Glitter Gal Blue

Just plain 'blue'. For one of the most mind-blowing polishes there is! Tut.

• Not a blue that suits me at all but I don't care.
• Formula perfect.
• Available in the UK from http://sjmwellnails.weebly.com/ 
• You'd be crazy not to get some Glitter Gal UNLESS you don't like superb holos. There may just be some polish-addicts out there who don't. Who's to know?

How much do you like a good holo? 10 being a complete nut and 0 being beyond indifferent.

Jenni

Essence Choose Me - and I did...

3 coats of a quick-dry polish that cost about £2 in Hrvatska (Croatia). I think it's a glass fleck. Pretty vibrant and doesn't smurfify the nails to any great extent. Phew. There weren't many polishes in the little town where we stay but I don't go there to cosmetic-shop. Ignore the little finger. That's an experiment.

This stuff lasts really well. But wouldn't you know it - I only noticed a chip on the last morning when we were due to leave at 9am?! Could do nothing about it. All packed.

In the forthcoming days there will be :

• my mini-haul from Hrvatska
• my holiday snaps (you can skip over them, that's understood)
• my amazing gift from Glam Nails
• some moaning about having to go back to work on Monday - boo, hiss...
• nail swatches

Jenni

Oo, Radio 4 is just broadcasting a trail for a programme about caves in Croatia! What are the chances, huh?

China Glaze First Mate

Any decent blogger would be ashamed to post this. But I have no shame.

 

Honestly. The cuticle remover has completely knackered the skin round my nails. Hey ho.

2 coats of this gorgeous 'dirty' blue. Lovely quality.

Begs the perennial question. China Glaze or OPI? Ditch it or dig it? If one company had to bite the dust which should it be? I'd ditch OPI. They are loads more expensive and do too many boring colours. Plus they got into commercial bed with L'Oreal which isn't all it should be on the animal experimentation front.

Jenni

Leighton Denny Miss Behavin'

 

I like blue least of all possible nail colours on me (except perhaps red which is such a cliche) but I am currently sporting blue polish on both hands. Not the SAME blue. Obviously.

2 coats of LD which is plenty, plenty. I think Leighton Denny is the best polish I have ever tried. I do wish it weren't so expensive. This colour has shimmer, depth and a jewel-like quality. Exquisite.

I have tried my very best to source LD more cheaply but they keep a very tight hold on their distribution. There isn't even a sale section on their own website! Grrr.

When they come up as a magazine freebie then BUY THE blahddy magazine. This is a mini that I got from TK Maxx. Four for eleven quid. 4.6 ml bottles but totally worth it. I tell you no lies.

Jenni

Celebrity jeans fell down! Shock horror!

Coz this is the evil twinning of Barbara Daly Denim and Barielle Falling Star.

This is Barbara Daly Denim from Tesco.  It's a horrid steely blue.

(Oh, and it was pointed out to me that it was the Greeks who came up with ba ba ba barbarians. True true.)

Oo, thought I when in the shop, this is very like Barielle Falling Star. This is why I am a rubbish nail blogger. Because that is a garbage observation.

See the microscopic coral glitter in the BD? The BD is more sheer (no, be honest, watery) than I'd like so I got out a tiddly make-up sponge on a stick and did a bit of a sponge gradient. Which is harder than you'd think because the Barielle dried on the nail almost at once. I need to work on that because it would be a good look when done well with different colours.

Any tips on sponge manis? Leanne of Do Not Refreeze is an expert on this as I recall. See what I mean?

http://www.donotrefreeze.com/

Jenni

2true Fast Dry Shade 2

Another splendid 2 coat polish. And they do dry quickly.

 

Chew me up and spit me out but what's not to like with this 2true range? These guys are a major find for me. If you can't find 3 of the 9 available shades to spend a fiver on at Superdrug then you might just as well hang up your cuticle clippers for good.

Jenni

China Glaze First Mate gradient mani

Hm, First Mate au naturel on the little finger and then white added to attempt a gradient mani. But I got the balance wrong so, if the digits go 12345 where 1 is the thumb, digits 4 and 3 are either too close to call or even the 'wrong way round'. Look, I know what I mean!

I really don't wear a lot of blue but this polish is a nice, dirty shade. Looks a bit royal/French blue in my pic. This is my blending method (below) and I can't recommend it really. Just put drops of polish on a plastic lid and try to blend them...Nah. It's not as streaky IRL as it looks here btw.

Please give me any tips. I don't want to franken a whole bottle but I hope there's a better way than I've figured out.

The orange splodge is where I tried to do an orange gradient on the other hand but the consistency was dire so that is plain orange (almost) as you will see tomorrow.

