Misa High Waist Hue + Nubar 2010

I love Misa and I love this particular nude.
My yukky cuticles I cannot love. Not even a mother could love my cuticles.
"Maybe I didn't love them quite as good as I should have....." (Pet Shop Boys version for me, please).

Nubar 2010 is just another of those GOSH Rainbow/Sally Hansen HT polishes that lengthen the lifespan of a mani when you don't have a lot of time. That would be me then...Ideal.

Cue the cute animal pic... Why? Why not?

Jenni


Elvis

• too cliched to be true
• great performer
• legend
• sad
• not my thaaaang

Silver comparisons

I surely have enough polish now to do comparisons - hundreds but not a thousand, I think. But curiously there are few outright dupes.

I do like silver. It ended up NOT a straight silver post but wanted to go glittery.

Little finger - new Topshop polish Wilderness - a poxy 6ml - it looks like a proper size polish on the website - swizz! metallic silver and a good polish
Ring - Topshop White Witch (goes pink on!) + Diamond Cosmetics Glitter Silver
Middle - Misa Dance Fever
Index - Hansen Dividends which is like the Misa only darker and leaves bald spots and never dries and wound me up no end + GOSH Silver Star (see Dividends for how it applies....boo)
Thumb - Diamond Cosmetics Silver Brocade - very like Wilderness but a hint of glitter

I conclude:

• Topshop sold me a pig in a poke with a teeny mini that didn't say it was a mini
• Don't bother with White Witch
• Misa is one of the best brands bar none - buy Misa
• Hansen Dividends not very good and neither is the GOSH - these are generally 2 brands I don't have much success with though
• Diamond Cosmetics - such a shame you can't get this in the UK any longer because it's another GREAT brand and it's crazy cheap
• My skin is unsually dry and it may be attributable to the Hansen Kwik Off polish remover that I am using but that people report to be tough on the skin

Jenni

2 questions

1. Straight silver OR silver glitter?
2. Are the LFW models too thin? When I say too thin I mean unattractively thin. Not unhealthily - that's another issue. Too thin to be attractive.

FAIL - FAIL - FAIL- black pearl

Black + pearl makes black pearl, non? Well yes, but not in a good way. Maybe applying this in artificial light didn't help matters. Look at Don't look at the tips.

It ought to work. I knew it would end up blue. I didn't want a Chanel-type Black Pearl because I don't like that but I did want something other than a streaky mess. Will try again with another black. I think this is a case of operator-error.

Misa Wishing on a Star + Illamasqua Prism are the culprits polishes used.

Pretty.

Would you or do you wear pearls? I'm wearing a Majorica pearl at the moment. I just wear it. I don't look at it and never noticed the green tinge before. Hm. So maybe Chanel DID get it right with this pearl business. Still don't like that shade though...

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

Barielle Jess' Champagne Toast & Misa Shop till u drop

Ridiculous name.

The BOGOF on autumn/winter 2010 polishes. I would never pay £8 for these. Don't get me wrong, Barielle are British (I think) and they are good but not THAT good.

I read that this is a bit of a weed so I put a coat of a similar colour underneath and then 2 coats of this. It dries dull as it's a foil so top coat was a must. I always TC anyway though....

It's pretty and that's as far as it goes. Pretty underwhelming. Heck, it's only nail polish.

I need to post about something more profound - cars, fashion, TV. Something really deep and meaningful...ahem.

I hear they've isolated some anti-matter particles in Switzerland. Now that IS remarkable. Apparently. If I understood it and hadn't failed physics at the age of 13. What gets to me is this: the scientists try to explain by way of analogy/simile but even THAT makes no sense to me. Which makes me think that they don't understand it either. I wonder......

What leaves you cold?
Quantum theory?

Jenni

Misa High Waist Hue

Absolutely fuming! Ink on fingers. And they looked so neat!

Misa. Great brand.
HWH. Great colour.

DISASTER!

