Aussie Nails Monday :: Mummies

Today’s Aussie Nails Monday theme was FREE CHOICE!!  I had been seeing some cute mummy nails during my searches for halloween nail art, so I decided to give it a go.I started out with a base colour of Covergirl Outlast in Always Naked.  For a bit of sparkle, I did a thin coat of Emily de Molly’s Neutral Agreement.  I then used a white striper to paint on the bandages, and Face of Australia Cotton On and Scream on a dotting tool for the eyes.

Just a quick and easy one from me today!  I’ll make up for it with the next Halloween Challenge.

 

xo Relle

What’s In-Die Box September :: A monthly box of polish goodness!

That is correct!  No spoiler for you today as everyone has received their box (weeks ago in some cases).  So we’ll just roll into the good stuff shall we?  All the sparkly goodness!

September’s box brought us 5 polishes from Glam Polish, Peita’s Polish, Lilypad Lacquer, Emily De Molly and Celestial Cosmetics all inspired by Sex and the City!

I guess I shall just have to admit right now that I have only ever seen one episode of Sex and the City, and the only part I can remember of it is a hideous pair of shorts that Sarah Jessica Parker’s character was wearing during a rooftop party with bad penis-joke telling transsexual prostitutes.  It was the weird teeny little shorts that turned me off it though… they were more like.. denim underpants.  I clearly did not want. They haunted me for weeks after.

 

 

I will never hold that against these polishes!  So while I don’t understand the names/references of the polishes, I do know that I liked every one of them, and absolutely fell in love with one. Unfortunately I couldn’t get direct sunlight photos of any of the polishes or bottles, but I did the best I could.

 

Celestial Cosmetics – I Miss New York, Glam Polish – Carrie Me Away!, Lilypad Lacquer – City Lights Emily de Molly – Neutral Agreement, Peita’s Polish – Labels or Love

 

I Miss New York – Celestial Cosmetics brought us a rather unique silver polish shot through with multiple sizes of bright red glitter.  My first coat was very sheer when I applied this, and I was worried it would need multiple coats, however there was enough shimmer in that baby to cover any VNL with the second coat.

Carrie Me Away! – Glam Polish created a brilliant bright blue with scatter holo for Carrie Me Away, and was mostly opaque in two coats.  I think three would be the magical number for this polish, as there was minor VNL visible.

City Lights – It is so hard to describe this polish from Lilypad Lacquer.  So much sparkley shimmer holo shine.  I *think* the base is a dark olive, but I could be wrong.  It almost has a subdued Christmas feel to it, and applies like a dream.

Neutral Agreement – I fought hard, but I could not capture this polish properly.  It is a beigey greigey nude with white, copper and holo glitters of various size.  I’m going to have to re-visit this polish because I know it can look better, just perhaps not next to 4 other polishes that don’t exactly tone in!  This was the polish I was most excited about from the bottle.

Labels or Love – LOVE!  LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!  When I got this polish under proper light, I went wow.  So much glitter, so little nail.  If I had 4 foot long nails, it wouldn’t be long enough for this polish.  I would coat myself in this polish if I could, and I have already made quite a sizeable dent in it.  Labels or Love has a pink jelly base with ALL THE GLITTAH.  There are reds and holos and squares and hearts and and and, definitely too much to try to list.  No fishing at all, there is so much glitter it’s practically crawling out of the bottle and onto your nail itself.  (Rainbow Honey Apple Kid is my undies!)

 

Time for the multi-polished finger swatches!

 

Shortly after this photo was taken, she turned around and started chewing on that new tube of paint.

 

I was supervised by my boss while taking photos.  Normally I can only get shots of her with her eyes shut.  However I had all my lamps on for the mani shots, and I made kissy noises to get her attention and scored this shot.  You can *just* see her little smirk.  She is a super cheeky kitty at times!

What about October?

