir-eee!
Nope.
Gotta script you see.
A big 'un.
Career-making.

Sigh.
Typey, type.
Typity, type, type, type.

OK - 6 imaginary words down!
What? I have to do real work?
You suck.
Alright, then...

EXT. TRAILER PARK - DAY

A tumbleweed skittles across the pock-marked road leading into a mangy, deserted looking caravan park.
It comes to rest against a pair of blue dust-encrusted high heels, lolling against them like an affectionate cat.

Pan up to the fishnet-clad legs wearing the heels.

CHARLA (O.S.)

Ugh!

The shoes kick at the weed but only succeed in skewering it with a heel.

Wide shot of CHARLA - late teens/early 20's. Clothes by Hot Topic, makeup by a trowel.

CHARLA

Shitshitshitshitshit!

She hops around, but the weed won't budge. Eventually she leans down and pulls it off with her hands, throwing it away in disgust.

Taking a deep breath, she rolls her shoulders back and makes determinedly for a large decrepit caravan at the very end of the drive.

Picking delicately over the entrails of a car decorating the front "lawn", she reaches the door and tries her best to make her knock sound strong and confident.
A gravelly voice resounds from within.

IGGY (O.S)

I'm a Satanist!

CHARLA

W-what?

IGGY (O.S.)

I'm sacrificing a goat - go away!

CHARLA

I-er...I'm looking for Ignatius?

There's an annoyed grunt from inside, and the sounds of clanking.
The door whomps open, revealing IGGY - a surprisingly dapper looking man in his 50's.

IGGY

Sorry - no religion for me today.
Got mine last Tuesday.
I'll borrow a cup from next door
if I run out...

He goes to slam the door, but Charla quickly inserts her heel. The door rebounds off it and she gives a grunt of pain.

CHARLA

Do I look like a Mormon?

Iggy eyes her with irritation.

IGGY

I don't know. You could be from

that new chapter of Emo-Mormons...

CHARLA

You wanna frisk me for copies of the

"Watchtower"?

Iggy snorts.

IGGY

You got any Renesmee?

CHARLA

What's Renesmee?

Iggy inclines his head.

IGGY

Good answer.

State your business, then.

CHARLA

Not outside.

IGGY

Secret Squirrel, eh?

He steps away from the door and motions inside with a graceful hand.

IGGY

Come on, then - you're letting the

tumbleweeds in.

Charla looks down to see three more tumbleweeds assembled at her feet.
She yelps and scoots inside.
Iggy stifles a chuckle and looks around carefully before closing the door on the weeds.

INT. IGGY'S CARAVAN - DAY

Charla stands awkwardly, not knowing quite where to go in the maze of spare parts.
Doll's heads, car innards, Lego and other unidentified salvage covers every available surface.

Something that looks like an engine block is resting precariously on the dining table, it's plywood bending under the weight.

Iggy crosses to the table and sits down behind it, picking up a screwdriver.

IGGY
So...?

He begins unscrewing something on the block. He's surprisingly free of oil and grease.

Charla opens her mouth - not sure how to begin - when she catches sight of something on a side table.
She looks closer.

It's a princess doll in a silver holographic dress nestled amongst the grimy detritus
Fascinated, she picks it up - and it's eyes fall out.
She lets out a squeak as Iggy looks up, banging a fist on the table and waggling the screwdriver at her.

IGGY
Hey! Get your titties off my things

and tell me why you're here!

Dander up, Charla folds her arms and stares him down.

CHARLA

I hear you're the person to come to
for unusual problems.

IGGY

Uh-huh. Like what, pray tell?

Charla huffs out a breath. Here goes...

CHARLA

Like me.

Aaaand SCENE!

See? No time for any blog posts at all.
Typie, typie, type...

P.S.
Charla is Fab.U. Lous!
Two coats, perfect texture, lasts ages - mwah! Perfecto! Now one of my all-time faves. Big thanks to Landa!!

P.P.S.
I take no responisbility for the script format of this post - blogger won't let me do it industry-standard *shakes gnarled RSI-riddled fist*

MWCILTRMND Monday!

2011-02-26T16:40:00.009+08:00

Hey guys! Got to get some writing done today so I'll make this short n' sweet.

His name is Daniel Villa and he's Columbian.

Enjoy.

Weekend Funnies

2011-02-25T18:10:00.006+08:00

This week we have a mixed bag of funnies - and if you're a nerd, let's just say it helps...

Enrique, eat your heart out!

Well the Oscars are this weekend...

Something not up for an Oscar, but maybe a Tony...

Have a great weekend, folks!

BYS Pretty Pastel Peppermint

2011-02-24T11:53:00.005+08:00

Well lookee here - it's another nail post. I must be regaining my mojo a bit :)

So since I've moved back to Western Australia I haven't bought a lot of polish due to lack of money (and lack of any good stores that sell cheap stuff I can wear, too) so it was nice to be able to pick up this little number at a local place for the teeny sum of $4.95.

PPP as I'm calling it, is indeed pastel but it's also kinda neon if that makes sense. Sometimes it looks fluoro green, sometimes pastel, sometimes more lime. Whatever it is, it gets attention!

Now, the formula is quite runny and it took 3 coats to get bottle colour. But for the price it's manageable and the end result got a lot of compliments from strangers, so I'm OK with that!

I think this would be a great one for St Patrick's day, too.

You can pick this up at most discount stores in Australia, or Fashion Addict has it over here as well. Unfortunately they don't send polish internationally, so sorry overseas gals! * EDIT - GUESS WHAT? THEY JUST ANNOUNCED THEY'RE DOING INTERNATIONAL SHIPPING! YAY!

Now on a related note, has anyone been over to the BYS site recently? Have you seen what they're doing now?

Exciting, no? Surprised I haven't seen a press release about them yet...

MWCILTRMND Monday!

2011-02-18T17:36:00.010+08:00

Yes, it's back for 2011! Your # 3 source (after Google and staring out a window) of male eyecandy on a Monday.

Today I bring for your delectation, the rather nummy looking Ben Hill.
Ben's from the US, and one of the world's top male models.
Give it up for Ben, everybody!

Ah, my Arabian Nights fantasy has come to life! *swoon!*

Is there anything better than good leather on a hot man? Good leather OFF a hot man maybe?

