I'm Still Here!!!!

I am soooooooooooooo sorry!  The play finished on Sunday and I have come down with the sniffles.  Plus that and having to go to Uni at five in the morning PLUS organising my Brownies' Christmas Party!

Me and hubby (who was also in play)

The play was a huge success!  We all had such a wonderful time and it got a great response.  The piccie above is me, on stage, in my 80s outfit.  I was wearing Essie's Pepperoni on my nails.  I haven't worn that colour in such a long time.  Sadly I forgot to swatch it.  I have had it for about four years and I can report that it still applies beautifully and it lasted for three days before it chipped ... but then I was climbing up and down ladders several times an evening!  Back to normal swatching real soon ... I promise!  I missed you all! xx

China Glaze - Pure Elegance and Happy Thanksgiving to my American Friends x

I had a mani yesterday at may favourite manicure place as a little treat to myself before I get too exhausted with this play!  So this play I am in is set in the 80s.  When my fab nail technician asked me to choose my colour, could I decide?!?  My head was saying pinks/reds but my heart was saying fab purple glitter.  So I chose Pure Elegance by china glaze thinking that it would satisfy .... something!  Although it is a yellowy pink it does have an iridescence to it.  However, after a day of wearing it I had to take it off!  This polish is like eating sweeties.  After a while you overdose on sugar and you get a stomach ache!  It's all right in small doses.  Plus I don't think it goes with my 80s outfit also.  I am now wearing a red which I will post tomorrow.  Plus do come back to see me in my costume!!

Before I go I want to say something to my friends in America:- Happy Thanksgiving to you all.  I hope you all have a wonderful holiday.  We don't celebrate it over here but if we did then I would be thankful for my blog because through it I have met some wonderful women.

x

The Final Set!

Isn't it fabulous!  The house is based on a 16th Century cottage.  We were able to get on the stage and rehearse properly for the first time last night!  However, it is a lot smaller then we are used to and I have ended up with bruises everywhere and a twisted ankle!  If you look upstairs to the right, you'll see that it goes off to the "attic" which is actually a fabulous little cubby hole which I camp out in for about 10 minutes.  So I have put some stuff in my cubby hole such as a magazine, my make up, hand cream (of course!) and a can of gin and tonic!  It's a little bit naughty but hey with all the running around I have to do up and down the stairs (in heels no less!) I deserve a little drinky-poo to keep me going!  It's our first performance in front of an audience tonight.  It's what we call an open rehearsal.  We invite old age pensioners to come and see us for free.  It's like a warm up before the real thing!  Anyway we were rehearsing until midnight last night so I am pretty pooped today.
I am sorry for the lack of nail pix but I do have a mani that I will post later.
Lots of love
x

Our Fabulous Set!

I can't believe that a small amateur dramatic group like us can actually build a fabulous set like this.  I am so amazed.  We have a wonderful team and they have worked so hard on this.  I know it doesn't look much - it's not been dressed yet and there are ladders everywhere!  The whole set is on a revolve as well so it spins around.  Our first night is Wednesday night.  I'm not sure if we would have a complete run through by then because the set isn't ready yet.  Only because we don't have nearly enough people to help and it has been a huge project.  Having said that everyone has worked well together. Tensions are running high as well.  I told the stage manager at the end of the rehearsal that my vase that I carry and threaten to smash over someone's head (in the play) was the wrong one.  It was far to big and heavy for me to carry.  Well I thought I was going to have to sew my head back on after she bit it right off!!  I mean really, we are all in this together and we all want to put on the best show so there is absolutely no reason to snap at someone!  We are all feeling the pressure!  Anyway I am having a nice manicure tomorrow so will post some pix of that.  My hands are suffering as I have to climb up and down a ladder ... in heels!!!  I will post some pix of the complete set and us rehearsing as well.  OK I need my beddy byes!!  Night all x
PS Despite everything I really enjoy reading your blogs, it really takes my mind of the stresses!  Thank you everyone xx

The First Time

Hello my sweeties!  I am so sorry for not posting.  I am so behind on all my swatching.  My play is all next week (ahhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!) and we have all been busy building the set and rehearsing.  I am so pooped I can't tell you!  Anyway I have been wearing OPI's "You're a Doll" which I bought after seeing it on Katie's blog over at What Katie Did Her Polish (Thanks Katie!).  I haven't worn a "subtle" polish in such a long time.  It is so pretty and I absolutely love it.  Please do go and see what it looks like over at Katie's blog (see my blogroll).  I love the creamy colour with the tiny red flecks in it.  I call it my secret polish!  I feel like people see it as a neutral colour but I know that it has this little secret!  OPI's "You're a Doll" has now become a new favourite.  I love it. I can't describe how it makes me feel.  Yes I can ..... it makes me feel like I have just discovered nail polish for the first time.

