Jessica Mystical Magic

Oo, oo, oo! I am officially on the hunt for Jessica polishes. I already have a few but my recent bargain buys have ignited a flame of desire for Jessica!

It's brown. But it's brown with an added 'je-ne-sais-quoi'.
2 coats.
The accent nail (for which read - trying to cover over a bit of a c0ck-up) is a layering effort with 3 additional beauties.

 Look at that GOSH Rainbow. I have 3 PLUS a Nubar 2010. Flakie is my middle name.

Word to the wise: some GOSH stuff is half-price at Superdrug. Including Holographic which the display claims is being discontinued. If you like their Holo - and I know there are many fans - then lose no time.

By bargain buy I mean £2.99 for the Jessica from

http://www.halfpriceperfumes.co.uk/search/results.html?keyword=nail&go=GO&pto=

Good site. Not much choice but the 3 I got are great. I spend so much time looking for sites like this. I really should get a life some day....

Jenni

OPI Going Ape-Ricot and OPI And This Little Piggy and a confession

Multiple layers of these very sheer glass-fleck polishes. I wasn't counting. Just ladle on with a trowel.

Now, to my shame I bought 4 OPI despite having vowed not to (due to their takeover by L'Oreal the animal-experimenters). These were 4 for £12 on some obscure site I can't remember and I yielded to temptation. So I am going to have to re-commit myself to not buying OPI and actually having and sticking to some decent principles. Great polishes. Not going to recommend them. Obviously.

Confession, so 'tis said, is good for the soul. I shall see. Get back on the old 'No cruelty to animals' horse and have another try.

Jenni

Illamasqua Hectic - another grunge-tastic green

3 coats. So smooth. So yumptious-scrumptious. So cheap!

Well, the 'cheap' bit was a downright lie. Even with 25% off it wasn't cheap. But it is ruddy good.

For cheap (and similar but clearly not a dupe) you can still get the Cutex on ebay. It's called Sweet Pea. If I did comparison swatches then you'd see exactly what I mean - but I don't. So .... tumty-tum.

It's a 10/10 for Hectic.

Tonight I am recommending keeping out of the rain and 'The Terror' by Dan Simmons. That book has kept me on tenterhooks for the last few days!

Jenni

Max Factor Hyperfull Voluptuous

Nothing new under the sun. Charlotte of  http://www.lipglossiping.com/ LIPGLOSSIPING did a coupla posts on this and it's a blog staple.

The old 'red lipstick' debate. Do you or don't you? I do. Doesn't matter if my hair is black (now), purple (last month), blonde (summer) or red. Why do women say it makes them feel clownish? You just have to have a bit of attitude (a - i -yude) to go with it.

This was a market stall item. £1.99? Too tomato to look good with my teeth. I like these matte lippies as I hate splodge and you can always put a spot of gloss in the middle to 'lift' it.But it looks fine if I don't smile. Yellow teeth allegedly need blue-reds to detract from the hideousness.

I can't do pale lips now I'm ageing and fading. I'd just be invisible. Women of my age often claim to be invisible because they perhaps don't attract so much male attention but I've never cared for that so I'm very happy to be free to be increasingly eccentric. That great poem about wearing purple when you get older and spitting. Purple yes. Spitting? Obviously not. Actually most of this has applied to me for years........

Warning

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick flowers in other people's gardens And learn to spit. You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only bread and pickle for a week And hoard pens and pencils and beermats and things in boxes. But now we must have clothes that keep us dry And pay our rent and not swear in the street And set a good example for the children. We must have friends to dinner and read the papers. But maybe I ought to practice a little now? So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple. Jenny Joseph

Jenni

Nails Inc Battersea Power Station

I kid you not. This is the sort of fugly I adore and I've wanted it for awhile. Such a popular polish (ahem) that it is now on their website with 2 others for £8. The other two I'll flog.

The hideousness on my 4th finger is basecoat. I do rather slop it all over and it doesn't usually show up. Sorry.
2 coats. I  repeat. I love it.

Behold the much-loved Power Station. I believe it's rather ramshackle up close and hasn't undergone gentrification. I think it's rather fine although it doesn't take much imagination to visualise the four towers as the peg-legs of two elderly Napoleonic sailors.

I feel I should check out the names of all the Nails Inc polishes I own. I suspect that some of the place names belong to highly insalubrious areas of the capital. One day when at a loose end I shall pursue my plan to research them.

Meanwhile I plan a quiet evening with beer. And a couple of choc ices. You?

Oh, and investigate my giveaway (see right) if you fancy a box of 6 Jessica polishes/tints/jellies.

