Mac Cremesheen Hang-Up

I shouldn't really be posting this because who wants to see the dry lips of a 55-year old but...

I just fancied getting a Mac lippie. I don't have any Mac stuff except this. Cheapo off ebay. Natch! I like it. My hair is jet black at the moment so I've gone very Addams family. 'Cept my hair is short but I know what I mean. And I wear all black gear so that's conclusive proof.

This actually goes much darker but I splodged some on my lips and then used my lip-brush to distribute it over the entire area.

I'm no lippie-expert (obvious, huh?) but this

• has a pleasant smell
• reasonable longevity
• neither too sticky/messy nor too drying

Emboldened by this purchase I have ordered an Illamasqua lippie in the sale. I do wear lipstick but I'm not an obsessive or connoisseur (hark at HER!)  the way I am about polish. I mean to say - not even I wear yellow or blue or silver lippie so there isn't the colour range from which to choose. Too restrictive to get the heart a-flutter.

However, in the spirit of research and not wishing to denigrate the interests of others - what is your fave lip-product?

Jenni

BB Couture Joker

Spellbound was fabulous. Joker goes beyond superlatives. Behold.

3 coats.

And 2 more pix for no particular reason.

We are way beyond the cat's night-attire or the dog's appendages. This is Polish Paradise!

The font they used for Joker is my all-time fave font too. Does anybody have any idea why it differs from the font BB use otherwise? Is there some special significance to it? I know it must have a proper name but I shall call it Mediaeval Magic.

Do you have a favourite font? I use Tahoma a lot because it's plain and neutral rather than because I like it much. I like Lucida and I hate Times New Roman. For teaching the many Sassoon fonts are popular.

Jenni

BB Couture Spellbound

Now this is seriously hot.

And I persevered with my camera (only had it a coupla years!) until I got a reasonable snap.
This is a deep and abiding love.
Usually I have no time for 'so dark they might as well be black' vampy shades but this is incredible. 2 coats over Ravager. This one makes me feel so good. My hands are winter-dry and cracked but this polish turns me into a femme fatale. In my dreams.....

I have some obsessive-compulsive issues - hence my ruined skin due to excessive hand-washing.
You have any OCD? Or rather, as I believe we ALL have these traits, WHAT are your compulsions?

Jenni

BB Couture Ravager

Got a 5 for the price of 3 on BB and chose some less well known ones. This one poses a huge question. Why is it plain creme when it is quite clearly sparkly in the bottle? How do they DO that? It was a complete s0d to photograph like most purples. And I'd also like to know why my camera seems to have gone all 'grainy'. Admittedly I have tinkered with the settings so I may have to tinker them right back again.

Very highly pigmented. Very shiny. Oozed onto the nail and could have been a single coat if I'd been paying attention. Lovely jubbly. Will probably not remove this but use it as a base for a couple of darker BBs.

What's your favourite purple?

Jenni

Lil' Bling Diamonds and Pearls

Why the apostrophe there? Makes no sense to me.

You can see how slack I have become by the picture below. If ever a polish needed 27 coats then it's this one. But I thought a coat of Fairy Dust would disguise the imperfections and general pathetic-ness. As so often I was mistaken.

I kinda like it all the same. I'd call it 'bridal' if you happen to be that way inclined. My two marriage ceremonies (can't call them weddings) were notable for their lack of ostentation and general austerity so my kind of 'bridal' leans more to the clean pair of tights and wash yer face than white lace and tiaras. But still.

Not as if I wasn't warned. I buy most of my stuff online but I always always always google it first (half the fun) so I knew this was going to show up every ridge and be a bit of a pain so what did I expect? It was streaky and patchy and thin but it comes close to the white (but not opaque flat white) that I was seeking.

How much research do you put into your polish-purchases?

Jenni

Merry Christmas

"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach."

Charles Dickens


Best wishes to one and all...
Jenni

BB Couture Golf Pro + Studio 54

I call these happy greens. They have blue but they are not TOO blue.
I know what I mean.