So I've been thinking.  I want to know that last time a polish has made you feel like that.  Do you remember when you discovered nail polish?   Every so often I find a polish that replenishes that wonderful feeling.  OPIs "You're a Doll" has totally recaptured that for me.  So, what polish has made you "recapture that old feeling"?!

Naive Nails Competition

Check out Naive Nails (listed on my blogroll)  She is having a fabulous giveaway.  Two hand creams and ESSIE MINT CANDY APPLE!!! Which I am dying to get my paws on! I've entered and I have my manicured fingers crossed!

x

I'm Seeing Spots! - Children in Need Mani

Friday night is Children in Need night which is an annual charity event.  The whole country gets involved including celebs, news readers, sports personalities and so on.  The event is covered on TV and is lots of fun.  There are plenty of products to buy and fundraising ideas so that everyone can get involved to help children who need it the most.  I got all my Brownies involved and tonight we raised money for this wonderful cause by having a "Danceathon".  We danced non-stop for an hour and a half.  I know that doesn't sound long but believe me it is! NON-STOP!!  My feet are killing me!  We have raised over £200.00 (approx $320.00) which I am really pleased about and my girls were brilliant!  They did it!  So because we were getting involved with Children in Need, I had to do a Children in Need manicure!  Now the mascot for Children in Need is Pudsey the Bear who has a spotty bandage over his eye.  So I put his bandage on my nails.

My base is China Glaze "White Out" followed by a variety of colours.  I had to franken the blue, yellow and green as I wanted to match them as closely as possible.

If you are intrigued what the whole of the UK will be up to you can check out the website:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/

Plus you can see the spotty design that I'm talking about as well!  It's certainly a recognizable design here and I got a lot of lovely comments.

Right, I am now going to put my aching feet up now and have a nice cup of tea!

Hope you are all well x

Pixies are Everywhere!

So I have been donning ASOS Pixie for over day when I thought "I wonder what this baby would look like as a matte?"  So I put a coat of Essie Matte About You on and look at how pretty it turned out! I love it glossy and I love it matte.  I have to apologise about the quality of my lighting.  It's all indoors at the moment as we are having a few storms over here.  Anyway back to the nails.  Well I couldn't just leave it  matte, so I got my Konads out!  This is from plate M65 and I used Konad Special Polish in Violet.  Right I promise to take this off later and do a totally different mani!!

x

ASOS Paint by Ciate - Pixie

I bought some Ciate Paints by Ciate weeks ago but as you already know we have been having postal strikes so my hauls are taking their time getting to me.  I have finally got round to swatching this one which is Pixie from the ASOS Paint range.  I don't know if you know but ASOS stands for As Seen On Screen.  We have a website here that finds where all the celebs get their clothes/shoes/polishes/accessories etc. and you can buy them from this particular website.  Ciate have produced these polishes in association with ASOS and are named after celebrities.  This gorgeous jade green creme is called Pixie (I guess after Pixie Lott?)

I love this so much.  I think I may leave it on for a few days then Konad it! The formula is gorgeous to work with.  This application was smooth and I only needed two coats.  This has become one of my favourites (I try not to have favourites amongst my babies, but I can't help it!!).  It is certainly one of the best greens I have ever seen.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

x

And as if by magic, my thumb nail reappeared!!!

OK I have no patience and I can't wait for my nail to grow back especially with party season just around the corner! So I asked my nail technician to do a gel extension.  It looks pretty doesn't it?! I also asked her to apply this OPI purple holo.  This one didn't have a name just a number.  Can anyone help with this?  I would love to own it.  I think it's from the Designer series.  This is only two coats.  Personally I would have done another coat but I had to go and pick my daughter up from school.  There is still extreme VNL!!

So I Konadded this baby!

I used plate M70 with Konad Special Polish in Royal Purple.  It's very Louis Vuitton!!!

Hope you're all having a great weekend! We've been having storms so I think I need to dig my Wellington Boots out and splash about in the puddles!

* I have found out and it's DS Mystery.  I thought it was too light to be that but apparently it is.

x

I am standing up for women everywhere!

It's official ... housework IS bad for your health! I always suspected it but now I can confirm it.  So there I was putting some laundry in the washing machine when all of a sudden I caught my thumb (and nail) on the latch.  I heard one of those blood curdling snaps that we all dread to hear, and when I looked down I saw this!  I screamed "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" which could be heard from miles around.  I felt faint and sick to my stomache ..... and there it is.  Housework caused me to break a nail and subsequently made me feel unwell and, voila! Housework is bad for your health!  So women everywhere it's time to put our nails/health first! Put down that iron, store that vacuum cleaner away, throw that duster in the bin ... it's not worth the stress and destruction it causes our nails and, of course, our health.  I have also realised that men don't really care for nails, therefore THEY should do ALL the housework!  My hubby will pitch in but I think I need to take care of myself so he should just take over all the housework for the sake of my nails/health!
Right I'm off to my therapist (my beauty therapist) to fix my nail.  And as God as my witness, I shall never do housework again!