Definitely got the Rock Hudson-esque thing goin' on...

I haz an owee right...here. Volunteers to kiss it better?

Photographer: "Alright kids, so we're looking for "Grease"meets "Inception" meets Pris from "Blade Runner" aaaad - ACTION!"

Ben starring in the new feature film "Bring Me The Head of Justin Bieber"

"I am a model. I model things. This is one of the things that I model."

Photographer - "So the look we want here is "Thousand-yard stare of a man who's just realised he's earning a buttload of money - but is now
wearing a khaki play-suit in public."

"Ah, perfect! "

Girls do make passes at boys who wear glasses.
As long as the rest of their body is nekkid.

You know what they say about nerds - the bigger the calculator....

"I can read your mind. You're thinking, "Are his
cheekbones going to burst out of his skin?"

"I am happy to be wearing this.
Really.
Very happy.
Shut up."

Oh, Ben! You so crazay!

Weekend Funnies

2011-02-18T15:24:00.003+08:00

So in an attempt at normality, I'm posting some funnies again!

I just saw Britney's new clip, which makes me want to wash my eyes out with kerosene. How many product placements could they squeeze in there? I counted about 4 in the first 20 seconds. Everyone is complaining about her dancing (or lack thereof) in the clip but it's all relative, people.
It could be so much worse.
It could be this -

*shudder*

I think the best dancing I've seen in a while is courtesy of the Lonely Island Guys. And it's so easy, anyone can do it...

But if that's not your style, how bout some good old style 90's R&B, baby girl? No dancing required, except the horizontal kind...

The Axis of Awesome: How to Write a Love Song - watch more funny videos

CG Atlantis and No - I'm Not Dead

2011-02-14T14:34:00.005+08:00

So guess what? I'm still around. Just busy and in a bit of a funk at the mo. Not helped by Blogger refusing to load photos all the time. Blah.
So anyway, just to show you I'm not dead, here are some shots of Atlantis, which I got courtesy of the awesome Landa...

How can you not love that? Instant classic!

Grovelling Secret Santa Thanks!

2010-12-29T11:51:00.004+08:00

OK - here's where I just dissolve into a little puddle of goo and turn into a grovelling idiot!

I participated in the nail bloggers Secret Santa thing again this year, and I made out like a BANDIT!

Not only did my unidentified Santa (known as "L") send me a gift, she sent me the mother of all gifts! The Secret Santa guidelines say 2 polishes, but she sent me ALL THIS -

Plus a Christmas bracelet!
Yeah!
And look - that's Zoya's Charla, Orly's Space Cadet & Royal Navy, and China Glaze's Atlantis! ATLANTIS, baby! All of these are off my "I can't afford even if I could get ahold of them" wishlist.

And just in case you're not getting how incredibly generous and downright awesome this is, let me explain that all of these polishes and brands are between hard-to-find to non-existent in Australia.

And the brands that are hard-to-find don't have these actual colours available in the country yet.

And to further my point, If I was to buy at RRP for just these 4 polishes -

- here in Australia, it would cost me over $70! (That's $70 US since our dollar achieved parity)
Z.O.M.G! Geddit? And that's just those 4. EPIC win!

I waited patiently until Christmas day to open these and got very teary when I saw them. My family thought I was nuts. They gave me a new LCD TV and I didn't cry!

So thank you "L". You made my Christmas, and you can be sure I'll take good care of them. As you can see they're working on their Aussie tan right now :) *MWAH!*

In other news, I also got these -

Scented polishes from Priceline. Haven't tried them, and to be honest the frosted colours don't turn me on, but they were dirt cheap at $7.99 for 4 and I've never tried scented before. I'll try them out soon.
Well...as soon as I can bear to take Atlantis of my fingers :)

Hope you all had a great Xmas!

Have a Patrick Swayze Christmas!

2010-12-24T11:52:00.003+08:00

Well it's Friday and also Christmas Eve, so what better time for some holiday-themed Weekend Funnies?

I'm sure Patrick would have a laugh at this -

Just because it's the holidays doesn't mean you can't be prepared -

Funny cos it's true -

Merry Christmas everyone!

BB Couture Icy Orchid

2010-12-23T17:58:00.004+08:00

Weeell it's about time I did some blogging again!

I'm dying of heat exhaustion, and the relatives from over east have descended on us early this year - so all the associated Xmas crap has started early over my way.
It's always nice to sprinkle the "Haven't you got a boyfriend yet?" comments in over a 3 week period instead of a 2 day concentrated dose, don't you think :/
Kill me now...

So whilst the torture continues, let us plug our fingers in our ears, go "La-la-laaa!" and retreat to a happier place. Free of Aunties and Uncles and various cousins who look like supermodels!
Back! Back! Back into time to...earlier in the year.

Way back to when I actually had a place of my own and some money, I ordered a whole lot of BB Coutures from Overall Beauty and this is one I just never got round to posting.

Icy Orchid is a lovely baby blue frosted. I was a little leery about ordering this as frosted polishes have a rep as looking streaky and very 80's. But I wanted it anyway, and you know - I don't see a "Flock of Seagulls" in sight...

Now the streakiness is a little bit tricky. As you can see, it does show a bit. It also highlights some lumps and bumps (probably not helped by the Orly Nail Rescue underneath it! You can see the edge around the cuticles, there).

The streaks only show up when they catch the light a certain way, and a good undercoat before applying should help as well.

For the outside photos I- well hello!
Who's a good girl? Who's a good girl? Who's a goodgood girl? You are! You are!
Ahem. Sorry.

As I was saying, lighting is everything. Here the streaks aren't so bad.
Application was a breeze, and this was two coats, so nice pigmentation too.
Ugh. Bad mani job tho - feel free to stick your fingers in your eyes and go "La-la-larrrgh!"

If you're one of those people who goes all weird over every little streak, I'd probably stay clear of this one, but if you're prepared to give in to the frosty goodness, I'd recommend it. And really - you can't have enough blue, can you :)

Alright - off to hide in a closet. If anyone springs me, I'll tell 'em I'm looking for Xmas presents...

Weekend Funnies

2010-12-03T10:55:00.004+08:00

Everyone remember Shy Ronnie?

It's recently come to my attention that there's a sequel.

The Oscars are coming....

Sesame Street is so much cooler than when I was a kid...

