Who knew? Fact or fiction. Truth or lies?

1. Nails grow faster in the summer than in the winter. I probably knew this.
2. Men's nails grow faster than women's (except during pregnancy and later in life when growth increases). Nails grow faster when you're older. Are they quite sure?
3. The nails on the hand you write with grow faster. Think I had heard this.
4. The longer the finger, the faster your nail grows. Crazy! Bad for me with my stubby fingers. So not fair. Not that I even want long nails but WHY?
5. After an illness, your nail growth increases. Suppose it makes sense.
6. Nail disorders make up about 10 percent of all skin conditions. Ugh. Had a partner with a fungal nail problem once. Gross. I blame the acrylics.

 

An ad from 1949.With that tapered nail shape that I really don't like.

(Facts from the Cutex website.)

Well, I say "facts". I tend to credulously assume (ouch, split infinitive) that everything I read online is true. If I stop for a moment to reflect I know that my assumption is foolish. But I can't help wondering - how many of those 6 facts are 'true'? And to misquote Prince Charles "...whatever true is..".

Jenni

Nina Ultra Pro Hazelnut

Typical fugly colour such as I love.

3 coats.  Topcoat. Little finger has a coat of Flormar because I had a 'ding' to obscure.

I don't have many Ninas. Two? Three? I am not much disposed to root round Sally's and the Ninas are never reduced. They always give the impression they are the unloved ugly sister to Cinderella China Glaze and Princess Perfect OPI. This one was from my beloved Raven Cosmetics etailer.

Well, I like it.

Jenni

Boots 17 Hide & Chic - not so much YSL Touche Eclat as...

...a bit of paint and a few bristles in a plastic case.

 

One of those promo teasers - spend a fiver (I think it was) and get the following for nowt.

 

The one to which I am pointing is Pink Grapefruit. The other Knockout Red. And I did actually want Pink G so that was fair enough. Heart stickers? Maybe not so much. But who can resist a freebie? Rhetorical question.

OK, now to review the items for which I paid.

1. Even Tone Corrector Stick - if you have cheeks as rosy as mine (think tomatoes crossed with traffic lights) then you need a greenstick and this one is fine TICK VG
2. Hide & Chic Eye Brightening Concealer in Light Rose

• problemo numero uno: the number of times you have to twist the top to get any fluid to the bristles, thought it was never going to work
• the amount was negligible and dried almost instantly on the skin making blending an impossibility
• I had to cover over it with another, more accommodating, concealer
• Touche Eclat it ain't, looking for a dupe? this ain't it - you could just smudge anything beneath your eyes (emulsion?) and it'd be better than this
• THUMBS FIRMLY DOWN

The pictures are poor but I'm not recommending this so I didn't bother with pictorial verisimilitude. The polishes will be reviewed in due course.

Jenni

Mavala Romantic

Nowt special. Just a perfectly bog-standard coral-pink. 2 coats.
But still it's the excellent quality I now expect of Mavala. It gets me every time! I think, "This one's going to be a bit thin and weedy. It'll need more coats than a skinny girl in Saskatchewan." (Oh, and isn't Kate Middleton too THIN!)

Every time the polish turns out to be a thick (but not overly thick) 2-coater! How do they do that? Bizarre.

Where to get Mavala?

• ebay
• Beauty Bay - this and the 2 greens were from BB but I should have got a bigger order as the P&P was a leeeeettle high
• Amazon
• Lloyds pharmacy locally

Jenni

French tips....a bad day in Bordeaux..

 

I used sticky tape and did the tips, then base coat, then a glitter coat. I shouldn't have magnified the pix really as it looks plenty better IRL. I should also have done a much thinner fake 'free nail' section. I'll know better next time.

The beautyuk polish is the exceptional Frozen Kingdom (loving that name) and the other is Northern Lights.

I've never done an 'Essex-girl' before and am surprised by how much I like it. I am painting nails of prom-goers tomorrow. Requests are for purple, hot pink and gold. They don't believe me when I say I've got lots of colours. They think gold is just....gold. SO innocent!

How many golds do you have? I'm going to count mine now.

Jenni

Twitter will be the death of me...

Do I need more excuses to time-waste?
But if it were not for twitter I wouldn't have been alerted by Lena to something I at first dismissed out of hand as ridiculous.

I got the promo for this in my inbox but I get so much Illamasqua spam I didn't bother to open it.

