Best of 2011...part two.

Worst. New. Years. Ever.

I may be being over dramatic. But I did not buy another TV so Nick and my brother could play Xbox on both of them. I bought it so I could watch TV when the angry shooting noises coming from the lounge got too much. New years isn't a big deal to me, but couldn't they have done it another night. New years isn't high on my holiday celebrations list because I love Christmas so much and New Years just seems like the end of Christmas to me. I do how ever love New Years day...yeah I'm an odd one

Anyway it's still only 10:00pm. There's still time...? Hahaha who am I kidding.

Smokey is watching you... I don't think she's too impressed with the boys gaming either.

And now what I actually planned to post...my favourite glitters and cremes off 2011.

Color Club Space Case

 Space Case came out with the Starry Temptress collection. A neon, with shimmer and glitter? Sounds awesome? It is awesome!

Revlon Starry Pink

 Starry Pink is such a pretty delicate pink with silver glitter. Girly and full of glitter whilst still being rather demure. I think I like it best layered over aEngland Iseult.

Cult Captivated

 Cult Nails has produced some awesome polishes this year. Captivated is a gorgeous coral jelly filled with shimmer gold glitter. Amazing on the nails and I do love a good coral!

China Glaze Lorelei's Tiara

 I actually haven't posted pictures of the China Glaze Eye Candy collection, but I have been wearing them. In fact two have made my top 20 list. Lorelei's Tiara was always going to be one I'd fall in love with. Silver glitter and blue glitter and so darn sparkly.

China Glaze Some Like it Haute

 Some like it Haute is the other Eye Candy polish to make my list. I know it's one of those duped polishes, but this is the only version I'll be getting my hands on. I love the charcoal glitter and the holo glints that sparkle like crazy.

OPI Excuse Moi!

 Excuse Moi is just plain awesome. Predominately pink but filled with rainbow glitter. Awesome! If I keep wearing this once a week like I've been doing I'm going to need a new bottle fast.

OPI Spark de Triomphe

 Sparke de Triomphe is one of those amazing glitters that have the same colour but different sized particles of glitter in them. What makes it stand out even more is that it's not silver, it's more of a white gold... Argh. I can't explain the colour but it's awesome.

Zoya Jana

 Jana is one of my favourite neutral polishes to wear. Neutral yet a bit edgy. Jana also looks fantastic with OPI Movin' Out on top.

aEngland Galahad

 I love love love Turquoise/teal/aqua and any shade of blue/green or green/blue so Galahad had to make my list. Amazingly creamy formulae as well.

China Glaze Near Dark

 Near Dark is a surprise love this year. Normally I haven't been so into dark colours, but I find Near Dark is the perfect dark polish for me to wear. You might not be able to tell but it looks awesome with my skin and matches most of my autumn/winter clothing.

Deborah Lippmann Naked

Naked s my favourite nude of the year. Anytime I can't decide on a colour or I need to keep a polish on longer than 2 days I turn to Naked. Before my wedding I wore Naked non-stop. It's the perfect nude. It's the perfect base for glitters. Naked is just perfect on me.

And those conclude my top 20 polishes for 2011. I hope everyone had a fabulous 2011 and is looking forward to an even better 2012. I know I am!

Best of 2011...part one.

Argh I had such a hard time narrowing down my favourite polishes of 2011 to just 20. I started off with a pile of 60 odd...there have been some awesome polishes released this year.

I somehow managed to get it down to 20, so lets take a look t my favourite shimmers, glass flecks and holo's of the year.

Zoya Neeka

 Neeka is a stunning purple with awesome flecky shimmers. Very flattering and just plain awesome to be honest.

Essie Brazilliant

 Brazilliant was my favourite orange of the year. Bright and vibrant with a smidge of pink shimmer. I wore this one to the beach boxing day and it was perfect.

OPI I Eat Maine-ly Lobster

 I love a good coral, specially one with some hidden shimmers. I Eat Maine-ly Lobster may be an unusual colour for a Fall Collection but I'm glad OPI put it out.

Orly Oui

 Oui is one sexy shimmery purple/gold. Oui was my favourite polish that followed the heavy gold shimmer trend. Oui is slightly more purple than OPI It's My Year and in my books prettier.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Piu Mosso

 Piu Mosso is one sexy polish. Dark Navy with cooper shimmer...enough said to be honest.

Revlon Royal Cloak

 I wasn't sure I needed Royal Cloak but when I saw it at Farmers I just had to have it. Glad I bought it. Royal Cloak is an incredibly flattering purple and it has flecks.

China Glaze Blue Years Eve

 Blue Years Eve is amazing. Yes it's fairly close to Blue Iguana and Drink' My Blues Away...but it's deeper and more vibrant somehow... Nick even commented on how awesome the colour was. He never comments on my nails unless the colour is highly awesome. I plan on painting Blue Years Eve on my nails soon as I get up to celebrate the New Year...