The Golf Pro is the base and Studio is on all except middle finger. Quite plain for this festive time but looks fairly tidy. Puts me in mind of my Savoy cabbage and beloved sprouts.

Come on then. It has to be asked...

Brussels. Not beansprouts. Just to clarify. Proper sprouts.
For or against?

Jenni

Urban Decay Twisted

This is always described as gold.

 

It is gold but also olive and duochrome and a lot of other things too. Like all Urban Decay it is beautiful and I shall add my voice to the bitter lament of the nailiverse: Why oh why did you discontinue these polishes, you fools, you simpletons!

I have a few but I mean to get them all one day. Thanks, ebay! These and the Revlon StreetWear.

What discontinued ranges do you yearn for?

Jenni

The Edge Egyptian Gold

Really bright and yellow. Love this and it's a lot brighter and a little warmer IRL.

3 easy coats. Not bad for £2.34.

Got another gold for you tomorrow but quite, quite different.

Gold or silver? Which suits you better? Both in nail and jewellery terms.

If you're talking Egyptian Gold then there's only one way to go!

Jenni

Nox Twilight Wine & Dine

So I still had the Sugar Plum/Prism disaster on my nails but decided that Wine & Dine would be a sorta glittery topcoat that would even the whole mess out.

Wrong. Oh, and a big thanks to Deez Nailz for her comment on my last post. I am but a poor, humble follower and I will do a decent mani one day!

W & D turned out to be virtually opaque with 1 coat! But it was messy so I decided to go with that vibe and put some more Nox Sugar Plum over the top in a vaguely vampiric way. They do get awfully messy, those vampires. Such sloppy eaters.

And I don't dislike it. So here it is. Wine & Dine will be going to my daughter too as it's a foily thing similar to many I already possess. I really like it but I'm trying to be generous. So far I'm keeping Sugar Plum and have high hopes of Crush. Was looking for some Twilight-ish jewellery for her and I do have a silver Fair Trade bracelet I bought at a craft fair. What she really needs is cash rather than bits'n'pieces but I have to give her something a tad personal. So.....

Enough of my Christmas dilemmas.

Jenni

Illamasqua Prism

Hubris. I plead guilty.
Purchased some nail guides to do some neat tips and so forth. 

Deez Nailz

She does it all the time! She's brilliant. She does great tutorials. This has to be easy. Has to be.

How the not-so-mighty are fallen........

Where did I go wrong?
A hubris as above stated
B did it in the semi-dark/dark
C didn't really look at it
D probably didn't check the guides had adhered properly
E in a bit of a rush to get it done

Oh, well. I have 157 more opportunities to do it (much) better. IRL it's not so ghastly. Suppose I can slap some glitter over it to fudge the dodgy edges.

Jenni

Nox Twilight Disco Daring

Or is it Darling? Matters not.

2 coats. Or maybe 3. 3! It's not holo. It looks better in the bottle. Very fine glitter. I like it but I do have loads like this. Nice but no cigar.

Now the bag and the fab 5. From Look Fantastic. £25 isn't that bad. P&P was free. My older daughter is into Twilight so she gets the bag plus 3 or 4. I get to keep Sugar Plum. That's not leaving this house! They are Wine & Dine, SP, Talon, Crush and DD. Nothing particularly vampiric about the naming convention which I find disappointing. Talon is good. Wine & Dine is acceptable. But vampires and discos? That's one combination that simply and emphatically doesn't work.

This is Talon and Wine & Dine.  How sad I am to be so thrilled by a couple of bottles and the lettering thereon. I'm glad to be able to read the labelling though. I want to know where things are made. 17ml. Not bad, huh?

Does 60M mean the polish lasts 5 years? And why did someone wedge a snowball under the rabbit's chin?

And don't light a fire in a bin. Except it IS a cheap way of improvising a barbecue OR a great way to get warm if you are a tramp/hobo. As far as I know. So tramps who are grilling steaks really shouldn't use this polish.