Gawd, this looked good.
Went to TJ Hughes and found some old Rimmel polishes at £1.99.
Dug hand in bag.
Came out covered in black ink.
Bl00dy school rubbishy bl00dy bleedin' pen had leaked in my bag.
Leaked? Flooded. Cascaded. Deluged (not a word).
My one and only bag. Luckily the stain didn't reach the exterior.
Assistant had to give me some wipes but I'd got it all over the place by then.
Ruined my thumb and index finger.

Too damned lazy to re-mani though. Grr.

Do you have any stain stories? Self-censor, if you please. ;o)

Jenni

Misa No Shrinking Violetta

I have only seen this once on a blog. Or I found it on nailgal. Anyway it's not one of the better known Misa polishes. Misa is one of my top brands, I must say! I suppose this must be from an ancient collection.

It's not violet for sure. Pink with gold sheen. Exceptionally fine gold dust in the bottle. This is 4 coats but Misas go on like whipped cream so who's to care? I did put a coat of another pink over the middle finger and then a final coat of NSV and it appears exactly the same to me. So that's probably a way of economising on the number of coats. It's very low-key indoors and a lot of you will just find it another boring pink. But it has a duochrome quality in addition to the sheen. That's very much a feature of Misa polishes. In outdoor light it's different again.

See the bottle. Preeeeeetty. Heck, I like pink, red, taupe, nude, you name it. As well as the kooky colours obviously!

Two ads from the Seventies.

This looks as if it could be quite contemporary but the archive I'm using declares it to be 70s. I can imagine Cheryl Cole in this kind of pose.

The next is much more interesting.

A black woman. And maybe an Hispanic woman? I've been looking at polish ads for a few weeks now and this is the first ethnically-diverse ad I've seen. Actually out of 61 it's the ONLY one that doesn't show Caucasian women. 

So - do you think cosmetics advertising these days is representative of cultural diversity? Would you like to see changes in advertising and the models employed in terms of colour?

Jen 

Misa The Grass is Greener on my Side

Another ludicrously long name.
PMSTAS was great. Removed after 4 days, no staining (I put that down to my new Misa basecoat BACKbone). Some slight tip-wear. It was great. Same goes for Hot Couture.
Next Misa, please!

Look at the lovely shimmer in the bottle. The pic is problematic because you can't see that the middle and little are glossy and the fore- and index satin. Hence...

It's a bit more obvious now. I couldn't get good pix of this sadly. It's really spectacular. It's a happy green.
2 coats. Lovely satin finish so I topcoated 3 nails and left 2 as was. Neon. Could maybe do with a 3rd coat? Not sure. Had to cut my nails down. They were annoying me. I hate it when I can feel the nails against my palm. I don't file. I cut. Leaves a good sharp, positive feel.

For once an ad that doesn't show pink or red nails. I have one CoverGirl polish but this isn't it. Think this is a Nineties ad...

And now for something more mundane (below). 

Yeah, 60 cents. Rip off!  Who charged 60 cents? 60 whole cents. We need to know. Cutex bottles looked like the one that says "Pearl" on it when I was little.  I have 2 Cutex polishes and I really like them. I suppose they were taken over by a conglomerate and rebranded because you just don't see Cutex anymore except in remover-form.

Ooh, is anyone having trouble posting a comment? I know Tilly of Matilda's Manis has. If so could you let me know, please. nuttyteacher@gmail.com 

Thanks!

Jenni

Misa Hot Couture

This is of the colour family known as "fugly".

I LOVE it.
This is Day 3.
3 coats as far as I remember + base + top.
A bit thicker than usual for Misa but not too bad.

I've toyed with getting this for AAAAAAAAAAAGES. And so glad I  finally did.
It was reviewed a couple of times when it came out and nobody went overboard for it. But I've plunged a thousand leagues under the sea for this one.
So I now want Mac In The Buff - despite having said on all the blogs that it was vile. Now I think I'm ready to love fugly.