China Glaze Glitter Garland

 Glittering Garland is another winner from China Glaze. I'm not normally into green, but Glittering Garland had me wanting to wear green every day leading up to Christmas. It's such a flattering and pretty polish.

Glitter Gal 3D Holo Silver

 Ok so Silver may not have been released this year, but it was made accessible this year for a lot of people and I was luck enough to review it. OMG it's the best silver holo I have. Look at the freaking rainbows.

a-England Tristam

Tristam is amazing. Deep blue with holo particles...sexy. Oh did I mention the formulae is amazing. I'm in love.

There you have it the first 10 polishes in my top 20 for 2011. Please remember this is just my opinion. Love my opinion or hate it? Let me know! 

Look out for the cremes and glitters will be coming tomorrow.

Color Club: Beyond the Mistletoe

Boxing day. Here in New Zealand that means sales. I personally plan to steer clear of the shops...but you never know what the day will bring. It's a gorgeous sunny day so hopefully the day brings the beach!

Today I have Color Clubs Beyond the Mistletoe collection. I've actually had this collection awhile now, I even had it swatched, just didn't get it posted.

Candy Cane

Gingerbread

Holiday Splendour

Sugar Plum Fairy

Beyond the Mistletoe

Jingle Jangle

In all honesty I love this collection. Yes three of the polishes are dupes with Funky Fingers, but I love the Color Club bottles. So square and easy to store. The glitters are so pretty. I used three coats for each and I'm pretty happy with them!

Merry Christmas, Merry Christmas!

Yeah...It's almost midnight. That means by the time I post this it will be Christmas.
At least it will be Christmas Day in New Zealand!

I've cleaned the kitchen for the third time this week, got all the food ready to put out, cleaned out the fridge and rung mum twice to remind her to bring things. Now it's finally time to sleep.

Before I sleep I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas! Please remember to drive carefully and be safe. That's my biggest fear during the holidays. Driving during the holiday period. So please drive to the conditions, take breaks and if you have a few wines make sure someone else is driving.

And I wanted to show you all the nails I'll be sporting tomorrow.

China Glaze Martini Pedicure with OPI Rainbow Connection

It's summery and sparkly so it's perfect for a New Zealand Christmas. I'm wearing OPI Excuse Moi on my toes...but I wont scare you with actual pictures of them!

Anyway Merry Christmas. Eat too much and spend time with your loved ones. That's my plan anyway!

To Google or Not to Google? And Some Del Sol Colour Changing Goodness!

Well I had a doctors appointment yesterday.

After 3 days of random short, sharp head pains happening every 5 to 30minutes I thought it was best to visit the pharmacy and ask if I should take anything for it. The pharmacist said I should probably see the doctor.

So I started recording the pains and made a doctors appointment. I had 108 pains on Thursday, all just short sharp pains above my left eye. I only had 6 pains on  Friday though... So it seems to be stopping? After a neurological examination (that was weird...testing all my reflexes) the doctor seems to think I have Trigeminal Neuralgia.

So what do you do when the doctor tells you, you might have something with a long scary sounding name? Do you Google it and get freaked out...or just freak out?

I'm not actually freaked out, I mean the pains haven't stopped me. It's just been a short sharp unpredictable pain. Last a couple of seconds and then it's gone. I'm just reluctant to take the drugs the doctor prescribed me. I mean it seems to be stopping... Yeah I'm not a fan of drugs.

Anyway here's a pic of a pretty polish.

Del Sol Ruby Slipper in the shade

Del Sol Ruby Slipper in the sun

Colour change polishes are so fun and this one by Del Sol is my favourite. I'm not really a fan of Trick or Treat their Halloween polish, but I love Ruby Slipper. I used 4 coats, thin ones. The shimmery silver glitter is so pretty in the shade, then its all like wham, pow, red, in the sun. Very fun.

Oh and for anyone wondering what Trigeminal Neuralgia is, it is a condition where a nerve in your face has issues and decide to cause pains. It has three branches, jaw, check and eye. One or more can play up and cause sharp pains. The doctor only thinks I have it as I'm not showing any other symptoms that would be related to cluster headaches. I'm on some low dosage anti convulsant drugs for a few weeks until I have another appointment to reevaluate. Either way the pain seems to be stopping. I've had a few dull aches today but no strong ones.

I just hate long scary words and the urge to google them!

New Hair...

Well here's a picture of my new hair. It's not that i dislike it, I've just been getting used to it. I didn't look like me to me for a day or so.

But hey...if I feel comfortable posting a pic of it barely brushed and more or less how I rolled out of bed this morning, then I must be happy with it!

Lol my hair is a mess. I was a little lazy this morning and didn't have time to do my hair, because I decided staying in bed was more important.

I had to get up early to take Nick to the bus, but I actually had to get up properly as I have a doctors appointment. then I'm helping mum finish the Christmas food shop.

Hopefully later today I'll have time to post my Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe pictures and I'm hoping to get the first 3 of my Hits no Olimpio polishes up today or tomorrow.

A Party Hearty Christmas!

