Pretty & Polished Mannequin Hands

Oh my! I love the name of this polish...and when I saw this little bottle of goodness sitting amongst Pretty & Polished's etsy store and I knew I had to have it (and I may have had to have the Holiday collection as well!). This is a bottle of light pinky/nude polish with light pink glitter and a lovely sheen. I am pretty pale..so for me this does look mannequin hand-like on me where it may not on others. Either way, it's an awesome polish. Love!

 Pretty & Polished Mannequin Hands with Flash

Pretty & Polished Mannequin Hands, so pretty!

Macro of Mannequin hands- a pinky beige, nude glitter :)

2 coats of Mannequin Hands..no undies!

 Pics in non direct sunlight. More beige-y

Trying to catch the pretty sheen!

Gratuitous bottle shot!

This is the definition of work appropriate nail polish. I love how this is a beige/pink and glitter polish all in one. It also reminds me of a girly girl nail polish without being a barbie color and I adore that too. The first coat of this polish was a bit patchy but as you can see the 2nd coat had a lovely finish. I am looking forward to stamping something fun over this polish as well...black stamping would give it a rock girl edge or pink..barbie bling! So versatile. In other news I am OUT of swatching sticks..*sigh* and I need to get some striping tape for nails art..off to ebay I go..

Happy Hands Mayonegg

Evening! It's going to be super hot tomorrow here..so I am about to take of what I had on for the last today and go blingy I think! Bring on the sun :) Today I have Happy Hands Mayonegg which I picked up from Llarowe which I was super excited to try on..it's a white base polish with yellow glitter which looks exactly like scrambled eggs in mayonnaise. I initially tried to apply in a few coats but it was a bit lumpy and hard to work with :( I then ended up using a coat of China Glaze White Out and one coat of Mayonegg. Here is the results! *Warning* I broke 2 nails on my swatching hand, so these will probably look a bit awkward and this mani is 2 days old so excuse the top wear.

Happy Hands Mayonegg

 Happy Hands Mayonegg

 Extreme close up Mayonegg

 This has 1 coat of Seche Vite, you can see it needs another to be completely smooth

I desperately wanted to love this polish. I really enjoyed it when I finally got it on. I found that it did drag and got sticky very quickly so I had to be quick to apply it otherwise I had massive bald patches. Maybe some thinner would have helped. I love how simple but sunny the overall look was so it was worth the effort.

I also made a quick stop at my nail supply store to see if the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection, but sadly and oddly they only had Def Defying. Instead I picked up a few polishes that I have been meaning to get...

 OPI- My Private Jet, Don't Pretzel My Buttons and Crown Me Already!

If you look close, the MPJ is a scattered holo version.. a win for $9.95!

Now to decided on what to wear tomorrow! Hope you are all having a great week :)

Layla Emerald Divine

Hello there! It was such a lovely sunny day today that wanted to wear something summery and holo's always scream sunny to me :) I chose Layla Emerald Divine for my mani today as it is one of my untried holos that I have sitting there waiting it's turn to charm and impress me. Emerald Divine did both. I did use the Layla mirror effects file before applying the polish as recommend otherwise you did get clumpy application.

Layla Emerald Divine in full sun

 Layla Emerald Divine artsy shot.

Macro on my Emerald rainbows :)

I then felt like a bit of stamping and specifically I thought of China Glaze Refreshmint for a contrasting but subtle look.

I used the Cheeky plates for these designs

The plates have particularly good large designs that will cover even the widest nail beds!

 Oooh, look..homemade lightbox pic. Not too bad

I really love how this mani turned out. The green was just what I wanted and the stamping turned out lovely. So blingy without clawing out ones eyes! I need to catch up on so many polishes that I have been diligently hoarding..and have ordered a few Jindie Nails polishes in the Black Friday sales going on. I just had to have Swoon and Candy Land. There are quite a few Christmas Collections going around and I have been tempted by Pretty & Polished collection. I can't wait see them in person. There are a few Girly Bits I wouldn't mind having but I am trying to be good! I want 'Ornamental my Dear Watson' just for the name :) I am being suckered more and more by clever names of polishes as long as they are great glitter/polish combos.

Butter London The Black Knight

Heya! How's it going? Today is a lovely day and I have only lazy Sunday things to do which also include time for nail polish, nail art and even making my own moisturizing nail polish remover!  I have finally finished constructed something that passes for a lightbox, but have also ordered a proper mini one. Today I have what I wore last night to a Hen's dinner which was The Black Knight with some stamping :) Not the best pics, so sorry about that!

 One coat of The Black Knight over China Glaze Liquid Leather

Stamping in China Glaze Millennium

 Butter London The Black Knight

 The Black Knight in Sunlight

Stamping on thumb

I didn't love this mani..it was nice..but a bit meh for me. Ah well. I did like The Black Knight in the bottle but I think I ruined it a bit with the stamping. LOL.

I made my own moisturizing nail polish removed as per the instructions on Lab Muffin's blog about DIY Gentle but Moisturizing Nail Polish remover. I made up a 100ml batch of Acetone, to 10ml of Glycerin and 12ml of water and shook. It works a treat! I will be making up some more :) I also took some pics of my current nail polish combo in my homemade lightbox, so tomorrow will be the test of the first pics!

Hope you have all had a great weekend, until tomorrow!

Ciate Advent Calendar

Hi all! I admit it..I am a sucker..I was out today at the local shopping center looking for OPI Avojuice and Soap & Glory's Handfood moisturizer after reading The Polishaholic's blog post on Manicure Basics. I found OPI Avojuice at retailer David Jones where they were having %25 off..so of course I grabbed both Jasmine and Vanilla Snowflake to try.