Jenni

Nox Twilight Sugar Plum

Lots of pix a-coming your way.

1 and 2 because I just love this polish. 3 coats. Didn't clean up the ring nail properly from previous mani hence the embedded speck of something.

Pix 3 - 5 to show the bottle. Look, this isn't easy to find in the UK so that's why I'm all over this like a rash. See how the print is legible even on the back of the bottle? Now, that is quality. And the crest. It's not cheap'n'nasty either. It's good quality again.

I have more Nox to show you tomorrow. This particular polish has entered the charts at....well, pretty high up.

I know nothing of Twilight btw. I read Bram Stoker when I was a teenager so there's nowhere to go after that, vampirically speaking. 

Customary question.
Where do you stand on vampires (if you get my drift)?

A Confirmed Stoker-ite
B Twilight is da business
C *yawn*
D Don't joke about it. This could get seriously spooky.

Jenni

Er, spam...

Weird, innit? How the same camera at the same time produces such different shots!

Additional polishes are CG Party Hearty (like you couldn't guess!) and CG Fairy Dust with The Edge London. Foils are just so eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeasy. When you have no time to do daily polish changes.

Plus to change your polish every day for a year means £4 x 365 approx. So let's say (conservatively) £1400. But we know it's way over that. So better to reuse, reduce, recycle.

Depends how much you want to spend. Let's see.

A season ticket at Chelsea may cost £900 (can cost less though - or more).
A week in Mauritius £1380.
Chanel J12 white ceramic watch £2325 (mine was actually more).
Dolce and Gabbana lace and wool coat £1799.

So. You have £1400 to spend. $2200.
What would you buy?

Jenni

Boots 17 Fast Finish in Tigers Eye

No apostrophe on the label. Tut.

And a very discreet layer of The Edge London on the index finger.

I really like this. 2 coats of what is colloquially known as gloop. But it's a quick-dry number and they do tend to be like that. Not that I ever trust that claim. I still don't use my hands for anything except typing for the next 2 hours. No matter what the optimistic statement on the label.

Only a titchy little 8ml bottle which makes it more expensive than you'd think but I had seen a couple of polishes and ordered online from Boots (spending £7) with free collection from the shop. They did not please me though when I removed them from the traditionally too-big box so I exchanged them for this and a small companion called Lunar Haze by Natural Collection.

I forgot how much I love taupe. I'd rather call it mocha or something. Ironic as I only drink espresso and loathe any coffee with milk in it.

Jenni

Models Own Green Flash

One of a bunch of foils I got. Some kind of sale price.

The teensiest weensiest bit brush-strokey. Hence the addition of CG Fairy Dust on nails 2, 3 and 4. Also you do have to load the brush a bit to avoid bald spots and dragging. Quite a nice colour and can easily be tarted up with (for example) Party Hearty.

In some lights it seems to suit me and in others it gives me lobster-claws. Overall I intend it to be a stayer as I don't fancy scrubbing it off any time soon.

Oo, I am expecting a haul. A secret haul! A brand I haven't had before. I am foolishly excited by this.

The clue is: 'Stage direction - someone can be heard at the door....'

Possibly too cryptic or indeed entirely incomprehensible.
Jenni

BB Couture Bullfighter

Squishy, jelly red.
The ridges on the ring finger nail are just SOOOOO bad.
Sorry.

3 coats.
This is one amazing polish. It sorts of gloops on in a way one can almost feel and HEAR. It's beautifully thin and controllable but it has the consistency of double cream or something. I just painted and painted because it was so satisfying. I've since added Napa Valley Red to it and that's special too.

Loving this. (I did have a huge chip on the middle finger after 2 days though which I do not believe was my fault. Hm. No matter.)

Jenni

BB Couture Eve

Is it brown or dark olive green? Not sure. With teal sparkle.
I love it. I love all BB polishes - even the ones (usually blue like Sea of Cortez) that don't suit me. There's something special about BB. Not just the fabulous customer service you get from Kim at Overall Beauty. Not just the funky colours. Not just the small-business ethos.  Somehow I love everything about BB.