Heaven & Hell Mani

2010-12-01T13:22:00.004+08:00

Just so everyone knows, this is where I'm at right now -
I'm currently living for the foreseeable future back in Perth (well, an hour away to be exact) due to the fact I have no place to live and I bankrupted myself going to the UK for LookButDon'tTouch Tour 2010.

All my worldly possessions (including my car) are still back in Melbourne waiting until I have enough money to transport them across the country. This includes almost all of my polish collection, bar about 30.

This poses a slight problem for the blog, as not only do I have zero funds for getting new polish, I have a backlog of photos I can post - but I don't seem to have labelled them.
No names.
Duh.

So I hope I've got the names of these right. Feel free to correct me if you know I've got it wrong. I'd like to think I'll eventually get on top of it, but I know that the closer I get to Xmas, the more my mind is going to melt into a cinnamon-scented blob of subcutaneous fat.

Anyhoo.

I remember being so excited about these Color Club polishes when I got them, I couldn't decide which one to wear first.
So I wore both!
Yeah, I got some weird looks at work, but what's new about that?
I dub it my "Heaven & Hell" mani, cos the silver reminds me of an angel, and the black holo of glowing ashes. I am nothing if not poetic, yes?

*this photo was achieved by lying face-down on the floor with my hands in front of me. I pushed the camera button with my chin. Don't say I don't suffer for my art...

The black holo is the very luscious Color Club Revvvolution (Sigh. Who names these things. How much are they paid? Why am I not one of them?)

Absolutely gorgeous with a shiny top coat, but ultimately not very flattering on me. I just can't wear black. It brings out the red in my fingers and I just end up looking florid. Observe -

Meh. Not so good.

The gorgeous silver/multi coloured polish is (I think!) Color Club's Magic Attraction.

This reminds me of the glitter you find on Christmas ornaments.
You do have to do a few coats to reach this level of coverage, but the result is worth it :)

It's very spangly - always flashing a different colour.
If you love your glitters and don't have this yet - get eeet! It's perfect for the holiday season.

Anyone else a fan of half n' half manis or is it just me?

MWCILTRMND Monday!

2010-11-29T12:25:00.005+08:00

Remember how I said I'd try to get back to usual around here?
Ahem...

It's baaack!
Here to brighten your Monday is Aussie actor Don Hany -

I can't find much in the way of quotable silly pics of him - guess he's just too classy! So just sit back and enjoy the eye candy, gals.

Us Aussies can currently see him on "Offspring" (which I would rather poke my eyes out with cuticle pushers than watch), but let's not hold that against him...or rub it. Or caress...oh my - shutting up now...

I think he has more than a passing resemblance to "The Mummy"'s Oded Fehr here.

(This was taken 10 years ago, but as you can see - age cannot dim Hotness)

If he ever decided on a second career as a Yoga teacher, I think he'd be a millionaire...

Anyhoo - next week I will find some more unsuspecting hottie LOLs for you and hopefully get back to my more "normal" MWCILTRMND style :D
Still easing back into the swing of things.

UK Trip Haul

2010-11-22T14:50:00.007+08:00

Oooo-kay!
So I've found that the major thing (apart from sheer laziness) keeping me from starting the blog up again properly is that so much has happened I just don't know where to start. It's overwhelming. So instead of one mammoth post to tell you absolutely everything that's happened in the last couple of months, I'm going to pepper it in over time. That way I'm not boring everyone nattering on and on about my holiday when I should be talking about nails, too!

So, suffice to say - it was bloody awesome! Kaz and I had a ball. My eyes will never recover from the sheer amount of jaw-droppingly gorgeous views, art and architecture.
Coming from Australia, where the oldest buildings you'll find are a little over 200 years old, (checked - oldest is 211 yrs) it was just phenomenal.

I would have liked to do some updates on the blog while I was away, but I wasn't able to use my laptop the entire time. Not one hotel I stayed at had free or even affordable internet (£25 for 24hrs access - screw you!), so I ended up pecking at my iphone for hours just to send emails! Got old real quick, I can tell you.
Hopefully you guys got enough from my Twitter feed to get the idea I was alive and having fun :)

So how much polish did I score?
Not much! Not only was I constrained by budget, it was rather disappointing to discover that much of what was over there we had over here anyway.
I can't wear Illamasqua or Nails inc. stuff cos of my allergy, so there really wasn't a lot of choice once I'd filtered out colours that were similar to what I already had at home, and what I couldn't afford.

I got a few of those layered polishes (3 colours in one bottle) at Claire's which quickly hit the bin when I realised they looked terrible, and a very disappointing Mavala metallic beetle-green which peeled almost as soon as both Kaz and I tried it. That ate bin as well. Ruthless, I know - but I had luggage weight to consider.

Indeed, the only polishes I came home with were one Claire's glitter which looks like a dupe of Zoya's Roxy (couldn't resist) and the revelation of the trip - two Andrea Fulerton "Trio" bottles, and a bottle of her Gemstone Overcoat.

I haven't tried the Claire's glitter, but I wore the Andrea Fulerton ones to death while I was there and they wear like iron.

The "Rain" Trio (so called because you can wear both polishes separately or layer them for a third shade)-

- has a flakey that is very similar to Nfu'oh's # 52, which led to much girly squees!

So of course I had to go back and get the Gemstone overcoat (£4.99), which is basically flakes in a bottle - turning anything you layer under it into a work of art. It's very thick with flakes and the best overcoat of it's kind I've tried. LOOOOOOVE!

I liked "Rain" so much I also got the "Princess" trio (£7.99) even though I had similar colours at home.

The "glass fleck" polish really has staying power and although I wasn't overly impressed with the third shade the two polishes combined made, I discovered I could do a sort of "ombre" effect easily which looked quite spiffy

Sorry bout the rough cuticles, but I was on holidays, dammit! You get the idea...

The Andrea Fulerton polishes (and there's a big range!) were all bought from Superdrug, so if you're in the UK and haven't tried them, I suggest you check 'em out - well worth it.

So there you go. My massively small haul, but I'm happy with what I got.
Back later with some more pics n' polish!

Home!