OPI Avojuice Jasmine and Vanilla Snowflake

I have already tried the Jasmine Avojuice and am loving the smell although not quite sure how hydrated my hands feel after application. The formula isn't greasy at all though and sinks in nicely.

I also spied this at the same retailer..but didn't purchase it. Maybe I can ask for this for Christmas..

This has Yodel Me on My Cell and OPI Ink. I am a sucker for pens as well :) 

The next thing I was trying to find was Soap & Glory's Handfood. I looked it up online an apparently Mecca Cosmetica are stockist. At Chadstone the Mecca Cosmetica chick looked at me like I had two heads when I asked for it and then said they had "lots of other lovely soaps". Erm, okay. Anyways, she gave me a catalogue on the way out and I saw on the first page that they stocked Ciate Mini Advent Calendars! I put my name down for one as they were out of stock and I just love, love, love the thought of opening a new polish surprise each day until Christmas. I did state that I am sucker in my first line of this post, remember.

Anyways, because patience isn't my greatest virtue I ordered the Ciate Advent Calendar online at Mecca Cosmetica as I want to have it for Dec 1st and they have free shipping over $75. I also picked up the Soap & Glory Handfood moisturizer which they have in stock online, so all in all a good day.

Oooh, so pretty :)

On the lightbox front, I have a mini light box coming which I would love for it to hurry up...it should be here next week. I have a super busy life (well, for me) in the next 2 months, so I hope I survive it, I do plan on having a post a day for the 24 days of Christmas..and through to NewYears! Thanks for reading :)

China Glaze I Herd That Leopard Print

Helloooo all, I just wanted to share with you my NOTD that I did whilst I was away for the weekend. It was nice and sunny so I wanted to do something blingy so I used China Glaze I Herd That and then stamped with Ulta3 Black Satin using Cheeky Jumbo plate!

 Leopard Print stamping

Picture blurred to show holo glittah! So blingy :)

Cheeky Jumbo Plate. I used the second row image, 4th from the left.

Also in nail mail today, lookee what arrived 

Pinkerbell and Girly Floam from Ninjapolish

I think I have been lemming Pinkerbell for over 6 months, so was very happy to snag a bottle of this in a recent restock! I also have Sunny Floam coming ...I wonder if Nail Pattern Boldness Flipping Out Hard and Sunny Floam are dupes?? Hmm..will have to swatch!

I have a baby shower this weekend so want to come up with a fun mani with a blue tone. Will have to show you what I come up with ..AND the mini cupcakes I am going to bake :)

Mondayitis

Hellooo, long time no blog. Things are still a bit patchy in my life..so thanks for hanging in there with my sporadic blog posts and general lack of nail activity. I have issues going on.. but they don't affect me purchasing polish or wearing polish..just photographing it! I have decided to make my own mini light box as following Chalkboard Nails Lightbox tutorial. I do have a lightbox, but it's large and no where near where I polish my nails and the cats have taken it over, argh! 

Today I scrounged a spare cardboard box from the local hardware store whilst I was purchasing my bulk acetone. I also grabbed some glycerin so I can make my own nailpolish remover ala Zoya plus recipe which I hear is not as damaging to your skin. I came across this here loodie loodie loodie's moisturising with acetone so plan on giving it a go. I didn't manage to get the white tissue paper or lamp for the lightbox..but on my next day off I will :)

I did get some exciting nail mail today, my first Emily de Molly polishes!

Here is a pic of them in my Kitchen :) LOL

L-R, Harmony, Ego Friendly, The Fifth Element and Blue Moon (a custom for Aussie Nail Chicks)

They look so lovely in the bottles and I can't wait to try them on! If you are looking for some gorgeous handmade polishes then you can find these on etsy at  EmilydeMolly, or for international chicks soon to be found on Llarowe 

My nails of the day today are KBShimmer's Don't Teal Anyone, and here is some pics:

KBShimmer Don't Teal Anyone

 KB Shimmer Don't Teal Anyone, 2 coats

After a few days I wanted to try some stamping, and for this I used the gold polish from the Essence Breaking Dawn Part 2 collection

Essence A Piece of Forever

 Essence A Piece of Forever over Don't Teal Anyone

As you can see, it stamps wonderfully! I know some people don't think gold polish is their thing but I still want to see what it looks like on it's own as it looks pretty good stamped :)

I will try and blog a bit more..hopefully after my lightbox construction on Wednesday I will be to take photos without as much hassle. Hope you stick with me as I appreciate you all out there! 

OPI James Bond Casino Royale

Easing back into the swatching thing..here is a quick pic of my OPI James Bond polishes I got a few weeks ago! They are soo pretty in real life :) The only one I am not sure about is The Living Daylights (multi glitter) but it's a different glitter to those I own already so I will have to try it. The World is Not Enough didn't make it in the post, the neck of the bottle snapped ..so sad (The Bubble Wrap Wasn't Enough?) but a replacement made it after the pic.

 Casino Royale swatch

Lovely dark purple :)

 Vibrant purple with flash

 I used Goldeneye to line the underside of my nails for a gold foil look. Very bond like I thought. It's pretty, but quite hard to get off!

I managed to swatch these pics before the great break of Halloween 2012..ie bad little finger nail break. Things are looking up today, my broken nail doesn't look too bad nor hurt too much anymore AND more importantly I swapped my dupe Essence polish for the correct one and I now have the set of the Essence Breaking Dawn Part 2 Collection.

More exciting nail mail tomorrow....and right now I am watching the original Superman on tv! I got goosebumps when Lois Lane was hanging out of the helicopter and Clark changed for the first time to save her....but it's slower paced that I remembered, LOL.