Jenni

Illamasqua Brigitte

This is 3 coats. Of jelly, liquid flow-y scrumptiousness.
Half-price in their sale.
It's a little more pink than in the pic.And a lot less orange-y. Still not got the camera settings right.

If you google Brigitte then you're likely to discover it's a German women's magazine.
But to me it's the actress who once looked like this. Brigitte Bardot (born 1934 so a bit younger than my mother).

And now looks like this.

We're all supposedly obsessed with weight gain and ageing.

My views are:
WEIGHT I'm too fat from a medical point of view but not as fat as lots of people I see in the supermarket (my personal litmus test!) so I'm relaxed about it.
AGE Never had it so good as now. I'm 55 and I like it! Apparently 30s and 40s are the time women are least happy. Work pressures. Relationship problems. All that stuff. I'm over that.

Where do you stand on weight and age? Woman's Hour (BBC Radio 4) has spent 2 days on women and weight and I just want to shout at them to shut up. Are we not more than our lb and oz? Ffs. I know that's a bit odd/hypocritical coming from a woman who spends hours on fashion blogs but all that whining gets so tedious. RANT OVER.

Jenni 

Jessica giveaway

6 Jessica tints

Pink, Coral, Red, Violet, Aqua and Emerald.

This was Violet. One of my first pix. Shows that these are jellies. Jellies with VNL. If you look at my pix of Jessica (check the label) there are quite a few pix. These are great for gradients and layering too. So you know what you're letting yourself in for. I think they are great but I know some people are not jellyphiles...

How to enter?

• Go to the Great Silly Survey on the right.
• Copy it into the Comments box and answer all the questions in as brief or lengthy a fashion as you desire.
• If your username doesn't link to a profile somewhere with your email addy then also leave your email.
• Please accept that I will post this the cheapest way I can. If the winner is in a far-flung place (er, Iowa? - that's a Bill Bryson joke so don't blame me...) then it may take a while to get to you. 
• If I haven't explained properly please ask.
• Ends at the end of January.

Jenni

Nars Bohemia

Work was work. We were all knackered though. As I expect YOU were too. Burst pipe problems with the building so there'll be a lot of bother sorting it out. Sodden carpets and flooded floors. In addition to the leaky ceilings we had before Christmas.

2 or 3 coats. Just doesn't suit me. Nothing wrong with it at all but it just isn't me. The shot is sh!t also. It's actually a more pinky/bronze duochrome. Very like Misa Foxy & Folksy in fact. It's obviously a quality polish.
 

Genesis of this polish: the OH was wandering through Harvey Nicks and spotted Nars (has never heard of it, natch) and thought it must be good (it being Harvey Nicks and all that) and bought me this. Very sweet. Mind you, now my polish hoard has topped the (insert number of choice) hundred mark I am getting fearfully fussy.

Going to do a giveaway. It'll be UK/Europe only though as P&P elsewhere is prohibitive. Got to think up some quiz-type questions though. Or a grid you have to complete or something...

Jenni

BB Couture Opposites Attract

I don't have many greys. Actually this may be the only one.

Plenty of silvers I have. Greys not so much. But if you want a grey this is a good one. Ever so slightly textured. This is probably 2 coats. I have fiddled so comprehensively with my camera that I have c0cked it up completely. Ah, well.

A Nars tomorrow and a back-story (how I hate that expression) of how I obtained it.

Back to work tomorrow. Tra la la. Oh, well. I have a clean car, a full stomach, a loving OH, a new grandchild to look forward to, a cup of tea at my right elbow, a box of chocs downstairs. Everything has to be worked for! Toodle pip!

Jenni

Revlon Slipper

From a collection whose name I can't remember. Recent though.
AND ta-ta-ta-da-ta-ra available at £1.50 each from Fragrance  Direct.
You heard correctly.

Slipper goes with Ruby (but why would I buy a bog-standard red even at that low price) and is fabulous. I put it over the existing BB Couture Spellbound. I am so on a roll with my polish purchases at present! I have loads of glitter top-coats but this is unique as there's a lot of red in it. BONUS - it goes on smoothly and doesn't dry lumpy-bumpy. Tick. VG.

Oh, I forgot. I bought 3 Nails Inc in their sale and I only like one of them. So not such a roll after all. Maybe a slightly soggy oatmeal roll with some limp ham and a bit of faded lettuce. Filling but not as good as an aromatic duck wrap from the Co-Op.

If you like Slipper (Spellbound Slipper) check Fragrance Direct. Pop some more items in your basket to make the postage worthwhile and Bob's your uncle.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!

 Jenni