Now unfortunately sales are closed for October’s Halloween themed What’s In-Die Box, however I will be stalking around for updates on the information for November’s box, and will give an update on this post when more information is known.  Or you could join The Australia

 

xxxo Relle

July Nails :: 10 Day Art Comp :: Pastel Galaxy Day 8

I promised today that I would share my favourite mani of the contest so far.  I say so far, because I still have one more mani to do and then it’s done.  I just had dinner however, so I’m letting that settle a bit before I start soaking with acetone.

Day 8 gave us the very broad “Nail Art” theme.  Oh no! Unlimited choice!  I find the best part about themed contests is that you at least have a starting point for what to do.  Some themes are technique based, some subject matter, but when faced with a wild card I tend to have too many ideas rush at me and it bottlenecks my creativity.

Not so this time, I’m glad to say.  I’ve been wanting to try a galaxy mani for a while now, but I always had some reason for not knuckling down and “gittin ‘er done”.  I also wanted to try and use some of my favourite Aussie Indie polishes in a different way.  Cue interstellar travel!

 

 

The colours I used were Face of Australia’s Cool Cotton as my white base, then I sponged on Femme Fatale’s Twilight Meteorite and Winter Hyacinth, Peita’s Polish LE Hello! I’m Trixie (from the June What’s In-Die Box), and Emily de Molly’s Golden Ratio (a fundraising polish) and Harmony (my first ever Indie polish!).

I tried to keep my mani “Aussie made” but I did have to suck it up and use an off-shore polish, Savina’s Neon Yellow, as the Aussie yellows I have were too dark.  I added a few more dots of FOA’s Cotton on and handpainted a large flared ‘star’ on my ring finger. After a few photos, I topped with Essie’s Matte About You and I think I may have drooled a little.

I really loved wearing this mani, and it was also a hit at work.  I also used off-cuts from a sponge I had used previously for a gradient so it was quite a low cost mani, once you take account of how little polish is actually used for colour.   If you haven’t tried galaxy nails yet – either normal or pastel – I suggest you give it a burl!  It’s easy, and you can just keep sponging colour on slowly until you are happy with it.  Have a booboo?  Sponge back over with your base to mask the booboo.  I’m having the incredibly strong urge to go steal a picanic basket right now.

xxxo Relle

Belated Matte Day Fail :: Om nom noms and the Mani that Wasn’t

I know I promised a mani with some form of Matte in it for Wednesday, and I did try last night but I had a nail fail.

I was at a friend’s house for a “polish play” in her stash, but she greeted me at the gate with “I have a proposition for you!” to which I replied “is it cake?”

No, not cake, but still food!  She was taking me out to the Chinese Tea House (the actual name) for dinner.  The Chinese Tea House is an awesome little dinky Chinese restaurant/takeaway with absolutely no pleasing aesthetics.  There is the stainless steel (and spotless) open kitchen, tiny little ordering bench with out-dated cashregister that I think is only ever used as a money drawer, a glass fronted fridge which occasionally gets moved, but is generally squished up right near the counter, and a mismatch of booth tables, square tables, and round dayglow green tables, battlescarred from their life of holding deliciously tasty Chinese food.  There are brightly coloured pieces of paper, most with english, some only chinese writing, stuck to the walls, and no additional decoration.  Why waste time on how the place looks when you cook food the way they do?  Their crispy sweet and sour pork with fried rice was to die for!  The fried rice had huge king prawns, the most tender almost paper thin but huge sheets of chicken and bbq pork through it with other veg and was a light and fluffy explosion of nom in my mouth.  Mmmm

 

But I digress from my Matte Day fail.  I will state now that I will NOT be sharing a picture of that fail on this blog.  If you are dying to see a grainy shot that I managed to take at the Teahouse before it got seriously banged up, you will need to check out my Instagram feed!