2010-11-17T11:42:00.005+08:00

I'm home!
Home but still not entirely lucid.
Jet lag combined with my usual form of insomnia is sapping my will to live so I'm not quite ready to resume my regularly scheduled programming.
All I have energy for is watching TV, playing with the cats and building small forts out of grass clippings.
I miss London. I miss France. I miss those underpants I threw out cos my luggage was overweight.
Had a brilliant time and will tell you all about it when I can form cohesive whatever-you-call-thems.

In the meantime, here's a picture of a fork -

London Calling!

2010-09-24T21:25:00.002+08:00

Well guys - this is it.
After 6 months of planning, stressing and no-buys, it's here.
Kaz and I are London-bound!

Although the brief may have changed a bit (damn UK's new working visa laws!), I have a scriptwriting conference to go to at the end of October, and lots of sightseeing, meeting up with bloggy pals and researching my TV series to do - I won't be bored in the 7 or so weeks I have! Hopefully I'll sow the seeds for moving over there or something equally exciting - who knows??

So the blog is now officially on hiatus. I might post some stuff occasionally, but I won't have reliable net access for the laptop so I can't promise anything.
You can follow our exploits on Twitter - I'm sure we'll be posting pics and stuff whenever we can.

Remember if you're a blogger and you want to come meet us, we're having a get-together/shopping expedition/lunch on Saturday the 2nd of October in London. Please contact Helen over at Just Nice Things for the deets.

Catch you later, dudes :)

Weekend Funnies

2010-09-17T20:28:00.003+08:00

This may very well be the last Weekend Funny lot before I go away, as I'm sure next Friday (the night before I leave) will be spent in an Indian restaurant. So here goes...

Snap like you mean it!

Language warning on this...

Apropos of Nothing

2010-09-14T18:17:00.004+08:00

We got something in at work, and I just have to share it with you lot.
Anyone remember this guy?

Yes, it's less-wanky-version-of-Jared-Leto in cigarette lighter form! LOL!

We're selling him for 99 cents, along with Brad Pitt, David Beckham, and some other guy with six-pack abs I don't recognise.

Somehow I don't think they know they're lighting the cancer-sticks of w0men and gay guys (who are buying all 4 varieties at once so they have the whole collection) all over the world. Someone call the copyright police!

Weekend Funnies

2010-09-10T20:39:00.002+08:00

Been a bit remiss in the Weekend Funnies department lately, so let's do something to fix that, hmm?

Possibly the best ad ever -

You know - this actually makes a lot of sense...

It's a bit sad that some girls are actually like this...

Orly - Cashmere Cardigan

2010-09-08T21:41:00.005+08:00

Small change in plans, folks!

Sorry but I've had an allergic reaction to something in BYS's Prima Ballerina (it supposedly doesn't have any formaldehyde/ formaldehyde resin/formalin in it, but I'm getting a reaction the same as f. resin), so I've had to suspend any swatching until my fingers recover. Bleeding cuticles aren't going to be "in" ever - although I'm sure Debbie Lippmann will have a good go one year at telling us they are! ;)

So here's one from the vaults that I just never got around to posting. It's pretty much a staple in every nail polish nut's helmer, but it bears repeating. Orly's "Cashmere Cardigan"...

These pics were taken about a year ago - hard to believe my nails were ever as long as that now. Time to get out the world's smallest violin again and play a dirge...

Oh, how I love this polish. Such a pleasure to apply - two coats is all you need and it's perfection. Such a pity Orly want almost $20 a bottle for this stuff in Oz. If you're a smart bunny (or savvy gerbil) you'll do what we all do and just buy it on ebay ;)

Oh, look - the sun! I remember that!

Sigh. Long nails - you will be mine again some day.
Oh, yes - you will be mine...

T-minus two and a half weeks till the London trip, btw. Dun-dun-duuunh!

BYS - Prima Ballerina

2010-09-03T18:25:00.005+08:00

OK - got some preliminary pics of the first of those new BYS's Director David over at Fashion Addict sent me. They're not perfect by a long shot, but I'm just too impatient to show you!

I was really pressed for time before going to work today but I desperately wanted to try Prima Ballerina so I did a quick job and kinda fluffed it. It's a testament to how gorgeous this polish is that it still looks good with my bad mani job. So here's some pics to tide you over till I redo this - then you'll get the money shots :D

My camera seems to making this look a little more peachy than it is IRL - sorry bout that...

It's the most gorgeous light neon pink that seems lit from within. It glows.
People were staring at it at work as if trying to work out if my fingers were battery powered or something!

In fact, most of these new BYS colours have the same quality - they're just luminous. I don't know if this is a collection per se, but if it is they need to call it something akin to "LumiNeon". It's like Cate Blanchett in a bottle! Insane...

Prima Ballerina and the rest of the new BYS's are $3.95 over at Fashion Addict right now.

Back soon with some better pics!

New BYS Spring Colours

2010-09-03T09:29:00.002+08:00

Just a quick one to show you some of the new Spring (yes, it's Spring here in the Southern Hemisphere) BYS colours from Fashion Addict!

*Dies*
I'm putting the pink on now :)

Superstar - Remember Me Red

2010-08-31T15:54:00.005+08:00

Helloooo!
Bit of a break in transmission, but we're getting down to the last month before Kaz and I head to Blighty so it's getting seriously busy, dudes.

Anyway - quickly on with my samples of Superstar polishes, and my utterly un-photogenic nails! Honestly, I just look back at old photos of my nails on this blog and want to cry. They used to be so nice - now 6 months of peeling, peeling, peeling. I don't understand it :(

Today I have a classic red, which usually makes me yawn. But as usual, as soon as I get it on my stumps it's a different story and I love it. I think I have red-blindness or something...

Unfortunately these are the only two photos that are good enough to print and don't show my completely shoddy cuticles in all their horror.

It's a jelly, people!
Red jelly. Highly pigmented, 2 coats.
Lush.

Even my bad application and crappy nails can stop this from looking good :D
This is actually just as good as the Streetwear red jelly Kaz sent me, which was up til that point the best red I'd ever tried - jelly or no. Now I have two faves :)
Slam dunk again, Superstar!

Now, in other news - if any bloggers are up for meeting Kaz and I in London in early October, Helen over at Nice Things is helping us organise a day out. We're gonna hit Bond and Oxford Streets and scour them free of nail polish! Followed by a boozy lunch. And possibly more polish. Hopefully no police or ambulances....
In other words, it's gonna be a sexy party!

