Back to reality (my life is a circus)...

Hello to my dedicated followers ( all four of you!),

I'm back from my holidays with a post about China Glaze's " Cirque du Soleil: World's Away" collection, or at least some of the collection!

While I was on holiday's I got 13 new polishes. Mostly 'Sinful Colors' now that it is being stocked in Australia, but also a few OPI gifts from family and a couple of sneaky bargain pickups (Essie - Coat Azure only $10!).

But today's post is about the three polishes I had waiting for me when I got back home!

So, when I bought these. I was torn because I love the entire collection! But I needed to save money so I chose the three that excited me the most. First up I want to talk about "It's a Trap-Eze!"

I was so excited about this polish but when I applied it, I was a little disappointed. I think my problem has been the recent popularity of indie polishes on my favourite nail blogs, and so many gorgeous indie glitters coming out. When I applied this polish I felt like the glitter was almost too packed in and I couldn't get opacity in the milky bits even with three thick coats.

I took a quick picture and then I took the polish off. I really didn't like how it looked on my nails ( which, by the way, are a mess after my five weeks of minimal nail care!)

The next polish is "Def Defying". Funnily enough when I went away on holiday I bought Sinful Colors "Innocent", which is an extremely similar colour and I might do a comparison another time on that. Anyway despite it being quite a thin polish, after three coats I loved it! It's just such a nice green. I forgot to snap a shot of just "Def Defying" on it's own because I was dying to put it with a purple I got by Sinful Colors called "Amethyst".

I should learn to wait till my base colour is completely dry because my purple dots are a little brown but I think this picture shows them ok. I love love love "Def Defying" ( also trying out a new watermark!)

Finally, a quick word about my final polish which I am yet to use.

When I got my package I opened it to see nail polish everywhere and I feared that my pretty polish was smashed. Upon closer inspection, it appeared that the bottle had simply leaked.

Knowing that to return the polish would cost more than I paid, I used pure acetone and managed to clean up the bottle and I hadn't actually lost too much polish from it! So I would call that a success! I won't name and shame the company, because I understand that these things can happen and I'm sure it was nobody's fault.

Anyway I'm sorry for my long absence and that I didn't swatch all three polishes. Since I got back I have been given 9-5 shifts almost every day ( including weekends!) and being that I've been away relaxing for so long I have just been drained! It's my resolution this year to blog more however, so I am excited to make this a regular habit! Though I must warn you all, it is my final year of uni and I think there'll be some crazy Jackson Pollock type manicures when I'm stressing out about my studies!

A surprise shopping trip!

Hello! Bit surprised to hear from me so soon? I am too! But I went shopping today and I got so excited by my purchases I wanted to share with you!

So as you can see, I didn't just get nail polish! I've been all excited by Nude Palette's after reading a lot of beauty blog's recently and so I got this palette by "the Balm cosmetics." I also picked up their Schwing Liquid Eyeliner. Maybe I'll do a review of the palette when I get home after my holidays?

I also got some perfume on sale from Priceline. It's Paco Rabanne, Black XS for women. Something you don't know about me is that I love perfume almost as much as nail polish and this one is one of my faves that I used to wear way back when. Normally I don't go back to old perfume's once I've run out, but I made an exception with this one because my boyfriend loves it.

Finally, I am the most excited about my nail polish purchase! I went into Priceline initially looking for Primer and came away with SINFUL COLORS!!! I have NEVER seen Sinful Colors sold in Australia but they had bottles for five dollars on a big rack! I was so overwhelmed and excited, I decided the best thing to do would be to grab one and maybe go back later for more. So I chose Nail Junkie by Sinful Colors as the first to add to my collection because it is one I have seen reviewed and was excited to get. It also worked out as I was rocking For Audrey and a blue glitter seemed like a perfect New Years Eve mani to do.

So I've taken a picture with my iPhone, so the quality isn't great but it gives you an idea.

I love this polish! I'm so excited at the possibility that it may be hitting more stores around Australia soon!

Anyway, so that was my little exciting shop that I really wanted to share with you all! I hope you all have a great night tonight with whatever you may be doing. Stay safe and I'll catch you in the new year!

Goodbye 2012!

Hello lovely readers!