Matte Day Mani Fail

From the mad one’s stash I applied Pretty Serious Mummy Mush, and promptly fell in love.  If you do not have Mummy Mush in your possession, or on your wishlist, slap yourself hard and put it on there.  I then applied a coat of Essie’s Matte About You which loved lovely, but not not as drop dead gorgeous as the pre-matte Mummy Mush.  In true “more is more” style, I decided it wasn’t quite blingy enough, and gave myself some blue glittery tips using an Emily de Molly which my friend couldn’t remember the name to.  As it’s coated with the remnants of her exploded Bling Dynasty, I couldn’t make it out either.  She didn’t have any quick dry .. well anything left, so we left for dinner with me desperately fanning my fingers.  I am pretty sure I got a spec of Mummy Mush on her seatbelt (oops … you might be reading this… just think, GLITTER ALL THE THINGS), some went on my handbag and I left a few chunks of glitter behind at the restaurant.  The next day I woke up and found glitter stuck to the side of my neck too.

xxxo Relle

Happy Birthday Daphne :: Pretty Serious Swatch :: Daphne’s Birthday Party

Today, on the 14th of May, there’s going to be a lot of glittery tributes to Daphne, the official mascot for Pretty Serious Cosmetics!  A special polish was created to celebrate the 1st birthday of Pretty Serious Cosmetics called Daphne’s Birthday Party.  This glitter nuke (far more than just a glitter bomb!) has gold, blue, green, pink, purple and red glitters and enough sparkle to make a unicorn feel dowdy.I’ve done a few manis with Daphne’s Birthday Party, but I haven’t been able to show you all because there’s a world-wide movement to spread Daphne’s glittery goodness all over the interwebs TODAY! Yay!

Glitter Gradient over Emily De Molly’s Golden Ratio

Tape Mani Skittle Mashup


Daphne’s Birthday Party over Maybelline Urban Lemon, a neon blue Miki (unnamed), Pretty Serious The Pink One, Emily De Molly’s The Golden Ratio and MUD Chili Pepper.

Wooot under UV light!

Jelly Sandwich in BYS Flash Dance

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRETTY SERIOUS!!

 xxxo Relle

 

Image from Pretty Serious Cosmetics

 

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Guest Nails :: Paint it Blue for Autism :: Emily de Molly Shattered Sapphire

I have another guest nail spot by Ruth (aka Madvoice).  Unfortunately for me, she just threw the photos at me and didn’t do any write up.  Bad Bad Guest Nails!  No more spankings for you.

As I’m a little behind on posts, I’m not going to be too wordy with this one, except to say that the Emily De Molly I bought as a Christmas gift for her has gotten a lot of use!

This is L’Oreal’s Magic Croisette topped with Emily De Molly’s Shattered Sapphire.

Thanks Madvoice!!  Go Team Blue!

xxxo Relle

If you’re interested in showing your support for Paint it Blue, you can join the Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/PaintItBlue/ or simply tag your Instagram/Twitter posts with the hashtag #bluenailsforautism and #lightitupbluenails.

For more information about Autism, and Light It Up Blue, click on the links below:

http://www.autismspectrum.org.au/

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Guest Nails :: Paint It Blue :: Blue Cack

I’ve fallen a little behind, but I promise I will get back on the Laid Back track tomorrow!  For now, I will leave you with a special guest spot.

On the weekend I was visited by non-blogging buddy Ruth (aka Madvoice), who is also joining me in raising awareness through Paint It Blue.  Unfortunately for her, she was less than pleased with the results of her polish combinations, but I will let her explain it all to you herself!

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Musing from Madvoice

I decided to go visit my lacquer buddy aka Relle for a home cooked meal a few quiet drinks and a chance to play with some polish. I was very loathe to remove what I deemed to be my best ever mani. I had finally managed to conquer the Emily de Molly glitter (that Relle had gifted me for Christmas of last year) with a Seche Vite top coat after many failed attempts. There were copious quantities of swears in these failed attempts, let me tell you.

Anyway, after removing my polish and consuming a rather delicious beef stroganoff that Relle’s husband (readers, you may know him as “the local manbeast” – Relle) and I concocted, I set to work. I had another Emily de Molly that I wanted to show off for Autism Awareness Month (paint it blue Facebook link maybe?) and figured I could use my Nubar Disco Blue Glitter that I had almost forgotten about that was in my stash over the top.  Everything was going well, my Emily de Molly Path to Glory went on without a hitch and the Nubar was ready to go.