If you're interested, get in touch with Helen over at Nice Things and she'll give you the deets :D

BYS Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass

2010-08-19T15:34:00.007+08:00

Hi!

Well as you may have heard by now through all our screeching on Twitter, BYS has a new collection (although 3 polishes in my mind hardly constitutes a collection) which no one seems to have heard anything about till I found them in KMart by accident on Tuesday. I'm subscribed to their newsletter - how come I never got a head's up about this?? Is it a soft-release? An old one? No idea...

They look to be inspired by "Alice in Wonderland" - but before you go "Yeah, yeah - whatever. Another collection inspired by Alice. Bit late to the bandwagon, there..." just be aware that they are GLITTERS.

ALL.

GLITTERS!

You can find the official pics over on the BYS website, but I only bought 2 of them, as the green one ("Adventures of Alice") was a bit meh in real life.

(L-R: Down the Rabbit Hole, Through the Looking Glass)

So without further ado, I give you my craptastic photos of what may be the best glitter BYS has ever produced (haven't tried "D.R.H." yet, so I'll reserve final judgement) - "Through the Looking Glass" -

An electric blue fine glitter, with even finer gold flecks...

Sorry the pics are a little dark in places - the weather is awful at the mo and so is the light...

The pigmentation isn't bad, but I put a layer of a random blue polish on first just so I didn't have to do too many layers to reach bottle colour. This is two layers of the actual glitter polish you're seeing here.

Although the glitter is fine, it's very dense and has quite a smooth finish.

Oh, gawd - my awful, awful hands - sorry! I managed to get a macro shot, but I realised when I downloaded it that there was a little issue with cleanup that wasn't obvious as I was taking it. So please just ignore the scattershot of glitter on my cuticles and look at the polish, people! :)

Trying to get some different light on the situation...

This is by far and away the best glitter I've ever had from BYS - the colour, the formula, the application - all above and beyond what you'd expect from a budget polish line. I'll say it once, I'll say it again - keep on doing what you're doing, BYS gang! Your work is STELLAR and us Aussie girls are loving your work lately.

Now, I discovered these in Kmart for the princely sum of $4.75 each (an absolute steal by Aussie standards, you overseas gals), but there were only a few left so they're going fast! Alternatively you can sit on your butt and order them from the comfort of your own home on Fashion Addict for $4.95 HERE, HERE, and HERE.

Sorry international readers - so far I don't know of any shops willing to send these overseas...

Back soon with "Down the Rabbit Hole" - which looks to me a bit like a grainy glitter version of OPI's My Private Jet...

Superstar - Party Purple

2010-08-17T18:19:00.005+08:00

OK guys - another Superstar Lacquer - this one was my surprise favourite. :)

In the bottle, Party Purple looks like a nice enough dark amethyst polish, but on the nail - sooo gorgeous!

Unfortunately, with my nails the way they are, these are the only two pics worth publishing - complete nail fail!

Opaque in one coat (this is two, though) - high gloss, applies like buttah! I totally wasn't expecting to fall in love, but this is definitely down as one of my favourite purples of all time....

Don't you just love it when you get a nice surprise with a polish and adore it when you don't expect to?

Now, Ariana at Superstar also sent me a little something that anyone who loves neons will splooge over! Observe -

Can't see what I'm talking about? Blame Blogger.

NIXX-ENHANCE!!

Gah! Dark skinned honeys of Australia! It's almost Spring - get yourself some yellow polish now, O-M-Freaking-G!

(BTW - that colour is "Eccentric Yellow")

Weekend Funnies

2010-08-13T18:03:00.004+08:00

Well I made it through friday the 13th without a piano falling on my head, so I call that a win! On with the funnies...

Felicia Day may be one of the coolest girls ever to grace the planet. This is the new promo for "The Guild" -

I love Allie Brosh's blog "Hyperbole and a Half", and she's started doing little animations with her cartoons. This is a re-enactment of what happened to her as a child...

A real 80's eye makeup tutorial! So...much...blue...ack!

Superstar - Teterboro Teal

2010-08-12T18:11:00.006+08:00

Hi guys! Long time no bloggy :)

Been busy and had some problems with Blogger, so I'll make do with a small post instead of a big one with four polishes like I was planning.

So today I have for you the first of some Superstar polishes the lovely Ariana at Superstar sent me to try. I'd vaguely heard of them before - mainly through Scrangie and Brooke's blogs, but I hadn't heard their formula was formaldehyde & formaldehyde resin free! YAY!

It's weird, but whenever I write "Superstar" I have Molly Shannon saying "Supastahh!" in my head :D

So anyway, Teterboro Teal is from the "Party in the City" collection, and the first one I tried cos I'm a sucker for blues :)

Now, Teal doesn't really come close to describing this colour. It's a very mermaid-y metallic, which sparkles blue/green depending on how the light hits it. I actually have a few colours very like this, but they've all disappointed me by being very transparent on the nail and needing copious layers to get to the bottle colour.

Not so with this...

Now, I'd like to ask you to PLEASE not look closely at my fingers - just the polish! Part of the reason the blog has been so silent lately is because my hands just look SO awful! I can't get certain nails to grow, the cuticles keep peeling and bleeding, and I have dozens of tiny cuts from work and the cats.

Suffice to say, my hands are really not photogenic right now, so these pics are the best of a bad lot!

Anyhoo - this is two coats, but the formula has a good consistency and pigmentation, so I could've done with just one. I need the extra protection a couple of layers of polish gives me, so I'm an habitual 2/3 coater.

The brush is just the right shape for me - being not to wide, and it's pretty glossy even without the top-coat I put on.

It practically glows - even in low light, as you can see.

I wore this to work three days in a row while we were re-stocking the shop and it only started chipping on the last day, which is a minor miracle considering what hardship it was up against :)

I was really impressed with my first try of Superstar, and I have 3 more to show you soon, too.

Superstars aren't readily available in Australia yet, but you can find them at their online store for $10 US.

Back soon - with a killer purple!

Weekend Funnies

2010-07-31T20:23:00.007+08:00

The funnies belong to one video only this week.

It is a truth universally acknowledged that any lady in possession of a glass jaw, must be in want of a mouth-guard...

Color Club - Worth The Risque

2010-07-19T19:10:00.005+08:00

I wanted to do a post today, but I realised I didn't have any watermarked photos left, and I'd have to get out the editing software and spend ages fiddling around and then blargh...I gave up. Too much effort.