Do you have any ideas for me in the fugly end of the spectrum. Not yellow. I can make my own c0ck-ups as regards yellows. But do you know of anything like this or the Mac? I must get the new Camel one from China Glaze when it eventually lands on these shores.

OK, 2 questions for you.

1 Have you ever fallen for a colour that you thought was emphatically not YOU? Something you bought because it was on-trend and you thought you should try it just to say you had...
2 Can you recommend any more fuglies to me, please?

Bon weekend
Jenni

Misa Pour Me Something Tall and Strong

They don't think about the bloggers, do they? I mean - "mid jelly blue" doesn't cut it but ffs PMSTAS!!!
And what a waste of time spent typing and printing label-paper and having to change the settings on your spreadsheet (if you do one).

Indoors with flash.

Outdoors w/out flash. I am SO lazy. Why don't I just step outside more often....

But oh oh oh oh oh...I love it so.
I can see that it's streaky at the tips after 3 coats but IRL it's so shiny/blue/gorgeous.
Let's get technical.
It's neon and dries matte. You WILL want top coat.

Let's get NON-technical.
Misa is one of my favourite brands and I got 3 new ones yesterday. 2 are on back-order. You'll see another tomorrow on my RH. I'm wearing it now and it's A-MA-ZING. Guess what it is? You never will. Misa has a fairly hefty back-catalogue and I'd recommend that you get into it if you haven't already.

Don't forget to go to  Konad Nail Stamping Nail Art - Flashy Nails for the clearance sale of Diamond polishes and Konad stuff. No Misas there but Diamond is another underrated manufacturer. And she's a great seller who's just had a baby and needs to clear her stock.


Here follows a Thirties ad with the hated (by me) Gatsby manicure. Aren't you glad you weren't a smart woman in the Thirties? Horrid, horrid fashions.

OK, I've blue on the LH. What d'you think I put on the right? It's a Misa. If you know your Misas then guess a name? If you don't - then guess a general colour?

Jenni

Misa Dance Fever + a market glitter thing

I love all Misas (mostly) and I keep coming back to this one, Dance Fever.

This is after 3 days of wear and you can see it's growing out a bit. But this stuff is indestructible. You don't need Shellac, stuff the Minx. All you need is Misa Dance Fever. You can't say fairer than that.

The bottle shown isn't Misa. It's a random bottle I got from a stall and it's useful to refresh a mani. The blue tinge does enhance/refresh the silver slightly and the bar glitter adds a certain je-ne-sais-quoi even if it is rather shy most of the time.

Had a hangover yesterday so kept away from Egremont (that's my Mac) pretty much. I don't really drink any longer but came home on Friday and just sought oblivion in a bottle I'd been given. Thankful to get the last week over with. Phew.

Onwards and upwards from now on.

So - on with the philosophy. A question for you. Courtesy of Brandon Flowers.
It is this.

Are we human or are we dancer?


Jenni

Mavala Black Diamond + silvers + small haul

First up the Mavala

Only it started yesterday with this

I had 1 coat Maybelline Silver Speed and a coat of Misa Dance Fever
But I thought I'd done a lot of silver recently so decided I'd better sling something over the top
Was going to go dotty over the silver but realised that I'd have to paint the dots with my left hand - yeah, right...
Looked at my Mavala Diamonds collection (6) and chose Black
It's nothing special but the silver speckles do show through and it's pewtery in some lights so it's growing on me as it is a bit of layering that has produced a finish I don't otherwise have in a single bottle. It's black without being a saturated black.

Further shopping shenanigans

As well as the iron we were pursuing the OH had noticed a GAP sale and OH likes GAP.
Did I want some stuff from GAP? Oh, go on then. Twist my arm why don't you.....
It's only basic stuff, I know, but shopping is shopping at the end of the day.