I must’ve forgotten exactly how this went on or why I hadn’t used it in a while and it soon came to light. After two coats of this glitter was applied (which looked pretty good to the naked eye) I decided to put Bessie to work (my camera) and take some pics with flash. Holy mother of Flying Spaghetti Monster was it CACK! Complete and utter CACK!  I remember Relle saying something about Papa Smurf jizz blue earlier on in the evening (there may have been alcohol involved). I dare say this would’ve equated to a pity wank all over my fingers. I showed it to Relle and she concurred that it was cack. She gave me some holographic glitter to try and help my already failing manicure but to no avail. It remained cack.

Sometime later (not long enough for the polish to completely set) nature called. I fully expected this manicure to spontaneously combust after entering the loo but no, not this time. It was like it knew how cack it really was and was staying put just to spite me. Hell, it even passed the sleep test. That is something many manicures fail to do with how crazy my sleep cycle is. No matter how dry it seems when I curl up under the covers, it ends up with the crosshatch of sheet weave as a convenient embossing.

 

 

That morning I grabbed Bessie again and took her outside to get photos of this abomination under natural light. No matter which way I held my tongue or how I fiddled with the camera setings, it still looked cack. I then resigned myself to having to remove it and my replacement was the Emily de Molly Path to Glory on its own.  I think this Nubar polish can be regaled to my daugther’s stash now. Complete and utter CACK!

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Her nails breathed a sigh of relief, and below we have Path to Glory flying solo

 

 

 

xxxo

Relle

 

If you’re interested in showing your support for Paint it Blue, you can join the Facebook group here https://www.facebook.com/groups/PaintItBlue/ or simply tag your Instagram/Twitter posts with the hashtag #bluenailsforautism and #lightitupbluenails.

For more information about Autism, and Light It Up Blue, click on the links below:

http://www.autismspectrum.org.au/

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Hoppy Easter :: Bun Bun Mani

I decided to hop on the easter mani trend, and used it as an excuse to practice my striping.  On one hand, we have a complete bunny over my ring finger and thumb, two decorated eggs and a wee carrot for bunny snacks.  On the other hand, I got lazy and did a coat of Shades of Phoenix Zeus instead of a bunny body.

 

 

Polishes used:   A lot!!  I might have missed a few but I think they were MUD Nudely Now as base, art in Meet Minty, Blue Moon, Paradise Valley, Dark Room, and Tripped Up Tango.  Emily de Molly Harmony (for the bunny tail), SH White On and Misa Innocent pearl white striper, LA Girl Matte Rose, and a layer of Sinful Colours Cinderella on my pinky under the carrot.

xxxo Relle

Emily de Molly Swatch :: Path to Glory with Shattered Sapphire

For Christmas, I bought my friend two Emily de Molly polishes, in blue because of her strong bower bird tendencies. As she’ll be away for Christmas visiting her boyfriend, I gave her an End of the World present instead:  Path to Glory and Shattered Sapphire.I posted about these polishes before, when they arrived.  So not only did she receive polishes this weekend, she was told my dirty little secret.  I have a nail blog.  🙂

Without future adieu, I introduce the one, the only, the slightly crazy, Madvoice.  To be fair, she painted these in a dark room, and no cleanup, hence the extra bedazzled cuticles.  First shot was taken inside during the day.  Second shot is in sunlight.

 

As soon as she was all painted up, my friend got on to Emily de Molly’s Etsy store and started looking at all the pretties.  She will definitely be buying again as she was very pleased with the quality of the glitter and ease of use/drying time.

For more info on Emily de Molly check out the Esty Store, Facebook, and Website.

xxxo

Relle

Saturday haul, and longevity of Emily de Molly polish

I don’t like going shopping on the weekend.  Generally I can avoid it, but not today! After spending the night at my parents’ house I spent a good chunk of the first hour of Saturday driving around town looking for a park.  I eventually just parked illegally and waited until the local manbeast was done with his doctor’s appointment.So. I already have hermit tendencies.  Teamed with a hot and frustrating wait in the car – I then venture into a small shopping centre to buy the groceries.