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and are enjoying the week between Christmas and New Years Eve! I had a wonderful Christmas at home with family and have now embarked on a month long road trip with my boyfriend!

So currently we are staying at his friend's house which is why I have been able to access the internet! So I wanted to show you my Christmas haul!

So here are the polishes and nail art equipment that I received for Christmas! In order,

• OPI - No Room For The Blues
• OPI - Tomorrow Never Dies
• China Glaze - First Mate
• China Glaze - For Audrey
• China Glaze - Papaya Punch
• China Glaze - Pink Plumeria
• OPI - Nail Envy (Put a Bangle On It box) (It come's with a gold bracelet that has a little bottle of OPI charm on it!!) 
• Some random assorted nail art stickers with flowers, musical notes and Australian animal designs on them! 
• And the box that they're all sitting in front of, which is huge and will hold all my nail art supplies for when I visit friends and paint their nails!! 

I need to get a camera that is good for swatches because I want to show you the amazing colours in Tomorrow Never Dies and For Audrey but I haven't been able to capture them nicely with my iPhone. I might need to do some scouting around for a good camera in the sales because I'd love to do more with this blog besides nail art. For now, I really recommend Tomorrow Never Dies and For Audrey and I haven't tried the rest yet!

So after New Years I am road tripping back to my hometown for my Aunt's wedding and I won't have access to the internet, so expect this blog to be a little quiet for now and I look forward to posting more in the new year! I know for a fact that I have some of the China Glaze - Cirque De Soleil collection coming in the mail which should be sitting on my bed waiting for me when I get back!

Have a safe and happy new years everyone!

Merry Christmas!

Twas the night before Christmas, Or a little bit later... And up in the night is a nail painting Kater!

Hey guys! I've just finished my Christmas Day mani and so I'm going to post it right now because the morning is going to be a whirlwind of cooking and family time!

My Christmas mani is entirely inspired by the lovely Jessie over at Nailed It NZ! You can find the tutorials for the designs I used right here and here!

So let's have a look at Santa and his reindeer!

I do hope you will forgive my poor quality pictures! It's pretty late here now and I'm sure you all understand how crazy Christmas time is! I was really excited by this mani because I realised I had the right number of fingers for Santa + all his reindeer, including Rudolph!

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps
Sally Hansen - White On
Sally Hansen - Celeb City
Sally Hansen - Mint Sorbet
OPI - Over the Taupe
KISS Nail Art Polish - Black


And with a yawn and a stretch I think it's about time I got up from my chair and all that's left to say is...

Oh Christmas Tree!

Two Christmas posts in two days! Probably won't be another until just before Christmas because I LOVE these nails so much I don't want to change them anytime soon! 

So for these cute Christmas nails, I first painted my nails red and then used tape to make the triangles of green. Then I used an orange stick to put the star sequins onto the top of the triangles and used a dotting tool to make silver baubles on the trees!

I'm still having trouble capturing China Glaze's ' Emerald Sparkle' on camera. But it's probably because for most of my designs I use my iphone camera to photograph them. I'll definitely need to start using a proper digital camera when I do swatches.

Mud- Chili Pepper
China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle
Sally Hansen - Celeb City
Star sequins from a craft store!

Christmas Colours

I'm feeling a bit flat today. Work has been rough lately because I'm not getting many hours and the hours I have been getting have been pretty stressful. Anyway, it's okay because after Friday I get a month off! During that time I am road tripping with my wonderful boyfriend back to my hometown ( so I guess my blog may be a little quiet during that time!)

Anyway onto today's mani. Just something simple because we are moving building's at work and I new it would get chipped really easily.

This mani was ridiculously hard to photograph. That green is China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle and in natural light it is gorgeous and sparkly!

China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps

As expected this mani chipped after a day moving things around at work. Hopefully I'll have a few more Christmassy posts this week because I like to get them in while I can before December 25th! 

Floral Mat Design

Today's mani is based on a mat that is on the floor of my gym!

The second I saw this mat I knew I wanted to do a nail design based on it! So this is what I came up with...

In hindsight I should have made the petals much bigger but it's a cute design and I'm pretty happy with it. I'll probably try it again when I have the right colours.

OPI - Steady As She Rose
OPI - Do You Lilac It?
China Glaze - Re-Fresh Mint
Sally Hansen - Flirt