But now I'm on an orange-food high after devouring sweet-potato chips followed by orange poppyseed low fat muffins.
Yeah. Watch me fly, mo-fos!

So I've decided to stuff the watermarks. If anyone decides to steal my photos to sell their wares on ebay I'll go all Ginger and Liz on their asses :)

So - Worth The Risque.
I was reminded of this when Kaz did her post with silver holos over at her new Pretty Random site today. Every girl should have at least one silver holo in her collection. It's law. Or it will be when I become damn-hell-ass Queen.

This is a really good budget buy for the holo-hos with holes in their pockets.
Not to mention it's great for frankening your own holos cos it's not the end of the world if you waste a bit. I bought 3 bottles from Head 2 Toe last year for just such purposes and have yet to do the frankening. Something to add to the to-do list along with invading a small European country and stealing all their supplies of non-threatening tween singers to form a super-band that can control a legion of screaming girls capable of shattering the security glass encasing the British Crown Jewels.

Utilising the broken-down jewels, I shall power my massive super-secret death-ray and melt the polar icecaps (leaving some over to make a natty pair of tennis bracelets, of course), thus flooding the world. I will simultaneously launch my company selling budget arm floaties in various glittery colours to the masses - therefore making billions! Billions, I tell you! Buy my floaties, bitches! Buy them!
MWU-HA-HA-HA-HA-HAAAAAA!

So, yeah.
But after that, I'll totally get to the frankening.

Ahem.
NATO - if you're reading this - I'm totally joking and I don't have the death ray housed under the Sydney Opera House.
Damn. Did someone put sodium pentothal in the muffins?

Yikes! Well as you can see, these pics were taken about a year ago, and it looks like my hands were still recovering from an allergic reaction. Scales and redness ahoy!

Yeah - ring finger is still totally feeling the allergy, there :(
Still - compared to how my hands look now, this is positively supermodel-y

Now, if I remember rightly I think this was 2 layers and a layer of top-coat. There were some issues with pulling, but you get that with all holos. Just remember to always wait until each layer is really dry before applying another - it will help...somewhat.

Still - it's a very, very nice silver holo, and is certainly worth the risk(que) of getting a couple of extra bottles to play around with. I will update you with results of frankening as they come to hand.

Speaking of holos - Glitter Gal (the Aussie company who does fantastic holos) is releasing some new ones on Thursday via their newsletter and you have the chance to win some if you're signed up for it! Unfortunately I'm allergic, but those girls do good stuff and their holos are totally mind-blowing and really cheap, too!

Anyhoo - that's all for now. Gotta find a moving company to help me shift the super secret death ray to under the MCG...

Weekend Funnies

2010-07-17T07:54:00.003+08:00

I've been watching a bit of Armstrong and Miller on YouTube lately. They're a bit like my beloved Mitchell & Webb (but not quite as good, in my opinion).

This is in a similar vein to M&W's legendary Mr Darcy: Disco Champion skit :)

What do you get if you cross Vicky Pollard, a gangsta rapper, and Biggles?
Something like this -

I don't think there's anything here we don't already know :)

Idiots with Zoe Saldana & Kate Bosworth from Zoe Saldana

Aussie Gals - LA Colors Minis!

2010-07-15T17:27:00.004+08:00

Just a small public service announcement for the Aussie gals.
I saw these at Hairhouse Warehouse the other day when I was getting my Argan oil.

I know not every store stocks the same stuff, so I can't guarantee they'll be at your local (the one at Knox City Shopping Centre, Victoria definitely does) - but it might be worth looking.

I have dupes of all their colours so I wasn't tempted - but they're pretty nonetheless.

Now, I can't remember the exact price - I *think* it might have been $6.95. They're mini size, so that makes sense.

So anyhoo - if you want some LA Colors, go forth and get ye to a Hairhouse :D

Funky Fingers Sound Machine

2010-07-12T11:29:00.003+08:00

Well this review is long, long looong overdue!

Judy over at BeautyJudy.com sent me this and a couple of other Funky Fingers in a swap about - oh, I think it's about a year ago now - and I'm only just getting around to posting the pics!

Anyhoo - if you've been over to Judy's site, you'll know that she discovered that Funky Fingers did a whole lot of pretty much exact dupes for Color Club neons at a fraction of the cost!

I think this is the best one - a dupe of CC's Ultra Violet -

That same bluish tinge, and really interesting purple punch as the Color Club. Loves it!

It's a little sheer, so this was 3 coats, but application was good and it held up fairly well chip-wise with the help of some top coat.

Have to say this is one of the favourite purples in my collection - thanks Judy! And you'll be happy to know I got no reaction from these, so they're definitely Big 3 Free :)

In other news, as I said before, I've been using acrylic powder underneath my polish to try and protect my nails and stop them breaking. So far, so good - and I love the way whatever polish I use stays on like WHOA.

I've been wearing Zoya's Astra (thanks again, Kaz!) - which is hard wearing enough on it's own - and it's been a week with nary a chip. That is un-freaking-believable for me - I'm hard on my nail polishes.

So hopefully this means by the time I run out of nail swatches which feature my old nails, my new ones will have grown in :) Then I just have to have some polishes to actually feature. Being on a 6 month no-buy is really, really hard!

Weekend Funnies

2010-07-09T16:02:00.005+08:00

I want one of these. I will love him and pet him and call him George.

Lucas, that is :D

The newest Old Spice commercial is so full of win I almost forget how much I hate the smell of Old Spice

And on the subject of sex and men...(probably not work-safe!)

BB Couture Nitro Injected

2010-07-05T13:51:00.003+08:00

Hellooo!

Another week without a post - sorry guys! I had a big funding application to file and the day job is being a bitch at the moment to boot. Blog re-mojination is not working very well, is it? :D

I've decided to take extreme measures with my nails and have gone back to using my cut-price version of Orly Nail Rescue (ie. a pot of acrylic powder and some nail glue) to try and keep the damn things from breaking and peeling. I don't know why, but ever since they all broke off when I moved house in May they just haven't been the same. My skin really dislikes regular use of the acetone needed to remove the acrylic, but I don't really have a choice at this point. Grow, you nubs, grow!

