Barielle Coalest Day of the Year + ELF Metal Madness

The ELF is better. Not so dark and has more sparkle.

 

2 coats of each. The Barielle is on the index finger.

 

Top marks to ELF. It's a little thinner and doesn't disguise my ridges quite as well so the better option would be 1 coat of each with the ELF on top. Sorted.

ELF are getting some funkier colours up and running. Ha! Paint. Paint runs...Oh, never mind.

Jenni

ELF Glitter Glam

This is a new(ish) polish. At these prices ELF don't have glossy marketing campaigns. You just check the website from time to time and find new stuff. They just had a good sale and I got some freakily decent bits'n'pieces.

The little finger has 3 coats. The others have a coat of Barielle Aura Angora as a base because it looked as if it'd be as thin as Oliver Twist's gruel but it really wasn't. I like this. It dries very matte so I top-coated all except the ring finger. I'm in a very gold frame of mind at present. Odd. Because we get a lot of magpies. Usually five - for silver - or seven - for a secret never to be told. But never six for gold.

If you can't rely on the magpies then on whom CAN you rely?

Oh, ELF. If you're listening - you owe me a laser sight-restoration operation. The font on the base of the bottles is about 0.07. How am I supposed to read that?

Jenni

ELF Smoky Brown

This is nice enough. 3 coats. Applied the same night I was rushing to see the GP and subject therefore to rather sloppy application.

I have a big gripe with ELF. It's really my own fault though.

Head. Brain. Idea. Ting! £1.50 per polish. Got to get me some.

Too good to be true? But of course. Made in China. Hence cheapo. China has a hideous record of abuse of human rights and I take great pains not to buy Chinese-made goods. On this occasion my greed for cheap polish overcame my normal prudence. When I buy online I usually:
a buy second-hand/used so I'm not stimulating demand for new items
b email the company and ask them where they make stuff
I failed to check and consequently I ended up with unethical stuff. Not happy with myself or ELF.

Today's ad. From 1966.

Who was Hazel Bishop? What about these drug stores? Do they still exist? I notice the nail polish is the cheapest item.  And look at those fake lashes. 100% human hair. Freaky? I think so. 

Random question. How autumnal are you feeling today?

Jen

OPI Samoan Sand + ELF Desert Haze + the history bit..

I put the OPI on yesterday and noticed a chip this morning whilst at work. Horror of horrors.

The line along the ring nail is just an ineradicable ridge rather than polish streaks.
I like this combination. I said I'd be mostly wearing mud and I meant it.
I do have a jelly gradient planned though as I've seen a rather pretty effect on another blog. That may be my sole foray into colour for some time.

Why is my skin peeling off? Am I a reptile? Or just at the end of my tether?
Teachers grow notoriously irritable at the end of the year. I've got leavers stressed about leaving, colleagues stressed about changing roles and everyone hot and bothered. It is craaaaaaazy at my place. It's a challenge to get to Friday without committing manslaughter or becoming the victim of a violent crime. Grrrrrrr!

Breathe deeply. Smile. Breathe out. Drop the shoulders. Unclench the fist. Put the knife down. Put the knife DOWN!


Fashion history now from the BBC - my beloved BBC

A gold cape. Gold. Not gold thread.
Beaten gold and found in Mold. That's North Wales. Not far from my birthplace actually. From about 1700BC. Beaten and shaped from a single gold ingot about the size of a ping-pong ball. It's incredibly thin apparently. May have been made locally or brought to Wales as part of a trade. Grave goods. What incredible talents humans possess. (Not me obviously). So this was the epitome of high-end designer catwalk red-carpet what-have-you if you go back four millennia. Wow.

Jen
If I do get brought before the beak I'll need character witnesses to explain that my actions occurred as a result of heat exhaustion and provocation by colleagues. OK? Thanks.