Wow! day 6 of the school holidays and already I feel so much more relaxed...
I can even handle shopping at the mall, when its crazy and hardly any car parks. I drive up to the 3rd floor... I just get uber scared if I have to stop on the ramp. During term time I can't even cope with the mall on a Saturday morning. I just get a little cranky when there's too many people.  I've even been swearing at random cars that don't follow the road code less.

But the point is I've been calm and happy and did I mention calm? I've managed to clean my house and keep it clean, seriously that is a major achievement if you know how messy my darling is.

I'm even starting to look forward to my new class next year. I really do love teaching...despite the stress and headaches this year has given me.

Anyway on to pictures...

My mani today is Revlon Stonewashed with a generous splash of CG Party Hearty.
I've already had two people tell me how much they like it. I went to the post office and the supermarket and got stopped at both places by people wanting to know about my nails.

Revlon Stonewashed and China Glaze Party Hearty

Now I'm off to get a hair cut. I am super nervous...I may have a slight irrational fear of hairdressers. It's not as bad as my irrational fear of chalk...but anyway...

My hairdresser moved an hour and a half away just after my wedding...So I haven't had a cut since then. I'm trying out a new person working at the salon...but omg I'm nervous. It doesn't help I don't know exactly what I want... Lets hope she can read minds like my old hairdresser could.

In all seriousness I do have a few pictures of what I like. In all honesty I really just want a change. Last cut I had we left my hair quite long, with a long fringe, because of the wedding. I know hair grows back so as long as it's about shoulder length and doesn't look heinous I'm happy. I'm sure the hairdresser knows what she's doing and wont make my hair look awful! I even left it naturally wavy so she could see the texture...*fingers crossed*

Here's the before...

Long, wavy, scraggly hair that is in desperate need of a cut!

Wish me luck!

Christmas Tree

I make no effort to hide my love of all things christmas.

So here's my Christmas tree! yes I love my tree. It's white and covered in Disney decorations...Tinkerbell sits on top of it. I considered buying a green tree this year...but the white looks so pretty with the blue lights and all my brightly coloured Disney ornaments.

I love the blue glow of the LED lights.

If you look closely you can see the excessive  amount of Disney ornaments that adorn my tree. Yes that is Tinkerbell sitting a top the star.

Color Club: Enchanted Holiday

A little while ago I got slightly obsessed with the Color Club mini sets.

They are awesome. They are half the size of a full size bottle, so not so mini and there are some awesome colours out there. This set is Enchanted Christmas. I found it on ebay for a reasonable price.

Magic Elf

Now this is one pretty green. Not your traditional Christmas green but more a bright green with amazingly awesome lighter green, or is it gold, shimmer. This one reminds me of Zoya Apple and Ivanka, but lighter and finer shimmer.

Wishlist Red

Red glitter. It's obligatory in a Christmas collection isn't it? What was awesome about Wishlist Red was that it  was so pigmented. This was two coats.

Enchanted Holiday

I love these glitters. I only used two coats for Enchanted Holiday as well and look at that awesome gold glitter. Very sparkly and very bling!

Snowflakes

I'm not sure about Snowflakes...I mean it doesn't really seem to math the mood of the other three polishes. A pretty icey glitter that really needs to be layered. This was two coats again.

In all honesty I'm glad I bought this set. The bottles are so cute and the colours are so pretty and seasonally appropriate! I love Christmas!

OPI: Retro Fun in the Sun

Today is my first official day of summer. School finished yesterday and between writing reports, moving classrooms and generally stressing out...I can finally breathe again!

Moving classrooms is not a fun job. No one wants to come in and do it after school has finished. So you end up doing it in the last couple of days before school finishes. The kids are generally high as kites and the teachers slightly grumpy. Not a good mix. Luckily my mum is a wonderful lady who was very generous to spend all Wednesday afternoon at school with me helping me move things to my new classroom. The year 5 boys were wonderful and helped move the furniture for me on Thursday morning and my kids were pretty good as the hung out in the library until the final assembly.

Although today is the first official day of my summer...the weather is shocking. it's raining and just basically wet and miserable. The collection I have to show you today is a summery fun collection full of sunshine...doesn't really fit the day...but i can dream of the beaches in Rarotonga!

So here is the OPI Retro Fun in the Sun collection and oldie, but a goodie.

Sit Under the Apple Tree

Give Me a Coral Sometime

Sea ya Later, Sailor!

Lemonade Stand by Your Man

Calendar Girl

Peach-a-Boo!

Six fun and summery shimmer shades. I really like the collection. Yes they are unbearable sheer but i love adding them on top of a jelly or a creme for a bit of instant shimmer. The blue, Sea ya Later, Sailor and the green, Sit Under the Apple Tree are so fun to layer with. I particularly like layering them over neutral greys, browns and khaki tones.

Now I'm off to head into school and retrieve the Christmas tree from my new classroom. I promised mum she could have it for Christmas. Talking off Christmas trees I'll post my one soon...I'm very proud of it.