I have no idea what the top thing is. It was in the sale. It could be a nightie. Or a dress for a young, thin, brave person. Or a long top. Or something one dons at the seaside over a bathing suit. Whatever. Looking at it now I do rather wonder if I'll ever put it on. Hm. Some kind of mania takes hold when we go shopping. We ended up with a huge salad bowl too.

Forgive the creased shorts. Two different prints! How bold. I wore these yesterday around the house and for dog-walking but was warned by OH that they are see-through and not to attempt to wear them for work. I'd describe my style as casual but even I wasn't going to wear these to work. Except maybe on a teacher-training day??? I love shorts and I shall be in these for the next three or four months. I didn't try them on but they fitted nicely with room to spare which is the kind of fit I prefer.

So - does anyone else HATE trying on clothes in shops? I do not want to see myself. I don't have a full-length mirror in the house. It's not just the body-image thing though. Out of clothes, in clothes, out of clothes, in clothes. Keys fall on the floor. Wallet falls on the floor. Hanger falls....Twirl, twist, turn. Yes? No? Too tight? Too loose? What do YOU think? Maybe a bit expensive? And then do it AGAIN in more shops.

NO.

Jenni

Topshop - Bees Knees - yellow creme + the promised GIVEAWAY

3 coats but I was dreading this and it wasn't the streaky little b@stard of a yellow that I was expecting!

I did need 3 coats but I'm used to that and I do feel I got a good (for me) result.
These Topshop polishes get high marks from me. 3 out of 3 so far.

Outside pic. I've been doing this for a couple of months now and I've only just realised I get a more accurate photo in natural light! I had a love affair with a Mary Quant yellow in the Seventies or Sixties (can't properly remember) and I am trying to recapture that joy.

Bear with me before I get to my giveaway news, please.

Just another pic of Miner Denim Shorts because I remembered to get a natural light shot before I removed it and I do think it's sweet.

This is because I was attempting to show the pinky-red traits of this polish but I still failed. Both these pix are after 2 days of wear btw.

My giveaway. 

Misa Pour Me Something Tall & Strong

Runway Diva

Dirty, Sexy. Money   (er, what's with the commas, Misa???)

There'll be some nailart-y gubbins too. Or stuff I just shove in.

You can't enter yet because I haven't firmed up the entry conditions. All I know is this is UK only. BUT I am waiting for some more bits'n'bobs to arrive for the RoW (rest of the world). So I'll wait until I can open the giveaway to everyone.

I chose these because I love Misa and they're not easy to find in the UK. Not in the shops anyway.

I'm thinking of asking entrants to be followers and to make a comment and maybe answer some questions. That's OK, isn't it?

BUT what do YOU think makes fair/unfair giveaway terms and conditions? Extra entries for blogging? I really just want to say thank-you to the peeps who bear with me and not encourage followers who just sign up for the giveaway and then bugger off. I do try to comment on lot of blogs and not just pop up for the freebies but I know there are lurkers who just .....lurk. 

Oh, and have your giveaways ever gone to people who took the goodies never to be seen again? How do you feel about that?

And, speaking of giveaways, here's my gloriously glittery gift from Simone at GiveTheJewGirlToys!

Tum te tum

Jenni

Lambs would not forgive, nor worms forget....

Misa Dance Fever - silver glitter

   For less than £3 a bottle. I think I'll do a Misa feature because I have some absolute crackers!

2 coats. Gritty? Not a gritty bit of it. Absolutely smooth. Taken in dim light or it might blind you!

Where from, I hear you ask? The Nail Warehouse and Venus Nail & Beauty Supplies Ltd > Home Page - that's where. I love these companies. Venus also does a lot of China Glaze for under £4!!

You can ladle it on with a shovel if you like. It's very forgiving and doesn't make a mess. Suits every kind of garb.

Polish (that's polish not Polish btw) people of Britain, get yourselves some Misa. Peeps from Poland currently resident in the UK are also invited to purchase (in case there are allegations of xenophobia..)