MAC - $$$$$ Yes

                                          

When I bought Lucky Number (left) I also picked up Baby Goth Girl (right - which I have already swatched) and $$$$$ Yes (middle).  This polish is a very pretty silver but, just like it's sister, it's extremely difficult to apply.  I love this so much but I would love it more if it were easier to use.  This little monkey is tricky!  I had to let the first layer dry first before putting the second layer on.  If you're not careful you could get brush drag on your nail which is a pain.  I've done my best with this one.  Plus, do you know who does not like this polish?  Seche Vite that's who!  I put a layer of SV on and it made my polish bubble!!! Can you believe it?!?! Our very own Seche Vite - our miracle product who gets rid of all the bubbles - bubbled $$$$$ Yes!  When you get this application right, it does look fab but unfortunately it picks up all my flaws.

(Top two: No flash

Bottom: with flash)

Eyeko

I ordered these three little polishes from the Eyeko website ages ago and forgot I had them! I am terrible!  They came as a set and cost £6 (including postage and packaging).  They are Lilac Polish, Cosmic Polish and Indigo Polish. I have to say that I am more excited about the Cosmic Polish.  It's a black shimmer with coloured glitter!  I do look for polishes that are a bit different and this one certainly looks like it does the trick.  Well all in all I was pleasantly surprised by these polishes.  They were really smooth to apply and had a lovely shiny finish. I took these outside with and without flash except for the Cosmic Polish where I photographed it inside as well because I couldn't capture the beautiful coloured glitter.
Cosmic Polish is a black polish with coloured glitter.  Indigo is a deep blue with a subtle shimmer which makes it glow from inside and the Lilac Polish is a gorgeous creme with red undertones.

Cosmic Polish is so pretty especially when it catches the (artificial!) light.

Thanks for stopping by.

xxxx

Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice!

The gorgeous and wonderful and super-lovely Kelliegonzo tagged me this award.  Thank you so much sweetie! x  I think I have to list 10 ambitions of mine.  OK here goes:
1.  I would love to write and publish a novel.
2.  I want to have dinner with Colin Firth!
3.  I would love to live in America.
4. I want to travel around Europe on the Orient Express
5.  Visit the Caribbean and sit on a beach looking out to the sea, all by myself.
6.  Learn Italian
7.  I want to own my own tea room in a pretty village in Devon
8.  Figure skate like a pro!
9.  Sky Dive
10.  Be in a West End Musical

Phew !  My brain hurts!!!

I am tagging -
Evil Angel
Nihrida's Blog
Glammed Up

x

Latest Haul!

I have been waiting ages for my haul to arrive.  We have been having postal strikes here in Ol' Blighty so everything is delayed at the mo.  I have quite a few new additions but I will start with these three.  The first two are from Paul and Joe.  Now I have to be completely honest and say that the selection of colours are not that inspiring.  They're good if you need to have a "subtle" day, you know, if you need to go to work or an interview .... that sort of thing. However I did buy them purely for the cute bottle!  I love this vintage chic style!  So I purchased a gold one (no 27) and a corally-pink one (no. 15).  Both these are very sheer and both needed 4 coats would you believe!  And even then there was slight VNL!

(Inside no flash)

(Inside with flash

The gold one has silver glitter in it.  Not quite Chanel Gold fiction but it's still quite pretty.

(inside no flash)

(Inside with flash)

I liked the coral one more than I thought I would.  This would make a good base for a Konad!  The formula is easy to work with and application is smooth but sheer.  What I also liked about these polishes are the smell.  Now I don't know if these are officially scented but when these dried they smelled like Cerruti 1881.  Gorgeous!
The next addition is Ciate Paint Pot - Shaken Not Stirred.  This is an iridescent purply pink colour which needed three coats.

Again I think this would make a good base for a Konad.  I'm still on the fence on this one! Do I like the colour or do I not like the colour?!?

(Inside with flash)

(Inside no flash)

Maybe I should add some glitter?!  The bottle's pretty cute though!