Any advice on blending shades/frankening that doesn't involve sacrificing a whole bottle (and I only have a mini of First Mate in any case)? Thanks.

Jenni

Nails Inc Duke St - 24 Euros for a nail polish and a box and a bit of tat?!

OK, I didn't pay the price on the box. Far from it. But who pays that kind of money? Maybe nobody did which is why it's on sale for £6.95...Talk about ripping people off!

First the polish info. Lovely blue-grey creme. 2 coats. Nice enough. Excellent formula.

It's a leeeeeeettle bit less blue IRL.

Next the outrage. I bought a load of stuff. This polish however was in its own box. Hubris or what? Its own box?! The box clearly states 24 Euros. For 1 polish in a plastic tray and a 'phone charm' in a box. What's charming about it I simply don't know. You have to laugh at the audacity of a company that charges astronomical amounts for a handful of beans (Jack and the Beanstalk allusion). Of course I'm not really outraged - more astonished that some people (I pray it wasn't any of YOU) would dream of paying 24 Euros (£20.06) for such a thing.

See! I didn't lie. It says quite clearly 24 Euros.

I'm slightly ashamed I paid what I did, let alone twenty quid! But it was part of a bargain buy and the rest were cheap-as-chips so I'm not too guilt-ridden by it.

OK, what d'you reckon is a fair price for a Nails Inc polish with a *ahem* charm?

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

Bourjois Bleu Violet

It is actually a genuine blue. Very cool-toned. It's looking blurple but I couldn't catch it accurately.
Suffice it to say this is my favourite blue ever. I'm not much of a one for blues in clothing or anything else but I do love this inordinately.

The China Glaze Fairy Dust on the index finger started out as accent nail. Then I noticed a big smudgeroony on the ring finger so had to douse that in Fairy Dust too. So it's not so much accented nails as naff nails.

Bourjois. Now then, now then.

1. Very good quality. Long-lasting. Highly pigmented.
2. The So Laque range does deliver 'ultra shine' as promised.
3. The colour range is mostly as lame as a 3-legged nag. Do you believe there is not a GREEN Bourjois polish in existence in the whole of the company history? How can this be so!   

It's actually sunny! Hurrah. Do you like a bit of sunshine? Or are you going to be depressed until May? Those of you who are making forays into foreign and sunnier climes may gloat at this point. I do actually love the winter - as long as it's DRY.

Jenni

Barielle Electric Boogie

Don't get me wrong. I like Barielle. But when they had a BOGOF offer on their spring and summer 2010 collections I did struggle to find enough shades to justify the P&P. I prefer their older polishes.

Voila...EB.

As is so often the case when I haven't expected much of an item I was disproportionately pleased with this.

1 coat over the pre-existing blues (Illamasqua Force and Miss Sporty). You can see the previous mani easily enough. I was being lazy. I'm going to do this more and more though i.e. use an existing mani as a base for a different polish rather than start from scratch each time. Laxity and moral turpitude? Gosh, yes.

And just because I can, I give you Mary Quant.

I have footballer's legs so these socks don't suit me but does that deter me? Not a jot. I have a drawer full of long socks in various designs. They emphasise my muscular calves and make me look more like Wayne Rooney than is generally considered desirable but I love 'em.

Ad is early 70s. Obviously for the US market as it includes the word "fall". 

What differences between US and UK English have annoyed or confused you? I particularly detest the demise of the "shop" which we are losing in favour of "store". You buy things in shops with money. Shops have warehouses or stores where they.....store stuff.

Jenni

Illamasqua Force and Prism + Miss Sporty

OK, pic shows 3 nails.

Indoors.
The Miss Sporty looked a bit like the Illamasqua Force so I decided to compare.
So it goes like this...
L Miss S 2 coats
Mid Force 2 coats
R Force + Prism 2 coats + Prism makes 3

In sunshine. Obviously they're not the same. The coat of Prism (see bottle pic below) makes a subtle change and I'm going to play with layering it over black and green and other colours.

Nothing great about any of them.
The Illamasqua were reduced at asos. No way on earth would I pay £13 for them. The Miss Sporty is cheapo as we know. If anything, the Illamasqua doesn't dry as glossy as the Miss S.
I'm not really happy with the coverage but I'm back at work and not exactly back in da groove with m'nails. So 2 drossy coats will have to suffice.

 Unlike this lady. She's very soignee. Very nicely turned-out. 1965 this is from! 

What's your favourite berry?

Jen

Cutex Huckleberry + Sweet Pea

Jennifer is away from her desk right now.