There were a lot of rude people, pushing in, bumping, just generally being pains in the arse…  and my tolerance was waning.  I decided then,  while looking at the Sally Hansen on sale that a new polish would cheer me up! I had been looking for a cheap but quality black polish (that is better quality than the $2 drug store) for nail art purposes.  I picked up a bottle of Black Out (Xtreme Wear) for just over $5 from Woolworths.

After the groceries were done, I went to have a look at the newsagent when I noticed the hairdressers had a bargain bin full of Creative nail polish.  Never did make it to the newsagent :B

THE HAUL

 

 

 From Left to Right we have #168 Mother of Pearl, #377 VIP Status and #288 Sugar Baby

I wanted to show how well the Emily de Molly polish lasted so here’s a shot of that before I attack it with remover.  I have since taken it off but it took forever!!  Glitter polish FTW.

I had some wearing at the tips, and it did start to dull after about 4 days, but I’d slapped it on in a rush so messy coats and a trip to the loo before the topcoat was fully 100% dry!

I can say as far as it goes for a slap-happy application, and someone who is brutal on their nails (hazard of my job as a secretary always in a rush) – this Emily de Molly is hard wearing, and takes a lot of punishment.  A little like me 🙂

Emily de Molly Swatch :: Harmony

Emily de Molly – Harmony

I painted my nails last Sunday, with a mild hangover. As usual, I had issues. I am a messy bitch and had a lot of clean up, trying the brush/remover method for the first time with a brush that was dropping more hair that my tubby cat.  Also I had to pee before it was fully dry.  Then throw in rough edges from my week old gel manicure.I liked it, the formula was great, nice and thick and the glitters really do stay suspended and are eager to get on your nail.  It was fun but the base colour reminded me a little too much of blutac for me to really love it. I would wear it again, although only on my toes  🙂

Emily de Molly polishes can be bought at their etsy store, and are also stocked at Llarowe and Femme Fatale Cosmetics.

xxxo
Relle

The agony of having to wait to use a new polish

I have my work Xmas party coming up this Saturday.  Last Saturday, I had my usual infills and this time I got gel colour in a gorgeous sparkling coppery pink.My nail tech talked me into this colour as it was her favourite.  As soon as she opened up the pot, I knew it was the one I had to have.  It matched my dress absolutely perfectly – My dress has a white base, with a lace/vine like pattern in a mix of colour from black through to brown, then into this peachy copper shade.

 

 

Not a problem, I can wait a week until after my work party to paint my nails again….

Then my friend shows up with a “cheer up bitch” pressie of 6 fluro Savina nail polishes.  OK…. Doesn’t match my dress but I have toes (I am now sporting all 6 colours on my feet… And I may have told the local manbeast that it was unfortunate that I only had 5 toes).

The Savina polish was bright, in nice fun colours.  Dries super quick so it wasn’t a hassle doing the 3-4 coats I needed for the green and yellow although I noticed it was not super shiny when it was done.  I put on a coat of topcoat and that evened out the streakies I had with the green and yellow.  The colours are: Orange Blast, Neon Yellow, Famous Fuschia, Green Neon, Dream (my fave of the bunch) and Marine Life.

Things are going well, toenails tidied and painted, relaxing and watching some tv, all is content.

Then manbeast brings in the mail to me …. And my order from Emily de Molly has arrived!  Two are a gift (for my cheer up bitch buddy’s xmas present) and 1 for me!

Harmony, a grey creme with hex, square and fine glitter in white, teal-ish blue, and purples.  I know the teal is a holo glitter, but it’s too early in the morn for me to expose myself to the reality of starting another work day ie. the sun.  The other two colours being gifted are Path to Glory and Shattered Sapphire – my friend is a self-proclaimed bower bird.

Now for the lazy… A swatch of Harmony done on a notebook by my desk.