Waxing lyrical over. Photo.

The next one, heavily flash-bleached as it is, does show the different glittery sparkles. One review says this polish dries quite bumpy but I didn't find this to be the case.

Trying to get my nails square as they tend to come out rounded but my patience is quickly exhausted with this kind of intricate enterprise. Hence the odd little finger. Heck, all my digits are probably odd. I really can't be faffed with nail shape/length accuracy.

Your polishes are arbitrarily restricted to only
A blues
B browns
C greens

Which would you opt for? I think I'll have to go with B but I'm getting ever fonder of C.

Jenni

CND Effects Gold Sparkling + Barry M Hexograms

On top of the Champagne and Ghetto Fabulous. Getting in festive mood. And too idle to remove the previous manis. Mustn't forget that.

With the layering I now prefer the Misa Ghetto Fabulous to the Models Own Champagne.

Jenni

Clarks Block Party

The exercise of Platonic syllogistic reasoning.

Proposition A Many women love nail polish.
Proposition B All women wear shoes.

Therefore all women who love nail polish also love shoes.

The story begins.
Bear with.
Went to town for hair dye (cosmic blue). Looked in at Clarks. Seductive 50% sale. Had to have these. They have my favourite heel-shape ever. The Louis heel. Looked online and they are also available in aubergine, plum and some other colour suede. Sold.

Awkward angles as I twisted my foot rather than get a mirror. 

Forgive the stripy tights. I like them. What can I say.

These are the feet of Mme Pompadour. Painted in 1756 by Boucher. Do you believe these shoes? Now that is the genuine article. The Louis heel in all its original glory.

What is your shoe must-have? I also love platforms and wedges and buckles.

Jenni

Misa Ghetto Fabulous

I always knew it wasn't going to work (ie be flattering) so it's no surprise it's so darned ugly. But you have to love its sheer ebullience.

There's a CND Effect over 2 of the fingers which softens it a bit and I'm not sure I shouldn't have left it as it was. I think I really needed out'n'out blingification. Live and learn, dontcha know.

Already thinking of the next mani. Reorganised my pots by colour. Possibly purple? Gamble on green?

Jenni

Models Own Champagne

Feeling in a 'gold' mood. Ironic as Champagne isn't exactly gold.

The ring nail has a layer of CND something for which I paid relatively dearly as I had no CND and wanted to rectify the omission.  It's quite nice under artificial light at night. That's as gushing as I'm going to get about it. The Models Own is a very good foil. 2 coats. Make sure you load the brush though or it's Streak City.

Tomorrow something positively ugly. Today is good. There is no bad. Unless tomorrow's effort can combine bad AND ugly. And it just may.

Awaiting 2 hauls. A BB Couture since I can never refuse a BB offer. 5 for the price of 3 to UK customers. And more Models Own. Bought a cracking (well, they look it in the photos) pair of boots on ebay.

Got to do some serious Christmas shopping in the next 2 days. Cash for the kids. They're always skint. Goodies for the OH. Fair Trade jewellery for colleagues. Warm trousers for my little grandson.

What kind of Christmas shopper/giver are you?
A smug did it in February really really cheaply
B lavish - flashy, expensive, ostentatious
C anxious - they will love this brooch, won't they - maybe they won't - but what do YOU think? - this one or maybe the other one? - oh, I'm not sure now
D make personalised crafty gifts from recycled ribbon and tin cans
E hey, that's what Christmas Eve is for - present-buying - chillax
F as E only with panic and hysteria

Jenni

Accessorize Mermaid

Foil. How I love foils.

Got a Models Own order of foils on the way.

Way better than my pic suggests. But these huge macros never do me any favours. Dunno why I do 'em.

£4. Bargain. Steal.