Anyhoo - let's travel back to a time when I actually had nails that didn't make me want to vomit when I look at them.

This is BB Couture's Nitro Injected - a fantastic icy blue metallic...

Now, this actually looks a lot more "foily" and smooth in real life than in the photos. The pics seem to make it look more ridged and brush-stroke-y, but most of that only shows in certain light conditions IRL. If it really annoys you, you may want to use a ridge-filling undercoat...

Yeah, see? It looks like it has more ridges than Bold and the Beautiful in this light...

This is a little smoother looking -

Goes on like a dream, 2 coats. Same great wear that all the BB's have.

Sigh. Sometimes I wish there were bad BB's so I could have something more interesting to say about them :)

Oh, the curse of being perfect!

Weekend Funnies

2010-07-02T18:20:00.003+08:00

Another week goes by...sands through the hourglass...all that jazz.

Let's have a laugh...

Oh Ralph, we still love you! (language warning)

Wax On, F*ck Off with Ralph Macchio from Ralph Macchio

Hug this, mother lovers!

Nubar Iris Dust

2010-06-22T16:03:00.007+08:00

Hi guys!
Well after a non-intentional hiatus, I'm back. I've completely lost my blogging mojo the last couple of months and I'm trying very hard to get it back, so bear with me :)

The trip home went ok - I got sick after two days there, then my luggage got lost (fuck you very much, Qantas) and I had a nightmare drama trying to get home from the airport - but I emerged unscathed (if furiously angry).

Now I'm house-sitting with 5 cats and trying to save money for the big trip to the UK in September, so I'm still pretty much on a no-buy and really feeling it! :( Pure torture, it is!

So anyhoo, here's another one from the backlog of stuff I have to show you - Nubar's Iris Dust.
It's a sweet looking burgundy/purply/greeny/gold duo (quatro?)-chrome polish that I'd been simply gasping to try for quite a long time.

Unfortunately this one didn't live up to my expectations, rather like Peacock Feathers.
The photos don't really capture the duo-chromey quality, but to be honest, there wasn't a lot of it showing up on the nail in real life, anyway...

For the most part, it just looks kinda burgundy.
Don't get me wrong - it's a very nice colour. But it's not what I wanted or expected from looking at the bottle.

You can see a slight greeny/gold tinge here under the yucky fluoro light - this is as good as I could get to capturing the highlights, unfortunately.

The other thing that was quite annoying was how watery this is. This was about 4 coats. If I use it again, I might layer it over a burgundy polish just to cut down the time applying it. I also got quite a lot of tip-creep - presumably because of the amount of layers I had to do.

Overall - nice polish. Just not the superstar I was hoping for...

Polish Sale!

2010-06-19T20:05:00.005+08:00

Totally late news here but if you don't already know, my friend Kaz over at Pretty Random is selling some really great polishes on ebay to raise funds.
And this is the good stuff - I'm talking RBL, Versace, Lippmann, Chanel Jade, and the original Holo version of OPI's My Private Jet!

There's only a day and a bit left on the sale, so ch-check it out HERE

The Hoff compels you!

Weekend Funnies

2010-06-05T21:08:00.004+08:00

For my Weekend Funnies today, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at some funny dance sequences.

I'm sure you guys can come up with plenty more, but these are the ones that spring to mind first for me....

Come to East Germany! With waltz you get free political satire...

Ah, remember the good 'ol days when Val Kilmer was hot? Good times...

As a kid, that's what I thought those bumps in the male ballet dancer's hose were for...
Well - that and keeping Goblins in check -

Er...yes. Moving on....

Good-looking, slightly nerdy underdog?
Check.
Fad all the teenagers are into at the time that won't date the movie at all?
Check.
Feisty but cute love interest?
Check.
Aryan looking, uber-pricky bully?
Check.
Must be 1986's "Rad", with the best BMX dance number ever committed to film...

SWEEP THE LEG, CRU! Oh, sorry. Wrong film...

Flashmobs in McDonalds. Just a typical day in the 80's -

Everyone knows the only way to win a dance contest is by doing gymnastics, duh!

And lastly - how could you go past punchdancing (make sure you watch this one to the end)...

Nubar Star Sparkle

2010-06-03T20:18:00.009+08:00

Argh! Somehow it got to the end of the week and I haven't even done one post!
Sorry! In my defence, I was lazy.
Wait.
That wasn't a very good defence.
Oh well...

So I'm off home to Perth tomorrow to visit my family. Haven't seen them in 6 months so it's all a bit exciting.
That's Perth, the capital of Western Australia, not Perth, Scotland.
For those not acquainted with the geography of Australia, I will again use this helpful diagram...

So as you can see, I'm heading from the Convicts, past the Sharks With Frickin' Lasers, to just the unarmed Sharks (2720 km, or 1690 mile trip).

So as I'm kinda in a hurry (aren't I always lately?) I'll make this short and sweet.
This is Nubar's Star Sparkle.
It is Sparkwy.
Yeah - I just used a "W".
That's how I roll.

3 coats to bottle colour, so you may want to use a silver base coat or something. But otherwise a well behaved crusty glitter, with little rainbow winks peeking out of the silver sparkwy goodness!

Just remember a really good top coat, as these glitters are rough to the touch.
May I have some shiny disco music to go with my shiny disco nails?

Thank you, Roisin.

Catch ya later!

Weekend Funnies

2010-05-29T05:34:00.008+08:00

Kaz - I'm trying really hard to tell my Marvels from my DCs - see?

Congrats to my adopted home city of Melbourne, who today got the Guinness World Record for most people dressed as Superheroes in one place!

These are some of the cuties there today -

Photo: Alex Coppel

Ian McKellen's in the hizzouse, bwoi!

I don't watch Idol (Aussie or US versions) so it took me a while to hear about this, but please load the vid, then skip to 4:15 and kneel to your queen!

New Gumleaf Mafi-ettes

2010-05-28T15:19:00.006+08:00

With all the upheavals the last couple of months, I have completely failed in my Godmotherly duties and am behind the times with mentioning new members of our Australian polish bloggers community!

Luckily Kaz over at Pretty Random has been on top of things and recruited some new members.

So welcome to -

Sunglasses After Dark (who is soon to be in Australia)
Meg Is A Nail Geek
Less Than A Queen
Bec's Beauty Buzz
Konad-licious
Love Vulcanella

So update your lists, all current Mafia members!
Isn't it nice to see the Aussie bloggers coming to the party?