So let me take you back in time to yesterday. All my troubles ....
Anyway. I have 2 Cutex polishes. They used to be a huge name and I suppose they've just been taken over/merged/whatever. I research old polish ads and there's more Cutex out there from days gone by than any other brand. So 2 ads coming up.

I got these particular babies because the OPI Hong Kong collection came out and I was looking for dusty greens and blues. Now these are no dupes of Jade is the New Black or the blue one (can't remember the name) from that collection. They were cheap and available so I got them. You can't sue me for it!

Now the ads. Cutex from the 60s. 

This one also features a man. Far distance in sort-of Gone with the Wind clinch. But this woman is a bit more feisty than yesterday's hat-lady. Look at the sexual innuendo in this one! Or is that just me? She'd bite his whatsit off as soon as look at him. 

The previous girl was all Marilyn and this one is more Bardot. I know this isn't polish btw. It's for lippie but you can see her hands so it counts. In my world. Again, quite a challenging gaze. But the companies would have had to have reconciled customers' continuing demand for cosmetics with the growing awareness of feminism and the Women's Liberation movement. So they had to portray more assertive-looking women. That's my interpretation. I think I feel a thesis coming on...


Simple question for today. Which ad appeals to you more?
Plus - have you ever questioned your cosmetics-habit? From the POV of is it what you should be doing with your time/money? Does it make you a half-wit? Or maybe that's just the chemicals. Who's to know?

Jen
PS Thanks for bearing with me while I'm a bit busy.

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

Jessica (again) - gradient + thimble

I can't carry on just painting them. I really do have to try to be more creative. Don't hold your breath though...

It's a mix of 3 Jessica jellies. Aqua, Emerald and Violet.
Just slopped on. I wanted a sort of drippy candle-wax effect but it is what it is. Fine. Not bad. Quite like it.
Sorry about the ring finger. Clearly if I COULD fix it then I bloomin' well would. No idea what's wrong with it. Considering wearing a plaster over it permanently. You remember Nelly and Kelly? Plasters? Oh, and even Adam Ant. Could revive a trend. Keep your Minx. Maybe I should be looking for novelty-plasters. Or glue a thimble to my finger? Better get on to it.

Forgive state of paws. They don't look nearly as good as this IRL. Honest to God I'm sloughing my skin like an adolescent lizard. Too much information?

I do love to see the sun shining through these tints.

Here's my thimble.

It's Faberge. A bit plain for my taste. Must find a better one. I want to be able to tap rhythms on my desk and bring my students to attention with a tap of my thimble. Getting excited now.

The German for thimble is Fingerhut. This means "hat for a finger".

Jen

Models Own Blue Moon + Dusty Mauve

Ingredients
See above
Boots expert  nail ridge filler
Misa Breakneck
Use of Mac iPhoto to edit major imperfections

Method
1 Apply ridge filler
2 Apply 1st coat of polish
3 Apply 2nd coat
4 Apply further coat (if necessary according to taste)
5 Wait 5 minutes before applying topcoat
6 Evaluate

Evaluation
Very pretty. Moon is a blue foil. Not unique but easy to apply and a typical foil
Mauve -  on the nail a soft grey but in the bottle more complex (see below)

Extension activity (sorry, I've lapsed into teacher-ese)
Very pretty but I messed up with a coupla dents'n'dings so the ol' Fairy Dust had to come to the rescue.

Voila. My most-used and rapidly thickening polish.
I am far too tight to buy a bottle of Seche Restore and I know not to thin it  (attempt to anyway) with remover so have you any budget tips for me, please?

Or I shall be very sad.......
I don't want my Fairy Dust to die! Help my Fairy Dust to live, I beg you!

Tatty bye
Jenni

Models Own haul - gang of 5

Less than 48 hours
Free P&P
You'd better hope Eng-er-land beat Germany on Sunday if you want 20% off a little bundle of beauties under the Models Own "Surely that sorry bunch'll never win anything so we can offer loads of discounts to punters safe in the knowledge that we won't have to make good on our promise" WE SUPPORT ENGLAND campaign.

Cr@ppy pic of:
Dusty Mauve
Nude Beige
Pink Lady
Champagne
Blue Moon

These look way better IRL.
I'm going to pick 2 now to do a mani with but won't post until tomorrow.
Short of time today, I fear.

KarenD of Frazzle and Aniploish (http://thekarend.blogspot.com/) me with one of these - for which I thank her.

I have to nominate 5 others and I'm going to devote some time to that before launching in. I also have to write about 5 other things but more of that anon.


OK, I can't leave you without a pic so for a LAUGH (a LAUGH) I am posting my beyond-feeble isn't-this-the-lamest-nailart-ever photo of my cherry blossom effort from February (?).