Vote for a finish
A foil
B creme
C glitter
D jelly
E shimmer
F frost
G specialist flakie topcoat
H other
I gold leaf (I believe it DOES exist)
J Minx or similar
K nicotine
L I hoped to get to Z but it's not happening for me....
M a new finish as yet to be invented - feel free

Jenni

Accessorize Pink Spice

This is a great polish. Changes according to the light. I love this. Not as much as Mermaid (coming tomorrow to a blog near you). Still love it.

Aye caramba! Or however you spell it.

Now that OPI has gone over to Coty (the dark animal-testing side) I really am going to work harder to source brands that suit my ethical requirements. So I'm going to get plenty more Accessorize. Made in the UK so reducing carbon footprint. Great colours. Won't stop me buying great US brands like BB Couture (small business, women-run) but I shall make more effort to justify my purchases on more than just aesthetic grounds.

Where do you stand on animal testing? Not sorry to harp on about it btw.

Jenni

BB Couture Poison Ivy + China Glaze Party Hearty

There is about 3 or 4 days of wear evident in this pic. Hence the particularly dodgy middle finger. Didn't put enough PH over the top either. And the nail growth.

Eek! But I've been busy with my cousin and her husband from Philly. Too busy to worry about nails.

Feeling more Christmassy today as it is now December and we had our Christmas fair at school. This can go either way and make me completely 'Bah humbug!' or cautiously festive. Today I'm leaning towards 'slightly seasonal'.

Jenni

The Christmas poll

Are you
A a droopy Christmas fairy
B an industrious Christmas elf
C the Grinch's evil twin
D a shiny bauble on a magic tree?

asos

Ever heard of carbon footprint?

Saw 2 good (well, OK) bargains on OPI on asos. Free P&P so let's go. Ordered them same day. Minutes apart in 2 transactions. Because I didn't make my mind up about the 2nd one very quickly.

OK, I should/could have done this more effectively in 1 transaction. So they sent 2 boxes. BUT....

Does the effin' box in relation to the contents (1 measly polish and an invoice) make any sense? And a huge 'bubble' that would be better employed cushioning a piece of furniture.

So I had 2 polishes and 2 immense boxes. Going even further (how very dare I) than expecting them to match the size of box to size of item purchased I am now going to be so bold as to suggest they design some software that recognises that the same buyer has made 2 purchases in a day and combines the items in a single package. Not possible? Well, why not?

I hate waste and this is just wrong...

Jenni

BB Couture Santa's Sak + China Glaze Phat Santa

Enormously exasperated and very vexed that my photos don't show how jolly cherry-juicy these reds are. The Phat Santa is darker IRL. Glossy and gummy.

The first pic is today because I played with layering more Sak (!!!) over Santa. The bottom pic is mostly just 2 coats and is from yesterday. I'm pretty sure this is 2 or 3 days of wear.

Joyful polishes. Optimistic. Cheering. Just want to suck my fingers. Yummy.

The dreaded Christmas-craziness has begun to infect the school.

"I've already got my tree up, Miss."

'Is that so? Well, Christmas isn't coming to MY house for a long time yet and would you kindly consider actually doing a bit of work, you idle child!!!"  

I don't quite say that to them - not QUITE - but why do kids (er, they're actually 16-18) have to down tools this early? Grrr.  I want to work. When they take it easy they just make mischief. Teacher's nightmare is Christmas....

But the food is good. Lovely Bakewell sponge today. And leek and bacon quiche. Not in that order.

Jenni

BB Couture Shift Stick + CND Effects Gold Sparkling

One of my BB Couture haul from the ever-fabulous Kim at Overall Beauty.
Gorgeous mustard. I love fugly colours.

I did 2 coats. 3 would be better. But the CND is a super-subtle sparkle. Love it and it did mean I didn't need a 3rd coat but didn't change the overall effect too much. Result.

Stick Shift. Or as I know it - gear stick. Automatic cars feel like such a lazy option (I'm so old-skool) but I did love the one I drove in Canada. So simple. My new car has a 6-speed box though and very good it is too.

Oo, it's dark and there's not a breath of wind. Eerie. Will there be snow? We shall see.

Jenni