If you're an Australian blogger who features polish and would like to join the circle, just contact one of our members - we'll coo-ee! each other ;)

Nubar Night Sparkle

2010-05-24T15:01:00.004+08:00

I seem to be coming down with something.
I'm hoping it's Disco Fever, Bouzouki Fever, or even the dreaded Bieber Fever, but it's feeling more like a cold or flu.

My eyeballs feel like they're independent of the rest of my skull. It's rather weird.
I bet people would pay assloads to feel like this voluntarily, but I have work in the morning and I really don't have time for a Flu or LSD freakout right now.

So anyway, as I can't seem to blink in unison I'll just leave you to enjoy the pretty pictures of one of the best, most sophisticated glitters (yes, you can get sophisticated glitters!) on the market - Nubar's Night Sparkle...

Oh hey - who brought the pink elephants?

Weekend Funnies

2010-05-22T08:44:00.004+08:00

Ah, the weekend! It's a glorious autumn Saturday morning. The sun is shining, the air is crisp, the leaves are falling. And I have to go to work. Ugh.
Here's this week's funnies and a few of my favourite music mash-ups to cheer me up...

100% passion. 100% danger. 100% cotton.

The Clash vs Stevie Wonder -

The Prodigy vs Dee-Lite -

Groove Is In The Girls from Andy Dunproofin on Vimeo.

Nubar Hyacinth Sparkle

2010-05-20T17:53:00.005+08:00

Heigh-ho, here's some more of my Nubar Sparkles collection!

Hyacinth is a lovely lavender glitter, but like most of the Sparkles collection, I would recommend you put at least one layer of a similar colour underneath this before applying, or you may have to do 4 coats to reach bottle colour...

I have to admit this is not one of the most exciting colours of the collection, but that's kind of like saying you don't really dig Mr November in a Sexiest Firefighters Calendar. That doesn't mean you would kick him out of bed ;)

Hm. For some reason my camera decided to make this blue-ish in fluoro light. Weird.
Anyhoo - this is still a really lovely glitter. Add a few more points if you like lavender :)

I'm hoping that by the time I've posted my backlog of swatches, my nubbins will have grown out enough for me to photograph. At the mo all my nails are down to the bed. They're quite cute, but much harder to put polish on. I spend a lot more time cleaning up the ends of my fingers especially - polish everywhere!

BYS Black Satin

2010-05-18T15:59:00.007+08:00

Oh my freaking gawd! If I have to move again in my life it will be too soon.
I'm now firmly ensconced at my friend's house with her 6 cats (she added another one 2 days ago) and wondering how my life has come down to this.
London better be worth it - that's all I'm sayin'...

Anyhoo - let's try to get back to the nails, shall we?
Fashion Addict's Director David sent me BYS's Black Satin quite a while ago, and I'm only just getting round to posting the pics.

Sadly, these nails are now non-existent. I have nub-nubs on all my fingers, thanks to the move. The dream is over. Someone light a candle. Sing a dirge. Slap a Bieber.

I have to say, Black Satin is the best black I've ever tried. Great application - hardly any cleanup. Opaque in one coat, but I used two just to make sure. And plenty glossy on it's own, but in this case I used some BYS UV Top Coat David also sent me...

I've never been able to wear black before on it's own - it just seemed to look gagworthy with my skin. Made the cuticles look really red and florid. But no problemo with this one! I wore it on it's own for a couple of days and it just looked so glam and glossy - so unlike the usual black polish that gets a bad rep.

You CAN rock black polish and not look like a reject from a Twilight convention! Just make your application clean, your topcoat glossy and all will be well.

Now, although the UV Top Coat is indeed glossy, just be careful because the packaging declares it to be "quick drying", but it is NOT a fast dry topcoat (as I found out the hard way :)

I also had no UV light, so I couldn't test out it's glow-in-the-dark qualities. But I assume it looks something like Kelis, here...

Who wants to hit the local disco to find out for sure??

Weekend Funnies

2010-05-15T16:49:00.001+08:00

Short & sweet today...

New BB Couture Collection!

2010-05-14T14:07:00.002+08:00

Ahem.

New men's collection - "Formal"! Ch-ch-check it out HERE!

Bear With Me...

2010-05-12T14:47:00.002+08:00

Hi guys !
Well the move has happened and I'm now squeezed into one small bedroom at my friend's house and can barely get to the bed at the mo, let alone my stash! Just give me a while to get things back on an even keel and I'll be right with you. In the meantime, this should keep you amused...

Ticky, ticky, ticky - weee! Ticky, ticky, ticky - weee!

Weekend Funnies

2010-05-08T18:33:00.004+08:00

In the middle of moving. Kill me now...

Watch the tiger on the left...

This one's for Kaz - PUNCH DANCE!

Well everyone is hailing this as the successor to the Snuggie, so here t'is -

2 more days to go in the house. Cleaning starts in earnest tomorrow.
Pray for me...

Help! Melbourne peeps!

2010-05-05T07:19:00.004+08:00

My sofa still hasn't sold and I have to be out of my rental property at the end of Monday!
It's been re-listed on ebay for 99c.
I'm absolutely desperate, here - I need it gone. I have no way to store or transport it.

Anyone in Melbourne want a sofa for a dollar? Anyone?

The REAL MWCILTRMND Monday

2010-05-03T21:23:00.013+08:00

LOL OK - here's the real thing

Today's hunk-a-spunk is actor Ian Somerhalder, currently seen in "The Vampire Diaries" as bad, bad, naughty fang boy Damon Salvatore.

Now, I know someone requested him but I can't for the life of me find the email or comment, so whoever you are - this is for you!

As you can see, the man basically makes a living smoldering.
In fact, I'm just gonna start calling him "Smolderhalder".

When you catch him in just the right light, he looks a bit like Rob Lowe, too -

Or in some cases, Barry Gibb...

Yeah...let's forget about that one.

It's hard to make "Ehn!" sexy, but somehow he manages...

Smolderhalder as an over the shoulder boulder holder.

He wouldn't get out of bed for less than $10,000, but $5000 eventually got him to the floor...

"Cabaret" got that much more interesting when Sally Bowles developed a 5 o'clock shadow...