Actually that blue looks OK but the alleged flower (!) is beyond words cruddy.
Just shows I have more confidence now. I had about 2 followers when I did this and didn't dare expose it to public view but ........well, it's in the public domain. Oh, and the cuticles and.......

Bet Karen wouldn't have tagged me if she'd seen THAT!

Vow to self - must do better.

Onwards and upwards
Jenni-fur

Orly Peridot Courage + Finger Paints Blissfully Blue + more Nails Etc haul

Got home. No post. Upstairs to first landing.
What's this?
Torn paper. Bubble wrap.
That'll be my nail varnish then.
Thanks, dog 3.

I only had one Orly. Now I have 3. Admittedly 2 are somewhat butchered about the rubber handle but hi de hi.

This is Peridot Courage. My b'day is in August and this is one of the "months" range.

3 coats. It's OK. It's yellow. Well, it's a rather greenish yellow and it isn't as foully streaky as most yellows so I'm not displeased.

The accent is the Finger Paints I got from Silver Diva and that went on well for a pastel creme. I think the trick with these is to use a lot of polish and let it settle onto the nail.

Can you see the green? Yes?
It's just not substantial enough so I may China Glaze Fairy Dust it or find a way to zhuzh it up.

Little devil had a good chew at this cap. It's one of the best caps out there and he desecrates it for me. Grrr.

More pix from Rebecca's giveaway as requested. My first/sole Ciate!!!
Isn't the orange MO pretty?

Atrocious shot of the NYC West Village making it look black (see yesterday).

Do they not look heart-rendingly cute?

Which polishes have the best/worst caps?
Orly = best
Nails Inc = worst (they are so big for my puddy-paws)

Hot day. Headache.
We got through to the next round of the WC. Hurrah.

Yes, but we scored an astronomical 2 goals in 3 games and have had to acknowledge that the US has a better side than we do. And (not criticising England now) I am appalled by the play-acting that's going on. It always has but it's so blatant now. All that "Ref, my face! He kicked me in the face. He has obliterated my face, ref!" rubbish. Get 'em off!

Evenin' all
J

Jessica jellies - Aqua and Coral

Aqua and coral - they ought to go well together, yes?

Hark at me! As if I go diving in the lucid waters off the Great Barrier Reef every morning before breaking my fast with a grilled sea-trout and papaya.
I did go to Blackpool once...


Lots of coats. In sun.
No base coat and no top coat.
A I'm getting lazy
B I'm somewhat thrifty
C I'm desperately impatient and I just wanted to get on with it and it took an age to remove the glitter plus I knocked a brush on the carpet, made the mistake of squealing involuntarily and thus alerted the OH to the catastrophe, hastily swabbed carpet, assured OH (still downstairs) that no bones were broken and no further intervention was required and got on with it...

I love these even though Coral is too orange for my taste. But it does speak to the Aqua (a genuine aqua IMO) and so I will graciously accept it.

In shade.

Bottles. You can see how clear the Coral and Red are. The Pink appears essentially creme which it emphatically is not. The Emerald is far left and the other dark one is the Violet (my fave so far).

They are so GLOSSY. I smooch them.

Btw I hate real jelly (I hesitate to say edible food-item as it is neither palatable nor of any value to the human body). Does anyone like it?

That's the QUESTION OF THE DAY.
What about jelly? (Not jam.)
What ABOUT jelly?

Fave flavour? Fave combinations? Do you loathe it? Best jelly mould?

Jenni

A fail - Barielle - and a pass - Jessica

Context is all.

Yesterday I did the bling-thing on the LH so the RH had the much-anticipated Barielle Belly Dance. It was lovely - now my official fave taupe - but I couldn't see the pink iridescence as promised so I was frankly "meh" about it and (highly unusual for me because I hate waste) changed it after a couple of hours.

To this..

Jessica Violet Tint

I got 6 of these for £6.50 all inclusive. 

This is probably 4 coats but it goes on without any effort so who cares? I actually enjoy ladling it on with a trowel. 

These are true jellies. If you hate VNL then you'll loathe these.
I have always loved this kind of translucent finish so I am in 7th heaven with these.
I have emerald, aqua, pink, red and coral to try.
Because it isn't opaque it doesn't verge on that tedious "looks-like-black-all-the-bleedin'-time" territory. Looks black in the bottle to be sure but not on the nail.
Hurrah, say I. And at that price I've ordered another 6 as back-up. Now that is a rarity!

And here's the Belly Dance with Mavala Pink Diamond attempting to distract the eye from a c0ck-up. It's a lovely taupe but it simply didn't suit my mood.

"What larks, Pip!"
(In honour of elder daughter's 22nd birthday today - not that she reads this)

Happy Friday
Jenni