MAC - Lucky Number

I went out the other day and I picked up MAC's Christmas releases.  This one is Lucky Number.  At first glance it looks like a pink shimmer.  Now I wouldn't go out especially to buy a pink nail polish but I thought 'why not? I'll give it a go!'  And well I was completely surprised.  I put this on two days ago and I still have it on.  I loooooooooove it!  It's not a shimmer at all, instead it is a dusky pink chrome!!! It is so pretty.  However...... be warned, this is not the easiest polishes to put on.  In fact it took me a couple of attempts to suss out this little baby!  It is a thick and sticky formula and you need to use the brush lightly because it will streak.  In fact my application still looks a little streaky.  I also recommend you use a ridge filler such as Barielle Camouflage to cover any dips or bumps in your nail as this little monkey will pick up any nail flaw (my nails are full of them!)  My pictures of Lucky Number do not show how pretty this colour is but trust me it is gorgeous!  Plus my pictures highlight all my application flaws!!! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

MAC Baby Goth Girl

I am so sorry for not posting, I had a manic day yesterday.  I took my Brownie pack to Legoland yesterday and now I am completely shattered. Anyway I have bought some new polishes recently so I will find some time to swatch my new babies!  So first up is MAC's Baby Goth Girl.  I was so surprised to find it as I had been having some trouble tracking it down.  Of course I purchased it immediately.  This is a beautiful dark, vampy winey colour (Gee I am so technical!) It also has some glitter in it as well.

(Outside no flash)

I do love these colours but I especially love the glitter in it.  I've had BGG on for 2 days now and I can tell you that I am fade and chip free.  However, I will be taking it off now to do another swatch!

 With Flash

Anyway I hope you are all well. I do enjoy reading all your posts.

x

I've Been Tagged!

I was tagged by the gorgeous Heather at Lambchop Mobile and I can tell you that I am totally chuffed to bits.  It means so much to me since I am a newbie and all!  So thank you Heather, I am completely honoured. x  So now I have to share 7 facts about me.  OK here goes:

1.  I was brought up in Hong Kong.  When I was 5 months old my family moved over there for my Dad's job.  Although Mum and I evenutally came back to the UK, my Dad is still over there.  Having my childhood over there totally rocked!

2.  One of my guilty pleasures is 80s movies especially ones directed by John Hughes.  We're talking Pretty in Pink, The Breakfast Club, Sixteen Candles etc.  Movies that I love that aren't John Hughes are  Labyrinth and Back to the Future!

3. I am a huge I Love Lucy fan.

4. I was born with a small stump on both my hands which doctors said would have grown into a sixth finger (aahhhhhhhh she's a witch! A witch!!!) I did have them removed but how cool would that have been for swatching nail polish!!

5. I hate gardening.  I get the whole watching something you've planted flourish and grow, but I have no patience and want to see the fruits of my labour immediately.  I get absolutely no enjoyment from gardening.  I kill plants. Plus it ruins my manicure!

6. When I'm down, I dance.  Seriously, even if I'm standing in a queue for something, I will have a little shuffle.  If I'm at home however, I will put my music on and DANCE!!!!! It always helps.

7.  When I was 7 months pregnant, I went to a New Year's Party at my hubby's work. At the time he worked at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in Covent Garden.  It was during the time when The Witches of Eastwick was playing and when Ian McShane played Darryl. (Ian McShane has also been in Deadwood and voiced Mr Bobinsky in Coraline).  At the party Ian McShane came up to me and put his hand on my big belly and started talking to me about my pending arrival! I tell Abi that Mr. Bobinsky tickled her toes whilst she was in my tum!

Now I have to tag 7 people - I hope it's ok to tag people who have already been tagged.

1. Lambchop Mobile

2. Kelliegonzo

3. Evil Angel

4. Gilded Angel

5. The Diva's Polish

6. Gladys - Nail Fanatic

7. KONADomania

x

Latest Haul

Ok I am better now!  I have signed myself up to do the other exam. To hell with it, I've come this far why give up now? I'm sorry for moaning!!  Anyway I went out and bought new polishes which I will share with you in my next post.  I want to show you my haul that I received yesterday.  I realised that I don't have nearly enough sparkles in my collection and considering that the Holiday season will soon be upon us, I thought I should supplement my collection! So from left to right in the above picture: China Glaze - Glam, OPI - Glitter Ball, China Glaze - Pom Pom, Color Club - Snow Queen.  I will swatch these. I'm very excited about Glitter Ball.  For my NOTD I used Color Club - Snow Queen.  When I first put this on I did think 'Oh no not another Chanel Rouge Noir wannabe' but I must say that it's a little more purply than winey.  Very dark and gorgeous.  I did find the formula a little tacky to work with but I got there in the end.  My mani didn't stop there though.  I was desperate to use some glitter so I put a coat of China Glaze's Pom Pom on.  It is a pink sparkle with some fine glitter and slightly bigger bits.  It looks gorgeous I have to say.  The glitter cheered me up! (Glitter usually does!)

I like a bit of sparkle every now and then!