HOWEVER.....Illamasqua are now tied in professionally with an undertaker's business to do funeral cosmetology.  NOT something I'd ever thought much about. I have now!

I've never seen a dead person. Not as far as I know. Certainly not reposing in their coffin! Do the British do that open coffin thing? I believe it's much more common in the US but I have no clue as to the customs surrounding funerals worldwide. Please enlighten me.

So I was hugely derisive at first. Make-up when you're dead! No, no, no. Once I googled it I realised how run-of-the-mill it is in the US. I just can't see 'funeral cosmetician' as a prime career option somehow. I know I've limited vision. Who am I to make mock...

What d'you reckon to a bit of slap in such circumstances? Consoling to the bereaved? A sign of respect? Look your best at all times? Somewhat superfluous?

I think my current position is that it perhaps detracts from the gravity of the event. Cosmetics are very much a part of life. Cosmetics (delightful as they are) are transient and of the world whilst death is perhaps the time to think on higher things.

Jenni
PS A very good initiative commercially by Illamasqua, I think. Suits their image and marketing strategies. Innovative. Bold.

Mavala Bronze Green

More Mavala-lous polish. (Sorry. REALLY sorry...)

2 coats of hotness. Plus topcoat. These Mavala polishes are at their best when glossy and I've read other blogs saying that they do need topcoat top-up to achieve the best effect and I'd agree with that.

An unassuming little number in the bottle but fabulous on. Different under different lighting conditions.

Jenni

PS Please recommend a cuticle-remover that doesn't strip the flesh from the digits and make one look like a snake sloughing its skin! But does effectively remove cuticles. Natch.

Mavala Khaki Vintage

Ordered this online and was disappointed when it arrived.

"Thin green shimmer, huh? Well, this'll take about 8 coats then. Oh, dear. Maybe I shan't bother then." WRONG. It's green and it's grey and it's soft and it's shimmery.

It's actually rather thick too and took only 2 coats which was plenty! Plus topcoat. Jumping Jehosophat, but this is one cool polish. I know Mavala works out pretty expensive when you consider the bottle holds only 5ml. But Mavala are really impressing me quality-wise. Their ridge-filler is excellent. And that's high praise from me. The woman with ridges deeper than the Grand Canyon.

I have 2 more to show you. Mavala doesn't get much love on UK blogs which is a shame.

Jenni
PS Comments promptly attended to...

Comments and how to handle them...

I fear I am a very bad blogger (yes, yes, in addition to the dodgy camera-work and rubbish cuticles) and am hopeless with comments made.

 (This is a tinkering mani with W7 Earthquake Silver, Barry M Nail Effects in black, Boots 17 matte coat, topoat over ring finger and then W7 again over the original Nubar Knight's Armour.)

I don't seem to know how to acknowledge comments properly and I feel guilty about it. I love getting them but I just think I'm not paying them enough respect. It gets to the point where I don't want to/am afraid to read them in case someone left me a really lovely comment or question and it's obvious I haven't been paying proper attention and what will people think of me for not having made a super-prompt response.

I do not know how you peeps with big followings cope! Does it prey on your mind? How do you handle it?

So should I

A just continue to do my best and leave things as they are
B discipline myself to read and answer comments at the same time each day without fail
C disable comments and invite peeps with QUESTIONS and ADVICE to email me and then I KNOW I will get back to them because I'm fairly good with my email correspondence
D other (please advise)
E if you leave comments on blogs what do you expect from the blogger? Do you go back and check?

Help!!!

Jenni

Nubar Knight's Armour

My red hands are due to the pressure exerted by trying to grasp 2 bottles of polish simultaneously in my teeny little paws.

Lazy woman that I am I slopped the Nubar over the 2true "Paradoxal". How much do I love that 2true! Do get it. 2 coats of Nubar btw.

Cor, I love this Nubar too. This is a great way to wear black which can otherwise be rather dull (ha!). I do feel rather bold and chivalrous wearing this! I realised it's pretty well identical in the bottle to Mavala Black Diamond. I'm developing a real "thing" for Mavala. Knight's Armour was the star of the Fortress collection which I derided at the time. I was unwise in the ways of lacquer then and thought a bunch of greys was a pointless waste of space. I know better now.

I love Nubar and I love Mavala. And on that positive note - adieu.

Jenni