Happy days

Jenni

Misa Dirty Sexy Money - plus commas...

OK, I have wanted this FOREVER.
And what happens when you finally get a much-lemmed polish? That's right. It generally falls a little short of expectations.

I love Misa. I love Misa so much I would write sonnets and paeons of praise (if I were a poet but I am not and moreover I know it...)

This is the most flattering green polish I possess. 2 coats. Went on better than one could dream of. I am going to include Misas in my giveaway. I MAY include DSM if I can bear to part with it (a new bottle btw, not this one). But I will be offering Pour Me Something Tall and Strong and Runway Diva for sure. 

I ordered 2 DSMs. I got this and the other is an ASAP arrival. At the moment I haven't hit 51 followers so the polishes go in cold storage. It has to be 51 for a good reason, believe me!

Ah, bliss!

Jenni

Misa - Dance Fever - silver tips on purple gradient

Yesterday's + tips

Look dark. No light here. What a grey day!
But I had to do something and had little time so this is it...

Next!

I quite like this because it shows that the Butter Scoundrel is more muted than the OPI Grape Fit (that's 3 and 4 if you work from L to R)
You can also see the shimmer on 2 - NYX Purple Dream
You can just see the funky red/magenta fleck embedded in 1 - Milani Totally Cool

Also glitter dries quickly so this is fairly low-maintenance/minimal effort.
I accidentally dragged the glitter on 4 but it looked almost chevron-esque. I tried to wipe it for a quick fix but it had dried so fast! If I could do that on all of them I'd be pleased but it was mere serendipity.

The good thing about the tips is that it also addresses some of the streakiness at the free edge.

I do this from time to time as it's a convenient way to lengthen polish life on the nail.
New mani tomorrow I hope. Probably a pink gradient. And I'll try to get the shade progression correct. I have such a poor eye.

Happy days!

For Leanne - Post 1

Picture Key:

1 On 2 nails but I decided it looked odd on just 2 so walked the dogs and then did the rest

2 Didn't clean up - naughty me, mustn't take pix until I clean up

3 The thumb worked quite well

4 Whole hand (well, duh)

I've been following nail blogs (mostly) for about 7 months now. Does the world need another one? Who cares! Here's yet another one.

So why this one?

• I need to stop spending time and money ebuying (ebaying) and require an outlet for all that saved time and mental energy to curb my expenditure so this is mostly for me
• There aren't as many blogs with a uniquely British perspective as I'd like to see

So the first post is a thank-you to all British bloggers (whether I have already found you or not), all inspirational bloggers out there everywhere and my second attempt at nail art. I used Leanne's tutorial.

http://www.donotrefreeze.com/2010/04/easy-peasy-nail-design-2-d.html#comments

This girl is 18! I admire creative people. Oh, especially creative people with a steady hand!

Tiger nails with:

Base coat Misa Bang

couple coats Attitude School Bus to begin

use the sponge applicator to apply a bit of Misa Ghetto Fabulous

then more sponge with Maybelline Mandarin Heat

Used a no. 1 paintbrush from a craft shop for black stripes (Miss Sporty black)

For silver stripes used Mercia nail art pen/brush in silver

Over the top is CG Fairy Dust

Lastly Misa Breakneck and CG Fast Freeze

Please note

• The Ghetto isn't obvious enough
• My cuticles etc are awful but I'm 54 and I had years of obsessive handwashing which doesn't do your hands a GREAT deal of good
• The black stripes are not fine enough but I hope to improve with that
• The Fairy Dust doesn't really work but it looks more subtle IRL

Where do I get my stuff?

I google a lot of brands and add UK to find an etailer (Venus Nail and Beauty is good)

I ebay

Sally's

Directly from websites e.g. Eyeko, Barry M, Overall Beauty (Kim is the BEST)

Boots and Superdrug

TJ Hughes has Bourjois very cheap at the moment

I've started to look at market stalls as well because I need to rein in this compulsion!

Love from Jenni